Gratitude List

I am grateful that:

* Our favourite petshop allows us to take our puppy dog with us so we could fit him up with a new choker collar

* That we found a choker collar for $17, and then found one in the next aisle for only $6 big win

* That we can get 10 pigs ears for only $15 there (his favourite treat)

* That hubby and I found a DVD we both wanted to watch – Oceans 13 (not a bad Friday night flick)

* That hubby and I found a chinese takeaway that a) doesn’t use pork for hubby’s allergy and b) doesn’t use msg/preservatives/colours/additives that affect me. For the first time ever after eating chinese I could still get my rings off my fingers the next morning. (I usually swell like crazy after eating chinese)  

Gratitude list

I am grateful that:

* Hubby has offered to vacuum the floors, saving me a job

* That it is late night shopping and I have no desire to go

* That the library has so many good DVD’s for hire for free

* That I am learning to communicate with my Mother better

* That I was able to look through the junk mail without wanting anything

Gratitude list

I am grateful for:

* The free ticket to the James Morrison and Demi Hines concert tonight, worth $75. It was a fabulous concert, lots of 1940’s jazz standards with a modern take.

* My organised wardrobe so that I was able to put together an outfit, including shoes and accessories in 30 seconds flat – especially handy as tonight’s show started 30mins earlier than we were advised

*That my boss SMSed me to let me know the show was earlier, or I would have been late.

* That someone who hadn’t seen me for a while commented how great I was looking (I fitted into a size 16 skirt tonight)

* That Demi Hines commented that I have lovely eyes when she was autographing the CD I got for my Mum.

The power of an organised wardrobe

Well I have finally finished working in the bedroom, it is not finished, there is still a lot I want to do in there…ie polish all my shoes, go through handbags, go through the high storage & help hubby go through his stuff, but I am happy with the progress I have made and it is time to move onto more pressing areas. I have achieved my goals in this room and the rest can wait until the rest of the house is at a similar level. What is the point of having the bed room perfect, if the rest of the house is falling over.

I now only have clothes in my wardrobe that I know fit and look good now. I know none of them need repairing or laundering. I have all my shoes neatly displayed, and I know what I have and I know there is nothing I need. I have cleaned out two whole drawers of the chest of drawers, and after rearranging the stuff in the wardrobe it has given my husband another full shelf to spread out his things.

The reason for this post….I was walking through Target today, with a giftcard in my pocket to spend, and they had all their new stock in, and were offering discounts and I didnt even look. I walked confidently by the fashion, underwear, sleepwear and shoe department safe in the knowledge that I have more than enough of everything at home. There are no holes in my wardrobe and nothing that I need. I didn’t risk succumbing to any impulse purchases by looking at the departments. I have a rule that I only want to buy items that are on my wants list. I currently dont have anything from any of those departments on my list, so it was easy to walk past….and guess what?! It felt good!! There was no fear, no guilt, no compulsion to look. There is power in knowledge, and power in an organised wardrobe

Oh and as a side, I ended up spending the giftcard on items that have been on my wishlist for a while….an eyelash/eyebrow brush, Guy Sebastian’s new memphis CD and a book that deals with all my food allergies that has just been updated and re released. It lists all the additives to avoid and gives recipes for allergy free food.  

 I will go back into the wardrobe when I have lost another 10kg, retry everything I should have gone down another dress size by then and will throw all the clothes that are too big, maybe have a couple of favourite pieces taken in, and go through all the bagged clothing and put the stuff that fits into the wardrobe. I shouldn’t have any holes until I lose about 2 more dress sizes, it is then I will have to start looking at new clothes, but that is one of my rewards for losing that much weight anyway, and there is more and more choice in op shops and clearance shops when one gets down to a more socially acceptable size anyway.  

Gratitude List

I am grateful for:

* That the universe doesn’t give me more than I can handle

* The great feeling I get when I acomplish something 

* That I am severing my attachment to things

* That I was able to catch up on my sleep (I slept for 13 hours last night)

* That I have found two houseplants that I can keep alive….now I just need to expand my repetioure

Tip on finding things

If you cant find something easily, remember where the first place you looked for it was and then when you find the item (or give up and buy a new one) keep in the first place that you looked. That way you will never wonder where it is again.

Everything in your house needs a spot to call its own. That is the only way to conquer chaos. Even if that home is a junk drawer. There is nothing wrong with having a junk drawer, as long as it is only home to items that dont have a home elsewhere and the junk drawer is the first place you look for that particular item.

What if you dont have room for everything to have a home? Then you have a couple of choices –

a) get rid of some stuff

b) invest in better systems

c) move to a bigger house.

a) is the most logical answer. Most of us own more than we really need, use and love. Therefore the easiest way to have a more organised life is to have a purge. I know this is not always easy and if often emotionally charged, but always worth it in the end.

b) is useful if you are honest with yourself. No amount of storage bins and organisational gismos will help if you simply have too much stuff, but the right tools are useful….ie a shoe rack can help double the shoes on display in your wardrobe, wall hooks etc can help extend storage space in a shed etc.

c) Can be a costly and time consuming exercise, but it is useful if you have pared down to the bare minimum and still struggle, or if you are family of two adults and two kids living in a one bedroom flat, then I think you need to accept the fact you need a bigger place.

Gratitude List

I am grateful that:

* We start the new month with less debt than a month ago, and we are both taking spending money YAY!!

* My husband put his hand up for overtime to help our family budget

* The back verandah is still looking great

* I am still making, albeit slow, progress with the clutter

* That puppy got his stitches out tonight so no more bucket on his head, which means no more pain and bruised legs and no more flies from having to leave the back door open coz he couldn’t use his dog door.

Gratitude List

I am grateful for:

* The blessing of getting to know my birth family

* That after growing up as an only child I found out I have two sisters

* That I have a relationship with both sisters

* That I was able to take part in one sisters wedding as a bridesmaid 

* That we have always found the money to do the important things in life – attend weddings, funerals, important events etc

Gratitude List

I am grateful for:

* How easy it is to recycle. I can do my bit for the environment without much effort on my behalf. Just throw it all in the recycle bin.

* The $15 amazon gift certificate a friend sent to me. Now I just have work out what to spend it on

* That it is payday tomorrow and there is still money in the bank

* Good pens that feel nice when I write

* Reliable and cheap public transport.

Curried sausages in slow cooker

I did this up for hubby in the slow cooker. I just threw everything in so i want to keep a note of what I did, for next time.

Ingredients:

Cut up raw sausages

1 bag diced frozen veges

1 tin tomato soup

1 tin whole tomatos

1 apple diced up 

1 tablespoon of curry powder

1 tablespoon of cornflour

1 beef stock cube

Method

Disolve stock cube and cornflour in a little hot water. Add all ingredients to slow cooker, stir and leave for 6 hours on low. Enoy with crusty bread or mashed potatos.