I'm Off...

This morning I'm leaving for a little getaway...till SUNDAY.  

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!

I'm a little excited to get away.  This will be my 3rd year of going to a scrapbooking/Great Beginnings retreat, just a couple of hours away from tiny town.  

It's fabulous.  Great food (which I don't have to cook or even think about,) two wonderful friends to chat endlessly with, times of prayer and reflection, AND scrapbooking.

What?!?  You didn't know I scrapbook?!?  Hmmm...I never talk about it?!?  Yeah...that's because I went on this retreat last January, scrapped my brains out, and then started this little blog in February.  Guess what I have not done since last January....scrapbook.  

But, I have unrealistic expectations high hopes of getting caught up.  Even better than that, is just taking a brief break from reality...with friends.  

Maybe you could all say a quick prayer for my hubby as he becomes a single dad/pastor trying to prepare two sermons for Sunday kinda guy...with 3 little boys to help ;)

PS - I'm fully aware anything I've cleaned or organized the past 2 weeks will be undone in my absence...it's the price I pay...and it's totally worth it.  Amen.

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Love Me Some Yellow...

It's done.

And I love love love it. Makes me smile.

Kitchen before:

Kitchen After:

It didn't take long at all, which is the benefit of a small kitchen ;)

I also picked up a couple of real plants the other day...Ben couldn't believe it, he asked me twice if they were really real. He's given them a week to live before the boys destroy them or they just wither up and die from living with us. He's probably right...I won't get too attached. But they're sure cute in the mean time.

And the last of the winter home makeover is these cute green pillows that I got at WalMart for $5 a piece. (Ignore the dog, he wouldn't move)

Now, I've got some packing to do...more on that tomorrow.

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Scarily Do-able...

I have some deep stuff to share with ya'll, but it just doesn't seem to be making its way from my mind to my fingers. Must not be time yet :)

So....today I am:

• excited about the lovely shade of yellow that I will be painting my kitchen...tomorrow! YAY!
• glad that for the most part, my house is much, MUCH easier to pick up than it was pre-organizational tangent. Good news.
• Pondering our newest Ladies Bible Study called Living Beyond Ourselves by Beth Moore. We started last night, and I am so looking forward to living beyond myself.
• which leads me to something so FAR beyond myself I swore I'd never in my right mind consider it...half marathon. HALF, not the whole shebang. 13.1 miles...still sounds terrible doesn't it?!? I printed off a customized training schedule according to how much we currently run and guess what? It looks do-able. Scarily do-able. All of me needs to be living beyond my own abilities and limitations, and instead relying on the power I have, in me, through the Holy Spirit.
• Missing my comfort zone a little...
• eating Wheat Thins...why do those little crackers have to be so tasty?!?

Seriously, I gotta wrap this up...my boringness today is...welll...boring me :)

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To Find You...

My faith in Jesus defines me. I know this. It's who I am, to the core of my being. He changed me...and in still in the process, but without a doubt, I cannot for one second deny the change He's done.

I know who I was. And I know who I am now.

When someone close to me, whom I love immeasurably, walks away from that same faith...it hurts in a way I can't explain. Sometimes they're aware of what they're doing, and sometimes...not.

Last night, as I was driving to a friends Tupperware party, I was stewing about the situation with this one I care about so much. Playing conversations in my head, over and over. Some of the conversations were real...others were imaginary...you know the ones...where I'm all tellin' them what they need to hear, and they're all listening and responding positively...funny how it goes perfectly in my head and never that great in real life :)

Anyways, I was also making a mental list of all the possible reasons they were turning their back on a God who is so obviously trying to love them, and WHY this was such a bad, bad move.

I came up with a pretty good list.

But the list...it didn't make me feel better. It gave me a sense of hopelessness.

I happened to be listening to a CD that I've listened too since I was 15. It's an Audio Adrenaline Greatest Hits, and a song came on.

This song, in particular, I've never cared for. Something about the style of it makes me skip over it every. single. time. But last night, I know without a doubt God meant for me to hear the words to that song, because as I moved to push the skip button, I suddenly knew I needed to hear what that song said.

And, like so many other things in my life, something I didn't care for at all has now become one of my favorites.







I'm lost and broken all alone on this road
The wheels keep turning but the feeling is gone
when I fear I'm on my own
But you remind me i am not alone


You say..


I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you
(For you alone)I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you



It's dark and lonely and the path is unclear
Can't move my feet because I'm frozen with fear
And you say, my child, my child
I am always here, I'm by your side


I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you
(For you alone) I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you


You're never too far down
I promise you'll be found,
I'll reach into the mud,
the miry clay
pursue you to the end,
like a faithful friend,
nothing in this world,
will keep me away,


I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you
(For you alone) I'd leave ninety-nine
Leave them all behind
To find you... to find you..



I was filled with peace. All of my own words were washed away with the truth this song brings out of scripture. The song reads like a love letter from Jesus. He pursues us, because He loves us...and He knows where each one of us is at today, the good, the bad, and the ugly in each of us. He's not intimidated when we run from Him...and some of us know we've been running for a looooong time.



