Day 11-Martha Challenge

I did take down all the living room curtains with the help of Emily. We wiped down and oiled the wooden dowel as well.
Lauren had just cleaned the living room windows a couple weeks ago. So done.

Day 10- Martha Challenge

I had to split Day 10 into a few days. My living room scrubbing is taking a lot out of me. I worked on one wall and then went to a baby shower and worked 8 hours.
Today I scrubbed half of another wall but all the furniture I moved was filthy and I unearthed a lot of dust bunnies. I scrubbed out the inside of my coffee table which is three wooden cubbies and 2 doors. I still have far to go. Monday is the actual day of this challenge. I'm not sure I will finish but will try to break it into manageable chunks in between VBS drop offs, piano lessons, VBS pick up, more piano lessons and teaching a class in the evening. Scrub, scrub, scrub.

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Day 9- Martha Challenge

Todays' Challenge has us finishing up in the kitchen. Woo Hoo! I di the floor which is always very difficult for me. I never really feel like it's clean unless I get on my hands and knees and clean it with a scrubby sponge and towel. I wind up hot, sweaty and worn out. I did it anyway. Now the kitchen nearly sparkles.

I forgot to mention on my challenge yesterday while cleaning out the drawers in the kitchen I had an interesting find. We have a cabinet with a stack of four drawers. I guess I had not taken all 4 drawers out at the same time before and we found all kinds of things that got pushed into the back of the unit. My husband took out grocery bags, trash, straws and 3 sippy cup lids. Not unusual? Well my "babies" are 21, 13 and 11. Who knows how long those lids were back there. No wonder I always had cups and no lids. Apparently that is where all the sippy cup lids go to escape. I was fully expecting him to start to pull out all the socks we haven't been able to find over the years.

Day 8-Martha Challenge

Well this was a bright spot in the challenge for me. It taught our family quite a lesson. There are several drawers (silverware, utensils, towels) that I have regularly been cleaning out. I knew this would be a great teaching moment so I had my kids time me on the drawers that were maintained. It took about 2-3 minutes to empty, wipe out and reload. The drawers that were not maintained took about 10-15 minutes. Some were so bad that they needed to soak and I just put all the junk in a bag to deal with later because none of it belonged in the kitchen.

The lesson was if we maintain our home the cleaning of it will be faster and easier. When we let our homes go then it takes a lot of time and elbow grease to get them back in order. In fact this can be said for hearts as well. When you spend regular time with the Lord your heart is ready to hear from Him and ready to obey. When you allow a lot of time to go by without digging in His Word or speaking to Him your heart just needs a lot more tending.

Day 7-Martha Challenge

I did it! I did it! I pulled everything out of my pantry. My husband vacuumed it out and I wiped down all the shelves. I put everything back in this morning after work.

That challenge was really eye opening. I thought I had somewhat of a system but apparently it was not very effective. I found 4 jars of honey not including the ones in the tea cabinet. I found 4 bags of powdered sugar. Last week when my son had his birthday, his sister and I were discussing frosting and almost bought powdered sugar because we didn't know we had any. Oi!

I feel like I am earning money because I am finding and grouping foods and suddenly have a lot of menu ideas.

I feel like I'm losing weight as I get rid of unneeded and unused items and garbage. We have made 2 trips to Goodwill and taken out 3 bags of trash from the kitchen and I feel like I have personally lost 20 pounds.

I feel like I can think more clearly. They say a clutterd home is a sign of a cluttered mind. Well conversely my ordered kitchen is reflected in my ordered thinking. When I open up my cabinets I feel a cool breeze flow through my mind. I know the rest of my family feels it too because when they open up the pantry they take a deep breath. My eldest is not due home for another week and a half. I'm hoping she feels the same way too. Because I love an ordered home but really am hoping to bless my family with a well functioning and ordered home. They don't need to notice it. They just need to not notice all the clutter and lost time spent looking for lost items.



I already started on today's task and I think this one will be just a bit easier. The last few days have been really hard work but tit's worth it and everyone is learning to tolerate the process. Tomorrow is the last day in the kitchen. If I can get our computer to work with our camera I will post after shots of my kitchen.

Off to dig up lost treasures in drawers.

Day 6 - Martha Challenge

Who knew I had 6 bottles of poppy seeds. Well now I know and I guess you do too. Well at least I had 6 bottles until this newest challenge: To clean out the kitchen cabinets. Whew!!!! This one took hours and hours. I spent 2 hours Friday, 2 hours this morning, 1 hour this afternoon and my husband is helping me with the last cabinet as we speak. We have 16 kitchen cabinets. Some of them I am ashamed to say haven't been cleaned out in the 13 years we have lived here. I couldn't even reach the backs of them and my husband again rescued me. What a dear soul.

We have taken out 2 large bags of trash and have 1 huge bag for Goodwill.

Mary challenge was very effective. My husband and I used it on Saturday and will continue to do so. He got more done on Saturday than he has in the last 4 weeks put together. It gave him a lot of focus. Yay!!

Day 5-Martha Challenge

Today is my son's 13th birthday. We celebrated during the day as I need to go to work this evening so not a lot of time to elaborate on the Mary challenge but the Martha challenge is done.

I cleaned the kitchen window and when we went to remove the window treatment I noticed the curtain is hugely torn. My husband told me to replace it not repair it so I bought the above valance from Amazon.

Mary Challenge-priorites God, husband, children, home. I know there is more with ministries, friends, hobbies, etc but I have so much to concentrate on with the main 4 I want to concentrate on those before I add more priorities. Thank the Lord it is summer and I don't have to add schooling to the priorities. Whew... off to work.

Day 4-Martha Challenge

Whew that was a tough challenge. Cleaned out the oven and broiler. It's not perfect but it is super improved.

I also cleaned the microwave and because I generally keep this one up it is fairly gleaming!

Mary challenge completed as well.

See you tomorrow. (It's my son's 13th birthday so we'll see how the challenge goes...

Day 3-Martha Challenge

Yay!! I wiped down the top of the fridge and all my kitchen cabinets. I have a lot approx 20 cabinets and a large pantry so this took a bit. I was worn out and they were neglected so I did the best I could and as I keep on top of it I can get layers off. They are shellacked wood so you can't scrub too much. The resin starts to soften and come off.

I also did the Mary challenge but the answers are private as the family was sharing their heart. This is my blog and not theirs so I will keep the comments private.

Day 2-Martha Challenge

I love this challenge. I had a very busy day and did not have any time home until 7pm. I need to go to bed at 830-9p because I work the night shift tonight. I would have not done any house work but because of the challenge I pushed myself a bit.

It was quite challenging and seemed overwhelming but I just kept at it and now we have a gleaming fridge and I am thankful.

Off to sleep and another day.

Day 1 -Martha Challenge

Allposters.com by Moulton


Day 1-31 Days to Clean
Mary Challenge: Here is my mission statement. I did it up in many colors and put little drawings throughout but here it is:

I want to make our home a haven so:

-my family can rest and be blessed. Mike can be encouraged and recharge. He can inspire and be inspired

-my children can grow in grace and love to flourish in this world as faith-filled members that are well equipped for all God has for them to do.

-We can glorify God in all that we do

"A noble woman watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness" Proverbs 31:27

"She set about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for the task" Proverbs 31:17

"God is able to make all grace abound in you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

Martha Challenge:Completed