Getting Organized with OCD & Anorexia

Today's Daily Deal on chron.com was $54 for 3 hours of home organizing services ($135 value). I looked at it for a minute and thought about it. Even IF I bought this deal the organizer would take one look at my mess and would run away. Three hours is not enough time to organize one room in my house. Honestly, I don't understand how people who work full time keep their house clean. I don't. I really don't. (so sad I know)

Emma Pillsbury from Glee

Maybe I missed out on that whole clean gene somewhere along the way. I hate that about myself. It's one of the things I want to change. I've always been kind of messy but here lately it's gotten totally out of hand. Maybe it's the kids. Maybe it's the stress. I don't know but sometimes I wish I could have a little bit of OCD and a little bit of anorexia all wrapped into one. Then maybe I would be skinny and clean, kind of like Emma Pillsbury on Glee. (OK I can see the hate mail now, I know these are serious conditions) Anyway, but I still want them.

Or I wish I could become an obsessive runner. Wish, shoulda, coulda, I need to stop. What I need to do is put on my big girl panties and deal with it. I need to learn how to re-organize my life, I just don't want to pay all that money to do it. And I don't want to put all my junk out on my front lawn like they do on those crazy Oprah shows where people go in to re-organize people's houses.

I just need to rent a big dumpster and I need to work all weekend from Friday-Sunday dumping crap out. Then I can start working from a clean slate. Maybe that's what I'll do.

I need to do something to get my head and life in order. I haven't blogged in a while because my head is all muddled up. I need to clear it and decide what I want to do and how I'm going to do it.

Here are the important questions I need to ask myself and then I need to move forward. Because these questions are what will motivate me to get those things done.

What makes you happy?
Would you like to be happier?
Whose responsibility is your happiness?

Appreciating Life, My Kindle Will Break Me, and Fall Keeps Teasing Me

The other week I was leaving the building with a co-worker and she asked me how I was doing. I was really stressed out thinking about a number of things but I was also telling myself that I needed to be grateful for the good things I do have in life. So when she asked me how I was doing I told her that I was fine and that I was grateful for many things like my health, my children, a roof over my head. She agreed that we do need to be grateful for the good things.

Then I told her a story about a friend who I didn't know was sick and how I just found out by coincidence on FB. She was so ill in fact that she had an organ transplant. I told my co-worker that I had been thinking about her a lot and what she must be going through. It helped me put things into perspective.

Shortly after that I took a time/life management training class and I was reminded of some really important points in life. One of my favorite quotes I took away was, "You can accomplish some truly incredible things when you have a reason." What is my reason?

All this has led to my really questioning some things in my life.

On another note, I think my Kindle and Amazon are out to get me. They know that when I see a Kindle Daily Deal I won't be able to say no. WHO can say no to a book for $1.99 or worse .99 like the other day?? I can't. If the book sounds just remotely good I will buy it at that price.

Speaking of reading and books, Discovery Green has the coolest Reading Room or Houston Public Library room. It's tiny but it's a library with WiFi and you can check out books or return books. I love it when I see the city promoting reading. It's more than likely the only library branch open on a Sunday. Good to know!

So Fall made a showing for about a week then went away but I have hopes that it's coming back soon. Friday was the first day of fall so the weather is bound to change soon. I am patiently waiting.

Renter, Boarder Issues and Defensive Driving is Killing Me

First of all and for the record, I will never finish Defensive Driving by the deadline and I'm going to get sent to jail and I'm going to leave my children destitute. Just kidding! I will finish it eventually. I just don't know when. I'll probably end up having to pay again and I'm going to have to ask for them to FedEx me my certificate so I can make my deadline. I tried! I really did! But I'm just not very good at sitting down still to doing the class.

I was having an interesting conversation with Rey and my best friend about why I don't like having people live with me. They had no idea of my "issue." My sister came to visit this past weekend and I told her about it too and she didn't know my "issue" either. We decided that's what it is. One of my many issues left over from my childhood.

As long as I can remember we had people living with us. When I was really little we took in my aunt's half sister who was pregnant. We also had another woman stay with us for a while, who my sister found at the hospital where she worked as a nurse. We ended up with her at our house with her newborn baby. Later we had cousins, uncles, and a boarder. Not all at the same time but at various times in my life, especially during my childhood.

