Newlywed Cooking Story

An article posted recently by my friend Amy at Raising Arrows inspired this  little story from my past for today's post. You can hop on over to read her version of Newlywed Cooking when you are finished reading here.)

With our two oldest children already living a life of wedded bliss, and number three jumping into Holy Matrimony in just a few weeks, memories from our early newlywed days come to mind regularly. The kids always often sometimes enjoy tolerate these stories from The Old Days. At least, they smile and nod and share encouraging comments like "uh-huh" "really?" and "oh".

 

Thrilling little stories, with lessons to learn. 
Stories such as . . .

Once upon a time, many years ago, there was a young and happy bride. Eager to please her strong and handsome husband she vowed to fix a delicious, home-cooked, country breakfast every weekend. A breakfast that would be sure to win the heart of this farm-boy. Bacon and eggs and toast and juice and, well, you get the picture.
Several weekends in a row she cheerfully fried those eggs and toasted that bread. But then, one Sunday morning, as the love-birds were donning their coats to head for church services, this fine young man turned to his sweet wife and said . . .

"Ummm, it's ok with me if you don't cook breakfast like that anymore."

The bride was crushed. So many thoughts went through her head. "What?! He doesn't like my cooking? He'd rather have his mother's cooking? I've been to their house many weekends. His mother ALWAYS makes breakfast like this. A good old-fashioned, hearty breakfast is what EVERY country boy wants! I must be a terrible cook. He hates my cooking!"

Fast forward 15 years. The still young and happy bride relays the account to newly married couple in hearing range of her still strong and handsome groom. Funny thing is, he recalls the incident very differently. 

"That is what you thought?" says he. "I only meant that I've NEVER liked a big, heavy breakfast. Fried, greasy foods have never set well on my stomach. I think you are a wonderful cook!"

Moral of the story --  do not take off-hand comments personally, be ready to quickly extend grace and love, and you are never too old or married too long to learn something new about each other.

And on another note - Have you voted yet? You have until noon on Sunday, Jan 6 to click on over to see the entries in the Office edition of the New Years Organization Revolution. You can find my Office Space at #125 - hsmominmo. 

Opportunity

It's time for Five Minute Friday with Lisa-Jo Baker, The Gypsy Mama. 
She took a break from her weekly writing challenge, but she's back!
It's really a wonderful exercise, tapping out my thoughts unedited. 
You can see what it's all about and read what others have written in their free-for-all-five-minutes.

OPPORTUNITY

GO!

I read just this morning that the difficulties in life bring about opportunity (or something to that effect). That little statement grabbed my attention and set me to thinking about a conversation with a friend recently. 
"I see the glass has half empty." That's what I told her. 
Ugh! It's one of the things I hate most about myself, that I see the negative so much more clearly than the positive. You store up regret that way. At least I do. And the missed opportunities, I can only imagine all that I've missed.
As I sit on Wednesday nights and soak in all that others share about Jesus and Who He is, as I read through the words penned by John and inspired by the Holy Spirit, I think about Hope and Peace and Love.
And then I read about Difficulties and Opportunity. It's all about my frame of mind, the state of my heart. I so badly want to face the difficulties, the challenges with an attitude that asks "what opportunity is presenting itself here?"
I've heard it said that opportunity presents itself, so do I just wait around until it shows up?
Or do I make opportunity happen by opening my eyes, my heart because it's always there and all I have to do is see it?

STOP.

Speaking of opportunity -- if you have not yet taken the opportunity to read about my office organization project this week, would you please do so? And then, if you like what you see could you hop on over the OrgJunkie.com and vote for me? You can find my space is you scroll on down to #125 (hsmominmo - The Office).

Organizing Revolution - The Office

 

I spent this first week of the New Year cleaning out, sprucing up and organizing our office space, thanks to Laura at OrgJunkie.com (and 6 other terrific organizing bloggers).

Are you ready?  Heeeeeeeeere's The Office!

This is what it looks like today.

