Bedtime

Week 14 of 52, Day 3 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

I know I still haven't planned a Tea or a Dinner but I desperately need a break. I am going to be behind on both of those but I can catch up in march, when I am not tired and have less to do :)

I am playing with an idea of having focused posts every day. They would be themed...my cousin posted a post called "Wordless Wednesday" and just had a couple of pictures and that's what gave me the idea. I am still playing with it though, I will let you know more then.

Tonight I did not clean or do anything. I was at church until 11 and was exhausted. I came home, took a bath and am going to bed now.

Goodnight world.

Tired Tonight

Week 14 of 52, Day 2 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

I already cleaned the bathroom...yay...not cleaned like really but picked up the aggravating mess that had accumlated after Christmas. I hadn't finished putting away my stuff from spending the night at my parents. So Its all cleared now. I will do the real cleaning on Friday or Saturday.

Last night's budgeting wasn't bad...I thought it would take a few nights but the first step, the quickie budget, that was fine. There's a longer budget that I will do when I have gotten familiar with the quickie budget. So time to start on project 10!!!

Tonight I am going to start on the bill drawer. It has been SO annoying.

I forgot to mention yesterday, the Project 10 is always only 10. The reason is that way its not overwhelming. You work on one project till its done. Then you can cross it off and add a new one. You don't have to do them in order.

Thats it...on to the drawer!

Here We Come Or Ganizing Amonst The Cluttering

Week 14 of 52, Day 1 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

Lets start with answering questions:
1. The picture above I was attempting a still life. Not the greatest. But it was fun.
2. The Project 10 on the side was an idea I got from the organizing book. Have a list of ONLY 10 projects you want done and work on them a little at a time. They suggest 1 a week, I do a few minutes every day.

Now for my questions:
Julee you are naming her Hosanna??? I LOVE THAT! That's the coolest name ever. How pretty. Middle name? Praise? Harmony? Hosanna Harmony Huy...that would be sweet :)

Ok, now for the purpose of this blog:
Tonight's goals are to clean the living room. Not just pick up but dust and vacuum and maybe hit the window sills. Once I have that done I am actually not going to work on my project 10...my goal this week (I decided this morning) is to get on the budget that I want to do in 2010. It is Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Plan. I have the basic stuff I need to start so I will be getting that going tonight. Then I will plan one night a week (probably Fridays) to look at things and see where I am at...until I am ok to start only doing it every couple weeks and then once a month.

Since this blog addresses all sorts of organizing issues I will explain a little bit more about Dave Ramsey's plan. The goals are simple, get an emergency fund as fast as possible. Start paying off your debt. Use cash for some of your budgeting that its easy to overspend (i.e. groceries), etc. There's a whole budgeting system and that is what I am going to start working on tonight. Over the weekend I did all my checkbook balancing and such so now I have to sit down and see how I want to run January. Then February. etc.

If you are interested in Dave Ramsey you can go to www.daveramsey.com.

Fresh Start

Week 13 of 52, Day 6 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

The past week was a wonderful time to spend remembering the birth of our Lord and Savior. The Christmas program ended up being a huge blessing! There were quite a few people there, it was a packed house. Praise God!

So today is a day of rest and cleaning. I am going to take it slow but get the house nice at the same time. It has been neglected far too long. I am ready to get back to a more structured schedule of 15 minutes a night and working on a different room every night. YAY for fresh starts!

Today's goal is just to get as much done as possible. Whatever I don't finish I will have to start on Monday. But my main goals are to get each room picked up, the fish tank cleaned and all of the laundry. Beyond that (deep cleaning) I don't mind how far I get.

I will work on posting some pics later but I am going to get back to cleaning now.

Quick Update

Week 13 of 52, Day 2 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

Today I am going to wrap and then put away the wrapping stuff. its driving me crazy being out like that!!!

This is all I am posting today. Its late.

Phewph!!!

Week 13 of 52, Day 1 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

Christmas is pretty much done! I handed out all the church gifts and only missed one person on Sunday! That is a record for me!!!

I have about 3 gifts left to wrap but I can do those anytime between now and thursday. Tonight my goal is to get all the laundry that is on my bed hung or folded and put away. Its all clean, its just not put away.

There was a lot of drama this weekend for me but to read about it you will need to read my other blog Symmie's Spot.

Alright I am out now. Going to clear my bed and get an early night. Goodnight!

