Let's Talk Organizing

Stitching Haven is Complete

2009-06-22T20:39:00.004-07:00

Well, my little Stitching Haven is complete! Can you believe it only took me an hour to transform a hideously ugly room into my own little retreat? This is the view from the door and if you look in the mirror you can see the quilt that hangs on the opposite wall next to my comfy chair. The table cloth that is in dire need of ironing is actually one that my step-grandfather's wife made when she was alive. I figured it added a beautiful touch to my little church table that has seen better days!

And this is the view from my chair! I have some great lighting in my room and I can sit in here any time of the day and just sew to my little hearts content. I can easily get to my floss and stack them on the table to get all of the colors that I need for my project. Those wonderful galvenized pails from Target come in quite handy to hold my card stock for some cross stitched embellished cards. The cute little tins are holding some of my specialty floss that can't be put on a bobbin or touch other thread, plus it helps keep the cat and dog hair from ruining them as well!

Everything I need is at my fingertips and it feels absolutely heavenly! Can you believe I even have two desks in this room as well? =) Yep, it is also our office! As soon as I get our desks all put together and the rest of the pictures hung I will be sure and post more pictures. As for right now, this is my quaint little space that I have truly fallen in love with!

Happy Organizing!

Organizing My Stitching Haven

2009-06-18T17:29:00.001-07:00

Shock beyond all shock started last year in December when I announced I was giving up my precious Coke (COLA!) and then when I nearly gave my children heart failure when I started to actually COOK, the world almost stopped turning! I think the reason why Arizona has been having an uncharacteristically mild summer is because Hell froze over and we're all starting to feel the effects. Well, hold on to your seats because it's going to get even chillier! Suzy is going to have a craft room!

Yep, little Miss un-crafty herself is going to have a craft room. Maybe not so much a craft room as it will be my little Stitching Haven.

When I was 10, I learned out to Cross Stitch in school and my Aunt Lesa stitched so she helped me a ton during my little years. Needless to say, once I hit 13'ish, that all went out the window until I had Jordyn. We lived in the middle of nowhere (15 miles from the nearest gas station, 40 miles to town, NOWHERE!) and I had NOTHING to do except take care of infant. Let's face it, Jordyn was a great baby so I did have a ton of nice free time so I picked up cross stitching again. I had every color of floss, books to make any library envious, beads, fabric, projects that were always in a state of completion and it made me so happy! I sewed up until 3 or 4 years ago and I missed it tremendously!

Since I'm doing whatever I can to stay low key, I figured I would take up my golden needle once again and start stitching. Unfortunately, the thousands of dollars of goodies I had is now history and I have had to start all over. Which can be a good thing!

I have all of my threads once again, I have started collecting magazines, books, fabric and a ton of inspiration! Plus, Jordyn has expressed interest in learning so I have had a ball showing her how. :o)

I have missed blogging so much and I figured this is just as good of an excuse as any to start back up again. I figured I could blog about the organizational aspects of organizing a Stitching Haven and on my little CraftBubble site I can blog about the other silly aspects of my stitching frenzy. Like going to San Diego this weekend to visit several shops! Woo hoo!

Before I can start organizing, however, I need to figure out what exactly I need to do!

Find my inspiration for my Stitching Haven.
Clean out the room as it is now...which is HORRENDOUS!
Determine the organizing method for all of my goodies (there are a TON of different options)
Decide if it's going to be a designated craft room or if I am going share it with the fam.
Buy the necessary tools
Decorate
Stitch! (Did I mention Marcia is the first victim for craftiness?!)

Of course, I need to do this quickly because I already placed my order for a bunch of pretties from the store in San Diego and I have to take a special suitcase to bring it back to Arizona! Yikes!

Here is one of the patterns I am going to be working on in my new Stitching Haven, now do you understand why I need to get this going? :)

Next post will be all about my inspiration room and how exactly it turns out! Woo hoo!

Until then,

Happy Organizing!

Cleaning Out the Glovebox

2009-05-28T21:06:00.002-07:00

I don't know about you, but up until yesterday my glove box was the equivalent to my "junk drawer". The really bad part is my Prius has TWO glove boxes! That is double the mindless crap I keep in it! I am talking about half eaten bags of Chex Mix, Pumpkin seeds, outdated insurance cards, pens that didn't work and all of the receipts for all of the oil changes I have had so far in my car.

I cringe at the thought of being pulled over by a cop and NOT because of a ticket! But because of the utter humiliation I will feel when I try to locate my insurance and registration! Eeek! I always THINK about cleaning out my glove box, but it's typically while I am in the car driving and I just don't have the time to stop and go through the disaster area. So I don't. Up until yesterday where I came up with a stroke of genius!

I had Tony drive me around and be my chauffeur yesterday and oh my goodness! Did I get a ton of things done in the car!!! First, I tackled the main glove box. I threw away all of the opened snack crap, pens that didn't work, crinkled up napkins, documents that I didn't need, and any other misc. trash I just happened to throw in there. Next, I took all of the receipts for my car maintenance and folded them nicely and placed them back in the giant envelope with all of my manuals. All of the car records are in one easy to find place. Woo hoo!

I sectioned off a nice little space for the napkins and Kleenex so they were easy to reach in case of emergency. =) It looks absolutely LOVELY and it only took me 5 minutes.

