52 Weeks Book Challenge

Once again I will be participating in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge that is hosted by Robin of My Two Blessings. You can find info on the challenge here. I have been participating in this reading challenge since January of 2010. I have yet to read 52 books in 52 weeks but you never know! My goal this year is to read 35 books. Last year my goal was to read 30 and I exceeded that by 3 so we shall see what happens this year. As always, I will post my review of each book I read on my blog. Please feel free to leave me comments as we go along. Are you participating in any reading challenges this year?

52 Weeks Book Review Wrap Up

Well~ it has been an interesting reading year. To sum up my book reading list I am going use the 52 Book Challenge questionnaire to give you a my year in review. 


1. How many books did you read and did you meet or exceed your own personal goal? I read 33 books this year. My goal was to read 30 books. 

2. What are your Top 5 (or more) stories? Top 5 least favorite?

Top 5

Without a Trace by Colleen Cobel

Beyond a Doubt by Colleen Cobel

Into the Deep by Colleen Cobel

Secrets by Kristen Heitzmann

Unforgotten by Kristen Heitzmann

Echos by Kristen Heitzmann

I didn't have least favorite books. I enjoyed them all.

3. One book you thought you'd never read and were pleasantly surprised you like. Holes by Louis Sachar

4. Most thrilling un-put-downable book.
The Colleen Cobel book series.

5. Did you come across a story you that you enjoyed so much you turned around an read it again or are planning on reading it again in 2014? I didn't re-read anything and probably won't re-read any of these in 2014.

6. One book you thought you would love but didn't.
The Camel Club by David Baldacci. I didn't dislike it but I thought it would grab me from the start but it took a long time to get into it.

7. Which book or books had the greatest impact on you this year? The Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer and The Stress Answer by Frank Lawlis

8. Do you have a favorite cover or quote from a story you'd like to share? 

9. What book would you recommend everyone read? The Debt by Angela Hunt. 

10. What was your favorite part of the challenge? Did you do any mini-challenges? I didn't realize until halfway through the year that most of the books I read were new to me authors. I didn't do any mini-challenges this year. Maybe next year. I enjoyed exceeding my personal goal for this year. 

Here is an index link to each book review from 2013.

1. Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes
2. Holes by Louis Sachar
3. Heart's Safe Passage by Laurie Alice Eakes
4. Private Justice by Terri Blackstock
5. Shadow of Doubt by Terri Blackstock
6. Word of Honor by Terri Blackstock
7. Trial by Fire by Teri Blackstock
8. Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyers
9. Line of Duty by Teri Blackstock
10. The Stress Answer by Frank Lawlis
11. Without a Trace by Colleen Cobel
12. Beyond a Doubt by Colleen Cobel
13. Into the Deep by Colleen Cobel
14. A Gift of Grace by Amy Clipston
15. A promise of Hope by Amy Clipston
16.A Place of Peace by Amy Clipston
17 The Debt by Angela Hunt
18. A Life of Joy by Amy Clipston
19. A Season of Love by Amy Clipston
20. Abomination by Colleen Coble
21. A Cry in the Night by Colleen Coble
22. Peter Pan by J. M. Barre
23. Secrets by Kristen Heitzmann
24. Unforgotten by Kristen Heitzmann
25. Echoes by Kristen Heitzmann
26. A Sister's Secret by Wanda E. Brunstetter
27. Search and Rescue by Colleen Coble
28. A Sister's Test by Wanda E. Brunstetter
29. King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry
30. A Sister's Hope by Wanda E. Brunstetter
31. Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin
32. The Camel Club by David Baldacci
33. The Book Thief by Markus Zukas

