June 2010
  

5 Things I've Learned About Decluttering (The Quest Continues)

Today I went to a park for playgroup. Ken was working at home, so I left Katrina napping, and just took Talia. This left me free to chat with my Mommy friends for the majority of our visit. I was able to chat with two of my most tidy friends about my call for help with decluttering.

Combining their ideas with your ideas from the comments you left on my previous post, and some of the things that I was already figuring out on my own, I have learned some things. Here they are, in no particular order:


1. If you really want to get rid of clutter, you need to hate it. I thought I hated it. But maybe I don't hate it enough. I'm working on that.

2. If everything doesn't have a place, then you need to keep decluttering.
So... if there isn't a place for something, you need to either get rid of that thing, or get rid of something that has a place, and give its place to that thing.

3. Making public statements about your intentions on your blog can be a powerful motivator. I have yet to try this one, but I'm thinking I will. So, watch for a proclamation of my grand intentions for decluttering, and then... HOLD ME TO IT!! Please!!

4. It feels good to give things away to someone who needs them.If you're local & you know someone who needs stuff, let me know. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to go the Goodwill route, which is also good, just not as good as giving it straight to a person you know needs it, y'know?

5. I should probably stop worrying about whether my kids will miss the toys I give away.Notice my language is less "sure" than the previous points. I'm trying to convince myself. And once I've truly convinced myself, I should be able to get rid of a lot of toys that we don't need. And hopefully the kids will not hate me for it. My friend Jenn assures me her son Ben is ok with it when he asks where a toy is and she says, "Oh, we gave it to the children who didn't have enough toys." (or something along those lines.)

Do you have other ideas that have been really helpful to you, in decluttering?
Please share them in the comments! I would love to hear about them!

Sharing Time

I'll be featuring posts from this week & last week in next week's Sharing Time post!

How To Declutter Your Home (A Call for Help)

Last year we visited friends for a couple of weeks for vacation. They had a beautiful home, I loved their decorating, and it was so tidy! I have a tidy home sometimes- especially, in fact, when people have come to visit. But these friends were not the types to just tidy because people were over. I know this because over the 2 weeks of living with them, I noticed that they didn't have closets with random stuff in them, and they didn't even HAVE a basement- there was nowhere to hide anything!

This proved to me that you really CAN have a tidy home on a regular basis!!

I have some other friends who excel at keeping their homes ultra tidy.
I am so impressed by them.

I long for a clutter free home... that stays clutter free.

I have tried and I continue to try to achieve this... thus far I remain unsuccessful.

I am not consistently motivated to clean/tidy. Maybe that's my problem.

For example:

-I am motivated to wash dishes when I'm cold- the warm water warms me up. But in the Summer? Not so motivated.

-I am motivated to clear the clutter when company's coming. Maybe I need to invite people over more often. Sometimes I have to resort to the hamper or box clean up (you know when you have to sweep your arm across a surface, knocking everything into the hamper/box and then hide it in a closet somewhere... please tell me you've done this.

Sometimes I really am motivated just because I love the feeling of a tidy home.

But the desire for a tidy home is not always enough to get me to pull it off- sometimes a quick glance around the home that looks like a tornado just hit (but was seriously tidy this time yesterday) is enough to depress me into inactivity for a while.

I have often come to the point of desperation and determination that has me proclaiming that I will DO SOMETHING about this and I will FIX IT... but when I try, I fail.

So, I am asking you, do you have the same issue as I do?
Or are you one of those that excels at keeping things simplified and tidy?

What is your solution?
What do I have to do?
Help!!

And The Winner Is....

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, and I hope those of you who found me through the giveaway found something here that you like! :)

And now...

Congratulations Holly G!
Thanks to the magical powers of random.org, you were chosen as the lucky winner of the adorable Baby Beanie by Baby P Designs!

If you didn't win, don't despair! Jill has a fully stocked shop with all kinds of adorable items at great prices for you to order! I know you'll love ordering from her!

I Stand Corrected

Okay, so I'm feeling a little sheepish because yesterday I said that it was the last day to enter the Baby P Designs giveaway.... and it wasn't... because on the original giveaway post, I announced that the giveaway would be open until Thursday the 24th (today)....

so um.... if you haven't entered yet, go enter!

And if you want another extra entry, just become a follower (scroll to the bottom of the blog & click the "Follow" button), & leave a comment & let me know you did it (or that you already are a follower).

It doesn't matter if you already left a comment about being a follower earlier in the week- you can leave another comment on this post letting me know again ;)

Tomorrow I really will announce the winner!

Last Day!

Today is the last day to enter this week's giveaway!



If you've already entered on the main page, you can get one more entry today by following my blog (if you don't already, you can find the follow widget at the bottom of the blog), and make sure you leave a comment on this post and let me know you're a follower! :)

(You can also look back through this week's posts to find a few other extra ways to enter).

The winner will be announced tomorrow!

Fruitloop Rainbow

An oldie but a goodie... Talia LOVED the idea of this activity (once I told her I'd give her some to eat since she couldn't eat the glued ones ;).



What You Need:

- fruitloops
- paper
- glue
- marshmallows (if you want to make clouds like they did on Mommy's Adventures)

What You Do:

-Make rainbow-ish lines of glue
-Stick the fruitloops on
-Let it dry while snacking on some unused fruitloops
-Done!


If you're looking for other rainbow ideas, there are a bunch in my St. Patrick's Day Ideas Roundup!

Sharing Time

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway!

Oh, and last week's sharing time was so great! If you didn't look through all of the great ideas posted there, go take a look!

