Happy Birthday Daniel!

It's Sunday and Danny's 4th birthday. It is a busy weekend. Yesterday he went to Zonkers in Olathe with both parents, some brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. The four younger kids amazed me with their stamina. They were all ready to stay longer than we did. We topped the evening off with a trip to Pizza Street, one of Daniel's favorite restaurants.










Today we had cake and ice cream at the house and Daniel opened his presents. He did not want to do it a day early, and was very happy with the nice gifts he received and the chocolate cake.

Legos

Legos have been a staple of the toy collection at my house since my oldest son Joe was a preschooler. He spent hours upon hours making the most unique creations. As years passed, I only added a few Legos, and yet the creations continued. Last week I got the box out for Raymond and Daniel to play with and Joe jumped right in to show his little brothers all of the possible creations. It is amazing how much more precision there is in the creations, how much more detail work. I think Joe needs to go to work at Legoland and he would be in his element. Could that really be a rewarding career? Raymond and Daniel have spent their share of time in the Lego bins, and Daniel has taken apart many of his older brother's assemblies just to see how it works. Oops! Did I break that? Back to the drawing board for improvements or even greater creations.

Industrious

Industriousness requires that you are up and moving, doing something both constructive and productive. Work-- both hard and steady-- is what creates an industrious spirit. It is what is required of any accomplishment that can be measured.

When I think of the work that my maternal grandparents did, this is the word that comes to mind. They both taught me about hard work and sticking to it despite the difficulties that may come. Day after day it is required. Get up and do it again. Find joy in the contribution being made. Effort can be made without being industrious, but you can never be industrious without effort, work, and plenty of it. Don't waste your time on work that will benefit no one. Always look for how what you do will contribute to the world around you.

Very early in my life I discovered that the feeling of satisfaction that comes after a project is completed is unequaled by any other than love itself. The bigger the project, the better the feeling. I am not talking about pride either. It is satisfaction. It is done and I, or we, did it. I can move on to other things more pleasurable without feeling guilty that I did not do what I needed to do.

Getting through school, working various jobs, caring for my family, and all of the thousands of projects in between required that I did more than maintain what already existed, but to build on and grow with what God has blessed me with. As I get older things seem to get easier, and I am working to keep industriousness, and not reactive necessity, in my life.

Time for Me to FLY

For those of you who are not familiar with FLYLady, FLY is and acronym for Finally Loving Yourself. One thing that I have learned over the years is that in order to find true contentment in life you really have to love yourself. I don't mean that you are to be conceited. What I am talking about is doing what you need to do to take care of you. Pray, eat well, sleep well, and keep a positive line of thought going at all times. That way when things come up that are challenging, tedious or that you just have to deal with...you will be able. You have to be at a point where you can see your purpose and live it.

I find that when I do not take care of myself, physically or spiritually, there is no way that I can be truly content. I walk through the day out of balance, cynical, and in many ways simply lost. To get back into balance I must invest the time to refocus. I can only do one thing at a time well. I must remember that my well being has to be intact before I can do anything outside of myself. Once I regain the balance, I am on a roll and can be a loving wife and a good friend at the drop of a hat, nurture my children as every mother should and do service for many as needs arise. There is no question about who I am or why I exist. When I FLY I am free to soar toward Heaven. And in my flight I am never alone.

Countdown to Easter

Daniel with the baskets on Easter morning 2007

Although I don't have the religious connection to the Easter holiday, as I believe on the first day of every week we are requested to remember our Savior and His sacrifice freely given for our lives, I do like the family gathering and some of the fun kid traditions that my parents shared with my siblings and I. We in turn are sharing these same traditions with our children.

I am using a website to help break down the preparation into five weeks. It is found on CEO's site; Easter Countdown. For me this is actually a countdown to my Spring Break as well, as Celebration Week is my Spring Break. If you have kids at home, or are planning a family dinner, egg hunt or egg decorating get together, you will want to check out it.

Kevin and Raymond preparing eggs to dunk. April 7, 2007

Danny dunking egg during annual egg decorating get together.

