Beautiful Monday

today.  Wow, the sun is shining and it’s so pretty outside, I really shouldn’t be cooped up in this house today, but the house is quiet and  all my chores are done, and thought I would take this opportunity to get caught up on my blog and blogging.  I can’t  believe I haven’t posted since the beginning of the year….but it has taken me awhile to get settled in after the holidays and such.

As most of you know Michael and I spent the holidays on a cruise, and I promise to share some pictures with you…maybe I will get that done tomorrow…but since getting home, I have had to put all my decorations away.  That is one heck of a job.  Not sure why it takes me so much longer now than it use too, but it was a three day process and then the weekend came and we had to declutter and organize our garage to get the crates back on the shelves.  So glad that is done, and the garage is looking much better now.  You can ALMOST get a car in there again.  Hopefully soon we will be able too. 

Also since getting home we have had some deaths to deal with.  Last week we had three special people to us pass away.  Needless to say it has been a tough week.  Certainly hope we don’t have to go through that again anytime soon.  It is so hard to say goodbye to those we love but even harder for those left behind.  My prayers are with these women because they all lost their husbands.

I have also been trying to put myself on some kind of a schedule and working towards getting myself better organized.  Seems this is always a January chore for me.  Last year I diligently put together my Homemakers Journal,so that I could stay on top of all the things that I want to do. 

Below photo is of me sorting through folders, magazine, calendars, charts, etc.

Getting pages ready to put into my binders

Saving pictures for my ideas folder

Deciding which magazines to keep and grab ideas from

My little binder that can easily be dropped in my handbag to jot down ideas

Now the finished product….

All this to tell you after all that work, guess what?  It is in storage in a box far away from me and I can’t even use it.  UGH!  But I am sure once I can get my little hands on it in the future, I will be so ecstatic. 

I have also been trying to get myself back on track with studying the WORD!

So as you can see I have been busy since getting back home.  I am hoping to get better at my blogging.  I always feel so overwhelmed at the start of a new year.  I always have great plans to do better, but always get sidetracked.  I hope you will hang in there with me, as I have lots of things that I want to do now that I am no longer working.  I’m so excited and feel blessed to have this time to do all those things that I have wanted to do.

Hope you have a blessed day!

Hugs,
Cindy

A million different directions

is what is going on with me today.  I feel torn in all kinds of directions.  Do you ever feel this way?  Today I have a multitude of task that I really should take care of.  I have started my ongoing list for all my holiday preparations and I am so glad.  Let me share with you a wonderful blog for organization that I have run across, it is one of the best I have seen in a long time.  Jill is so creative and she has such wonderful ideas to help you.  Check her out at Controlling my Chaos.    Since I am a advocate of list, she has the ultimate ideas of organizing Christmas, recipes, and blogs.  Who knew?  Check her out and I think you will love her ideas.  Oh yeah, check out her recipes cards for download.  To cute, and something on my to do list now. 

I spent some time last night adding some new recipes to my cooking blog , most have the main ingredient PUMPKIN.  For some good and yummy recipes to bring in Thanksgiving, check them out.  Just click here.

This morning I have been puttering around in my house, moving things around….ever so often I get the itch to change things up a bit.   But in all honesty, I really am ready to put the Fall decorations away and bring out the Christmas, which I may actually do this weekend.  Bring on the holiday movies and Christmas movies.  Speaking of  holiday movies, I also posted over at Country Christmas a listing of all the holiday movies coming up soon.  Care to take a look?  Mosey on over here.

Guess I really should get back to work….just didn’t want the day to get by me without saying hi and sharing some neat places with you.  Enjoy!

Hugs and Blessings,

Me

Disorganized Life Syndrome?

I'm back! Bet you didn't even miss me huh? Last night, I worked on my living room. Woo Hoo! Glad I can see the floor in there now. Before, you couldn't move in there. Hubby did a awesome job on the new floors. Love them!!! The room is put back together, but I have little trinkets filling up my dining room table until I find a new home for them. We still need to hang some blinds in there, but that isn't a major deal. Other than that, I think it is done.

We also had a bunch of boxes that need to go to our storage unit sitting in the middle of the floor, and we moved those to the garage as a holding station until we have enough stuff to warrant another trip over there. We also had several bags and boxes for goodwill. I am thrilled that we moved them out of the living room, so now I have a little more space to move now. When my house is unorganized I feel terrible, and now I know why...I have DLS! Do you?

Awhile back I found this article at Refining Life!

