The Cheddar Family is the mouse family that lives in Pam & Terry’s home.)

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a small part of my family and an interesting thing happened to me. I had to make a big choice, and it wasn't between having turkey or ham .

The feast was held in a spectacular home of a person who shall remain nameless, because of his fame. There were four adult women, including me, three adult men and two lovely teenagers present for the holiday.

I’m so used to cooking, and I love to do it, I just assumed I’d be part of the creation of the meal, but the woman of the house was so organized and had such command of her kitchen that I was rendered useless. It made me realize for the first time that when I “do it all” in my kitchen, which I tend to do, I’m rendering my guests “useless.” I vowed to change that when I got home. Maybe “useless” is too harsh a word, but I chose it, because the other two women did get assigned jobs as I sat on the sidelines like an old, benched athlete.

For Thanksgiving, we went back east to be with some of our family. You no doubt heard about the storms and flights cancelled by the thousands. Our flight home was scheduled to depart at 6:20 am so we got up at 4:00 to get to the airport in time to catch our flight.

The announcement came at 6:00 am as we sat in an early, morning daze, full of turkey and sugar from the day before. Our flight was delayed because of “an emergency mechanical problem.” We never learned what that was. Passengers at the gate put on puzzled and confused faces and there was a general air of curiosity about the reason. But more important we wanted to know when it’d be fixed.

An hour went by and another announcement broke our collective wait. “We’re sorry for the delay. We’re issuing food vouchers so you can have something to eat while you wait. At this point in time we do not know a time.” The food vouchers were good at any of the restaurants in the airport, so we took ours and had breakfast in a nice grill.

Holiday food is always fun, unless of course it's your last meal and you're on death row eating it right before Christmas. That can't be fun. Now with that said, to change the subject, what does a log cabin, a snowman, a sleigh, penguins and an igloo have in common? You probably said, "Snow or cold weather." Okay, you're right, but when you're through reading this blog you'll be able to say, "Holiday Food."

Let's start with the log cabin. It's a pepperoni log cabin. It was inspired by the witch's words in Hansel and Gretel, "Nibble, nibble on my house, who is nibbling like a mouse?"

To make the cabin, you'll need a loaf of white bread, eight sticks of pepperoni about 12" long, a package of sliced pepperoni, a package of cream cheese and a cup of Fage (Greek yogurt). To make the mortar, mix a cup of cream cheese with a cup of yogurt and season to your taste by adding garlic powder, onion powder and salt (stay away from any colored spices as you'll want the mortar to be white).

Cut the pepperoni sticks in half for the six" logs, cut off the rounded part of two slices of bread (so you have squares) for the roof and put them in the oven at 200 degrees to dry them out. Cut the crusts off four slices of the bread and cut them into squares theyt will fit into the middle of the cabin for support. (You'll need more support for the roof and you can use more slices of bread cut smaller and smaller, or a roll works nicely.) Build your log cabin using the mortar mixture (don't even try to put slots into the logs so they fit together, you're going to eat the thing, not live in it). 

To make the roof, put the dried bread slices in place using the mortar mixture for "glue" and dab a little mortar on the pepperoni slices (shingles) and starting at the bottom of each slice, lay the shingles on in rows right up to the peak. (Be liberal with the mortar.) Use cherry tomatoes to adorn the peak of the roof. Use cauliflower around the cabin (it sorta looks like bushes covered in snow.)

SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have to be very cautious when any big holiday comes around and Thanksgiving is no exception. The excitement accompanied by our amazing creative abilities can send us to places that make great material for sitcoms, full-length movies and can't-put-down novels. If you don’t want to slip over the holiday edge this year, the following DON’Ts will help you think twice before you make any festive moves.

By the way, that's a fake turkey that matches my fake smile. I use that turkey as one of my festive holiday decorations. It's been know to make a visitor's mouth water. Fake apples, oranges and lettuce. Real hair.

You probably saw Ellen sitting by President Bush at a football game in Dallas and they were laughing. Caught having fun with George, caused Ellen to comment about the encounter. She's very liberal, but gracious to discuss the divide in our country today. She said she doesn't like to see people wearing fur, but she has good friends who wear fur and she doesn't cut them out of her life because of it. She really encouraged us to be kinder and more tolerant.

A few years ago my son Michael and his wife Meredith were invited by the FOX network to go to the Super Bowl and Terry and I were invited to babysit the two grandchildren Jack age eight and Brooklyn age 11. I have such fun with these two! (They're probably 2 and 5 in this photo of them taking a "pretend" bath.).

The first night we were with them, when it was bedtime they both wanted me to tell them a bedtime story. Since they slept in separate rooms I sat in the hallway with the light on so they could both see me if they sat up and it was easy for them to hear me. I love to make up bedtime stories because I never know what I’m going to say myself. I guess I should say Nelly (my inner child) loves to hear my stories or maybe she's the one who makes them up? Whatever, I love todo it.

In the story, you'll see why I've titled this blog, "Let's Practice More Tolerance."

Here's the story:

Rabbit Ears, Elephants, and Donkeys

Halloween is wearing a costume. Halloween is scary. But the biggest thing Halloween is, is Halloween CANDY!

You know your kids are going to bring home a pillowcase full of it and you know you'll have CANDY left-over after the last witch leaves your porch.

So the question is, What can you do with all that Halloween CANDY now?

In this video you'll get some great ideas for decorating with that left-over sugar.

Last week I was given the best gift I’ve ever been given! Ally, my niece and her husband Harrison asked me if I would take Maggie, their labradoodle. Maggie is six-years-old and has spent three different weeks with us while her parents travelled on vacations. She loves to run on our three acres and is very comfortable with us. In this photo taken today, I had her jump up into a raised flowed bed with my gorgeous fire thorn bush behind her. She's looking at a squirrel in the yard.

Maggie has the manners of an Emily Post and eats like a model demonstrating a dainty approach to food consumption.  

Harry and Ally are hard working professionals and their focus is on their careers. They were smart and loving enough to see that Maggie was not getting the attention she loves and deserves because of their busy schedules.  Ally said, “There’s a doggy cam at the doggy daycare place where Maggie goes and I’ve been so busy I haven’t looked at it in six months!” Ally is the art director for Columbia Sportswear which is headquartered in Portland, OR. Harry is a paramedic who became one after being on Wall Street on 9/11 as a financier. His building was across the street from the twin towers. He helped rescue people that day and shortly after quit his job and moved back to the northwest.

Maggie even matches my furnishings!

Two months ago I told Terry I wanted to get a dog because I’m a dog person and I hadn’t had a dog in more than 20 years. Terry is not a dog person, but knowing how much I love animals he understood. My guess is he thought I’d forget about it, because I’d talked about getting a dog on-and-off for those 20 years.