Perils of Progress

It is Thomas Edison’s fault that I don’t get enough sleep. You know that nifty invention, the light bulb, which blazes a brilliantly bright light in some rooms of my home, and in others, the bulbs set off a soft warm glow. And regardless of the degree of brightness created, the lights are kept on well after the sun goes down, and I don’t get the ten hours of sleep that my body craves.

I guess there are many others that could get some blame as well, like the individuals who brought about television and then the 24 hours of programming, on hundreds of stations, that now go with said piece of electronic genius.

You would think with the invention of time savors like the clothes washer, dryer, having refrigeration, a gas stove and oven and assorted electrical appliances to aid in food preparation and preservation that I should have ample time to get some Zs. Time should also be provided by the aide of the dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, swiffer mop, and more that save so much time in cleaning.

And yet, I average about 7 hours of occasionally disrupted dozing on weekdays. If I am especially fortunate I will get nearer to eight hours sleeping in on a weekend morning. Oh, Mr. Edison, what have you done to me? And what is my sleep number?

The Year of the Rat

Okay, I remember growing up and hearing Al Stewart’s ditty, “The Year of the Cat”, and the meaning of those words in the title eluding me for many years. As far as the Chinese go, there is no Year of the Cat. Although in Vietnamese cultures the Year of the Rabbit is replaced with Cat years. So what is the Year of the Rat? Thinking of rats puts me into the mindset of pesky vermin that spread disease and destroy food and possessions. But the rats in the Chinese culture are considered wealthy, hard-working, quick-witted charmers, and you may have one in your family or as a neighbor.

It is now the year 4706 in China, also known as the Year of the Rat. It is the first year of a cycle of twelve, each represented by an animal each with specific characteristics. When I was in high school, I became intrigued by the Chinese and other Asian cultures and their many rich traditions that have been handed down for millenniums. Over the years I have had students from China and nearby countries that have shared with me that the celebrations can be as diverse as the types of communities that each individual came from. Some families shared that they dress in elaborate costumes and basically all but celebration shuts down for weeks in the community. Other families shared that they would dress in their best red clothing on New Year’s Eve and have a feast with extended family members and give each child a gift of money in red envelopes, and then life would go on until two weeks later, where a parade and community festivities were the focus.

Today marks the Chinese New Year. In many parts of Asia today is the biggest, and for many the only, time of celebration. In fact today is the day many Asians celebrate their birthday regardless of when their actual birth anniversary falls. Families spend weeks preparing for and then weeks celebrating the annual event. The New Year is usually opened with a feast on the new moon, and 15 days later, a fireworks festival and dragon parade are held at the full moon. If we wrapped up our New Year’s, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day (honoring ancestors is a major part of the events) and every other family celebration we acknowledge into one, this would be he closest to understanding what a special time this is.

For fun, our family had dinner at Young Dragon, a local Chinese restaurant. It was quiet, and not busy as it is on Fridays, our normal night out. It is a bit unusual to have dinner out on a weeknight anyway. And dinners out have become more rare events with our schedules of no shared days off, so getting a chance to go to a place that is a family favorite was a nice treat. It was definitely a feast.

Snow Day

The phone rang this morning at 4:33 a.m. It was the counselor from my school starting our limb of the phone tree. As soon as I had pushed the off button of my home phone, my cell phone beeped to signal I had received a text. I pulled my cell out of my purse and read that my son's school was cancelled for the day as well. I called the next person on my school's calling list and got an answering machine, left a message and then went down the line to call the next sleeping individual. As a teacher, I meet a snow day with mixed emotions. First is the initial joy of having a bonus day off, a holiday of sorts. Then comes the realization that lesson plans are going to have to be shifted and meetings are going to have to be rescheduled. Then my mind reverts back to that childish instinct, "But it's a SNOW DAY!!" So I can go back to bed and sleep in for a while, or get up and start my day home with the kids. Or, as I did on this snowy February morning, both.

So what do I do when given a day of extra time? I have actually cleared my desk. That is a feat. I have started tax preparations, but need to have uninterrupted time to finish. I have put all of my scrapbook supplies into groups of like items into drawers in my file cabinet. I have boxed up some craft supplies to drop off next week, and put ones that I want to use, but are not scrapbook supplies, into a tub and inventoried the contents.

