Fifteen years ago tomorrow Marla Cilley, aka Flylady, had a major breakthrough on her path to becoming Flylady.

She told me about it and I want to share it with you. Watch what she has to say

Prepare this on New Year's Eve day for a feast on January 1.

Remember that song "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall?" Every year during grade school field trips the rowdy boys would begin singing it in the back of the bus. By the time we got down to one or two bottles left on the wall we'd either be at our destination or ready to muzzle those kids! Anyway, you might start humming that old familiar tune when you make my turkey marinade. However, it only takes six bottles of leftover beer along with a few other simple ingredients and guarantees your turkey meat will be succulent and delicious. In this video, I also show you how to "save your skin" and cook up some smooth, mouth-watering gravy to serve alongside your feast. And the best part! No bus ride required sitting squished in the middle seat. Cheers!

Recipe:

6 bottles of beer

One half cup lemon juice

1 small onion chopped

10 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp. sage

1 tbsp. Penzeys Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Base

Cut Turkey into parts as you would a whole chicken. Put back, neck and giblets into pot with 4 stalks of celery, 1 onion cut in big chunks, 2 tsp. sage and 1 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and add water to cover. Simmer all day on low.

Turkey Gravy

Drippings from roasted turkey

2 cups turkey broth made from the back, neck and giblets of cut-up turkey

2 tbsp. corn starch

Prepare this on New Year's Eve day for a feast on January 1.

Remember that song "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall?" Every year during grade school field trips the rowdy boys would begin singing it in the back of the bus. By the time we got down to one or two bottles left on the wall we'd either be at our destination or ready to muzzle those kids! Anyway, you might start humming that old familiar tune when you make my turkey marinade. However, it only takes six bottles of leftover beer along with a few other simple ingredients and guarantees your turkey meat will be succulent and delicious. In this video, I also show you how to "save your skin" and cook up some smooth, mouth-watering gravy to serve alongside your feast. And the best part! No bus ride required sitting squished in the middle seat. Cheers!

Recipe:

6 bottles of beer

One half cup lemon juice

one cup olive oil

1 small onion chopped

10 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp. sage

1 tbsp. Penzeys Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Base

Cut Turkey into parts as you would a whole chicken. Put back, neck and giblets into pot with 4 stalks of celery, 1 onion cut in big chunks, 2 tsp. sage and 1 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt and add water to cover. Simmer all day on low.

Turkey Gravy

Drippings from roasted turkey

2 cups turkey broth made from the back, neck and giblets of cut-up turkey

2 tbsp. corn starch

Merry Christmas to you all. I feel so honored to have you in my life, even though I haven’t met most of you in person. I write for you from my heart and I’m honored when you send such loving comments reflecting your love back to me. I know how busy you all are, yet throughout the year many of you have taken time to share your love with me. And to those of you who haven’t written to me, I know in my heart you are a SHE just like me and I love you.

If you want to hear the rest of the poem, here it is!

When you were growing up do you remember how great it was to wake up to wonderful smells coming from the kitchen? Did you snuggle deep into the covers anticipating the delicious breakfast being prepared? Now that you're an adult those delicious smells are up to you to create for others, and who wants to shiver out of a cozy bed to begin chopping, frying and cracking away for the gang while half asleep?

Well, help is here! In this video you'll see how to throw together an easy, nutritious breakfast casserole that you can make ahead of time and just heat up when you're ready to feed a houseful of hungry guests! It has a coconut flour crust, parmesan cheese and lots of yummy ingredients that are absolutely divine together. Of course, it's low carb and sure to get rave reviews just like all the recipes I share with you. You could make this a favorite Christmas morning tradition at your house! Enjoy!

Sausage & Egg Casserole (for two)

Make Coconut Flour Crust:

• One half cup coconut flour
• One quarter cup coconut oil
• Enough water to make a dough (add slowly and work with the consistency of pie dough made from flour)

Bake crust at 375 degrees for half an hour 

 Filling:

• 3 large mushrooms sliced thinly
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• One quarter tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
• One half cup parmesan cheese grated
• One quarter cup olives chopped
• One half cup sausage fried and drained
• 4 eggs beaten
• Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to taste
• Pepper

Melt coconut oil in frying pan on medium high. Sautee mushrooms and onions until they begin to brown. Add cheese and seasoning. Keep cooking until the contents are a delicious brown. Put mixture in the baked crust. Spread chopped olives and any other choices like peppers, tomatoes and such.

Fry sausage and drain put over other ingredients.

Pour beaten eggs over mixture and refrigerate in you are making this ahead of time.

Bake at 400 degrees for half an hour.

I was shopping at Michael’s (the craft store)in the late afternoon when I heard a conversation in the next aisle between a mother and her six-year-old daughter.

As I listened to the excitement and love for her mother in the child’s voice and the drone of her mother’s responses, tears welled up in my eyes. I thought about how many times I’d done the same thing with my children when they were young. After all, I had a centerpiece to make, a decoration for the coffee table to think about, colors to consider, people to impress and not enough time!

December 12, 2014

Want to simplify this Christmas? No problem! My granddaughter Kaytee proudly demonstrates that even those of us with butterfingers, can decorate beautifully with...well....butterfingers! Watch her create a magical gingerbread house using that stash of Halloween candy we told you to save.

You still have that candy right? Well, if not, don't worry, we'll wait for you to go get some more and then get ready to have fun putting together this festive holiday favorite.

Ready to watch this fun video....to see how 9-year old Kaytee orders her older brothers around?   

The best gift you can give the world is to be healthy and happy.

December 11, 2014

Consider this: What if you chose to come to this planet at this specific time, in this specific body with this specific life? And what if you knew before you came that you would never be alone, that you would be protected and loved every moment of your experience during your stay?

 What if this life experience you are having as you read this blog is exactly what you signed up for? Shakespeare said, “Life is a stage and we are actors upon it.” So imagine before you came here that you went over a bunch of scripts and you picked a play that really intrigued you and after much consultation with your fellow actors and from your angels you decided to come here and be YOU in this play called This is Your Life.

I had a dream many years ago on this topic. I walked into a large conference room where there was much laughter. I focused in on a very large black man dressed in a glorious, white African tribal chief’s robe. When I approached the oval table he looked at me with great love and his eyes sparkled with joy. He asked me if I had any questions about my life, so I asked him, “What happens to evil people when they die?”

Posted by Pam Young

Have you heard people say, “The kids today have short attention spans and because of quick-paced television, they’re used to watching three to four-second bites and become restless when the action is diminished.”? HOG WASH! As I sat in an Amtrak station waiting for a train that was 38 minutes late, I watched a grandmother read Curious George to her five-year-old grandson.

From my vantage point, she appeared to be a rather listless reader, void of expression, sound effects and lifted eyebrows accompanying some of Hans and Margaret’s incredible thoughts, yet the child was glued to his grandma’s side listening to the story.

When that book was finished, he pulled another from his backpack and she proceeded to read it in the same mundane way. The train turned out to be an hour late and the child remained interested in her reading the entire time. So much for the short attention span.

So here are what I believe are 6 benefits of reading bedtime stories to your children.

1. Cultivates Imagination

Now that visual stimulation is served up via television, IPads, IPhones, Xbox etc., children rarely get to tap into their imaginations unless we read to them, or until they can read. As a child, I loved radio (it was before we had television) because my imagination provided the visuals. Because we don’t have kid radio, unless we read to our kids, their ability to use their precious imaginations and be able to visualize will weaken.

