Saturday morning rambling.

It's a gorgeous Saturday morning. The sky is clear and a brilliant blue, and the sun is pouring into my very cold home, adding some additional comfort. "The boys" (my brother and bf) are sitting around playing shoot em up video games, and I'm snuggling with my olliebear, drinking coffee all while researching new ways to re-design our dining room.

Our dining room is possibly the worst room in our home, and the least used. Right now it's home to a bench, a basket filled with shoes and a hand-me-down dining table. I've got some art work on the walls but it doesn't really make much sense design wise to have that these random pieces of art hung there.

So, when things settle down financially and we have the money to do the renovations that I want, we plan to make big changes there. The walls are going to be painted gray. The square "faux tile" linoleum floor is coming up and some wood flooring is going down (the flooring from the dining room with also be put in our living room, allowing me to say goodbye to that nasty carpet). And when all is said and done I imagine a more simple art display and utilizing the space for a desk & cozy chair. I'm also looking for rugs as I want the space clear and open.

These are my inspiration photos.

I wish I could afford that desk from West Elm and that chair from Anthropologie. Sigh.

Keep Calm and Carry on...

Lately it feels like worry and stress is attacking me from all sides. And while I haven't done a great job at warding off the angry monster that erupts when I get overwhelmed, I am trying to think of ways to calm down and relax. The poster above is currently propped on my desk in a very beaten frame. I tried hanging it up but after multiple attempts and various sticky products, it continued to fall from wall and crash to the floor. It's hard to keep calm and carry on when the phrase itself refuses to relax in my work environment.

Candles and Lemon drop Martini's help a little. And when there is no vodka in the house mint and chamomile tea are a quick substitution.

The ocean always relaxes me, but given it's 10 degree's out I won't be venturing there anytime soon.

And at the end of the day cuddling with Dave & my bear (pictured above) is a good way to end the day. As is cozy-ing up in a bed that has been spritzed with vanilla lavender sleepy time spray.

Sadly my usual ways to relax aren't working as effectively lately. What do you do to relax?

Cleaning and Relaxing...

Dave and I spent the first few days of the new year going through each room in our home and cleaning up and clearing out. Part of the clearing out process involved me going through all of my old journals and deciding to just chuck them all. My journals date back to '92 and while it was interesting to see what i had to say when I was a mere 10 years olds, some was also a bit horrifying. Probably the most disturbing journals came from 2000 on. I never thought I'd be able to part with all of that history, but I'm glad I did. It's good to have it gone.

So we bagged up about 9-10 garbage bags of junk, and then had another 6 bags of clothes and items that we were more than willing to part with. In the process Dave lost his "man den". We swapped the bedroom & man den. I'm so much happier with the change. Things feel calm and peaceful.

And when we're done with all that cleaning the best thing to do is relax. Lemondrop martini's are the perfect end to a stressful day.

Clean Start

Dave and I spent the first weekend of the new year doing some heavy duty cleaning around the house. I went through all of my "stuff" and bagged and shredding numerous things.

I was keeping all of my bills in a fancy file folder, and had been doing so for the past 5 years. I decided that this is pointless as I never needed any of these files. Wait. I take that back. I needed them for my home purchase. But all I really needed was two months worth of bank statements and my taxes. Don't worry- I'm still keeping my taxes.

So I shredded almost 5 years worth of bills, which took about 6 trash bags. Then I threw out every diary I own. I just wanted them gone. I started to read through it but there are some things best left in the past.

We re-organized our closets, we swapped our bedroom & Dave's man cave (my favorite change), we moved around our furniture and bagged clothes, scarfs, purses and other items that we weren't using. I have most of the carnage in the back seat of my car all ready to donate to the salvation army.

We still have a few more things to get rid of but it's primary done. Feels good to be more organized.

A year a new..

I've been thinking a lot about the new year and what resolution I might have for it. I can hardly recall some of last years, though I'm sure they were along the lines of read more, eat healthy, use my gym membership, wash my face, etc, etc, blah blah blah. I also recall resolving to not watch TV. Sadly that only lasted a few months. But, I did learn a lot in those few months.

For this year I have one resolution.

To live simply.

When I look around my home and think about my life I see a lot of clutter, disorganization, and stress. I find it challenging to relax when I return from work, and my job itself isn't the least stressful out there ( I work in corrections).

I found an article on the Internet about living simply. Here are the key points that I hope to work on this year.

