Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude

I found this quote from Oprah Winfrey and absolutely love it:  “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.  If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.”   Another great quote is from Cicero:  “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

I completely believe that gratitude is what brings joy into our lives.  We may have amazing family and friends, a great job, and a beautiful house, but those things don’t make us happy unless we appreciate them.  That’s exactly why they say money doesn’t buy happiness—you can have lots of cool stuff, but if you don’t appreciate it you’ll never feel like it’s enough.

Taking Cicero’s quote further, I believe that gratitude is the ultimate soul healer (next to God of course!).  If you’re stressed, sad, angry, worried, scared, and so on, you can calm yourself by focusing on appreciating the good things in your life.  If you’re stressed out at work, take a little time and gaze at pictures of your children, spouse, or pets.  If you’re sad because a loved one passed away, take some time to focus on happy memories you have of that person and how blessed you are to have been able to know him or her.  If you’re angry at someone for being mean to you or to someone you love, think about the people in your life who make you happy, and how the mean person probably acts the way she does because she is an unhappy person who does not appreciate the good things in her life, causing her to have a negative view of everything and everyone around her. 

I find that it’s easy to overlook beauty in everyday things.  We look at the people and things around us without really seeing them because we’re so busy chugging along with our daily routines.  Make it a point to look around you and notice things, like how your coworker has beautiful eyes, the neighbor’s garden is full of gorgeous flowers, your child has your father’s nose, the poster at work has a really cool logo on it, etc.  It doesn’t have to be just physical beauty.  Notice the way your spouse’s voice softens when he or she speaks to your children, the way your coworker goes out of his way to help people when they have computer issues, how your dog is always excited to see you when you come home from work, etc.  When you take the time to really notice these things, you will really appreciate them, which will cause you to be calmer and more content, and feel more fulfilled.

An assignment:

Look around you and find five beautiful things you hadn’t really noticed before.  Really gaze at them and examine the details that fit together to make an amazing whole.  Right now I am sitting at my desk and I see a tissue box that has a design on it in white and shades of gray that looks like transparent leaves overlapping each other.  I’m eating popcorn, and the shape of each piece is really interesting, how it has so many bumps and curls to it.  I have a form that was faxed in with a signature on it and the fax machine printed the signature with a really cool texture, kind of like it was written with tiny fingerprints.  I can see my coworker’s plant, which has cool striped dark and light green leaves with burgundy undersides.  I can also see her candy jar that has four different colors of Easter egg-shaped candies in it—somehow the way the candies fell into the jar, the eggs of the same colors kind of fell together forming lines and swirls among the other colors.

With each person you meet, find something beautiful about him or her.  When you drive to and from work, try to find something new along the way that you hadn’t noticed before.  Think of each person in your life, even if you don’t enjoy being around some of them, and find something good about each one, even if it’s that an angry person made you realize how happy you are.

Easter Basket Ideas

I can't believe it's almost Easter already!  If you're having trouble coming up with ideas besides candy and stuffed bunnies, check out this list of ideas:
 

