15 Minute Tasks for the Week

If you’re just joining us this week, this program is set up so that you can jump in right where you are!  You may want to subscribe to email updates or follow along on Facebook so you can keep up with each week’s new tasks.

We're back after a couple week's break from our 15 minute cleaning and organization tasks.

This week we're going to finish up in the bathroom.

Monday

You get to skip Monday since I'm late getting this up!  🙂

Tuesday

Head into the room with a trash bag.   Work your way around the room clockwise and go through every shelf, drawer, nook, and cranny.   Be sure to go through products in your shower, look through your makeup, etc.  Don't skip anything.  Be honest with yourself and throw away items that you don't use.

Wednesday

Set your timer for 15 minutes and begin organizing one shelf or drawer at a time.  Place like items together and use baskets or bins to hold smaller items.  Check out my Organizing board on Pinterest for more ideas.

Thursday

Work for another 15 minutes on organizing your shelves, drawers, and cabinets.

Friday

15 more minutes of organizing, and you should be finishing up in the bathroom.

Saturday

Make a list of projects that you would like to complete in the bathroom as well as the materials needed.  Maybe it's hanging new towel hooks or doing some redecorating.  Get it all on paper so that you will be more motivated to get it done.

Is your house starting to look clean and organized?  Just think, we haven't even finished three months of the year — you'll be able to accomplish a whole lot more by the end of the year!

What I Learned From a Week With No Internet

While having a computer with internet access is almost a necessity these days, we all get distracted with it sometimes, don't we?  We sit there in front of Facebook,  Pinterest, blogs, or whatever it is you like to look at, and end up sitting there longer than we intended.

When my computer's modem broke last week, I thought it would be a huge blessing.  I would be forced to stay off the crazy computer and focus on more important things.  It would be a breath of fresh air to not even sit down in front of that screen.  I thought I might even have the chance to see for sure just how evil that computer was and decide to get rid of it for good!

But I learned a different, very important lesson.

It's not the computer that's the problem.  It's me.

Computers and internet are incredible tools.  They help us do all sorts of good things, like preparing Sunday School lessons, blogging encouragement to Christian women, and staying in touch with long-distance friends and far-off missionaries to name a few.

But they can be huge time-sucks too.  We get on Facebook to say hi to a friend from church that we didn't see on Sunday or to read the latest update about an injured teenager we know, and the next thing we know it's been half an hour.  Then we need to hop over to Pinterest to look up that recipe we were planning to make for supper.  Another half hour gone.  It's so easy to get lost on the internet even when you get on with the best of intentions.

You can see why I thought it would be nice not to even be able to get on.

But here's where the story didn't turn out like I thought it would.

First, it was terribly annoying not to be able to take care of things that needed to be taken care of – paying bills, sending emails, making a couple purchases, etc.  I think having internet is getting to a point where it could actually be considered a necessity.

Second (and this is the part I don't like),  I found out that I can find ways to waste time even without getting on the internet!

I am a born procrastinator!  I hate it!  Without even thinking about it, I find myself doing the least important things possible, instead of doing what I really should be doing.

Furthermore, when I do have some legitimate “down time”, I automatically seek out something entertaining rather than edifying.

I made a promise to the Lord years ago that every day I would not look at any type of media (books, magazines, movies, computer, etc.) unless I had already spent time reading His Word and praying.  I haven't kept that promise perfectly, but I can honestly only think of a handful of days where I haven't.

But, here's the thing.  Is there anything wrong with reading my Bible two times a day?  Three?  What kind of a person would I be like if I ran to spend time with the Lord every time I had a moment to sneak off?

As I think back to the days when my husband and I were dating, I can say for sure that I took full advantage of every possible opportunity to be with him.  He was a dorm student at a local Bible college, and I was a commuting student, living only about 5 minutes away.  I was in that cafeteria sharing every meal that I could with him.  We were allowed a certain number of hours of dating every week, and you better believe we used up every minute.  If I knew he was going to be somewhere, I would purposely make sure I ended up in the same place at the same time, even if all I had time to do was to say a quick hello.

