Now Santa, I don’t want you to throw this letter into the pile with the rest of the requests that end up in some fulfillment center because this request is going to need your special attention. I know what you are thinking but you’re wrong. The “everything” I want is not for me, even though this is my wish list.

I have decided to come to you this year for help, because there is so much that I want and so little time. You come highly recommended as a man who has extraordinary skill in organization.  Your record on accomplishing a lot in a short period of time is legendary.  Just look at what you accomplish each year. There are so many people who believe in you and you have never let them down. I thought that it wouldn’t be such a big deal to ask you to add a few things to your to do list!

 Even though I haven’t sent a list in a while I am sure you remember me from when I was younger – right we don’t need to go into all that now but the word persistent came up a lot. So to avoid problems now would be a great time to rally the troops and get cracking on these.  

OK Santa, first on my list, I want all children to have food to eat! Can’t be that hard can it? How have we allowed children to go hungry anyway?  Have you ever been hungry, sorry,  it looks like maybe it’s been a few years, but I am sure you can remember and  it doesn’t feel good? There are even more children than ever this year who know what hunger feels like; and they don’t have anything to eat when they are hungry.  I was thinking this year please take one of my gifts, in fact wouldn’t it be great if everyone with lots of toys and things can forgo just one gift, and you can leave food at a food pantry for someone who needs it. I know it’s not your normal gig, but hey things are bad for families and so we all need to make an extra effort this year . Look I’ve already figured it all out for you.  The people at the food pantry will help, are really good at getting it to kids who are hungry. So you just drop it off and they will take care of the rest.That way you won’t have to worry about getting down the chimney with jars and cans, they can be heavy. I’ve already talked to Blitzen and he assured me that canned goods and staples will fit in the sleigh, no problem and you can even drop it off early which will save you time on Christmas Eve!

Next, I am very worried about Haiti this year. There is now an entire generation of children left without parents. The Haitian people have been tormented again and again with natural disasters, illness and yes I know many people have already done a great deal. Donations have poured in and lots of people have given their time and talents, yet I am concerned that we are tiring of hearing about their plight and we may just eventually forget them so I am counting on you to give a bit of extra attention to help these people out this year. So for this one, my list reads please don’t allow us forget about Haitian people.

And then, I know you live really far away. The North Pole is quite a distance from most of the danger in the world but I want to remind you that as you fly around the world on Christmas Eve most of the countries you are going to be flying over there are American soldiers stationed there. All those soldiers put their lives on the line every day so that we can all be safe. So I was thinking maybe you could have your elves write a quick note of thanks to them for all they are doing for us. If each of your elves writes a couple letters, every soldier will know that they are not forgotten.

Oh yeah, I know you don’t have a lot of extra time, but if you could stop by and visit some nursing homes, there are lots of wonderful people there that could really use a visit. I know when you stop; you will recognize some old friends. They were your helpers when they were younger. I just thought that maybe a few minutes of your time for just a quick hello, I know it would mean so much to them.

Here is another thing on my list. I know you have a fondness for animals, well at least reindeer, which are very nice I am sure, but wouldn’t it be much nicer to have some smaller more manageable pets. May I suggest a pet you could keep in the house? I will bet you Mrs. Claus would love to have a rescue pet, maybe a cat or dog as a companion while you are working those long hours in the shop. Also, I know you get letters from children who are asking for pets this year; you should choose a rescue pet from a shelter for them. There are so many wonderful pets waiting for homes and I think Christmas would be  the perfect time to make their wish come true of someone to love them and a home to call their own.

You know Santa, I don’t mean to be pushy, I know you have been around a lot longer than I have and have seen lots of difficult times come and go, but I am worried that you might become so used to being inundated with so many requests with a world so troubled that it becomes just too overwhelming.  Your elves may not be sure what to do first. That’s why I made my list. I wanted to help give you direction.

