Sometimes I feel like you're my baby ducklings and it's my duty to teach you the most valuable lessons in life.

Since I'm one of the original SHEs and have almost 40 years of SHEness under my belt, I know I can help many of you.

Today is the first of a two-part series to hopefully help you from making a huge mistake.

I always wanted my own garden. A couple years ago I called on a friend, Bob Youngs, who always has fabulous gardens for his expert advice.

Here's part one.

How it Feels When You Stop Procrastinating

One of my dear Club Organized members wrote a wonderful blog for me to share with you. Do you see yourself in it?

by Greta Heddy

My daughter says she's the queen of procrastination. In that case, I'm the Queen Mother. I even put off things I want to do. The things that I'm afraid to do, or don't want to do, get put off even longer.

Here's a short list of some of the tasks I didn't want to do from the recent past, with the number of months I procrastinated doing them in parentheses:

    - switching bills to my husband's name at our old house and taking over         the phone bill (4)

    - opening some of the bills from my daughter's appendectomy last fall (8)

    - signing up for a free membership to a gym though my health insurance       (2)

    - putting away boxes from my move (5)

    - changing doctors to get better care for my shoulder (1)

    - taking my car to the dealer because the fix they did last fall didn't work        (1)

    - starting various healthy habits: eating correctly (4); getting enough               sleep (2); exercise (years)

I'm not here to tell you how to get yourself to stop procrastinating. I'm not going to tell you about the negative consequences of putting things off. You know these. I'm going to tell you how it feels when you finally do the things you've been avoiding.

I’ve been asking my Club Organized members to give me examples of going to Plan B either because there was no plan in the first place or Plan A failed. My example was, always putting off getting a gift for someone until the day of, or within the hour of the party. That’s how I came up with more than 100 funny ways to give money. In the end, my disorganization saved me time shopping, money for driving to the mall and my sanity. I always knew I could come up with something I’d put off until the last minute. For more information on this great tool click the box at the bottom of this page.

This email came from by Jill Bowen, one of my charter members. (You can join the club if you can answer “YES” to at least five scenarios on the admissions exam.)  To take the test click on the word "YES". 

Swamp Thing

This is your lucky day!

You get two super delicious recipes:

Yummy guacamole and a low carb bread that will NOT cause you to gain weight.

It’s Never Too Late to Say Thank You!

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 (it takes less than five minutes to write a thank you note, address an envelope and put a stamp on it) off in the mail.

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.

Great ways to put joy into boring household chores.

Have you ever noticed that most household tasks are rather mindless? You know, how much thought goes into chopping vegetables for a stir-fry? Not much, except maybe to keep your fingers out from under the knife. Making the bed? Not much. Folding clothes? Not much. Scrubbing the kitchen floor? Not. Vacuuming? Ho hum.

If you really want to make it fun, so it will get done, these tips will help.

1. Listen while you work

Llistening to audiobooks is one of the best ways to actually enjoy housework. The time virtually flies.

Listening to music also helps and the faster the tempo, the faster you’ll get the job done. Try putting on some Spanish music. OLE!

2.  Watch a movie

I still iron. I love that pressed look, but I don’t love to iron, unless I watch a movie while I do it.

I set up the ironing board in the family room, pick a movie I’ve seen before (so I don’t have to keep looking up like I would if it were the first time I’d seen the movie) and before I know it I have it all done and my room smells like fresh laundry.

3.  Race against time

These aren't just for kids. They are great for grownups who feel they need a little "pick me up" in the afternoon but don't want sugar!!!

Married 43 years. Divorced 39. Still owes thank you notes!

One of the common threads in all the responses to a recent admissions exam for Club Organized was regret and guilt over not sending thank you notes.

One woman was so sorry and guilty for not sending them for her wedding 43 years earlier and she’d been divorced for 39 years! I can't help loving this woman!

The amazing thing we do to ourselves when we don’t thank someone is remember it forever. Every time you use the toaster you think of Aunt Sally and how she never got a thank you for it, and now she’s dead. It’s so easy to put off writing thank you notes, by thinking we just don’t have time and when we do have time, like when we’re waiting at the dentist or the DMV, we don’t have the cards to write.

Let’s fix this problem now. Here are two easy answers.

One is to read about my BUT Bags which hold more than just thank you notes and come in handy when you have to wait. (BUT stands for Back Up Tasks.) http://blog.makeitfunanditwillgetdone.com/young-heart    

No More All or Nothing at All

There's a huge difference between a drastic transformation and change that takes place as gracefully and gradually as a baby turns into a toddler. But when we're fed up with our old ways we tend to want an instant fix. That's what impatience is all about.

Take weight for example, we want the weight to come off faster than we put it on. We get frustrated with a loss of just one pound in a week, yet if we gained a pound a week, we'd gain 50 pounds in a year. I don't know anyone who's done that and you probably don't either.

As SHEs we tend to have that notion: All or nothing at all. When we want to get organized usually we've come to a place where every room is laced with chaos. When we decide to fix our finances it's when the power's been shut off or we max a few credit cards and sink into financial depression. When we want to lose weight it's usually because we've let it go so long that it has our attention. We're not like the frog that stays in the water as it is heated to boiling and cooks to death, instead, we schlep along until we snap.

To do, or to be?

In his breath-taking book Many Lives, Many Masters, Dr. Brian Weiss M.D. (a renowned and highly reputable psychiatrist) said, "The steady day-in and day-out pounding of undermining influences such as a parent’s scathing criticisms, could cause even more psychological trauma than a single traumatic event. These damaging influences, because they blend into the everyday background of our lives, are even more difficult to  remember and exorcise.

A constantly criticized child can lose as much confidence and self-esteem as one who remembers being humiliated on one particular, horrifying day. A child whose family is impoverished and has very little food available on a day-to-day basis might eventually suffer from the same psychological problems as a child who experienced one major episode of accidental near-starvation. Those day-in and day-out poundings of negative forces have to be recognized and resolved with as much attention as that paid to the single overwhelmingly traumatic event."

I loved what Dr. Weiss said and I’ve realized, because of my daily attention to Nelly my inner child, I've been able to neutralize the day-in and day-out poundings of the past by becoming aware of her against the background of my daily life that’s going on now. When we shine our attention daily on the inner child, and confront negative feelings in the moment, 

using love, understanding and compassion, we can almost be like our own psychologist helping ourselves to remember and exorcise the source of negative experiences from the past.

Loving yourself is NOT a selfish notion!