How to Prepare for Sickness

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman

When a family is sick the house can quickly turn into a mess. It can be overwhelming and discouraging. When we get sick too it is hard to have the energy to deal with it all. It is very nice to know how to have a house prepared for illness. If the messes that can happen are prevented by our preparation ahead of time then we are able to rest and heal ourselves.


It’s easier to plan for sickness when you know what’s coming. For instance, the first trimester of pregnancy or post partum or if you know you’re prone to be put on bed rest. Some things you can see coming and try to prepare for. If you know you’ve been exposed to a bad bug, you can prepare for the worst. Best is to always have a plan to act on whether you know sickness might come or for when it blindsides you.

• It helps to always have a well-stocked medicine cabinet, a variety of herbal teas, and essential oils for various illnesses. We love Gypsy Cold Care by Traditional Medicines. Throat Coat by Traditional Medicines is great for a sore throat. Peppermint essential oil is good for headaches, clearing the sinuses, and a drop in water or tea feels good on a sick tummy.
• Keep your old towels tucked away for when the stomach flu hits, use them to protect the mattress, floor, layer the crib with, and to put over pillows. Many times over the years I have had multiple children lying on towels in the living room with a trash can beside each one. We listened to audio books and they slept on and off through the days. Audio seems to better than television, I think because the moving images upset the sick tummy. When a person is sick the noise of the TV is also more annoying than listening to an audio book.
• For a child with a very upset tummy I make a “nest” in the bathroom beside the toilet. I will lay down an old comforter for softness and cover it with towels.
• Always keep frozen homemade chicken broth in the freezer. That’s one of the big reasons I make chicken and broth every Kitchen Day. Chicken broth feels so good when you are sick. Serve it plain with sea salt for the stomach flu. Spice it up with pepper flakes for the head cold. Add lemon juice and coconut milk for a sore throat.
• How to keep the house from getting trashed? Keep everything as restricted as possible. Keep yourself and all your sick trash, Kleenex, trash can, books, towels, tea cups, etc. in one place. Don’t move your “sick bed” around. Stay put. Assign other people to one spot also for their sickness. The well people must do the work and do no messy activities that would require lots of clean up. The basics are keeping the dishes up, the bathrooms clean, and the “sick laundry” caught up.
• When people start to recover, they must start doing their chores as usual. Do them slow but at least do them. (This is where I went wrong last time we were sick. The people that were getting better started to get out all their messy activities and not pick them up. Legos, stuffed animals, art supplies, toy farm animals, magazines and books were spread everywhere.)
• Your family also needs to be prepared, “When we get sick, this is proper protocol…” and then keep your list of “proper protocol” in your Home Management Book or posted inside a cupboard door for a reference point.
• Simply having a Home Management Book with your routines and every little detail of what you should do next during your days is helpful. When your brain is in a fog you can simply look at the book and it will tell you what the next thing is. It helps you know what to do without thinking. Even with low energy and frequent breaks, keep doing the next thing. If you don’t have a Home Management Book to tell you what to do then you can have a lot of real mental anxiety looking around at all the mess.
• Your daily schedule should be posted big and bold. When your children are off their routine you can take them to the chart and tell them where they should be and what they should be doing. If you don’t have one up then they will continue to flounder about until they get caught up in a project which may or may not be helpful to life under control.
• You may need to take a day of extra housecleaning to get things back up to snuff or an extra laundry day. Cancel or shorten your Town Day or Office Day to make room for extra cleaning and laundry.

The best preparation for being sick is to simply have your household systems running smoothly so that things don’t completely fall off the track and are easy to get up and running again. Being sick is messy business but with some forethought you can be prepared.

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

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Five Fun Steps for Paper Organization

Image from Countryhome.com

Weekly contributor, Kim Brenneman

I truly appreciate that we are becoming a paperless society. Every time I get the option for auto-paying the bills I take it. I like to get my receipts via email rather than more paper in the mailbox. But, I still have paper piles. Mostly because we have a fun rule at our house: each child has a day of the week assigned to them for special privileges and one of those privileges is getting the mail. That “special” child gets to look at the mail first. This rule is supposed to eliminate fighting but we do have to clarify some days what day of the week it is and who rightfully gets the fresh magazine.



If I’m not close by the mail gets dumped in a pile on my desk. That’s not a good thing for my desk. But it is good that the child is not sorting the mail over the trash can.

If you have paper pile troubles here is how we take care of paper, especially if I’m around when the paper comes into the house.

1. Assign a child to get the mail. This is a fun “grown-up” task to do. There is some hidden learning in this job. Sort the mail with the child and they learn to not fall for advertising. They want to know why you are throwing away the junk mail, why you aren’t entering a sweepstakes, what credit card junk mail is and why we don’t want credit cards. It is important of course that the child knows that only mom or dad get to throw away mail because sometimes important things appear to be junk mail.
2. I already alluded to it and it is very important in eliminating paper clutter. Sort the mail over the trash can. Immediately throw away the junk mail. Get it out of the house. Try to only handle mail one time and by sorting the trash out immediately you aren’t wasting time by sorting through a pile later on. If you’ve ever had to sort through a pile of junk mixed with important things you will know how freeing it is to just throw away the junk immediately. Freeing is fun!
3. Do you have a location for bills that need paid? Clean out a desk drawer, have a special file, basket, or box for them. The important thing is that you have a location for the bills. When the mail comes in the house put the bills in that place right away. If your daily schedule allows, you could assign a certain time period for the mail coming in, mail sorting, bill paying, and filing. If you pay the bills immediately when they come in the mail, you never get a late fee for forgotten things. Personally, I have a day of the week that I use for bill paying and other home office tasks. Do what works for you—the important thing is to just do it. A friend of mine told me that her father taught his children, and even his children’s friends, a handful of “life rules” said like a mantra at the supper table. One of the rules was “Pay all of your bills the first of every month”. Know where your bills are and pay them. Paid bills are liberating.
        Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8
4. Some papers need to be kept around for awhile thus you need to file. Do you have piles? Remember I mentioned above that my children will put the mail on my desk if I’m not around? Not fun for me. When I have a big pile to sort I make it more enjoyable by putting on some music, getting some chocolate and a cup of tea around and then dedicate some time to getting through the pile. It is no longer a dreaded chore but a pleasant and freeing interlude in my day. Everything is better with chocolate.
5. Make your paper management pretty. Or cool. Or dreamy. Or whatever your style is. If it’s fun to look at you’ll take care of it. If it’s ugly, you’ll want to avoid it. The other day in the local big box store I saw some cute and clever office organization tools. This morning a friend had pinned on Pinterest a cute mail holder made out of a recycled house shutter. I looked around some more on Pinterest and I saw wire baskets, reed baskets, and fabric covered wood boxes that people use for office organization. Be fun and creative with your home office and how you deal with your paper filing tasks.

