Tip Tuesday: How To Purge and Declutter Anything

One of the most important things you can do when your house is overrun with stuff is to purge and declutter. It is amazing how this will ultimately make you feel. It isn’t as easy or as fast as they show on television, however, it is worth it. One of the ways you know that you have too much stuff is all of your flat surface areas are covered in ‘things’. This is your first sign that you need to declutter!


You will want to gather boxes or trash bags and have them clearly marked: keep, trash, give away, garage sale (but, use this one ONLY if you are really and truly going to have a garage sale!) Once you have your bins marked pick a surface and start clearing it off. You may choose to do one area a day or you might choose to get the whole thing completed in one weekend. However you choose, just make sure you do it to completion. I know of several people who choose a different flat surface in a room per day and then work on that. They get that are clean and the next day they work on a different one. Others feel better getting the entire room done in one ‘sitting’. However YOU think it should be done is exactly the right way to do it for  you!


As you go through your items keep in mind that there are some things that are of value to yourself and to your family that you may require “extra’s” of. This is okay – just find a way to store them so they don’t take up your flat surface space. For example, computer paper, rather than having it on top of your computer desk, try storing it in your closet on a shelf. Still easy to get to, but, out of sight. Also, keys: my family has a plethora of them. Rather than having them take up flat surface space we purchased inexpensive plastic hooks that stick to the wall (& come off easily) to hang them up. They are out of sight, but always where we know to find them. This has been really helpful!


Don’t forget to take things to your local charity store. Other people will benefit from what you no longer need! It will make you feel good and will help you to have a Company Ready Home!! Once you are completely finished with your task, make sure you reward yourself with something that makes YOU feel good. It was hard work, it had to be done, but, you did it and you deserve to reward yourself!

BellaOnline Cleaning


Make it a great one!

Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

FHE: Lesson Planner

I thought I would share our Family Home Evening lesson planner that I made for the children to use when they are doing General Conference talks for their lesson.

So far it has worked out really well. I print both pages to 1 sheet of paper. I know that my teenage daughters really enjoy it. My 12 year old son tolerated it. ;) But, at least it gives them a jumping off point for being able to turn a Conference Talk into a FHE lesson.  So far so good!

Make it a great one!

Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 17th year, (Step)mother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B13, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), (Step)Mother-In-Law to 2, (Step)Grandmother to 4 perfectly, precious and precocious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

Other Judd related blogs/articles you might be interested in:

Judd Family Recipe Blog   or    BellaOnline Cleaning

Recipe: Sour Cream Enchiladas

Ingredients:

12 whole corn tortillas

Canola oil for frying

1 can enchilada sauce

2 cups sour cream

3 cups cheddar cheese (grated)

1 cup sliced/chopped green onions

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix together sour cream, green onions, 1 ½ cups grated cheese, cumin and cayenne pepper.

Heat canola oil in a skillet over medium heat. Heat sauce in a separate skillet or saucepan.

Using tongs, fry tortillas one at a time  for only about five to ten seconds per side (don’t allow to crisp). Remove from oil, then dunk tortillas in enchilada sauce. Lay tortilla on plate, then spoon a good two or three tbsp of the sour cream mixture in the middle. Roll tortilla, then place face down in a 9x13 inch baking pan.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and sour cream mixture.

(If there's any sour cream mixture left over  - use it as a dip for tortilla chips!)

Cover the dish with the remaining cheese, then bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly.

Serve immediately – place a dollop of sour cream on each serving, then sprinkle on sliced green onions.

Make it a great one!

Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

Tip Tuesday:

Can I get my house Company Read in ten minutes or less? Although it does seem daunting, it is entirely within our grasp.

First you need to come up with a plan for ‘Company Spaces’ (ie: the living room, company bathroom, hallways, etc.) This week I want you to focus on getting these rooms in tip top shape – top to bottom.

In the Living Room/Hallway, you are going to need to DEEP CLEAN. This means (for me: scrub walls, retouch paint, vacuum cobwebs, dust floor boards, use wood cleaner (then polish) on all wood surfaces, wash/scrub all glass/mirror surfaces (including pictures), make sure all cushions are in excellent repair (repair/discard if not), hardware (lights, curtain rods, etc) are in working order, light bulbs replaced, vacuum carpet areas then shampoo them – when dry vacuum again and finally put everything where it goes.

