SISTER WISDOM : build a better life

This is a guest post by Jennifer Duchene. If you're interested in writing a guest post for Sister Wisdom, see the guidelines here.

The best way to live is with intention.

All it takes is respect, transparency and a dash of compromise.

Last week, for a board meeting, eight of us travelled from different states to meet at our new management company headquarters. The face-to-face meeting allows us to connect as women, as redesigners, decorators, businesswomen and friends. We all are involved on the board because we care about our industry and organization and want to help it grow right.

In between listening, we are putting ideas on the table, including ways to build revenue, to encourage members to give, as well as have a place to bond and share with peers & clients. Heady stuff!

The days are filled with discussion, creative thought and hammering out how, why and when. Each of us has an opinion and ideas about the best way to go about reaching our goals. It is essential for us to be transparent and direct while compromising on the details, in order to achieve our intentions.

After long days at the negotiating table, we sit together as friends and acquaintances at the dinner table, learning about each other’s lives, loves and families. We share some of our secrets and our wisdom as women do.

Our focus in the day is about creating systems to support a Redesigner/Decorator/Stager in the work-world. At night we are deepening our relationships. On the first night at the table, Anna, our Director, tells us to reveal something about ourselves that the rest of us don’t know. This is powerful way to hardwire the connections. There is much laughter, teasing and some tears. By the end of the second day, we have accomplished a great deal, forged friendships and drawn lines of focus.

We have a long list of to do’s.

One of our discussions is about whether Redesign is part of Design and Decorating. Most of us are passionate about Redesign as a lifestyle, as well as a design principle. When we go into a home or business, our goal is to make the space look amazing, while honoring what is loved, using what our clients have, and if needed, adding other elements of design like window treatments, color etc. A lone dissenter felt that design and redesign were completely separate. Many of our members practice the two simultaneously. By asking why, and focusing on the intention, we are all gratified with the end result. It is truly amazing what determination can accomplish.

On our last night together, I am sitting next to two women I have come to love, admire and consider dear friends. We talk about love and relationships. Each woman shares some secret to her success or failure in love. What strikes me is the discovery that the women who have respect and intention in their relationships have the strongest bonds. In order to make a relationship work you need to know what you want and how to communicate this to your partner, your coworkers, clients and your family. You need to know what you can compromise on, and what you cannot.

This is a profound AHA! moment for me:
In order to live life with passion you need to know your Intention. Redesign is about intention: to make the space work well requires perfect placement of furniture, accessories, the right color choices.

You must not compromise yourself. You cannot give away your power; this dilutes your intentions. You can compromise on the details, not the intent. In Redesign you can work with items that are not your first choice because they are there and they work; the effect and intent is achieved.

Ergo, if I want to own my life, live from the heart, I need to live my whole life, not just my work passion, with intention. Going forward, I need to be clear, about who I am and how I stay true to me. I need to focus on Redesign as a daily part of life: inwardly, in my relationships, in my work, and in my home.

What needs to be Redesigned in your life?

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Jennifer Duchene is The Home Makeover Mixtress, blending Cool & Cozy Style. She has a background in Design; she studied Redesign 5 years ago and was hooked. She loves to create a fabulous home using what people already own. Duchene also helps her clients with color and decorating purchases. Born in South Africa, she lives in Silicon Valley Ca & enjoys decorating, designing, shopping and hanging out with friends and family. Visit her design blog/website for more inspiration; you can also friend her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter or contact her at 650.384.0569.

This guest post is by Julie McKamey. If you're interested in writing a guest post for Sister Wisdom, see the guidelines here.

Out of Boxes Me Is Living ~ Living In My Boxes Only

No matter how I flip the word around it still comes out LIMBO and that is where my life is right now along with my home! So that is the present…

The past… a home full of life, two rambunctious boys, working full time, running to and from team practices and games (never the same team but sometimes the same night across town from each other), laughter, love, messy house, cooking, grilled cheese sandwiches, drive thru meals on Tuesday nights (BK used to be dollar Tuesday night for kids meals), trips to the dock to see Daddo, grocery shopping, prayers, deep sea fishing, broken arm, running errands, boys fighting, more life, dog running around, stitches, backyard b’day parties, bird making noise, learning phases, home LIFE groups, pool cleaning, car washing, lawn mowing, swinging on the swing set, pool time, baby teeth falling out, “milk” please, ho does with mac and cheese, church, teen age boys, driving permits, high school, jobs, car keys, graduation, college, home for sale, moving out…

The future… empty nest, tears, occasional visits, new digs, prayers, new jobs, new business, college graduations, more tears, weddings, in laws, holidays, meeting new people, building a practice, quiet times, fishing, dock side picnics, grandkids, more tears, moving forward…

So what exactly should a home be? It should be whatever the homemaker wants it to be, whatever he or she envisions, it should be whatever they call “home”!

