...tomorrow (Sunday) morning around 11am EDT because I'll be singing this song as a tribute to Heather (who blogged today by HERSELF 48 hrs after BRAIN SURGERY - PRAISE GOD!) and to hopefully encourage someone in attendence tomorrow. Despite feeling led to do this, I'm still nervous and self-conscious. Pray...a lot! *wink*
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Friday, May 4, 2007
Why Do Guys Get All the Cool Gadgets?
I know envy is a bad thing. But, good grief!
Let me explain: thanks to Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie, I've been a cleaning and organizing fool and apparently it's rubbed off on Da Hubby. Let's just say that for the first time in the two years we've lived here, one could walk into our garage (which never holds our cars...who puts cars in the garage?! *wink*), put one's arms out and spin in a circle and not hit or knock over anything! LOL The cleaning bug bit the whole family!
Back to the point...I stumbled onto a webpage through a link at Pay Per Post that sells garage storage and organization tools for "car guys"...but, MAN, could I have a few of these?? LOL Baskets that hang from walls - wouldn't this work well in a laundry room? Wish I'd had one of THESE in my classroom when I taught full time! LOL And, I'm sure I could come up with a use for this can storage shelf somewhere in my home.
Well, OK, this overhead storage thing would be cool for Da Hubby too.
Anyway, I guess I'll have to settle for the Motorola Bluetooth ear piece that arrived yesterday (which is identical to Da Hubby's) from Ebay! *wink* At least now, while I'm cleaning and organizing, I won't have to worry about dropping my phone off my shoulder and into a sink of dish water!
Let me explain: thanks to Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie, I've been a cleaning and organizing fool and apparently it's rubbed off on Da Hubby. Let's just say that for the first time in the two years we've lived here, one could walk into our garage (which never holds our cars...who puts cars in the garage?! *wink*), put one's arms out and spin in a circle and not hit or knock over anything! LOL The cleaning bug bit the whole family!
Back to the point...I stumbled onto a webpage through a link at Pay Per Post that sells garage storage and organization tools for "car guys"...but, MAN, could I have a few of these?? LOL Baskets that hang from walls - wouldn't this work well in a laundry room? Wish I'd had one of THESE in my classroom when I taught full time! LOL And, I'm sure I could come up with a use for this can storage shelf somewhere in my home.
Well, OK, this overhead storage thing would be cool for Da Hubby too.
Anyway, I guess I'll have to settle for the Motorola Bluetooth ear piece that arrived yesterday (which is identical to Da Hubby's) from Ebay! *wink* At least now, while I'm cleaning and organizing, I won't have to worry about dropping my phone off my shoulder and into a sink of dish water!
Labels:
PPP
A 4:45am Scolding by a Three-Year-Old
My babies are night owls. It's not a problem for us for a variety of reasons. I stay at home so no getting up early to hustle them off to day care or preschool. DaHubby gets to enjoy them longer in the evenings. I get some me-time in the mornings when I'm at my best. We get to go to evening activities (like 7pm midweek services and such) with fewer behavior problems.
Anyway, Flicka was ex.haus.ted come 8:30 last night which is early for her. My brave "flicka krigare" (little girl warrior) swam the entire length of the pool, over the deep end, TWICE at swimming lessons yesterday. Then, she proceeded to celebrate in such a way (with a video and popcorn uninterrupted by Pojke) that no afternoon nap was taken."But, I'm so sleepy, Momma" was the last thing we heard from the back seat while driving home from Lowe's.
Concerned for her unbroken record of several nights without accidents, we were worried she hadn't "emptied" herself before bed. So, we laid her down with a double folded thick towel across the midsection of her bed and just let her sleep in her clothes.
Jump to 4:45am...in the midst of some SERIOUSLY deep sleep, my momma radar detects the patter of feet across the wood floors into the living room. I drag myself out, check the living room but no one there. Hmmm...go to her room. She's standing next to her bed straightening her covers. She turns and says indignantly "what is THIS?" (pointing to the towel). I explain our grown-up reasoning. "But, I don't need THAT anymore!" she sniffed.