Do You Have DLS: Disorganized Life Syndrome?

By Jan Hayner

Symptoms: messy tendencies, packrat feelings, mental confusion, lack of order, constantly losing things, loss of control, depression, high anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and a massive feeling of the world closing in on you. (Boy can I relate to these symptoms)

Sound like you? Almost all of us go through this several times a year - especially around spring and fall cleaning times.

What is the remedy?

1. Make a list of your problem areas
2. List why they bother you
3. Decide what you are going to do about it and at what level are you going to be happy with the outcome?

The first two items are easy to do, but what about the third item on your list?

That is the one that gives us the most problems in completing the task. We become so over-whelmed that we give up.

For some reason we always tend to think that if things aren't done like Martha Stewart, it isn't good enough. This can lead to projects being in a constant stage of organization – never quite done to what we think is expected. We need to lose those expectations we’ve buried ourselves under. Our goal at that point to should be to get it under control and keep it there. Take things down to the simplest form and decide how you will organize it so that you are happy with the outcome for this particular time in your life.

This same theory can be used in every project that you do whether it is at home, in the office or any recreational hobbies you may have.

Always remember that once you have something organized to the point of satisfaction for you, it will relieve the stress and anxiety and make life brighter and easier to cope with. Not to mention a lot easier to keep up and to re-organize later!

Do you have DSL? If so, I hope this remedy will help you too!

Hugs,

Cindy

Weekend Plans

Howdy friends,I am so glad it is the weekend. I can't wait to sit in my jammies and sip my coffee out on my deck in the morning.

I'm hoping I can get a few things done without a bunch of interruptions too . Don't know about you, but when I get started, I hate to have to stop. Don't you?

My primary goal this weekend, is to get my main floor back in order and more things boxed up and put into storage. Once I can actually walk through the main floor again, it will be like I have a new house, I can't tell you how eager and excited I am to see how it all is going to look with all the hard work that Michael has put into it. Poor man, he works all day and comes home and works all night. He is such a trooper. I am one blessed woman.

I'm also working on a shopping list, you know for those things that you need so that your house looks new and clean when folks come in to view it. So far my little list consist of:

• pillows for the sofa (now that it is in the Living Room)
• Decorative towels for the downstairs bathroom
• possibly window coverings for LR/ FR

If you can think of any small little touches that I should add, leave me the idea in the comments...K?

Yesterday on my lunch hour, I took a little stroll over to "Home Goods" and "Pier 1". . Boy do they have some pretty stuff at "Home Goods" , my head starting reeling and going a mile a minute with all the things I would LOVE to have. So pretty.If you have one near you and haven't been yet, it is really worth the time. Basically trying to get some ideas and inspiration, and the creative juices flowing, if you know what I mean.

Over these last several months that I have been away from my computer I have been scouring websites for inspiration to use while staging my house, and for my new home, wherever it might be. Some sites that I just love are:

Bienvenue
Cynthia's Cottage Design
Nesting Place
The Lettered Cottage

Again, if you have any sites you just love for inspiration please do share....

Guess I should hop off here and start my weekend instead of writing about it. Got lots to do, and only two full days to do it in.
Hope you all have a wonderful "Mother's Day" if I don't get back before then.
Blessings!


Happy Mothers Day!!!

Is your refrigerator cleaned and organized?

Howdy girls, seems lately all I do is race around from one thing to the next and don't get much accomplished in the process.  Well that isn't entirely true.  This weekend, I did work on my house namely my kitchen, boy did it need a good overhaul after the holidays. 

http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/creative_organizing/2006/04/so_i_tried_to_i.htmlNot sure about you but when my kitchen is clean and organized it feels like my whole house is. And then I really enjoy love it.  This weekend, I spent time cleaning out my refrigerator and organizing it.  Yuppers, that's what I did.  I just love opening my refrigerator door for a quick little thrill.  Stop laughing, you all know that you do that too.  I most likely will like it better when I go out and buy some groceries to put it in.  But then again, that will most likely MESS it all up.  (Now this fridge in the photo isn't my fridge, but you scoot over to Creative Organizing )   You can find some simple tips to help you clean out and organize your fridge and also some more space.

Seems I  always resolve  after the  holidays to get better organized, and I am always looking for ways, so if you have any great ideas or links, tips, please feel free to let me know.  You can find some wonderful organizing links in my sidebar.  Last year, I started a Home Management Binder  and my plan is to work some more on it in the near future. 