I remember one Christmas, my daughter Peggy bought a bunch of children’s books at a neighborhood garage sale and recorded reading them on a cassette tape recorder for her non-reading cousins as gifts for Christmas. As adults, those cousins still speak of how they loved her gifts of being read to.

My husband Terry and I recorded books on CDs, the same way Peggy did with a cassette recorder. This way our grandchildren could listen to us read the books we gave them as gifts.

"Mmmm.... what's cooking?" That's the question you're bound to hear as this simple dish simmers on the stove sending a savory smell that truly excites the senses. One bite of these sautéed onions and mushrooms and you'll forget you ever craved those carb laden side dishes of the past.

Recipe:  

Mushroom and Onion Side Dish

4 large mushrooms sliced thinly

2 cups thinly sliced onion

2 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

3/4 cup parmesan cheese grated

One quarter cup almond flour

Melt coconut oil in large frying pan on medium high. Fry mushrooms and onions until they begin to brown. Add cheese and almond flour and seasoning. Keep cooking until the contents are a delicious brown. Serves four.

Hope you enjoy the video!

Lack of motivation causes procrastination!

I’m always trying to figure out ways to use my creative mind to motivate me and then pass my discoveries on to you. I’m sort of like a walking SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive) research lab.

As you know, if you’re a SHE, you have a retarded concept of time and then it’s, “Holy Smoke! It’s December 23, Christmas is in two days!” So why not use your divine gift of imagination to quick-start your motivation? 

Here’s my idea and it’s so simple, just pretend it’s December 23, and evoke a little panic and a good dose of adrenalin into your system. Because you’re a SHE, you know that familiar terror you’ve felt over years of last-minute shopping for holiday gifts. You’ve experienced that very un-Christmassy feeling you get from dashes to the mall with its irritating marketing to get you to buy “mine,” “mine,” “mine,” like those seagulls in Finding Nemo.

And don’t beat yourself up for knowing exactly how horrible that feels; according to the National Retail Federation, nearly 32 million people will not have started their shopping by Dec 9! (I should get them on my mailing list.)

Just thinking about the chaos of post-Christmas morning, I wrote this poem in the hopes that while you shop this holiday season you’ll think of ways to cut down on the clutter of it all. Here’s the video of me reading that poem. I think you'll like it...especially if it reminds you of your Christmas mornings past.

To hear Julie Andrews sing this lovely song click on Julie:

One of the best ways to cut down on Christmas clutter is to give cash as your gift. My Stick it Right on the Money Gift Giving Kit will help you give money in a funny way.

There are almost 100 clever, fun stickers.   You put them on cash (yes, they peel off easily without damaging the money.)   Here is one of the stickers....see me behind them? The recipients of your disguised cash gift will roar with laughter.

You probably don’t need me to talk you into getting your rest during this holiday season, but I decided to give it a shot on this video clip anyway, because you do need your rest! Hey maybe just listening to me go on about something you already know will help put you to sleep.

 Sometimes things can get a little hectic on a holiday, especially if the gathering is at your house. Here is a grand idea to keep children busy for an hour or so before the festive meal is served. All you need is a sheet, some butcher paper (or newspapers) and marker pens. Let your little artists take over.

The following is an account of a disorganized Thanksgiving Day (from experience) and an organized one. I hope it makes you smile and plan ahead.

Organized vs Disorganized

ORGANIZED SCHEDULE

6:00 a.m.   Exercise, shower, fix hair, put on make-up and dress in festive clothing.

7:30 a.m.   Say prayers, read inspirational material.

8:00 a.m.   Make bed, dress, eat a hearty, bacon and egg breakfast (no toast or  

                   potatoes) take a walk, and check appearance of the front door and

                   entryway.

9:00 a.m.  Stuff turkey with stuffing prepared yesterday, have children set holiday

                   table. (Silver was previously polished.)Boil potatoes (they were peeled

                   yesterday and have been soaking in cold water overnight). Make pies

                   (pumpkin filling, apple filling and dough were made yesterday and

                   refrigerated).

10:00 a.m. Listen to holiday music; check table, centerpiece and candles. Bake

                   pies. Whip potatoes and set aside to be micro-waved just before

                   serving.

11:00 a.m. Put turkey in the oven.

Noon         Prepare a light meal, soup and salad for family.

Don't let Thanksgiving stress you out. Take couple minutes and watch this video clip where I give you ideas to reduce stress.

As most of you know, my husband is a BOP (Born Organized Person). Opposites attract. We’ve recently been working on the launch of our new website www.cluborganized.com which is slated to be live on January 1, 2015. I originally gave myself a deadline of November 15^th to have it all finished. (Oh my, we SHEs are optimistic!) I’m sure that when my BOP husband heard the word deadline, he got all excited! (BOPs love a deadline so they can meet it and cross it off their list.)

So many of us rely and depend on the lessons Marla provides us with. Marla and I sat and talked at one point and this was one of the most important things to come out of that chat.

Mrs. Claus Shares Stocking Stuffer Ideas for the 5 Senses

The House Fairy and I recently took a trip up to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus and see what’s new in the stocking stuffer department. Mrs. Claus is in charge of that and she was very happy to show us her latest ideas for stuffers.

She starts each season with an empty shoebox for each child and by Christmas Eve the shoeboxes are filled with all the goodies she has collected for each one and the contents fit perfectly into the stockings Santa puts them in on Christmas Eve. She explained this year all good boys and girls will receive gifts in their stockings which please each of the five senses. She told us her husband fills stockings for all ages, so her ideas range from those for small children to those for teenagers and even moms and dads who have been good.

The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney with Care

Gifts for the ears:

CDs

Earrings

Muffs

Whistles

Mp3 players

Concert tickets

Radios

Ipods

Earplugs

Gifts for the nose:

Perfume

Room deodorizer

Candles

Incense

Nose plugs

Breath Spray

Certs

Tic Tacs

Take time daily to be alone with yourself, away from phones, the Internet and noise. Making time for solitude is a gift you give yourself. Insist on it, and don’t allow anyone, including yourself, to talk you out of it.

Here are what I consider six benefits of quiet time.

1. Lighten Up

2. Let Go

Stillness is always there between the thoughts, behind the drama, underneath the noise. What keeps us from experiencing our natural state of peace is the habitual and ego-dominated monkey mind. Meditation enables us to see clearly, to witness our thoughts and behavior and reduce self-involvement. Without such a practice of self-reflection there’s no way of putting a brake on the ego’s demands. From being self-centered, we can become other-centered, concerned about the welfare of all.

3. Gratitude

Take a moment to appreciate the chair you’re sitting on. Consider how the chair was made: the wood, cotton, wool, or other fibers, the trees and plants that were used, the earth that grew the trees, the sun and rain, the animals that maybe gave their lives, the people who prepared the materials, the factory where the chair was made, the designer and carpenter and seamstress, the shop that sold it—all this just so you could be sitting here, now. Then extend that deep appreciation to everything and everyone in your life.

How did I end up with the yellowest custard you'll ever see? You’ll see when you watch this video from my kitchen where I have such fun playing with food! When this yummy, custard dessert comes out of the oven you’ll impress and delight your hungry family or guests. AND of course this dessert is almost carb-free.