Next came the second and smaller glove box. Since I have this huge paranoia of not being able to find my insurance and registration, I put these two items in one plastic sleeve and my smaller glove box is now home to ONLY my important items. The insurance and registration AND my Lorna Doone cookies! Hey, a girl has got to have priorities!

So next time you are Co-Piloting, think about cleaning out the nightmare that is living in your glove box!

Organizing Multiple Freezers

2009-05-22T14:50:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago I purchased a freezer for the garage. The freezer in the frig is just way too small and I was tired of going to the store every week for meat. I was absolutely ecstatic when we grabbed one and instantly ran to Sam's Club and bought steaks, brauts, hotdogs, chicken, pork chops, you name it, I bought it! I had to load up my new freezer!

Then came the time to plan out the week for dinner. Can you believe I couldn't remember what I had in the freezer, how many I had or where in the world it was!?! Was it in the kitchen freezer or the garage freezer? My mind was in total turmoil! I needed to get this under control fast or I was going to end up with 10 packages of brauts and no hamburger meat! (which happened, by the way!)

So, I went out and inventoried the outside freezer and wrote everything I had down on a small magnetic white board that stays on the freezer. I also put little tic marks with how may of each things I had.

Next, I inventoried my kitchen freezer.

I decided that since summer is now here and the kids are officially out of school, I am going to use the inside freezer for their summer lunch snacks and the meat that I am going to use for the week.

I did up my menu plan for the week and went "shopping" in my freezers.

For next week, I pulled out a package of brauts, roast, hamburger for tacos and pork chops. Everything that did not pertain to the kids or for dinner got switched over to the garage freezer and I updated the white board.

Now I can see what I have and what I'm out of and the only things in my kitchen freezer are the items I need right now. Talk about a total relief! Now I don't have to feel completely overwhelmed every time I go to get ice!

Checking In and Making a Little Update

2009-05-20T22:01:00.003-07:00

It is amazing what can happen in a few short months! I have moved, rearranged the house 4 different times, learned to actually cook without grossing out the kids, got engaged, chopped off a good ten inches of red hair, tackled and achieved several organizing enigmas and have completely destroyed my home office...twice!

There are a ton of little areas in my life that are in need of some severe organizational help. We are talking a veritable organizing 9-1-1! Thankfully I have been able to get a handle of some of the areas that have been causing me to lose a shit load of sleep. Those are the ones that I figure I will share with you! Just to show that my little hiatus was a little beneficial. (Just a little!)

Organizing Family Game Night

We have and play a ton of games in the family. I even have to give my 15 year old a by from the cuss jar during Nerts just because it gets soooo intense! We even went out and bought three different versions of dominoes so we can play Mexican Train. It's quite sad! My little dilemma with my little game fetish is the fact that I have more games than I have space to store them in! Closets are out of the question, it would be a pain in the butt to get to games in the kitchen cabinets, and the same would go for chests. The games vary drastically in size and it was driving me insane trying to figure out what to do with them. Plus I inherited a crap load of furniture when my fiance moved in so I needed to make room for a heck of a lot more furniture. I called in the design expert aka Mom and we went to work rearranging the house. What started out as an out of the way location for the games turned into an sheer act of brilliance on my mothers part. She placed the games kitty korner in the game room and put a table cloth on our game table. When you walk buy the room you don't see the games visually, but when we need to grab a game they are all right there! Easy to get to, easy to view, and easy to take out the next pawn in my annihilation of the family! Oh ya, baby! Suzy is the Game Master!

Suzy Learned to Cook

I already posted on how I get through the grocery store with my new found passion for cooking more than hot dogs and mac-n-cheese, but now I have all of these wonderful recipes that I have stolen from family and friends and printed from the internet. They were initially shoved in my junk drawer because I really didn't think I would use them THAT much. Now my junk drawer is the resting place for a boat load of really yummy recipes that I pull out for BBQ weekends. Mmmm, strawberry and chocolate crepes! Yummmmmmm!!!!! I thought about doing the little recipe box thing, but that really isn't me. I am afraid I will lose those little cards and quite frankly, I write big and there isn't enough space. Instead, I grabbed my trusty composition book and started putting the recipes in there. I just taped the ones I printed from the internet to the pages (I am way too lazy to hand write them) and then ones that were just scribbled I actually re wrote them and put them in the book. I can always find my favorite recipes because they are the ones covered in goo and oil. :) I'm not really what you would call a "tidy" cook! I can stand up my notebook without fear and it makes me feel just a bit more confident because I LOVE my composition books! I still have my 3x5 cards with the grocery items I need at the store if I get a wild hair up my keister to cook something and that has been worth it's weight in Crabby Cheesey Goodness!

Organizing the Craziness That is My Life

Trying to organize my day, bills, work, the family and remembering where I put my brain has been a NIGHTMARE lately! So when Levenger came out with their new multi-tasker organizer I DIED! I Twittered Steve Leveen and ordered my latest Circa brilliance and I can't tell you how much I LOVE IT! I will blog about it separately now that I am getting back into the swing of blogging, because it is absolutely wonderful and deserves some undivided attention.

Although I was able to get quite a few things put in order, I am far from finished. The garage is in need of a major overhaul, my car is a rolling disaster and pit of doom that my children call their bedroom is scaring the living daylights out of me! Those are my next projects and I promise to blog and take pictures of our progress!

