Julie Doherty, JANUARY, A House of Order... and etc., etc., etc.

Hello to my friends new and old, young and... younger...?    :-)

Isn't this idea of Nora's awesome? I really love that girl and I know you all do as well.

She is one of my real-life heroes and has brought so much joy, understanding, compassion, hilarity and {very useful information} to my life.

And one day I will tell you about how she said some of the most important words I have ever heard.

Now, she is probably cursing me for bragging on about her, so I will show you a picture from our past to make up for it:

That's Tricia, Me, the Gates sisters, & Nora Jane

Oh dear. Am I in trouble now?

This is a photo from our high school musical “Once Upon a Mattress” performed when we were in the 11^th grade. Gluggle, uggle, uggle!

I wanted to include this photo because it represents that Nora and I first met and became friends on the stage while performing in our Stake musical, “Bye Bye Birdie.” (Wish I had a photo of that!)

We were Freshmen, I believe, and we didn't really know each other because we attended different junior high schools.

It didn't take long for us to discover we had a lot in common: lots of siblings, a love of music, camping, acting silly, and cats. Oh wait! I don't love cats, but I had a cat and Nora did too.

We've been friends ever since.

I cannot recall when we started calling her "Dirty Nora" or who even coined the name.  Let's just say it stuck because it was a literal oxymoron and couldn't be further from the truth, which somehow made it all the more appropriate!  Now it is said with the utmost respect and veneration.
(I mean just look at her in the above photo and say aloud, "Dirty Nora.")

Oh dear. I fear I'm in BIG trouble now.....

I'm also thrilled to be sharing in this Project with so many of my other friends too.

-Catherine is my sister from another mother (aka, my sis in law).

-Kelly O. and Jill C. are college roommates. (Oh, boy! Do I have some great pictures of them that I can share! Next month.

-Tricia B. is my dear birthday twin-- Happy 40^th to us last month.

-Sharon F. and Annice O. are fellow Snow College Badgers.

-Michelle married a high school friend and then happened to move next to Nora.

-Robyn is a fellow photographer and cyclist (well she's the real deal-- I'm the wanna-be).

-Vanessa, Donna, Sharon and Missy are like my little sisters.

-And Becky B. is kind of like my sister, since her sister is my Birthday twin.

Did you follow all of that?

Okay, so I couldn't wait until next month. I had to share this gem from Tricia's wedding in 1993:

We were babies!

So, I'm Julie and I'm long-winded and have a TMI problem.  Not to be confused with TMJ, a completely different problem that I also have.  I need to work on that.

I love people. Not so much animals. (Just ask Catherine.)

It is my belief that animals were put on this earth to be eaten.

And yes, I have eaten a puppy or two. On a mission to the Philippines.

Alright, alright, maybe we shouldn't eat all animals, but I really do prefer spending time with  

humans more than pets.

And I will tell you I have no intention of eating our family cat,

Luna Lovegood. (She's really cute, huh?)

My family of origin includes 7 brothers and 1 sister. Love them all!

That's me giving my little bro. bunny ears.  Yes, I was a dork back then, too.

I'm wife to a very patient man, Chris Doherty.

(One of my other Project(s)Connect goals is to blog about living with Chris' MS. 

 One day... when I dare to be more vulnerable. It's a process, right?)

I'm mom to two girls (12 and 10 years old) that I think are pretty cool.

Aside from family and people, my other loves include music, photography, biking, travel, reading, playing with my friends, sushi, green smoothies, sunshine, and much to the embarrassment of my kids-- dancing.

Had a blast dancing with these 2 stranger dudes in Disneyland.  How could I resist a Michael Jackson song, I ask you?
My family watched in horror, pretending not to know me.   :-)

In January, my goal was to have a “house of order.” 

As a kid, when it was my turn to teach Family Home Evening, every lesson I gave was 

“A House of Order is a House of God.”   (D&C 88:119)

I would invent revolutionary new chore charts, brainstorm ideas on how my brothers and sister could follow every little step I'd outlined for them, and I even graciously volunteered to be the enforcer.

Oh, I'm sure I drove them all crazy!

Now, I'm the mom and I'm the one in need that FHE lesson.

While my office and recipe cupboard still need some attention, I am happy to report that my basement storage room is now Beauty-ful!

Now if I need to find that one Christmas nativity from the Philippines, all I have to do is look at the lovely new labels on the bins, and Wa-la!  

I went through every single bin, every single holiday decoration that we own, and inventoried every stinkin' thing!

Here is a "BEFORE" picture:

Some of the Christmas decor

And some "AFTER" photos:

My storage room is functional again!

 

I found a cute FREE donwloadable label where I could just type my own words.  It was slick!

Click HERE to see the labels I used.

What we don't need any longer I placed in a box for our annual MS Garage Sale!

I'm really going to like this Project(s)Connect thing.

I've already gleaned some great ideas from you lovely friends of Nora, and I look forward to learning and sharing and living whole-heartedly with each of you.

Have a HAPPY day!

S.L.Y.,

Julie