Home Sanctuary

Company Girl Coffee 6.15

We pulled in late last night, after a long last day of work on our project site. I spent most of the day tediously pulling tape, touching up and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. The dust produced by the wall finish we did was like a fine mist that had settled over the entire apartment...and it took forever to deal with. This morning I am stiff from all the crouching, bending and climbing ladders! I did take a few pictures of everything and I will post them after I have a chance to download them from my camera. It feels good to be done.

Today we'll be putting on "different hats" and work on getting things ready for my husband to go out of town. He will be at several of the big shooting sport competitions in the US, repping DryFire - a training system for shooters, and next week is his first one of the summer. Unfortunately, he can't just pack a suitcase and get on a plane....we have to make graphics, displays, print sales sheets, and load chairs, equipment, supplies and computers and even a large TV.

I am looking forward to a long nap as soon as I see his tail lights go down the driveway on Saturday!

There is no Small Thing today - and I appreciate ya'll bearing with me this week when I've been so scarce around here.

I have been able to check comments on my phone during the day and have tried to post a few replies, but it hasn't been an easy week for blogging. Besides anticipating my nap, I can hardly wait to have more TIME to catch up with you, work on some personal art projects and organize my office next week.

Let's kick off the weekend with some virtual coffee! It is time for Company Girl Coffee, the world's easiest blog meme for friendly people. It's a great way to get to know other women online and invite them to your own blog. Simply enter your blog URL into the linkytool below - no need to have a fancy post or clever DIY project - just link up and connect with other Company Girls!

 

Yes Sir, Yes Sir, Three Bags Full

Photo from Wikipedia

Decluttering is pretty simple, really. And it's something we have to do on a regular - almost daily - basis. Its basic idea is this: we have too much stuff and we need to get rid of it. 

Yes, you can store it, organize it and pack it away to make it look better, but the truth is if you're constantly fighting clutter, yep, you probably just have TOO MUCH stuff.

GUILTY! I'M SO GUILTY!

Today's Small Thing is to follow the old nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and fill three bags with stuff to get rid of.

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.

One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

Three bags - sounds like a lot, but once you get started you'll have a hard time stopping at three. Now, you can choose what to fill them with: things to throw away or things to give away; and you can choose the size of bag: a grocery sack or a giant 33 gallon trash bag. If this job intimidates you, simply start small. Take three little grocery bags and start in one room, putting in the obvious clutter that can be thrown or given away. Don't overthink it, just do it. If an item makes you pause for too long, just keep it until next time and move on.

Work quickly, sing a nursery rhyme and fill three bags today! Get your kids to pitch in if you'd like!

Tell me your "three bag" story: did your find enough to fill them? Did you stop at three? Were you tempted to keep going?

Song of the Day: Baa Baa Black Sheep

Elimination Game

I didn't mean to go MIA yesterday, I really didn't. With a daily blog, I always like to give a heads-up if I'm going to be away - or at least a tweet to let you know of a schedule change. But yesterday, life just got away from me and I simply could not sit down to write a single sentence! Gah.

See, Tom and I are working to finish a couple of projects for a client as well as a bunch of things in our office....one of the "joys" of being your own boss is that sometimes the hours can get a little crazy. So we worked all day Saturday, all afternoon on Sunday and put in a good day on Monday (our 29th anniversary).....only a couple more days and then we will be done. Needless to say, I've had to eliminate a few things to focus on these projects, and somehow computer time was the first to get the axe.

What do you do when things feel a little crazy and out of control? 

When you get overwhelmed, it's tempting to either run away or take a really long nap. I found myself literally saying "I wish I could go to sleep for several days and wake up to everything being finished." Maybe you deal with overwhelm by digging in and just "gettin' er done." Or perhaps you start yelling at the kids or being short tempered with your husband. Or maybe you eat a bunch of Dunkin' Donuts to take the edge off. There are lots of unhealthy ways we cope, but there ARE good ways as well.

