Living Room

   

I moved furniture around in my living room.  One piece that belonged to my husband before we married, and I still continue to use is this cabinet for media storage.  This is its original look, but I added contact paper to the glass door to hide everything inside.  I got tired of the green palms contact paper.  I removed it and replaced it with another one.

I found the contact paper at the Dollar tree store.  There were different colors but I wanted a  neutral color that will go well with all the other furniture. I change  the  colors often, window linens, sofa and chair covers.

As you can see there's still clutter left in the living room, which I will target later in the afternoon.

Another change I made was in the wall decor.  My kids pictures are now here, next to the light swithch box.  I am going to cover it up some how, but still thinking how to do it.   This was the corner where the buffet table was before.

An the buffet table is now where the sofa was before the changes.

The buffet piece, serves as the Liturgical Feast table.  This are the new changes for the month of May.  To celebrate Pope John II beautification.  And Divine Mercy Sunday on May 1st.

Tupperware website!

I am so happy that I was able to set up my Tupperware website this weekend.

Now I will be able to get more customers online. 

If you love Tupperware as much as I do and will like to get some of our online sales or join us as a consultant.  Link to my website by clicking on the green chip bowl to the right of this page.

This month, I have done 3 Tupperware parties in my local area.  Two more are pending for the next month.  You can also host online Tupperware parties, find out more at my website.

Have a great week.

Honey I'm Home!

Today was my first day of working outside my home for a full day.  8 AM to 4:30 PM. 

Just for this week, I will be helping at my sister-in-law's taco truck.

My job is to take orders and little small duties like, chopping veggies.

Not bad for my first day. 

When I got home, husband was waiting for me.  Since he did not work today, he took care of our son who was a little sick this morning.

I left the beans cooking on the stove and gave husband  instructions to turn off after half hour. 

He also carpool after school.

I was glad I did not have to make or serve dinner.  I brought my kids their favorite tacos.  And hubby had already served himself some beans with "chicharrones" (pork rinds).

I washed dishes, and now after loading my safeway card with e-coupons, I am ready to go grocery shopping.

Thanks to the Krazy Coupon Lady for the great information on coupons.

Thousand Gifts Journal

#47 Helping decorate the chapel for Holy Thurday.

#48 Using my white lacy panels from my own home.

 

Daughter's Easter basket

 #53. Easter Blessings, #54 Easter baskets

Son's Easter basket.

#60 My Tupperware Website Activation

#64 Working this week, at sister-in-laws taco truck all week.  Extra income.

Happy Easter!

Our new Easter season feast table. 

Made some changes in the living room, and I have not yet finished.  I need to hang up the Divine Mercy icon on the wall.  And the three plates decoration.

Here are my adorable kids.  They did not want to stand close to each other.  But in the end it turn out great because Baby Jesus comes out in the picture too.

 Daughter was able to collect all those eggs at the park today. 
Son did not want to take his individual picture.
Too busy playing with his new Lego set.

Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him
so marred was his look beyond human semblance
and his appearance beyond that of the sons of man
so shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.

Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.

If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.

Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses.

This words that I have highlighted, were outstanding to me today while reading the readings for today's Good Friday Mass.

How often, my spouse or someone say things against me and instead of keeping silent, I boast out something hurtful to the other person.  Jesus was humiliated, stricken, beaten, crucified for our sins, yet he was a good man.  He kept silent and open not his mouth to defend himself.

Lord Jesus, for all those times, I should have kept silent and opened not my mouth.  Forgive me Lord, forgive me.

Thankful Thursday

I am very grateful to God today, for giving me an amazing gift this morning. 

I have been meeting with two ladies every Wednesday.  This week we met today instead.  Some of the ladies that we had been inviting to join us, suggested that we change the day to Thursdays.

It was a joy for me to see three more ladies come to our prayer meeting and hear them express that they were happy we had invited them.

Let me give you a brief summary of our meeting.

We first started with a prayer.

We then read the stations of the cross.  Our children were also with us.  And one of the ladies who is a Cathechist explained to the children everything we were remembering today.  The last supper, the washing of the feet.