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!!!!

What Do I Need to Make That??

2009-04-06T17:25:00.002-07:00

For those of you who actually "know" me, you will be shocked and amazed to know that I am actually COOKING! Not just firing up the BBQ and making brauts and setting out a veggie tray, I'm talking real live cooking! My kids are beyond shocked and they sit anxiously at the table waiting for the alien that has obviously taken over their mother's body to pop out and eat them for dessert. It's quite funny!

Of course, now that I have found this new love for cooking I'm having a heck of time at the grocery store. I have been doing menu planning for a while, thanks to Marcia's encouragement, but now that I'm cooking I haven't a clue as to what goes into my all of my new little recipes. I am sure that once I get into the full swing of things I will know right off the top of my head, but until that time I am trying to figure this all out.

For things like Renee's recipe for the Cheesy Crabby Goodness and my home made crepe's, I have put together one of my cute little Circa PDA's and put the list of the ingredients for all of my faves. This way, if I have to do a quick fly by grocery run, I can just pull out my purse and crab my notebook and snag what I need.

Which worked out PERFECTLY over the weekend.

For this cooking newby, the recipe list has been a Godsend!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Taking a Hiatus

2009-03-02T09:07:00.002-07:00

For the last 5 years, I have had a wonderful time seeing a dream turn into a wonderful reality. A desire to be home with my children has flourished into a lovely little business, a fun blog, a goofy podcast and most recently Getting Unstuck, an online coaching group with Ariane Benefit.

Unfortunately, life seems to be getting busier and busier and my blogs, podcasts and newsletters seem to be suffering. It has been a heart wrenching experience trying to figure out how to proceed, but I have finally concluded that I am going to need a bit of a hiatus.

Over the next 3 months, I will be concentrating on Getting Unstuck and producing online workshops. My goal is to be back in full blog swing by June so we won't be gone forever and if you just feel completely lonely without me, you can always find me on our monthly coaching calls.

I am so thankful for all of the friends I have met along the way and I look forward to spending a bit more time growing those friendships. =) Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you and hopefully I will "see" you all back in June!

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Paper for Our Schools - We're Donating

2009-02-15T20:16:00.004-07:00

I can't tell you how much the budget cuts for our schools has really irked me. The fact that we spend more money and place a bigger priority on the standards of our prisoners over that of our children sickens me. Of course, complaining about it without doing anything bothers me even more. So, instead of just standing on my soap box and complaining about it, I'm going to do something positive instead. =) Because let's face it, I can't handle that much negativity in one sitting and if I am going to bitch about it I may as well do something to help out!

From now until February 28, I am planning on taking the proceeds from my eBook sales and purchasing cases of paper for our local schools. Of course, this will be great for the Gilbert Public School District, but how about the rest of the country? Well, I have an idea for that too!

For those of you who are teachers or school administrators, if you would like to participate in our little Paper Drive, please post in the comments section your name and the name of your school. On March 1st, I will go ahead and choose 3 teachers to receive shipments of paper! Ideally, I would like to send paper to everyone and if I can get enough Paper Matchers I will definitely do that!

In the meantime, I am going to be talking with some local businesses to see if we can't get some paper matching going on. How wonderful would THAT be!?!

So, if you are interested in participating and helping out in a small way, please do! For those of you who don't necessarily want to order an eBook, but would like to help out any way, please feel free to click on the Donate a Ream of Paper link and select how many you would like to donate.

Your thoughts, well wishes, and support will not go unnoticed. I will make sure that everyone's name goes on the gift cards to the teachers and schools you have chosen to support. :)

Thank you and as always,

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Suzanne on CNN

2009-01-23T10:08:00.003-07:00

So this morning an old co-worker of mine did a Friend Request on Facebook, I quickly hit the Accept button and went about my business. Next thing I know, Kevin is sending me an email saying, "I guess if it OK for my wife to have a guy friend... ;)I ran accross an article this morning on CNN and saw your name. Great article."

I immediately went out to CNN.com and do you know what the first article is under the Living section is? The article that Eric and I were interviewed for back in October! Should Your Wife Have Guy Friends?

Love you, Eric and THANK YOU, Kevin!

All Moved In

2009-01-21T12:31:00.002-07:00

Saturday at 11:08am we unloaded the last of the boxes and it only took us 2 hours to do it in! Granted I moved the majority of my clothes and my computer during the week, but the rest of the apartment was moved in record time! Not to mention, my kitchen and "girlie" room was decorated and put away before we even finished unloading the last of the boxes!

The secret to my little success?

4 of my best friends who put up with me being cranky for the first 30 minutes. :)
2 mothers who put all of my goodies away and made my house simply charming.
1 daughter + 1 daughter's boyfriend who put up with all of our jokes and wise cracks
1 Tahoe
1 Trailer
1 Whip-cracking-sarcasm spewing-Suzy
1 Dozen Doughnuts

Not to mention the stragglers who made it in at some point during the morning only be left with, "Is there anything else to do?"

For the most part, the house is pretty much put together. I still have quite a bit to do in my office because I am just not feeling the love, but we are getting there! I am really leaning more along the lines of making my office a photo haven. I have a TON of pictures of my family and my friends and I hate that they are just going to waste in photo albums and photo boxes. I want to see my friends, I want to see my kids, I want to remember the funny moments and the great trips and I want them to inspire me and make me smile while I work. My only issue is I am not creative in the least bit! I am not really looking into doing nine million frames all over the walls and I would like to be able to easily change them out as I have new pictures printed.

