Icy Weather Here

Its very icy around here today. It looks like it will be this way all weekend. We are cozy inside with a lovely fire, book on cd playing, and dinner in the crockpot. It is a very pleasant and simple beauty all around me.
Hope you all are doing well in your neck of the woods.

~ at our homestead ~
smells ~ dinner Creamy Turkey w/egg noodles, sunflower candle
sounds ~ crackling fire wood, A Tale of Two Cities
planning ~ weekend projects and meals
my hands ~ crocheting hats & socks
reading ~ Simplify my time

Simplifying My Time ~ Progress Report

I've been working thru this book now and I'm still in the first section. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. ;D However, I have been learning a few things and reinforced some things I learned from Flylady, so thats good. Once I get my thoughts together, I'll post some points. Right now, I'm just going to list a quote or two that I've been pondering. Enjoy!

"Tomorrow we will become what we choose today"
~ John Maxwell

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish
something stand in the way of your doing it. The time
will pass away; we might just as well put that
passing time to the best possible use."
~ Earl Nightingale

Enjoying the here & now!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Its been fairly quiet around here and I've not had much to blog about either. However, today I visited The Guide to Living Well and found this wonderful entry and wanted to share it with all of you. Be sure to stop by the site, its full of wonderful tips and practical suggestions for living simply well. Have a great evening!

Remember to be Here Now and Enjoy!
You already have all the riches you need. Remember that by simplifying, you gain more freedom in your life. When most of us are just starting out, we don’t have many possessions to worry about.

We have the freedom to be able to move without much thought or coordination with movers. We don’t have to worry much about someone breaking in and stealing our possessions. Life is a little freer and easier without a lot of stuff weighing us down.

~Happy New Year~

May you all celebrate this new beginning with joy and thanksgiving to our Lord and Saviour. May He continue to richly bless you and yours and fill your hearts and homes with His presence, love, grace, mercy and abundance.

"Happy New Year!"

~ Simplifying My Life ~

Being rich is having money;
being wealthy is having time.
~ Margaret Bonnano

It is time to actually implement the steps necessary to simplify my life. I want more for my life in the New Year and I must start somewhere, right?! I was not sure what I was going to do to change my current lifestyle. I thought quitting my job would be it, but I see that is just one thing I could do to improve my life. There is more to it than this and I will have to start with the assessment of my time.

I am reading “simplify your time” by Marcia Ramsland, its a Woman of Faith book. I stumbled on it last week at the library. I thought it was part of the Simple Living series like the A Simple Christmas, but its not. I was drawn by the title and the color of the book. ;D I’ve read so many books on organization and such, that I am not sure I want to read this one until after I read the introduction and the note from the author. I am planning to drop most of my reading lists and begin working through this book. It is divided into 4 weeks, with 30 days worth of chapters to work on managing my time. I am beginning to see how getting my time management under control could help to simplify my life. Not necessarily on a professional level, but on a personal level to allow me to be more, doing less. You know I love the saying “less is more” and I’m beginning to see that I must do something about my hectic lifestyle in order to truly have this concept everyday of the year. The random thing is for the birds.

So, simplified living, here I come. I want to live a full life without stress, giving freely of myself and enjoying the simple pleasures the Lord brings my way. Here I go ~ my decision statement that I share here so that I can be accountable to my blogging buddies ;D :

I want to make my life better - and I believe the place to start is learning how to spend my time more effectively. I’m willing to go on a “diamond hunt” to find the solution to my time challenges for thirty days.

I want to simplify my life by simplifying my time, and I’m determined to make the necessary changes by taking this four week 30-day journey. After all, this is the time of my life!

*I will be journaling weekly about my progress instead of daily. I will be using my new habit of journaling in my personal book and sharing in summary form.

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it,
but what they become by it.
~ John Ruskin