Continuing my Operation Organization!

After weeks of organizers block (akin to writers block) I have my next project.
I've been wanting to do my pantry for weeks, so with my husband out on a job for a little while, I'm attacking it! 
  

Before, what a mess!


 

Just keep a'piling



 




















After: an organized pantry! Minus the paint job and cool matching containers I think it looks mucho better.

I used the template from http://www.dogsdonteatpizza.com/, Thanks Karen for somehow having the same pantry layout. Mine's just the mini version. Then started putting things where they would fit for me. The hardest part was moving the last shelf, and all those little canned goods. All in all I think it took be about 2.5 hours.  I still have some decorative elements I'd like to do but those are projects for another day. 

Tonight, I'm still thinking but perhaps I'll attack the bedroom closets.



It's a new week, it's a new you!

What a wonderful day it is today! I woke up with a grateful heart, went to the Y at 5:30 am, successfully completed my week 5 part I on podrunners 1day to 5k. Love that DJ Beatsmith! If you're just starting out on it, I can guarantee that if you push yourself through week 4 and succeed, there's no stopping you! I feel wonderful for the first time in a long time. Almost normal. The rest of this post is a little personal and I am sorry for the graphic detail, that may prove just tmi for some people. However, I feel it is important. For the last 5 yrs I suffered with diarrhea symptoms, almost everyday for 5 years! The doctor tried to put me on cholesterol medicine I didn't need, because a common side effect was the opposite of the symptoms I was experiencing. Not once did the man suggest I change my diet, not once did he even try to send me to a specialist. This is the health care we routinely receive in America's rural communities. Through lots of research and talking openly with friends, I decided to try changing my diet. ( Thank you Charleen!)  I cut out flour, and sugar. Absolutely no gluten allowed, (cornflour is ok) and no processed sugar. Some (not a lot) sugar substitute is ok, honey and maple is ok too(not the cheap store ones that's not real maple syrup). 3 weeks now, and no symptoms!!! I feel like a new woman I tell ya! The next thing I tackled immediately was the itchies, every time I got out of the shower I was attacked with itching all over, severe burning itch me now kind of itching. Some suggested no fragrance body soap, ok, tried that, still itching. Then I was googling, Why do I itch when I get out of the shower, ...kind of a last ditch effort, and ran across an article on SLS. I'm not going to rant on here, but if you've ever experienced that mind blowing itching all over you may want to google SLS also. The stuff is horrible, and it's in every soap we use. Shower gel, shampoo, toothpaste you name it. What's really bad and I will share this, what it does to lab rats is unreal. From hair loss to cancer! Manufacturers know this but they keep using it in our products! You can find products without it but you have to read the label. Today's lesson, read the labels!!! For God's sake, act as if your life depends on it, because at some point it will. If I have found out one thing it's that as we age apparently we are more susceptible to what we put in and on our bodies. Stop letting companies get away with sending us straight to the doctor who in turn does his/her part to support the pharmaceuticals but putting us on unneeded medications! Take your life into your own hands and educate yourself! I love you all too much to see you suffer like I have and not say anything. Until next time, get healthy and stay that way. GET UP AND MOVE PEOPLE! Don't be .....like this....