In my book, The Mouth Trap: the butt stops here! I talk about the journey I took toward better health and vitality by dumping excess carbs from my pantry and life. Join me now as I whip up a new take on this classic custard adventure!

Extra Rich Custard

8 egg yolks

One fourth cup sugar

One fourth tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups scalded whole milk

Scaled milk on medium heat allow to cool until lukewarm.

Slightly beat egg yolks and slowly add sugar, vanilla, salt and cooled milk.

Cover bottom of a roasting pan with an inch of water. Pour custard mixture into buttered custard cups and place in roasting pan. Place pan in 325 degree oven for 40 – 45 minutes or until knife when placed in custard comes out clean.

In this video clip, my sister Peggy and I share some great Halloween tips and important advice.

In this video clip, the Slob Sisters demonstrate the crazy ways they came up with last minute Halloween costumes for kids and how fun they were to throw together. As usual, their television talk show hosts were somewhat speechless (that happened a lot!) when they'd shove coat hangers into tights and smear their faces with Karo syrup and coffee grounds.

The important lesson here is when we become more organized we set the stage to play with our creativity. We become creatives! Clutter gets in the way of our creativity. Decluttering and ending your "stuff management" days will pave the way to fun, creativity, new adventures and excitement on Halloween as well as all the days of the year!

1. See the sights

October in our state of Washington and its neighbor Oregon is stunningly beautiful now. Take a drive through the countryside and remember, it’s not too late to get one more picnic in.

What are some famous sights in your area? Go check them out. If you have already been to them, try to discover something new about them. If there aren’t any famous sights in your area, then go discover ones that aren’t famous.

2. Take a discovery walk

Things are always changing, but October seems to inspire Mother Nature to order up some drastic alterations. I like to think of her shopping some mystical catalogue, oblivious to what current color schemes are being pushed in fashion news and saying, “Oh, orange, red, yellow, lime green and brown, yes that’s what my trees are gonna wear!”

Have you learned valuable lessons outside of your home life that reflect on what goes on in your house? I'm in a chorus and I love all the women in it; all 110 of them! When I joined ten years ago, it was as if I had an instant set of new friends that shared one of my passions: singing harmony. I’d like to pass on to you some lessons I’ve learned from being in this family of singers that might help you have a happier family life.

1. LOVE

Love is the most important element in any happy group. Every one of the singers in my chorus loves music and loves what happens when we sing together with love as our reason to be doing it. Our supreme goal is to have that love reflected out to our audience, lifting each person and changing the atmosphere in the room.

Of course we love our families and when all of our “To Do” lists are crossed off and our fondest figuring outs are quieted; our love is the most important part of our experience as moms.

Child Locked in Antique Safe

A few years ago, I was at a grand opening of an internationally known bronze sculptor’s establishment. It was held in an historic building that has been restored to its original integrity. After the festivities, a child accidentally closed the door to an antique, walk-in safe, seeming to seal her younger cousin inside! The mother of the child in the safe went nuclear!

She had been one of the main organizers of the event and all the fussing and preparation for the big ceremony paled to the agony of this mother as she stood on the outside of the safe in hysterical horror. As it turned out, the safe had not locked. All it took was a screwdriver and a few minutes to nudge the heavy door open.

What I observed was a mother who was instantly reminded of what was really important in her life. Love of her child. Organizing the event, which I’m sure had consumed much of her time, was insignificant compared to her child’s life in that moment.

2. JOY

So, you want to get organized at home, but you have stuff to do that you don’t want to do it. What’s that all about? I think I might have the answer and with a little bit of help from a friend, I have a 4-step solution for you.

A Little Help from a Friend

This week, I talked to a very funny woman and she was so inspirational, I just had to share her humor and wisdom with you when it comes to being a procrastinator.

Kristina is my Zumba teacher and has agreed to do a series of fun and lively

exercise videos for my Club Organized website. She’s just adorable and so inspiring when it comes to getting herself to take care of things she tends to put off.

Kristina is an amazing ball of fire! Her personal story is compelling. (I keep telling her she has to write a book.) She weighed almost 200 pounds on her 40^th birthday and when she saw the photos from her party, those pictures were the turning point for her. She told me that although she was grinning and looking happy in those photos, she was miserable and she decided to do something about it.

I’ve known her for four years and my guess is she weighs about 120 pounds. I can’t imagine her being 200 pounds, but she has the photos to prove it! She loves to show them to her classes, inspiring women to get fit and be healthy.

When we talked the other day, she told me about her problem with procrastination and how she’s solving it. Although she hasn’t read my books she knows about my inner child Nelly. She hasn’t gotten around to naming her inner child but she’s sure she has one and hers is rebellious and loves to play! She told me she came up with a plan which is really working and it involves her inner child.

Kristina’s Four-Step Plan for Procrastinators

Are you always looking for ways to lose weight and keep it off? To really lose weight you have to change your lifestyle (especially if overeating is part of it).

Recently there was an article that dealt with the psychology of overeating. It told about a couple of studies you might be interested in. One was conducted by researchers with extraordinary credentials from prestigious educational institutions, but the article concluded with this quote: “Ultimately, all this research shows we need to understand the brain chemistry behind overeating a lot better. Until we do, there won’t be any really significant advances in medications to help people lose weight,” Dr. David Herber, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles.

You have the power to change your brain chemistry with your thinking and feeling. In one of the studies young women were asked to sit in a brain scanner while drinking a chocolate milk shake. Half the women were told that the yummy treat was a regular shake; the other half were told it was a low-fat version. In truth they all got the same shake.

As the researchers watched their monitors, the reward centers of the shake drinkers’ brains lit up when the women consumed the shakes. But the women who thought they were getting a low-fat shake had much less activation. In other words, “knowing” that the shake was low fat took a lot of the fun out of the experience. Low-fat labels may backfire by making food seem less tasty, according to scientists at the Oregon Research Institute. Nelly (my inner child) can attest to that! She hates those words “low fat” on a label!

Because of these fancy scanners we now know that we have a “reward center” in our brains! I know we can activate that center by having positive and loving talks with ourselves. Here’s an example before I tell you about the other study.

Sit back, watch the video, then go pick some wild blackberries (if they live by you) and whip up this special treat!

If you want to fully enjoy your life, you might want to eliminate a few things that could be getting in the way of your joy. I call them happiness sappers and with just a few changes you'll eliminate stress and be on your way to the joy you were born to experience.

1. News: News is just official gossip. My definition of an investigative reporter is: an authorized, nosey gossip. I stopped watching or listening to the news after 9/11. I figure Terry, who was a television reporter, will inform me if I need to pack up and head for the hills.

2. Gossip: Since I’ve cut out the official gossip, why would I want to indulge in any unofficial info? 

3. Calendar that’s too small: A big happiness sapper is having a calendar that’s so small you can’t read your personal shorthand. “3pmTk grm Dr. rmb t tk nts.” A month later when you're trying to figure out what the heck you’re supposed to be doing on that day, chances are you'll never figure out you're supposed to take Grandma to the doctor at 3 p.m. and you need to take notes. Say goodbye to little-squared happiness sappers.

After Party Meltdowns

Part of training children is dealing with APM. It can happen after a party, a special holiday or any overindulgence. I’ve seen it played out in all three of my kids and all 12 of our grandchildren. Child psychologists call it over stimulation.

I remember being in the back seat of our Ford family car and coming home from a glorious day at the circus. My sister and I were decked out in new matching dresses and new shoes we’d got just for the special outing and we started fighting over whose circus program was whose (even though they were identical).

