I’m not complainin’!

So blessed. So grateful.

I apologize for the negativity that came through my last couple of posts. I think that I will do better to focus on the good things that are happening. Building a house is stressful for anyone that takes it on, but what an incredible blessing to be able to do it!

I have worked through some (most?) of my more complicated feelings about the mistakes I’ve made and I’m ready to continue the process with a better attitude!

Here are some of the things that have helped:

**Realizing that this house will be a place of joy for us. We will have many joyful moments there and create lots of good memories.

**Thinking of the house as an asset we can use to help other people. To invite family and guests and have it be a place of refuge and comfort for them.

**Getting a clearer perspective of what seemed a mountainous trial to me. It is after all, just a house. And if my decisions have caused us financial strain, sometimes that is just part of life. I need to move on and learn from my mistakes, but not grind myself into the ground over them.

**Thinking of Houston. And Florida. My prayers are with the people of those areas destroyed by the hurricanes!

**Talking, talking, talking. With DC, the best man in the world for me. My true and loving friend and companion.

**Church! I wish we had it every other day instead of every 7 days. After our meetings yesterday I came home feeling strengthened and refreshed. Joseph Smith had it so much harder. So many awesome people have had it so much harder. They kept fighting through their challenges and I want to, too.

I’m going to retrofit some posts (builder-talk :) about the building process of this house, including photos, things I learned (so hopefully my mistakes can help someone else!), and good things that have happened along the way. . . .stay tuned. :)

New Leaf Giveaway!!

Congratulations to the following winners of chocolate!!

I chose three because I just couldn't stand to do only one. (Just like I can't stand to eat only one M'n'M. :)

 

(btw, Annie, do you want the "healthy kind" of chocolate? :)

I wish wish wish I could send chocolate happiness to ALL of you sweet commenters! You are all the best! The best, I tell you!

This wonderfully flattering picture of me is proof that I used a highly scientific method in randomly selecting the winners.

Day 38 - { you }

aka "New Leaf, day 10" :)

Yippee! I worked all day, and I met my goal! (Well, mostly. I'll 'splain in a little bit. . . )

The biggest success is that the System is now in place, and now when I get a paper that needs to be saved, it will have a home to go to!

So now the Paper Monster is conquered, and I can maintain it by just spending a little time each day or each week. That feels SO GOOD.

 

 

 

I never would have done it without YOU, though!

It's true.

This paper problem had been steadily getting worse and not better for years. I spent time regularly maintaining spots that were in the open, so that it wouldn't be too embarrassing, but I was running out of space to stash.

I needed Accountability in order to make myself go through those huge stashes. And YOU provided that! Not to mention that you provided it so sweetly and graciously. Thank you, each of you, so much! Every comment you made helped me and encouraged me.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

 

There was so much room left in that top drawer that I was able to use the space for extra office supplies that had been sitting { ahem } in a Target bag on the garage floor. Yay! Much better!

Today after school. . . .

Fire just seemed easier (and more fun) than the shredder. :)

So the things that weren't QUITE finished, like organizing the totes and also some of the memorabilia stuff in our bottom file cabinet drawer, will be done with the person it concerns (for example, Exacto and I will organize his tote during one of his Super Kid dates). I think it will be really fun to do it together. So many fun memories come back when you're going through things like that. And that way I won't end up throwing away something that's really precious to someone else.

 

Some more great tips from your comments this week. . . .

“New Leaf, day 6”

Becky - Also, we have a file system idea (unfortunately not quite in practice yet, but we have only been here for a year and a half) to keep things together in our filing cabinet, then keep individual files (monthly utility bills, receipts, medical claims :(, etc.) by year in a banker's box. It will really help if we're ever audited. This probably doesn't make much sense, so call me if it strikes a note (esp. if it's in a major key).

Yes, this is a great idea! We actually do this for tax records, bank statements, and medical insurance stuff. There is a very helpful website  through the Univeristy of Illinois Extension that helped me decide what to keep and for how long. (Here's the link.) Someday I hope to burn our box. :)

"The Great Paper Purge of '09 - New Leaf, day 8"

terry burchfield - hey michelle, i keep a big binder that holds all my important mother info. i keep it close by and always know where it is. i use dividers and either hole punch or use sheet protectors for my papers. i have it divided into sections such as school, where i keep class schedules, contact info, etc. i have a section for each child where i keep sports schedules, schoo info pertinant to just that child, even their clothes & shoe sizes (i do this for hubby too). i have a section marked important at the very front where i keep contact numbers (anything i don't want to have to hunt the phone book down for). i have one for church where i keep lesson schedules and visiting teaching info. i love it b/c i don't have to think about where i put some paper when i need it!

