Making your home a haven!

I have really been enjoying Crystal's blog series this week focusing on making our home a haven! This post was one of my favorites -- but all of them have been really encouraging and good, so be sure to go to her blog and check them out! :)

I thought I would share a few pictures and write about how I've used this challenge in our home! :)

I seemed to have so much going on each day this week, that by the time I got on the computer, it was bedtime and I was exhausted -- and certainly not ready to start even a 30-minute homemaking challenge! ;) However, I read Crystal's posts and took ideas from them into the next day with me...

Today was "supposed" to be just as busy as any -- with a trip to see our midwife, and a stop at a friend's house -- but early this morning I got a call saying that our midwife was heading to a birth and that we'd need to reschedule my prenatal appointment. That cancellation actually made today the perfect day to get caught up... and take a few pictures! :)

Day 1 of the challenge focused on our home's entryway. Our front entrance wasn't too messy (because we usually use the back door... shhhhh! ) but the little windows on the door did need cleaned, and we cleaned the trim and floor, as well.

Here are Yehoshua and Eliyahu in the cleaned area. :) They both helped me wash the door! :) The stack of stuff to the right of the door is my pile of birth supplies for our upcoming home birth. :)

Crystal also motivated me to finally plan out a "morning routine", limited to 5 things I want to do each morning. Here is my list:

1. Family breakfast (I make breakfast and we eat together)
2. Bible time with the children
3. Make tea and take my vitamins
4. Put away clean dishes (I let them air dry overnight on the counter)
5. Start laundry

Now, on to the living room! :) What a mess!! The vacuum cleaner was out because I had been re-arranging the furniture and cleaning behind some things. There was dry laundry on the clothes rack, another dry load in a basket, and some winter coats on the floor from yesterday's playtime outside in the snow. ;) And toys... :)

First, I started another load of laundry. In the winter time, I try to keep one load drying on my clothes rack at all times. This allows me to dry almost all of our laundry on the rack, which saves money and adds moisture to the air. :)

While the laundry was washing, I folded and put away the clean laundry, and had the children help tidy the room. I hung up the wet load, and then took pictures! :) I didn't need to dust today, or wash the windows, because I had done that a couple days ago...

Much better!! :)

I figured that while I was taking pictures of the living room, I may as well get it from each angle. ;) This bookshelf has the childrens' books, coloring books, and some toys. We keep more toys on our enclosed porch and monitor which ones they get to bring in the house and dump. ;) This helps keep the mess contained, and makes the toys more interesting since they don't get them all every day, or even every week. :)

I also went ahead and did the "laundry room" part of Crystal's challenge. My washer and dryer are in the basement, and it's not exactly cozy down there. It floods when we get heavy rains, so everything needs to be well off the floor. But, I swept with a broom, wiped down the washer and dryer, and cleaned the laundry cart (I set my clothes baskets on that since the floor is so nasty!).

I used my hand-held vacuum to sweep the steps, and then I put post-it notes on the washer and dryer with instructions for our laundry. After the new baby's born, I won't be hauling heavy baskets up and down those stairs for some weeks -- so the instructions will assist whoever is loading the washer for me. ;)

Today's challenge was supposed to include the bathroom -- but I didn't get to that. Hopefully I will have the time for it tomorrow; and since we keep it pretty minimal in there, it shouldn't take long. :)

And lastly, three things I am thankful for:

My husband Joshua -- who is constantly amazing me with his love and care!

My two little boys and our baby-on-the-way -- precious blessings from Yahweh!

Our warm home -- warm because of our furnace, but even more importantly, warm because of the love and laughter we share here. Our Heavenly Father gives contentment and joy despite earthly cares, and I'm so thankful for that. :)

Tammy's blog | printer friendly version

Home a haven -- comments

Submitted by Tammy on Sun, 2007-12-16 06:13.

