A BO (Born Organized) could never do what's in this video. It would drive her crazy.

But we lucky SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have no problem doing this.  

Women are notorious for neglecting self-care in lieu of caring for others and when asked if they are selfish about taking care of themselves, most cringe and say, “no.” The cringe comes from guilt knowing they should have free time for themselves. There are two parts to this: one is you need to know what you’re going to do when you take time out (I'll go into that another day) and two you need to make time for the time outs. Here's just one way to make time. Watch the video and then give it a try. It's actually fun!! And it'll save time you could use to play.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I found this video in the archives and thought it'd be fun to send it out. All these "babies"are adults! It seems like yesterday we spent the day playing with this as a gift to their parents.

We've hired our labrodoodle to help us market our products! Today she's modeling the "Stick it Right on the Money Gift Giving Kit" stickers. The stickers disguise currancy and help you give money as a gift for all special occasions. The stickers are gentle and don't harm the money or Maggie's curls.

We think she's so adorable that you'll want to share this blog with your friends and family and then they'll learn about this great product.

Giving money for Christmas this year solves many potential problems: empty shelves, backed up inventory and worry your gifts will get here in time to wrap and give. Many of my friends are buying two "Stick it Right on the Money Gift-Giving Kits," one to use to give money and one as a gift in itself for a busy mom or grandmother.  

AND NOW, HERE'S MAGGIE:

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!

When I got organized in the late seventies, I decided to keep it a secret from my husband, kids, parents and best friend. I’d read that when you want to make an important transitional change in your life, keep it to yourself and wait for “them” to come to you and say, “What’s happened to you?” or ”You seem happier and you’re always on time lately, what’s up?”

What I discovered by keeping my mouth shut on my plans was I had more energy! There was a certain excitement in “my secret.” Also, those closest to us have heard us talk about needing to change, wanting to change and planning to change, so to make a chronic announcement, “This year, I’m going to get organized,” “lose weight” or “budget and get out of debt,” your friends and family are liable to say, “Yeah, sure Martha, what’s new?”

I also think there is power in sharing your intentions with those who have the same goal. I’m so thankful for the platform I've been able to create so we can help each other and share our triumphs as well as our failings. I’m just talking about keeping it a secret from our loved ones, until the results start to show up.

Woah!!!!

Take some advice from an old lady; what goes down, must come up. I’m not talking about the “I fell down and I can’t get up,” commercial for some kind of alarm device, (although it’s probably a good thing to have when you’re old) I’m talking about stairs and hills.

I’ve been recovering from Grave’s disease for the last month and a half and my physical body has gotten happier and happier with the drug I’m taking. I’ve gone from, ‘oh, I’ve got to go downstairs to my office, which means I have to go back up later,’ to being thought-free on the stairs. I actually feel like my “old” old self and it’s wonderful!

Here’s what prompted this blog. I woke up frisky. It was a gorgeous day! 70 degrees. With fall in the air, I always get special prompts to get outside and soak up the start of the season. There was a breeze, and the leaves were starting to rustle in the wind more, because they’re drying out. Have you every noticed that? Green, summer leaves rustle too, but not like tired, old leaves that are ready to turn color and fly.

For two years, Jim, our next-door neighbor, has been working on his property that runs between our homes. He cut down lots of maple trees (they’re like weeds in the northwest) that were threatening our views and cleared trails down to the stream. We’d hear the chainsaw and the weed eater for hours. He turned a rugged ravine into a manicured park in two short years.

Every time we’d see him, we’d rave about how much work he’d done, how beautiful his property looked and how much our view had improved. He’d talk about all that he’d done that we couldn’t see from our vantage point.

Because of my health issues over the last two years, heart surgery, hip surgery, pacemaker implant and then the Graves disease (because of a drug I had to take for the heart problem), I could only visit his work in my imagination.

But on that beautiful day, I felt ready to go see what Jim had accomplished. I dragged Terry and Maggie with me! (Well Maggie didn’t’ get dragged, she was thrilled with the whole adventure.)

Three steps to hook up! HAH!

I don’t know about you, but I’m technically impeded. I can’t say it’s a genetic issue as my parents didn’t have to submit themselves to this technological torture by having to read instructions that are translated from Chinese to English by some 19-year-old anti-American Communist.

What was your answer? I'd grab my Cuisinart. (I'd grab Maggie, but if the flames weren't too much, I'd go back in and get my Cuisinart.)

