Good Housekeeping - Thursday

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This week I am writing a series on good housekeeping. I'm sharing my rhythm and what works for me every day as I go about my week tidying up after all our boys! :)

Daily Wisdom

:: Dishes, 2-3 times per day

:: Straighten up main area for 10 minutes after each meal time

:: Check the chickens

:: Brush the dog

:: Read my scriptures

 

 

Thursday

:: Laundry

This is my midweek laundry round up to keep it from getting out of control. I also like to wash bathroom towels on this day too and any other odds and ends like kitchen rags, my apron, oven mitts, etc.

:: Clean Kitchen

Wipe down counter tops, cabinets, door frames and the walls around food preparing and consuming areas. Wipe down baseboards, table tops, chairs, high chairs, stools, the outside and inside of the fridge and freezer. Wipe down appliances, clean out the stove inside and out, organize cupboards, wipe down shelves, etc. Throw away spoiled food and when needed rotate your food storage area.

My laundry room and kitchen are connected so I take this time to wipe down the outside of the washer and dryer when they need it and straighten up anything in the area that needs it. 

 

*Note: If you haven't had a regular housekeeping schedule the first week of this schedule may seem daunting. It may take you hours each day to complete the tasks. But rest assured if you do it for a week, the next week it will take you about 20 minutes to complete each daily task.

If you can't spare a week to get everything in order consider making a list of what needs to be done in each area and dividing it up over a month so that maybe you are working in each area, each day, for only 45 minutes but after the month is over you are caught up and can proceed to keep things in order with only a 20 minute or so commitment each day :)

If you missed Wednesday you can see it here. What do you think we are doing on Friday? Stay tuned and find out! :)

"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."

-Psalm 27:4

Good Housekeeping - Wednesday

This week I am writing a series on good housekeeping. I'm sharing my rhythm and what works for me every day as I go about my week tidying up after all our boys! :)

Daily Wisdom

:: Dishes, 2-3 times per day

:: Straighten up main area for 10 minutes after each meal time

:: Check the chickens

:: Brush the dog

:: Read my scriptures

 

 

Wednesday

 

:: Grocery Shopping, Errands, Meal Planning

 

I keep an ongoing list in my planner where I jot down things we need each week such as vitamins, shampoo, olive oil - whatever we run out of. Then I go the store only once per week along with a trip to the bank, the pet store, whatever we need. I also map out my trip before a I go to plan the most efficient travel route between shops to save time.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" 

- Psalm 119:105

Check out Tuesday here and stay tuned for Thursday!

Good Housekeeping - Tuesday

This week I am writing a series on good housekeeping. I'm sharing my rhythm and what works for me every day as I go about my week tidying up after all our boys! :)

Daily Wisdom

:: Dishes, 2-3 times per day

:: Straighten up main area for 10 minutes after each meal time

:: Check the chickens

:: Brush the dog

:: Read my scriptures

Tuesday

:: Clean the Bathrooms

Scrub down the shower and tub, wipe down fixtures, clean the toilet (throw away old reading materials from the back of the toilet and remember the toilet base), wipe down the sink and mirrors, sweep and mop the floor, change the towels out for clean ones, take out the trash, shake out or wash the rugs, clean out the medicine cabinet, wipe down the door frame and anywhere else with sticky finger build up.

 

:: Take the Trash to the Curb

(of course you want to do this the day before your own trash pick up :))

"To be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled" 

 - Titus 2:5

Monday can be found here :)

 

Wednesday is up next!

Good Housekeeping - Monday

This week I am writing a series on good housekeeping. I'm sharing my rhythm and what works for me every day as I go about my week tidying up after all our boys! :)

Daily Wisdom

:: Dishes, 2-3 times per day

:: Straighten up main area for 10 minutes after each meal time

:: Check the chickens

:: Brush the dog

:: Read my scriptures

Monday

:: Clean bedrooms. 

Strip sheets off bed, spray mattresses with tea tree oil, clean, 

dust, wipe down windows, window sills, and door frame (and any other sticky finger build up), 

vacuum (don't forget those baseboards and behind the door!)

:: Laundry. 

Wash, dry, fold and put away any laundry. 

Sew or iron-on patches, sort out clothing that is tattered or too small

"So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander."

- 1 Timothy 5:14

Stay tuned for Tuesday's rhythm! :)

What Has Happened to Extended Hospitality?

 

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies -- in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ...  

(1 Peter 4:8-11).

The thought trickled in a few months ago during a re-reading of Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

Hospitality.

It was deep in the 1860s, going beyond a simple invite of the neighbors to tea, they lived it, they breathed it.