I know that you are very busy this time of year and there are lots of distractions with all your parties and supervising all the younger elves, but these things on my list are really very important! So I am counting on you to do the right thing and get everyone going. If each of your elves can do just a little bit, then on Christmas day everyone can sit back and feel wonderful that they have contributed to the goodness of the world.

There is goodness Santa, there is lots of goodness. I know it’s so easy to remember the bad. I know that all that bad along with the sadness of the world has touched us all, but you need to step up this year. Being sad won’t change anything. Santa, I believe in you and I believe in your elves and I know that my wishes can come true and we can make this all happen.

And this Santa is my last wish….please allow everyone to understand that they too can make a difference. Let them see that even if they feel what they can do is small and inconsequential that they are wrong. You need to get them to understand that even a small ripple of goodness reaches far beyond what their eyes will ever see, that those huge waves of goodness are really created by lots of small ripples that join together.   

So Santa thanks for listening. I know my list seems rather long but it is really only a small part of what I wish for and I know there will always be things for each of us to have on our lists. 

Lastly Santa, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being an example to all of us that the gesture of giving without expecting something in return can change the world. Many of us do believe Santa, we believe in things that we have never seen, we believe that people are good and kind and will help and we believe that people who meant to hear this message will and most of all we believe that miracles really can happen.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Count down to Christmas. Five Weeks to Go!
Hi and welcome to A New Day A New Vision my name is Kim Upstone and this is my lifestyle site. You know what the definition of lifestyle is – it’s the way you choose to live your life. I want to make my life beautiful filled with things I love and love to do.
This site is where you can get ideas on ways to simplify your life by organization. Everything you find here I do in my own life and they allow me to have lots of time for fun without compromising. These are things that may save you time, money or space. They will be important to see if you can use them for your well being . The idea is to do look at how I do things and see if they fit for you. Give them a try but the point is with your free time to do something fun. If you can figure out how to get things done and then have fun you will become inspired to keep trying these things. All these things will help you fix the things on the outside.
If you need help in finding direction in your life working on the inside then visit my All I want is Everything where you can be inspired and awakened to new thoughts and ideas on working on your beautiful life on the inside .
Christmas is in five weeks. I told you last week, love the holidays and one of my goals is to sit and look at twinkling lights the entire week of Christmas. For all my dear friends and readers who do not celebrate this holiday these ideas can be transferable to another holiday or event.
So what things did we do this week to make it easier to enjoy the holidays?
I hope you got your notebook and paper ready to go? Good now most everything you will need is in one place so let’s get it out and take a quick peek at last week.
I hope you wrote a personal goal and a family goal. Did you follow through on having some fun alone as well as a family? If you did please comment either here at you tube or my website. We give motivation each other by sharing ideas by telling others what we did. Sometimes it takes another person to admit that something worked or they actually enjoyed taking time to enjoy their life before we think to ourselves – hey I can do that too!
I have my Christmas music, movies and clothes out and house all decorated. Yes I know it’s still November but I am not hosting Thanksgiving, it’s at my parents this year so I can indulge in the holiday early and this way on Thanksgiving when I am stuffed like a turkey, full of food I can come home and turn on all the lights I will just enjoy the evening!
OK let’s get going for this week.
Look at your calendar for the upcoming week. Anything you need to address now? You know your clothes are ready for everybody so that will not be an issue.
