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Spring Cleaning Update – Day 5

Money Saving Mom’s Challenge today was to either surface clean the living room or bathroom, or to clean the interior of the windows.  Just last week I had cleaned all the windows – inside and out – except for the basement windows.  And since I had given the other rooms a good cleaning this week, I vacuumed and dusted, then headed to basement where I found this mess!

Sad, huh?  The windows in the basement are up high and I’m down low.  =)  Who knew those little lady bugs had died in there? Not me!

Then from the outside…

So I got my handy dandy squeegee and got to work…
And the results were…

How did you do today?  Did you accomplish a task or two?

Be refreshed,

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Freshen Up Friday

I took 30 minutes one evening this week and made FOUR Swiffer covers!  No joke – this is a super simple task for even a beginning sewer.  These have elastic around the edges.  They kind of look like a shower cap made out of microfiber – only they’re oblong instead of round.  =)  When it gets dirty you just pop it into the washer.  No more buying the pricey disposable cloths!  The microfiber really grabs the dirt and dust!  I’m super happy with the results.

Here’s how you make them…
Buy microfiber cloths at the dollar store.
Lay your Swiffer mop on top and leave about 1 inch around the edges.
Zig zag the raw edge.

Sew elastic around all edges, stretching the elastic as you sew. This will make it gather.

 Pop the cover onto the Swiffer mop. Ta-da!

Refresh your mop AND your wallet by making some covers for yourself…and maybe a friend!



I’m doing the Money Saving Mom 30 Day House cleaning challenge and have made some great progress this week. So far I have surface cleaned the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry room.  Wow!  What a great feeling! I will be adding some photos as we progress.  Stay tuned!

Is anyone else doing this?  Will you leave a comment to tell me if you are taking the challenge?  By the end of the month our houses will sparkle!  

See you in church Sunday!

Be refreshed,

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Twisters and Treasures

Yesterday floods of memories filled my mind. As a matter of fact, every year on April the 3rd, my thoughts go back to 1974 when a tornado came streaking through central Kentucky and took the entire roof off of our house. My poor mom was the only person at home when storm came barreling through our neighborhood. She was wise enough to tuck herself safely into the basement during the worst of the storm. Once downstairs, she heard the sound of the “freight train,” as the tornado whirled and swirled through our house. She heard the explosion of glass and the timbers being blown off the roof, then all was quiet. Very, very quiet.

During the time of the storm, my dad was at work and my twin sister and I were on a band trip in Pennsylvania. Our symphony band was playing with many other bands. It was a concert of sorts. We were loving the trip to the big city of Pittsburgh to see the sights, hear other bands play, and enjoy the  luxury of being in a beautiful hotel with our friends.

That morning, I had my devotions, as I was in the habit of doing. I can so clearly remember that I read Matthew 6 –

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

And also later in the chapter:

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

I tucked those truths into my heart and went about the day. News began to spread in our group about the storm that had hit our city of Winchester, even doing damage to our high school. All the other 100 students or so were calling back home to talk to their parents to be assured that all was well in their families. However, my sister and I had a problem – we couldn’t reach our parents. No matter how many times we tried, there was no connection to that land line. Worry began to creep in. Little did I know that in the hours to come, I would be feeding off of the truths that God had revealed to me in His Word early that morning.

To be continued…

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A Peek Inside the Parsonage

Wednesday.  What does this day of the week conjure up in your mind?  Hump Day?  Middle of the week?  Almost the weekend?  For all my life Wednesdays were always connected with “prayer meeting.”  Through the years that also included other activities like Pioneer Girls, Awanas, Patch the Pirate Club, Sharing Group, or Teen meeting.    We never planned anything else on Wednesday night but church.  It would have been odd for us to have even asked what we were doing on Wednesday night; it was a given – we were going to church.  That was the case from the time I was a child through today.

I have always looked forward to the mid-week service. What a blessing to be encouraged with corporate time in the Word, prayer and fellowship in the middle of the week.  So many Christians miss this special service because they’re too tired, but honestly, when I’ve had a rough week and go ahead to Wednesday night services, I am energized!

Do your plans include prayer meeting tonight?  Why not decide right now to head to church this evening?  Extract something from your day, if you can, to make it easier to get to church.  Excite your children about going!  Perhaps you could:

  • Have a supper of only leftovers on Wednesdays.  Everyone gets to pick what they’d like to have from the fridge!
  • Pick up a $5 Hot and Ready pizza for supper.
  • If you homeschool, lighten the school load on Wednesdays.
  • Don’t schedule appointments or extra curricular activities for Wednesday.
  • Have a tradition of having a special dessert or popcorn on Wednesday night after getting home from church.  Use that time to talk to your family about the service.
Wednesday night is a part of most church’s schedules.  Don’t miss out!  Your pastor, youth pastor and teachers have planned and prepared so that you might be strengthened in the middle of the week.  

The parson and I will be heading there this evening.  I hope you’ll be there too!

From the parsonage windows,

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Keep The Fun!

I have a reputation.  It’s not good.  Are you ready? I have been pulling little pranks on my family for years – especially on April Fool’s Day.  Yep.  I lie.  I trick.  I cause innocent people to be startled.  I have no reason other than …it’s fun!

This little rubberband around the spray nozzle was the cause of the wet shirt on my husband.  =)

I take that back – there is another reason, and that is  to keep the fun in every day family life.  We are so serious about raising our children.  We are serious about doing right.  We are serious about walking with God.  We are serious about discipline and homeschool and music lessons and budgeting and housekeeping and laundry and teaching manners and a million other things that fill our hearts.  There has to be an intentional ingredient added – and that is FUN.   It’s the kind that makes you belly laugh until your sides ache.  

Proverbs 17:22 –  
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Times of family fun are indeed good medicine.  Tell a silly joke.  Play a game.  Tell stories about hilarious moments.  Watch a funny movie.  Don’t let your bones (or your face) dry up!  Laugh!

I’m glad I have a husband who can take a little joke (not that I won’t get paid back, trust me).  After his shirt got sprayed at the kitchen sink yesterday morning, I heard him in the kitchen laughing – really laughing.  Of course, then he came after me to give me a hug  get me soaked too!

In the seriousness of life, don’t take yourself too seriously, and don’t let your family life get too serious either.  Look for opportunities to add some family fun, laughter, and yes, even a little prank or two!

What do you do to add some fun to family life?  Do you have memories of things your family has done to laugh together?

With love,