52 Books in 52 Weeks

 The last book of the year. Wow. I set a goal to read 30 books this year and I exceeded that goal by 3! The last book for 2013 was a last minute choice spurred on by the release of the movie The Book Thief. The Book Thief takes place during WWII in  Nazi Germany and is narrated by the character "Death". I wasn't sure at first if I was too keen on the idea of reading something narrated by "Death" but it was not creepy at all, in fact, I quickly forgot that was the narrators character and given the books theme it was very appropriate. The book centers on the life of a young German girl, Liesel, who is brought to the home of Hans and Rosa Huberman in the small town of Molching, after her mother becomes sick. On the way there, her brother dies on the train and is buried in a town along the way. That is where Liesel steals her first book, even though she cannot read. She is taught to read by her foster father and the book describes the events of the small town and how a young Jewish man comes to be hidden in the Huberman's home. The Huberman's obviously do not hold the same view as Nazi party and only time will tell if they will pay for their unpopular beliefs. There are parts of the book that are very touching, as we see the relationships form between neighbors during the time of war but there are also parts of the book that describe events not suitable for young impressionable youth. Overall, I did enjoy the book. It was written from an interesting perspective and brought out the point that, at first, Hitler didn't start his campaign to conquer the world with the force of weapons but through the use of words in a book. The power of the written word, a very interesting thought to ponder.  

52 Weeks Book Challenge

 It has been several weeks since I have updated my book reading on my blog. I have been reading just too busy to write about it! I decided to read a book by David Baldacci, an author I had never read before. We picked up several of his books at a library sale a while back so I chose book 1 in The Camel Club series. 

The book introduces four men who are basically conspiracy theorists living in Washington D.C. who meet regularly to discuss their theories about government corruption. During a secret meeting on Roosevelt Island, they witness a body being dropped off. They do a bit of checking and find that the dead man holds a high position in one of the country's security agencies. Unfortunately the murderers track them down and the fun begins. What the Camel Club thinks is a simple murder turns into a mega-plot to assassinate  the president of the United States. This book took me until chapter 27 to really "get into" the story lines. There are many more characters and plot lines than I can even begin to go into. I think I was expecting Baldacci to be Grisham and grab me from chapter one. When that didn't happen, I wanted to give up but I stuck with the book and did get to a place where I couldn't put it down. All in all, it was a good book. 

And Their Off..............

Well, today marked a major mile stone for me. I completed my very first 5K. I have been walking for years but never really pushed myself to enter a "race". Mostly, because I never thought I could do it. About five weeks ago, a few of my friends and I were "chatting" on Facebook about a local ministry that was sponsoring a 5K walk to raise money to build chicken houses that were damaged by the earthquake in Haiti a while back. Two of the ladies are runners and have completed many races. The other three of us are walkers, with only one of us ever entering a race before. The challenge was posed that we should all enter. At first, I was super excited but about three weeks into training I thought to myself "what have I done?" But with the encouragement of the nightly chats with "the ladies", I pushed on. Never having walked a 5K before, I had no base time for myself. After several walks about this distance, I had set a goal of under 1 hour. Today taught me MANY lessons. The first being- stretch more and eat a banana BEFORE I START! I did take some ibuprofen about a half hour before I started walking. If I had not thought to do that, I most likely would have been in an even worse way by the end. My daughter Britni decided, the night before, to walk with me. I am so glad she did. She was my cheerleader and I probably would have been tempted to give up had she not been by my side. I started out at a quick pace, probably too quick. About mid-way into mile one, I started having something similar to shin splints on the top of my ankle. This has never happened to me on a walk before so I was a bit perplexed as to what to do. At mile one, Britni checked our time and we were at 17 minutes. During mile two, the cramping got worse and my stride was thrown off, I started crying but kept on going. When we hit mile 2, Britni checked our time as 37 mins. Unfortunately, I had to slow down during mile 3. I was really thinking I couldn't do it and stopping to stretch only made things worse. About that time, Britni started singing the song she had playing on her mp3 player, "You're an Over-comer" by Mandisa. By that time, the song on my mp3 player was "You Were Meant to Be Courageous" by Casting Crowns. I pushed on, with an awkward walking stride until we rounded the corner near the finish line. About the last, 50 ft. I looked at Britni and said "Do you want to run the last little bit?" not thinking she would because she hadn't been doing any training to get ready for this and she said "sure, you can do it" so we broke into a slow jog and I crossed the finish line at 61.52 mins. Not my goal but not far from it either. 

Our group before the race began.

Britni and I starting the race. (before the shin splints)

Crossing the finish line.

After the race. Four in our group won awards!! 