[Annie here]
Home's got to change with life. Are you willing to let go of the way home used to be - whether in your childhood or in your first years of marriage or pre-baby or before you downsized or just last month - and move forward into what your home needs to be now?

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Julie McKamey is the wife of two almost-all-grown-up boys, a new empty-nester, and is currently shuttling back and forth between getting their home in Missouri sold and helping her husband set up his chiropractice clinic in their hometown of Highlands, North Carolina. She is a positive, energetic, encouraging, and aims to live by these words: "When God aims us in a new direction, we have to let go of what we've known, be willing to embrace the unfamiliar, and trust He will sustain us on the journey."

This guest post is by Chandra Hawkins-Bernat. If you're interested in writing a guest post for Sister Wisdom, see the guidelines here.

I confess that pre-marriage and baby carriage, I had grandiose visions: children nestled sweetly under their (clean) sheets in a perfectly decorated bedroom, a family gathered around an immaculate dining room table, gourmet meals with coordinating napkins, lit candles, and the perfect mood music playing in the background. No picky eaters, no noisy conversationalists, no spilled milk all over Grandma Lizzie’s tablecloth.

Well, somewhere between here and the Twilight Zone, reality dawned. These visions, though certainly not bad, were not really very practical. They were hindering me from enjoying the moment and living life as life was meant to be: Honest, hopeful, happy, and free.

I come from a long line of immaculate housekeepers, who wanted to impart that trait on the next generation of women in their family. I had assumed that regardless of little mess-makers underfoot, I would be able to scrub my floors on my hands and knees once a week, dust once a week, vacuum once a day, be able to drink water from the toilet bowl, and never have be a dish or piece of laundry out of place.

As most mommas know, there are weeks that we feel that just taking a shower is an accomplishment akin to climbing Everest. And as far as keeping up with laundry goes that may as well be some uncharted territory on the Amazon where Native peoples and undiscovered insects inhabit. So how do we find that balance where familial and cultural expectations and necessity and desire lie?

Its been a slow process, but I have come to the conclusion through too many days of feeling overwhelmed and feeling something of a failure, that we are not the servants of our home, but our home is meant to serve us. With the dawning of this revelation, I felt like a burden was lifted! And perhaps more importantly, I felt free.

Let me illustrate:

One day while crying on the phone to my Grandma about my laundry nightmare she gave me some of the best advice: “Don’t sweat the small stuff, Chandra.” Momentarily arriving from out of my pity party, I sniffed. “How do I do that when my kids have to have clean underwear?”

She went on to explain to me that my Aunt, who happens to be a very busy middle school principle, doesn’t sort her laundry and doesn’t fold it. Grandma told me that my Aunt just figures that it gets wrinkled up anyway once in the drawers. I had an epiphany.

Folding laundry is one of those things that I felt that I had to do. It’s just what you are supposed to do, that’s what my mother taught me, that’s what Martha Stewart says. Right?

Wrong. If your laundry gets washed, but gets stuck on your husband's pool table (I won’t mention names here. Ahem…) and you end up sorting through that collective pile for the next month or so, then obviously your idea of folding your laundry and having organized drawers and closets is not working. Your home has become your master. Its time to reclaim it!

I finally learned to stop folding laundry and screw sorting socks. Our laundry gets put in its appropriate drawers, unfolded. With my little boys rooting around their dresser drawers it doesn’t stay folded anyway. And socks are sorted by family member but not paired. In a family of five, I would rather outlaw socks altogether.
But that’s not practical so this Momma gave up on pairing them. I would much rather go devote that time to some other creative project or a tickle fight. If there is a stray sock, I put it in a little baggie. If its match doesn’t resurface, then I use them for dust mittens for the kids, or make little snowmen out of them for gift embellishments at Christmastime.

