Peaceful Surroundings

I love peace.  I love a day where things just go according to plan and I can accomplish all the things I wanted and then some.  I had a day like that yesterday.

One of the things that I find helps me keep that peaceful feeling is to make my surroundings calm and peaceful.  For me, that means a clean, organized house.  Well, as organized as I can get in our somewhat small home that overfloweth with the things we collect and love.  But I really enjoyed cleaning the kitchen yesterday.  Hubby even joined in and did the dusting and vacuuming for me.  Awesome!!  While I did a load of laundry, I thought about how easy I have it compared to women years ago.

Think about how women used to do the laundry.  Scrubbing it on a washboard over a basin of water, wringing it out, hanging it on the line, ironing it out with an iron that had to be heated on a stove.  Yowza!!  I can throw in a load and go do something else, throw it in the dryer and go do something else, and then come back and hang it or fold it without worrying about ironing.  Easy peasy.

Modern conveniences sure make for a peaceful life and maybe when we get tired of dealing with them, we should thank our lucky stars we were born in the modern age.  Hooray for peace!


Tip:  Here's my best laundry tip.  If you hate dealing with socks and underwear as much as I do, you'll want to take note.  Put a drawer system in your laundry area.  I use those large plastic 3-drawer stack-able ones you can get cheap at the super store.  Put a label on the front of each one for each member of the family.  When socks and underwear come out of the dryer, instead of folding and carrying to the bedroom, just stick 'em in the right person's drawer and voila - you're done. 

Here's a lovely song to add to the peace of your day.

Hello, 2012!!

I know, I know.  I've been a terrible blogger of late.  I tend to get caught up in other things and ignore this page.  I think that should be my resolution for 2012 - blog regularly.

Speaking of resolutions, I didn't really have any this year.  Instead, I'm going with themes.  Within each, I have concepts, but I'm letting things be very fluid and relaxed this year.  Here are my themes and concepts: 

1.  Learn something new.

• Swedish - I'm getting back to learning a new language on Livemocha.  I'll probably have to review all my old lessons before I start any new ones, but that's okay.
• Guitar - My mom gave me a guitar and I wanna give it a try.  My husband plays and I'm going to have him teach me.  I may not like it - I didn't stick with piano lessons as a kid - but I thought it might be fun.
• Crochet - My mom crochets and she started teaching me last year, but I got involved in a cross-stitch project and never got back to the crochet.  This is the year!!  I'll probably try a scarf in Doctor Who colors.

2.  Do what's right even if no one else does.

• Be Kind - This is not always easy when people cut you off in traffic, are rude to you, or whatever, but I'm going to work on doing the right thing anyway.
• No Votes for Bums - I'm also applying this concept to my voting.  I won't vote for anyone who votes to violate our civil rights.  I know that means I might end up with no one to vote for, but that's okay.
• Tell 'Em Why - I've also started writing to our leaders telling them why I will not be voting for them.  Again, may not make any difference, but I think it's the right thing to do.

So what are your goals, themes, resolutions and plans for this new year???