Week 4: Keeping your house tidy

Today I want to bring up the topic of keeping your homes and possessions neat and tidy.

You may ask why you should keep your house clean. Well, a Queen / Princess won't live in a messy house would she? Think about it like this. You walk into a person's house, there is a pile of dishes in the sink, shoes and socks all over the living room floor and the toilet hasn't been cleaned for weeks. What does that tell you about the other person? It would tell me that they cannot be trusted to look after the possessions they have. It tells me that they cannot manage their time effectively. It also tells me that the person doesn't expect to be treated in a respectful manner.

Many women in the modern world don't have the luxury of having servants to clean their house. Most women are working a full day job, then coming home to a second job as a housekeeper.

Some people wonder how are they supposed to have a clean home without a servant and with children and husbands messing it up all the time. I don't have a perfect system for this. The best system I have found though is FlyLady. A lot of the system needs to be adjusted to suit your needs, but I strongly recommend taking a look.

It is also vitally important to make sure that everyone in your household contributes to keeping it neat and tidy. You are all living in the house so everyone needs to contribute to keeping it clean. A list can be found here on chores according to a child's age. You'll notice that children as young as 2-4 years old can help with certain chores already.

Now, I cannot give advice on how to convince children to do chores, or even another adult in the house (since I am a family of 1 right now). What I can do is give you a few tips on motivating yourself to keep your household tidy.

1. Pick a spot and keep it clean at all times. Flylady's spot is the kitchen sink. I use this spot too, but I've heard of people using the dining room table, the coffee table in the living room, the spare room bed or even the dressing table in their bedroom. Make sure that whenever you go into that room, or see that spot then it is clean. Most importantly it must be clean before you go to bed at night.

2. Pick a spot in each room. Once you have your key spot to keep clean. Pick a spot in each room of the house that gets messed up quickly. Work on keeping that spot in each room clean at all times. In my bedroom, it is my bed. In the living room, the coffee table. In the study, my desk. In the bathroom, the shelf behind the bath. In the kitchen, the sink and table. Your spots don't have to be the same as mine, but they can be if it helps you.

3. Work outwards from that spot. When you clean the room, clean the spot first then work outwards in a spiral from that spot.

These 3 steps usually get me into the mode where I can start cleaning. There are numerous resources out there that give advice on the details of cleaning. A little research through Google will bring up lots of tips and tricks.

Good Luck! I'm struggling along with you on this one!

Week 3: Exercise Regularly

I have a new challenge for you this week.  I want you to develop an exercise routine that will suit you.

You see a Queen or Princess doesn’t have all that excess flab, they are not lazy because they are royalty, they look after themselves.  Kate (who married Prince William) played field hockey (among other sports).  Even doing some stretches and walking on the spot for 5 minutes is better than nothing.  My grandmother has a very simple morning exercise routine and she climbed a mountain at 87! Granted, it was a small mountain, more of a large hill really, but she still did it!

Now, I admit, that I have never been one for jogging or any form of exercise really.  I enjoy walking, but I dislike walking while it is still cold and dark.  I enjoy Wii Fit, but I keep putting off doing it.

I am taking a challenge however.  I am joining Shape Magazine’s challenge to train to run 10km in 12 weeks.  Wow – this is going to be a big one for me, especially since running is the sport I have enjoyed the least in my lifetime.

My dad was a jogger though, he finished the Comrades Marathon and the Two Ocean’s Marathon 6 times each!

While I have no intention of doing any marathons yet, I’m definitely going to try to start jogging.  Especially since we are heading into summer here in South Africa.

So here is my challenge to you.  Find an exercise routine that works for you in this next week, then I want you to do it at least 3 times a week.

If you want to join me on the Shape Challenge here is the link to the challenge website: 

Shape 10km in 12 weeks challenge

You don’t have to do this one, but let’s do something.  Remember, treat yourself like a Queen and the world will follow.

Week 2: Look your best

Due to my holiday, I skipped last week’s post about treating yourself like a Queen.  Remember, you are a Queen or Princess in your household and you need to treat yourself like one then other people will follow and also treat you like one.

Today I want to talk about looking your best every day. 

This is a big thing for me because I’m the sort of person who will take whichever shirt is on the top of the pile of shirts, then find a skirt and shoes to match it.  If it is winter I’ll throw on a few layers to keep warm, but my entire clothing decision usually rests on what shirt is at the top of my pile of clothing that morning.