Be fun and creative with the necessary tasks of life. Paper is part of life, instead of looking at the piles as though they were the enemy, see them as an excuse to eat a bit of chocolate, drink some tea, and listen to some uplifting music.

Image from MarthaStewart.com

Blessings,


Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

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Getting Organized and Energized!!

Guest Contributor, Kim Brenneman

Clutter and disarray suck the energy out us. We can’t see the forest for the trees. Emotionally attached to our stuff and our homes and our families and their stuff we can’t see where to start. Looking at our messy homes can be mentally exhausting.

When we live in a state of order and have the discipline to keep things in their proper place then we are free for other pursuits. We can spend a couple of hours whipping up some deliciously fancy cupcakes in the kitchen, start a home business, make lawn furniture with old pallets, learn photography, and a hundred other things. Looking at a cluttered mess though, we spin around not knowing where to start and escape it in some manner. It’s easier, in that moment, to look on Pintrest at great ideas than it is to put the house in order so that we can do the great ideas.

Let’s get started on clearing the way so that we can have some fun doing, not just looking and thinking about it!

Get a piece of paper and a pen.

• Goals are always a great motivator so first get an idea about what it is that you want to do when you have the time to do it. Write your goal in big letters across the top of the page.
• Identify the rooms or areas of your home and what happens in each area. Write it down on the paper.
• Go around your house with a basket or box and take the appropriate things to the appropriate place, i.e. staplers, scissors, and pens in the office area, books to the bookshelves, current magazines in a basket by the spot where they are read, trash in the trashcan, and unused and unnecessary stuff goes to the thrift shop.
• Look at each area of your home with your paper and pen in hand. What needs to happen for each area to be more orderly and organized? If you have trouble with this then take a look at an organizing web store such as www.containerstore.com, check out this post, "9 Organizing Ideas" or do a search on Pinterest and you will find multiple pictures that will inspire you with a plethora of ideas. Write down on your paper what will work for similar rooms of your house. Do not be overwhelmed but click through to the original site and learn how the person did it. Often it is with “found” materials and paint.
• Not only does your home need to be organized but it needs to stay that way. This boils down to the discipline of keeping things where they belong. Give yourself and your family a couple of mottos to live by: “Don’t lay it down, put it away,” and “Everything has a place, when everything is in its place.”
• Keep your home clean with a daily clean up time. At our house we have a list of daily chores and every day at the same time everyone does their cleaning chores. “Many hands make light work.” On your paper, make a list of the daily cleaning chores for each room and assign it to a person. This isn’t hard labor, it’s fast, and it’s simple: Straighten, Dust, Sweep.
• Every week, or month, take an hour to make a menu plan and a grocery list. Now you know what you are going to eat and you don’t need to think about it. Don’t throw out your menu plan but use it again another week or month!
• Every morning do a load of laundry and if you have a bunch of kids, like I do, then switch loads every time you change activities during the day. That way, you keep up.

Now that things are in order and you keep them in order with some new family mottos, organization and a daily cleaning time you have more time.


Blessings,


Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

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Home - It Reflects Who We Are and What We Believe

Image from TranZforming Products

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman

Not that you should be flashy and flamboyant, elegant and opulent, but dinged up and dingy is an eye sore. Look around the common-area of your home. Do you like how it reflects your family?

In recent years my family was busy with a medical crises, a high-needs baby, starting a goat dairy business, and just plain old real life with a bunch of kids. Maintenance of the house was taking a back seat to everything else. Then my sister got married. On our farm. We have a pretty farm so it should have been no big deal, right?

Here’s an exercise for you: Get in your car and drive away and then drive up to your house not like it’s your house but like you are a guest arriving at a wedding. Or simply walk outside and then walk up to your house like you are a guest. Open the door and pretend you are a guest.

What do you see first?
Where do your eyes land?
What does your house smell like?
What do you hear?

Your home is a reflection of who you are as a family. The good, the bad, the ugly.

Before my sister’s wedding on our farm our eyes were opened anew to what our place looked like. And it looked like a lot of busy people lived here. We saw that we hadn’t done much home maintenance in the last few years. Parts of our landscape were overgrown and parts were empty because whatever was there originally died. The wallpaper in the kitchen hadn’t survived the last five children very well and was way beyond another repair. Walls hadn’t seen fresh paint in years. It was dinged up and dingy but we were so accustomed to it that we didn’t notice.

We spent last spring sprucing the place up. It was fun working together as a family towards a fun and beautiful event. When it came time maintenance inside and for redoing the walls inside I wanted everything clean and bright, Spartan, Quaker. As the song goes, “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free...” My life is full and I don’t want any unnecessary clutter. That is a reflection of who I am right now in life. I want my life full of experiences and events with my loved ones, not taking care of material stuff.