Morrow Challenge

Good Day everyone! I hope this finds you all well. I spent a wonderful weekend with family. You know sometimes when we get together with family members we don't get to see on a regular weekly basis, we have a tendency to scrutinize. I believe it's time to challenge my family. I have been looking at them with Papa's eyes the last few family functions I have attended. Family meant everything to him. My grandfather was not a rich man, and as a parent he made mistakes, but let me tell you as a grandfather, he could do no wrong. Back in the day we would gather together for holidays, birthdays, everyone's birthdays...not just close relatives, I don't remember a lot of friends being at my birthdays, but I do remember everyone in my family being there. The cousins were close then, we would go over to grandma's and play together. Spend all day Christmas there. Oh how I love them all. Well as time goes, I grew up, joined the Navy, moved away, and everyone grew up. We grew a little distanced after 20 years, who wouldn't? We all have our own families, jobs, in-laws families, but I'm going to put in my plea to the Morrows especially. Don't  go through life saying, I don't have time, I have to do something else. We are blood, we need each others love and support. When there's a family function and there's advance notice, suck it up, take the day off if you have to, and let's get together, and show grandpa that we still love and respect each other. Even if we raise our kids different or have different lifestyles. Unconditional love that's what you get in a family. It's a small amount of time to give to each other to show our children that ...when things happen in life we can depend on family. We can listen to each others gripes, we can lean on each other for support, we can pray for each other, we can take what we're good at and lead by example. Best of all, we can share moments of joy, happiness, and love, there is just so little of that now adays. Love each other, take time for each other. I have been gone too long but I we are all the same people we once were deep down. Aunt's, uncles, cousins, in-laws or not, if you are tied to a Morrow, you are family. This year let's work on rebuilding those family ties. Birthday parties, cookouts, holidays, showers, graduations. If I was closer, I would say the occassional football game, choir concert, play.

On a side note, with Jamie's and Justins shower complete, now it's time to buckle down and train for this 5k. I have been eating a flour free, and sugar free diet and my digestive symptoms are subsiding. If your struggling with arthritis pain, fibromyalgia, or any kind of digestion problems try eliminating these two things from your diet, and keep a log of how you feel. It's a success so far for me and the more research I do on the subject the more I'm disgusted at how the doctors seem to miss telling you this.

Ashley "Tobin" I am also putting that beautiful angel of yours quilt at the top of my list this week. Don't want her to be getting it on her graduation. Jennifer, I'll be doing Ruby's next! Oh what beautiful babies you all have.  Melissa, you too! Go see Randee she has some left behind Christmas gifts for yours. Sorry we missed you this weekend.

Love to all of you! And may God bless this project of mind, I definately believe it's a God-sized task. Have a wonderful day. Until next time.

Shifting Gears

1st Gear
Well I know you have noticed by now that I'm not exactly following along with posting all my organizing helpful hints like I wanted to. This is a direct product of someone who has lost the ability to do organizing, trying to help others, and failing at their feeble attempt to gain some of that skill back. Yep, I call it like I see it, even when it comes to myself.
2nd Gear
Today's rant is brought to you by our wonderful medical society. I don't have much faith in doctors these days. Seems all they want to do is write you prescriptions and treat symptoms instead of looking for the cause. For instance, I just heard yesterday that a gluten free/sugar free diet will alleviate the symptoms of fibromyalgia. Is it true? If it is why don't doctors first tell you to try that instead of giving you pain relievers? I'm on the horizon of a new dawn, and will keep you updated. The side effect of eating like this is not as long as the side effects possible with medicines. It may, alleviate symptoms, cause weight loss, lower blood pressure, raise metabolism, causing weight loss. I'm sure they're many others, I will keep you posted.
3rd Gear
I really am not in a hurry to do my taxes. We set everything up so that the government does not get any of our money for no interest. Which means...you guessed it sometimes we owe a little, some times we get a little back, most times we owe state and get a federal refund.
4th Gear
Trying to train for this 5k is killing me! I tried running 2 days so far this week and had to cut it down to a walk, my leg muscles are not cooperating at all and scream in pain the entire time that I'm on the treadmill. Today, I don't have anything planned at all, maybe if it gets quiet for a little bit, I bust out some crunches, push ups, squats, and whatever else I can think of while no one's home. ;)
5th Gear
Bible study went good! Much better then yesterday. Powered through most of it before I even went to work. This lesson's really hard to digest and I'm thinking maybe God just wants me to be open minded, learn it and file the knowledge away for future use. I succeeded at obeying and dropped popping bubbles on fbook in order to pick up my bible and read what God wanted me to learn today. God is good! My prayer shawl from Mom wraps me in love and prayers first thing in the morning and helps motivate me to get the rest of my day rolling! Thanks Mom!
May all my readers and friends have a terrifically blessed day!