1. Pens/pencils/pencil case
2. Crayons/markers
3. Paints/finger paints
4. Stamps/stamp pads
5. Glitter/glitter glue
6. Scrapbooking scissors
7. Stencils
8. Paper/notebook/stationary/post-its
9. Small craft kits
10. Stickers
11. Coloring books
12. Sidewalk chalk
13. Seeds/child-sized trowel, gloves, etc.
14. Binoculars/magnifying glass
15. Bug house/ant farm
16. Sea monkeys
17. Small science kit
18. Camera
19. Chia pet
20. Books, especially with bunnies, ducks, chicks
21. Magazine subscription
22. Cd/dvd
23. Video game
24. Ear buds
25. Bookmark
26. Jewelry/hair accessories/watch
27. Socks/underwear/clothes/pajamas
28. Hat
29. Sample sized toiletries
30. Character band-aids
31. Nail polish/lip gloss
32. Bubble bath/bath fizzies/color tablets/soap
33. Fun toothbrush
34. Brush/comb
35. Fun shoelaces
36. Zipper pull/keychain
37. Sunglasses
38. Purse/coin purse/wallet
39. Cute dishes/cups/silverware 
40. Magnets
41. Light switch plate cover
42. Night light/flashlight
43. Wall decals
44. Picture frame
45. Tools
46. Bubbles
47. Small plastic animal toys
48. Action figures
49. Small dolls/fashion dolls
50. Small building kits/Legos
51. Playdoh/Silly Putty
52. Slinky
53. Yo-yo
54. Marbles
55. Paper dolls
56. Toy cars, boats, planes
57. Mini wind-up toys
58. Small balls
59. Beach ball (not blown up yet)
60. Jump rope
61. Kazoo/harmonica/recorder
62. Whistle
63. Toy microphone
64. Small puzzle
65. Bath squirt toys
66. Little people/tv characters
67. Blocks
68. Play food
69. Flash cards
70. Card games
71. Trading cards
72. Small games
73. Small puzzle games (Rubik’s cube, etc)
74. Small decorative containers
75. Music box
76. Jewelry box
77. Easter decorations
78. Gift certificates for fast food
79. Movie passes

 Happy shopping!

Stop Whining and Start Shining!

At work we are doing “A Complaint-Free World”.  It is an idea created by Will Bowen where you wear a purple rubber bracelet on your wrist and try not to say anything negative for 21 days.  When you find yourself complaining, gossiping, or saying anything else that is negative, you have to switch the bracelet to your other wrist and start the 21 days over from the beginning.  The reasoning behind the 21 days is that they say it takes 21 days to form a habit. 

Luckily I had already started trying to train myself to replace negative words with more positive ones.  When our daughter was about three or four years old, our cable box was acting up and I thought it would be funny to say “Stupid tv!” in a silly way.  She thought it was hilarious.  The rest of the day whenever something was not up to our standards we would say “Stupid crayon!” or “Stupid rug!”, etc.  You can probably see where this is going—silly me for not being able to foresee what happened next.  The next day she was home with my husband and he scolded her for something.  Yep, you guessed it—she said “Stupid Daddy!”  I realized I had created a problem.

My husband and I decided to start using the word “silly” instead of “stupid” or “dumb”.  It started out as just a different word to use so that we could hide what we really meant and so we wouldn’t say anything we didn’t want her to repeat.  But it became something even better.  Saying “silly” instead of “stupid” injects some humor into the situation, and it doesn’t seem as irritating anymore.  When I’m driving and someone zooms around me, just to get right in front of me behind the slow people I was patiently driving behind, I get irritated.  But when I say “Silly person!” it helps me to laugh about it and think how they are probably embarrassed that they ended up right in front of me when they probably thought they were going to get miles ahead.

Now that I’m trying to be complaint-free, not just around my kids, I need to think of some other tricks to train myself to speak more positively.  Here are some ideas I have come up with for positive versions of negative words:

Negative               Positive

Problem                Challenge

Ugly                      Interesting

Annoying                Persistent

Crazy                     Unique

Duh                       Silly me; silly you!

Too much               Lots

Can’t                     I’ll try

If you catch yourself complaining about something, stop and think “what can I do to make this situation better?”  Complaining doesn’t get you anywhere, but fixing the situation will take away your reason to complain.  Even if it’s a situation that is bigger than you or a thousand people can fix, there is always something you can do to work toward making it better. 

If you are cold put on a sweater, adjust the thermostat, do jumping jacks, get your heater fixed, buy a warmer coat, write an e-mail to facilities or your landlord, or move to a warmer climate. 

If there is a person you dislike, you can avoid them, kill treat them with kindness, try to find out why they are unhappy and figure out how you can be supportive, write a letter to their boss or your congressperson suggesting alternative methods of practice, or vote for their opponent.

There is always something you can do, even if it’s small.  If you get a lot of people doing small things, you can make a big change.

As the Complaint Free World dvd title says, stop whining and start shining!

