Another Chance To Win

If you still haven't tried my fabulous Organizing Bags then head on over to I'm A Drama Mama because she is giving some away. And no, not because she doesn't want them. These are new bags and she just wants you to feel the organized joy of them.

I know I pooped out on the Fall Bloggy Giveaway but I was too tired and too busy making halloween costumes to even think about it. I think I've done enough giveaways to last me for a while. You guys are sick of free stuff right? Actually I have some more cool stuff for you that I've been holding back. I'll get to it soon, I promise!

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new you may want to check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!



I have to make a confession. I'm enjoying this carnival a lot more than I thought I would. It is practically forcing me to work on projects when otherwise I would just lay on the couch being sick. Does it make me a bad mother if I say I was more motivated to finish my daughter's Halloween costume for TAT than for Halloween? Ok then, I won't say it.


There were a few days where I couldn't do a thing on it because I was too sick but I did a little bit at a time and it is almost finished. I need to hem it and we are going to "sparkle it up" as my daughter tells me.



I think the highlight of the whole experience was when Persistence was trying it on so I could mark the hem and she neglected to tell me that her foot was bleeding. Yes, she bled all down the white front of the dress. Doesn't that sound fun? Luckily I was able to get it all out with a little scrubbing.


And by the way, why didn't someone warn me that she was going to need a poofy petticoat to wear under this dress? I had to make another trip to the fabric store for netting but you could still save me from sewing it if you have one you could drop off. I would really appreciate it!


I almost forgot to tell you that when I was done with everything I cleaned up my mess, folded the fabric into a baggie and added the pattern and a notecard detailing the date, the size I used and the changes I made to the pattern. Not because I'll ever use the patter or the fabric again but just because it was organized and fun!!!

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Smart Habit Saturday

Welcome! If you are new to SHS find out all about it here: Getting Started with SHS. Click here to read more SHS posts. Please don't forget to link back to this post so your readers can find out more about SHS.

I've quoted a few times from one of my favorite books, Nurtured by Love, by Shinichi Suzuki but I want to tell you a little more about it today because it's all about how habits lead to greatness. He starts off writing that all Japanese children must be geniuses because they all learn to speak Japanese. I agree!

Anyone who can learn to speak Japanese must be a genius. So is anyone who learns to speak English or any other language. If a teacher has a student who is poor in math then she might think that student isn't as smart as the other students. But does that student speak their language as well as the other students? If so then he must be as smart as them. His ability to learn is not the problem. The teaching method is the problem.

Suzuki tells a story about a little bird who learns to speak his name. His first name is repeated to him fifty times a day. After he hears it 3,000 times he finally begins to say it.

In the beginning you must have much perseverance, energy and patience. In order to make the parakeet speak, and develop its ability, it is necessary to repeat the same word over and over again. Just when you think it is useless, despair and want to give up, you are finally rewarded with some results.

Once the bird learned his first name his last name was added and he learned it after only hearing it 200 times. Ability breeds ability.

I mentioned at the beginning of the year that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. Maybe it doesn't work that way for all of us. Maybe some of us have to do something 3,000 times before it becomes a habit. I especially think of this as I'm trying to train my children. When I think I want to give up on them as hopeless little birds I wonder if I have patiently asked them to hang their towels up 3,000 times or if I have given up after 10 or 20 or 200 times. Worse yet would be if I gave up on them after repeating myself 2,999 times, one time too soon for it to finally sink in. I honestly never knew that parenting would require so much untiring patience. Did you?

I hope I never give up on my kids and I hope you and I never give up on ourselves before our good habits reveal us as the geniuses that we can become with patience and perseverance. Thank you for joining me on my Smart Habit journey!

I'm working on habits with the kids these days. Our goal is for them to learn to make their bed every morning without being reminded. Do you think it's possible?

Do you want to hear something really rude? I got an idea from someone last night to pull all the sheets and blankets off the bed every time it isn't made so they are forced to make the entire thing from scratch. Do I dare try it? I hate to think of anyone doing that to me but maybe just once...

