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Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail

6:07 AM By 4 Comments

Here lately I’ve been busy, but just don’t feel like I’m getting anything done. Have you ever had that feeling? Well I have it more often than not. I’ve been thinking about how I can get more accomplished and not being overwhelmed.

As everyone knows, I’m an avid Flylady “stalker” and have been for years. Her voice is permenatly installed into my psyche telling me little things to do each day. I guess that she would call that auto-pilot. Even after all of these years, there are some things that I’m just not good with following through on. I end up getting pretty upset with myself, or overwhelmed when I need to do large projects.

Flylady suggests to break things down into small “baby steps.” I’ve been doing this for years, but at times I get tripped up and take giant steps because I hesitated to start. Sometimes the mountain just looks too high.

So today I’m going to make a plan for the week, and for today. Not an elaborate plan, but something simple. On my todoodlist for today is call for 2 appointments, Buy Groceries, and do my Weekly Home Blessing, and get some exercise in.

Now for the kicker. In the past if I didn’t keep my todoodlist, I would get frustrated and throw it out. To look at it made me beat myself up on the inside. Why? I always felt like I was failure, and couldn’t even complete the whole list. I started thinking. How about all of the stuff on the list that I did mark off! Why not write things down that I just finished, so that I feel accomplished? Its my list, why can’t I do it like I want to!

So starting today, I’m going to open my Control Journal and *gasp* use it! My friend Christy did a roundup of Control Journal’s and other Household Notebooks if you need help  making your own. And there are some great pictures of one on Flickr by Mrs. Happy Housewife.

So now, on to planning in a way that I can’t fail.

todoodlist banner

Filed Under: 30 in 30, Simple Living Tagged With: , , , ,

Menu for August 17-23 (Hash Brown Casserole)

5:05 AM By 4 Comments

I’m gearing up to post a lot of recipes with pictures in the month of September, so please subscribe so that you don’t miss out on all of my family recipes that will be going into a cookbook for Christmas. If you have ever used a blog to book service, which one have you used and what were the results? I”m hoping that this project will become great for Christmas gifts.

Monday: Mexican

Tuesday: Grilled Hamburgers, Homemade Buns and Hash Brown Casserole

Wednesday: Potluck at Church

Thursday: Grilled Chicken Breasts, Fresh Garden Salad

Friday: Chicken Nuggets, Mac and Cheese

Saturday: Hot Dogs

Sunday: Pot Roast



Recipe: Hash Brown Casserole

Ingredients

  • 2 lb Package Frozen Hash Browns

    by Mandajuice

    by Mandajuice

  • 1 Can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 8 oz. grated Cheddar Cheese
  • 1t Salt
  • 1t Pepper
  • 1 Small Onion, chopped
  • 1 stick Butter, melted
  • 1 large carton Sour Cream
  • 1 package French’s Onions

Instructions

  1. 1. Mix all ingredients together
  2. 2. Place into baking dish
  3. 3. Top with French’s Onions
  4. 4. Bake at 300 for 1 hour

Meal type: dinner

My rating: 4.5 stars
****1/2

Recipe by on.

Filed Under: Menus, Recipes Tagged With: ,

100 things I hate

10:17 AM By Leave a Comment

This post idea is shamelessly stolen from Amber, but then again she stole it too.