The battle triggered a rash of admonishments from both of our parents in the front seat. Dad was first, “Girls, knock off the bickering or I’m gonna stop the car and take the programs away!” Mom chimed in, “I can’t believe you girls are fighting after all we’ve done for you today. Here we take you to the circus, you got brand new matching dresses and new shoes and we let you have hot dogs and Cokes and souvenirs and you’ve been fighting ever since we got in the car!” I recall feeling ashamed.

APM tends to go into remission as children mature, but the potential for its reoccurrence remains even into adulthood and it sneaks out in adults in subtle ways but it’s no more attractive than the episodes children display.

APM can start with just an, “is-that-all-there-is” feeling. It can emerge as a vacation winds down, as we drive in the driveway with a cranky knowing of what was put off in order to have the fun. It can appear in the form of the “full” feeling after a feast, or the frustration of receiving credit card statements in January reflecting the joy of holiday purchases. Acquisition is fun! Maintenance sucks and so do the bills that follow it.

Saving money was never this easy! Carving up a whole chicken instead of buying those pricey parts is what you'll learn how to do in this new video. No need to struggle with removing that skin either, because it’s full of nutrients you need and fat you’ve been afraid of.

As I wrote in my book The Mouth Trap: the butt stops here (low carb edition), “Science is proving that the medical community was wrong all these years in sending us all on a lower-your-fat-intake-program, and now were suffering the consequences with an epidemic of people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Our brains need fat.”

In this short video you’ll meet my two knife friends, Boning and French, as I divide and conquer my way around this beautiful bird. I show you how I might get sued (if I were a real doctor and the chicken a person) by making multiple cuts searching for the elusive joint in the chicken’s leg. It’s not Dexter, but close and you won't want to miss this one......

I was thinking about fortune cookies this morning and it tickles me how we all love to open them! I closed my eyes and imagined holding both ends of one and snapping its little, carbohydrate back into two pieces, exposing the secret note written especially for me. I’m not sure why I find such delight in reading those messages, but I always do.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten with a group of friends in a Chinese restaurant when we didn’t read and share our fortunes with each other. And why is it, there’s always someone who brings up the rather off-color comment of reading their note and adding the words: between the sheets, to illicit a semi-porny edge to the innocent words? (It’s a tradition I hope our younger generation hasn’t been stuck with.)

Fortune Cookie Delegation

Because the whole fortune cookie concept is universally enjoyed, I decided we could take it and expand on it in the realm of delegating housework.

You could get a box of fcs and replace their notes with jobs to do, like vacuum the living room, dust the family room, wash, dry, fold put away a load of clothes, but I’ve got an easier way, and besides, I use that idea for giving money to grandkids on their birthdays and such. (At the end of the blog, I promise to tell you how to open a fortune cookie without breaking it and how to exchange the note with money.)

My husband, Terry and I took a road trip to the Oregon Coast for our anniversary a couple of years ago and while he was driving I suggested we play a gratitude game. 

“Is this gonna be some lady’s magazine deal?”  he asked with a sense of apprehension.

“No, I’ve been reading Deborah Norvel’s book on the power of being thankful.”

“So Deborah told you to do this?”

“Nope, I thought this game up all by myself. In fact it'd be a great family game.”

“Okay, what do I do?” 

“So, I’ll tell you something I’m grateful for about you and then it’ll be your turn and you have to tell me something you’re grateful for about me and the guy who can’t think of something loses and the other guy wins.”

“What’ll he win?”

“He’ll get taken out to dinner when we get to the beach.”

We probably traded 15 thankful comments with each other and what was very interesting to me was how much I loved hearing his comments for me and I couldn’t wait for the next one. 

I was telling Marla, the Flylady, about the game and she suggested we play it with our inner child. So I had a session with Nelly (she’s my inner child, in case you don’t know). Here’s what happened.

Sit back, watch the video, then go pick some wild blackberries (if they live by you) and whip up this special treat!

We are so much alike and we have so much in common. We want to love and be loved, we have great concern for the well being of our families and finding peace of mind is important to us. We want peace and joy to follow us all the days of our lives and getting down in the dumps when we have so much to be thankful for can make us feel even worse.

Peace of mind and joy are spiritual qualities and it takes practice to have them follow us through the twists and turns and ups and downs of life. It’s good to know the doorway to peace and joy is gratitude. God wired us with the ability to be grateful and when we’re feeling gratitude, we are joyful and we instantly feel better.

What I realized is thinking I don’t like change is a lot of hooey! I do too like change! I love clean sheets, fresh towels, and the change in seasons. I like the time when day turns to night, night turns to day, each different day of the week, the growth in goodness of my children and grandchildren, new stuff like cars, shoes, books and such. I love a change of scenery, a vacation, and even “the change of life” had its very good qualities.

Best of all, these succulent crowd pleasers are made without that dreaded ingredient your grocery store tries to force down your throat...sugar. It doesn't help the medicine go down and it sure doesn't belong on your dinner plate so out it goes!

You won't believe how delicious these ribs are and your taste buds will beg for seconds and thirds, so buy plenty. Get the recipe (below) and watch the video, then fire up that Weber and get ready for rave reviews with this wonderful new take on an American classic dish.

( Author not responsible for hungry neighbors who may show up with their plates....)

Did you know we can actually be a mom to ourselves? I know it sounds sort of crazy, but it’s true.

I received an email from one of my subscribers and it illustrates my concept very well.

Let Them Eat Fat!!!

"Fill 'em with fat, right off the bat!" That's my motto for kids healthy eating. Yep, you read that right! Now before you all go running to report me to the first lady, let me explain a little. If your kids are like mine were. they're hungry all the time, and nothing seems to stop the little munchkins from rummaging around the kitchen like homeless guys in the park. Round and round they go pulling open drawers, cabinets, oven doors; you name it, searching for something to eat. Not even the dog dish is safe.

Well, as you might guess, it's low carb cooking to the rescue. You see, it's fat that stays with your body and gives you the kind of energy that lasts.....through the tree climbing, sprinkler jumping, roller skating days of summer fun. You'll love this easy, healthy snack that's better than ice cream and fun to make too. Guaranteed to shut up your craving for junk food!

In this video, I show you how to makes a snack for your snuggle bunnies that will stop the scrounging for something to eat.

Remember in The Sound of Music when the Von Trapp children were terrified by the thunder storm? Maria sang My Favorite Things to them and it took their fear  away. Below I have printed out the absolutely brilliant lyrics for My Favorite Things (written by Oscar Hammerstein II) (pronounced HAM-err-styne), followed by my own lyrics to the same tune (written by Richard Rogers). I guarantee that if you were feeling bad when you started reading my essay, you will feel better when you finish reading Oscar’s words. As you read each line think for a few seconds about what it means to you. My lyrics don’t come near to the poetic brilliance of Mr. Hammerstein’s, but they do make ME feel good! Maybe you can write your own words or at least make a list of your favorite things and carry it with you to read every time you start to feel sad or bad or worried or mad or. . .oh well, you know what I mean.

During your day, find as many ways as you can to get things done so that you can stop work at 6:00 pm. Consider it quitting time. Of course your little Snuggle Bunnies will need your love and attention after six, but I’m talking about the household workload.

If you tend to be frazzled in the evening, you’ll love my 4 tips for making guilt-free couch time a reality. 