(I'm so sorry Imissed last week due to computer problems!)

*Important - Please link to your individual SMART Habit post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

When In Doubt, Just Buy the Costume

My kids have been begging me to make their Halloween costumes since... last Halloween. Have yours? Of course I kept telling them that we would make them when it got closer but being pregnant and sick has kind of put a kink in our plans. That's what I get for procrastinating.

My kids were very nice about it and said they would wear a costume that we already had but I have been feeling guilty for years about the fact that I've never made Persistence a princess costume for dress up. She has never wanted to be a princess or anything "pretty" for Halloween. She's the type that would rather be a scary witch or a dead person. This year she finally said she wanted to be a princess so I feel I must make her a beautiful dress. Must. Make. Dress.

You don't know what a feat it was for me to drag us to the fabric store and then spend time picking out a pattern and fabric. We came home with the pictured treats (see the sparkles?)which cost so much money that I'm embarrassed to even tell you what I spent. Even though it was all on sale, if I had done any figuring in my head before the fabric was cut we would have left the store immediately, driven to a bridal shop and picked out the most expensive flower girl dress we could buy. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad but close.

It had better not be hideously ugly when it's done, that's all I can say. And she had better not grow for the next five years so we can get our money's worth. We did come up with a brilliant idea though that she can wear the same dress to the family ball we're going to next March.

I just want to say one more thing. If you're going to leave your horse out in the rain I think it's very nice to leave an umbrella for it to stand under. Don't you? I don't know why but this cracked me up so much that I had to turn around and take a picture of it. I guess you had to be there.

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new you may want to check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

Did you miss me? I fell off the face of the earth there for a few days! I haven't been able to post to my blog since last Thursday so I missed Smart Habit Saturday and I thought I was going to miss Talk About Tuesday as well but I got on the computer this morning and low and behold...here I am!

I'm talking all about Stranger and the kids this week and how they so sweetly did some re-arranging for me in the kitchen. They swapped out a bookshelf and a hutch that were oh so in the wrong places. I had my reasons for putting them where I did but frankly I can't remember what those were.


The hutch had books piled on it and the bookshelf was in the kitchen full of dishes. They look much better where the are don't you think? I have wanted to use the hutch in the kitchen for a while now but I needed a piece of furniture that would fit the microwave and it didn't. Till I got the brilliant idea to secure the top half of it to the wall ABOVE the microwave! It works!

Don't tell me it looks weird because I like to think it works. Now I just need a talented decorator to come over and make everything look cute for me. I'm not good with arranging things. Those dishes are my Pyrex collection and will probably go in my island when we get it moved in. I want you to know that I bought the paint for it yesterday so hopefully you'll see the finished product next week.



Organized books that won't stay organized for long once the kids have their way with them.



I love the little wire shelf in the cupboard because I don't like mixing bowls all nested together. There are two bowls on each shelf so it's easier to pull out the one I want.

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Organize Your Bookshelves

I have been the library's highest volume customer for years. You would think they would kiss my hand when we walk up to the counter with our bags full of books but for some funny reason all we get are dirty looks and rude comments. I don't know what is wrong with those people when we are clearly doing our best to keep the library in business!

Back when both my kids were still into picture books we came home with an average of 50-60 books a week. To say my kids are avid readers is an understatement. It was quite a relief when both of them moved into longer chapter books. With all the reading they do I have never attempted to buy their books. Why should I spend money and waste storage space on books when that's what library's are for?

After this trip last year I said NO MORE!

Since then I have changed my mind. As my kids have gotten older they have come home with trashier and trashier books. I always picked out classic books for them but they would only read them after they were done with their Goose Bumps and alien books. Of course we had a lot of conversations about the difference between great books and not so great books but it wasn't sinking in. Who would read Little House on the Prairie when you could read Animorph? I don't want to fight with my kids about the books they read. They love to read and I don't want them to feel like I'm controlling every little aspect of their lives. I am of course but I want to do it as covertly as possible!

