I’ve always liked cleaning - to a point.  Mostly I like always having things clean and organized.  Cleaning itself is only fun when coupled with some danc’n tunes and when it doesn’t take all day. ;o)

Bathrooms are a necessary evil unless I’m enjoying a bubble bath. ;o) It’s also the household cleaning chore that I typically procrastinate the longest with because I hate scrubbing (probably due to the many memories of asphyxiating cleaners and withered hands as a youth.)  It’s just plain gross to have to clean.  After all, it’s the heart of where bodily functions and stench combine.  Worse is that because I put it off it bothers me the most.  So I waste a lot of time thinking about, doing the stupid chore a thousand times in my head instead of the one time it would take to get it done. 

Recently I’ve found some products that have made my life and mind easier in this regard.  Thank you to the many companies that are making daily maintenance not only feasible but affordable.  Years ago these options simply didn’t exist.  My favorites for bathroom are Clorox Disinfectant Wipes and Windex Wipes. 

These are the best way to keep scrubbing and deep cleaning jobs down to a minimum time requirement while giving the benefit of the room maintaining a level of livable cleanliness.  I keep a container of the disinfectant wipes in my bathrooms just to run one over the counters and toilets on a regular basis.  I feel better knowing some disinfecting is taking place and the hair spray can’t build up on my counter.  The mirror wipes keep the fingerprints and water spots from taking a lot of elbow grease to remove.  It’s amazing how much cleaner the bathroom looks when the mirror is clean. The result of using these daily wipes on a regular basis (notice I didn’t say daily because I don’t get it done every day) is less overall cleaning time in my biggest time consuming scrub rooms and I feel better about things. 

The next big help was the disposable toilet scrubber.  The Clorox Toiletwand system is awesome.  I bought a big bag of replacement heads at my local warehouse store that has lasted me just about a year now.  It’s so great to pop on a new head, swish it around and then dump it in the trash.  And even with my next big secret I found that this item is still indespensible because sometimes you just HAVE to scrub.

Lastly (I saved the best for last), I invested in a steam cleaner.  I watched an infomercial on these babies a few years ago.  I loved the idea of cleaning and sterilizing at the same time - especially around the toilet!  I bought mine when we moved into our new home this summer.  Okay, I’ll admit I was intimidated enough that I only used it for the first time last week (just proves my theory of daily wipes is working!) But I finally dug in and realized it wasn’t as scary as I imagined.  I had some visions of the pressure cooker in my head for some reason.  But it was SO easy and SO fun!  Yes, I said fun in conjunction with scrubbing my bathroom.  My favorite feature was the squeegee on the mirrors, but watching the steam attack the mildew and rust around the shower and faucets was pretty cool stuff.  Expect more fun posts as I learn how to maximize it’s use, but suffice it to say cleaning has a new best friend at my house.

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It’s an age old question - why?  The power of this three letter word is incredible and stands alone.  By itself it can start conversation; put with other words it can deepen conversation and meaning while providing a handy thing called answers.

I’m thinking more and more about this three letter word today.  It started with an e-mail this morning from my daughter’s birthmom.  It was filled with pictures of the arrival of a new baby for her birthfather and his wife.  My daughter LOVES people and is enamored with the concept of family and being connected to people.  The why questions this event brought on were many, as you can well imagine, and the conversation involved trying to answer her many questions regarding half siblings which focused on the creation of said connections.  The last one she squeaked out before it was time to hop out of the car for school was “When you have sex do you take your clothes off?”  I hope and pray that I don’t get a call from the school or her teacher later about that one. ;o) 

Then I was out surfing through some blog sites.  This is a relatively new activity for me as I’ve only recently become interested in the concept of the blog.  It seems that when someone isn’t copying the ideas of the few successful “how to make money” bloggers, they are linking to completely unrelated content for the isolated purpose of traffic increase or at least riding on the coat tails of the more well known bloggers (a.k.a. those with higher ratings than themselves.)  I thought about two why questions after this activity.  The first was why so many people are giving up their unique identity, talents and purpose in and effort to be like someone else (or someone else’s blog as the case may be.)  The second why came when I questioned what would cause someone to be as bitter and full of resentment as the author of another blog I came across (as a result of a wanna-be blogger who created a crap content article just to link to a site that had more traffic - argh!)  It was like reading a teenager’s blog about why authority and anything respectful “blows.” (And I’m using edited descriptions!) Something obviously happened in the author’s life that caused a major lifestyle shift and I found myself scratching my chin in question to what it could be and - you guessed it - why?  