In the Bathroom, you are going to also need to DEEP CLEAN. This means (for me: scrub sink, counter, bathtub/shower area, toilet (inside and out), take out trash – wash trash can, scrub walls (retouch paint where necessary), make sure all hardware is in proper working condition, grout cleaned, cupboard, drawers, and medicine cabinet are scrubbed and organized, floors swept and scrubbed, floorboards washed and scrubbed, shower curtain washed and replaced, and finally everything replaced.

Once these steps have been completed, all you need to do is set up a 10 minute walkthrough every morning. In the living room/hallway: put away what needs to be put away, Quickly wipe, with a dry cloth, any flat surface that is visible. Straighten shelves/books as you go. Once a week you will do a weekly clean and monthly you will do a deep clean. In the bathroom: again, put away what needs to be put away. Quickly wipe with a cleaning wipe (or cloth) all flat surfaces (counters, toilet back, rim of bathtub) and shine up faucets. Double check mirrors – if they aren’t spotted leave them – if they are spotted go ahead and wipe them down with glass cleaner. Keep your glass cleaner IN the bathroom for quick cleanups). Make sure you wipe the inside of the toilet with the brush so that the ring doesn’t form again. Once a week you will perform your weekly clean and monthly you will do your deep clean.

If you stay up on it DAILY then your deep cleaning times won’t take as long because everything is already clean. There is nothing that feels better than have your house Company Ready in less than five minutes. The best part is, even if you miss just one day – it is mere minutes away from completion for those last minute guests!! Good luck!

BellaOnline Cleaning

Make it a great one!

 Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

FHE - May Friend

Family Night Fun: Family Talent Show

ListenDownloadPrintShare

Here are some fun FHE ideas from this The Friend month’s magazine. What other ideas can you come up with?

(click to view larger)

Being Brave

What do you do when you are nervous or scared? How do you handle hard things?

• Pray to Heavenly Father for help.
• Think “I can” instead of “I can’t”!
• Challenge yourself to do something you’d like to try, even if it seems scary.
• Remember, it’s OK to make mistakes.

Family Talent Show

Read “The Great Fiddling Duo” on page 8. You can have your own family talent show! Have each family member share a talent, hobby, or craft they’ve been working on.

Here are a few more ideas:

• Make a program and have someone be the announcer.
• Be creative! Wear costumes or set up a stage.
• Film your show or take lots of pictures. (We’d love to see them!)

Pop-Star Popcorn

Make some popcorn to enjoy during your talent show! Be sure to get an adult’s help.

Try one of these toppings for your popcorn. Or make up your own!

• dried fruit, like cranberries and raisins
• chocolate chips and pretzels
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chili seasoning mix (after 2 tablespoons olive oil)
• 2 tablespoons hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows

Tasty Treats

Try these for FHE this month!

• Use an ice-cream scoop to make watermelon balls. Serve with shortbread cookies.
• Top slices of toast with vanilla ice cream and berries.
• Put mini frozen phyllo shells on a cookie sheet. Put a small slice of cream cheese in each shell. Cook at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 5 minutes until cheese is soft. Top with raspberry or apricot jam.

More FHE Ideas

Here are some more FHE ideas. Look for these pictures in the magazine to find the stories and articles they go with! (Find thepage numbers below.)

Idea 1: Have you ever prayed for help? Read “Under-the-Stairs Prayer” and share a time when Heavenly Father answered your prayers. Did you hear any stories about prayer in general conference?

Idea 2: Why should we follow Jesus Christ? Find Elder Cook’s answers! Then make a list of how you and your family follow Jesus.

Idea 3: Read the story “Picture Day!” Remember that you’re a child of God! Make a list of something you love about each of your family members.

Is there a topic you’d like to learn about with your family? Go tolessonhelps.lds.org to find stories, activities, and media.

Make it a great one!

 Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

Visiting Teaching - May - Lesson and Handout

Standing with the Leaders of the Church

 By Elder Ronald A. Rasband Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Are you standing with the leaders of the Church in a darkening world so that you might spread the Light of Christ?

