My morning routine and design difficulties

Crystal encouraged us to write up a morning routine with five things we want to do in the same order each day. So here is my morning routine, which I've roughly been following for awhile now:

1. Make breakfast.


2. Wash breakfast dishes.


3. Get dressed.


4. Get kids dressed.


5. Make beds.

And I'll also share my version of her "newbie project" for the day - to go to your front door and enter, pretending to be a first-time visitor.

That's a problem area in my house. You see, everyone comes to the back door here. Everyone. We live in the parsonage, so I wasn't surprised that the church people come to the back door. But even the UPS guy, the postal carrier, and Jehovah's Witnesses (which we are not, by the way) all come to the back door! Most of the evangelists we entertained so far have come to the front door when they arrived, but we quickly clued them in to our use of the back door.

Not that I'd rather people use the back door. You see, we have a very nice entrance at the front. It's so much easier to keep it clean. Now, if you happen to know me and come to my house on occasion, I'm really not complaining about you coming to the back door. I'm just trying to figure out a reasonable solution for our family, and blogging seems to help me sort things out.

My problem with the back door, in case your family is different than ours, is that the back door is where my freezer, laundry room and garbage can are located. This is where things get piled to be taken to the various places we go - things to be exchanged at the stores, to donate to missions at our church, to donate to the local thrift stores, to go into the larger trash container outside ... You get the idea.

I recently visited my sister-in-law's house for the first time (we've been married 5 years and just got around to visiting at their house!), and I was super-impressed with her front entry. I'd love for mine to look like hers, but I struggle because my entrance way is also the utilitarian part of our house.

I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have for me. If I get brave enough, I just might post a picture ... but don't count on it!

Okay, I got brave! This is what you see when you walk in the back door. The canner and slicer (in the box on top the washing machine) are to be stored ... somewhere. I was hoping the shed, but my husband informed me there's no place for them.

The items on top the dryer (besides the detergent) are to giveaway, mostly to missions.

My son's John Deere tricycle is usually parked right where it's at in the picture, although I would prefer it be somewhere else. The truck on top the freezer is a temporary thing - just until the glue dries on the headlight.

This is the back door, looking in from my kitchen.

And this is what you see to the left when you walk in the door. The tool cases are supposed to be on their way out to the shed.

My other big challenges include:

• a future addition (hopefully this summer) of a garage entrance to the right as you would walk in the door. This creates a problem because I can't design anything permanent to stay in that spot.
• the heat run just to the left of the door (when you walk in). This creates a problem since I can't put anything over it.

Those two "problems" limit what I'm able to do with the floor space I have.

However, once the attached garage is built, the chest freezer will go there, and that will free up tons of space in here!

So, now that I have some visuals for you - any more suggestions?