Over the course of the day I have been a momma penguin, bird, rabbit and fox. Daniel has been the baby of each said animal throughout the day as well. He loves to pretend he is some kind of animal and I am always his momma.

Super Tuesday

I stayed up late watching the political fallout of primaries and caucuses going on in 24 states across America. I am praying that as God gives someone new the executive power over our country in the next year, that we will not lose our freedoms secured over the past two centuries. I pray that God will be the guiding force for our nation, and that we will do His will.

It is interesting to note how many people I have talked to over the past few weeks that just want something different. They don’t necessarily want what is best or right or what works. They just want things to be different. Unfortunately, different does not always mean better. Again, I pray. That is our only hope for things to happen His way. Pray, and vote for those that serve God’s will.

My Daily Routines and Basic Weekly Plan

Each day I try to follow a routine. If I stick with my routines, even on days that are not "normal", my life stays in order. I also have routines, a basic weekly plan and zones for work. If I follow them, all is well. I have a copy of these routines in my planner. I also have them printed on 3 x 5 index cards.

Over the course of a week, all areas of my home are scheduled to get attention with my basic weekly plan. My zones are areas of my home that get decluttering, deep cleaning or decorating attention for a brief period most days. I work with an online group, and we work on the same area for two weeks and report our progress to each other through group e-mails.

I highly recommend having someone to be accountable to, to share successes with, and to get ideas and insights from. This can be someone that is physically a part of your life. A friend, neighbor, sister or cousin. It can also be an on-line friend. Being a part of an online group with shared interests and goals has been great for me. Getting and giving support is a wonderful way to work toward reaching goals.

Sometimes life happens, and I get off the track of following the plan. The beauty of the plan is that the routines happen even when other things interfere with a normal day, and the basic weekly plan is always there to get things in order as soon as things are back as they should be.

Here is my current plan. It really is not as complicated as it looks in print. Since I do the routines in the same order every day, I don't even have to think about them. I have to look out to not have someone add something to the mix, or attempt to change the order in which things are done, as that is when I will get thrown off and waste precious time or forget to do something altogether. I also need to watch out for days that I don't leave the house, as I often delay getting the routines started and waste a lot of time that could be used enjoying things I love. I use my kitchen timer during my room rescues and other weekly tasks. When the timer goes off I am done with that room or task, and I move on. I have become a pretty good judge of 10 and 15 minute intervals.

MORNING TAKE OFF PRE-FLIGHT PLAN
WAKE UP — Set a time (4:30 work days)
JUMP UP — Don’t lie in bed, take meds, drink water, bathroom
MAKE UP — Bed immediately/automatically, if it’s empty, Monday change sheets
SET UP- Workout clothes on, water on for tea/coffee, clean dishes put away
WORK OUT- Move for 15-60 minutes; DVD, VHS or recording on DVR
WASH UP- Shower/Wash Hair
DRESS UP – Down to shoes
WRITE IT UP – Start daily blog entry
EAT UP — Something nutritious for breakfast; follow the meal plan
PACK UP- Pack lunch/snack bag and water; follow the meal plan (work days)
BRUSH UP- Take care of your teeth
FIX UP — Contacts, skin care, make-up and hair
CLEAN UP- Wipe and swish bathroom, put in load of laundry, kitchen counters
LOOK UP — Sometime early turn your heart upward to God-start the day right!
START ‘EM UP- Get boys up, fed breakfast (home days), dressed, teeth and hair, boys morning chores
TAKE OFF- Go to work or follow the BWP. Work Day take off 6:45 A.M. or 6:35 on meeting days
HEAD BACK- End workday and head home at 4 p.m.; On Tuesdays leave at 3:30 & run errands on way home; After monthly Site Council meetings (2nd Wednesday of month) leave at 5:15-5:30 p.m.


