Dancing Queen?

No, no, no. I said donating queen! I am the donating queen lately. I can't believe how the change in seasons - and the fact that my child has outgrown everything all at once - (Can you say "growth spurt"?) prompts me to go closet clearing. Knowing that Christmas is not that far off has also led me to start weeding out the toys we've outgrown in order to make room for the new onslaught.

Have the cooler temperatures prompted any pre-holiday nesting of your own?

"Simplify the Season" is in the air. Can you feel it?

~J

Getting back on track. (Fall time is fun time!)

I am using a borrowed computer. (Thank you Paul for sharing!) My laptop has given up on me after just over a year of service. Therefore I do not have Live Writer at this time. This makes me a bit sad, but lookie at the technology I still have! YAY! October is almost over. The temperatures here have been very fall like lately. I am actually in love with playing outside! I have really been choosing fun! It is hard to remember to live abundantly in all I do, but I am really working on that. How about you? Are you living life to the fullest? I finally have an update from here ... The magazine basket was purged to make room for all of the "soon to come" Christmas catalogs. The tree branch has been trimmed and the guys have chopped most of it into firewood. The big trees are still holding strong. The garage has been cleaned out. The yard sale is DONE. The decision to order a shed for the lawn eqipment (a safety measure really) has been made.

This is the time to get out all of your Fall decorations, give them a good dusting and sprinkle them about. I never, hardly ever, give decorating tips, but I will just this once. If there are holiday decorations that you own that you are not using (aka they are remaining stored away in their boxes year after year after year) DONATE THEM NOW. Someone else will still have time to use them this season and it will lighten your load when you go to repack the decorations that you love year after year. Less really is more sometimes.

Stay tuned for the start of "Simplify the Season". I will be bringing back some favorites from last year as well as adding some new goodies. Can you say "Holiday Hub"? I'm giddy! ~J

Letting go.

Welcome to October.  Now it really is more fall-like, isn't it?  We start to realize that the 85 days left until Christmas is going to be all too short!  Do not fear.  "Simplify the Season" is coming soon.  With all this talk of change of seasons, I thought it would be a good time to discuss change in organizing.  (Wow, what a seg-way!)

"Change is not easy, but it is incredibly liberating."(1) Stemming from this idea is that the stuff we surround ourselves with should be stuff that we love, we find useful, is current.  So what happens to the stuff that is out-of-date, obsolete, no longer useful to us, or lovely?  Friend, that is what we call "clutter".  Whether it is your home or office, if the contents are not serving you and your present purpose, they have no business being in your life.  Does that sound harsh?  Maybe a little.  Maybe because it is true.  I am not suggesting we throw out everything we own and start anew.  I am suggesting that we all are capable of filling our lives (and homes) with stuff that really has no purpose other than collecting dust.  I may be talking about your bread machine, that 7th pair of black heels, or the spare 2000 paper clips which are lurking in a desk drawer.  what is it for you, friend?  Is there one area that you know you really need to let go of certain stuff?  Will you commit to take time this week to JUST THINK about what that space in your home will be once you let go of the stuff?  Ok, enough about the change part for now.  Do you want to know abut the liberating part?  That is the part where you find that you don't miss what you've donated and tossed.  The part where you have a room that looks the way you want it to look in your head.  You have peace.  You have room to live, conduct business, share your life, breathe.  That is true liberation.

I have had the candid conversation with many women lately who feel like being a grown-up, trying to have everything under control, and motherhood has zapped their fun.  At what point do we forget about living life abundantly?  When is it that we trade in fun for drudgery?  My challenge to you this week is to have fun.  In all that you do, have fun.  If you haven't heard of living abundantly before, I would love to talk with you more about it.  If you aren't sure what this "having fun" is all about, think about what defines FUN for you.  This is more than a 15 minute challenge to contentment.  Laugh, paint pottery, quilt, sure... fix dinner, do a load of wash, make the beds, pick up the toys.... but in all your daily decisions, choose fun.

 

 

1. It's All Too Much: An easy plan for living a richer life with less stuff; Peter Walsh; copyright 2007; page 52.

~J