Routine Examination

After a crazy, busy couple of months, I have been finding myself longing for routine--not something I often do. 

Because of this, I wanted to republish the below article I wrote in November of 2011, during a difficult family time--a time made easier by routines: 

MY LIFE LATELY--Anything But Routine

(November 23, 2011)

It has been a long time since I have written...my life has been anything but routine. An important part of owning your own business is setting goals and keeping deadlines...BUT another thing that has been important to me as a business owner is the ability to take time off when needed, as I have just done for the past month when my grandmother was placed in hospice care. I was able to be by her side as she went through the last weeks of her earthly life, and finally went on home.

My grandmother was a creature of habit, a master of routines. As her creative, right-brained granddaughter, it made me a little nuts at times, especially as a teenager. But as I grew up and had a family of my own, and especially over the past few weeks as our family dealt with the stress and sadness of her passing, I noticed that I had a whole new appreciation for simple daily routines.

In our day to day lives, when is life ever really routine?? However, if life doesn't give it to you, here are a few gifts you can give yourself each day (yes, they really are gifts...just disguised as routines):

1. Make Your Bed Each Morning-- This simple habit has actually been shown to increase your happiness. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project has written about it, and pulling up the sheets and comforter as soon as your feet hit the floor takes less than 5 minutes.

2. Give a Focused Fifteen Minutes to Manage Frustration--Is there a room in your house that seems to fall apart every time you turn around? For me (and many others, I am sure), it is my kitchen.

Each Morning, right after everyone is off to school and work (and the room looks like a box full of gremlins were let loose), I set a timer and quickly straighten and put away breakfast dishes, lunch making items and and anything else that is out of place. Most days I even have time to empty the dishwasher and wipe down the counter and table before the buzzer goes off. Getting this done before I settle into my work day helps me immensely.

What room and what time of day make sense for you and your house? This little bit of time each day can make a world of difference.

3. A Load a Day Keeps the Crazies Away--Does this sound familiar? On the floor is the heaping pile of clothes that needs to be washed, on the bed is the pile that has been washed and is waiting to be folded, and on the dresser is the basket with folded items that need to be put away. UGH--how overwhelming.

So much of our daily mess stems form this task that never really can be completed (someone is ALWAYS making more to wash!). Trying to get all laundry loads done at one time, or doing laundry ALL the time, catch as catch can, will wear you out like a pair of old underwear with a spent elastic band.

Completing one load from start to finish every day can give you a sense of mastery, accomplishment, and peace. Simply don't start a new load before the last is put away, and do the process all the way through (wash, dry, put away) once a day. You will be amazed at how easy it is, how little time it takes, how there isn't stuff just laying around in transition, and how good it feels to not have a  mountain of smelly socks staring you down on Sunday afternoon. I first started doing the laundry this way after reading about it via the Flylady...and each time I have strayed away from the method, I feel bogged down again by the task & I wonder why I ever try any other way.

Pick one of the routines I have listed above, commit to it for the next week, and see how it changes things for the better.  Simple routines can make stressful times (such as the holidays) more manageable, and give you more time and peace.

I wish you and those you love a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Giving thanks is another routine we should all practice daily. Amen!

Your Homework This Month--What NOT To Do First

I’m sure this is a scenario we can all relate to:

It has been a crazy, busy, tiring few weeks, and there is A LOT to do around your house that you haven’t had a minute (maybe not even a second) to get to.

The front hall is a mess, the sink is full of dishes, the laundry hamper is overflowing, and the piles of mail are teetering, threatening to topple and scatter all over the floor.  Maybe the refrigerator even smells.

What is the FIRST thing you do?

Now, be honest.

 Sure you could dive right in, tidy up, wash up & straighten ‘til things shine again. But I would be willing to bet you start somewhere else…

More often that not, it seems our first step when we are overwhelmed and tired is to start by criticizing ourselves –sometimes really maliciously--for not keeping on top of things, for not being perfect.

YUCK.

But this month, I am going to ask you to try something new.

For the next 30 days, I want you to check in with what you are saying to yourself, and stop dead in your tracks if you are being mean or judgmental.

Your homework for this month is to start with love.

When you start with negativity (and we often aren’t even aware that we are doing this) we are directing our energy towards what we DON’T want, and actually making things worse. We wouldn’t encourage a child by tearing her down, so why do we think this will help us to create a better outcome for ourselves?

SO, start with love--whatever the task.

If you feel upset or overwhelmed, take a deep breath and say out loud:

“I am starting with love.”

It IS the MOST powerful force in the universe, after all. :)

You will be fueled to get things done quickly, & peacefully and have energy for so much more as well.

