Before we take down our treasure box of Fall decorations and scatter autumn leaves around plump pumpkins while the spiced cider begins to simmer, we need to get our homes in order, eliminate some clutter, and clean it spic and span……..we can’t bless our nest with Autumn’s glory if it’s a mess!
I would like to share a few tips on tidying up your home to make it warm and welcoming for you, your family and all who step across your cordial threshold. These are just a few ideas that I do in my home and I hope they will help get you excited about getting your own home in order, filling it with an air of anticipation for the beauty of this golden season. For a more extensive information in taming the chaos in your home I recommend any book by Sandra Felton or Don Aslett.
Now let’s begin, shall we?:
1. I always like to start any task with a prayer based on Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” Our goal as homemakers is to create a nurturing and loving environment for our family, and so, it’s a good idea to pray for God’s help and strength, it also sets the tone for our attitude. Keep in mind the significance of tending to your home. Providing a place of beauty, comfort and joy for our family is absolutely indispensable!
2. Put your apron on and create a happy cleaning atmosphere. Light a fall scented candle, pour yourself an icy glass of water ( we need to stay hydrated!) fill the air with the sounds of Vivaldi: Four Seasons, or the soundtrack for Little Women (my favorites for this time of year)….sometimes I just go ahead and put on Bing Crosby Christmas! And for goodness sake, why not? Good ole Bing pretty much guarantees an instant festive mood if you are needing a jump-start. Keep the T.V turned off, it will become a distraction and a temptation to take too many breaks….I speak from experience….we need to stay focused girls!
3. The night before a big day of cleaning and organizing, make sure to do a quick pick up around the house….get a timer and set it for 15 minutes and get the kids to help, make it a game to beat the clock! Make sure the kitchen is always clean before you go to bed. Always!
4. In the morning, first thing, put a load of laundry in ( we don’t want to get behind and end up with a mountain of dirty clothes to have to deal with) and empty the dishwasher. That way any new dirty dishes can go immediately into the dishwasher rather than piling them up in the sink.
5. I like to clean one room at a time and complete it. That way, if for some reason I am interrupted and called away, I at least have one or two finished rooms. It also provides a sense of accomplishment. Trying to do the whole house in stages can become overwhelming.
6. I start at the front door, (outside), sweeping the porch, removing cobwebs and wiping down the door. Then stepping inside, I begin cleaning the entry hall and living room. I want the room my family and guests walk into first to be clean and ready to welcome them home. 
7. I keep an empty laundry basket with me to put in anything that does not belong in that room and deliver those items later to the appropriate places. I have the vacuum handy, a trash bag and a bucket with cleaners and rags. If your kids tend to clutter the rooms with their stuff, you may want to consider a Saturday Box.…everything they leave out goes into that box and they don’t get the items back until Saturday!
8. If you are needing to de-clutter and eliminate items, one great question to ask yourself is “Does owning this thing bless, inspire and enhance the quality of my life?” (question by Don Aslett in his book Weekend Makeover). Or in my words… do I love it so much I want to marry it? If not, I give it away and bless someone else with it. Salvation Army will come right to your home and pick up your stuff, how easy is that!
9. While cleaning each room, pray for God’s blessings on each member of your family, asking the Lord to fill their heart with joy and a sense of belonging.
“It’s time to put the “Sweet” back in Home Sweet Home. ” ~ Susan Branch
10. It is so very important to stay emotionally healthy and available for our family. We all know that if “mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Our attitudes tend to match our environment. As women, we have a natural nesting instinct, and if our nest is out of control, we become cranky and our kids do the same. We need beauty and order to feel that sparkle of wonderfulness that speaks to our heart…. that all is well with the world. Our children need that too!
“If you were to ask what is most important in a home, I would say happy memories.” ~Lilian Gish
May the memories we are making for our children (and grandchildren) be delightful ones!
If you want your home to feel cozy, warm and inviting, then you (sweet little homemaker) need to make it that way…..it’s up to you and me!
Next week I will add to my list of “House Warming…Blessing Your Nest For Fall” (part two). In the mean time, come inside my home and take a peak at Autumn’s arrival …….
Before….
…. After
Thank you for stopping by for some “Housewarming Pie”!
I so love to read your comments…..thank you so much to all of you who leave them for me, they really do encourage me to keep doing this blog thing! It takes me about two days to gather all of the pictures, download them and then think about and write what I want to say. I pray that this blog gives you even a glimmer of inspiration to become the nurturing and creative homemaker you were created to be, the mother or grandmother your children so desperately need, the wife of your husbands dreams. God Bless you dear sweet makers of home.
Hugs!
RuthAnn
Hooray! I am finally home! 
Dear Dorothy couldn’t have said it any better…
There is no place like home!
Ahhh…my rocking chairs have been waiting for me
to sit for a while and breathe in the last sweet days of summer….
…to watch fluffy-tailed squirrels scamper about,
gathering acorns like little homemakers,
getting their little woodland homes
all cozy-ed up in preparation for winter.
The view from my front porch
always prompts me to thank the Lord for His blessings…
I always say to myself…”Yay! I get to live here!”
I am happy to be home…happy to begin scurrying about (like mama squirrel) in preparation for Fall and all of the beauty and goodness that comes with it. 
But first I have some wonderful and amusing memories to share with you! Starting with the Blog-Party at the La Maison Rustique Barn Sale! Here is Joy from The Vintage Rabbit. She lives up to her name! She is a joy!
For weeks I had been planning to attend this grand event with my friend Catiena from The Vintage Housewife. We would gab over the phone about what we were going to wear (the invitation encouraged the bloggers to come dressed vintage.)