You see, this wasn't just about getting in shape or completing a race, for me, it was a much greater victory than either of those great accomplishments. For me, it was the next step up a ladder out of the pit of a General Anxiety Disorder I have been fighting. On this very weekend, one year ago, I was taken by ambulance, while walking, to the ER. At the time, I didn't know what was wrong but through that visit and following visits with my doctor, they categorized what I was having as panic attacks from anxiety. It has been a long journey. With the help of the Lord Jesus, medicine and the support of loving family and friends, the dark tunnel is getting brighter every day. This will not be the last 5K for me, Lord willing. New training goals start on Monday. As one of our signs said "All things are possible with God". If I can do this- anyone can.

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home}- Index

Here is a handy index to my 2013 blog series 31 Days to Organize the Hidden Areas of Your Home.

Series Introduction~
Day 1~ The Desk Drawers
Day 2~ Bill Paying
Day 3~ Scrapbook Supplies
Day 4~ Organizing Closets
Day 5~ School Shelves
Day 6~ Sewing Supplies
Day 7~ School Schedule
Day 8~ Bathroom Supplies
Day 9~ DVD Storage
Day 10~ Music CD's
Day 11~ Linen Storage
Day 12~ Kids Toys
Day 13~ Recipe Organization
Day 14~ Organize Medicine/First Aid Supplies
Day 15~ Organize Kid's Clothes
Day 16~ Organize Your Purse
Day 17~ Organize Your Pantry
Day 18~ Organize Your Car
Day 19~ Organize a Cleaning Schedule
Day 20~ Organize your Jewelry Box
Day 21~ Organize Menu plannings
Day 22~ Organize grocery shopping lists/coupons
Day 23~ Organize Laundry Time
Day 24~ Organize Your Dresser Drawers
Day 25~ Organize Seasonal Decorations
Day 26~ Organize Fabric/Thread
Day 27~ Organize Kid's Chores
Day 28~ Organize Kid's Hand-me-downs
Day 29~ Organize gift buying
Day 30~ Organize gift storing
Day 31~ Organize your garage/basement

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 31~ Organizing your Organizing!

Well~ Today is the last day of my 31 Days in October series. I cannot believe it is here already. This month just seemed to fly by. Now that I have organized a houseful of things in Rubbermaid tubs I wanted to share a way of organizing all of those tubs. Again, I turned to Pinterest (this is a wonderful site and very addictive) Anyway- I found this system of storing tubs. I know that I could simply stack them and put them in the garage or basement but, inevitably, the bin I need is always on the bottom. When I saw this system, I knew it was something I wanted my husband to build for me.

This is not me or my basement.....yet.

 I do plan on doing this in the near future. Here is the link for the directions and supplies needed. (Scroll down for the directions.) 

I hope you enjoyed my 31 Days to Organize the Hidden Areas of Your Home. I want to leave you with one last, but most important, organizing tip. I find that I get better results organizing my home when I take things slow. Start with one area at a time each week. It takes longer this way but I do a better job and don't get burned out trying to get it all done at once. The clutter didn't happen overnight so it is going to take more than one day to get it organized. I also like to reward myself with something special after an area is completed. Happy Organizing!!

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 30~ Gift Storing

Have you ever been cleaning out a closet or drawer and found a gift that you had hidden there and forgot about and therefore the gift never made it to the recipient? Well- that used to happen to me a lot so I decided to do something about it. Again, I turn to Rubbermaid containers. I keep a few, very large, Rubbermaid containers in the basement. I just write the word "Christmas" on the outside so nobody knows they contain gifts. I suppose you could label them with some catchy thing like, mismatched socks or something but Christmas 1 and Christmas 2 is also easy for me to remember. When I purchase something, I add it to the box. I then go back to the spreadsheet and in the last column write down which box it is in. If the item is too large for the boxes and therefore stored someplace else, I put the location in the last column on the spreadsheet. (Sometimes, I wrap and tag the gift (no bows-they get squished) before I put it in the box. This saves time wrapping.) Now my children get all of the gifts we buy for them on Christmas day or their birthday and not six months later. I store them with all of the other Christmas storage containers so they don't look out of place. 
What do you do to help keep track of gifts you purchase through the year?