4 Steps to Win

Are you always arguing with your mate over a messy house?
Do you think clutter control would help? Would you stop arguing if this problem were solved?

If you answered yes to these questions, I might be able to help! I must warn you I’m not a marriage counselor and I am on my second marriage, but I have learned some successful spatting skills in the 41 years I’ve been married and you just might find them helpful.

My ideas will work for many fights, but to illustrate my strategies, I decided to pick a fight that’s common among couples; clutter control conflicts. (Wow that’s a tongue twister: couple’s common clutter control conflicts. I dare you to try and say it five times without screwing up.) The underlying cause of this conflict is stuff. It’s the, my-stuff vs your-stuff which is the most common cause of a bout about clutter. One sees his stuff as his stuff and the other guy’s stuff as clutter and it works the other way around. It’s a blame game and couples have been playing it since Adam and Eve argued about whose leaf was whose that got tossed on the ground.

The other common clutter clashes ignite when stuff gets lost, stuff gets left out, stuff gets thrown out, stuff gets wrecked, stuff gets dirty and stuff gets stuffed just to get it out of the way.

When I get worried, one of the best things I can do is sing. I belong to a fabulous chorus and once a week on rehearsal nights I sing for five hours straight. I’ve noticed that if anything was bothering me before I start singing, by the time I get back home I have no worries! I think much of our worry is habit and it’s good to find ways to curb unnecessary worry and know all is well. 

Aside from doing something you love to do, I learned a valuable lesson when worry crops up. A few years ago on a beautiful Sunday morning, I decided to visit a new church near Portland, Oregon. I got the address and Terry, my husband, went out to the car and programmed it into our new GPS for me. Back then I didn’t quite trust the thing. (Once it got me going in circles and I’d have circled for hours if I hadn’t recognized the same barn, for the third time.) 

Just so you know how clean it is under my kitchen sink, I actually climbed inside the cupboard under there and my husband videotaped it! He actually thought I wouldn’t fit under there. Ha, I sure showed him! Flylady teaches us to shine our sink and in this video I teach you how clean under it. Talk about zany fun!

Just like in the Wizard of Oz, the good fairy called out to the little Munchkins to "come out, come out!" But, just for fun, I'm telling you, “go under, go under!” In the old days I wouldn't think of trying to squish myself inside the smelly zone under the sink where the garbage can lives. Who knows what would have happened! For sure I’d have had coffee grounds in my hair and bacon grease on my knees. Yuck!

One of my all-time favorite low-carb cooking recipes is what I call “Cauliflower-oni and Cheese." Who needs that carb-loaded, slimy macaroni when you can cook up a yummy, steamy head of cauliflower and leave your pickiest eater drooling for more? In this fun, how-to cooking video, I share with you the secrets of happy cows from Ireland, and the joys of a forty year old pot. (The kind on the stove.) This is sumptuous, guilt-free dining, and you'll want to make plenty for the crowds that will be begging for seconds and thirds and the recipe.

Organize Clutter? No Way!

Well, I guess there is always a way. You could go to one of those organizer stores and get shelves, storage containers, a label gun, jars, little drawers and a hundred other cutesy products that ring your wanna-be-organized chimes, but guess what! If you really took on a project to organize your clutter, you’d end up with a home that resembles your local Goodwill store.

Get the Picture

Just imagine your home peaceful and free of clutter as I take you on a make-believe tour of your home, room-by-room.

Happy July 4^th to those of you who live in the United States of America, and to my friends around the world, enjoy the peace and quiet of a firework-free day!

This video is short. In fact, in the time it’d take you to sing, God Bless America, it’ll be over. I found it in my extremely organized film archive under, “A” for Adorable. Hey, we get to organize according to our very own systems!

The three adorable singers are my bonus daughter Kristi Marsh’s children. (From left to right: Kyle (three), Kaytee (one), Tanner (five). One of the things I love about living in the 21^st century is we can record special moments like this one and cherish the memories forever. I keep reminding young mothers to enjoy as many moments as possible with your children, because they grow up faster than a cheetah on speed.

Santa Isn't Where You Think He Is Right Now!

What do you think Santa Claus is doing right now? Do you think he’s on some beach, lounging in a hammock, drinking Margaritas and listening to Christmas Carols on his IPhone? Nope! 

Santa Claus is organized! In fact, he and Mrs. Claus think ahead, so that on Christmas Eve they can enjoy a nice, leisurely dinner before he sets off at dark to deliver toys and goodies to the boys and girls.

We all know that the holidays require extra time and energy. So why not take advantage of summer leisure and get a jump on the holidays?

1. Stocking Stuffers 

Stuff as you go. Hide a small container, like a shoe box or Zip Lock Gallon bag, for each child. When
you’re out and about and find items that would be good for stocking stuffers, like movie tickets, gift cards, little toys and books, purchase and put in the hidden containers.

Come midnight on Christmas Eve, you’ll thank yourself when you think, ‘EEgad, we gotta do stockings,’ and you’ll have most of the contents ready to stuff.

Let the love come from you before you seek it from others.

When anyone acts up whether he/she is a child or an adult, it's just an attempt at being loved. Have you ever wanted to tell another adult to “grow up?” It’s interesting to watch an adult act like a child, but it’s not as easy to see immature behavior crop up in ourselves. I think we all carry remnants of our childhood into adulthood and studying those remnants in the lab of my own life has been a hoot for me.

July 4, 2014 marked twelve years since I met Nelly. She’s my inner child and constant companion, and when a few hours go by and I haven’t heard from her, I do as any mother would do; I check up on her. 

I might ask myself, “Is something bothering you little girl? You don’t seem very happy right now.” If I’m still and listen, I’ll get an answer that would have remained unexpressed had I not questioned myself.

When children are ignored, whether they are real or within, they want attention and they will get it.

Nelly needs adult guidance and before that first meeting, she was free to run the show. I’ve written a lot about our relationship in my book, The Joy of Being Disorganized.    I believe each of us has an inner child whether we know it or not. Take any chronic problem in your life, whether you’re overweight, in debt or your house is full of clutter, and ask yourself, “How old have I been acting when it comes to (you fill in the blank)? Bingo! It’s time to grow up.

Your inner child is not all bad. I’ve discovered over the 12 years, that it’s Nelly that keeps me young, frisky, optimistic and lighthearted, but when ignored she will get my attention in ways that tend to sabotage my good intentions.

We all Need Attention

My blog took a typical, SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive) turn with an email from a Flybaby and it prompted me to find a very funny article written by a columnist for the Seattle Times who in turn went on to become a very famous food critic in the Northwest. His article gives you the man’s view of a SHE. The article follows this email.

Here’s my letter to Barb,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I love hearing from SHEs like you because it just confirms to me that we are one huge, happy family, loving our homes and loving order, but careful not to take life too seriously. I purposely approached getting organized with a sense of humor and joy and that book was the first book on the market written from a reformed “slob’s” point of view.  (Remember SLOB stands for Spontaneous, Lighthearted, Optimistic and Beloved.)

Love,

Pam

Here’s the article, written by John Hinterberger  Seattle Times.

I’m grateful to each and every one of you who are raising fabulous citizens of our next generation. It’s an awesome responsibility. Keep up the good work, don’t get too serious (your kids can help you with that) and learn something every day from them (they have much to teach us). 