For our ending prayer, I asked each one to say something that they were grateful for or if they wanted to share a prayer request.   Everyone participated, even the children.  A very moving moment.  I left to my home, very thankful to God for giving me this unforgetable moment.

After the prayer meeting, I took my kids to purchase their Easter basket items at the Dollar Tree store.

We were heading to Target to get a special toy gift for my son, when I was called to come over to church and help decorate the chapel for the Blessed Sacrament exposition.

I told my kids, that we will go to the store after.

On our way to church, I got a call from one of our prayer ladies.  She was very sad.  Someone stole her purse on her way to her house.   The person only took her purse away and ran away.  We are thankful to God, that he did not harm her.  She was very scared and emotional.  I told her not to worry, that the good thing was that she was okay.  And hopefully that person will be caught soon. 

We live in a pretty good neighborhood, but lately we have heard reports of shootings and assaults to women.

My husband keeps telling me to not carry large handbags when I go out.  Because there are easy to snatch away. 

I want to ask you to pray for my friend and her family.  Thank you. 

I just remember a story my father shared with us this past weekend.

He said his uncle had found some money.  Later they found out that the priest from the town had lost some money belonging to some of the parishoners.  His uncle decided to say anything.  Many people began praying for the money to be found.  

The next day his uncle got very sick.  My dad's uncle thought this was a punishment for not returning the money, so he went to the priest and told him, that he had found the money and returned it.

I know that prayer is powerful, and that God can make sinners repent from their sins. 

I pray that our city will be a safe place for everyone.

Holy Thursday

Tomorrow we start the Triduum. 

On Holy Thursday, we remember the last supper of Jesus and his disciples.

I had this Sunday school kit with laminated backgrounds and I thought it will look great with the Last Supper icon my sister gave to me a few years back.

Next to this scene, I placed a book opened to the story of when Mary anoints the feet of Jesus.

In the last picture you can see the complete display for this week.

Holy Week

I'm Catholic, a revert meaning, I was a craddle Catholic then left the church and came back again.   Most of you already know the story but if you will like to read the whole story you will find it in one of the top pages of this blog.

Here I will show you pictures of my sister's home decor.  I love her decorations and one day, I will be able to have something similar at my own home.

She had a meeting with  friends from her parish.  They are doing a program called "Arise".  This was their last meeting, so she made a special presentation about the Holy week and the Passover tradition.

 The Jewish shawl is mine.  I got it from Marylin Hickey's ministry many years ago for a donation to her ministry. 

 I love the way she placed this icons of the life of Jesus, starting with the Annunciation and ending with the Eucharist.

Here are the rest of the icons of Jesus life.  Mary was a loving, caring mother, always at her son's side.

One Project At a Time- Office

I have been working in my home office.  It is a very small room, meant to be the dinning room in the building plans.  I did not think it was the right size for a proper dinning room, so instead I decided to convert it into the home office.  The fridge was moved to this room also.  Which now makes it look even smaller.  The good thing is that I am able  to use the sides as a magnetic board.

This is where the computer desk was before.   On the left side from refrigerator.

See how crowded the desk is.  I have so much stuff on there.  I am going to remove everything and only leave a few items.  The printer is hidden by all that paper clutter.

I am going to move the desk over to that empty space you see on this next picture.

The items that were there, are now in my bedroom, temporarily.

Now here are the after pictures.

After moving the desk, and getting rid of some of the extra clutter. 

I sat down to work on my "incoming mail station"

I borrowed the idea from Toni at a bowl full of Lemons.

I decided not to include the calendar on here.

I have a 3M pocket  to hold papers that need to be signed and returned.

The bills to be paid, go in a red pocket folder.

The coupons in a green pocket folder.

And Scrapbook clippings in a blue pocket folder.

The pocket folders are excellent for small clippings.

 The printer was moved to the side of the desk on top of the filing cabinet.  I have to work on not placing items on top of it.   I still have some work to do.  Getting rid of the paper piles.

