It is the second week of April! Is your kitchen out of control? It's time to try to decrease our extras in the kitchen area! Clutter freaks--come out of that pantry!!! Yes you! I can see the Tupperware and plastics exploding out of the cabinet. I can see the old stale cereal behind the maple syrup bottle! Let's get busy this week in the kitchen zone. Foods : If it is old and stale --toss it. If you really don't like it (think salad dressings, marmalades, sauces, mustards, food gifts from December that you haven't even opened, etc) but it is still good, then donate to a food shelf TODAY! It's not getting any more tasty or fresh sitting in your cupboards. Kitchenware: you know we all accumulate a LOT of it over time. Seems like every fast food and gas station chain has a promo and a plastic cup collection. LOL Recycle the cups and plastics or donate them. HALF is the goal. Decrease the food storage plastics in your kitchen by HALF this week. Keep the sizes that WOR...

Finding time to scrapbook--or any other personal hobby time, really--is tough. It is about balance, I think. As a 25 year stay-at-home mom and parent of two children, I know how kids can keep you super-busy, especially in the early years! So can housework, families, homework, outside-the-home work schedules keep you hopping too. How do we as women MAKE time--not find time--to do the things we really want done?? We all put things on our "to do" lists daily. Mentally, or on paper, we CHOOSE parts of our day that we can control. Also we choose how we respond to the rest of the normal pressures of life. The best laid plans always get thrown off kilter. But how do we regroup and re-prioritize our time? From getting your nails done, gassing up the car, helping with homework, grocery shopping, appointments, to taking the kids to the park, we alot our time and our priority to various things in our day. For some women shopping is a 'me time' outlet, for others it is getting m...

Holiday Countdown Week 3 November 16-23 Sorry for the late posting this week. Shhh, I was super busy getting an 8x8 gift album done for my daughter and time slipped by as I submerged myself in that project. I can't share pics cause she might read this but suffice it to say it turned out super and I will share pics of it and other holiday gifts later on this week if I can. Week 3 is BAKING WEEK!! I inadvertently fulfilled that part of my holiday list today. My friend Deb asked me to come and bake cookies with her to freeze for the holiday. We made about 6 dozen assorted cookies for each of us in about 4 and a half hours. Her house smelled fabulous with the aromas of coconut-chocolate drizzle macaroons, molasses-gingerbread men, pecan turtles, classic sugar cookies, and adorable oreo snowmen. We sure had fun and talked and talked while we worked. :) Here are our recipes from today's baking adventure. Coconut Chocolate Macaroons: You can dip them half way as shown here or you can...

Week #2 "Gather your Supplies and start Making Gifts Week" Nov 8-15th After inventorying supplies on hand, purchase canned goods for holiday baking. Get any supplies needed for gift making. Don't forget the film, batteries, gift wrapping, and Christmas cards. After gathering all your Christmas gift wrap into one place, do you really need more? A friend of mine did this recently and found she didn't need to buy cards again for over ten years if she stuck to using her stash!! Wow. Gift wrap organizer ideas http://blog.kimvallee.com/archive/2007/09/13/magazines-take-on-how-to-set-up-a-gift-wrapping.aspx Focus your energies on completing simple, useful gifts to be made, setting aside gifts that aren't coming together, and writing your holiday letter. Find family photos suitable for inclusion with holiday cards.Walmart.com has 9 cent prints right onw if you have them sent to your home by mail. Make sure you allow enough time for duplication of photos d...

Week #1 "List and Browse Week" Nov 1-8th Quick get some Thanksgiving into it! Decorate your home for Thanksgiving asap because November flies by doesn't it? . Quick grab a sheet of paper. Make your lists of gift recipients, Christmas cards, menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, goodies to share or to give, favorite meals to prepare ahead, decorations needed, and gifts to make. I reuse my main gift giving list from last year and consult it to make sure I am giving something different to each person than what I did the last two years. Develop and record ideas for gifts and decorations. PLAN and ask yourself the following questions: * Do we put any emphasis on the spiritual side of holiday/Christmas? Can we improve that? * What would our ideal holiday/Christmas be like? How can we make it so? * What ongoing events or activities are particularly important to our family at this holiday? Do we go to The Nutcracker every year? See Santa? Go on a ski trip?...

"How can we find more time for our hobby?" I hear it all the time from scrappers of all types: "I need more hours in my day," "I can't find time to scrap," "If only I could have a whole week to myself to get organized," "I can't seem to get going on my books," "I haven't done a page in months," and "I shop more than I scrap!" Common complaints, right? Have you ever said similar things? I must admit I have often felt pressed for time and my hobby is the first thing to flex. But if it flexes too often, we don't get very far finishing pages do we? Let's figure out a way to have more TIME to scrapbook. The Problem: Our resources and time is limited. Not only by our busy schedules, but also by the unexpected aspects of life--like job stress, carpools, children's events, sickness, etc. Sometimes I hear scrappers joke about "never getting caught up" "working on my books from now to for...