Today's lesson is all about being a life-giver. Mary Challenge: "Start looking at your domain as something to make come alive! What can you do today to bring life to your home, your children, your husband, and your sphere of influence?" Martha Challenge: "Kitchen - Clean out and scrub down the refrigerator and freezer. Try using 2 tablespoons of baking soda per 1 quart hot water to wash interiors."
Whew.. my frigde was just done the other day... can't wipe all the outside down because we use it as a whiteboard for shopping needs..lol but yeah.. a quick swipe will do it What can I do to make the house come alive? I think it may be alive, but in the sense of a monster trying to devour us! Off to think of something I can do to change that
Funny timing, because cleaning the fridge was on my to do list for today anyways. I agree, there might be something alive in my house and I am not sure we want it growing here. : )
I think once Micah wakes from his nap, we're going to crank up some tunes and rock out with a dance party for at least a few minutes. I have a big event tonight and just got home from the gym and errands. Hopefully I can squeeze in a fridge clean.
So baking soda and water, huh...I'm on it...hopefully...if I can do it and not wake the kids! Also, in case the other thread isn't checked again - can the tea tree oil cleaning recipe be posted? What do you mix it with - plain h2o?
For tea tree oil you just need to put 3 drops of the oil in a cheap mister bottle with about a quart of water. You can also add some Lemon oil if you don't like the scent of the tea tree.
Well I cleaned out the living things in the fridge. Now it looks so empty and like we might starve before shopping next week. I was thinking about making it a living house. I wonder if I was less stressed about my house and business being a crazy mess, if it would make my family better. Not because good people have clean houses, but because I am so stressed and we can't even find things or function in our home as it is. It would be nice to play and have fun, but even if I make time for it, it isn't fun because the house is such a mess.
OK, we cleaned out the 'fridge the other day (because Carl was home for the summer, and it REALLY DID have a smell!) SO...my refridge is no longer alive; I'm suppose to find something else that IS...?
I like the Mary Challenges! I need to think more like that. My idea today is to cut some wild flowers from around the corner and put them in a vase. We have some great Lupins in full bloom around here, and I have some giant poppy flowers too. Martha - not liking her so much. I just noticed a smell in the freezer downstairs. It smells kind of musty. We just got it a couple of months ago from a family member. I think we'll have to empty it out and clean it again.
I have to admit, I haven't cleaned the fridge today at all, and at this point in the game, it's not likely.. BUT I did have a breakdown, flip out on the kids and cleaned out 1 of the 2 littles' bedrooms, and am working on the other one (can't say they will have anything other than clothes and books when I'm done since all toys are going in trash bags but you can find their floors.) As far as finding something to make come alive... I have my curriculum shelves all cleaned off and organized and they look pretty and happy... now to do all the bookcases of fiction... maybe Monday.
I am so jealous it is so dry here there is not an alive flower for miles unless somebody has been watering it everyday. They might hurt me if I picked them! But that post made me think about my house plants, so I went and trimmed off the dead parts, and wiped the dust off the pots.
I need to do both of your things. My dh "cleaned" the kids rooms the other day with a trash bag. It is so freeing to see that the kids really don't need all those toys! My school shelves are driving me nuts they need some attention. But I am trying to switch the kids into a different room, so I can make their room into an office/ school room/ business room I can't just do it in one jump because I have to clean and organize as I move things and find them new homes. I did move all their clothes into the closet in the new room. All of that to say I want to wait and not clean the shelves until I can just move the books to the new office room.
Me, too and it's 10:00 PM and I'm not statring on the Frig. now. However, I clean it out once a week so it's not so bad.
My fridge is sparkling! Ds woke from his nap, so I just stuck him in the high chair with lunch and got to dumping...why do I obviously always make too much pasta (given the number of containers of leftovers in the fridge)? I usually try to be very quiet during naptime (house is small/noisy...naptime VERY important) but I decided that having a Martha house and a Mary spirit was more important, so if dd woke up...so be it! She didn't until later and I have a nice clean fridge and freezer. I even used the baking soda to scrub the dingy handles and voila! clean white handles. I got inspired to clean everything off the front except one pic of the kids! Lovely! Thanks for these postings, Actressdancer!
I want a clean house because it makes my family happy because I'm less stressed. Clutter bugs the cud out of me.. I can't do it all. So if my dishes are done, the bathroom is cleaned and laundry is put away I can deal with that. Something to liven up my house?? NEW PAINT in the diningroom and redone hardwood floors.. Yep carpet is gone and we sanded the floors and varnished it. Looks AMAZING.. Next, get LIVE plants.. Plastic ones don't liven up anything.. Then, I'm going to redo the bookshelf in our diningroom/schoolroom.
ok. I've been thinking about having a "living" home. For me that means that my home is a reflection of those living there. In our house, we didn't just go and purchase alot of stuff for decorating it. The artwork is largely things that my dh and I painted and drew. The quilts were made by me, dh's grandmother, my great grandmother. My china was inherited from my grandmother and I think of her and talk about her whenever we use it. A liiving house around here means that there are some 3 yo drawings on the fridge, stacks of homeschooling books in the kitchen, and a toy (or 2 or 3 dozen) in the floor. A living house is a place where real people live. Not a magazine cover from Better Homes and Gardens. Now I need to get my OCD self to realize that. (after cleaning the fridge yesterday, I think I had a "living refrigerator"!)
Thank you. That's exactly what I tried to tell the pastor's wife when she didn't want the walls in the 2yo SS class covered with 2yo work! She asked, "Do you let your children put their stuff just anywhere in your house?" I looked her straight in the eye and said, "I homeschool...." LOL!!!
We have so many kid drawings we cover the fridge/freezer, a chest freezer and had to move on to the washing machine! The kids love it. They take all guest to show off their work.
