Color Coordination

I organize my clothing by color in my closet. Why? Because it makes it so much easier to find what I am looking for. When I can find what I am looking for in a timely fashion I can then start my day faster/get out the door faster. See where I'm going with this?

Having your clothes organized this way also makes putting them away much faster too. No more searching for hangers as I'm hanging up my clean shirts. If I'm putting away a pink shirt, I simply look in the pink section of my closet and there's a hanger!

I organize my girls' (ages 5 and 8) drawers this way too. That way if they ask me, "Mom? Where's my purple shirt with the sequins?" All I have to do is tell them it's with the other purple shirts in their drawer. And it will be there too because that's where they put it when they were putting aways their laundry.

People may wonder why I go to such great lengths to keep my house organized. Here is why: The more efficiently my household runs, the easier it is to keep it picked up, get my chores done, and keep my sanity in the process!

Keeping your clothing organized will save you minutes at a time and those extra minutes add up! If I can save, say 5 minutes, in the morning getting dressed because I can easily find my favorite shirt and another 5 minutes when I have to put away my clothes then I just earned ten minutes in my day to sit on the floor and play with my kids or read a book.

See how many minutes you can save. :)

Keep Your Bedroom Blissful

Several years ago, back when my husband and I were still just a couple with no kids, I looked around our then tiny master bedroom and realized there was a problem. I had piles of clothes everywhere! From that moment on I made a concerted effort to put my clothes where they belonged every night before I went to bed, no matter how tired I was. I still do that to this day.

Taking tiny steps like that leads to more happiness. I want my bedroom to be a place of retreat when I go to sleep at night and I want it to be a welcoming haven when I wake up in the morning. I love coming to my bedroom after a stressful day and seeing how clean it is. I can't imagine I would want to spend time in there if there were stacks of books or magazines piled everywhere, kids toys tripping me when I walked, or shoes and clothes strewn about. My days as a stay-at-home mom of four are hectic enough without adding extra stress to them.

Imagine you have a busy ahead of you, you wake up as the sun is streaming in through the windows, and slowly open your eyes. What do you see? Do you see a clean floor, dressers with everything in their place, and clutter-free nightstands? Or do you see shoes and other items of clothing causing a hazard on your walk space, piles of junk everywhere, a treadmill that's become a clothes rack gathering dust in the corner, and dressers with shirts spilling out of them? If your vision was the latter tell me something: You have a busy day ahead right? Well, you've just made your day exponentially more stressful by waking up in the war zone that is supposed to be your bedroom!

De-Clutter expert Peter Walsh (my anti-junk hero) once said this in an interview on the Oprah show, "[Stuff] robs people of so much," he says. "If your house is full of stuff, all the blessings that could fill your house can't get in. The stuff takes over. It robs you psychologically. You can't be at peace."

Strive today to be more at peace. Take the time to make your bedroom be the retreat it was meant to be. Get all that stuff out that was never meant to be in there and take back your sanity, one tiny piece at a time.

Pilates Pro

Okay, okay, so I’m not a pro by any stretch of the imagination but I do enjoy practicing Pilates from time to time. If you’re not sure what Pilates is here is the Wikipedia definition:

Pilates, pronounced /pɪˈlɑ:ti:z/, is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany. As of 2005 there are 11 million people who practice the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States.
Pilates called his method Contrology (from control and Greek -λογία, -logia), because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles. The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles.

In a nutshell, Pilates is great to tighten those post-baby tummy muscles! And because of all the deep breathing you do during the exercises, it is very relaxing as well. The video that I really love is called Pick Your Spot Pilates. It lets you pick and choose ten minute workouts for abs, butt, and thighs. They're simple exercises designed for even the most unflexible (like me). Who doesn’t have time for ten minutes of serious ab crunching?!?

If you haven’t tried Pilates yet, you should! You’re gonna love it!

Click here to try this video!

Be True, Stay True

A person with a physical impairment wants nothing more than to appear as normal as possible. They want to live their lives, blending in, yet experiencing all that they want to in life without being told they can't or that they'll fail if they try. At least that's the way I feel. I have a physical handicap and I'm okay with that. It's difficult for me to walk around sometimes (especially while holding a baby) but I do it, because I refuse to be held back.

Rewind time back to when I was an awkward freshman in high school. I wanted nothing more than to fit in, blend in, and be all I wanted. Having played the flute since 6th grade I of course brought it along with me to high school. I loved my flute and didn't want to give it up. In fact, that year I quit piano lessons so I'd have more time to devote to practicing my flute.

At our school, in order to be in band you must take marching band as well as concert band. That proved to be a problem for me because learning how to march required lots of practice standing, walking across the field over and over, etc. Nevertheless, I was determined to try because I loved playing my flute so much.

Band camp the summer before my freshman year proved to be fun in some ways. I learned how to march and did very well. I was the last underclassmen to be eliminated in a marching competition and I felt proud that my handicap wasn't holding me back too much. Even though I couldn't participate in all the activities I was glad to be there and be included, even if I had to mop the entire cafeteria during some relay games I couldn't play, due to my limitations. Why did I have to mop the cafeteria? Because my band teacher was a Band Nazi, no fooling. Anyone who couldn't conform to her standards got punished. I couldn't conform. I got punished.

Freshmen don't march other than in the halftime show for Homecoming and in the Christmas parade. I have a handicap but I went right out there on the field with everyone else to learn the PHS show because I wanted to show that I could march.I remember standing out there on the football field, doing the drills with the other kids. That year our band teacher had an assistant, a snivelly little brown-noser who caught onto the conformity spirit all too much.