Planned Acts of Kindness

Everyone talks about random acts of kindness, where you go around spreading joy in every direction, wherever you go, without rhyme or reason. I’m going to challenge myself (and you if you’re willing!) to do planned acts of kindness.

Make a list of everyone you know who is unhappy or going through tough times. Now add people you don’t know very well but would like to get to know better. Lastly, list people you either don’t like or who are hard to get along with. I challenge you to do something special for each person on your list. It doesn’t have to be now or in the next week, but pick one person on the list and make a plan for something nice you will do for him or her. Once you accomplish that planned act of kindness check off that person and pick another.

Some ideas:

Put some fun magnets or pushpins in their office/cubicle

Write “You rock!” on a post-it note and put it where they will see it

Give them a frame with a special picture in it

Put some flowers from your garden in a vase and give it to them

Put up some holiday decorations in their office/yard

Give them a house plant or seeds/flowers for their garden

Put some candy on their desk

Mail them a card

Buy their favorite soda from the vending machine and put it on their desk

Ask them out to lunch/coffee

Send them an e-mail or text, telling them how awesome they are

Cut and paste your faces into a silly picture and give it to them

For some people you will want to personally deliver the kindnesses. For other people you may want to do it anonymously. There are some people you may just not want to deal directly with, and others who don’t want to be pitied.

Doing nice things for people you don't like is especially important.  Maybe if more people are kind to them they will be kind to others.

Now go forth and be kind!

Vitameatavegamin- Do You Pop Out at Parties?

I sent my poor husband on a wild goose chase at the grocery store today.  I put a bunch of healthy stuff on the grocery list, plus a few items we've never tried before, like quinoa and cellophane noodles.  He made the most delicious dinner tonight-- sliced zucchini and yellow squash in a spicy sauce made with pureed brussel sprouts, bell peppers, and olive oil, with sauteed scallops on top.  It was amazing!  I normally am either bored with vegetables or hate them.  There are very few that I like, but we're trying to find different (healthy) ways to prepare them that will make them taste good.  Well his sauce was a winner!

I was inspired after that, and cooked up a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower and mixed it with the rest of the sauce, then I added crushed peanuts.  I put it in a few containers and can heat it up later this week.  It'll be yummy!

After that I pureed some of the cooked cauliflower and mixed it with some lean ground beef and ground turkey my husband bought today.  I mashed them all together with some garlic herb Mrs. Dash and a little beef boullion, getting my hands all messy as if I was making meatloaf.  I shaped it into patties and will use it to make ground "hamburger" for the kids and add to recipes later.  Shhh don't tell the kids it has cauliflower in it!  Missy Chase Lapine's Sneaky Chef books have been an inspiration to me.  I haven't actually used any of her recipes, but have used some of her techniques for hiding fruits and veggies in foods-- not just for the kids, but for my hubby and me too.  :)

Organizing Cookbooks and Thinking About Food

This weekend I worked on organizing some of our bookshelves. They are near the kitchen, so we like to keep our cookbooks on the top shelves and we keep our cds on the lower shelf. Unfortunately, they had collected a whole bunch of other random items as well. This is a before picture:

　

　

I had been wanting to clean off and organize these shelves for a long time, but had been intimidated by the multitude of things I had no idea what to do with. There were boxes that our cell phones came in, old toys that we had put up high so our daughter (now 6!) wouldn’t choke on them, some in-progress art projects, and about a million pieces of paper, mostly recipes I had printed out or ripped out of magazines. There were single screws that I had no clue where they came from, picture frames, broken knick-knacks we hadn’t had the heart to throw away, and, oh yeah, cookbooks and cds, among other things. I have stared at those shelves for years, trying to get up the courage to clean them off, but all the random homeless items kept me from wanting to tackle them.