Some things that I think I should mention about myself:

1. I don’t wear make-up unless I am going on a date or I have to dress up for some reason.
2. I don’t wear heals unless I am going out for dinner or I’m going to a wedding.
3. I very seldom wear pants.  Once I was a tomboy and wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress/skirt, but I’ve changed my thinking on that recently.
4. I don’t paint my nails in any way other than a plain French manicure unless I’m dressing up for something.

I have personal reasons for these decisions that are rooted in my beliefs regarding woman and modest dress.  I am not here to lecture you, and I don’t expect everyone to believe the same as me, so I’m going to drop the topic now.

Now I am wanting to talk about us, as Queens/Princesses and dressing/looking our best every day.  Why should we look our best? 

1. If we take the time to dress and take pride in our appearance in the morning, it will overflow into our daily lives.  If we know we made an effort and we look our best, then the people around us will pick up on it and treat us accordingly.
2. Renew love with your husband (or turn heads if single). 
   1. Many of the women reading this are married to loving husbands, you owe it to him to dress in a way that he will be proud of.  If you are in your sweatpants the whole day, don’t you think he would be unwilling to bring friends or a business partner home with him unexpectedly?
   2. Many of the women reading this are single and looking.  You don’t know when your husband will be brought into your life.  I’m sure that the right man for you won’t disappear because you are wearing sweatpants to the grocery store, but how embarrassing would it be if you are in your pyjama's and he shows up at your door with a bouquet of flowers and an engagement ring? 
      1. Story Example: I heard a story about a single woman who was running a day care, normally she was in her most comfy clothes when the mom’s brought their children in the morning.  One morning a different man stopped by with one of the boys, he was the single uncle who was babysitting the kids while the parents were off on vacation for a week.  That specific morning the woman had decided to dress up nicely to pamper herself.  He fell head over heals for her, later the week he offered to stay and help her in the day care, a few months later they were married, last I heard they were still happily married.  Later he said that he may not of even taken notice of her if she was wearing her comfy clothes, and he fondly describes the ankle length denim skirt, flower blouse and ballet flats she was wearing that day.  It was only on the second day that he noticed her beautiful personality that matched the outfit.

So now comes the next question: What can we do to look our best?

1. Practice good hygiene
   1. Bath/Shower regularly (daily if possible)
   2. Brush your teeth morning and night
   3. Wash your hair as often as it needs it.
   4. Wear deodorant / perfume
2. Take pride in your outfit (but don’t become vain)
   1. Choose your clothes the night before
   2. Make sure there are no holes in your clothes (unless they are button holes)
   3. Clothes should be crease free
   4. Clothes shouldn’t be too large or two small
   5. Cover up! – I cannot stress this enough.  If you go outside looking like a street corner business woman, then people will treat you like one.  Dress respectfully and you will be treated respectfully.
   6. Wear something feminine – A pretty bow, a floral skirt, a pink shirt etc.  Just one feminine item or accessory will make you shine in your womanly glory and make you feel more lady-like.
   7. Make an effort with your hair and make-up (if you wear make-up).  If you don’t wear make-up (like me) try simply a moisturizer or face cream that is not noticeable, just doing that can make you feel like you have had a professional make-up artist do your face for the day.
3. Dress appropriately
   1. A woman in a red formal dress will turn heads at the grocery store, but it isn’t really suitable to grocery shopping occasion.  The same with a woman wearing jeans to a formal dance.  Dress in a way appropriate to the occasion.

And that is my advice.  Remember you are a Queen / Princess.  If you treat yourself like one, then other people will treat you like one.

Luke 12:15 – Greed

Then he said to them, “Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ~ Luke 12:15

Greed (noun) - Intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food.

The above verse is the one that stood out for me while reading my Bible this morning.  We live in a greedy society.  People are selfish and think only of themselves and their wealth and their power.

We live in a society where people are looking for a get rich quick scheme, where people won’t do anything out of the goodness of their hearts.  People are always looking for a way to make money from something.

Jesus warned against greed of all kinds, because there is more to life than your possessions.  For all you know you could die from an aeroplane crashing into your house at 2am in the morning, or in a car accident on the way to work.  We don’t know when God is going to call us home.  What is left?  Your children may benefit from your possessions, but because they didn’t have to work for them like you did, will they appreciate them?

I think about the problems in South Africa.  People in government positions drive around in brand new BMW’s and Mercedes Benz, but their neighbours, the people they grew up with, still sit in the rural villages without indoor plumbing or electric lights.  That is greed.  Greed for wealth and greed for power.

