So, don’t you kind of like the dismal quality of January?

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Maybe I am crazy, but as much as the gray skies get a little old, I find comfort in them. I feel that January and February are months that I can recharge and get things done all at the same time. We don’t go to as many events, we stay in more, we do simple things like board games and reading a whole lot more. I mean, our schedule is probably still super booked for a lot of people’s taste. But, I find that I like the extra hours of solitude and nothingness because the rest of the year we are running like chickens with our heads off literally.

As you know, I have been gabbing on and on about getting rid of things and cleaning out the cobwebs and clutter. There is a peace in that too because we are at home in our habitat, chilling with our favorite movie in the background with our fave fat cat. Though we aren’t true couch potatoes, we veg during this time more than any other time.

I also tend to wear my glasses out of the house more during the winter, and less of the contacts. My overall ensembles are more chill. I still wear my almost daily dresses, but they are more dressed down with leggings and often times Uggs. I know, the shoes of the suburbs, and a real turn off for a lot of people. But I yearn for them after Halloween and am ready to throw them out of the door when April hits.:)

I digress. Do you guys enjoy the lack of sunshine during the winter and the more lazy feeling that comes along with the first 2/2.5 months of the year? Or is it depressing for you?

There are ways to make days brighter for those who don’t have a glass half full mentality about winter:

Keep Christmas tree up longer (if you have one and if it’s artificial), the lights are so pretty on cold winter nights

Create projects to fill up your time indoors like scrapbooking or organizing:)

Take a class that you have always been interested in like glassblowing, knitting, or cake decorating, etc

Work extra hours to either make more money or to accrue extra vacay days and you can spend spare time planning that fab trip

Plan a winter get together like a Valentine’s party or a Star Wars marathon or wine and cheese shindig

Hope some of these tips help you guys beat the winter blues if you have them. If you are like us and like the more chill time of the year, the parties and classes are still useful. We are throwing a Valentine’s sleepover party for my daughter and her closest friends in a few weeks that includes baking and fun heart inspired games. I am also signing her up tomorrow at our local Michael’s for a couple of 2 hour classes to help her hone some skills. They are 50 percent off tomorrow. Check your local Michael’s!

Have a lovely rest of the night and Saturday!

simply~

Dee

 

So, an update on the mad cleaning…

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I stayed up until 4 after typing about how I was a paper hound and guess what? I am proud 2 say that 2 desk trashcans full later, I got rid of a lot!!! I also cleaned off my French memo board above my desk and I took down all of the flyers and programs and ticket stubs. We have all of that craziness in one huge ziplock bag. I recycled countless cards and doo dads and even got out a cute unused photo album for babies to put in my friend’s welcome baby basket. So, I am stoked!!!

The big challenge for the weekend is the 6 vac bags/plastic containers of baby clothes. I hope I can at least eliminate one of them. I took a garbage bag of books and mugs and vases, etc to Goodwill today. I also now have a bag filled with dresses and outwear of my daughter’s that I am giving away tomorrow if my friend doesn’t get back to me by then. So, I feel so so accomplished!!!!!!!!

We are going to start collecting items for 2 huge scrapbooks and that will eliminate paper trail too as I go through some photo boxes and realize what is not important and what is. My daughter is so creative, so I can’t wait to see how the photos turn out. We started taking things off of her French memo board too, so it will have to be an expandable scrapbook for sure.

This is off of the subject, but I am on day 4 of my #21dayfix workouts again and I am finally stopping my cough. I feel the pieces of my life fitting together and my vision is clear. Now on to personal finance:) I know that many people are pumped at the beginning of a new year, but this is the first time that I have ever felt so motivated to really and truly make a change for the better. I don’t think there is any turning back for me at this point. Hope your day/year/week is going well for you!

simply~

Dee

Cover photo courtesy of thoughtsonwhite@wordpress

So, I am so organized now…

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I am so organized and so together on only the 7th day of January that I am even impressed with myself.  There is more closet space. More shelf space. More cabinet space. More drawer space. I am re-gifting, donating, passing things on to friends. My place still looks the same, but all of the places that no one could see by walking around, are just as tidy or almost as the open places in my home.