Day of Somethings

Week 12 of 52, Day 5 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

You have probably heard the phrase, "you are your own worst critic," but sometimes I think the truth is more "you are your own horrible dictator." Granted I'm only speaking to certain personality types here, but it seems to me that a lot of us get something in our head that we should do and then beat ourselves up like crazy in order to accomplish it. Sometimes this is called drive, but a lot of the time it stresses us out over silly things.

Do you need an example? Really? Other than the one floating in your brain right now? Ok, for instance, I love my quiet time with God in the morning. I love reading His word. Sometimes I do a published Bible study and sometimes I simply study and dig deeper on my own. Regardless of what kind of study it is my goal every time, "finish the study/book as soon as possible." Why? Because then I accomplished something. But I literally will rush through the study trying to get more than a days worth accomplished so I can finish on time or even early. Most of the time the "on time" is a date that I personally specified. In all of this I lose the main point of my quiet time and that is, "with God." God has never put a deadline on me. He has never said to me, "Briana, you are reading through and digging deeper in 1 Corinthians and that is great, but make sure you read the whole book in a month because its all about finishing!"

Recently I was praying with a precious woman and as I explained to her the things that I was very nervous about for the Christmas program she said, "make sure you don't miss your quiet time in the morning, you will need that in handling the people lovingly and Christ-like." Suddenly it hit me, I had slipped into the "finish quickly" mode again. So I have set aside my current Bible study, The Power Of A Woman's Words, and have taken up Streams In The Desert, and a few other daily devotions. I read whatever day it is, in 1 or 5 devotions. I may spend 1/2 hour or 5 minutes. Nothing is set. My main goal is to hear from God. I will pick up the other study again when God releases my heart to, but for now, it is His sweet presence ministering to my weary soul.

Here We Go!

Week 12 of 52, Day 4 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

I have my next tea victim in my sights. I haven't spoken with her yet but I know who God has laid on my heart. We'll see how it goes!!!

I also am tentatively planning an overnighter (remember, I wanted to do 4 during this challenge of my year of organizing). We'll see if it happens. Some of it depends on my house and schedules.

I have good news! I have been so emotional lately, like I was before eliminating soy and milk from my diet. I could not figure out why as I have been doing pretty good lately. Then today it occurred to me that we have had this sausage at church. Some of it is cut up in marinara and some of it is in links. I have eaten either form every day for a while now. Perhaps there's soy in the sausage. Very likely. If not the preservatives might have been a shock for my system as they are used to homemade non preservative foods now. Either way I am very happy that I think I found the culprit. I will let you know in a few days when it is out of my system. No more sausage for Bri!!!

Alright my goal tonight and tomorrow is this:
Wrap Something
Clean Something
Type Something
Make Something
Write Something

I will do that list over and over and over until I am ready for Christmas. Here's the explanation:
Wrap something - thats pretty obvious
Clean something - also obvious
Type something - I have a couple of gifts that involve some typing and I haven't done it yet
Make something - finishing poiema gifts, working on more of some other gifts as needed
Write something - Christmas cards...I know I know...but I have mailed all the ones needing mailing. I just haven't done the church ones yet (we have a card exchange area so we save the stamps).

Alright, I am off to do...something!

Stuck

Week 12 of 52, Day 3 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

Its been an emotional week for me. Not for any specific reason but still emotional. Then tonight I met with my accountability group and poured it all out to them. Cried all through the prayer and just feel spent. I ended up leaving the church at about midnight. I got home and pulled into my driveway, oh wait, I mean I tried to pull into my driveway but instead I high centered my car on the snow mound that is at the end of our driveway. I was so discouraged I wanted to cry more. I know i am exhausted and emotionally spent but it was difficult not to just sit down in the snow and cry some more. Instead I went to grab the shovel and found out, oh its not out, its in the garage. The good news is that my landlord was still awake. He came out and towed my car off of the mound. He is going to shovel the snow a bit in the morning so that I don't get stuck. He's very sweet. I told him "this is what you get for renting to a girl" and he laughed.

So I am very blessed, very weepy, very tired. Things will be better tomorrow yeah?

You Asked For It

Week 12 of 52, Day 2 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Possible Sleepover over Christmas Break. We'll see.

Lavender Cardamom Honey is Honey with Lavender and Cardamom infused in it. I had to heat all the ingredients together (had vanilla too), then steep it for a while. I didn't know what Cardamom was until I made this, its just a spice. Its the pods that you see in the picture.

These jars are $2 at Walmart. Not bad. They are great for honey. It holds maybe a cup of honey in there.