How am I better than these people though?  What do I give back?  People point fingers at government officials, but what are we doing to help the community we live in?  How many of us will go down to the park and start picking up the litter, then use our own fuel to take it to the garbage dump or recycling centre?  How many of us will volunteer at a disadvantaged school and teach the children to knit, sew or do woodwork?  How many of us cannot do these things to help because we are greedy about our time, the one thing we all have?

I am strongly against just giving something for nothing, because if a person get’s something for nothing then it won’t be looked after.  So offer to repaint the rural school, but get the children to help.  Remember the old saying “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Remember that when you give back.

This is a challenge to myself and those reading this… don’t be greedy with what you have, because you don’t know when God will call you home.

Week 1: Dinner fit for a Queen

To only see my challenges on treating yourself as a Queen/Princess you can visit my blog: In Ashleigh’s Palace

You are the queen of your household, unless you live with a parent/guardian, in which case you are a princess of your household.  And as a Queen or Princess you deserve to sit down to a meal as though you were one. 

So for this week.  I want you to set the table as though you are preparing for a royal guest, yourself.  You don’t have to go out and buy fancy things, use what you have got.

Here is my royal table setting:

Please take not of a few items (clockwise from 12 o’clock).

• A bottle of wine – If you don’t feel like alcohol with the meal or you don’t drink alcohol then some cranberry juice in a wine shaped bottle is great to pretend with!  I don’t know if anybody else played restaurant as a child, but I did.  A bottle of wine (make-believe of course) was always at the table from the time I was 10-12 years old.
• A pitcher of fresh water – add some lemons and fresh mint leaves for a little something extra special.
• The water goblet
• The wine goblet
• A soup spoon
• A bread / butter knife
• A dinner knife
• A soup bowl (which I used for pasta on this occasion)
• A dinner plate underneath (which I didn’t use on this occasion)
• A placemat – notice how it is just one of those cheap plastic placemats, I don’t have better than that so I make do with what I have.
• A dinner fork
• A linen napkin
• A bread plate
• Salt
• Pepper (I don’t have salt and pepper shakers, I use the ones I bought salt and pepper in from the shop)
• A butter bowl (with butter in it)

I was only feeding myself on this occasion, so I only set the table for 1 person, but I recommend doing this for yourself and your family.  If you are the Queen of your household, then your husband is the King and your children are Princes and Princesses.  It is a treat to you and them to dine like royalty.

Some extra notes:

• If you are single:  Do not do this for a man until you have been exclusive with him for some time.  He is not the king of your household until you have said the wedding vows, however that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat him as though he is a royal guest… just don’t give pearls to pigs.  And don’t treat him like a King, he is only the royal guest (like a duke, knight or a lord) you are the Queen.
• If you have a husband who won’t appreciate this:  Then don’t expect him to do it with you, but do it for yourself and the children.  I am sure that over time he will realise what he is missing out on and join you at the table… do not try and force him, just go ahead and do it for yourself, even if it is just once a week.  The Queen does not force the King’s hand.
• Haven’t seen the surface of your table in months? I recommend that you set a timer and spend 15 minutes a day clearing the table.  Then on the day that the table is clear celebrate by doing this, and doing it every meal from there on.

Lonely Places

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. ~ Luke 5:16

If anyone knew what it is like to be surrounded by people all day it was Jesus.  I don’t even know if I could imagine what it would be like to be followed around by hundreds and thousands of people.  Something that Jesus did though was to withdraw to lonely places and pray.

When was the last time you withdrew to a lonely place to pray?  This verse tells us that Jesus did it often.  How often is often? I am inclined to say as often as he needed to.

How often do you need to withdraw to a lonely place to pray?  I am inclined to say that you are not doing it as often as you need to.  I know I am most certainly not.

Something that I have noticed though, is that when I come out of the lonely place and come out of my prayer I feel refreshed and rejuvenated in my heart.

2 minutes sitting away from my computer screen somewhere quiet is all it takes to refocus my mind during a day at work.

5 minutes sitting somewhere quiet with a cup of coffee is all it takes to prepare myself for the day ahead.

And 10 minutes knitting in bed (all by my lonesome self) is all the time I need to pray for the night and day ahead of me.

Can you imagine how powerful your prayer life and spiritual life could become if you just take those extra 5 to 10 minutes to withdraw to a lonely place and pray?

I challenge you to try it twice a day for a week.  5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening – retreat to a quite place and pray.  Then if you want, post the outcome (negative or positive) in a comment here.