But (there is always a but), the big, gigantic, enormous albatross around my neck though is the photos and tickets and playbills and greeting cards. I don’t even know how to get rid of or say goodbye to a lot of it. I have given a hundred books away in the last few months. Clothes. Household items. But these little papers are taking up so much physical and mental space and the only issue!!! If I had extra cash flow, I would pay someone to put these things into scrapbooks or weed out the unnecessary.

Well, the if denotes I will be doing this gargantuan chore myself. So, starting this Saturday, I will tackle the giant plastic container of virtually every card from every important person in my daughter’s life and decide what makes sense to keep. I also have a butt load of cards that people have given me in years past, so I have to dive into that as well. But to ease my way into the mess, I am going to do my desk tomorrow.

Am I the only one that has a place for most everything, but for those uncategorized items, the desk is the go-to place? I hope I am not alone in the crazy collection of ticket stubs of every movie I have been to with my kid. Then there are gift cards with probably .52 left on each one of them. Programs from mediocre plays we attended are shoved in there. Random office supplies that I never use. Beat up pens from various banks and businesses I have never been to.

So, I guess this title was kind of a farce. I always have considered myself a planner and organizer. But after thinking about and looking through this paper jungle, I am beginning to retract my statements. So maybe I wasn’t being smothered with material items, but more like memorabilia. I guess that is what I get for being a sentimentalist.:) You should see the many containers of my kids baby clothes and books and toys. I don’t know if I can ever cut down on those items. Maybe one day. Hmmmmm…

simply~

Dee

So, is it wrong for me not to want to talk a lot this year?

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If you knew me in real life, you would know that I talk a lot. I am smart and funny and have a lot of smart and funny things to say. I am also critical at times and self-deprecating, but I am anything but quiet. But this year, I want to mute out the noise. Noise coming from me and from others. In my quest to purge material things, I also want to purge unhealthy people/situationships as well.

I have been contacted more than twice by 3 people this week that I would consider toxic or unhappy or in less dignified terms-real buzzkills. All 3 of them have issues. One more than the other 2. But I do too. I am a struggling single parent and I still am unsure what I want to be when I grow up. But, I don’t tell them every time I talk to them about every problem I have. I have learned to turn to prayer or to myself or through writing to heal some wounds.

I spent December doing fun things. My kid’s mega performance at a major university in D.C. was a big part of our month. The rest was family and friends and good food and great experiences. I was sick for half that month and still am, but I did what I wanted and was around people that made me happy. After December, I decided that I want to do that all of the time. Why should I be around people that do not make me happy?  Why should any of us?

So, I would rather be hermitish (not a word I know) than talk and deal with people that I do not value, or those that only call to bitch and complain to me. It’s like in their social media life all is well and they laugh and carry on with everyone online. But then I get to hear the real side. Maybe I don’t care to be people’s confidante anymore. I used to try to fix people and really felt value in being needed. Now I just want to live my life and read great books, eat great food, be around people that I love and vcvs.

Does it sound selfish? If it does, then good! I have never been selfish. I have always put others needs and wants and wishes in front of mine. I get that from my mom. Of course I will still put my daughter and my mom in the front of everything. But everyone else must stand in line from this point on! I have been ignored for months by people, but if/when I don’t jump to return a call they are all over me. It’s like good old dependable Dee. She will always be there. ALWAYSSSSSS. I don’t want to be anymore.

This year, is about fitness, finance and finding my happiness. Beyond that, I am unbothered. I don’t care if people don’t agree with my political opinions. I don’t care if people find me different and insensitive. I am going to give people what they give me. If they give me silence, they will get that in return. If they give me love, I will love them like crazy. But what I will not give anymore, is my time or myself to undeserving and uncaring and selfish folks.

So, I guess that this is my declaration for 2016. Or, my soapbox sermon. Or perhaps my “getting it all off of my chest” session. I hope that you all do what makes you happy in 2016 and always. It is very liberating to love everyone, but at a distance without the entrapment or all of the drama. God bless!

simply~

dee

So, what is grace really? And not the grace you may be thinking of…

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So, I am not talking about grace in the way that Madonna talks about it: “She’s got style, she’s got grace, Rita Hayworth gave good face…” (Vogue) I am talking about the Grace of God. Have you ever seen books about Grace in a Christian reference of the word?

