need to simplify...

I have this dream of having an organized home, a fairly organized life, a responsible, organized family, mostly to have home be a "heaven on earth" - where my family will feel comfortable having friends over - where friends and family will feel a feeling of peace in our home - a refuge from the storm! I am hoping if I dream it enough, it will happen, of course I know it takes more than dreaming - it takes lots of action! I am ready to start, I follow Flylady - I just need to start my babysteps today! I really want an uncluttered life, simple life. I think of the pioneers in this country, how little they had, yet they had enough - I know there were times when I am sure it was frightening, wondering if they would have enough food and supplies, but you know what I mean. They needed a simple life in order to do all the work necessary to prepare their foods, prepare for winter and all. I know, I am always worried about having enough food and water! lol - that is me!

One of my big projects will be to move Frank's "office" into our room -we have a huge master bedroom and he needs a more private office - a place where he gets good cell phone coverage too. I hate to have an office in our room - but, what else can we do? I want my dining room back again too! I have this screen I got when Heather moved, I will use that to divide off the room - so we don't have to see the office area. Stumbling blocks... we each have a lot of clutter in the room, we don't have a wireless card for the computer yet/or a way to hook up the cable... hmmm trying to figure out which will work better??? But, I want to make that one of my bigger goals.

Today, after breakfast... I need to get all of our laundry caught up - mostly folding, hanging, ironing - I do like the look of freshly ironed clothes! Then to do a good cleaning of the house! I have the day to do it, I don't have to leave until 3pm - I know I can make a big dent in our house cleaning - heck, I clean houses for my customers in 2 - 3 hrs - why not my place. I just have to control the urge to purge while I clean. Purging is for another day - tomorrow!!! Remember the rule I used at a friend's - the floors are for feet and furniture only! I need that more than anyone else - I like to pile the books I am reading next to "my" recliner - I love my recliner - it's so cozy. When I do my rearranging, I may have to move my other recliner out of the bedroom - oh,where to put it? I could try to find room for it too!!! lol.

I also realized that we still need to be "living" in our house. I have packed boxes of pictures, books, games - but those need to come out - we are still living here and we need to feel like this is home, we don't know when we will be moving - it didn't take too long to pack all that, so I need to make my home look and feel like home! I need to "live" in my home and no in "limbo". I really like this house - even with all its problems - but there is something here that I like. I just need to find a way to make it work, to make it a fun place to be for the whole crew here!

Now to walk Toby, make a nice breakfast and get myself going. Will report in later! I should take some terribly embarrassing before photos! I may not post, but I need them for me - I want to see my progress!

This ends my babblings for today....

For my birthday!

We haven't had a family photo in a long time. So, for my birthday, I just simply asked for us to get together for one. Jessica was kind enough to photograph for us. Yeah, Mike and Sam - well, not so happy! The rest of us - VERY Happy! I love my family just the way they are!