without preparing for a trip!

Okay, I go away for for a few days... and now I owe myself eleven blog posts!  It would have been twelve, but in the middle of the getting back into the routine I was able to write one post.

Without further ado... The saga of the last day before my trip to Napa, California.  It started like any other day of the week.  I got the kids up and off to school, walked the dogs and fed them too... then I began to prepare for the arrival of my brother-n-law who was going to stay out our kids. 

In one of my many trips up and down the stairs to check on the status of the laundry, I began to smell dog food.  That's when I notice the small pile of dog food beside our girl Maeve.  She had thrown up.  I was not phased, I just went ahead and cleaned it up.  She seemed okay, she began to play with her sister Red.  So, I went back to running up and down the stairs doing what I needed to be done.

In about an hour though, I realized something was wrong.  On yet another trip through the kitchen, I was hit with that bad smell again.  She had tossed her cookies again, but it this time it was more like her entire breakfast.  It took me longer to clean up, but I persevered.  Maeve though, curled up and went to sleep under the kitchen table--I knew then she wasn't feeling good.  

Figuring she was wore out, I left her be.  It wasn't the end.   At the same moment I received a call from school nurse requesting I come pick up my youngest son because he was sick, Maeve threw up again.  This time she was so wore out, she laid still and didn't move.  I called the school back, asked them to keep my son comfortable while I had to handle the situation at home.  At this point, I was seriously feeling like fate wasn't going to let me go on my trip. 

Thanking Old Man Winter for giving me a 60 (yep, 60) degree day... I took Maeve outside and hosed her off.  Shampooing her and then rinsed her again.  Grabbing a towel, I dried her off; then I went back inside to tackle the mess again.  Once I was done, I hauled butt to the school to get my son.

Although, my day didn't end there.  Yes, Maeve was sick a fourth time.  But it was the text message telling me my brother-n-law's GPS had routed him through major city near us, that upset me.  I couldn't help him.  I began to feel truly at my wits-end.  But I plodded on, repeating a silent mantra... I am going on this trip!

The rest of that day is a blur... I survived and did make my flight the next day!  Have you ever gone through challenges similar to this, wondering why me?

Without resolutions!

Yesterday I made a goal to write daily *again*.  Today, I’ve achieved that.  Tomorrow, I intend to continue.  On Wednesday, it may be hard but I will get up at the crack of dawn to fit it into the “old schedule” and perhaps make it a “new schedule.”  

Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and sit for five, maybe ten and read.  Better yet, drop me a comment and let me know if I should keep writing this blog. 

Now, onto the subject at hand resolutions!  Do you make them or not?  I reached a point in my life a few years ago when I just stopped making resolutions at the end of the year.  Sometimes, I make them day to day. 

For example, I stopped worrying about resolving to lose weight and started just eating better foods because consuming junk food leaves me feeling crappy.  I would rather feel happy and not bloated.  So I choose to eat better because I really do not like coming down from a “sugar high” or fall asleep mid-afternoon.  I have too much to enjoy… books to be read, kids to play board games with, recipes to try, and ohhh a blog to write daily!

To further stress this point, I had thrown out the scale five years ago, stopped weighing myself and in turn somehow lost 25 pounds.  Unfortunately, several family crises later, I gained it all back.  I’m still who I was before I lost the weight, after I lost it, and when I regained it.  Perhaps I was meant to weigh what I do.

Then there are the moments we resolve to be more organized, when I have had enough and clean up small areas of our home.  We all have them.  The walk-in-closet no one sees.  Or the spare room, that has become the store everything you can’t live without but really don’t use anymore.  And finally, worst of all either an attic or basement where we put the holiday decorations, seasonal cloths and camping/sports equipment.

A year ago I cleaned out my half of the walk-in-closet and stopped wondering *if* I could fit back into several outfits I wore when I was first marriage.  For those who don’t know I’ve been marriage more than twenty years and have three sons.  The oldest is old enough to *gasp* drive now.  I rearranged what cloths I kept by color.  Being a creative person I guess is what made me organize my clothes like a rainbow.  It has been a huge relief, when in a pinch, to go into my closet and be able to just grab an outfit in less than a minute compared to several. 

This week, I cleaned out two linen closets.  I found we have eight sets of twin sheets and only one kid is sleeping in a twin bed presently.  However, come summer when it’s time to go to Boy Scout Summer Camp I will know where all the twin size mattress pads and sheets sets are.  But the rest of us sleep on a full, queen or king size bed.  There were only three extra sets of sheets for king and one for the queen.  I’m missing an extra set for the full.  I filled a garbage bag full of old linens that were not even fit for our dogs to use for bedding.  I found stash of pillow cases I didn’t know we had too.  Best of all I filled a medium size shopping bag with plan cotton sheet sets we don’t use and plan to donate them.

Do you make resolutions? Goals? Promises?  Or do you just live day to day?

Without starting over... *again*

How many of you make the same resolutions every year on New Year's Eve?

Well I fell for it again and made all those resolutions about exercising more, eating better, writing daily blogs and/or posts, reading for the pure enjoyment of it, and of course purging then organizing every room in the house.

*sigh*

It's February 1st and it doesn't seem I made very much progress.

I've been walking now and again; because Old Man Winter has taken a vacation from visiting the east coast this year. But I could still exercise more.

I've been eating better, more wheat less white; and more fruits and vegetables less sugary sweats. But I guess I could eat smaller portions.

I've thought about blogging and I have posted to my FB page now and again. But I'd like to craft articles and perhaps a story or two and share it with others on my blog.

I've been reading books when time permits by Lynn Kurland and Amelia Grey. And when it doesn't I've started to listen to audio books too! But just last week I listened to Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich.

I do have one closet 50% purged and organized! *Yeah ME!* But there is still 99% of the house that needs to be purged and organized... There is no time like the now to get started... it's never too late!

Where's your New Year's Resolution List... is it under a pile of to do's? Or is it posted on a cork board with check marks? What's left on your list?

without the need to transform a room's purpose

Challenge, to remove the contents of room
and transform it back to original purpose.

How many of us have done this?
Several.

How many of us have done it on a time limit?
Answer, again... probably several.

That's the challenge I've put to myself.

Convert my home office back to a dining room.
Time limit three and half days.

Questions that arise...
What to throw out?
What to keep?
Where to store it?
Where will work?
How to arrange the furniture?
Will it all fit?

Have you performed this task?
How it did you do it?
What advise would you give others?
Why did you do it?

without needing to clean!

One thing I dread doing is cleaning...
most of the time I end up cleaning the house because company is coming!

Tonight we're having a few kids over to celebrate one of kids' birthdays.

So I must clean!

I started earlier in the week...
but work and evening activities have prevented major progress.

Now looking at the clock I realize, times ticking...

So I must clean!