WEEKLY FLIGHT PLAN

Sunday
( ) Plan menus/make grocery list
( ) Check dates to remember
( ) Clean out purse
( ) Set/Review goals and Action Plans
( ) Reflect on week, Plan and prepare for week ahead
( ) Spend 1 hour in zone
( ) Choose clothes for the work/school week

Monday
( ) 15 minute Master Bathroom Rescue
( ) Water plants
( ) 15 minute Master Bedroom Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Kids Room Rescue x 2
( ) 15 Minute Boy’s Bathroom Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Tuesday
( ) Fill up with gas
( ) Aldi’s/Food-4-Less/other grocery store
( ) Banking as needed
( ) Misc. errands (or delegate if possible)
( ) Wal-mart (or send list with Joe)
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work
( ) 2nd Tuesday PTO Meetings 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Wednesday
( ) 15 minute Utility Room Rescue
( ) 10 Minute Refrigerator Clean-up
( ) 15 Minute Kitchen/Dining Room Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Great Room Rescue
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Thursday
( ) 15 Minute Desk Rescue
( ) Pay bills, balance checkbook
( ) Lesson plans, School preparation
( ) 15 Minute Zone Work

Friday
( ) Family Night or Date Night

Saturday
( ) Family Work Project Outside or in the Zone and/or Family Play

EVENING SMOOTH LANDING PREPARATION
PICK IT UP- Tuesday- stop for errands on way home
SORT UP- and put away mail, and anything unloaded from car, backpacks, etc.
CHANGE UP- from work clothes to home clothes-Put clothes from washer to dryer
CHECK UP- Boys’ chores/homework/notes, tomorrow/this week’s calendar, etc.
EAT UP- Prepare and serve planned family meal, family works together on this; follow meal plan. Take vitamin, calcium and aspirin with dinner.
CLEAN UP- Kitchen-everybody sticks around until the kitchen is completely done.
STRAIGHTEN UP- Areas from BWP, Hot Spots, and Focus Area- family event if not done earlier in the day
FOLD UP- And put away laundry
PLAY IT UP- Take a walk, play a game, read a book, etc. with Joe and/or boys
PACK UP- Items needed to go out the door tomorrow
WASH UP-Boys’ baths, pjs, story and into bed; Brush teeth, wash face, my pjs
CATCH UP- On e-mail, journaling (including blog), letter writing, cards, school work, grading, planning, recorded tv shows, etc.
SEND UP- Words of glorification to God with praise, thanksgivng, and requests
READ UP- Current Bible reading and then other reading selections
INTO THE HANGER-Plan for 8 hours or more of sleep each night (in bed by 8:30 p.m. work nights)

Who Gets to Happy Dance?

It’s the big day for professional football fans. I must admit, of late my love of the game is pretty fickle. Some seasons I watch all the games. Others I do not. I think a big part of my interest, at this point in my life, comes in how well our local team is doing. The Kansas City Chiefs are not glowing at the end of a successful season this year, nor were they in the last few. They have had sad rides home at the end of many recent seasons. In seasons like this, I of course watch the pre-games and all of the rival games (Broncos and Raiders, for sure). Coming out of the pre-games to the real season without a win leaves a spectator a little skeptical. This year has been especially tough for coach Edwards and all of his players. The NFL is getting bigger and stronger players as each decade passes.

My first memory of the Chiefs goes back to days when I was very young. Dad watched both college and professional football regularly. It only mattered what the local television station broadcasted as to what games were watched. Sometimes Dad would have a brother in law in the room, one of my uncles hanging out on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, playing a series of games of chess or card games, drinking an untold number of cups of coffee, discussing the games as they unfolded. We, including siblings and cousins, knew better than to create any interfering noises nearby. My dad loved Lenny Dawson. He was a part of the Chiefs initial team that won the Super Bowl in its early days, and I have loved the Chiefs since. I do not have memories of the first Super Bowl game as I was much too young to have even understood what was going on, but my dad later shared his enthusiasm and hope of better successes as the Chiefs made it as the best of the AFL, but did not beat the National League’s best of the year, that power house, Green Bay. I have never lost respect for that team.

On that day in January long past, we were huddled by the television, sitting Indian style. My cousin John quietly commenting on plays before the commentators did. He was much more knowledgeable of the game than me, and was also the leader when we played football in the backyard for hours during the cool autumn and cold winter afternoons for many years to come. “First down” and “fumble” were words I knew. They meant a good thing for the Chiefs. They were really good on this day. We were elated the whole game, as our team never fell behind. I loved that celebratory feeling. I have felt the elation many times after with varying degrees of intensity, but this was the first.