Tonight I finished the NKJV versions of the paintings I am doing for Poiema. My goal is to do one version a night so I am done soon but not overwhelmed.

Here is a picture of one of those:
There are 2 sayings from each chapter and the James is painted over the top. Its pretty cool. This particular background was green with blue and an almost purple color. Others were just blue or just purple with the green. I liked this one the best but it was created when I ran out of the blue so I couldn't duplicate it. On the first two I did I had "Draw Near To God" in place of "Submit To God" not realizing I had already written Draw Near To God on there. So two people will have incorrect ones.

Each of the youth are memorizing in the version they are most comfortable with so I am going to change the phrases to match the version.

Perhaps I forgot to mention why? Our discipleship group is memorizing the entire book of James. We are on Chapter 3 right now.

I keep forgetting that I want to add Poiema 2009-2010 to the bottom. I need to do that before I forget.

I didn't do anything else tonight as I was meeting with one of the Jr. High girls that I am mentoring. We won't be able to meet again until after Christmas so I needed to get that in.

As for presents I still need to finish the poiema presents (I have all the backgrounds done, so just the 7 other plaques), I need to type in some stuff that I can't explain here, I have to type in some other stuff for a family, I need to stain the frame for Ana's puzzle (probably on Monday night since my dad will build it Saturday), and I need to finish the thank you gifts for the Christmas program (putting candy in a little bag with a simple ornament). Other than that its just wrapping.

I am nearly done but I will be busy between now and Christmas. Crazy me took on too much. Still haven't finished my cards. But I can mail the ones I have. :)

I'm Back!

Week 12 of 52, Day 1 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA

At the risk of never becoming a famous blog writer like Julie in Julia & Julie (or was it Julie & Julia?) I may not post every single day. Or maybe I will. I haven't decided yet. My week off helped me gain some perspective. I would love for this blog to continue as is but the reality is that it is somewhat of a burden to try to post every night 6 nights a week.

On the other hand, it is good accountability for me for cleaning. I have lost some steam in that area as Christmas is underway here. I had my house clean, then I decorated. Then I had it clean again, then I started making gifts. Then it was almost clean again when I decided to wrap gifts. So at this point I am doing pick up here and there and catching up on gifts.

Last night I made Lavender Cardamom honey. For those of you who live near here, if you are reading this then I hadn't a clue that you kept up on my blog and would not have posted that!!! It is surprisingly good. Not that I expected it to be bad, I just didn't know. I figured it would be pretty regardless, and it is!!!

Obviously I didn't follow the Frazzle Free plan all the way through. But I am nearly done. I have one more gift to purchase a few more to make, which I already have the supplies for, and everything else to wrap. The last thing I need is an idea for what I am making for Christmas Morning Breakfast at my house. I'm at a loss.

Our Christmas program is semi finished as well. Other than the fact that I only have 16 candle lighters when I wanted 50. Not quite sure how to work that out. Our big practice is this coming Sunday. That will be when I am completely nervous to see if it all fits together like it is supposed to. I'm very nervous about this one. It is so unlike anything we have ever done that I haven't a clue if its any good or not.

Well I am off to paint some canvasses for our youth discipleship group. I am painting canvas with artistic words all over based from Scriptures from James that we have been memorizing. We'll see how it turns out. If it doesn't work they are all getting popcorn seasoning!!!

Taking a Break

My Faithful Readers,
This is an explanation for my Habitual Impracticality blog, as well as an update for my Symmie's Spot blog and for Facebook.

The explanation of why I didn't post yesterday is because Sunday was our Annual Ladies Tea. It was beautiful! We had a huge turnout, more than expected, and everything ran smoothly. How did this affect my blogging you ask? Well, I had taken my laptop to church with me to use in the powerpoint portion of the tea (we read a book every year and I project the pictures so all can see). As we were leaving that night I said, "I don't need my laptop tonight, I will bring it home tomorrow."

Well tomorrow came and so did a foot and a half of snow!!! My little car is not heavy enough to drive well in snow so Pastor Pat declared a snow day!!! It was so nice to stay home and rest and relax. I got some Christmas presents done and I am going to keep working on more tonight.

Now for another update. I will not be posting any more this week. I have become very selfish and self centered lately. Sunday the teaching was powerful and convicting regarding sin in our lives and getting to the point to where our sin breaks our hearts because of what it does to Jesus' heart, not because we got caught. The Lord convicted me for my self-centered thinking and I am going to be doing a media fast all this week. For me my computer is all about entertaining me, when I am not constantly wanting to be entertained is when I start recognizing others and am not focused on my comfort and ease.

