Show and Tell

Photo by Trisha

I have been excited for months over the prospect of debuting this (really cool) guest book.

My dear friend, Laura, is a creative genius. (No doubt it is why she became a teacher.) After visiting her home three years ago, I knew I had hit on entertainment gold when she brought out her little book for me to see.

Recently, I asked her to bring her brilliant book along on a car ride and I snuck pictures of it for your reading enjoyment.


Photo by Trisha

Check out what she does for her guest book:


Photo by Trisha

On pages she pre-prints on her computer, she asks these questions:

Our Name(s):
Relationship to [the hosts' names]:
Where we traveled from:
When we visited:
Why we came:
Highlights of our visit:
Additional comments:

Having filled out this page myself, I can vouch that the process is brief and fun. She then snaps a picture of the guests before they head out, and over time, she compiles a tiny guest book full of all the memories. Just sitting in her car and flipping through the pages, I felt like I was re-living years of celebrations.

How cool is this?! Leave it to a teacher . . .

The Mightiest of God's Mighty Acts

Photo by *NEXT* design for your modern home

As I enter the 23rd month of waiting, I am thinking on these
words:

"Adoption is the mightiest of God’s mighty acts of salvation, and without transgressing the line between the divine and the created, God does reach across it and establish a relationship more intimate than we could have imagined.

In adopting children, God does something that enacts, for us and our salvation, his eternal being as Father, Son, and Spirit among us. Eternal sonship becomes incarnate sonship and brings created sonship into being."

--Fred Sanders

A Laundering We Will Go!

Photo courtesy of www.myhomemystyle.com

Tonight I discovered a new magazine.

I imagine I felt much like Columbus must have felt when he discovered the new world. Only there was no question about what I found. (And I didn't take it from anybody.)

Anyway. Tonight I have been thinking about laundry duty since Saturday is always designated as "laundry/utility/basement" day at my house. Here are 3 tips I have been pondering:

1. Turn your jeans inside out when you wash them.
2. Dry muddy clothes before tossing them in the wash. (This will enable you to brush off the dirt first.)
3. Take seriously the detergent recommendations. Use the right amount to avoid soap overload. (Contrary to what you might think, "extra soap" won't make the laundry cleaner. It will clog the machine and leave your clothes stiff.)

Happy laundering!

Guest Blogger: Piqued Interest

Photo by Benimoto

The internet can be a blessing and a curse.

It has been a time-saving friend in a pinch and a thieving troll of some precious moments. Frankly, though, the latter is my fault. If I were a more disciplined warrior of my time, then the dragon Internet would be no match for my strength. Let's all get it off our chests together. Hello, my name is ...., and, at times, I've given too much of my time to the internet. Ok. That's done. Let's move on.

Though it can be the ultimate time suckage, the Internet has actually enriched my life. Let's debate the logic of that sentence later--how something can basically devalue my life while improving it. I've found some great recipes, fun kids craft projects, free patterns for yarn crafts, design ideas, and more. Problem is, I don't always remember on which website I saw these ideas. And if I do happen to bookmark those sites, it can be quite the hassle trying to look at them all. Not to mention the frustration if your computer gets the flu or someone accidentally deletes your treasure trove of websites.

That's why I was happy to stumble upon a website that catalogs all my piqued internet interests. Aptly named Pinterest, the website is moderately exclusive, though the moderators seem to let any old person in so long as you click that "request an invite" button. I mean, hey, they let me in!
Pinterest boasts even more features than just bookmarking, so I recommend you go check it out! It can actually save you some time by keeping all your bookmarked sites in one digital scrapbook.

But I warn you, Pinterest can be addicting!

Spring Clean-athon

Photo by jnyemb

There are 53 days until spring.

You can bank on the fact that my windows will be open, my curtains will be fluttering, and my heart will be light on that day. Nothing sounds better to me right now than the washing away of all that salt and snow on the roads.

It's more like snud this time of year anyway. (salt + mud = snud)

But here is the challenge. If you are interested in the benefits of spring cleaning without all of those hours of backbreaking labor, I challenge you to join the Spring Clean-athon starting February 1st here on the blog.

Every day we will explore one spring cleaning chore that you can cross off the list.

By the time spring arrives you'll be able to . . . well . . . enjoy it.

First Comes Love, then Comes the Internet

Photo by .jennifer donley.

The Internet is good for many things.

Admittedly, I attended two funerals via the Internet last year. And the first item I put in this year's planner was the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (which I will likely attend via the Internet on April 29th). But this article from The New York Times made me do some thinking:

In an age of commemorating birthdays, weddings and anniversaries on Facebook and Twitter, it was perhaps inevitable that live Web-streaming funerals for friends and loved ones would be next.

