Thursdays With Linda

 

I am loving Martha’s 100 Thing Challenge…

I have tossed another 338 items bringing my total to 519…

The first three pictures are before pictures of areas I have been working on…

9 items were removed in the above picture: 1 diorama, 1 decorated valentine box for school, 1 gift packaging, 1 gift envelope from the mail, 1 empty box of dinosaur valentines, 3 shoe boxes… all items into the recyclable bin and 1 shirt into the Goodwill… Various items also got put away and the mending was done…

 

From the above two drawers: 106 pieces of paper trash was put in recyclable and 57 greeting cards, 17 notepads, 121 envelopes, 2 organizers, and 3 calculators went into the Goodwill…

Also 4 plates from the kitchen went into the Goodwill…

Wow there was a dresser under there… Still lots of drawers to go through too…

In this drawer is all my greeting cards that were in several boxes now all in one place…

And this drawer is almost empty with just a couple of mailing envelopes and Christmas cards for next year that I got for 50% off this year…

By cleaning up these couple of areas I was inspired to cut some roses to put on the dresser…

And write all the Birthday and Anniversary cards for January and February, write out my Thank You cards from Christmas and write a couple of letters to put in the cards by long hand…

Happy January…

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Cookies 'N Cream Ice Cream "Cake"

Our family hosted our son's friend's 17th birthday party recently, and the Birthday Boy requested "Cookies and Cream Ice Cream", instead of cake for his celebration. I hope you enjoy my spin of this festive treat for a special young man.

Ingredients- (for approximately 16 teenaged sized servings)

-Half gallon Each, of Softened Vanilla, and Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

-1 package of Oreos, or your favorite cookie, smashed into smallish chunks with the assistance of a ziplock bag and rolling pin. A clean wooden mallet may also be used.

-Whipping Cream to serve

To Prepare-

1.Leave ice cream out to soften as appropriate for your climate, don't let it get too runny.

2. Spoon and spread the Cookies and Cream ice cream in the bottom of a glass or clear dish or bowl, to approximately 2 inches depth. I found the bottom of a soup ladle worked best to smooth the ice cream evenly, better than a spatula and spoon.



3. Generously sprinkle a layer of the crushed cookies, (about half the package), on top of the ice cream.

4. Next, spread a 2 inch layer of vanilla ice cream over the cookies, then sprinkle remaining crumbled cookies.




5. Place an additional scoop of ice cream on top, serve with whipped cream, nuts, sprinkles, etc.



This recipe can be changed for all sorts of delicious combinations, strawberry ice cream with vanilla wafers and berries, chocolate ice cream with chocolate chip cookies,...

What are your favorite flavor combinations for sweets? Or are you a Salty snacker?

Thank you so much!

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Motivation Monday

This week Motivation Monday caught me by surprise. I've been sick and having a three day weekend I just suddenly remembered today is Monday not Sunday, good thing I get up early!

As far as our "Get Rid of 100 Things Challenge", I was already above and beyond last week. How are you doing? Have you reached 100? No worries, there's still half the month left if you haven't started yet!

This week I haven't had any major progress, although I did sit down yesterday and go through a box of paperwork - shredded most, probably another 500 items added to the list if we count each one - or counted as only one since it was one box, but the time it took deserves more credit than one item don't you think? You know how that is!

This week I'm going to ask for motivation from you to help me decorate the beach house over at Minimalist in the Making.  Here are links to the three decorating ideas I've been thinking about - Beachy, Nautical or Colorful Tropical and here is the house as it looks now. I'd love your opinions.

Getting the rental home decorated will be fun and will also enable me to let go of all kinds of things I've been holding on to not knowing if I would be using them or not. This will be yet another huge decluttering step in my recent adventures!

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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R & R for Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Sundays, quiet islands on the tossing seas of life.

S.W. Duffield

R and R Tip #84:  Rest assured, you too can be clutter free

I've been deep cleaning around the house lately: donating old clothes and getting rid of any extras that have been unused for sometime. In order to create ease with our daily routine, I’ve been simplifying my home and life.  

Beyond physical clutter, most of us carry accumulated stuff with us each day – mentally.  The new year is a  good time to start getting rid of those extras too.

Sometimes we need to free our minds from the devils, hurry, worry and fear, in order to relax and live our lives to the fullest.  We crowd our mind with extras each day with harmful self talks, incessant worrying, attention comprising multi-tasking, and unnecessary busyness that can muffle the simplicity we could be experiencing right now.

When you mind is clutter free, you can sharpen your focus on the things you need to do.  It's important to reduce the mind clutter or you may not get anything done.  I've found few ways to organize the clutter of my mind and maximize the use of my time to what’s really important to me.  Try to free yourself from stress, relax and...

Take a walk or exercise. Step outside and walk, freeing your mind of any problems. Don’t think about where you’re going, just let your feet take you there as you enjoy the scenery.

