Mar 2, 2011

What’s on my mind…

Favorite song this week: It’s addicting!
New FAVORITE Organization Blog: Click on the picture to go there. SO MANY great ideas!

A bowl full of lemons.
Back in January, when we had our Organization Class at church, Lori an AMAZING mother and woman taught one of the classes for me! We were so lucky to have such great teachers! ALL of them were just incredible! Here are her tips:
Lori’s Tips & Tricks on organizing your time: -
1)  Whenever a paper with a date and time comes home from school, church, sports, practices, etc.  I immediately write it and all of the fine details on the family calendar, then I toss the paper.  That way we don't have paper clutter anywhere and we always remember where we are supposed to be and at what time.  This way, I am never left trying to find a practice schedule 10 minutes before practice starts, or trying to find that little primary paper that tells what talk a child has to give on Sunday.
2)  Delegate responsibility to your children.  No, the chores may not be done perfectly at first, but keep teaching them.  If you give them some ownership in the role of keeping the house clean and tidy, it will eventually cut your organizational time in half and give your children a good work ethic.
3)  I sit down once a month for a couple of hours and plan out my menus for the entire month.  Then I take a night where my husband can watch the kids and I go grocery shopping.  I get a lot of comments from people at the grocery store when they see my cart, but it saves me time and money all month long.  Rather than trying to come up with something to cook every night and running to the store for last minute ingredients, I have a list of 30 dinners that I have items for already at home.  
4) Every week, I write a to-do list and post it in a visible place.  First, I write the days of the week and fill in the blanks for the things I need to do that week that are date specific, ie. visiting teaching on Tuesday, Ian to preschool on Thursday, Tanner student of the day presentation on Friday, etc.  Next, I write my weekly to-dos.  These are items that aren't specific to any particular day, but need to be done for the week, ie, laundry; bathrooms, pay bills/ balance check book, etc.  Next, I write some long term goals.  I may not get to these this week, but if I find that I have extra time then I work on them, such as scrapbooking, painting a room, organizing a closet or space, etc.  And finally, but most importantly, I write a list of my "want to-do's" for the week.  It is essential to make time in the week to do something that I want to do, or else I get burned out and bummed out.  I have to write my want to-do's down or else they don't become a priority.


Also here’s  a plug for my cute friend Nicole! Her darling little girl Oaklyn is in the Parents Magazine top 10 for cutest baby of the year! And believe me she IS the cutest little thing! If you have a second would you go HERE & vote for her?! It only takes a couple seconds, no signing up for anything or logging in, just a quick push of the button. Thanks friends, I really do have the best friends ever!
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A few more fun projects I’m hoping to get around to for St. Patrick’s Day
These projects are all free printables from one of my favorite blogs 1825


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LOVING these- but searching high and low for those cute rainbow licorice- Anyone out there have any tips? You can download your cute tags HERE.
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Totally in love with this cute printable and the quote! Get it HERE.
Right now this is what my bedroom floor looks like! Yikes! I think I put together around 150 of these cute napkin flowers in the last two weeks! DSCN8507
We have a big celebration for the women at our church tomorrow. Should be fun. When it’s over that is.  teehee. I’m just kidding. It really is fun for me to plan parties, I do love it. I just hope it runs smoothly, and I can calm my crazy nerves! ;) I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
Here’s to a great week! We are craving tulips & sunshine around our house! Major Spring fever!