My mother suggested doing a trellis on the wall and tucking the pictures into the grooves, but I am totally open to any suggestions you all may have! I need my groove back! :)

I am hoping to be back in the swing of blogging by the weekend so until then...

Happy Organizing!

Getting Unstuck Coaching Group - Update

2009-01-15T06:26:00.003-07:00

Over the last several weeks, Ariane Benefit and I have been working closely with a new publishing company to reinvent the Getting Unstuck Coaching and Support Group as an ONGOING group, not just a one-shot deal.

We are thrilled to announce that the group officially begins Jan. 15!

You will be able to sign up anytime, but for a limited time, we are offering a "Preferred Charter" membership to our readers and subscribers only!

We are offering this initial super low rate because we are just getting started and will be working the kinks out of the process. You get to get in on the ground floor and be a part of building this experience.

If you prefer to wait, no problem! The regular charter membership will be in effect until the end of January. After that, the standard rates will be in effect.

An Affordable Alternative

For people interested in coaching, but who aren't sure about investing a lot of money in it, (and who has money to spare these days?) we have designed a truly unique program that enables you to experience coaching in a group setting.

Group coaching provides you with a way to receive ongoing learning, feedback, support, and inspiration without having to spend a fortune. Most of need some kind of support to clear clutter, get organized and take charge of our time time and life, and in a group environment, you not only get our support, you get the support of other people who are all working on getting unstuck, getting inspired, and getting organized.

A Longer Term Alternative

Many people who struggle with organizing, especially people who have ADD, or have "ADD-Like Traits" like high creativity, a life that frequently changes, or who are self-employed with out a strong support system, or who tend to over-commit themselves, need ongoing regular support to stay organized. Receiving support from people who understand your issues, can provide ideas, point you to the right leanring resources, or even just ask you the right questions to help you figure out your own answers is invaluable to achieving your goals.

This program is designed to be an ongoing support experience, kinda like Weight Watchers, but for Managing Your Life, not your weight. So just when you've found your groove and are making serious traction on your goals, you won't be cut off. If you find you've really gotten a handle on things, you can leave the group. If you "fall off the wagon" (and most of us do when life throws us curveballs) we will be here for you - and you won't have to get on a waiting list. Just re-enroll in a couple easy steps.

Our Focus

We will mostly be concentrating on paper and office organization as well as time management techniques, but you can be sure that other organizing related topics will be covered. In fact, we will be bringing in some amazing guest speakers to share their expertise with you on all kind of topics, from financial organizing, to healthy meal-planning to family matters to managing ADD.

Special Offer

For just $147, you get 3 months of coaching calls, ALL of Suzanne's e-books on Organizing, and Technology and Ariane's Organizing eBooks, discounts on future workshops, an exclusive online support forum, and much more. You can learn all the details about the group here: Getting Unstuck Coaching Group

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UPDATE:

We had a GREAT call! but had technical difficulties and so we don't have a recording to post. This is first time it's happened to me...hopefully it's the LAST!

Sigh...we'll have another call soon...and make SURE we have a backup recording plan. In fact, we'll also make the next Blog Talk Radio Show about Getting Unstuck!

Because of this problem, we are also extending the special offer Until Jan. 20 - Inauguration. As of today we have 21 awesome members!! It so neat to see how we all are different but have so much in common.

We are very excited and look forward to getting to know you all better and helping you clear clutter and get organized!
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Making the Decision

We don't want to pressure anyone. We are simply trying to reward the first people who are helping us get this going. We have 11 members as of today, many of who are clients, who are trying out this approach for the first time. Some were members of our previous coaching group. This is not for everyone, but if you are willing to call in to coaching calls, or listen to the recordings, or use the EXTENSIVE resource library we are building, or like to connect with others online, then this could be an amazing growth and learning experience for you.

Whatever you decide, I truly wish you a world of sustainable and enjoyable success in 2009!

Suzanne and Ariane

Getting Unstuck Ooops

2009-01-13T15:09:00.002-07:00

So this is what happens when you try to launch a new program and move at the same time! You inadvertently put the wrong link and the wrong price in a blog post! I am just thankful I haven't forgotten my name yet!

So, for those of you who saw my last blog post in regards to Getting Unstuck, I must apologize as I had the whole thing WRONG!

The quarterly pricing for all of the coaching calls with Ariane Benefit and I, all of our eBooks and products, and our wonderful words of wisdom is $147 for 3 months. At least, it will be until January 14th. After January 14th it does go up.

So, if you are interested in joining our group or if you have more questions, please visit the site and join us for a wonderful three months of FREE organizing coaching, eBooks, audio workshops, and a whole heck of a lot of other wonderful goodies!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Getting Unstuck Coaching Group

2009-01-11T22:34:00.003-07:00

Over the last several weeks, Ariane Benefit and I have been working diligently to get a new coaching group formed to help out those of you who need more insight and help than our blogs can offer. Sure, reading my quirky anecdotes and counting how times I swear in any given post is fun, but are you REALLY getting what you need? Of course, you could just call us up at any given time and request our coaching and/or organizing services, but do you really have the extra cash to be doing THAT right now?