Finally it hit me-- why do I have to find permanent homes for things right now? Why can’t I just clean off this space and find a temporary home for this stuff, and I can put it away later when things are more organized? What I ended up doing was getting a big box with a lid and filled it with all the random things that didn’t have homes. My big box ended up getting pretty full, but I’m not going to worry about that right now. I ended up with nice, clean (after I dusted, anyway!) shelves with neatly organized cookbooks. I’m not finished organizing the cds yet, but here is a mostly after picture:

　

　

I did find a few cookbooks to give to Goodwill, then I put all the paper recipes in a pile and sorted through them all. I found an old binder and some clear plastic sleeves to put the good ones in. Much better!

While I was sorting through the cookbooks I found my old binder that had my printed food lists from when I used to do the Weight Watchers Core plan. I have been dissatisfied with my weight ever since our 2-year-old was born and I decided to start it up again. I’m so thankful I printed out everything so I don’t have to pay the membership fees to get the information! I’m so tired of being overweight, but I’m really picky when it comes to vegetables so it’s always been hard for me to lose weight because I just don’t enjoy eating healthy. A year or two ago, though, I was talking with a friend who is very adventurous when it comes to eating, and she told me I probably don’t like vegetables because I haven’t found the “right” way to prepare them. I had never thought about it before, but she was absolutely right! I normally hate broccoli, but I could eat mountains of the stuff when it’s cooked with an Asian sauce, like soy sauce or teriyaki. And I really don’t like asparagus most of the time but I’ve had it with a roasted red pepper sauce that made it super scrumptious. I realized if I just sat down and thought about the kinds of foods I like I could probably learn to make vegetables in ways that I really enjoy them. So along with going back to the Core plan and limiting my diet to fat free dairy, lean meats, and whole grains, I’m going to try to learn ways to prepare vegetables and fruits (because they really kind of bore me most of the time) in ways that will wow me so I will want to eat lots of them!

Okay, enough of the healthy talk. Let’s talk about cake. It was our daughter’s birthday this week and she told me she wanted a Chipettes cake. Here’s what I came up with-- she loved it! This was only my second attempt at decorating a cake, so don’t laugh. Since creating the Chipettes out of frosting was totally out of my league I printed pictures of them onto cardstock and cut them out, taped them to straws, and stuck them on the “stage” I made with the frosting and some sprinkles. Maybe when she gets older she will be pickier about my cake decorating techniques, but for now she’s a happy customer.

 

Every Day is a Special Occasion

Quote for the day:

“Don’t save something for a special occasion. Every day of your life is a special occasion.”

-Thomas S. Monson

I really need to take this lesson to heart.  First of all I’m a mom to two small children who dress way better than I do.  I feel guilty spending money on clothes for myself, plus I don’t have to dress up for my job, so I pretty much wear baggy jeans and a colored t-shirt every day.  If my shirt has a design on it or if it has buttons, then that means I’m dressing up.  Shirts that have gotten faded, have stains, or have holes are my regular weekend wear.  The funny thing is that I have a Pinterest board full of beautiful clothes that I would love to wear but I somehow don’t feel I deserve to look that nice unless we’re going to a wedding or a funeral.

Another part to my issue with my appearance is that I seem to have gotten into the rut where I don’t try to look nice for my husband because I don’t feel the need to impress him anymore.  I’ve got him, he tells me I’m beautiful, so why bother trying to look nice?  Well I’m totally wrong when I think that.  If anything, he is the one person I really should want to look beautiful for.  Just because I have him and I’m not worried about him leaving me doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care what I look like anymore.  It’s not like I have to put on false eyelashes and draw on exaggerated red lips to impress him, but if I actually put a little effort into my appearance for my husband I will feel good about myself (dare I say sexy?) and he will know I’m still attracted to him.

Another way this quote hits me is that I love pretty dishes and serving pieces.  I have some really pretty things that never get used because I save them for when we’re entertaining.  The problem is that we have not had more than two adults over to our house at the same time- ever!  I love entertaining and serving fun refreshments, but I have been embarrassed about the state of our house so I haven’t gotten the chance to use our pretty serving dishes.  Then the only time we use our pretty dinner plates is when we run out of paper ones!