So I went on the internet and found out I can’t afford a labradoodle puppy. Yikes, they're expensive! I also thought about how much work a puppy is. And besides, it wouldn’t be fair to the puppy for me to get one because I don’t think I’ll want a dog when I’m 92 or be able to take care of an old dog when I’m one too. It also takes a good year to get a puppy trained and I have very strict rules. That caused me to consider a used labradoodle. There were lots to pick from, but I didn’t want a dog with issues. In one video the poor dog cowed down and could barely walk with her leash on and it made me know I’m not a rehabilitator-type person so I wouldn’t do well with a dog unless it were well adjusted.

As Terry thought, I quit thinking about how much I wanted a labradoodle even though it was simmering in some portion of my mind.

Turn dreary into fun!

Make memories you'll talk about for years to come.

We who live in the northwest, have had to learn early on, we can’t let the rain dowse our fun outdoors. The main advice is make sure you have play clothes, so you don’t have to worry about muddying up your good clothes.

Whether it's just misting or pouring rats and hogs make the most of the wet weather and play with your kids or grandkids in the rain using these family-tested outdoor activities.

1. Puddle Play

Mom, you usually discourage your kids from jumping in puddles, so they’ll be shocked and excited when you suggest a splashing contest. Get your play clothes and rain boots on and head out looking for the biggest puddles you can find. Let your kids get soaking wet! Let the child who makes the biggest spray, get to pick the movie the family will watch or be freed from some chore. Give points for the one who gets the wettest. If you’ve got dancers in the family, have them practice some steps they’ve learned and take your phone so you can have music.

Mom, come on; get in the puddles with them! Motherhood is not a spectator sport. Let your kids splash you. All it takes is saying, “Don’t you splash me,” in a way they know you’re daring them to do it. Oh and just think how good a hot shower will feel after the fun!

9 SHE Don'ts for Halloween

SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have to be  very cautious when any big holiday comes around and Halloween is no exception. The excitement, assisted by our amazing creative abilities, can send us over the holiday edge into over-doing. The following DON’Ts will help you think twice before you make any big Halloween moves. (This photo was taken in 2016. We were dressed as Trump and Hillary before the election.)

This photo was taken at a couple years ago at a Halloween party at our neighbor's home. Read on and you'll find out what we used to make the very realistic beards.

In the video clip in this blog, my sister Peggy and I share some great last minute Halloween costumes and some very good advice.

(You'll notice Peggy has a beard too. In the first segment of the show she demonstrated how to make that beard. You just smear Karo syrup where a beard would be and then roll your face in fresh coffee grounds.) I've discovered a new way to create that beard and it's very "healthy." 

I received an email one day from a woman who challenged my motto “Make it fun and it will get done,” and it caused me to think about what I mean by that. She said something about fun not leading to happiness and since I think happiness is the most important goal we can ever have, (I think it’s more important than being organized) I had to think seriously about my definition of fun.

The word fun can conger up vacations, yachts, fast cars, parties and any of the stuff of brochures luring us to spend money. The brochure brand of fun doesn’t make us happy unless we already are. Don't you know that from experience? This pic was taken at Senior Frogs in Cancun. The Frog definitely knows how to play and get not only children, but adults to have fun if they want to. I remember on that outing one of our grandchildren was upset about it all. It was too loud for her and she wanted no part of it. She was an example that joy has to come from within in order to have fun.

Clooney's Refrigerator

Now that I'm a great grandma, my creative right brain kicked in with a new idea for you if you know an infant you'd love to put in a costume for Halloween. Stop! Why not decorate the baby's carrier instead of the poor baby. They've gone through enough recently! So now I'm going to send you to watch a video on the live television show I appear on regularly.I'll show you exactly how to turn an infant carrier into several scary beings.

We want to get organized for several reasons. We think that if we get organized, we’ll save time, money and energy. That’s true. Disorganization causes us to spend time looking for our stuff, more money because we buy stuff we already have but can’t find and energy just being overwhelmed, discouraged, and angry with ourselves.

By establishing just a few simple habits, we can train ourselves out of many of our messes and save time, money and energy. Our brains were wired for establishing habits, and when we have a healthy brain, it takes about 21 days to establish a habit. So it’s logical we should take care of our brains first.

That’s why these are the 3 important habits to establish, because they’ll lead to health and a healthy body makes for a healthy brain and a healthy brain leads to well-being.

These profound words came in an email today from Abraham and Esther Hicks. The wisdom in them is worth forwarding to you all.

“We would like you to reach the place where you’re not willing to listen to people criticize one another… where you take no satisfaction from somebody being wrong… where it matters to you so much that you feel good, that you are only willing to think positive things about people…you are only willing to look for positive aspects; you are only willing to look for solutions, and you are not willing to beat the drum of all of the problems of the world.”

After reading the above quote this morning, I vowed to do what they were espousing. Maybe an hour later the thought of someone I’ve chronically criticized over something that happened at least 30 years ago, snuck into my mind producing a litany of criticisms. At least I caught myself and that’s the important thing. But the next thing I did was criticize myself for thinking the critical thought! Keeping our minds clean and clear for positive aspects is like keeping a home tidy and clean. It takes establishing a habit.

In “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise” one of the habits I established was “Pick it up, don’t pass it up, then put it away.” Can you see how that one habit could get and keep your home free of clutter if every member of the family established it?

In this video, The Cleaner Guy (Jeffrey Jones) shows you how to clean Zone One, the dinning room and entryway. Flylady's Flight Plan (which is the Zone Plan my sister, Peggy, and I developed and gave permission to Flylady to use on her website) has Week One/ Zone One focusing on the dining room and entryway. So if you're following her the Cleaner Guy will show you what to do in this video. Have fun! 

Watch The Cleaner Guy cleaning my dining room. By the way, did you notice, he used a Shark Vacuum Cleaner? It's the best vacuum cleaner I've ever used...EVER! It's like those Shark people looked into everything wrong with vacuum cleaners and made theirs a PERFECT machine. If you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, you just can't go wrong with a Shark. Click on my home and it'll take you right to the one I bought and I'll get a little money for telling you about it.  

It's so much fun getting to know some of you on a personal basis through the consultations I do. I’ve learned so much about how alike we all are in our SHEness (Sidetracked Home Executive-ness). To learn more about talking with me, please go to www.cluborganized.com  then to the Get Organized tab.

I recently talked to a very fun-loving and brilliant SHE named Pat, who emailed an update after our talk. She has been gracious to let me share her thoughts. 