Getting Unstuck Coaching Group

So for less than what it would cost you to pay for two hours of our time, we are offering a new coaching group in monthly and quarterly increments. Not only do you get all of my witty banter and insane laughter, you get Ariane’s expertise as well! PLUS, you get to download free copies of ALL of our eBooks, coaching calls, workshops, hand outs, an exclusive forum, podcasts, interviews, as well as a slew of other articles and assistance from other leading industry experts. It’s a virtual organizing party over at Getting Unstuck!

Our kickoff party starts on January 15^th and the only thing that you need to do is just sign up, fill out your profile, and get ready for the fun to start on January 15^th. We will mostly be concentrating on paper and office organization as well as time management techniques, but you can be sure that other organizing related topics will crop up to help you out. Oh! Did I mention you will also be privy to my “Take Control of Your Inbox” audio series as well as the eBook?! The whole “I Am In Control” kit is valued at $50, so shoot, signing up is a no-brainer!

For $147, you get 3 months of coaching calls, free eBooks, workshops, an exclusive forum, personal attention from Ariane and I via the forum, and a whole heck of a lot of other organizing goodies! The only thing you need to do is register before January 14^th and reserve your spot.

Of course, if you would rather ask us specific questions and learn more about the Getting Unstuck Coaching Group, we will be doing a live information call on Tuesday, January 13th.

I look forward to seeing you on the Getting Unstuck site and talking to you on the coaching calls!

As always,

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Lovely Blog Award

2009-01-05T11:29:00.002-07:00

Ooh, Krys sent me a Lovely Blog Award today! How absolutely amazing is that for a Monday? Can you seriously ask for a better way to start out your week?

In keeping with tradition, I am going to nominate other people for Lovely Blogs!

Danette at City to Farm Chick - She has pictures of snow, rainbows, cows, farms and even though she does mention chickens I have to give kudo's to her for moving out of the hustle and bustle of Seattle to the simple life of being a farmers wife.

The ladies at the Bunkie Blog - Relatively new blog, with some "simply charming" ideas!

How can I not love Kelly at Modern June? Besides, I look damn cute in my Santa Baby apron that I bought last year!

Dinky Baby certainly isn't "dinky" any longer! Vicki has taken off like wild fire and I have had an absolute blast watching her and all of her adorable babies over the last several years!

Thank you, Krys!

Happy Organizing!

Stick to It Resolutions

2009-01-03T10:03:00.002-07:00

I just have to share this wonderful interview with my wonderful friend, Allison Cabral. She is an amazing life coach who sums up sticking to your resolutions PERFECTLY!

Allison, you rock, woman! LOVE YOU!

Happy House Warming to Me

2009-01-03T09:35:00.002-07:00

I love presents! I love gifts. I love getting them from other people. I love giving them to myself! Since I am moving in a couple of weeks, I figured that I deserved a house warming present from myself. : )

Last week, I did a podcast on planner solutions for the different organizing styles and one of those solutins was the SusyJack Wall Calendar from See Jane Work. I instantly fell in love with it when I saw it and I just had to have it!

In our new house, I have this gigantic living room and I haven't a clue as to what to put on the huge wall. It connects to the kitchen and I want it lively and colorful, yet simple. Perfect solution? The Wall Calendar! Of course, the only issue I KNOW I am going to have is getting them all hung straight. Every picture in my house is crooked...well, it looks straight to me, but to everyone else, it's crooked.

I COULD use a level, but come on, what's the fun in that?! Hmm, of course, I could find a hot handy man somewhere and hire him to hang them and I could sit back and enjoy the view! Ooooh, Suzanne, that is an EXCELLENT idea!

So this morning, I went out and ordered my new wall calendars, they are on back order for two weeks, but that works! Since this is a gift to me, I am even having it gift wrapped with a special little note just for me! What can I say? I love presents!

As soon as I have them hung relatively straight on my new wall I will definitely post pictures!

Happy Organizing!

Screw It All - I'm Worth It!

2009-01-01T10:39:00.003-07:00

Everywhere you look people are talking about change, setting goals, getting organized, resolutions, and making 2009 the best year "ever". Of course, the same can be said with 2008, 1998, 1988 and so on and so forth. Some of you may even want to block 2008 from your memory banks due to the heartaches, strife and pain you had to endure. So you pronounce to the world or at least to your Facebook friends that 2009 is going to be great, it's going to be a change, it's going to be different. Have you, however, sat back and thought about the "how" it's going to be different? What are you going to do to change the habit, to change the path you are on, to change your mind set?

This post isn't for those of you who are just setting new goals for yourself, this post if for those of you who are indecisive, who are overwhelmed with their personal choices and decisions, this post is for those of you who are sitting at the computer wondering "what in the world am I doing with my life"? This post is for those of you are absolutely 100% completely miserable and lost.

Sometimes, in order to get through the negativity that is plaguing your life, you need to identify all of the bullshit, everything that is making you MISERABLE, everything that pisses you right the hell off, everything you don't like about yourself.

If this sounds easy to you, think again. It is one thing to THINK about what makes you miserable, it's another thing to actually write it down. To own your anguish. To actually be honest with yourself to get to the real issue of what is happening to YOU.

This list is for YOUR EYES ONLY! Not for your friends, not for your significant other, not for anyone but YOU. I don't want you to feel self conscious about writing down your angst no one is going to see it, no one will know, no one but you. Hell, you can even burn it after you are done!