I am now on a mission to buy every classic book I can find and spend less time at the library. Since I'm still as cheap as ever that means I'm looking at thrift stores, used book stores and garage sales. My only problem is that I forget what books I already have and I've bought a couple books twice!

So now we come to the organizing part of this long post. This is a great project for sick people because I laid on the couch all morning while my kids brought me stacks of books. I typed up all the authors and titles and printed a copy to keep in my purse that I can reference when I'm shopping. I'll update it everytime we come home with a new stack of books.

I think we're going to need a lot more book shelves around here.

We've cut our library trips down to only twice a month and I have the kids reserve the books they want online. It saves us time and the kids do a lot less browsing.

Do you do something similar? How do you keep track of all your books?

Sympathy Please

I have one child that I would like to strangle almost every day. I'm not saying he is my least favorite child, I'm just saying he is the child most likely to get strangled to death by his mother. You see the difference right? And although it's highly unlikely I will ever kill one of my own children the desire is there some days.

This child is brilliant. All you have to do is look at his head and you can see that there are a lot of brains in there. I just wish one of theses days he would start using them to help him put his things away and then remember where he put them.

I get so tired of looking for library books, shoes, scout books, basketballs, etc. If I decide not to involve myself and make him look all by himself then I still have to endure the crying and wailing and gnashing of teeth while he's hunting.
Today this beloved child spent 15 minutes looking for his shoes so he could go to Scouts. We go through this every day. He never found them so he decided to wear his flip flops instead. He couldn't find those so I made him go in his Church shoes which for some reason he could find. He said that was embarrassing but I will bet you a million dollars that it's not embarrassing enough to make him put his shoes away the next time he wears them.

Then there is all the stuff he loses that we never find, like a $100 bike that he owned for two months before he lost it. It is really out of control. I can not buy him anything or let him use anything or he will lose it. I hate to tell him that because I don't want him to feel hopeless but that is what it comes down to until he learns to be responsible. It's his choice because I do not have time to babysit his stuff.

A couple weeks ago after an episode I told him he needed to come up with a solution for this problem. He went in his room and boxed up everything he owns that he could possibly lose and took it down to the basement. He kept his backpack with his checkbook and planner in it and he is working on keeping that put away and not losing it. I can't say that it's going very well but he's trying. I think.

If anyone has any ideas for us I would love to hear them. If not then I would like a lot of sympathy for having a son that is just like me. I hope he doesn't wait till he's 30 to figure out his behaviour is making life miserable for himself and everyone around him and decide to change.

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to Talk About Tuesday! If you are new you may want to check out the Guidelines before posting. Thanks for joining us!

I have something so fun to share today. My kitchen island is built!


Stranger picked it up last week and I can't wait to start using it but it needs to be painted and stained first. Now I need to decide what colors to use! I am not good with these kinds of decisions. The reason I never had the island built with the rest of the kitchen cupboards was because I didn't know what I wanted but living here for a year and a half helped me decide so I'm glad I waited.

When I designed my house I knew I wanted my studio next to my kitchen because those are the two places where I spend most of my time. They adjoin each other with French doors. To save space and money I planned to use the kitchen island for my cutting and design table.


This side faces my studio and will have shelves for my recipe books and baskets. I think I will assign a drawer to each of my kids for their school and art supplies. There is room on each end of the island for two stools so they can sit up to it and work on their projects. I like the idea of having one of my older kids on each end to cut down on the amount of trouble they can get into together!


This side faces my kitchen sink and stove top. The drawers will hold spices and utinsils and the cupboards will hold dishes. I wanted these to be open shelves as well so everything is easy to get to but we have a terrible problem with flies in the summer time so I had doors put on them. They easily come off if we want to remove them for the winter.