My bookshelves are now in the hallway.  One next to fridge.  This is my "command center". On the side of the fridge there is, a list of important numbers.  My kids pictures.  My daily routine schedule.  The Menu for the month.  A small dry erase board for messages or things to remember.  and a pen and pad holder.

On top of shelf, I will have the family binder. (need to update), and this will be the place for the house phone and cell phone during the day. At night they will be on my bedside table.


The bookshelf has, cookbooks, home organizing book, craft books, magazine file holders with all the different kinds of paper and card stock for crafts and scrapbook projects.

On the other side of the fridge is the scrapbook area. A small table and drawers that need to be organized with all the crafts and office supplies. ( picture not available)

The other shelf is near the laundry room and back entrance.  I still need to work in this area.  This will be the calendar station, and my Tupperware display area.  I have to purge some of the books on the shelves and all those things on top of the shelf, are going up in the attic. Or somewhere else.

I am not completely done with the office and hallway.  I have some bins and boxes to sort through that I used temporarily while moving things in the office.

I will post pictures on Friday.  I will be very busy this week.  Tupperware party on Wednesday.  Prayer Group on Thursday, and today grocery shopping, and hopefully the attic.

Laundry Area

Here are two more pictures of my Laundry room.

I worked in this room on Friday.
I love having my hangers near by.
As I take out a garmet that needs to be on a hanger, I place the hanger and set it aside.
I needed folding space. The top of the dryer tends to collect all sorts of things but now is all clear.
I used a basket that was no longer been used and placed the dryer sheets and a container for all those small things that I find in pockets.
The liquid detergent was also and one side of the washer, and now it has a place in this cart.
Top shelf holds liquid detergent, liquid softener, and pre-spot spray bottle.
The bottom shelf, is the powder detergent.

Home Office part 1

I  am trying the new software from picasa 3, I have been wanting to add text to the pictures that I include in each of my post.  It has taken me a while, but I think I got it.  If anyone knows how to use this or has a better program let me know.

Here is a project that I have been working on.  I have been trying to organize my home office, to make it more useful.  And decrease the clutter that accumulates here.  I have some containers that I have been using and I wanted to keep them but make them look nicer.  

I was using this shoe box to hold the letter envelopes.  I added this contact paper I had in the attic and look how much nicer it looks now.

I will post more picture later.  , I have some papers to pick up that just fell all over the floor.  This is why I need a better organization in this room.

Thankful Thursday, 7 decades

Today is my Dad's 70th birthday.   Wow!  Time sure flies quick, It seem like it was yesterday when he turn 65.

He does not read blogs or has facebook, but my sister was hoping to see a post about Dad's birthday here on my blog.  So here it is:

Justino was born in a small little town of Zacatecas, Mexico.  He came as a "brasero"  an immigrant worker, many years ago.  He was very young.  Mom has pictures of him, but Mom did not met him then.  Mom met him many years later.  Both separated from their former spouses.  

But that is another long post, that I will reserve for their 30th Anniversary.

Dad worked at a plant nursery for many years, he knows a lot about gardening.  He was also a Charro (Mexican cowboy).  He loves the ranch and farm life.  That is why he always wanted a house where he could keep horses and chickens.

His wish came true about 8 years ago.  My parents live in a small town here in California.  An hour away from     the Bay Area.  They have a home that has enough space in the backyard to have horses and chickens.  Last year they had a pig and like 3 turkeys.  They have lots of fruit trees.  A walnut tree and pecan tree.

Today when I called him to wish him happy birthday.  He was out near the chickens looking for eggs.  Always up early feeding his farm animals.  That's our Dad.  I am going to borrow some pictures of when he was much younger.  If you are Mexican you might even had seen him in a movie called, "Caminos de Michocan."  Years ago, this movie was filmed in a close by ranch in the city of Sunol, CA.  Dad had his horse there at the time.  There are two scenes in the movie where you see him.   One where he is walking a horse and the other almost at the end, its a dance party and when the people start dancing you see him dancing with some lady.  He is the one with the dark orange suit.

The Spanish channels, show that movie often and every time its on TV, we call everyone in the family to see it.

