Serving Others & Emergency Preparedness Idea...

Over the last day or so, I have had a huge awakening. I realized how selfish I’ve become. I am surrounded I mean literally surrounded by good deserving people. People who need more. I want to do more to help! There are little and big opportunities surrounding all of us. Here are a few things that have inspired me this week-

The other night Zach & I were out to dinner, Zach noticed a sweet  (okay maybe she was a little crabby, she was 80 years old for crying out loud!) who had just finished her dinner and was having a hard time getting out to her car. He jumped up to help. My heart swelled with love for him. In that crowded little corner resteraunt he had taken in his surroundings and noticed someone in need. Do we sit back and wait for opportunities of convinient service to come to us or are we pro active and seeking out what good we can render to our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in need?

These are wonderful people! We have known them for years. Are you an organ donor? It’s a simple way to help.

Can you spare a prayer? A dollar or two?

adopt rinah from VsTheBrain on Vimeo.

God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore it is vital that we serve each other. So often, our acts of service consist of simple encouragement or of giving mundane help with mundane tasks-- but what glorious consequences can flow from mundane acts and from small but deliberate deeds."

--Spencer W. Kimball

Just thinking that in the grand scheme of things I have eternity to do the things I want to do. Wow, then with everything that is happening over in Japan, my heart aches for those people, who must be just terrified right now. Wondering how I can help. Sometimes all you can do is pray. And really that is good enough.

The Lord can do much more than I can anyway.

I also checked an item off my to do list for the month! Yay! I wanted to get Emergency Car Kits completed for both of our vehicles. I can tell you these have saved me more than once. It’s usually not a huge emergency, but they sure make my life easier. We’ve had kids throwing up in the car or wet underwear, and immediately we can change them into a new outfit. Have you ever ran into town and realized you forgot the diaper bag? Well no need to worry, diapers and wipes are already packed. Needed an extra snack in town? Taken care of. These Car Kits are so easy to put together, and I am betting you have most of the items on hand! I did! I got my list of what to put in mine HERE.

Emergency Car Kit List

A box to hold everything

Water

Snacks

Flashlight & batteries

Wet wipes

Toilet paper roll

Basic first aid kit

Blanket/towels

Change of clothes

Diapers

Feminine products

Umbrella

Scriptures, or a book

Jumper cables

Hand sanitizer

Pen & paper

Pocket knife

$5-20 cash (and change)

 Next Project to Tackle our 72 Hour Kits! What are your Spring Projects going to be? Have you started on them already?

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!

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!

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

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.

 

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!

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!

Organization Part II

Winner of my little  blog give away is SueAnn who said

“I also love the Bath and Body works summer vanillas the berry and the coconut...mmmmm! I think I'll go make me some hot chocolate right now!”

(I  wish I knew how to post the random number generator picture, I tried but just can’t figure it out- Any tips?)  I hope you love my random obsessions just as much as I do. :)

So a friend of mine, reminded me that I hadn’t finished my Organizational post series! See… no one is ever as organized as they would like! :)

 

We actually had sunshine & 60 degree weather here yesterday! It was such a nice break from all the cold & gloom!!! I got so much done yesterday! I actually started on my Spring Cleaning List & knocked out a bunch! Good Luck with yours!  Here is another part of our Relief Society Workshop that we had back in January.

Simple Steps to Organize Your Life

Assess the situation- Walk outside your front door, close it and take a deep breath. Now pretend you are someone else, and this is your first visit here. Open the door and begin walking through the house, seeing it through different eyes. Go ahead, snoop! Look through closets & cupboards. What do you think? Be honest now!

Purge- pick a room. Then choose a drawer or closet. Remove everything, and sort into piles.

1. Throw away

2. Put away

3. Give away

4. Sell

5. Keep

To keep or toss? Ask yourself, “Does it enhance my life or the life of others?”

If you answer no, then toss it.

Put back only the things that you love!!!

If it takes 60 seconds or more to decide, toss it.

