Friday

A to Z of Organising our Home!


A little Round-up of things we say, do or use during the organising and housework in our home.









A  -  Accidental Reducing of Articles 

The times when you accidentally break some plates or mugs and they just have to be thrown out.

Funny how I used to be annoyed; now unless it is something special, I just think

 "that's another one of my 365 items to be decluttered in 365 Days"   -   smiley face.







B  -  Beautiful Clearouts

When you get rid of those items in the wardrobes that were there because you had paid money for them and thought you should get the most time out of them but really thought that you didn't look good in them or the wife thought the husband didn't look good in them and he hadn't realised it yet.



C  -  Careful Clearouts

Those times when you are supposed to empty out a cupboard and sort everything out and then return only some of the things but in reality you return all but maybe one!

Now I would never do that!!!!



D  -  To the Dump!

A good phrase in our house because it means something is going out of the house, garage or garden and it is more than can fit in the bin.







E  -  Easier Housework.

Yes there really are some things that help me along the way.

I use them for many, many tasks because anything that makes the work easier and done more quickly is a bonus for me.



F  -  Fred????

There are so many sentences that begin with this word when it comes to the organising of our home and mostly the answer is

"I don't know!!!!!"




G  -  Garden Shed Sort out.

Well in our case it was a bit more than that - Plus we made a video.







H  -  Helping each other?


Where is it?

I don't know.

But you had it last.

No, You had it last.

No I didn't.

Yes you did.

Well where did I have it?

I don't remember.





I  -  Inside & Not on Top of!

You know when you have designated a good drawer or container for an item and the husband comes along and just sets it down on top of the container, or the kitchen worktop.

Enough said!







J  -  Just a Little Time before Bed

That's the time I keep saying I will just do a little tidy up in the bedroom and Fred just laughs - well he has known me for all these years.



K  -  Kitchen Organising

The one place I do like to seriously think about before I move into a house and designate areas to specific tasks.

The Tea & Coffee corner being the top priority of course.






L  -  Leave me some space to sit down!

The words I have often heard when in the middle of sorting out something and I have cluttered up the entire room.

There was an entire table covered as well as the couch.






M  -  The "Man Drawer"

Yes I wrote about that last year, there is one in our kitchen but still his "things" end up in other strange places.  Plus I'm always asking the question "What is that thing?" about most of the things in the drawer.



N  -  Nowhere to put it?

That is definitely not what you hear in our house!

More like - I know I had decided where those were to go but I've forgotten again.



A to Z of Organising in our home? well trying to not fail at organising!




O  -  Opening the Post

Should mean exactly that - you open it and deal with it.
You know - throw it out, respond to it, or file it away for future reference.

In our house it gets opened and looked at and then put back in the envelope!!!



P  -  A "Place for Everything"

Yes I wrote about this one before too.





And we really will get there one day, I'm sure.
Well pretty sure.
Well really hoping!



Q  -  Quite a Productive Day

This is how I feel when I have managed to actually get more than half of my day's ToDo List completed.



R  -  Remembering.

Okay I know that certain people on reading this will just laugh and say:
Some hope!

Yes I may be always saying I forget things but I do have a few things that I need to remember when cleaning the house and not just the fact that having a coffee does not get the house cleaned.







S  -  Spread the work on Spreadsheets.

I have my Organising and Cleaning Schedule for the year on a Spreadsheet.




Fred & I both love Spreadsheets.

Trouble is I could easily get distracted away from the organising of the house once I get on the spreadsheet because it is on the computer.



T  -  Take Time for the Tedious Things Before the Coffee.

The thing we hate to do but often gives us the most sense of satisfaction when we actually get round to it is one of those tedious things that just have to be done but I can always think of another word -

procrastination and it goes well with coffee.







U  -  Unusual Uses for Simple Products.

There are things around our homes that don't only have to be used for one purpose.

We need to be a bit more imaginative and find other uses for them.
Which can actually be more interesting than using them!








V  -  Very Good Ideas

Unfortunately those are the ones that I have when I am in the middle of doing something else, or just about to fall asleep and I'm sure I will remember them because they are so good but then I have forgotten them the very next day or hour or even in 5 minutes time.




W  -   Do Without It?

The Housework?          Yes! Please!

But what about those things in the Kitchen that you just feel you can't do without.

They may be small but they are so useful.







X  -  Xtra Special Days 

The times when you get away from the house for a really enjoyable time and are completely refreshed and ready to tackle the house again.

Those breaks are xtra important in the better weather because the sun is tempting you, or in the cold dark weather when you need something to brighten up your day, or just any time because you can always find some excuse.







Y  -  YOU didn't put it away AGAIN!

Those times when we get fed up because something is not in the place we actually do have allotted for it because neither of us have put it away yet again.

