Hair and Wreath and a Little Rambling

I have my computer back! I am so excited - I did not realize how much I have come to depend upon this thing. My calling, bill paying, communicating with people, every thing seems to be connected to this machine. I wanted to catch up on a couple of things that I had done clear back in December. My intentions were to get it all blogged and posted before the new year. I have been working very hard putting my new word into "action". The word is "purpose" and with that I have been cleaning something out almost everyday! Good for me - lots of stuff has been discarded and things I LOVE are now in their proper place. Well, lets say things are beginning to be where I want them. But I wanted to share this hairdo I did on Taylor. Knotting hair has become one of my favorite things to do with the girls long hair. It reminds me of making "pin curls". My mom used to do that to my hair all the time when I was little to make it curly. Taylor has such beautiful hair and it is so fun to play with. I remember in the movie "letters to Juliet" a line - "One of the greatest pleasures in life is to have ones hair combed". I hope the girls remember all the hours of getting their hair combed. There is something therapeutic for me in doing it. I love the connection I get with my girls as I do their hair. Now I do have to say my older girls have reminded me how I would say all the time - "use the muscles in your neck" - and how I "pulled" on their hair. Their memories are probably not as fond as mine - "You have to suffer to be beautiful" a line I quoted from my mother to them. Anyway, I always wanted to do hair when I was little - but then I found out how much you have to know besides just cutting and styling and I was not willing to put the time in to learn. So I just play around with their hair and most of the time it turns out pretty cute!


Now on to an entirely different topic - my Christmas wreath. I had a lot of vintage ornaments that I did not use on my tree anymore. I saw on pinterest how "easy" it was to make this wreath. So I gave it a try. Really it was not too hard but I had to be careful as I was using glass ornaments not plastic like I think they used on the tutorial I watched. It took me a while to finish (I was short about five ornaments and had to go "thrifting" to find some) But in the end I love it! It looked so pretty hanging from my mirror.


I did not really take very many pictures of our house this year. It seemed to take me forever to decorate and even then I did not do things the way I usually do. I don't know why it just seemed a little overwhelming at the time.

It has been a wonderful month so far as I have been decluttering and cleaning out. It is one of the most rewarding things I have done in a long time. David just finished up a closet that I have wanted to turn into a pantry. He did a fabulous job and now that is full with food storage that needed to come in from the garage. Of course, that spurred on more organizing and cleaning out of videos and movies. Wow, that was a big job. Thirty years of movie collecting sure adds up. It surprised me how much we still had on VHS. I think to date I have taken five boxes to the goodwill and about five garbage bags full of stuff. It is amazing how much stuff you can stuff into closets and nooks and crannies of your house. My mind set is - What purpose does this serve me, the family, or my callings?. With that in mind it has been so easy to finally let go of things that really should have been gone long ago.

This is kind of a rambling blog post but it feels so good to be writing again. I am off now to take Autumn to meet up with Ashleigh and have a little girl time with my oldest and youngest!

12x12x12

So, my computer has a virus. I tried to blog yesterday and I couldn't sign into anything. It was so frustrating. I had some great things to blog about and some pictures to share. I will get to it when it gets fixed but for now I want to share a project my sister and I are doing. It is not a new idea but we wanted to do it in 2012. We are calling the 12x12x12 project. On the 12th day of the month we are going to take 12 pictures and the the following week scrapbook them. The thing that we have added to this is that there will be a challenge for each month. Plus we assigned each month a color. The two- page layout has to incorporate the color and the challenge. The challenge could have to do with what we take pictures of or how we scrapbook it. Then we are emailing picture of our layouts to each other. We do not live in the same state so this way we have accountability. She is such a fabulous scrapbooker and has won many contests and been published. I have never entered anything but feel like I can keep up with her ;) Thursday is picture taking day. I am going to blog what I take pictures of and about the challenge each month. I will wait to do that this time until my computer is fixed. So hopefully by Friday I will have things up here for other family to follow along. I have to say that it is great having a sister! She constantly keeps me motivated. So do my other sisters and brothers for that matter. I have an awesome family! I love you all.

Purpose

I can't believe that it is the 5th day of January already. I have been working everyday since New Year's putting things away from the holidays. It has been a slow process because I am cleaning out as I go. I decided that this year is going to be my year for organization and de-cluttering. I began this process while putting away the Christmas decorations. I have accumulated so many holiday things over that past 32 years and so much of it I don't use anymore. I was tired of repacking everything just to set aside. I know some of you would not let this go on but it really has only just been a couple of years that things seem to be overflowing. I organized the decorations by theme and even had a box for all the homemade things the children have made over the years. I don't think I can ever let those things go. It feels so good to know that what is up in the rafters for next year is what I absolutely love! It will be fun unpacking it to decorate next year. Along with this goal of organization I thought long and hard about my word for the year. Last year I worked all year long on my word and was able to apply it in lots of areas of my life. I wanted this word to mean more than "unclutter". I do a twelve month journal with my word and also wanted it to be a word that I could continue to work on after I got "organized". So this year I came up with "purpose". It really fits. I have so much filling my life right now. I want everything I do and everything I surround myself with to have purpose. That does not necessarily mean functional. I want to love the things around me. Some of the things I collect don't function per say but they make me smile. Memories of an event or time in my life will fill my mind and that gives that object purpose for me. As far as organizing goes not only have I accumulated tons of Christmas decorations but all over the house things are tucked away because I might "someday" need to use it. I am realizing that if I have not looked at it for the past seven years (as long as I have been in our new house) I just don't need it taking up space. I am going to focus on an area of the house each month. The ultimate big goal is to get my garage cleaned out and organized. It is some what of a daunting task if I think too much about it. That is why I am being realistic about things and also biting off chucks at a time and not the whole thing in one weekend. With what little I have already done I feel lighter, more focused, and a bit more organized. Clearing the clutter will allow me to use my time to better myself and those whom I love. I will be a better mother, wife, sister, aunt, and grandmother. Yes, this is going to be a great year - a year with "purpose"!