I’m so excited to be featured today on the wonderful site iLash Girls. Each month Leigh Anne and Sherra provide one word to concentrate on and put into practice for the month. January’s word is FOCUS. I love this word and loved sharing my thoughts about it including why I think multi-tasking is way over-rated.
Oh and you’ll also notice I finally updated my picture although I’m still hanging onto my baskets for dear life :)
Just wanted to pop in to announce the winner of the Nov/Dec Round-Up and newest participant in Aby Garvey’s Organizing 101 Online Workshop: Learn How to Get Organized beginning January 13th is:
Congratulations Jennifer!
Much thanks to Simplify 101 for their sponsorship!
Okay you gals have convinced me to keep the round-up going for another year. Thank you for your encouragement and support and especially a big thank you to all of you who participated in 2008!
As many of you suggested, this year we are going to concentrate on smaller projects rather than entire rooms. For example in May we will be concentrating on surfaces in our home and you’ll be able to choose any surface in your home you’d like. It could be your dining room table, a kitchen counter top or even your bedside table. It’ll be up to you whether you do one surface or many. I’m hoping that the accomplishment of getting one project done will be the motivation you need to keep going.
Here’s the specifics:
What: Org Junkie’s Monthly Round- Up
Who: Anyone who wants to participate, everyone is invited. You can do one month or all, just jump in when you want to.
When: Every month in 2009
Why: To conquer various tasks in your home, to be motivated to continue and to be inspired by other participants.
How: At the end of every month I’ll put up a Mr. Linky for you to link up to your before and after pictures of the project you tackled as per the monthly theme. Please feel free to use the banner above or button over there in the sidebar if you like.
Prizes: I’m definitely hoping to continue to offer prizes. Again it will depend on sponsorship (if you are interested please let me know!) and as the prizes become available I’ll update this post.
Schedule:
January ~ Filing Cabinet (those pesky paper piles!)
February ~ Recipes
March ~ Memorabilia/Pictures
April ~ Closet/Cupboard
May~ Surface/Shelf
June ~ Vehicle
July ~ Hair supplies/makeup
August ~ Command Central
September ~ Purse/Bag
October~ Drawer
November ~ Toys
December ~ Fridge/Freezer
I’m so very excited about this as many of these areas I need to accomplish in my own home and will be tackling them along with you. I also hope to offer encouragement and practical solutions throughout the month related to the different areas.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.
Let’s have fun and get stuff done! Yeehaw!!
Oh my what a week. If you’ll indulge me I’d love to share with you a few of my favorite things from the course of the past week.
First up taking down the Christmas decorations and packing it all back up into their boxes for another year. Can you hear my sigh of relief?
Such a great feeling this is when it is done. My living room feels new and fresh again with the help of moving a few things around. Not anything major just enough for me to feel like there has been some change.
Do you remember when I showed you my chest? I scored this beautiful little treasure trove at the Value Village for $6.99. It took me awhile to figure out what I was going to put into it but looky here. It was just perfect for holding all my Christmas CD’s.
One of my favorite Christmas gifts from my husband was some additional pieces for my Crazy Daisy collection. I love these beautiful pieces of color and fun. They really couldn’t be more me. As you can see I’m all ready for a tea party now. Anyone up for some tea and biscuits?
We had such a fun New Year’s Eve spent with our very best friends and so much yummy food including my very favorite Surprise Spread appetizer. If you missed the recipe I posted it here earlier in the week. So good!
We brought in the New Year hanging out in the hot tub and enjoying some very colorful fireworks. A good time was had by all, kids and adults alike!
Thanks to Susanne for hosting, please visit her site to see more fun Friday Fave Fives!
Okay we made it through an entire year of round-ups. Woohoo! This is it. Time to get our living rooms organized and ready to begin the new year with a fresh start.
Have you put away all your Christmas decorations to take your living room from cluttered and chaotic to clear and calm? Have you organized the living room toys or DVDs using some nifty storage solutions? Have you rearranged the room to give it a new and inviting look? Whatever you’ve done, whether you’ve made a big change or a little change, it’s all good. If something is working a little bit easier for you with some changes you were able to incorporate then let us celebrate that with you. Please link up below to a post on your site that shows us both your before and after pictures and remember to use the direct link to your round-up post and not to your homepage. That’s helpful for those of us who might not get a chance to take a peek at your post until later. Also, as a courtesy, if you are going to participate please be kind and link back to this post within your post.
