Baby Steps

Friggin stop the presses!! Holy crud Batman, guess what?!?

Wait... I kind of need a moment here. I have this habit of accomplishing hard things and not realizing how great a feat they sometimes are, and I believe this is one of those moments. So, here it goes...

My Checkbook is balanced. *crickets*

No, wait! I promise this is a really big thing! Why you may ask? Because 5 years ago it would have taken me 3 months to prep, a slip prevention worksheet and who knows how many Xanax. Not to mention by the time I was done, peace would not have been acquired. This is part of the process when you have PTSD from a relationship. I have talked about his before as an #exspouseofanaddict. Nothing was ever as simple as it was. It was complicated.

Remember trauma is defined as a normal reaction to abnormal behavior. So if I had trauma and anxiety over a checkbook you can just imagine how abnormal it was? Yep.

Today, not only is it balanced but I have peace! And that is a good feeling. Despite plans to be here a while ago, I am finally here today. And now I get to go forward.

I know a lot of you out there are with me on this. You know these feelings, and you also punish yourself for not being where you hink you need to be. Stop doing that.

Give yourself grace. Realize it took a while to get to where you are and it will take time, effort, and work to get out of it. You aren't afraid of the work, you are afraid of the time. We all are. You are afraid if you don't change now, you might be this way forever. You won't be.You are concerned you are going to stay that way, you are conscious of it, so we both know you aren't just going to concede.

So take a minute to reflect on your life, what have you acomplished, that when viewed as babysteps, is no big deal. But to compare it side by side as a before and after? It is huge. Recognize that today and move forward.

We've got this!

Simplify Your Calendar: Repeating Appointments

It is that back to school time of year, and I have already failed almost every one of my "New School Year" resolutions. If you are like me, you think the kids are going back to school and you will be the perfect you again. Oh contraire... I don't know why I do this to myself, but I do... Every. Single. Year. I was reading the other day on Momastery her September Scandal. I laughed so hard, and then cried because I do this too. After reading it, I grabbed my big girl panties, and decided I am going to take it one day at a time...but for real. The emotional burnout I went through a while ago has been slowing down, and I feel like I am healing from that chaos. I also realize I am my own nemesis, as I seem to create too much for myself frequently. Which brings me to this post... Simplifying what you see on your calendar to create a less overwhelming sight!

Organizing Little Important {Annoying} Extras

This post is just going to be keeping it real. The pictures are kind of lame, and there is not a ton of fluff to add. It is what it is: I am okay with it. I just want it known though... :)
A while ago my friend stopped to pick something up. And while she was here she said something like "Hey, do you have those papers we talked about a few weeks ago?" I grabbed the box I had them in and proceeded to give her what we had discussed. The next day she called and told me I really needed to blog about my "box". I had never really thought of it as anything spectacular but the more I thought about it, I thought maybe there are like 3 whole people looking for this solution. I know I never have found one.

Storing School Info

I find it so funny that we do certain things and we have this belief about ourselves and think other people won't find our functional routines... beneficial. (I guess is the word?) I was talking to my bestie about this and how for 2 years I have not published a post about back to school things I do because people won't find them useful... or worse, stupid. So it is time to face my fear and just write this post!

Taming the Chord Chaos

I think everyone has this problem. I imagine everyone is at least challenged with this issue. Maybe people that do not use electricity, then they wouldn't. I am talking about power cords to all of our various devices. Cell phones, iPods &  iPads-3rd thru 100th generation, tablets, cameras, gaming devices, bluetooth earpieces, etc. Then there are the earbuds that come with all of these devices! I am sure this list could go on.

Does this photo help you feel better?

Organizing 101

Geez! I have been really busy these last 2 weeks, and apparently posting took a back burner. I am here now, so let's talk.

I have been in my house 3 years, and now that I am starting to make it my home, organizing is happening everywhere! It was a really chaotic move, and I will be honest, there are things I am still looking for! As I have been organizing, I thought to myself, "Maybe there are peeps out there that might want this info?"

So, I learned an acronym about 8 years ago that helps me with organizing. I wish I knew who to give credit to for it, but I don't. I know I heard it somewhere- I DID NOT come up with this on my own. It is a really simple thing to remember. Ready?

First things first... DO NOT reinvent the wheel. If you have a system in place for you, and you feel it works, use it. You don't have to be like the neighbor down the street and do it her way because it is different, or even brilliant. I think we stress ourselves out comparing ourselves as women, way too often. Sometimes what you have going IS brilliant. If you want to re-stylize it, go for it!

S.P.A.C.E.

Sort

Purge

Assign
Contain

Execute

Lets begin. Pretend we are going to organize a cupboard. That's easy enough right?