Once we get the new island painted it will be one more thing we can check off Mom's Mission Impossible!

What do you have to talk about this week?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

If you tell them enough times, pretty soon they will think it was their idea.

Staturday Morning

Kids - Will you take us to the gym this morning?

Mom - I will but then you have to promise that you will spend the rest of the day cleaning up the house and all your messes.

Kids - We will! We will! Yay! We're going to the gym!!!

Victor - Well, we were pretty much going to be doing that anyway right Mom?

Mom - (Uh oh. He's on to me.) Pretty much.

After the House is Clean

Victor - Wow! The house looks so good! What if I made sure the kitchen was this clean all the time?

Mom - (Don't tease me like that.) That would be nice wouldn't it?

Victor - What if we never made any messes ever? Then we would never have to clean them up!

Mom - (Where have I heard that before?) Can you start today?

Smart Habit Saturday

Welcome! If you are new to SHS find out all about it here: Getting Started with SHS. Click here to read more SHS posts. Please don't forget to link back to this post so your readers can find out more about SHS.

"Even if I had no talent and even if my progress was slow, I determined to plod on step by step, toward my goal of becoming a whole well-rounded human being. I did not hurry, but I did not rest either. I endeavored ceaselessly. And it gave me both peace of mind and something to live for."

Suzuki in Nurtured by Love

See? There's no reason to be in a hurry with our habits. Just plod along step by step but do not rest. I am amazed by what I can accomplish a little at a time. Even if I have to take a few big steps backwards until this baby gets here. I'm trying really hard not to be discouraged because there are still some things I can accomplish. I have been able to do a lot of reading and that's something I never seem to have enough time for. I'm in the middle of The Count of Monte Cristo and I know I say this all the time but it is one of the best books I have ever read. I will warn you though in case you haven't read it before. It's almost 1500 pages long! (Suzuki's quote sounds like something the Count of Monte Cristo could have said don't you think?)

I have had a great time reading to the kids this week for my habit. I knew that Victor and I weren't greatly interested in Laddie, the book we were reading, and that's why it was taking so long to get through it but I wanted to finish it for Persistence's sake. I finally started a new book, Carry On Mr. Bowditch, and have been reading the other with Persistence when Victor is not around.

My new habit this week is going to be washing my face every night. It's something I have not been able to force myself to do when I am so sick at night so I will get it done earlier before I get too tired.

I hope you're all doing well with your habits. Now I must get back to the Count!

P.S. Does anyone know of any good online book discussion groups?

*Important - Please link to your individual SMART Habit post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

The Good Stuff

When you're pregnant you get the good bread. Not just any ordinary baguette is good enough for you. You get the Artisan Baguette that costs $2.50 more. And then when you get home you get to eat the whole thing yourself.

You don't even have to hide it or sneak it. You get to eat it right in front of everyone and they know not to ask for it or look at it longingly because any of that type of behaviour might make you sick to your stomach.

It's not like they are starving to death. They just have their bread and you have your bread. You have different food than they do. As you should.

Anything for the baby.

Assigned Seating

Some of you might remember an old WFMW that I posted last year about curing sibling rivalry. It worked for us for years but now that my kids are a little older I have had to think of a new system. They just don't care that much anymore whether or not they get to answer the phone or say the prayer before we eat. Either that or I just got too old to keep track of whose week it was.

We have a new system now that works even better and I call it Assigned Seating. One thing all parents soon discover about kids is that they will fight about anything and I mean anything. This is news to me of course because I never fought with my siblings. No, of course not.

My children are expert at it though. Even if my daughter likes to sit in the back seat of the van she is willing to fight her brother to the death to sit in the middle row of seats just because she knows that's where he wants to sit and he will do the same. With Assigned Seating there is almost no fighting. My daughter sits in the back and my son and two year old sit in the middle, exactly where they wanted to sit in the fist place but without any fighting. The also have an assigned seat at the dinner table and they each have their own seat in the living room.