Nine people currently live in my home, sometimes eleven. Add family and friends on the weekends and it’s full. The common life for us is full of good times, food, games, laughter... The furniture is minimal, the walls are still bare after the painting last spring. My goal is to give thought on what I want on the walls. What says faith and family, hope, love, and life?

In Deuteronomy 6 God instructs the Israelites:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

God gives them several instructions on what to do with these words and says this in verse 9:

"You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

At the very least, when a person comes to our home, they should be able to immediately sense that followers of the LORD live here, that they love Him, they love each other, and they love others.

We can do this in outward signs with the art that we put on our walls. I have free-hand painted verses on our walls and recently ordered lettering from fruitfulvinecreations.com. We can create photo displays of family and friends and the love we share. We can hang beautiful paintings and drawings and arrangements that represent and interpret God’s creations. The view from our windows can direct the eye to the beauty of God’s world outdoors. We can change that view with our landscape design using God’s trees, bushes, and flowers.

Beyond wall art we must give thought to the music that is playing in the background of our homes. Last week I was listening to upbeat catchy music on Pandora while I was doing some work and realized that the words of the song were worshipping the creation not the creator. What kind of message were my children receiving with my choice of music? The next day I found myself listening to some mellow music that fit my mood but the words were downright depressing and untrue when held in the light of scripture. Again, I gave thought to the spiritual state of my home and changed stations.

Some days it takes conscious thought to love the LORD with all my might. It doesn’t come automatically with the sunrise. It does come far more easily when we are reading the living Word every day. That is how God talks to us and teaches us. How can we expect to know Him and live for Him if we don’t spend time listening to Him?

Each small choice I make has an impact on me and my home. My choices are a message to my children and to all who enter my home. The common things of the home that represent our family and who we are fall to the home decorator and the home keeper. If your family is Christian then let His light shine through thoughtful choices in the common things of the home.

Blessings,


Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

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How to Run a Kitchen That Says, "Love is Cooking Here."

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman

Recently, on a cold wintry day, the children and I were cooking up a storm in the kitchen. A giant chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet. Every child under the age of eight had a turn in putting ingredients into the bowl. A slow-cooked roast was in the oven alongside the skillet cookie. I was sautéing onions and garlic to go into a vegetable dish. Potatoes were boiling. So of course with all this stovetop work I had the fan on.

Matt came in from choring and cheerily said, “I smelled love when I walked to the house!”

Contrast this with yesterday when late in the afternoon I realized it was too late to do my original supper plan. What I threw together wasn’t that great and didn’t get done in time. I got out cheese and some other lame things to hold the hungry bellies for another hour. Then the supper was so ill-received that I bribed them with ice cream for dessert if they would just eat the little bit on the plates.

The difference between the two days fell squarely on my head. I didn’t follow through with my plan. I wasn’t in the kitchen at the appropriate times. I rushed and didn’t try to make the food good but simply wanted to get it over with. All this translated into grumpiness all the way around. I was originally irritated at being interrupted from my other work in order to make food. “How dare it be time for supper!” Then I was annoyed that I hadn’t done the prep work for the original meal plan. “How could I be so dumb?!” Hungry people are grumpy whether they are growing or already grown. We were a grumpy growly family. Being served a least favorite food that isn’t cooked well is a recipe for whining. Love was not flowing and only by the grace of God and a heartfelt supper prayer did we salvage the evening.

Today the supper hour is going to be better. You better believe it! I have a plan and I’m sticking to it. There is an herbed roast in the oven, slow and low. The children have choir this afternoon which will put us home late and my plan is to roast potatoes and sweet potatoes when we get back. There is still a good salad in the fridge but I need to make a new dressing for it. Matt will get home before I do and my goal is to have the kitchen clean and ready for me to sweep in and promptly finish the preparations with help from my older children. Supper will be on time and delicious!

I love my family, I want them to eat yummy nutritious food, I want to be happy when I make them food, and I want them to be happy when they are eating my food.

I have learned tips over the years that make kitchen and meal management easier. Here are some of them:

• Keep a well-stocked pantry.
• Make a meal plan. Keep it simple. For example: Italian every Thursday, roast chicken on Saturdays, dessert on weekend nights only.
• Take time every week to go over your meal plan, look at your pantry, and make a grocery list.
• Every single day: do meal prep for lunch and supper when you’re cleaning up breakfast. Do it again at lunch. Late in the afternoon go to the kitchen and do the rest of the supper preparations.
• Know your grocery store and save time by making your list so that it corresponds with the aisles in your grocery store.
• Use your slow cooker as much as you can. It saves you money because you can buy less expensive cuts of meat. It saves you time because generally it is cooking all of your food at once. It saves you mental angst because you start supper early in the day and don’t have to think about supper until right before the meal.
• Keep your kitchen organized. Like with like. Knives where you cut food. Tea bags near the tea kettle. Glasses near the water. Rarely used things out of the way.
• To keep your family healthy start with these tips and think about each meal as a multi-vitamin and mineral for your family.
• Don’t buy boxed and packaged food. It’s expensive and by learning to make things yourself you will save a lot and be serving your family more nutritious food.
• Buy extra virgin olive oil and only cold-pressed oils. Buy butter instead of margarine. Never buy shortening.
• Make your own salad dressing and save big time.
• Make your own vegetable, chicken, and beef stock. It’s virtually free, you've already bought the bones when you bought the meat in the first place.
• Eat yogurt or kefir for your health. Make your own to save money.
• The least expensive vegetables are also very nutritious! Buy potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beets, other root vegetables, zucchini, onions, garlic, green like kale and chard, and broccoli.
• Eggs are brain food and a cheap protein. Serve them daily in some shape or form—they are very versatile!
• Soups made from your own bone broth and full of vegetables are inexpensive and extremely nutritious. Throw your leftover meat and vegetables into a pot with broth for an easy and yummy soup or stew.
• “The whiter the bread the sooner you’re dead.” Make your own fresh ground whole wheat bread or buy bread with the least ingredients and the most grams of fiber. Invest in a grain grinder and Bosch mixer. Organic whole grains are a fraction of the cost of their store bought equivalent.
• Make brown rice, not white. Invest in a rice cooker for perfect rice every time. It will convert those who think they don’t like rice.
• Depending on your culinary level or place in life. You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Stop and take a deep breath. You can do this. Print a calendar page and grab a pencil. Write down your husband’s favorite meals spread throughout the month. Then include the rest of your family’s favorite meals. If you are using packaged foods for those meals then make it a goal to learn to make them new and improved in a healthier way. There are many tutorials and modified recipes on the internet that can show you the way. Soon it will be easy for you and your family will be healthier!
• If you have open days on your calendar then use them for trying new recipes. I recommend keeping it simple and using the slow cooker. Also save the slow cooker meals for days when you have to be out of the house. Put your meal together before you leave, and come home to the smell of supper cooking!
• Tomorrow, when we’ll be home all day, I have a Kitchen Day scheduled. The children and I will be cleaning the kitchen, cooking up a storm, and making yummy smells flow out of the stove vent that say, "love is cooking here."