Today's Small Thing is to deal with overload by playing an elimination game.

If you are feeling stressed out today, take a deep breath and realize that most tasks can be eliminated in the following ways:

Do.

Don't Do.

Dumb Down.

Delegate.

Today, we are going to do one of each: Do, Don't Do, Dumb Down, and Delegate. Look at the tasks on your plate and see which four could be put into these categories...and then apply them. Here is how it shakes out for me today.

Do: Load of towels

Don't Do: Mopping Floor

Dumb Down (Simplify): Sort papers for next weeks' filing task

Delegate: Dishes

I will probably end up delegating several things to my able-bodied teenager who is laying around with nothing but time on his hands today. There is no need for me to do everything by myself, just as there is no need to do EVERYTHING on my list. I will deliberately choose "Don't Do" for a number of items and be okay with that. Whatever can be simplified, I'll simplify. The rest.....well the best thing to do is just "DO."

What will YOUR elimination list look like today? What things will you choose to Do, Don't Do, Dumb Down, or Delegate?

Magic Meals in Minutes

One of the things I learned from my mom was how to make a meal from practically nothing. She can take a little of this and a little of that and create something tasty and delicious in no time flat. This is a skill that is particularly handy in the summer months, when I want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen.

Do you have a handful of meals that you can come up with on a moment's notice? When the troops are tired and hungry, and you're too exhausted to run to the grocery store, having ingredients to whip together will convince everyone that you are indeed, magic.

Today's Small Thing is to do some "Quick Menu" menu planning.

Jot down some meals that you can pull out of a hat before you can say, "Presto," and put those ingredients on your grocery list. I like to have a list of quick meals on the fridge so that when my brain is fried and I can't think of a single thing to prepare, I can refer to it and get inspired.

Let's brainstorm together:

Spaghetti: ground sausage, Prego, pasta

Hamburgers: pre-formed burgers, buns, frozen french fries, beans (I often individually form, wrap and freeze the patties so they are ready to go)

Vegetable Medley: sauteed veggies (whatever's on hand) and diced rotisserie chicken (or other leftover meat) over rice

Burritos: shredded chicken, beef or taco meat with beans, cheese, etc in a soft tortilla

Quesadillas: tortilla and chees goodness

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches: my family STILL loves them, especially with soup

French bread pizza

Ingredients to have on hand:

Individually frozen chicken breasts

Individual hamburger patties

Ham and cheese

Rice

Tortillas

Buns

Pastas

Soups

Frozen veggies

Frozen french fries

Frozen pizza

Hey, why not have some packaged, prepared meals in the freezer/pantry as well?

These are just a few ideas to get you started. You might also think about pulling your crock pot out of retirement and onto center stage for a show-stopping quick dinner. I love to make a large pot roast and then have lots of left-overs for even more magical meals.

What are YOUR favorite snap-of-the-fingers meals? What ingredients do you like to have on hand for an instant dinner? I hope you'll share so we can all take a bow!

Song of the Day: This Magic Moment, The Drifters

Company Girl Coffee 6.8 and Raising the Bar

At my house, most of the soap I use is in hand-pump dispensers. What would I do without such a convenience? Each bathroom sink has its own dispenser, and in the kitchen, I've even put dish soap into a dispenser. But there are two places I still love a good bar of soap: the shower and my own bathroom sink. I use a good soap (like an oatmeal soap or Ivory) on my face each night.

Am I the only person left on the planet who still uses bar soap?

Today's Small Thing is for the three of us who still have a bar of soap handy for washing someone's potty mouth out, or for making your complexion creamy. (Both good uses, btw). Simply clean up the soap residue all around it. You might have to dunk the soap dish into water to scrape off the hardened soap, or you might have to scrub the soap rest just a little bit in the shower, but it only takes moments to cause the shine to return.

Soap lovers, raise your bar with me and salute! Make it proud to rest in a sparkling spot - ready to give the world its sudsy, cleansing power.