Now start writing.

I hate not working

I hate feeling like I am worthless

I am tired of being accused of cheating on my husband when I'm not

I hate my boss

I am tired of listening to the bimbo down the hall talk about all of her "conquests"

I hate coming home

I am tired of listening to my wife berating me because I have a beer after work

I am disgusted by own insecurities

I am absolutely miserable when I'm at home

I want to have kids but my husband doesn't

I am tired of being alone

I want my husband to stop beating me

I wish my ex-wife would stop calling me

I hate that I answer my ex-wife's call on the second ring

I hate that I feel like I can't spend my own money the way I want to

I hate feeling like I have to ask "permission" to go somewhere

I am tired of crawling into bed and not receiving the affection I need from my spouse

I feel trapped inside of a cage that I don't belong in

I can't stand that I can't hang out with certain friends

I feel guilty about wanting more out of life

I feel guilty about not being as happy as I should be

I am tired of trying to be the person everyone expects me to be

I feel terrible for thinking the things I think - for wishing I had a different life

I want you to completely dump every hate, every piece of guilt, everything that makes you angry, sad, and frustrated on to your paper. Let it all out no matter how horrible it is. No matter how much you wish you didn't feel them, I want you to write them all down.

It's exhausting and terrifying, isn't it?

Now divide them into sections:

Work
Family
Self
Friends

Once you have them categorized, number them by severity level. What pisses you off MOST? What makes you the MOST miserable?

Now, write down what you can do to change it. What do you honestly WANT to do. Don't feel guilty about the answers. Remember, this is for YOU only! Even if it's a ridiculous, just write it down.

Take the bimbo, for example. How nice would it be to just place duct tape over her mouth? Seriously, write it down, give yourself a chuckle. Tired of not being able to hang out with your best friend because your wife doesn't like him, well write down "Screw it, I'm hanging out with him anyway."

You will notice a few things during this little exercise;

You will feel relief
You will feel empowered
You will feel scared

You will feel relieved because it's off of your chest and onto paper.

You will feel empowered because you did something about it.

You will scare the living daylights out of yourself, because facing up to your own truth can be a scary thing.

Here is a Suzy fact for you. Last year I made my newly married husband do the same thing. I sent him away for a long weekend to do this exercise. He came back KNOWING what he wanted in life. He wanted kids. He wanted a family. He wanted to be an animator. He also felt trapped in a life that couldn't give him what he wanted most. The courage it took Frank to actually SEE what he wanted, to KNOW what he wanted, to ADMIT what he wanted was HUGE. Huge because I can't have any more kids. I can't leave the state of Arizona with my children, they would have to stay with their father. I couldn't give him the life he wanted most. It was painful for all involved, but in the end how could I not be happy that he KNEW himself? How could I fault him for KNOWING his dream? I couldn't and I didn't. Of course, it would have been better if we had both done this BEFORE we got married, but oops, we aren't perfect.

Know yourself. Don't be afraid of your feelings. Don't be afraid to confront that which makes you miserable. Don't think you CAN'T change it. Don't be afraid to do something about it.

Before you sit and write down your goals for 2009, why don't you sit down and purge your life of the crap that is weighing you down. THEN start off new. THEN you can write down what you WANT, who you want TO BE, what DIRECTION you want your life to go in.

Out with the old and in with the new, right?

Bottom line, YOU ARE WORTH IT so ENJOY LIFE!

A Case of the Grumpies

2008-12-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

Those who know me best realize that when Suzy doesn't eat, Suzy is CRANKY! She turns into a raging mean and nasty person. It doesn't take a lot to turn my horrible disposition back into my once chipper self, but I do need to eat something.

So imagine my delight when my darling mother brought me over the new Ritz Fresh Stacks! Isn't this just adorable?! My own little stack of Ritz crackers that I can keep in my car so I'm not a raging bitch or tuck into my purse.

I don't have to run through a drive thru all I have to do is reach over into my glove box and grab out my little Fresh Stack and I'm ready to go. Now maybe I won't be as pissy when my dad calls me. =) Sorry, Dad!

Charge It!

2008-12-30T02:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was the Lenmar PowerPort Mini Portable Charger. This sucker charges EVERYTHING! My cell phone, iPod, the kid's Zune, my BlueTooth, EVERYTHING!

It's portable AND it charges things quickly! All I have to do is plug it into my computer to charge the little PPUMINI and then take with me. I can't tell you how horrible it is when I have to do my little 400 trek across Arizona and I realize that my iPod is dead. Now I don't have to worry about it! I can just pull out my little Red Mini and charge up the iPod.

If I forget and leave my BlueTooth in my purse over night, I don't have to worry about it being dead either. I can plug it into my little Red Mini.

Not only did my mom get one for me, but she got the kids each one as well. I can't tell you what a life saver that has been! Garrett ALWAYS forgets to charge his cell phone and now I don't have to give the Death Stare. I can just tell him to whip out his charger and charge that puppy up!

I absolutely LOVE it!

Thanks, Santa!