She said, “I enjoy creating a mess. That's part of the trouble I had a long time ago; I couldn't understand why I should clean up such tiny messes, when it felt so fun to clean up a big mess. Unfortunately, after a while I just kept putting off the cleaning up until it was too big a mess to clean up!”

When I read that comment, it made me think about the Ta Da affect we SHEs love. I thought about what Pat said about liking to make a mess because it’s fun to clean up! I liked it too. I remember when Mr. Cranky (my first husband) would go on the road (he was a traveling salesman) I’d let the house unravel. It was soothing and relaxing to have him gone. He’d be gone four days at a time and that’s enough time to create some very big messes that verged on scary!

Give it up

When my sister and I got organized, we both discovered we had to let go of the need for a Ta Da moment. There’s no Ta Da in a little clean-up, so we have to get used to mini Ta Da moments.

If you're a SHE, no doubt growing a garden was tempting, but if your garden didn't do so well, as mine didn't in 2015, watch this video and you'll feel way better! 

The biggest lesson learned was.....well watch the video and you'll find out.

There are just some things we SHEs should not attempt.

Eat healthy food.          

Have healthy children.    

                    Have happy children.      

Come and join my bonus daughter Kristi Marsh and our two adorable grandsons Tanner and Kyle as we all explore what is called a CSA, or just simply a shared farm! Kristi and the boys show us how much fun it is to actually see where your food comes from and take part in growing it. You'll never have to wrangle your child to the floor again pleading “one more bite of green beans!” when they actually pick them themselves. Your kids will love the fresh taste that just can't be found in the supermarket aisles and will leave them loving the crunchy, sweet taste of sun washed fruits and vegetables. For more great ideas on ways to live a healthy life be sure and visit Kristi's website at choosewiser.com!

What if there were such a thing as a real fairy that came to your home right before you woke up in the morning, and was like a magic servant who helped you have fun throughout your day? At night, she’d leave just as you slipped into bed in order to get an eight hour night’s rest.

What if when you got out of bed in the morning this magic fairy was back to make your bed for you and had your house slippers right by your bed so you could slip into them on cold, autumn mornings? What if when you brushed your teeth, that same magic fairy rinsed the sink out and hung up your towel?

What if when you prepared breakfast, this marvelous, magic fairy cleaned up after you every step of the way and when you were through eating she put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher?

What if your fairy was right there when you purchased something with your credit card and made sure you put the card back where it belonged and put the receipt in a special home for credit card receipts?

What if your organized fairy was with you at the grocery store and reminded you to use the cloth bags you got when you were in an especially “green” mood?

What if your fairy had a stopwatch mentality that helped you get chores you don’t like (but have to do) over quickly?

What if she had a check list of rules like: start your day with God, fill car with gas when it gets to half a tank, balance your accounts every day and get at least eight hours of sleep each night?

You could have this fairy if you wanted her and she is free. See the fairy’s name is Habitha and when you establish habits that serve you it’s just like having a magic friend.

Labor Day should be for women who've been in labor. Come to think of it, labor doesn't really describe what we go through to bring a baby into this world. The word "labor" must have been posed by a man who, after watching a woman go from one centimeter to nine said, "Whoa, that looks like a lot of work, let's call it labor." The real words to describe the birth process could be, organic torture, or natural agony, or biological warfare. Let's stick with the word labor with collective smirks and let's start celebrating! 

Are you following a weekly plan that helps you run a cozy, organized home? When my sister Peggy and I developed the infamous, get organized 3x5 card file system outlined in our book “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise,” we created a weekly plan that included a “free day.”

On that special day, if we wanted to, we’d stay in our pajamas all day, eat over the sink, keep the day free of appointments if at all possible and keep household chores to a minimum. We kept laundry to towels and linens which are easy to fold. We ate on paper plates or in restaurants. Our aim was to do nothing but enjoy the day free of the relentless parade of chores a mom encounters. I still have that day only I call it My Day. I do what I want and I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I pretend it’s my birthday to get into the mood.

An off-the-wall closet organizing project. It just might work for you.

When you see a photo like this, are you inspired to declutter and have an organized closet? 

What you wear takes up a lot of your energy and when your closet is constipated with stuff you don’t wear (for whatever reason), it becomes a gigantic IPOD (Important Pile of Decisions). Your closet is just like your garage if your car is parked in the drive-way.

What might surprise you is the pile of decisions isn’t a bunch of various decisions like when you have to file papers into a filing cabinet, because 90% of the stuff you’re not making a decision about just needs to go! Good-bye, ciao, ta ta, Cheerio, farewell! How to de-junk is that simple! Let it go!

I’ve been helping people get the spark and motivation to declutter for 43 years and have come up with some very creative and fun ways to give you that spark. This one I’ll call Operation Pity Trip to Freedom.

My daughter Joanna has found her calling. At 46 she’s finally starting to admit that she’s an artist. With no formal training she started painting on some our beautiful river rocks that are so abundant here in the pacific northwest. 

Joanna is an animal lover. Right now she has four happy dogs living in her home, along with a big red parrot and a very noisy cockatiel. In her spare time (she has 30 clients she cleans their homes for) she has combined her love of animals and a gift to paint and created memorial pieces for those who have lost a beloved pet. Here are some samples of her work.

5 Decluttering Questions!

Imagine this: You fill a big suitcase (the one that always weighs more like 55 pounds when you check it at the airport) and, while it's still summer, you cram it with all the fall and winter clothes you didn't wear last year. Probably 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 55 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, thing off at Goodwill, You'll feel 55 pounds lighter spiritually! Clutter is the biggest destroyer of peace and decluttering closets, cupboards and drawers brings a peace that money can’t buy!

Three questions to ask yourself about                           yesterday.

1. How much time did I take for myself?
2. How many times did I ask for help?
3. Did I get enough rest last night?

If you don’t plan for time for yourself, to meditate, play, and create, you won’t get that time and at the end of the day you'll wonder where the time went and why you're exhausted. If you don’t learn how to delegate, you’ll always be playing the martyr in your home. If you don’t insist on going to bed and getting eight hours of sleep each night, you’ll pay for it in your energy level the next day.

That’s why my sister and I wrote the Happiness File. We are both fun-loving, creative people and when we figured out how to get our homes organized, we discovered more free time to figure out other ways to use the 3x5 card file system we created.

“The Sidetracked Sister’s Happiness File” was published in 1985. It was a labor of love. "Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise" was a best-seller and women were getting their homes organized all over the country. With its success, our publisher was hounding us to write about organizing other things besides when to fix dinner, scrub the toilet and make the bed. We chose being happy and having fun. I said to our editor, “If the 3x5 cards can organize a household, it can organize fun too.”

It was summertime when I got organized. I was 34 years old and I'd 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 43-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.

