UPDATE ON THE 365 DAY CHALLENGE

Let me say my house is cleaner, and more organized than I thought possible, and I thought I was already organized!

I have already reached my 365 item decluttering goal, and have cleaned my spice cabinet and pantry of all outdated food. I have cleaned out my jewelry box of all jewelry I no longer wear, cleaned out my clothes closet and the office supply closet in my office/spare bedroom. I cleaned off my bookcases and have donated all appropriate books to our church library PLUS I sold my entire Emilie Loring book collection on ebay (netting a nice $50 profit.) We sold our Chevy Blazer, I cleaned out the buffet in my dining room and got rid of all the extra vases (who needs 10 vases?) 3 dozen votive candles and a dozen taper candles. We donated an extra computer to the gal who cleans house for me, she's returning to school to become a phlebotomist and donated a second extra computer to a local Christian school who was in desperate need of one since theirs bit the dust. Lest you think we are computer poor now, we still have three (2 desktops and a laptop) so no one will have internet withdrawal. We've also decluttered an extra printer, 2 monitors, and a half gross of pencils.

I still need to work on my husband's closet, but this has to be done when he is not home as he doesn't understand why I need to throw out t-shirts with holes in them or socks that no longer stay up. Me, I will never understand why men think it's perfectly all right to wear clothes a rag-picker's son should not wear. I also need to clean out my shoes and my off-season clothing closet. I also need to clean my kitchen cabinets and see which items I can do without. Lastly, I will clean my music cabinet. I probably won't discard any of that...music is something you never know when someone will ask, "do you have the music for ?" and I can say, YES, I do! As a musician who has to prepare 2 preludes and 2 offertories per week I need a wide variety of music. I will organize it better and clean up that area so it is out of sight instead of on a shelf. I'd love to have an antique music cabinet, unfortunately those I've seen are way out of my budget.

How are you doing on your decluttering challenge?

100TH POST CELEBRATION!!

I can not believe this is the 100th post on my blog. I can't say I've always had a lot to say, nor can I say I have a faithful following to my ponderings, but I have enjoyed sitting down and writing; sharing my thoughts and feelings with you all.
One thing about blogging is you share who you are and what you're doing with the world at large. Someone suggested I share 100 new things about myself....I couldn't come up with 100! Instead I have decided to do a simple giveaway in celebration of my 100th pondering. Here's the rules...short, sweet and simple.
1. Leave a comment and you'll receive 1 entry into my drawing. Be sure there's an email address where I can contact you if you win.
2. Post on your blog and link to my blog and let me know in your comment and you'll receive a 2nd entry.
3. Begin following my blog and let me know in your comment and you'll receive a 3rd entry.
4. Entry deadline is Sunday February 28, 2010 at midnight
5. Drawing will be held on Monday March 1st and winner will be notified by email.

By now you're probably wondering...what will I win??? As I've mentioned before, I am not crafty or creative. Sorry. However, you will receive a $100 gift basket of wonderful AVON products.

Ready.....Set.....Go!

HEAR NO EVIL

Okay, the whole title is HEAR NO EVIL: My Story of Innocence, Music, and the Holy Ghost, and Matthew Paul Turner is a HOOT! Well, maybe I think so because I'm a Southern Baptist girl who grew up with the "we don't dance" rule hanging over her head while her feet simply would not be still. I always tried to convince my parents that David danced before the Lord, why couldn't I? Needless to say that argument never held much water. Thankfully they relented for high school dances and I was able to dance at prom.
Similarly, Matthew Paul Turner's roots are implanted in the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, they're stricter than Southern Baptists! I thoroughly enjoyed the peeks into that realm and into how a teenage boy who thought he was destined to become the Michael Jackson of Christian music rebelled and survived. I also enjoyed the subtle look into the realities of CCM (contemporary Christian music) and how all things are not always as they seem in the hallowed halls of Christianity.
What Mr. Turner is trying to convey, in his funny and often irreverent way, is that Christianity isn't found in the four walls of a religion, but instead inside one's heart and in their personal relationship with God. It's not whether you play the drums in church, sing rock and roll, dance, tap your foot, or clap your hands. It's not in lifting hands in worship, or in putting on your piety along with your best dress or suit before you head out the door for Sunday morning worship. A real relationship with God is personal and intimate. It's not a performance for others.
Highly entertaining, HEAR NO EVIL is a quick read with a sound message. It's a book I hope you won't pass up. Recommend it to your chuch librarian, it's one everyone can enjoy!
This book was provided for review by the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
More information about HEAR NO EVIL is available on the Random House website.

