DrDeClutterBlog.com

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold,
it would be a merrier world.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy  

It’s too easy to go through a rushed holiday season and forget to keep track of what was really good, awesomely yummy and something you want to bake, cook, or create again next year.

RECIPE AND MEMORY KEEPER

Create a simple Holiday Recipes notebook, scrapbook or index card holder where you can keep all of your recipes in one place, share with others and hand down to your children in the future.

Be sure to add your personal handwritten notes to them too! Those are  great to read by the generations to come.

SCRAPBOOK THEM!

Embellish with photos  of your family and friends enjoying them too! Make it really fun to look at and use every year. Keep them clean buy using clear plastic sheets or laminate them.

Happy Holiday Cooking!

There are plenty of examples of people who have chosen to be bigger than their adversities. What do you complain about, gripe about, curse and fuss about? Is it important? Really?

This young man and his brother are shining examples that we can let go of so many of our own daily frustrations that just don’t matter. 

Find out more of their lovely story here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqV_4ltPZM&feature=related

Choose joy.

Choose happiness.

Choose a bigger vision of your glorious life, now!

I love movies. I love them best at the real movie theatre, but DVDs will do too.

A new friend has a big DVD library, so I borrowed away!  

MY REVIEWS =)

TEMPLE GRANDIN – A must see! Unforgetable. Here’s her site and movie in left sidebar.  http://www.templegrandin.com/

THERESE - about the life of Saint Therese. Not a great movie, a skim of her life/diary. (Her family was so syrupy sweet that it felt creepy. Bless them however if they really were this lovely!) Mother Teresa took her name from St. Therese. I’m sure that the million seller book about her life/diary tells it better. It was “d by the Vatican” so must follow some very strict rules to make it way family friendly I’m sure. http://www.stlukeproductions.com/therese/index.html 

    Very cool that she was alive in the 1800′s when cameras were around already to see real photos of her. http://tinyurl.com/3sohs7e
 

FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN – From book w/ same title. Made it about 25 mins and then quit. Didn’t keep my interest. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400435/

PEACEFUL WARRIOR – From the book WAY OF THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR, story of Dan Millman’s revelations with the mystical. I met Dan at a book-signing years ago. Very nice guy. Movie? Great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsS3cXGs2GQ

Dan’s site: http://www.peacefulwarrior.com/

KATE AND LEOPOLD – Sweet romance. A gift for my birthday!  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035423/

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING - Awesome! Reminds one not to gripe about kitchen work and house cleaning too!! Also a novel.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/

ENJOY SUMMER AND THE MOVIES, OLD AND NEW!

Enjoy movies alone or with others. Popcorn or not!

Just a nudge - always buy organic popcorn to keep from eating GMOs – genetically modified food - who knows what’s laced into it now! Stupid Monsanto!

Just got home from seeing Kung Fu Panda 2. Awesomeness!

Don’t miss this great movie – and message… let go of the past, there is only now!

If you know anything about Oprah, you know that after 25 years she is ending her long and amazing run from her regular TV channel after next Wednesday! Wow! Can you believe that?

I don’t watch her show that often, but I absolutely respect and admire her, like millions of others.

I just saw this sneak preview of her Monday and Tuesday shows, a gala affair honoring her in 2 parts. Catch them if you can!

Then, of course, watch her HER new channel – OWN!

Hmmm, think of all the little, powerful words that can be made from Oprah Winfrey Network, like OWN, WON, and NOW! Cool!

Go, Oprah!

Here are some choice Oprah Nuggets!

I define joy as a sustained sense of well-being and internal peace – a connection to what matters.
    The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.
    Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.
    Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possiblity.

Thank you, Oprah! See you on OWN!

I don’t know who Bill Winch is, but what a great essay! I posted this a few  years ago and thought it needs to be brought up to date again and shared.Thank you Bill for sounding my sentiments!

KEEPERS — Recycle Queens and a Time for Fixing Things: Guest Article

I grew up in the fifties with a practical parent — a mother, God love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had name for it.

A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones. Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower in one hand, dishtowel in the other.

It was the time for fixing things — a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, reheating, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there’d always be more.

But then my mother died, and on that clear summer’s night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn’t any ‘more.’ Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away… never to return.

