Company Girl Coffee

Come on in. Grab you favorite beverage and spend some time cruising the blogosphere. And, thank you for stopping here.

Settled? Good. How has your week been?

We are slowly realizing that crazy is the new norm for us, running all day and most evenings. Tuesday was especially fun since we had several activities that evening, requiring exact timing from Hubby and myself to hand off kids, pick up kids, pick up neighbor kids, ... Ahhh more kids!

Fortunately, one of the activities was Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A. Now that is the way to end one's day, a cookies & cream milkshake. Hey, it only takes two turns on the Arc Trainer to burn off.

Thank goodness for Rachel Anne over at Home Sanctuary, her Small Things keeps me on task, and motivates me to complete those unfinished projects. This week she encouraged us to dust off pull out or sewing kit and mend/adjust/add something using a needle and thread. Perfect! Hanging at the bottom of our stair rail was three Lowe's Build and Grow aprons and one AWANA vest, all waiting for new patches.

Yes, I am aware that these patches are iron-on, but I prefer to sew them on. There are several reasons for this, the first being so they will stay on. It may iron-on, but there is no guarantee that it will stay on. Yes, the sewing is a pain, literally because I keep poking my fingers. But, I know they will stay on, and if they fall off there is no guarantee I will ever get around to putting them on again.

Second, I pray for my children as I sew-on their patches. Yes, I do pray for them all day, every day, and at night. However, I think it is a great practice to spend some concentrated time praying for each specific child, and these little tasks sets aside that time.

Thirdly, by praying these mundane tasks become not so mundane, but a blessing to my family.

I do the same thing while working on projects or gifts for their classes, saying a prayer for each child while I'm working.

It also becomes a great memory exercise, and now with 3 kids in school that is 50+ kid's names to remember. Please pass the gingko biloba.

Company Girl Coffee

I'm not sure when I became a clothes and shoes girl, ... well I do know and ironically it happened when I became a stay-at-home mom, meaning one salary and a strict budget. Regardless of three children, several pounds gained, and my feet gaining a shoe size (not pretty when you started out a size 9) I've amassed enough shoes to make my husband laugh. No, I don't have THAT many shoes, anything over 3 pairs makes my husband laugh.

Regardless of when this new found love for clothes and shoes began, along with my husband's taunting, this is the time of year the summer shoes are put away and my fall/winter shoes are unpacked. It sounds easy enough, but it is so much easier to throw them in a pile and pull the fall shoes out when I need them.

Wednesday RachelAnne's Small Thing, Shoe Boogie, gave me the motivation to clean up that pile and pull out my winter shoes (they may be old but they feel new at the beginning of the season.)

So, after digging the step stool from the coat closet I put away those summer shoes. Well, except the two pairs needing a cleaning, so they remain on the closet floor. Hopefully that doesn't mean I loose my 40 points?

Have a Sit

What is better then a cup of coffee? A cup of coffee with friends. Rachel Anne, over at Home Sanctuary, has set up a little coffee clache where we meet each Friday with our latest, or earliest, Small Thing.

There are several reasons I love her blog (this is in no particular order):
1. Her cool play list.
2. The Bible verses she posts monthly (accompanied with her artwork), encouraging all of us to hold the truth close to our heart.
3. The daily Small Things encourages us to create a sanctuary in our home and our lives (hence the blog title.)
4. I hate to clean the house, and would gladly not do any of it. Home Sanctuary motivates me to do a little something each day, even on days I'd prefer to sit in front of the computer and blog (or read other blogs.)
5. And #5 speaks to all of us with a competitive gene. Each Small Thing earns you points when completed that day, the person with the most points wins! And even if you don't earn the most points, your house will look a lot better.

So come on over and join us for a virtual cup of coffee. Hey, it is Friday and if you have had a week like mine you deserve a break. Why not spend it with us?

How Does That Song Go?

CAN YOU NAME THE

FIVE DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN

THESE TWO PICTURES?

Yeah, neither can I. In fact, I'm not sure if there are five differences.

One of my favorite blogs is called Home Sanctuary. Each day Rachel Anne encourages us to create our own sanctuary through simple challenges. The challenges range from cleaning to pampering ourselves.

Today's task was titled Contain Yourself and encouraged us to organize our Tupperware cupboard, and for extra points post before and after pictures of the cupboard on our blogs. (Oh, here is the real motivator to Home Sanctuary, she assigns points to each challenge and at the end of the month the one with the most points receive a prize. This month it is some really cute wrapping paper.)

Well, above you see my before and after pictures. No, my cupboard is not always that organized, it received a reorganization a couple months ago. Surprisingly, it has stayed that way, though some freezer containers did need to be moved to the back of the cupboard and that as my main goal today.

So, that is what I did today. I'm still waiting for my husband to lean over and ask "WHY are you posting pictures of our cupboard on your blog?"