Assigned Seating goes beyond just seating arrangements however. It also includes chores around the house. We do not change jobs every day or week or month. The kids negotiate their responsibilities in our family counsels, I have final word and that is what they are stuck with until a new deal is struck.

We have had a new saying at our house ever since our two year old was potty trained. "He feeds her, she pees her." Quaint isn't it? It means that my son is in charge of feeding Lovely in the car (which I'm ashamed happens as often as it does) and my daughter is in charge of taking her potty. There is no arguing or complaining about it. They just do it.

There is no argument about whose turn it is to do dishes. It's my son's turn. Every day. For the rest of his life. Until I change my mind. We don't have to wonder about whose turn it is to feed the chickens or the cats or water the horses. We always know whose turn it is to vacuum out the van or put laundry away. They are all assigned jobs.

Any time the kids think they can whine and complain to get out of doing something they will. Once they know their fate is sealed there is no reason to argue. They just do it.

I might sound like a tyrant but any time I ask my son if he would like a different jobs besides washing dishes he tells me, "No way! Washing dishes is way easier than cleaning the rest of the house!"

And we live happily ever after.

Till the brother smacks the sister upside the head the next time he passes her in the hall. Does anyone have a cure for that?

Try it and see if Assigned Seating works for you too! Check out more WFMW tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

More tips on teaching kids to work.

Talk About Tuesday

Welcome to the first Talk About Tuesday! And hopefully not the last. If you are new (which we all are this week) you may want to check out the Guidelines before posting.

I was wondering what I would have to talk about this week when I remembered I have big news! I should have saved my pregnancy news. That would have been REALLY big. But this is good enough.

Remember when I said I was thinking about cutting my hair off? There goes twelve inches of it!

I just couldn't take care of my long hair anymore and everyone else was doing it so why not me too? I was growing it out to donate to Locks of Love anyway so it wasn't a difficult decisions to make.

Dang it but I forgot my camera when I went in to have it cut so I don't have a good before picture. Here is my after picture. It's the best I could do by myself this morning.



So now Persistence and I look like twins except hers is a little longer and I have bangs.

I would have liked Lovely's style better but I wanted something easy to grow out. I am much too lazy to style my hair every day. I need ponytails!



Remember when I said my girls didn't inherit my thick hair? Well now someone else's girl will and I give it with love.

(That third pony tail fell apart and that was all I could salvage!)

Now what do you have to talk about?

*Important - Please link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Talk About Tuesday Guidelines

Do you have your posts ready for Talk About Tuesday tomorrow? I will have my post up tonight for you to link to. Here are some general guidelines for you to follow when you're participating.

1. Talk About Tuesday is a blog carnival where we all write a post of something we want to share or talk about and link them all together here on my blog. It's a great way to get to know other bloggers and make connections in the blogosphere.



2. You can Talk About anything you want. Let's keep it similar to show and tell and keep it relevant and positive. I don't think most of you want to hear about my in-grown toenail and news about your dog getting run over might be too depressing. Don't you think? Just a little. And don't forget that we like pictures if you have them.



3. Anyone is welcome to join. Just write your post and come here every Tuesday to leave the link in Mr. Linky at the bottom of each Talk About Tuesday post.



4. If you need help adding pictures to your post you will find instructions here.



5. Please mention Talk About Tuesday in your post and link back here so your readers can find out more about it.



6. Link to your individual Talk About Tuesday post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.
   
   If you make a mistake with your link just try again. Either I will delete the mistake or you can click on the smiley face next to your link and delete it yourself. You may need to hit "refresh" to see the smiley face on your screen.



7. Enter a short description of your post, in parentheses, after your name. You can be as general or descriptive as you want. Hint: write something that will make everyone want to visit to find out more!