If I can be that in love with a man, should I not be even more in love with the One who gave His very life because He loved me?  And if I'm truly in love with Someone, wouldn't I want to spend time with Him every chance that I had?

Instead I've found the ugly attitude of  “Well, I've already read my Bible today, so I shouldn't feel guilty doing something fun right now.”

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with entertainment, as long as it is wholesome.  Everyone needs some rest and “down time” occasionally.

But I am wondering what kind of person I would be if I had such a passion for Jesus that I couldn't keep myself away from spending time with Him — if I went apart to spend time with him because I wanted so badly to be with Him. (Psalm 42:1)

No, friends.  The computer is not the problem in my home.  It's me.

I am begging God to continue to do a work in my heart – to give me more of a desire to be with Him and to be like Him.  However, I must also remember that love is an action.  With that in mind, I will be making the choice to spend time with the Lord during my down times, even if I feel like I'd rather do something entertaining.  I think the results will be better than I could ever hope for.

What about you, my dear readers?  What would our nation be like if we all got a passion for Jesus and just couldn't stay away from Him?  I believe that's when we'll see revival.  And it can happen.  But we must make the choice to love him.  Our love must be based upon action, not feeling.

What will you choose to do today to love your precious Lord?

Lessons from a 5 Year Old

I'm always learning something from my kids.  Sometimes it's because they're just not afraid to say things as they see them.  Sometimes it's because they see the world from a different perspective than adults who like to over-complicate things.

I think I may have to start a regular series on things I've learned from my kids.

Today my little boy said, “Mom, if people are poor and need clothes and food, and we don't help them, we're disobeying God, aren't we?”

I had to agree that he was right and then quoted James 4:17 to him: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

The Bible is clear that not doing right things is just as much sin as doing wrong things.

But, maybe we feel that we're excluded because we don't personally know anyone that needs clothes or food.

In our minds, ignorance is bliss.

But ignorance is actually sin.

If you truly wanted to find someone to help, you wouldn't have to look very far.  They're living in your community. They're homeless, living their life in a vicious cycle of hopelessness.  They're your co-workers, experiencing marital problems.  They're your neighbors, depressed and feeling like life is pointless.  They're the children playing in your neighborhood, with parents too busy to care about their physical or emotional needs.  They're the unwed pregnant mothers, faced with difficult decisions.  They're cashiers at the grocery store, addicted to drugs, and finding their life spiraling out of control.  They're members of your very own church, struggling with financial stress, but you haven't cared enough about them to get to know them and their needs.

God forgive us.

Quick Update

I'm afraid I may end up rambling around with this post.  I've gotten out of the groove of blogging after not having any internet for a week.

I'm still alive over here, though, and hope to get back into the routine tomorrow.

It's 3:45 pm, and as much as I love and appreciate my readers, you're not #1 on my list on priorities.  (Sorry to break that to you.)

My husband and I were talking a couple nights ago about how we can actively, intentionally reach some spiritual goals.  Instead of saying, “I wish I would spend more time reading and memorizing God's Word and praying; I wish I would be a better spiritual teacher to my kids, etc.”, we tried to come up with an action plan to actually fulfill those desires.

I also asked my husband if there is anything I can do to help him grow spiritually.

The main thing right now that would be the biggest help to him is to get myself well physically.  (I'm working on that, and praise the Lord I found some doctors who really “get it” and who will spend as much time with me as they need to in order to get these crazy hormones of mine balanced out and take care of the resultant autoimmune conditions, nutritional deficiencies and chronic fatigue syndrome.)

As the foreman at a cabinetry shop, he often puts in 12 hour days, then comes straight home to help me finish up housework and laundry and sometimes cook supper.  He's always worn out, and as I talked about in my last post about our healthy living journey, he doesn't always get a lot of nutrition from his food.  That doesn't leave him much time or energy to spend time with the Lord, even though he does make every effort to find times throughout the day to do so.  If I can get to where I can take care of all the household responsibilities again, he will have a lot of time in the evenings to spend with the kids, spend time with the Lord, and simply rest and be rejuvenated.