It is no surprise that the deaths of celebrities, like Michael Jackson, or honored political figures, like the United States diplomat Richard Holbrooke, are promoted as international Web events. So, too, was the memorial service for the six people killed Jan. 8 in Tucson, which had thousands of viewers on the Web.

But now the once-private funerals and memorials of less-noted citizens are also going online . . .

Read more here. Thoughts?

Time Management for the . . .

Photo by Dawn Huczek

I am wicked busy.

Now, much of it is my choice and most of it is profitable. There is very little I would change about the projects I accept, but there is no denying: I am busy. No doubt, you are busy, too. And so here are the strategies I have been implementing for 2011:

1. I write things down. Someone once told me that writing things down doesn't help us remember; it frees us to forget. So we can concentrate on doing rather than remembering. I have spent far too much time in my life re-tracing steps or wracking my memory for misplaced thoughts.

2. I carry a planner. (It's a hardback so I can take it through rainforests and editorial conferences without concern.) As soon as I make a commitment, I write it down. Dozens of forgotten commitments over the years have taught me that the annoyance of writing something down beats the disappointment of letting someone down. So I have no problem saying, "Excuse me a moment while I jot myself a note." Most people only throw tomatoes.

3. I (am learning to) delegate effectively. If I can pass off a task without neglecting my responsibility, I will do it. Why take on work that others are willing to do? Very rarely do I decline an offer for assistance if it doesn't threaten my conscience.

4. I prioritize my to-do list hourly. Forget prioritizing once at the beginning of the day. Who knows what can transpire in a morning or afternoon? The question really should be, "What needs to be done now?" This question has replaced, "What would be most enjoyable?" or "What do I feel like doing?"

5. I (am learning to) say, "no." Not as in, "I don't want to help you" or "You don't deserve my time." Those would be inappropriate responses to someone with a need. "No" can sometimes mean, "This isn't in the best interest for either of us. Here is my proposed solution."

And those are my strategies . . . for now.

Just a (7-word) Thought

Photo by Biscarotte

Seven is the number of perfection. Here are seven words to sustain you this week:

We live infinitely better than we deserve.

Introducing ThredUp

Photo courtesy of www.thredup.com

It's Friday night and I have a deal for you . . .

From http://www.thredup.com/:

Did you know that kids outgrow a set of new clothes about every 6 months? That parents spend nearly $20,000 on clothes by the time a child is 17? That's just on the staples (no jackets, shoes, etc..)

Kids are expensive. They grow fast. And yet one of the most valuable things any kid has--clothing--just gets given away when it's outgrown.

Why? Because no great solution exists to help parents affordably and conveniently exchange clothes their child has outgrown for new clothes that fit. Traditional retail is exceedingly expensive. eBay, consignment and thrift stores are time consuming and tedious. Hand-me-downs and swap parties provide limited selections and are hard to coordinate. Most parents of the 72 million kids out there do nothing but give clothes away. Not anymore.

thredUP helps America's busiest families conveniently exchange kids clothing online.

Check out the website! You'll be glad you did.

Needful Thing 101

Photo by Theresa Thompson

Being an editor has its perks.

Not only do I get to read for a living, but every once in awhile, I discover jewels like this little article from The Journal of the American Medical Association dated May 12, 2010. It begins:

Home economics, otherwise known as domestic education, was a fixture in secondary schools through the 1960s, at least for girls. The underlying concept was that future homemakers should be educated in the care and feeding of their families. This idea now seems quaint, but in the midst of a pediatric obesity epidemic and concerns about the poor diet quality of adolescents in the United States, instruction in basic food preparation and meal planning skills needs to be part of any long-term solution.

And as much as I love the American Medical Association--which I do--I must say that they overlooked nearly 100 other reasons why Home Economics (aka Life Skills, Consumer Sciences, who-cares-what-you-want-to-call-it) should be encouraged in schools today. Of course, who wants to open the mailbox only to discover a phonebook-sized journal?

Here is a riddle for people who think Home Economics is a waste of time: What happens when you downplay the importance of a class about life skills? . . .

The Marrying Kind: Born or Made?

Photo by two stout monks

WOMEN have long been saddled with the onus of “civilizing men.”

According to studies of varying reliability, once under the womanly wing of matrimony, men work more, make more money, go to church more, eat more healthily and drink less unhealthily. Sociologists refer to this as “the marriage effect.”

But there has long been a niggling question: Is marriage responsible for turning the beastly male into a well-behaved husband? Or are the upstanding men the ones who marry in the first place? The debate is between selection bias (men who marry are not misbehavers) and causation (married men don’t misbehave). According to a new study from Michigan State University, the answer is a bit of both.

