Do you like to be on the receiving end of a surprise?

A “little” surprise is like being outside on a chilly, spring morning without a coat when the sun pops out from behind a big cloud and warms your back. Like Mother Nature executing one of her random acts of kindness. Here's a trio of daffodils getting their little backs warmed. Just getting this photo from my photographer husband was a little surprise that made me smile!

Most people don't like those big deal birthday bombshells where you walk into your house and the whole neighborhood yells “surprise,” or those horrid surprises on your credit card statement, right after Christmas. 

Ask everyone in the family, "What one thing could I do to help you be happy?"

This blog is about the times when your husband comes home from work with a single rose for you or your child surprises you by doing a chore you didn’t ask him or her to do.

If you thought to yourself, ‘Ha, Carl’d never come home with a single rose for me,’ or Jenny wouldn’t lift a finger if I didn’t ask her to, maybe you need to ask yourself when was the last time you surprised Carl or helped Jenny with a chore?

Do you have friends you rarely see, but when you do it’s like you’ve never been apart? Dianna, my best friend in high school, was such a person. When we graduated, she moved to California and we saw each other once every 10 years.

My husband Terry and I became low-carbers five years ago.

Was it tough to give up lots of things?  YES! 

Do we love our low-carb meals? YES!

Do we love being healthy? YES!

Do we love being in control of our weight? YES!

Will your answer be YES! too?

Today I want to show you how to cook a low-carb pizza that's absolutely delicious.

by Judith Robinson

Before you read Judith's insightful and entertaining blog I want to thank her for contributing such classy writing! She's a SHE (Sidetracked Home executive) complete with a brilliant mind and humility that doesn't always go with one so talented. Just a note: the photo is not of Judith's 40-year-old, (she has three daughters) but of my son Michael at his 40th birthday party. Yeah, I made the hat complete with 40, one-dollar bills (you can see how thrilled he is with his gift). Michael turned 50 this February and like Judith, I've needed parenting books for all my adult children as they continue to grow and change. When were we told that once we're moms we're always moms?

What to Expect When Your Child Turns Forty

by Judith Robinson

That’s the book I’d like to see! 

There’s no shortage of parenting advice for that prenatal crowd. Bookstore shelves are packed with parenting advisers of every ilk. Don’t want to let the baby cry 'till she gives up? Keep looking. Next shelf down it’s nature’s way all the way: family bed, wearable cradles. He’ll never cry. From Dr. Sears to Dr. Roebuck they’ve got all the answers, and they are as different as pink is from blue. 

It's Never Too Late to Change

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 what 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, could erase that excuse and down the road, he'd wonder what happened.

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

How to REALLY clean the cabinet under the kitchen sink

As part of organizing the kitchen, do you clean the cabinet under your kitchen sink once a month? Happiness is a clean kitchen, but the old saying, Out of sight out of mind can really be true when it comes to this cabinet. If your knees had eyes, they'd see under the sink when the cupboard was open and you’d be down on them with a bucket of sudsy water and a brush at least once a month to clean under there.

To show you how to clean under the sink and to prove to you how clean my kitchen cabinet is, I got into it! Actually when we shot this video Terry didn’t think I could fit in the cabinet, and I wasn’t about to let him think that! The rest is history as you'll see in the short video. 

You Can Stop Struggling Right Now

You look around at all the unfinished tasks and sigh. Most are the result of an interruption by a needy family member, or from taking on more than you can handle so people will like you, or from your own mind (because the task got boring) or, or or.

You look at the time and discover you're in a hurry to be somewhere in a few minutes, but you're not completely dressed and you can't find your other shoe. You sigh, put shoes on that match and were left in the doorway to the family room and think to yourself, ‘I’ll clean this place up when I get back.’

But when you get out into your day, away from the CHAOS you left behind, you're in a completely different world. It’s like you've jetted from Alaska to Hawaii and you get a false sense of freedom from all there is to do back home. It's only when you get back to the mess you left that you pick up the inner fight with yourself for being so disorganized. 

Many struggle with disorganization. If the above scenario seems a little familiar, how would they feel if being disorganized didn’t overwhelm you? Take a few moments (and a couple of deep breathes) and get that struggle-free feeling. You know the feeling you get when you put your hands in warm water or when you open the door and greet a person you love or when you look at a surene photo like this one Terry took when we were in Austria.

See you can feel at peace right now! When you get the flu your body doesn’t assess the situation, it just mechanically gets to work with its immune system and it makes you slow down, drink water and rest.

When your home has the flu (every room is HOURS or DAYS away from "company ready") it can easily be overwhelming and in that state of mind you can freeze, bust out of the place or retreat under the covers. All those actions could make things worse if you aren't open for guidance from within. The guidance comes when you're at peace.

When you freeze, you are in a place of choice and when in that place if you asked yourself, “What is one thing I can do now?” you’ll be directed to do something. If you feel like busting out, do it! Go for a drive, or a walk or a run. Have lunch with a friend or take a book to the park and read in the shade of a big tree. If you feel like retreating under the covers, do it. Get some rest and when you get up refreshed ask that question again, “What is one thing I can do now?” If the thought comes “I need help,” get some help! There are BOs (born organized) everywhere just itching to share their talent of organizing with you.

Have you had it?

That’s how you can feel living a disorganized lifestyle. It's like living in a continual storm. But when you hit bottom with words like the declarations above, you're in the perfect place to change. Someone said, “The bottom is a great place to be because there’s nowhere to go but up.” Not until you hit bottom can you surrender to your situation and ask for the guidance that’s available 24/7. That’s when miracles happen. In that moment of surrender you'll be reminded that even though you're in a mess, you're in the right place with the right people at the right time. The only element you lack is direction.

DIRECTION! You can deal with that! Direction involves choices! You just need a map to follow and you'll be fine! For me it was the 3x5 card file system my sister and I came up with and the reason we became known as The Slob Sisters.

When my sister and I had had it with our home organization skills, that’s the first time we considered the word “direction” in reference to our problem. We weren’t lazy? Come to think of it, we worked harder than those BOs (Born Organized) who refuse to make work for themselves by being disorganized.

I knew I wasn't crazy? I'd been able to maintain a high level of creativity within my messy lifestyle, have three happy children, continually adjust to the personality of a very unhappy mate and remain stable.

I wasn’t stupid? Come to think of it, NO! I was very smart though my disorganized habits sabotaged my schooling so my grades didn’t reflect my intellect.

So I wasn’t lazy, crazy or stupid even though my messy life could certainly have made it look that way. When I look back on the way I used to live, the only question I have today is, “What was I thinking?”

As Carolyn Myss would say, “If I can talk Angel 101 to you for a moment, consider this.” Let’s pretend I'm one of your guardian angels and you have prayed to get organized. I've been assigned to work your case. I love the assignment because I’ve always loved you and to work with you personally in an answer to your prayer, is exciting to me!

Your Angel is With You

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.

After Party Meltdowns

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

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

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

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

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