This is brilliant, I tell you! Brilliant!

“New Leaf – day {gulp } 9”

Cindy - You can do it! Having a plan helps so much. My kids try to race sometimes when they have a dreary job that seems to go on and on. Maybe you can set a timer for each task and see if you can do it in time, that way it seems more manageable. I would love to hear you all play together...I miss that! Maybe you can post a video sometime for those of us who don't get to hear you and Chris play anymore :-(
I also definitely recommend a little chocolate to reward yourself for your hard work ;-) I'll be thinking of you!

Becky - Wake up and have a full breakfast, then line up some chocolate treats (that you hopefully have onhand, if I know you well enough :) to enjoy at each hour/couple of hours. Take a break when you need to, but remember to get back to things, too.
Call me if you feel lazy. You can do it!!

Chocolate makes everything easier (well, except losing weight, I suppose). And speaking of chocolate:

**Comments for the Great Chocolate Giveaway will close at midnight tonight! I'll have the boys help me draw the winner(s) tomorrow.**

 

When I told DC that I really wanted to post this tonight because I didn't want to keep you waiting, he said, "Oh, yes. I am amazed at how many nice comments you have gotten!"

I am amazed, too.

And grateful. :)

New Leaf, day - {gulp} - 9

Aaaah!! I don't think I'm going to finish!!

All the time I had for it today went towards clearing out that bugaboo of a top drawer in our file cabinet!

Here's what I have left to do (made a list this morning):

 

Tomorrow I can spend most of the day on it once the boys leave for school, minus a short commitment in the morning. (I'll be performing with DC for our neighbors. He's getting ready for an upcoming recital, so we're playing Bartok's Romanian Dances for them. So fun!)

Tell me I can do it! Maybe with some crazy music and a marathon day tomorrow. . . . .

The Great Paper Purge of '09 - New Leaf, day 8

Only two days left! I'm in the home stretch! But I'm starting to worry that this is ending up to be more than a 10-hour job. . . .

So tomorrow and Friday I'm going to hit it hard and Do This Thing!!

Only two days left to enter the giveaway, too. I've decided that for each comment you have made on a new leaf post, you get an entry into the drawing. I may do more than one prize, because I just wish I could send chocolate to all of you beloved friends, so we'll see how it ends up. :)

Today I spent an hour and a half on the top drawer of the file cabinet, throwing away almost a whole kitchen garbage bag full. And it's not even done yet! Crazy-ness. I can't believe how long some of that useless stuff sat in there and kept me from using the file cabinet.

I have realized something about myself. Maybe you're like this too, but I actually kind of LIKE filing stuff. It makes me feel happy when something has a designated home, and I put it there, and kiss it good night and close the door and feel all cozy. But if its designated home is SO CLUTTERED AND STUFFED FULL OF JUNK that I can't put it there, so I put it somewhere else and it becomes homeless and I can't find it when I need it, well, then I DON'T like filing stuff. In fact, then it's right up there with getting an IV or unclogging a toilet.

So the key is to keep my file cabinet useable!!

That's for stuff that has to be filed, like bills and bank statements and other joys.

Memorabilia stuff, well, that's actually turning out to be more fun than I thought. Now that I have been freed from the idea of having to save every. little. cute. thing ever created by one of my children--because I can take pictures of it, and because there are so many that I can just pick my favorites--there will hopefully be room to store those treasures in their individual totes.

Fluffy is so excited about his tote (hot pink and all) that he wants to look through it with me for his Super Kid date this Saturday. Awesome.

 

Gotta run pick up these cuties. . . .:)

 

Made me feel Heavenly Father's love today:

My wonderful visiting teacher Linda came and listened to me and taught me and we both cried.

 

Made me smile today:

PW says that rosemary is her "favorite herb on the face of God’s green earth."

New Leaf, day 6

Can I just say that ya'll are awesome? Your sweet comments have helped me SO MUCH!!! This morning I woke up feeling very unmotivated and "tired" and my first thought was, "Today's going to be a computer/blah day."

But then I remembered this New Leaf giveaway and my goal to finish conquering the Paper by Friday and I knew that I needed to get my toosh in gear. I couldn't stand the thought of having to report a wasted day.

So I spent AN HOUR AND A HALF today (to make up for Friday), and made it through this. . . . .

(Lest you think we live in complete squalor, that is NOT the floor in my house. We keep the file cabinet in the garage. I know it's a bit unorthodox, but it's better than having it in the living room, where it was before! :)

Now instead of being crammed so tight nothing else will fit, it is only about 2/5ths full!! YIPPEE!!! Now there will be room for what is currently stacked in the dining room and in the downstairs hall closet.