I need to print out this quote and post it in our kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, closet, and everywhere else it can be applied that I haven’t thought of yet.  I need to throw out all those raggedy shirts that have stains and holes, buy a few nice, cute clothes that are not the minimum required by my employer’s dress code (which is pretty low!), some pants that fit so I’m not constantly hitching them up, and wear some of the pretty jewelry and scarves I have that I have been saving for a special occasion.  Even though I am working on decluttering and organizing our house so we can have people over without me being embarrassed, I still need to get the fancy dishes out once in a while so we can enjoy them.  I think if we treat every day as a special occasion we will feel more fully present in our lives instead of just blindly going through our routines day after day like mindless drones.  I vow to put some of my Pinterest pins into action instead of sitting on the sidelines and getting enjoyment out of what other people are doing.

One Minute Won't Kill You

I've always thought of myself as a patient person, but I'm afraid I may only have that gift when I'm away from home.  I'm extemely patient when other people's kids are being noisy at a restaurant, when I'm driving behind someone going 10 mph below the speed limit, when I'm showing a confused coworker how to do something on the computer, etc.  For some reason I tend to leave my patience at the door when I come home.  I'll be getting breakfast ready in the morning, running around like a chicken with my head cut off, and my husband will come over and give me a lingering hug and kiss.  I will instantly stiffen up and only be able to think about all the things I should be doing.  When I'm getting our five-year-old daughter ready for bed I practically act like a drill sargeant, expecting her to do each task as quickly as possible with no silliness.

I hate it that I do this!  But I find myself doing it all the time.  I've got to remember that one minute won't kill me, make me late for work, or make the kids go to bed late.  When you're in the middle of a minute it can seem like a lifetime, but when you think of how little one minute takes out of the 1440 minutes in a day, you really can spare one minute here and there to stop and enjoy life.

From now on when my hubby stops me in the kitchen with a hug and kiss I will make myself relax and melt into his arms.  I may even hug him for two minutes.  The next time I'm getting our daughter ready for bed I'm going to make myself relax and be silly with her.  One minute won't kill me!

Make Your Collections do Double-Duty!

If you are like me, you like to collect stuff. I like to collect tiki mugs, colored glass goblets and candy dishes, and a few other things. If you are like me, this stuff gets put on a shelf so that you can only see the front row of your collection, and your collection ends up accumulating its own collection: dust bunnies and cobwebs.
When I was reorganizing our desk area I realized I really hated the pen/paper clip/etc organizer we have. It’s ugly and it’s designed poorly, so that I only use half of it and even if it were full of stuff it would be a waste of space. I was contemplating a future project at the same time, our dining room shelves, which have my tiki stuff, goblets, and lots of other decorative dishes and realized nobody can really see my collection because it’s displayed so poorly. All of a sudden it hit me—why don’t I make some of my collections do double duty? I can use some of the pieces to organize stuff, and they’ll be out where I can see them and enjoy them. Just because it’s a collection doesn’t mean it has to be all lined up or crowded together and just looked at. Collections are meant to be loved and enjoyed!

So I decided to try to find functional uses for my collections. My tiki mugs ended up holding desk items. I have a cool tiki pepper shaker that I had to think long and hard to find a function for, and I finally came up with the idea of putting wires into the holes and making it into a photo holder (I haven't done this yet). My goblets and candy dishes will end up getting displayed in the bathroom with soaps, bath salts, toiletries, etc in them. Some may go on top of my dresser in our bedroom and hold some of my jewelry. To keep small things from getting dusty I might cut clear acrylic plastic to fit just inside the goblets, punch two holes in it, and make a ribbon handle. I also have seen some cool projects on Pinterest where a candle holder is glued to the bottom of a tray and made into a cake stand or a raised shelf. I would love to try that with one of my goblets, possibly.

