{"id":2290,"date":"2012-10-13T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=2290"},"modified":"2013-01-24T20:20:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T01:20:54","slug":"saturdays-with-shandy-6-weeks-to-make-your-home-shine-for-the-holidays-week-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/13\/saturdays-with-shandy-6-weeks-to-make-your-home-shine-for-the-holidays-week-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturdays with Shandy: 6 Weeks to Make Your Home Shine for the Holidays! Week Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This past week, we decluttered and tackled front porch and entryway cleaning projects. How did everyone do??? It wasn’t too hard, right? A little bit each week will add up to a whole lot of stress removed from our holiday celebrations! Remember, we are taking before & after pictures every week, and will have the opportunity to share them in our Facebook group on Saturdays only, so be sure to head over there today\u00a0to post your pictures! I can’t wait to see what everyone has accomplished so far!<\/p>\n

This week, we are going to focus on our living and dining rooms. In our house, our front room, or “keeping room” (also known as the living room, great room, parlour, or sitting room) is where we spend much of our time, and is where we invite our guests to sit and make themselves at home. Keeping rooms, historically, were a room right off the kitchen where Colonial families would gather to glean warmth from the kitchen stove. It’s not so different today, as many homes have fireplaces in their living rooms. Not mine, sadly, but many. *sigh* But it is our gathering place, and is where we spend most of our time together as a family.<\/p>\n

As such, it should be a comfortable, warm, inviting place, free of clutter, dust, and otherwise unpleasant things. And then there is the dining room. The place where we pray together, break bread together, and fellowship together. If we had Jesus as a guest in our home, we would invite Him to have a meal with us in this special room, so we want this room to be the best it can be, right? Homey, clean, and welcoming. The living room, dining room, and kitchen (which we will get to next week) work together to be the hearts of our homes, so let’s give them the love they deserve.<\/p>\n

Have you ever thought about using your five senses when it comes to making your house a home? \u00a0The way a house smells speaks volumes about the people that\u00a0live there, especially the one(s) responsible for housekeeping. What do you smell when you enter your home? Do you have wonderful smelling candles burning, or perhaps a loaf of bread baking in the oven… or do you smell something offensive to your senses? What do you see? A clean, cared for home… or is it unkempt and unorganized? What do you hear? Maybe hymns, contemporary Christian music, or Christmas songs playing in the background… or do you hear harsh, unpleasant noises?<\/p>\n

What do you feel? When you sit down on your couch, do you have a soft blanket, or maybe a homemade quilt draped nicely over the edge… or are there crumbs, pet hair, or little plastic Army men there that you’re constantly brushing away? What do you taste? Do you have goodies on hand for unexpected guests, and dinner in the oven every night for your family… or are you constantly scrambling to throw something together or running for take-out way too often?<\/p>\n

These things either help to make a house a home, or a place to dread coming home to. Which one are you creating? I encourage you to think about these things as we continue to work on making our homes shine for the holidays!<\/p>\n

\u00a0______________________________<\/p>\n

Let’s pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n

O taste and see that the Lord is good! You have blessed us with wonderful abilities to sense the world around us, Lord. Let us be ever mindful of how we can use these gifts to serve our family and friends. Be with us this week as we work to make our homes inviting, peaceful, comfortable places where we can fellowship with one another and where we would be proud to welcome You for dinner. Help each of us to remember to give You thanks before each meal, Lord. Remind us to slow down, and let there be a revival in gathering around the table to eat as a family. In Jesus’ name, Amen.<\/p>\n

Your assignment:<\/strong><\/p>\n

TODAY<\/b> – Comment below to let us know if you are mindful of the five senses when cleaning and decorating your home, and what you do to make your home pleasing to the senses. Be sure to post your before & after pictures in our facebook group! Read the assignments for the week so you are prepared for what’s to come. Now let’s get cleaning! \ud83d\ude42 Clean all blinds and window treatments in your living and dining rooms; clean any mirrors and picture frames you have on display… anything with glass. No sense in getting the glass cleaner out repeatedly! If you’re not sure how to clean your blinds, dust your ceiling fan, clean a microfiber couch, etc… go to our Saturdays with Shandy board on Pinterest for some awesome tips! http:\/\/pinterest.com\/gchministries\/saturdays-with-shandy\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Monday – <\/b>Dusting day! Dust living and dining rooms from the top down: ceiling fans, ceilings & walls, baseboards, and woodwork; clean TV, electronics, and remotes; dust shelves, mantles, tables, other wood furniture, decorations, lamps, etc.<\/p>\n

Tues<\/b> – Clean all doors, doorknobs, light switches, and fingerprints\/scuffmarks on walls. Get out the touch-up paint and take care of any places that need to be touched up.<\/p>\n

Wed<\/b> – Clean out and vacuum the couch and other upholstered furniture. Vacuum or sweep & mop the floors in your living and dining rooms, moving all the furniture.<\/p>\n

Thurs<\/b> – Organize! Go through any drawers, cabinets, etc. and organize your belongings, getting rid of anything you no longer need or use.<\/p>\n

Fri<\/b> – Catch up on anything you haven\u2019t completed. If your upholstered furniture and\/or carpeting needs cleaning, clean them or have them cleaned. Did you remember to clean with the five senses in mind? Maybe light a candle, or put on some soft music. Then enjoy your evening! You\u2019ve earned it!<\/p>\n

———————————————————————————————————-<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to invite you to be part of our online Bible study! Click on \u201cSign-Up Here\u201d at the top of the page to learn more or to register for the Women\u2019s Bible study and be added to our facebook group!<\/p>\n

If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Lord & Savior and would like someone to pray with you, email Prayer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com and someone from our Prayer Team will contact you soon.<\/p>\n

Blessings,<\/b><\/p>\n

Shandy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past week, we decluttered and tackled front porch and entryway cleaning projects. How did everyone do??? It wasn’t too hard, right? A little bit each week will add up to a whole lot of stress removed from our holiday celebrations! Remember, we are taking before & after pictures every week, and will have the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[229,370,425,503,734,954],"class_list":["post-2290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-cleaning","tag-family","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-holidays","tag-organization","tag-shandy-showers","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-AW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2290"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8176,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions\/8176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}