Accountability...

I have really dropped the ball on my accountability postings. Part of it was that I had been very limited in the amount of posting time available to me, and the other part of it is that I dropped the ball on some of the goals that I had been working on.

I think that sometimes I get so caught up in various things going on in life that I somehow neglect making changes or keeping changes because I tend to get tunnel vision and can only focus on one thing at a time.

So, instead of having a new goal each week, I plan to do a new goal every two weeks or a month, and then blog about it weekly, keeping track of how I am actually doing and continue with this goal until I actually don't even have to think about doing it. I think I was starting to overload and overwhelm myself - so we will be starting back at the beginning - with step one - again. I want to read a Bible story every day, but since I am going to be doing this differently now, I think the one other part of this that I want to do is to spend that half hour or so reading that Bible story to my kids at bedtime. I mean, how much more wonderful could it get?

That is what I want to do. So - beginning tonight - I am going to start over with the Bible reading - and read to my kids at their bedtime. I also plan to record anything memorable that happens while I'm doing this - maybe the kids won't say anything and maybe there won't be a conversation about the scripture story, but I want to share this goal with them as well, and I think that the broken down stories is the way to do it.

Family Room Start-Up Plan

Well, today I came home sick from work and rested most of the day. I let my boss know that I wasn't feeling very well and arranged for my shift to be covered for tomorrow. I am starting to feel a little bit better now though, so I'm up to making a plan of attack for the family room.

Tomorrow, I plan to clean up the playroom. I need to make sure that I have the room to move the furniture around and into that room. Even though I won't be moving the furniture in there myself. I plan to clean the playroom tomorrow. (Which could be an organizing challenge all it's own, let me assure you! And if there is going to be one next month, the playroom may very well qualify for it!) Once the playroom is clean enough, I plan to move the boys' guinea pigs down to the relaxing room in the basement. Okay, so I just totally made up the name of the room, but that's really what it is there for. It isn't pretty but it has a couch and not a lot of distractions, so therefore, relaxing room. Better than our family term for the room, which is Area One.

So, anyhow, I will clean out the guinea pigs' cage thing and move their table down to the basement to the relaxing room (which they will love because it's one of the warmer areas in the house) and I will get that all set up for the them down there. Before doing that, though, I guess I will need to move a dresser from the relaxing room (area one) to the guest room (area three). And then I will be ready to move the animals down there. The next step after they are relocated and set up downstairs will be to take apart the captain’s bed that is currently in the playroom. For the time being, it will be stored downstairs in area two. Then the area of the room where those things were will need to be cleaned up, walls scrubbed and carpet vacuumed. Then I can move some of Girlie’s play kitchen stuff to where the guinea table was. Then clean the area where Girlie’s play kitchen stuff was, scrub the walls, vacuum the carpet, et cetera and then…then I will be able to start the family room transformation.

To begin the actual transformation, I want to start by completely clearing off the entertainment center – which means that I will be creating a bigger mess to clean up a mess, but sometimes, you just have to do what you have to do, right? Right! So, everything comes off of the entertainment center. Then, once that is done, I can sort through the things that were on it. The wintery scene that was displayed on top of the center can be packed away in the Christmas tote that is currently being stored on the deep freeze, waiting for the rest of the Christmas items to be stored in there as well. While I am at it, I may as well go ahead and get the ornaments off the two trees that are still up and get them put away as well so that the tote can go downstairs to be stored away.

There is a huge mix of books on the shelves of the center that need to be sorted through. I am not in favor of getting rid of any of them, but I had actually planned on using these shelves for various gaming systems once it is in the playroom, but now I’m not really sure what I want to do with them. The way I’m looking at it, I could have the boys store their books in bookshelves next to their desks in the new den. Or their books could be stored in their room. Or they could store them on the entertainment center’s higher shelves and we can do something else with the gaming systems. I’m leaning more towards the bookshelves idea. We have two bookshelves in other rooms that are really not being used much and could easily be moved into the den to be used for the boys’ book storage.

So, that would take care of the entertainment center. Depending on how much strength and energy I have tomorrow, I may be able to take the TV off of it and get it moved into the playroom. Or maybe not. I’m not really sure yet. But if I feel well enough to move it out, then I can clean under it, scrub the wall and vacuum the carpet. I will store the books in piles on the floor close to the shoe shelf while I’m working on this process.

