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I really love Amazon.
We have had a Prime account for several years and use it for everything from coffee to toilet paper, books to home decor, music to movies. Some day, I will talk to you about the joys of Amazon's "Subscribe & Save" program and my new-found love for Audible. Some day, I will talk to you about how amazing the Amazon app is and the fact that I have a dream to sell a children's book I wrote on Amazon someday.
Amazon has a host of items that fit my taste...and my budget.
As you've probably seen in some of my other posts, I love signs and wall-hangings to fill the walls of the farmhouse. Amazon has a nice selection of high-quality signs.
I have tried to be very intentional with the items I bring into the farmhouse, since we moved in last July.
One of the things I try to think about when I purchase items is the functional purpose that they could serve in our home. These containers are perfect for organizing AND looking adorable.
A nice warm throw is always a good item to have lying over a chair, reading available for snuggling up with a good book. I also love the natural pop of color that this wreath brings.
Seek out items that bring joy to your heart and make your home feel peace and calming to you.
Be responsible in your spending and intentional in what you allow into your home. And enjoy the process! Happy Friday from the Farmhouse, friends! ❤️?❤️
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I have always loved the story of Ruth in the Bible and have admired her for her commitment to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth's husband passes away and yet she stays with Naomi. She commits to staying with Naomi instead of going back to her own family no matter what. But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." Ruth 1:16 When I saw this sign on Rashall's Facebook page, I knew I had to have it.
So I asked Rashall (again) to create something that would bring these words to mind. And she did. I had originally put it in the living room, but I just don't feel like that's where it will end up. I think I'll display it with some pictures of all my favorite farmers in the hallway. Or maybe not. We'll see. I'll let you know when I decide!
Church friends. Elementary school friends. Work friends. College friends.
Build a tribe of supporters that can walk through this crazy life with you. Find your tribe and love them hard. Thanks again, Rashall. Be sure to check out Rashall's work right here! Growing up, I collected keychains. I would grab a keychain on any family trip we took or even something that seemed interesting to me on a shopping trip. Family members even started buying me keychains and bringing them home for me when they traveled. For several years, I looked through the keychains and remembered some fun times with family. And then one day, I stopped. They just weren't that enjoyable anymore and they ended up in a big metal coffee can, where they lived until I eventually threw them all away when we moved to the home my parents live in now. At that point in life, the keychain collection just didn't MEAN anything to me. In the end of my high school years, Willow Tree angels were just coming out and I loved them. Do you know the ones I'm talking about? Beautiful, creamy-colored angels that were were replicas of Susan Lordi's hand-carved angels. My parents started getting me an angel for big life events...my 16th birthday, high school graduation, holidays. And I loved them. Each angel represented a time in life that was important and special to me. At first, I housed these angels altogether on top of my piano. Until there were too many. Then I split them up and put half on the piano and half in my Great-Great-Grandma Hannah's antique secretary that sits in our home. They were fine there, but I just felt like nobody ever really saw them. It felt like they were kind of thrown out there much like the keychain collection of yesteryear. Like when people looked at my house, at my angels, it was hard to appreciate each angel for what it was...a representation of a very specific moment in life. I had an angel from the day I became a teacher...the day I lost my grandpa...the day we found out we were expecting a baby. I had an angel that represented my relationship with my parents, Mr. Farmhouse, and each of the girls. These were reminders of monumental occasions and my most cherished relationships...and they were collecting dust instead, seemingly unloved and unappreciated. Until I began to decorate using what I call "groupings".
