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Days #20-22 House-Cleaning Update

The challenges for the last several days and today were to surface clean the living room, bathroom, kitchen and (today) the bedroom.  I got each room done, but will only show pics of the bedroom.
The Monday morning ritual:
Change the sheets
I store my sheets under the bed in this comforter bag.  It’s so easy to get to the linens this way! 
I dusted, vacuumed, and picked up things that were lying around.  
Oh, yes!  That’s much better!

If you make your bed each day, you’re getting a huge percentage of the room clean 
just by doing that one task!
 Pictures and mirrors were dusted too.

How did you do this weekend and today with the house cleaning?  The beginning of the week is a great time to get things in order!

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What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

Okay, I didn’t cook yesterday, due to a very busy weekend, but I made something recently on a weekday and I can’t wait to tell you about it!  Often I have time for things to cook low and slow – like on Sunday, but a weeknight often calls for something that can be ready in 30 minutes or less.

I love a recipe I found on Pinterest for Lazy Sunday Casserole, but on a week night when I don’t have time to be lazy, I can’t always wait the 1 1/2 hours it requires until supper is ready!  So I took the traditional recipe and tweaked it so it would be ready in under 30 minutes!  Here’s the way I turned a lazy Sunday dish into a Fast food week night dish!



Lazy Sunday Casserole Crazy Good Skillet Dish
4 sausages (beef or pork) I used smoked Turkey sausage and it was great!
2 Tbl. Olive oil

Place oil in a skillet (I used my electric skillet). Place sausages in hot oil and brown nicely.  Remove and keep warm.

Ingredients
1 pound potatoes, Peeled and cubed
1/2 pound carrots, Sliced thin
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 large red onion, sliced
1 fennel bulb
2 garlic cloves, minced

Seasonings: In small bowl, mix and then set aside:
2 tbsp oil
freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Add 1 or 2 more Tbs. oil.  Saute’ onions.  Add carrots and potatoes.  Cook and stir often until potatoes are crisp on the outside, but cooked through.  Add bell pepper, fennel, and garlic.  (I didn’t have a fennel bulb, and it was great without it). Add sausage back in. Add seasoning mix over all. Stir and cook until heated through.  Add more broth, if necessary.

Serve this with some good French bread and a green salad and you have a fantastic meal that even the 30-minute queen, Rachel Ray would be proud of!

Do you have a favorite 30 minute meal you prepare on a weeknight?

From my parsonage kitchen,

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Day #19 House Cleaning Update

What a difference a clean front porch can make!  It’s far more inviting than one that’s covered in cob webs, weeds around the door, and December’s snowman decoration dangling pitifully from  the eves of the house!  Today’s challenge was to clean up the entryway of your home. I took that as the front porch.  Here’s what I found at my front and side doors…

My lilies are really popping up, but unfortunately, so are the weeds!  I got busy and got rid of the dandelions – easpecially the whopper growing right at the front porch entry!

I swept the porch and walkway, wiped the lantern out, and weeded the flowers at the walks.
I also added a pot of ivy and a small rose bush in a pot.

My Easter wreath was still on the side door.  Time to take it down.
I hung my Pink Daisy wreath.  It’s just Happy!

Now my front door says, “Welcome” instead of “The Munsters live here!”   So, come see me!

How did your cleaning go today?

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Freshen Up Friday

Our Top Pin
Better Homes and Gardens

We would all love to have a garden like this photo above, wouldn’t we?  We picture ourselves sitting out in a yard like that sipping sweet tea and lingering over a novel on a perfect summer day.  However, most of our yards are more like:

well, maybe not THAT bad, but perhaps it’s more like:

It’s just kind of plain and needing some help.  Maybe your yard is advance beyond that.  Whatever the state is, if you’re needing some additions to freshen up your yard and you are on a budget, let me give you a few ideas that will help you to Freshen Up the Yard with Frugality!

  • Get cuttings of plants from a friend that has plants that spread.  Some examples would be, Herbs, Lilies, Ornamental Grasses, phlox, Lambs Ear, etc.
  • Go FIRST to the clearance section at your landscape place.  Lowes always has a section of things marked down.  Sometimes they need a little TLC, but they will usually be half price there!
  • Buy things that will spread (such as the before mentioned plants).  Plan accordingly when planting them; leave room for growth.
  • Buy perennials so you they’ll return year to year.
It’s about time to get some things growing.  Start by getting an idea of one or two areas you want to embellish.  Start small with something your budget and your back will both be able to handle, and work up to the full-blown plan bit by bit.  Don’t let those window boxes go naked again this summer!  Brighten up your porch with a flower pot or two!  Go on, freshen up that yard!

See you in church!

Be refreshed,


Today is Day #19 in the House Cleaning challenge.  The chore for today is to clean up the entryway, garage or car.  I’m going to take care of the front porch and side door entries.  Come back at 6 PM and I’ll show you how it turned out!

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Day #18 House Cleaning Update

Who loves cleaning out the refrigerator?  It’s not my favorite task, but that was the challenge for today and I’m glad I got everything straightened up in there!  I did find one “mystery”  container.  Hmmm.

The starting point:
I emptied out a few containers of left overs, wiped down the shelves and drawers, then reorganized things a bit.  
Now it looks like this:
Then the freezer before:
I organized and straightened up the shelves and baskets ~

How did your day of cleaning go?

Other posts related to the House Cleaning Challenge:
(I started with Day #5)
Day 5 Challenge Update
Days 8, 9, 10 Challenge Update
Day 11 Challenge Update
Day 12 Challenge Update
Day 15 Challenge Update
Day 16 Challenge Update
Day 17 Challenge Update

With love,