There was a period in the 1980’s were I thought KC might rally to a trip to the big bowl game again. After having the experience of the Royals winning the World Series in 1985, I held on to the illusion that my football team could do it too. I was ready to do another happy dance. When Joe Montana joined KC in the early 90’s, I continued the rally to watch every game. My husband, never a football fan, became one for several seasons to follow. KC made it to the playoffs, but no Bowl prize.

This year I am indifferent as to who will win tonight’s Bowl game. If the Patriot’s do they will have proven themselves the best…undefeated throughout the season, playoffs and winners of a bowl game. If the Giants win, we will have another team that turned it all around to play with the big dogs. I like those types of wins too. But since neither team is a favorite for me, I will just say have fun and enjoy the game. Someone else will get to do the happy dance.

Keeping My Act Together

My planner is a tool I used for many years with much success. I stopped using my planner a few years ago as I was experimenting with making my information more accessible through the computer. I did have access to information at home and work. I did use the same common calendar, to do lists, and had routines accessible for both work and home. The problem was that I would have to make copies of to do lists or be tied to the computer. The information was not portable, as I didn’t have computer access most of the time while traveling, or while out on errands. The other parts of my computer-based system seemed to work, but then it became a burden to keep it up. I had to actually be in front of the computer to do it. Everything was not in the same place or located in the same program. I did not find that this was a success, and so this year I have purchased a new planner with half sheet pages. I have never been one for an electronic planner either, as there is something about that process that appeared to be tedious and somewhat limiting. I know that many have found success with using them, but I want my paper.

In my current planner I have included my calendar, goals, routines, basic weekly plan, on my mind lists, budget, bills and checkbook, meal plans, grocery and shopping lists, contact phone and address book, meeting notes, health and fitness tracker, information for each vehicle’s servicing, website tracker and my tickler file. I am happy to now have it all in one place, and portable so that I can work on paying bills, or adding items to my shopping list from anywhere. If someone calls me looking for some important information, I most often have it with me.

The calendar I use is for everything I need to remember. I use it for personal, family and work events and special days. I have a month at a glance and a weekly detailed page that has a section for each day to list appointments, my current area of focus at work and at home, and my to dos that are priority and not a part of my routines. I have a personal and work section in my planner too, each including a separate set of goals, routines, basic weekly plans, and to do lists. In a pocket in the front of my planner I keep a thin stack of home routines on index cards that can come out of my planner as I work through the items on the lists. I don’t think I will ever completely give up my cards.

Meal planning is done on a page of my planner and I have it with me when I shop. On the back of that page is my shopping list. Everything we need to buy is added to this list and I try to keep shopping and errands down to once a week. If something can’t wait, usually Joe will pick it up before coming home from work. I have also started a price book so I can keep track of where to get better deals on products we use.

My contact list includes addresses, phone numbers, cell numbers, e-mail addresses, websites, birthdays, anniversaries, and anything else that would be helpful to remember. My memory gets less sharp at time goes by.

I also have a section for pages used to journal. These don’t usually stay in my planner once they have been filled, but if you haven’t noticed yet, I really love to write. I usually have several different topics going at once. I am so eclectic. Some may say scattered. My planner helps me keep it all together.

Finally I have a pencil, eraser, a couple favorite pens, stamps, a few blank index cards and a small pack of post-it notes. I think with this I am ready to take on whatever the world has to dish up for my day.

Call me

a slob, a SHE, a messie. There are many names for my condition. I consider myself a recovering clutterholic. With my family, a busy life and a full house, I have a lot of stuff that moves into my life.

