My $3 Home Office Makeover

After reading 6 Tips for Designing a Cheery Home Workspace, I looked at my "home office" and realized I need some color and organization on my desk.  Although I don't actually work from home, as a full-time graduate student, I spend a lot of time writing and reading at my desk.

When I took a hard look at my desk, I realized how little workspace I actually had.

 

As you can see, it is lacking color, organization, and my post-it notes hanging on the wall are not exactly classy.  But I don't have money to spend on revamping my work area, so I decided to see what I could do with what I already had.

The first stage was de-cluttering.  I took the non-essential items off of my desk and into the rolling cart I have next to my desk (from my teaching days).

The rest of my papers went into my desk drawers, which were also cleaned out and reorganized.     

Next, some color was needed.  I started by looking for colorful things that I already had on my desk that I use as more prominent centerpieces.

After cleaning up my desk, moving things off, and pulling a few more colorful items that I had around the house, I came up with this:

 The last step was where my $3 renovation came in.  I purchased two black frames from the Dollar Tree, filled them with two inspirational quotes from Pinterest, and hung them up with picture hanging supplies that I also got from the Dollar store.  All together, this is what I came up with!

I'm enjoying my clean, organized, and colorful desk already!

Abide.

Ann Voskamp shared this song a few days ago, and ever since, I've been singing it constantly throughout my days.

Singing in the shower, singing while I read, humming while I rinse the dishes and do the laundry.

It is the most beautiful song.  I go to a church that sings hymns, so I have an appreciation for the meaningfulness of the words usually found in hymns.  But I love when someone can reframe a hymn in a beautiful, creative way.



Maybe you'll start singing this too...

...Lord, abide with us.

How to Feel Better on a Down Day: Tips from a Natural Worry Wort Trying to Live More Faithfully

Distract worry with music, or an audiobook - using noise to drown out the ‘noise of worry’ works!
Memorize Bible verses that comfort and remind you that character is built during hard times
Take care of yourself - exercise, stretch, and eat well.

Listen to the news or a boring audiobook to fall asleep at night
Don’t be afraid to wake up your spouse or call a friend if you can’t sleep.

Don’t look at Facebook when you feel bad about yourself!
Don’t compare yourself to someone else.

Watch a funny movie or sitcom.
Watch a serious movie - the cry will make you feel better.

Drink a small glass of wine before bed.
Don’t blame your spouse for not understanding how you feel.

Think of how you give grace to others when they make mistakes, and make the decision to give that same grace to yourself.
Go out to lunch with someone.
Take yourself out to a coffee shop to enjoy a good, hot drink, and a good book.

Love those around you, and yourself.

Why is it so hard to redefine beauty?

 I wrestle, almost daily, with the concept of beauty.  Am I trying hard enough to be beautiful? Am I trying too hard? Should I care?

Whatever answers I come up, the truth is that I flounder.  My resolve to not care about others' perceptions of beauty crumbles a little each time I see a women's magazine claiming to have the secret to thinner hips, fuller lips, and bigger eyes.  And then a little more when I walk by Victoria's Secret in the mall.  And the final hit comes when I turn on that darn tv and see women that look more like preteens than fully-grown women.

Although I don't care much for the media's perception of beauty in women, I don't fully blame it for the way I feel. Instead, I think of the twenty-first verse of Matthew 6: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (NIV)." Or as the New Living Translation frames it, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."

I like the way the Forerunner Commentary explains the verse: "[Matthew] implies money, but the principle includes anything of such importance—apart from the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—that achieving it dominates our thinking, planning, and conduct."

Does beauty fall in this category for me, of dominating my thinking, my planning, and my conduct? Yes, yes, and yes. 

And this marks the important distinction for me when approaching the issue of beauty.  It isn't wrong for me to curl my hair in the morning, or to put on lipstick before going out to dinner.  But the worrying, even obsessing, about what my hair, face, or body looks like is where I go astray.  When I believe that my beauty is more important than my contribution to the kingdom of God here on this earth, I lose vital focus on the otherworldly priorities that Jesus calls us, as his followers, to cultivate.

Because no matter how smooth or frizzy my hair may be does not affect my ministry to those around me, and my relationships with my neighbors, unless I am thinking more about the former than the latter.  My physical appearance has nothing to do with my spiritual condition and my heart for those around me, unless I let become a hindrance.   

In my "Rachel-reading" of verse 21, I would say it like this: "Where your priorities and thoughts most often focus on, your passion, time, and habits will follow."

I've already started pinning my 2013 fitness plans and new hairstyles, but I'm going to put those on hold (not the exercise, just the perpetual pinning of ab-flattening routines!) while I focus on my heart and my habits.  I am going to practice choosing a definition of beauty that prioritizes a gentle heart, loving spirit, and hands that serve and reach out to those around me.

Lord God, create in me a new heart,
redefine in me a new definition and embodiment of beauty,
and fill my spirit with peace and contentment with who You have made me to be.  

Christmastime is here.

It feels so good to be back on the blog.  I've missed writing more and more, especially recently.  I find myself thinking about how I would write something that happened to me during the day, or how I'm feeling, and turning it into my latest imaginary "post."

I told some friends this the other day, and they asked me the obvious question - so, why don't you start writing again? So, here I am!

More to come soon - but for now, a few glimpses into the happenings this season at our home:

• Made a Pinterest craft with rolled magazine pages
• Decorated for the holidays
• Made Christmas cookies with family
• Finished my internship at the Department of Education last week with a trip to the White House!
• Worked on papers and applied to grad schools with my husband over many cups of coffee
•  Visited Amanda, my college roommate for all four years, and her husband Tyler in the hospital to meet their new little girl, Leah! We love her already...
• Got our Christmas tree!
• Went to the cabin with friends to just relax.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Rachel

Views from a Summer Garden.

We started our summer garden about a month ago.  It's a modest plot in our backyard that we dug up ourselves (with the help of a small rototiller).  We planted peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, pole green beans, pole peas, cucumbers, onions, and sweet corn!  We're especially excited about the sweet corn because it was an experiment we've wanted to do for awhile.  So far, we have several small stalks coming up - some got knocked down by a storm, but mostly, they're coming along pretty well so far.

This is an early picture:

Our landlords have helped us be more "green" this year - we are using rain barrels to water our garden, and Ben has constructed a string trellis for the beans and peas to climb.

I'll put up more recent pictures soon.  We can't wait to see what our garden yields this year!

Coming back....

After a busy, busy semester of seminary, I've decided to come back to the blog.  The inquiries of friends, family, and requests for pictures of our garden this year have encouraged me to get back to blogging as way to capture our journey of everyday life.

Blogging at Married Living on a Single's Budget has helped me to identify what I like about blogging, and what I don't like so much.  I love writing about things that can help other people, and sharing new ideas with others.  But I also love being able to use blogging as an outlet - a personal form of thinking and seeing my thoughts on paper (actually, screen...).  It is a personal endeavor for me rather than an enterprise.  So I've decided to merge the things I love about blogging and move back to my Rewards of the Simple Life blog.  I've realized that sharing how we try to live frugally on one budget is also living simply, and enjoying the rewards of a pared-down life.  This topic feels more true to me and the original reason that I started blogging.

So I hope you'll join me here at Rewards of the Simple Life and let me know what you think!