In between my early teen years and my early twenties I had one of the 3 sisters living with me at different times when they were in college, in between houses or husbands. It stopped in my late teens and early twenties, but I remember telling my parents very clearly that I didn't want anyone living with us any more. I wanted to be left alone and in peace for a while.

When I was in my late twenties and about to get married my mom brought a distant cousin to live with us. I was so upset with her for doing this. It was a disaster just like I imagined. The woman was unbearable. I was convinced. Having someone live in your home leads to disaster and unhappiness. I'm sorry, that may sound crazy but it's true.

I have a close relative, who will remain un-named, who always has renters or boarders in her house. Disaster after disaster. Some of her renters have ended up being the center of her marital problems. Watching her suffer through these experiences just reinforces my belief.

I have two children living with me now that will hopefully live with me at least until they are 18. That's a good 11 more  years of having someone live with me. After that I want to be "a woman of a certain age" living all alone with my cats. I can't wait!!

I'm Just Going to Rename My Blog "Nike Quotes"

Seriously! I can not believe how many visits I get to this blog via Nike Quotes. It's always been a lot but just lately it seems like even more. Just today out of my 13 visits, 8 came in through that page. Some days I get close to 50 visits and the majority come in that route. So yes, it should be called "Nike Quotes."

I had no idea when I first wrote that blog entry in 2007 that I would get that many click-throughs or that I would move up so high on Google. Now that I know more about how searching works I realize that you move up in relevance based on how much someone searches for those key words and how often they click to your website.

Everyone just loves Nike. I love Nike. I really do absolutely love their quotes. They are so inspiring and I should probably update my blog to include more. Here's another good one.

But I realized something very interesting today. Amelia Earhart was the original author of the "Just Do It" saying. She said, "The best way to do it, is to do it!"  Isn't that interesting?

I have so many things that I need to DO right now. Starting with remodeling the house. Then there's entering a novel writing contest and sticking to a regular work out schedule. I can't say "Later!" like the procrastinator in me wants to do. I have to do it.

Just doing it is always the hardest part. We want to do other things that aren't the one thing we should be doing. We want for everything to come easy when it doesn't. So my goal for the rest of this year is to just do the things I should be doing.

I'm also thinking of revamping my blog. What I'm thinking specifically is that I should stick to a list of subjects that interest me. I don't want for this to be just like any other "mommy" blog. I want it to be a mommy blog with a twist. I've always written about just random things that pop into my head or things I'm passionate about.

I want to write about things of substance too. At the top of my blog I say I'm passionate about reading, writing, blogging, newspapers, NPR, traveling, art museums, spirituality, learning, self-discovery, public education, living in the city, fashion, parenting, and cupcakes. I'm going to make it a point to choose one of those topics each time I write. That will also mean doing a little more research on my theme and I think it will make for a more interesting blog. So watch out for those upcoming changes soon!

My Powdered Wig

I was getting my pedicure and manicure yesterday with my best girlfriend and her sister (also my good friend) and a reminder popped up on the calendar on my phone that said, "Powdered Wig."

"What the heck is this?" I asked myself. Then I remembered my conversation with my bff the night before when we were coming back from Oporto, a great wine bar in Houston.

Powdered Wig by shadesbreath.hubpages.com

When we were leaving Oporto I saw the M Hair Salon next door and I told her that I've been there before to buy my Bumble & Bumble powder hair spray. I have SUPPPEEEERR oily hair and I can't skip one day without washing my hair.  If I do I have to spray my hair with Bumble & Bumble in brown. Sometimes I need to spray it even if I've washed it but I'm still having an extra oily day.

The spray works a lot like baby powder does. When someone has really oily hair they sprinkle baby powder in their hair and then comb it through. The powder absorbs the oil and then the hair looks less oily and is fuller and more manageable. My friend told me it's called Dry Shampoo, I didn't know that. I just call it my spray powder.

Three years ago I read about Bumble & Bumble in Oprah magazine and I decided to try it. LOVE IT! It is so great for those days when I don't wash my hair. I just spray it, comb it through after it sets, and violà, I have semi-non-oily hair again.

I was telling my friend that the only part I don't like is the texture of my hair. It gets kind of too dry sometimes or I have a pouffy feeling. She asked if it felt like a powdered wig and that is EXACTLY what I imagine a powdered wig would feel like.

They say that fashion repeats itself so I guess the powdered wig is back in style only this time it's disguised by the dry shampoo look.