tell me quick before I faint....

Note: I wrote this post last night, but wasn't able to finish editing it before the hubby called me away to bed. So hence the past tense.

Tell me quick before I faint, pitch them now or keep them quaint?? The issue at hand is several issues actually. Think plural in its greatest sense. Beautiful, treasured issues of Southern Living that I have hoarded ever since I began getting my own copies. Last week as I was decluttering in Zone 4 {master bedroom} I felt compelling to follow FlyLady's advice and simply purge them. When do I ever look at them?! Have I even sneaked a tiny peak at any of them in the last past year? No..... So! With great resolve I hauled them out from under the bed and put them bravely beside the recycling bin. And....for some reason....there they stayed....I guess I wasn't as ready to part with them as I thought I was. But now today, before my resolve completely dribbled away, I grabbed the basket and resolutely headed for the curb to pitch them as tomorrow the big green go-green truck is scheduled to grab them. I slowly started to dump, and then stopped as a few lovely, glossy issues fell in with a plop. It felt like I was throwing away my friends!! Standing out by the road like a ninny, I started to page through each issue for closure, tearing out ideas/pictures that nabbed my attention. A recipe for sweet potato pie with marshmallow meringue that I had baked and loved, {even a few tell-tale splatters on the page} was added to the memento pile. But the fading light of the summer night along with the whining and feasting of the mosquitoes zapped me back to reality. I could do this! I would be strong, and would fight my hoarding gene instead of letting it take a'holt of me! With a small sigh, the rest of the pile slid silently into the great netherlands of the recycling world. Who knows? Maybe, instead of living the stagnant lives of their boring hoarded existence under my bed, those old issues will someday be in my hands again as the pages of a haute new copy of Southern Living! Wait! Speaking of "new" copies, I haven't even absorbed my last two issues properly! So I shall sit and bask in the glow of my latest decluttering accomplishment whilst I lose myself in the South with my current friends instead of hanging on to those from the past.

P.S. I really think this new plan of tossing the old issue as soon as the new one arrives, will help me to heartily enjoy the issue at hand as in cooking the recipes that strike me and cutting out ideas {or finding them online and pinning them} straight away!

for such a time as this...

Live long, Queen Esther! She has been reigning in my thoughts tonight; her courage and determination to stand bravely during an extremely stressful time in her life makes me feel so weak-hearted. Today was a grey day....I won't go into the reasons as to why. It would only sound like the whiny martyred attitude that I was suffering from before God gave me the inspiration that this was a chance to live like Queen Esther! I could choose to face my situation with my "mental" tiara firmly in place, a beautiful attitude in my heart, and courage in my step because like was asked of Esther, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" This valley can be my chance to shine! To trust, to have faith that everything WILL be OK! We all have these chances, these times that seem like the worst thing in the world is happening to us! And life just isn't fair! And others don't have to suffer like we do! But if we can only remember to get out our tiara, dress in our finest attitude, and proceed with royal courage, we can be brave and queenly "in such a time as this" because we can handle anything with God.

We Have a Winner!!!

Congratulations, Anne!! Last night I meticulously wrote the name of each individual who had entered this birthday giveaway on a piece of paper, cut them into little strips {the names, not the people}, folded them in half {again, the papers not the people!}, plunked them in a cupcake liner {it just seemed fitting!} and had Daniel pluck one out! And he proclaimed, "Annie!" My scrawl was too scrawlish I guess because it really said, "Anne with an E."  Funny, because before I officiated the drawing I had had the fleeting thought that maybe Anne will win this! If you are even entertaining any doubts of foul play, ask Daniel and he will tell you that everything was fair and square and extremely above board! Hopefully the cupcake batter dispenser will speed through the mail, as I hadn't ordered it beforehand in case someone that lives far rather than near should be the happy winner, in which case I would just ship it straight to them. As it is, it will come to my house first so I can bedazzle it with wrappings and trappings! Please don't be sad, all of you who didn't win....another giveaway is a'brewin' up in my brain! :)

a midsummer night's dream....came true!

