Summer Scents are Popping

Isn’t summer a great time for memories?  Running through the rain and splashing in puddles with your bare feet.  Sitting on the porch during a thunder storm watching and smelling the lightening.  The pungent sweet smell of a flower bed on a sunny day.  The fresh mown grass or hay if you’re in the country are unforgettable.  Then there is the delicious smell of a barbeque floating through the air. 

We need to take time to enjoy those scents and peaceful times.  Not just to remember past times but to relax and de-stress.  A few minutes to enjoy the flowers or look at a rainbow is well worth the pause.  Most of us fill our lives way too full.  If we slow down, prioritize, and look at what we really need we will find time to enjoy our children, grandchildren. neighbors.  When was the last time you just stopped to visit over the back fence or sitting on the front porch?  A tall glass of icey lemonade is great to enjoy after working in the yard or garden.

For those of us who may not have that yard to get out in burning a candle might bring some of those memories back and let us relax in the house or apartment.  Try out Spring Rain, Lilac, Sweet Pea, Fresh Mown Hay, Lemon Drop, Strawberry Jam, or so many others.  Comfy Cottage Candles can help you find memories or make some more.

 

A note about Vision

Have you ever flipped through a magazine or a catalog and said “I want to get that sometime, it would look good …..?”  I have.  I’ve had lots of ideas and items jump out at me as something that would work well in the rooms of my house or even a blouse that would work well with the stuff in my closet.  I have an idea of what I want the various rooms in my house to look like when I’m “done.” I also know that over the last two years I’ve come up with lots of ideas and forgotten them just as quickly.   Or worse yet, forgotten where I had seen an item, how much it was, or even exactly what it was.   This problem has been solved for me by starting a dream book.  My dream book is divided into sections by room (I have a seperate one for clothes and jewelry).  In each room I put items that fit with that vision.  I make sure to mark what catalog it came out of or the website it was on, etc.   When I have a little bit of money to spend on my house I can go and decide what i would like to find to help complete my vision. 

P.S.  If you have a camera phone and can email yourself pictures it is also easy to take pictures of things you see in stores. 

Conquering the CHAOS

One of the things that I have found in the last year that has totally turned the atmosphere of my home around is www.flylady.net.  This was started by Marla Cilley and she teaches people that are SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executives) how to get control of the clutter and CHAOS- which to her and readily agreed to by many flybabies I think- is Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome. This has taken my house from total disaster area and hopeless dispare when I looked at it to not only livable but a lot of the time (not always) being company ready.  This is not impossible, but I know what you are thinking if you are like me.   Only other people can get that to happen.  I’m here to tell you that the FlyLady is something that slowly teaches you how to build habits that help you live your life in a more peaceful way.  Go check her and the flycrew out at www.flylady.net and don’t forget to join the yahoo group as well.  It really does help.