Now that the House Fairy has a brand new website, I’m so happy with her new and improved programs. More than 20,000 families are House Fairy friendly and I love that the programs are for life! Once you are a member you are always a member and there are no dues or monthly fees and the House Fairy and I get to keep coming up with helpful tools that you’ll receive as they come. I also have some exciting things happening and you’ll be the first to know what’s new. 

Because you’re interested in helping your kids establish good habits that’ll serve them throughout their lives, I’d like to share something that occurred to me about habits.

Join NOSS and Establish Good Habits

 The only way to establish a habit is to put the action you want to become a habit into a routine. You’ll have to do the action enough times for it to become automatic. In order to do that, you have to be an option stopper. Don’t give yourself the option of not doing the action you want to have become a habit. 

For example, if you want exercise to be part of your routine, then you have to stop giving yourself options out of exercise. Options abound. Until exercise is a habit, your options will always look better than exercise. But if you’ll be an option stopper, one day you’ll realize you have a new habit! 

Have you HAD it? Is it OVER? Do you wash your hands of it? Do you give up and say UNCLE? 

Is that how you feel about your disorganized lifestyle? Well STOP IT!  

I was 34 years old when I hit bottom. Someone said, “The bottom is a great place to be because there’s nowhere to go but up.” Not until I hit bottom did I surrender to my situation and ask for the guidance that’s available 24/7. That’s when miracles happen. In that moment of surrender I was reminded that even though I was in a mess, I was in the right place with the right people, I was just fine and the only element I really lacked was direction. Following a direction is a spiritual issue.

In my almost 40 year career helping moms get organized I’ve come to one big conclusion about being organized: it’s about mind management, not time management. There are thousands of books giving you direction, but until your mind is changed the direction won’t be followed.

Angel Speak

I’d like you to pretend I’m one of your guardian angels and you've prayed to get organized and I’ve been assigned to work your case. I love the assignment because I’ve always loved you and to work with you personally is exciting to me!

So, I’m sitting on your chest when you wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to see you open your beautiful eyes so we can start our fabulous day together. But you’re so tired, you miss the joy before you. I should have known that’s how it’d be because you played on the computer until 2:00 am and every time I tried to get you to go to bed, you ignored me. 

When you finally went to bed, I wished you a wonderful night’s sleep, but you didn’t hear me because you conked out before I was finished talking to you.  Anyway, now it’s morning and you stagger to the bathroom, tripping over shoes you left in the pathway to the toilet. (I was able to block your fall.) By the way, I love to hear you swear! We don’t get to do it here in heaven, so it’s fun to hear (sort of like when you first tried out a swear word when your mom wasn’t close enough to hear).

As your days progress I try to get a few words in edgewise. Little suggestions like, “Look at your calendar Love,” “Get a drink of water Sweet One,” “That job won’t be that bad, put your timer on for 15 minutes and start Darling,” “Don’t take that comment personally, what he thinks of you is none of your business,” oh and “God loves you,” “I love you,” and “Please be kind to yourself Blessed One.” 

Sometimes you listen and take my guidance, but most times you just don’t hear me or you say, “I’m too busy, too tired or I don’t have time. (I really get a kick out of that last one!  I wish you knew how funny you are when you say, “I don’t have time.” LOL My Adorable One, you have all the time in the world.)

5 Decluttering Questions!

Imagine this: You fill a big suitcase (the one that always weighs more than 50 pounds when you check it at the
 airport) and you cram it with all the fall and winter clothes you haven’t worn in the last year. Maybe many of the garments haven’t been worn in several years. If you haven’t worn a garment in the last year, what makes you think a year from now you will?  

If you did this, you'd lose 50 pounds of clothing that was otherwise clogging your closet and if the suitcase is an old one that's probably seen its last flight, you could drop the whole, loaded suitcase off at Goodwill, You'll feel 50 pounds lighter spiritually! Clutter is the biggest destroyer of peace and decluttering closets, cupboards and drawers brings a peace that money can’t buy!

The Flood of 2014 - Water ALWAYS wins

Because American Way (American Airline’s in-flight magazine) is featuring the House Fairy this month, I thought it’d be good to write about exercising while flying. So, Mom, want to shrink that belly fat while you’re on your way to Los Angeles? Here are 7 ways to get back into those pants that are too tight.

As an author of get-organized books, I’ve had to fly extensively, and over the years I’ve figured out some ways to get in a little fitness activity on a plane without getting kicked off it. We have to put our fellow passengers first before our exercise regimes. Having a passenger invade my space is on my list of top ten annoyances, so I’m very careful not to bother my seat partners.

Once while travelling, the woman next to me used an inflatable neck rest which obviously had a leak. While she slept, the air leaked out and her large body gradually listed into my space and finally rested on my arm and shoulder. The assertiveness-training classes I took, didn’t take and I allowed the invasion of my personal space. Soon after, she woke up from the awkward slant of her torso, blew the thing back up, and returned to dreamland, gradually tilting back over her armrest again and into my lap. This process repeated every 27 minutes (not that I was counting!) on our nonstop flight from Portland, Oregon, to New York City, New York.

We certainly don’t want to be invasive like that while we squeeze some exercise into our travels.

My goal when exercising on a flight is to keep my workout as discrete as I can. That’s part of the fun! One good way to do that is to get your moves in before takeoff. If you think how much time it takes for all those passengers to get on the plane and the chaos created as they get their stuff stowed and get seated, most of these exercises can be done after you board and before the plane taxis off to the runway, thereby sparing your flight mates any grief while you work out.   

Some of my exercises are isometric and make use of your imagination.

1. The Marching Soldier 

For lower-body strength: Sit in your seat and pretend that your feet weigh 20 pounds each. Discreetly lift one leg up and hold for five seconds, being careful not to disturb your fellow passenger with groans or heavy breathing (especially if you’re in a center seat). Then raise it up as high as you can without knocking into your tray table and continue holding for five more seconds. Repeat with each leg 15 times.

Get Organized! Go Early!! Save Time!!!

My husband Terry and I love to go to the Oregon Symphony Pops concerts. Last time we went, I talked him into going to the Heathman Hotel which is next door to the theater, for dinner afterward. 

I had appealed to his logic by explaining that we could enjoy a nice dinner and avoid the exhaust-filled
exodus from the six-story parking garage like we always have had to do in the past. (We seem to get to Portland within minutes before performance time and end up on the roof of the parking garage because those are the only spaces left. Then, after the show, we always have to crawl, bumper-to-bumper to get out, woozy from asphyxiation.)

After the concert, we hurried out to avoid the rush of fellow, hungry symphony goers that would ensue. Next door, we settled into our seats at a table for two. The Heathman Restaurant has great food and I was excited to be there. It’s swanky. The silverware is very heavy and the linen tablecloth was starched and as white as a baby’s first tooth.

I had to go to the bathroom (I’d vetoed going at intermission), so I told Terry, “I’m going to go powder my nose,” and hustled off to the Women’s Restroom. I don’t know why I said that. I wasn’t going to powder my nose and I didn’t have any powder in my purse; I don’t even use powder at home! I guess when I get in a fancy place I want to be ladylike. Oh well. Anyway, the restroom was as classy as the restaurant. The long door handle into the “powder” room was gold and silver and the door was heavy like the silverware. The restroom was empty, and there were just three stalls that had the kind of doors that go all the way to the floor so I couldn’t see feet, to know if there were women in any of them.

