Unclutterer -- Marking Items

I liked these ideas
http://unclutterer.com/2010/10/11/simple-strategies-for-marking-items/

Reasons to Keep Clutter

Today I was talking with my mom on the phone and I said "I'm not a packrat," but as I continued to think about what I'd been telling her I started to question that. 

I do keep clothes from when i was 12 years old (some of which I still wear). I don't want to get rid of these clothes because I just think that someday I could use them to make my baby some clothes instead of buying fabric.

I have 6 bottles of almost used smelly lotions because it seems like a waste to throw them away.

I have stuff from family/friends that I won't use EVER, but I feel obligated to keep. I realized that I have moved a few of those said objects with me 6 times! One of these, for instance is like 4 copies of a church movie that I were leftovers from when my Dad was a Bishop and I thought I'd give them to my visiting teachees for Christmas -- well I'm actually doing it this year! Can you believe I've moved those with me 6 times???

So I realized I am a packrat, but since I love things to not look cluttered at all, all those objects/clothes are tucked away neatly in tupperwear containers under my bed/in cabinet space throughout the house. 

When I get home I am surely getting rid of it. 

One of my greatest motivations to get rid of things and simplify my life is the blog @ smallnotebook.org

She gets asked so often "what to do about other peoples' stuff" that she made this great diagram: 

This helped me identify a lot of things I have that I didn't even realize was unnecessary. 

One of my other favorite tips was her decision tree to buy a shirt/blouse: 

via smallnotebook.org

Maybe I'll use this when deciding to keep a shirt/blouse :) One of my favorites is the "drop it like it's hot" for a hoddie -- because I have this really old "brigham young university" hoodie that looked great on me when I wore it on the coast when I was 14; but now it just really needs to go, you know why? Not because I don't wear it but because it just looks too horrible to keep wearing!

I realized how many of these "reasons to keep clutter" (via smallnotebook.org) go through my head when I'm organizing/going through old stuff.

1. I paid good money for it.

2. Someone might want it.

3. It would be a waste to throw it away.

4. I just need to buy more storage totes.

5. That used to be special to me.

6. That was a souvenir from…

7. I might need it later.

8. I just need a bigger home.

9. It’s a book! (or a cookbook!)

10. It was on sale.

11. I could make something with it.

12. It belonged to my grandmother.

13. When I have more time, I’ll use it /read it / finish it.

14. I don’t have time to go through this stuff.

15. I’m too tired.

16. I’ll do it later.

17. It’s a sweet baby item.

18. Someone who loves me gave it to me.

19. I worked hard to write/study/make this.

20. I want it to stay in the family.

21. It’s not my clutter, it’s my spouse’s/child’s/roommate’s.

22. I need to wait until I have a full weekend to do it right.

23. I’ll keep it until I have a garage sale.

24. It might be valuable one day.

25. It might come back in fashion.

26. It’s vintage!

27. It’s a collection.

28. My child made it.

29. It makes me feel secure.

30. It shows how smart or talented I am.

31. It proves I was here.

32. Why bother? It will just get cluttered again anyway.

How do you keep clear of clutter?

Really Good Salad Dressing

I made this last night and it was REALLY good!

Applebee’s Oriental Salad Dressing

Yield: approximately 3/4 cup.
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
4 tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

I just had to post this again...I make it all the time!

I am the most spoiled, luckiest girl in the world!
Daniel woke up early Saturday morning and cleaned our tub, sanitized our counters, and dusted while I slept in.
We made the greatest yummy pancakes!!! While I was jumping around, listening to fun music. 

• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)

• And I wanted to make Dan Magelby's syrup -- Even though ours was more like caramel it was soooo good!
• 1 stick butter
  1 Cup sugar
  1 Cup buttermilk
  1 T. vanilla
  1 T. corn syrup
  ½ tsp. baking soda

Our apartment right now

I had fun decorating our apartment yesterday. We love our blue living room! 

A few of my favorite objects are...

Hydrangeas. These ones look so real! And I really wanted to use hydrangeas for my wedding but they are way pricey. Well, I finally just bought hydrangeas but I bought ones that look and feel (just don't smell) real! 

The gold mirror -- that is from the beach cottage before the remodel (the beach cottage is where Dan and I went on our honeymoon). 

And finally, the roman shades because I made them! It was such a fun experience finding the perfect fabric. 

I also love the cottage-y feel. I love the modern feel; I love the formal feel and I always have trouble choosing what style to go with. But when I went home and saw our house as blue and cottage-y I thought I'd do the same in our happy home. It is so inviting and yet gives some rich color (which is needed in our home because so much is white -- which I love). 

It's funny because every time I go to the store I want to buy white and cream colored things. But it's way better to buy color-rich decorations because that's always what I want in our home is more color :)

Thanks for all the happy memories of going to Hobby Lobby and helping you decorate and seeing what is beautiful and putting things together to decorate our home beautifully Mom! I saw a mother and daughter there together yesterday and it just made me reminisce about all those fun times where we put the entire center piece together on the aisle floor. I did that yesterday too and I think people thought it was weird, but oh well! I got ALL things I love and won't need to return ANY of them! That was my goal per Danny's request (we've had trouble returning things before). 

I love having a happy home that brings the spirit and is beautiful. It is a way for me to "create."

One year from today...

I just read one of my best friends' blogs about how a year ago we had no idea where we'd be in 1 year. I just had a thought that in 1 year from now, we will have spent time somewhere for Danny's internship next summer and may be in Russia. I will have a nearly 6 month old baby! And other than that, I hope to have lost my pregnancy weight (or most of it :)). I hope to have a happy home and have built an even more strong relationship with Danny. Thank goodness I can say that much -- that's the most I've been able to say about myself in a year from now at any point. But yet life seems so undefined! We will hopefully be planning a trip to Europe to go backpacking. Dan will be nearly graduated. I may or may not be graduated.  But it's fun to think about :)

My "Special Place"

I've always wondered what my special place where you go when you're "escaping" contractions.

I thought it might be on the beach with the sun shining on me in Hawaii.

Or like my mom's -- moss that you can put your feet in.

Or something from Pride and Prejudice like my new favorite painting by Paul Ferney

Isn't that beautiful?

But today when I practiced relaxing in preparation for childbirth, I tested out all these places and found one that suited me perfectly. After having bad dreams lately, I decided this place had to be a SAFE place with no concerns, nothing on my mind except how much I love Danny and this baby.

And the place my mind stuck to was our honeymoon in Monterey Bay!

It is the best of all worlds but most of all I chose it because it's when I'm most at ease, most safe. Each night, I have this special way I curl up facing Danny and he wraps me up and I know I am safe there. It's when I am most relaxed. That was my happy place! It actually delighted me :)
And we are in a cool, misty place, under a big white feather blanket with a canopy of white over the bed. Exactly like our honeymoon suite!

The beach house has soft grass and a lemon tree that's weighed down with lemons in the back yard where I can go see soft, green grass and moss. It has the sound of the ocean which is so soothing without me feeling vulnerable and exposed. The waves crashing on rocks are too cold to go jump in (which is also comforting to me)

and I can walk along the shore discovering new plants and animals

You're supposed to imagine being there with your baby and talking to your baby. I imagined showing our baby the otters and how much he/she loved the playful otters.

And I imagined walking to the farmer's market and tasting all different foods and visiting the beautiful Thomas Kinkade gallery -- just like we did!

I was shocked that that was the place I most imagined loving going!

I just love this picture -- and this wonderful man! :)