This evening as I was sitting upon my porch bench reflecting, I thought how drastically different this night was from one month ago June 12. That evening I was just saturated with sadness, overwhelmed with work that needed doing, and completely lost as to where in the world I should start. I wanted to escape it all, go to sleep, and wake up to a new life! This evening, I felt so peaceful as I enjoyed some time outside watching the sunset and reading while eating watermelon, my timer at my side. Supper was over, {chicken had been out and thawed in the sink}, everything was orderly, the dishwasher was empty, a load of laundry had been done, the bed was made, our bathroom had been swished and swiped, I hadn't had to do ANY major cleaning because I had done a One Hour Home Blessing earlier in the week! The difference has been an answer to my desperate prayers in the form of FLYLADY! I know, I know, the post before my last one totally mocked her, but this month has proven to me that her system was built for distracted, unorganized, late people like ME! And it works! I haven't arrived, and sometimes still do more puttering than fluttering, but I feel so differently about my life in general! This will be all for now....I'm sure you will hear more and will get tired of my ravings about how FLYing works! Happy One Month Anniversary to me of being a FlyBaby! Never thought I would be happy to be called a FlyBaby, but I AM!

{P.S. Don't forget to sign up for the cupcake batter dispenser giveaway on my last post! It ends July 18!}

Life is a Gift! That's why we call it the "Present." GIVEAWAY!!!

  Presents, presents, and more presents!!! But I am not complaining! {My birthday was Wednesday, June 18, by the way!} I think I am finally reaching a stage of maturity, because I didn't mention my birthday with nearly every breath like I usually do. But if you would ask Daniel for his opinion, I think he would tell you that I did still mention it quite often, even though I didn't blog about it! My dear hubby and sweet mom-in-law hatched the most splendid idea ever which was to give me presents for 5 days in a row preceding my birthday and ending up on the day! Was that ever a blast to have a gift just waiting to be opened each day! One even got eagerly opened at 12:01 a.m.!! But I was good, and didn't even sneak early peeks or open them all at once like I wanted to!

    Celebration started early on Tuesday with MamaLisa! As I was heading down to meet her in Pensacola, I added another warning to my stack of speeding warnings. {Still no ticket though! Yay! Fingers crossed...} I told the trooper that I totally knew I was speeding and was so sorry, but that I was meeting my mom-n-law for my birthday lunch....and did he know Chris Chambles?? I grew up down the road from him... :) lol! It worked! We had a fabulous lunch at the Fish House where I was privileged to mark eating the world-famous "Grits a Ya Ya!" off my bucket list! There's definitely a reason that these grits are renown!! After lunch, we hit Pensacola Hardware which is NOT your normal boring hardware store! It's as good as the mall! Then we browsed the Bodacious Olive and had fun sampling gourmet olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Birthday Cake yogurt with piles of toppings from Wild Honey topped off the day! Thanks again, Mom!! On Wednesday, I started the day off right in birthday style by eating microwave baked oatmeal covered with colorful sprinkles.  I didn't put a candle in though....Then Katie, Mel, Anne, and I had met at the Coffee House for some java & girl time. Next stop was Novus to see Marnita since she hadn't been able to make it for coffee. After that, I shopped Miller Pawn Shop {found a drop leaf table that I want, but it's $120!}, Dirt Cheap, and Goody's. Amazingly, I didn't spend a penny! Lunch was at Jalisco's with Daniel. Next item of the day was swimming with Mel and Katie. Instead of going out for a birthday supper, I went along with Danl to wreak havoc where the beavers are wreaking havoc on the old fish ponds drainage pipes. Eager beavers they are for sure!! They haven't gotten the message that they are supposed to MOVE, RELOCATE, or SCRAM because their home is scheduled to be leveled, so they have been most diligently trying to maintain the water levels that they are accustomed to! A Cheeselovers pizza with light sauce and black olives on half sure hit the spot after that escapade! Peg Leg Pete's will have to wait...sigh. After supper, I was kinda sad because my birthday was almost over, and it wouldn't come for another whole year...but I still have several celebrations on the horizon! My birthday twin Roxie and I have yet to give ourselves the honors, and I think my family is planning an outing or two and a good meal to boot! So there's no reason to be blue! 

   Yesterday had me singing "O Happy Day!" Mel gave me an awesome present that has me ready for some fun in the sun!! Then when I got home from working at Dad's, an enormous birthday present from Jill was sitting on my front-porch bench! Wow, Jill! So many gorgeous gifts up in that box!! Thanks!! Also got to open a loaded card from DaddyWayne and MomDenise! Thank you!! I already know what I am going to buy!! Supper at Kim Holdeman's was the next highlight. Fajitas with friends out on the porch, balloons, coffee & cupcakes, and a magical present from London a is a perfect combination! You're the best, Nes!!!! 