Before you read the 7 things to think about when it comes to getting organized, 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.)

All day, every day I am there and I’ve watched you struggle with this lack of direction for years and years. Your team of angels has led you to the House Fairy and Club Organized and it’s because of us you read, if or when you read Sidetracked Home Executives, and The Joy of Being Disorganized. But I can’t really help you until you let me. Until then I just have to wait, but remember I have all the time in the world too and there is no pressure. 

Mind you, while I wait, I keep myself busy. I’m here to love you and surround you with light which is a fulltime job. Oh, and I’m constantly on the lookout for things that’ll make you laugh, get you to dance, sing and play because when you’re busy enjoying your life you are one with God and that joyful energy lights up the planet.

By the way, you are here to enjoy the ride and I’m like your personal tour guide with wings. Now you can read Pam’s 7 things to think about.

Love,

Your Angel

Young people don’t have bucket lists.There’s just too much they want to do to bother making a list. Besides, young people are too busy with NOW to think much about TOMORROWS. They’ll also discover as they age, they could never imagine some of the stuff they’ll do, without it ever appearing on a list. Like this duck who never dreamed he'd swim with the flamingos, and ended up doing it without it being on his bucket list.

My bucket list is getting shorter (like that duck's legs), but it’s a good thing. I’m finding out, I cross off been-there-done-that stuff faster than I’m adding more to do.  

Then there are those desires that gradually fade in time. For example, I carried around a wish for fifty years that I’m “happily” crossing off my bucket list, not because I did it, but because now I don’t want to. With just a little thought I got to the bottom of why it’s been such a perennial desire. ADVERTISING & MARKETING!

Shhhhcuckshhhh! That’s the sound when a faucet turns on and no water comes out.

The good news was our well had water, the bad news was the pump that brings that delicious material to us had to be replaced. The pump died Monday morning, and Terry and I managed quite well, only occasionally turning on an impotent faucet or flushing a dehydrated toilet. The pump people came Monday afternoon and gave us the report. We'd have no water until Wednesday.

I managed to cook dinner Monday night using two eight oz. bottles of Aquafina. Moving around my kitchen in bot mode, I realized I waste a lot of water while I’m cooking. I probably rinse my hands 30 times during meal prep. With a Walmart bag over the kitchen faucet to intercept my habit of turning it on, I put a washcloth soaked with water on the counter by the sink, along with a finger bowl for all finger rinsing. It worked great throughout my food prep and I’m going to do that from now on to conserve water.

Keep reading this because I have a gift for you at the end.

I asked. You answered! Thank you to all who took their valuable time to respond with such fun ideas!

I'll have to do this more! Here are some of the best ideas I received in answer to my request for off-the-wall summer ideas for kids. I'll be taking some of them on television on Friday and I will share that video with you down the road. I couldn't include all your creative ideas in this blog (it's already longer than the tech elfs say a blog should be. Some of the ideas made me want to go live with the fun-loving mom who shared. 

It's really worth your time to read these ideas if you have young kids or grandkids. 

Hi Pam!
My kids actually came up with the following activity on their own, but boy did it keep them busy during the summer.

My three children would get many neighborhood friends together to re-enact a scene from a movie such as Harry Potter. They could spend all day at it.  They had to decide who was going to be playing each character and then they had to plan the scene, collect props, collect costumes, run rehearsals and then they would have someone record it.

Not only did it keep everyone occupied for hours or days, it was essentially a no cost activity and they all had to use many skills including how to work through setbacks and disagreements and they used their imaginations!

I recommend this to all parents, especially ones who have children ages 5-15.

Love,
Kelly

There are a whole lot more!

Get the secret today!  

Today I'm sharing my prize-winning recipe for deviled eggs with you.*

Watch this cooking video and learn how easy they are to make. When you serve a platter of these to your family, they'll be begging for more and if you take a plate of them to the church potluck, you'd better make a quadruple batch 'cause it's not fair that every person get one.

In order to get organized and run a clean, cozy, efficient household you need energy and desire to follow some kind of plan. You need a simple plan that directs your days and establishes a routine and habits that serve you, not drag you down. But it’s very hard to follow any plan if you’re down in the dumps. So if you want to stay on top of things, feeling good is so very important. 

What if you had an indicator that let you know whether you were flying high or sinking into despair? You really do. It’s just invisible to the eye, but you can always stop and “check in.”     

For an example, where would you rate yourself right now. Are you more happy than sad? Are you more anxious than content? Are you more angry than loving? Are you more afraid than feeling safe? 

There’s really little guesswork in knowing how you feel, because you’re wired to know in any given moment. Unfortunately it’s so easy to ignore the signals. We can get so busy we neglect taking time to check in with what’s going on inside.

USA! Proud to be an American? Love our flag and what it stands for? Love our military? Love our men and women in blue? 

I've been watching the exciting news surrounding the festivities in our nation's capitol and I'd love to be there for the celebration! Unfortunately, my husband, Terry, is a combat war veteran and if he gets too close to the fireworks, he suffers the consequences.

So Instead of going to Washington, we'll be here at home on our deck where we overlook hundreds of communities that have fireworks displays...at a distance.

We'll watch what's going on in Washington too, since they'll be in the dark three hours earlier. If you are going to be at the capitol, have a super time!

I'd like to thank the two largest pyrotechnic companies in America, Phantom and Grucci’s for their donations to make this event spectacular. Grucci has been a family-run business since 1850. It's considered among the premium pyrotechnics firms in the world. The Washington show will feature state-of-the-art technology and creations. The 15-minute show, expected to cap the event at 9:07 p.m., will be run by a crew of 25 people operating 18 computer systems. Mr, Grucci said, "The $750,000 tab for the display was footed by Phantom Fireworks, an Ohio-based retailer of consumer fireworks, which often works with the family." 

The show is so big that the family started installing it in Washington on June 25. The logistical challenges were such that the entire show was brought to the site Thursday on 19 flatbed trailers. 

In a salute to America's men and women in uniform, the fireworks display will be choreographed to patriotic music. Each of the nation's armed services will have its own moment. When the music plays for the Army, for example, green fireworks will fill the sky, the Army's symbolic color. For the Navy, the displays will be blue.

When "The Stars and Stripes Forever" plays, the family will reveal its own creation of a fireworks-generated American Flag, 700-feet-wide and 600-feet-high, Grucci said.

Sidetracked Home Executives has been in business for 42 years! That means there are thousands of women out there who have used the 3x5 card file system for organizing their homes and families.  One of the best parts of the system is that it’s flexible and easy to pick back up if, in the course of life, it was abandoned for a few months, years or decades. Here’s a neat letter from one such woman!

