Making Home A Haven

Today's challenge for Making Your Home a Haven is multifaceted. Tami has these ideas for ways we can bless our homes today:

1. Set a timer for 15 minutes and work on cleaning or organizing in an area that you dread getting started on. Just 15 minutes! After that you can stop if you want to. :)

When I read this challenge I knew my 15 minutes needed to be spent straightening our bedroom closet. We've been taking things out and not taking the time to put them back exactly where they go and the result is clutter, a dirty word in our house! It actually took me less than 15 minutes to straighten it.

2. Do something you've been procrastinating about.
This will probably sound funny, but one thing I've been meaning to do and keep forgetting, is to order some summer catalogs. Ashley and I love to use them for ideas for decorating (and daydreaming!) and Aspen loves to cut and paste the pictures for art projects. So today I requested our usual summer fare: LL Bean, Magic Cabin, Posh Tots and Gooseberry Patch.

3. Clean up or organize a pile. A pile of dishes, a pile of laundry, a pile of papers... whatever needs your attention most urgently! :)
Okay this is gross, I admit, but for the past several days we've not bothered to take out the garbage. We live in an apartment, so taking it out means taking the bags that have been put out in the garage to the trash compactor. I try to do this daily or at least every other day but this the past few days it's piled up on us. This challenge inspired me to round it all up and run it to the compactor, which took me all of about 10 minutes and made a world of difference in how I felt walking through our garage.

4. Spend some quality time with your family. Look into their eyes and laugh with them! Do something out of the ordinary for or with at least one of your family members. :)
We did this already today. The girls and I spent a couple of hours playing at the pool today and it was tons of fun. After we got home, I snuggled up on the couch with Aspen and watched some of her favorite preschool shows with her. I usually use her Quiet Time in the afternoon to do chores or some other task, but today I just wanted to be with her, so that's what we did. Now, while she's playing with her Dad, I have to go do all the chores I usually do then. My hubby is making us a treat for supper, grilled chicken on a stick. Yum.