This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

Keep reading to appreciate all the changes that took place this week.
You can learn more about how I went about getting started in the BEFORE post with an introduction and pictures. 

And then you can see how things came together DURING the whole process in the next post.

And now, let's take a look at some close-up-and-personal photos showing the Befores and Afters.

Cabinet under the Aquarium

On the top shelves, I weeded out the fish supplies, moved the printer paper to the file drawer and replaced it with a file box where I store business cards and misc. contact info.
Bottom shelves hold stationery and greeting cards on the left (purged and re-ordered) and phone books and directories (purged and contained in a magazine holder)

Cords! Cables! Connections!

I coiled the cables and used twisty-ties to keep them that way and then stored them in a magazine holder (turned on its side) - they have not totally disappeared, but oh, so much better!

The desktop - Before on the left, After on the right (just in case you couldn't see for yourself)

Just look at how nice and clear all this space is now. I threw out the trash and outdated papers, loaded the kids up with their toys and treasures and sent them off the find proper homes. I cleared out the bulletin board and gave it a new look, adding a little basket to hold notepaper for those inspirational thoughts that pop into my head at the oddest moments.
You can see my "new" Landing Pad on the wall in the bottom right photo. We had this clear acrylic file box sitting behind the printer, but now it's up and accessible and ready to receive incoming mail and hold the bills until payday.

My 3 Drawers (to the left of the computer), BEFORE

There was a mess of office supplies and a jumble of techy-type attachments in these drawers. The main problem was they were not contained, and we had made habit of tossing things in amongst everything else that was already there.

My 3 Drawers, AFTER

 So. Much. Better. Now everything has a place, and a container, and you can easily see and access whatever item you are wanting to use or needing to put away.

File Drawers (under printer)

Top file drawer houses copy paper and cardstock. There is also a tray at the back to hold my sunglasses, gloves, etc. and space for my purse.
Bottom file drawer is where we keep household files and important papers. Hubby will spend some time purging the banking folder this weekend, but I condensed the others. More work is needed here, but we are off to a good start.  The extra copy paper fits nicely at the back.

This task was undertaken with a budget of $0 and a little planning. Thanks to Laura's PROCESS, it was a breeze do-able.

One Last Look

Aaaaahhhhhhhhh! A job well done! I think I'll kick back with a Caramel Macchiato and watch a movie with the family and bask in the glow of all this relaxing, well-organized, ready to use space. And rest up for next week's challenge, The Kitchen!

If you've been encouraged or inspired, please click over to the Organizing Revolution Party and cast a vote (beginning tomorrow morning) - for me (#125 - hsmominmo) or anyone that has made an impact on you. There are tons of ideas and motivation there if you'll take a little time this weekend to browse around.

Office Update

A picture is worth a thousand words - so I'll share a couple of photos with you right off the bat so you can see my progress on Week 1 of the 2013 Organizing Revolution.

During the Make-Over process - making progress!

And Lord willing, I'll be posting After pictures tomorrow evening! 

(if you'd like to read about the beginning of this project and see the before pictures click HERE)

Now, Let me walk you through the PROCESS:

Plan of attack --  I needed to clear the clutter, especially on the flat surfaces, find homes for some odds and ends, organize some of the drawer spaces.  I need a "landing pad" for incoming and outgoing mail, I need to consolidate and revamp my household files, I need to corral all the cords and cables and get them out of sight. Budget=$0 on this project, so I'll have to be creative with some of my solutions.

Remove items -- On Tuesday I emptied out the spaces. As I cleared things out, I immediately threw away anything that obviously was destined for the trash.

After everything was cleared I chased out all the dust bunnies and pulled down all the cobwebs, Esther vaccumed out the drawers and cabinets. Whew! The almost-blank canvas is invigorating! 

Organize into piles --  As I cleared things out I quickly categorized things on the kitchen table as I moved them (papers in a pile, office supplies grouped together, techy gadgets and cable corralled in one spot, etc.) This was a preliminary sorting, didn't really thing about any of it, just placed like things with like as best I could as I set them down. 