Because of this simple, blessed conversation this principle started oozing out and running over into all other aspects of my home. I took to heart that poem about fingerprints on the windowpanes. I wash my windows, but not religiously. I started buying stock in Lysol wipes to keep my bathroom clean. I don’t fret about the dust. I would rather go pick a bouquet out of my garden and set it on a dusty table then waste that time removing the dust in an obsessive-compulsive fashion.
I also learned to set up my kitchen in a way that works for me. Just because your mom had the silverware drawer right by the towels doesn’t mean that that works for you. For me, I have one kid-friendly cabinet that is filled with all of their dishes (sippy cups, plates, bowls). Its easy for them to have access and they can start to help in the kitchen. My breadbox houses granola bars, pistachios, and other types of snacks in order to free up storage space.

Have you ever sorted your book collections by color? I used to think the only way to organize books was by genre’ and alphabetical by author. I threw that stuffy old principle out of the window too! My books are now sorted by color and not only do they add a colorful display, its much more my personality. Free spirited and fun loving.

So, my question to you is simple:

What are some ways that your home has become your master? And how can you go about reclaiming what’s yours? And what are some expectations that have perhaps been passed down from your grandmothers or mother to you that don’t work for you personally?

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Chandra Hawkins-Bernat is a daughter of a King, a wife of a Prince, mother of heirs to the Kingdom...and in her spare time she pretends to be a student, author, designer, and artist. She is currently working on a book as well as blogging about being an insanely creative mommy and loving life with boys and an adoring husband. Her posts will leave you feeling inspired to create: memories, beauty, projects of love, and works of art for yourself and your loved ones. Be sure to visit her at MonkeyShine and get inspired!

This article is a repost from Meredith of Penelope Loves Lists. If you're interested in guest posting for Sister Wisdom, see the guidelines here.

love is doing something when you don't feel like it

My marriage to J is my second, and I know now that happy marriage isn’t luck, or sex, or even just promises of forever. It’s daily maintenance. Not “work”, because I don’t think marriage should feel like work, but maintenance. It’s paying attention and clearing a path for your partner through every day life.

It’s you caring more about him than you care about yourself. That’s not always easy when you’re as busy as we are, right?

Being married to a man like my husband, who loves so completely through actions ( every morning I was sick, he cleaned the whole house before leaving for work, so that my mind could be “at ease”. I know.) has taught me the extreme value of doing for each other, rather than just saying “I love you” every day.

I find that my love speaks loudest when I do something for him when I most don’t feel like it. After a long day, when I’ve completed more than I thought I ever could. That’s the time I try to do one extra thing for J. Because that’s when it means the most.

Are you loving through actions today? Are you showing your family that, though your To Do list is miles long, they have a place right at the top of it?

--

[Annie here]

Let's just recap those last 2 questions, in Modern Homemaking REdefined terms:

1. Are you loving through actions by what you choose to focus on, what you choose to let go, what you choose to make important, what you choose to overlook?

2. Are you making your husband and children a priority, even when the home needs making? After all, whom is the home for? What is the value of a home without the people in it.

CHALLENGE: What can you drop from your standard "homemaking" to-do stuff in order to free up a little more time to rest, to read, to be with the ones you love, to listen to your children, to take a walk with your husband, to call a friend? Drop it today. I dare you! Then let us know about it.

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Penelope is a type of person. My name, however, is Meredith. I’m a working, married, 30-something mom of three, trying desperately (and, I admit, a bit compulsively) to hold together all the crazy aspects of my life. For me, the only way to do that is with lists and with all manner of organizational tools.

A sarcastic look at stereotypes as part of the series: Modern Homemaking REdefined.

1. Wear Doc Martens or Birkenstocks. This is, in fact, the only footwear you are allowed to own, unless you score some vintage lace-up boots at the thrift store or get into making your own flip-flops.
2. Obviously, you'll be burning incense before and after you clean the house. Bonus points if you do a spiritual house cleansing as part of your weekly cleaning routine.
3. Except never mind on the last part of #2, because you won't have any sort of formal "weekly cleaning routine." That's much too restrictive. You'll go with the flow, cleaning as you feel moved.
4. Don't get irritated at muddy footprints, smudges on the windows, and other signs of life. This is the evidence that your children are growing and embracing life.
5. NO make-up (duh.) No perms or hair dye. NO toxic cleansers, synthetic fragrances, or man-made material.
6. You should definitely learn how to sew. This is, like, basic Hippie Homemaker requirement.
7. Repurposing should be a way of life. Buy vintage so much that you forget there's actually a "new" option.
8. It goes without saying that you don't shop at Wal-mart. Or Target. EVER.
9. Embrace a communal, hospitable mindset. Your door should always be open to friends, family, hobos, strays, and, of course, other hippies. Cook up large batches of food every night just in case.
10. Experiment regularly with culturally-iffy changes to your home and person, like going without deodorant, getting rid of all your children's toys, leaving the windows open 24/7, growing hemp (ahem), and letting your yard become a natural prairie rehabilitation spot.