Suzanne Babb

The Secret to My Moving Success

2008-12-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

The joys of moving! Can you believe I am moving yet AGAIN!?! I am getting way to old to moving as much as I do, but at least I have it down to a science! Hopefully this move will be the last for a while, but I can never make promises on my gypsy nature. :)

Suzy's Steps to Easy Moving

Colored packing tape - I color code my boxes to delineate which rooms the boxes go into. This doesn't always happen, but just in case some of my little helpers just dump the boxes wherever at least I can visually see the tape color and move them myself after they leave. I don't have to go digging through boxes to see which room they belong to.
Boxes - Everything should be in a box! I can't tell you how many times I have helped people move and only 25% of their shtuff is packed. The rest is just plopped all about or they are still packing while we move. Hello!!!! Get your shit together before we start. Clothes, pillows and blankets get a by because they can go into trash bags, but come on, put them in something!
Appropriate sized boxes - If it is going to take 2 or 3 people to carry one box because it is huge and filled with heavy crap, you have too much in it. Heavy items should be broken down into smaller boxes so people can carry them and you won't have to worry about the bottom falling out. Books are a prime example. They are heavy so put them in smaller boxes. A big box for a Christmas tree = PERFECT!
Location of boxes - If you can, try having all of the boxes together in a main room where people can just come in, grab and go. Same for furniture. When things start moving, you should make sure someone is refilling the main room with furniture and boxes.
Protecting the precious - If there are items that you do not want to get lost, broken, misplaced or any other natural disaster; keep them with you in your car. Don't risk being broken hearted or losing a friendship over a sentiment.
Trucks - Now, I don't have a lot of stuff so me using and abusing my friends is going to be perfect. I have a small army of 6 trucks and a trailer that will be used to haul away all of my goodies. BUT if I had a ton of crap, I would do us all a favor and rent a U-Haul for the move. Making one trip versus 10 makes the movers very very very happy.
FOOD! - Speaking of making the help happy, feed the poor beasts. If it's early, buy doughnuts or bagels. If it's an afternoon move, pizza and beer is always good. Just don't bring out the beer until the end. :) You want them to MOVE you.
Climate - Here in Arizona you have a death wish if you ask your friends to help you move anywhere between May and September. If it's July or August you may as well get new friends, because they won't be helping. If it is a bit on the warm side, start moving EARLY before the sun is at its peak. If it's cooler then moving in the afternoon may work out just fine.
Appropriate delegation - I am one of these mean moms who makes her kids help move. So I make sure they have light boxes to carry, they are in charge of the plastic trash bags full of towels, sheets and clothes and they need to start putting away the things in their room. I have one person who is in charge of filling up the moving space when boxes and furniture starts to leave. I have my big beefy buddies as my main movers. Then I have the reinforcements. I have my mom and Laura at the house and they putting my kitchen together, putting furniture where it needs to go and making sure the creamy toilet paper is ready in the bathrooms. By the time I am all done moving, my kitchen is unpacked and ready to cook in, the kids are finished with their rooms, and my family room is all set to relax in. This leaves me time to set up my bedroom and unpack the rest of the goodies as needed.
Cleaning the old mess - Typically I am the last to leave the old place and get to the new. I don't do a huge cleaning before I leave the old place on the day of the move, but I will run the vacuum. Only because I want to get it over to the new house ASAP because I know I will need to run it again before I go to bed. Since my new house will essentially be all set up, I will go over the next morning to the old place and do my cleaning. This gives the kids time to get acquainted with their rooms and the house while I clean up.

Life is now good! I must say that the two most important factors are the colored packing tape and my mom and Laura. I cannot tell you how wonderful it feels moving right into a functional kitchen! It is almost like Heaven!

Happy Moving!

Suzanne Babb

Picking the Perfect Calendar for Your Organizing Style

2008-12-28T16:49:00.002-07:00

Picking out new calendars and agendas is one of my favorite things to do around the new year. I feel like a kid in the candy store I am just so excited! However, if you aren't careful about your calendar selection, you could be wasting your time, money and energy in a system that doesn't work for you and your organizing style. So before you run out and buy your new year calendar, let's see if we can help you identify the perfect agenda for you!

VISUAL

INSPIRATIONAL

LOGICAL

CYA On Steroids

2008-12-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

When things get insane, multiple jobs become that of one person, and the stress level is through the roof people get into major Defense mode. Blame gets places, accusations intensify, and covering your ass is mandatory. It is the extreme sense of survival of the fittest in the work place. I have received more emails in the last couple of weeks on ideas to combat the CYA need and so I figured I would throw out a couple of the ideas we came up with to the rest of you. Just in case.

My favorite "on the go" system is using the Circa PDA notebooks from Levenger. (They really need to start sending me free shit for as much as I talk about their products!) Essentially, you write down everything you do, everything that has an action associated with it, or anything that you need to remember or retain to Cover Your Ass.

Cindy is an Admin and she has been in major combative mode for the last couple of months. She is almost ready to start wearing body armor to work it's getting so bad. She is also picking up the slack for 4 other employees who were let go recently, so she is beyond finding any reasonable sense of sanity. So we came up

with a little system that would help her remember what in the world is going on around her, the tasks she needs to do by account, and some other stupid CYA's she feels she needs to do to keep afloat.

Typically I would recommend that she use Outlook to do a lot of this, but she isn't too trusting of her computer and she doesn't have Outlook. Everything is done on a home grown web mail account. (Can you just say, YUCK!?) So we went back to the good ol' basics of paper.

The PDA Circa consists of these wonderful 3x5 cards that I love so much. The rings make it easy to move the cards around and organize them which is wonderful.