Now that is done, I took my worksheet and tackled the area that has bothered me most longest - the computer cords/cables.  With everything out of the way I pulled out the twisty ties and paper clips and looped and draped and found a solution to get them mostly out of sight.  

I bent back a paper clip and hooked up cords then tucked the end into the baseboard to keep them up off the floor.

I'm continuing through my list one area at a time, sorting and purging items going back into the desk, so I end up with only things that are useful and necessary and important. 

Containerize --love this part!  You can see above that I took a magazine holder, laid it on its side and tucked coils of cable into it. WaHoo! I think this is my favorite most clever solution in this project! (I know, it doesn't take much to get me excited, maybe I should get out more?) You'll see more in my final post.

The cables are not totally out of sight, but oh-so-much-improved!

Evaluate --  Once I get things back together, and use the space daily, we will see what is working and not working with the set up.  I do not foresee much tweaking, since we have been using this space for a couple of years now and have a good idea what to expect.

Solve/Simplify any remaining issues --  I imagine I'll have more idea tomorrow where I've simplified and how I'll solve some storage issues.  I still need to solve the techy-cable-gadget problem in my drawer, and my filing system needs attention, as well as creating my landing pad.

Smile, relax, enjoy!  Yep, smiling already, having fun, and doing my best to relax throughout this little make-over.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow evening when I post and link up with my final organized office space.  And remember, voting begins on Friday, so you'll want to have a look over at OrgJunkie.com to see all the other amazing transformations going on.

Time to Tackle the Office

If you checked in here at the beginning of the week, you read about the Organizing Revolution challenge I am taking on to get this New Year off with a bang.

Each week in January 7 terrific bloggers are sponsoring/challenging the rest of us to get organized, each week focusing on a different area in our homes. Week 1 finds us in our office/desk area.

Almost 2 years ago my amazing husband and talented son custom-built for me a desk unit to fit into our office corner. I love it! But I have not been utilizing it and taking care of it as I should. So, I'm taking this opportunity to get things in order, put a system in place, so life runs more smoothly around here.

While this may not be the worst shape my office area has ever been in, splashing pictures of its 'Before' state is definitely a hard thing to do. But it will get me motivated, so, here you go - take a look:

The obvious areas that need attention are:

1. Piles, and piles, and more piles of papers and books and toys and hairbobs and you name it.
2. Window sill clutter, and more clutter that needs to be put away or thrown away or given away.
3. The bulletin board is overflowing with outdated pictures and invitations to events in the past and reminders for appointments that have come and gone. Time for a whole new look here, I'm thinking.
4. Cords and Cables - here and there and everywhere!
5. Purses and totes. It is oh so easy to drop things as we I come, and then get busy and never come back to put them away properly.

I'm Queen of Clutter

or Princess of Piles - ugh!

  










And there's more! Would you like to have a look-see at what's behind those doors and drawers?

 In the cabinet to the left of the computer monitor, below the aquarium:

1.  fish food & supplies and printer paper on the top shelves. Greeting cards and telephone books & directories on the bottom shelves
2. office supplies - including pens, stapler, paperclips, stamps, check refills, etc.
3. envelopes, cords, memory cards, plastic containers filled with 3 sets of state quarters (really?! good grief!)
4. recordable cd and dvds, and what's that? the old satellite modem for the service we no longer use? whatever!
5. and under the desk, on the floor, a myriad of cords and cables and techy-box-thingies.   

Add caption

 To the right of the computer monitor, under the window and printer:

1. large top drawer houses colored printer paper and cardstock, and assundry items that had no home anywhere else once we switched from the old desk to the new
2. large bottom  drawer holds household files
3. small top drawer is where we keep various cd's for computer, and kitty socks. ALRIGHT! WHO LEFT THEIR KITTY SOCKS IN MY CD DRAWER!!! 

 You now know what I'll be doing today --  rolling up my sleeves and digging in to make this space functional, organized and beautiful. I'm following Laura's PROCESS - it helped me so much last year.