Bonus points for any of the following:

• dredlocks
• vintage fabric hand-sewn items as Christmas gifts
• beans as 90% of your protein
• home birth, natural birth, water birth, home-natural-water birth
• thinking about being a doula
• DOUBLE bonus points if you ARE a doula
• inability to name even three or four of the top ten tv shows

{moment of truth: what's your score?}

Okay, fine, I'll go first.
Bomb on #1. I wear flip-flops or am barefoot 90% of the time in warm weather, but don't own any Docs or Birks or vintage shoes (unless the AE boots I've had since I was 16 count as vintage) and don't plan on making my own flips.
#2. don't even own incense. Wow I thought I was more of a hippie than this. And #3. I do have a weekly cleaning routine and it saves me.
#4. Well, I don't get very irritated at stuff like that because at least it means we're outside in the real world, doing stuff. Mud cleans up.
#5. Huh. I wear make-up (albeit not much) every day. My hair is dyed. I am slowly getting rid of toxic/synthetic stuff... but it's taking a while.
#6. Huh again. I am a hippie fail. I have sewn 2 things in my life, and neither very well.
#7. I like repurposing and vintage; I do prefer them to new.
#8. I LOVE TARGET! Take that you hippie freaks!
#9. Okay, I'm pretty good on this one. I love to cook, and we love being hospitable, having friends/relatives/strangers/anyone over, anytime, with no notice... Every now and then I will call a "family only" night, and we chill with a movie and don't invite or answer the phone. Otherwise, it's a come-on-in environment.
#10. OOooookay, so I've tried/done all these except hemp. And the prairie thing wasn't really purposeful... just oversight...
BONUS POINTS:
No dreds! Can't sew! I like meat!  But (whew) I do get 3 points for the birth: my kids are home/natural/water births, all 3 'of em. I have thought about being a doula. Briefly. Then I started writing again, instead... it was easier... And on the tv shows... I don't watch them because we don't have cable or otherwise... we watch movies instead, generally, or we sit on the porch and wave at people driving by. Yep. Exciting life, that's us.

Ok. Your turn.

Fess up!

How hippie are you?
Answer below, or answer on your own blog and leave a link in the comments. If you have any articles related to the hippie-esque mentions above, link them up too. That way we can all be more hippie together. We could start a commune... but only if we all keep wearing deodorant.

Annie Pseudo-Hippie Homemaker out. Going to cook some beans. Then go to Target.

This guest post is written by Betsy Ball Clark. If you're interested in writing a guest post for Sister Wisdom, see the guidelines here.

My oldest daughter recently handed me a tiny strip of paper on which she had written, “Do you have secrets about me, that you are keeping from me?” I laughed when she gave it to me. “Like what?” I asked, “That I found you in a basket on my front porch on a cold rainy night with a note that said ‘Please take care of this baby’?"
Now she laughed. “No,” she said, “That you dropped me in a ton of toxic waste and I have super powers.”
Some days I wish I had super-powers.

Perhaps at first glance, my home would appear to be somewhat conventional; my husband works. I work at home (I prefer “Domestic goddess”), and home school my children, but the ideals I had in my mind about orderliness in home making have turned out to be anything but “Ideal” in my home.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and I abhor clutter. I have declared war, but so far, nature is winning! Periodically I sink into pits of despair about my lack of organizational discipline. I make attempts, and hopefully each time I am taking small steps to grow in this area. But the real hope I have in making a home is the loving, growth and shaping of four wonderful people I love more than anything else in this world.

Three Things I Want to Achieve

1. Love my husband well.
My children watch how my husband and I interact with one another. They see us fail, and they see us succeed. I want to model true, self-sacrificing love to them. I also want to model that self-sacrificing love requires renewal on occasion. I want them to know that healthy self-sacrifice doesn’t require becoming a non-person. Just as I want them to become the best that they can be in who they are, I want them to see us doing the things we enjoy and living life fully.