Dear Pam,

Wow!  42 years!  I think it was about 1995 (just guessing since it's been so long ago!) when I found you and started using the file system.  You saved my sanity, and probably the sanity of my 5 children and husband.  

We were a poor military family and I discovered yard sales.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, because now I could actually buy clothes for my children without making them myself.  I was a pretty good seamstress but even that was expensive.  But of course that backfired on me, and I became addicted.  I bought everything I could afford!  I started to get my life under control and started clearing things out.  Not very efficiently, though, because my kids had by then also become my accomplices at yard sales.  

Anyway, many years have gone by and now the kids are all grown with kids of their own.  I'm cured of my addiction, but some of my kids aren't.  I have one son, a stay-at-home dad with 4 children, ages 2-12.  His wife is a doctor so she's W A Y too busy to help.  He's on his own with the house.  He's pretty overwhelmed, but he’s NOT a clutter bug, so he's wearing himself out trying to keep the house clean. He's usually making excuses that he's too busy picking up after everyone to get them to help, or teach them better habits.  

They're moving from the east coast to the west coast, (I live in Oregon and also have a part-time home in Washington.  Do you have any suggestions about how he could help his family?  I think he might be interested in the card system.  It might be simpler for him, and for the kids.  Do you still have the "Fairy" for the kids?  

Sorry to talk your ear off, but I've wanted to tell you for years how much I appreciate you and all you do!  

Take care,

Lisa 

This is a “what if” blog and it’s just for fun so don’t get all twirled up like it’s political! It isn’t meant to provoke any kind of political narrative to anger you into a public demonstration with signs that say, “Pay Up.”

Let’s start by pretending that on Mother’s Day all adult children owe money to their mothers. Not roses, not brunch, not candy, a call or cards (although those are all really nice too), but MONEY. Here goes…

The reasons for this yearly expense are many, but primarily it’s because a full-time mom never gets paid for her work, which is THE most important work on the planet. No other profession compares with the importance of this job and the world will NEVER address this lack of appreciation.  So what if it were up to the children to do that. After all, who carried them nine months? Nursed them? Rocked them? Changed their diapers? Dressed them? Wiped them? Sang to them? Taught them to ride their bikes? Have good manners? Tie their shoes? Talk? Walk? Pretty much everything we adults can do is because of our moms day-in-and-day-out, 24/7 care.

So what if Mother’s Day was treated the same way our country treats April 15, the day our income tax returns are due? The agency would be called the MRS (Maternal Revenue Service), instead of IRS. The amount of money one owes to the MRS would depend on the income of the child, just like your taxes do? In other words the more successful the adult child is the more it would have to pay.

If you're a SHE, no doubt growing a garden is tempting, but before you go all out to plant one (as I did in 2015), watch this video! 

The biggest lesson learned was.....well watch the video and you'll find out.

There are just some things we SHEs should not attempt.

Happy Easter! May you truly enjoy the magic of this holy time.

Terry and I have been taking vitamin supplements from Jigsaw Health for six years because they were recommended by my physician who has helped my husband and me get healthy on a Paleo diet. We don’t know whether to blame our good health on the low-carb diet, the vitamins or a combination of both. We keep hearing that supplements are useless, but I’m just not ready to go along with that theory, because of our good health.

With my last order of vitamins they sent me a gift (probably because I’ve been such a good customer for so many years). It was a t-shirt that says: “It’s fun to feel good.” Yes, it is fun to feel good, but that sentence got me to thinking.

We humans came here to have fun. Life is supposed to be fun and when it isn’t it means one thing, we’re not in alignment with the reason we’re here. Whatever you call the power that is within the Christ, God, inner being or some other name, it wants you to feel good. That idea, “It’s fun to feel good,” is a great place to start with an exercise in having fun right where you are right now.

A Fun Way to Gradually Streamline Your Wardrobe:

 The Farewell Wearing Ceremony

Spring is what I call my ex-husband season. My ex was always unpredictable and the only thing predictable about him was his unpredictability. Before you unconsciously store the warm sweaters, knits and jackets that are for colder days, to make room in your closet for your spring clothes, remember how ex-husbandy spring’s weather can be and join me in a few Farewell Wearing Ceremonies.

What’s a Farewell Wearing Ceremony? It was coined by my good friend Krista. She’s very organized and she always looks great in her clothes. I used to see her once a week because we sang in a chorus together. She shared with me this fabulous idea she partakes in regularly to keep her wardrobe reflecting just what she loves and therefore wears. I just had to tell you about it, before you unconsciously store your warmer clothes that perhaps have seen better days. 

Putting off writing a thank you note can drain your energy

I was talking to a good friend of mine who is definitely a BO, and I asked her, “Have you ever not written a thank you note for a gift or for having a meal at someone’s house and such?” She answered immediately, “Oh no! Never! Energy drain!” She’s a massage therapist and has studied a great deal in the holistic health field. She went on, “If I didn’t take care of a thank you as soon as possible, I wouldn’t be able to get my mind off the person. Why would someone not take care of it right away?”

Well, Miss BO, here’s why! We’re creative. Our creativity gets in the way of getting a quickie thank you off in the mail (it takes less than five minutes to write a thank you note, address an envelope and put a stamp on it).

We were devastated!

 Years ago, my sister’s neighbor was killed in a freak accident (a tree fell on him in their backyard) and we were all devastated. His poor wife was left with three small children and our hearts were broken for the family.

 My sister spent an hour at the Hallmark store looking for just the right sympathy card, but none seemed to fit the situation. She went home and called me saying she’d like to write her own sentiment and could I help her. Of course I was moved to be part of a thoughtful note to convey our sympathy. I told her to write something and I would make it rhyme.

You are Your Own Best Teacher

If you're a good sleeper, could you teach another person the best way to fall asleep? Probably not, because drifting off to sleep is unique to each person. Terry says I fall asleep within four or five minutes from the moment I put my head on my pillow. If I tried to impose my falling asleep techniques on you I would be remiss. 

Only you can figure out the best way to fall asleep. Sure I could give you some suggestions like, don’t have a television set in your room, turn off the lights and don’t have any electronically glowing digits announcing the exact time, but as far as the ritual that will put you to sleep, it has to be yours alone.

I could not fall asleep in the nude (I’ve tried it and every time, I’ve ended up putting pajamas on.) Mind you I didn’t say nightgown. I can’t sleep in nightgowns because the thought that it will end up all bunched up around my sweaty armpits by morning keeps me awake. I have to have pajamas on and the waist can’t be too tight and I don’t like button up tops because the buttons get between my breasts and bug me.

Would you buy this at Goodwill?