You don’t need to pray for people.  You don’t need to pray for anything.  Just talk to God like you would talk to your best friend.  Talk about the day ahead.  Talk about what is bothering you.  Talk about what is going on in your heart.  You may not hear him speak back, but I know that 99% of the time I feel at peace after I have spoken to him, and I believe that peace comes directly from him.

May God Bless All of my readers!

Challenge: Drinking Water (Day 0)

If you haven’t heard of FlyLady yet and you either (a) have children, (b) need to do at least some housework, (c) are not a Born Organized, (d) feel you have lost control of your home life, or (e) All of the above then I recommend you check out the following website:  www.flylady.com

I am in no way connected with FlyLady and I am not receiving any money to post this.  I’ve been fluttering along to FlyLady for a few years now and her methods have helped me stay organized and in control of my home life.  So am just an honest person telling you about something that has helped me (I have never bought any of her products though).

This month FlyLady is encouraging her followers to drink their water.  And I have taken up the challenge in my life.  I went to the this website and used it to calculate how much water I need to drink a day.  It has worked out to 1449ml, so I bought a 1.5litre jug.  I am challenging myself to drink my water on a daily basis and finish that jug of water daily.

I’m also going to report back to you, the reader, every now and then about any changes I notice in myself and my body. 

I want to know though… how many of my readers are going to join me with this challenge?  Are you going to get your family involved too?  Post a comment below if you are in!

The Sabbath

Over the past few days I have been reading Exodus.  I am now on Chapter 37, and I have to say that the one thing that has really stood out for me while reading this book is the 4th commandment.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” ~ Exodus 20:8 – 10

This commandment is mentioned quite a few times within the book of Exodus (see Exodus 43:21 and Exodus 35:2 for another 2 places it is mentioned).  It keeps coming up throughout the book of Exodus, therefore it keeps getting brought to my attention.

It is so important for us to take a break from work.  I know that if I am overworked a number of things happen to me.

Week 1: I feel my energy levels drop and I have difficulty concentrating on the task at hand.

Week 2-3: I become discouraged.  I no longer see the point in what I am doing and begin to wonder if it is all worthwhile, whether or not God really wants me in the place I am, or if there is something better out there.

Week 4: I have a full emotional breakdown and weep before God, begging him to let the rapture happen so I can be with him in heaven and get away from the seemingly pointless world I am living in.

At that time, God usually gives me rest.  He does something to allow me to rest and rejuvenate my spirit.  Most of the time that comes in a day where I am not expected to do anything except sit, relax and evaluate my life and plan for the future.

This weekend was different from the previous occasions.  I set aside time to rest and rejuvenate my spirit without waiting for my regular break-down.  From 12pm on Saturday until 12pm on Sunday I didn’t do anything work related.  I didn’t do laundry, wash dishes, clean the house, or anything.  I gave myself time to motivate myself.  By 12pm Sunday I was so relaxed and so motivated, that I actually HAD to do something with my hands, so I cleaned the kitchen.

How does this all relate to the Sabbath?  Well Jesus said:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” ~ Mark 2:27

Our wonderful Lord knew, when he made us, that we couldn’t work continuously without rest, so he made it a commandment for us to take a break.

So for this part I want to encourage all my readers to take a break once a week and do whatever you find rejuvenates your spirit, and what better way to rejuvenate your spirit than by spending part of that time by building your relationship with God.

How to lead a happy life

Life hands us lemons, so make lemonade, life might be a cactus, but that doesn’t mean you have to sit on it, and your attitude not your aptitude determines your altitude.  These are just some quotes that we hear regularly.  Basically it all comes down to accepting responsibility for yourself and your life.

A friend of mine once it explained it like this.  A 3-year old is running around the house.  He trips and falls and hits his head on the coffee table.  A parent might say “Naughty coffee table for hurting Jimmy”.  Even though it may make Jimmy feel better, it wasn’t the coffee tables fault for hurting Jimmy, it was Jimmy’s fault for running around the house.  A better response would be “Jimmy, you need to be more careful when running around the house.”

We do this in life.  We blame everyone else but ourselves for our misfortunes.  We might say “Nobody likes me, I have no friends” and we blame others for not liking us the way we are, never looking deeper than the surface of the situation to try and find the reason nobody likes us.

When we have troubles, it usually means there is an underlying problem that we are not addressing, or we are not wanting to address.  Instead of sulking about not having any friends, shouldn’t we rather be looking into ourselves and trying to figure out why? What am I doing that is causing people to hate me?  Do I smell bad?  Is it because I am always negative about everything?  Is it because I am always unhappy?

