Monday, July 30, 2012

1 Year to an Organized Life July Week Four



This week you can:


  • make your photo albums
  • investigate scrapbook albums
  • shop for supplies
If you look at last week's post, in the picture inside that tub you can see 2-3 photo albums.  Those particular albums are the pocket kind.  You can slip 2 4x6 photos into each page and also on the back.  It worked for me at the time I created them, and it was fun to flip through them and laugh at the pictures and memories.  My problem with these albums now is that with my "condition", memories are sometimes lost in the fog.  I need scrapbooks where I can journal next to the photo to remind me of what was going on in that particular picture.  You could also create a photo album digitally if you did not want to take up the space with a book.  There are benefits for sharing with people who are also digitally inclined, but not so much with people who are not up on technology.

Scrapbooks: the possibilities are endless!!  My mom had a scrapbook that was two leather-like covers with large pages....bigger than today's standard 12x12.... of grey paper that reminded me of the manilla, somewhat rough paper you were given in Kindergarten to color on.  There really weren't that many pictures in here, there were more scraps of paper, movie tickets, programs to plays, etc. and then you just wrote or journaled directly on the page to remind you of the event.  Today we have various sizes, fancy paper background, sheet protector sleeves for the book, embellishments, I could go on and on.  To someone new to the concept it can be very overwhelming.

In the above pic you see 2 scrapbooks page kits for an 8x8 album.  I like this size the best.  12x12 can get very unwieldy in my hands and can be difficult to place on a book shelf.  I'm not a very creative person, so I love these page kits.  They come with everything you need except your pictures and memorabilia.  The packaging even gives you layout ideas.  All I have to do is slap it together and put it in an album and I'm done.  I also like entire scrapbook kits.  I've already done a couple of these.  This comes in a box with the album and all of the things you need for all of the pages for the entire album along with suggestions for laying out each page.  Again, just slap it together and your done and it looks waaaaay better than anything I could have tried to come up with on my own!

If you like that idea but can't find the whole scrapbook kit, you can buy an album you like and enough page kits, as shown in the photo, of the same style to fill the whole album.  I have done it both ways.  You can usually find great coupons in the paper or online for your favorite craft store, so just see whichever way ends up being the best deal and the style you will like.

Again, this is something that can be done digitally.  Places like Shutterfly.com have a ton of different albums in different sizes.  Pick one then digitally layout your pictures on the "pages".  You can then get a hard copy printed, AND printed in multiples so you can give the exact same album to family members.  Or these albums can also be kept on your computer so you can look at your "album" online. Choose whichever is best for your likes and lifestyle.

Don't worry that you may not get these done in one week.  Just get started with sorting things to go into each album or maybe even buying all of your supplies.  You can spread out the work on rainy days or set aside a certain amount of time per day or week to work on them.  As I said last time, I'll be working on most of mine next month since I won't be moving.

I'd love to see any album you might get done.  Post your pics to the Facebook page and share with all of us!

Until Next Time.....
Franny

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Princess Unaware Week Four



Why are other Princesses so difficult?  (y'all perked up on that one didn't you? so did I)

During our quiet time aren't we soooo confident in our relationship with God and we think we have it all down pat?  Then we run into our peers and most, if not all of it, flies out the window.  Yes, even me.  I'm not big into makeup, I hardly wear it, and the latest fashions? Please!  I am no longer a string bean and NO ONE wants to see me in skinny jeans!  But get me around certain people....and most are people from church....and I'm pulling at my hair and clothes and making sure all of the hair in my eyebrows are lying flat.  Why?!?  We could blame it on society as a whole or the media, but what we need to do is remind ourselves who we are in Christ and realize that what people see on the outside isn't important.  Don't get me wrong, I still think you should bathe and look the best that you can, but do not worry about it past that.  As long as you are giving your best in ALL that you do, that is all that God asks of us.

Ok, so I've gotten over what the mirror tells me....mostly.  But now here comes the people pleasing or peer pressure angst.  I am a people pleaser to the bone.  I want to make everyone happy at all times.  And I have asked myself why a lot.  Because I want everyone to be happy so that there is no fighting or back biting, but also, if I were to be perfectly honest, so that everyone will like me.  I would have not wasted thousands of hours of my life if I would have listened to Abraham Lincoln.  You CANNOT please everyone, to paraphrase Abe, it is impossible and you'll only making yourself miserable trying.  The only one we are to work hard to please at all times is God....that's it!  But let me caution you that that doesn't mean you must volunteer for every opportunity at church.  God gifted each one of us specifically so, first of all, you are not going to fit into every volunteer opportunity.  Secondly, even Jesus rested and didn't heal everyone!  If you wear yourself down and make yourself sick by doing way too much, then you aren't good to anyone, especially yourself.  Prayerfully consider the things you should do for the Kingdom.

