Sunday Blessing

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And O Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give!

Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely,
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.

from A Charge to Keep
by Charles Wesley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope your week is off to a good start! How do you like my pansy? Here in Texas they are an all winter flower - they love this weather! (Crazy as it is - warm early this week and back to blustery winter now!) There is also a new post on my other blog. :)

Finished Room Thursday + A Giveaway!

Yes! The office is officially de-cluttered (not counting drawers ahem...)



Now, I know this room won't be in a magazine anytime soon. :) It's not someplace that I have really decorated. (Actually, I'm hoping someday to do a complete remodel... replacing the love seat with a rocker and the desk for a baby bed.) But since that isn't right now, it's nice to have a less cluttered place to spend time. :)

Remember what it looked like before?

Whew. I must say, having so much of that stuff put away properly is very freeing. And it really spurs my creativity. and it's energizing! hmm... what's next?

And I must tell you that this makes it all worth it:

(Posted with approval.) :)

And that you all for your encouragement!! As a thank you, I am having a little giveaway!

I have an extra copy of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. I bought it to read a while back, and then this version came out. (You may remember me sharing a similar version of Pride and Prejudice.) I am enjoying reading Sense and Sensibility for the first time!

The copy above that I am giving away isn't fancy, but it's a new book. If you would like it, please say so in your comment. I will draw one name of a person that comments in that way, and drop it in the mail to you. :) I will draw the winner on Monday evening.

Day Three:

The yarn monster...

...has been vanquished!!


Whew! This bag is supposed to be a works in progress bag, but I ended up stashing so many things in there that it took over! It's much better now! :)

So I'm pretty much finished... I still need to go through that basket on the floor.

I also have this pile in the hall that needs to go to that needs to be sorted to different places:


Thanks for all the encouragement. oh, and for letting me share my clutter. I hope it didn't scare you too much! :) Blogging my progress really did help me get things cleaned up. (Although... we won't talk about the drawers - those are for a later time!)

Come back tomorrow for the overall "after" picture! :)

Day Two:

Whew... once I got started today, I just about couldn't stop! Thank you all for your encouragement. I really was thinking, "I've got to blog this..." I did a lot more than I had planned today!

First off, here is a larger view of what the office looked like before:






And a closer look at my corner:

Coffee mug check, coupons check, hair stuff check, candy check, knitting needles check...
And the after shots:
I started at the bookshelf.


Worked at the printer and ironing board area...

That tray is one of my best organizing tips. The mail, especially sale ads for the week, usually ended up on the printer. So when we needed to print, we moved the piles to the ironing board, and when we needed to iron, back the piles went! :) So I found the tray at a thrift shop and put it to good use! There isn't much in it now. I did put our paper there, rather than have it wrinkle sitting upright in the shelf below. The box with the cords is Mark's project... I'm going to let him deal with it. :)

Now the biggest difference!


Whew! I feel so much better!! Everything tends to gather there - my own little drop off. I do still have a basket by the lamp, but it's better to keep things contained, and I will try not to let my stuff outgrow the basket. Oh, and tomorrow I am going through the basket on the floor at right. We don't need another clutter gatherer at the moment, and that is the only purpose it is serving! :)

Up next:
The battle against the yarn that is trying to take over the world!!

Brutal Honesty

...brutal for me that is.

I like many bloggers, try to put up a good front. I stage and crop my photos to give the best possible view. I want my blog to be full of pretty pictures and enjoyable to look at.

Unfortunately, my home, like most, tends to get a bit cluttered. *ahem* I have been working on getting more clutter free. I've been sticking a few things in a donation box, and trashing a few things and generally trying to make my home look better.

Saturday, my big project was our bedroom. I've come to realize more that our bedroom should be one of the last places to get cluttered. So I dug in. I didn't take any "before" pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination. Here is my official clutter free zone:

(No, the blanket on the bed doesn't match, but I'm keeping it real here! It's warm and my grandma made it for me.) :)

This area below is my main struggle to keep neat. It ends up being the drop zone - especially for clothes. No more! (And I've made it through a Sunday basically clutter free - it's one of my hardest days to keep clutter free.)


This is the newest furniture in the bedroom. Mark finally has an official nightstand! :) I got it for a song at a garage sale! Now all it needs is a good coat of spray paint...



So now we come to this week...

My project this week is our office. This is the room we basically live in - the computers live in here. :) I won't slam you with the whole room today. Believe me, it's scary! I am going to get an area done each day, and I'll report here. You all will be my accountability group. :)

So here's today's project... Before:

I know, scary huh? So much stuff, and dust bunnies so big I had to name them. I named them all "Fred" just to save time. :) (Oh, and sorry for the blurry picture... I wasn't going to mess it all up again just to get a clear one!)

And After:

Yes, there are a few piles still... but it is an office after all, and there needs to be a few working piles. Just so they don't take over.

And I feel better! Come back tomorrow for the next installment. (I know you are all waiting with baited breath!)
Happy Monday!