towels, and the change in seasons? Do you like the time when day turns to night, night turns to day, each different day of the week, the growth in goodness of your children and grandchildren, new stuff like cars, shoes, books and such? Don't you love a change of scenery, a vacation, and even “the change of life” has its very good qualities.

Why do you think you have a problem with being organized? Has the problem been with you for as long as you can remember? Could it be genetic? Does it seem to you some people are just born organized and some aren't, and you're one that isn't and you wish you were? 

There seems to be a pill for everything and there is one for SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives), but you don't need to take it, when you decide to get organized just enough to please you. In this blog you'll go on a trip to a place where you'll get organized enough to keep your personal path to joy swept regularly.

Do you try to stay in a good mood as much as you can? What I’ve noticed is that first you’ve got to catch yourself in a bad mood and then you have to want to get out of it. Sometimes it’s just plain fun to wallow. But wallowing never helps the reason for the wallow in the first place. Sooner or later, like the line in that old song says, you've gotta, “Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”

Would you agree that happy thoughts run at a higher frequency than say guilty or angry thoughts do? Have you ever noticed when you’re happy you’re kinder to others, more compassionate and understanding and you have way more energy?

Staying in a good mood takes watching how you feel and being selfish about how you feel. So here are 7 ways to get out of that bad mood as soon as you find yourself in one.

1. Pick out a happy feeling and feel it

When you’re in a really bad mood, take a minute and think of a happy time. You have many to choose from, so just pick one. Once you’ve picked one, dig it up. Remember the people and the circumstance. Hear the laughter and feel the love. We SHEs have such a grand ability to pull into our mind’s eye any occasion we wish to re-experience. 

You probably didn't know my sister and I had a dance career. Well okay, it was only for one day. After you watch this video you'll probably figure out why.

The name of my sister’s and my first book was called,

Sidetracked Home Executives: from Pigpen to Paradise.

After the book was released we were invited to have a half-hour television show on Christian Broadcasting. The show was called "Clean Up Your Act." The producer got the idea (when she heard the song I wrote, "From Pigpen to Paradise") to have that song be the open to the show. After the open was produced, the head honchos at Proctor and Gamble (our sponsor) didn’t like it and it was replaced by a different open. 

Have you ever spent time on a project and then it never worked out? The television show did work out and we got to do two seasons, but the video you're about to see is a perfect example of something that didn't fly. We saved the footage, even though it never aired on television. Now it's just funny and a little embarrassing. (My sister could have been a show girl with those legs, but at 5'2" my legs are not the kind that make it on stage. 

If you love Mexican food, but instantly think about all the carbs in most of it, you can un-carb any high carb dish, with minor replacements. 

Watch this video from my kitchen as I prepare burritos that'll take you right over the border in a low-carb way.

Olah! Oh, by the way, if you are serious about living a low carb lifestyle, I recommend Gary Taubes' book "Why We Get Fat and What We Can do About it." It was this science writer for the New York Times that completely changed my husband Terry's and my life. Subsequently I took two years to write "The Mouth Trap: the butt stops here!" Documenting my switch to a happy, healthy way to eat. Just click on the cover to learn more.

Love,

Pam 

Is your kitchen streamlined, efficient and a joy in which to cook? A couple of years ago, I took you on a pity trip and so many of  you went with me! I loved all your responses and I think the "trip" helped many pare down the contents of their clothes closets! You all are so fun! If you didn't take that prity trip with me and if your clothes closet contains more than what you love and wear today, be sure and read my blog. Let’s Take a Pity Trip

Today I’m throwing a pity party and I hope you’ll have one too.This exercise is designed to help you dejunk your kitchen. Let’s pretend we’re going to throw a huge dinner party, only, just like on the pity trip you have to pretend you’re disadvantaged and this party is going to be as wretched as you can make it. 

Many have a hard time letting go and it really doesn’t have to be that way. Now letting go of a person whom you love and he no longer loves you is a boo hoo, hard kind of letting go and it may take time to get over, but you know the saying: If he doesn't love you, let him fly away, unless you want to play zoo keeper. But the decluttering kind of letting go can actually be fun, because of a test question you can ask every time you get stuck holding onto an item that needs to go.

You'll learn what that test question is in a minute. First, here's a little story. Because of a contest called Project CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) I’ve been in over 100 homes that were crammed with too much stuff. My sister and I would pick a winner in a city and armed with television cameras, newspaper journalists and photographers; we’d go into the home of the winning family and de-junk a room. The “befores” and “afters” were always media fodder.

I remember one specific winner vividly. She was a physician (even doctors can have too much stuff) and she wanted us to help her with her personal, walk-in closet. It was jam-packed with fashions that spanned two decades and four sizes. She dressed well. Her clothes were purchased at high-end dress shops and department stores and most were designer.

If you are a caregiver, do you find it hard to open your home by asking for help to organize it?

If that's a problem for you, this story may help you to ask for help if you need it.

Incidentally, we all need help in areas in which we aren't competent. We get accountants to help with our bookkeeping, and lawyers to help with legal issues and we're willing to get help with electricity and plumbing problems, but for some reason, when it comes to our homes, we caregivers have a crazy notion we should be able to take care of everything ourselves.

 Just one very simple thought that perhaps you haven't thought before will have you opening up your home for help.

When you’re blessed with wonderful neighbors, their presence just adds to your well-being. Shannon, my next-door neighbor, is a gift from God to me and all of our neighbors. (She’s on the cover of “The Mouth Trap: the butt stops here!” and she’s always ready to help, even though she’s an extremely busy mom, teacher, spiritual adviser for women in her church, wife and devoted daughter to her parents.)

To help me with ideas for a long car trip with kids for my appearance on "Afternoon Live," a television talk show in Portland, Oregon, Shannon wrote out some fabulous ideas for making long, car trips with kids more fun and easy. Unfortunately, I didn’t see her email until the day after I was on the show! But lucky for you, I’ve put her email in this blog so you can reap the benefits of the wisdom in her wonderful ideas. (I’ve also given you a link to my segment on television about this topic, so you’ll really be ready for a fabulous trip with those little ones. And now, HERE’S SHANNON!

As a parent, one thing I always tried to do when my kids were young was to create a sense of wonder and magic in their lives. I rarely heard them say, “I’m bored!”

Summer is the perfect season to make fun childhood memories. My mom was a master at creating memories for my sister and me. Thinking about why my summers as a kid were so special, I have renewed admiration for what my mother put into planning our summers.

She was a BOP (Born Organized Person). She always had a daily agenda for the summer months and it included household chores first and then fun. Attention moms, use fun activities you plan as a reward for getting the mundane household responsibilities accomplished every day.