A Month of Cleaning: Excuse the interruption...

As all of you are aware, sometimes things don't go quite as we planned.  Life happens, unexpected events come up, and our plans change.  Well, entering the third trimester of pregnancy doesn't mean these things slow down,  rather it seems like they increase. 

All that being said...my "A Month of Cleaning" series hasn't been completed.  I was keeping up pretty well with the cleaning and posts until week 4 hit.  Then I just sort of hit a road bump and haven't been able to get back on track.  I do plan on finishing the series, it just may take a while.  Baby is due in January, so right now I'm really focusing on putting the nursery in order.  However, I seem to be hitting road bumps there, too.  I'll still be posting here and there, but my blog-life is going to be set aside for a while so that I can focus on more pressing matters.

I know you all are super sweet and will be very understanding with me and I appreciate that so much!

Have a blessed day!

A Month of Cleaning: Day 15

Please feel free to leave me in tips/suggestions for how to clean my washer.  I prefer to use natural cleaners, if possible.

Happy Cleaning!

A Month of Cleaning: Days 13 & 14

Upstairs Bathroom Before & After:

 I pulled these storage boxes out of the cabinet and stacked them on top to create more storage space inside the cabinet.  This helped a ton!  The items stored in them are ones we don't use frequently, so storing them up here out of the way made more sense than having them take up valuable easy-access space.

Downstairs Bathroom Before & After:

 The cabinets pictured above and below hang above my washer and dryer.

Hence all the laundry products!

Happy Cleaning!

Heaven

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:4
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How often do we take time to meditate on the wonder and glory of Heaven?  Not often enough, I'm sure.  If we did, we would always be seeking that which is spiritual, rather than the fleeting pleasures this life has to offer.  Perhaps, we would even long for our life here to be over so that we could be closer to eternal paradise.

The psalmist David thought about Heaven a great deal.  We would do well to imitate his example.  Here are just a few verses from the psalms where he focuses on heaven:

• "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork." - Psalm 19:1
• "Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds." - Psalm 36:5
• "For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds." - Psalm 57:10
• "Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them." - Psalm 69:34
• "For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;" - Psalm 103:11

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There are also many verses in the New Testament that teach us how to live our lives here on earth while maintaining a focus on heaven.  Here are a few I would like to share with you and encourage you to mediate on: 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

• In this passage Jesus warns us against becoming attached to the things of this world.  Those who have set their heart on the worldly possessions have no room for Jesus, or God the Father.  We should check ourselves to see that our heart is truly focused on Heaven and not on attaining worldly goods.  I do not believe it is wrong to have possessions, or to enjoy the fruits of our labors, but we must be careful that we do not love the things of this world.  (1 Timothy 6:9-11)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

• We must be busy doing the will of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ if we want to enter Heaven.  In order to know what His will is, we must spend time reading, studying, meditating and applying His Word in our daily lives.

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself." (Philippians 2:20, 21)

• Even though we have an earthly citizenship, we must not lose focus on our heavenly citizenship.  We must live as God commands in order to maintain this citizenship.  One sin is capable of stripping us of this wonderful blessing.  We need to have a mindset such that we will not allow ourselves to do anything that might cost us our heavenly citizenship.

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Where are you laying up treasures?
Whose will are you doing throughout your daily walk?
Where is your citizenship?

 

Hurricane Sandy: Praying

Praying for all those in the path of Hurricane Sandy.

May God be with you and protect you.

Stay up to date on Sandy and the areas impacted by her:  Hurricane Central

In prayer,

Tomorrow

King Solomon, exercising the wisdom God blessed him with, rightly advises us not to become caught up in "tomorrow" for we "do not know what a day may bring forth" or even if we will live to see tomorrow.

In the New Testament Jesus commands us, "...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:34).  God does not want us to lose our focus - HIM - by allowing the activities and agendas of tomorrow to creep into today.  James gives us a loving reminder that our life here is but a vapor and that we, being only human, will never know for certain what tomorrow will actually bring.  "Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil" (James 4:13-16).

As Christians, we need to focus on how we can serve God TODAY.  Not tomorrow, not next week or next month, but what can we do for Him today.  I do not believe it is wrong to plan for tomorrow, but we need to keep ourselves in check and make sure our future here on earth doesn't consume us so that we lose focus of our eternal future.

God has blessed you with today.  How are you going to use this blessing to serve and glorify Him?

A Month of Cleaning: Days 11 & 12

Recipe Inspiration Source:   Tub and Shower Magic

It's not perfectly spotless, and that's fine with me.  I still need to find a way to get discolorations out of caulk.  I also want to find a way to get ride of ALL the hard water deposits on the chrome fixtures.  Other than that, I'm very pleased with this process for cleaning my showers.  Next time, however, I'm going to try using Seventh Generation Dish Soap in an effort to use more natural cleaners.

Happy Cleaning!

A Month of Cleaning: Day 10

 Lower cabinets between fridge and corner.  I thought it made more sense to have the Mountain Dew stock next to the fridge than across the room.  Also, I've gone back to washing dishes by hand (we have super hard water and even with a rinse agent our dishes still have hard water spots when washed in the dishwasher) so I wanted to use the drying rack for it's intended purpose.  A couple baskets from the Dollar Tree made for a fine replacement...actually, they work better because they hold more!

 Under the sink were my kitchen cleaning supplies and a tub for recycles.  I decided to move all my cleaning supplies into the kitchen and create a space for me to store the dish drainer when I want it to be out of sight.  Still haven't found a good system for our recycles, though.

 The built-ins between the kitchen and dining room were a hodge-podge of whatever.  Now the small kitchen electronics are all together (except the electric skillet which I just got from my mom), the crock-pots are all together, and this space is much more organized, thanks to more bins from the Dollar Tree.

 Didn't change a whole lot here, just cleaned out the extra that didn't really belong.  The white basket holds a variety of recipes that are waiting to be stored in a binder of sorts.  But that's a project for when we have some extra $$, so in the basket they will sit.

 I have a tendency to save glass jars, large cans and plastic coffee containers for "that organization project down the road."  However, the kitchen isn't the most practical place to store them.  They all have been relocated so I can make better use of the cabinet space.

 I didn't change a whole lot in these cabinets.  Mostly just did some tidying up and a little re-arranging.  Thy are working pretty well for me, though I do have some plans for them down the road.

Things aren't perfect, but they're much improved.  Adding a few storage bins from the Dollar Tree really helped.  Once I have some more money to spend I'd like to add some more storage to the inside of the cabinet doors for things like aluminum foil and plastic wrap.  All in good time. :)

Happy Organizing!

A Month of Cleaning: Day 9

 Inspiration Source:  How to Clean Your Oven Naturally

Inspiration Source:  An Almost Effortless Way to Clean Oven Racks

 Inspiration Source:  Microwave Cleaning Tutorial

Happy Cleaning!

A Month of Cleaning: Day 8

These cabinets were pretty gross before I cleaned them.  But you know what is even more disturbing than how dirty these cabinets used to be...the fact that the spills and what-not were left by the previous residents.  Yuck!  Yes, I did wipe out the cabinets  before I put our things in them, but apparently I didn't do a very good job!  (Our house was a rental property before we bought it and I don't think the people ever really did much cleaning.)  I feel much better knowing my cabinets are clean and fresh and that any mess that may appear now will be from us. :P

Happy Cleaning!