We extend a warm welcome to the newly called General Authorities, Area Seventies, and the wonderful new Primary general presidency. And with deepest appreciation, we thank those who have been released. We love you, each one.

My dear brothers and sisters, we have just participated in a most blessed experience as we have raised our hands to sustain prophets, seers, and revelators and other leaders and general officers called of God in these very days. I have never taken lightly or casually the opportunity of sustaining and being guided by the Lord’s servants. And being just months into my own new calling as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I am humbled by your sustaining vote and confidence. I treasure your willingness to stand with me and with all of these great leaders.

Soon after I was sustained last October, I traveled to Pakistan on an assignment and, while there, met the magnificent and dedicated Saints in that country. They are few in number but large in spirit. Shortly after returning home, I received the following note from Brother Shakeel Arshad, a dear member I had met on my visit: “Thank you, Elder Rasband, for coming to Pakistan. I want to tell you that we … Church members … sustain you and love you. [We are] so lucky that you were here and we heard from you. It was just a golden day in my family’s life that we met an Apostle.”1

Meeting Saints like Brother Arshad was an overwhelming and humbling experience and, using his words, “a golden day” for me as well.

In January, Church leaders participated in a Face to Face broadcast with youth and their leaders and parents from around the world. The broadcast was streamed live over the Internet to many locations in 146 countries; some locations had large audiences in chapels, and others were a single home with one youth tuning in. In total, many hundreds of thousands joined in.

In connecting with our vast audience, Sister Bonnie Oscarson, Young Women general president; Brother Stephen W. Owen, Young Men general president; and I—supported by our youth hosts, musicians, and others—answered questions from our youth.

Our purpose was to introduce the Mutual theme for 2016, “Press Forward with a Steadfastness in Christ,” from 2 Nephi, which reads: “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”2

By reading many hundreds of our youth’s questions, what did we learn? We learned that our youth love the Lord, sustain their leaders, and desire to have their questions answered! Questions are an indication of a further desire to learn, to add to those truths already in place in our testimonies, and to be better prepared to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.”

The Restoration of the gospel began with a youth, Joseph Smith, asking a question. Many of the Savior’s teachings in His ministry began with a question. Remember His question to Peter: “Whom say ye that I am?”3 And Peter’s response: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”4 We need to help each other find Heavenly Father’s answers through the guidance of the Spirit.

At that broadcast, I said to the youth:

“The leaders of this Church are no strangers to your issues, to your concerns, and to your challenges.

“We have children. We have grandchildren. We are often meeting with youth all over the world. And we’re praying for you, we’re talking about you in the most sacred places, and we love you.”5

I would like to share one of the many, many responses we received from that event.

Lisa, from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, wrote: 

 Liz, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, wrote on an earlier post: 

We have sustained leaders today who, by divine inspiration, have been called to teach and guide us and who are calling out to us to beware of the dangers we face each day—from casual Sabbath-day observance, to threats to the family, to assaults on religious freedom, and even to disputing latter-day revelation. Brothers and sisters, are we listening to their counsel?

Many times in conferences, sacrament meetings, and Primary we have sung the tender words, “Lead me, guide me, walk beside me.”8What do those words mean to you? Who comes to mind when you think of them? Have you felt the influence of righteous leaders, those disciples of Jesus Christ who have in the past and continue today to touch your life, who walk the Lord’s path with you? They may be close at home. They may be in your local congregations or speaking from the pulpit at general conference. These disciples share with us the blessing of having a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, the leader of this Church, the leader of our very souls, who has promised, “Be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”9

I remember President Thomas S. Monson sharing the story of being invited to his stake president Paul C. Child’s home to prepare for advancement to the Melchizedek Priesthood. What a special blessing for President Child, who did not know at the time that he was teaching a young Aaronic Priesthood boy who would one day become the prophet of God.10

I have had my own learning moments from our dear prophet, President Monson. There is no question in my mind or in my heart that he is the Lord’s prophet on the earth; I have been a humbled recipient as he has received revelation and acted upon it. He has been teaching us to reach out, to protect each other, to rescue one another. So it was taught at the Waters of Mormon. Those “desirous … to be called his people” were willing “to bear one another’s burdens,” “to mourn with those that mourn,” and “to stand as witnesses of God.”11

I stand today as a witness of God the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know our Savior lives and loves us and directs His servants, you and me, to fulfill His mighty purposes on this earth.12

As we press forward, choosing to follow the counsel and the warnings of our leaders, we choose to follow the Lord while the world is going in another direction. We choose to hold fast to the iron rod, to be Latter-day Saints, to be on the Lord’s errand, and to be filled “with exceedingly great joy.”13

The growing question of today is clear: are you standing with the leaders of the Church in a darkening world so that you might spread the Light of Christ?