Being very careful, not to open the door on someone, I took hold of one of the beautiful door handles (identical to the silver and gold door handle on the door going into the restroom). I pulled ever so slightly and it opened. The stall was vacant. While I was in there I noticed the gorgeous marble flooring and the polished fixture that housed the toilet paper. It made me want to refurbish our bathroom.

When I came out of my stall, the restroom was full of women in various stages of “powdering their noses.” I squeezed through the crush of post-concert ladies to the elegant marble sink and washed my hands, while more crammed themselves in. I dried my hands, eager to get back to our table and headed out behind a tall woman who was obviously leading the way. As she opened the door and headed out, I was right behind her, but instead of continuing out into the lobby, she stopped abruptly and I gently bumped into her. Then without giving me any space at all, she turned around with a loud, “OH My God!” Now, we were face to face and if she’d not been so tall, we’d have touched noses!

It was only when I leaned a little to try to get around her that I saw it!

Do it NOW

With graduations and weddings soon upon us, it occurred to me to write about the dreaded “Thank You Note.” I know we’re all grateful people and so are our kids, but somehow writing thank you notes can loom over us. One survey revealed that writing thank you notes was number seven on the top ten things we tend to put off doing. For me, it’s number three on my list of put-offs.

My best advice is to keep a good supply of Thank You Notes on hand. It’d be a good idea to put a few in a Zip-Lock bag along with some stamps in your purse for those times you end up having to wait, like in the dentist’s office, on a flight or while you wait at the beauty salon. (Just think how thankful you could be when at a standstill in a traffic jam!) I found that The Dollar Store has a wonderful supply of Thank You Notes for; you guessed it, a dollar!

When I was a little girl, my mom was relentless about making me send my grandparents thank you notes after Christmas and birthdays. Grandma Dot and Grandpa Buddy’s checks came faithfully on those occasions and every day until I’d finally sit down and write the card, mom was on my case. I remember hating those nagging words, “Have you written your thank you note yet?”

I asked my friend Marci who is an exemplar mother with two adorable adult children, “Did you hound your kids to write thank you notes after Christmas, birthdays and graduations?”

“Nope.”

“Really? You mean they just did it without being badgered?”

“Well, not exactly. I just said, ‘You wanna play with that toy, read that new book spend that money? Write your thank you notes first and then you can.’”

“You mean they had to write thank you notes BEFORE they got to have the gift?”

“Yep.”

Spring Cleaning? Start at the Entryway

Usually when we think of spring cleaning we think of getting out the buckets, brushes, rags and cleaners and cleaning the inside of the house. If you want to learn more about that, Google it. My blog this week is about sprucing up the place just before you go inside, your home. You’ll have to go outside for this spring cleaning.

Your entryway is the gateway to your domestic life. It gives guests their first impression of your home life and quite frankly a little peek into who you are. After your guest rings the doorbell there’s what I call, “wait time,” and it’s a rather private period of scrutiny and judging.

Happy Monday!

It’s stunningly beautiful today as we stand at the grand entrance to summer! The promise of the April rains came through and Mother Nature has just proclaimed two of the sweetest words I know; “Ta Da!”

When I think about TD moments I think of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. She was the queen of grand entrances, but I’m afraid Mama Nature just passed her today, at least here in the Pacific Northwest.

Your Snuggle Bunnies are hopefully enjoying some TD moments, showing off their clean rooms and while they are at it, you are hopefully in spring cleaning mode.

GO Moms!

Whenever I use the word GO with both letters capitalized, it usually stands for my acronym Get Organized. This time it just means GO Mom as in, you rock! Of course it helps your job if you’re organized to some degree.

I’m a mom and there’s something that’s always bugged me about Mother’s Day. I think every day should be Mother’s Day. After all, we moms work 365 days a year for no pay. I guess what really bugs me is I think Mother’s day is just a way for card, candy and flower companies to make money. I’ve also heard Mother’s Day is the biggest money-maker for the restaurant business. I’m all for private enterprise, I just want family and friends to appreciate moms every day. Don’t just think about her on May 11. Maybe you could buy 12 Mother’s Day cards and give your mom a card once a month! Or take her out to eat at least once a month in celebration of her sacrifice.

I happened to have been born the day before Mother’s Day, and the next day my mom got her breakfast delivered in the hospital with a little card that said, “Happy Mother’s Day.” Since I was her first child, it was the first time she’d been addressed as Mother. It’s a big deal!

Should we moms be grateful to have one day a year set aside for us? Of course we should, but really moms, the world will never be able to thank us for what we do. In Sidetracked Home Executives: from Pigpen to Paradise I wrote a poem for moms. I imagined what a column in the classified ads for “Help Wanted” would read.

There’s nothing better than starting the week off with such a HAPPY holiday! Happy Cinco De Mayo! I love the spirit of the Mexican people and May just wouldn’t be May without this celebration and to have it be on a Monday, well it doesn’t get any better than that.

On May Day, two of my grandchildren celebrated birthdays; one his 16^th birthday and the other her 15^th birthday. (A lot of hanky panky goin’ on in August.) My birthday is this week, May 8, so we know what my parents were doing when they celebrated their anniversary on August 8.

Posted April 30, 2014, 7 a.m by Pam Young

I hope you were offended by the title of my blog. I wanted your curiosity to get the best of you, and I hope that’s why you’re here. By the way, I don’t think you’re a ding dong, in fact it’s an acronym that I knew would get your attention and might help you with a very important subject: procrastination. (If you weren’t offended and you think of yourself as a ding dong, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that, but I can help with procrastination.)

If you are a master procrastinator, or know one, the acronym DING DONG might just help to be a wake-up call to realize what’s happening when stuff gets put off!

DING DONG stands for Do It Now Girl~ Don’t Over-Neglect Girl.

Procrastination really is over-neglect! Put something off once you’ve postponed it, put it off twice you’ve re-postponed it, three times, it’s just plain ol’ neglect. Neglect is such a harsh word (abandonment, desertion, carelessness and mistreatment) and over-neglect, well that’s even worse. I think some master procrastinator probably came up with the word procrastinate (delay, postpone, dawdle) to make himself feel better for over-neglecting. Whatever you choose to call it, the remedy is always to DING. Do It Now Girl.

Recently I over-neglected a project involving my chorus. I was supposed to have my costume altered with cuffs, sequins and a different neckline. I knew I had a month before a performance in our “new” costumes, so I kept putting it off because it just didn’t sound fun! Then, three weeks before the performance we were told to wear our costumes to rehearsal along with full stage make-up! My costume was still on the table in my bedroom, so I went to chorus rehearsal without make-up and wearing street clothes. I was the only one out of a hundred women! (The reason for a full dress rehearsal is for the costume and make-up committees to check off each singer as ready for the big performance.

I was embarrassed, so the next day I fixed my costume (it took one hour and it was rather fun) and at the next rehearsal I decided to go in full stage make-up and in my costume. I knew I’d be the only one, but wanted to do it on purpose to paint the fact red that I had procrastinated and wanted to make amends. It turned out, I had an extremely busy day and didn’t have time to put full make-up on, so I didn’t follow through.

Procrastination really is a silly thing to do! DING DONG.

Monday April 28, 2014

I remember loving Peeps as they got older and chewier, but more than once I Peeped myself into the next size bathing suit when summer was just around the corner.  Here it is a week since the Easter Bunny came and it’s my guess that you and your family have had your fair share of chocolate in the shape of bunny ears and eggs.