About 24 years ago, while I was a new mother, wife and homemaker, I came face to face with the truth that I don't like to live in a mess. I was under the cleaning impression that when it gets dirty, you clean it. So I would jump from area to area trying to clean up as things got undone or cluttered. I did not have a routine of any kind, although I already had lists. The problem with lists was that I would write down what I thought I needed to do, would deal with things on the list, but would get sidetracked over and over again. I often would have three or four cleaning or organizing projects going at once. Sometimes I would not get something onto the list until it was really in need of help. Having a young child and my own home often felt overwhelming. I also played ball, read a lot and worked on all kinds of craft projects. That just added to my challenges. When said son was about ten months old I came across a book called The Sided Tracked Home Executive; From Pigpen to Paradise. The authors call themselves the Slob Sisters and they coined the SHE (Sidetracked Home Executives) label.

I read the book and, after a quick trip to Wal-Mart, started my new filing system of index cards that very week. It was winter and by the following autumn I was often getting side tracked from my file box. I had gone back to work and found even more to do with less time now to get it done. I would get the box in order once a week and by the end of the week would have fallen behind. Again I would shuffle my cards and lose my place as I would go to work and come home and deal with an active toddler. I started to see that in order to get things done, I would have to get a mind set on what I needed to do at home when leaving work, so by the following spring I started carrying the day's cards in a vinyl envelope in my purse. Each evening, I would file the finished (and sometimes unfinished) cards back into the box and then pull out the cards for the following day. I fell off the wagon a few times, misplaced my portable envelope a few times, but overall this seemed to work for me. I would save the big jobs for days I had off work, and tried to work around other plans that would come up. There were many days I would refile cards that were undone, but I kept plugging along. I know without that system, I would have really been without direction.

Fast forward ten years. I was now the mother of three and both working full time and taking a full load of classes working on finishing my requirements for a teaching degree. Again I was struggling with my cards as my time to devote to my home had dwindled. I had already added many more cards to my box. Ones that were needed to keep my kids feed, wearing clean clothes, and to school on time with what they needed. Other cards were added that included things I needed to do for school. I was still pulling cards from the box each evening and had developed the ideas of putting a punch hole in the corner of each card. I would clip a metal ring through the punch holes of the day's cards. I tried to have them in the order they needed to be done. There were just too many of them. I used my cards throughout the day to keep me focused.

Just a year before, I had gone to a special workshop offered by my college counselor's office that was called "Getting It All Done". After hearing my situation, the counselor that was giving the workshop advised me to either quit school, quit work, or quit sleeping. The latter was her biggest recommendation. She bragged about sleeping only four or five nights a week for two or three hours a night when she had gone to school. I left that workshop frustrated since I really couldn't give up any of these. I had to work, I needed to go to school and I couldn't do either, let alone take care of my kids, if I didn't get some sleep. I would stay up into the wee hours when I had a paper or project due, which was often enough. Those were still the days when a typewriter was my only tool at home, and so if I made any errors, I needed to catch it before it rolled off the bar of the typewriter, or it would have to be completely redone. There was no spell check, and my editors were my older sister and a friend at work. The reality was I was not getting everything done.

It was at this point in my life that I discovered that the Slob Sisters, Pam Young and Peggy Jones, had written a new book, Get Your Act Together: A 7 Day Get-Organized Program for the Overworked, Overbooked, and Overwhelmed. Again, my sanity was saved. I was introduced to the idea of routines. Instead of having one card for each to-do, which for me was rather tedious and sometimes got me sidetracked between related jobs, I now had a card with a group of tasks that were done at the same time. This is also the time that I started organizing photos into shoe boxes, started keeping items close to where they were used and keeping like items in one place, and got serious about making my kids a part of the plan(thanks Pam and Peggy). In the next couple of years, my job changed, I was out of school as a student, and I bought my first home computer. I got on-line as soon as it was possible in my area, and started visiting message boards that were meeting places for SHE's. This is where I came across three other very influential people in my organized life.

The first I found on the SHE boards and later by joining a group that dealt with The 21 Essays. The on-line group would work through one of the 21 essays each week. Cynthia Townley Ewer is the author of the essays. CEO, as Cynthia is known to me, developed a step by step method to getting the SHE card system going and members would go through the process twice each year and make changes and fine tune our card systems as the situations in our lives changed. It also provided a support group to share successes and challenges. CEO went on to develop some of my favorite websites. Organized Home, Organized Christmas and Organized Scrapbooks. She also has a site Sew Organized, but I don't check in there as that is not a challenge in my life. I recommend it to anyone that does sew or quilt. She also wrote the book House Works, definitely a read for any fellow SHE. I love our CEO. I used to have a printed copy of the Essays, but they have since been passed on. I can read them on the files of my SHE list, and I do from time to time.

