Tackle It on Tuesday: Clutter Piles

March 11, 2014

Do you struggle with clutter in your home? I wish I didn't, but I do. Rather than take care of things as they come into my home, sometimes it seems easier to just add things to a pile and handle it later. So this last week, there were three areas of clutter that I wanted to tackle. How did I do?

So how did I tackle the clutter piles? One night last week, I had rice cooking on the stove. During that 20 minutes, I attacked all three piles of clutter. Sometimes, just devoting a set amount of time to tackle these projects is all it takes.

Now onto my next project! We are heading into our last week of drama performances, so I am going to have a little more time to work on some bigger projects now that we will not be driving back and forth to class/performances. I found a sweet spring burlap bunting project on Pinterest that I want to make.

Everything I need for this project (except the pom-pom garland) was already in my craft room, and I should have enough supplies to make at least four of these. The part that will take the longest is cutting everything out. That might be a good time to listen to a podcast or two.

What are you working on this week?

For everything there is a season

March 8, 2014

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven - Ecclesiastes 3:1

This is just a season, a very busy one at that for us. I believe there are times as a family, when a particular season is a little busier than 'normal'. The past three months have been that really busy season for our family. But I wouldn't trade any of the opportunities and experiences that each one of us have had over this period of time. I just keep reminding myself, that this is just a season.

How have we gotten through this season? Believe me, there have been a few times when I wanted to throw up my hands and say 'Enough!' God knew this would be a busy season for us, but He has provided times of rest when we needed it the most. And for that I am so thankful...

Thanks to the introduction from my friend Jill, I am linking up with Scripture and a Snapshot

Four Photos, Different Settings

March 6, 2014

One of my goals for this year is to work through a couple of photography books, continuing to educate myself on how to be a better photographer. Right now, I am reading through 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson. The first section of the book covers 'Defining Exposure'. Since my freesia bulbs have started blooming, I took my camera out to the backyard and took these four photos:

I had my camera (Nikon D3100) set to manual mode so I could control the aperture and the shutter speed. You can see a big difference between the first photo and the last photo.

In the first photo, you can see more details in the whole photo (including the weeds that are now growing with all of the rain that we have had!)

In the last photo, the center flowers are in focus and the surrounding area is blurred. This last photo would be a great one to add a Bible verse to along the top (hmm, just might have to do that!)

Do you typically shoot in manual mode? Which photo is visually appealing to you?

Tackle It on Tuesday: Understanding Exposure

March 4, 2014

Time for Tackle It on Tuesday! Last week, I shared that I was hoping to make it through the first chapter of 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson.

Understanding Exposure Table of Contents

Between everyday rehearsals for the play, a full day conference on Saturday, and taking my daughter to two of her performances over the weekend, I only read the Introduction and the section on 'What Is Meant by Exposure'.

Even though I didn't read very far into the book yet, I did actually pick up my camera last week and try one of the assignments! I hope to share what I learned a little later on this week.

So for the upcoming week, my house has been poorly neglected over the past few weeks with our very busy schedule. I haven't taken the time to put things away when we get back home because there has been so many other things that need to get done.

Junk mail and paid bills that need to be organized

I think this stuff multiplies while we sleep!!

There was a lot going on around here over the last couple of weeks!! So now that our schedule is slowing down a little bit, I really need to take some time this week and clean up a little bit of the clutter. I know this won't take very long to clean up, probably just 15 to 20 minutes a day. I may even set the timer and put on some music while I clean up these clutter piles!

How do you tackle clutter in your home?

Compassion Connection

March 3, 2014

We are fortunate enough to attend a church where our pastor has allowed us to set up a Compassion table in our lobby.

On the display table, I try to change things up at least once a month as I think of things that might be helpful for the sponsors at our church. We used to have monthly letter writing nights, but everyone seems to be so busy these days, so we are looking at holding more of a sponsor appreciation night twice a year instead.

In the meantime, I was wanting to create something to encourage sponsors to write to their sponsored children in between our get togethers. So here is what I came up with:

I put together this half page printable (which you are welcome to print for yourself and share!), printed them on colored paper, and put them on the display table yesterday at church. We had to leave early for my daughter's drama performance, so I not sure how they went over. I hope to put these together each month and share them here on my blog.

What do you do to encourage sponsors at your church to write to their sponsored children?