Read more about it in the NYT here.

The Quotable Dr. King

Photo by WarmSleepy

Here are a few verbal legacies left behind by the man we commemorate today:

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

And finally, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

May this be the legacy of us all, that we would teach our children to know others, to love them, and to suspend judgment of their character until we've had time to learn about them.

Now Entering: Month 23

Photo by katerha

It Is Well With My Soul

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Horatio Spafford

So true.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (Twice!)

Photo by eelke dekker

Well. It's that time again.

Time to put the Christmas cards away. Did you know that every year, 7 billion greeting cards are exchanged in the U.S.? (Truly, the government should start its own line of cards to pay down the national debt. Anyway.)

Some home managers are very ritualistic about this--carefully marking in their address books who sent them cards and who should never receive a card again. Christmas cards are about so much more than sending cardstock with gilded messages.

Make no mistake.

So what to do with the cards you received this year?

Here are three of my favorite ideas:

1. Cut off the back of the cards and use the front of the card as a postcard or one-sided note. (If you're feeling really crafty, glue on a piece of colored paper for a bit of layer and "finish" and then write the note on the paper.)

2. Throw the cards into the craft bin for your children. Or better yet, allow THEM to embellish the cards to give to friends or family. (This will allow them to experience the joy of giving "real" cards to people they love.)

3. Find a non-profit group that accepts old greeting cards. (There are many.) Schools, clubs, and organizations often use greeting cards to create collages or other works of art.

Happy weekend!

Buy None, Get One Free!

Photo courtesy of P&G

I love samples.

There is something fun about standing in line for half a bite of pizza pocket or ripping open a box with a free magic eraser or finding a perfume sample tucked in a magazine. Honestly, I get as excited about the discovery of a free experience as I do the purchase of the whole thing.

I've been known to leave my local salon wearing four different perfumes. (FYI: Don't. It smells like a really bad garden.)

Which is why I was thrilled tonight to sign up for the P&G Brand Sampler.

On the website, I had the opportunity to choose the samples I wanted to try. And there was no need to enter a credit card number or commit to a purchase of any kind. And now I get to wait for the arrival of that lovely oversized envelope with my name on it.

Bliss.

I recently had friends tell me that--during the early years of their marriage--they could nearly eat their entire Sunday dinner at Sam's Club.

Gotta love samples--

Preventing Heat from Sneaking Out of the House

Photo by normanack

LITTLE known fact: your house breathes.

A typical home is supposed to exhale about 33 percent of its air every hour, sparing your lungs from mold, dust and other tiny invaders.

My house doesn’t breathe. It hyperventilates. Every hour it purges about 75 percent of its air — which is fine for my family’s health, but it kills me to think that we pay to heat that air and then quickly set it free.

I’ll explain the source of that 75 percent figure a little later. Right now let’s focus on the basic mission: finding where the air is escaping, plugging those holes and watching the heating bill shrink.

Read the rest of the article here.

From Inspiration to Fulfillment

Photo by Siona Watson

If I had to classify 2010 in one word, I think it would have to be inspired.

I've always struggled to figure out what my talents were and how I should utilize those in my home, with my kids, and in my life as a whole. So this year, I set out to define my interests and abilities and exercise those unused muscles.

The journey has led me to some interesting discoveries about myself. For one, if you buy all that left-brain/right-brain stuff, I'm left-hand dominant and therefore supposedly right-brained. That makes sense. I've always enjoyed creative endeavors. Majored in a creative field.

There are left-brain activities that I enjoy as well, and I therefore got my Master's degree in a corresponding field. So that makes sense, too. There are several activities in which I participate that I utilize my right hand. For instance, and I have to admit this baffles me, I can't cut with my left hand. I can bend the paper this way and that with a pair of scissors wielded in my left hand, but alas, I might as well be trying to lift the bumper of a Mack truck.

Whether or not the left-brain/right-brain theories are true, I've discovered that I'm a creative person. I enjoy working with my hands, creating something out of something else. Or out of nothing, for that matter. With this discovery has come the quest for information and inspiration. So I have turned to the one place teeming with creative people, the Internet.

Most other creative people are blogging about their endeavors. And I have learned so much from them, incorporated new skills into my artist's toolbox. Remember when I blogged about learning about something new each month? This month I'm learning how to spin yarn. Why? Because I can and because I've been inspired to stretch my creative self and learn new skills.

This post is not intended to be all about me but rather a message to get inspired. We're all looking to improve ourselves, right? I mean we're setting New Year's resolutions and striving to keep them. So find ways to develop this year, ways that inspire you. Let's stretch ourselves so we're the best, most fulfilled version of ourselves in 2011.