In order for your home to be a place of caring and nurturing, it cannot be a yardstick by which you measure your worth or with which you flog yourself for not being perfect.

Easier said than done, I know.

Just remember—this month, start with love. 

April's Class At The Farmhouse: Your Life, Your House, Your Story

Ideally we are all the heroes of our own stories (I hope you feel that way about yourself!), and the spaces in which we live and work should support us, nurture us, & enable us to tell our stories well. 

Does your house help you to do the good work you are here to do?

Join Us At April's Class At The Farmhouse-- Your Life, Your House, Your Story to:

• learn how to look at your home with fresh eyes.
• discover tools to edit the STUFF we live with, so that you can recognize clutter for what it is and move it out!
• learn how to recognize the items in your house that make your heart sing--let's create more of that!
• learn how to create a home that nurtures and supports the story you want to tell with your life

When: Thursday April 23, 2015 at 7:30pm

Where: Locust Hill Professional Center 327 W Baltimore Pike Media, PA 19063 (across from Wawa Corporate Center)

Registration Fee: $25  Click here to register

This promises to be a really neat evening, with wine & cheese too, of course! Hope to see you there!

Let Me Tell You A Little Story...

Once upon a time there was a young girl who came from a very musical family. The family took such pride in their gift of song, and this little one also showed great promise. They decided that something grand should be done.

They purchased a beautiful, expensive instrument for her to play, and placed it prominently in their home. This purchase meant that the girl would grow to become an accomplished musician. The piano would be a sign of elegance, refinement, prosperity, and it would be passed on to future generations so that they, too, could carry on the family tradition.

But here's the problem:

THAT WAS JUST A STORY I BELIEVED WAS TRUE. 

A couple of years ago, I looked across the room at the baby grand piano that I’ve had in my home all my adult life and the better part of my childhood, and saw the truth of it for the first time: The piano was clutter.

Despite its presence in my life, that piano never made me refined or elegant, and it never got me on stage at Carnegie Hall ... THANK GOD. The values and story behind its presence in my life were not mine. My life and the story I want to tell with my days were about belting out gospel and blues tunes in the kitchen, while my husband played the guitar.

When this moment of clarity hit me, suddenly I realized that allowing a piano to inhabit up 30-square-feet of my home with all that wood and ivory was ridiculous.

SO ...

I decided it was time to call the piano movers.

In its place is now an empty corner that is full of possibilities.

What story does your stuff tell about you? And most importantly, is it true??  

Holding on to things that are just holding you back makes it much harder to tell the true story of you.

Today, I encourage you to release the stuff in your life that does nothing more than clutter your space. If you don’t love it, or if you don’t use it, let it go.

Open up a space for possibility in your home.

Hey there!

As this post goes out today, I am flying north to my client’s cottage up in Maine—to work, of course-- but nonetheless hanging out in a gorgeous “cottage” built in 1891 doesn’t hurt my feelings. :)

And the privilege of helping my client make it even more gorgeous and restore its vintage charm is a true blessing to me. 

It will be COLD, but the change of scenery will do me good. 

Have you been feeling like you need a change?

From time to time we all need a change, but what will the results look like?

Is it possible to create the kind of change we are longing for?

IT IS! And I want to help you picture it. 

SO, I thought it would be fun this week to revisit just a couple of my projects over the years---houses & rooms & clients that were ready for change--and the results we created. 

YAY!

Do you remember any of these houses? If you have been following me for a while, you might. Be sure to click on the photos or the links below the photos so you can see how each space turned out. 

First up, this lovely room was missing something...but what?

Simple things that we brought to the room made it feel completely different. You can click here to see the final results.

Oh, and one of my favorites! Back in 2011, I completed a whole house renovation on this poor girl.  (She looks pretty sad here):

She has new owners now who love her, all because her rooms went through a major transformation that gave her a new lease on life. 

In 2012-2013 I was honored to be a part of another complete house re-do that freed a house stuck in the 80's…

Take a look at how it looks now!

Do you ever stop and think about how your house greets you and your guests when you walk through the front door?

It is an important thing to think about.

See how this foyer now welcomes its family and their visitors with beauty and functionality. 

Okay, so do you have a small, outdated bathroom?

Take heart. Someday it could look like this. 

And finally, this kitchen --while very large—didn’t relate well to the rooms around it, and didn’t use all of its square footage well at all.

We changed that in a BIG way.

I hope that these transformations help you to see what is possible for you and your house! If you are ready for a big change, then a House Call with me can be an amazing first step to start the process.  Can't wait to work with you!