We’ve all heard the saying about how the grass isn’t really greener on the other side. We usually think of it in terms of what we have versus what someone else has. But it’s also good to remember when comparing our current stage of life with that of the past or future. I want to encourage you to think about how to love the “green grass” that’s right in front of you. In your home. Right now.
Yep that’s right. TD’s “Tah-Dah” #1–the big reveal of the back foyer redo–is finally happening, even though I think I could have used two months–on the tiniest room in my whole house!!
I don’t normally unfriend anybody. Unless I decide that maybe we’re not really anything beyond acquaintances and I’d rather my feed have more space for people I know well and want to keep up with. Even then, I usually just don’t. But if sugar were a human “friend,” I’d probably have to make an exception, even though I know sugar pretty well. Because I don’t think sugar is my friend or yours.
Continue readingA new commandment. Sounds so simple, right?? After volumes of laws detailing how we treat one another had already been narrowed down in Matthew 7:12 to “do to others as you would have them do to you,” then come three simple words: Love one another.
Unfortunately, simple doesn’t equal easy. Where laws had been previously written on stone, Jesus meant for us to wear the law on our hearts. Good deeds and flowery speech don’t cut it. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that those things are only a lot of noise unless done in love. No amount of outward law-keeping gestures measure up. It’s the simplest yet hardest command ever, akin to “be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.”
Continue readingFor many of us, marriage is an essential element of our tranquil or not-so-tranquil homelife. Since it’s the season of hearts, candies, flowers, and love, my Valentine’s gift to you is to share four principles that I pray may be an encouragement to you in your marriage.
This timeless marriage speech was of course from the movie the Princess Bride for a marriage (between Prince Humperdinck and Buttercup) that was never to be. The speech-impeded clergyman made a couple of good points, however. Marriage is a blessed arrangement, and one to be treasured.
Continue readingDo you love a good make-over like I do?? I love all kinds, but especially home transformations. I plan to use my love of all things makeover to inspire myself to show some love mostly to the interior of my home this year, since I haven’t done so in a minute (that means YEARS!!).
I’m starting this month, since I’ve used January to try to pick myself up and dust myself off from 2020, as well as to PLAN! So let’s think of this as the Extreme Home Makeover: Low Budget Edition. Imagine if Ty Pennington were working alone and only with the money in his pocket… one room at a time, and he didn’t have any serious carpentry skills…
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Does the thought of planning make you feel weak in the knees? The idea of goal-setting make you feel queasy? And resolutions–are they just a setup for certain failure?
Continue readingHappy New Year, y’all! After the year that was 2020–I’ve heard so many other metaphors for it, but we’ll just call it a “year”–I let Christmas linger a bit into the new year. (Just got my tree down a couple of days ago!) I’ve been feeling like we all need a little extra dose of the “Peace on Earth, good will towards men,” that the angels were talking about–you know the ones who appeared to the shepherds on that first Christmas…?
Speaking of peace on Earth, one of my favorite Christmas carols contains the line, “And in despair I bowed my head. ‘There is no peace on Earth,’ I said. ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on Earth, good-will to men!’” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned these words following personal tragedy as well as during a particularly bleak time in our nation’s history. But how true they ring today… no? HWL’s poem is shockingly relatable! Some days it just seems like the hits just keep on coming and the whole world has gone crazy.
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Do you have a designated landing place for Christmas cards as you receive them? Or do they take up residence on any nearby flat surface? Do you have an easy way to display them?
I’m going to share a super-simple tip for those of you who like me from time to time forget the number one rule of organizing: A place for everything and everything in its place. Why do we ever forget it? The most wonderful busy time of year, coupled with stressors like… well, 2020. I’ll just leave it at that.
Do you ever wonder if there is a better way to brew your coffee? Have you ever had a pour-over coffee? Have you ever considered using such a pared-down method at home?
I know, I ask a lot of questions, but this is important! It could affect how your whole DAY begins!!
After experiencing a growing dissatisfaction with each successive coffee-maker I’ve owned over the years, and being unwilling to go the pod route (so much waste!), I went in search of a new groove for my morning routine.
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