Sundays with April

Happy Sunday!

Today is such a gorgeous day here in Colorado! How is the weather where you are?

I have been up since 4:45 am, so I have already enjoyed a 3-mile walk, had 2 cups of coffee, a protein shake, and am getting ready to tidy my disaster of a house! All before 8:30 am.

You know I love coffee, so I am about to have another. Would it make you feel better if you knew that I make all of my coffee half-caff?

Now, before you get any idea that I am Superwoman, I have to tell you that Lucy, my 12-year-old dog, is the one who insists that I get up and feed her every day before 5 am. She is ready and thinks that I should be, too!

After our daily few minutes of me arguing with her about how it’s too early and it’s not time to get up, she wins. Always.

Before you lend me advice, just know that I just love her so much and refuse to be mean to her, put her in the garage or lock her out of my room. She is old and won’t be here forever, and she lost an important human, too.

Some day she won’t be here to wake me up, excited when she sees me stir. Nobody else gets that excited to see me stand up, lol.

I have learned to just get up and get on with my day. I actually think I like it! I have recently started going on the patio with my coffee, turning on the fireplace, and spending some peaceful moments with my thoughts and in prayer before my walk. What a great way to start the day!

I just recently started hanging out on the patio again. I am actually writing this newsletter to you from my patio and realized I kind of missed it.

This patio was a place that my husband and I loved to hang out. We had our coffee, dinner, daily chat breaks, lunch……we took any opportunity available to enjoy the peace of our back patio together.

I miss him and our time out here together. But, being out here isn’t as painful now as it was last year. Now I just relax in the space into the memories of our conversations out here.

My watch is so rude. It just told me it’s time to stand as I am writing this newsletter haha. I think it needs to spend a morning with Lucy.

My house is a complete DISASTER!

I have stuff everywhere. Not just from my project, but my son is moving out soon, so we have boxes and furniture all over the place in preparation for his move-out date.

But mainly, I am the problem. You know that I am in the middle of redoing my husband’s office that I started it in JANUARY!

I have drawer fronts and doors that I have primed and sanded all over the main floor of my home. All over. The good part is that I know it is not permanent, but it is driving me nuts!

I have to remind myself daily that it always gets worse before it gets better, and the end result will be SO worth it.

I think that this is the longest I have ever taken to do a project. EVER.

I was battling some grief setbacks (rightfully so), and it all caught up with me. I was having trouble finding motivation and there was nothing I could do about it.

Plus, something I learned about myself through doing this particular project is that I don’t like being in my garage in the winter, so I shouldn’t start projects that require me to use my saws and sanding outside in January. That’s new. And I am going to learn from that.

And I also got busy helping other people do their projects because I just love helping people and get excited to help them make their spaces better!

So, here is my accountability announcement: I want this room done by September 3, 2025!! That gives me 4 weeks to complete it.

Do you think I can do it? 

Amazon Best Sellers for July

This black dress is so flattering and has pockets

This cordless cutter I used to cut my boxes and even my carpet for my office

This pellet ice maker that I have wanted and finally bought

This cross-body bag (comes in 15 cute colors)

This face sunscreen is recommended by my dermatologist

These shoe bags for the washing machine

One thing I have learned

I used to dread unloading the dishwasher.

“It will take too long to do right now, I will do it later” is what I always thought.

Until I set the timer and timed myself one day to see how long it actually took me.

Any guesses?

3 minutes is all it took to unload and put all the dishes away!

So now I have adopted the 3-minute rule to my life, and (without a big project that creates a mess all over my house) it has made it so much easier to keep up.

What is the 3-minute rule?

If something takes you 3 minutes or less to do, just do it right now! Don’t put it off until later when you have more time. Later is always filled with something else and you end up creating more work for yourself.

What can you do in 3 minutes? Here are some things I found out for myself.

• Go through the mail
• Empty the dishwasher
• Make your bed
• Put your makeup and toiletries away
• Write a thank-you note
• Take out the trash
• Fold the laundry in the dryer

What’s coming up this week?

My goal is to finish painting all the drawer fronts, doors, and drawer boxes in the office and get them attached. Check in during the week on and be sure to follow me on instagram to see how it’s going. Remember, I need to have an accountability partner to hit my goal date of 9/3.

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead. You’re doing a great job at whatever you are pouring into, even if it doesn’t feel like it!