MAKING YOUR HOME SING MONDAY

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing?

It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless.

Hope y'all had a great weekend! Can you believe it's nearly April? Me neither. Woohoo, bring on the summer.

As I mentioned before, I have been sick, and with two hospital visits in one week I have been laying somewhat low when I need to. However, I have been feeling lots better and most times feel like my old self again. Then there are days like today when I have moments where I don't feel well again. This has been going on since August so I know it'll pass and I'll be feeling better later.

However, this means I need to "listen" to my body. How many times do we, as women, ignore what our body says and "git 'er done?" I don't know about you, but I will almost always clean up my kitchen. Even if I have a cold or the stomach flu, I will drag myself out there and clean the sink and counters. My family will do if, but I don't want to wait until they get to it, so I will usually do it myself.

I'll bet you all have one chore that you will absolutely do, whether you feel like it or not. I know one gal who had back surgery, but she couldn't stand the fact that the laundry was not folded. So she laid on her back and folded a whole pile of laundry.

This week I don't have any big plans. I am going to do what I can do when I can do it, and not worry about the rest. It'll keep. I also probably won't be on the computer much, so please forgive me if I don't get to your blogs or respond to your comments. I do so appreciate hearing from you!

I do miss you all but I am just taking it easy, you know? If I can, I will try and pop over to your meme links but it may take me a few days to get there. Have a great week and don't forget to make your home sing!

What are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing? Please go here for instructions and/or ideas and come back here to link up to join us today! Please do not put your own Making Your Home Sing Monday Linky on your blog. As always, please don't forget to link to this post. Also, please don't forgot to leave me a comment!

TAKING A BREAK

I figured I should post that I'm taking a break. I have been sick and had a visit to the ER but I am feeling much better thanks to some new meds. However, I will be taking this week off and maybe even next week.

I am hoping to host the "Making Your Home Sing Monday" meme on Sunday. It just touches my heart when you all link up with me, and encourages me and motivates me (and hopefully others) to hear what you have to say.

Anyway, I know you already have figured out that I was taking a break (since I wasn't posting) but figured I'd at least explain why!

HELPING A CHILD GROW FROM CORRECTION- PT 2

This is part two, you can see part one here.

Work with the teachers, adults, etc., to encourage your child to have a heart of humility and obedience (when necessary) when it comes time to accept constructive criticism or correction from others. Ask how your child behaved and responded to correction when it's been given by others, etc. Try not to get on the defensive when you hear that your child has needed correction or been given constructive criticism.

I taught children's Sunday School for many years, as well as had children over to play with my own, etc. I have had to give a child a word of correction and had parents who supported me in that and had parents totally disagree and validate, defend or excuse the child's wrong actions instead.

When your child has been respectfully and fairly corrected, it is still sometimes hard to accept that someone has needed to correct them. Your child is hurting, and your mama heart hurts with them. It is easy for some parents to get angry and defensive at the correction, even if it was valid, respectful and necessary.

Keep in mind that I am not talking about some adult bossing your child around when you are right there. I am talking about when a person is in a position of authority as in a teacher, childcare worker, etc., and has an occasion to speak some needed truth into your child's life. Perhaps it is a correction needed or an attitude adjustment. I am also talking about when the correction is fair and necessary and properly given.

As difficult as it may be, there are times when we need to restrain our desire to defend and see if the criticism/correction is justified and has value. We want them to learn that there are consequences to their actions.

Over the years my children have been told not to talk during an event, don't run in church, been asked to quiet down, sit down, don't whisper during the lesson, keep your hands to yourself, etc. When the adult in question told me that they had corrected my child, my question to them was "And was he respectful to you? Did he look you in the eyes and was his response respectful? Did he do as you asked?"

Our desire must look beyond the correction and look at the goal. A heart of wisdom, self control, discipline, discernment, and being able to fairly and truthfully accept responsibility for their actions, and say "I'm sorry" when necessary, is what we desire for them.

There may be a part three (eventually). Sorry but at this point I'm not sure.