Did you like Oprah's favorite things show she used to do? She still does it in some magazine, but I'm not sure which one. It's fun to see what she likes and so I thought I'd tell you what I like (not like I think I'm an Oprah). 

SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have been given very creative minds. It's part of the sidetracked package. It's what gets us into messes and sends us gleefully off to make another, before we clean up the one we just made. But there are such priceless advantages to our creative imaginations. This last weekend I had an AHA moment I'd like to share with you.

We live about two hours from the west coast and we usually make a couple trips each year to "the beach." We've always loved Cannon Beach in Oregon. Since I haven't felt good for the last couple of years, we put off going. It didn't stop my imagination from taking me there any time I wanted. It provided me with the smells, the feeling in the air, the thoughts about food I love at the beach and I can even feel my feet get wet in the cool sand. I'd guess I've been to Cannon Beach at least 20 times in the last two years...via my imagination. Those trips were free each time and since I didn't actually take my body there, I didn't have to drive two hours, pack, make reservations or drive back home for two hours.

So last Thursday, I felt good enough that I had this conversation with Terry.

"You wanna go to the beach?"

"When?"

Today."

"Where would you wanna go?"

"I was thinking Cannon Beach. I could see if there are vacancies "

"Sure."

One of the places we love to stay was full and besides inflation had had her way with the prices. $345 for an ocean view room! I'm spoiled. When I go to the beach I want a room that looks at it. Unfortunately I have a parking-lot view budget with ocean view taste. I swallowed my disappointment and we ended up with a room for $140 with an elevator view three feet away from our window. The tiny room was clean and the bed was comfortable, but Nelly (my inner child) was mad. The beach trips I'd had in my mind did NOT cramp me into a room the size of my office.

There's a totally fake voice some moms use in public with their children to make those around her think she's a great mom. It's easy to spot if it's fake, by looking at the children being talked to. If it's fake, the kids seem confused and a little mesmerized.

In this video Peggy and I talk about that voice. We called it, "The OMSI Voice." OMSI stands for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. You'll hear it a lot in museums, libraries and especially church as they try to elicit admiration from those in earshot.

I've been following this adorable couple on Youtube, with their crazy songs about COVID. My stepson Eric connected me with them, because he knows I have ADHD. Today I watched them sing about ADHD and I had to share it with you, because it celebrates our SHEness. In fact in my book "The Joy of Being Disorganized," the theme throughout the book is celebrating our disorder, not the disorder the disorder creates.

Are there people in your life whom you have not forgiven? Do you think you’d be happier if you could forgive them?

Nelson Mandela said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

Would you like to read about a simple approach to forgiveness that has worked for many, who tried it? To find real peace and joy in our lives, we need to forgive those who have hurt us. I shared this timeline in a blog many years ago and if you truly want the freedom that comes with forgiveness, this approach could help. 

February 17:

I got an email from a woman who said her teacher (spiritual) asked the students to bring a clear plastic sack of potatoes to class, with each potato representing someone they hadn’t forgiven in life. In class they were asked to write the name of each person they had not forgiven on each potato. Some of the bags were quite heavy. 

They were asked to carry their bag with them everywhere, putting it beside their bed at night, on the car seat when driving, next to their desk at work until they could forgive the people the potatoes represented.

The woman wrote, “The hassle of lugging my bag of unforgiven people around, made it clear, what a weight I was carrying spiritually, and how I had to pay attention to it all the time to not forget, leaving it in embarrassing places.” 

Is there anything yuckier than a rotten potato? You know that saying, “one rotten apple spoils the barrel”? Well give me a rotten apple any day! One rotten potato smells way worse than a garage of rotten apples. One potato would affect the whole bag, but that usually doesn’t happen because of the smell! I don’t think I could let a whole bag of potatoes rot, because the stench of one is enough of a call to action. 

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

While I was ill for four months, I was thankful to myself for having a clutter-free home. A home free of clutter is soothing and helps in recovery. This is a blog I wrote several years ago giving an excerpt from my book, "The Joy of Being Disorganized."

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

1. 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 fill it with stuff that doesn't server you.

2. 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.

3. Baby Step your Way to Clutter-free

Start with the room that’s bothering you the most. (In my 44-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!