Only 4 days to go. . . .Thank you so much for every single little word of encouragement!

 

Bonus: A collection of paper-organizing tips :)

Here are some of the great tips that were left in the comments last week. I love these!!!

Amanda T - You do this! Have you heard of flylady? I have incorporated some of her ideas into our home with success.

I LOVE FlyLady! I use a lot of her ideas, including the morning and after-dinner routines and the zones. I think she is brilliant and such a generous person.

Mary D - I am very proud of you! Take it 15 minutes at a time and you will be amazed at your progress. For 15 minutes you work hard and then take a break, it really does help keep you motivated.

Becky Rose - Have you heard of Houseoforder.com She's LDS and has great systems and books on how to get organized. She'll even send you weekly news letters via Email. You Can do it!

I had never heard of this! Sounds great!

Stephanie Johnson - One thing I've done is create a notebook for each kid for each grade. I have tabs like: Report Cards, Artwork, Class Info, About Me, etc. Whatever artwork doesn't have a foot or handprint or something sentimental, then I take a digital picture of it, file it on the computer under their school year, and then throw the artwork away. Hopefully that's a way you can "declutter". Good luck! :)

This is nifty! I will probably use this later this week, when I attempt to condense papers from all the boys into their individual totes. It is torture for me to throw away paper that is in the least bit sentimental, so I love the idea of digitizing some of it!

Amy Kay - . . . . And yes piles of paper...hate them, and need to get them organized too. I am going to strive to work with you on this. And YES MUSIC is wonderful. Good luck! Love and Hugs, Amy.

Chris (he has to be blue :) - Hey, maybe we could go through papers for a date some time. We could have a big bon-fire with the trash and roast marshmallows for a treat!

awesome :)

llamitanan - I like Stephanie's idea of having a folder on the computer for your children's papers. It would be fun to put the best ones in one folder and have that as your digital scrapbook for your children to watch. They would LOVE seeing their favorites going across the screen. Just take a picture of them with your camera.

Amanda T - I don't know if the idea works for you or not, but I once read a suggestion to take good photos of the artwork your children create and then only save a FEW pieces. You have the photos to preserve the memory, but make room for new pieces and more prominent displays.

llamitanan - Good job, Michelle! I remember Daryl Hoole suggesting filing ten papers a night back before computer days. A few bites a day consumes the huge elephant. :)

Malauna - I do hope that your fair city has a paper recycling program and instead of putting the paper in the garbage it is going in the recycle bin ;) However, if it doesn't, throwing away is better than piling up!

It doesn't--can you believe it? We have had the biggest hassles when we've tried to find ways to recycle our phone books! Hopefully it decomposes quickly. . . .

Andre - I like cleaning the girls room and going through their papers when they are at school. It's easier when they have no idea that I threw anything away. I just went through Savannah's papers from last school year, too. They had been residing in her closet. Most went in the garbage, the ones I kept I put in a tupperware box that is just for her special school papers. I have one just for Dakotah, too.

Mary D - You are doing a super job, keep it up! I got a tote for each one of the kids and have stuff in there from birth all the way through graduation and now am putting college things in it. They love to go in there and see what they did when they were younger. As Bailey makes her own milestones Jeremy asks - when did I start doing that? And then I go into his box and find out and tell him. It is special. When it started getting full I would go through it and have to throw away things that were similar but that I only needed one of, not one each year. That way I keep it to one tote each.

I'm so glad to see how many people use the tote idea with success. That is what I'm switching to this week--although unfortunately the only ones Walmart had at the time were HOT PINK. So my boys will have their treasures forevermore in HOT PINK file totes! ha

llamitanan - Good for you--you took time out for the Temple! Now you will definitely meet your goal. I find I accomplish a lot more in my week if going to the Temple is one of the activities.

Becky - Just kick your trash! Hee hee. I mean, don't be afraid to throw things away. The trash can is YOUR friend!

New Leaf, day 5

<with downcast face, and voice lowering at the end of each sentence>

I had an off day.

I only did 20 minutes' worth of paper cleanup. And then I went to Hobby Lobby and had fun.

<lower lip poking out>

I need a spanking.

New Leaf, day 4

Hi, again!

Yesterday DC and I made a quick trip to Memphis to worship in the temple. It was so wonderful! Like a Super Date. :) It barely fit into a school day for the boys. Sweet. I hope we can do it again sometime if DC has the day off during the week. . . .

Anyway, so I missed day 3 of attacking the Monster. It got one more day to sit in smug contemplation of the frenzied efforts that had as yet been futile.