Anytime anyone told her to do something, an email came through with an action item or she received one duri

ng a meeting. I had her write it down on her 3x5 card.

At the top, she would label it by account, meeting or person it was associ

ated with.

In the notes section, she would write down the action item itself.

On the bottom of the card, I had her put the date that it was assigned and reference whether it was an email, action item, phone call, voicemail, verbal. This helped jog her memory of the where and when.

On the back is where she would list the follow up or additional actions required of the main item.

Example: An email came through from her boss asking her to do new pricing for a new client. Once the pricing was finished he wanted her to send it to him to review, send it to the client, update the master price list and send it to the rest of the team.

Her 3x5 Card

would look something like this:

On the front she has the company name and the actual task. You will notice at the bottom she has the date and an (E) for email. The arrow is telling her that she wrote on the back of the card.

On the back is where she put the actual notes. She wrote when she sent the pricing to Bob to review with the date! Then she put the other tasks associated with the main To Do. Once completed, she can then put the completion date on the front of the card.

Since we are doing a CYA, these cards do not get thrown away! Instead, they get filed in her actual PDA organizer or in a 3x5 card box designed specifically for completed items. This way she has all of the back up she needs just in case someone accuses her of NOT doing an item. She will know who she is waiting for, when it was done, and all of the other goodies. Having to account for everything you do is never fun and it's terrible when we get to the point where we HAVE to do it, but it doesn't mean it can't be effective, fun, and pretty! :)

Personally, I'm buying the red PDA Circa notebook, because Lord only knows my memory isn't what it used to be and I need saving from myself! :)

Until next time,

Happy Organizing!

Organization for the Account Rep - The Success

2008-12-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is it! The last and final post of our Organization for the Account Rep Series! Talk about exciting. We took a frazzled, stressed out, anxiety riddled woman and transformed her into The Goddess of All Account Reps!

Let's take a look at some of the key elements that made this system work.

We removed the stress and anxiety BEFORE we started. A clear mind is ESSENTIAL when you are creating something new.
Total brain dump and bitchfest. Before you know WHAT the problem is, you need to unload all of the crap.
Identified duplicate tasks and delegated where possible.
We figured out what tools were needed to make it possible to actually DO the job required.
Created a realistic schedule and communicated that schedule to those who "needed to know".
We had the support of the entire team and made them aware of the "method behind the madness".
I also reiterated that when things get crazy and hectic, it is ok to take some time for yourself to rejuvenate. You are useless if you burn out so take an afternoon for yourself or an hour for a pedicure. Seriously, it's OK!

Now we used this system for an Account Rep, but the basics can be used for ANY position, for any situation, and for anyone. Take the bull by the horns and make yourself THE BEST!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne Babb

Organization for the Account Rep - The Schedule

2008-12-26T10:14:00.003-07:00

Here we go! After this post, it will be the last of our series! In case you need a recap, here is where we are at:

The Recap
The Beginning
The Set Up
The Goodies
The Tools

We have the car loaded with everything she needs, we have the stores mapped out, now all we have to do is get the schedule set up! We also need to take into consideration that she has other job responsibilities other than just running around to the accounts. She has a ton of office work that also needs to be accomplished so we need to factor that into account. I am also NOT a fan of rush hour traffic so in the perfect world that I have created we are going to pretend rush hour does NOT exist.

As far as the basic schedule goes, I want our ravishing rep to never set foot or tire onto a freeway during rush hour traffic. I also want her to be home well before rush hour traffic starts back up again. We will also need to design time blocks to do computer work and other duties outside of the actual "repping".

So here was our initial schedule:

Monday - 8am until noon she was going to work on her in-office work; pricing, marketing, launching new products, follow ups, etc.

Monday - 1pm to 3pm she was going to hit up all of the "professional" accounts on the east side of town. Which means NO freeways. Woo hoo!

Monday - 3pm to 5pm was getting things ready for the "grungy" accounts for Tuesday - Thursday and finish any projects that came in during the afternoon.

Tuesday - 8am until 9:30am she will answer emails and do any follow up from in-office projects.

Tuesday - 9:30am - 2pm The 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month she will go to Sector 1 grunge stores.

Tuesday - 2pm until 5pm Projects again

Essentially Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's are the same only different "grunge" store sectors.

Friday - 8am - 9am is at the factory stocking up on supplies and marketing materials for the coming week.

Friday - 9am until 1pm is on the West Side doing all of her west side "professional" accounts.

Friday - 2pm until 5pm finishing up any office work.

We ended up making a few adjustments every now and again to the schedule before we got it finalized, but once we had it just where we wanted it we emailed a detailed copy of her schedule to the Director of Business Development, General Manager, and Install Supervisor so they would all know where she was and where she was going to be. This gave everyone a clear idea of her work load and when they could honestly expect to have projects completed or started.

In order to keep her schedule organized and maintained, we actually set her up with the same Levenger Agenda system that I keep. It worked with her style of thinking, we could incorporate the Levenger note system into it and it gave her the flexibility she needed.

Tomorrow we review what made this system a total SUCCESS! Did I mention she NOW has a red "S" on her chest?

Until then,

Happy Organizing!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-25T10:43:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas from the Babb Family!

May your holidays be as wonderful as you are!

"Determine to live life with flair and laughter" - Maya Angelou