Do you have a favorite bar soap? I still love Ivory - for faces and hand washing clothes.

Song of the Day: A Little Bit of Soap, The Drifters

 

COFFEE TIME!

Now, let's have some virtual coffee. I was hugely disappointed to miss getting around to visit blogs last week. With all the graduation events, I just couldn't make it. We have such fantastic bloggers that link up, I hope you'll take some time to stop in to say hello....and maybe even link your own blog this time! It's easy - just enter your blog URL into the linky tool below and enjoy some great Company Girl time with new friends.

 

Vase or Vahz?

I've always kind of wished I was the type of person to say "vahz" instead of "vase." It seems so much classier and refined.

But however you choose to pronounce the word for a glass container which often holds flowers, vases are lovely and important pieces in your home. I love being able to pull out just the right size and shape to put fresh-cut flowers from my garden, or hand-picked wildflowers from the field in. From tiny bud vases to large, heavy crystal vases, they provide a decorative service every homemaker needs.

The problem with vases is that they get used only occasionally....and they tend to proliferate over time. They come into your house as part of an anniversary gift, a Mother's Day arrangement, a get-well wish.....and after the flowers are long gone, you've got yet another vase to tuck away. It can get to be a storage issue.

Today's Small Thing is to organize your vases....or vahzes, if you prefer.

Mine are all haphazardly tucked in a lower kitchen cabinet - in disarray from the last time I dug through them to find a container for a handful of wildflowers. Where do you keep yours? Are yours on a shelf in your garage, collecting dust and cobwebs? Are they here and there and everywhere? Today, take a few moments to pull them all into one place, and give them a bit of organization by size and shape. Perhaps you don't need all of them and can weed through them to give some away! Do you really need five rose vases from the florist? Probably not. Cheap, redundant vases should be easy to let go....right?

And just for fun, call them "vahzes" all day. You might find yourself sitting up a little straighter and having a penchant for tea in a china cup, you'll feel so classy. :)

PS I'm having problems with my playlists new format....no song of the day today. Boo!

Dusting? Not a Big Fan.

 

As summer descends upon us, I am once again grateful for the modern luxury of air conditioning. It won't be long before temperatures hover around 100 degrees, and that makes me grateful for deodorant and showers, too. Thank you, Lord. Texas is a great place to live, but you've got to be prepared for the long summer or you won't make it.

Whether you have A/C or not, there is a good chance that you rely on some type of fan to keep the sultry summer air moving. We have ceiling fans in almost every room and even one outside in the breezeway, and they make a big difference in our electric bill by allowing us to leave the air conditioning temperature a tad higher.

Yesterday, I was looking around at the tops of things and realized that my ceiling fans were actually FUZZY with dust. UGH!  I was horrified that (1) I hadn't noticed and (2) didn't really care.  I had just let those fan blades collect dust all winter without lifting a finger to clean them.  It was pretty disgusting.

  Today's Small Thing is to dust at least one fan in your house, if you have one. (Now, for you Company Girls in the Southern Hemisphere, this may be a challenge finding a fan this time of year.)  A vacuum attachment works great on ceiling fans, especially if it is long enough to reach from the floor.  You may have to pull out a ladder or chair to do the job, but you'll love the results.

 

A quick note about the ceiling fans:  since it seems like a hard job, or at least one that requires holding your arms up over your head for a length of time, it's easy to put this one off.  But in less than 5 minutes, you can complete a whole fan and have it look incredible!  I had to stand and admire my handiwork for awhile when I was finished.

For smaller fans, you may have to pry the protective piece off the front (they often have little clips holding them on) to get to the fan blades inside.  Once those blades are clean, they will be moving cleaner air around the room and that just feels nice.

If I was offering points for this job I would give 50, because no one really likes this job. Let's be honest.

PS If you don't have a fan, you may clean heating/AC vent covers instead. Hooray for clean air!!

Do you have ceiling fans at your house?