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

If you would like to have Time-Warp Wife delivered to your inbox daily, simply click here: Subscribe to Time-Warp Wife

Weekly Chores for Life and a Free Printable

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman


What do you think about while you do your work? Where are your thoughts while you’re washing the dishes? Folding the laundry? Vacuuming the floors? Today I stumbled upon this in my stash of good stuff to read. I think it deserves to be printed on nice paper, framed and hung in a place of daily viewing.

You can view and print a ready-to-print copy here: Click to view printable or copy and paste to your own document.

WEEKLY CHORES FOR LIFE

Author unknown

Monday - Wash Day
Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness and vanity, so I may serve you with perfect humility through the week ahead.

Tuesday - Ironing Day
Dear Lord, help me iron out all the wrinkles of prejudice I have collected through the years so that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday- Mending Day
O God, help me mend my ways so I will not set a bad example for others.

Thursday - Cleaning Day
Lord Jesus, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday - Shopping Day
O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may bless my family with contentment and happiness and all others in need of love.

Saturday - Cooking Day
Help me, my Savior, to brew a big kettle of brotherly love and serve it with clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday - The Lord's Day
O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please come into my heart so I may spend the day and the rest of my life in your presence.




When we go about our work we must not see it as a horrid chore...

“Grin and bear it.”
“Grit your teeth.”
“Just get it over with.”

We should see that work as an opportunity to talk to God about life.

I really don’t like to do laundry. I like it done but I don’t like the process of doing it. When we have to do the unpleasant work we should use it as a time of prayer and thanksgiving. “Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness and vanity, so I may serve you with perfect humility.”

Every day and every minute of every day we should be praying. It is the will of God for us to do that.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

How do we do this? Is it practical? I say, yes. It is a habit of the mind. Instead of talking to ourselves, talk to Jesus. When you have a question, ask Him. If you run into a little problem, “Help me please.” And always, “Thank you Jesus.”

Do you know someone, or are you this person, who is caught up in a cycle of depressing thoughts? Perhaps it is about an event or maybe a series of bad things that are a part of her history but she has a litany going on in her head of these bad things. When she opens her mouth it all comes spilling out, rehearsed in her head a million times. She’s stuck in a spot, a habit of “Poor me.”

Or, a person or place can trigger a series of unpleasant memories that start to roll around in our mind. Anger builds yet again at that person. “Help me, my Savior.” “O God, give me the grace.” “Dear Lord, help me.” Talking to Jesus, giving it to Him, turning our thoughts around is the way to overcome habits of the mind that bring us down.

When we’re having a day when it all seems to be going wrong, everything we touch falls apart, we say, “O God, give me the grace.” He will help you. He will show you His mercy. He will bless you through someone else. Your problems may not be instantly solved but you will know His presence with you when you start talking to Him.

Sadly, drama sometimes finds its way to our front door. Family, neighborhood, church, work—drama seems to happen everywhere. “He said,” “She said,” “Can you believe...” “And then...” “She did?” Add to this some “analyzers” and you get all sorts of diagnoses and names for the sins in the drama and why the drama unfolded.

Then there are the players that tweak the drama a little bit higher with some wide eyes and “I heard...” “Did you hear?” “It’s terrible!” “Can you imagine?” “Lord help us all!” The “ambulance chasers” feel the need to “help” in some sort of sick reflected glory sort of way.

How do you stop thinking about and getting sucked into the titillating sordidness?

Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. 1 Timothy 5:13

Stay home (including the internet and phone).
Be busy at home (get busy in a home and family project).
And renew your mind.

But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24

In reading the rest of the Ephesians passage we learn what the focus of our renewed mind should be on. When we focus on good we can’t be thinking about evil. The two are not compatible. There can be no darkness where there is light. Where the light of Jesus shines there is agape love.

And when we’re doing our work we ought to be in prayer for our husbands, our children, our extended families, our church, our friends and neighbors, our community, our country, on and on... When something comes to mind, turn it over to God and pray about it. The thing that comes to mind does not have to be a problem in order to pray over it. It could be a thanksgiving or blessing.

Pray that we would be a blessing on all those we serve everyday with the work we do day in and day out. And as we work let’s pray that God would work on us.

