My New Year's Resolution

I said earlier this week that I wasn't revealing my resolution until a little later.  I've been procrastinating a couple of days now, probably because if I post it, it means I will have to do it.  My resolution is not original, but I don't think I've ever made this one.

I want to de-clutter my house.

I think getting rid of so much stuff will help me start to see my home in a new light.  We've been in this house for 10 years and I still like it very much, but after a while it's hard to see through all the stuff and get back to the features I liked when we bought it.  That may sound strange, but I think it's that inability to see past things that have been sitting in the same place for years that keeps me from working on decorating changes.  After 10 years, it might be time to plan for a few changes.

There are so many resources out there, so if you are one of those people who can't imagine where to start, I'll be happy to share some of those resources now and through this year as I find them (I'm always happy to hear about others too).  Here's a few I've found.

Flylady

Marla Cilley (a.k.a. Flylady) is da bomb of de-cluttering, cleaning and organizing your home.  I first found Flylady over ten years ago when my kids were babies, and I became a "Flybaby" follower of Marla.  The best part of +Flylady is that you can take as much as you want.  She has a fun little program to de-clutter your house over time, one room at a time.  If you want more, you can go much much much deeper into cleaning (I mean cleaning), organizing and menu planning.  If you master the Flylady system, you can pretty much do anything!

If you have a profile on Google+ you can check out the new community +Keep It Clean.  It also covers everything from de-cluttering to cleaning to money management, time management and even weight loss.  I'm just there for the de-cluttering part (I can't even wrap my head around doing another one of those worthy goals), but so far there is a nice community going there.

I'm fascinated by how people have come up with so many methods to de-clutter!  They make it downright fun to say goodbye to those things that are taking up your space!  

Joshua Becker and Becoming Minimalist has some great tips and links in 10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home.  He also has a great little digital book called "Simplify" that you can find at Amazon for your Kindle.

If decluttering is your 2013 dream, now's the best time of the year to get started.  There are so many links and Facebook groups and articles about this topic.  This is one of the "hottest" resolutions every year, so early January again brings lots of advice.  I'll keep you up to date on how I'm doing.  It won't be fast, but hopefully it will be steady.

cindy

October Project List

As promised in my last post, I'm picking some projects for October.  As usual, I'm being ambitious with 5 projects, plus I would like to finish the projects I've been working on.  Well, at least I can try.  I've picked some I've been meaning to do for a while, but I also found a few new ones that look intriguing.  All are on Pinterest, so if anyone cares to join me, feel free (but let me see yours too!).  So without further ado, here are my five projects for October:

1.  Tutu - Oh man, I have to do this because Mackenzie has been begging for a while and I bought the tulle over a month ago.  There's no way I would hear the end of it if I decided to do a bunch of other projects first.  Like so many of these projects, this one is from Make-It-Love-It.

2.  Redo Sneakers  - This is one I just found, and it's actually two separate DIYs.  The first one is a fabric recover on some Toms (although I'm using my Target knock-offs) and the second is a recover of the soles.  These look fun because it's not anything I need, but if it works, I could use it.  This first one is from Elemental Carbon.  The re-sole is from Dream a Little Bigger

3.  Easy Elastic Band Skirt - This is another thing I've been wanting to do for a long time and I've had the elastic forever.  If this thing is as easy as it says (and they never are), I should be able to knock this out in an afternoon.  Yeah, right.  Again, this one is from Make-It-Love-It

4.  Fleece Hat and Scarf - I've got some fleece I need to use and this looks pretty easy.  I'm not completely sure what I will do with them because I'm in Arizona, but I can always throw them in my Etsy store.  The picture from the DIY is very bizarre because the lady who made these (Nebraska Views) doesn't show her grandchildren's faces.  So, here are some fleece scarves and hats on some smiley faces.

5.  Braided headbands - This is also a new thing I found that also looks so easy.  It should be a quick craft, but that's just not my way.  If these work, I'll also put some in the Etsy store, but I would definitely keep some for myself.  These beautiful items are from Alisa Burke, Redefining Creativity.

So there it is.  Five "simple" projects plus a couple quilts and afghans in progress (and a special project for a friend).  I'm getting a little excited.  Maybe this is a way to get me out of my crafter's block.  Cross your fingers.

cindy

Crafter's Block

Have you ever had writer's block?  I know I have.  As an attorney, I write quite a bit, and sometimes it's so hard to start something.  Once I get going, I'm usually fine, but just getting started can be daunting.