I wonder if in a thousand years from now when anthropologists study our current society they’ll be perplexed at the fact that we celebrate with sugar. Two hundred years ago, the average American ate only 2 pounds of sugar a year. In 1970, we ate 123 pounds per year. Today, the average American consumes almost 152 pounds of sugar in one year!

My blog on Wednesday Hey DING DONG (it’s not about the cupcakes) has to do with procrastination and it occurred to me that a great decision to stop putting off would be a decision to stop eating sugar.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to quit complaining and judging in 2014. But that was over three months ago and although I’ve cut way back, I’m not very proud of myself, especially because of what happened to me today. I had a wake-up call from CW (Crotchety Watch). It’s sort of a make-believe software program installed in my mind (upon request in prayer) on New Year’s Eve. It stands guard, monitoring my thoughts and although it doesn’t censor what comes out of my mouth, it sends a communiqué (and a small electric shock) which is supposed to train me to be aware of my thoughts and ultimately be nicer. Perhaps after today I should ask for the Deluxe Crotchety Watch which actually stops tetchy talk from leaving my lips.

I’m not sure what happened today, if it’s my age or that I’m just recovered from a mean virus or because the weather’s so unpredictable this time of year. BLEEP! Damn, CW just caught that complaint about the weather. (Maybe I shouldn’t have adjusted the sensitivity level feature since the mishap today.) Oy vey. Anyway, here’s what happened.

See there’s a bank I hate, BLEEP! but still have to go to because I have one last account I haven’t switched over to my new bank. (I’ve got too many checks left that I want to use.) I won’t tell you the name of the bank, but you’d know it if I did. Let’s just say it’s a bank in America. Anyway, I went into the place with a subconscious chip on my shoulder to deposit a check into my House Fairy Inc. checking account.

The teller was a very young, beautiful girl, but with limited skills in social communication. BLEEP! (That is NOT a judgment, that’s the truth, damn it!) BLEEP!

Happy Monday Morning Mom! There’s something very special about this Monday, because it follows Easter and it carries with it the promise of new beginnings. Take some time today and all this week to be still and feel the new birth and growth all around you. 

Feel the joy you felt as a very young child, free of worry and concern and focus on the warmth of the spring sun as you breathe in the fresh spring air. Let the blossoms remind you of the miracle you are and bask in the beauty of this season. Spring assures us of another chance to grow and blossom into our potential. 

Drenched and Delirious

Coming out of my chorus rehearsal the other night, I got caught in a downpour trying to get to my car! It was one of those Hollywood rains. You know, the kind you see in the movies.

We natives of the Pacific Northwest don’t usually have umbrellas, because we have dashability. We dash when we have to, but I hadn’t done a night dash in such a deluge in a long time.

There are 100 women in my chorus and we all dashed out into the torrential darkness at the same time. There was sort of a cheery pandemonium. The parking lot is about the size of a football field and as I ran toward what I thought was my car (I’d hit the unlock button) taillights were going on everywhere and I inadvertently got into one of our baritone’s car. I knew instantly it wasn’t my car, because she almost fell in on top of me. We shared a wet hug and a giggle and I headed to the car next door. My glasses were fogged and streaked and it was hard to find the door handle, but I did. The door was locked. Wrong car again.

It's Monday.  Let's see what wonders the new week holds!

On this beautiful Monday morning, I’m excited about our week. I decided to call my Monday email to you, Monday Morning for Mom. Let’s celebrate the start of our week, knowing it holds so many gifts of joy and love. Let’s don’t get so involved with our “to do” lists that we forget to be.

I love the work of Doe Zantamata! She inspires me with words of happiness and hope. Today let’s be who we really are. No lies, no acts, just be you. You are awesome and you have a fabulous week ahead of you. I hope you’ll let the House Fairy help you to motivate your children to keep their rooms neat and tidy while I help you have more fun with them. They grow up so fast ya know.

I decided this week’s theme is laughter and joy. With spring moving in, it just seems to lighten everyone up. I thought I’d include in today’s email a link to someone who cracks me up. I hope he makes you laugh too. I use YouTube videos for instant laughs whenever I get a little down.

The weather in March is unpredictable and it reminds me of the challenges of raising happy, healthy organized children. Every day is different and moms have to learn to be flexible and handle the ever-changing bodies and personalities of their children, year-in and year-out. As a mom, and in my career helping disorganized moms create peace and order in their homes, I learned that the less clutter there is, the more peace there is.

De-cluttering is a family affair  

A Clean Kitchen Sink Can Bring World Peace

I received an email from a dear friend in Indiana, telling me about a woman in her state, Elinor Ostrom, who received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics. What caught my friend’s attention was this comment by Elinor: "The family is a governance unit. And the kitchen sink is a commons." My friend is a journalist who wrote a feature story in the Los Angeles Times about Sidetracked Home Executive: from pigpen to paradise, the first book my sister and I wrote together. She is very familiar with my work helping homemakers get organized. That’s why the comment grabbed her. She sent me the article (which I read) and it linked me to Elinor’s talk at Indiana University (which I listened to).

Those unmade beds and a sink full of dirty dishes didn’t mean I didn’t love my family or my home.

Shakespeare said, “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” I happen to think Dandelions are beautiful! From the first fistful I received from my toddler who had joyously picked a bunch for me (with one-inch stems) I’ve always regarded them with love.

The most important lesson I’ve learned in my long life is that I am good and so is everyone.

I’m a reformed slob. I made the decision to get organized on June 16, 1977. I was 35. I learned a lot through that transformation. The most important of which was to understand that before I did one thing to organize my chaotic life, I was alright just the way I was. That backed-up laundry didn’t make me a bad person. Those unmade beds and a sink full of dirty dishes didn’t mean I didn’t love my family or my home. Having to re-inoculate the children because I couldn’t find their medical records when we moved to a new town didn’t mean I was a bad mother.

My challenge to change my ways came from a deep desire to have more fun and be able to do it guilt-free. I wanted to feel the freedom that a routine and habits give to mundane tasks. I wanted my household to run smoothly so my family and I could really enjoy this delicious thing called life. My motive to get organized was to have more free time to play.

The Crotchety Watch

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to quit complaining and judging in 2014. But that was over two months ago and although I’ve cut way back, I’m not very proud of myself, especially because of what happened to me today; I had a wake-up call from CW (Crotchety Watch). It’s sort of a software program installed in my mind (upon request in prayer) on New Year’s Eve. It stands guard, monitoring my thoughts and although it doesn’t censor what comes out of my mouth, it sends a communiqué (and a small electric shock) which is supposed to train me to be aware of my thoughts and ultimately be nicer. Perhaps after today I should ask for the Deluxe Crotchety Watch which actually stops tetchy talk from leaving my lips.

Dance for Your Supper

One of our New Year’s Resolutions a few years ago was to dance more! Our excuse had always been that the places to dance were smoky and we don’t smoke. We’d taken a whack at ballroom dancing lessons at a Jr. College, but only went once because I just wanted to dance with Terry, my husband, and ended up having to dance with a bunch of other sweaty, old men in whom I didn’t know or care to dance with. So when my husband saw line dancing lessons advertised in our local newspaper, he signed us up! The classes were held at Jolly’s, a local tavern/restaurant and since Washington State prohibits smoking in all bars and restaurants we knew we’d be spared smoky air.