How will we ever be organised?



Z  -  ZZZZZ when it's all done.

Or when we are just too tired to do any more.

Just kidding with this one because it is never done and I would claim to be tired at any time to get out of the housework and on to the funwork.



But there is always




to keep me going.







Do you have any great ideas to add that just keep your house organised or are you more disorganised like me?




Wednesday

When Can I receive Mercy? - A Dose of Encouragement


Last month I wrote about God bringing my
attention to a special song to share about His
Mercy in the post
You're Not Guilty Anymore.


Then last week I started this short series on looking at God's Mercy in more detail and covered the question
What is Mercy?





Today I would like to come back to look again at this subject and consider when God's Mercy is shown upon us.



When Can I receive Mercy?



On Salvation

God is shows mercy to us as sinners and extends His mercy so deliberately at the point of Salvation.
In fact isn't He so merciful that He wants to draw us to Salvation and has provided His perfect plan in Jesus to be our substitute at the cross.
This is the obvious time in our lives for us to witness His mercy towards us and to understand partly what His mercy entails because suddenly we truly know we are being treated with Love and not rejection and death as we really deserve.





From Creation

Right from the start of mankind God’s mercy is shown.
 All the way through the Old Testament.
 All the way through the New Testament.

His mercy was not just produced at the cross although it is His greatest sign of mercy.

Mercy is an attribute of God so has always been part of Him, and always will be part of Him.



For Evermore







Every Day

God is merciful to us every day at all times it does not stop at Salvation.
This is the part that is hard for many Christians to fully understand, often we do not feel that God can possibly continue to show His mercy to us once He has Saved us. Even though we will read about it and sing about it and speak about it we still deep down do not accept that He is always a merciful God. It is one of His attributes and He doesn’t change so He is still merciful.


"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."  Lamentations 3 v 22-23


New Every Morning what a blessing!
1. Each day we can start afresh knowing that He is still merciful.
2. Can we even experience new different examples of His mercy on a daily basis?
            Yes God is infinite so His Ways are infinite


Edith McNeil wrote the words of this song based on Lamentations 3 v 22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,

His mercies never come to an end,
They are new every morning, new every morning,
Great is Thy faithfulness O Lord,
Great is Thy faithfulness.


She was leaving us with a great prompt to help us remember that God extends His mercy to us on a daily basis.

Not only that but this song should be on our lips each morning as we rise to face the day with the new mercies He will extend in that new day.

We need to accept His mercy that is given so freely to us and be thankful for it daily.

Even when we do not feel worthy of it.

He has not put any conditions on it.


Let's be thankful for His Mercy even when we do not feel worthy of it.

And the last & most important comment is

Right Now

Aren't we thankful for that!



Enjoy this version of the song today and then go on to enjoy His Mercy.






The Other Blog Posts in this mini Mercy Series are:
What is Mercy
Where, Why, Who of Mercy
The How of Mercy




Sunday

Songs for Worship #19


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Gracious









This is Amazing Grace


Who breaks the power of sin and darkness
Whose love is mighty and so much stronger
The King of glory, the King above all Kings

Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder
Leaves us breathless in awe and wonder
The King of glory, the King above all Kings

This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You laid down Your life
That I would be set free
Jesus I sing for all that You've done for me

Who brings our chaos back into order
Who makes the orphan a son and daughter
The King of glory, the King of glory

Who rules the nations with truth and justice
Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance
The king of glory, the King above all Kings

Worthy is the lamb who was slain
Worthy is the King who conquered the grave







If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below








Saturday

A Real Noah's Ark? It's How Big? - Xtra Special Day




Yes I really do love arks and collect pictures, ornaments and some jewellery

                                        all to do with Noah's Ark.


But this time

          this Ark was going to be completely different.







I looked forward to this day all the time I lived in Belgium.

Having found out about this from the internet I wanted to get a time when all five of us would be together and could go see the Ark Replica.

This was a scale model of Noah's Ark and not just one that you could put on display inside a museum or exhibition this was one you could actually go inside of yourself because it was so large.


The Best time to go see it was while we were living in Belgium because this Ark was in The Netherlands.  The replica was moved from port area to port area all around the coast of The Netherlands so I really wanted to find a time to go see it when it was in the South West because that would mean a shorter distance for us to drive from Tervuren through the north of Belgium and into the southern area of our northern neighbour, in the part actually named Holland.





In 2010 we really had to make this happen because before the end of that year we knew we would be returning to Northern Ireland and in August all three kids came back to visit at the same time as the Ark was going to be in a place called Vlissingen which would be very accessible for a day trip.


You can imagine how excited I was to be going there and even more so because we would all be together.