Once the entertainment center is taken care of, then I can do the couch and one end table. I will need to pull the cushion up, clean out under the cushion and spot clean the cushion itself. Pull the couch and end table out away from the wall, clean out under them, scrub the wall, vacuum the carpet and then that area will be good to go. The couch and end table will be moved into the playroom, opposite from the entertainment center.

The area directly under the middle window will be the spot where my desk will go. So, my desk would be the next item to be cleared off, moved out, cleaned under, wall scrubbed, carpet vacuumed, and then the desk moved into its new position. I can set the desk back up and then add in a lamp on each side of it, between my desk and where the boys’ desks will be on either side of mine.

The next step I am kind of unsure about. I know where the boys’ desks are going to go, but my dilemma is that I had planned to move the shoe shelf out of this room and to move the lower shelf in instead. But after talking to Hubby about it, his opinion was that we keep the shoe shelf in the room. I also thought that the dresser that is currently in our garage was in better shape than it actually is, so I’m not really that keen on bringing it in here after all. So, I think that with keeping these changes in mind, I want to put the shoe shelf where the entertainment center was. Hubby also vetoed the idea of moving the deep freeze downstairs. He would rather that we just keep it where it currently is – or at least in the room where it currently is. So, the new plan for that wall is to actually keep it in somewhat the same layout that it currently has – deep freeze, shoe shelf, then the armoire…or the armoire, shoe shelf, and then deep freeze. I may slide the deep freeze down the wall just for a bit of an extra change there. So, then the next step would be to clear off the deep freeze and move it out, clean under it, scrub the walls, vacuum the carpet there and the move it down to its new location.

The step after that would be to clear off the shoe shelf and move it to the spot where the entertainment center was. And of course, cleaning up under it, scrubbing the walls and vacuuming the carpet. I am considering some other options for shoe storage though, such as having the shoes stored on the floor of the bedroom closets. The shoe shelf may end up being used more for book or decorative storage instead. I really like that idea. It would be more for form than function, but it is also an idea that I really like. And since I spend more time in this room than I do in the living room, I’d like it to be a pretty room to me.

Okay, so then the next step I think, will be to move the armoire to the spot where the deep freeze was. One major thing about moving all of the furniture (minus the computer desk) is to be able to clean the carpets and the walls behind the furniture. Okay, so clear off the armoire, move it to its new spot, then clean under where it was, scrub the wall, vacuum the carpet. And, this is my favorite part – put up some 3M hooks for the kids to hang their coats up. I love it! I can’t even tell you how excited I am about that one little part. And one reason I’m doing that part slightly out of order is to reward myself for getting to this point.

Okay, so the entry area will be done, the armoire, (shoe/book/decorative) shelf, and deep freeze will be along the wall between the bathroom and playroom doors. On the other side of the playroom door is the computer desk. I want to clear that off completely, clean the glass top of the desk and scrub the wall behind the desk, vacuum under it, and then get things set up neatly on it again.

I will skip the stairs at this point and move on to the boys’ current desk areas. I will start with Boy B’s desk and completely clear it off. His desk will be moved toward the sliding door, where the shoe shelf was. The left side of his desk will line up with the right side of the far right window. Then, of course, the spot where his desk was will be cleaned, wall scrubbed, carpet vacuumed, and then the small table in between the boys’ desks will be cleared off, moved out, cleaned under, wall scrubbed, carpet vacuumed. I am thinking about taking this small table and using it either near the computer desk to hold additional items to free up some of the desktop area. Or I might use it elsewhere. If it fits in the area between the computer desk and the playroom door though, that is where I would really like to have it.

Last is Boy A’s desk. His desk will be cleared off, moved out, cleaned out under, moved into place, and the wall will be scrubbed and the carpet will be vacuumed. The right side of Boy A’s desk will be lined up with the left side of the far left window. Since the windows are centered on that wall, the way the furniture will be arranged will also be symmetrical, which I really like.

I will help the boys go through their desks and sort their belongings and help them get organized, using the boxes I brought home from work. Oh –now that I’m thinking about those boxes – I will put the cardboard piece for a winter storage divider in the bottom drawer of the armoire. I had been using it for my paper route at the end of the year, but since I am no longer doing that, I can use the drawer for winter storage instead, while there is still a need for it.

Okay, so once the boys’ desks are neat, orderly and organized, we will move the bookshelves down to the den. Because at this point, it will be a den. The bookshelves will be centered between the boys’ desks and the wall next to them. I think it will be cute. And then the boys can put their own books on their shelves. It will look really nice. I’m not sure exactly how easy it will be to maintain it and to keep the books protected from the shorter siblings, but we will try it. If it doesn’t work, well, we can deal with that and change it as needed. But since I am no longer working when the kids would need to be home with a sitter, it should work out well enough.