I haven't blogged since June 16, the 44th anniversary of "Sidetracked Home Executives." A lot has happened since then and it has taken me this long to write to you.

In this video you'll see my pathetic garden in spite of help from a master gardener who showed me exactly what to do to grow enough to feed the harvest to an entire neighborhood.

WELL, the biggest lesson learned is in this video. Watch to find out.

I will warn you, there are just some things we SHEs should not attempt.

Very frequently I hear from SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executive) lamenting that they wish they'd used the SHE 3x5 get organized system for home and family earlier. My answer is always the same, you weren't ready and until you're ready you won't use it. It's interesting to find out how much these precious women have achieved in spite of their disorder! It's testimony to how talented we SHEs really are. Here's an excerpt from "The Joy of Being Disorganized" that conveys this thought.

The grass in the foreground of this photo is our grass and you can see our neighbors' grass is not greener, ours is. That's because our neighbors have been mowing their lawns and we haven't.

Do you love to make a "To Do" list every day?

If your kids are grown and you've gotten used to the reduced workload, of raising a family, you've probably forgotten how busy young moms are these days. All it takes is to have one or more grandchildren for a few days and it all comes back to you what our busy moms are dealing with today. One mom of four said, "When my husband comes home at the end of a long day and wonders what I've done all day, I figure if I can account for all four of his children, I've done my part." 

Do you ever put things you’ve already done on a list, so you can cross them off. That's great if you do. We need all the sense of accomplishment we can get when it comes to running a home successfully. That got me to thinking, what if we made a list of things we don't have to do today, it'd be very fun and give us a sense of relief! It's so important for us to seize every moment we can in joy, and do things that tickle us, especially when we're on the verge of feeling overwhelmed. 

This thing called life is whizzing by us without our notice. Just like we aren't aware of how fast our little planet is spinning and flying through the cosmos, we miss the speed in which our lives are hurtling through time. 

So, if you’re inclined to make lists and add auxiliary tasks you did that weren’t on the list in the first place so you can cross them off and feel more productive, you'll love this list of 5 things you don’t have to do today. Now if you want to write them down so you can cross them off, you’re going to have to write the word “don’t” in front of each one, but really, just enjoy the list!

Let happiness come from you before you seek others to make you happy.

I love this quote by Abraham Hicks. Happiness is just a string of happy moments. But most people aren't aware of the happy moments, because they're too busy trying to have a happy life.

Children's existence is a string of happy moments. My 3 year-old great grandson came over to our house with his mother, the other day and almost the entire time he was here he was happy. We adults did any distracting him away from his happy play, mostly to minimize messes and keep him safe. Children have a natural desire to have fun and as we grow up, we douse our happiness with being adults. 

What's exciting to me is, we can be adults and follow all the adult rules, but that child in us can help us be aware of the happy moments that bombard us every day. June is filled with potential happy moments just waiting to be had, but if we get too busy, too adult, the happy gifts of June will be gone and then there'll be July to miss. 

I met Nelly in 2002. She’s my inner child and constant companion, I discovered that keeping in touch with Nelly helps me catch lots of those happy moments, 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've 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.

"Hey, the Internet's Down!"

I had to go to Target to buy a router. (Earlier that day I’d purchased one at Walmart, and it was the wrong kind so had to return it.) I used the verb “had to” because buying a router is not on my list of exciting things to buy. (And returning things is right up there with having a pelvic exam.)

All I knew was the router we had quit letting us watch television on the internet and we needed a new one. Finding the right one when you don’t know the difference between routers and alternators was like going to a plumbing supply store to pick out the sump pump of your dreams. I wasn’t in the greatest mood driving to Target from Walmart.

The kid who helped me had a "techy" look, but he seemed to be in training and kept asking me questions I had no answers for. I ended up with a box about the size of a toaster with a picture of a router that looked nothing like the one we had that died, or the one I bought at Walmart, but he promised it would do everything it needed to do for us.

"Don't be afraid of the storm."

We dedicated “Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise” to Fred. It was a secret who Fred was (I’ll tell you why in a minute) and we didn’t tell anyone but family. Our mom and dad were tickled when they found out who he was. So were our grandparents.

When we wrote “Sidetracked Home Executives,” we prayed together every day to be guided to use our humor in writing on a subject that’s not funny…getting organized. God has the most exquisite sense of humor and our co-writing sessions were filled with laughter mingled with His. We took turns writing longhand in a notebook, which was then given to our assistant to type up for the manuscript, we had no clue what to do with when it was finished.

