Today is National Organize Your Home Day

To Do List and key holder

Today is National Organize Your Home Day.  It is a good reminder of the importance of having an organized home and no it’s not to avoid shame if company drops in unexpectedly.  Rather, our home should be a place of refuge from the crazy world we live in. January is a great time to get your home in order; the weather outside is frightful so naturally we spend more time indoors and in our home. I bet like me de-cluttering, simplifying, or organizing made its way to your New Year’s resolution list.

Speaking of the New Year, have you pulled together last year’s financial records? I like to use a colored envelope for all my tax records (this year’s is blue). I went thru my files from last year, shredded the documents I don’t need to keep 7 years and put the rest in the envelope. When my W2 and 1099s show up, I’ll add them too. By early February I’ll be ready for my accountant.

If the cards you buy tend to be of the belated variety, try Send Out Cards. They will send real cards thru the mail to your friends and family for you. Simply upload your contacts and their birthdays, pick out a card or create your own, tell SOC to send the card on your friend’s birthday and forget about it. In one day, you can setup deliveries for the month or year!

We have photos galore and since I’ve been researching our family tree other family members keep gifting me their photos. So while it is hard to tell, I have made progress scanning picture as I try to reduce the actual photos in the house. I’ll keep plugging away at it in 2015; hopefully it will start to look like I’ve made progress soon.

The lack of visual confirmation of progress with the photos got me looking for a project that I could see more immediate results. The linen closet was my chosen target. Now that that is done, I will spend some time shredding some of the incredible amount of non-financial paper I seem to constantly accumulate, while I contemplate my next de-cluttering project.

The Brownies are Coming, The Brownies are Coming!

Today is National Cookie Day a fact that went un-noticed by many. In fact I didn't know what I was missing until a Facebook friend post alerted me at 8pm. Unfortunately, the kitchen is closed up and the dishwasher is running so it is to late now to make a quick batch to celebrate the day. The FB poster asked for an alert so as not to miss it next year. That sent me to the web and what a delicious treasure trove I discovered. So yes as mentioned Dec 4th is National Cookie Day; it turns out however certain types of cookies get their own day too so for the record, July 1st is National Gingersnap Day and July 9 is National Sugar Cookie Day. What the heck are Hermit Spice cookies? Well they've got their own day too on November 15.

I know, you're reading all about cookies and going, where are the brownies? Well National Brownie day is fast approaching on December 8th. So stock up on supplies now or order a box of brownies for a friend!

Epic Snow & Ice Storm NOT, just another NJ snow storm

The trees got the worst of this storm.
Picture by Amanda Donner

This past week, the news was all a buzz about the snow and ice storm crossing the country. Dire forecasts scared the bejesus out of most of us on the east coast. A snow storm is one thing, but an ice storm is quiet another animal. Reports coming from the Midwest on conditions there only heightened our concern. The parking lot at the supermarket earlier this week was packed. Long lines at the checkout counter and empty shelves were the norm.

In northern NJ, the storm started Monday night with snow into Tuesday morning. Undeterred, I ventured out early in the morning to clear my patio of the couple inches of ice had accumulated in advance of the ice portion of the storm. While I was at it, I cleaned the car & topped off the gas tank in case of the pending ice brought down power. Luckily I didn’t lose power as the ice never really accumulated. For all the doom, gloom and dire warnings of the weather people the storm in my area, was pretty lame. Even so, I along with most of my neighbors was housebound for the better part of two days. In order to keep from going stir crazy I scrubbed the bathroom down (is there another room that’s more yucky to clean?), sorted my paperwork for 2010 (my accountant will be thrilled) and sent valentines to friends. Ever since my friend Gen introduced me to Send Out Cards, I’ve been having fun sending cards for all kinds of events that I never would have before. 

While the storm didn’t live up to the hype in my area, it was a productive for me. Even so, I’ve very happy to be able to get out and about again. I’m off to breakfast with a friend, have a great day!