Fred is so good and has always accepted the fact that I would have different "Ark Decor" around the house and the kids have often laughed and guessed that perhaps a new thing I may have got would have something to do with an Ark and occasionally they were wrong!

But I must admit I do like it when my family humour me.


It was a beautiful day for the drive and for wandering around the Ark.


Naturally because Noah's Ark had been a Safe Haven during the flood for animals as well as Noah's family we were bound to meet a selection of animals in this Ark.





But there were other things to be found inside as well which would not have been in the original Ark such as a representation of the Ark of the Covenant.






And a large mural on one of the walls depicting the creatures that would not have been within the Ark.





This was in the process of being created while we were there and we had the opportunity to watch the artist at work.





After we went home I realised from the pictures we had taken that rather appropriately we had a picture of Fred with the baby giraffe - tall and thin






and me with the baby elephants (no comments here please!)





There was no set tour around the Ark but everyone was left to walk around as they pleased with some guidance from information on the different items and some videos. 

We were able to take our time and stay as long as we liked.

There was a small cafe area with a view out of the Ark 





and we were also able to go up on the deck of the Ark and look around from there.





On the way out there was a shop with Ark toys, books, bookmarks, etc. and jewellery.

So you may have guessed that I could not resist leaving with out another momento, yes I got a nice Ark necklace.

We were still in no hurry to leave and stood around taking pictures of us and the ark and even Daniel (not a photo lover) had his phone out to take some pics which he then used some filters on and put up on instagram.






It was a fun relaxed day out together at a very unusual exhibition and we all enjoyed it.





  The Ark was very large but was not the exact measurements of the original.


Since then the same people who created this one have worked on a full size replica and have plans to take it around the world.


If you would like to have more information about this you can watch the video below





and you will also find details at their website

Arc of Noah



Wednesday

What is Mercy? - A Dose of Encouragement


Last month I wrote about God bringing my attention to a special song to share about His Mercy in the post You're Not Guilty Anymore.


Today I would like to draw some more attention to
God's Mercy.





The obvious thing might be to start by looking at
What Mercy is,

but

I think it is important to focus first on
what it is NOT!



Mercy is not:


A Gift of the Spirit.

Gifts of the Spirit are given to believers.

Mercy is extended to everyone.

Even to the people who have not accepted His Salvation, God has extended His Mercy.
Even to those who never accepted His Salvation, God gave them the chance to receive His Mercy.


A Fruit of the Spirit.

The Fruit of the Spirit is the result in believers of walking in the Spirit of God.

Mercy is not listed as a fruit of the Spirit in the Bible but rather it is one of the attributes of God it is part of His character.

"He is kind and full of mercy; he is patient and keeps his promise. . ."  Joel 2:13

As we grow and the fruit of the Spirit is produced in our lives then we will become more like Jesus and more merciful in our character because all the fruit of the Spirit are expressed when in a merciful character.


Something we can earn.

Mercy is freely given by God, not something we have to (or can) earn by how good we are or how much we do.

There is no grade of person we must be to attain Mercy or be worthy of it.








Mercy is:

God not treating us as we deserve to be treated.

We are so used to being rewarded, commended, praised or punished, rejected, attacked, condemned for our actions and words that we just naturally expect God to react to everything as others do.

But God is God 
and 
He is not like other people.

Even when in the eyes of everyone else we deserve punishment, even when we have broken God's laws, God decides what He will do so

His Mercy is
the act of  
NOT 
meeting out the punishment we really do deserve to get.



Shown in the form of several things.

There are many things that we could list here that would form part of His mercy like love, cleansing, forgiveness, and acceptance.
They are the ways we should recognise His Mercy.

It is like our mother heart for our children, we do not always punish wrong doing, we talk to them in love and explain things to them and show them the right way.
We are actually setting them examples of the type of God's Mercy.

By our mother heart for our children, we can actually be setting them examples of the type of God's Mercy



A Lifter of depression and oppression.

It is God's hand on us.
If He turned away from us when we disobeyed or didn't follow Him then His hand would not be on us and if His hand is not on us then the hand of Satan would be on us.
So each day when God's hand is on us we are receiving His Mercy in keeping the hand of the enemy from us even when we don't realise that is happening.
This means that Satan is hindered from continually oppressing our minds and bringing depression upon us.


Photo Credit: BigStock



MERCY
is

NOT

the receiving 
of the damnation that we are due 


BUT

the
offering
of a 
substitute 
to take 
our 
punishment



Are we like Jonah?

Jonah did not think the Ninevites merited the patience God was showing them and the second chance He was willing to give them because he did not understand what mercy was.

Even though he then disobeyed God and ran in the opposite direction God preserved his life, God showed him mercy.