Criticism and judging, yikes!  Not to be stereotypical, but it is slightly true, when I moved to the South, I learned that some people will criticize you to your face but preface it with "bless your heart" to make it sound like they are trying to be nice.  At least where I come from people talk behind your back!  Just kidding....although not much.  But again if I am going to be perfectly honest, I judge people on first impressions or one thing that they do without getting to know them.  That is a form of criticism that we are all guilty of.  Sometimes it sneaks up on me before I realize it and I can even shock myself at some things I instantly think about someone.  In the past I would just move on and not give that a second thought.  Now I'll stop and ask myself why I thought that and try to work it out in my head asking myself did I get to know this person, etc.  I'm still very much a work in progress in this area!

Three paragraphs yet I feel like that was an awful lot!  I need to focus on these things myself.  We're going to be looking at ourselves a lot more in the weeks to come, I hope you'll stick with me!

Until Next Time.....
Franny

Monday, July 23, 2012

1 Year to an Organized Life July Week Three



This week you can:

  • organize your photos
  • get creative with digital images

This is a pic of a box that has been under my bed for at least 3 years.  It has mostly pictures but also some programs and postcards that I have kept with the intention of making scrapbooks.  I even have the scrapbooks and pages and embellishments, I just haven't done it!  Now is the time.  This week I'm going to sort everything in here into piles or envelopes as to what book it goes into.  Next month we are going to talk about moving.  Since I am not moving, I am going to use next month to make scrapbooks!  I will still blog about the moving as it is in the book though.

If you have more photos than I do, you might want to get some of those photo boxes that you see just about everywhere.  Remember that the sorting process should go quickly; don't stop and dwell on each picture.  Think of it like the speed elimination we did at the start of each room in our house.  Feel free to throw away photos that you know won't ever make it into a scrapbook!

Maybe you are a generation ahead of me and you only have digital photos.  That's great....but are they organized or do you scroll through iPhoto for 30 minutes trying to find one picture?  Now is the time to make folders and also to delete multiple poses of one picture you were trying to get just right.  Don't forget to back up whatever program you are using to store your photos.  One wrong move or virus and you've lost them all forever!  

You may not be the crafty type and the thought of trying to make a scrapbook makes you nauseous.  No problem, there are a lot of online programs where you can point and click and drag photos until you have created a digital scrapbook.  Then you can either keep it digital or you can order a printed hardcopy.  

I had a coupon for a free 8x8 album from Shutterfly.  I was trying to decide what to do with it because I really didn't want to waste that, when it hit me.  I have recipes on pieces of paper and cut out of magazines in a file.  When I want to make something I have to find that piece of paper....because I haven't finished my recipe binder yet.  I make some things over and over.  So I picked out my top 20 most used recipes and made my 8x8 album with the pics of the dishes that I have on my computer and the recipe to go with it.  You can play with the layout of each page and the size of the pic and text box to make it all fit.  I can hardly wait to get it!  It is in shipping as I speak, er, type.

Now, grab your photos, and let's get this done!!  Let me know how it goes!


Until Next Time.....
Franny

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Princess Unaware Week Three



The King and I: Knowing our Father

And the most important thing we need to know about our Father is His love for us.  He always loves us and always wants what is best for us.  This can be a hard concept to understand, but think about yourself as a parent, if you are one, or a similar situation if you are not.  Your child can do something really bad, but you still love him and want what's best for him.  Multiply that by 10,000 and you'll start to get the idea of how much God loves you.  And His love never runs out.  He doesn't just give up one day and say He can't stand you anymore, HE ALWAYS LOVES YOU!!

You also need to know that God is faithful, God is Sovereign, and God always listens....always.  I like to think of God as an invisible best friend who is always at my side.  I talk to Him while I'm driving, while I'm cleaning my house, while I'm grocery shopping, etc.  I know that there was a time in my life where I had heard all of these things many times, but it just didn't sink in; I didn't think I was good enough.  It will sink into everyone at different points in our lives; I can't make you get it.  But keep reminding yourself....that's what I had to do.  I read the same passages and verses over and over before I finally realized that maybe I wasn't good enough for certain people, but I am good enough for God.  That's doesn't mean I'll skate through life saying nothing matters because I'm good enough for God, because what really happens is that once you realize it, you actually want to do the absolute best that you can at everything, just like it says in Colossians 3:23.

So what about you?  in what area of your life or situation you are in is God asking you to trust His love, Faithfulness and Sovereignty knowing that He will listen to you?  Think about it and ask Him for help in that area.  And get ready for it to click....you will feel so much peace when it does!


