coffee and blogs in the morning.

My friends, I'm addicted. It's bad. And I'm not just talking about the coffee. There are some creative, entertaining, and wise people out there in Blogland. There are also a few nutjobs, but I try hard to avoid those. :) I wanted to share a few of my favs with you because I'm generous like that and also b/c I need a place to chronicle some of the things I'm reading and, well, my bookmarks are getting clogged up.

It all started with The Nester and her 31 Days to a Less Messy Nest. I loved the ideas she had, especially the one about lower my expectations. It took me a few days to get through them all with all the activity around here, so be forewarned if you choose to check it out.

This Farmgirl is also a regular part of my day. She is a friend of my college roommate from Indiana and she's FUNNY. I've been known to laugh out loud while reading her posts. And I think it's pretty cool that her youngest child is named Silas.

This lady is another of my favorites. I can't remember how I found her, but her recent series about organizing was very entertaining. Unfortunately, I didn't end up participating, but I was inspired to go to Big Lots last evening and purchase a bunch of baskets to use in organizing my under-sink cabinets.

Today, I'm thinking about this post and how nice it would be to get to do all the things I want to do, but my life is here in this house for now (most of the time).

And I had a moment to pat myself on the back this week also. I found these printables a few weeks ago and decided it was time to make up a chore chart for my girls. "Picking up toys", "say 'please' and 'thank you'", "play nicely", "help clear the table", and "mommy's choice" are all categories on our chore chart. I came up with "mommy's choice" b/c they had already picked up a mess of coloring books and crayons and I wanted to find a way to reward that without having to add a "pick up coloring books and crayons" column to every week since they aren't likely to need to do that every day. The "mommy's choice" category has come in handy all week for things like helping to put away laundry or emptying the dishwasher and even for behaving for the babysitter last night. Then I saw this post and had a glorious moment. Notice the chalkboard...there at the bottom of the list of chores. That's right. I did good. I came up with that idea all by myself (and God gave me a pat on the back by showing me that someone else who is probably more organized had done the same thing). What's that saying about necessity being the mother of invention?

So, there you have it. Some of my favorites. And even if you don't care, it's nice to have some of my favorite ideas linked together in one place.