Before I go on, I should explain that there are two different forms of marching in a band. The first is the traditional kind, lifting your knees up high in stilted movements. The second form is a more graceful and deliberate stepping of the heel and rolling onto the balls of the feet. Much to my misfortune, our band practiced the second form. Since I can't step heel to toe with my left foot this proved to be a problem. Now where was I?

Oh yeah, I can't remember the assistant's name so we'll just call him Mr. Snivelly. As I was doing the drills, I noticed Mr. Snivelly watching me a lot. I remember thinking, "Just blend in. Just blend in." Positive thinking failed me that day, however, as Mr. Snivelly strode over to me and said, "It looks like you're having a bit of trouble marching. You seem to be having some trouble with your posture."

"I can't march the way the others do, " I tried to explain. "My foot doesn't work that way." I was so embarrassed.

Mr. Snivelly then proceeded to pull me over to another part of the field, still within seeing and hearing distance of the other kids, and make me raise up on my tiptoes and slowly lower down as an effort to improve my wayward posture. Slight problem though. My left leg is almost and inch shorter than my right so I stand crooked no matter what. Also I can't stand on tiptoes with my left foot.

I was crying and trying to tell him why I couldn't do the things he was asking me to do. I did not want to be his special project! Mr. Snivelly kept saying "It's okay. You just tell those other kids that you're different and that's just fine. I'm just trying to help you look better out in the line." He absolutely didn't get it that he was the one singling me out, not my classmates. Bottom line: I couldn't conform to their precious, award winning marching band and I had to be fixed.

The next year, I opted not to attend Band Camp (can you blame me?). I knew that as now a sophomore, marching would be much more grueling as our school participated in competitive marching starting with sophomores. After being nearly unable to walk after some ridiculous practices that lasted until 10:00 on a school night the year before, I didn't want to go through it again, magnified many times. But I still wanted to be able to play my flute! So I got permission from Mrs. Hitler our band teacher (name has been changed) to practice the songs in the band room while everyone else was practicing marching out on the field.

I was bored to tears. I learned my songs quickly and soon found I had nothing to do. The only happiness I found from being made to sit in the band room day after day was a boy named Chase. He couldn't march either because he had a broken leg from playing football. He and I became great friends and still keep in touch to this day. Chase understood how lonely and boring that stupid band room was and we kept each other entertained.

Somewhere along the line Mrs. Hitler decided that I needed to be able to participate in the shows. I offered to sit along the sidelines and play my flute from there but that just wouldn't do in her land of perfection. No. If I was going to participate in her band to the best of my ability then I had to learn another instrument that was supposed to be on the sidelines. The xylophone.

I was willing to try although it didn't really feel right. I knew though that if I obeyed her wishes then come next semester I'd be able to play my flute again during concert band. I began attending practices and watching the xylophone players. Slight problem though. They'd all been playing since the 6th grade and I was brand new. There was no way I could learn fast enough to be of any use. Mrs. Hitler had the perfect solution. She suggested I give up my Sewing class once a week and attend the percussion class to learn more quickly.

At first I agreed until the ridiculousness of the solution set in. Now why would I give up my sewing class (a very useful skill) to learn how to play an instrument I had no interest in, just so I could remain in band?? After much praying and pondering, I knew what I had to do. I had to give up band even if it meant giving up my dream of qualifying for a flute scholarship to college.

It was with much terrifiedness (no lie!) that I warily made my way into Mrs. Hitler's office with a  "drop class" slip in my hand. I locked eyes with Chase for a moment before I went in. I knew that he knew what I was about to do and was totally sympathetic. I'll never forget that moment. The band room was noisy as students were warming up their instruments in preparation for the day's class. With tears streaming down my face I hesitantly held out the slip and said, "I've decided to drop this class." Mrs. Hitler sighed a huge, exasperated sounding sigh and snatched the paper from my hand, hastily singed it, and shoved it back at me, without ever looking at me. And that was that. I failed her conformity test and she wanted nothing more to do with me.

Luckily, that's not the end of my story. Try as they might, Hitler and Snivelly couldn't kill my desire to play my flute. Although they tried to tell me that being different meant I would never achieve my full potential, I proved them wrong. Although I didn't go on to be a world-renowned flutist, I kept on playing. I played in church, in my home, and for my family...

And I still do.

Resolve to Get More Organized

Tis the season for New Year's resolutions! I know that some people don't agree with making them but I see a resolution as a gigantic goal and I'm all about goal-setting. This year I challenge you to make one of yours to become more organized.

I know people think my house is always immaculate and that I spend all day slaving away to make everything sparkly and clean. I am here to state, however, that both of those statements are untrue. If you were to drop in on me unexpectedly you would find toys strewn about, crumbs under the table, and rings in my toilets. I have four kids, one of whom is a sweet little baby who insists on being carried pretty much constantly. That makes keeping a spotless house impossible. I do, however, clean up quickly if I am expecting guests. :)

Day-to-day maintenance of a house is a necessity, not a passion for me. I try to at least keep up on laundry and keep the main floor of my home picked up every day. The rest of the chores get fit in where ever they can. Organizing is where I shine and find a lot of peace.

When my house is organized I feel my life is too. In fact, when I am stressed, I clean out a closet and feel so much better. It drives me crazy when I can't find things or piles of clutter start to build up.

Now I want you to take a look around your own home and ask yourself, "Are there any specific points in my daily routine that aren't working for me?" "Which areas cause me a lot of unnecessary stress?" Did you find any? I'll bet you did! These are questions I ask myself constantly and when I realize problem areas, I fix them.

Find and fix yours too. Whether it's a cluttered pantry that's slowing you down in the kitchen, a way to get your kids to put their things away, or an inexpensive way to make a laundry room more functional. The possibilities are endless if you can find the motivation to do it.

And don't you worry I've got lots more ideas in store. So stay tuned!