 I'm still waiting on five pictures from the photo lab for this grouping. Can you tell where they will go? The two metal prints on the left and the larger framed print on the right are John Deere pictures. John Deere runs deep into both sides of our family history. Mr. Farmhouse and I have both lost our grandpas in the last eight years and they were both John Deere men. I have a picture of each of them with their tractors getting printed to be hung on this wall, as well as pictures of the girls in their Key overalls. (Sidenote: Having the DVDs on display like that just about makes me crazy. Still trying to find a way to hide them that won't cost a fortune.) Pictured above:
(top left, represents the stages of our life - marriage, pregnancy, baby, toddler, big girl) (top right, in my office - my praying & praising angels, my "create" sign) (bottom left, education - the two books on the left were Matthew's great-grandparents', my reading and teaching angels, and a primitive framed alphabet from my in-laws when I became a teacher) (bottom right, give thanks...Matthew & I with the girls, displayed in the gathering room) I love having all of my favorite things on display in the farmhouse. All of our reminders of our favorite memories, our favorite people, and those big moments in life that have molded us into who we are now. Decorating with groupings has helped to make this happen. ❤️🏡❤️ Let's be honest. It's not always a big fun event to get the kids to do chores or help out around the house. However, I really feel like it's necessary. I can't always get everything done that needs to be done without help. Mr. Farmhouse is a great help-mate and helps inside and outside of the house, but sometimes (during hay season...or calving season...or bean-planting season...or...), we need to have a big marathon cleaning day and I need help from the girls. Over the years, I've realized that the more fun we can make this process, the quicker it gets done and the less likely I am to scream like a crazy person by the end of the day. A few winters ago, over Christmas break, when I was trying to get the house back in order to get ready for third quarter at school, I had a breakthrough. I started to make cleaning a game...for all of us. I started to think about ways we could make our mundane housekeeping tasks a competition, a team event, a game. Over the last few years, I've come up with several of these "cleaning games". I usually let the girls decide which one we do for the day. I thought today I would share them with you so maybe those cleaning days can be a little more enjoyable for everyone involved!
The Disappearing Post-it Notes is one that the girls really like because you can watch the amount of post-it notes dwindle down to those last few tasks and then BOOM...the fridge is empty! The rule is that the right side of notes has to be empty before they start on the left door. The left door includes what I call "finishing" tasks. They are all somehow dependent on the ones on the other door. For example, on the right door is "clean out refrigerator" and "load dirty dishes from sink". So on the left door is "run dishwasher". In other words, they need to gather up all the dirty dishes from anywhere in the house before we run the dishwasher. Other "finishing" tasks would include dusting the flat surfaces in the house, sweeping the floors, putting all the clean clothes away that they have folded on some of the other post-it notes. 2. Note Card Flip Another task-oriented game that we play sometimes is what I have called "Note Card Flip". Again, I put all of the tasks on note cards. I have a whole set of these that I created a few summers ago that include basically every task that it would take to do a quick deep-clean of the house. I add anything that needs to be done that day specifically and then I make some bonus "fun" cards.
I always end with a "last card" that is something fun. Almost always, it involves a slush or shake Sonic. Basically for me. Because Sonic's unsweetened raspberry tea is my favorite beverage EVER. 3. 30/30 There is an iPad and iPhone app called 30/30 created by Binary Hammer. I cannot believe how much it helps our productivity level by keeping us on task and focused when we need to get some serious work done. I use it in my classroom, when I am working on photography edits, and the girls and I use it when we clean.
When the five minutes is up, the app starts the timer for the next task. We take our list of things we have to get done and add them to the app. After every 30-40 minutes, we add a 10-minute break right into the app. So our whole cleaning spree is timed there. Sometimes, to keep us on task, we add our "lunch break" and anything else that we know will be taking our time that day.
4. Task Competition
The last one we use at our house is one I've never really named until just now. And "Task Competition" is probably a boring name...you can rename it at your house if you so desire! I make a list of tasks in black pen. There is always an uneven number of tasks. Beside each task, I draw a box. Each of the older girls picks her own color of marker and I say "go". They work until the list is completely done. Every task they get finished with gets the task's box colored in using their individual color. When all the boxes get colored, the girl with the most boxes colored gets some silly little prize. Maybe a popsicle, a piece of candy, or a medium drink instead of a small at Sonic (I told you...I have a problem). These are all ideas of how we try to make cleaning fun at the Newkirk house. I hope you've gotten some ideas to use in your own homes! I'd love to hear any other ideas you have for getting kids involved in the home management process! Feel free to comment below so others can learn from your knowledge! Thanks for reading, friends! Happy Friday! ❤️ Sometimes you can't go back to sleep after tucking the three-year-old back into bed at 4:45 a.m. So you decide to do some online window shopping on Hobby Lobby's website. Sometimes you accidentally put some items in your cart. And enter your shipping information. And your payment information. Sometimes your online window shopping turns into actual online shopping. Oops. |
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