Flowers in the attic!

Do you remember that book series that was so popular in the ’80’s?  Flowers in the Attic.

The story of Cathy and Chris, two teen-aged siblings forced to live in hiding in the attic of their grandparents’ as their mom and grandmother hide them from their evil grandfather.

The first book came out in 1979 and was written by V.C. Andrews and I remember reading it when I was around fourteen and fifteen years old. It was a whole series of twists and turns, lies and love and tar in Cathy’s hair.  I’ve always remembered the tar.

The movie came out in 1987 and I remember not being able to wait to see it.  Only to be disappointed, of course…the movie is never as good as the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_in_the_Attic

 

Why am I reminiscing this afternoon – – because my attic is so clean right now, that I could easily house two teenagers and their twin siblings.

I have an organized attic!  

How is it going on your word of the month?

Recall – this month’s word – ORGANIZE.

I’m wondering how it is going for you?

Two weekends ago I started organizing my attic.  I pulled everything out, sorted through things I didn’t want or need or use anymore.  Then I put everything back in order of “to store and keep” “luggage and other things I need a few times a year” and “seasonal”.  It feels so good!!!  Or course the rest of my house is still a mess as I sort through more stuff and get it ready for Craig’s List or sending it off to the Good Will.

Looks like my attic threw up in my living room. Geez that’s a lot of stuff!

I hope you’re working on three projects that need organizing.  They don’t have to be as huge as an attic clean out.  Maybe you have a junk drawer that needs some organizing.  Maybe your bathroom closet could use some help – throw away all those expired medications once and for all.  Or maybe you’ll tackle your filing system like I plan on doing for my next goal.

Quick! – list one thing in the comments below that could use some organizing in your home or office.  What would it take for you to get started on it this afternoon?

 

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To Organize…

A number of  years ago, I called my mom to ask her for a recipe for her famous Sausage and Bean Soup.  She didn’t give it to me right then – we decided that I could get it the next time we talked.   We continued on our conversation for about ten more minutes and then it was time to go.

About a minute and a half after we hung up – – my phone rang again.

…it was my mom.

…with the recipe.

My mom is a really good cook.  I even dedicated my eBook to her.  She made a home-cooked meal almost every night that we were growing up.

She also has quite the recipe collection.

Yet, it was no surprise when she called back so quickly and had the recipe ready for me to transcribe.  You see, my mom is also quite organized.  I’ll spare you how we had to maintain our sock drawers while we were growing up.

My question to you is – how long would it take you to find a recipe?  Or the manual to the garage door opener?  Or your tax paperwork from 2003?  Or your sunglasses?

This month our Word of the Month is – Organize.  So let’s do just that.

I challenge you to pick three things that you have been wanting to and meaning to get organized over the last weeks, months, years – – and get them done!  It is still the very beginning of the month and you have plenty of time to accomplish this!

Why three?

Well – five seemed like too much and three was the last number of the year (13).

But in reality, if you haven’t done whatever it is you are planning on tackling with this month’s challenge – it is most likely because

a. you either don’t want to do it or

b. it is too big to do in one day.

Three seems like an achievable number of projects to complete in the month.

I would encourage you to find projects that need to be done (don’t pick something you routinely do like put laundry away), identify the supplies you’ll need and set some time aside either daily, every other day or weekly.  But schedule it in.  That part is important.  It is because you haven’t made time for it in the past, that you haven’t gotten it done today.

Go – block off some time on your calendar right now.

 

I’ll wait!

 

Great!!!

Now – I invite you to share with everyone in the comments below or on my Facebook page.  What are you going to tackle?  I can’t wait to hear what’ s on everyone’s agendas.

Let’s do this!!!

Happy Tuesday!

~Amy

Pick a word, any word!

I stumbled across an interesting concept a few weeks ago while I was surfing the web.  Instead of a New Year’s Resolution, you pick one word to focus and inspire you throughout the entire year.  Have you heard of this before?

A couple of websites where I learned more about this idea are My One Word and One Word 365.

I love the idea  – and I’d love to capitalize on it for our purposes here.   Here are a few of my thoughts:

1. I can’t do a “one word” challenge for a year – clearly that would plagiarizing since it is already being done.
2. To be really honest, I’m not sure I could come up with just one word that I could revolve my entire year around…that sounds like a lot of pressure; what if I pick the wrong word?
3. And since we’re being honest, I think in my attention span wouldn’t last with an entire year with just one word.  I’d be lucky to make it to March.

Do you recall last week when I  wrote about enough talk – let’s start doing?  Here’s what I propose.

I’d like to challenge everyone to one word a month.  Unlike the above challenges where you get to pick your own word, I’ll be presenting a word for each month that will help us be more productive and  help us “find more minutes in our days.” 

My vision for this challenge is to offer my ideas, my personal progress, and suggestions on how to accomplish our word.  But I’d also love to  hear how people are grasping their one word for the month.  Share your story, ask some questions, encourage with your ideas.  Let’s start a conversation and see where this takes us.

I’m inspired by these ideas of focus – let’s get focused in 2013!

Happy Monday to you!!!

Amy

OH – – you want to know what the word of the month is for February?  – – Organize   ….I’ll explain more tomorrow….

 

Tips on Tuesdays – Resolutions

Hi Everyone,

I’m starting something new this year – Tips on Tuesdays.   How is this different from any other day – – well – – it’s not really – – seeing that I write mostly about tips.  But I thought the title was catchy.

So here’s the first one:  How to keep those resolutions.

I was just listening to my local NRP station where they had a panel of diet and nutrition experts talking about how to keep your fitness goals for the year.  They said much of the same thing you hear whenever you are setting goals:

1. write the goals down,

2. share your goals with friends and family to keep you accountable,

3. break the goal down into mini-goals and celebrate along the way.

During the show, they also took calls from the public about specific scenarios and gave some specific ideas to each caller and their goals.

I thought I’d do the same today from some of the resolutions I’ve read from my friends’ Facebook pages, comments on blogs and others I’ve encountered over the last couple of days.  So here are my specific tips on how to get your resolutions off to a great start.

• Reduce my family’s waste – use cloth napkins, stop using disposable plates and utensils, compost your food waste, buy in bulk.
• Stop watching reality TV – join a book club, go for a walk, rent movies, write a letter, call your mom.
• No more fast food – Read Michael Pollan’s book “Food Rules” , pack a lunch at night, create a menu for the week.
• Write three things that I’m thankful for each day – keep a journal by your bed, create a blog, share your three things as your Facebook status, discuss them with your family at dinnertime.
• Write my book – set time each day or week to work on your book, put this as an appointment in your calendar, go to a library or a coffee shop to work to limit distractions at home.
• Stop wasting time, become more productive, etc….- – read this blog!

For many of us, this is the first real day in 2012 – – we are back at work, school is back in session.  Now the test really begins – can you incorporate your goals into your old routine?

Yes you can!!!

Share with me your resolution(s) and if you’d like – I can throw out a few suggestions on how to make them a success.

~amy

PS – here’s a link to the Michael Pollan book – – I highly recommend it.