A Delayed Resolution Kicked off ~ Cutting Clutter

An ongoing deal in my home is keeping on top of clutter. It’s easy to accumulate clutter. I've tried several "systems" and they all have great ideas. As i continue to read the many articles and books out there, I am pleased by how many practices I do have in place, but leaves me scratching my head, then why is it such a battle!  

For everything that comes in something has to go out; makes great sense to me, but is not practiced in our place at all... I have such trouble getting rid of things that might still be practical, or I might use someday. A favourite site of mine is FlyLady...She is wonderful with her Babysteps idea, and 15 minute timer...but that 27 Fling Boogie is impossible so far for me. Tried it again this afternoon! Congratulated myself with hitting 8...I'll keep working on it.

I try so hard to hold to the rule, "Everything to have a home", ...if it has a home, it's easy to return things, but when the 'homes' get crowded, then, it's difficult to put things back and it's frustrating as piles begin...and amazing how quickly they grow! In the craft room this is essential, paper pieces are like rabbits the way they multiply!
 ~ and Stampin'Up! has to stop making such fabulous Stamp sets...the shelves are starting to sag a bit : D
Specialists note that so much stuff around us each day can easily make us feel overwhelmed and defeated with the idea that it’s possible to get the home tidy and organised. Fortunately, for me, I am ever the optimist and will keep reading the "How-to's" and putting it into practice ~ and bit by bit keep it all at bay .

I've just had to find a spot in my Craft room to call home for the whole new Project Life by Stampin'Up! product line. This new avenue is fantastic and a whole new genre of stamps that work in Planners, the Daily albums and are versatile enough to make great cards, too! (look at these great examples by Aly Stamps).

Let me know your favourite tip or trick for keeping on top of a Hot Spot in your Home...

smiles,
Laurie

Jason F Wright ~Keynote Speaker at SU's Leadership Conference in Orlando

Just prior to packing to attend our annual Leadership the latter part of January in Orlando, I noticed that we would be having a keynote speaker at the event. I Googled his name to discover that he is an author ~ not only that but by sheer coincidence, he is the author of the book I had been reading at the time, having started it just before Christmas! A book called Christmas Jars Reunion.

I read a bit of the endorsements of him as a speaker and was really looking forward to hearing his talk.  His earlier books are about letter writing, so I knew he would be a perfect fit for the assembled group of cardmakers. Indeed, he was engaging and validated our art of card making. He gave examples from his own life experiences and others, of how letters touch the heart, renewing our belief that sending a note in a card is a powerful thing!

So my funny part of the story comes in here...I had decided that I would bring along the book I had borrowed from the library, not really having time to go buy another one of his books, yet. I was still reading it, and as a active patron of the Library, I thought, it might be kind of neat to return a signed copy to the Library here in town...

After the morning session, it didn't seem likely that he was doing a meet and greet,so I went on with the day, attending a breakout session and then having lunch. But later, down in the Product Playground area, I noticed him being escorted around by Donna Griffith. I scooched over and fished out my library book. He was thrilled to see I had his book, and beckoned me forward! I had it open, forgetting of course, that authors sign on the page that has the title and themselves, as the author, a few pages in, so as he searched for his marker and turned pages to get there I gushed about his wonderful talk. Then he saw the large stamp exactly where he should be signing his name of the Rocky Public Library. I think he was pretty surprised, but made a quick recovery as he exclaimed, "this is a Library book,... you've stolen this book...she's stolen this book." he announced to Donna. I hastily assured him, I hadn't, that I was a big patron of the libraries and figured they'd love to have an autographed book in their system by him!

this is him not quite believing me, I think! (I should assure you that he was taking this all in good humour! He is quite a joker and uses comedy to relate to his audiences!)

I flipped  a page back and said, "there, just sign there" He was laughing then and said "who should I make it to?" and then  "wait, others will want to steal this book!" so he proceeded to print on top of the page he'd signed, "don't steal this book!" and drew a happy face! 

thanks to Donna for capturing a few fun shots of the encounter! : D

smiles,

Laurie

New Entry ~ New Start

Ah, my little blog! I find sticking to it tough, when I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself...however in the genre of keeping a diary...I'm going to start back at it...I haven't kept a diary for a lot of years now...but I have dozens of filled books from my 20's and before...having children and being happy seems to take precedent over self-exploration!
I remember travelling with a friend of the day and laughing as she stated the only times she wrote in her travel journal was when she was lonely, sad and cranky..and what fun that would be to read when she was an old woman! : D
I recently pulled out a couple old diaries and one evening was interrupted in my reading one of my entires. Later that evening, when leaving a friend's place, I told her I was really excited to get back home to finish reading a few more pages in my diary, I told her I didn't know what was gong to happen next and couldn't wait to find out! LOL ~ I'm glad I wrote quite a few entries to keep this tangled brain on track as I get older!
Sometimes I photocopied a letter I sent home before mailing it...for the exact reason my friend had said about cranky entries...Generally, when we wrote home, we sent newsy, happy accounts of what we'd been up to...so it rounded out any lonely entries. We're talking the old days, when travelling for several months meant maybe one phone collect call home and otherwise no other contact with back home except the one way communication by us via postcards and the odd letter... Loved the adventure!

So if you'd like to follow along, I'm going to start regular entries. I've been quite keen on the idea of sending a little love through the mail via a card over the past couple years, but not as diligent as I was few years ago. A Challenge was recently issued to send off 40 cards during Lent...so, bolstered by a number of other women joining this challenge, I'm going to start back at it and create a habit of something I heartily agree with!
Tomorrow, I'll post a funny story of meeting up with the author, Jason F Wright, at our recent Leadership Conference. He was our fabulous keynote speaker, and I was lucky enough to meet up with him afterwards!

This is one of the Curvy boxes I made back in December for my Daughter's tree...Seven Swans a Swimming!

smiles,

Laurie