Author: Lois Houston

I'm a sweet tea drinkin' southern gal who loves to cook, bake, crochet, and read. Check out my blog for posts about parenting, faith, books, crafts, planning, baking, cooking, and life in general.

Journal Your Christmas

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Here is a page dedicated to the Journal Your Christmas albums I’ve done.

You can see the pages I’ve completed – they’re posted on Flickr.

And a few samples here:

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JYC2010 - Page 006

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Links

Here are some of my favorite blogs, websites and other online presences.

I will continue to add to the list as I find new things to share.

Hope you enjoy!

Misc Blogs I like

Recipe blogs & websites I like

Scrapbooking blogs & websites I like

Knitting blogs I like

Bariatric blogs I like

Ode to the Dryer

Dear Mr. Dryer,

I hear you in there. Honestly, I do.

As I walk by the laundry room door, I hear your mumbled reminders – “Hey, there’s clothes in here!” “Hey, come and get these clothes before they wrinkle!” “Did you forget about me?” “I’m in here, and I’m full. Come and empty me!”

But, Mr. Dryer, you need to understand. I have other things going on. I can’t always answer you when you call – I can’t always respond immediately when you beep so insistently from the laundry room.

That “beep, beep, beep” that continues for hours and hours until I finally come in there and open your door.

I just can’t.

There are kids to feed, conference calls to attend. Life to live.

You are going to have to learn to be more patient with me. I’ll get to you when I can.

IMG_0133 And when I do finally get around to giving you the attention you think you are so deserving of, what do you say to me?

“I’m hungry! Fill me up!”

Sigh.

Never satisfied.

Focused

I was asked the other day if there is anything that gets in the way of my writing – My immediate response to this question is “Life.” Life gets in the way of my writing.

But then, when I stopped and thought about it and wondered if that is really true.

I think there are all sorts of time wasters that we all succumb to (Facebook, anyone?) that take away from the time we’d have to be doing other things. Things we should be doing or things we’d like to do but always feel like there is not enough time to do.

Now, granted, working full time, taking care of the house, the kids, the critters and a hunky SuperMan takes up a LOT of my time.  But, if I’m brutally honest with myself, there are things I can eliminate that would free up time for me to pursue other things I’d like to be doing more of.

Like exercising, reading, writing, and scrapbooking.

What sorts of things can I eliminate?

Laundry, mopping, taking showers….

No, wait, that won’t work.

But, I’m sure I could spend a little less time on Facebook.  A little less time watching TV.  A little less time piddling around on the internet.

But for me, the big thing that helps me to fit those important things into my life (as opposed to just the Urgent, or urgently-tempting-me things) is this:

FOCUS

Yep.

I was feeling very, very scattered last week, catching up from being on holiday for a week.  I just felt overwhelmed every single day at all the things I had to accomplish.  Bills to pay, laundry to do, spreadsheets and powerpoints to finish, reports to run and records to edit.  It seemed insurmountable and all I wanted to do was crawl back in bed and dream it all away.

For the first day or two, I didn’t do much different than that. I didn’t sleep, but I did everything I could to avoid reality. And I knew I was doing it.

Then, I woke up on Wednesday and told myself it was time to put on my big girl pants and get on with things.  Sometimes I have to do that – have a stern talk with myself.  (and sometimes I actually listen)

I sat down and made a list – well, two, actually. One personal and one for work. I listed at the top all the things that I had to do.  At the bottom, I listed all the things that I wanted to do. Those are two different lists. And it helped me to FOCUS on the things I needed to get done, while identifying and recognizing the other things I wanted to do as well.

I woke up Friday morning, for the first time all week, not feeling like I was at the bottom of a very tall hill that had to be climbed.

I was FOCUSED.

I knew what I had accomplished (love checking off those boxes!)

and I knew what was yet to be done.

It’s amazing to me how a simple little list can help me change my mindset so quickly. It seems archaic but it works. And that is all that really matters to me.

I’m FOCUSED.

TGIF

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This little cartoon just neatly sums up how I feel today. Note the “deer in the headlights” look? Yeah, that’s me.

Work is crazy right now. I have several big projects and they are all at critical points and must be complete before the year’s end. Usually this time of year is slow and easy but this year is definitely not. Certainly adds some additional logistical challenges as I try to get it all done and tackle the holiday activities as well.

It’s been a hectic, busy, crazy, exhausting week.  I am glad it is at the end and I have Saturday to look forward to. Hoping to catch up on laundry and maybe have a little time to scrap or knit (or both!) this weekend.

