Sometimes being able to overlook a mess is a good thing.

Sometimes a mess simply means you’re working really hard on something, and you’ll come back to it later.

So you push the mess over to the side, find a clear space, and get to work.

Friends, I want to tell you that I’ve been working on an eBook. After hearing so many women ask the question, “I love blogging, but how do I manage the time that it takes?” I thought about how I asked the same question when I first started, and what I’ve learned since then. It’s a topic I’m very passionate about, and writing this book has been terrifying, in the best way. More details to come.

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Messy With Purpose

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
On Holiday in May — Back in June!

So many tips I want to pass along to you this weekend…

Why You Need A Sidekick And How To Get One — from Inspired to Action

Struggling with Time-Debt — from Get Rich Slowly

Kideos — online videos for kids, kind of like YouTube, but screened to be safe and age-appropriate. (Our three-year-old daughter will surprise us with how well she uses the computer. She somehow added a little pink pet to my husband’s Facebook account, and it took him a good half hour to figure out how to delete it and restore his manly rep.)

You’re guaranteed to find new lunch ideas you like from the nearly one hundred amazing comments you shared this week. I especially liked Rochelle’s idea (why didn’t I think of this?):

Special thanks to artist Mary Anne Davis for sponsoring Small Notebook. She makes fine porcelain dinnerware and serveware from her studio in the Hudson Valley. Learn more about her work (including custom work) at Davistudio.

Hope you have a relaxing weekend!

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Good Reads for Your Weekend

When you want to sell something online, the picture is everything. Don’t list an ad without a photo — a buyer will just choose someone else’s. How do you make sure your photo looks great?

A few months ago I wanted to buy an ice cream maker, so I decided to sell my bread machine to make some space.

Here was my photo of it. I tried to make it look as appealing as possible, showing people exactly what they were getting and what the condition was like, and that it came from a home where it was well taken care of.

But when I uploaded my photo to Craigslist, it looked like this: shrunken and fuzzy resolution.

How do you make your uploaded photos look as good as your original ones, nice and big and clear?

You use an image hosting site, and here’s how:

1. Create a free account at an image hosting website. I’m using Photobucket.

2. Upload your photos to Photobucket from your computer.

3. Once you’ve uploaded and saved your photo, Photobucket will show you ways to link to it. Click on the HTML Code to highlight and copy it.

4. When you write your Craigslist ad, paste the HTML code into your ad where you want the photo to be.

When you finish writing your description and save it, you’ll see your nice big photo, and everyone else will too.

(P.S. I found my ice cream maker on Craigslist too, for $20, so it was a nice trade.)

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Craigslist Photo Tip: How to Show Big, Clear Photos So Your Stuff Sells

I’m starting to work on my taxes this weekend (just as soon as I find the rest of the paperwork for it).

I hope that news makes someone else feel a whole lot better.

Weekend Reading:

I can think of lots of fun reasons to make these DIY paper medallions from How About Orange. (They would be super cute gift toppers.)

I don’t have a salad spinner, and now I don’t need one: Gadget-Free Salad Spinner — from Making This Home

My To Do List Hates Me or, why your daily task list is defeating you — from Penelope Loves Lists

Creating and Preserving Life Margins — from Simple Homeschool

I was a guest in a couple of places this week. You can see what I wish I could go back and tell my teenage self at the Mother Huddle. Or find the best advice I’ve ever been given (it will probably surprise you) at Pink of Perfection.

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Good Reads – Tax Break Edition

I don’t have any makeup on yet, my favorite jeans have a big hole in the knee, Tom’s on his third outfit so far, and we both smell faintly of spit up.

He just started crawling, so things are about to look very different around here.

But enough about me, let’s get to the good stuff:

Have you seen the Reluctant Entertainer’s Apple Pie in a Jar recipe? It makes jars of apple pie filling that you can give as hostess gifts or use to make a quick pie. But really, don’t you see yourself opening up a jar and just eating the pie filling instead of actually making a pie?

The Lesson on Mental Clutter at Unclutterer is a super-helpful approach to getting things done and letting things go, especially when you live with other people. I try to remind myself of this when I’m picking up around the house.

For her daughter’s birthday, Megan said, “I told each of the mamas of the party guests (all are sweet friends of mine) that we have more than enough toys and other stuff in our home already. For this party, I invited each of them to send their daughters with a wrapped book for a book exchange. In other words, everyone brings a book and everyone goes home with a book.” Read more about the red bird themed party at SortaCrunchy.

A couple of years ago we thought it was a good idea to have some food stored for emergencies, so I bought extra canned goods and we kept them in the bottom of the linen closet. Of course, no one wanted to eat those foods, so they stayed there until we finally had to eat them as we emptied the pantry during No Spend Month. If I had first read the helpful advice in Prepping 101 from Homestead Revival, we might have been saved from all those cans of “vegetable medley.”

I just found out today is a National Day of Unplugging, and here I am giving you more to read. (I didn’t even realize when the Olympics were about to start a few weeks ago, so maybe I need to stay a little more plugged in.) It’s a big change from the entertaining 1995 Newsweek article about how the internet is an over-hyped fad and no one will want to shop online.

And did you know today is the first day of spring?! We’ve got to do something special for this today.

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Good Reads: Here We Are, This is You and Me

For the record, I am never wearing a Snuggie, no matter how cold it gets.

Just can’t do it.

My strategy is hot baths and hot tea instead. What’s your strategy?

Let’s read:

Our Journey Towards Saving 100% Down For Our First Home: Part 1 and Part 2 — from Money Saving Mom

Do-it-yourselfing — from New Urban Habitat

Simple Solutions for Everyday Issues — from Nesting Place

Grocery Shopping With Kids Tips — from New Nostalgia

9 Ways To Encourage Your Kids to Live Simply — from Simple Mom

If You Give a Girl New Cabinet Knobs… — from Remodeling This Life

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Good Reads – the Staying Warm Inside Edition

While I sit here and type out these links I want to share with you, Doug has been putting away the clean laundry and washing the dishes. He’s the best.

The Secret to Successful Home Management — from Home Sanctuary

Living a Good Story, an Alternative to New Years Resolutions — from Don Miller

How to cook fish without stinking out your apartment — from Stone Soup

A New Twist on Tying Your Winter Scarf (try this!) — from Chic Critique

20 Tips to Stay Warm in Your Apartment — from the archives

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Good Reads – Brought to You by Doug and Tazo Chai

Today we have a giveaway from one of Small Notebook’s sponsors, Pong. The winner will receive a Pong iPhone case and a $25 iTunes gift card!

(Maybe a clutter-free gift for someone on your list?)

The case is made from sleek silicone, but what makes a Pong iPhone case different from the rest is that it reduces users’ exposure to radiation from the phone’s antenna, without compromising signal strength or battery life. It is the first product proven by FCC-certified laboratories to reduce cell phone radiation.

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© 2008-2010 SmallNotebook.org (all rights reserved)
Giveaway: Pong iPhone Case & an iTunes Gift Card

It’s a snow day here. We spent just as long getting dressed for it as we spent outside. And then, in true Texas style, the snow disappeared by lunch time. All the better for coming inside and doing some reading with a cup of warm tea.

Use What You Have Advent Activity Calendar — from Motherload

How can I be hospitable to my kids’ friends, foodwise? — from Like Mother, Like Daughter

Backyard Field Guide — from Sugar City Journal

Go Small or Go Home: In Praise of Minimalism — from the Art of Manliness

Plus — how to make your kids spend less time at the computer — from This is My Life

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Good Reads: Snow Day Edition