Until next Time.....
Franny

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

1 Year to an Organized Life July Week Two



This week you can:
  • get a handle on all forms of memorabilia
  • understand when enough is enough
  • explore ways to honor the past without being mired in it

This is a pic of what is hanging on my Fridge right now.  I thought it would be a good one for this week because anytime something "makes" the Fridge, in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "so how long do I need to keep this?"

This is an area that I used to struggle in, and if I'm honest I still do occasionally.  But I have gotten a lot better.  Probably the turning point for me was having boxes and bags of stuff and having to spend hours going through it to decide what to keep, and I couldn't remember what a bunch of it was!!

There is some journaling to do for this week to make you ask and answer the questions we need to face, such as why am I keeping this?!  Hopefully it is NOT because you are stuck in the past.  Do you need that stuff from high school or does it just remind you of great times.  Do you need the box of stuff to remind you of the great times or can you remember them without it?

Here's a tough question, but one that might help....if you were not here any longer, what would people do with all this stuff you have left behind?  Every time I remind myself of that, I want to purge my house again!

Collections: it might be time to rethink them!  I used to collect clocks, especially small ones that sat on shelves and tables.  There were quite a few reasons why I quit collecting them, such as: I was sick of dusting all of them, I was spending a lot in batteries to keep them all going, everyone knew I collected clocks so almost every gift I got was a clock and I would have liked a nice sweater once in a  while!  It was mostly the dust and space thing that had me stop collecting.  I didn't want my home to be cluttered and overwhelming to me or my guests, and let's face it, a lot of collections end up looking pretty cluttered.  BTW, I made quite a bit at the yard sale when I finally decided to let most of them go!

Regina offers great advice, as usual, on how to get started on pages 182 and 183; you've got to read it!  I'm glad she mentions taking a photo, because that was going to be my suggestion.  A scrapbook filled with pictures of each one of those clocks, and then a journaling card next to each one explaining why it was so great takes up a ton less space than all of the clocks, plus no dusting and no batteries.  I could still look at them whenever I wanted!  Not to mention money I'm saving by not buying every cute clock I see!

So the pic on the Fridge?  Yes, I'm going to take it down right now.  The little girl that painted it for me doesn't even remember it.  And I can see her every week!


Until Next Time.....
Franny




Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Princess Unaware Week Two



Princess or Peasant?

Haven't we all wondered this....more than once in our lives?  Well, let me tell you that you are a Princess....and here are a few more truths from Chapter 2:


  1. you are a part of God's family (p.40)
  2. God has also made you an heir (p.40)
  3. we are loved by God (p.40)
  4. God wants a relationship with you (p.41)
  5. He always wants what's best for us (p.41)
  6. the only opinion we need to care about is God's (p. 44)
  7. God sees you (p.44)
  8. God knew you would be His by divine plan (p.44)
  9. God picked us to be His daughters (p.45)
  10. we have total access to the King (p.45)

How do these truths make you feel, especially in light of the lies of this world?  It makes me feel a whole lot better knowing that I am not the sum of the lies and opinions of other people, that I am important to Him.  However, that does not mean we can sit back and say that nothing else matters.  No, we do have privileges in this world but also responsibilities! 

Right now, my privileges are being able to not work outside the home, and living in America, being able to express my opinion without fear of death.  But I also have responsibilities.  I do all the housework, pay the bills, do all the shopping and cooking, and balance the budget and the checkbook to name a few.  What about you?  Think about your privileges and responsibilities. 

We also have privileges and responsibilities with God.  Obviously the biggest privilege ever is our eternity in Heaven with our creator.  Our responsibilities include things like living as Christ taught us and keeping and sharing God's Word.  There are a lot more.  Can you find some in the Bible?  Of course there are a lot more privileges or rather gifts that God gives us.  Check out Ephesians 1:1-9 (p.57).  He gives us spiritual blessing, He chose us to be holy and blameless, He predestined us, He blessed us, He gave us redemption, forgiveness and grace, and He let us know His will.  

Isn't God good?  How can we be discouraged when we know all of these things?  Yes, that's a rhetorical question.  I still get discouraged sometimes too, because we live in this fallen world.  But just remind yourself of these truths during those times....and all the time for that matter.  Those moments of discouragement will be further apart....that's another truth!  List out the truths that you find in the Bible that really speak to you, on index cards and carry them with you or post them in prominent places.  We all need some reminding once in a while.


