10 Simple Daily Affirmations

A big part of getting organized is ensuring that you're doing the things that will . . .

1) help you to feel good about yourself each day, and

2) will help you reach your ultimate goals in life.

First, it is important to know what you want in life.

Perhaps some of your ultimate goals might include making a salary of $200,000 per year, running your own successful business out of your home, having a family, winning a specific award or writing a novel. Think about your ultimate goals. Write them down. Adjust this list as your goals broaden or change.

Then, while you're in the process of achieving your ultimate goals, you will want to stay on track and stay motivated. That's why it is important to come up with a list of daily affirmations that will ensure you always feel good about yourself, obstacles will be reduced and you're always motivated to achieve your ultimate goals.

Come up with your own personal, organized list of Daily Affirmations. For example, here are the ones I live by. Perhaps you'll want to take some of these for your own list, and simply add on what is important to you.

EACH DAY . . .

1) Learn something new. Share it with someone else.

2) Do something nice for someone else.

3) Do something nice for yourself.

4) Think of at least one specific thing to be thankful for.

5) Do something to grow your business/advance your career.

6) Eat three healthy meals.

7) Do some form of exercise for at least 20 minutes.

8) Do something you enjoy.

9) Do a chore a day.

10) Make sure each of the above affirmations were met.

It is recommended that you come up with your own list, and post this list somewhere that you're sure to see it every single day.

Your Daily Affirmations will help you identify the path you want to take in life, will keep you on track, and will help you enjoy life along the way.

Elf Yourself!

Just a few days until Christmas . . . I'm trying not to work too hard. A friend of mine sent me a very cute e-greeting that pictured her entire family as dancing elves.

If you haven't seen it yet and you want to start a chain reaction of smiles from your friends and family members, make your own Elf Yourself greeting and send it to those you love.

It's sponsored by Office Max. Here is the link:

http://www.elfyourself.com/

Enjoy and may the days leading up to Christmas be joyful, stress free and organized!

The Weather Outside is...Not So Frightful

My three year old daughter, Amanda, did not want to get up for school today. This is unusual for her, but she has a slight cold and it was pretty dark and drab outside at 6:45AM. I looked out the window and it was snowing. It didn't look too bad. Living in Wisconsin, you get used to a few inches of snow every few days this time of year.

But then it occurred to me that school might be closed for the day. I began listening to school closings, and then confirmed with another mom that indeed, in the district where I live, schools were closed--Amanda's first snow day of the year.

This just amazed me. Honestly, when I was in grade school, schools didn't close unless we had at least a few feet of snow on the ground, or we were having a treacherous blizzard. That statement probably dates me, but it seems these days schools are extra careful. I guess that's a good thing. If the roads are icy, the less people outside, the better.

So, what's on our agenda today? Well, I was planning to use the time Amanda was in school to work, so I'm going to do that for at least an hour or two this morning. My daughter is happily watching Mickey Mouse Club House right now, and in a little while, we'll sit down to a nice family breakfast and maybe even play Candyland afterwards.

Who knows, maybe we'll even go out and make a snowman later?! The weather outside, to us, is not so frightful. In fact, it's giving us an opportunity for even more family time and we're going to take advantage of that.

Making Time for Others

Every other Friday morning my husband Joe and I accompany our daughter, Amanda, to a local assisted living facility called The Highland House to participate in a program set up by Amanda's preschool teacher. Basically, the 3 to 4 year old kids and their parent(s) from the preschool class visit with the residents at this facility on a voluntary basis.

When this idea was originally presented to us, the first thing that went through my head was, "I'd love to do this, but can't imagine how we'll fit it into our schedule."

However, after thinking about it a bit, we really felt this would not only be a wonderful opportunity for Amanda to learn about the lives of people who are in their late 80's and 90's, but it would also be a fantastic way to bring joy to these people who don't get a chance to have young visitors very often.

So, Joe and I re-arranged our schedules a bit and made a decision to say Yes to this opportunity, and we're both so glad we did. We paid four visits so far over the past two months. Each time, we had the pleasure of visiting with a different resident, while talking and making crafts.

This week, we made Gingerbread Houses together. The resident we sat with told Amanda some very old nursery rhymes that even I never heard of. Amanda was amused and spent a lot of time smiling and laughing, which brought great pleasure to the woman we were sitting with.

During this season of hustle, bustle and bitterly cold weather, just sitting down for an hour and experiencing the facility residents interacting with the young kids is so heartwarming. It's truly in the spirit of the holidays and worth every moment of the time we spend there.

Busy, busy, busy

. . . and did I mention, busy?? That's the one world that comes to mind when I think about how I would describe the past few weeks.

Now that we're officially into the holiday season, it seems like there's an event--sometimes several--every single day.

This past Friday was my social club's annual bowling night. This morning was a holiday party for the kids. Tomorrow, we go to church services in the morning. Directly following that, we attend the 14th Annual Holiday Parade of Homes in our town (proceeds benefit a local charity) and tomorrow evening I'm taking Amanda to her friend, Carissa's 3rd birthday party.

Next week, besides our normal activities, there's cookie exchange, my social club's board induction ceremony and a baby shower.

Of course, in between all of this, there's work to do, there's grocery shopping and there's the driving needed to get our daughter back and forth to school, music and dance--just to name a few.

I'm so glad I'm done with my holiday shopping. I just know, from past experience, that this time of year tends to get very hectic.

There are a few tricks we use to avoid putting any unnecessary stress on ourselves during the holiday season:

1) When I make a meal, I always make enough for at least one more dinner, and one lunch. This way, there's not a major cooking adventure needed at every meal time. Plus, when we do need a quick meal, a tuna melt with a side of sugar snap peas or even omelets for dinner is certainly an option.

2) While it may sound like we are overextended by my description above, we actually have plenty of time padded in between activities, and we've turned down nearly half of the opportunities presented to us for other holiday parties and activities. Sometimes, you just have to say no to certain invitations and requests when your schedule begins getting over packed.

3) We always begin our holiday shopping early. I purchased my final stocking stuffer today (I bought it online, as we are having a major snowstorm where I live). Our cards are in the mail. Our decorations are done--inside and out. Our gifts that needed to be shipped are all at the post office. All our holiday tasks are done. It will be a pleasure just being able to enjoy the days leading up to Christmas.

4) We schedule time in for exercise. No way that can be pushed aside, especially in this season of gingerbread cookies, fudge and holiday parties. Plus, it's a great energy booster.

5) We try to schedule our activities around our normal bedtimes and we leave some events early to keep as close to those times as possible. Getting Amanda to bed early helps her to get a full night's rest and gives Joe and I time to unwind a bit before turning in ourselves.