That simple three letter word has the power to move mountains.  With it comes the ability to change lives and gain wisdom.  Life is a journey it’s true, but we are the tour guides.  We choose the paths that lead to experiences and we choose how to process the many emotions and aspects related to those experiences.  They make us who we are and mold us into who we can become.  To ask the question why is like using a compass to find our way.  A simple example from my own life is the question of why you are a parent.  Is it something you chose or a consequence of another choice?  The answer brings about a very different experience. 

It’s not just about doing what you do, but answering why it is you do what you do that matters most.  I truly believe when we can define that, with complete honesty, we’ll achieve the greatest happiness possible and we’ll discover what really matters.  Until that time we will fill our time, wallets, houses and appetites but still feel emptiness.  So I’ll end this post with the same question it began with: why?

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Seeing how my husband is the one who dragged me into blogging I figured we should have some fun with it as both of us are doing it now.  So I came up with the idea for a his/her perspective article that could be a lot of fun. 

We took a stab at the first one yesterday over the power outage.  I started the article with my perspective first.  I focused on the humorous aspect of how different we both responded to it.  He surprised me with more of an explanation approach but we both ended on the same note of tying in our kids.  Today we did another one - again I started by writing first.  This time I shared how funny it was to me that I called the least likely person qualified to help me with a specific crisis and in the process realized how much I rely on him for everything.  He returned the response a few moments ago with his addition on the things he counts on me for and makes me sound like a really cool person.  I’m already seeing how different the application and timing of humor is in our posts as is our over all concept for what to write on it.  My first thought today was maybe I needed to have him start one next time to see if we can get more in sync with the concept we’re blogging.  But as I’m typing this I’m realizing that the whole point is showing the different (and potentially similar) sync patterns of men and women, more specifically of us. 

I hope you enjoy reading things in the his/her perspective format ’cause we’re sure having fun writing them.  Besides that there’s certainly enough blogs out there with advice, how-to’s, and information overload.  So come here to lighten up and just have some fun reading!  I’m certain we’ll get better at entertaining everyone by sharing our many mishaps and life experiences and even if we don’t, who doesn’t enjoy getting a laugh at expense of someone else?  LOL  At the very least you’ll feel better about yourself. ;o)

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One thing I really appreciate when I visit a site is the ability to define the site’s purpose without having to do a bunch of searching. The beauty of blogs is you can chance upon an article or link to an article that is just plain interesting to you. That’s well and good but for me this blog has another purpose beyond sharing my thoughts in posts and connecting with others who do the same.

This blog is serving as my master control program (sorry but my 3 year old LOVES the movie TRON and this phrase is burned into my brain.) My goal is to get all my sharing stuff on this site - primarily all my many files of creations for various aspects of my life. I have found incredible interest from women who share my interests, beliefs and hobbies to see what things I’ve done. So I began sharing files of things I’d done in a few specific areas on other websites and was blown away at the instant response and continued traffic even though I’ve done nothing to update or keep the sites current. But the PHP Nuke programs I used for the sites are problematic and keep giving me (and mostly my husband) major headaches. Besides that I can’t keep up with updates in all these different areas. So I decided to streamline everything and make more efficient use of my time online by using a blog.