When the tin salesman came riding up in his wagon, the family put a hen in the oven and fresh sheets on the bed, naturally the man would stay in their home.

When the shoemaker came through their neck of the woods he was given free room and board for a week as well as payment to make their shoes. After all where would he go? There simply were no Super 8s back then.

But there are now...Super 8s I mean, and Hotel 6s and spas and resorts and that's where we stay. What have we lost because of this?

We've become closed off, living behind the walls of our homes rarely welcoming anyone in for a visit much less a long stay and even when we do they are likely to be close family, never would we dream of putting up a total stranger. 

But our grandparents and great-great grandparents did. 

When the tin salesman came each year he brought with him stories and news from his travels. The Wilder family sat down in the evenings and laughed so hard they cried as he spun his tales. 

Now we check our facebook status updates and see pictures of nieces, nephews, friends and grandchildren but do we really know them? Do we know the sound of their laugh, the wretch of their cry? Do we know how their brow creases when they are thinking or how their eye twinkles when they have an idea?

These are only things we learn by inviting people in and being with them. People we love as well as people we may not know as well. 

It's not always comfortable, I know that. You may have to wait to use the bathroom. They may see how untidy you keep your bedroom. They may not like your food. But do we remember what we gain? 

Love, connection, conversation, and community.

I thought about it even more. How did this start?

And that's when it felt political to me.

A lot of people talk these days about shrinking the government. Social welfare has made us dependent and the best thing you can do for people is foster independence. I don't completely disagree with that assertion in some cases but it's not just government programs that make people dependent - in fact, we have a worse offender, it's corporations.

Super 8, Best Western, Motel 6 and the like have talked the past few generations of traveling folk into the notion that they should fork out some cash and not impose on those around them. 

They've shifted the culture for their own benefit, and made us dependent on THEM to provide services we now think we all need. Like many corporations who have done a similar thing, they have detached us from our friends and family by providing a "service" that use to be provided by our family and community.

How do we take this back? Where does it start?

It starts in our homes and in our hearts. 

Will you make a commitment to be more hospitable in 2012? I know I am!

Christmas in Our Home

I've been so busy with the holiday season, I haven't been updating enough! :)

We are so blessed this Christmas. We finally have 5 acres of land that we are beginning to develop, we are all healthy, the babe in my belly is growing strong and we are looking forward to 2012 with much glee!

 

Our family, Christmas 2011

A display at our church

 

Our grain free Saint Lucia buns made with butternut squash, egg white and coconut flour

 

 

 

 

Our advent calendar

 

 

Saint Nicholas

 

The Waldorf Christmas Craft Fair

 

 

Advent with St. Lucia looking on

 Drying herbs from our garden to use as Christmas gifts

 

Baby bump

 

Letters to Santa

We hope you have a blessed Christmas season and a happy and healthy new year!

Grain Free Cinnamon Rolls!!!!!!!!!!

I invented something over the past few weeks. I stayed up at night thinking about it, how to make them perfect, and now, I've done it. Grain free cinnamon rolls that will melt in your mouth. I am so pleased to present these to you!


Ingredients:

12 eggs
coconut sugar or honey
salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed butternut squash (you can also use mashed pumpkin or banana)
3/4 cup milk, plus some extra for frosting
cinnamon
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup butter plus extra for greasing
chopped fruit and or nuts

Preheat you oven to 400 degrees. In a medium pot melt 1/4 cup of butter over medium low heat. Once melted remove from heat and set aside.Grease two baking sheets very well with butter.

Seperate the whites from the yolks for all dozen eggs. Beat the whites until stiff.

When the oven is preheated, fold the squash into the whites and add teaspoon or so of cinnamon and a teaspoon of cocnut sugar or honey along with a dash of salt.

Immediately spread the egg white and squash batter onto the baking sheets and put into the oven right away. Do not let these set. Bake for about 12 minutes until brown on the edges. Remove and allow to cool.

Add egg yolks to your melted butter along with your milk, cinnamon to taste, coconut sugar or honey to taste, vanilla, and orange juice. Cook over medium heat stirring all the time until mixture thickens (this takes about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and continue stirring for about 2 minutes. Add some extra milk until the mixture is the consistency of runny pudding.

Spread the runny pudding mix over the egg white and squash (leave some for topping). Top with additional cinnamon, chopped or dried fruit, nuts, etc. (Pictured here I have used chopped apples and almond slivers)

Cut into strips and roll up. At this point they will be quite cool so I recommend popping them back into the oven for a few minutes as well as heating up the runny pudding and adding additional milk.

Once warm, top with pudding mixture and enjoy! :)