Diet Pulpit

Today I will S-O-R-T-I-N-G big time because I have a helper coming over for a few hours.  My best friend’s daughter will be spending a few hours today (and a few other weekend days) to help me move boxes, sort boxes, label boxes, and in general give me a hand doing the things that are difficult for me to do, which will give me more time and energy to actually sort through the boxes and hopefully get rid of more junk then I could doing it on my own.

Yesterday I wrote a house sorting blessing. I woke up this morning with it stuck in my head now as a song (to the of tune the army marching song)

Maiden, Mother, Queen and Crone
Clear away the old and worn
Open my home to Love and Light
I welcome your Spirit both day and night.

It’s making me laugh and I’m really looking forward to plowing through the junk. Angelgirl (my daughter) has a pool party from noon to 8. Teacherman (hubby) has a lot of reading to do for a summer workshop he is taking for the next two weeks and then attending a big fancy dinner they are holding tonight for all the attendees. So I’ll it will just be me, Miss Artistic (my goddess-duaghter) and the boxes, (her reward will be a nice pizza for lunch).

My plan is to sort everything into four piles:  
Love it - things that I truly enjoy, memories, photos.
Use it - things that are needed for the home and personal items.
Mine - things that are part of truly important to me, like some of my jewelry pieces, my tarot card collection.
Donate\recyle it - or trash - I’m hoping this will be the biggest pile.

Everything I keep will have a “spot” - perhaps not right away since I’m in the mist of sorting, but I will label the boxes so I know what room it will eventually belong in. So as I make space I can easily get things organized too. I haven’t decided yet which stack of boxes I will tackle today but there is still time to figure that out.

What is your biggest sorting challenge? Is it easy for you to get rid of stuff or do you find reasons to keep stuff more stuff than you need?

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Tags: house diet, junk, organizing, poem, sorting

I was thinking today that really I’m not just on one “diet,” but actually four, but all four have the same goal - to live my life strong, healthy and with joyfulness.

House Diet - eliminating excess junk, keeping only what is useful, loved or at least enjoyed on a regular basis, getting what is kept organized.

Prosperity Diet - eliminating debt, decreasing unnecessary spending, and increasing savings.

Happiness Diet - eliminating stress, eliminating getting caught up in unnecessary drama and turmoil, setting my priorities and budgeting my time to focus on what is truly important, increasing my joy in the moment and my gratitude for the blessings in my live,

Health and Energy Diet - eating for fuel, increasing activity.

On you on a diet or more then one diet?  What are your long term goals?

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Tags: budget, energy, happiness, health, time

George Carlin (1937-2008)

This video just cracks me up. I found it on my best friend’s (Mama Kelly) post Purging is Good for the Soul.  She is also on a mission to declutter her home and get rid of junk; she has gotten rid of over 500 items so far (isn’t that amazing!).   She is itemizing the items she is donating for her taxes, which in the long run can really add up to a nice deduction.  I don’t have the patience to make a list like that, so I’ll just be taking the maximum charitable deduction that is allowed without a receipt.  Besides if I started listing everything that has to go, I’d still be working on “my pile of stuff with a roof over it” for the next 100 years.

(Note: for George Carlin this is a fairly tame video, except at the very end - if you are sensitive to colorful language just stop before the last 10 seconds or so.)

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Tags: clutter, house diet, humor, junk, video, youtube

Today I paid off my credit card.  My balance is ZERO!!!!!    ***does a little happy dance*** 

I’m usually very good with my credit card and only use it for emergencies, but in 2007 we had HUGE Harry Potter Birthday Party for Angelgirl’s 11th Birthday.  We rented a hall, 22 kids, 9 magical classes, shopping at Diagon Alley Shops, a Wizard Tournament, and a Feast with a Castle Cake.  It was totally worth every penny, but I am so glad to have that last penny paid off.

So now I can go back to paying extra on our mortgage, which if I am figuring it out correctly should be paid off in 8 years (give or take a few months).  We are also planning on a BIG vacation in 2010 to visit Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, but hopefully we can save up for most of it (set aside the next two year’s tax refund), and we won’t have to put too much on the credit card.  We have never been on a really big vacation before and we are all looking forward to it.  We take little mini vacations for a long weekend here and there, but I am hoping for at least 7 to 10 days so we can spend LOTS of time at Hogwarts, and hopefully a day or two at Disney (because I’d love to the fireworks there too).  (Note to self:  hang up a photo of Hogwarts as motivation for diet.)

Now that my credit card debt has successfully been put on a diet.  I need to really buckle down and get this house on a diet and get rid of more junk!  This weekend I have Miss Artistic (my best friend Mama Kelly’s oldest daughter) coming over for an afternoon to help out.  I should be able to get a nice pile of boxes put together to donate and hopefully lots of junk that go out for trash too.

I will be posting some solutions for Junk in my next post - I’m truly inspired to get organized, well if not organized, at least straightened up a bit.

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Tags: clutter, credit card, debt, house diet, junk, savings

I  rarely do memes, but every once in awhile as a bit of filler fun I will toss one in.  Jean at Lapidary Queen Wannabees had one posted, and she had the note at the buttom ”I am not tagging” - which is how I feel about meme’s and what I do also - I don’t tag.  If you want to do it, great join in, but it should be voluntary.    If you do play along, feel free to comment and leave a link to your meme.

Four jobs I’ve had:
1) Maid (at a seedy motel)
2) Factory Worker (making some kind of cooling unit thingy)
3) Security Guard (Department Store)
4) Secretary

Four movies I can watch over and over
1) Harry Potter Years 1-5  (Sorcerers Stone/ Chamber of Secrets/ Prisoner of Azkaban/ Goblet of Fire/ Order of the Phoenix).
2) The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition).
3) Martian Child - just recently saw this movie and fell in love with it.
4) The Last Mimzy - really, really, really liked it.

Four places I’ve lived 
1) Apartment by the river (where I grew up -was taken by the state to build a bigger highway)
2) Wrightstown (an army town) in a small apartment
3) My Grandmother’s House
4) State run boarding school for girls (during high school)
(These are all in NJ, since it’s the only state I’ve ever lived in, starting from where I grew up throug high school.)

Four Pet Peeves:
1) People who lie
2) People who are rude
3) People who make a mountain out of a mole hill
4) People who think their lack of planning means it’s now my emergency to deal with.

Four TV shows I love
1) Monk.
2) Ghost Hunters.
3) In Plain Sight (new just started a few weeks - its great!).
4) Law & Order (all of them, original, Criminal Intent and SVU).

Four places I’ve vacationed
1) Egupt
2) Ireland
3) London & Paris (combined trip)
4) Jamaica

Four of my favorite dishes
1) Macroni and Cheese
2) Mashed Potatoes
3) Pizza
4) Fettuicine Alfredo

Four sites I visit daily
1) 2 Witches Blog.
2) Blogger.
3) Entrecard.
4) Email and Twitter.

Four places I would rather be right now
1) Home with my family
2) Visiting my best friend Mama Kelly
3) Visting my other best friend B.
4) Womon Gathering - Mama Kelly and I went this year in June and it was so awesome, and we hope to go every year.  You can read all about it in our posts at our coauthored blog 2 Witches Blog posts tagged Womon Gathering.

Feel free to consider yourself tagged or not.

Health and Happiness, Lady Rose

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