I also want to clear off the window ledge and dust it, clean the windows and the glass in the sliding door. I may also end up putting up a hook for each boy near their desk for them to hang their backpacks up. Girlie also has a backpack, but she doesn’t have homework like Boy A always does and like Boy B sometimes does. I may put up an extra hook for her over where the coat hooks will be located.

The remaining work will be mainly just checking to make sure that the main floor area is picked up, and then finishing up on the stair area, which requires the stairs being cleared off, the ledge being cleared off, the wall being scrubbed and the carpet vacuumed. Also vacuuming the middle area of the new den.

It is a lot of work to do, and I don’t intend to get it all done in one day, but I do plan to get some of the work done tomorrow while I’m home from work, if I’m feeling well enough to get some of the work done. Then, spend all day Friday and Saturday here at home working on it. I’m sure the kids will be tired of that room by the time Sunday rolls around, but it will be so worth it!

The Family Room (soon to be Den)

Well, I decided on a room for the challenge. Our family room. It is the room that serves as our main entry into our house, it also serves (mainly) as our dumping ground for anything and everything that comes into the house. It has an entertainment center and a couch, both of which are used very little. Well, the entertainment center is used quite often, but mainly as a place to stack things, to put things, and it's just not working for me.

We also happen to have four desks in this room - our big computer desk, which also is a dumping ground, Boy A's desk which serves as one as well, Boy B's desk, which...yup, also a dumping ground, and my desk...by now, you have guessed it, dumping ground.

We also have two small endtables in here, both used to hold stuff. A shoe shelf, an armoire, and a deep freeze. The shoe shelf holds shoes among other things, though not in any organized fashion. The armoire is additional storage for a tiny bathroom that is completely lacking in storage space. It works, although the top of the armoire just serves as yet another place to stack things. The deep freeze holds our frozen goods and keeps them nice and cold, but once again, the top of it is a place to put things down when we come inside and it doesn't get moved again until we need to get into the deep freeze or until a certain mood strikes to clean it all up.

Along with cleaning, decluttering, purging and organizing this room, I plan to rearrange a few pieces of furniture. The deep freeze will be moved downstairs to the basement laundry room. The entertainment center and couch, since the sparse usage of these items are done by the kids, will be moved to the playroom. The shoe shelf will also be moved to the playroom, I think. The desks and the armoire will be rearranged for more of a study/den type room. I plan to bring in a long, low, 9 drawer dresser that is currently sitting unused in our garage, to use for seasonal weather storage drawers. We have six members in our family. That would give us each one drawer, with three drawers leftover. The three leftover drawers could be used as overflow bathroom storage, or something else. If we aren't using the armoire for the bathroom storage, it can be moved to another part of the house where it will be of more use. Probably the playroom or the living room, though I'm not exactly sure yet.

One of the endtables will either go with the couch into the playroom or else go up to the living room, while the other endtable remains here in this room.

All four desks will have a major overhauul session done on them and things will be put away, neatly and organized. I brought home some small shallow boxes from work for the boys to use for organizing their desks. Totally free, which I love!

And everything in the room will be moved around as well, except for the computer desk, because it has to be in a certain spot, due to it's power and telephone cord needs. The walls need to be cleaned, the carpet needs a good cleaning as well. Between a two year old with crayons, markers, and whatever else the bigger kids leave out and his view of our walls as a canvas, there's a LOT of "artwork" to remove. At this point, it may be easier to just paint, but we will try some good ol' elbow grease to start with. That's something that the whole family can get into, right? :) Teach our older kiddos to keep their art supplies picked up and put away, teach our little artist not to draw on the walls, teach us to keep a closer eye on what the kids have left out and to not allow the little one to roam freely throughout the house playing. Because he's not playing. He's coloring - EVERYWHERE!

So, here goes: A pic of our "family room" soon to be our new den:



This photo was taken in the evening after a grocery shopping trip and some other stuff, so there are bags and such left by the sliding door (where our non-cold stuff often ends up sitting while the cold stuff gets taken upstairs to be put away) and the kids had been playing. There is just mess in here too from a weekend of an unattentive babysitter as well.

I think I answered most of these questions within this post, but now for the specific questions from Org Junkie's site:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?