Song of the Day: No Air, Glee Cast

Tops

Ya'll, I don't know why I feel so exhausted. I feel like I just ran a really long marathon and finally crossed the finish line or something. This graduation just knocked me out, I guess! I slept about three hours yesterday afternoon and I'm starting to feel revived....so thank you for your patience with me!

Thank God for Small Things to accomplish each day - the little tasks that give me a sense of direction and movement when I get stuck in inertia, which is pretty much all the time, but especially after a big event. :)

Today's Small Thing is all about tops. I started noticing the tops of things the other day, when I happened to run my finger across the top of my coffee maker and realized I could draw a design in the dust. Ew. And I thought I'd just cleaned that. From there, my gaze went to the top of my stove vent hood. Oh mercy. Really, Rachel? Suddenly I noticed that the tops of every thing in my kitchen were dusty.

I am still afraid to look at the top of the fridge.

So I moved on to the next room, simply observing tops. Tops of picture frames. Tops of tables. Tops of lamps. Tops of books. Tops of electronics. Tops of vases. Tops of baseboards. Tops, tops, tops.

Tops. Basically, they are dust magnets!

Today's Small Thing is to fill in this blank: "Today, I cleaned the top of my _______________."

Now, if you are an indecisive person, you'll have to overcome your propensity to procrastinate and simply PICK ONE THING for your blank. What you can do is this: whip out a dust cloth, damp rag or feather duster and hit the high spots of a bunch of things as fast as you can. Then, find something odd or super high or perennially ignored for your blank fill-in. My refrigerator top comes immediately to mind....

What top will you tidy today? Fill in the blank in the comments today...let's see who's got the TOP top!!

Song of the Day: Top of World, The Carpenters

I'll be back tomorrow....

Good morning, Company Girls! It's been a wonderful, busy weekend for our family. Grayson graduated on Friday night and we had a big party for him yesterday.....and family guests here at the house in between it all. I'll be back tomorrow with the daily Small Things, as I take just a few more moments to recover from all the excitement! Love you all.

Rachel Anne

Company Girl Coffee 6.1 and Commencement

Tonight is Grayson's high school commencement. I'm really excited for him to finally get to walk across the stage to receive his hard-earned diploma! He has worked very hard all through his high school years, especially his senior year. Most nights he studied late into the night, long after his Dad and I had gone to bed, so he could keep up with four AP classes and stay in the top 5% of his class. Gray has completely impressed me with his dedication and perseverance! What a kid.

And now he's done.

Well actually, he's just starting.

You know, it's always been funny to me that "commencement" means "beginning" or "the start of something." What an odd way to signify the end of an achievement - to have a commencement ceremony! But if you think about it, many of the things we start in life are built on things we've finished. A college career can only start when a person finishes high school. A job career can only commence when a person completes training. You can only have dessert if you finish your vegetables. You can start shopping after you get paid for working. You can commence to drive after you finish drivers education. Kids get to wear big boy underwear after they are done potty training.

Beginnings are built on finishings.

Today's Small Thing is to celebrate a commencement - a fresh beginning - by finishing something first.

If you're like me (a busy gal with a forgetful/distracted streak) you've got a whole string of unfinished projects laying around. Dishes half done, laundry partially folded, papers needing attention, flowerbeds partly weeded. And each unfinished task means that I can't start a new one...and there is a level of frustration that simmers under my skin. Oooh, I hate finishing things sometimes, but I love to start new stuff. I've got a lot of "starts" but not nearly enough "dones."

Today, enjoy the achievement of finishing something. And see if it doesn't just open the door to new possibilities! There is nothing like the feeling of a job well done to make you see fresh opportunities and new beginnings! You'll discover the euphoria of knowing you did your best, crossed the finish line and earned your stripes.

What will you finish today? How can you celebrate your commencement?

You can start celebrating by joining us for Company Girl Coffee today! It's an easy link up party for friends! Simply enter your blog URL into the linky tool below and join a bunch of great gals for a virtual cup of coffee.