The Truth

Hi Everyone! Are we all hibernating from the last wave of cold? Yes, even us Floridians are still getting hit with it.

The Yahoo Group has started to get rolling! Pics are in the files, we are helping one another (I actually have a question I need to post on there). If you have not signed up for the group, do it for yourself. Everything that is going to be on this site will be posted there with a link. The files Valerie is working on for task lists will be uploaded there instead of having to be emailed to everyone's overflowing inbox, and it is so much more user friendly!

One of our group has just purchased a new house and will be moving soon! That is an exciting way to overhaul! :o)

On a personal note, I am spinning. I need to simplify a bit wiht our family having limited time at home. Most of what will be posted here is what is newly downloaded on the Yahoo Group (you can sign up ont he right sidebar), and links to articles I have been writing as I go through my own overhaul that I am posting on the Journey to Simplicity. Other articles are going to be sent through the Journey to Simplicity E-zine, so if you haven't signed up for that yet, you will want to do so. Sign up is located on the right sidebar of the Journey to Simplicity site and right now I am there is a FREE copy of my ever popular Pizza Pizza Pizza! e-book, which explains how to make pizza at home in about 30 minutes for as low as $2/pie. It is available in the first e-zine you receive. So grab it while you can!

This week I am working on decluttering the school room. OH does this one need it so bad. I am not even sure I can post the before pictures, because I have let it get so out of hand these past few months. Let me know what you are working on and don't hesitate to post your great ideas & questions on the Yahoo Group!

Have a great week!!!

Asking for Help

Hi All! I have been praying that all of you have been able to use what we have going here and accomplishing overhauling your homes room by room, step by step, in a simple way. I have been sharing with you how crazy life has been for us, so I know first hand how life's little (and big) burps can derail you from your desire to have a more organized and simplified home life.

I have been so blessed by you over the last few weeks! I so appreciate your prayers and your helpful advice. This is exactly why I created this blog. Great systems for organzing your home have already been created and any one of them that fits your personality will get you to finish the line, if we can remain motivated to keep moving forward. What has kept me going are the emails from you! I have had a few days when I really am not sure I even want to get out of bed, let alone press on and get moving with clearing out the clutter that has accumulated over the last few months. Then I read an email that lifts me right out of that and I am inspired to keep on walking, step by step.

Knowing that our family schedule is unique and extremely jumbled from week to week right now, I have been praying how to help us keep moving forward as a group. The TotalHomeOverhaul Yahoo group has had a nice beginning! I am hoping to get on tomorrow and get a post on there myself. I am strong in my desire to encourage each one of us that we CAN accomplish this task. We can create homes that are a comfort & joy to be in, offering that easy to maintain home which will result in more time to pursue God's purpose for our lives and more deeply & intimately develop our relationships with Him. God has been nudging me to ask for help.

Oh, I am sure you have read some of my posts regarding the importance of asking for help from others and how I struggle with that. It can be the simplest thing, yet I don't want to ask for help. Asking for help means revealing my weaknesses, and that is always a hard thing to do. But I did just that. I finally listened to God and asked Him to reveal what way He would have me get some help. In all honesty it would have been easier if I had a pile of cash to spend on hiring someone to come in for a day or two and do the work for me. Oh how wonderful that would be. But in reality that is not a possibility. SO, here is what I did do.

1. I have a friend who offered to come help with some of the organizing and I accepted. (OK, that really isn't asking, but knowing when to accept help is part of the issue as well.) She is one of us! Yep, she is a THO member and is working on her own home right along with us. Her forte is re-organizng. This is none other than my friend Jennifer. You have seen her work posted right here, and her blog (Daze of Adventure)is so much FUN! I have a few problem areas in my home that I keep thinking about (although) we haven't gotten to those rooms yet) and have not been able to determine the best method for organizing the space. I have ideas that are good, but seem to be missing something. So, I am looking forward to having her help me sort out my wants for a couple of rooms and helping how to accomplish my goals to achieve those desires!
2. I really am behind here. I have been wanting to make the perfect forms for us that are easily followed and offer flexibility for each of us to be able to use to our unique homes. God laid it on my heart (yes, I admit he was pushing me all the way) to asking my friend Valerie if she would be able to take this on. Not only was she happy to help in this way, she offered to help with our Yahoo Group too! When God gives, He gives abundantly! Valerie, while not actively pursuing the Overhaul, is in full maintenance. She joined this group just to be able to pray for each one of us and to be our cheerleader! Check out her post & pics of what she did with her 12 yo son's room. (I am so doing this with every room in my home!)

