Rural Simplicity

This is part four of a six part series. If you haven't read the previous posts please start there. Habit and Routine -  Read it here . Finding Your Personal Space -  Read it here . Taking Inventory  - Read it here. So, purging... Some people love it, most cringe at the word. Let's break down it down some more and work our way through one step at a time. Yes, it might be a big job, but you can only complete one small task at a time, so lets only focus on one small task. You've already uncovered some great habits in your life and you've hopefully started integrating some new ones as well. You have also found a room, space, or corner to call your own. You've set up some boundaries and rules for that space and claimed it as your safe zone. Now you have chosen a room (hopefully your "personal space" room) and have created four piles as you worked your way through each item in the room. 1) Trash 2) Give Away/Sell 3) Keep -  this room 4) Keep - diffe...

Listed below or 54 questions to use at a party. Write them on a ball, or print them in strips and place in a basket, or go straight down the list. These simple games are a way to get people to know each other, start conversations, and who knows maybe find a best friend! 1) What is your favorite Winter activity? 2) What are your favorite sounds? 3) What's your worst example of procrastination? 4) What outdoor activity haven't you tried, but would like to? 5) What was the last photo you took? 6) Where do you get most of the decorations for your home? 7) Name one thing on your bucket list. 8) Are you a morning or night person? 9) What's the strangest thing you've ever eaten? 10) What is your favorite movie? 11) What is your favorite sport to play? 12) What is your favorite summer activity? 13) What is your favorite way to waste time? 14) How many places did you live growing up? 15) What is one of your favorite things to do in {your hometown}? 16) Do yo...

We are two weeks into January already! Can you believe it? How are those New Year resolutions coming? Did you stop making them years ago because it just became a joke? Ask yourself these 10 questions to see where you are on your resolutions. 1) Do you feel pressured to make New Year resolutions? 2) Do you make resolutions or goals at other times of the year? 3) Do you tell other people about your resolutions or set up any accountability? 4) Do you make the same resolution every year? 5) Do you make resolutions that you know you can't achieve? 6) Do you make specific resolutions or overarching goals? 7) How often do you reaffirm your resolution throughout the year? 8) Do other people make fun of your resolutions? 9) Once you make a resolution do you make a plan of action to keep it real? 10) Do feel the need to start your resolution on January 1st? Making goals in your life is important, being pressured to make resolutions or feeling like you failed the whol...

Have you ever heard of a vision retreat? Do you have a failing marriage? a good marriage? lots of kids? no kids? grandkids? It really doesn't matter, because the retreat is geared for the couple and whatever season of life they are in.   In summary a vision retreat is a time when you and your spouse get away from the usual, the kids, the house, etc... 3-5 days is best. Balance your time between discussion and relaxing fun, and make sure to never leave a discussion unresolved. You will cover things like core beliefs, child training, finances, etc...  My husband and I just came home from our first vision retreat, You can find the details on this post.   Here is a book I recommend written by Jimmy and Karen Evans . It is a workbook with 1) Ways to prepare for the vision retreat 2) Step by step questions for the vision retreat. You can buy the ebook and just use a notebook to record your answers or buy the hard copy and write it in.  Buy the book her...

Children don't require a lot of money, and they don't require a master's degree. Children are the simplest minds to understand. They require very little from life other than you. Children are tiny little you's and me's. This is about all they need...Children love: 1) Touching You 2) Getting a smile from you 3) Looking into your eyes 4) Playing with you 5) Singing and Dancing with you 6) Snuggling with you 7) Talking with you 8) Helping you in anyway 9) Fixing your hair 10) Being with you! It's as simple as that. Have you given time to that little you running around? Sarah 

Sometimes the Bible can feel really big. Like the difference between a well organized thriftstore and a 150 booth antique store. The Bible feels more like an antique store where each person/author has his own booth/book, but I'm looking for a problem dealing in a specific area. That's when I need the Bible to feel more like that organized thriftstore. That's where memorization comes into play, or google, or your Strong's concordance. In this case you've probably used google to locate verses on encouragement. Let me just say that just reading through these seventeen verses is not going to encourage you in the long run. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stop a moment and read straight from the Bible. Use one of these verses as a starting point. Or, take one or two of these verses and write them down on something that you can take with you. Read them often, memorize them and most importantly mediate on them and pray over them. Reading a few Bible verses won't ch...