I mean, I think that I know what “they” mean, meaning authors and pastors and other church going folk. But, I am not exactly sure how to be granted or how to get or receive or whatever terminology goes along with this holy GRACE.

So, I went to this website called allaboutgod.com. This is what I found:  Definition of God’s Grace – How do theologians define it?
“What is grace? In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards men who merited the opposite of love. Grace means God moving heaven and earth to save sinners who could not lift a finger to save themselves. Grace means God sending His only Son to descend into hell on the cross so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven. ‘(God) hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’” (2 Corinthians 5:21).1

So, I read that and thought, well duh-I knew that. But then it means= wow!!! I am falling short of deserving this Grace from God! So, I read some more and the synopsis was that it is God’s favor. I suddenly realized that perhaps I don’t seem to get anywhere in life, in the way that I would like is because I don’t fully appreciate this gift and privilege I have been given, called Grace. Then I wonder how in the heck I am worthy? Or, maybe I am not? Maybe my lack of faith, or concentration in regards to Christ is the reason I often feel stuck in different areas of my life?

I really want to turn a new leaf and try to accept and inhale and grow in God’s Grace. I am going to work to not take it for granted and especially since I have been armed with the knowledge (again) how awesome and extraordinary the gift of God’s son so that I can live is beyond words. I want to revel in it and know that with God’s Grace I can make it through everything and when I am an old person, I will truly understand what the hymn Amazing Grace really means.

Because if any of us are honest with ourselves, we are blessed beyond measure and don’t even realize how much so. We woke up today, we are reading a blog right now. As large as Grace is, so is the fact that we have life and often live it how we want not considering God in the many choices we make, yet God still has our back. That pure and unconditional love itself explain Grace at its core.

simply~

Dee

 

Image courtesy of musicblvd.com

So,purging material things is quite tiring.

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Project get rid of things we don’t need/use/use/want 2016 is underway. My daughter got rid of around 50 books. So did I. I have also gotten rid of the stray shirt, pj item, old Wii game, decoration, knick-knack and thing-a-ma-bob. It feels quite cathartic, but it is overwhelming to see how much we have, though I am constantly getting rid of things.

I feel like we as Americans just have so much stuff. If some major thing were to go down and I would have to leave here in 30 minutes time, I would only grab my daughter, cat, photos, journals and baby items I have kept. So, why the need for all of the other?

I started right after Christmas and have continued nearly every single day. That is called being blessed when one can get rid of hundreds of items and their home still not be bare. I want this to be the year of lean. Lean closets, lean waist, and lean spending. I am bored with dust bunny covered items just because.

My biggest problem is papers at this point. Ticket stubs I want to keep as memories, programs, fliers, doo-dads from events, postcards, the whole nine. I think February will be about memories that aren’t the normal material things. It will be good for smiles, laughs and cries, and though I may not get rid of a lot of it, it will make more for the next series of events and memories.

Here’s hoping that you are doing or going to do in 2016, the things that are healing for you and close to your heart. I started a one sentence a day 5 year journal on the 1st. I am looking forward to making that a part of my daily routine along with writing, exercising and praying. Blessings to you all!

simply~

Dee

So, it is the end of 2015 and I haven’t…

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I haven’t stuck with my end of the bargain-reading tons of blogs and writing tons. But, I have written more this year than in a long time. But, I have got my fitness together more than ever in my life. My kiddo finished her 3rd play of the year this month, I have been sick for nearly a month, we have been running around all year like chickens with our heads cut off, but 2015 was decent. I learned a lot. I realized that I tackle too much. Like I wanted to be fit, and get financially and physically fit and write all of the time.

As much as I think that I am a multi-tasker, on major tasks, it is best for me to tackle one big thing at a time. So now that I have found #21dayfix and it is working, I am reading a lot. Then I am going to add back in writing a lot. Then I will focus attention on a new job. I am going to be less hard on myself in 2016 and treat myself kinder. I still resolve to get more fit, have more money and to do more creative things that I enjoy. But, I am not going to beat myself up if I don’t write every day in 2016 or work out every day, or pay off every debt I have.

I hope that you all have a blessed and happy 2016 and I hope that 2015 was all that you wished for and more.

God Bless and I will  “see” you more in 2016!

~simply

DEE