I am excited to be able to keep moving forward. I have some pics to post here myself. I didn't post for the Living room, because ours was decluttered (I have been considering how I want to redecorate for several months!). But I want to show all of you what I accomplished in our Master Bath. I have a few decor items I have been on the lookout for at yard sales, but the room is complete otherwise. And it is clean & fresh, and easily maintained.

As you can see, asking for help from God is key to helping you keep your motivation up! When He leads you to ask for help from others, you will find a pile of gold! If you don't have anyone local to you, ask on the group. Post pics of your problem areas. We can all help each other, room by room. If you have pics of your overhaul, why not post them in our Yahoo Group? If you have yet to sign up, do so. There is some wonderful chattering going on!

Keep on Overhaulin!

~L

You Have Not Been Abandoned!

Fear not sweet overhaulers! I am still around...well kind of. This week we are headed out to Miami. The tournament is a bit longer than we like, so my week is even shorter. I want to share something with you.

With all this home~not home in my life, I was trying so hard to get everything on MY list accomplished, that I wasn't able to meet my own expectations. This made for a crabby mom. Crabby mom kept pushing forward and turned into Desperate mom. Desparate mom decided that multi tasking wasn't enough, I had to multi task my multi tasks. I was trying to do so many things at one time that I was not getting ANYTHING finished. I have my living room half finished, posts half written, pics taken, but not uploaded to my computer, lesson half completed, books half read, laundry washed~but not dried, half of the forms half finished, half my house in a maintained status and half our RV in a maintained status, my room is half organized & half dump zone...you get the idea. Any of this ever happen to you. That one little wrinkle with an extra day away last week really threw me into a tailspin. Have you ever gotten yourself into such a fragile state? I found myself tearful about everything & anything and not knowing why.

Through my quiet time this weekend, I realized de-cluttering to be able to maintain my home more easily so I can focus more time on the God's purpose for my life can not be the expectation I need to hit. Why? Because I was relyng on myself alone. I admit I was working on tasks without giving the entire issue over to God. My focus was on my To Do List, and not on seeking His will or asking that He show me what was important.

This weekend, I took time to do just that. God revealed a reminder to me that might help you if you have fallen behind (and I will keep those names anonymous for fear of putting more undue pressure on us); ask God what He would have you do. What is on God's To Do List for you? Compare this with what is on your list. IS it the same? For me it wasn't. God was reminding me that it wasn't about the finished projects being crossed off on my list. The truth was in the process. This is a lesson I can't seem to get, because it keeps being brought before me.

But for today, I am accepting that I cannot do it all. I recommended to a friend who strives for perfection in everything that she give herself some wiggle room and find those things that she can let go of at the moment to focus on those items that are in need of immediate attention. Today I am taking that advice. Of course, that means moving forward as well.

Today I finished the living room and moved on to my bathroom. How about you tackling your Master Bath with me this week? I will putup a separate post of the schedule for the week. I remember to take before pics, so hopefully I will remember after pics. I know I willnot be ablet o get it all accomplished within this week, because I only have 2.5 days, but I will give it my all and do what I can. School comes first, though! Which reminds me, lunch break is over. See you in a bit!

Why not consider taking a moment to share what is going on with your own home overhaul? Share a bit of encouragement with others. Is there anything God has revealed to you through this process? Maybe you need to share a stumbling block? Whatever it is, we need to support & encourage each other every step of the way.

Room by Room; Step by Step.