HELPING A CHILD GROW FROM CORRECTION -PT 1

Kristen of We Are That Family is hosting Works-For-Me-Wednesday again! Please pop over there for more WFMW!

I think that one of our responsibilities as a parent is to help our children learn to accept and value constructive criticism or correction. Notice I said constructive. Having someone call you "ugly" or an "idiot" is neither constructive nor welcome.

Proverbs 12:15 says "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." (NIV) We want our children to learn from their mistakes and to be teachable. Ultimately, the decision to grow from correction is theirs, but we can help encourage them. Here are just some thoughts I had:

Ask a few Godly adults, whom you trust and respect, to speak truth or correction into your childrens' lives when necessary. We have never encouraged the belief that there comes a time when your children "can't" talk to you. As parents, we wanted our children to know that they could come and talk to us about anything.

We wanted to build and strengthen the bond between us, not encourage them to believe that once they became older, they could no longer talk to us. We wanted to keep their hearts and their faith and their trust that we would always be there to talk to.

That said, there are times when children may not come to you or quite "hear" what you say as you want them to when they do, and the added opinion of another adult will add "weight" and support to the topic. Over the years there have been times when our children have voiced an opinion about something or a desire to do something that we said no to, and we have heard our friends say the very same thing to them that we have said.

Encourage and insist that your child respects the authority of the adults in their life. You may be wondering what these first two things have to do with learning to accept criticism. This lays a foundation for learning to respect the instruction and words of wisdom that are given. This must be established within the bounds of whatever safety parameters you have set, of course. Clearly, you don't teach a child to do everything a stranger says.

We wanted our children to respect the authority and instruction (again, within the bounds of safety) and yes, constructive criticism, of their Sunday school teachers at church, or homeschool co-op teacher, or a friend's parent, relatives, etc.

This is getting too long for one post, so I hope you'll come back Thursday for part two!

MAKING YOUR HOME SING MONDAY: FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing?

It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless.

How many projects do you have sitting around your house? How many "starts" do you have that are waiting for the "finish?" How many times have you started something and not finished it?

Now, ask me about the things around the house that I dragged out to do and have yet to put back. Ask me if I've finished what I started around here? Go on, ask me!

Stop.
Nagging.
Me.
Thank you.

"Finish what you started." Who hasn't heard that? So I have some Christmas decorations out that I'm supposed to be making some decisions on. Do they go or do they stay? Shouldn't I have done that at Christmas time? Why is it March and I am still avoiding dealing with them? Ugh.

I have some home accessories that I brought out in order to change up the ones I already have. But then I sort of lost my desire to do that so they're still out, along with the ones I already have out. They're staring me in the face and laughing out loud. Rude.

I have waaaaay to many baskets sitting around, begging me to either find a spot for them or let them find someone else who will love them.

I began to change my living room from its seasonal fall/winter look to its spring/summer look, then I just never went back and finished. It looks way to cluttered and some of the spring stuff is still in there with the fall stuff.

I bought a lovely metal star to hang up and it's still sitting on the floor patiently waiting for someone (meaning husband) to hang it up. Of course, my husband is waiting for someone (meaning me) to decide where it's supposed to go. (If you knew my aim you wouldn't ask about my problem with nails and walls)

I have folded socks sitting next to the telephone. Don't ask. At least they're clean.

Of course I'm still working on the spring cleaning that I mentioned last week (and I have some items just waiting to go to the thrift store to prove it). Need to finish what I started there as well.

I have clutter sitting around that doesn't classify as a project, but since I started cleaning and then stopped it falls under the "finish what you started."

Sometimes you need to sit down and evaluate whether you want to continue on with a project that you started (as I eventually did with some craft projects). People change and sometimes our tastes or likes change and we're just not "into" something anymore.

Sometimes we hold onto things for years because they are a fond memory of the way we used to be. But that often doesn't leave room for who we are today. Sometimes we have to let go of what we started, if we know we're never going to finish, in order to start something else.

