Open Heart, Open Home, Chapters 15-16

Here is last week's post.

the chapters for this week are titled Stewards of Time and Shortcuts. I am in a hard and embarrassing place, Dear Readers. I had to find out the chapter titles by looking them up at Amazon. I put off reading my chapters until the last minute, and then discovered that when my son helpfully cleaned up a debris ridden corner of my bedroom so we could get the broom back in that same corner, he also cleaned up my book, my discussion guide, and not that it matters to you, the earbuds to my laptop. But he was already in bed when I made this discovery and I have frittered away an hour of my own bedtime trying to figure out what on earth he did with them.

So I have been a bad, bad Steward of my Time. I always say if you can't be a good example you might as well be a horrible warning. I even looked to see if the book was available for the Kindle, and I would have splurged and purchased it to spare me the embarassment if it had been. I justified it by telling myself I would give my hard copy away if it was available for the Kindle. Alas, as you can tell by my admission, it isn't.

Using a shortcut of my own, however, I discovered that I could preview the chapter on short cuts at Google books. Oh, it's good- and I love how it ties in to what we've been reading about in Large Family Logistics on Thursdays.
For instance:
1. develop a system, a routine of house cleaning, and then do not clean because company is coming, clean on schedule.  We sort of do this.  Right now we are expecting a boatload of company Friday night, and we had company last week, yet the dust on my living room furniture is so deep you can write your name it and it will be three dimensional*. But we haven't dusted yet because it's not dusting month this year.

I kid, I kid. 

We don't have a dusting month.

But seriously, yes- get a routine going so you can stop cleaning for company and just have company. I can just envision how smoothly a household with a regular cleaning routine would run.
I also can't tell you what an epiphany it was when I stopped mopping and vacuuming because company was coming, and there'd be so many feet on the floor nobody would notice anyway. I do insist on sweeping before hand, but mainly because I will use any excuse to express my loathing of dog hair all over my floors.

2. Don't be embarrassed not to be a cookie cutter hostess/decorator.  A patchwork quilt for a tablecloth is what she recommends. I have used bolts of fabric or old sheets.  Karen suggests considering the brilliant colors of creation if you are bashful about the use of color.  Develop your own style.  I recomend Edith Schaeffer's HIdden Art for ideas about that.

3. Do as much as you can ahead of time.- freezer meals are great for this, so are crockpot dinners, or dishes that can be made a day or two in advance and cooked the day of your company.

4. Do not insist on doing it all yourself. Accept help in the kitchen, when an invited guest asks if they can bring something, let them, unless you suspect they cannot afford it or would be too pressed for time. We recently had people over who had just flown in from a two week trip to Arizona, and driven several hours straight to our house for dinner.  Naturally, when she asked what she could bring we said nothing at all (and she was appreciative)

5. File. Save recipes, especially quick and easy ones. Collect time saving ideas. Keep notes on what works and what doesn't work. She was talking of paper piles. We can keep computer files.

6.. Time- commit your time to the Lord anew every morning. Ask his help in prioritizing. There is always time, she says, to do what the Lord wants you to do, so if you find otherwise, than you need to reconsider the things that you use your time for, and the things you think you need to do.

Sometimes we get wrapped up in preparing and serving food, keeping our houses running perfectly, keeping everything clean (well, I don't get wrapped up in that, but some people do) that we forget what people really want is our time.



Have you posted recently on hospitality?  Have any favorite time saving tips (including recipes) Share below:

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