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 29~ Gift Buying

About 20 some odd years ago, I decided to really look at a way to organize my Christmas gift buying. I felt like I was just going from store to store and buying things as I remembered who I needed to buy for. I know you can probably imagine how stressful this was. I also spent money I shouldn't have. My gift buying strategy is almost too simple to write about but, nevertheless, I will share it. I create a spread sheet in Excel with four columns. I save this as my master list. Right now, I am the only one that uses my laptop but if you share it with inquiring eyes, you may want to name it something clever like household chores or something that you know nobody is going to willingly open up.  In the first column, I list everyone I need to buy or make something for in one column. In the next column, I type in what I would like to buy or make for each person and the last two columns are left blank.  I make this list small enough to print out and put in my purse so when I am out I have it with me. If I actually purchase the item I have listed I put a check mark beside it. If I purchase something else, I write the item in the blank space. As soon as I can, I like to take the list I had in my purse and update the master list by adding what purchases I have made or what gift I finished making. That, in a nutshell, is it. I told you it was way too simple. I started this with our Christmas buying but I have also made a separate spreadsheet with the months of the year for birthday gifts. 
Last year, my 31 days of October was on having a stress free Christmas. I wrote a post on making a Christmas Gift buying list that you might find interesting. You can find it here. 
Check back tomorrow for some tips on storing the gifts you purchase until you give them.  

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 28~ Kid's Hand-me-downs

 After I had my first baby, I did what most moms do when that cute little one grew out of her baby clothes- I put them in storage for the next baby. Little did I know it would be 14 years before the next little baby girl joined our family. I was really glad I kept all of the baby clothes I had  because we only had seven weeks notice before baby number 2 was born and came home with us. The easiest way that I found to store hand-me-downs is again...Rubbermaid tubs. They are large enough to hold all of the outfits that I had for each size and they kept everything clean and dry. Every piece of clothing was in the same condition as it was when it went into the bucket 14 years before. I wrote the size on both sides so it was easily identified. After baby number 2 grew out of the clothing, we packed it back up into the bucket and now grand-baby number 1 is enjoying the same like-new clothing that her mommy and aunt wore. It did cost a few bucks for the container but we have saved much much more than we spent by getting so much use out of these beautiful little outfits.  

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 27~Hi-Ho Hi-Ho it's off to work they go...Kids Chores!

 I love teaching my kiddos to take responsibility around the house and rewarding them for their efforts. Every week for years, I would make lists or print out free chore charts from the Internet. The first few weeks all went well. Then week after week I would forget to print out a new list/chart or we would be out of ink in the printer. One day while browsing in a local children's book store I saw something called "My Magnetic Responsibility Chart" made by the Melissa and Doug company. I love Melissa and Doug stuff to start with but when I saw that this chart not only had chores listed but also character qualities- Sold! When Abi finishes a chore she puts a smiley face in the right spot and when I see that she has demonstrated the character quality she is working on, I add the smiley face. She gets a pre-determined amount of money at the end of the week for each smiley face she has earned. This is motivation to really work on the character quality because mom doesn't put the smiley face on the board for a one time a day effort. We can change the chores every week or keep the same ones for several weeks. But the best part of this is....I have one less thing to remember each week!

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 26~ Fabric, Fat Quarters, and Thread- Oh my!

If you are "hooked" on sewing of any kind, I am sure you have an abundance of fabric we quilters like to call "our stash". Keeping it under control is a difficult task, to say the least. With two quilters in the house (my mom & I both share this love) our stash is multiplied by two. Our dream would be to have a sewing/craft room separate from any other room in the house but that is not the case. We are blessed to have a very large dining room that is doubling as our sewing room for the time being. We have had to get very clever about hiding our stash. Armoires to the rescue. 

  









We measured the inside of the armoire and were able to fit three sets of plastic drawers side by side. We moved the two shelves to the highest position and were able to use them for smaller plastic bins with notions. In each drawer we folded the fabric into small squares and lined them up on end. Two drawers hold all of our cones of thread. Everything is at our fingertips and easy to find. This makes finding fabric for that next quilting project a breeze. 