This room will be turning into a den, a place for us to work and study. It will also continue to be our main entry into our home as well as a place to store our coats and shoes and such.

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?

We have four desks in the room that will remain, just in different spots and a small endtable. There may be bookshelves coming in and possibly a 9-drawer dresser.

3. What can I remove from the room?

Shoe shelf, armoire, deep freeze, entertainment center, end table, and a couch will all likely be moved from this room.

4. What problems do I see with the room?

As it is right now, it is just not being used as it was intended. Other than the desks and such, it is a duplicated room. We have another room meant for an almost exactly similar use. No need for two rooms with the same main function.

The second problem with this room is that although there is plenty of storage, things are not being put away, neatly.

Another problem with the room is the vertical blinds over the sliding door. I hate vertical blinds with kids. They just do not hold up well. Unfortunately, there is not a lot I can do about the shades being there, since we rent, but I do need to go out and buy some new blinds to replace the ones that have been knocked down or broken by the kids when entering and exiting that door.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?

For the desk drawers and maybe for the winter storage drawers, I am planning on utilizing some small boxes that I brought home from work. The boys can use these to organize their desk drawers. And if they want, they can use some cool crafting paper to cover the boxes first so that they are more likely to use them. And for the winter weather storage drawers, I was thinking about those sock drawer organizers that make little X's for you to put a pair of socks into...you know what I mean? Well, at work, the beer bottles are separated by a similar thing, cardboard of course, but once again, a free item that I could easily re-use. This way I don't spend a lot of money on items that may or may not work well for the family. And if they do work well for us, and I decide down the road that I really want to have it look nicer, then I can always go out and buy those items. But really - they will be inside of drawers and I'm just not that worried about it.

Not really an organizational tool, but a small trash can at each desk might be a great idea as well.

And I have some 3M hooks to put up where the armoire is over by the door - for us all to hang our coats on. There is a closet inside the playroom, the door of which is next to the computer desk, but that's a long way to go for hanging something up. I think its better to just change the house to solve the issue first.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?

I think that putting the non-cold food items by the door when we come in from grocery shopping will be fine, but I need to set a time limit to have it dealt with. Or just have the boys take the bags upstairs to the kitchen counters.

Another will be to actually put shoes away and hang up coats and backpacks.

I think having a trash can near each desk would also work wonders. That way when the boys are working on projects at their desks, they can easily throw away their excess items. Same for Hubby and myself. And since Hubby and I will sometimes eat or drink at the computer desk, it is especially important to have a trash can here so we can throw the trash away right away.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?

I don't have much of a budget for this. Somewhere near $20.00, is what I'm thinking. But I have a lot of ideas and solutions that require re-using items already in our house, or re-using items that I can bring home free from work, which I love!

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room? (28 days!)

Well, I have three-day weekends and ideally, I would love to have this room done in one weekend. However, in order to move some of the furniture items out of this room, I need do some work in the playroom first to get this room done. So, the playroom will probably take a full day's work and then the family room/den will be done the next two days of the weekend.

9. What is my plan of action?

My plan of action is to first get the playroom ready to receive the entertainment center, couch and one end table. Then those will be cleared off and moved out. The areas under them will be cleaned and vacuumed, the walls scrubbed and then repeat the process with the armoire, the deep freeze and the shoe shelf. Then, clear off the desks, clean out the drawers, and then put the items back in that belong in there (this project will need to be done with the boys' involvement and presence). The desks will be moved to their new locations and the areas under and behind where they were would be cleaned, vacuumed and then the walls scrubbed clean. Then, the additional items that will be brought into the room can be added in. Then, decorate and put the finishing touches on the room. And voila! a room transformation! I can't wait!

I forgot to add that I also like to take pictures of just certain areas - say the top of one desk and then deal with that area in the photo - nothing else. It helps keep me motivated by not being so overwhelmed with all of the tasks at hand. I can (kind of) have tunnel vision and get this one area done. Then there is the sense of accomplishment. It doesn't seem like that much work to take care of one photo area. But you do get a bit of a kick of adrenaline to see what you have accomplished. The remaining 35 photos don't seem like that much work after that first one is done. I can trick myself into working faster and staying motivated by doing this.