　

　

Some other ideas for making your collection serve a function:

Books: make into shelves to hold light-weight knick-knacks
http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/home-improvement/create-book-shelves-00000000035586/index.html

Containers—pitchers, dishes, tins, glassware, bakeware, lunch boxes, soap dishes, salt and pepper shakers, baskets:

Small containers can hold small craft items like beads, glitter, brads and other small scrapbooking accessories; and small desk items like paperclips or pushpins, matches, toothpicks, q-tips, keys, coins, post-its, marbles, dice, barrettes, earrings, rings, postage stamps, batteries, magnets, business cards, chapstick, flowers,

Medium-sized containers can hold pens, scissors, and other desk items; soaps, salts, and other bath items; and jewelry, paint brushes, colored pencils, markers, small notepads, rubber stamps and ink pads, chip clips, hair accessories, toiletries, dishwashing sponges and brushes, tealights, incense, extra desk supplies like tape and staples, hole punches, scrapbooking scissors, cake decorating supplies, tools, batteries, seed packets, coupons, hold smaller collections, sewing kit, makeup, nail polish, perfume, hand lotion, flowers,

Large containers can hold cooking utensils, toilet brush, plunger, extra toilet paper rolls, beading projects, toiletries, first aid kit, medicines, envelopes, tealights (to use or for extra storage), tools, massage oils in bedroom, hold multiple small vases or candleholders, wrapping paper, ribbons, garden tools, take-out menus, cleaning supplies, dusters, umbrellas, hold smaller collections like shells or buttons, flowers, fruit,

Small vases or vases with multiple small holes can be used as toothbrush holders.

Make photo holders out of salt and pepper shakers (like I described above-- I will post a pic when I get around to making it).

Make magnets out of brooches, dice, bottle caps, seashells, or rocks.

Make jewelry out of seashells, keys, postage stamps, etc.

Put drawer pulls or doorknobs on a board and make a coat rack or jewelry holder.

Make a cake holder/ raised shelf by attaching a plate or round cake pan to a candle holder or stemmed glass.

Creative display ideas:

Make a kaleidoscope or search and find desk toy with small treasures like beads, marbles, buttons, etc.

Frame and hang flat things like stamps, postcards, comic books, baseball cards, etc.

Make a mosaic with bottle caps, seashells, rocks, buttons, etc.

Put a collection on top of a table and top it with a glass table top—flat things like stamps, postcards, comic books, baseball cards, or small things like seashells, bottle caps, rocks, buttons, etc.

String a garland or make a mobile out of seashells, colored glass bottles, antique keys, cookie cutters, etc.

Install backless shelves in front of a window and put colored glass items on them.

Make a chess or checkers set by making a game board and putting salt and pepper shakers, rocks, seashells, buttons, etc. on as pieces.

Make a vignette in a shadow box with doll house miniatures.

Make a wreath with vintage jewelry.

Hang plates on the wall.

Make garden art with old dishes/glassware, etc.
For collections that really just have to be displayed on a shelf (figurines, etc), you can hang wall shelves or put built-in shelves in out-of-the-way places like on a wall a few inches below the ceiling, in a corner that doesn't work for hanging pictures, etc. You can also use the few inches on a bookshelf in front of your books or the space above your kitchen cabinets (I put old phone books and magazines up there to raise stuff up a bit so you can see it over the lip).

Now, what you've all been waiting for..... my desk project! I haven't finished it-- I want to get a nice tray for copy paper, I want to paint the tin a pretty color, and I plan to make a mail holder out of a cereal box covered with scrapbook paper. I also am planning to hang a wall shelf to give me a little extra space. It's so nice to have our laptop on the desk instead of hunching over the little file cabinet, and I love having my tiki mugs and other knick-knacky things right where I can see and enjoy them.

I will sign off with a funny quote I found on Pinterest (can you tell I love Pinterest?)