SORT: As you take things out, sort them. Groups, categories, how often do you use this item, storage, or garbage? Sort now instead of just taking it out of the space. Trust me. 

This is what it looks like when you start taking out without sorting!

PURGE: Get rid of what you don't absolutely use or love. If you haven't used it in 6 months (not as a result of it being seasonal) that might be a great indication you won't use it. Love yourself enough to get rid of it, and don't feel guilty. I just sorted through a cupboard in which I had a Pampered Chef Easy Decorator. I have had it for ten years. I have moved it from house to house thinking someday I would use it. It has taken much needed space and I finally got rid of it- and I don't feel guilty about it!

ASSIGN: Assign the things you are keeping to different spaces. Remember the frequency of which you might use items so you know how to arrange them. Some things are best stored in categories, assign them a place in your cupboard. Like mine has measuring cups, water bottles, and up on the higher shelves are things I use, but not as often.

CONTAIN: Items that are hard to store on their own might require a basket or two. I have put all of my measuring cups in a basket cause they don't stay together well when children use them. I also have the lids to all of my water bottles, and the springs that go inside Shaker bottles all in a basket. This way I don't have to use much needed drawer space to contain them.

EXECUTE: This is the most important step of them all. If what you have set up to contain your things, or where you have assigned them is something you won't be able to follow through with, your attempt to organize this space will fail. Your system HAS to be something you can execute.

Having a place for everything and everything in its place makes me feel like all is right in the world. There is nothing worse than trying to get somewhere, ON TIME, and feel like little ninjas have moved your things to various places (my ninjas like to play with my keys). Of course I would love to believe that little ninjas really are responsible, because that means I do not have to face my own inadequacies and realize I need a new system.This is what I have learned- take from it what you want, and leave the rest. No hard feelings here. :)

Laundry Room Makeover

In the attempt to put our house in order, I have come to the conclusion that next to the kitchen, the Laundry Room has to be changed first. I figure with 6 children, 2 dogs, a cat and other animals I spend most of my time in there washing clothes. If I want to  be effective, I have to enjoy the space I "work" in. 

So, change it must be. 

Todd has been so very patient with me as I have run around like a mad woman, ripping things apart just to put them back together. He has also been really great about keeping the eye rolls to a minimum. 

Of course the patience comes from the fact that decorating can happen on a budget, which I am great at!

The palette is yellow, black, and grey. If you are not envisioning it, that is fine, I can help.

As a refresher, this is my laundry room:

As we all know, builders put watered down flat paint in their houses as they are being built. Because of this, washing the walls is virtually impossible. All forms of grease, hand prints, and gunk seem to become cemented in place. When I do get it off, I can see sheet rock underneath. There fore paint is a necessity. We can start with that. I prefer Benjamin Moore paint, at the very least, their colors. I have some Dorset Gold left from when I painted my Living Room, so this is going to save me some moola!

Here is a collage of what I plan on using. Starting from the top left and going clockwise we have the Dorset Gold in interior satin, a Damask patterned wall paper, and Vintage Border, both purchased from Steve's Blinds and Wallpaper, and Aspen Aloe decorative contact paper.

The plan is to paint two thirds of the wall from the ground up with the gold. Then one third of the wall in the wall paper from the ceiling down. The vintage border will separate the 2. I realize cars are not exactly laundry room material but I love anything vintage! 

The decorative contact paper is for the shelves inside the cupboards. I saw something really cute on Pinterest and I cannot find it to save my life! She did the shelves all cute. If I find it I will update. Now.... off to redecorate!

What the Crap!... When did this happen?!?

Since my days of extreme exhaustion, fatigue, and sickness seem to be behind me, I am noticing so much more about my house than I ever did before. Like, "When did I become sooo disorganized?!?", or "What is this cupboard being used for?", and even "Since when did we start storing the lint roller in the pantry?" I am serious! These are things I have legitimately said over the last few weeks. Let me show you....

Pantry

See the baskets? I should get some points for an attempt to be organized! Do you see the lint roller next to the graham crackers?

Master Bath Linen

It seems our linen closet has just become the collect all, crap all closet. I didn't even't know what was in here!

Master Bedroom

I have a great husband whom is so willing to actually help with laundry, but his methods are sometime a little bit less than desirable. This is the staging area for our clean laundry. It sits there until I usually fold it.

Laundry Room

This is probably the reason laundry sits next to my bed. Because there is no where to keep it. This is supposed to be a laundry room but it is kind of eclectic in its function. 

So I post this in an attempt to get the ball rolling in the direction I want to be heading in. I want my home to reflect the state of me, and my personality!