Getting Organized For 2012 Projects:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

It is after Christmas, time to clean up around this joint and to reorganize the place.  I have given so much time and effort to Christmas that I wanted to get the rest of our home in better shape.  I did round up most of the decorations, but have not even touched the tree.  It is artificial, so no harm in that. 

I cleaned up our guest room and it is very nice now.  We can access the inversion back board now, which is cool.  Cary used it the other day, but I haven't yet. 

Yesterday, I started working on our office.  It is still a disaster on the floor, but I cleared of the table and began organizing my writing projects.  Here is what I have going so far:

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

On the left is my stuff for The Early Oregon Series.  This pile includes our family history and Sepia Saturday articles. 

In the middle is the information that I have gathered and written about Oregon, travel, and research for my epic novel. 

On the right, is the dry erase board with my To Do lists. 

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

I just put it there for the photos, it isn't filled out yet.  I work well with lists, and this will help me get things checked off and remember what my goals are.  It is big and where I can see it everyday.  It is funny that I didn't put a category for blog!  (I added it a couple hours after posting this.)  I guess that is because you can't pull me away from it.  Also because I like the creative flow that I have going on with it now, though my blog is really the base for everything else.  It is my major organization tool.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

This morning, I printed off all of my Book Blurb Friday posts, after putting them all into Word.  I have missed a few weeks, but we just finished Week #44 today, so there are a lot of them.  Some would actually make good books, I do believe.  I am new to creative writing, so it gives me a bit of confidence to look at my work.  I appreciate Lisa Ricard Claro for holding Book Blurb Friday for us.  I view it as my weekly homework assignment. 

I am also going to take my Sepia Saturday articles and Oregon articles and put them into Word and get ready to make books out of them, somehow, someway.  Even if they just go out to family for Christmas gifts. 

Come to find out, it is extremely easy to copy and paste off of Blogger.  Way too easy, if you ask me.  And, that makes me very uneasy.  I do have somebody who is visiting my blog numerous times a day from Iowa, looking through old posts and new, but they have never left me a comment.  I hope that they just like my work and are not doing their own copy and paste work from Oregon Gifts.  Because even if you can do that, it is illegal to without permission.  This is my work, after all.

Anyway, the house was shaping up very nicely and I am very happy with figuring out the next steps of what I am supposed to be doing with my life.  I recruited a manager (my businessman husband) and we are brainstorming ways to make some money off of my photography!  I am really excited about that and appreciate Cary's willingness to help.  Thank you, my blogger friends for your encouragement in this area too, I really appreciate it. 

What I really want to do is write and sell books, but I think that I can incorporate that with my photography.  I'll keep you posted on the progress as time goes by. 

You noticed that I said the house "was" clean?  Well, last night, we noticed that our roof is leaking and staining the ceiling.  We have had a lot of rain the past few days, and I had to take everything off of the walls.  We have a repair person coming over to day to help us figure out what to do. 

So, beginning with Sonny's vet bill, Christmas, the new fridge, the upcoming trip to San Antonio, and now the roof ... December has been a very expensive month for us.  We are definitely no longer the rich relatives. (That was supposed to be funny, we never were, but the Lord has blessed us in many ways and we are very grateful for that.)  Hope that I can sell my photos in one manner or another!  And, my books, when I get them written.  I am not discouraged, though I do need to get to work, and I am.

So, that is what is up around here.  We are looking so forward to seeing the family next week at Tyler's Army All-American game.  Please watch the game if you can!  I'll keep reminding you peeps about that on here, just in case somebody misses when I post about it.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Take care, and have a wonderful New Year's Eve and day and year.  Please leave me a comment on how you plan on meeting your goals this year, if you want too. 

Kathy M.

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.