1. One thing at a time.

2. Simplify your schedule.

3. Get moving.

4. Develop one healthy habit this month.

5. Do something calming.

6. Simplify your finances.

7. Have a blast!

8. Get creative.

9. Declutter.

10. Be early.

To see the entire article go here: http://zenhabits.net/2008/10/10-simple-ways-to-live-a-less-stressful-life/

In keeping with #1 I plan on focusing the month of January on #9. DeClutter. I have a few ideas for how I'd like to do this.

1. I'm going to throw out old journals first. I remember a time in my life when I couldn't imagine not having my journals, and now I can't imagine keeping them any longer.

2. I'm cleaning out my jewelry box.

3. I'm weeding through my shoe collection. Good bye heals I haven't worn in ages.

4. Shred all of my filed bills.

5. Remove furniture from my home that isn't useful or necessary.

6. I plan to de-clutter my bank account by making less transactions and opening an account at a credit union.

It all begins on Friday... let's see how this goes.

Sleigh bells ring... are you listening...

Hello to my new followers!! Please please comment and introduce yourselves!

Christmas is right around the corner and I couldn't be more excited. Each year I'm incredibly anxious for this season and I always have grand dreams for how things will be. This is the first year since moving out of my parents home that I've actually decorated for Christmas. Last year I did some modest decorating with lights, garland and a few nick knacks. This year I went to the extreme and purchased several holiday items.

Dave and I spent my Thanksgiving vacation shopping for holiday decorations. We bought garland, twinkle lights, a tree, ornaments and even a holiday shower curtain with matching hand towels. We spent the entire week decorating our home and I'm very satisfied. Of course I already have big plans to go shopping the day after Christmas so I can snag great deals on some more decor!

I may leave the little "wish" sign up all year. It's adorable.

My mother came to visit the other day and gave me an excellent idea for a home renovation. And while I can't wait to get new floors in the place, I think I'll do her idea first. She suggested that have a hatch door with a ladder installed into the attic. Brilliant!

Right now my attic space is not easily accessible. There is a small hole in my closet that one can use to get up there, but it offers no chance for storage. If we could do some small improvements to the attic with the hatch and a floor & perhaps some additional insulation, then I'd have a place to store my things & Dave's. So, after I get my tax return this will be the next project underway!!!

That and I believe Dave and I will be swapping the bedroom & man room again. I can't stand having our bed in such a small room. It's driving me batty. I miss the vast space we had in the larger room and I think if we are both able to weed through our stuff we could easily clean house and make the "man cave" work in the smaller space.

Mission Organization

As odd and as challenging as it is, my current goal for the new year is to be far more organized than I was this past year. I love organization. It makes sense, I feel in order, and things are easier to find and schedule. So, I make a list of the things I want to bring order to this year:

1. My checkbook. I want to save. I want to make it a point to save. I want to be that person that pays themselves first. I also want to be more proactive with my budget and deducting things as I pay for them.

2. Grocery Shopping. You can ask anyone and they’ll tell you I am HORRIBLE in the grocery store. Poor Dave has been a victim of my outburst during many shopping trips. My goal with grocery shopping is to do it on a specific day each week, use the various coupons we’ve been clipping and plan our meals out in advance. Along with meal planning I’d like to make it a point to use less frozen dinners. So far Dave and I have done really with preparing everything from scratch.

3. Photographs. I have millions of photos on my laptop and several empty albums and scrapbooks. I want to make it a point to print my memories and document them more formally.

4. Clean out the clutter. Anything that I haven’t used or worn in a year needs to be gone. End of story.

5. Stick to an exercise routine. When Dave first moved in we woke up every morning at 5am and went to the gym together. We haven’t done that in well over a month. He keeps on mentioning that we should return to the regimen but I brush it off. We need to get back to it. My waistline will thank me.

6. At work I want to always leave the office with a clean desk. I want my papers in order. I want to schedule appointments with residents and adhere to it. I want my day to be orderly and predictable (as much as one can when you work in corrections). I also want to purge all of my old files and unused documents.

7. I want to blog weekly. And reflect upon my weeks so I have something to reference later on.

8. Cleaning. I really want to establish a cleaning schedule and stick to it.

I think the push for organization is that I feel as though I’m missing order in my life. My job is so hectic and chaotic so when I get home I’m far to exhausted to do what I love. I think I had more time prior to us getting cable. Cable has destroyed me. I remember I started this blog to chronicle how my life would be if I didn’t watch TV. Perhaps I need to avoid the TV again in 2010. Watching an occasional movie is fine, but seating my arse out front of the tube for every moment of my home time is not good. I’m sure there are things I used to prior to the tube that my life could severely benefit from.