Oh my! I'm a step-grandmother! Congrats to Aline and her hubby, and to all the other people in our family who are blessed with this new addition!
Axel Lewis, welcome to this beautiful world, may you always feel the love of  God shine on your perfect face!
My only advice to the new parents, remember a child is God's blessing to you. Don't be afraid, because as long as you let God guide you, you cannot fail as a parent.

As we prepare to say good-bye to another February, I pause to enjoy the winter weather, do taxes, work on my Love relationship with my God, my spouse, and my family. I hope you have love in your life, that's what it's all about. Love God first, and don't forget to love yourself. No matter what you look like, or how you feel inside, He loved you first. He created you perfectly unique, and God doesn't make mistakes. Don't listen to what others say about you or to you. You are Loved my friends. Virtual Hugs. Be ever increasing your knowledge, and always have a goal.

Today just well might become my "someday"

Someday, I'll go back to eating healthy. Someday, I'll get more organized. Someday I'll...
Are you like me? Do you have a list of things that you need to do in your life? With each passing year my list is getting longer. I've decided to do a little set of miniseries blogs on some of mine. So I have broken my list down into the major categories first.
HEALTH
WEALTH
HOME
Seems a bit sparse, but then you think of the first category and start adding.
HEALTH: Spriritual, & Body
WEALTH: Financial Peace
HOME: Organization.
Okay, now we're getting somewhere.
HEALTH: Spritual. What do you believe? Do you study it daily? If you don't know what you believe, I would like to suggest you read a bible. Not sure if it's a real history or not? Do the research for yourself. I believe in order for your body to be healthy your mind has to be healthy. Meditation is a good place to start. Some of my favorite life improvement sites are here: Biblegateway,  Project Meditation. I challenge you to take a look inside yourself are areas in your life overflowing and others seriously lacking? Awonderful explanation of this philosophy I found in John Gray's book, "How To Get What You Want and Want What You Have." I have to say though my favorite self help guru has got to be my homeboy, Detroit's own, Dr Wayne Dyer. You can catch a lot of really helpful insights when he's on PBS's fund drive.
   Body. This is the real focus of my "Today is the day" attitude. I have been stuck at the same weight for over a year now, and I'm not liking that at all. I run/walk 2x a week now. I own a "Biggest Loser" DVD and WII game. IT'S TIME TO BREAK OPEN THE SEAL! I'm going to find and revamp my binder paying special attention to the "Fitness" section. There's two things you can do if somethings not working, throw it out and start over, or send it in for a complete overhaul. I'm doing just that. Friday I posted links to two of my favorite sites for motivation and tips and here they are again. Podrunner, Hasfit, and I'll add another one Body for Life. How can any of us think that we can just keep going like the energizer bunny if we don't have full batteries to begin with.
So I'm going to leave you today with those little tidbits. The "Binder" I spoke of is my master plan of everything in my life. It's an organizational tool I use to use regularly that I'm revamping to help with "Operation Organization" and I'll be back soon with ideas on the "Fitness" section. Body for life has some wonderful printables in their tools section also. So remember this a blurp from hasfit, "There are 7 days in the week and someday isn't one of them."
Have a wonderfully blessed day my friends!

Have a wonderful weekend.

A quick catchup, I have been busy. Work is crazy, getting up at 2 am, working til 4 or 4:30. Too bad I don't get paid better, and too bad those hours have gaps in between. I'm exhausted! I'm training for a 5k in May (I think). Color Run Ypsilanti! Yesterday, I did interval training walk/run 2.97 miles in 50 mins. I do better every time, faster, stronger. I am dedicated this time around. I have to prove to myself I can do this. God doesn't want me moping around because I don't like my body. I found two wonderful websites to help the process along. Inspiring quotes and aspirations, and keeping the beat!



HASFIT.COM

PODRUNNER

So have a great weekend. Get inspired to do great things. I'm going to a woman's overnighter tonight at church. Fun with friends that I don't get to hang out with very often. We'll get back to doing more organizing, and transforming to being more healthy on Monday. Not to say that I'm going to quit for the weekend. But I will be out enjoying myself and not sitting in front of the computer.