Make-A-List Monday: My Lenten Resolutions

February 20th, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | Make-A-List Monday - (Comments Off on Make-A-List Monday: My Lenten Resolutions)

I’m never very good at keeping New Years Resolutions, but Lenten resolutions are much easier for me because they actually make me feel closer to God.

I am a contributing writer for CatholicMothersOnline.com and I recent wrote a post about First World Problems and gratitude. If you haven’t heard of “First World Problems,” it’s a funny way of saying “I’ve got a great life, but I complain anyway.”

Part of the graphic I created for the Catholic Mothers Online article - Familiar?

With this in mind, these are my Lenten resolutions this year:

  1. Quit complaining.
  2. Quit gossiping.
  3. Be grateful for all my blessings.
  4. Simplify and de-clutter my home and my mind so I can really appreciate what I have

When I have the urge to complain or gossip, I’ll say a silent prayer instead, thanking God for the blessings in my life.

For a more details about my thoughts on gratitude, please read my article at CatholicMothersOnline.com. 

What are your resolutions for Lent this year? What do you plan to do to keep them?

The Saturday Spruce-Up: Upper Kitchen Cabinets

February 11th, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | The Saturday Spruce-Up - (Comments Off on The Saturday Spruce-Up: Upper Kitchen Cabinets)

This week’s Saturday Spruce-Up again is super lame. I don’t even have before pictures. Enjoy.

I took everything out of my kitchen cabinets, wiped out the insides with Clorox spray, and only put back in the things I actually use.

I also organized my "big spoon" drawer. I removed everything I don't use on a regular basis.

The box of stuff I'm donating, including an entire set of dishes, a few bags and purses, clothes, cook books, etc. I love de-cluttering!

Told ya, lame. But at least you got to see the mint green paint and amazing vintage contact paper inside my kitchen cabinets…

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The Saturday Spruce-Up: Double Feature

February 4th, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | Living Simply | The Saturday Spruce-Up - (Comments Off on The Saturday Spruce-Up: Double Feature)

The last couple weeks and weekends have been a little too busy around here, and I feel like life goes too quickly when we’ve got too many activities going on. That said, I haven’t been able to make as much progress on the house as I’d like, but I did get one little area under control.

First let me explain this area. It is our front entry way, but it is the least use part of our house. We have a big screened in back porch, and everyone enters through there into the kitchen, not the front. So this tiny little area has been an hot spot for me to pile junk.

So just looking at this tells me how long it’s been since I had this little space all cleared out. There is a baby swing in there, people, and my baby can already walk. That means it’s been a good nine or ten months since it was used. There are boxes of random papers, “projects” I’ve been meaning to work on, and a tipped over hand-me-down magazine rack filled with old Better Homes & Gardens. Plus this entryway needs drywall and a paint job, but that’s a different project for a different day.

Okay, I admit, this is a lame project for the Saturday Spruce-Up. Lame. Check out the “after.”

So it still needs drywall, trim, and paint, but at least I can get to the front door (and even get it open!) if we ever needed it as an emergency exit or if a stray pizza guy comes to the wrong door.

Now for the awesome part of the Saturday Spruce-Up. But Bryn, you already showed us so much amazing change in your house, how could there be more?

Well, folks, be prepared to be stunned. Presenting: My son and his flippin’ sweet preschool ‘fro.

Oh yeah, I had to include Peach in there too because she's awesome.

Well if I had Peach, I had into include Vanilla too, right?**

Yes, our son had a super sweet four-year-old white boy afro. It took forever to get it all washed and the shampoo all out, plus it was starting to look funny unless I gelled it. And am I willing to gel a FOUR-YEAR-OLD’s hair every morning? Unlikely.

I went to the gym to work out one Thursday evening and here is what I returned to find (in a fort of course!)

I'm not sure what's happening with the elephant and the black stallion...

That’s right, my honey buzzed TT’s hair while I was gone. I wouldn’t have objected, so it was a really fun surprise. No, he no longer has his sweet ‘fro, but we have no more crazy bed head, and no more gel. Nice.

So there ya go. One lame and one awesome Spruce-Up. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

** P.S. The picture above with TT & Vanilla is the TV I mentioned in my Super Bowl post yesterday. See? We are definitely living like no one else now so we can LIVE like no one else later. Thanks Dave Ramsey.

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2012 Resolutions on February 1st

February 1st, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions - (Comments Off on 2012 Resolutions on February 1st)

One month ago, I posted on this blog about my New Year’s resolutions. So how am I doing? Let’s see…

  • Pray more. I feel like I’ve been doing pretty good with this one. I am remembering to pray more often and pray for people I said I’d pray for. I still need to get on it if I’m going to start a daily bible reading or devotional. Still work to do.
  • Go on dates. My husband and I have been on two official dates since the new year began, probably a record for us. We went out with his cousin and his girlfriend one night, and just last weekend we did a music trivia night with our friends. So I guess we had group dates, not just the two of us. Work on this.
  • Be healthy. This resolution is actually going pretty well. I have been going to the gym at least three times a week and I’ve just trying to be moving overall a lot more. Salads and oatmeal are my new best friends, but I still do get to have Buffalo Wild Wings every once in awhile. Plus I’ve lost six pounds since January began. Yay!
  • No more CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome). This will forever be a work-in-progress, but good news! We had my parents over for dinner at the last minute this week, and the house was just fine. Yay, again!
  • Be bold and enterprising. Okay, so I haven’t switched over to wordpress.org yet, but I’m still hoping to do that soon enough. I have listed a few things on ebay and started selling things on craigslist, so that’s a start. I still need to quit making excuses and just go for things.
  • Simplify. I have a good handle on this, but I’m nowhere near where I want to be. I have gotten better about donating or just throwing things away that really are junk. Still working on this one too.
  • Keep learning. Yeah, I have till the end of the year to get these done right? I’ve done nothing in this category yet.
  • More quality time with the kids. We have watched significantly less TV since the new year began, especially because our big TV quit working. The kids and I have been making forts, reading, and just playing a lot more. I’m really trying to soak up all these moments while I still have them here at home with me.