Organize- Now that you have freed up space, it’s time to organize! Use common sense, put things where you will need them. Be creative, use boxes, crates, buckets, and baskets to organize. Find a home for every homeless thing, and then you never have to waste time trying to find it.

Maintain- easier to keep up, than catch up. Periodically purge throughout the year. Make the decision NOT to bring something into the house, and you won’t have to make the decision about what to do with it later.

Helpful Organizing Websites & Blogs:

www. Flylady.net

http://declutteryourhomes.blogspot.com/

http://orgjunkie.com/

http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/

http://diyorganization.com/

http://organisingtips.blogspot.com

www.organizedhome.com

Just do the best you can, but be sure it is your very best! – Pres. Hinckley

Eleven Things…

Here are 11 random things I am loving today. Happy  1/11/11 .

1. Did you know that TODAY is National Clean Your Desk Day?! Got to love that.  Want to get motivated or inspired? GO HERE.

2.  LOVING this song today. YOU ARE MORE.

3. Already lost that motivation to Move More Eat LEss in 2011?

Check this out. Inspiring for sure. We can do it!!!

 

4. I think this Snowman Party is ADORABLE! Click on the picture to see more! Wouldn’t that be so fun for a little January get together?

5. This blog has me motivated to try new things concerning FASHION.  FUN!

(CAUTION: This blog will keep you busy for a while! SO don’t click unless the kids are down for a nap, or in my case cleaning her room which is the one time I’m grateful she DOES NOT like to hurry! lol.)

Articles like HOW TO DRY SHAMPOO

How to wear cute ACCESSORIES

FASHION Trends. What to wear all year long.

How to line the waterline of your eyes with eyeliner.

Moving ON now-

6. One of my goals this year is to get my FOOD STORAGE all caught up and nicely organized.  this site. is fantastic for giving me inspiration.

7. When Miss Brooklyn decides it’s time to get an Easy Bake Oven- which she will I’m sure, what little girl doesn’t want one at some point in her life?!  I want to remember THIS site, it is full of recipes to make your own easy bake oven recipes, so you don’t have to pay $5 to make two baby chocolate cakes. :)

8. She makes me laugh, cute cute sense of humor. My SIL told me about her blog actually it was around Christmas time, I’m sorry I held out on you all for so long. She is DARLING. She is local, well sort of an implant since she is going to BYU I you know? ANd well I WISH I had the guts to wear fashion like she does. I don’t , so I’ll just keep on a wishin’. Check it out HERE.

9. I wanted to make this valentine wreath last year, well I didn’t get around to it, so this year it’s a MUST! I DO NOT like having something on my to do list for that long! That being said, don’t judge me if it really doesn’t get done because I may or may not still be in my PJ’s and it is after noon.

10. I REALLY want one of these. I think they are SO stylish, I would feel like I was straight out of Anthropologie if I owned one. *wink

Wouldn’t it be cute sitting in my kitchen with a little cupcake under it – ( I saw one at the Lion House Pantry and fell in love.)

11. Don’t forget to enter the GIVE –AWAY from Shabby Shack ALL THE DETAILS are on the next post down. The pictures don’t even do these hair pieces justice. Seriously. In person, you will die! They are SO cute & SO affordable!!

 

GIVE AWAY!!!!

The first week of every month is well to say the least a bit stressful for me, it just seems like so many activities fall in the first week. When it’s all said & done, I really wouldn’t have it any other way. We had Recipe Group- YUMMY FOOD!!! Check out all the Cookin’ Mama’s Recipes HERE. It really is so fun, we have 10 girls in our group and we rotate hosting each month. Who ever hosts is in charge of the main dish, and usually the drink. They assign all the dishes out and have it at their home.  Here’s a look at the party!