Prayer Group on Wednesdays

Today I met with my good friends.  To chat and pray.  I had so much to share with them today.  I introduced them to the 1000 gratitude journal. 

I gave them each a small journal to write their gratitude statements in.  I talked about Ann's Book, and how I wish it was in Spanish so that they could also read it.

We read the Gospel reading for today and commented on it.

We ended our one hour meeting with prayer for our own petitions.  And we planned next week's meeting.  We will have our kids with us, so we are planning to make an activity with them, the stations of the cross and pray the rosary. 

I love the time I spend with this wonderful ladies.  We are trying to recruit more to come and have a wonderful time reading the scriptures and sharing our testimonies of how God has worked in our life. 

Keep praying for me and the prayer group.

God bless you all, abundantly.

More Pictures

I switched my errand day to Tuesday this week.  So I was a litlle busy this morning.  Shopping for things that were needed here at the house.  One item in particular, batteries for my digital camera.  And if I want them to last they have to be lithium.

So I started on a few projects just before my daily workout. 

I wanted to share with you this first picture of the calendar in my kitchen.  I just love the flowers arranged like an umbrella.  A symbol for April showers.  And indeed we did get some at the beginning of this month here in the Bay Area.

Next are some of the areas that need some attention in my home. The desktop area is one zone that tends to gather all sorts of paper clutter.  I need to work on this area to make it less chaotic.

The kids room, is another area that tends to gather clutter.  This is the dressers side.

                                     
Beds are usually done every morning before they leave to school.  But a few days ago, this is how they looked.  Daughter's bed is right next to the wall, where you see all those posters and calendars of her favorite guy.

I will show you nicer pictures tomorrow.  Daughter worked on her side yesterday.  I am hoping they each help in cleaning and organizing their room.  When they do, the room stays clean longer.  For a few days, at least.
I thought of another project in the kitchen from one of the posts shared at A bowl full of Lemons.

Also in Laura's book Clutter Rehab, tip # 17 is to make a bevarage station. 

Right above the counter where my coffee pot lives. And just above the shelf where the coffee mugs are stored. I made a Tea Station. 

I organized some of the teas in clear bins, that I got from IKEA.  The teapot is also on the same shelf and the mugs are just under that shelf.  I got the tea label over at Poppytalk

I had to take a picture of my fruit center.  I just love this wire basket.  I can't remember where I bought it.  I added the vine, to make it more interesting.

This is a calendar from last year, that I still use in my office as wall decor.  Sr. Clare gave it to me.  I love the statements on each page.  The pictures are beautiful.  See, you can reuse calendars.  I like to use them in scrapbooks too.

As you can see, there are still areas in my home that need some attention.  The nice pictures help me to keep motivated and not stop in my goal of creating order and simplicity in my life.  Less time to deal with the clutter will give me more time to spend on things I love doing.  Like reading books, spending time with God in prayer, and spending quality time with my family.

Monday's Blessings

Started my day with "quiet time" in my bedroom. Read the readings for today and wrote in my Journal. 

Then finished reading the first chapter of the book I'm reading.
This next picture is my bedside table.

 After my "quiet time", I went to check on my kids to see if they were ready to leave to school.

Then started on my first project.

I had already organized all of my lunch and to go tupperware.

The lids are in the bottom drawer, sorted into different categories, inside ziplock bags.

This method was not working for me.

So I thought, I needed to re-organized.

I emptied the drawer.

And vacuumed the dust.

I first tried this baskets,

but thought there were gaps in between,

this will not work.

I found this foldable fabric boxes, that I was using for books.

This will allow me to sort, into more categories.

And easier to find the correct lid.

first box, top right, oval and odd shape lids

2nd box, top left, microwave vent lids

3rd box, bottom right, square lids (all sizes)

4th box, bottom left, circle lids (all sizes)

on the right side( front of drawer) large rectangle lids

Do I have all the containers for those lids? Yes.  They are stored in another cabinet or are at the moment are being used in some way, or are waiting in the sink to be washed. I will organize the empty containers later this week.  I have already added this to my to do list.