#9 ABC's

  *P*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Priority

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see this word?  When I see it, I think of the word FIRST.  Do it first.  Get it done before anything else.  Everything else should come second.  

For thirty years we have been living our lives where church AND home are priority....neither one is more important than the other.....but that's a different blog post!

buying cooking dressing caring loving coming going swimming shopping teaching driving cleaning eating ironing leaving coming selling blogging tweeting pinning facebooking drinking grilling sweeping mowing gardening fixing sewing crafting reading writing toodling piddling toasting scrubbing studying de-cluttering changing decorating washing hanging wiping shining waxing freezing defrosting baking

Everybody I'm sure could add a few verbs to this list.  And different days call for different things to be first.  You are called on as a *keeper-at-home* to know what needs to be done firstly....and then in good order after that.  I have a neighbor that keeps her house as neat as a pin.  Oh, she must be an old lady with no children.....no, she has four and her house looks like a magazine.  Well, SHE must have elves.  I don't think she does because I would hear them and see them.  She just must have more hours in her day.  No, if her days were longer, mine would be too because we live so close.  She must be filled with energy and plans.  And good priorities.  Yes.  That's it.

I have always been the type of person that likes to tidy up and have things in order, THEN go have fun.  If you order your day correctly, you can pay bills, iron, scrub AND go to Taco Bell.  I think we think we deserve more play time than we really do.  It's almost like somebunny trying to lose weight that had a hard day then rewards themselves with a couple rows of cookies.  We are very good to ourselves to the too often exclusion of getting our *stuff* done.  We can always find something else to do, somewhere else to go rather than the back restroom that needs attention.

Every day IS somebunny's birthday, but not YOURS.

  We need to find joy in *making a house a home* type things.....

If you don't enjoy buying groceries, think about NOT being ABLE to buy groceries.  If Thursday is grocery day, then make a menu on Wednesday and have everybody geared on Thursday morning to GET groceries, whether they are staying or going.  

(could not liking to do housework keep us from making things that pertain, a priority?)

 I do not find joy in cooking.  I have a kitchen because it came with the house. (and it's a nice one, thanks Daniel)  I don't collect recipe books, I'm not excited around the holidays to make new desserts, and I am Plain Jane when it comes to a menu.  Don't think that just because I like to clean the garage, that I like to do everything.  I don't.  The above picture is an AOK breakfast for me, I don't even need a stove!

 We are not two year olds, we should be past wanting to run and jump and skip and play and eat candy  all day long.  Know what is a priority for the *day* and do IT, then act like a two year old.........wait.  Better not.

accomplish, achieve, bring about, carry out,  carry through, commit, complete, execute, finish, fulfill, perform, transact, work out.........synonyms for DO.

*Q*

Quit.  Just quit.

Quit letting things pile up.

Dishes and laundry are going to be what makes or breaks some women in the home.  When these two things are piled up, everything else seems to fall apart right along.  These two things are USA universal.  It's going to happen in your home.  Dishes and Laundry.  Every day.  No matter what.  You could wear the same clothes for a month and not eat, but then you would just have other problems to deal with.....

I think that you may as well make a friend with these two chores.  They will never go away, so you may as well try to have a welcoming heart.  Hating something does not get it done.  You all know that.  You've tried it and it doesn't work.

Proverbs 31:17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.


I am thinking that having your nails done to the point that you don't want to break them and get them wet or chip the paint is not a very good way to strengthen your arms to do the work you need to do.  That's just my opinion, but I thought I would stick it in here.  We should always have an apron on in our mind, and be happy for it....

Eating causes dishes.  Cooking causes dishes.  PEOPLE we love cause dishes.  Family time cause dishes.

I've often thought if I wish long enough that I didn't have to do something unpleasant, that the Lord just may see to it that I don't have to do it anymore.  We are a family of 8 as far as our family tree goes, but we are really just a family of 4 now.  I used to cook and do dishes for a family of 8............yes, the older kids did dishes, but that doesn't mean I was on the couch eating peeled grapes.  When my 11 year old's were doing dishes, I was right in there with them wiping up the water they splashed and reminding them to do the cups first, and the skillet last. 