So we chit-chatted, like girls do, about our outfits….the color..the style…the shoes! And we talked about how fun it was going to be to meet, in person, some of the gals we had conversed with in blogland.
So the Blog-Party day finally arrived….and so did we, all powdered and perfumed and dressed 1950’s style. With our roaring-red lipstick on, we stepped out of Catiena’s car and began walking down the long driveway toward the Barn. Heads began to turn…..and from our perspective, all eyes were on us…….it seemed everything got quiet…..we quickly noticed…..ummm…. it looked liked were the only ones dressed vintage! (Awkward!!) We looked at each other wide-eyed…we both agreed..”oh…my goodness… this is a little embarrassing! I am soooo glad we are in this together!!” You know that dream where you’re invited to a costume party and when you show up, you are the only one wearing a costume! Yeah well, that dream came true. I felt like we were in an I Love Lucy episode, acting out one of Lucy and Ethel’s comical predicaments!
Catiena looked darling in her true vintage black sundress, but I was wearing a polka-dot, very foofy, ruffled apron! Don’t get me wrong, I love aprons so much I want to marry them, and this one is a 1950’s homemaker’s dream, but I don’t wear them out on the town (usually!) Well, we giggled and decided right then and there to have fun with it anyway! As it turned out, some of the gals (Sherry and Linda) did add a few vintage accents to their outfits…a slip…a pin…some pearls. But Cat and I were full-on vintage. A lot of the people there were folks who drove by and saw the Barn Sale sign and didn’t know anything about a Blog-Party. So I am sure they were thinking…what in the world?!
Later that day when I explained to my hubby my you-are-not-going-to-believe-what-happened story, he got the biggest kick out of it and said “Oh! I would have paid to have seen that!” (he is the one that said to me just as I was leaving for the barn…”are you sure you want to wear that?” And I reassured him “Of course! Everyone is dressing vintage!) We laughed about it…(it was pretty amusing I have to admit)….. and as he has done so many times in our 30 years of marriage, he took me in his arms and said “you are Lucy aren’t you!” (Oh, Ricky!).
Here we are, Lucy and Ethel,
standing in front of Catiena’s vintage trailer!
She brought her 1953 “Lucy” car and trailer the night before,
per the request of Linda the Party Hostess.
Aren’t they just adorable! 
The very foofy, polka-dot apron …. compliments of Heavenly Hostess apron company, guaranteed to make you want to whirl-and-twirl as you do your housework!
Take a peek inside this doll-house of a trailer! Cute as a cupcake! 
And for your browsing enjoyment….
….may I present La Maison Rustique!
My sister Sherry from Prairie Home, Catiena, and me (Lucy!)
Here are the adorable Pink Funny Farm gals, Tammy and Anita!
Oh my goodness, their goodies are so fabulous!
I bought two gorgeous necklaces and bracelets to match.
They have an online store…it will make your heart go pitter-pat!
It was so great to meet all of you blog-girls! I enjoyed our delightful chats! 
Here I am with the amazing Miss Linda the Queen of La Maison Rustique!
She did an amazing job putting this grand event together!
Earlier that week I went with Catiena to Old Town Temecula (CA.)
and stopped in at my friend’s fabulous shop! And I mean FABULOUS!
Here is my friend Pat, the owner of The Farmer’s Wife. She is an incredible woman. She’s hilarious to be around and yet she is filled with so much Godly wisdom! I could sit for hours listening to her! Seriously, she needs to write a book and share the wealth of God’s goodness stored up in her heart. Just look at how she expresses her creativity. Her shop is warm and welcoming and her farmhouse style is just dripping with old-fashioned charm! (I want to live there, but she won’t let me.)
The Farmer’s Wife is a must see!
Here is the address and phone number:
28459 Old Town Front Street, #125
Temecula, California 92590
951-506-1606
It’s right next door to the Starbucks!!
Tell Pat I sent ya!
Had a great time spending the day with daughters Summer and Ashley,
strolling along the beach picking up shells…..
My three loveable Redheads!
It came time to say goodbye
to my delightful summer vacation in sunny California…
And now it’s time to bid a contented farewell
to sweet-as-peaches Summertime….
and Hello to the wonders of Autumn!
This week my little Summer Rose started school.
Fourth Grade! Her first day of school was unusually cool and drizzly wet….
….I could smell fall in the air! (yay!)
She got the sweetest Teacher ever!! Mrs. Snowden!
I had milk and cookies ready for her when she got home.
( I always keep Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie dough in the fridge
and just slice up a few at a moments notice…
….a super easy way to say welcome home!)
This week I plan to get my home spic-n-span clean and uncluttered to make room for my cute’n’plump pumpkins! I love fall…the smell of woodsmoke in the air….hot apple cider simmering….caramel apple pie…..a warm crackling fire…autumn leaves twirling as you drive down the street….candlelight…sweater weather….harvest craft fairs…hot’n’hearty soup…….hey,…. this girl’s got to get busy! See you next week!
Thanks for stopping by for some “Lucy” Pie!
Hugs!
RuthAnn
10. It is so very important to stay emotionally healthy and available for our family. We all know that if “mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Our attitudes tend to match our environment. As women, we have a natural nesting instinct, and if our nest is out of control, we become cranky and our kids do the same. We need beauty and order to feel that sparkle of wonderfulness that speaks to our heart…. that all is well with the world. Our children need that too! 
If you want your home to feel cozy, warm and inviting, then you (sweet little homemaker) need to make it that way…..it’s up to you and me!
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