I'm having crafter's block.  I know I want to work on something, but I'm just not sure what.  I have four projects in some stage of development, and two finished afghans I want to show off (and list on Etsy).  I am working on those projects, but they are the kind of projects that take a lot of time.  I'm doing them in little free moments.  Maybe the reason I can't finish them is because I'm just not excited about starting anything.  Crafter's block.

I've been working on a couple of things to help me to get over the crafter's block.  First, I'm going to finish those pesky pending projects which will probably be the hardest thing.  Have you ever noticed that the piece you were writing when you experienced writer's block was the hardest thing you ever wrote?  Even after getting past the block, the first few things are just hard to finish.

Next, I'm looking for inspiration.  I have plenty of projects I had planned before, but I need something interesting to get this block out of my way.  I'm turning to the source for all inspiration - Pinterest.  Pinterest is so much fun, but soooo addictive.  Through Pinterest, I found another place of inspiration - Craftgawker.  Now that is a seriously dangerous place for crafters.  It's a lot like Pinterest, but limited to craft projects.  It has a sister sight, Foodgawker, which is also great for those of you who cook.

Tomorrow is October 1, so I'm going to put together an October project list.  Tomorrow.  Later.  I still have some time.

cindy

Friday Coffee Date

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you . . .

Lately I've been writing Scripture verses on my Facebook page.  I originally started with the following verse as a commentary on the upcoming election:

If my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked ways, then I will listen from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their country. 2 Chronicles 7:14

I had so many "likes," I decided to keep doing it.  Every time I do it, I get more likes and some comments.  I really think God's word resonates with people.  Even better, I'm enjoying how it makes me examine Scripture, one book at a time.

The way I've been doing it is fun too.  For ease in cutting and pasting, I use an online Bible.  I go to the page with the list of the books of the Bible, close my eyes and move the cursor and click.  Whatever book I find myself, I read and find a passage I like.  It's kind of like Bible surfing the electronic way!

There have been a few times that have been harder than others.  The other day I found myself in the Song of Songs.  I love that book, but sometimes the verses are so personal between a husband and wife that it's hard to find one that is more applicable for general viewing.  I ended up with probably the only familiar verse in the book.  Here's what I picked:

Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is strong as Death, passion as relentless as Sheol. The flash of it is a flash of fire, a flame of Yahweh himself. Love no flood can quench, no torrents drown. Were a man to offer all his family wealth to buy love, contempt is all that he would gain." Song of Songs 8: 6-7

Today I picked the following verse.  I think it's a great verse to pray about in the morning, so here's my Friday gift to you, my coffee buddies:

"The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Great take away - the Lord is patient in carrying out His promises because He wants everyone to experience them and turn to Him.  

Amen

cindy


"Friday Coffee Date" is a weekly feature from Rags to Stitches.  Join me there to read some great insights and have some coffee.

Random Olympic Thoughts

We're getting closer to the end of the Olympics now and my DVR is full.  I'm sure I will miss it when it's over, although I must admit that I'm getting a little overloaded with all the events.  With only 53 medals up for grabs, the U.S. is in the lead over China.  I think we got past all the Chinese Olympic events.

After watching over a week, there are a couple of things that occur to me:

1.  Bob Costas is the next Dick Clark.

2.  If Tim Daggett or Elfi Schlegel says a gymnast "shouldn't have a problem here" or "she's absolutely the best vaulter in the world right now" or any number of positive things about upcoming gymnastics, it's the kiss of death.

3.  You can't help but smile at our fun Olympic swimmers (but you will have to click through to YouTube to see the video):

4.  Best quote from my husband:  "Watching the volleyball finals. Hoping the hot chicks in bikinis win."

5.  McKayla Maroney is not impressed

6.  Most photoshopped Olympic athlete - McKayla Maroney

7.  The German heavyweight weight lifter who dropped the 432 pound weight on the back of his neck - ouch!

8.  Not to be outdone, a German diver lands on his back.

9.  Did anyone else see that short piece of former Olympic gymnasts (Shaun, Nastia, Carly, Mary Lou & Nadia) right before the women's all around started?  They were so serious, saying things like "this is the most important moment of your life" and "this will change your life forever".  Heck, why not try a little more pressure: "If you blow this your life will be ruined."  "If you screw this up, don't bother coming back to the U.S.A, loser."  Excuse me, but no matter how important the Olympics are for these teenagers, I hardly think it will be THE MOST IMPORTANT day of their lives.  If so, everyone but Gabby Douglas would have hanged herself.