Time For Me Thursday

Well, my thing for tonight was joining in on a Cribbage tournament. That was a lot of fun! My manager, B, has played on this league for twelve years now. His team needed a sub for tonight and possibly a long-term sub to replace another teammate. I had never played Cribbage in a league, but it was easy to understand. All the standard rules of the game apply. A team is made up of five members. A play plays against each member of the opposite team once. If you win, you get two points. You get three points for a skunk and no points if you lose. Out of five games, I won two, so I had four points. They also keep track of pegged scores, and I had something like 567 points there, which averages out to about 113 points per game. There are 121 points in game, so really not bad at all. The team I was playing on was ranked second going in to the games tonight, and if my manager’s calculations are correct, we will be number two next week. I have even been invited back to play next week! Yay!

The other thing that was really cool about tonight was that my first game was against a very well-known reporter for our local newspaper. She’s kind of a celebrity in my book. She also beat the heck out of me in our game against each other. Afterwards, we were chatting while waiting for the players to my right to finish their game so that I could move on to the next game, and she mentioned that she was a writer. I was like, “I know! I really enjoy your writing. I have to admit that I’m a fan.” I was totally trying to be cool about it but I was nervous too. And she was awesome about it. She said, “oh! Well, you should have told me that before we started playing. I’d have let you win.” Haha! I love it!

But honestly, I really like her writing style. She has a very human-interest approach to her writing. Well, really that is what most of her articles are, but she just has a certain tone that I really enjoy reading. To be honest, she’s quite inspiring to me as a writer. If she has a piece in the paper, 95% of the time, I will read it.

I also worked today. That was fine. We have a new guy and today was his first day. My assistant manager, King J, as he likes to be called (LOL!) was the one who was supposed to be training this new guy on the register, but I was the one who ended up doing a lot of the register training. It was cool though. Manager B said that it was cool, and that I did okay. He said that he trusts me enough to train someone else – training is the job of the manager and assistant managers. Plus, did I mention that I have only been there for a month now? Well, a month and a week. That is not a lot of time. But he thinks I am good enough to train another employee and I’m cool with that. It’s a real pat on the back.

I worked today and I still have another seven days to work before I get a day off. That kinda stinks, but eh..after that, it is four day work weeks, three day weekends. Set schedule. Easy rollin’. Plus, my hours will be really close to Hubby’s hours so it will work out really well that way also.

I think I had mentioned that Hubby was talking about homeschooling the kiddos beginning this fall. Anyhow, I had made a call about it yesterday, requesting information and it came today, so my next step will be to read through it and see what all the requirements are and such stuff. I don’t know how we would work out homeschooling the kids when I have to work during the day and so does Mike. I mean, we could easily have someone watch them during the day and school in the evening and on the weekends, but I’m not sure that MIL (my mother-in-law) would be supportive of that. In fact, I know that she wouldn’t be supportive of it. But at this point, I’m not sure what we are thinking for next year. And who knows, maybe I will end up working third shifts again or something like that (which I might add – work out beautifully for our family – apart from the fact that I, well, I like to sleep with my husband at nighttime, ya know?) But anyhow, it’s a ways off and we’ll just have to see what happens between now and then.

I also went shopping for a laptop case for my new laptop tonight. First off, laptop cases are EXPENSIVE! But I did find a really cute, simple, brown and pink case for myself. It even came with three other cases – an accessory case (supposed to be for the power cord but could totally be for make-up and such related items), a camera case, and a flash drive case (which can hold either two flash drives, two SD cards or a combination of the two.) It is very cool and the bag could totally double as a purse. This is a bag that I would definitely carry all the time – with or without my laptop in it. I really like it. I’ll have to take a picture of the bag and upload it to share with you all. It even has some nice storage pockets inside of it and slotted pockets for credit cards and such.

I had hoped to find one for Hubby, but all the laptop cases at the store where I went were pretty feminine. Hubby’s favorite color is pink but I don’t know that I’m really all about him carrying around a pink and brown laptop purse. Ya know? It just doesn’t seem comfortable to me. I am going to go back out tomorrow and see if I can find him a more masculine or at least a basic laptop case. Not a purse, and no flowers or girly colors. I have in mind for him a messenger style bag in black. I love messenger bags myself, and almost held out for one instead of my laptop purse, but I decided that this purse was just too perfect to pass over, so I got it.