But today I was Back.

I spent my allotted hour on this little beauty. . . .

 

To my happy amazement, I was able to throw away a lot of it!! I thought for sure that all of it would be painstaking home-finding for each little paper. I had forgotten that when school got out last May <ahem> and the boys brought home full backpacks after cleaning out their desks, I had never gone through the piles. We had left immediately for AZ and when I got back all nauseated and cranky I stuffed all of it into the bags depicted above. Yeehaw, it felt good to throw away so much paper!!!

The rest of it was more difficult. There was even a stash of Christmas letters and cards from. . . gulp. . . .2006.

In a later post, I'll explain what my intentions are regarding the dreading Memorabilia stack. I do have a Plan! :)

 

P.S. In your wonderful drill-sergeant comments, will you please state your favorite TYPE of chocolate? (imported, dark, Hershey's, with filling, etc.) I am a dark, European chocolate sort of gal myself, but I know that not everyone shares that taste and I want to know better how to shop for the GIVEAWAY. :)

New Leaf, day 2

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments!! I can't believe what good ideas ya'll have! I will be referring to your comments often in the next few days!

After the second day of working on the Paper Monster, I have gone through most of the pile that was on the counter from the past 6 months or so. (I wish I had gotten a before picture of this!)

All the bills / paystubs / medical records are tucked away (tightly) into the top drawer of the file cabinet. And all of the memorabilia type stuff (adorable drawings and notes that I can't stand to throw away) is in a new pile.

But that pile WILL be dealt with soon! I promise!

And then I can get to the bags and boxes and making the file cabinet not so tight. . . . urck.

This is a huge project. But already it feels better just to have that huge pile off my counter! Yay! Thanks so much for the encouragement! Today I bought the first of the stash that will be the giveaway. :)

P.S. Took some "before" pictures. . . Still working up the nerve to post them.

Turning over a New Leaf. . . .

I'm experiencing a very unusual situation in life right now. Three of my children are in school, one is safe in heaven, and one is comfy in my womb. This means that I have Quiet, Long days.

When school first started, this was NOT a good thing. I couldn't stand the fact that Hummer was no longer my constant companion as he had been for 5 1/2 years. (I even started bawling in the library when I saw the storytime room - pitiful). And I sorely missed Exacto and Fluffy, too.

So I mourned for a day or two, then realized that the harder I worked while they were gone, the more attention I could give them when they got home! YES! FOCUS!

That worked for a couple of weeks. Then, after Labor Day weekend, I was in sort of a lazy funk. The weather was making me SO CRANKY - with high humidity and high temperatures and trying. to. rain. but. just. not. quite. sort of weather, and then pouring for days on end, right when I want it to be cool, dry autumn like in normal places. The computer got WAY too convenient. And suddenly I realized that the boys had been in school for a MONTH and I had very little to show for it, in spite of my "quiet, long days."

Over the weekend I did a lot of thinking. The time I have right now makes me feel, in a way, very wealthy! :) I just need to be wiser in how I'm using what I've been given. So I sat down and "budgeted" how to allocate these golden hours.

Lest you busier people (which is probably all of you) start getting a little jealous. . . a lot of what needs to be done is a result of nearly two years of neglect. My life was so completely upside-down after Benjamin died, and DC was so busy just keeping his head above water with me out of commission, things have been in survival mode for a long, long time. Maybe I'll get brave and show you some "before" pictures and then some "after" pictures when I'm done!

Anyhoo, I'm starting anew, with very specific goals and even a schedule for my time during the day. I'm really grateful for a chance to get things back in order before the baby arrives.

The first deadline I've created for myself is to organize all the paper that is all over the house in bags and piles (so embarrassing to even admit this), and get a working system going. I want to complete this by General Conference (10/2), and I think I can do it in 10 hours, so I'm spending an hour a day.

If I meet the deadline, I will reward myself with THIS sweet little number from Old Navy for our baby girl:

                                               Isn't it adorable? I can't wait to put it on her!!

Why am I telling you all this? Because I'm hoping you'll be like my drill sergeants! (Nice ones, but strict ones. :)

Will you please encourage me? I'll report in periodically, and let you know how I'm doing. Even if I'm not doing well--that way you can give me a verbal kick in the pants!

And in return, I will host my Very Own Giveaway!! Wow, that makes me feel like Pioneer Woman, or something, to even type that! ha! Too bad I can't give away Kitchen Aids.

But if you leave comments on my "New Leaf" posts over the next couple of weeks, you will have a chance to win something nice. I'm not sure what yet, but very likely chocolate will be involved. :)