Rural Simplicity

I'm not ready! It can't be time yet!!I might have sounded brave two days ago when I gave you the final preliminaries for this Spring Cleaning Challenge, but let me tell you what I've quickly realized: 1. Missions Conference week (extra evenings at church) 2. Started a new eating plan (no it's not a diet, I hate diets) 3. Started a new exercise plan 4. Spring Cleaning Challenge! I have no idea when I'm going to clean my windows tomorrow between cooking 6 meals, working 8 hours, exercising and going to Missions Conference at 7pm, but It's going to happen! I've managed to start way to many things all on April 1st and that's no Fooling! I hope you are encouraged by my craziness in knowing that we are all busy and wondering how to accomplish it all. But don't worry, if you mess up with the cleaning schedule. (Even if it's the first day!) Just get back on track tomorrow, or maybe tonight. Success doesn't always start with success, sometim...

Welcome to my favorite day of the Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today we will be doing some in depth planning. (I love to plan!) Here is a day by day breakdown of what will happen. Each daily post will go even farther in depth. Don't forget that it is laid out by week, and the first and last weeks are not full weeks. Each week is dedicated to an area of the house and I laid it out to clean from the top to the bottom.  I hope you have your cleaning supplies made or bought, your rags and wipes nearby and some good sturdy clothes and shoes, because it's about to get messy! See you on Monday for your first assignment! Remember I'll be giving out each day's assignment the night before so you can start as early as you like. Also don't forget to sign up in the comments below and encourage one another along the way. Sarah

Here is the last of my recipes that i think you will need to get you through the Spring Cleaning Challenge. If you notice most of them have vinegar and warm water as the base, so feel free to use one or two recipes on everything. Of course if you have your own recipes or don't feel clean without store bought items, please don't sacrifice your sanity for my sake. Use what best suits your needs. Tomorrow I will give you a detailed cleaning list for each of the 30 days.  Sunday we will rest in anticipation for the great cleaning surge and Monday I will give you your first assignment. You won't need to start cleaning until Tuesday April 1st, but I want you to be prepared for each day so you can start as early as you like. Sarah

April is quickly approaching! Are you getting the itch to clean? I hope so, because today we are going to tackle the shower! Okay, not really, but I am going to share my favorite recipe, which is shower cleaner, which will help when we really do tackle that shower! I put my cleaner in a spray bottle and use a sponge to clean with. It works great and leaves my tiles shining! Some people put this concoction in a sponge wand allowing you to have one tool.  Just to reassure you, I know this seems like a lot of dish soap, but this will go a long way. Also make sure you give your spray bottle a little shake before using to keep it mixed well.  One more recipe to go! Happy mixing! Sarah

6 days left to prep for the Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today we are going to look at a simple (no recipe needed) wall cleaner. Since we will be wiping down the walls in our house and scouring off marks I thought a simple tip on cleaning walls would be appreciated. You need three things: 1. Sponge 2. Baking Soda 3. Warm Water You can make a paste for hefty spots, or just add baking soda to the water for overall wall washing. We all know that you can do a ton of work with baking soda! Happy Preparing ! Sarah

Day two of our prep work for the Spring Cleaning Challenge! Today I'm going to give you a recipe for window cleaner.  I've also been told that using warm water and a little bit of cornstarch is a great way to clean your windows as well. I don't have a recipe or a ratio for you though. I hope you are gearing up for the Challenge, it's only 7 days away! Don't forget to leave a comment below if you want to join us for the Spring Cleaning Challenge. Sarah

It's the time of year when you want to wash away the Winter, beckon in the Summer and clean till your fingernails don't exist anymore! I would like to invite you to join the Spring Cleaning Challenge were I will be giving a daily encouragement to keep up the good work. First of all this is a one month challenge, we will be starting on April the 1st (no joke) and ending on April the 30th. You will have each Sunday to rest (this is NOT a catch up day!) and I will be giving you a verse to meditate on for that day. Secondly, I will be using this last week of March to lay out the schedule so you can be prepared for April's challenge and also each day, including today, I will give you a cleaning recipe. Spring cleaning is for airing out your house from the winter bugs, not for filling it up with toxins!! Use this week to shop for anything you might need so you can focus your time on cleaning when April comes. Third, please use the comment bar below to encourage one another, an...

