i am started.

Decluttering: Day 1.
• Wash clothes
• Put winter clothes in attic.
• Pick out 15 summer outfits
• Take others to goodwill


I got 3 big, black, garbage bags of my kids' clothes for goodwill, and another 3 bags for a friend. Still so much more laundry. I have winter clothes put in tubs, but they aren't in the attic. The kids picked out 15 outfits and we made a trip to goodwill. I feel pretty successful. Tomorrow I'm tackling the dining/storage room.

I feel pretty successful.



I am also starting a new diet. I know all of my friends laugh at me. I am the queen of dieting. I know just eating right and exercising work, but I sometimes need a kickstart and just someone to tell me what to say. So tomorrow I'm starting the Carb Lovers Diet. I downloaded the free app and went to the grocery store today. It seems pretty simple. I'll post how it actually goes tomorrow.

i am going to try.

I am not a creature of habit. I rarely do the same thing every day. I do not get addicted to ANYTHING.

I feel like this last year has been a mess. Stress at home, stress at work, stress at every part of my life has made for everything to go by the wayside.

I am going to try to get my life in order this summer. The first step in Operation Beth-Is-Not-Crazy is decluttering my house. So I made myself a decluttering calendar. I have a due date - Beach Bunco at my house. I always do better with a due date. ;)

I am taking today and tomorrow (Memorial Day) off to spend with my family. I have a few things on my to do list, but the heavy stuff starts Tuesday.

I am going to try to update my decluttering success through this blog. So look for it. And please give me any tips you have!!!

i am simplifying

This is the time of year we are always ready to change ourselves, right? I always have a long list of things to change. Do I get them accomplished? Sometimes. Does it make me stop making the list? Never.

A friend recently sent me a link to this blog post: "My One-Word Theme For 2011: Commitment" In her blog, Mari Smith talks about having a one-word theme for 2011. This got me to thinking about what my theme would be. I have already made my resolutions.

2011
1. Be healthy. Feed my family and myself healthier foods. Less eating out, more natural eating. I want to try not to eat something with ingredients that I don't understand. I want to make sure that I take good care of the body God gave me.

2. Be helpful. In many ways, I am pretty helpful already. I just want to focus my help on what needs me the most. I want my kids to understand that we should help others. We need to make sure to be there for our fellow humans. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

3. Be earth-conscious. Reduce, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, then recycle. My granny is my mentor. She has less trash in a month than I do in a day.

4. Have fun frugally. We can make our fun. We don't need to buy it. (This will be harder on my family than myself.)

When thinking about what my one-word theme would be, the first thing that popped in my head was "Simplify". Then I had a good laugh. I am not simple. My resolutions are not simple. Nobody will believe that I want to be "simple". But I thought a little more about it. Focusing on these 4 areas in my life would be simplifying it. Focusing on the important, and leaving the unimportant in the dust. (well, maybe not dust... but you understand.)

So, if you see me committing to something that doesn't belong in one of these four areas, you can (gently) remind me of my one-word theme: Simplify.

i am accomplished

Well, not entirely. But I did make a to-do list and got most of it done. How, you ask? Aimed small. As a working-outside-of-the-house mom of three who is also finishing her masters, I've learned how to do it. Is my house clean? no. Do I have a million projects left to do? yes. But I got done what I put on my to-do list. My dream is to one day be able to sit around a think of something to do.

I was talking to a dear friend, and we started discussing an idea I've had for a while. I really think it would be great to live away from the craziness with a few other families and be able to survive on our own. We would grow our own food, teach our own children, and lean on each other. This has been my dream for a while.

I don't want my children to remember me behind a computer working. Or stressed out to the max. That is what they see now. Not that we don't have fun. They get to do a lot of fun things. We go a lot of fun places. But I have been thinking, "What do I want my children to remember of their childhoods?"

Maybe I just need to find the balance.

I am an upcycler.

I am all about reuse, reuse, recycle. My family has fun doing it. We have all sorts of projects. I've even had parties where everyone came over and we made our own laundry detergent, dish soap, and cleanser. I think it's important to not overuse and overspend. That's another subject altogether, though.

Well, I got it from my mom, who got it from her mom, who got it from her mom...

My mom is all about upcycling. She is so creative and finds many ways to do so. Here are some awesome bows she's making out of artsy paper and magazines. Check out her etsy shop, justBE.




What I'm listening to:

I am not a songwriter.

But my daughter, Carys, is. And before I share her lyrics, I will tell you that she also writes the actual music. We have sheets and sheets of music notes here. No professional training, folks. Oh yeah, she's six.

I'll type it how it's written.

You fide me sitting there.
Its all I ever had.
But then you ask me for sum love.
But I just let it owt.
and I sed no...oo...oo.
So just get over me.

Yeah... not sure if I should be scared. Or amazed. :D

i am counting down.

Why do I do this? I am always counting down to something. My next day off, my birthday, another vacation, paying off my car note. I need to live in the moment more. I have three outrageously awesome kids. I need to enjoy them more. And not worry about when things will be perfect. (Because we all know that will NEVER happen. At least not to me.)


What I'm listening to now: