A Change In My Life and Blogging Style

Until now, I usually write my blogs by writing what comes to my mind when I have my blog entry page pulled up. As a result, most of my blogs are random and stray quite a bit from the topic I originally held in my head when I started writing that entry. I've been surprised by how many readers I've gathered over the past year, and I hope the numbers continue to climb as I write from my heart. You need to know the true life this crazy girl lives... even if it's crazy in my own way!

When the new year started a few months ago, I wrote about how I was ready to have a new start. I wanted to make changes to how I was living, taking care of myself, taking care of my family, my job as a wife, and just my outlook on life in general. I was ready to have my old self back and regain some form of dependability again. Fortunately, I can say that I have almost done a complete 180 and I have really stuck to my goal to change. As a result, I'm learning new ways to adapt to MS and I'm also regaining control over my life. After pretty much living in a deep and devastating depression for almost one whole year, I'm thankful to say that I'm climbing out of that hole now. And it is so relieving!

Well, now Spring has almost Sprung, it's time for the famous "Spring Cleaning!" This year, I want to continue my "New Start" plan and incorporate this outlook into my Spring Cleaning. I guess you could call it Personal Cleaning instead of physical cleaning, although I do plan on actually putting a mega cleaning spree on my house as well.

The first goal for my personal spring cleaning is to continue to work toward more organization in my life. I've worked my butt off to get my house more organized as we moved, and I've tried to keep everything mostly in place everyday. This may seem like a tiny step, but when you let everything go for almost an entire year, it is really difficult to try to regain control and set new standards. Now I want to gain a better control over my Make Up and Mud Boutique shop.

Better control as in more organized records, inventory, faster shipping, consistent schedule, etc. I want to set goals for my shop and make myself stick to them. I know that I can work even harder to build a better client list, and I can accurately track my progress. As with any start for any goal or project, the beginning is hard because you don't see immediate progress. But if I have everything in line for 6 months, it would be much easier to track inventory and plan for holidays like the Christmas rush. So, being more organized with Make Up and Mud Boutique is on my list as well.

Last goal: more structured blogging. You know those bloggers that consistently post on their blogs, and you can count on their posts to be there by following their blog schedule. Yeah, I want to be one of those bloggers. I'm still trying to make my blog schedule, and I want my writing style to have a certain flexibility, so it's taking me a while to get it all straight. I don't want to have a blog schedule for a month, because I want to have posts about things that happen in the here and now, not the there and then. One thing... my life will be more structured, therefore my blog will be more structured.

I have a new blog notebook to help me keep up with my blog planning, and I'm excited to start that new journey. I always have the craziest thoughts and ideas, and I'll think, "That would be awesome to blog about!" and then I completely forget what I was even thinking about. Well, that's happened to me one too many times, and I now have a little notebook for jotting down ideas and notes. Then of course, they will go straight to you.

Beware... my random thoughts are crazy. They are unpredictable. But... they are honest. And I guess I'm at a point in my life where honestly is the most freeing quality in my life, even if it is on the web for all to see. There is something relieving about getting things off your chest, even if you do have anxiety right when you click the Publish button. In the end, it's worth it. So, stay tuned. Mrs. Organized is working her way toward productivity and as time passes, you'll see a change as well! Maybe someone will learn from my mistakes!

Lonely Night Rambles!

I'm writing this post out of sheer boredom... not boredom due to the fact that I have nothing to do. No, the kind of boredom that breeds from not wanting to do the things you need to do. Or in this case, the many things I need to do... pack is number one, reply to e-mails, finish organizing my jewelry inventory, pack, paint some things, pack, edit about 20 new jewelry pictures, did I mention that I need to PACK?

UGH... I have boxes. Check. Packing Tape? Check. Things needing to be packed? Check. Motivation to pick up those items and put them in a box? Um... no.

I look around my house and all I see is craft clutter. I see that, because that's really what is all around my house right now. But, I can't blame it on just not wanting to pack. I also don't want to go put away the laundry, wash the dishes, unload the dishwasher, wash/dry clothes, fold the clothes, etc. Honestly, I wish I didn't have anything to do right now but sit in front of a HUGE canvas and paint anything that comes to mind while I sit right by my best friends and they do the same. I wish that Scott and the kids could be playing and painting around with us too!

We're moving in 20 days, and I am very nervous, almost like starting a new school. What if my new city doesn't like me? I'm not the same person I used to be... and I may not fit in quite as well. On a good note, I've decided that I need more people interaction on a regular basis, someone other than my chihuahua, so I may be getting a booth at the local flea market either in Valley, AL or Opelika, AL... not sure which one yet. Plus, that will give me a place to sell some of my items that I make or redo, or "upcycle" instead of selling solely online in etsy, that was I actually have to talk to real people and interact with them... that will be a good reason to get out of the house, and I'm finding myself anticipating setting up my booth.

All in all... boredom wins tonight, but I think I just may go pack one more box, just to feel a little less lazy and a little more productive. Tonight, I miss my friends and my family... If you're reading this.. you're one of those people! I love you all!

Chel

I am Chelsea, and I am a Procrastinator with ADD

Merry Christmas Everyone! Do you like the title of this blog entry? I hope you do, because it is SO TRUE! I have serious ADD, otherwise known as Attention Deficit Disorder, and it severely hampers my ability to do just about anything in a reasonable manner and on time. Getting distracted is the very least of my problems, because my crazy condition goes much further than that. MUCH deeper.

Usually people with ADD or ADHD get distracted from their initial task very easily. It's not the fact that I get distracted from what I'm doing that is so crazy... it's what distracts me. Normally, people with ADD will be walking through the bedroom to go fold clothes and see a book or video game that catches their attention and distracts them and off they go to play. Not me. I'll be walking through the house to go fold clothes and see a James Patterson commercial about his new book and then randomly decide that very moment is the PERFECT opportunity to grab a stack of paper and start writing that book I've never planned to write. You know, the book that I don't have in my head that would most definitely become a best seller? Seriously? What is my deal?

In the middle of cooking dinner, I'll be measuring flour and suddenly, BAM! That seems like the perfect time to cut out some vinyl letters and label my measuring cups. Or I'll be washing clothes, and I'll start computing the cost of laundry detergent which sparks a google witch hunt for homemade laundry detergent recipes that will never get made. (Although, I must add that I DID actually make 5 gallons of homemade laundry detergent ONE time, and it was VERY wonderful and it worked like a charm! I got to trip over the 5 gallon bucket for 4 months as I hobbled over the mountain of clothes to do laundry.)
 
 

 


I've tried Adderall, and it made me extremely edgy and anxious, so that was a No-Go. Now, I'm on a similar drug called Focalin, and it does seem to work a lot better as far as keeping me awake and somewhat better with focusing. I guess lately I've actually been doing a lot better with the whole "Can't maintain focus" thing, luckily. If I hadn't wrangled some kind of control over my ADD I would have never wrapped the first Christmas gift, because I would have decided to hand make the wrapping paper or something crazy like that. It seems like I have the hidden mentality that if it's not extraordinary then it doesn't count. Is that realistic? Not hardly, although I DID make all of my gift tags!

My curse: I was given a vision. A vision of what "Could Be." The curse? I was also given the inability to channel that vision to one item and EXECUTE the "Making it Be" part of the equation.
 
 

One thing I credit for my recent gain of control over my ADD is a new book I bought about a week and a half ago. And I bought it out of desperation, because when you live like this, unorganized, it seems like you don't have control over one single aspect of your life. One thing I learned that made me feel better: A LOT of this inability to control my ADD is caused by my brain lesions affecting the executive functions in my brain, because of the location of the lesions. Whew! It's not ALL me... although some of it is laziness I have to admit.
 
 

The book is called Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About It NOW! And it's an AMAZING book that I highly recommend to anyone who has issues with time management, procrastination, finishing projects, depression, ADD, or ADHD in general. It is written by Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen. One of the best parts about the book is that the authors are habitual procrastinators as well, so they understand what the reader feels like. They use their personal experience to help you not only understand what the problem is and medical causes, but also how to remedy this loss of control over your life and gain your self-worth back. Self help book, yes. Am I thankful for it, definitely. (There were over 150,000 copies sold, so they must be doing something right.)
 
 

Below is the link to purchase the book for $10.85 if you are interested (and it is SO worth it)! It is also available at Books-A-Million.

http://www.procrastinationisfun.com/procrastination-books/
They said that they held Procrastinator's Anonymous meetings to help gain more information while writing this book, and the meetings were from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. I thought it was hilarious that they said that was a horrible time to hold the meeting, because all of the people that were attending had issues with procrastination, and they all didn't show up until 10 a.m. anyway. (I totally understand this, because I am usually late for everything!)

Since I have been reading the book, I have been through two highlighters, and I've been on time and finished more projects that I have total in the past year. It's AMAZING, and if a book can help my butt be on time... it can help you too. (Chapter 16 is called: Tips for Procrastinators with ADD and Executive Dysfunction.)


I learned that self-monitoring is very important when you are trying to be on time, and people with either of these disorders have issues with this (I have both.. yay me!) I also learned that if you are like this, every single decision point represents a potential diversion from whatever path you are on. As Ned Hallowell said, "The devil does reside in the details in the land of ADD."
 
 

Another tip I've learned is,"Don't try to be good at what you're bad at. Get better at what you're good at." (by Ned Hallowell and coauthor John Ratey) To boost your attitude and inspiration, find what you're good at, and do it more! (Sounds good to me... even if it is funky dancing... haha)


FINAL POINT: You have a choice. You can delay, or you can act!
 
 

I choose to act. And to all you readers, if you are a procrastinator like me, BUY THIS BOOK. If you are an organizational wonder-person, please give me your ideas, tips, and strategies. All of them will not work for me, but some of them definitely will. And just knowing you care will mean the world and inspire me as well.
 
 

FYI: This is NOT my brain... Ironically, I can't figure out how to save my own brain scans from the disc, because of the system they used to download them. As soon as I can learn how to do it, you can bet that I'm going to share my BIG beautiful brain with you. It's proof... I have one! haha. Seriously, this picture shows you what a brain with MS looks like with lesions (the white spots). I have four lesions... this person has more than I do. And... because of my lesions, I have more color in my brain than just that dull gray color.. I have white polka dots! How cool is that... which means.. my brain is prettier than yours! haha... Gotta have humor in it!
 
 

Well, enough procrastinating! Off to finish my daily goals!

A Brand NEW Approach to Cleaning

Good Morning Everyone! (By the way, I'm totally faking this *CHEERY* attitude, because this chilly weather makes me want to go crawl right back in the bed... just to let you know.)  Now that we have that out in the open, I'll continue.

This post is about my path to a new MUCH more organized life.  Thinking about having an "Organized Life" really reminds me about how we think about our senses. While we often remember to give Sight and Smell a slot in our senses category area, a good majority of people forget that people actually have and use FIVE senses: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, Smell.

Similarly, when the term "organized" comes into play, what is the first thing you think of? Do you only think of how un-clean and "dis-organized" your house is right now? What I'm learning is that I can "pick up" the clutter in my home all I want, but I also have to remember that there is Mental Clutter, Financial Clutter, Guilty Clutter, Mourning Clutter, Sentimental Clutter,  Sad Clutter, Potentially Useful Clutter, Memory Clutter, "I Might Need It One Day" Clutter, Relationship Clutter, Time Clutter... and the list goes on and on and on. I'm just a clutterbug I guess!

Have you ever really thought deep down about what kind clutter you may be carrying around? I know I hadn't until recently.  I found myself beginning to feel overwhelmed, but I couldn't quite put my finger on the cause of this sudden stress.  Sound familiar?  For more information on types of clutter and how to take control of your clutter, click on the links below. (Don't forget to come back to the good stuff!)

{FYI: I'm about to tell you why these approaches do NOT work for me, but they may work for you.}

6 Types of Clutter
Oprah's Clutter Control Remedies
How Clutter Control Affects You

I have never really thought of myself as an organized person. In the past, I was never stressed out enough to feel the need seek out a cause to blame it on. That sure has changed! In the past 6 months, I've struggled with so many new changes in my life, and I've looked near and far for the main cause of the changes. The only answer I can come up with is that my changes were just in God's plan for me. That's fine with me, because I would rather be a part of God's plan and not understand why he dealt me these cards than be in a rough situation that I was responsible for on my own. I think that's why the clutter in my life is so frustrating: I did it to myself.

BACK to the point: (See, the same thing happens when I try to clean: I get DISTRACTED!)

If you open any "Lady" magazine, you can almost bet that somewhere inside there will be at least one article about household organization. I'm waiting for the day when all of the "Women's" magazines realize that they just rotate advice around from one article to the next... and it doesn't work half of the time.

Common advice doesn't always work for everyone, and it amazes me that magazine editors still haven't created a few more reasonable or unique approaches to housework. Below, I have listed a few "Common Clutter-Clearing Tips" that I see ALL the time. So, underneath each useless tip is a little tidbit of what I think about it and why it doesn't work for me.

The Common Advice 

• Walk into a room and pick up everything you see that doesn't belong there.

                            - I don't like this tip, because I feel like the writer is trying to make me feel like an idiot. Obviously, IF I could go into a room and pick up everything out of place and it was really that easy, there's a pretty good chance that I wouldn't need to read the article in the first place. I would have already picked everything up and put it away. Strike One... NEXT.

• Everything in your house needs to have a "place" where it belongs.

                             -  REALLY? Everything needs to have a place? Uh yea, obviously. And if I KNEW how to make a place for everything, again, I wouldn't be reading the article. I want to know HOW to find a place for everything. A "REASONABLE" how-to... Not one of those, "Save 20 cereal boxes and cover them with wall paper and have your husband use his circular saw to cut eleven of the thirteen 2x4's you had to buy from 'Herald's Home Place' specifically for this project" and hotglue them together and so forth.  That is NOT the norm...

                             - First of all, I said "Herald's Home Place," because there is a 50/50 chance that you will have never heard of the hardware store recommended in the magazine, the one with "the lowest price around." Around what? Sometimes I think writers google all over to find the store with the cheapest lumber prices, even if the only one in the entire United States is in Idaho. Second of all, I can almost promise you that IF you indeed routinely volunteer your husband and his circular saw for every cereal box DIY craft that you run just happen to across, there's a good chance you will need to read to the "Why Does My Husband Avoid ME" printed a few pages over. Long point short: Give us some eco-friendly, easy, CHEAP ways to organize. Strike Two... NEXT.

• Only save the "Really Special Artwork" that your child has made, and take digital pictures of the rest. You can print the pictures and look at them forever without the clutter of all of the coloring pages.

                            -  Ok, let me be clear for those who do not know me personally: I am not a mother to a biological child.  I do, however, have two creative little stepchildren who constantly draw and design oodles of pictures and items for their Daddy and me. I even have a box in the top of our closet with special little keepsakes they have created. While they are only at our house every other weekend, they still draw like 10 pictures at a time... each. I wish I knew how many "books" with silly little stories they have created and stapled together for us, but I lost count a while ago. And I've kept every single one.

                            - My point is: I don't want to take a picture of their artwork. And it's probably not for the reason that you may think. I don't want to take a picture and toss out the art work, because I just don't agree with the reasoning. You're swapping out an original for a duplicate. Printed pictures are also going to take up space, right? So, you might say, "I'll burn the pictures of their artwork on a c.d. to save space."  Really? You're going to take the time to round up the artwork, take an individual photo of each page (usually double sided as well), so around two pictures of EACH page, and upload or scan them into your computer, name each picture describing what it is, who drew it, and what year it was made. Then, you're going to either upload the files to Rite Aid and drive there to pick up your child's artwork pictures? Or if you opt for the Image C.D. route, are you going to put the images in a folder and burn a million C.D.s and then label each C.D. and create a way to organize them?

                          -Either way, you're going to be in a bad mood, because you just threw our your kid's precious artwork! Just take twenty minutes and stack each paper individually, neatly, with one on top of the other and put it in a clear $4 bin from Wal-Mart and slide it under the bed or put it up in the top of the closet. Do you really think you're going to have that day where you say, "You know what? I don't have anything to do today. I think I'm going to go find the disc with Tommy's artwork from 2nd grade and look at all of those pretty scribbles on the computer this afternoon?" Please just stop kidding yourself.

                        -In reality, you are going to want to pull out that old dusty box of "Scribbles" after your "baby boy" moves off to college and cry as you have your midlife crisis, wishing that he was five years old again. You actually DESERVE to keep the originals as proof that you actually kept another tiny teacup human alive AND they were somewhat creative. SCORE! (ha... that makes me crack up to hear someone say that, and I've been looking for a place to throw that in!)

Back to the point: You'll be in even more distress if you regret throwing the originals away. Most of our world is digital and made up of replicas, so I think there's something special about original items to bring you back in time. So if someome tells you to take a picture of your kids artwork and "bid it farewell," then I suggest that you tell them to go take a picture of their grandmother's 100 year old china cabinet and sell it for $10 at a yard sale... Strike three... THE MAGAZINE ADVICE COLUMNS LOSE.

                       -(I HAVE to add this last tidbit just because it annoys me to read it over and over... so here's one more piece of useless advice.)

• Ask yourself, "Do I REALLY need this?" If the answer is "No," then toss it out.

                       - What kind of dilusional world do these overpaid organizers live in? Don't they think that IF indeed you are reading an article on how to get organized, then you have probably already asked yourself IF you need a specific item like a million times already, and the answer is, "Yes. Yes I do need to keep the busted float from the beach trip in 1999, because it CAN be fixed. And what if there's a time in life where we don't have the money to buy another $2 float? When everyone else needs a float and they can't afford to buy one, I won't have to worry about anything, because I kept AND fixed mine!"

                       - Now we're just going to ignore the fact that IF you did happen to keep a ripped $2 float for 12 years, waiting to need to fix it during a economical depression, then you are probably not JUST a "tad bit unorganized." You're probably well on your way to arriving at your next "Hoarders Anonymous" meeting. The main point I'm trying to make is, people who keep pure crap and wierd junk are horrible at organizing, but they have a freakishly awesome ability to rationalize anything. They will indeed ask theirselves IF they actually need something, and the ALWAYS "yes". I ask myself all the time if I REALLY need something, and I'm so distracted and unorganized that sometimes I even forget to answer! :)

The REAL Bottom Line:  Don't these Martha Stewart clones think that if everyone could/would "spend twenty minutes a day" putting away items that we wouldn't have an issue with clutter?

BACK TO MY OWN MESSY HOUSE:

I think I may have FINALLY found the solution to my clutter... FLYLADY!!!

You have GOT to check out this site! FLYLADY takes a whole new approach to cleaning, and I believe she specifically works well for people with "Attention Issues," much like myself. She teaches you how to use new approaches to my three main demons: PROCRASTINATION, GETTING SIDETRACKED and BOREDOM! I LOVE this site!

One of the HUGE things I find motivating about this new sight is that the FLYLADY herself, Marla Cilley, is not one of those "Organizing Fanatics" that was practically born obsessively color coordinating and organizing her crayons when she was like 3. She didn't spend her childhood making her parents beam with pride at how clean she kept her room. No, Ms. Cilley was once a dysfunctional personal herself, so she really knows what she's talking about. Regular methods didn't work for her, either. LOVE IT!

I have found that I work much better if I set my own goals rather than follow another person's schedule. All of our lives are going in different directions, right? All I know is, when I found this site, I just about peed in my pants with excitement, because I finally found someone who just seemed to "get" me and my organizational issues. I now have a new title to add to my chaos: I am a... "FLY Baby."

Here are a few links to get you on the right track!

Getting Started with FLYLADY
Start with BABYSTEPS
What to Expect from FLYLADY

So, if you want to try to make an attempt at become more organized and efficient and the regular methods just aren't helping you become successful, I recommend that you check out FLYLADY.  I really don't see how it could hurt!

Here are a few of the motivational pictures and quotes that I use to "BOOST" my cleaning genes...

Now, in the words of the FLYLADY herself.... "Go Shine Your Sink!"

Decorating Daydreams.... Sigh...

I am absolutely so fed up with the clutter and chaos in our house. I moved to college, back home to my parent's house for three weeks, then moved to Deatsville for almost 4 years, then moved to an apartment in Montgomery for a year, and now we live in Tallassee. And this whole time, I have accumulated more junk than you can imagine.

Lately, I have been working to reduce the clutter in my house,because I read that the clutter in your house causes clutter in your life. So, I joined Clutterer's Anonymous. That's right, I'm addicted to clutter. Actually, I have that whole mentality, "I'm may be able to use this one day." or the famous, "I'm saving that, because I'm going to use it on a project one day." I hate to get rid of things, and I thought the clutter book was a joke when Scott brought it to me in the store. And while I indeed took offense to his less than subtle hint, I have to admit that almost everything it said was true.

So, I've been googling (while I procrastinated cleaning, of course) little ways to spruce up your home and reduce clutter. At first it was like two steps forward, three steps back. I have cleaning ADD. I get distracted by the smallest things, and I will truly get lost in my own world for hours and hours. I have no idea where my time goes sometimes. Well, as I've been slowly clearing out and cleaning up, I've found myself changing my outlook about the house. I shrieked, "SSScccccOOOOTTTT!!!!! Come here PLEASE!!!" the other day when I found his jogging shorts on the bathroom floor. And all I could do is point to them and say, "No! I don't think so!" He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and he was like, "Man, someone is changing their mind a little huh?" (The day before you probably couldn't see the floor because of all of my crap.) And it's not like the rest of the house was clean, because it was still a wreck. But, I had cleaned the bathroom, and I wanted to see my progress. And slowly but surely, progress is what I am making!

I decided that I couldn't pick up the house unless I clean out the house. With the new wedding gifts and his stuff moving in and mingling with my junk, we have a lot of things that need to be organized! But, I also realized that our decorations are... nonexistent. So, I've also been redoing different items to give us a new look with a frugal approach. A nonexistent money approach actually. I'll post some pictures soon! Before and after...

For now, I'm going to pretend that our house is spotless, and I'm going to take you on a virtual tour of our imaginary home. My dream home. My motivation. Oh, and of course I threw in a few pictures of my dream cars... OLD HEARSES. I have wanted one since I was little... Here we go.....