I can feel it staring at me. In the kitchen, the office, the bedroom closet. Every room I enter it is there. Glaring at me, threatening to overtake my home, to suffocate me and make me it’s slave. I make my way down to the laundry room searching for an escape from it but it has grown and I feel even more helpless to escape its clutches. I am too afraid to open the pantry door. The walls seem to be caving in, the rooms shrinking! The clutter has taken on a life of its own!!!! Panic attack!
It started in a seemingly innocent way. I was just going to put that box of old photos away somewhere but I needed to find a place first. This is a really neat bag, I might need this for something. I might need all those old towels someday…I will file that paperwork later…I might want to pick up cross stitch again someday in my spare time. I will just put the cans in the pantry and shut the door really fast.
I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately by all the “stuff” we have collected. It sneaks up on you, doesn’t it?? I swear I didn’t see it coming. It seems to multiply and we don’t even notice. I start to walk by the piles of things and shut them out. I become blind to the stacks of things on the counter, the overdue library books by the door, the neighbor’s cookie plate on top of the fridge. They become like furniture, it’s just there. It gets easier to set things down on the piles or just in the general area of an item’s home rather than actually put it in its home.
Then one day, you notice. You go from room to room with eyes wide open. Your palms sweat, the clutter seems to mock you. You feel helpless and confused. How did this happen??
It’s called “Entropy”. Entropy is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It states that everything goes from a state of order to disorder. It is the natural tendency of things to lose order.
Without countermeasures, life will always become less structured.
Without care the lawn dies and weeds crop up, cars rust, barns collapse, pantries become unorganized, garages become a mess, marriages crumble, families fall apart.
Entropy increases over time. The state of something will continue to decline without effort on our part to restore order.
So, why doesn’t the junk drawer stay organized? It’s science!
The good news is we CAN combat entropy. In fact, God put us here to do that!
Genesis 2:15 “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”
God expects us to put out the effort to keep our home, our land our cars, our space in general, in good order.
Here is an “Anti-Entropy, Anti-Panic attack” list:
- Always do your morning and evening routines
- Don’t put it down, put it away
- Have a “home” for everything
- Do you REALLY need it, want it, love it? If not, get rid of it. Don’t set it down.
- Be present. Pay attention to your surroundings. Don’t walk over the same gum wrapper on the garage floor for a week. Pick it up and throw it away.
Now, since I have been slacking on my own advice and the clutter is leering at me, I am going to go on an anti-entropy quest!
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Homemade Mexican Pizza
Servings 8
Ingredients:
| Crust: |
| 1 3/4 cup warm water |
| 1 tablespoon instant yeast |
| 2 tablespoons olive oil |
| 4 cups flour |
| 1 teaspoon salt |
| cornmeal |
| Pizza: |
| 1 pound ground beef |
| 2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix |
| 1/2 cup water |
| 1 (16-ounce) can refried beans |
| 1/4 cup salsa |
| 1 can sliced black olives |
| 1/4 cup diced red onion |
| crushed tortilla chips |
| 1 pound pizza cheese blend |
| shredded lettuce |
| diced tomato |
| sour cream |
| jalapeño pepper |
| hot pepper sauce |
Directions:
Put water and oil in the bottom of the bread machine. Put dry ingredients on top. Start on “dough setting”. When it’s done turn onto a floured surface and knead to deflate it. Divide into two equal pieces. Let it rest for 10 minutes. The second ball of dough can be frozen at this point for future use. Roll and stretch the dough and form it on a pizza peel that is heavily dusted in cornmeal.
Place pizza stone in oven and heat to 500* for 30 minutes.
Saute ground beef until no longer pink and drain. Add taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water. Simmer until water has evaporated.
Mix refried bean with salsa and stir until smooth and spreadable. Gently spread over prepared pizza dough.
Top with seasoned meat, olives, red onion, crushed chips and then cheese.
Turn oven down to 425*
Carefully slide the pizza off pizza peel onto the hot pizza stone.
Bake for 10-15 minutes watching closely.
Remove the pizza using the pizza peel.
Serve with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, jalapeno, and hot sauce.
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� DVO
This cool ottoman/toy chest/storage chest is just the thing I need for scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas in my entryway! Click on the pic to order!
Look at this totally adorable water bottle! My granddaughter is really into unicorns! She also likes to steal my stainless steel water bottle because the water stays so cold! So I think this is just what she needs!
and 
over bread. Stir with a pancake spatula, kind of turning it over. Shake on a bit more seasoning. Bake for 15 minutes at a time. After every 15 minutes, take out and “stir” again. Sometimes it takes an hour sometimes only 45 minutes. You can tell by how dark it is getting. Let them sit out on the counter for several hours before storing. Try not to eat them all before they make it to a ziplock bag!
a flat surface takes very little time. I still don’t enjoy it but at least it doesn’t take long. Less time doing housework equals more time with your family and more memory making! Get rid of some stuff and go do something you love!
, clutter, piles of
and a ring around the 
then why should we even bother with trying to establish habits that will keep our house clean and tidy? If I am not a natural clean freak then what is the harm in just being a bit on the messy side?
can, unwashed dishes in the sink, food left out or food particles on the counter or stove all are a breeding ground for disease and bacteria. Mmmmm….. dinner with a side of E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter!
s and 
s that are not cleaned properly can harbor mold and bacteria so that washing your dishes and clothes in them can actually make you sick.
s are a fire hazard and the smoke they emit every time they are turned on is harmful to your lungs.
. Even the cleanest bathroom is going to have some of this nastiness in it but imagine when it is not clean! Shudder!!!
problems
, AGAIN!
The Self Cleaning House 