Relationships with leaders are so important and significant. No matter what age leaders may be, how close or far away, or when they may have touched our lives, their influence reflects the words of the American poet Edwin Markham, who said this:

There is a destiny that makes us brothers:

[No one] goes his way alone:

All that we send into the lives of others

Comes back into our own.14

Shakeel Arshad, my friend in Pakistan, sent his support to me, his brother and friend. So have many of you. When we reach out to lift one another, we prove those powerful words: “[No one] goes his way alone.”

Most of all, we need our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ. One of the accounts from scripture that has always spiritually moved me is when Jesus Christ walked out on the water to meet His disciples who were traveling in a ship on the Sea of Galilee. These were leaders newly called, like many of us on the stand today. The account is recorded in Matthew: 

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

“And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, … and they cried out for fear.

“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”15Peter heard that wonderful call of encouragement from the Lord.

“And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

“And [Jesus] said, Come.”16Pretty bold. Peter was a fisherman, and he knew about the hazards of the sea. However, he was committed to following Jesus—night or day, on a ship or on dry land.

I can imagine that Peter leaped over the side of the boat, not waiting for a second invitation, and began to walk on the water. Indeed, the scripture says, “He walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”17 As the wind increased in strength and force and as the waves swirled about his feet, Peter became “afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried [out], saying, Lord, save me.

Such a powerful lesson. The Lord was there for him, just as He is there for you and for me. He reached out His hand and drew Peter to Him and to safety.

I have needed the Savior and the rescue of His hand so many times. I need Him now as never before, as does each of you. I have felt confident at times leaping over the side of the boat, figuratively speaking, into unfamiliar places, only to realize that I could not do it alone.

As we discussed during Face to Face, the Lord often reaches out to us through our families and leaders, inviting us to come unto Him—just like He reached out to save Peter.

You too will have your many moments to respond to frequent invitations to “come unto Christ.”19 Isn’t that what this mortal life is all about? The call may be to come rescue a family member; come serve a mission; come back to church; come to the holy temple; and, as we have recently heard from our wonderful youth in the Face to Face event, come, please help me answer my question. In due time, each one of us will hear the call “Come home.”

I pray that we will reach out—reach out and take the Savior’s hand that He is extending to us, often through His divinely called leaders and our family members—and listen for His call to come.

I know that Jesus Christ lives; I love Him, and I know with all my heart that He loves each of us. He is our great Exemplar and the divine leader of all of our Father’s children. Of this I bear my solemn witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

• I really enjoyed this talk. There is so much contention and false teachings happening in the world. It is very comforting to know that all I need to do is follow the Prophet - just like the Primary Song says to do. If I do that, then I will always be choosing the right and THAT will lead me back to Heavenly Father and my Eternal Family. 

Left

Right

Here is the handy-dandy handout I made to go along with this Conference Talk. Enjoy!

Make it a great one!

Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!

May Odd Holidays

Here are the ODD HOLIDAYS for MAY

National Barbecue Month,

National Hamburger Month

National Salad Month, Older Americans Month

2nd week - Wildflower Week

2nd Sunday - Mothers Day (not odd) haha

1st - Mother Goose Day

8th - Iris Day

11th - Eat What You Want Day

16th - Love a Tree Day

23rd - Lucky Penny Day

Make it a great one!

 Daughter, Sister, Friend, Wife - in our 18th year of wedded bliss, Stepmother to 2 adult children, Mother - (G16, G15, B12, G10, B9, B5, G4, & B1), StepMother-In-Law to 2, StepGrandmother to 4 precociously precious little boys! Blessed, Happy & Satisfied!