But anyhow, it’s late. Really really late for me. I’m usually in bed by around ten o’clock or so, and it’s already after eleven at night. Morning is going to come real early tomorrow. Well, technically, it always comes early, but tomorrow, it will be particularly early, so I am going to end this for now and will post it early tomorrow morning when I get online. Right now I am working on my laptop in a word document. Goodnight all! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Tackle It Tuesday

It's been awhile since I've posted a Tackle It Tuesday and this is the first time I'll be doing it on this blog. I have a number of things that I want to tackle today. Probably the first of which is getting my family room back in order. I started the job yesterday, but then the day went downhill and I chose not to keep at it. The good side of that is that now there is not as much to do in it. Our family room is our family's main entrance to our home and it also ends up being the place where things often get put down and left and forgotten about (or ignored.) So my tackle for today is to get this room back into shape...possibly minus scrubbing the crayon/marker/pencil/pen/whatever off of the wall. I'm not sure what I want to do about that. Whether it would be better to clan it or just wait and paint it. Guess it will depend on how ambitious I am today.

Tonight, our tackle will be filing our taxes with our wonderful and beautiful tax professional, VK. Will definitely have to take pictures of both tackles today and share them. We love VK. I have been trained as a professional tax preparer, but even though for the last two or three years that I could have easily done it, we continue to utilize VK's services. Why? Because we love her and she's awesome! When you see the pics tonight, you will understand that although we only see her once or twice a year - and only in a professional setting - well, we all have fun. Our half hour appointment usually takes longer because we all get to joking around and laughing (and generally disturbing the rest of the office) but it's okay because she's the one in charge of the office.

So those are my two main tackles today: family room and taxes. Fun! Oh - that reminds me, I have to round up my self-employment tax documents too. Yikes!

Poor little guy!

The littlest boy was running today and biffed it. Poor guy came to me with a fully bloody face. Turned out to thankfully be just his lip. Big swollen puffy, cut up lip.

I Am In Love!!!!

Just wait until you all see these! Oh, how perfect are they? Seriously? Totally going to critique them all right here and now for you all.

This one is totally awesome because it symbolizes the double roles of being an employee and a volunteer. And I love the gray sky in this because when you are doing both of these roles, there is a lot of gray area. It's hard to balance both of them. Such an excellent choice on this one!



This one is such an awesome representation of the way that I feel about working. I like it but it's not exactly real fulfilling at this point. It serves it's purpose but it doesn't round me out or complete me, you know?



However, I love my work as a volunteer. Doing this makes me feel so much fuller and complete. And I love the way it makes me feel. I feel like I'm really making a difference. Much like this picture.



Parenting can be incredibly humbling. That's why I chose this as my label name. But it is also incredibly rewarding. There is nothing else like it. And often, when you have been humbled by your kiddos, (like the gray sky above in the photo below), you are also enlightened by them and proud of them because they have surpassed what you expected from them (the sunshine showing on the landscape.) And if you look closely, you will see a double rainbow, symbolizing this mix of humility and pride.



There is nothing quite as organized as the calm tide. Just think of it. The tide comes in, following a regular routine, and when it breaks against the shore, it does so much and affects so many things. It helps clean the beaches, allows life to grow (think of the animals that plant their eggs in the sand and the tide coming in and sweeping them out to sea where they can hatch and begin life). Such organization! It's perfect. The tide can also be very not organized, with storms billowing in to the shore, and wreaking havoc. Kind of like the destruction that we achieve in our lives when we are not organized. Love this!



This one was the first one I saw on the page when I was downloading the pictures from my email. It just jumped out at me. Something about the mixture of the font, the way the rainbow cuts through the center and really is the focus of the picture. It just rocks. But there is absolutely some symbolism here as well. My hope with the New Year, New Goals posts are to change little areas in my life and to allow me to grow. First of all, this picture is just beautiful and inspiring to me. But also, the rainbow is cutting through everything else - much like I want these changes to cut through the other things in my life to help me grow and change. I may even make this picture my desktop background. I like it THAT much!



Once again, just like the parenting picture, this one also shows the gray sky with the sunshine showing below on the landscape. To me, this picture just looks like harmony. I don't know - there's something about a country setting that equals peace and tranquility and well, harmony, for me. They gray sky on the other hand, shows that it can be rough, but the sunshine below shows that it will pass and that the land (or the relationship) has withstood it and all is well. (I hope this review of this particular picture doesn't offend though - it's just my interpretation of the picture)



Accountability. I don't know why exactly this picture works for it, but it does. Something about the colors in the picture, I think, is what it is. I'm not sure, but I love it!



I just love them all so much! Wow! They are just incredible! With very little instruction and a lot of indecisiveness about my request, Katie knew just what it was I wanted. She knew what I wanted more than I did, I'd have to say! So a HUGE thank you to a wonderful friend for designing these for me! Thanks Katie!