And Life Goes on with a Smile

I don't want to double post, so here's what I am going to do. I will post the dangerous adventures of the Valeska Crew in living in their RV later over at Simple Journey Ministries some time tonight...I think. It has been a loooong 4 days and I have just returned home. Yes I know I am more than a day late, but...well I will write the post later.
But Just because I have barely had ISP access, doesn't mean I am not on the job! I have something very interesing to share with all of you! I will try to get that posted later tonight as well.
For now, I am doing a quick post to let everyone know that we are home & safe. We are ever so glad ot be here...truly! I am going to get the tea and coffee rolling for Bible study, which begins in about 40 minutes and then I get everything unpacked and laundry moving. So if I am a bit delayed this week, please forgive. But I do have so much to share with you!
I am going to post this same message on all of the other sites, so don't feel like any one site is getting the preferential treatment. bwahahahaha!
These are my thoughts.
~L

Overhaul my Overhaul

I got a funny email today from one of our group about starting a group for all of us to chat with. What do you all think about me getting a 800 # for conference calling. Could you imagine all of us trying to alk at the same time? BWAHAHHAHAHAHA! That was such a good giggle! I so needed that tonight!

Now it's time for true confessions. I am so far behind this week. I still haven't finished the living room...although I am close. Tomorrow I am headed for a root canal and then I have a business meeting. Afterwards it is time to pack up for this weekend's work schedule and take Kinja to hockey practice. I still have to finish the task and maintenance lists for the first 2 weeks. So, if you ahve been plouwing this week, GOOD for YOU!!! But if you have perhaps fallen a bit behind like me, take this week to play catch up. I am going to work on the forms over the next few days on the road and get those out to you all. Next week, we are blessed because we get to get right back into it. We CAN do this ladies!

We can take control of our homes and remove the chaos, room by room, step by step, day by day!

Check your inboxes over the next few days for the new forms. Keep Overhaulin!
~L

Week 2 Update

Hidee Ho to all my fellow Overhaulers!

I am behind this week. I will not be able to finish the living room this week. :( I really wanted to be able to accomplish this goal, but we are leaving a day early for work (today). So I must spend the rest of my day packing our RV with clothes, food, school supplies, and such. I can't find my camera, grrrrrrr, and I wanted to take an after pic of the kids room so I can psot my own before and after, but I am taking a deep breath. I am accepting that I can only accomplish so much right now. I will have to pick up where I left off with the living room on Monday and move forward with the next room in the same week. Perhaps our new scheduled will be tweaked enough to allow me to accomplish 2 rooms in one week. Praying for God to keep my motivation level high.

Speaking of next week, we will be moving into the dinning room. I am really excited about this room in particular because for me I have been wanting to get things changed in this room for some time. I know there is a better way to arrange the furniture, but I have yet to find it. I will be thinking on it this weekend for certain.

Do you have a room that you would like to rearrange? Here is a fantastic site that will let you do just that BEFORE you make changes. I just love the ease of "moving" my furniture around to find the right configuration for the atmosphere I am trying to accomplish.

Well, I have to get back to my packing, even though it is almost 11 am and still only 34 degrees in FLORIDA.

Don't forget tomorrow is maintenance day, SO you will need to take 15-20 minutes devoted to maintaining the simplicity you have already created in your kids'rooms and to the work you have already accomplished in your living room. Keep notes for redecorating and this weekend it will be time to make your lists for the dinning room!

Let us know how YOU are doing!

Before & After Kid Bedroom

My friend Jen, shared these photos of her daughter's room before and after. WOW!

Daze of Adventure: Maggie's Total Room Overhaul

I absolutely LOVE the tags on the baskets! The reading corner looks so inviting. But know what I loved the most? The before picture of Maggie's closet with a pair of Hulk hands on the floor. I immediately found my head humming the Sesame Street tune, "One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong..."

FABULOUS Overhaul Jennifer!!!

If you have before and after photos, why not leave a comment with a link to YOUR blog. No blog? No worries. Send me an email with your photos and I will post them here for you. Leslie@leslievaleska.com

I am working slowly through myt asks today. Walls are done, but Eman is doing his laundry making it difficult for me to get all my slipcovers washed and on the line. I am feeling sick (oh how I can't wait to be done with this Rx). But I am moving forward still. We are leaving a day early this week, so only three days at home. How am I handling this? Well, I am recruiting some help. EVERYONE has a task this week.

Now, that Jennifer has shamed me because I have slipped behind, I am going to have to take the after pics of the kids room and post them.

But right now, I must get moving, the washer just stopped and I have to get there before my son!!!!