In a recent blog I wrote about de-junking I said, “In deciding what to keep and what to get rid of, ask this question: ‘Would I buy this at Goodwill?’” Just that question opens your eyes to the item you’re looking at. If you were at Goodwill, would you buy this? Because when you’re buying something secondhand, you take your blinders off and put your scrutiny lenses on.

I Was Blind and Now I See!  

At home, your blinders allow you to relax in private and not see what you don’t want to see, just like your sunglasses keep the sun from hurting your eyes. Your home isn’t subject to scrutiny until you’re going to have company at which time you get out your reality glasses and see with “company eyes.”

If you'll put your timer on for 15 minutes and spend that time looking for stuff you wouldn’t buy at Goodwill, you’ll probably be able to fill up a box to give away or pitch. As I wrote that sentence, it inspired me to do just that. So, I’ll be back in 15 minutes if I don’t get sidetracked and end up taking a bath or sweeping the deck.

Is it Time for a New Bathrobe?

Revised from a blog in 2016. If you clip on that movie clicker deal you can listen to this blog.

I decided it's time for Terry and me to get new bathrobes. Mine is 20 years old and I bought it at a garage sale. It’s heavy and comfy and if I write too much about it here, I’m apt to talk myself out of dumping it. (Maybe I should keep it as my winter robe. On some of those cold winter nights I've found such refuge in it. I also feel spiritual in it sometimes, because it has a hood and when I put it over my head, I feel like St. Francis. Okay, okay it’s going in storage until November when my winter sweaters and coats come out of waiting.

Terry’s robe is another story. It is downright scary! It’s blue plaid velour and after the first washing it lost most of its “lour” and because the arms were too long he cut them off and insisted I didn’t need to hem his alteration project. So I didn’t, leaving the ends frayed in strings that grow longer with every washing.

The thing is, I never think to go bathrobe shopping and only when I’m pampered with a luxurious white terrycloth robe in a fancy hotel do I think it’s time to spring for a new “morning” look.

A Saint and a Blue Man

Terry and I have changed our routine this year and I don’t shower, dress and make the bed first thing in the morning anymore.

Have you HAD it with your disorganized life? 

No matter how old you are, it's never too late to get out of your mess. 

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 42 year career helping moms get organized, I’ve come to one big conclusion about it: 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.)

Did you know the Easter Bunny is going low-carb?

It may not look that way at Walmart, but it’s true. As an alternative to candy, he’s filling the hollow eggs with notes of appreciation, motivation and inspiration and you can do it too.

You know how we all love fortune cookies, well your kids will love hunting for eggs and getting note-after-note of encouragement, fun activities and surprises in the eggs they find.

Your dentist will be happy too! (Well, we hope so anyway.)

Here’s the list we got from the Big Bunny:

        This coupon is good for a foot rub.
        This coupon is good for a back rub.
        This note is good for one download on iTunes.
        This coupon is good for a book, next time we go shopping.
        Your laughter makes us happy.

Going through my archives, I found a whole bunch of blogs I recorded for those who like to listen while they work. (While listening to this one, you could be productive with your hands, like clean out a drawer, fold a load of laundry or clean out your purse.) I called these blogs "Young at Heart." This one's about my disorganization when it comes to taking care of maintenance on my car. I hope you enjoy it! I have more if you enjoy listening, so let me know. 

4 Steps to Win

Are you always arguing with your mate over a messy house?
Do you think clutter control would help? Would you guys 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 strategies in the 45 years I’ve been married and you just might find them helpful.

My ideas will work for many kinds of fights, but to illustrate my strategies, I decided to pick a fight that’s common among couples; clutter. The underlying cause of couple’s clutter conflicts is 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 left on the ground and who ate the apple and threw the core on the floor.

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.

If you’re a mom you have the most valuable job in the world.  

You are raising citizens of the United States of America (or put in the name of the country where you live). Unfortunately being a mom is not held in as high regard as it should be.

With just a little creativity, you can put together a gift basket that'll save you money. 

Why buy whole chickens, instead of chicken parts? First, you save a lot of money. Second, you don't waste our valuable resources because you can use the whole chicken. Watch this video and you'll be a whole-chicken-buying convert.

What's the OMSI voice? OMSI stands for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The voice is a voice you hear women use with their young children, in public (at museums, in grocery stores, in the park), to elicit admiration from those in earshot. The Slob Sisters demonstrate the voice on a popular Portland, Oregon television show. 

When you get mole hills in your yard it means you have good soil. Moles are carnivores and they're after worms and worms love good soil. Connect the dots. This video will show you how to take advantage of those little hill makers.

In the mood to spring clean? This video of the Slob Sisters with Regis Philbin will have you inspired to get organized and welcome spring into your home.

This video shows how to make a very rich and delicious custard dessert. If you're interested in trying out some low-carb recipes, I share my concoctions in my cooking videos.

Are you following a weekly plan that helps you run a cozy, organized home? When my sister Peggy and I developed the infamous, get organized 3x5 card file system outlined in our book “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise,” we created a weekly plan that included a “free day.”

On that special day, if we wanted to, we’d stay in our pajamas all day, eat over the sink, keep the day free of appointments if at all possible and keep household chores to a minimum. We kept laundry to towels and linens which are easy to fold. We ate on paper plates or in restaurants. Our aim was to do nothing but enjoy the day free of the relentless parade of chores a mom encounters. I still have that day only I call it My Day. I do what I want and I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. I pretend it’s my birthday to get into the mood.

 Set Priorities Learn to Say No!  

Life is really, really busy for all of us. Whether you’re running a business, going to school, dealing with keeping the house clean and enjoying family, friends and loved ones, it’s important to learn how to prioritize. That’s why being organized, just enough to please you, starts with knowing what’s important to you.

Prioritizing can be difficult because it requires you to be aware of what you really want out of life. It requires you to be mindful of what’s important and have the ability to say no.

In Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise, I wrote:

We were afraid to say no for fear of being stamped uncooperative. We needed the approval of others, and saying yes was one way to get it. In that first week of soul-searching, we made the astonishing discovery that we needed to give others the opportunity to be praised. By leaving some of the work for others, we also were leaving them a chance to get the credit. So, charitably, we posted a sign by our phones that read, in capital letter, “SAY NO!” and from that day on, we rejoiced in our freedom to decline.

Personally, I still dislike saying no. I want to help everyone. I want to be everywhere. I don’t want to miss out on something that could be a really good opportunity. But in order to be a loving wife, mother and friend and an inspired writer, I HAVE to say no.

Are you aware that more money won’t solve your money problems?

If you aren’t, you’ll be interested in what this woman had to say about it.