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

If you would like to have Time-Warp Wife delivered to your inbox daily, simply click here: Subscribe to Time-Warp Wife

Have you picked up Darlene's new eBook, The Good Wife's Guide yet? Get your copy at: TheGoodWifesGuide.com

Your Master Bedroom - The Heartbeat of the Castle

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman of Large Family Logistics

The work that a home creates can become mundane and exhausting if our attitudes are not in tune with what the Lord has called us to do. We need to remember to not only care for our family and their dwelling place but we must also take care of ourselves. A physically rundown wife and mother does not have the energy to care for her home and family. Her home is one of disorder and dirt. It may not be that she is truly lazy but that she is simply worn out and does not possess the energy to move forward and do the next thing. She needs care.


At these times it would be nice to have a wife or mother for ourselves wouldn’t it? We as women must remember to take care of ourselves in order to do the work the Lord has called us to do. Along with good food and exercise, part of taking care of ourselves is creating a peaceful retreat within the home for us. We need rest, not necessarily sleep but a little bit of rest and relaxation.

The home is a retreat from the world for our families. Our role as nurturer of the family places our primary work in the home. We care for our husband and children in one way or another 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our homes are where our hearts are. Caring for children, cooking meals, cleaning rooms, and the never-ending pile of laundry keep us in constant motion.

We also spend energy taking care of the emotional and educational needs of our family. We as women need a retreat within the retreat.

We take a God-given delight in feathering our nests with color, art, handiwork, and furnishings that express our Christian values of home and family. Come along with me and add some extra soft touches to the nest. We’re going to work on the Master Bedroom and make it your special place! We’ll make it a place in the hills where you can be alone to pray. We’ll create a retreat from the world where you will want to spend time with your best friend--your husband.

"We’ll make it a place in the hills where you can be alone to pray."

Close your eyes and think about what it looks like right now. Is it cluttered? Has it become a catch-all place? You need to find a different spot for all of the unnecessary and unsightly things. This is now the room where you get re-energized. It is the last place you see when you go to sleep at night and the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning. Let it be a place of rest and peace that will give you motivation for the coming day. Get your Goodwill box and a trash bag and do the de-cluttering.

Now, give it all a good cleaning. Take down the window coverings for cleaning. Then wash your windows and blinds. This will let in the light and show you where the dirt is hiding. It also changes the perspective of the room and will help you get some new ideas on what you want your retreat to look like. Finish doing the cleaning (cobwebs, dusting, and vacuuming) all the while thinking about what you need in a retreat.

When you’re done cleaning, make a list of all the cleaning chores and divide it into daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly. Slide this paper into a sheet protector and post it on your door to remind you until you have it memorized and can do it without thinking. Make yourself some rules, i.e. only ten things allowed on your bedside table, including reading glasses, drink, book, Bible, etc. Maintain this one place in the house to be pretty and peaceful and it will be a bright spot in your home and life. This refuge will keep your being more healthy and energized for the rest of the work.

Give thought to these words while you seek out ideas to implement:

• reserved
• rest
• retreat
• recluse
• relax
• refuge

Think about the purposes of the master bedroom and write down decorating ideas. Ask yourself how to create privacy, ease, convenience, and beauty in your master bedroom. This has to suit you and your husband so think about your favorite things, what favorite objects do you want to surround yourself with?

Make a list of things that define you and your husband. For example, I love quilts. I love the connection they have with the past. I love the art and handiwork of them. I also love flowers, the color pink (I use it as an accent), writing paper-journals, the sun, lace, dark chocolate, books, and the list goes on. Think about what defines you and use those things to surround yourself with in your retreat. These things are part of your God-given personality, and they typically are things that God has blessed us with at some point in life that taught us to appreciate some wonder of his creation. Express yourself and your marriage, with these definitions, in your retreat.

What about your bedroom do you dislike? Fix it ASAP. Anything that grates on you will be the antithesis of retreat. Maybe it’s an eyesore that simply needs to be hidden. If it can’t be hidden, then put it behind you by moving the bed or your reading chair. Move things so that the eyesore will be out your line of sight.

Create ease in your room by moving the furniture to create flow. You do not want to bang your shin on the same thing every night when you get up to feed the baby. Create ease by adding cushioned seating, pillows, or a soft rug by the bed.

Move the chair that you use as a clothes rack to force a new habit of putting clothes away. Write down on your list of daily bedroom chores to put clothes where they belong.

Create ease for eyes and mood by painting the walls blue or green. Both are colors that have been shown to promote relaxation. Think of all the blues of the sky and the sea. Nearly all the plants of the field are some variant of green, and you'll see that God used them predominately when he created the earth. When we stand still and behold the beautiful outdoors we are overcome with the splendor of it. We find rest in our souls when we rest our eyes on God’s artwork. Bring some of that inside by choosing colors that bring on a peaceful mood. You can find myriad of blues and greens at the paint store. From dark to light, warm and cool, there will be a blue or green that expresses you and your idea of tranquility. When you bring ease to your retreat, as soon as you walk in the door your body will say, “Ahhhh” and you will relax.

Make your room convenient by having bedside tables with reading lights, paper, pen, and the Bible. Keep tissue and a waste basket handy if you’re allergy prone.

Use good light blocking blinds; dark rooms promote deeper, more restful sleep.

If you like to write or do some sort of handiwork, then create a place for that in your bedroom. For some people that might be bringing work into the bedroom and for others it’s bringing a restful activity that promotes a quiet spirit. Be sure to put a good light in the task area.

Put a CD player in your Master Bedroom to play peaceful music or whatever suits the mood of you and your beloved.

To make my room more convenient I have an old sofa draped with quilts that I use when nursing the baby, reading, and when we have a sick or scared child at night (with nine children, there is a limit to who fits in the bed). I also have a soft light if I need it at night.

Put your bedroom lamps on a timer to turn off when you need to sleep and come on with your alarm clock in the morning. This one convenience has improved my sleep routines immensely.

