Snow Day!

Quattro has woke up at 5:45 a.m. the last two days.  So, for today, I'm on my game. Putting up clothes while pretending I have the vocal capabilities of Nate Ruess, who, by the way, is my latest fave. 
I have worked on this hall closet for two days now, shredding three bags full of old paperwork, throwing away old items, returning odd items to their home and yet the closet does not yet feel amazing.  Here's my before pic....

 

And after my work, this is what I have to show off...

 



 

I was really wanting the WOW factor and I'm not feeling it.  Grant it, it does look better than it did but I doubt I make any Pinterest boards anytime soon:)  Maybe I will work on it more tomorrow or when Bowl Full of Lemons covers it on her 14 week program. 

 

On a lighter note...we had school called off at 12:00 and have had a fun snow day!  I even made hot cocoa from The Pioneer Woman's recipe:)  Yummo!

 



 

Happy Snow Day!!!

A Plan

I have a bad habit of becoming excited about a task and jumping in it in the middle.  I somehow bypass the beginning, forget the labor of the finish, and get knee deep in whatever the task may be.  Today, the task is closet and pantry organization.  I spent the afternoon organizing the kids' closet.  From the pictures it may not looked organized to you but trust me this is a LARGE improvement from the former state of the closet.

 

Now, I am attacking my pantry.  As you know I have stumbled upon the Bowl Full of Lemons site and am following her 14 week decluttering program.  Week #1 was the kitchen, Week #2 was the garage, and Week #3 is the pantry.  I think I may be done with the pantry tonight so I will see what this week will hold for me.  However, I'm big talk right now considering the contents of my pantry are currently strewn across my entire kitchen. 

...well, I couldn't post my pics last night so I finally googled the problem and fixed it today!  And I did finish the pantry and am excited to tackle Quattro's closet today.  Here's the pantry:

Everything displayed all over my kitchen.

I cleaned each shelf and swept the floor.

Ta da!  Finished product.

 

 

 

For me, the best piece of advice I gleaned from A Bowl Full of Lemons was to take all the empty bins and storage containers I had available and display them on the counter. Although the image is a little blurry, you can see my empty storage container across the top of my cabinet counter.  As I cleaned out my pantry I created a list of categories in my pantry then matched those categories with available storage bins.  Now I did not put everything in a container like she does but what I did helped streamline and sort my available food supply.

 

Now that I have figured out my Blogger problem and organized the pantry and closet, I must now tackle the rest of the day!





Freezer Cooking

I really have to have a structured plan in order to have supper prepared for my family.  I lack the creativity to come up with meals on my own.  Typically I dread the meal time not because I don't like to cook but that I don't know what to make.  With lures of freezer meal pins, plus my BFF participating in a Freezer Meal cooking group at her church, I have been in search of help for my dinner dilemma. 
As I've shared before, a lot of the pins list tons of soups but not a real plan for me to follow.  I really like this pin.

It's from FabulesslyFrugal.  Thus far, this is the best site for organizing freezer meal cooking as well as including some great recipe ideas. 
Right now my list includes one thing:
1.  Plan and list meals for the next two weeks.
Okay, now I've added more to my list:
2.  Make shopping list from the four stores I will visit tomorrow (CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart) then match up sale items with my menu.
3.  Try to prepare at least to make-ahead meals tomorrow. 

Well this will keep me pretty busy, good night!

Progress Report

As eternal as the comments are of "time flies", I still am amazed at how quickly the days pass.  It has already been over a week since my last post.  I want to accomplish each of my B-SHAGS this year but am a little overwhelmed at which process to pursue to accomplish these goals. I have just been incredibly hungry for knowledge about people that have experienced success in there lives.  What methods worked for them?  What character traits do they possess?  I recently checked out Good to Great from the library.  It is one of Dave Ramsey's recommended books. I'm very excited about the information provided in the book. 

My sister recently informed me that ADD is hereditary.  After talking to her, things that I have always found odd behavior for my family, I'm now considering, "do we all have ADD?"  If I do have ADD, I would find humor in this considering I was a special education teacher for six years.  One would think I would have identified myself before now:)  So in using the term loosely I now can kinda understand why my thoughts jump from subject to subject and why I seem to have a difficult time completing mundane tasks. For now, what have I been doing?  I made a schedule for my daily routine.  I got to thinking, elementary teachers usually list out their daily routine so the kids will know what to expect out of the day so why not do that myself?  And it's really helped.  I started with what time I need to get up in the morning all the way through til when I need to get in bed.  Now I know there is always something for me to be doing. 

Weight Loss is being monitored but my progress is dismal at this point.  I'm not sure why I do this but I get pretty angry when having to watch what I eat.  I know this is a good move for me but until I see some real results, I'm typically ill until then - poor Numero Uno.  I did work out this week and have stopped eating by 7:30 p.m. each day.  We'll see how I do when I weigh in this Saturday.  My family and friends have been very encouraging which I take as a blessing from the Lord.  I know they all want to see me healthier.  My Fitness Pal is still a big source of help for me. 

As far as selling our home, I am working on decluttering the house and getting it ready to put on the market.  I am following A Bowl Full of Lemons 14 week program.  This woman is amazing!  I will admit though I still struggle with being paralyzed with a feeling of being overwhelmed when I look at my clutter.  Right now I'm working on my garage and I will say this website has encouraged me to buy more storage containers, label more, and throw away or donate what I do not use.  I have already made two trips this week to the local thrift store to make donations:)  I will try to post some pics before this week is up. 

I would like to set up a better method of progress tracking.  Hopefully, I will accomplish that task this weekend.

