Tap the femininity within!

It is always good to take a little time to remember to visit your femininity. Today that translated into shopping for perfume. Nothing better than a perfume hunt (with a girl friend along to laugh with) to tap the femininity within!

It was time to find a new scent to uplift the spirits. After about 10 fragrances and many sniffs of the coffee beans (to erase the 'nose pallet' as I lovingly call it =) ) I came away with 3 fragrances that 'rang my bell'. I had to choose only one to try on and that was difficult! I like to see how smitten I am with a fragrance AFTER wearing it for a day--if I get tired of it fast, I don't want to buy it. Who wants to go around not liking one’s own scent? And we girls are not wasters of time or money!

I didn't know that Fragrance Advisers existed! But they do AND very knowledgeable (not to mention helpful!) Mine was called “Choc” (yes you read that right! Just like Choc-olate). He had me, right then and there, with THAT line of talk (what a salesman!).

He picked my brain about other scents I have liked suggesting ones for me to try that have familiar feels: fruity, floral, feminine, fresh, bold.... not to mention suggesting new scents that I would not even have considered. I did turn down trying the Madonna fragrance--the bottle was too, …ahem, well.... let’s just say I have four boys in the house and leave it at that!

I now have cord bracelets (with my favorites scents sprayed on them) in my “dainties” drawers to enjoy the fragrance all the more! Now I have to decide which to buy. What a day!

What treasures we find.....

This is a closet I helped a client with last month. It was solid stuff.



I love to dive into these and create piles of 'to go', 'to try on', 'to throw away', 'to put elsewhere', and last but never least -- 'to think about'! That is where the counseling comes in! (why am I keeping this? :/ decisions, decisions!)



The shelves beside the boxes are filled with Christmas decor that has been lovingly gone through and boxed. The boxes contain baby clothes for an upcoming arrival. =) And the top shelf you can not see is beloved stuffed animals and 2 boxes of keep sakes. The other side of the closet not shown is now empty except for the clothes that were chosen to keep, a hamper full of toys, and books on the shelf. The 'to go' bags were hauled out to my van and filled half of the back. We also filled the garbage can!



Woo-Hoo! What fulfillment! The Owner of the closet sat on the bed and said "What a heavy load has been lifted from my shoulders! I feel free! I didn't realize it was such a burden."

That makes my job worthwhile! :)
p.s. Sorry about the cell phone pics. I forgot to pack my camera.

Inspiration from friends....

At the first of the year 2009 I was once again inspired by my good friend Lauri O. She had decided to add a bit of fun and whimsy to her home life by decorating for each season or month. The requirements to the decor that she chose were they had to be simple, cheap and mainly things already around the house. And how cute they were! The large view windows had curling ribbon hanging in spirals just to start. I love being inspired to be creative with little or no budget! She followed this up by agreeing to do the Parade of Homes for Manti. Keeping with her theme of simple, cheap and around the house it was Seusically Darling! I was fortunate to be invited to scrunch, cut out and wrap boxes for the Event. Proof that fun and joy can come at any price. I invite you to visit her blog and check out her Christmas Decor. She is listed in my followings. You will not be disappointed!

Adding Adsense to my blog....

I am having a great time learning and creating this blog! But I have a new idea (new to me anyways). How do you feel about my adding ads to the blog? I thought it was great to do. It would only be ads related to my topics and I thought that would be handy for readers. An example is the link I created to 'closetmaid' in my first blog and again here. I wanted readers to be able to go and see exactly what I had used. I can't possibly do this any better than using the Adsense program along with my links. I can try it and remove it if it isn't working out. Thought I would include you in the decision! =) Should we give it a whirl?

A very 'before' pic

How about this? I found a pic from when we remodeled a bit. We decided to open up the front of the house into a "great room" and create an office space for, you guessed it, organized shelves! The kids all had the chance to knock down the drywall and it was instant fabulous light and room! (JD may argue about how instant it was;)The new wall created a great office space that was needed for a bit of privacy for those trying to work - whether for school, or job. And we also have the weight bench in the room, it needed a home too! The 'great room' side of the wall has a flat screen TV mounted to save space in our cozy home.I just love the feel of the changes!

The Office Shelves Organized: Phase 1

If I had been on top of it I would have given a 'before & after' picture of the shelves.....oh well, a 'before & after' the organizing of the shelves is the best I can offer.

The containers on the top are only kid toys I can't part with.....so that shelf is done! I am hoping to group like things together tomorrow....time will tell!

Note: The top shelf is 20 inches, the rest are 16 inches. I can add 2-3 more shelves if I ever need to. (As of now, I need a sewing area. I can't wait to put that together!)

Clutter Free, Stress Free!

They are finished! Woo-Hoo! The office shelves are up and running. It only took 3 hours or so to complete the job. They are the 'ClosetMaid' system and how easy was that. It felt like instant shelves. One more small area taken care of to the best of mine and JD's time, ability and budget. =) We threw the boxes onto the shelves just to get them out of the way until I can organize them, which if you know me at all you know I look forward to doing! They consist of old t-shirts and wool for rugs, toys I am saving for the grand kids, Christmas wrapping, crafts, sewing, stamp collection, old typewriter (why am I keeping it? :/ not sure...) and a few odds and ends that have no better place to be. Even the kids are happy to have the make shift stacks off of the floor; both the kids appreciation and the stacks having a home is rewarding!