Add beauty with art, pictures of you and your husband, fresh flowers, or other expressions of who you are and the things that you enjoy. Try to create a harmony of favorite things expressing all of the senses. What fabrics do you like to feel? What do you like under your feet? What do you want to wrap up in while you sit and peruse a new magazine? When you want a peaceful setting what do you want to hear? Guitar music, ocean waves, the breeze in the trees outside, or silence? What do you want to smell? A favorite flower, a mug of hot chocolate, the night air drifting in? What do you want to see? Blank walls, art, photography, wallpaper? Lots of drapes and luscious fabric or simple, straight lines? Dark or light? Warm or cool? Simple, elaborate, or somewhere in between? Think about these things. Get some magazines and books from the library or visit Pinterest.com to collect ideas. Don’t copy a photo of someone else’s idea of beauty. What my Master Bedroom looks like will not be the same as yours. It should be an expression of who you are and what you have available to use. Spend time in thought, with pen in hand. What is beautiful to you and why? Do what defines who you are and your needs for a restful retreat. What are the simplest things that give pleasure and rest for your soul? Bring these pieces of beauty into your master bedroom.

Put things in your Master Bedroom that express who you are as a union with your beloved. Include photographs and mementos that reflect your history together. Create ambience through soft lamps or candles for your evenings together.

Embrace your femininity and dress that way in your bedroom. Throw out the old T-shirts and boxer-shorts, this is not a college dorm room. Throw out the ratty bath robe and tattered gown of yesteryear. This is your master bedroom--the place where the heart of the family finds a restful haven. It is the heartbeat of the castle. Wear what enhances the romance and makes you feel like the queen. Create it to be a place of honor to your marriage.

The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
Song of Solomon 7:13 ESV

It is natural how God created  females to feather their nests. Every mother in nature does it. We were born to nurture our families and part of this is by creating beauty in our homes. 

When the stress of constantly being needed by your family weighs heavy on you, go to your nest within the nest and spend time with the Lord of all. Take your cares to Him. Slipping away for a break in the day to read the Word, quiet your thoughts, and pray in your retreat surrounded by your favorite things will inspire you for the rest of the day. Prayer and rest bring healing to our innermost beings. We need this to remain healthy Christian women. Jesus gives rest to the weary. Go and create a haven of rest. Make it a place where you meet your Helper who enables you to be a helper to your husband.

And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Matthew 14:23, ESV

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

If you would like to have Time-Warp Wife delivered to your inbox daily, simply click here: Subscribe to Time-Warp Wife

10 Tips for an Efficiently Run Kitchen

Are fruit flies swarming your kitchen? The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in the home and due to the nature of food preparation can be the dirtiest. There are several habits that should be part of your life to avoid having the health department condemn your kitchen, and to make it a happier place.

Ten Rules for the Kitchen

1. When you get something out, put it away. The same rule that should be applied all over the house is of course just as important in the kitchen. This must be taught to your children when they are young so that they understand that food left out spoils.
2. While working in the kitchen, fill the sink with hot soapy water. As you finish with a cooking utensil toss it in the sink or grab the washing cloth and wipe down the appliance you were using. Water is the supreme solvent and washing things before the gunk gets hard as a rock saves time later. It’s efficient.
3. The same principle applies for the countertops and stove, wipe them after each mess that you make. It takes seconds to wipe and rinse the cloth in the sink full of hot soapy water; it takes minutes of scrubbing after spills have become cemented on.
4. When preparing food, get out all the ingredients, appliances, and utensils first. As soon as you’re done and the dish is cooking put these things away again. Don’t leave to do another thing, finish the work you started.
5. Keep the dishwasher unloaded. What good is it to you when it is full of clean dishes? You can’t put anything dirty in so it collects in the sink and on the counters taking up valuable workspace. It takes less than five minutes to unload it. Race the clock. Assign a child to be the unloader. Take out the knives first and even a two-year-old can unload the silverware. It might not be perfectly sorted but it’s teaching them to help and preschoolers love to help. Crack the door to let it cool off for five minutes then call the unloader to the job.
6. Don’t put your dirty dishes anywhere but in the dishwasher. This is more sanitary and efficient. It keeps the countertops clean and attractive. It is inspiring to walk into a clean kitchen; it is depressing to have to do a deep clean before food can be prepared for the next meal.
7. If you don't have a dishwasher, give yourself the "Rule of Ten": If there are ten or more things to wash, do it now. Never have more than ten things waiting to wash. If you have a dishwasher, apply this to those items that you have to hand wash.
8. Wipe the sink after every meal. Start at the backsplash, work your way around the sink, do the faucet, then wipe the bowl, empty the strainer and rinse it.
9. Sweep the floor after every meal. If you don’t do this, the crumbs get picked up on feet and spread throughout the house making the other floors dirty. Crumbs underfoot are annoying and they attract ants. It takes just a few minutes to sweep and saves time later. Assign one of your children to this chore. Less than perfect is better than nothing.
10. Use your time with Godly wisdom. Put a scripture verse over the sink to memorize while you wash dishes. Pray for the food to be a blessing while you make it. Pray for the people who are going to eat it.

Ten simple habits. Thank God for the ones you are already doing! Now, add the rest starting with the next step you take into your kitchen. Print this article, put it in a page protector, and hang it in a kitchen cupboard. Check through the list after each meal until it all becomes ingrained in your life and has become your own personal kitchen habits.