I’m creating pages for the various content and files and I’m blogging almost daily. The pages are for backing up my many files as well as sharing them and the blogging is just something I enjoy. Interestingly enough, being able to put in text what my blog’s point is didn’t happen until just a few days ago. I was working on an article to share some insights I’d gained the night before that related to my thoughts over the weekend. The result was the realization that it was the real point of my blog: Making life a masterpiece. It sums up everything this blog is about from daily shares to past creations and projects. So that’s what this is all about, just in case you were curious or wondering what you were doing here. ;o)

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Looking back, it seems Murphy always had a hand in some of the best things coming out just after I’d past the window of opportunity to acquire them.  I remember as a little girl being so bummed that some of the best dolls came out when I was “too old” to play with them anymore, bell bottoms were out of style by the time I was a teen (okay that’s not such a bad thing), windows was introduced to computers and classrooms just after I could have taken a class in high school, and the best support groups I’ve found online have come after I’ve been through the primary reason for their existence!  LOL  Today I have to share one that I wish had been around when I was a new and first time mom: RookieMoms.com.  I related to so much of what the authors explained as their reason for coming up with the site, at least with my first child and I really think they’re sharing some meaningful things for moms of little ones.  If you or someone you know could use some fun and helpful things to do with wee ones this site is something you should check out.

I love that in today’s world technology allows us to reach out and connect with so many people who can relate to us because of some experience or trait.  Some of my closest friends are ones I made online!  I’ve only been blogging for a few days now but I was amazed to see the stats pull up visitors from outside the U.S.  That was really cool to me and I hope to see it continue.  Who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll be as smart as my husband (of course by then he’ll be smarter so I’ll still be behind!)  I guess I’ll just have to keep getting up all the “stuff” I’ve done on this site to compensate. ;o)

Two recent events have caused me contemplate the concept of times and timing.  The first was losing power last night to a monsoon storm that was truly incredible!  (The details will be coming in another post of his and her perspectives.)  After getting some candles lit we sat in the living room with our kids trying to help them grasp life before electricity.  I couldn’t help but think about all those moms of yesteryear who experienced life daily without most every convenience I enjoy.  Simpler doesn’t equate to easier.

This process got me on a roll thinking about the timing of my own life and how grateful I am that I was born in this time and not in generations past.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge fascination with history and the way things were in their prime, but I’d rather see it on a sight-seeing vacation where I could just bounce through the various times and places.  The thoughts of life without a flushing toilet, shower, sanitary supplies and washing machines make my stomach churn.

Then I got to thinking about how much of our lives function on power and electricity.  I told my husband what a crazy thought it would be to imagine life if the power never came back on.  He simply replied he couldn’t even go there because his whole life revolved around it.  It’s true - the world as we know it would be a completely different place instantly without electricity.  It would still exist but everything would change.

The second thing that got me thinking about times and timing was a post I read this morning on Kammie’s blog.  When I read her comments on waiting for the right time for things I couldn’t help but reflect on my own experiences.  In the book I’m working on about my journey to motherhood I share something I learned about myself and perhaps women in general.  That is that we are master planners.  Most of the time we don’t even realize that we’re doing it or that we’ve done it.  It’s in our nature.  So we come up with what I call “little calendars” for our lives.  We get a plan when we are a youth about when we’ll marry, what he’ll be like, how many kids we’ll have - even what we’ll name them, where we’ll live, etc., etc., etc.  Of course at the time it’s all just girl talk with other girls our just in our own heads.  But what’s happening is we’re creating our own timelines for our expectations.  And the downside of this is creating a prison cell for ourselves when our expectations aren’t met.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in all the things we don’t have or that are going wrong.  We feed the problem.

I speak from experience.  I got married to the right man at the age I had calendared in my head.  So I didn’t realize for a while that there were any problems with my calendar or life expectations.  But motherhood was just beyond my reach and control.  More here than I can share in one post, but suffice it to say the master lesson was learning that my timeline is not always the same as the Lord’s.  It was a journey to self discovery that taught me a lot.  The more you try to force the two to line up the more frustration and agony you create for yourself.  It isn’t until you recognize the problem and that you are feeding it that you can shift your navigation and energies.  When you begin to feed the opportunities life takes on a whole new view.  You recognize that your prison is self made and therefore you can release yourself by choice.