"You never know what you have until...

you clean your room."  - unknown

Random Acts of Kindness

This is Random Acts of Kindness Week. Spread some joy by doing some good deeds. Don't just limit them to this week, though. We should strive to be kind as often as possible. Here is a list of ideas to get you started:

Go to a nursing home and sing or play an instrument for the residents.
Rake an elderly neighbor's yard.
Send a care package to a soldier overseas.
Be the designated driver.
Ask a coworker if he or she needs help with a project.
Open the door for someone and let them go through first.
Pay for the person behind you in the drive-through.
Let the person behind you in line go ahead of you.
If you see a parent holding a small child at a fast food restaurant, offer to carry their tray and get them a high chair.
Give someone a genuine compliment.
Invite a friend over for dinner.
Bring a color book and crayons to a restaurant and give them to a child.
Call a friend on his or her birthday and sing the birthday song.
Leave a note for someone telling them they rock.
Make a handmade gift for someone.
Bring extra coupons to the store and tape them to the items.
Pay off a stranger's layaway, anonymously. Ask for one with children's items, because a lot of times those are the people who need it most.
Offer to clean house for an elderly friend or relative.
Bring a sick coworker a cup of hot cocoa.
Leave your change in the vending machine for the next person.
Offer to babysit for a friend.
Offer to help someone with a chore they don't like doing.
Bring treats to work when it's not treat day.
Put your coworkers' birthdays on your calendar and buy a pack of birthday cards to have on hand.
If you're out shopping and you see something you know your friend will love, get it for him or her.
Share produce, flowers, seeds, etc. from your garden.
Give food and drink to a homeless person.
Donate diapers to a battered women's shelter.
Buy extra canned goods and donate them to a food bank.
Mow your neighbor's lawn or shovel their sidewalk and driveway.
Bake some goodies, take some to an elderly neighbor.
When you buy annual flowers to put in pots, buy a few extra and another pot and give them to a neighbor.
Call or e-mail a friend you haven't talked to in awhile.
When you're at a friend's birthday party, wedding, etc. take lots of pictures, put them on a cd, and give it to him or her.
Leave a surprise in your coworker's cubicle- cute pushpins, fun magnets, a desk toy, etc.
Write an e-mail to a coworker telling him or her what a great job they are doing; copy their boss.
If you get good service at a store,restaurant, etc., take note of the employee's name and send a glowing review to his or her employer.
Leave a great tip.

My Chore Chart

I finished my chore chart.  I'm posting the list of chores/healthy habits here in case you want ideas to do your own chore chart.  I originally had a monetary value attached to each chore for me to spend on myself (and not the kids!), but even with most of the items being worth only 10-30 cents, it ended up that I would earn way too much money.  I want to keep it somewhere between 5 and 10 dollars a week-- that way it's a small enough amount so I don't feel guilty spending money on myself and I think I will work harder if it's more challenging to earn a few bucks.  I decided to assign each chore a point amount-- most items are worth 1 to 10 points.  Each point actually equals one penny, but I prefer to think of them as points because there is no way I'm going to want to clean a toilet for 5 cents.  :)

Chore/Healthy Habit                               Points
(upstairs chart)
Brush teeth AM                                       1
Brush 2yo's teeth AM                               2
Shave armpits                                         2
Shave legs                                              10
Make bed                                                2
Laundry                                                   2/load
Put clean clothes away                            2
Clean litterbox                                        10
Clean master toilet                                  5
Clean master sinks/counter/mirror           5
Clean master shower                               10
Clean kids' toilet                                      5
Clean kids' sink/counter/mirror                5
Clean kids' bathtub                                  10
Vacuum stairs and hallway                       10
Vacuum bedrooms                                    10
Clean hard surface floors upstairs             10
Empty upstairs garbages Tues eve             1
Brush 2yo's teeth PM                                 2
Brush teeth PM                                         2
Floss                                                        3
All dirty clothes in hamper, not on floor    1
(downstairs chart)
Eat only healthy snacks                             2
Eat fruits/veggies                                      2-25, 3-50, 4-100
Serve fruits/veggies to the kids                  2-25, 3-50, 4-100
5yo actually eats fruits/veggies                  2-25, 3-50, 4-100
2yo actually eats fruits/veggies                  2-25, 3-50, 4-100
Exercise                                                    15 min-25, 30-50, 45-75, 60-100
Declutter/organize                                    15 min-25, 30-50, 45-75, 60-100
Clean toilet                                               5
Clean bathroom sink/counter/mirror          5
Dust (upstairs too)                                     5
Vacuum downstairs                                    10
Clean hard surface floors downstairs           10
Table is empty and clean                            1
Wash dishes/sink is empty and clean           5/5
Clean counters and stove                            2
Pick up toys                                                2
Pick up spots I have decluttered                  3
Do something creative                                3
Get 5yo's backpack ready for tomorrow       1
Pick up dog poop in backyard                      10
Empty downstairs garbages Tues eve           1
Garbage/recycling outside Tues eve            5
Take a load of stuff to Goodwill                  100