The video you're about to see is rather embarrassing, but at least it was a long time ago and I can just wonder 'What was I thinking?'

It reminded me of those people who go on America's got talent and they don't...got talent. 

The idea behind it was great, but the end result was hmmmmm well you judge.

Giving money as a gift is fun for the giver and the receiver. The "Stick it Right on the Money Gift Giving Kit is full of post-it-note sticky disguises for the faces on our currency and sticky frames to hold the money in greeting cards. 

If you purchase the kit, I'll give you the "Everybody Loves Money" video download with ten creative ways to give cash.

Here's a video with two ways to give money as a gift for that special occasion.

I accidentally came up with a great way to use a bad habit for a good outcome!

You know how we SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) are guilty of not hanging our clothes up (if we haven’t established the habit to hang them up) but rather throw them on a chair in the bedroom, too exhausted to have an evening routine?

Just so you know, I’ve established the habit of not putting clothes in the chair in our bedroom. I hang them up or put them in the dirty clothes hamper, but I’ve never forgotten, that once upon a time, that bedroom chair was always unrecognizable as a chair and looked more like a budget table at Goodwill.

Warning: This idea will only have energy if you’re a SHE and have established the habit of putting your clothes away at night! Also, BOs (Born Organized) would NOT find this idea sane.

Have you noticed the moles are out? I don't think they've heard about the pandemic because they're not practicing social distancing. I wouldn't expect a mole to wear a mask, but they could at least keep their holes six feet apart! 

This video will show you how to take advantage of that lucious dirt in their hills. In case you didn't know, moles are carnivores and they dig where the soil is good and consequently where the worms are. If you have moles, it's a good sign! Use their work to save you money!

Here's the video! Plus my 4 Ps for a successful flower garden.

For some reason my 78-year-old-self

woke up this morning with a poem I’d written years ago entitled “I’m Done,” on my mind. I looked it up on my computer and it said I wrote it in 2007, so 14 years ago! It struck me how wonderful it is to be this age! I have loved aging and except for a couple of physical interruptions like getting a new hip and a pacemaker in the last couple of years, life just continues to get better and better.

Have you noticed how setbacks cause us to maneuver through them and come out the other side better? Like COVID. It’s exciting to think of all the joy, relief, freedom, love and appreciation we, collectively will bring to the planet when this pandemic is over! We will never look at another human being without compassion for what they’ve been through. Life will be better for everyone who knows that to be true.

When I wrote “I’m Done” I was reflecting on a period (pardon the pun that reflects the subject of the poem) of my life that was over! Not that I didn’t enjoy that part of my life, because I loved it, but it was just so nice to put it behind me. (I’m going to share the poem at the end of my blog.)

In my upcoming book, "How to Live Happily Ever After: Cinderella Did it and You Can Too," I quote Abraham Hicks: “Happiness is just a string of happy moments, but most people are not aware of the happy moments because they’re too busy trying to get a happy life.” (If we’re going to hoard anything let it be happy moments.)

And now for the poem, “I’m Done.”

Save money by carving up a whole chicken instead of buying those pricey parts. In this cooking video, you'll learn how easy it is and how much you'll save. 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 was 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......

From the Archives 

It was such a scorching dog day in late August that the birds were hot-tubbing in our backyard birdbath. I was wearing my bathing suit and had turned the air-conditioning down another notch despite the green voice in my head that said, ‘You should be ashamed.’ It didn’t help my mood to think about my daughter Peggy, her husband Tyler and my two young grandchildren, Jacob and Sophie working outside in 100 degree weather at a camp for foster children in our community? I admired their compassion and magnanimity to devote an entire summer running the camp and I was glad they were due home that evening.

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 this flailing person is, at the moment, helpless and will probably drown if someone doesn’t rescue him. And you also know, if 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.

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

When you see a photo like this, are you inspired to learn how 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 helped people get the spark and motivation to declutter for 40 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.

 4 Ways Not to Be Late

Do you have a reputation for being late? Have you ever thought that punctuality could be fun? If not, maybe that’s why you’re always late! Punctuality is a habit. I was always late until I realized that punctuality is part of gracious living and then I found out it’s actually fun to get there early! There’s just too much stress in being late but you already know that. The good news is, tardiness is an easy habit to fix! Here are 4 ways not to be late.

