For the month of October, I am joining TONS of other bloggers by linking up with The Nester for 31 day blogging challenge where we post about one topic each day for the whole month. After lots of consideration, I have chosen to take a journey through this book, 31 Days to Clean: Having a Martha Home the Mary Way, by Sarah Mae. Check out more information about the book from my 1st post here, and see my intro post with the links to the entire series here.
Sorry I'm getting around to posting so late today. I had the unfortunate incident of my computer dying. I'm so sad, but it looks like she is gone for good. I'm pretty sad, and know that there is no way I can replace it with the one i want right now, but that is OK. Thankfully hubby still has a laptop I can use, even if it isn't as easy to use or fast as mine. I'm hoping that this wont slow my blogging down, anyways, on to day four...
I always want my home to be a place where I can invite people in. I am an extrovert and I love having conversations with people. I want my home to be a place where I can invite others over, where we can sit and have a cup of coffee and a good conversation. I don't ever want people to feel awkward or uncomfortable in my home. It isn't about it being perfectly clean, because if it is too sterile people may not feel like they can sit down. It is about the environment, and helping people feel at ease and welcome. I need to cultivate this welcoming environment for my guests and myself. If I am completely honest, there are times when I want to leave my home, just because it is so overwhelming. There isn't a "put your feet up" feeling even for myself. I feel like there is always something I should be doing, and I can never truly "rest" in my home right now. How can I expect others to feel comfortable when I don't? This needs to change. I want my home to be a place that holds life and charges me, not something that feels like it always drains me. A place where people can come over without notice and chat if they need it. My goal is to have my home be a place where a friend can come over in crisis at the drop of a hat and me not be embarrassed so that I can focus on my friend and not the fact that they are seeing my mess.
Today's Challenge Pics:
Before:
After:
What in your home is keeping it from being a "put your feet up" kind of place?
I always thought my home was pretty messy as a kid, but my friends loved coming over. I think it's more about the person than the house though - I've felt welcomed in "messy" homes, and not even seen the mess after a while as the hostesses are so lovely. And I've felt at home in clean homes for the same reason. Such a hard thing to find if it doesn't come naturally though!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the book but doing my own Martha challenges - I have a long list! I'm doing the set Mary ones though, and very much enjoying reading your thoughts too :)
I think that as a kid, you don't care. I know I didn't. However, I have sadly been in homes that made me feel uncomfortable. It was never really for clutter, or the "life stuff" more the fact that they hadn't cleaned the toilet in awhile. I wish that I could say that I didn't feel that way on occasion but I have. On particular incident was some male friends from college... lets just say they needed some female assistance in the cleaning department.
DeleteSo glad you are reading along! I hope that you are finding this journey as encouraging and enlightening as I am. I will be changing the order of some of the Martha Challenges because I want to do the more time consuming challenges on my days off of work, as well as changing some of them that don't apply to me (we don't have a home office). I have a feeling I will also be creating some more "Martha challenges" that go past the 31 days.