10.  Samuel Jackson is the most prolific (and profane) Olympic tweeter ever! (If you have sensitive eyes, don't go there.)

Wow, this has really been a fun Olympics!  AND it's not over!

cindy

Back to School

You would think when you live in one of the hottest places in the United States that schools wouldn't get started until after Labor Day.  Nope.  School started yesterday - it was 114 degrees.

Ahhh, well, summer in Phoenix.  Here are my lovelies on the first day of school:

Can you tell which one is going to a brick and mortar school and which one is going to an online charter school at home?

A year ago I wrote about my son's ADHD and his difficulties in school due to deficits in executive skills.  In January I wrote about how we were trying to address his issues through a 504 plan.  Those two posts basically summarized our difficult experience last year and our attempts at the beginning of the school year and the middle of the school year to find a way to deal with the problems.  It didn't work.  By the end of the year he was failing nearly every subject.  Funny thing is, based on his test scores in class, he was a B or C student.  He was failing because he couldn't turn in the homework we worked on for hours the night before.  He couldn't remember where papers were, or what he was supposed to do on assignments.  He had no organization, sense of deadlines, executive skills.  I'm sure it sounds like most boys, but for our guy it's making him think he's a failure.  If you want to understand more about what a lack of executive skills can do to a child, check out this article from WebMD.

This year we're trying a different approach.  He is starting 6th grade and we knew there was no way he would be able to handle different subjects with different teachers with different expectations and teaching styles.  By the end of the last school year, we made the difficult choice to take him out of a traditional school, opting instead for an online charter school.  It's a lot like home schooling, but with a very structured curriculum.  My husband is taking on the big task of being my son's learning coach, sitting with him every day while he goes to school.  It's a bold experiment, with the goal of getting his executive skills up to par in time to return to traditional high school.  This timeframe is not random - research shows that children with ADHD who have deficits in executive skills (also known as executive function) are usually about 3 years behind their peers in this important aspect of learning.  It poses a direct risk and obstacle to learning in a classroom environment.  In addition to the curriculum through the online charter school, we will be working on exercises and practice on learning executive skills - how to prioritize, organize, focus on a task, use notes, planners and a calendar to know what is coming and summarize what you have learned.

I hope this isn't going to be a post I have to repeat this time next year.  I do hope that by January I will be able to report some progress and a more motivated and positive kid.

cindy

Spring Fling With the SITS Girls

I'm participating in the Spring Fling!  It's sponsored by the SITS Girls, which is a collective of over 40,000 bloggers who work together to promote each other's blogs.  The Spring Fling is a two week effort to help participating bloggers (like me) to improve our blogs and traffic. 

What does that mean to my readers?

Well, you should watch for some subtle changes coming to Straddling the Gap.  I will be fully using social media, including Facebook (getting my own STG page), Twitter (I'm already there as straddlinggap), Pinterest (there as Cindy Campbell) and even Google + (which I know absolutely nothing about).  I'm going to work at sprucing up the look of the blog.  I might even host a linky party or blog hop.  (For those of you who are not bloggers, don't worry, it's cool stuff).

What's all the fuss about?  Well, Straddling the Gap is celebrating its one year anniversary next month and I want to make it big.  I also may be taking another internet step that I don't want to talk about just yet, but hope to reveal in June. 

Hopefully you will like all the changes and improvements.  Stay tuned.

cindy

My First Quilt

I'm a wimp about quilting.  It's very intimidating to me.  I love rag quilts, probably because no one in my family made them, so I couldn't be too intimidated.  My grandmother made many quilts, even years after a major stroke, and all by hand.  My sister made her first quilt less than 7 years ago, but as usual she started big - I mean really big.  She made these huge colorful banners for her church.  Yeah, that big thing with the ribbons.

This one too:

So you can see why I might be a bit intimidated.  I finally overcame my fear, bought a pattern and some bundled fat quarters and made my first quilt:

I love the colors.  The blocks are multiple sizes and didn't line up perfectly, but you have to look close to see it.