Ten Tips to a Tip-Top Kitchen

1. To help clean a scorched pan, scrape off what you can and put enough water in to just cover the bottom, then add a bit of automatic dishwasher detergent and let set overnight.
2. To get rid of foul smelling odor from plastic containers, rinse them with vinegar.
3. To rid your kitchen of fruit flies, remove every single food item (hide them in your refrigerator), set out a glass of sweet pickle juice or wine overnight to attract and drown them. The ones that remain become very lethargic due to starvation and are easily swatted.
4. To clean dried on gunk, squeeze water over it and let it set for several minutes to soften, then wipe.
5. Take your falling-apart cookbooks to Staples and get them punched and comb bound.
6. Use vinegar for an inexpensive alternate to rinse agents in the dishwasher.
7. Pour boiling water down the kitchen drain to keep it running free.
8. To remove the smell of onion from your hands wipe the flat side of a stainless steel knife blade over them.
9. Set out a lemon to come to room temperature before squeezing to get more juice from it.
10. Put frequently used items within easy range (hip to shoulder height) for movement efficiency. Keep this in mind for children also if they are the ones to unload the dishwasher and set the table.

________________

Thank God for dirty dishes,

They have a tale to tell;

While others may go hungry

We’re eating very well.

With home, health, and happiness,

I shouldn’t want to fuss;

By the stack of evidence,

God’s been very good to us!

~ Anonymous ~

________________

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

If you would like to have Time-Warp Wife delivered to your inbox daily, simply click here: Subscribe to Time-Warp Wife

How To Boost Self Discipline

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman

Have you made your list of New Year’s resolutions? Or did you give up on that tradition years ago? When you make your resolution list, do you promptly lose it? Does your preschooler find it and use it for handwriting practice?

A classic New Year’s resolution is to be more organized. Everyone recognizes that being organized and efficient improves productivity and makes life more pleasant. But while it's one thing to make the resolution it's another to accomplish it.


Some say that people are either born organized or they're not. I agree to a point; I have seen in my own children how their brains work differently and make them better at certain tasks than others. I do believe though that everyone can become better organized and disciplined in their personal habits. I certainly have room for improvement. I have had years when I was very organized and efficient and other years where I felt as if I were drowning in mess and so tired that the thought of where to start was overwhelming. I can easily blame it on workload, babies, hormones, too many outside-the-home activities, and more. Whether you are on top of things right now or not, there’s always room for improvement.

Why do you want to be more organized? What are your goals? Who are you aiming to please? Write the answers to these question on the paper that you have been writing your New Year’s resolutions on. We want to know why we’re doing what we’re doing to help motivate us to follow through.

Work on putting life in line with God’s Word. Use Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 as a reference point in making your goals. 

Once you’ve motivated yourself with getting to the underlying reasons, let’s move forward to how we’re going to be more organized. It’s not enough to just make a goal or a resolution; we need to make a plan to reach it. We’ll work on the basics of planning the work of being organized. Sometimes planning the work can be so much fun but takes so much time that we don’t get any real work done! Keep the planning simple. Maybe you are one that hates to plan and just wants to get it done so you dive in and make a bigger mess in the process and “oops!” you forgot that people need to eat? Planning your work helps avoid those kind of “oops” moments.

While you have your pencil and resolution paper out, let’s make some simple plans. Divide your home management into different areas. Mine is divided into six:

• Cleaning
• Kitchen
• Home Office
• Laundry
• Town (shopping and errands)
• Gardening

Your life might look slightly different. Give each area of home management a day that you will focus on. For instance, Monday is Laundry Day and Tuesday is Kitchen Day at my house [you could also use the daily housekeeping schedule Darlene has posted on this site]. On the assigned day, do all the chores associated with that work on that day. This improves efficiency in dramatic way.

This is not new--I did not invent this idea. It is how our grandmothers and great-grandmothers worked. We’re recovering the lost art of home-management and we’ll teach it to our daughters. Where are your daughters by the way? Set them beside you and make these home organization plans together. Do you think they are too little? They aren't. Maybe they will only do art work beside you or practice writing their name but tell them what you are doing. Watching is learning. If you have an older daughter, let her plan the management of an area. Work on this together.

Once you have assigned each day of the week to an area of home management, make a big list of every single task in that area. This is your new organized life. You will need discipline to stick to it. That’s a huge part of establishing new habits, reaching goals, and changing your life. What are your habits now? When are you doing the lists of tasks that you made? If you aren’t doing those tasks, what are you doing instead? Identify time wasters by watching yourself and writing down every single little thing that you do. You need to replace each bad time wasting habit with one of the things on the task list for the day. Match a time wasting habit with work task and every time you start to do that old habit, do the work instead. This is called "The Put-Off, Put-On Principle" which is found in Ephesians 4.

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. ~ Ephesians 4:22-24

A big boost to self-discipline is in changing our attitudes! How is your attitude towards your home? This is a choice we make every day. Do you love your home? Do you love the people that live there? Do you love God who gave you your life, your home, and your family?

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ~ Galatians 5:13 

It doesn’t say “through bitterness serve one another” or “through manipulation serve one another” it is through love that we serve one another. It is through God’s love in us that we can do this with joy. The things that are before us to do are His calling for us today. We are serving Him when we serve others. The Holy Spirit will help us in our calling.

God wants us to be full of His joy that comes from knowing Him (John 15). When we live in His will, when we put off our old self, when we serve Him with gladness, then we understand that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

Serve the Lord with gladness! ~ Psalm 100:2

The best way to keep your attitude right is to spend time in God’s Word every day. We learn to know Him and love Him and how to better serve Him through His Word.

As you go about your day, pray without ceasing. He knows how many hairs are on your head, He sees the sparrow fall, and so of course He cares for every nuance of your day. Pray for strength, pray for wisdom, pray for understanding, and pray that the fruit of the Spirit will flow out of your life.

Your Christian ministry is your home! It is at the center of everything you do! Make time reading God’s Word a priority in your morning. It is your bread and water, it is your strength. Feed your spirit and in turn your attitude will be right with God. When your attitude is right, it becomes easier to put off bad habits and put on Godly habits. Our New Year’s Resolutions for being more organized are easier to achieve because we have Godly attitudes towards the ministry of our homes to others.