1. The Victoria Secret Technique

Have you ever had a super bra? Victoria Secret has an amazing one. It literally takes all the fat from under your arms, and I think some of it from your back and pulls the excess fat into its cups! Voila, whatever cup-size you are, they get overloaded and you’ve got cleavage! What does this have to do with being punctual? Well, time is like fat. We all have some and like Victoria Secret we can manipulate it to our advantage.

Here’s how it works. Say you make a dental appointment for 3:00; put it on your calendar for 2:00 (be sure to write what it’s for). By the time the appointment rolls around, of course you’ll have forgotten your “Victoria Secret” and you’ll get to the appointment at the average time you run late (you do have an average) so say around 2:14.

The Victoria Secret Technique has just given you several gifts, including 46 minutes. First, you get the exhilaration of being early! If you’re always late you just don’t know what it feels like to be early! Second, in order to follow through with this gift from the secret, you need to have a BUT bag (BUT stands for Back Up Tasks). So, in that 46 minutes, you’ll have time to take care of tasks you’ve put in the bag to do while you wait. Your cup over-floweth with time!

Punctuality is showing high esteem for other people and their time.

The Victoria Secret Technique will help you fix your relationship with time and improve your relationships with those you’ve caused to wait for you. After all, punctuality is showing high esteem for other people and their time.

Contents of my BUT Bag    

1.Small note pad and pen for writing down brilliant ideas Nelly (my inner child) or I come up with

2. Needle and thread (white, black and beige), scissors and items to mend or hand stitch as they present themselves
3. Thank You Notes/envelopes/stamps
4. Inspirational book
5. Manicure kit
6. Dental floss
7. Magnifying mirror and tweezers

8.Cell phone (has addresses in it)

9. Back up projects

2. The Cheap Ugly Watch Trick

When everything opens up, plan to have fun!

Before the pandemic I was invited to a baby shower/potluck and I didn't know the woman who was giving it nor did I know the mother who is having a baby, actually twins. You may wonder why I went. It’s because I’d finally decided to get involved in a pro-life group in Portland, OR. It was the first time I’d taken part in any of their work and I blame my desire to join in, on Abby Johnson who wrote a book called “Unplanned.” It’s an amazing read. She was a big deal in Planned Parenthood who flipped and went over to the pro-life side of the fence.

To pee or not to pee, that is the question.

How would you like to attend a funeral for the death of your credit cards? That was my goal in 2002, when I faced $26,000 in credit card debt. I’d fallen victim to the lure of fake ownership and the do-it-now-pay-later trap! I’d been having real financial difficulty because my sister was ill and I falsely looked at my credit cards as income, hoping she’d get better and we’d be back in business! I wrote all about it in "The GOOD Book: Get Out Of Debt."

It was during that time that I got real familiar with the “voice” behind my spending behavior. If you are suffering from credit card debt, ask yourself this question: "How old have I been acting to be in the predicament I'm in? My answer to that question was, "nine years old!"

Please Attend an Official Credit Card Funeral

I actually had a funeral for my credit cards because I mourned their death and I wanted closure. They’d become friends that payed me when I didn’t have the money to get what I wanted. Flylady attended, joined by her husband, Robert, who is a real judge and who officiated. So not only did I get the funeral, it was official! And there’s more!

My husband videotaped it! I decided at the time, I should open the funeral up to other mourners and allow them to officially bury their credit cards and the rest is not only entertaining and enlightening it’s history! Don't miss this video.

I've been following this adorable couple on Youtube, with their crazy songs about COVID. My stepson Eric connected me with them, when I was telling him about how all the Hallmark Christmas movies have to have, snow, and a snowman contest and a snowball fight, a big city, a quaint town in New England, ice skating, lots of laughter that's too loud, a rich man and a sad, but adorable woman. That's when Eric told me about the Holdernesses and their song about the Hallmark Christmas movies! I was hooked.

"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!

In this video, I explain how the zones work to help you stay on track with housecleaning.

Created by the "Sidetracked Home Executives," the zones help you focus on one room at a time. Flylady's Flight Plan is the SHE Zone plan. We gave Flylady permission to use it to help you be organized in your home and if you get her Flight Plan but are still confused about how it works, this short video will help.  

This video is brought to you by "Sidetracked Home Executives: from pigpen to paradise!" It explains why we call ourselves SHEs. 