Women of yesteryear were likely much more like we are today than we realize.  Times have changed true, but timing education is universal and timeless.  I have a deep and sincere gratitude for my ancestors who’s contributions and sacrifices have given me everything I enjoy today.  Hopefully I’ll be able to do the same things for future generations by applying the same traits of contribution and sacrifice in my own life.  Maybe, just maybe someone somewhere today will read this and get something out of the truth that comes about timing.  Maybe they’ll start a path to peace and fulfillment because they’ll step back and evaluate their own “calendars” and make adjustments to get and keep them on the path of happiness.  Or maybe they’ll just continue on this path with a little more fuel in their soul to win the race. ;o)  Whatever your circumstance here’s to starving the problems and feeding the opportunities using the tools of times and timing to succeed.

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Today marks the renewal of a goal I set and began work on a few years ago. It’s to get all my files digitalized and backed up on a place other than my home computer. I’m trying not to picture the elephant task that it is so as to avoid getting squashed. I hope to spend just a few minutes every day adding to it once I get the structure in place. Today was the first step as I began creating pages for the content.

I am computer crazy. I’m always designing stuff on my computer whether it’s for a class, leadership position, invitations for friends or family - whatever, the point is I love desktop publishing and creating. So I have thousands of files and I’ve found some areas where people actually like seeing what I’ve done to use in their own circles or at least spark some creativity for their own ideas. In the past I tried PHP Nuke sites (SharingWithYW, HollysCorner) to upload and share these files. But administration has been more complicated and hackers are prone to these sites which really stinks. The beauty of the blog is the ability it gives me to begin streamlining all these projects and sites more efficiently while remaining current. I don’t have to give up keeping up with daily projects just to get caught up on old back burner projects. This keeps me happy about my progress and succeeding. It also gives me the ability to keep all those other spheres connected to my current life instead of collecting dust which is good given that my Sharing site still generates hundreds of visitors each day. I’m excited about the transition and will be really happy when my baby is out of its cocoon and flying. Maybe then I’ll feel like I’ve found that organized state I’ve been searching for most of my life. Or maybe I’ll just end up chasing my butterfly. Either way life will be full and busy and that’s a good thing.

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It seems that days come and go all too fast in this crazy world . You mean to go do fun things with your kids or companions but time seems to slip by. You try to make up for lost time by fitting in a vacation or two where you pack your time and events in to a small window. For the most part it’s rewarding but I’m convinced you could do a documentary proving why Disneyland isn’t the happiest place on earth just by listening to the crying kids and yelling parents at every turn.

I’m learning how enjoyable the spontaneous moments of fun really are. This is the key, in my experience, to have fun without the equalizer of frustration. Last Friday when my in-laws were in town we decided last minute to go to the a baseball game. It was a blast! It wasn’t a huge thing, but it had a huge impact of fun. It was nice to be able to say we just did something instead of talking around it, about it or giving our kids one of a million excuses or reasons why we were saying no. It’s also fun to see the happy surprise when my daughter brings me a game like UNO or any of the countless others and asks me to play and I instantly say yes instead of “In a minute” or worse the standard “later.” It’s the little things that matter most.

So pick up a deck of UNO, run to the zoo or have a picnic outside just for the fun of it. You’ll be surprised at how much enjoyment can be found in the simple pleasures we keep thinking we’ll get scheduled.

Whoever said a woman always has the last word hasn’t met my husband. He’s a gifted and determined software programmer who has always had more faith in my abilities with a computer than I have. Or maybe it’s just that misery loves company?

At any rate, here I sit compiling my first article in my own blog. He’s been on my heels for a few months now and so it begins. I’m not sure what life this might take on but I’m sure it will soon present itself. Heaven knows everything else I’ve done has. So we’ll soon find out if this blog will make him as right as getting me into web design and development several years ago.