June 5th - The Bedroom

Sarah admits today that 

"most of this book has been written in bed."

Funny, so has my blog.

Sarah has a lot to share today, 

and a lot of it is stuff that I found really helpful, 

so here you go.

Start Quote

As far as I am concerned, 

bedrooms were created for only two reasons: 

comfort and joy. 

Keeping that in mind, 

are you happy with your bedroom?

You will know [if you are 

because you will] rarely want to leave.

Start with the focal point of your room, 

the bed.

(1)

Is it large enough for you, 

and do you have a good mattress 

that provides you with enough support?

(2)

After that you need wonderful sheets.

I prefer 

to sleep on cool, 100 percent cotton sheets in the spring and summer 

and cozy flannel sheets in the late fall and winter. 

(3)

Next, instead of blankets and quilts, 

I recommend using a down comforter, or duvet, 

stuffed with duck or goose feathers...

It turns making the bed into a dream sequence.

You've never been caressed until you sleep cuddled in down. 

(4)

The same goes for down-filled pillows to sleep on 

and assorted pillow to prop yourself up on comfortably. 

Finding the perfect pillow combination for yourself 

is not frivolous if you want to be happy in life...

How does your bedroom look?

Do you experience a sense of delight when you walk in?

(1)

Your walls should be painted a soothing color

-white, blue, a dusty rose, sage green...

You might think you want to be cheered when you walk into your bedroom, 

but this is not [the] place for brights. 

Save yellow, melon, and red for your more active rooms...

(2)

If you do hang pictures, 

make sure that you love what you're looking at. 

It will be the first thing you see in the morning 

and the last thing at night...

(3)

I'm convinced that a woman should 

love her bedcovers with a mad passion. 

This isn't just aesthetics; 

it encourages you to keep your bedroom tidy 

because the bed looks so pretty when it's all made up.

And since the bed is made, 

you might as well hang up your clothes and straighten the dresser.

(4)

Now add the personal flourishes that can make all the difference:

good reading lamps, 

a flowering plant,

small personal mementos,

treasured photographs, 

and a place for books. 

Even though I write from my bedroom, 

one thing I never do is conduct business there...

I don't want the world intruding into my private space...

You need one place of your own 

where you can stop the world from spinning by getting off. 

In our bedrooms we have the ability 

to not just decorate a room, 

but to create a sacred space for self-nurturance. 

End Quote

I like my bedroom. I don't absolutely love it, but I would need a couple thousand dollars to make it the way I want it, and there are quite a few other things on the list that need to come first that also reacquire money...

But I do have a very comfy mattress and down pillows. 

My comforter is a quilt my best friends made for me as a wedding present. 

My furniture is my old furniture from my old room, given to us by my parents. 

I have a lamp, some mementos and photos...

It's not perfect, but it's my bedroom. 

I guess I do love it.

***

Gratitude Journal

***

1) Being super productive. Boo yah! Did three loads of laundry, and almost got it all put away. Also went grocery shopping, and cooked dinner, and did FHE, and mopped the kitchen floor, and did a lot of the little things like practiced the piano and worked on some music and planned my week...............I'm freakin' on fire.

2) FHE. We watched the video about the Brother of Jared, and I learned a lot. Jacob was all excited about Jesus touching the rocks, and getting in the boats to cross the ocean.

3) Grandma great coming for FHE. Family is awesome.

4) The kids wanted to ride on the outside of the cart on the way to the car. I told them if they got off they would get run over...Riley stepped off...I started pushing the cart and it got stuck and I was like "why isn't the cart moving? Oh, because Riley is underneath it..." I'm grateful there was not too much blood and no broken bones.

5) I told Chase to get in the car. He was right there in front of his door, and he decided to go out into the street and around the car to the other door...He did this while I was making sure Riley didn't have any broken bones....I'm grateful he didn't get run over by a car. I probably could have handled that situation better, but I was a little freaked out that he was all of a sudden out of my sight...

6) The boys had tightened a belt around Riley's neck. I probably could have handled that one better too. 

Basically I'm grateful my kids didn't die today.