2. Help My Children Discover their Passions.
Things they love, and things they really, really like. Children are each so very different and sometimes I expect them to fit neatly into proper little children boxes. I am learning to train and teach them uniquely in the ways that will be most effective for them, as the distinct and beautiful creatures they are. This is a continual learning process for me. My oldest is a fiery, passionate “artist” in the making. My second, as a classic boy loves “the machine” (technology) and relationships are not as openly important to him. My third is all about inter-personal relationship, and has perceptions and interactive skills that blow me away!

3. Help my Children Discover and Pursue their Purpose.
Our passions surround our central purpose as spokes on a wheel. I believe God’s purpose for each of us is to glorify Him. This may look different for each person. Enjoying the good gifts He gives and thanking Him for them is to bring Him glory. Serving others, creating, working, playing, laughing, weeping with the sorrowful, loving, and finding the vocation you want to pursue, all have to do with our passions. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

This has become somewhat of a life verse for me. My understanding of what brings God glory has grown from a narrow “Stained glass” view into a flourishing, rich tapestry that all of life; doing dishes, changing diapers or performing surgery can be a magnificent expression of honor to God if it is done as to Him.

As my small children grow, my place in their lives moves from one of control (while they were babies I did everything for them) to one of influence. Their external behavior can be somewhat controlled by environment when they are young, but if there is no change and redemption of their hearts, when the circumstances change, they will change with them. As they grow into adults, I long for them to be securely anchored to an unchanging Rock of Jesus Christ that will safely guide them through all the storms of life.

It is a wonderful thing to know that you will always be loved and treasured by Him as you enjoy the rich gifts He has given while you make a temporary home here on earth. I would love to share how you can be in relationship with Him if you don’t know Him yet!

Really, if you live in a home, you are somewhat of a home maker. Homes are the hubs from which we live life. We rush in and out, to soccer games, or church, or the grocer. We fuss over how we want it to look and feel. We invite friends to share time and food together with us. All these things are important. They are the things we do, but overall, the home is only an expression of who we are. It can be warm and cozy, and a little messy. It can be perfect and sterile, like a picture in a magazine (sometimes I wish I lived in a magazine, or at least had a maid who made it look like I do).

I shall bear my discontent about my housekeeping imperfections. I shall strive to overcome them, and be grateful when my husband is patient with them. But most of all, I shall enjoy the gifts one day at a time of the ones I love, here in my imperfect home.

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Betsy Ball Clark is a second generation homeschooler living in Greensboro, NC with her husband Greg, and their three children, whom she homeschools: Jessica – 9, Joshua - 7, and Grace – 3. She enjoys being with family and friends, hiking, coffee, and fun. Betsy and her family attend Seacoast Church, and try to live by Ecclesiastes 8:15. She writes at her personal blog and at Beauty - Women Only, which is primarily for the purpose of encouraging women.

This guest post is by Leslie Ann Jones. Are you interested in writing a guest post? See how here.

Last Thursday night, I was sitting at my desk in the office, singing along with Martina McBride on iTunes, packaging several sets of custom stationery from my etsy shop, glancing over my shoulder at my 8-month-old daughter rolling around on the floor, listening to my husband talk about his day at work, and thinking about starting to cook supper when Dennis, the aforementioned husband, let out an alarmed yelp.

Immediately, I swirled around to check out Micah. Had she swallowed a hairbow, a feat she had attempted the night before? Had she rolled into the bookcase? Had she ripped apart the newspaper? Thoughts of the worst flashed through my mind.

But none of them were the reason for the yelp.

An entire tub of salsa spilled in the middle of the carpet was the reason for the yelp.

I stared at the tomatoey mess soaking into the white carpet and wondered how to react.

I chose to laugh. Because really, what good would have come out of yelling?

I turned back to the desk and continued packaging the stationery.
Then I took pity on Dennis, who was frantically trying to clean up the mess with a roll of paper towels.  And I helped.
Helping meant that I took over the cleaning task while he watched Micah and ate chocolate chip cookies.

Later, as I cooked supper, I started thinking about why I do what I do. I double-majored in college and came out with degrees in communication and religion. Then I went on to seminary, where I earned a master of divinity degree.

Then we decided that it was time to make a baby.

So I didn’t look for a job in Christian ministry when I graduated from seminary. Instead, I began sending out writing samples and query letters to various publications. As my belly grew, so did my writing assignments, and I thought freelance writing was a perfect occupation for a stay-at-home mom.