This armoire has two doors underneath it with shelves where we store larger pieces of fabric. We have also collected many quilting magazines for patterns etc. We picked up some magazine holders at the local office supply store to keep them organized. When we decided to organize the fabric this way, we just went out and purchased the drawer units. I would normally suggest waiting until they go on sale but we wanted to get this job completed in a timely manner so choose not                                                                    to wait.                                                   

We have tried to put similar colors in the same drawer to make it easy to find what we are looking for but sometimes they get moved around. I just saw an idea on pinterest that I am thinking about adding to this system and that is to take a small swatch of each fabric that is in the drawer and glue it to a small rectangle piece of card stock. Then punch a hole in the top of the card and string them on a ring that can be hung or stored in each drawer. The pinner said that it made finding what was in each drawer easier but I think it would be a great thing to be able to take several of the swatches to the fabric store with you when you need to purchase fabrics to match what you already have for a new project. 

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 25~ The Seasonal Decorations

Today I am going to talk about organizing your seasonal decorations. This may be a no-brainer to most people, but as I said in the introduction to this series, these organizing tips are for those out there that struggle with organizing. Once again, I am going to suggest purchasing plastic storage containers. They are easy to stack in your basement or garage. They keep things dry, which is important if your storage area may become exposed to the elements. I also like the fact that they protect anything fragile you may have. My dream would be to purchase orange containers for fall decorations, red or green for Christmas etc. but we now have way too many containers to replace them all so I just use a good old sharpie marker to label them. I do like to also label what is in the boxes, especially for Christmas decorations. Not only do I know what is in there when I decorate but it makes putting things away a breeze because anyone in the family can look at a tub and put the designated items inside. To read last years 31 days post on ornament storage click here.

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 24~ The Dreaded Dresser Drawers

One of the easiest "hidden" places to turn into chaos can be those dreaded dresser drawers......dum di dum dum dahh.
I tend to take after my OCD Grandmother when it comes to dresser drawers. Grammy's famous saying was "If I ever go blind I will know exactly which shirt is where in the drawer!" (how can you argue with Italian logic?) Anyway, I took a page out of her book on this and found that it is easier to find things if they are always put back in the same order. Once a year I take everything out and wipe out the drawers. Get rid of items I no longer need or want to wear and put everything back. I like to fold all of my shirts, that I don't hang in a closet, the same way so they all fit nicely. I also stack the items in each drawer by shade and from light to dark. ( I know the OCD taking over here!) But the system works well and I can find the item I am looking for quickly....

.......Everything is buttoned up and beautiful! 

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 23~ Laundry Time

To cut down on my time in the Laundry room I looked into those fancy laundry sorters. They just didn't look like they would be big enough for all of our laundry so I decided to purchase two tall kitchen garbage cans and label one with a "w" and one "c"(so the family doesn't get confused which one to put their clothes in). On laundry day I just grab the cans and haul them to the laundry room. No time wasted sorting anything. It isn't a huge time savings but every little bit helps. The kitchen garbage cans were cheaper than the fancy laundry sorting system too. I think they hold up better than other laundry sorters. My daughter bought a canvas type laundry sorter at a yard sale and it fell apart not long after she started using it. I have made space in the closet in our bedroom to fit these two cans.
That way they are easy to get to but out of sight. 

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 22~ Grocery Shopping/coupons

Now that you have organized your weekly menus it's time to go shopping. I know it may seem like grocery shopping should be an easy area to organize. Just write down what you need and go to the store-right? Sounds simple enough but for years I would go food shopping only to get home and realized that I had forgotten to buy something I needed. Or that I had cut out several coupons to use and forgot them at home or in my purse etc. Over the years, I have heard about several different ways to organize this task. One magazine I read years ago suggested to write your shopping list in the same order as the aisles in the store. I must confess, I did try this for a while but then one day the store decided to reorganize their aisles without telling me first so and I had no time to adjust my shopping list! The nerve. I really wasn't that put out but saw the reality that this option would probably be a time-waster in the long run. It also did not solve the problem of organizing the coupons. One of my long time friends is a major couponer. She has a huge system in file boxes that she takes to the store with her. Years ago I joined her in this type of couponing. I realized that there were many products that I was buying just because I had a coupon and not because we needed the item. So I wanted to achieve a happy medium. Now I only take coupons for things that I am planning on buying or know we will need. That being the case, I saw an idea on line to write your shopping list on a legal size envelope and put the coupons you are going to use inside. I had my wonderful husband make this into a printable pdf document. All you need to do is put a business size envelope in your printer and print side one. After it is printed flip the envelope over and print if you want the back side printed with reminders. After I make my menu for the week I print out an envelope and add all of the ingredients I will need for the week onto the list. I like to keep the envelope in the kitchen so I can easily add anything that we run out of. Once I have all my items on the list I go through the coupons in the paper and see if there is anything that I will be purchasing and add them to the envelope. On shopping day just grab the envelope and go. Click here to download the free envelope shopping list. 