 

I finally had an excuse to make the cute Snow Man Kisses! My dad actually made these up in photo shop for me! ♥  On the back it says

Snowman Kisses

He’s cute, cuddly & full of good wishes. He wants to give you these snowman kisses! xoxoxo

I also had the cute girls in my group e-mail me their favorite cookie recipes- and made these books up for each of us. Super Simple. Can’t wait to try all the cookie recipes out! Thanks girls!!!

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The very next night we had our Relief Society Workshop- (a group for women ages 18 up at church) We had mini classes on Organizing and Simplifying our Lives plus Being Frugal & Fabulous. It was perfect. The teachers that taught were AWESOME! Do you want the 411? (that means information in cool teenager language) I sound stupid saying that. heaven knows I’m not “cool”.

ANYWAY-

I learned SO MUCH and was totally inspired by the sisters in my ward. Why am I even surprised? I am always inspired by them!!!

There was SO much information, I think I’ll just post  a tiny bit of it tonight. Watch for Part II in the series in a couple of days.

The first thing you need to do is

Identify YOUR Clutter Personality.

Which one are You??

The stasher- this individual is surface clean, but open their closets or cupboards and watch everything fall on your head!

The packrat- this is the ultimate hoarder! They hold on to everything for like fifty years. “I might need that someday.” Or “so and so gave that to me.” (then they display it when that person comes to visit)

The messy- these people make messes wherever they go. You can find them just by following their clutter path.

The procrastinator- quite often a perfectionist, this individual is afraid of not doing it right, so they don’t do it at all. Or they are waiting for the right time, or the perfect organizing tools, and… well you get the picture. It never happens.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

So last but NOT least, I bet you are wondering what the GIVE AWAY is right?! Well Amanda, from

Shabby Shack Creations

offered my cute readers a chance to win one of FIVE customized hair accessories! That’s right FIVE lucky readers will win!! That’s a pretty good chance. She sent a couple of clips over to me already, and I’m telling you they are CUTE, not only that but they are a steal! I’ve seen girls selling these all over the place, but no where near the price Amanda is selling them at! Here are just a few of my favorites- but there are SO many to choose from!!!

So there are a couple of ways you can win.

one entry if you become a follower on the Shabby Shack Blog, one entry if you like Shabby Shack on facebook, one entry if you blog, facebook or tell a friend about the giveaway.

Just leave me a comment for each entry.

I will also be picking one winner from the list of followers on my blog.

The giveaway starts today and will close next Friday.

Control Journal Downloads...

You should be able to right click on any of the Control Journal Pages, save them to your computer and print them out. I am happy to share these pages for free, & hope you enjoy them 
 for your own personal use only.
Also, the digi kit I used to create these files is called Chit Chat by Shabby Miss Jenn Design
{Front Cover of my Binder}

 

{Back Cover of my Binder}

{1st Section in my Control Binder is my Address Book}

The Next Section in My Control Binder is called {My Weekly Focus}

Monday :: Order

1. FHE

2. Clean House

Wash bedding/clean toilets etc.

3. Meal Plan for the Week

4. Make Weekly Goals

5. Grocery Shopping & Errands

Tuesday :: Happiness

1. Free Day

2. Laundry

3. Craft with Kids

4. Organize Something small

Wednesday :: Beauty

1. Paint toenails

2. Zone Cleaning

(I downloaded my zone cleaning lists HERE.)

3. Read from the Ensign or other inspiring books

4. Light candles and make dinner a little more special

5. Take a bubble bath

Thursday :: Peace & Serenity

1. Paper work/ bills etc.

2. Look ahead to next week, prepare birthday cards etc.

3. go through the house to see if you can make it more welcoming in any way

4. if you feel like it try a new recipe

5. think about serving those around you

Friday :: Abundance & Joy

1. Any errands that need taken care of

2. Look at your budget: What are you spending??

3. Plan Movie Night/ date night or family activity with the kids

4. Make sure you tell your family you love them! Leave a spical note or do something nice for your husband or one of your kids.

Saturday :: Freedom

1. Yard work/ Large jobs

2. think about dinner for sunday

Any last minute trips to the store?