Dear Pam,

I don’t know how to thank you for writing the GOOD Book, except to say THANK YOU!!!!!!  My DH lost his job about a year after I bought the book and we had changed our thinking and behavior so much that during the six months that he was unemployed we were able to keep our heads above the water and now he has a much better job with more money than before! We still have a ways to go to get out of debt, but what we’ve learned about ourselves through this awakening is priceless.  When you said in the book that if you can’t take care of the money you make now, if you get more you won’t take care of that either, was a real light bulb moment.

When you’re in a horrible mess and you feel overwhelmed with your circumstances, if you attempted to get organized from that place, you’d be like a person drowning in a lake, begging for someone to throw you a rope, or an inner tube, or a book on “How to Swim.” (If you know how to swim, then you know that flailing person is, at the moment, helpless and will probably drown if someone doesn’t rescue him. And you also know, since you know how to swim, that if that person would just calm down and relax into floating and treading water for a little while, he’d move into a better place not to drown.)

So how does this analogy relate to you? Do you feel you need to be rescued or do you have an intuitive notion that you can get organized with just a little nudge?

Maybe you were organized once and you know how liberating it is. Maybe you had an organized mother and you remember how much fun and easy it was to live with order. Maybe you know people who are organized and you envy the ease at which they go about life, never late, always prepared, wearing matching shoes, having cash in their wallets, gas in their cars, toting kids that are fully dressed and they’re never in a rush.

Every single day we're given opportunities to grow and enjoy life more!

A woman wrote that she'd been married for 25 years. Her husband had cheated on her more than once and she'd “lost” herself and hardly recognized her home or her person.

It's never too late to change your life! This woman had successfully raised two happy sons and worrying about what her husband did and not focusing on the important job she was doing, could very well have given him (in his dishonest mind) a good excuse for the affairs. Focusing on getting her act together and not worrying about him, could have erased that excuse he probably used; "My wife's fat and the house is a pigsty." 

When someone is unfaithful it's his/her problem. It’s only OUR problem if we make it ours.

It’s no secret that countless families are deluged by household clutter.

Flylady says; The most common clutter hot spots are children's bedrooms, home offices, attics, and garages. What does it take to stop clutter? Here are my 10 best home organization strategies straight from my book, The Joy of Being Disorganized.

http://www.cluborganized.com/the-joy-of-being-disorganized

1. Stop Homelessness

One of the main reasons stuff piles up on counters, dining tables, coffee tables and floors is that it’s homeless. When an item has no "home," it gets added to an IPOD
 (Important Pile Of Decisions). The free chapter I'm giving you has great information about the IPODs in your home and how to eliminate them.

That’s why it’s important to make sure everything in your home lives somewhere. “Homing” items in the room where they're used, helps ensure that they get put away when you're finished. For example, I keep a sewing kit in a drawer of an end table in my living room, because I like to mend garments in that room and not in my sewing room in the basement.

2. Stop Clutter at the Cash Register

Use that, waiting-to-buy time when you’re standing in line at the cash register, to re-think what’s in your hands or cart. Imagine it as clutter. What you buy today can turn
into clutter tomorrow. The better you are about keeping things out of your home, the less likely you’ll be to create IPODs when you get home.

3. Baby Step your Way to Clutter-free

Start with the room that’s bothering you the most. (In my almost 40-year career helping moms get organized, the kitchen is the room most picked by baby-steppers.) Marla Cilley, the Flylady
says, “Start by shining your kitchen sink.” That’s so brilliant! In order to keep your sink shiny, you have to keep it empty. In order to keep it empty, you and your family have to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. In order to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, it has to be empty!

Turn dreary into fun!

Make memories you'll talk about for years to come.

We who live in the northwest, have had to learn early on, we can’t let the rain dowse our fun outdoors. The main advice is make sure you have play clothes, so you don’t have to worry about messing up your good clothes.

Whether it's just misting or pouring rats and hogs make the most of the wet weather and play with your kids or grandkids in the rain using these family-tested outdoor activities.

1. Puddle Play

Mom, you usually discourage your kids from jumping in puddles, so they’ll be shocked and excited when you suggest a splashing contest. Get your play clothes and rain boots on and head out looking for the biggest puddles you can find. Let your kids get soaking wet! Let the child who makes the biggest spray, get to pick the movie the family will watch or be freed from some chore. Give points for the one who gets the wettest. If you’ve got dancers in the family, have them practice some steps they’ve learned.

Mom, come on; get in the puddles with them! Motherhood is not a spectator sport. Let your kids splash you. All it takes is saying, “Don’t you splash me,” in a way they know you’re daring them to do it. Oh and just think how good a hot shower will feel after the fun!

When you take time every day to be alone with yourself, away from phones, the Internet and noise, you'll be giving yourself a loving gift.  Get selfish about making time. Insist on it, and don’t allow anyone, especially yourself, to talk you out of it.

Here are what I consider six benefits of quiet time.

1. Lighten Up

When we get stressed out, it’s so easy to lose touch with that sweet calm that's always there for us to tap into. In a relaxed state, your mind quiets down and then you can connect with a deeper sense of purpose and good. Meditation and medication are derived from the Latin word medicus, to care or to cure. So a time of quiet calmness is the most effective remedy for a busy and overworked person.

Anytime you feel stress rising, heart closing, mind going into overwhelm, just bring your focus to your breathing and quietly repeat with each in-and-out breath: Breathing in, I am here; breathing out, All is well. If you have a set of words that help you relax and can be in time with your inhalations and exhalations by all means use those words. These are the words I use right now. They may change down the road.

Pretend to be a guest at your own home

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 “wait time,” and it’s a rather private period of scrutiny and judging for him or her. Here are my 8 tips for spring cleaning your entryway. 

In chapter five of “The Joy of Being Disorganized,” I talked about meeting Oprah and what fun it was to find out she was a self-confessed SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive)! It was a moment where a real life celebrity became just like you and me. Dining can be like that too. You don't have to eat at the tables of Paula Deen, Rachael Ray or Giada to savor gourmet tasting food.

You can make it yourself! In this cooking video I show you one of the easiest ways to bake salmon-- that heart healthy source of omega-3 fatty acids. Doctors call it “brain food” but I just call it delicious.

Throw in a sprig of rosemary (which always goes well with almost any fish) in and enjoy! Here's my simple recipe with video to follow.

Okay, it's been almost six weeks since you made a New Year’s Resolution to stop or start doing something to make a change for good in 2019.

If you haven't been true to your resolution it's NOT a big deal! It just means somehow you talked yourself into doing something you initially didn't want to do. We all fall off our wagons because it's part of growing up (and we never stop growing). What is a big deal is learning how to recognize the sabotaging part of you and develop a healthy relationship with it.