We Have a Winner!!!

And the winner of the handmade cosmetic bag is....
 

Joanne M. 

Congratulations. I will make arraignments to get the bag to you.

Congratulations!!!

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 21~ Menu Planning

Today I am going to share a few ideas on organizing a weekly menu plan. Over the past several years, I have heard several different sources say that one thing that is going by the wayside in our country is the family dinner hour. I have also heard the statistics that many families turn regularly to fast food or take out several times a week. Not only can our budget not handle this type of meal time but I don't think it is a very healthy way of eating. It may seem that as a homeschool mom, I have plenty of time during the day to figure out what's for dinner. I may be home, but between schooling my children and running to lessons and other activities during the week, I have fallen into the rut of fast food/take out cuisine or running to the store every day to pick up something quick to make. Don't get me wrong, I love a good rotisserie chicken just like the next gal, but this really isn't the way I want my family to remember our home life. So- I sat down one day with my calendar. Wait....calendar? Yes my calendar. I wanted to see what things were going on each day/evening and which day/evening we would be home. On the days that we would be home during the day but had an evening activity, I planned a meal that could be made in the afternoon but would be easy to clean up like tacos, spaghetti etc. On the days that we would be gone most of the day I chose a crock-pot meal. Then, I went from the meals to the shopping list and wrote out what I needed. From this simple plan, I decided that I would pick one day a week to try a new recipe. For a season, when my oldest was learning to plan meals, I had her choose one breakfast, lunch and dinner to make each week. I let her choose which days she wanted to fix which meals and we put them into the plan. I must say that we not only have decent meals each week but I saved money. We do, occasionally, still pick up a rotisserie chicken but not as often.

Do you have a way of planning your weekly menus? I'd love to hear any and all tips from my readers so leave a comment. 

Tomorrow's topic- Organizing that grocery list!

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 20~ Organizing Jewelry

 Recently I was getting ready for church 

This is the jumbled mess I found!

and went to my jewelry box to find a necklace that I wanted to wear and realized that my eight year old had decided to "play" with my jewelry. Needless to say I had a mess on my hands. I decided that since I couldn't remember when the last time I cleaned and organized my jewelry it was time.  My jewelry box has three drawers. One divided into small compartments, one with ring holders and a large center compartment and one that is all open. 
I started with the divided compartment for my earrings. I went through each pair, cleaned them and organized them by those that I wear daily, those that are for dressier occasions or holidays etc.

With earrings like hoops I like to lock them together. It is easier to keep track of them that way.

Next I went through my bracelets and rings and stored them neatly in the second drawer. When I got to the jumbled mess that my necklaces had begun I painstakingly untied them all. Here enters my problem...the space in the last drawer wasn't big enough to lay each necklace out flat and fit them all. (I also keep all of Abi's jewelry in my jewelry box for safe keeping.) I really wanted to finish this project today without having to go out an buy anything. What's a girl to do? One word....Pinterest! I searched for jewelry storage solutions for necklaces and after only a few minutes I had my answer. I remembered that I was given a covered bulletin board that was hanging around the laundry room doing nothing so.........

I grabbed the bulletin board and found some clear pushpins in a drawer and arrainged the necklaces in a somewhat artistic way and hung the board on the wall next to my dresser. I am very pleased with the results. In the last drawer, I put all of Abi's jewelry. Because there are not divided compartments in the drawer to keep earring separated, I opted to keep her earrings on several of the cards we bought them with. This way they don't get lost. 


I took the time to clean all the jewelry that was tarnished and threw out things that were broken or that I wouldn't wear anymore. The project took about 2 hours but was worth it in the end.                          