Jonah did not have a merciful heart toward the people of Ninevah until he himself had fully experienced the mercy of God.


Even if we start out like Jonah we can also learn to recognise God's mercy toward us and in turn be merciful toward others.


Let's thank God for His mercy to us and have mercy for others stamped in our hearts


If you did not listen to the song "Not Guilty Anymore" by Aaron Keyes in the blog post last month then you can listen to it here






Join me for some more thoughts on
When Can I Receive Mercy?
Where, Why, Who of Mercy
The How of Mercy



Monday

Charlotte Name Rhyme - FREE PRINTABLE



My grandmother was called Charlotte,


     my mother-in-law was called Charlotte


          and we named our daughter Linda Charlotte,


hence the name Charlotte has some special meaning in our house.





So now in honour of the new baby


  Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge


     born to Their Royal Highnesses William & Catherine the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge








I am offering this FREE PRINTABLE of a Name Rhyme of the name CHARLOTTE

because you probably know a special girl called Charlotte too.





Don't forget to download your free printable for the "Charlotte Name Rhyme" HERE  if you have not already subscribed to Sandra's Ark


If you have previously subscribed to Sandra's Ark then you will find the link for all my Resources in any of the emails you have received from me.




 Or pin this for later:









Sunday

Songs for Worship #18


Welcome to the Sunday Series

Last year from January to June I wrote a series on
Why We Worship  where I considered an attribute of God each Sunday.


At different times people mentioned to me about a song that a post reminded them of so I thought that I would now go through those attributes again with a song for each one.






I hope you will follow along with me.



                         Looking today at 



God is Righteous









Cornerstone


My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus' Name

(Chorus)
Christ alone
Cornerstone 
Weak made strong 
In the Savior's love 
Through the storm 
He is Lord 
Lord of all 

When darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

(Chorus)

When He shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless stand before the throne

(Chorus)









If you would like to see the post from last year that this is based on please click on the graphic below










Friday

An Organised Sun Room


The Sun tried to come out on different occasions this month but was terribly hindered by the wintery conditions that kept butting in like winds and rain and sleet and hailstones.

I was tackling the Sun Room but this fact about the weather did not encourage me at all.
Though as I write this the back garden is brightly lit from the sun after another lot of hailstones yesterday.








The Sun Room


The Sun Room in itself did not need much work as there are not too many places for items to be kept.

But a few tips are always useful to keeping it organised.

1.  Think about what you want in your Sun Room
2.  Think about what you want to be able to take outside quickly
3.  Think about how to make things HANDY!







The only cupboard we have in the Sun Room is in the TV unit and it is useful for storing light bulbs which I sorted and made a note of the types we did not have a spare one of.


Also in that cupboard we keep the 3D glasses that the kids got at various times just in case we need them to go see a 3D film sometime - which really is a very faint probability as Fred & I have not ever gone to a 3D film.  Perhaps the kids should have each kept theirs for wherever they are?


Then the other main things in that cupboard are
  • a few puzzle magazines,
  • Sun Tan lotion,
  • Sun Tan wipes
  • After Sun Wipes
  • and some pairs of sunglasses.


This is a useful spot to keep these as the Sun Room opens out to the Patio and when the sun appears (for the short periods that happens here in Northern Ireland and let's face it we need to make the best opportunity as we can of those short periods of time) we can grab those things on the way out to sit on the Patio or Deck area.


The bulbs were already in a basket but these Sunny Day items were just lying in the cupboard so I got one of my favourite small Lakeland Storage Caddies for these items that we need for hopping out to sit in the sun.
You can see in the pictures above & below that it is ideal in size and that handle makes it so easy to grab.






What else might I want in that cupboard if I am going to use it daily during the next 5/6 months?

Well I decided to add
  • a post it pad 
  • a notepad 
  • and a pen 

 because those are always useful things to have at hand instead of having to run to the study.


PLUS 
there was still room for the three remotes that are needed in that room.



Lastly 
There are two other things that I like to keep in the Sun Room but they will not be in that cupboard.





A navy fleecy throw 
which is very handy if it gets a bit cooler in the evenings 
or even if I just feel like curling up on the sofa to read .







The 4 cushions for the Patio Chairs 
which I keep in a jute type bag pretty much out of sight behind the chair which sits beside the door out to the patio so that any time we are going out for breakfast we just grab a cushion on the way past.  
With our climate the cushions never stay out!



I have already written about how much I love Arks and pictures of Arks last year but now I had decided that some of these may go soon!!! but some will stay here in the Sun Room.  Some of my favourite Ark pictures just match in nicely with the style and decor of the Sun Room.




Here are two on the bookcase that holds most of our CDs



And here is another one above a window





That does not mean that some other Ark decor items will not be found in other rooms in the house of course.