So it looks like I’ve got a lot of work to do in the next 11 months. I’ve never been real good at sticking with resolutions, but if I post them on here, I feel like I have a little accountability at least! Hope you are all doing well with your resolutions too!

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The Saturday Spruce-Up – Coat Closet

January 21st, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | Living Simply | The Saturday Spruce-Up | Uncategorized - (Comments Off on The Saturday Spruce-Up – Coat Closet)

This week’s Saturday Spruce-Up is the big closet in our bathroom. Since we moved in six years ago, this closet has been a catch-all–just throw something in and quickly shut the door. When I actually opened it up and cleaned everything out, I couldn’t believe how much stuff we had packed into that tight little space. Here are some before shots:

This isn't even a true before shot, that would have been WAY too embarrassing...

Crowded, unorganized shelves, lots of clutter, and general dustiness

 

I am attempting to turn it into a little mudroom. Our 1400 square foot house is always tight on space, so I want to eke a little more use out of this big closet. I still want to paint the inside walls and get something to contain the shoes, but check out these “in progress” shots:

We're getting there!

Now I have a place to put two baskets of dirty laundry so my bathroom doesn't get taken over, a basket for winter hats, mittens, and scarves within the kids' reach, and a shelf for my diaper bag. Love it when everything has a home!

And we even have room for coats in our coat closet! Plus, the shelves are organized with gift bags, duffel bags, and stuff to sell on ebay.:)

No fancy-schmancy makeovers here, but at least we now have a functional mudroom instead of an embarrassing mess. Have a great weekend!

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The Saturday Spruce-Up: My Tupperware Cabinet

January 14th, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | Living Simply | The Saturday Spruce-Up - (Comments Off on The Saturday Spruce-Up: My Tupperware Cabinet)

Today starts a new (hopefully) weekly series to get my house spruced up by summer. Welcome to the Saturday Spruce-Up. I am hoping to post different projects around my house, declutter-ization and organization in our little “That 70’s Show” house–notice the groovy brown vinyl floor and mint green insides of our cabinets shown below.

Today I organized my Tupperware cabinet. Okay, so it’s not a very big project, but I have to start somewhere, right?

So here is the before:

I may have thrown a bit of a mommy-fit last night looking for a lid of a piece of Tupperware I was using for leftovers. Can’t blame the kids for this one…

Anyway, as you can see, it was a crazy mess even before my little outburst, with papers and random items I have hoarded crap that needed to be thrown out or to be found a new home.

I spent a couple hours–yes it took hours–to go through the entire cabinet, I even found some papers and junk mail from 2009. Yay. After everything was cleared out, I finally had room to put the Tupperware I use back in, and I am even getting rid of some of it that I never use. I’m hoppin’ back on the declutter train!

Here is the after:

Aaahhh. Much better, and I even have all the lids together. I’m taking just one step at a time, and I’m on my way to ridding my house of CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome, thank you, FlyLady.net) for good.

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2012 Resolutions, and I'm Stickin' to It

January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Bryn in 2012 Resolutions | Living Simply - (Comments Off on 2012 Resolutions, and I'm Stickin' to It)

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2012. First, I have a question for you, do you call it “two thousand twelve” or “twenty twelve”? Just curious. I think I’ll call it “twenty twelve.”

Anyway, we are three days into the new year, but there is always time to make resolutions. I don’t usually take new year’s resolutions too seriously, but this year, there are a few things I’d like to do.

  • Pray more. I’d like to start doing a daily devotional and praying with my husband more often. In our Why Catholic? group this fall, we talked about prayer and spontaneous prayer (rather than memorized prayers) with our spouse. This is something I’d like to do more regularly.
  • Go on dates. With my husband, of course. I’d like to make a point to go on a fun, creative date once a month.
  • Be healthy. It is totally amazing how exercise, eating healthy and drinking boatloads of water can make me feel. Sure, I’d like to lose a little weight and get thinner, but being healthy so I can have the energy to keep up after the kids is my main goal here.
  • No more CHAOS. Flylady says that many of us are living in C.H.A.O.S. – which stands for Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Many days, that’s true in my house. This is the year I’m keeping my house picked up and clean and getting out of CHAOS for good! (If you haven’t heard of Flylady, click here for more info. She’s awesome.)
  • Be bold and enterprising. I plan on expanding my blog this year and have a couple other projects on the back burner. This year I’m not going to chicken out or make excuses, I’m just going to go for it and use my God-given stubbornness on something worthwhile.
  • Simplify. I need to continue to organize and declutter my house and my mind. Instead of talking about selling and donating our excess stuff, I’m actually going to do it. See above on CHAOS.
  • Keep learning. I’d really like to learn how to sew. I have a really nice antique Singer that was left at our house by the previous owner, so I might as well. I’m also going to start actually doing projects I have pinned to my Home & DIY board on Pinterest.
  • More quality time with the kids. This is a constant thing for me. More trips around town, more reading, more playing. And less TV.

What are your resolutions for 2012? Any suggestions on how I can get on track with mine?

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