Did you get a chance to talk about best memories? You should now have an idea what you need to do to make Christmas joyous for everyone. Have you picked a day for this week to have family fun and some time to relax yourself. Well I did and I am ready for the festivities to begin.
So here is what I did this week. Take a look see if there is anything that will help you get you motivated.
I cleaned medium wall high. Remember last week I dusted high, well all that dust fell on the tops of my picture frames and everything else on my walls and the tops of door frames. So along with my usual “lick and a promise” (a quote from my Aunt Nina that she would just do the top and promise to get back to it) I did walls higher than what I can reach without a ladder. Next week I won’t need to drag it out because everything up high is clean and should the person taller than what I can see on my tiptoes visit I can relax and know that the secret that I only clean above my eye level twice a year is safe.
I did watch Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. It is so funny, everyone should have a copy. Now if my exterior lights work and my tree doesn’t go up in flames I have had a perfect Holiday. It reaffirms my gratitude that as long as we are all well Life is good!
This week I wrote out the insides of all my out of town friends. I like writing my cards in stages or I become so bored and less and less interested in writing something amusing. I write all day and if I try writing all night I become very grumpy elf, so little by little for me is is better. I got all my invites and evites to my party next week out so that is now done.
Ok now the reason for being in my kitchen this week. I promised to teach you bagging.
OK I have my list of cookies I am making – everyone’s favorites and my three new ones. Some of these cookies are in my cookie rotation and some I make only for Christmas. What is most of the hassle when you make cookies? It’s pulling out all the stuff you need to make them. Not only the flour and sugar but the measuring cups and tools. My answer has been to create a system by which I don’t need to pull everything out again and again. So let’s start from the beginning.
Grab your list of cookies, your recipes for those cookies and all your dry ingredients. What’s so great is that you will only have to take them out once. Take out a box of gallon size freezer bags and write your cookie name on the front. You are going to list anything that you cannot put in now. Write out all the wet or perishable ingredients. As an example I have my white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies these are my daughter Melissa’s favorite. She lives in Hawaii on Waikiki beach and she only comes home a couple times a year so she gets to pick two favorites and this is one.
So I have taken the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar and granulated sugar it’s all in this bag. I have written the name of the cookie and the temp of 350 and 9-11 min on the front of the bag along with 1 c. butter-2 large eggs, 1T honey, and 2t.vanilla extract. In a separate small bag I have 1 1/3 c. dried cranberries and 1 c white choc chips since those will go in last. I will do this for all my cookies. I will reuse this bag for this cookie when I make it during the year in my cookie rotation.
So when I am ready to make this cookie all I do is pull out the butter and lay it on the bag to soften and then pull out the couple items that I need which are written on the front so I don’t even need recipes. I won’t have to drag out all the items because that is already measured and ready to make. It saves me lots of time and mess.
I ordered my online food gifts. Places like Wisconsin Cheeseman and Wine Country Gift baskets and lots of online places will hold your order until your preferred ship date so get the ordering out of the way now.
So here is what makes a difference in my life.
I found out what you love to do and what makes you happy and I find time to do it by…
…determining those things that I can’t compromise on, things like cooking healthy meals and having my life, clothes and house simplified and organized so I have the time to have fun, guilt free. All those things that are not fun but necessary can be taken care of you will be free to seek out things that make you happy.
Then determine what you hate doing and avoid it as much as possible.
This has been the answer for me and this is my beautiful life.
So I will see you next week for week four as we continue to the holiday.