Some things you might want to share for Talk About Tuesday

• Your organized closet


• Your favorite chair


• Your newly painted bathroom


• Your baby's first tooth


• A delicious new recipe


• Your holiday decorations


• A hand knitted sweater


• The only plant you've ever kept alive for more than a month


• A new baby


• A promotion


• A new pair of shoes


• A book review


• A great new garage sale find


• Anything positive and fun!

Have I Mentioned Lately

That we're moving to South America? Yes, it's true. In Stranger's dreamland. We're selling our house and everything we own and moving to South America so we can learn Spanish. I've told him we could just hire a Spanish speaking maid but for some reason he doesn't think that's as good an idea. Quitting your job and moving to another country makes much more sense.

To tell you the truth the kids and I are all for it as long as we can take our chickens with us.

So if you were moving south which country would you choose?

Smart Habit Saturday

Welcome! If you are new to SHS find out all about it here: Getting Started with SHS. Click here to read more SHS posts. Please don't forget to link back to this post so your readers can find out more about SHS.

At any time you can look yourself in the mirror and say, “Hey, I don’t like that about myself,” and you can exchange a bad habit for a better one.
It’s not always easy, but it’s always possible.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey

I want to pick a habit this week that I can actually succeed at while sick in bed most of the day and the only thing I can think of is reading to my kids. I don't have a problem reading to them. The problem I have is getting them to hold still long enough for me to read to them! They usually love to read with me but things have changed since I've been sick. I guess I just don't have the energy to reign them in anymore and they tend to run wild more often than they should. They know once they escape outside away from my clutches that I will not have the energy to come after them!

So this week I am going to exert myself and read to them whether they like it or not!

*Important - Please link to your individual SMART Habit post instead of your home page or else my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder will have to spend time fixing the links. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.

Talk About Tuesday

Now that we've decided on a name for Show and Tell Tuesday we have to change it! Laura found out about Show and Tell Friday at There is No Place Like Home and although we are doing something different we need to think of a new name.

My family and I spent the morning brain storming ideas and we finally came up with Talk About Tuesday. What do you think? I think it sounds catchy and we're bloggers so we all have something to talk about don't we? It will be a great way to meet new people and make connections.

Let's keep it similar to the show and tell idea and keep it relevant and positive. I don't think most of us want to hear about your in-grown toenail and news about your dog getting run over might be too depressing. Don't you think? Just a little. And don't forget that we like pictures if you have them.

Hopefully we're all set again and ready to have fun. I can't wait to hear what you all have to Talk About next Tuesday!

P.S. I will still be posting SHS tonight. So many habits, so little time!

Organizing Give Away Closed

And the winner is...Kassie from Just Another Day in Paradise! Congratulations!!!

Now that you know how great these bags are please be sure to visit my affiliate's pages and click on their bag links to place your order. Let me know if you are interested in becoming an affilate yourself.

It was fun reading all your comments. Thank you for participating!

An Ordinary Mom

Beehive Academy

Corner of Chaos

I Call Times

I'm a Drama Mama

Organizing Junkie

Savor This Moment

The Rock Pile

Tyler's Triumph

Show and Tell Tuesday

I want to start a new carnival called Show and Tell Tuesday, and I want you to do it with me because it's going to be fun! Who doesn't love to show and tell?

I'm going to start next week so be thinking of something you want to show off. Did you just get a new hair cut? Did you finish a new quilt you've been working on for five years? Is your house all decorated for Halloween? Do you have your Christmas cards written, stamped and ready to go? I want to hear about it! Of course you can show with photos or you might just have something you want to tell. Are you pregnant? Don't keep it a secret any longer!

You know I would love to see photos of your latest organizing project but you can post about anything you want. See how easy it will be? After working so hard on Smart Habit Saturday we need a break around here don't we?

I was talking to Laura at Organizing Junkie about it and she came up with the name for me. Isn't she brilliant? I had a name all picked out but she thought of a better one. What would I do without her?

More ideas for you to show and tell.