I don't like to admit it, I don't think most women do; At least not in the 21st century, but women are like China Teacups. Different era's bring different public "requirements"of men and women. And many late era's had women wanting to be feminine, lady like, emotional creatures, dainty, lovable, sweet, and dependent. We now live in a world were gender neutral clothes are pushed, manning up is required, tuffing  it out, ruffing it up, and hiding all feminine emotions is the norm. As much as I would like to rant and rave about each one of these problems, feminine clothing especially(because I fight it daily when trying to dress modestly), I want to focus on emotions today. Whether you hide your emotions, display them for all the world to see, or have a tasteful balance, you as a woman have deep emotions. In our desire to be treated "equally" with men in society we have put on ourselves the burden of two.  We have passed equality by entirely and simply...

One more bookstore short story. This one is dedicated to the girls who worked in the kitchen. It was my first year being out of the kitchen, and I enjoyed getting to know the girls who took my place. Enjoy! Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen (dedicated to Sarah Beth Hurn, Giuli Kennard, and Laruen Hood) Mandie, Jolie, and Kat were best friends. They did everything together. They all lived on the same street and went to the same school. “Inseparable” is what their favorite teacher Miss Carney always said. The girls took turns going to each other’s houses but it was Mandie’s house that was the favorite.  One afternoon after school Jolie and Kat had gone to Mandie’s. They were discussing what they should do that afternoon when Mandie’s Mom called up the stairs enlisting all three girls to babysit Mandie’s younger brother Ethan while she ran to the grocery store. All three girls groaned. Kat, usually seeing the bright side of things among the three came up with an idea. “Let Et...

As I promised here is the story about dragons and little boys. I wrote this three years ago while on staff at Southland Christian camp. One of my many jobs that summer was running the bookstore. It had it's slow moments and I used them to jot down a few stories. Four in all. I read them to my cabins mates each night I brought one back and dedicated each story to one of the girls at camp. This story was dedicated to my cabin mate and camp photographer, Rachel Acree.  Dragons Aren’t Real (Dedicated to Rachel Erin Acree) Once upon a time not so very long ago lived a boy named Edgar. Edgar loved reading about knights and dragons and told his mother that one day he would have a dragon. Of course everyone thought he was mad and just laughed at him saying  dragons don’t exist.  But Edgar believed different… One day Edgar was outside playing in his backyard, doing nothing more than any boy his age would be doing. Edgar had been playing that he was on the hi...

I dabble in writing and poetry every once in a while. I'm not good at it,  and I'm definitely not consistent about it. I am very artsy about it and only write when the mood strikes. But every once in a while I'll come up with something that strikes my fancy. I ran across this on my computer when I was looking up an old story to share. (It was about dragons and little boys... but it will have to wait for another time. ) I rarely throw away a writing because I never think they are good until later, but enough from me. You be the judge of whether you read it or pass on to something new. A Thought by Sarah Perry Young thoughts so eager and immature, Dancing here and there across my mind. It twists and expands, reaches and explores, There is no stopping it's demand for attention. They age and mature by just a fraction, Adding a little here and cutting back great expanses' there, Refining, tuning, understanding. But a wall has built itself agains...

"So He told them this parable...what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." ~Luke 15 About a week ago now, my 1 year old daughter got ahold of a pair of earrings I had carlessly left on my nightstand from the evening before. They were from Argentina, a gift from my cousin and the last of my 'plain', everyday earrings. One earring remained on the nights stand and the other was no where to be found. I searched the nightstand, the floor, under the bed and under the nightstand. I followed the trail from my room to my toddlers room hoping she had dropped it somewhere. (anywhere but down her throat.) I tried to keep an eye on her diapers...