So, this week I can make my home sing by evaluating and finishing what I started. I don't always get everything done that I shoot for on "Making Your Home Sing Monday" posts, but even if I get a few of these things done we'll be singing around here!

What are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing? Please go here for instructions and/or ideas and come back here to link up to join us today! Please do not put your own Making Your Home Sing Monday Linky on your blog. As always, please don't forget to link to this post. Also, please don't forgot to leave me a comment!

YET ANOTHER PAINFUL EFFORT TO COME UP WITH A CLEVER TITLE.....

I never talk to myself........well, hardly ever and I never argue with myself because I always win and I am a sore loser.

If you want this to make sense, please pop over here to the Five Mom's! Of course, I don't promise that it will make sense, exactly, but at least you'll understand the context. Hopefully.

MAKING YOUR HOME SING: SPRING CLEANING

Welcome to the Making Your Home Sing Monday meme! Every day you are doing something to make your house into a home for yourself and your family (if you have one). My point with each Monday post is, what are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing?

It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless.

What heralds Spring to you? Is it the bouts of sunshine? The lack of snow on the ground? Flowers? The singing of birds?

Spring is on it's way, people. Can you believe it? I can't.

I love spring cleaning. Don't you? I just love the "idea" of it. Did your mom ever do spring cleaning? Mine did. When I was little we had a big ole' house with three floors, and man there was a lot of cleaning to do.

My mom did most of it herself.

Yup, you heard right. Huge massive house, and my mom did most of the work. Except when spring cleaning rolled around.

Then she'd ask for help. I remember hanging rugs on the clothes line and "beating" them. Don't ask me why we didn't use a vacuum. I have no idea.

The funny thing is, we don't need to do the same kinds of spring cleaning today as they used to do. Our homes aren't filled with lamps that put soot everywhere. We can vacuum throughout the year, sweep and mop as needed, spot clean things, etc.

Still, the idea of spring cleaning is pleasing to me. A fresh start. Knowing everything is neat and in order. Windows are cleaned, the silverware drawer is crumb free, walls are spot cleaned as needed. That's spring cleaning. It's also when I clean out the cupboards, reorganize the closets, straighten up the drawers, etc.

I walk around each room and make a list of what I think needs to be done. For example, here are a couple of lists from my Summer Cleaning Frenzy last year. I also do a little each day. I don't do a marathon clean in one week, I spread it out over a few.

Marathon cleaning can wipe you out, plus the rest of the house tends to fall apart while you're hyper focusing in one room. Doing a little at a time, and spreading it out, leaves you with energy to maintain a sense of order in the rest of the house. Especially the rooms you've already cleaned.

Have you ever wanted to move just so that you can have a fresh start in a new home? Well, you don't have to move to do that. You can just start where you are and give your house a good ole' spring cleaning. That's how I'll be making my home sing for the next few weeks. Feel free to join me!

What are you doing or going to do today to make your home sing? Please go here for instructions and/or ideas and come back here to link up to join us today! Please do not put your own Making Your Home Sing Monday Linky on your blog. As always, please don't forget to link to this post. Also, please don't forgot to leave me a comment!

DON'T YOU THINK THE COLOR MATCHES HER EYES?

Sometimes, if you weigh under five pounds, life can be difficult. Sometimes you will feel small in this world, and the only thing you can do is climb onto the highest object you can find. Sometimes you have big dreams, and all you can do is stare out the window and watch life, and the occasional cat, pass you by.

Sometimes, people will dress you up in itchy, embarrassing sweaters. Then they will take humiliating pictures of you. Then they will post these humiliating pictures on their blog.

Sometimes life isn't fair.

THE TURTLE AND THE BLANKET STEALER

In case you haven't noticed it's Tuesday! So please join us over at the Five Mom's blog as it's my day to post.

Oh, and might I mention that I am a blanket-stealer? I didn't know that until my husband pointed it out one morning soon after we married. Fortunately for me he was smiling. He was also pointing out who had all the covers. Me.

That means I win, right?

He (she) who has the most blankets wins.

If you want to read the whole post please pop over here! Thanks!