Have you ever looked around your house or apartment and thought the mess is too big to face the task or cleaning up and restoring order?  That it would be easier to just start over elsewhere with a clean slate?  Well that is what I a feeling today!

Somehow, over the last few months our house has slowly drifted out of control.  This summer we traveled to southern CA to participate in a family reunion.  Since my family was primarily responsible for planning the event and coordinating the BBQ we traveled to San Diego frequently earlier in the year.  After the reunion in August we returned home and our house was in disarray.   Instead of putting everything thing away promptly we decided some of the items we would no longer need should be donated to charity. 

Instead of donating them promptly we decided to add the the pile by purging the other items we no longer needed to keep.   Well the pile has grown and attracted many other items that we need to put away and has developed into a huge mess.

My family is pretty adept at keeping a clean house clean but a small mess multiplies exponentially as we become accustom to seeing the clutter.  The attitude of why bother putting something away because other things are left out runs rampant.  Add a few more holidays, house guests, a crazy busy work schedule, and an illness or two and there is not a clean room or even a clean surface in my entire home. 

In fact, it is so out of control I get overwhelmed just wondering where to start.  A weekend is not enough time to clean my home especially when half of my family is glued to the TV for the football games that now consume a large part of both Saturday and Sunday.

So you may be wondering why I am writing this blog.  Partially, it is because writing is a pleasant distraction from the dreadful chore I must face.  Mostly, it is in hopes that the distraction will also provide a few moments to clear my brain and formulate a plan of attack.   I also hope that sharing my journey to reclaim the peace and order I so desperately desire will help inspire you to do so too if your house is buried in clutter, trash, and dust like mine.

The dishwasher is running but the counters are still far from clean.  A load of laundry is in the washer and but an old load has taken up permanent residence in the dryer.  There are multiple baskets of clean clothes scattered in basket around the house.  We've come to know the blue basket in the hall way contains clean towels and socks can be found in the pink basket in the dining room.  Sheets are in the red basket in my bedroom and colored clothes are clean but crumpled in the basket near the bedrooms.  I have no idea what is in the remaining baskets that have become buried by other things.

So I have decided that given the fact it is almost 8PM and the house is a mess that I will clean my master bath and restore it to the shiny bit of heaven that beckons the start of a crisp new winter day.  Then, even though I prefer Sunday to be a day of rest,  I will strive to put away the laundry that is scattered throughout the house. 

I wish that I could just tackle everything tomorrow but I know that the clean up will take much more time than that.  Then, on Monday morning, at least there will be a glimmer of hope that my family and I will once again be able to enjoy the comfort of a clean home and enjoy a game of pool or snuggle by the fire and watch a movie without having to relocate the clutter.

Wish me luck!  Leave a comment if you are currently buried and trying to reclaim your home too.  

I am of an age that I do not remember ever living a day without a television.  As a child I remember listening to late night radio re-broadcasts of the old radio theatre shows and becoming an avid fan.  Years later my love and appreciation of these shows has not waned.

If you have never enjoyed live radio plays from the past Golden Age of Hollywood you are missing out on a real treasure!  There were a wide variety of comedy, mystery, history, and drama shows broadcast by the companies that later became the 3 leading television networks.  One of the longest running and most popular shows was the Lux Radio Theatre.  It remained a popular show for it's entire run between 1934 and 1955.  Cecil B. DeMille was the original host and undeniably the best host.  His success in films was a magnate that attracted all of the top stars to the live broadcasts.

The radio plays were performed before a live audience and usually divided into three acts.  C.B. would introduce the stars at the beginning and tell listeners how Lux Soap would transform their lives and allow them to indulge in the same luxuries of the Hollywood stars performing that night.  At the conclusion of the play C.B. would close with a brief interview with the guest stars and a final pitch for Lux.

The magic of radio plays allowed the bright stars of yester-year to paint on the unlimited canvas of the listener's imagination.   The power of your imagination cannot be surpassed with even the best digital effects of a blockbuster movie.

So gather your children, grandchildren, and loved ones together.  Settle in with a cup of tea or a lovely dessert and be thoroughly entertained by classic radio theatre.

The first episode in this new series I am bringing back to the airways is Walt Disney's classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  As an added treat C.B. interviews Walt Disney himself.   Walt's wonderful world where magic can be found in wishes, fairy wands, and pixie dust is the world I grew up in and am proud to say I raised my daughters in.  It is a world lost in the era of modern television where film makers use digital effects, profanity, and sex to disguise poor scripts and substandard acting and have the audacity to call it "entertainment".   I hope you enjoy this genre of classic entertainment as much as I do.   If so, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Enjoy!    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

P. S. Follow me on Twitter or Like me on Facebook and don't miss the next episode which will be the classic Peter Pan!

In tough times I try to remember that the joy of Christmas lives in my heart and no one can strip that away from me unless I choose to relinquish it.  You can't control what other people think, say, feel, or do.  All you can do is observe those behaviors and make decisions as to who or what you are willing to allow in your life.   Not all relationships are salvageable but all are valuable.   Determining the reason why a relationship is valuable is crucial for a happy life in my opinion.   Some relationships are only valuable because of the lessons learned and the strength required to survive it and walk away from it.  No parent, child, sibling, spouse, other relative, or acquaintance should be given the repeated opportunity to hurt you once you've decided you've done your best to build to build a healthy relationship and they do not respect or value you as the wonderful person you are.  Not every relationship needs to be granted access to you heart and cause you pain.  Happiness and improved relationships requires the discernment to determine who you grant permission to hurt you.  Likewise, recognizing when someone cares deeply but cannot accommodate your request but would if they could is helpful too.  Just because someone doesn't do what you want when you want doesn't mean they are being unreasonable.   I  hope you have a blessed Christmas in spite of your troubled circumstances.