Another example:  “I hate how fat I am” – instead of sitting around all day, do something about it!  Get checked out by a doctor if you think it is a medical problem.  Eat fresh fruit and vegetables more regularly.  Get some exercise.

My point is, stop complaining about everything that is bad in your life and figure out how you can fix it.

CHALLENGE:  Write down everything you don’t like about yourself or the situation you are in where you feel it wasn’t your fault and take the responsibility for your own happiness.  Pick one thing on the list and brainstorm ways to fix that problem.  Even if that way is to forgive the person who wronged you and move on from it, then do it!  Don’t hold onto problems.

Some might be more difficult than others to fix, “I want a boyfriend” for example.  Try to figure out what can be improved about yourself to help find a boyfriend.  In a case like this you need to become the right person to find the right person.  So figure out what you want and learn to be that yourself.  Do you want a confident, positive man?  Then you need to be a confident, positive woman.  How can someone else build you up if you can’t build yourself up.  Do you want to date a hot athlete?  Then you need to be a hot athlete yourself, start jogging!  I can’t stress enough – you have to be the person you want to attract!

No matter what happens in your life, the one thing you can control is your attitude about it.  Learn to control your attitude and you’ll ultimately live one of the happiest lives out there.

Priorities and Goals

Over the past week, I have been doing some major internal reflection.  I have been thinking about what is most important to me, in the form of a top 10 list.  I would like to challenge all my readers to do the same if you haven’t already. 

Write down 10 (or more) things that take the most priority in your life.  I didn’t worry about putting them in order at that time, I just brain-stormed for things I enjoy, things that make me feel fulfilled, and how I would spend my day if I could spend it however I wanted to.  You can also include things that you feel the world around you is pressurizing you to make your priorities.

Afterwards I went through the list and asked myself:  Is A more important to me than B?  Is A more important to me than C? and so on until I had put them in order of most important to least important.

Here is my final Top 10 List:

1. God
2. Family
3. Pets
4. Health
5. Home
6. Friends
7. Garden
8. Hobbies
9. Learning
10. Career

Everybody’s list will be different with different priorities, there is no right or wrong list, this is because we are all individuals and each one of us is fulfilled by different activities.  One person may feel fulfilled by having a day sitting on the porch reading, another person may feel fulfilled by a day out in the wilderness on a mountain bike.  Mark, for example, feels fulfilled when going sailing or working on his car, so his car is quite high on his list.

The point of this is to figure out what you enjoy and do it.  One thing that makes me feel more fulfilled is doing housework, believe it or not I enjoy doing laundry more than having coffee with a friend!

After creating this list I started working out some goals for the year that will make me feel fulfilled in each of my 10 priorities.  Here they are:

1. Read the whole Bible
2. Get married
3. Buy a pet dog (Beagle or Cocker Spaniel)
4. Eat three meals a day and get 15 min of exercise a day
5. Buy a house
6. Have 3 best friends
7. Start a vegetable garden
8. Hobbies:
   1. Cross-Stitch – finish a major tapestry
   2. Lego – buy the cargo train for my Lego city
   3. Sims – Reach family generation 5
9. Learning:
   1. Sewing – Learn to sew (and sew a few skirts for myself)
   2. Etiquette – Research and practice Victorian etiquette
   3. Reading – Read a book a month
10. Career:
    1. Become a senior programmer
11. Other goals:
    1. Run in the rain!
    2. Go on a nice holiday.

Some of these goals may not make sense to many people, but these are what I want to get done this year.  What are your goals for the year?

I’d love to read your priorities and goals so feel free to email me or post them as a comment!

Godly Blessings and Thank You Cards

Dear Readers,

How are all of you doing this wonderful day that the Lord has made?  Are you enjoying the Christmas left-overs still?  Have you cleaned up the gift wrapping supplies?  Have you found time to put away Christmas gifts and find them homes?

Today I spent the whole day thoroughly cleaning my house.  It was a public holiday in South Africa.  Under normal circumstances the 25th of December and the 26th of December are public holidays but our wonderful nation decided to make the 27th a public holiday this year too because Christmas day fell on a Sunday.  It has been such a blessing to get a 4-day weekend.  Not only that, my boss has told all of us that we only need to be at work for 2 hours a day on the 28th to the 30th of December. So I'll be working from 8am to 10am each day and after that I am free to spend the day however I want.