I can't remember the pattern, but I do remember I purchased it at JoAnns.  I followed the directions for the binding and I'm pretty proud of it.

I was a weenie with the actual quilting.  I "stitched in the ditch".  That means I followed the seams of the blocks on the quilt top to sew through the quilt sandwich (quilt top, batting and quilt back).

I must say I'm pretty proud of it.  I made it a while back and today when I look at it I'm surprised I made it all by myself.  I pretended to be my sister and jumped in boldly - go big or go home.  (O.K., my quilt isn't big, but it's a metaphor for doing something you've never done before.)  Next time I'm going to try "real" quilting and stay out of the ditch.

cindy

The Ear Piercing

Ever since Dear Daughter was 5 she's been begging to "have her ears to pierce".  I figured I would wait until she knew how to ask before I would agree.  My mother didn't let us pierce our ears until we were 12.  I've also heard my daughter howl in pain at the top of her lungs when you brush through her hair or she gets a splinter.

Because she just turned 9, I thought it wold be a good time, especially because she was still so excited to do it.  We went to Claire's about a week before her birthday, just in time to watch another 9 year old get her ears pierced.  Watching that little girl go from near tears to a smile sold both of us on the idea.

So the next week she was sitting in the same seat:

She was a big girl.

Since the ear piercing I've noticed a new sense of maturity.  She's becoming a young lady.  I'll miss my baby, but I think I could like this new lady in our house.

cindy

Fit Friday - You Gotta Have A Plan!

I'm learning that it's not enough to say "I'll lose weight" or "I'll exercise more."  Those are great resolutions, but with no execution of the resolution you've got no solution.  Enter - a plan!

More than half Most Almost all of what I write here is encouragement for me.  I'm certainly not in a position to be speaking from a place of knowledge.  Having said that, a plan is in order - for me or whoever wants to be successful in getting healthier.

It takes 3 weeks or more to develop a habit.  Until then, you probably need a strong routine.  For exercising, it means scheduling a specific time each day during the upcoming week when you will exercise.  In fact, you should also plan exactly what exercise you will do.  Hopefully, after the 3 weeks of the routine, you will be in a place where you will know when and how to exercise regularly.  I'm still waiting for that to happen.

With weight loss for me, it's all about accountability.  I need to weigh myself every day at the same time.  I know many people strongly discourage that, but for me, if I don't do it every day I won't understand and recognize that the extra helping of mashed potatoes I ate yesterday resulted in the extra pound today.  It can also go the other way - that hour on the treadmill resulted in a bonus pound loss.

Most importantly, you need goals.  The long term goal of 30 pounds by next November is great, but how do you get from Point A to Point B?  How do you know if you're on track?  I recently sat down with a calendar and determined how much weight I wanted to lose.  I don't have a particular timeline - a class reunion, a wedding, whatever, so I don't have a specific date that I need the weight gone.  I do know that I wanted to take a slow, sensible approach (especially after a stint on HcG).  I figured that for the first half of my weight loss I could do a rate of 2 pounds per week (which is pretty ambitious over time), but the second half I would do at 1 pound per week.  I figured out how long it would take me and marked the ultimate deadline on my calendar.  Then, I wrote the goal weight for each week on the calendar.  Now instead of thinking that 6 months is a long way off, I know I need to lose 2 pounds before next Tuesday.  Every "Tuesday" I plan to mark down my actual weight under the goal weight for that week.  If I'm ahead (I lost 3 pounds instead of 2 this week), I just got a cushion!

The same is true with exercise.  (I'm really paying attention to my own advice here.)  Identify the days this week you will go to the gym and the time.  Initially don't worry about what you do there or how long - just GET THERE.  Later you can set the goal for time and exercises you will do each time.  Finally, you can just identify the number of hours per week you need to exercise - how much cardio and how much strength training.

Wow, I have a lot of work to do.  Get out that calendar and get a plan!

Don't forget to check out the Fit Club every Monday for more inspiration.

cindy

Fit Friday - Find Your Thing

While we've been here in Hawaii, I saw this add on TV.  It describes me to a "T" and I love her final choice for exercise.  I think it's mine too.  The rest of the commercial speaks for itself.  Maybe it will speak to you too.  (You will probably need to buffer this video and make it full screen to get the best view.)

Don't forget to find your motivation at the Fit Club every Monday.

cindy