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It was especially hard to pick favourites this week, but here they are:


Totally impressed with SugarBee's Romper from a Tshirt (but feeling way too beginner to try it)


We had a little theme going with aprons from Sugar Bee and Munchkin Farm & a chef hat from the Twinkle Toes Blog- so cute!

Now I can't just have sewing favourites, right? There were some great fun activities to do with kids too:


Like the Funny Bunny Sock Pet at Red Ted Art's Blog


Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday!

Talia & I are headed to a super hero birthday party & I am so excited about it! :) I've been watching her friend's mom's blog & have seen some previews of the fun to come, including personalized superhero capes, choice of super power, and even a moonster pinata for the superheroes to defeat! We went shopping last night and bought a couple of super hero themed gifts- so fun!

Meanwhile Daddy & Katrina will be home, running a yard sale.
Tonight we're having Ken's parents over for a Father's Day BBQ.

Should be a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Want an extra entry in this week's giveaway?
Just leave a comment on this entry! :)


Hope you're all having a great day!

Play with Paint

Talia is in love with paint. Seriously, ask the girl what she would like to do at any given time and 93% of the time, the answer will be paint.



The other day, we got out our coloured roll of paper & some paint and went nuts. I added a few things (clouds, rainbow, fence, tree) and we talked about how we could make the painting look like something. It was a lot of fun!

[Want a better chance in this week's Giveaway? Just blog or tweet about Raising Memories, with a link back to us. Then leave a comment on this entry, telling me that you did.]

Giveaway- Baby P Designs

Jill at Baby P Designs makes custom knit hats and newborn photo props.

They are ALL ADORABLE! I think I'm in love with her stocking hats and stork slings for baby photoshoots! (Check yesterday's post for my review of her baby cocoons!)

And if you have a baby or a baby's shower to attend, I know his or her little head is begging for one of Jill's cute pom pom hats or beanies. ;)

You'll find more in her shop- trust me, you need to go and see all of the preciousness! :)

I'm excited to tell you that Jill has agreed to give one of you this beanie!
(I had Katrina model it for you, so you could get a preview ;)



How to Enter

Leave a comment, telling me what your favourite item from Jill's shop is.

Extra Entries Please!

I wanted to give my regular readers a better chance in this giveaway, so if you are reading the blog daily, you'll find a couple of other ways to enter in the rest of this week's posts!

Giveaway Details: This giveaway closes on Thursday, June 24th. The contest is open to the U.S. and Canada. A winner will be chosen randomly from all of the comments. Winner will be contacted by email (please include your email in your comment if I can't find it through your profile). If you do not respond within 48 hours after I email you, a new winner will be chosen. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, June 25th.

Review - Baby P Designs

When I found Baby P Designs on Etsy, I was in love with Jill's products! I knew they would be perfect to share on this blog because there are so many moms with babies that are reading, and photographers who check in for my photography posts!

Jill gave me a beautiful Baby Cocoon in Raspberry Twist to review, and I have nothing but good things to say about it!

As soon as my newest niece was in town, I got to work getting some photographs of it, to show you!



It's extremely soft & stretchy, and was so great to work with! I loved the colour and texture of it in the final photos. I'm definitely impressed with it & excited to be able to use it as a prop for photos! Now I'm on to drooling over her other props ;)



Be sure to check in tomorrow because Jill has agreed to give one of her hats away to one of my readers & you'll definitely want to see what you have the chance to win!

Happy Tuesday!

A couple of weeks ago, Ken took a Tuesday off. It was just a regular Tuesday otherwise, but he made it special! He went golfing early in the morning with his dad, so he wasn't back when we got up. When we came down the stairs, we found this:



Cora's is my favourite breakfast restaurant- how fun to find a poster with curly ribbon, announcing how we would make the day special!

You can totally use this idea to spice up some of the days at home with your kids!

Monday Moments #15

(Preparing to bring a surprise birthday cake out to Katie, everyone was trying to get her to cover her eyes)
Talia: Katie, plug your eyes!


Talia (supposed to be sleeping): Grandma, come up here- you have to see this! (At her bedroom window now, pointing)
Look!! It's the star of Bethlehem!

Sharing Time

Last week's sharing time was great! Thanks so much to everyone who participated, our link party seems to be growing more each week! :)

I know I've been scarce around here, but this week I'm actually going to deliver on my promises of entries to come! Our first giveaway will come this week as well, so this is the time to be reading! :)

Favourites from last week's Sharing Time:


Counting Coconuts' Pinwheel Tutorial


Kim's Twin Dresses.

Sharing Time

Thanks for all of the participation in Sharing Time for the last two weeks! You may have noticed I've been a bit scarce around here! As promised, there are posts and giveaways coming! Stick with me, my husband says the computer is fixed- now we just need to transfer some files & should be good to go! :)

Now, for some favourites & then on to the link party!

I LOVED Mother Lode's baby clothes turned quilt! SUCH a great idea!!


And this strawberry trifle dress is adorable!


Heidi's Heritage Home

I found out about Heritage Makers at a conference for Women in Toronto. I was able to meet Heidi Arave there and have since spoken with her on the phone. She's great! Here is a short video of her, showing how she has used Heritage Makers to decorate her home. There are some great ideas in it- I love it! Take a look & see what I'm talking about :)



If you're interested in checking Heritage Makers out, click on this link to look around!

Chocolate Marshmallow Roll

A few days ago, Talia and I made a Chocolate Marshmallow Roll. You can find the recipe here. The original recipe uses some organic ingredients that I didn't have on hand. I used butter, regular rainbow marshmallows, semi sweet chocolate chips and regular rice krispies.



Give it a try- it's easy, your kids can help, and it's so fun! :)

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