I HATE…

  1. Finals
  2. Reading books that have no “personality”
  3. that my shoulder pain keeps moving
  4. cleaning my house
  5. AT&T, especially hate the wirless service
  6. that only AT&T has the iPhone
  7. weedeating
  8. bugs
  9. carpet stains
  10. When I really can’t keep my eyes open, but its not time to nap
  11. When I really can’t sleep and its time to sleep
  12. when the other side of the bed is cold and empty
  13. when people don’t consider your schedule
  14. when people cast judgment, especially when they have NO CLUE what’s going on
  15. that I’m taking a class on racism
  16. that race exists
  17. that I don’t have an athletic body
  18. that any child should ever be treated as an adult
  19. that it is unacceptable for me to go bra-less everywhere
  20. that I have any body hair
  21. some people turn things around just for their own amusement
  22. I’m not in the pool today
  23. that I don’t have a pool.
  24. and a raft floating in the pool
  25. and my honey beside me on the raft, floating in the pool
  26. that money makes the go round
  27. that I have headaches that just don’t stop
  28. allergies
  29. that everything that I enjoy comes in plastic
  30. or has pesticides on it
  31. or too much sugar
  32. or fat
  33. or just yucky stuff
  34. that laundry ever needs to be done
  35. socks
  36. that I don’t automatically know things that I think I should
  37. that teleporters are not real
  38. weeds
  39. that weed has really messed up a friend
  40. that not everyone gets my sarcasm
  41. adultery
  42. child abuse
  43. sexual child abuse
  44. rape
  45. any kind of abuse, that should cover it
  46. that all magnets are not made equal
  47. that things keep falling off of my fridge
  48. a person that should remain nameless
  49. and a lot of other people’s actions
  50. that I’m only halfway here. wow that’s a lot of hate
  51. that I hate so many things
  52. that our school system sucks
  53. that homeschooling isn’t something I can manage for all of my kids
  54. that I need money
  55. that I can’t find something that requires little effort and lots of cash
  56. and that’s legal
  57. and ethical
  58. that when you self clean your oven, it makes it like a furnace in your kitchen
  59. that there are so many toxic cleaners in Walmart
  60. that bleach smells like an old lady
  61. when old ladies expect me to be a certain way and do certain things without being told or asked
  62. cancer
  63. that I rarely finish anything that I start
  64. I’m not a lot more organized
  65. that my kids are growing up so fast
  66. that my son is repeating 5th grade, because of what happened 2 years ago
  67. that my Mama is not more like my “mentor”
  68. that my sister is lonely, but chooses that lifestyle for herself
  69. that our country is in the situation it is in.
  70. that I can’t color all day, and get paid for it!
  71. that my sense of style isn’t what my boyfriend’s is
  72. that I don’t have the voice of an angel when she sings.
  73. when kids change clothes several times in a day, just because
  74. that there are people out there that have never heard of God
  75. or accepted him as their Savior
  76. that religion has gotten out of hand
  77. that my boyfriend is working out of town
  78. when I can’t stop thinking about something negative
  79. when some people are just idiots, and don’t know it
  80. when I don’t know what laundry detergent to buy.
  81. when someone asks me to pick them up anything (to eat)
  82. when someone asks me to pick somewhere to go, and I do, then they don’t want to go there.
  83. Voice mail.
  84. when parents don’t take care of their children
  85. when parents don’t see any wrong in their children.
  86. snakes
  87. pens that don’t write
  88. pencils that won’t stay sharp
  89. erasers that don’t erase
  90. dryers that don’t dry
  91. empty soap dispensers
  92. empty toilet paper dispensers
  93. empty paper towel dispensers
  94. fast food “workers” that can’t get your order right
  95. when anyone is taken advantage of
  96. when my nails break and I can’t find a file.
  97. paper cuts
  98. razor cuts
  99. nair burns
  100. regular burns
Filed Under: 30 in 30 Tagged With:

Randomness from a foggy headed beast

1:47 PM By 2 Comments

So I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that I took no pain meds for my shoulder, someone throwing the cover off of the bed, changing sides of the bed, being woken up constantly for one reason or another.

So tomorrow is my last final, and well I can’t concentrate on anything right now. So what to do, but catch up on some blog reading. Make a list of emails that I need to follow up on. Make plans for after finals.

This weekend we are going to try to start fixing up my middle bathroom. I hope this happens, because it looks like crap now. We want to start taking one project a weekend to work on until the house is back to normal…well kinda, nothing with me is normal.