At the moment, my house is in between decorations.  I have taken down all the holiday decor and can't decide what I want to do with the bare space.  I kinda like it, so will most likely leave it that way for a few more weeks.  Plus it gives me time to get through all the nooks and crannies and DECLUTTER! 

Creative Tip of the Day. Idea Roledex , now why couldn't you use this same concept and make it a organization Roledex.  Sometimes I just need to see the visual and then I am off and going.

"This  feature is from Carrie B of the Blah Blah Blog with her creation of the Idea Rolodex:

Where to you store your great ideas? Do you tear out magazine articles and store them in a big binder? Do you jot down book recommendations and restaurants to try on Post-Its? Or do you just keep in all on file in your head?
Last week, I was perusing a fun paper arts store and admired a sample altered Rolodex file. I decided that I must make one of my own."

 I think that is enough fun for today.  Let 's see what I can get into the rest of the week. 
Hugs and Blessings,
Cindy

Another holiday week and back to work

Happy Monday everybody.  Hope everyone had a wonderful blessed Christmas.  I know that I did, and believe me I got way more than I deserved. (Thank you honey!)
I didn't intend on taking time off from blogging but I guess I did.  :)  I have been so busy enjoying my time off and  being with family that I  haven't had much computer time.  I hope to get back into the swing of things soon.  I am in the middle of making my list and goals for the new year. Do you make new years resolutions?  I sometimes do.  Last year I made one that I really wanted to do and I stuck to it.  I wanted to read my bible in a year and so I went to a online source www.bibleinayear.org and signed up. It made it easy to stick to it, and it was motivating. As of now I have today's reading and tomorrow's and I will have completed my last years resolution. Not sure what I want to do this year. But thinking it should most likely include fitness and getting healthy. There is also some new things I want to learn to do, I also want to update my web page and try to figure out what direction that should go in.

I am back at work this week, having the last five days off was nice, but I have Wednesday and Thursday off this week, and then the weekend will be coming shortly right after so I feel like it should be a good,short week. I am going to concentrate on putting away my Christmas decorations this week too.  Most likely any spare minute will be putting it all away.  Although I know it is going to take me a while to do it. Do you still have your decorations up?  If you have taken them down, when do you take them down.  Do you have to do it alone? or do you have help?  I seem to have to take most of mine down alone, although hubby is great about helping me get the boxes together and put back in place in the garage.  :)  But over the course of the next few days, I will start gathering my decorations around the house and make piles and then it is easier for me to pack back up. Plus it doesn't seem to take as long that way.  Not sure why, but it doesn't.  Guess when you break that big job up into little jobs it goes faster.

Over the next several days I am going to get back to my list making  and try to get my mind organized and cleared out for the new year. Is this a "me" thing or do you all do this too? 

Plan to get around for visits soon, but please let me say thanks for hanging in there with me over the last several months as I know my post have been sporadic.  One thing I plan to do in the new year is be a better blogger buddy. 

Gonna scoot, because as you can tell, my mind is jumbled and I feel as though I am just rambling.  Have a great afternoon!

Hugs!

What ya think?

Hi ya...I spent a little time last night changing the look and feel to my home keeping blog to give us that warm feeling of Fall. What do you think? Do you like it? Let me know what you think.

Thought I would take a little time to tell you that I had very productive weekend, and now it is back to work for another week. I am so grateful for list, or I would never seem to make it. I did get about half of my chores done this weekend that I had on my list. We ( I should say Michael) got the bedroom painted and the ceiling fan hung. All the while I worked on more decorating,I did finally find one of the boxes that was missing. I know there is at least one more, but it isn't a big deal. Mainly the pumpkins which I use to sit around or put on my front porch display. So when I run across them I will finish up.

I also gave the kitchen a good clean last night. Michael in all his sweetness made enchilda's for dinner. Can you say yummy? and leftovers? Anyway, I digress, but after all his hard work in the kitchen I decided to do the clean up. I wiped down all the countertops, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned out the fridge and did a wipe down, I also put some homemade vegtable soup I made (earlier in the week) in the freezer to have again at a later date, swept and mop the kitchen and family room floor. So felt like alot was accomplished in the kitchen.

Spent some time working on my holiday and prayer journals this weekend too. Needed to do some update. This is the third or fourth year that I have used the HOLIDAY GRAND PLAN and Christmas Countdown so needed to do some updating in those journals. This year I signed up for another little helper. Cara is hosting Holiday Countdown at The Household Helper. Hey with my schedule and anything that can keep me on task I need. Check it out.

