Striving for Simplicity

A sweet "bloggy" friend, Linny, Posted this great tip on her blog and I thought I would share a tip that has made life more simple at my house...
For the youngest two children here, I make them clothing bags for each day with their entire outfit in it...no shoes, but everything else...so for the Principessa, I fold her clothes and put everything in the bag, one for each day...and as I am doing that, I try to think of what will be happening and plan accordingly...For DD, I just put together the pants and shirts...he doesn't have enough socks and skivvies for the number of bags I have for him. On his bags, I wrote his name...since he can't read (but can recognize his name) and because I was finding empty ziploc bags all over the house and I was never quite sure if they were his or mine...I wrote days of the week on the Principessa's.
So, I am sure you are wondering...how does this Simplify your life? Well, now they are not digging through their drawers to find clothes...which if it were left in the drawers, would be okay with me, but they ended up ALL OVER THE FLOOR and then because they were on the floor and became mixed with dirty, got thrown into the laundry and so I was washing clean clothes several times...which, when you have more than the 2.5 or 1.9 or whatever the average number of children is right now...well, let's just say...I don't need any more laundry.
And now, when I am doing laundry, I have them grab their basket and I refill the bags while I am folding...may not be rocket science, might not work in your home, but in my home, "It's a Good Thing!"
Now, we're working on CLEANER BEDROOMS!
So, how do you Simplify your Life?
C~

Jam Session

Canning Seasaon is just beginning to be upon up and is ushered into our home with freezer jam...Strawberry and Raspberry...our family's favorites...I am thinking of trying mango too as we really love mangoes, but I will not go crazy with that in case we're not that crazy about mango jam...also hoping to do some peach too...
My other canning plans or hopes at this point are for:
Applesuace- I really need to get one of those peeler, slicer jobs though...
Apple Pie Filling
Green Beans
Peaches
Pickles- been a few years since I have done these
Tomatoes in almost all forms....sauce, puree, chunks...
and...I am going to try canning some jalapenos...we will see about that...

So, I would post pictures, but I am not so sure Bessie can...I'll play with that a little later (and by "I" I mean my techy teenager who seems to know all of that stuff by osmosis or something....) but right now, I need to go put away my jam!
What are your canning plans this year?

Blog Stalker?

So, many of you might be thinking I never read your blog...I assure you...I do...I just have this issue...a pet peeve really...I don't like the way the comments are done...how you have to go to a seperate page to leave a comment...the when you are done, press back a few times til you are where you were...makes me nuts!!!! I wish the comments could just be left under the post...like facebook...I can leave you a cheery little message and scroll down right keeping up with what is going on...ahhh...perhaps one day...but not today...Bessie just can't take it...even if it didn't make me nuts on a regular day...
So...anything make you nuts about blogging...either posting or reading...do tell...just don't get me started on those fancy pants blogs where you have to click "read More" to read more...or I might really go over the edge...do something drastic...like tweet to all my twits or write on some walls...only if Bessie doesn't get her bytes in a bundle!!!
C~

Scrabble

Ok...strange request, but I am getting a little frantic in my searc* for Scrabble games...now, I know t*at stores have t*em stacked up all day *ig*, but I am not $15 frantic ....well....yet....but t*e day may come...I am like 50 cents, or $1 frantic and *ope t*at maybe someone can *elp me w*ile t*ey are out and about...garage sale-ing...t*rift store s*opping, etc...because I need 12+ of t*ese puppies...yup...you read t*at rig*t...and w*ile you are at it...you all mig*t want to write the nice folks at Scrabble and let t*em know...that 2 H's in a game...is definitely NOT enoug*...
So, please let me know if you find any and I will make arrangements for taking t*em off your *ands....and t*ank you most profusely from the bottom of my *eart...see need more H's...

(A little confused...put H's in the places of the *...just a little play on letters!)
C~

Poor, Poor Bessie

Well, when I told you all about our dinosaur, I forgot to tell you her name...we are calling her Bessie...well, because it just fit. Back in April, I rode to a women's retreat with a dear friend...it was her first time driving this new little commuter car her husband was going to be using and she was worried about how it would go up the pass...I told her it would be fine as long as the semis weren't passing us...well, the semis WERE passing us...and we had a great laugh over it...and I am not sure what the computer comparison would be for Bessie, but the semis are DEFINITELY passing her!!!! I feel so helpless as I can offer no help as she wheezes and groans with each page or email opening...just think back to dial-up if y'all can remember back that far...maybe we should have called her Granny...but Bessie, sad as it is to watch her work, is most beloved...perhaps we will have to have Flat Stanley adventures with her...well, except for the fact...well...that she is not that flat!!!!
Keep rejoicing with me though...and don't worry as the semis pass us by...the laughter in the car is WORTH it! (well at least Cheri and Grace will get it! ;-)
C~

We have found a dinosaur...in our HOME!?!?!?

Dinosaurs REALLY do exist...not the reptile sort you are all probably thinking of, but the OLD TECHNOLOGY sort that I am typing on right now...and I cannot tell you HOW thankful I am for it...my husband and I have been giggling on and off for the past two days at the funny things that come up regarding this old computer...I was talking to a friend yesterday and telling her about how old it was and he started laughing and saying, "Now Carrie, it's only 10 years old!" So we are greatly enjoying this new endeavor...but after being without a computer for 3 months...I don't care....laugh all you want, I still get to stay connected...
Oh...and if you still happen to have any of those 3" or whatever they were diskette jobbies...well, you know where to send them...Do not grieve though...rejoice with great laughter!