In tomorrow's post  I'll share my progress, and then on Thursday I'll post the Big Reveal. Friday, the voting begins! Please stop by any of the bloggers hosting this New Year's Organizing Revolution and check out what others have posted showing their office areas. You are sure to pick up a few pointers and plenty of inspiration. Then on Friday, stop back and vote for your favorite entry. Each week the three with the most votes win fabulous prizes.

Soaking It All In

It was a wonderful, amazing, not-exactly-according-to-plan but still the type of Christmas my dreams have been made of. Just take a look at all the happiness and joy we squeezed in over the course of just a couple of days.

We welcomed a brand new grandson just in time for our Christmas celebration.

ALL EIGHT of our children, our son-in-law, our daughter-in-law, our son-in-law-to-be, and FIVE grandchildren together, in one place, at the same time!

Baking with the grandkids makes it all extra sweet.

Luke turned 20 - a sad thing - for the first time in 14 years I'll have no teenager in our home, well, not for a couple of years, anyway.

A Bridal Shower for Caitlin, from the sweet ladies in our family and a few dear friends.

The Wonder and Excitement on Christmas Morning

 And now it is time to clean up and clear out and put away the trappings and trimmings, but also time to keep alive daily the Christ we have spent time remembering and worshiping and rejoicing over.

New Year, Clean Spaces

We all know one of the most popular New Year's Resolutions is to Get Organized, De-Clutter, Get This Place Cleaned Up. So it's time for me to get in gear, again.

Junk Drawer Neat and Organized

 You may remember last year how we dove into our kitchen junk drawers. You can view that amazing transformation HERE.

My Sewing Area, Orderly and Functional

Or what about when I took the 29 Day Challenge hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie. You watched all the month of February as I tackled our toy cupboards and crafting/sewing area.You can see the Before and After pics HERE.

It was such a great experience relief feeling of satisfaction when we finished that challenge we started in on our School Room.  You can see more about that make-over HERE.

The greatest thing is that once these living spaces were cleaned up and organized, it hasn't been all that big a deal to get that back in shape when necessary. While you won't be seeing any of our spaces featured in those Home magazines and websites, we are pleased as punch with these spaces we live in. They suit us nicely, even more so now.

And here we are, seeing another year out and a new year in. With Christmas projects and out-of-town company and new grandchildren arriving and wedding gifts and sewing projects for that upcoming wedding and . . . well, you get the picture. We've made (and are continuing to make) some messes around here. Now is the time to get things back in shape. It won't take us long to get our previously ordered spaces re-ordered, but there are plenty of other spaces needing some drastic attention.

And so, dear Laura comes to the rescue again! She and 6 other bloggers are hosting a new challenge to get the New Year off to a good, organized start. I'm taking that challenge and will be posting each week in January for you to see my newly cleaned-up-and-decluttered-and-put-into-order spaces.

This year's challenge is huge, HUGE. And there are prizes, amazing prizes. There's no way I'll even be able to keep up with all the other amazing bloggers and pinners out there, but I'm excited to dig in and clean out and declutter and organize for my family's sake. The winners of this challenge will be determined by who gets the most votes. It's all up to the viewers and readers, which will be fun and exciting, and probably just a tad bit crazy. So, if you like what you see over the next few weeks, if you should feel led to do so, I'll be providing links to make it easy for you to pop and vote, for me or whomever you has inspired you. No matter how it all plays out, I'm determined to make good use of all this motivation and inspiration.

Jesse Tree - Day 25

The Birth of Jesus

a Baby in a Manger

Luke 2:1-10  And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed a wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.


Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

John 3:17  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Merry Christmas!

Jesse Tree - Day 24

^{Angels Proclaiming}

^{the Coming of Christ}

an Angel

Luke 2:8-14  Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Jesse Tree - Day 23

Light of the World

A candle

Luke 1:26-38  Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” 
Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 2:32 
A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

John 8:12  Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”