Other than cleaning house today, I have been doing some research on etiquette.  Today I was reading up about Visiting Cards (aka Calling Cards).  I typed out a long post about them, and then I realised something else, so I put that post in a folder for another day to rather talk about thank you cards and letters.

When was the last time you wrote “Thank You” cards or letters for any Christmas gifts you received?  I haven’t done this for a long time.  I usually write one to my elderly aunt, but there are not many other people who I give the traditional Thank You card.

Why don’t many people do this anymore?  In some way’s it may be because they feel that it is no longer expected, but I think it is laziness more than anything else.

I have a challenge for you.  Write Thank You cards for every gift you received this year… including the one you received from your spouse.  For an added touch, perhaps send the thank you cards through the local postal service.  Wouldn’t you appreciate a thank you card in your post box rather than a hand-delivered one?

If you want the bonus challenge, get your children to write thank you note’s for their gifts too, and if you are a family that does the “Santa” thing, encourage your children to write a thank you note to Santa too.  It is a sign of great breeding (in my opinion), to send thank you notes.

May God bless each of you!

Ashleigh

Challenge: Recharging the batteries

Yesterday morning I slept in and only got out of bed at 7:20am.  I had 30 minutes to shower, dress, feed the pets, pack for work and get to work.  At 8:50am I headed out the door ready to start my day.  I needed the extra time to sleep this morning. BUT…

When I turn the key in the ignition of my car, the engine made a Woo-Woo sound, the gages went crazy, the mileage reset itself and I got nothing.  I try again and the same story happens.  So I phone William – he gives me a long detailed explanation on what is wrong, but doesn’t tell me what I should do to fix it.  So I pretend to listen and eventually say goodbye with instructions to send him the dealership’s phone-number. 

Second round of dumb luck, I haven’t driven the scooter for a couple of day’s and the battery of the scooter is also dead.

I phone my mom to get the dealership’s phone-number from her (since she kept the invoice) and she decides I should rather phone my uncle first.  I get hold of my uncle and he phones the place who installed my alarm.  Long story of phoning back and forth, but the end result is that the people who installed the alarm come to fetch my Ford and drop me off at work.  They replaced the battery and now I have a working car.

So this got me thinking about recharging our personal batteries.  Why is it that we usually end up waiting until we are on the brink of going crazy before we recharge our batteries?  While our endurance may be higher than that of machines, we also need our batteries recharged from time to time and occasionally we also need to go in for repairs.

There are many simple ways throughout the day that we can recharge our batteries.  Some of my favourites are to:

~ Lie flat on my back on the floor in a quiet room for 10 – 15 minutes.
~ Sit quietly in a chair with a cup of tea and not do anything except sit and drink my tea.
~ Read a book in a warm comfy bed in the evenings (or occasionally for a whole Saturday afternoon)
~ Take a warm candle-lit bubble bath.

Unfortunately, my current home doesn’t have a bath tub (only a shower), so I only get to have a bubble bath when I visit my mother.  Luckily, my future home (from the 1st of May) does have a bath tub – so you can guess what will be the first thing I do in my new home!

Question – leave a comment:
What do you do to recharge your batteries?

Challenge:
Do something this week to recharge your batteries!

Pot Challenge

William bought me a set of 3 pots.  I love them!  When William wanted to make supper a few nights ago he accidentally burnt the Tomato Soup - badly!  He didn't want to even think about cleaning up the mess, and it took me 2 days to convince him to just throw out what he could and I would clean the rest of the pot.  That burnt mess was standing on my stove for 2 days!  William behaved like a 10 year old being told to clean his room and I was the mom in the scenario.  Looking back it was quiet funny.

So, after finally throwing out the mess together (he held the packet and I scooped the mess into the packet) he left me to wash the pot.  I soaked it with boiling soapy water for 3 days (adding new boiling water once a day) dreading trying to get the layer of black off the bottom. 

When I washed the dishes today I decided that I would just see how much I could get off in 5 minutes then let it soak over night again.  To my surprise, as I started scrubbing the black stuff started moving in one big mass, and I literally was able to pick the entire chunk of black up in my hand and throw it into the dustbin.  Then the pot washed as though the soup had never been burnt!

This got me thinking about the rest of life.  Sometimes we buck God/world/other, or we dread doing things we have to do, or we are scared of change, or we want to wait for the perfect moment, or we come up with other excuses, but what we really need is to just get our hands dirty for 5 minutes.  We need to face our fears head-on, even if it is in small pieces, and usually we'll find that it wasn't so bad.

Challenge:

Do something today that you have been dreading doing – even if it is only for 5 minutes.