March 30, 2022

What would you do if you could do anything you wanted and you’d be guaranteed success? I asked myself that years ago in a workshop at my church. My answer was, become a minister in the very church in which I was attending the self-help workshop. The interesting thing about my answer was that being disorganized was standing in the way of that dream and I knew I needed to clean up my act before I could ever help others to clean up theirs.

My disorder colored everything in my life with an ugly grey that clouded my joy. It affected my finances, my relationship with my kids and husband, my health, my friendships and my spiritual life. Why couldn’t my answer to my question have been; get organized? I’ll tell you why, getting organized didn’t sound fun! Becoming a minister sounded fun to me. I remember a friend of mine asking me why I wanted to be a minister.

Me: “Hmmm, well, I know what I don’t want to do as a minister.”

Friend: “Like what?”

Me: “I don’t want anyone calling me at home, interrupting me with some personal problem.”

Friend: “Isn’t that what happens with a congregation?”

Me: “I guess, but I’ll get an unlisted number.” (This was way before cell phones.)

Friend: “What else don’t you want to do as a minister?”

Me: “I don’t want to do christenings, funeral services, or weddings. They’re all too formal.”

Friend: “Wow, what’s left that you want to do?”

Me: “Uhh, I want my sermons to be lighthearted, upbeat and funny. I want to be like a spiritual standup comic and after the service I want the people to line up to shake my hand and rave about how happy they are because of my message and how wonderful I am to write such great material.”

Friend (who became a minister): “Hmm, I wonder if becoming a minister is the line of work for you. Maybe you should just look at being a stand-up comic who loves God, and needs to get organized.” (My friend was a B.O. and knew I struggled with disorganization.)

Every single day we're given opportunities to grow and enjoy life more! (Even in a pandemic.)

Years ago, 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. (Could be the way some of us feel because of COVID.)

But 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.

One thing most of us learn, as we age, is that life changes and we don’t see it happening, because it happens so gradually. The older we get, we realize how important it is to enjoy every single day to the max. When we're growing up, we're too busy raising our families to think much about savoring each day. Most of our younger years are a blur of hard work, chaos, and fatigue laced with joy and a lot of noise.

We notice the changes when we look back on photos taken when we were younger, and can think, ‘I looked good, why did I think I needed to lose weight? I looked young then, so why did I think I looked old? Why was I so hard on myself?’ Most of the younger women I know are so hard on themselves and I wish I could hug them and remind them that they look just fine. You young moms, be easy with yourselves. Everything’s okay.

Here’s a thought. No matter how old you are, if you want to look ten years younger instantly, the next time you get into a discussion about age, say that you're ten years older than you are and watch the compliments flow to you! If you laughed at my joke, think about what you do to get people to think you are younger than you are. My "real" advice is next.

What can a dog do to help us with “getting organized?” More than you might think. Ours (Maggie) doesn’t have a “TO D0” list (at least on paper), but she does have a mental list that follows a routine, and we can learn a lot about getting organized from our furry, stick-chasing BFFs.

Establish a routine that starts at sunrise.

Maggie’s alarm clock is the sun and although she hits the “snooze” button all day long, she starts her day with the excitement that it’s getting light outside.

As soon as the front door is open for her, she races down the walk, turns left to the steppingstones to the field beside our house, and carefully chooses the perfect place to squat and simultaneously smell what’s going on in the morning air.

Before she comes back in the house, she reads the current news, stopping several times to analyze the fine print, picking up secret messages left by nighttime tourists. When a note is especially fascinating to her, she pulls up a front paw the way pointers do when they’ve found the trail of a tasty bird. Maggie doesn’t point her tail to finish off a “professional” pointer pose, probably because her tail has a permanent curve in it, but her body language tells us she’s found some very juicy gossip.

I’m bursting to tell you about our New Year’s Eve Party because it was THE MOST FANTASTIC party I’ve ever thrown or attended! It was rather spur-of-the-moment, but you SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) know the beauty of “the spur.”

The way it worked out, all our kids and grandkids were able to attend! So many of our friends all over the US joined us, I don’t have a count!

After being so sick most of December and then rallying right before Christmas, by New Year’s Eve our home could have been used for a set on a Hallmark Christmas movie, it was so festive. Our tree was to the ceiling, dripping in diamond, emerald and ruby lights and my dress! Well! Red silk, floor-length with a slit just to my knee, tightly fitting, showing off my very slim body (caused by my thyroid condition). I looked stunning!

 We had a string ensemble from the Oregon Symphony playing a long list of my favorite holiday songs, a scrumptious buffet, with lobster and a baron of beef catered by a company in Portland, Oregon that had escaped the riots and was thriving. All our guests were told it was black tie, so the place was humming with tuxedos and beautiful gowns. I declared the party a “no mask” affair so we could see what our guest’s mouths were doing; something that’s been missing for a couple of years.

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!