   Now for the GIVEAWAY! Since I had such a wonderful birthday, thanks to all my dear family and friends, I want to share the joy by giving YOU a present as is the custom in some cultures! And since birthdays always make me think of cake, what could be better than this marvelous cupcake batter dispenser?! I have been in love with mine ever since Tiff gave me one for Christmas! It works like a charm! To enter this Birthday Giveaway, please describe in the comments your most magical birthday ever! Why do you remember it? What made it special? Once entry per person will be counted, but feel free to add as many comments as you like! This giveaway will be open for entries until July 18, 2014. Bring on the memories of your best birthday, because after all, birthdays are the reason we were born!

rubba scrubba??

Well, you know I need to write about CLEANING since I just had to clean two glumps of some unknown substance off my laptop screen so I could see what I was typing! It's bad, I know. And since I am a much better analyzer, list maker, and ponderer than I am a cleaner, I have been making so much progress this summer in internal therapy as to WHY I am such a wretched housekeeper! Is it genetic?? Did my mom just not train me RIGHT?? {sorry, Mom! :)} Am I just plain LAZY?? Should I even try to CHANGE? Or just accept my Mama Bear closets?? And be HAPPY that Daniel and I spend way too much time hunting for our stuff among our stuff??

I am too much of a perfectionist to accept the myth that I can't improve my habits, and put my life back together like a magazine picture! {As if it ever was?!} So...... I have started polling my friends that appear to live like Martha Stewart/Betty Crocker {they tell me they don't, but the drawer under the oven doesn't lie!!} for success tips, etc. to get me on the road to complete, organized bliss. Here are some snitches of what they had to say!

"Make the bed!! Even if it's late in the day, just make it." {Even after making this a New Year's Try-To, I still fail miserably at this one.}

"I like to get dressed and comb my hair before leaving the bedroom."  {Oh dear, no lounging in yoga pants til lunch?!}

"Keep the dishes done."  {Supposedly this tidbit had come at one time from me!!!?? Wow. I went off course.}

"It helps to have enough storage."  {OK, this one makes sense. Trailer house does not = storage!}

"I actually enjoy cleaning." {You DO? Oh....HOW?}

"Try FlyLady's 15 minute Decluttering rule. It really works!!!"  {FlyLady, here I come!}

"You can't have it all. I wish I had all your ideas and creativity. Just be yourself." {Thanks! I feel better already!}

"I don't like to cook, but I love to sew."  {Well, I don't like to sew, but I love to cook....if I don't have to do dishes.}

"I didn't like how rigid my mom was with household rules. We had to put our shoes away immediately and hang things in our closets just so....I hated it. {Thanks, Mom, for being just the way you were!!}

"I don't think we can completely change our natures, but we can each try to improve in areas where we don't shine. {Such wise, sane advice. Maybe I don't need to continue internal therapy, and friend surveys after all.}

{Mr. Rubba Scrubba}

Anyway, I decided to check out http://www.flylady.net/ to see what she had to offer. Hmmmm.....I signed up for her daily emails that she deems very important, {GULP! 10+ per day?! I guess I will be so organized I will have time to read piles of emails!} but I am not completely convinced that I should become a "FlyBaby" and go "fluttering" around! I also draw the line at wearing lace up shoes in the house!! That being said, I did enjoy her tip of grabbing a trashbag and walking around the house throwing aways 27 things. Love the randomness of the number 27! It was actually harder than I thought it would be, but then it would be hard for a hoarder to throw away 27 things....Her next command was to give away 27 things. This was actually easier for some odd reason... Both activities were very good for my constitution! Maybe I should become a fledgling FlyBaby, and go fluttering around swishing and swiping with my Purple Rags, Rubba Scrubba, and Rubba Sweepa! Ummm... Really?? I'm thinking some Sitta Whila while I Reada Booka would be better! Like my favorite poem, "Dust if You Must!" I'm torn. I want to be a relaxed, fun person whose house is always ready for friends to drop by! But, that doesn't happen while you're Deepa Sleepa! What do you think?? Are any of y'all already happily fluttering around as FlyBabies?! Maybe if she didn't call her followers FlyBabies and FlyGuys I would be more excited about this. But then I never have been excited about cleaning! It's much more fun to write about cleaning than to actually clean. 

{Mrs. Rubba Squisha}

BREAKING NEWS! KK now has birthday cake batter donuts!

Life is sweet;

made sweeter with sweets 

from my sweetie.