Most of you would die if you knew that I have 429 subscriptions (as of this morning) in my google reader. I have them broke down into certain categories. It keeps me from missing out on anything new that is posted by some great bloggers. The ideas, tips, creativity of some of these women are amazing. I also have several blog helps in my reader, and I am loving it. Only problem is, it makes me want to change and update and move things around. But over the next little bit I want to share some of these wonderful finds with you.

Should close for now, will be back soon.
Hugs!

Did you Know?

Today is just one of those days

when you don't want to do anything, but be at home.  I ask Michael last night if we could just stay home this morning instead of getting out.  So few Saturday mornings we stay home, because we normally get out to go to yard sales or such in the summer time.  But all week I have been thinking about staying home and getting caught up on getting some computer stuff done and just relaxing.  Actually going to read some more of my book in a little bit.

I have added a whole batch of new links here this morning that I have been collecting for weeks now I have been finding some new places that I just love.  Several are very inspirational for home decorating and I can just sit  and gaze at the pictures for what seems like hours. Kinda like I do my country magazines. Which I need to go through and dispose of some, and organize the others.  That has been on my to do list for awhile.  I might actually do it tonight while watching tv. 

While I sitting here this morning and cruising the net I found many things that I would love to do....but when I saw this I new I needed to do these things first, so that I will not forget what it is I would like to do.    First, I think I need to create myself a mood board.  Do you know what a mood board is?  It is a board that you simple put all your loves on.  There are several at Decor 8. As well as create myself a decorating binder.  See this is the kind of things I do when I have time.  I get creative and want to do things.  Guess I could carry this binder a little further and make it my "dream home binder".  How fun is that? 

Well I have been at this computer for awhile now and my phone keeps ringing so think I am going to close it.  Hope you have a wonderful day!

This is the way we clean our house

So early in the morning.... I think I am on my third load of laundry and I have more to do. I have vacuumed the main floor but still need to do the upstairs, but the vacuum is such a bear to get upstairs. I have dusted my house, and cleaned down my bathroom and organized the kids. I have unloaded, reloaded the dishwasher, and moved some things around. So decided I wanted to take a little break.

I still need to get to the grocery store today, I want to pick up some fresh produce and some healthy snacks for me to take to work, but we are out of a few staples that I need to restock.

I am also in a major organizing mood. I have been working on getting myself more organized and making list. I am a avid list maker, that seems like that is the only way I get anything accomplished. But now I am working on a system for my list so that 'others' (family) can help with the list and it doesn't just fall on me.

Yesterday, Michael and I along with some friends went out for the day. He hit several antique malls and I found a few little goodies. I love it when I find somethings that I have been looking for. There is just something about the "hunt" that I love. I will have to share some pictures soon.

As bad as I hate to, I need to get back to work. I still have loads to do.

Hugs!

Updated Template

Good Morning Ladies, hope this finds you all having a blessed day. This morning has been quite relaxing for me thus far. I have spent oodles of time this morning, moving things around on my blogs, and getting my homemaking site in order. When I posted it yesterday I had a two column version and that isn't what I wanted so I got it changed to a three column verstion this morning. I like it much better. I got my help at this great site that I found this morning called, Tips for New Bloggers. The particular tutorial I used to convert a two colum to a three column was here. Now I will have to spend time populating the content for it. I have several things to still add but it will take me some time.

I also have been spending time this morning updating my HMB. What a chore that was, but I feel much better having it done. I worked on my prayer journal section. And removed my grocery/menu/recipe sections because I have added them into my recipe binder. Which I have also been working on this morning. This is huge undertaking because I have collected recipes and cookbooks for 20+ years. So it isn't anywhere near finished. My main goal was to get the prayer journal ready to go.

I'm hoping that this week I can implete some of things that I had hope to start the first of the year but seems like I couldn't get it all together. My brain has been racing with tons of projects that I needed/wanted to do to make my life run smoother. My goal is this will become a lifestyle that I can keep up with regardless of it I am working full-time or staying back at home. I love being at home and making my home a place that the family wants to be. Love going the extra mile for them. And seems like for the last several years, I play catch up. I think Michael is on board with all the changes so that helps.

I hope you will let me know that you stopped by and what you think of my new site. Also, let me know if there is anything in particular that you are looking for in the way of tips or whatever. I have a ton of links in my favorites on my computer, and now I will be trying to go through them and organize them here, and possible help someone in the process.

For now, I am going to take a rest, and depending on the rest of the day...I will try to get around for visits. Have a blessed day. Hugs!