Then I actually had the baby, and writing was the farthest thing from my mind. I was entirely too busy thinking about feeding schedules, establishing a routine, and wondering why Micah refused to take naps to actually sit down and write. Concentrate on anything for an extended period of time? Not a chance. But as Micah grew, so did her affinity for sleeping, which did wonders for my sanity. I could be a mom and a writer too. And because I’ve always loved pretty paper, I began designing custom stationery as well.

I spend my days shuffling between the den (where I nurse Micah and we play together), the kitchen (where I encourage Micah to eat something other than milk and wonder what in the world we’re going to eat for supper), and the office (where I savor Micah’s naps by writing in my journal, reading my Bible, writing on snippets, and filling orders for Senojal Designs). Occasionally, I throw a load of clothes in the washing machine. Even more rarely, I scrub the bathtub. When it’s time for Micah to take a bath, I wash the dishes in the sink so there’s room to suds up my child.

And I couldn’t be happier. I’m so thankful to have the freedom to live this life. Being a homemaker allows me to embrace all the different parts of me that make me who I am. If I was just a writer, I wouldn’t be able to indulge the part of me that wants to be a stationery designer. If I was just a stationery designer, I wouldn’t know the pleasure of spending days with my sweet little girl. If I were just a mommy, I wouldn’t be able to participate in some of the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done. Being a homemaker allows me to be a wife, and a mommy, and a writer, and a designer.

When people ask me what I do, I never know how to answer them, because what I do doesn’t fit into a neat and tidy box. I’m just an ordinary girl who tries her best to keep all her plates spinning at the same time. I stay at home with Micah. I write. I design. I keep house (albeit not very well). I teach Sunday school. I cook supper. I keep our pantry filled. I hunt for cheap diapers. I check e-mail and facebook a little too often. I make pretty paper. And I hope that somehow, through all of it, I am becoming the person that God created me to be.

I do what I do because this is what’s best for my family and me right now. It may not always be best. -But right now it is, and right now, life is good.

Today's 2 Cents Courtesy of:

Leslie Ann Jones is just a girl who’s trying to wear about 10 hats at one time. She’s a mother to a precious 8-month-old baby girl. She’s a wife to Dennis. She’s a freelance writer for various publications. She’s a stationery designer for Senojal Designs. To read more bits, scraps, & morsels from her crazy life, visit snippets, her online home.

What's your 2 cents?

-
Image courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt.

Do you feel like your home is an accurate representation of YOU, the person? Does it fit like your favorite pair of jeans, make you feel pretty like your black heels? Or is it more like that ugly, scratchy sweater your Mom made you wear over Christmas in 5th grade?

Put in your 2 cents!

Something about home won't let go of us. (Is it that pile of laundry wrapped around our ankles?)
It doesn't matter where you are in life: a college gal in a dorm room, a working woman in an apartment, a wife, a business owner, a stay-at-home mom or working mom or single mom or not a mom at all.

We all need home, and it falls to us women to create it. Come on: we know men are smart and capable, but they don't get this home thing. We do. But that doesn't mean we always know how to make it happen.

Home should nourish and nurture us... but sometimes home just drains us.
Home should welcome and comfort us... but sometimes all we want to do is run away.

I'd like to invite all you women to participate in a new series on my blog. Instead of drawing lines and making assumptions, let's find our common ground. Wherever we are in life, we all have a home. And as the women, we're the ones making it, whether just for ourselves or for other people too.

What matters? What doesn't? How do you handle the burn-out? How do you keep your mind engaged? How do you throw off the guilt? How do you quit comparing and start enjoying? What about hospitality? What about balance? What about that moment when you realize that if you have to sweep-the-floor-one-more-time-you-will-scream-so-help-me-God?

Please join in. There will be a new post running every Monday for the next four weeks, but I'd love to have more from different perspectives. Read along, comment, discuss, be sarcastic, ask questions, give advice, and let me know if you're interested in writing a post, too.

• May 24: guest post by Marci of Overcoming Busy
• May 27: SLOT OPEN - guest post by YOU?
  
• May 31: guest post by Leslie Ann of Snippets by Leslie Ann
  
• June 3: SLOT OPEN - guest post by YOU?
  
• June 7: guest post by Betsy of Beauty-Women Only and Be of Good Courage
  
• June 10: SLOT OPEN - guest post by YOU?
  
• June 14: guest post by Haley of EyeJunkie
  
• June 17: SLOT OPEN - guest post by YOU?