January Change

Photo by AForestFrolic

I promised one change a month for 2011.

I have big dreams for this little website. I'm not going to lie. It's the beginning of something good, I believe. The number of people who are joining the site continues to climb, and I am getting great feedback from people who love their home as much as I do.

Home management is alive and well! Never think otherwise.

And so here is change #1 for 2011. Last year I tried a little experiment that apparently resonated well with people. For everyone who joined our Facebook group, I posted as a status update one tip/hint from my stash of home remedies. I have been asked to bring it back for 2011:

And so I am.

Right now the number of people in the Facebook group is 170. That's a great number, yet it is a small fraction of our total members. If you are waiting for the little push to join, consider this to be your personal invitation. I have collected hundreds of tips I am anxious to share.

You don't have to be a member of the daily e-mail list to join the Facebook group.

SO much is planned for 2011. Stay tuned, loyal readers and friends.

On Storms and Rescue

Photo by Burning Image

What is sustaining grace?

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

~John Piper

Life is not easy, but God is good.

On Laundry and Lists

Photo by carol.baby

It's Friday night. Let's talk laundry. (What could be more fun?)

Here are some lessons I have learned about the laundry room. It is a good idea to:

1. Organize the products in your laundry room according to how often you use them. Products used most often should be easiest to reach. Products used least often should be out of the way. (Keep in mind that expiration dates are very important on all chemicals.)

2. Keep the floor clear of clutter and cleaning products. (This is especially true if there are children in the home.) Nothing makes a laundry room scream, "Stay out!" like a cluttered floor.

3. Designate a space for folding/prepping/ironing. The more often you use the same space for the same task, the faster it becomes second nature. If it takes an act of Congress to get the ironing board set up each time you need to use it, the chances of you actually using it are slim.

4. Transform the room from a gloomy space into a happy place and you are less likely to dread the laundry. Adding light or color or art is a great idea. Making it look as little like a dungeon as possible is smart if you want to learn to not hate going inside.

Just my two cents.

Sweet Deal

Photo by NathanF

I have to tell you about this great deal I got today.

Any of you women out there have business hair in the front and party hair in the back? Well I do! So I'm in a committed relationship with my Conair Wet-to-Dry flat iron. But lately I've been considering dating around.

That brings me to my sweet deal. Today I purchased a CHI brand flat iron in a cute little travel bag, complete with travel-sized blow dryer and CHI hair products all for the low, low--and I do mean low--price of $19.75. It was marked down from $88.

Nope, you don't need new glasses! It really says "marked down from $88!" Can you believe that? And before you ask, it all works GREAT.

Now here's what's in it for you. I nabbed this little beauty after getting some information from one of those great deal websites out there. There are several you can check, but they all seem to draw from the same sources. So pick one and try to make a stop there daily.

After all, we house honchos could pay more ... but why?

Here's a list of some of my favorite deal websites:

slickdeals.com
hotcouponworld.com (There's a little bit of a learning curve to navigate this website)
fatwallet.com
dealnews.com
dealoftheday.com

Two for the Price of One

Pivot storage bed frame; from $799 at West Elm, (888) 922-4119 westelm.com

Introducing multi-functional furniture

For those who have vowed to put their homes in order in 2011, Georgia Tapert Howe and Caroline Cummings Rafferty may be just the ticket. In 2008 these two longtime friends founded Carolina George, a line of furniture in which most of the pieces serve more than one purpose.

Read the article from the New York Times here.

The 12 Changes of 2011

Photo by mikefats

I love change.

Okay. I hate change. But it sounds better (at least in the month of January) to love change.

So here is the deal. This year I am hoping to bring one change each month to this blog. I hope to try new ideas, introduce new columns, and welcome new people. Look for the 12 changes of 2011.

It's going to be a good year.

But, as always, we will continue to keep it simple. Thank you for your loyalty.

As We Dream by the Fire

Photo by Dimitri N.

One of the few things my comfortable little home lacks is a fireplace.

I can't say that it ever really bothers me . . . until it is cold outside and I am snuggled up next to my space heater. I am all about aesthetics, see, and there isn't much beauty in my Lasko model 5345. (Though it is very safe and I love it for that!)

So recently I found the perfect solution to my problem. I bought a WoodWick candle that I absolutely love. When you light it, it crackles like a fireplace. No joke. AND it smells good! What could better than that? (Save an actual fireplace, of course.)

I know this entry is sounding like a segment of The Truman Show, but I assure you, I am not getting anything for endorsing this lovely product.

I am all about candles. What can I say? When I am cozied up next to my space heater--if I light my WoodWick candle and close my eyes--I can almost pretend I am by a crackling fire.

Anyway. Come back tomorrow. I have lots of great news for the new year!