Go near or in water. You can lie by the pool or walk by the beach, take a hot bath, or even soak your feet in a foot bath. Water has a calming effect.  Be consumed by it and try to relax. Taking a hot bath can help loosen your muscles and soothe you, especially if you put on some music and place candles around you. Foot baths can also work; add some flowers, like lavender petals, and relax. Take this time to pamper yourself and do not rush, or you will become more agitated.

Listen to some music. Put on some relaxing music, or your favorite songs, and simply sit in a chair listening to them. Do not start working; do not start cooking; just let your mind get swept away by the message and tune you are listening to.

Free you mind  and the rest will follow

 Just as with our physical world, we can begin to organize our inner environment by creating space.  We can begin to feel the simplicity of living each moment as it is meant to be.  We can freely bask in the awareness of being alive and our lives will be  happier and lighter

Being clutter free is essential to minds as well as our homes.

Love, Live, Laugh and Be Happy!

'ma'

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IT'S GITTING TIME

The idea of a GIT Challenge is to play catch up with whatever we need to get done. Just leave a comment saying you'll play along, minimize this post so you can easily come back to it throughout the day, stop what you are doing (meaning get off the computer and stop procrastinating!), take an hour right now to catch up on things you need to do and work as fast as you can!

Come back every hour or two and leave a comment with your progress. Check out what other participants have accomplished - all in the comment section, no blog hopping necessary. After updating, get back to work for another hour or so until you're done for the day. We always accomplish so much during these challenges!

Jump in anytime, there's no special time to start or finish. It's fun working together - join us!

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Thursdays With Linda

 

Hello Everybody!

I am Back… Sorry about missing you all last week…

The laptop and I both had a few medical issues that we had to attend to… The laptop had to have windows completely reinstalled and reformatted… On Tuesday Hubby took care of that and I spent eight hours yesterday updating Windows back to 2012… And last week I spent a couple of days at Kaiser attending to several doctor appointments… Mostly routine and a couple still pending with more visits to come… I have still been having trouble with my neck since the car accident last summer and then this past month I have been having pain and muscle spams in my right arm… So far the XRay has shown that I have a degenerative spine (arthritis in my neck)… Next will be an MRI to see if any discs are pinching the nerves…

I am using the 2011 Live Writer, so fancy. that I now have since updating the computer… Picture loading is a little different so will see how this looks once it posts…

We are 11 Days into the 2012 New Year… Seems longer but not even two weeks yet… Making me feel very accomplished…

And crossing two items off my New Years Resolution List already…

• Lose Fifteen Pounds

• Paint the Inside of the House

• Keep in Better Touch with Friends and Family

• Plan More Dates with Hubby

• Clean up the Laundry Room

• Clean up the Master Bedroom

• Declutter the House One Drawer/Room at a Time

• Clean out the Garage

• Sort out the Boy’s Baby Storage Tubs

• Sort through all my Cards and Letters

• Update all the Filing and Finances

• Make and Attend Doctor Appointments

• Feel Accomplished

I have also been working on Martha’s 100 item challenge…

 

I pulled all the DVD’s out of the entertainment center…

Hubby pulled all the VHS out of this bookcase…

Hubby and Son2 sorted all the DVD’s into categories…

After we sorted through all the VHS, 104 VHS went into the Goodwill bag and 31 DVD went too…

DVD’s back into the Entertainment Center by categories…

VHS now in the entertainment center as we don’t watch them as much… and they are slowly being replaced by DVD’s… DVD’s on the side panel by category…

DVD’s now in the bookcase by categories as they are smaller allowing more to fit and be more visible when deciding what to watch…

 

I also cleaned out the magazines and catalogs from the Christmas season… Total of 21 into the recyclable bin…

After photo of the magazine basket…

I also put 13 coffee mugs, 6 candle holders and 3 misc. items into the Goodwill bag… And 2 broken mugs and 1 toaster oven into the recyclable bin…

Bringing my total to.181 items purged for the challenge…

Now does the 1 toaster oven count as we brought a new toaster oven in… I’m loving my new toaster oven that we got for Christmas… Larger than our old one with many more features… It’s able to hold two loaf pans for making pumpkin bread… My requirement when we were shopping…

 

I’m also able to report at this time that hubby has taken down and put away all Christmas Decorations inside and outside…

How is your January going so far… Please share as we love hearing from you…

Happy January…

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Virtual Closet Clean Out

In addition to actual drawers and closets, I have also been cleaning up my "virtual closet", aka my Email folders and Inbox.

I spent over an hour deleting outdated and unneeded mail, thousands of emails. It's amazing how email is full of junk mail, that isn't even Spam.

I have been unsubscribing from all unwanted emails, to help stop the flow into my inbox.

I am also practicing the immediate delete, if I don't need to save an email or act on it, then off to the trash/recycle bin it goes.

What real life tools and tips do you use to help reduce virtual overload?

Thank you so much.

Photo of "Flying Spam" from Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA.

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