HOORAY!
Submitted by TaftMommy
I've been keeping up with the challenge so far, but it was hard today because it was so busy, and tomorrow will be very busy too. But either way, wow! :D Good for you!! You got a lot done :) Oh, it was so fun to see pictures of your house and hear about your participation in the challenge. :)

p.s. Your pumpkin rolls are making it around the internetz too! I plan on making them tomorrow night to go with our turkey and garlic-mashed potatoes. I can't wait! Seriously, though, in the past week I have seen so many people blog about your rolls and how much they love them. This one tickled me so much I bookmarked it so I could show you...LOL

http://femininepursuits.blogspot.com/2007/12/bring-dinner-roll-back.html

Nice post
Submitted by Anonymous
Nice post. Inspires me to keep at it, although with my son's power struggles, I focus on each of us doing ONE chore completely. Even at that "stride" things are better. I am impressed that you do real cooked family breakfast every day!! Now that IS blessing your family, putting others first and just plain "gold star" mothering! :)
Lisa at http://hopewellmomschoolreborn.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Submitted by Anonymous
Just wondering if you could use whole wheat flour with your pumpkin rolls? I've never made any homemade bread by hand before and everyone is raving about them. Thanks.

Homemaking and dinner rolls
Submitted by Tammy
Melissa, thanks for the enthusiasm. :) I too enjoy seeing pictures of peoples' homes (and always looking for little ideas I can try to incorporate in our own!) so it's been fun to see the posts about Crystal's challenge. :)

Lisa, thanks! And sometimes we do eat cold cereal (like granola... my favorite!) or very easy things like oatmeal and toast (i.e. it's not always a huge breakfast!) but we always eat together, and I love that. :)

About using whole wheat flour with the pumpkin dinner rolls -- I'm sure you could, though they wouldn't be as light or fluffy, of course. :) I've made them with half whole wheat flour and half white flour, and they were still great! If I were using 100% whole wheat flour I would probably add some extra gluten, since that seems to help my whole wheat breads... :)

Caramel
Submitted by Anonymous
So I made your caramel recipe last night *Yummy* I posted about it on my blog http://byrumnews.blogspot.com if you want to check it out. I do have one question though -- do you think you can freeze caramel??

Freezing caramel
Submitted by Tammy
Thanks for sharing the link to your post! :D Wow, a double batch?! You must really like caramel! ;)

I'm not sure about freezing the caramel... the caramel is basically like a candy, so I'm guessing it would work to freeze it -- but I haven't tried it myself!

Revamping the Routine
Submitted by Anonymous
Hi Tammy. Great post. I've been revamping my homemaking routine also. I enjoy reading about the changes others are making.

Fun to read!
Submitted by Lilyofthevalley
I've been having fun with the challenges. It was fun to read your post and see the pictures. :)

~Tanya

Submitted by simplbrandy
How nice to see your home! Looks rather like mine, all those drying racks. :-P This has been a neat challenge.

Just a thought...
Submitted by Jules
We have always used drying racks...but kept ours in our master bath or laundry room. (our LR is off the master bedroom)

So I was thinking...so if you get company they don't see laundry hanging...maybe put them in the basement. Unless of course your basement is smelly and damp. A lot of unfinished basements are.

Great post
Submitted by Anonymous
Loved reading your update.. I too am following the challenge and enjoying it very much.

So glad to see your basement and your washer/dryer on cement blocks...(mine are too... pics to come soon on my blog)....

Thanks for sharing... love visiting your blog!!

Submitted by Tammy
Thanks, everyone! :)

Jules, yep -- our basement is damp and cold. :) And our bathroom isn't large enough to hold my clothes rack and still function as a bathroom. ;)

Anonymous, thanks! :) I know the basement picture looks kinda icky (and our basement IS rather icky... just because it floods and the walls are old stones and such) but I figured I'd share it anyway... because I'm sure I'm not the only person with a less-than-lovely "laundry room"! :D It's functional, and it's actually nicer than having the washer and dryer in the dining room, like they were in our last (tiny) place! :D

Submitted by simplbrandy
Our laundry room is less than lovely, too. Our basement has dirt walls in part of it, so the floors are never totally clean. I have to be quite careful not to drop any clothes on the floor! :-P