Oh, did you think I meant clean MY house? Ha, ha. No, I mean Style Network’s Clean House. People, I watch this show the way some people watch 24. I love it. It is so satisfying to sit on the couch and watch a home & homeowners go from mess, clutter and ICK to tidy, nice and well-designed. Or as Niecy Nash would put it, from “mayhem and foolishness” to “fabulousness.” Can I just say? I love Niecy. She cracks me up. I love her over-the-top outfits and her no bullshit way of handling some seriously wacked out homeowners. I don’t care that every single show follows the exact same format and she says many of the same things over and over. Who cares? She & the crew of Clean House help people out of some serious Dirty House Problems. And the designer, Mark Brunetz, does amazing things.

Another reason I love the show, aside from the transformation aspect of it, is the homeowners. People. Are. Crazy. I know this. You know this. But DANG! People load up their houses with so much crap they can’t even walk around in their own homes. People sleep in bedrooms so full of junk and clothes that you can’t even see the floor. People hang on to things so ugly they might kill you with thier ugliness. And mercy! Husbands and wives on this show! They are often so nasty to each other! It is hard for me to believe there are that many nasty marriages, but apparently there are. Of course, some are totally sweet to each other. I like those much better.  In any case.  Watching people deal with their messes is awesome.

But here is an obnoxious truth about my Clean House problem. What I love most in life are three things: 1) God and 2) the transformation that God can work on humankind and 3) other human beings.* Clean House gives me the false and fleeting impression that I am somehow involved with 2) and 3) on this list while I sit there with my TiVo remote in hand. I am sometimes usually avoiding doing something that God has asked me to do, or that I simply know I need to do, while I sit there and watch someone else’s transformation. It’s sad. Just today, I was going to work on my imaginary book,** but instead, I chilled with Clean House. They were VERY satisfying shows.

This is the thing about entertainment for me. It feels very satisfying. I like it. But then, when I get to the end of the day, and I realize I watched Clean House instead of praying, writing, connecting with people, or whatever, I’m not so satisfied. It bums me out. My friend Sara did this very, very funny post that was a public flogging/Mea Culpa, and this is mine. I have to step away from the entertainment version of satisfaction and step towards real satisfaction, which involves 1), 2) and 3).

Pray for me!

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*this love varies depending on the human being concerned. I am not Jesus, y’all!

**I have to call it imaginary because it is seriously not for real.

My Clean Desk

Originally uploaded by livesimplegetrich

I spend the majority of my day in my office. In the past my desk has been cluttered with paper, magazines, cables, coffee mugs, and other knick-knacks. The move to simplicity resulted in the picture shown above. I’ve moved all of my paper documents, including phone logs and meeting minutes to Google Docs. I keep index cards in the drawer in case I need to write something down quickly, then I transfer it to Google Docs.

My desk is free of clutter. I find I work better when I don’t have to frantically search for pieces of paper scattered on my desk. Now all I need to do is get rid of my office phone and go all wireless.

The start of the third and final week of fall break.  And believe it or not, we’re all happy, busy and my house is even clean!  I guess we finally found our groove!  *crossing fingers, knocking on wood and doing everything else I can think of to keep from jinxing myself by typing that*

We’ve got a warm start to this week, high today is supposed to be 89, but it should be appropriately cool later this week (low-to-mid 70s) so I’m excited to get outside with the kids; go for some walks, bike rides, maybe go to our favorite church yard pumpkin patch (that’s Wesley United Methodist on College, for those of you local to me - the BEST location for pumpkin pictures with the kids, and remember to take their pictures in the shade to avoid squinty eyes, Mom and Dad!).

Okay so on to some non-fall break news… I started my Christmas shopping this weekend.  I wanted to start sooner, like in August, but I didn’t start getting any good gift ideas until the last week or so.  I spent some time Friday night putting together my annual Christmas Shopping Workbook, in Excel, where I keep track of my ideas, where to buy, prices, what I’ve already bought, how much I’ve already spent, who the ideas and gifts are for and whether they are regular gifts or stocking stuffers.  It helps keep me straight so that I don’t forget all my best ideas and so that I don’t go overboard with how much I buy or how much I spend (easy for me to do, I’m not the frugal one in the family for those who couldn’t already tell).

My first official purchases were for the kids-  small stocking-stuff type things from Hearthsong.  Love that site, everything I bought from them last year was a hit!  I shopped the On Sale catagory and got some good prices, and made notes of lots of other things I want to come back to later.  Jag and I also looked through catalogs from Toys to Grow On and Young Explorers - they have nice selections as well, although I haven’t bought from them so I can’t vouche for quality or customer service yet.

Baby’s up and coffee cup is empty - more later!