She crawls back into bed, having taken off her shirt and sweats, and says accusingly "And, Momma, YOU forgot to put me in PJ's!" She huffs and lays down.
Then, "Momma can you make my bed?" (translation: pull the covers up over her and tuck her in)
Then, "And, Momma, I need my mid-i-fi-er. *sniff* I have a booger nose."
And, she curls up to go back to sleep. Apparently, I've been dismissed! Even at 5am, I didn't know whether to laugh or to start praying for her teenage years! Geesh!
Anyway, Flicka was ex.haus.ted come 8:30 last night which is early for her. My brave "flicka krigare" (little girl warrior) swam the entire length of the pool, over the deep end, TWICE at swimming lessons yesterday. Then, she proceeded to celebrate in such a way (with a video and popcorn uninterrupted by Pojke) that no afternoon nap was taken."But, I'm so sleepy, Momma" was the last thing we heard from the back seat while driving home from Lowe's.
Concerned for her unbroken record of several nights without accidents, we were worried she hadn't "emptied" herself before bed. So, we laid her down with a double folded thick towel across the midsection of her bed and just let her sleep in her clothes.
Jump to 4:45am...in the midst of some SERIOUSLY deep sleep, my momma radar detects the patter of feet across the wood floors into the living room. I drag myself out, check the living room but no one there. Hmmm...go to her room. She's standing next to her bed straightening her covers. She turns and says indignantly "what is THIS?" (pointing to the towel). I explain our grown-up reasoning. "But, I don't need THAT anymore!" she sniffed.
She crawls back into bed, having taken off her shirt and sweats, and says accusingly "And, Momma, YOU forgot to put me in PJ's!" She huffs and lays down.
Then, "Momma can you make my bed?" (translation: pull the covers up over her and tuck her in)
Then, "And, Momma, I need my mid-i-fi-er. *sniff* I have a booger nose."
And, she curls up to go back to sleep. Apparently, I've been dismissed! Even at 5am, I didn't know whether to laugh or to start praying for her teenage years! Geesh!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Today for Heather
How appropriate that today is the National Day of Prayer!


Today - and possibly at the very minute you are reading this - Heather may be undergoing life-saving brain surgery for what was originally thought to be inoperable brain cancer. This woman has been on my mind and heart constantly the last week or so as I watch and read her blog in awesome wonder how her amazing faith is being walked out through this challenge. If you could, take a moment and lift her up to the Lord today.
Also, Heather seems to have a particularly soft heart for praise music and and a gift for singing. She posts videos of songs that inspire her over the last few weeks. This particular song that she posted on April 19th gripped my heart and will not let me go. So, I asked my pastor last night if he would consider allowing me the honor to sing it as a special after praise and worship this Sunday or next Sunday. I do it because I feel compelled. And, it's a tribute to Heather, her faith, and the Lord we share. But, I'm also hoping that her story and this song will touch someone at this point unknown to me in my church family who may be struggling with something.
Father God, may Heather's doctors find NOTHING to remove or, if they do, that Your will be done and may it be the best possible outcome for Heather and her family. Whatever happens: all for Your glory, Lord!
Also, Heather seems to have a particularly soft heart for praise music and and a gift for singing. She posts videos of songs that inspire her over the last few weeks. This particular song that she posted on April 19th gripped my heart and will not let me go. So, I asked my pastor last night if he would consider allowing me the honor to sing it as a special after praise and worship this Sunday or next Sunday. I do it because I feel compelled. And, it's a tribute to Heather, her faith, and the Lord we share. But, I'm also hoping that her story and this song will touch someone at this point unknown to me in my church family who may be struggling with something.
Father God, may Heather's doctors find NOTHING to remove or, if they do, that Your will be done and may it be the best possible outcome for Heather and her family. Whatever happens: all for Your glory, Lord!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Whole Room Organizational Challenge Completed
Good grief - the time it took to load all these pictures took nearly as long as it took to clean the basement! LOL
As I stated in my other post, I've been working on two projects for Laura who writes at I'm An Organizing Junkie. This challenge was a month long. I chose to tackle my kitchen closet and the basement. This post in about the basement. To be honest, it is not as completed as I had hoped but MUCH progress was made and what IS left should not be a problem to deal with.