A job well done!

52 Weeks Book Challenge

 This week I picked a book from my book shelves that has been there for a while. Lynn Austin's Until We Reach Home. The Carlson sisters, Elin, Kirsten, and Sophia, have had many struggles in their home country of Sweden. After both parents die and their older brother running away, Elin decides that she and her sisters should begin a new life in America, so she contacts her mother's favorite brother who sends her tickets for their trip to a new land. Each sister has a secret that she is keeping from the others. Will they truly be able to start over in America or will their secrets destroy all their hopes and dreams?

I must say, I loved this book. Lynn Austin is one of my favorite authors. This book is available on Amazon in book form or on Kindle.

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 19~ A Cleaning Schedule

Cleaning the house is not a "hidden area" but I thought that it would be good to share some ideas to keep things clean after they are all organized. Having an OCD nature, this area has never really been a struggle for me but I know there are some out there that do struggle with how and where to start cleaning the house. (My struggle was the opposite- I didn't know when to stop cleaning my house and live a little.)  Many years ago, a friend told me about the book "Sidetracked Home Executives". This book was written by sisters, Pam Young and Peggy Jones, who call themselves "the slob sisters". Their lighthearted writing style tells how they came out of their slobbish ways and developed a cleaning/home management system that really works. It uses a note card system and divides chores throughout the month. I began using the system so that when I completed a job I could file it away until next month and not keep obsessing about it. (That's a whole other blog series!) It begins by having you set up a basic weekly plan that works with your schedule. Once that has been decided, the book lists lots of cleaning chores that need to be done and how often to do them. The system really is easy enough for anyone to use- you just have to have the commitment to look at your card each day and do what you planned. Amazon has the book for around $10. If you are struggling with this area it would be $10 well spent. 

Maybe you are not totally sidetracked but are still wondering why have a cleaning schedule? Well- for me- it saves me from that last minute rushing around to clean up the house before we have people over. We can have people drop by unannounced and everything is usually picked up and cleaned. It helps me not be anxious or embarrassed. My Grammy would be so proud! Her famous saying was-"Don't ever leave the house without everything in its place. You never know, you could have an accident and strangers might have to bring you home. What will they think then?!" This may quite possibly be the reason behind the OCD!!

{31 Days To organize the "hidden" areas of your home} Day 18~ Organize Your Car

Don't forget to leave a comment on Day 16~ Organize your purse to enter the give-a-way for the cosmetic bag.




Today I am going give you some tips on organizing your car. This seems to be one of the hardest areas to keep clean and organized for me. I have a little one who loves to "take" stuff with her but doesn't like to "take" it back into the house when we get home. So the first thing I have to make myself do on a weekly basis is to do what we call a 10 second tidy to clean out all the "stuff" we have left in the car. But after all is clean what types of things need to be kept in your car. Obviously, in the glove box I keep our registration and insurance info but after that what things come in handy and how should those things be stored? When we owned mini-vans I stored things in an under the bed plastic container under the last set of seats. My current vehicle is an SUV and because of the design of the seats there is no room to store anything under them. I do have a storage compartment near the back gate that is sunk into the floor. So what to store? Over the years the items have changed. One thing I kept in the car when my children were toddlers, and I didn't need to carry a diaper bag any longer, was an extra set of clothes in a plastic storage bag in case we had an accident of some sort. These days the things I keep in the storage area are: a roll of paper towels, a few plastic grocery bags, an umbrella, & jumper cables. On the back of the front seats there are two pockets. I like to keep some thin books or magazines to keep my daughter occupied while we are on the road. In the glove box, I like to keep a large plastic storage bag with extra napkins and coffee stirrers. The most unusual item that I keep in my car is a small local phone book. I cannot tell you how many times we have used it to call for store hours or to look up a restaurant's number to place a carry-out order. I keep it tucked in a door pocket. Years ago, our cell phone service charged a fee every time you called information for a number,  so it also saved us a little bit of money to be able to look up numbers ourselves. The spare tire and jack are built into the car so I didn't include those items but if your vehicle doesn't have them built in, it is a good idea to include these items.  I find the less we keep in the car the cleaner and more organized it stays.