Books That Can Change Your Life -- Really!

In my life, I have come across a few books

that literally changed my life.


Surprisingly, they are usually little books,

 not the big tomes that go on and on...

Here's the latest one. It even has
"Life Changing"

in its title!

The heading on page 22 states the following:

Storage Experts Are Hoarders...

What????

I have always prided myself on my ability to pack things away,

and I like nothing better than a trip to The Container Store

 where I buy all sorts of storage items to pack things away.

But there it was, on page 22:

My clients often want me to teach them what

to put where. Believe me, I can relate, but

unfortunately, this is not the real issue...

A booby trap lies within the term "storage".

I looked into my closet and then I started to

 understand...

 

The three pictures above are just one side of

the closet. The other side is just as full!

The book continues:
Putting things away creates the illusion that
the clutter problem has been solved...

Well, I don't want to spoil the book for you.

Just let me say, I have greatly reduced my

"possessions" and plan to release at least half

my "projects" taking up space in our garage!

The book's author, Marie Kondo, lives in Tokyo

and has a 3-month waiting list of clients. She

teaches her clients to simplify and organize

their homes and to learn how to determine

which items "spark joy" and which don't.

Sparking Joy is the most important thing I've

learned so far. Many of the items in our house

just take up space...they will soon be gone!

I bought my copy of the book from Amazon,

but saw it at Costco for $11 the day after we

ordered it.

I'll be back to show the "after" of my closet

when I get it purged and organized.

I've had to put it on hold for now as both my

father-in-law and mother-in-law had illnesses

recently, which required stays in the hospital.

We are in the process of moving them to an

apartment in the assisted-living section of

their retirement community. March 1st

was their 68th wedding anniversary and, as

you can imagine, they have a lot of stuff that

no longer "sparks joy", and we are working

with them to let go...it's a slow process!

Thanks for dropping by!

Find me here this week:

Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup Thursday...

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/03/share-your-cup-thursday-142-and.html

 

Gray Living, Shops And Housing In McKinney TX

Have you ever seen ads for a shop called

Gray Living?

Their ads are carried in some of the most

popular home decor magazines.

Gray Living is actually a little shop down in 

McKinney Texas. I could live in that shop!

As you might know, McKinney is not only my

favorite town in Texas...
but McKinney was also voted the

#1 Best Small Town In America 

by Money magazine this year.

You can almost see the sign stating they were

voted #1 this year. See it? It's hanging on

the streetlight post below.

McKinney has so many wonderful shops.

Take a look:

McKinney also has my favorite housing area,

a place called Tucker Hill.

The houses are built to look like they've been

there a hundred years with porches wide

enough to sit and talk to your neighbors. 

Here's the communities' swimming pool area.

  You can read about Tucker Hill here and

see pictures of the homes during the

Summer when everything is green.

http://www.tuckerhilltx.com

Thanks for dropping by.

Try Again...typo

Blogger has been crazy for me lately.

It deleted an earlier post I did, but left the

title and I've been told I'm showing up as

a "No Reply" blogger despite my repeated

efforts to show up with an email address.

I apologize if you don't get a response to

your comments.

Regarding the typo:

Our local café, Sweetberries, got new menus

yesterday. We cracked up when we saw a

typo in the section labeled for seniors.

Someone inadvertently forgot an "R"...

The menu reads:

Senior Specials

55 or olde

(yeah...we qualify!)



What To Do When It Snows...and Snows

After four successive snow/ice storms here in
Texas, it appears we may get back to normal.

While the snow-turned-to-ice made it impossible

to get out, I decided to paint something.

As promised a while ago, I did not use white paint!

I really want to paint one of the kitchen cabinets

this blue/gray color. 

Knowing I was having a little cabin fever, I

decided to try the paint on a few small pieces

first and see how the color looks with the cabinets.

This little do-dad box I pulled out of the garage.
It has been on my Fixin' To Do bin for 4 years.
I bought it at a garage sale in the late 80's and
used it to hold jewelry for years.

 
This little tub was a shiny metal before I painted it 
with chalk paint. I love how the paint sticks to
everything, even slick metal...

I have two larger ones I'm going to do next.

The third thing I painted was an old tray, purchased
at a garage sale a year or two ago. I "shopped" my
garage for it too...

A while back, I bought some Ce Ce Caldwell

paint in a color called Smoky Mountain Gray.

Forget the gray name, because it's really a blue:

The paint was really thick. As you can see, it held
this stir stick straight up without my holding it.
I put some paint in a glass jar and added some
water, which made it easy to use.

This is the first coat of paint on the little tub...

This is a close up of the tray before painting it.

Yes, it was very flaky. I didn't have much hope for

it, so I didn't bother to sand it before painting it.

 First coat of Ce Ce's paint going on:

I was surprised it didn't flake off after it dried.
In fact, a little disappointed...but, I'm going to
distress it and see if some magic will happen.


I haven't decided which cabinet I would paint
(if we did), but the top of the vent cover over the
stove might look good with a little color.

Meanwhile...back at the snow/ice situation.

The sun is coming out and it looks like it's 

starting to melt.

Thanks for dropping by!

Let's party at...
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http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/03/share-your-cup-thursday-139.html


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Caught My Eye

Have you seen the new GREEN cokes?

I'm mean, literally, green!

Wild Bill and I used to love Coke.

I mean, only Coke. Or Diet Coke.

We broke ourselves from the habit last year.

Now, we seldom drink soda. But, when we saw

these green cokes at Target the other day, we had

to stop and read the label.

60 calories

16 carbs

Sweetened with cane sugar and Stevia.

No high fructose corn sugar

(we avoid HFCS like crazy)

Once we read the label, you know we had

to try a 6-pack.

Tastes like the wonderful original Cokes.

If you're still drinking sodas, I recommend

the new green Coke.

Just letting you know about this product.

No payment received for the exposure.

Thanks for dropping by!

Let me know what you think of it if

you've tried it.