On the SHE boards that Pam and Peggy had set up on their site, I ran across a great fellow member, Marla Cilley, better known as FLYLady. She had shared her routines on pages of the message board. When FLYLady started her own group, I joined as a FLYbaby as I was then in graduate school and expecting my fourth child. I was also working full-time teaching. My index cards soon developed into lists of routines that I kept in my planner (CEO helped me with starting to use a planner). I think I am a FLYkid now as it has been eight years of FLYing for me. She also has a wonderful website and a team on her list that helps people learn to FLY (Finally Love Yourself) and get out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome-I think that this is a Pam and Peggy term). Marla has written a book and co-written another with Leanne Ely, Sink Reflections and Body Clutter. Both are good reads.

The last of the great influences that developed from being a part of the SHE message boards was the Holiday Grand Plan, that was developed and written by Katie Leckey and later shared as part of CEO's website. There have been others that have fine tuned the idea, including CEO herself with the Christmas Countdown, which is an abbreviated version focusing on Holiday preparation. I love the idea of spending months before Christmas making the season a great family experience without stress.

I now belong to a group that works on home clutter challenges (much like Katie Leckey's Cleaning Grand Plan), a local FLYbaby group (I love my drill team), and a group that works on a plan to prepare for Christmas (much like Holiday Grand Plan, but tweaked of course to suit the group) that starts up in late summer and runs until mid-January. I have a couple of other groups that I just visit and contribute to occasionally, but I can only do so much.

I hope you have enjoyed the story of my journey so far. I am still working to get better organized and tweak the system I use to keep me that way.

"IT'S GROUNDHOG DAY!!!!!!!!"

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today. That means, according to the tradition, there will be six more weeks of winter. YUUUUUUCK! Phil is my favorite forecaster, especially since watching the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. I loved him better last year when he didn't see his shadow. Of course, I don't usually refer to him as a groundhog, as he is also known as a woodchuck. See the things you can learn reading my blog. Now, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck? Huh?

Today I did my traditional watching of the movie Groundhog Day. I like to think about the Groundhog Day concept. The things that Murray's character went through to get it right. How many times did he relive that day, and how many different wrong roads did he try before he got it together and became a great, genuine guy? We usually make a mistake and then have to recover from it and learn from it at the same time. Not an easy task considering our days are numbered and we don't know how many we will have. We need to find the right road, get on the right road and stay on the right road. We need to live each day like we are accountable for it. What we say matters. What we do matters. It needs to be done right the first time. Oh, and did I mention the movie is funny too. Love it, love it.

The little boys are watching Jack Frost, another family tradition. It was great for me that the day fell on a Saturday. In this stop-action cartoon, the groundhog shares that he has a conspiracy with Jack Frost to see his shadow every year so that Winter will last longer. The groundhog is not really a part of the rest of the story, but it's a nice little program we watch once a year.

Happy Groundhog, er, Woodchuck Day!

Friday

Last night I received word that a very dear friend and brother in Christ had passed away. He was like a grandfather really. He reminded me a lot of my own grandpa. They were just months apart in age and both had lived through the same rough times of life in the depression. Since my own grandpa has been gone for 18 years, I am even more so saddened by this loss. Up until just a few years ago he was a robust man. He had strong hands and a kind heart.

I met him when I was a teen, and he and his wife had a special relationship with my younger sister and brother, and since then with our children as well. Over the years, both he and his wife have been examples of steadfastness, faithfulness and obedience to God. He was diagnosed with lung cancer, and never having been a smoker, still had worked with people for years that did smoke and had plenty of second hand exposure. They ended up taking part of his lung, and he had not really gained his strength back again. He and his wife had been married since August of 1938 and would have celebrated their 70th wedding anniversay this year. I don't know how she will go on without him.

I will miss John, and pray that I can see him again, and give praise to our Father and our Lord together, when I get to the other side.