I’m almost finished with my Christmas shopping. Thank goodness for online shopping!!  The UPS man came to visit yesterday evening and it was almost like Christmas morning. He kept bringing box after box after box.  When a second truck pulled up, the girls got really excited, thinking Mom had just gone nuts buying gifts.  (hah!) But he was just there to swap out packages and relieve the other driver so he could go home. 

I am looking forward to starting to get the presents wrapped and under the tree early this year (well earlier than it has been in past years).

How are you doing with your holiday preparations?

Creativity

I just stumbled across this via a link on someone's twitter.

This is awesome and so worth a few minutes of your time to listen to:

 

I hope you enjoy.

The blog where I found it: The Drama Queen's Guide to Changing the World

2010: One Word

There are several scrapping ladies around the world (many, I’m sure) who have adopted a tradition of coming up with their “one word” for the year. I am not sure if Ali Edwards started this or if she got it from somewhere else. (I know that is where I first heard of it)

I’ve been interested in the concept  in years past, but have never signed up to choose a word and then track how I lived to that word for the year. Seemed like too much work for me.

BUT

Last year, around this time, I started to think yet again about the One Little Word project and what my word for 2010 would be. It came to me immediately.

Me.

I wanted 2010 to be the year I focused on taking care of me. On making choices that would help me to be healthier and happier. On not letting myself get put last on the list of people to care for. I wanted to focus on me.

And, well, now that we’re at the end of 2010 (give or take a few weeks) I am looking back and I think the choice of word is maybe not the right one.

Looking back now, I think maybe the word I would choose for 2010 would be

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Rebirth

or maybe even

Reawakening

or

Rediscovery

That’s what 2010 has been for me.

After the surgery in February a lot has changed in my life.  But rather than it all being about me, it’s been more like I’ve been coming out of a cocoon and rediscovering my life.

  • I’ve been reawakened to the things that matter most in my life – and the things that don’t.
  • I’ve learned to carefully select how I spend my time and with whom I spend it.
  • I’ve learned that it really does matter if I eat or drink something that is not good for me.
  • I’ve learned that the quality of the time I spend with those I love is really more important than anything else.
  • I’ve learned what’s really important to me and what’s not so important anymore.

I’m also learning to love myself again. To invest in myself. And that includes making good choices about eating and sleep, hobbies and friends, saying yes and saying no.

so, rather than 2010 being the year of me it’s been the year of rediscovery.

What has your 2010 been? How would you sum it up in a word?

What I’m Reading Right Now

I caught up (a little) on some reading over the Thanksgiving break.What I'm reading right now

I managed to read A Simple Amish Christmas and finally finish The Venetian Betrayal  (that book seemed to never end!)

The Amish Christmas book was charming. While it was very formulaic and pretty predictable, I liked the characters and was sad when I finished. I am hoping the author has some others to offer. It was a nice light read – perfect at the end of the busy holiday days.

I started Private by James Patterson last night.  So far, it looks good.

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It’s about a private investigator, former CIA agent, who finds out his best friend’s wife has been murdered.  He pours all of his agency’s resources into finding her killer (along with the other open cases they are handling) and I don’t know much else yet – hey, I just started it yesterday!

I’ll let you know how it turns out. There were good and bad reviews online, so I’m holding out my opinion until it’s done. But, it interested me enough that I made the purchase after my free sample on the Nook.

What are you reading right now?
Any recommendations?

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Hideaways

I have fond memories of various different hideaways I had as a child.

There was the banana tree in the back yard of my great-grandma’s house where my brother and I had our own “personal” branch each, along with other branches which had specific functions and uses. 

We’d sit in that tree and make noises at the business people in the adjacent office parking lot.  We thought it was such fun to make monkey noises and watch them try to figure out where they were coming from.  (Of course now I wonder how I would’ve reacted as the adult and not the silly child in the tree.)

There was the attic space (in the same grandma’s house) where we created our own “apartment” complete with bedrooms and a living room (all of which had their own repurposed furniture that had been stored up there)

We spent many happy hours playing in the attic. I remember being devastated when we finally moved out of that house, knowing that my attic hideaway was going to be gone forever.

My mom and step-dad have temporarily moved home (while they are renovating theirs) and the girls have found some new hideaways here in the new house.

There’s the attic space above the front porch that they have turned into their “apartments” (hmmm… sounds familiar)

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Their daddy set them up with little carpet remnants and lamps to light their spaces.

 

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  They each had their “apartment” with separate entrances in each upstairs bedroom, but they could visit each other by crawling across the attic space to each other.

 

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And so it goes – the circle continues.  Two more little girls finding imaginary worlds and secret hideaways in the most unlikely of places – and yet finding entertainment and joy in the simplest of things.

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