365 DAYS DECLUTTERING PLAN

So, do you have too much stuff? Need a simple plan to declutter that won't take a ton of time or stress you out? I came across this little gem of an idea: toss or give away one thing every day for 365 days. And no, it can't be something that you normally throw away, such as an apple core (which you should be composting, anyway).

I've been doing this for one week--and it is surprising how hard it is to come up with one thing even though I know I have too much stuff! But I have either tossed or given away: one pair of old boots, refrigerator magnets (seven that I only counted as one), bath gel, baseball cap, and a few other boring items.

My clutter-free friends (Cassandra, Alicia, Jennifer) cannot even imagine having 365 items to get rid of. But my guess is a few of you may decide to embrace this idea to get you on to the path of a semi-clutter free life (I say "semi" since the thought of zero clutter may really freak us out).

If you have any other ideas to cure the "too much stuff" syndrome, please share.

Christopher Halloran Photography

A couple of weekends ago my sister, Tammy, and our niece, Ellie, went to downtown Mesa for Blissfest and the MACFest. Our friend, Chris Halloran, is participating in MACFest displaying his gorgeous photography. In fact, his work is so gorgeous that he received a first place blue ribbon for his work.

So now that he is an award-winning photographer, I just had to buy his work to hang in my home. In fact, we all three bought pieces. I purchased the top photograph above--St. Francis of Assisi. Tammy has always loved the neon motel sign of the diver and so that is now hanging in our home and Ellie loved the Calla Lily.

MACFest is going on every Saturday through May from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm. You can find Chris' exhibit on the southwest corner of Center and Main.

Beautiful Produce

I know I have mentioned the Bountiful Baskets coop before but I wanted you to see just how much produce you receive for $15. This picture was taken after I had removed 4 roma tomatoes, 3 ears of corn, a red onion, and an apple. Our basket consisted of the following: 1 romaine lettuce, 3 zuchinni, 10 red potatoes, 10 roma tomatoes, 2 red onions, 6 ears of corn, 1 cantaloupe, 5 apples, 7 pears, a bag of grapes, 8 bananas, and a box of strawberries. For more information go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/.

Care Card

For several years now I have purchased a wonderful little card known as the Care Card. For $50 (tax deductible) the Care Card offers a 20% discount to over 400 stores throughout the Valley. It is produced by the Board of Visitors (the oldest charitable organization in Arizona) and 100% of the Care Card sales price goes to directly to Ryan House, a respite home for children with life-limiting conditions.

The Card is good at participating retailers from October 17 - October 26. And the stores are great! I'm talking Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Domestic Bliss, Ann Taylor, Anthropologie, Gap, Restoration Hardware, I could go on and on. Instead, go to the website and take a look yourself--http://www.thecarecard.org/retailers.html The 20% discount can really take the sting out of dreamed-about items from some of these stores.

Happy shopping! And remember, it's for a great cause!

Cook's Illustrated & Tilapia Fish

My friend, Cassandra, was lucky enough to unexpectedly receive two free issues of Cook's Illustrated Magazine. And I was lucky enough to have them passed on to me.

Cook's Illustrated http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ is about a 35-page magazine (with no ads!) that tests all sorts of favorite classic recipes (the best brownies, the best roasted chicken, etc.), cooking products, and new ideas. You probably have seen the Founder and Editor, Christopher Kimball, on our local PBS station (wonkish-looking guy with the bow tie and wire-rimmed glasses).

I love this magazine! I love when they test the best pizza cutter and it turns out to be the less expensive OXO Good Grips 4 inch pizza cutter that you can get for around $8 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond with one of the dozens of 20% coupons you have lying around the house.

But here is the latest tip I wanted to pass on. I know a lot of you prepare tilapia fish and may have noticed that sometimes it can have a muddy flavor. The test kitchen tried a few ideas and found the best thing is to soak the tilapia in buttermilk for one hour before cooking. Then rinse off the buttermilk, pat the fish dry, and proceed with your recipe. I will definitely try this the next time I cook tilapia.

Cassandra is now subscribing to the magazine and since she saves nothing (maintaining her clutter-free house) she is going to pass them on to me--yeah!