But today is not one of my “bad days”.  I am feeling fairly well.  I don't want to be sitting at a computer screen when I can be a blessing to my husband by getting a healthy supper cooked at a reasonable hour so he can be strengthened with food,  rest from the responsibilities of a long day at work, spend time with his children, and get to bed at a decent hour so that he can be awake and alert during his morning time with the Lord.

So, after a little rambling, I'm off.  Off to be a blessing to my husband, thanking the Lord for this opportunity today, and praying that soon this will be the norm.

I’ll Be Offline For a While

A curious little 18 month old turned off the power strip where the modem was plugged in.  When I turned the power back on, somehow it fried my modem.  I have no internet for the time being until I can get the modem replaced.  Be back soon!

Time, Money, Health (Part 6)

If you missed the other posts in this series, you can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, and part 5 here.

You may have been wondering if I was ever going to finish this series!  There just always seemed to be something else that I needed to post!

I ended part 5 by telling you that things were going extremely well.  We were eating healthier meals.  Our grocery budget was lower than it had been in a long time, and I was ready to settle into this well-balanced plan for the long haul.

However, around that time I realized that the extreme fatigue I was experiencing was not going away.  In fact, I began getting worse.  I would have to sleep 10 – 12 hours at night just to function the next day.  I could do the basics of feeding and taking care of the kids, but by their naptime I was shot.

I decided that since the doctors weren't really doing much to help me, I was going to have to try to take things into my own hands.

My healthy eating must not be enough, I decided.

I determined that store-bought meat, produce, and dairy products must not be giving me the nutrition I needed.

I began purchasing all of these products from local farmers.  Our grocery budget doubled, but my husband and I decided that in the balance between time, money, and health, our health had to hold more weight.  (Plus, even with a doubled grocery budget, we were still only spending a maximum of $400 a month.  That's still not bad for a family of 5 eating organic, local food!)

I bought organic whole wheat flour and oats in bulk.  I began making our own bread and making oatmeal or eggs for breakfast.

I began making the drive 30 minutes away to pick up raw milk from a local farmer.

It was summer, so I was purchasing produce in bulk and canning, drying, and freezing things so that we could have healthy food available through the winter.

I drove hither and yon to get clean meat from whoever happened to have it available that week.

I read and read and read articles about how bad this ingredient is for you, and how good this food is for you.  I turned up my nose at certain items that I used to toss into my grocery cart without a thought.

I did all of this while I was still suffering from the extreme fatigue.

Soon, I was absolutely overwhelmed.  And tired.  Just plain ol' tired.  I couldn't keep up with the pace of living like this.  I was torn.  I wanted to keep toxins out of my body and put only the good things in, but it was so much work, and I just didn't have the energy!

It wasn't long before my husband's diet was worse than it had ever been.  The kids and I would scrounge up some cheese, yogurt, nuts, and whatever few healthy foods we had that didn't require any work.  I stopped cooking substantial dinners because I didn't have the energy to prepare it, but I didn't want to go back to the store-bought foods either.  My poor husband was hungry all the time.  He'd buy chemical-laden sausage biscuits at work for breakfast and get a candy bar out of the vending machine for lunch.  My healthy living plan was backfiring big time.

We had some talks, and I had to agree with my husband that I definitely had not achieved that delicate balance of time, money, and health.

We made some decisions and came up with a plan that would work for our family's particular situation.

Next week will be the final post in this series, and I will share with you what that plan is.

You may want to subscribe to email updates or follow along on Facebook so you don't miss it.

(In the meantime, I will tell you that all of that nutrition I was trying to get into myself was not doing making me feel any better because I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  All the thyroid-boosting things I was eating were being blocked by the disease.  I'm going to a specialist in Atlanta this week to start a program to try and help me overcome it.)

Tell me your thoughts!  Where is your family on your healthy living journey?  Have you ever tried to be so healthy that it backfired on you?