To stay on top of your dishes (ha), do NOT let them pile up.  For a young mother with lots of littles, keep a pan of water fixed up all day and do dishes as they get dirty. If you can't get to the dishes..... ALWAYS rinse them  before putting them on the cabinet to be washed, use a fun little scrubby brush you got from the Dollar Tree on macaroni and cheese in a bowl.....it will make all the difference in the world when it's time to wash that little dish.  Use your minutes wisely.  If you always endeavor to keep the cabinets cleared off and cleaned up........then that's what you will wake up to, that's what you will come home to, that's what you will walk around all day and enjoy.  A nice kitchen.  

If you have a dishwasher, load it all day long.  Rinse and load, rinse and load.  From what I've seen, you can have THREE dishwashers and 7 teen-age girls...........and still have piles of dirty dishes.  It's up to you WIFE to see that the kitchen is nice and tidy.  (don't forget to buy nice dishrags and fun d.w. liquid)

I love to do laundry.  
I almost got a job doing laundry at a hospital.  Good thing I didn't.  I may have just stayed there.....and I'd rather be in Texas.    

I've seen women that couldn't keep up with laundry if they had those 7 teen-age girls and THREE washers and dryers.  It isn't the appliance, it is YOU.  It isn't time, it's YOU.  It's something that is not fun, so it gets piled up.  Case closed.  Going to thrift stores doesn't get piled up.  Neither does coffee.  Or shopping for shoes.  Or sitting out back with lemonade.  

PLEASE do not think that I don't understand that people get sick, we have to make unexpected trips, babies and dogs throw up on pillows, we are gone for four nights in a row, the roof is leaking and the washer is on the blink............those things happen once in a blue moon.  If our laundry gets piled up because of a hurricane run, then so be it.  I'm not talking about those kinds of days.  I'm talking about days where nothing extraordinary is going on.  Our normal days.  What exactly is it that makes laundry pile up when nothing is going on?  

Do NOT let your laundry pile up.  If you have a washer and dryer, you are SO blessed.  If you have a room for your washer and dryer, you are SO blessed.  I do know what it feels like to have four littles and have to run to the apartment laundry-mat. I haven't always had a clothes-line, a huge washroom and two drying racks.  

You need four baskets.  

dark clothes

light delicate clothes

towel load

sheets and table-cloths

When one gets filled up, do some laundry.  If you do laundry at different times of the day and week, you will never find yourself spending a WHOLE day on laundry, and possibly having to involve your husband.  Why would your husband have to be involved in laundry unless you can't drive and he has to take you somewhere to do it?  It's easier to put clothes up on a line if it's just one load.  I don't know whether I would want to hang out 7 loads in one day..........If you wash *like* clothes with each other, they all dry in the dryer at the same rate.  If you mix table cloths and jeans together, one will be fried and the other damp.

Or you could do it this way.............throw everything in random spots around the house, including wet towels, then when you need something, search for it and make a load of whatever you grab.  If you do this enough, all of your clothes will surely take on a gray hue.  Dry everything until it's practically fried or melted, then put it in a basket and just pull out what you needed to wear to the ball.  The other stuff will be in wads and wrinkled to put on the kids or husband.  Nice.  

UGH.  I have a picture somewhere on Picasa.........I took a picture of three old timey snap-shots from when James took trips to Ghana and Panama.  One is of a lady in a kitchen........she had a table and a window and a smile. There were just a few dishes on that old table, but she looked mighty happy.  The other is a picture of a lady in Ghana bent over doing laundry in a bucket, outside.  And we can't keep our dishes done and our laundry bright and sparkly with all the things we have to help us along our way?  Be thankful and take advantage of the time savers we have in this country.  Do your dishes and laundry FIRST, then go to a thrift store.