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Due to my ADD, I was completely overwhelmed by the whole task...thus, explaining how it got that way in the first place! So, the hardest thing was finding a way to dividing this up into manageable, smaller pieces without getting frustrated, discouraged, or distracted. Luckily, the basement is kinda divided into "zones": two finished rooms, one large unfinished space, and the laundry area. So, I tried to stick with one at a time.
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
Well, this challenge was more about what we will using the space for. The main motivator? The one room that was a guest room but will now become a homeschool classroom in the fall. The other motivator was it would be wonderful to actually USE my stuff now that I knew what I had and where it was located.
Our biggest problem (other than organizational! LOL) was that we hadn't really defined what we wanted for each space. Once the first room was designated at a classroom and the unfinished side was "storage", the second room's issue became how to organize what remained: boat materials, office stuff and teacher stuff. With these "use designations", we have "zones" now where stuff goes now so it'll be easier to keep it together.
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Good grief! The garbage men are absolutely HATING us at this point! LOL I've also been using Freecycle, Ebay, and Paperbookswap.com to clean out the majority of our unused, until-recently-unseen stuff.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
Everything needs somewhere to go. And, everyone in this house needs to put away their "toys" when they are done with them! LOL
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Most definitely. I'll be finishing up our new classroom over the summer and embarking on my (and Flicka's, of course) first experiment with homeschooling this fall! I'll also be able to practice more of the craft and home skills I've been learning now that I have the space to do so. This cost me no money, only time. And, as a result, I actually MADE money, got free books, and blessed several people in my community! Then, I can make more money and/or save our money by using those crafty skills even more.
Now, the unveiling:
The "guest room" before:

The guest room after:
As I stated in my other post, I've been working on two projects for Laura who writes at I'm An Organizing Junkie. This challenge was a month long. I chose to tackle my kitchen closet and the basement. This post in about the basement. To be honest, it is not as completed as I had hoped but MUCH progress was made and what IS left should not be a problem to deal with.
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Due to my ADD, I was completely overwhelmed by the whole task...thus, explaining how it got that way in the first place! So, the hardest thing was finding a way to dividing this up into manageable, smaller pieces without getting frustrated, discouraged, or distracted. Luckily, the basement is kinda divided into "zones": two finished rooms, one large unfinished space, and the laundry area. So, I tried to stick with one at a time.
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
Well, this challenge was more about what we will using the space for. The main motivator? The one room that was a guest room but will now become a homeschool classroom in the fall. The other motivator was it would be wonderful to actually USE my stuff now that I knew what I had and where it was located.
Our biggest problem (other than organizational! LOL) was that we hadn't really defined what we wanted for each space. Once the first room was designated at a classroom and the unfinished side was "storage", the second room's issue became how to organize what remained: boat materials, office stuff and teacher stuff. With these "use designations", we have "zones" now where stuff goes now so it'll be easier to keep it together.
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Good grief! The garbage men are absolutely HATING us at this point! LOL I've also been using Freecycle, Ebay, and Paperbookswap.com to clean out the majority of our unused, until-recently-unseen stuff.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
Everything needs somewhere to go. And, everyone in this house needs to put away their "toys" when they are done with them! LOL
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Most definitely. I'll be finishing up our new classroom over the summer and embarking on my (and Flicka's, of course) first experiment with homeschooling this fall! I'll also be able to practice more of the craft and home skills I've been learning now that I have the space to do so. This cost me no money, only time. And, as a result, I actually MADE money, got free books, and blessed several people in my community! Then, I can make more money and/or save our money by using those crafty skills even more.
Now, the unveiling:
The "guest room" before:
The guest room after:
The bed will be coming out of there next.
The unfinished storage area before:
The unfinished storage area before:
Labels:
contest,
homemaking,
OC,
organization
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