The lucky winner will be selected randomly from the Mr. Linky lists from this month and last. So if you participate in both months you will be entered TWICE! The winner receives a coveted spot in Professional Organizer, Aby Garvey’s popular Organizing 101: Learn How to Get Organized online workshop beginning January 13th!
Please link up to your before and after living room picture post by Sunday, Jan 3rd at 11:59 pm PST. You still have time, it’s not too late. You can do it!
Now as for next year well I simply can’t tell you that yet unfortunately. I just can’t decide what it is exactly I want to do. I’m still trying to work it all out in my mind and haven’t fully committed to the idea of even doing it again. I often felt like I couldn’t devote the time to it that you deserved and I do hate the feeling of letting someone down. I definitely want to hear what you think though. Tell me your ideas and what you think would be helpful. I’m not making any promises just yet but your opinions are important to me.
Happy New Year everyone!!! Here’s to an organizing good time in 2009!!!
I’m discussing four great calendar options for 2009 over on my review site. I’m also sharing how I narrowed down the list to pick the one that is perfect for my family.
Come on over and tell me which one you would choose.
Have you ever heard of the Someday Syndrome? Alex Fayle runs a blog by this name and refers to it as the “somedays” that hold us back from living our best life. Those are:
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Not too long ago one of these played a role in my life. Find out which one by reading the interview I did with Alex on his site.
Do you suffer from Someday Syndrome and if so which one of the above has had the biggest impact on your life?
Can it really be the end of December already? This month flew by and I can’t believe Christmas has come and gone for another year. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. For me I had another episode of what I like to refer to as Laura’s Holiday Meal Gong Show. Seriously no matter how organized for a big meal I am something still always goes awry. This year the turkey decided to take an extra two hours to cook, almost seven hours in total (it was one huge bird but our oven is very finicky as well). So we were a little late sitting down for dinner and then on top of it I forgot to serve my squash casserole which I’d spent time making the day before. Oh well these things happen and because they happen so often for me I just laugh about it now and carry on. When we did finally sit down to eat it was delicious and we are still eating the leftovers.
Did anyone else have any dinner mishaps last week?
So this week I’d really like to clean out my freezer a little bit. There is just something about starting the new year off fresh and I like to carry that through to my cupboards and freezer as well.
Monday: Bringing Shredded Potato Casserole to a potluck dinner
Tuesday: Turkey Tetrazzini (didn’t make last week)
Wednesday: Taking homemade quick and easy pizza (awesome pizza dough!) to a friend’s house (we each make one) and I’ll also be bringing my favorite appetizer (recipe below)
Thursday: Happy New Year! Spaghetti Squash Casserole and perogies
Friday: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Saturday: Feta Stuffed Chicken
Sunday: Leftover buffet
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1 pkg (250 g) cream cheese light
1 cup miracle whip light
2 cans (120 g each) crab or shrimp drained
Seafood cocktail sauce
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 diced tomato
1 diced yellow pepper
Beat the cream cheese and miracle whip together and spread in a 12 inch plate. Mix shrimp and enough cocktail sauce so that they are well coated. Arrange mixture over cream cheese. Cover with grated cheese. Sprinkle with the diced tomatoes and yellow pepper. Chill. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers. Yummy!
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Menu Plan Monday guidelines and banner selections here.
Don’t miss these excellent organizing resources to help you start the year off right.
This recipe is so fast to make and you can literally whip up a homemade pizza in no time flat. It’s absolutely delicious! I originally got the recipe from Crystal of Biblical Womanhood but a big thank you to reader Lynn who found the recipe on the Taste of Home site for me. They call it Old-World Pizza. The best part is you don’t have to wait for the dough to rise!
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degress F)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the rest of the ingredients in and mix. Dump onto a floured surface. Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so). Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan. Add some pizza sauce and your toppings. Bake at 450 degress F for around 12-15 minutes until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned. Dough can also be frozen as well.
Enjoy!
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I'm glad you found me. I'm Laura, the resident
"freak" with a crazy passion for organizing!