Next week Mama is coming to help me with curtains for the kitchen, then we will pick out paint colors for the walls and cabinets, then add some trim and we should be good to go. (I want ball fringe, I just thought of that)

My fans need to be cleaned, I don’t think plain dusting is going to help.

I have a cool color picked out for my bedroom walls, but No idea what I would put on my bed to match. I should start looking, because I like to change too often for it not to be neutral I think. Maybe I’ll rethink the whole color of choice.

I will have 5 kids in my house this weekend, and beds for 3. Well really only for 2, because one isn’t up yet, but that isn’t a huge problem.

I will be kidless this school year, during the days at least. What will I do with myself? Projects are being planned and replanned.

I really hate when I support someone with everything that they do, and they just overlook everything that I do. I help rally the troops and then when I need help on something, they just drop the ball…or never even pick it up. I think its all about jealousy. I know I’m smart and sexy, but hey…don’t let that get to you! ROFL!

There was an email from the Flylady (or Kelly or someone) a little while ago about fitness. Bascially I need to stop thinking that I need a cookie cutter workout schedule. Just do something when I can. That’s so much better than nothing at all. Now my excuse is my shoulder. everything hurts when you have an injured shoulder…what to do now?

I think I need to remember that with my blogs too. Maybe I shouldn’t try to post daily, or every day for every thing I like to do..um like memes and carnivals. Sure I like to do them, but If I don’t plan accordingly, it doesn’t get done, or is just not done well.

I’m looking at changing cell phone service. I want to keep my number, but I also want to try the service out for the first 30 days to see if it actually works. If it doesn’t…can I change my number back to the old service? I’m leaning toward one service, and the bill payer is leaning toward another. I don’t care as long as it picks up really. And Do I want a blackberry or a smartphone/PDA that has the Windows OS? Decisions.

Can I plant roses now? What’s the rule on that? I want to order some roses, but I need to know when I can plant them.

Can someone clean my house for me, cause I don’t feel like it. The kids rooms and laundry room are all a big wreck. The rest of the house would really only take a few minutes to get back in order. Culling clothes is still on the list to continue on, but I haven’t in a few days.

I really like facebook. I never thought that I would, but I do. I’m pretty addicted, although I haven’t been on there all day, that I remember.

I’m on the emergency contact list of my future neice – in – law. Thanks future – brother – in – law. I feel important and accepted.

STOP THE PRESSES

I lost my camera.

NO pics of the first day back to school.

Or the 2nd.

Or 3rd.

Maybe the 5th, because I hadn’t unpacked it. It was with my swimsuits in my luggage. What was I thinking?

I need to write a list of things I want for the house, and a wishlist for myself. This needs to be a prioritized list. Does satelite internet go on my list of the house? And is it more important than tile or a dishwasher? Ok someone help me out here.

Ok I’ve put it off too long, I’m going to shower, and then pick up a book. By then it will be time to go get the kiddos from the bus. Then I will find a project for them since next week starts on their homework.

Oh yeah, if you have ever used one of the blog to book services, can you let me know which one and how you liked it. Septemberish I’m going to start blogging some family recipes so that I can turn them into a cookbook for my mom and family members. If you want a copy just let me know before I order.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

I Heart Faces Awesome Giveaway

9:30 AM By Leave a Comment

This is an amazing Giveaway from I Heart Faces.

The perfect all-in-one lens, Tamron’s 15X zoom lens features VC, a proprietary anti-shake mechanism that gives you a 4-stop shutter speed advantage for blur-free hand-held shots. Shoot confidently from wide to ultra-tele with Canon and Nikon APS-C DSLRs.
Basically that means when someone is this far away: It ends up looking like this!
So go sign up over there, and put my name in the pot again! I’d love to have this with the new DSLR I’m getting soon!

Contest Ends THIS Friday, August 7th at 8 pm (Pacific) / 11 pm (Eastern)
Winner will be chosen at random and be announced on Saturday the 8th.

Filed Under: 30 in 30, Product Reviews Tagged With:
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