May the Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth, bless you with strength and help you with your efforts to bring glory to Him in organizing your home!


Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

If you'd like to leave a comment, visit Time-Warp Wife on facebook: Click here

And you can also find Kim on facebook too: Large Family Logistics

If you would like to have Time-Warp Wife delivered to your inbox daily, simply click here: Subscribe to Time-Warp Wife

7 Thieves that Rob You of Time

Weekly Contributor, Kim Brenneman

Before exposing the time thieves let’s look at what the scriptures say about time and how we are to use it.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ~ Ephesians 5:15&16

We understand God's will for our time when we study the scriptures. It’s certainly not found in this common thought, “I just listened to my heart.” This phrase is often used to explain a questionable decision. What guides every little decision you make from the moment you rise up until the moment you fall asleep?

Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind,to give every man according to his ways,according to the fruit of his deeds.

It is natural but wrong to trust our hearts to lead us in our use of time. And so it takes deliberate thought and effort on our part to seek God’s priorities.


The verses preceding Ephesians 5:15-16 teach us many things about living the Christian life. A short list includes:

• Be imitators of God
• Walk in love
• Be moral
• Be pure
• Let there be thanksgiving
• Do not associate with the sons of disobedience
• Walk as children of light
• Discern what is pleasing to the Lord
• Take no part in and expose unfruitful works of darkness

Another short list from the verses following 15-16:

• Do not get drunk but be controlled by the Spirit
• Address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
• Give thanks always and for everything
• Submit to one another
• Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
• Let the wife see that she respects her husband
• Honor your father and mother

Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 further guide women. The Proverbs 31 lady embodies everything listed above in a practical way. She is strong and dignified, trustworthy and excellent; she’s not idle and laughs at the days to come. In Titus 2 we are specifically instructed:

• To be reverent in behavior
• To be not slanderers or slaves to too much wine
• To teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children
• To be self-controlled
• To be pure
• To work at home
• To be kind
• To be submissive to our husbands

When we don’t keep our priorities in line with scripture we rob God of His best use of time in our lives. Are we running from God’s will? The reason we run from God’s will is the heart (Jeremiah 17:9). We need to put off the old woman and put on the new by the renewing our minds (Ephesians 4:22). We need God to perfect our hearts everyday through prayerful repentance.

In no particular order here is a list of seven thieves that rob us of time.

1. Television and Books - When I stopped watching daytime television as a young mom, I taped Philippians 4:8 to the front of the idiot box which reads, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
   
   That verse also led me to avoid certain genres of books. Both television and books can be means of escapism. We don’t need to be caught up in someone else’s imaginary world. God gave us a life to live! What we are to be is controlled by the Holy Spirit. We can relax and have down time without offending Him.
2. Computer - We need fellowship with other believers but often we exchange relationships with real people in our physical community for relationships with people in a narrow little band of online people that believe every little thing exactly like we do. The Proverbs 31 lady was in her community, her husband was honored at the city gates because of her renown, she extended her hand to the poor, and more.
   
   Online communities can be a venue of encouragement and relation to others, but spend more time getting to know your neighbors. Be salt and light!
   
   Computer rabbit trails also steal time from our first priorities. Be careful, be wise, make a plan for the time you spend online and use a timer.
3. Poor Planning  - Do you wonder what you’re supposed to be doing when you look around at a big mess? Do you drive like crazy and never accomplish anything of real purpose? Do you stare into the cupboard and wonder what you’re supposed to make for supper? You’re wasting time. Plan your work and work your plan. Work on being efficient and you will accomplish so much more.
4. Health and Sleep - When we don’t take care of our health we get slow and sleepy. When we take care to eat and drink right, take supplements, get exercise and sunshine, we have energy to be our best.
   
   Women are often sleepy and sluggish when they need to take better care of their health. Rise up and go for a walk! Maybe you need to walk on over to the doctor to have a chat about it, or to the health food store for B vitamins, or to the pantry to throw out all the junk. Get healthy!
5. Over Committed - Are you over committed? Start prioritizing and making your allotted hours in the week fit God’s top priorities. Who or what is getting the best of your time? When we try to do everything we do nothing well. Focus on your first priorities and then carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully refine them before adding to them.
6. Telephone, Email, IM and Gadding About - We women like to talk and oftentimes this gets us into trouble. The Bible warns against the misuse of our tongue in 1 Timothy 5:13, "And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not."
   
   It’s an old, old problem. Don’t be an idler, gossip, or busybody going about from house to house via the telephone, email, IM, or visiting. Save your talk time and be meaningful with it. There is no need to say the same thing five different ways in your conversation. In doing these things you are stealing your own time, God’s time, and the correspondent’s time. Give thought to your words.
7. Disobedient Children - Disobedient children take your time through cleaning their messes, repairing their destruction, threatening and repeating, arguing with them, and mental anguish. Unruly children are not enjoyable. They will rob you not only of time but also relationships. Your friends may avoid your family because of your children. Babysitters don’t want to have to deal with them.
   
   Do something about it. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Pray for wisdom. Enforce consequences and make the consequences mean something. Spend time with them teaching them respectful behavior. It takes time and deliberate thought and action on your part to teach them obedience and manners.

Blessings,

Kim Brenneman

Kim is the joyful wife of Matt and the blessed mother of nine children.

When not busy homeschooling and farmschooling, she enjoys writing, gardening, cooking, reading, sewing, and crafting.

Kim lives on a farm in Iowa where her family grows beef cattle, corn and beans, and operates a micro-dairy selling cheese at farmer’s markets. She loves to write and speak about her passion for home and family. She is the author of Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. She blogs about the same subject at:
http://largefamilylogistics.blogspot.com.

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