So see you in 6 days!

1 Week and 1 Day To Go

Week 10 of 52, Day 6 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Frazzle Free Christmas Week 7 of 8, Day 6 of 6

Oh Christmas is lighting up around here! I am so excited! Lights and decor are all up. Presents are getting made. Its all so pretty!

Tonight my personal goals are just to get things a bit more organized in general. Last night left me in a frenzy. I had a clean house, but Christmas boxes are still around. I also am getting ready for the tea at church tomorrow.

Frazzle Free: Complete all your gift and buy list shopping today. Wrap 5 presents. Pre-make 1 Christmas dish. Take a look at your holiday menu and decide what you will pre-make next week. Add the ingredients to your grocery list. Finalize any plans an confirmations and print off maps and such for family activities next week.

See you Monday!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Week 10 of 52, Day 5 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Frazzle Free Christmas Week 7 of 8, Day 5 of 6

Christmas is taking over my house! I have all the decor up and the tree...I just haven't decorated the tree yet. YAY! My house is clean and life is good.

Frazzle Free: Mail your Christmas Cards!

Times of Refreshing

Week 10 of 52, Day 4 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Frazzle Free Christmas Week 7 of 8, Day 4 of 6

Our Lord is so gracious and merciful and loving. He sees our every need and meets it. As for our wants, He sees what situation we would best be able to glorify Him and He provides that.

I have been blessed with the day off. I woke up late, spent an extended time in His presence and am fully refreshed. Praise the Lord! Tomorrow I plan on doing the same as well as Saturday. By the end it will be as if I were on a retreat. God is SO good!

A week ago, however, I would not have thought this possible. I was overwhelmed and asking God if He saw the many things I was doing. Did He care? Has He released me to quit any of them? I don't know I don't have the time to see Him about it. That's where the choice came in. Would I trust Him to see my need of rest and provide? Would I glorify Him in the midst of my weariness? Or would I complain, worry, stress, and be cranky to those around me?

I don't believe I walked in either of those completely. I was faithful to trust at times and I sinned at times. Regardless of my faithfulness or my sin, God provided. Nothing I did earned His grace, and in spite of my sin He was still gracious.

What a good God we serve!!!

Frazzle Free: Continue continue continue. Really this whole thing is about little chunks faithfully, have you noticed that?

Cleaning: I plan on doing some all weekend until all my weekly maintenance is done. Praise the Lord things are back on track!!!

Relaxing

Week 10 of 52, Day 3 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Frazzle Free Christmas Week 7 of 8, Day 3 of 6

Hello again! I have a long weekend this weekend because I am VERY blessed!!! So tonight I am working on presents! YAY ME!!!

Frazzle Free: Continue with all the same. You want all your gifts bought by Saturday!

Back to the Basics

Week 10 of 52, Day 2 of 6
Days to next Tea TBA, Days to next dinner TBA
Frazzle Free Christmas Week 7 of 8, Day 2 of 6

Christmas music plays gently in the background as I sit here contemplating the season that is wafting in. Have you ever noticed how the things we cherish the most often, when they are occurring, are never quite how we remember them later. For example, remember your last trip to Disneyland? Do you remember how wonderful it was and the laughter, the fun, the memories? Do you remember the lines, the tiredness, the hunger, the cranky moments? Often we remember the sugar coated versions or a completely negative version. How can we make this season truly a memorable one that doesn't need rose colored glasses? Simplify.

My decorations are packed away in my parent's attic. All except for one small box. So I put out that box. Cards are beginning to come in. So I started putting those out. Eventually I will get to the other box, but I'm not worried about it. Its nice to enjoy the little I have out now. I am noticing it more.

I don't have a lot of plans at this point this year. I thought about trying to squeeze in a dinner and a tea this month and then decided that I would like to take a break and enjoy the season slowly.

Say no to some engagements. The things that wear you out the most, do them in smaller chunks. Play lots of Christmas music. Drink hot tea every night (buy the specialty Christmas teas). Soak up the season slowly and relaxed.

Frazzle Free: Continue as usual. Everything from yesterday keep doing it!

Cleaning: So far I am getting back in the groove. I think for now I am out of project ideas. I know I have plenty but perhaps December's 15 minute projects will be Christmas prep and then anything else as needed. So tonight I am working on cards, Ana's present and possibly some other homemade gifts. I need to purchase some containers but I can do that later.