1) If you don't have your health, what do you have? 2) What if you paid a doctor a monthly fee to keep you well, and didn't pay them when you got sick? (look into ancient Japanese medicine) 3) If there were no stress in life how often do you think we would get sick? 4) How often do you ask - "If I just had ____________ [back] I would be healthy" 5) How often do you associate looks and size with health? 6) What is one thing holding you back from becoming more healthy? 7) Do you believe that being healthy is expensive? Too expensive? 8) What would you do if you had to pay all medical bills out of pocket? What if there were no insurance for health at all? 9) Do you believe medicine has to do with your health? Or does body movement, mentality, and nutrition? 10) Do you have a job, lifestyle, friend group, and hobbies that encourage health? Have you thought about changing some of them to encourage healthy living?

If you and your spouse were on the Newlywed game show... would you win? My husband and I are going to a couple's retreat next month and decided to get a head start on it by brushing up on our newlywed gameshow questions. We actually did pretty well the first time through, but we keep giving each other pop quizzes to keep the answers fresh in our minds. Below I've made a list of common couples questions that you and your spouse might find fun to ask each other. 1) What is your spouse's all time favorite movie? 2) What would your spouse request as their "last meal"? 3) What is your spouse's favorite pastime? 4) What percentage of housework would your husband say he does? 5) What flavor of cake did you have at your wedding? 6) What is your spouse's ideal date night? 7) Excluding people, what would your spouse say is their most prized possession? 8) At what specific sport or game will you wife say she is better than you? 9) What is your spouse...

I love to think, meditate, and day dream. There are so many interesting things in life to wonder about (or better yet research out!) But many times I find my thoughts lazily falling back into the same old patterns of meaningless, blah... So here are 10 Questions to get our thoughts headed down a delightful, interesting path for today. 1) Do you think we will ask God and other great warriors of the faith questions in heaven? Or will be busy praising God all day long? Or maybe we will just know all the questions to our answers? 2) Do you have a dream job? A job you would love going to everyday? Is it possible you could be doing that now instead of your current job? Use a mind map to trace out ideas of how to get to your dream job. 3) Do you ever stop to reminisce just for the fact of reminiscing? Many times we think back into the past with sadness because life can't be that way now? Or maybe we haven't forgiven someone and we are constantly replaying the past in hate. ...

"I really need to find an apartment closer to work but the process of moving and finding a new apartment is so long and tedious!"   It's true there are a lot of places to rent and they are all a little bit different in aesthetic, price, location, management, etc... So I'm here to help! Let's look at it from the perspective of the Apartment office manager (Yes, that's me!) I get all sorts of people in my office everyday. I can tell you what they forgot to ask, what kind of people apartment owners are looking for, and how to organize all of that information. So let's get started! 1) Make a list of items and amenities that are important to you . List them from greatest importance to least importance. Work hard on this list and once you have it just right, don't waiver from it. 2) Put your list in a notebook.  Bring your notebook with you everywhere!  If you need to, leave it in the car or in your purse so it is with you at all times. 3) Treat i...

Questions are the best way to get you started on the new year, on a new project, on a new diet, on anything. Questions, it gets your brain thinking and starts you out on a miniature quest of life. So as we welcome 2014 lets ask ourselves a few questions...even if it's just for the fun of it! Question1:  Why do you listen to the music you do? How does it effect your life?  Question 2:  Do you actually listen the words of the music or just let it play in the background and follow along with the beat? Question 3:  Who do you follow as a role model? (That's who plural, because you probably have different people for different areas.) Why do you model them? What is so inspiring about them? Question 4: Who are your mentors? What have they taught you? Question 5: What things in life inspire you? What makes you light up? what makes you want to conquer the world? Question 6: What do you work hard at? what makes you sweat and you love ...