ACCEPTING THE CHALLENGE

Like many, the economic situation has hit us hard. Harder than some, for we are self-employed. Because of that I've taken to simplifying our lives and trying to live more frugally. We eat out much less, we've agreed to keep it to once a week, and we look for bargains wherever we can find them. I was thrilled recently to discover a local grocery store has five packages of meat for $19.99. Because they're family sized packages I can get as many as 10 meals from those five packages of meat! They're not always the most tender of cuts and take a little creativity to tenderize them, but it's fun.
I've begun following a blog FRUGAL AND SIMPLE which is filled with tremendous ideas and recipes. We tried her chicken and Rotel rice the other night and it was scrumptious! But, as usual, I digress. The challenge I speak of here is from her blog and goes along with my annual January de-cluttering. She challenges us to remove 365 items from our home during the next year. I admit, I'm too OCD for this to take 12 months, probably won't take me 12 days to be honest, but I like the idea of ridding my home of clutter, things that don't fit my decor, clothing that doesn't fit, and down right junk.
Today, for instance, I cleaned out the closet and cabinets in my laundry room. I found a bottle of waterbed matress cleaner and conditioner. We haven't had a waterbed in over 10 years! I also cleaned out my spice cupboard and condensed some cookie/cake decorations into one container and got rid of several out-of-date spices. Next is the pantry where I'm going to get rid of everything out of date and try to use my almost out of date pantry supplies during the next couple of weeks for dinners.
Yesterday, to the delight of my best girlfriend and her daughter, I cleaned out my side of the closet and got rid of three purses I no longer use (to their delight because they were all Dooney and Bourke purses). To my shock, I am now down to four purses in my closet. That's never happened before! Next closet is my shoe closet. I'm also going through my jewery and getting rid of everything I haven't worn in more than six months.
Our biggest thing we "decluttered" today was we said goodbye to the Chevrolet Blazer than has given us 10 years of great service. It went to a really good home and will help us with less expense on license and insurance.
Why don't you try accepting the challenge. I'm finding it a lot of fun to do!

TIME'S A'WASTIN'

There's a song June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash used to sing years ago by this title and as I was sitting here thinking about what to write today the song popped into my head. Not because of the lyrics of the song but because of the title and what I've had on my heart recently....wasting time.
One of my goals for this year was to spend less time wasting time..doing things that don't truly matter. One of the things I have discovered that wastes a lot of my time is playing silly games on Facebook. FarmTown, CountryLife, Island Paradise and others aren't harmful, in and of themselves, but they are thieves of time. I could use that time in other ways.
With that in mind I've decided to stop playing them for a trial period of three months and see how I do with my time. Will I use it elsewhere contructively or will I find another way to spend that time in another wasteful way?
Today, I used some of that game time beginning my annual decluttering. I worked on my side of the bedroom closet, the bathroom closet and cabinets and the buffet in the dining room. I will admit, I didn't toss out too many things but I did straighten, reorganize and tossed things like old sheets, and repurposed some other things (like unused hand towels from DH's bathroom that he never uses).
Tomorrow I plan on decluttering the laundry room cabinets and closet and the closet in my bathroom. I also need to make a trip to Sam's Club for the church....maybe tomorrow...we'll see.