Pandora's Music Box

Just returned from spending a week attending BYU Education Week. You can't go wrong spending time in Utah during the hideous month of August.

My sisters, Lori and Tammy, and my friend Linda, and I traveled together staying at our friend, Julie's beautiful, large, and comfortable home in Provo, Utah. We did this last year and had such a great time we wanted to repeat. You know how sometimes repeat trips just don't work as well as that first trip? Well, that didn't happen. It was just as great as last year.

Every year BYU http://ce.byu.edu/ed/edweek/ offers a ton of classes for adults with topics on religion, parenting, communication, the arts, etc. One of the classes I loved was all about classical music. I learned about a free personalized internet radio service called Pandora http://www.pandora.com.

Click on Pandora, register for free, and start selecting music that appeals to you. Pandora will select music that you may like based on a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating that you select--similar to TIVO. Pandora come from the Music Genome Project which analyzes music and breaks it down to somehow figure out what a person likes (I am totally paraphrasing). However, I am finding all sorts of new pieces that I am loving. A piece by Carl Stamitz is playing as I type this. I put in Mozart and Mozart-like pieces come up. I really wasn't familiar to Stamitz but I'm liking his music. See below for a sample.

Carl Stamitz

Stamitz: Four Symphonies

Symphony In D Major "La Chasse": II. Andante

performed by: London Mozart Players

Loading SamplePlaying SamplePlay Sample

Features Of This Song

Classical stylings
a symphony orchestra
tonal harmony
major key tonality
a walking pace tempo
an emotional aesthetic
a symphony

These are just a few of the hundreds of attributes cataloged for this song by the Music Genome Project.

Similar Songs

Loading SamplePlaying SampleLa Locandiera, Opera: II. Andantino
by Antonio Salieri
album Salieri: Symphonies, Overtures Loading SamplePlaying SampleSymphony In D Major "Veneziana": II. Andantino Grazioso
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album Salieri: Symphonies, Overtures Loading SamplePlaying SampleCassation For Orchestra In B Flat Major, K. 99 (K. 63a): V. Andante
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
album Mozart: Complete Works, Vol. 3 - Serenades, Divertimenti, Dances, Disc 3 Loading SamplePlaying SampleSymphony In D Major, G. 520 (Op. 42): II. Andante
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album Boccherini: Complete Symphonies, Vol. 8 Loading SamplePlaying SampleSymphony No. 5 In A Major, H. 1/5: I. Adagio, Ma Non Troppo
by Franz Josef Haydn
album Haydn Symphonies 1 - 5 Loading SamplePlaying SampleSymphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183 (K. 173dB): II. Andante
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
album Mozart: Complete Works, Vol. 1 - Symphonies, Disc 6

Great Excuse to Buy More Bags

I get the whole reusable bag issue. Just the thought of all those plastic grocery bags filling up the landfills is enough to make you swear-off any bags and just carry everything in your arms as you head out of the grocery store.

Buying those string bags I've seen carried by the green types just didn't do it for me. Finally, some great looking reusable bags are ready for purchase.

I mean some fun looking bags that give us all an excuse to buy more bags! First Trader Joes designed a whimsical bag that cost around $2. Then Whole Foods came out with a whole slew of bags including the one above for $1.

Recently I ordered several colorful bags from a daughter and mom company called Baggu. They are a good size and fold up nice and flat when not in use (see photo below). You can find them at www.baggubag.com. If you order 3 or more bags, use the code "candy" in the coupon box and you may receive one extra bag at no additional cost.

Online Ordering Idea

Here is something I do everytime I order online. I go to the Google page and enter the name of the product and the word "discount" in the search bar. Often you can find a code offering a 10-25% discount.

For instance, I had my eye on a great handbag (what a surprise) and although I could buy it locally I searched for an online deal. So I googled "Kooba discount" and I pulled up several discount codes for various online stores. Some of the codes had expired but I did find one that worked. I ordered my bag from Revolve Clothing using a 25% discount code. No shipping fees, no taxes. It was a great savings. Of course, I would have really saved had I not bought the bag in the first place.....