And He PURSUES us. Nothing in this world can keep Him away. Nothing.

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We Have a Winner

I am so excited to give this book away!

Without further ado, the number that the random generator chose out of 94 comments is..... *drum roll*

#3, Cindy @ Simply Cindy...YAY!

I used this generator (because I couldn't find the one everyone else seems to use...someone let me know what the link to that one is for future giveaways;)

Now Cindy, you're gonna totally have to let us know how it goes, OK?!?

And for those of you who've already ordered the book, you must MUST let me know how it goes.

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Progress & Giveaway

I really am on a tangent here.

It consumes my thoughts and conversations and has completely taken over my blog.

The House That Cleans Itself. Good book. Very good book. Gonna give-away a copy for anyone interested ;)

But first, I must force you to look at pictures of my progress. Because my friends...I have earned it. Organizing...it's hard work. HARD.

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big fat mess that comes when you start going through stuff has pretty much disappeared...except for the attic storage room, which I don't want to talk about now...I'm pretending it doesn't exist for at least a few weeks. A girl can only take so much, ya know?!?

Pictures. I promised them.

I'm trying to use the principals that I talked about here.

Let's start in my mud room. I LOVE my mud room. Before the book, I had thought that it was fairly organized, yet I was ALWAYS frustrated with the boys coats and shoes left all over the place. After all, there were hooks! After taking a different view of the room, I realized that the hooks were actually too high for the boys to reach, so they didn't bother. Easy fix. We moved the top hooks higher and then placed 3 hooks at little boy level. Each boy has their own hook and boots go underneath their hook.

Next was the kitchen rug. It was a cute red one that looked adorable...only RIGHT after being vacuumed, otherwise it always looked dirty. Drove me nuts. I figured that I needed a rug that cleaned itself, so to speak. So I got this little number.It's woven bamboo and it hides all the junk. Looks clean even when it's not. Perfection.

The next project is painting the kitchen. I love the current shade of green, but I think I'll love a deep bright yellow even more!

Plus, the kitchen is the easiest room in my house to paint. It wins.

On to the bedrooms. Yikes. I have currently hauled 6 garbage bags of stuff to Goodwill. After cleaning out my closet to just the stuff I actually like, I also have two containers to go to consignment (which I've never done before)

Oh yeah, I labeled them. Little trick I like to use: Clear packing tape over the label, helps it stay better. Genius, I know. *cough*

Noah and Eli share a room. It normally looks like this:

Now, it looks like this:I know...miraculous. They actually gasped and jumped up and down when they saw it...mostly because they could actually get in the room now. In the far back corner you'll see the plastic drawers (with labels) that became their entertainment/Lego center. These had been in Jake's room, but he didn't really need them. Now they actually KNOW where stuff should go. I thought they did before...but really, how could they?!? I was expecting too much.

Simplified. That's all. These hooks are behind their bedroom door. It used to be stuffed full of sweatshirts that neither one knew whose was whose (thanks to hand-me-downs) I hung up the ones they didn't like as well and then gave them each 2 hooks.

My closet. Yesterday I mentioned my excessive amount of clothes mixed with my lack of closet space. Something had to give. The clothes I don't really love had to go. And it feels GREAT! I forgot to take before pictures, but here's the after:

The best thing is...I can actually see what I've got now, and it makes it a lot easier to put outfits together.

*PHEW*

Now, if you're like me and you want some PRACTICAL help with organizing...leave me a comment and let me know and you'll be registered in The House That Cleans Itself giveaway (and an email to reach you if you're not a blogger.)  It's only the book. I can't come help you. I've got my own mess.

Oh, and even if you don't want/need the book, you can still totally leave me a comment, just let me know :)

Happy organizing friends...A winner will be randomly generated tomorrow!

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It's the Little Things...

What does one do when you live in the land of frozen tundra? You find little ways to brighten things up a bit...at least I do anyways.

Here's the latest.



This cupboard used to sit in the hallway upstairs. It held 1/2 my clothes. Apparently, when they built houses 100+ years ago, they didn't have a ton of clothes that they stored but rarely wore. Interesting. Makes me think maybe I don't need to have them either....more on that tomorrow...back to my point...we moved it from upstairs to the living/dining room and it's gonna get some paint, I just have to decide on a color...probably will be black. Open it up and:

and notice the fantastic labels :)...I know, I know, it's a tad excessive...but you know me, it's all or nothin'. I even used recycled containers, which makes me a little light green I think :)

I added these to the table, and you know what...they make me happy. And the boys have only destroyed a few of them thus far. Considering our record around here, I think that's pretty impressive. (yep, they're real)

The next project was the bathroom. It needed some happiness.

Before: Shower curtain

The after, much happier version:

It was out with the brown and taupe towels and in with the yellow and green.*sigh* It really does help. I'm not done yet though...more to come...when I figure it out :)

And last but not least, tomorrow will be more on my organization tangent. And in honor of my love for the book, and the fact that pretty much everyone that commented said they NEED it, I'm gonna do a give-away...OF THE BOOK! YAY! But ya can't register to win till tomorrow...see you then!

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