B-SHAGs

I have been looking forward to this post since November.  But honestly it has taken this long to formulate my very own B-SHAGs. This past November, my pastor shared with the church the B-SHAGs he had for the upcoming year.  Might I add, very wise of him to do this in November since December brings chaos for families everywhere with the holiday season. What is a B-SHAG?  A Big Hairy, Scary, Audacious Goal.  Listening to the vision he had for our congregation was awe inspiring yet left me bewildered.  What were my Big Hairy, Scary, Audacious Goals?  I drew a blank.  I had nothing to challenge me.  Had I gone so long of not setting any goals that I had a blank slate staring back at me for aspirations?  Now, I am old enough to realize there seasons of life.  Seasons of growth and seasons of pruning; seasons of change and seasons of stagnate life.  I would say 2011 and 2012 were changes and prunings which sometimes felt like a cutting knife to my heart.  I set no goals save maybe the one of survival.
I love the scripture that is a warning and yet beautiful that says, "where there is no vision, the people perish."  Without your eye on the prize, what will you achieve?  What work is to be done?  If I have the ability, why not do it?  In these questions there is hope and desire and excitement - traits missing from my repertoire of emotions here lately. 
So, it took me some time.  I asked questions of  my friends ( I love asking questions, it's an annoyance to most, but I really want to learn).  Some of my friends gave careful thoughts to their plans for 2013 and others vowed to make no goals.  I did get tickled at how we all label our ideals: "goals, love lists, plans, ideas".  Each person seems to give the resolutions a different name but I think we want the same in the end: success, productivity, growth, change.
Well, what are mine?  What did I consider BIG? That without God's help I'm doomed to fail?  The good news about humans is that each of us, each of us, are at different levels.  What is minuscule to one is insurmountable to another.  Here is my list of B-SHAGs as well as some of my "ideas" for this new year:

B-SHAGs:
1. I will lose 45 pounds.
2. I will complete a 5k and a 10k with my "success" run being at the Shrimpfest down at the Gulf.
3.  We will get out of debt.
4.  I will "coupon" our way to our 10th anniversary trip.
5.  We will sell our house.

Ideas:
1.  Read more.
2.  Speak less, listen more.
3.  Play pretend with my daughter.
4.  Say, "yes" to my kids as much as I can, and a firm, "no" when necessary.
5.  Complete acts of service.
6.  Take a road trip with my BFF.
7.  Set up at least 6 play dates for my kids throughout the year.
8.  Give.
9.  Love more.
10.  Forgive A LOT more.
11.  Use reusable bags when going to the grocery store.
12.  Sew curtains for the living room.
13.  Markedly declutter my home.
14.  Plan get togethers with other couples that both my husband and I enjoy spending time with.
15.  Blog weekly.
16.  Clean the baseboards of my house.
17.  Leave my house by 7:30 each morning so my kids will arrive at school on time.

As far as tracking my progress, I believe this blog will be my best source of support and consistency. 
What are your New Year resolutions?  What do you want to change or improve?  What's your plan of action?  Do you have any B-SHAGs?

Brain in Overdrive

My head is spinning with the approaching new year.  There are a 1,000 things I want to do different this year or accomplish this year.  Now if only I can organize a plan of attack.  I have some ideas but for today I'm looking at Menu Planning which is always a biggie.  It saves so much money when I prepare the meals at home.  I think one of my goals this year will be to not eat out for an entire month and list all the benefits.

Here's my Meal Plan for the next 10 days:
1.  Steak and vegetables
2.  Husband's work party so... freebie:)
3.  Meatloaf, asparagus, and rolls
4.  Spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad
5.  Southwestern Corn Chowder from Everyday Food
6.  Steak and rice
7.  Pintos and cornbread
8.  Tuna salad and fruit salad
9.  Vegetable Soup (canned by my mother-in-law)
10.  Black Bean Taco Soup (Six Sisters Stuff)

Buckling Down

I ran into a friend of mine this past week and she looked gorgeous as always.  She has red hair, you know the kind that you think "did she get it colored that way?" but no she didn't.  It's just naturally that pretty.  Well her hair is beside the point, I just thought I would share that detail:)  I asked her, "How do you do it?  You always look great and seem to have it together?"  She just laughed and said no one has it together.  She said, "you been reading people's blogs haven't you?"  Yes, yes I have!  She told me not to believe all of it cause people only post the good stuff.  I got so tickled but then got to thinking.  Yes, I do read a lot from these mamas that seem to do it all and I myself tend to only want to post the good stuff.

Well, today, in trying to get my house under control before we have guests over and the major parties start happening, I've been looking at organization pins.  I was encouraged when I read how this one woman gets overwhelmed at chaos and shuts down.  That probably sounds crazy to be "encouraged" but I identified with her - I do that.  Something comes up or even some event I know about and I become frazzled and literally want to shut down. I tend to withdraw from my house tasks, watch TV, and lament the oncoming stress. 

In reading this pin:

I realized I am equipped to handle what is coming at me I just need to break it down into bite size pieces.  For the woman in the post her most chaotic place was her office.  For me?  The kitchen.  So I set about thinking and planning and doing what I know to do. 
Back in 2005 I was introduced to Flylady and have clung to her principles.  I believe Gretchen Rubin from the Happiness Project would call what I have learned the "Secrets of Adulthood".
One of my secrets of adulthood would be, "You can do anything for 15 minutes."  I find this true time and time again from reading Flylady's advice, to blog posts, to trying it out in my home.  15 minutes is not long and surprisingly it can accomplish a lot. 
Today, I spent 15 minutes on our junk drawer in our kitchen.  Kudos to you if you do not have a junk drawer but we do:) 
My baby's calling and I have more work to do.  It's time to buckle down and get to work!