3. Set aside time to play

4. layout church clothes, diaper bag etc.

Sunday :: Spiritual Focus & Love

1. Make it to church on time!
2. Relax

3. Think about issues that our family needs to discuss for FHE on Monday

4. Think about the blessings in your life

5. Visit family

Monthly

1st day of every month:

Menu plan & look ahead for birthdays of special events

Plan one big project to accomplish during the month

Get visting teaching done

Loot at what you are spending!!

The Next Section in My Control Binder is My {Project List}

Right now on my list of projects I have:

Work on Food Storage

72 Hour Kits

Make a chore chart for my kids

Get a will completed

In the next section

{What I Want}

I keep a list of things I want to buy sort of like a wish list, this reminds me to save my $ for things I really want instead of buying small little things here and there- It's also a great resource around my birthday/Christmas or mother's day for my hubby. Wink*

Riding Lawn Mower

Food Storage Shelves

Outdoor Patio Set

Window Washing Set

New Bedroom Set

Valentine Wreath

 Mindy Gledhill Anchor CD

etc.

I also included a page just for a list of  Books I would like to read

Books 2 Read

Next Section would be my perpetual list of Birthdays

I also like THIS birthday calendar if you want a more condensed version.

The last section in my Control Journal is called my

 {911 Section}

I use this template to put phone numbers like building your contact list for emergencies

 my pediatrician's phone number is on it, Poison Control, Our Home Address, and then I have a list of all of our closest neighbors & relatives labeled just as said. I pull this out when I hire a babysitter, that way she has people to contact just in case she can't get a hold of us, she can look at this in case of an emergency and see our home address if she needed to tell the 911 operator etc.

I also leave out a basic first aid paper like this:

Basic First Aid

Nose Bleed: Sit quietly, head forward, press nostrils for 5 mins. If still bleeding, pack nostrils with gauze. Lie down with head up and use cold wet towel on the face. DO NOT BLOW NOSE.

Scratch: Wash using sterile soap and water. Disinfect & use a sterile bandage.

Cut: Control bleeding!  Wash, disinfect, bandage, get help if needed.

Puncture Wound: If wound is penetrated deep (nail) make it bleed. Wash disinfect, bandage, tetanus shot.

Fish Hook Puncture: Push hook through skin until hook is visible, cut off hook, pull remaining wire out. Let bleed, wash, badnage, tetanus shot.

Lacerated or Torn Wound: Wash, disinfect, bandage, if a body part has been separated wrap it in steril gauze & keep cold. Seek medical attention for stitches of wound is deep & lacerated.

Bee Sting: Remove stinger with tweezers. Apply calamine or Benadryl lotion. Watch for anaphylactic shock.

Chigger Bite: Don’t scratch area. Use calamine lotion, Benadryl cream or clear fingernail polish to help with red itchy  bumps. Prevent by wearing long pants while walking through tall grass & weeds.

Tick Bite: Grasp tick with tweezers & pull gently. Check all body parts. Wash with soap & water. Watch for signs of illness. Prevent: long sleeves, long pants tucked in foot wear.

Poisonous Spider Bites:  Get help. Treat for shock, ice pack over bite, keep airway open, resuce breathing if needed. Constricting band.

Animal Bites: Wash bite with soap to remove saliva, disinfect, cover with sterile bandage, consult a doctor for possible rabies.

Snake Bites:  Seek medical attention! Treat for shock, wiash bite, wrap bite snug, but not too tight. Have victim lie down with bitten part lower than the body. Be prepared to give rescue breathing. No long use venom extractor or constricting band.

Poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac: Wash immediately with sopa many times with a thick lather. Do not brush or scrub to prevent further irritation to skin. Use Calamine or Benadrul lotion to decrease itching.

I also have a Child Identification Sheet for each child that I update every 6 months or so.

You can get a free download HERE.

There you have it. All the downloads needed to make your own Control Journal.

Happy Organizing!!!