1. Face the problem in full light

2. Assess what you can do to solve it

3. Create a plan of action

4. Do at least one action every day according to the plan

5. Be patient and persistent

6. Know you’re not alone

1. FACE IT  

It’s never too late to change your life. When you don’t like something in your life you have to be able to illuminate the cause of the problem and what part you’ve taken to create it in the first place. If you can't see your part in the problem, and blame someone else for it, you have no control over the change. You can’t get anyone to do anything they don’t want to do.

One divorced woman wrote that she’d been married for 25 years and her husband had cheated on her more than once during the marriage and had ultimately left her for another woman. She said she hardly recognized her home or herself and she blamed him.

Then she realized, in spite of a cheating husband, she’d successfully raised two happy children and she needed to stop worrying about what her husband did and focus on what she was going to do.

She figured he probably felt he’d had a good excuse for the affairs because she’d gained a bunch of weight and was not attractive, she hadn’t had the energy or desire to be intimate with him because of her unhealthy body, the house had gotten out of control and she was a full time homemaker and felt guilty for her shortcomings.

It occurred to her if she were to get her act together, she’d get her life back, her body back and her home back. She didn’t mention anything about wanting to get her ex back. It took her a little over a year to reach her goal and she was looking forward to flaunting her new self (in a size eight, mother-of-the-bride suit) at their daughter’s wedding.

When you have leftover chicken, turn it into a delicious chicken salad you can use to make sandwiches or serve on a bed of lettuce. You can always freeze the chicken in a ziplock freezer bag if you don't have the time to make the chicken salad. Be sure to write what it is on the outside of the bag and date it. After a full ziplock bag is frozen, if it's not labeled, it'll be a mystery bag you'll be afraid of later and you'll never use it.

When you read more you'll see the recipe and watch me prepare it.

BOs (Born Organized) could never do what I do in this video. It'd drive them crazy.

But we lucky SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) have no problem doing this.  

Women are notorious for neglecting self-care in lieu of caring for others and when asked if they are selfish about taking care of themselves, most cringe and say, “no.” The cringe comes from guilt knowing they should have free time for themselves. There are two parts to this: one is you need to know what you’re going to do when you take time out (I'll go into that another day) and two you need to make time for the time outs. Here's just one way to make time. Watch the video and then give it a try. It's actually fun!! And it'll save time you could use to play.

Watch this 2.52 video and Pam will show you how to save a lot of time in the next year by NOT folding your sheets.

Remember your mom bundling you up so much you could hardly walk around outside?

This is one of the poems I wrote for my children's book: "Lettuce Bee Silly." If you have kiddows around, they might like to watch this short video.

Remember your mom bundling you up so much you could hardly walk around outside?

This is one of the poems I wrote for my children's book: "Lettuce Bee Silly." If you have kiddows around, they might like to watch this short video.

Men are weird when they're hungry....

especially tall ones. I learned this early in my marriage to Terry. When it was dinner time he used to always be ravenous and, quite frankly, I didn’t like him when he was that way. He was six feet, three inches of uncontrollable hunger and he’d drive me nuts! He didn’t act mean or cranky like some men do; he just acted like he’d skipped his meds. He’s sort of a combination of Cramer (in the sitcom Seinfeld) and Barney Fife (in The Andy Griffith Show). But when he’d get hungry he’d be like those two characters on speed. He’d dart around the kitchen trying to get closer to the pending meal. He’d find difficulty concentrating and our kitchen just wasn’t big enough for both of us, when he’d be famished.

A famished man definitely acts differently than a famished woman. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Swanson didn’t think to name their large portioned TV dinner, Hungry Woman Dinner, even though an average lady can put one away with no problem. No one addresses the idea of a hungry woman because, quite frankly, we never are. That’s because we snack. From the time we are youngsters; we spend more time in the kitchen and therefore have more access to food than men do. If we work outside of our homes we carry with us a snacking pattern gleaned from generations of female snackers. I would bet that more business women have snacks in their drawers at work than men do. And men don’t have purses (a natural snack satchel) to tuck treats.

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.

When you've scooped all you can out of a mayonnaise jar, there's usually enough left in the jar to make a creamy salad dressing? All you have to do is add some yummy ingredients, to the jar and shake it! 

Watch the video and see my secrets for making a delicious creamy salad dressing.