You may laugh at some of the things on here, and I don't blame you!  It doesn't seem like I should have to be reminded to brush my teeth and shave, but with two small kids that run me ragged I'm surprised I remember to wear deoderant most days.  I'll probably tweak this chart after I've used it awhile, but for now I think it looks pretty good. 

My First Decluttering Project- an Eye-Opener

Okay, this is totally embarrassing, but I'm posting before and after pics of my first decluttering project. I started with the bar between our kitchen and dining room.

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

 

As I was decluttering the bar, I realized I have had short timer syndrome.  I have been in denial about our clutter, saying that we've outgrown our house after having two kids and that we need to move to a bigger one.  That when we moved to a bigger house we would have enough room for our stuff, and we could finally be organized.  As I worked on my decluttering project I realized it's not the house's fault we are so cluttered, it's our fault for having so much unneccessary stuff and for not using the space we have wisely.  I also realized that since I was wanting to move, I wasn't bothering to try to organize our stuff-- I thought it would be easier just to move and start from scratch.  It doesn't help that my husband and I are both messy people, but if there was less clutter there would be less stuff for us to mess up, and it would be easier to pick up after ourselves.  I realized that I really do love the house we live in, and if I can conquer the clutter I will really enjoy living here for a long time.

 

I came up with a plan before I started my project.  It was simple but very effective, and I'm going to use this method for each of my organizing projects.  First I asked myself "what will the purpose of this space be?"  I decided I wanted to have a place to put my purse and lunch bag, answering machine, a charging station for our phones, ipad, etc, a place to put important paperwork out of reach of the kids, and a place to prep and serve food.  Then I made a list of the items I wanted to keep in the space (a wooden caddy with small wooden bins to use as a charging station) and things I needed to add to the space for it to function (a power strip and a small mail sorter).

 

I took everything off the bar-- a lot of it was old mail that hadn't seen the light of day in a couple of years.  I threw a ton of stuff away and put a bunch of stuff in a bag to take upstairs to find a new home.  I have to admit that some things ended up getting piled in another cluttered area to be dealt with later.  I tried to put things as close to their permanent homes as possible if they didn't have a spot yet. I realized that just because I've been keeping my huge purse and lunch bag on the bar, it doesn't mean I can't put them somewhere else.  I ended up hanging them on one of our coat hooks by the door.

 

Wow, I can't believe how clean the bar is now!  It's so convenient to plug our stuff in there, and I don't have to worry anymore about stuff falling off the bar and into the sink. As you can see from the after picture, there is still tons of work to do in the kitchen.  We don't have much counter space and we tend to just shove things there that don't belong, which gives us even less. 

 

Writing this blog and talking about my dirty little (HUGE!) messy secret has really gotten me motivated to move on to other areas and hopefully eventually organize our whole house.  Blogging about it has made me feel accountable.  To make me feel even more accountable, I am posting a before photo of my next project-- the desk.  We don't even put the laptop on there (we used to have a big clunky computer but got rid of it) because there's no room!  We don't have room to print stuff, so I have been known to put the printer on my lap to print things.  That's just ridiculous!  A lot of the stuff that's piled on the desk is our daughter's art supplies-- I'm going to organize her art/craft area at the same time I do the desk, so I'm posting that before photo also.  My husband also has his art supplies piled there, so I will try to figure out a smart way to organize his stuff too.

 

Desk:

 

 

Kid craft area:

 

 

Whew, time for a rest!