Today, did you talk yourself into doing something you explicitly did not want to do? And if you did, do you know who you were talking to?  Keep reading and also watch the video in this blog.

Sounds kind of nice, doesn't it?

But just think, if you had a tree that grew $100 bills in your front yard, you'd have to have 24-hour surveillance and security! Oh and if the press every got wind of it, you’d be dodging the paparazzi to your grave. No doubt you'd worry about how to keep the tree healthy, and keep the bugs from eating those precious leaves when they started to blossom this coming spring. You'd also fret about how to keep the money in your yard when the autumn winds threatened to blow your crop into the neighbor's yard.

You'd probably end up a nervous wreck. You'd never be able to leave home, or even get all the bills that were at the very top, unless you were a very good tree climber. Maybe it'd be easier to have a hedge fund than a money tree, but you'd still have to guard that too.    

With the advent of credit cards, many of us were tempted into living beyond our means. Those pretty, little rectangles made purchasing stuff so easy, especially when you didn't have the money yet! Before I met Nelly (my inner child) in 2002, I was in big credit card trouble. Because I'm a writer and was able to make a good living writing books, when I wasn't writing and the income wasn't there, instead of changing my spending habits, I used credit cards to pretend I was still making money. Fake prosperity. I actually looked at credit cards as income. "Oh, goody, the bank just increased my credit limit $10,000!"

When everything came to a head, I was faced with figuring out how to get out of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. I knew I had to raise my financial consciousness and get out of debt, but I didn't have a clue as to how to do that. What happened was a miracle and I wrote about it in "The GOOD Book: Get Out Of Debt." 

You can listen if you have a task and you need your eyes and hands.

Even in our instant news, instant photos, instant everything society, we still have to wait a lot and we don’t appreciate it. We get antsy when we have to kill time in the checkout line at the grocery store so they created jiffy lines to speed us along. We get cranky and horny (over use of the horn) waiting for traffic to budge during commute times and we sure don’t like waiting for our computers to download, upload, reboot and defrag.

It's January 29, 2019!

Since I write for food, I’m generally not inclined to sit down and write about my husband and me in a Christmas letter to friends and relatives, but this last Christmas I did receive a couple of those brag sheet newsletters that inspired me to write a little about what's going on with Terry and me, not for a Christmas letter but to let my internet sisters in on a recent life-changing event...our great grandson Cassius. 

My Aunt Tottie (my dad's sister) was extremely disorganized and she was also very creative and dramatic! My mother was a BO (Born Organized) and she used to roll her eyes over the way Aunt Tottie lived.

For instance, she was a lousy housekeeper, wore baggy clothes day in and day out, and rarely put on make-up, BUT when she did get cleaned up, she was a KNOCK OUT. Mom said when they were young; Aunt Tottie would get all gussied up to go out dancing and she’d make an entrance that would drop jaws.

One time when she and my mom were teenagers, hanging out at Aunt Totties', the future Uncle John dropped by unexpectedly and Aunt Tottie was still in her nightgown (it was five in the evening). Her hair hadn't been washed so it was greasy and she raced to her room so Uncle John wouldn't see her. Ten minutes later she came down the stairs in a cute summer dress and she'd wrapped a colorful silk scarf on her head like a turban. Mom said she looked just like Lauren Bacall. (Oh, and Uncle John looked just like Henry Fonda.)

My aunt loved to get a reaction from BOs like my mom. I remember one time; watching her in her messy kitchen, make orange juice from a can of frozen concentrate while she talked with my mom. She couldn’t find a clean spoon to stir the three cans of water into the orange lump of concentrate, so she just stuck her whole hand into the pitcher and stirred with it. My mother was horrified.

Seven ways to freshen up in 2019

In the movies when an actor delivers that line the scene invariably consists of the other actor to whom the question was asked, proceeding to the bathroom and closing the door and you don't get to see what they freshen. In all my television and movie watching days, the cameras have never taken me into the bathroom with that person.

In one of our books, my sister and I wrote about being guests at a woman’s home in Hollywood. She had a lovely, movie star type home and we were going to stay overnight. She said when we walked into her luxurious living room with our luggage in tow, “Would you like to freshen up?” “Yes,” we said, in unison, as she led us to her guest room with a bathroom. As soon as the door was closed, we looked at each other and one of us said, “What does freshen up really mean?” Should we take showers and do a really fresh start? Should we wash our armpits and put on deodorant or just put some more on over the old? Should we brush our teeth? Our hair?

We decided in that moment to consider washing our hands as the action one does to freshen up. We decided to take about five minutes (that’s how long Mom took every night before Dad came home from work). She’d say, “Oh girls, Dad’ll be home pretty soon, I’m going to freshen up!” and she’d shut the bathroom door and once again we didn’t get to see what she did in there, but she’d come out FRESH.

We both agreed we had “travel hands.” Our definition of travel hands is the same as for shopping hands only with distance added. It’s hands that have been busy outside the home where they can collect foreign substances our systems aren’t familiar with. They don’t have familiar stuff to wash off like kid related materials ie: vomit, snot, poop, peanut butter, jam and such. Travel hands have more subtle, maybe even microscopic elements to take care of.

So we took five minutes to wash our hands, sort of like how a surgeon would wash her hands before going into surgery. When we were through, we both looked at the beautiful monogrammed hand towels displayed on the counter and we couldn’t bring ourselves to use them so we wiped on the rug and went out acting very fresh.

On the subject of freshening up, here are some tips to consider in freshening up your home during this winter season that can seem dreary and dull.

“Get back in the Box” doesn’t mean do as Jack-in-the-box does once he comes spurting out to delight a child with surprise, it’s what SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) do when they’ve gotten away from using the system in “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise” the book my sister and I wrote in the seventies. The “box” refers to a card file box holding 3x5 index cards with household chores (one job to a card) written on them. The cards are color coded to denote frequency; yellow for daily, blue for weekly, white for monthly and pink for personal actions. More about the system later.

Getting organized starts with a desire in your heart to have peace instead of chaos when it comes to the important elements in life. We all have to eat so we need food in the house and time to prepare it. Unless we’re nudists, we need clean clothes so we need to do laundry regularly. We need rest, so we need to schedule our days to get enough sleep at night. We also need play, worship, exercise and friendship in a sensible routine.

When I was disorganized my husband and I fought constantly over the chaotic house. I was always out of food (but somehow managed to be overweight). I took care of the household finances and I was always overdrawn. Laundry was always piled in both forms; clean and dirty. Every room was cluttered and the master bedroom was the worst….well maybe the kitchen. Our cars slept in the drive-way every night because the garage was crammed with the results of saying, “Just put it in the garage for now.” I took this picture of our kitchen today, just to show you I'm living an organized life today.