                                                              So… while we have it…
                                                                 it’s best we love it…
                                                                     and care for it…
                                                          and fix it when it’s broken…
                                                           and heal it when it’s sick.

This is true… for marriage… and old cars… and children with bad report cards… and dogs with bad hips… and aging parents… and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it.

Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away — or — a classmate we grew up with. There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special…..and so, we keep them close!

Good friends are like stars….

You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.

Thank you Bill. Yes, love is a verb.

The holidaze are fast approaching. But, don’t use this time of year, like a must, have to, should or excuse to be extra nice — do it all year long.

Organize your time, thoughts and energy to make sure as often as possible, and then again, to thank people in your life; to acknowledge them with “actions” of love, gratitude and affection as well as compassion, care and kindness.

Is a paperless society dangerous?

In the healthcare industry, for human or animal, it still is says RFID microchip expert and researcher Dr. Katherine Albrecht who launched an important new site today, http://www.chipmenot.org/ to inform the public about health problems associated with microchip implants.

And, whether it’s you or your pet, microchips have not been fully proven safe.

So, sorry folks, stick to paper files! Keep them up to date and organized.

National Tie One On Day™ celebrates the humble apron and the spirit of women of earlier generations who donned the universal symbol of home, family and mothering as the uniform of their daily wardrobe and helped make America the great country it is today.

On the day before Thanksgiving, EllynAnne encourages us to pause in the preparation of our own meal, wrap a loaf of bread in an apron, tuck a prayer or note of encouragement in the pocket, and tie one on…an apron, of course!, and deliver the wrapped bundle to someone in need of spiritual or physical sustenance.

According to EllynAnne, no matter which way you turn out of your own front door, someone who is deserving of a hug is very close by. “Women clad in aprons have traditionally prepared the Thanksgiving meal,” says EllynAnne, “and it is within our historical linkage to share our bounty.”
http://www.apronmemories.com/news/tie-one-on-day.html 

Social networking is all the rage now, we hear about Twitter and Facebook, MySpace and YouTube on sitcoms, the nightly news and commercials, it’s absolutely mainstream. Social networking is changing how we use, watch, learn about and report the news and information, as well as make connections — business and personal. All good! 

But . . . if computers and online-lives are taking away from family time, is it all good?

This is a question each person must ask themselves in the battle to stay connected to our families, children and spouses; to enrich our lives with our families — not to invite one more distraction into our lives of strangers and information that may make no difference (what you ate for breakfast) and BFFs who change weekly.

Studies are coming out now showing that online social networking contributes to less time spent with family, affecting family connections and relationships.

In the first half of the decade, families reported spending 26 hours a month together. By 2008, that dropped to 18 hours, according to the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.

Certainly varying work schedules, travel, rising dual-income households, increasing commute times and work days, and participating in multiple children’s sports and activities are factors too. But the quick and continual (meteoric) rise of online social networking — what is new, exciting, cool, affordable and accessible by almost everyone — overshadows many of these other reasons in some families.

What can we do? Enjoy, use and utilize what are amazing technological advances and systems to help us connect like no other time in history, to do business, meet new people, help one another and create communities that in fact can be very helpful and real. And, at the same time, make sure you are shutting it off, making face-to-face contact and time with your family, kids, friends and others who are here and now right in front of you.

Need we remind ourselves of the famous Harry Chapin song lyrics . . .

“And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you comin home, dad, I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then, Son,
You know we’ll have a good time then.”
Cat’s in the Cradle and Other Hits

The sadly ironic thing about this new distancing of relationships is that all the family members are in the same room, on cell phones, computers and other mobile devices, all talking to people around the world (and sometimes to the person within touch distance!!), but not one another! They ARE all home, but not HOME. 

Relationships take time and work. Use it or lose it applies! And, if we’re talking about you being a parent, it’s a whole ‘nother level to this issue. You and your children will pay for gaps in their time with you for a life time. That is not worth it. Childhood development depends on real-time with parents and family, make sure to make that happen.

Am I an “online social networker?” You can find me at on Twitter. Not every moment, but I’m there, http://twitter.com/drdeclutter  Just getting onto Facebook (to tell the truth, ‘m not great at all these sites – I like “face-to-face”.)

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~ Lee Greenwood

Click here and see Greenwood’s music video.

Remember our soldiers — men and women –

fighting for peace throughout the world.