Thursday, March 17, 2011

Small Successes (Vol 26)

1.  I am kicking some serious butt in getting this house in order.  I got this app for my iphone called Home Routines that is actually helping me get my home clean in tiny increments.  The home is divided into zones, a la Fly Lady, but it is much less stressful than Fly Lady because there aren't as many tasks. It's pretty basic, which is what I need.  This week is Bathrooms. I have 3, so I took 1 day for each bathroom to get the sink, toilet and bath clean, then 1 day to clean all the floors.  So it took me 4 days, but they are cleaner than they've been in months, dare I say, years! I added on master closet to this zone because it's a disaster, so that is tomorrow.  Baby steps.

2.  I've also been getting so much more accomplished in my daily life since I took the 30daypush.com challenge.  It was a pretty simple challenge, but it really has helped me focus on setting my goals and lining my priorities with those goals.  It's been a blessing and I highly recommend it to even the most organized of people.

3.  For Lent I found Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl at St. Patrick's parish.  For some reason, my parish doesn't participate in this program, so I was very happy to happen upon it at St. Patrick's (Happy St. Patrick's day, by the way).  I was trying to think of a way the kids could participate in this because they don't get an allowance.  I decided to use it to teach the kids about redemptive sacrifice.  For every sacrifice they make, they put one bean in the jar.  Each bean is worth 25 cents. At the end of Lent, we will count the beans and put that much money in the rice bowl.  It's been pretty good because when me they are having difficulty obeying or accepting no for an answer or whatever, I remind them of the hungry children who will be fed because of their sacrifices.  That might sound strange, but really it's helped the kids think outside of themselves.  Kevin and I are also using the jar for our sacrifices.  When you really pay attention to all the little things we do everyday, it's amazing the amount of things we can offer up as prayer for others.

Now head over to Faith and Family Live to share all the small successes of your week!

4 comments:

  1. We've done the Rice Bowl for as long as I can remember & the munchkins really love giving to it each year. Last year, when I told them I was turning it in & it was their last chance to put anything in, they all ran to grab their banks & gave most of their money. What a great way to teach them about those in need!

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  2. That's a great idea to use the beans for the Rice Bowl. We would often get one and get started, but could never seem to make it to Easter Sunday.

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  3. Good for you for getting more organized! I'm still working on that. My problem with the Home Routines app is that I keep addding tasks!

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  4. Loved this list - GREAT successes! Much love!!

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"Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." ~Colossians 4:6 (NASB)