Until Next Time.....
Franny

Monday, July 9, 2012

1 Year to an Organized Life July Week One



This week you can:

  • update your address book
  • choose the right address book format for your lifestyle
  • understand why it's often difficult to keep your contacts current
I found this picture doing a google image search.  It is tied to a craft site where you can learn to make this address book yourself.  Then there are also parts of kits you can buy called Sarabinders with which you can also make your own book.  But then I found just the address book for me.  I have been looking for over a month knowing that this was coming up.  I really like the ones that the Hallmark  store carries, but I wasn't crazy about any of the designs that were available.  I found a Hallmark one I kind of liked on ebay but didn't want the closing strap thingy on the outside.  Believe it or not, I found one at Staples office supply store.  Like the Hallmark ones, it comes with some stickers that you can place over an entry when someone moves that way you can write in their new address without having to cross everything out....which is what my old address book looks like!  This new one also has a section for each month where you can write down anniversaries and birthdays...much needed to remember when to send a card!

You may not want a print address book, so many people are doing everything on their computer now. I just can't get away from print.  Plus, I have seen too many computer crashes even with "backup" where people have lost everything or most everything and had to do a ton of work to get things back.  Just isn't for me, but it might be for you.  Either way, I bet we both have little scraps of paper and envelopes with return addresses that we keep meaning to put in our book but just haven't.  Now is the time.  Then, like everything else we have learned, next time do it right away.  Only one or two addresses take less than five minutes to write in!  Let's not leave them piling up; do it while it is in your hand!  Remember the one touch rule!

We also need to set aside a little time this week and clean out electronic phone numbers and addresses.  Just yesterday I was looking for a person on my phone and saw 3 phone numbers of people who have passed away.  Like Regina says on page 173, if we don't make room for today, yesterday will fill all corners of our home, inside and out.  It's time for me to let them go.  I'm going to do the electronic stuff right now.

Until Next Time.....
Franny

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Princess Unaware Week One



Week One: Crawling Out of the Mudhole; The Princess recognizes the traps and snares

I love this Bible study by Brenda Garrison!  I hope you have gotten your copy and are following along; you'll get much more out of it that way!  I love how the beginning of every chapter shows tells us a part of a "Fairy Tale".

This week, we look at why we stumble, that Satan wants us to miss out on God's plan, and begin our Princess training.  Two of the main reasons we stumble, as stated in this chapter, are because we are not sure who we are and because we don't know or are not completely sure, WHOSE we are.  Yet if we DO know whose we are, how well do you know who God is?  Ah, another stumbling block.

And of course one of the biggest problems we have: Satan wants us to miss out on God's plan!  Satan has a lot of tools on his workbench to build this particular stumbling block, but his favorite and most used and effective tool is discouragement.  Once we are discouraged, so many other things fall apart.  We are then tired and give in, we believe lies, we don't have the will to fight, and of course, we wonder what the point is.  This tool of his is all that he needs sometimes to bring down more people than the flu of 1918!  Of course he also uses fear, perfectionism, and procrastination.

There is one other mudhole that I'm pretty sure is made of quicksand, and I feel like I am seeing more and more of lately.  It's the "poor, pitiful me, I'm trying so hard but I just can't do it" attitude.  A lot of these people do not want to do or to get better.  There are many reasons for this; laziness, liking the attention, or maybe actual "I'm not sure what else to do".  This is a dangerous, dangerous place to hang out.  Think about it.  Have you ever been there or know someone who has?  The person STATES that they want better, but they don't actually DO anything to get better, and no matter how many ways you point out to them to get on the right track, there is always a reason why they can't.  What happens more often than not, is that people give up and quit trying to pull the person out of that particular mudhole and walk on.

So you need to ask yourself; are you ready for some Princess training?  It won't be easy, and it won't always be fun, but it most definitely will be worth it!  Grab your copy of the book, read along and do the questions as your training, and then live it out daily. This first week of questions was so good!  Brenda walks you through basic truths so well!  I learned stuff about myself that surprised me, you know those kind of things that are right there below the surface that you just can't put your finger on.  Light bulbs were turning on left and right! For example, do I want to get well?  Yes, I do, but I want it to be easy!  And, "Perfectionism doesn't strive to be more like God but to be the best above everyone." (p.34)  OUCH!!  I learned that I'm focused on small, unimportant details and not the big picture.

Won't you join me on this journey?   Come on, Princesses, we can do this!!  Who's with me??

Until Next Time.....
Franny

Sunday, July 1, 2012

1 Year to an Organized Life - Catch up Week 3




It's catch up time once again!  Is there still a room that didn't get finished?  Are you still working on a vacation plan?  Or maybe this is the week you will go on vacation!

When we come back next week we will work or some more organization....address book, photos, and scrapbook!  I'm ready, are you?!

Keep up the good work!

Until Next Time.....
Franny