• Your favorite chair
• Your newly painted bathroom
• Your baby's first tooth
• A delicious new recipe
• A hand knitted sweater
• The only plant you've ever kept alive for more than a month

You get the idea right? I have some amazing books to give away so anyone who participates in October will be entered to win a free book with a bag to put it in of course. I'll tell more later...

See you here next Tuesday!

Which one do you like better?
Tuesday Show & Tell
Show & Tell Tuesday
Poll starter: Lazy See Results

Competitive Birthing

Sign me right up for that please.

WARNING: this post contains sarcasm

My brother heard through the family tree that we were expecting and sent me an email today. (Yes, that's right. I forgot to call him but I don't feel too bad about it because what are blogs for anyway?)

Here is a recent NPR story about why women want larger families:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12513004
I think you might like it.

I had to reply, yes, that's right. We're having another one because we're so rich and we just don't know what else to do with all the money. How else are people going to know we're better than them if we don't have more kids? Four is the new two in rich circles and four is the new six in Mormon circles so we must be "in" on all sides. My brother only has two kids. How embarassing.
BTW, I was at a home school planning meeting where one of the moms volunteered another mom for a job and she said, "Oh she has plenty of time to do that, she only has five kids." Much to Stranger's disappointment that is one group where we will never fit in with our less than ten child family. How embarassing.

How To Start Your Own Business

Angela asked:

Have you ever written about why you started making these (Organizing Bags), how you got the idea and finally at what point did you stop making them and start ordering them?

Lazy says:

I'm sure many of you are wondering the same thing. You want to know how I started my wildly successful Organizing business so you can do the same thing right? I have literally made thousands of dollars in only six years. Now that you know the great amount of money we're talking about here I bet you can't wait to get started. Here we go...

• Have such a cluttered home and disorganized life that you think you will run screaming through the streets if you flush your keys down the toilet one more time.


• Read an on-line book review of Confessions of an Organized Homemaker by Deniece Schofield.


• Proceed to spend the rest of your life trying to get organized.


• In the mean time use plastic baggies as Deniece suggests to organize your games and puzzles.


• Watch the baggies fall apart within a few weeks.


• Duct tape the baggies back together.


• Buy more baggies and watch them fall apart.


• Decide you are going to make your own bags because you are tired of taping baggies.


• Wait till your sister is visiting so she can help you make them.


• Wonder why it is taking your sister so long to get a drink of water.


• Realize she didn't want to stay up all night sewing bags so she snuck off to bed.


• Stay up the rest of the night sewing.


• Love the bags!

I loved using them so much that I redesigned them and kept making more and more for myself. A while later I had a garage sale and sold some bags to a neighbor friend. She agreed with me that they were fabulous and said I should start selling them. I sold a few bags on E-Bay and to family and friends before I started my own website. I also taught organizing seminars and the participants always wanted bags. I didn't sell a lot but enough that I got tired of sewing them so I looked around to find someone else to do it. Imagine my surprise to find I could pay someone to make them cheaper than I could even buy the fabric myself!

About two years ago I invested $1,000 to place my first order. In the mean time I was busy designing, and building a house so I didn't worry too much about the bags. Finally in January I asked Laura to try them and write a review for me. Within weeks I was sold out!

It took me a while to decide that I wanted to keep doing this but then I finally designed and ordered new bags which came in last week. We'll see how long this order lasts but I promise it won't take me seven months to get my next order. I'm already planning some new styles and I have ideas for other organizing products as well. I also had some organizing seminars scheduled for this month but it's all on hold because I'm too sick to sew, or go anywhere at this point of my life. However, with my kids' help we are busily shipping out your bag orders so keep them coming!

I'm trying to get more professional and pretend that I have a real business. I just bought business cards and opened my own bank account. Now I only have about a hundred more things on my to-do list which should take another five years to accomplish while I'm having babies, building houses and raising chickens.

I'm sure some of you have started successful businesses and could give me lots of advice so let's hear it because I need all the help I can get!

Organizing Bag Give Away