a domestic day

Since I've been home this week I've enjoyed a lot of domestic opportunities. They include the following:

~baking my first ever bread pudding... which Matt loved, for him to rave about a dessert is a rare and great thing!
I found the greatest recipe online... I would highly recommend it... I took some reviewers suggestions and modified the recipe a bit by only using 3 eggs and adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Pudding-II/Detail.aspx

yummy!

~putting the finishing touches on a "welcome home" wreath for a soon-to-be mom and dad who are our upstairs neighbors and wonderful people

I think she loves wreaths, at least she's had one on her door since
we moved in, so I thought this would be a nice gift for the family!

~making homemade household cleaners thanks to Martha Stewart's trustworthy advice in the Homekeeping Handbook I was given for Christmas last year. Martha says its "green" and more compelling... its cheaper and better for your house. She explains that lots of our store-bought cleaners are much harsher than they need to be and cause things to corrode... I found it quite interesting. So now I have countertop cleaner (2 cups water + 2 TBSP Ivory dishsoap), shower cleaner for soap scum (1 cup white vinegar + 1 cup water), and bathroom cleaning paste (a paste consistency of baking soda + Ivory dishsoap + a little bit of water) for tougher places. I'd say "it's a good thing", haha!

I also decorated our home for fall... my favorite, a centerpiece:

a leftover wedding bowl, with last year's Hobby Lobby clearance 90% off pumpkins
(I think each one was only about 10 cents at that point... amazing!)

Now I need to go make our bed with the day's clean sheets (we did the laundry today also) so that we can go to sleep! I look forward to more days like this in the future. I am very amazed at the Lord's work in causing my heart to be so fulfilled in our home and in making it a lovely place for us to seek Him and rest from our days. I am so thankful to the Lord for His goodness in creating women to fulfill these purposes.