Count down to Christmas. Six Weeks to Go!

Hi and welcome to A New Day A New Vision my name is Kim Upstone and this is my lifestyle site. This is where you can help you find ways to simplify your life by organizing and simplifying it. Everything you find here  I do in my own life and they allow me to have lots of time for fun without compromising. These are things that may save you time, money or space. They will be important to see if you can use them for your well being .  The idea is to do look at how I do things and see if they fit. Give them a try but the point is with your free time to do something fun. The ability to have fun will inspire you to keep trying these things. These things will help you fix the things on the outside.

If you need help in finding direction in your life working on the inside then visit my All I want is Everything  where you can be inspired and awakened to new thoughts and ideas on working on your beautiful life on the inside .

Christmas is in six weeks. I love the holidays and one of my goals is to sit and look at twinkling lights the entire week of Christmas. For all my dear friends and readers who do not celebrate this holiday these ideas can be transferable to another holiday or event.

So what are some things that we can do now to make it easier to enjoy the holidays?

FIRST – Buy yourself lined notebook paper a binder preferably with pockets. Or maybe a notebook will do the trick. Come on it needs to be red or green.

SECOND- Write a personal goal and a family goal in the book and make sure that you leave plenty of time to include it.

For your personal goal maybe you want everything done a week before Christmas like I do so you can sit and watch It’s A Wonderful Life again. Maybe you want to make enjoying family and friends your goal and take the emphasis off how much and how many gifts. If that is the goal set dollar limits on each person you will buy for. Maybe you want it to be a green holiday so your focus might be to have the children make wrapping out of brown shopping bags or homemade gifts. Whatever your goal think of it now and plan ahead.

 Family goals should be discussed as a family. Sit down and ask each what their favorite memory is or how would they like to celebrate the holiday and incorporate it in some way. You might be as shocked as I was when you ask. Many years ago I started asking my family what was important and I found that baking their favorite cookies and playing a game were among the most important. I would have sworn that it would be going to Disneyworld or making lists of gifts that they wanted.  

Here is what I did this week. Look at the list and do as many or as few things that will save you time closer to the holiday.

I cleaned really high. I dusted cobwebs off the ceiling corners and cleaned the ceiling fans, air vent, exhaust fans and light fixtures. This way the dust falls down and I can clean it with the next layer next week.

I made a photo copy of a blank calendar or you can print one off online, punched holes and placed it behind my goals page in the front of the notebook. Write down all events you will need to attend. Office parties, home parties, kids school pageants, anything that needs to have a reserve date for. There may be events that show up at the last minute but knowing at a glance where you will need to be will help your mind relax. Reserve one day each week for family or fun with others.  Stick to the day of fun. Do crafts, watch a movie, have dinner together. Drop the expectations at the door. Just enjoy whatever happens. Teenagers don’t want to participate then let them have a say on the events. The point is to make time to enjoy each others company. Forget about having everything perfect, my goodness even the Griswalds ended up having fun.

I wrote out my envelopes for my Christmas cards (not the insides). Yes, I buy mine the year before at half price and I put them in my crate marked OPEN FIRST. For the party I am having I have the envelopes for the invites out and just write the address on each. This way all the envelopes are ready.  Many of the people will get evites this year, but a few don’t have email  (some of my elderly neighbors). Now the OPEN FIRST crate.  I put everything I will need first like hooks for the bulbs, those teeny tiny fuses and replacement lights for burned out bulbs and my red notebook from last year. It is the very last thing I pack away and the very first crate I open for the season.

As the weeks move towards the holiday I keep notes on the highlights in my red notebook. What was really fun, maybe we want to do it again or what did we mention that we would like to try for this year.    It’s always fun to look back at the notes from events attended and thoughts I record from theprior  year it reminds me what is most important to remember the reason for the season  before it all begins again.

Then I took a venture into my closet to make sure I have what I need to wear for the festivities. It has been a year since I have worn those velvet slacks and Christmas sweater. Do they need pressing or dry cleaning? Do you have something appropriate for your office party or a special event? How about the kids and husband? Make the kids try on their Sunday clothes to make sure they fit. Do you need to get out for some shopping? Now is the time to shop for something special. There will be lots of selection and why fight crowds for non-gift items. Make your list and get it done this week.

This week I also made my cookie list. I am Italian and my mom and aunt making Christmas cookies are one of my fondest memories. Christmas cookies are the highlight of the year for me. Each person in my family gets to select their favorite and I make sure to include them on the list. I always add three new recipes, cookies I haven’t made before.  These three are changed out every year. So even if they are really good they go into my cookie rotation – that is a rotation of cookies that I make during the year.  So I pull the recipes and add what I will need to my grocery list so I am ready to bag them – I will explain what bagging is next week.

Well that is my week six. It took me a couple hours to get this all done. If you are following along make sure and add what you find works for you.

The whole premise of doing this is as follows;

Find out what you love to do and what makes you happy and find time to do it by…

…determining those things that you can’t compromise on, things like cooking healthy meals and having your life, clothes and house simplified and organized  so you have the time to have fun. With all these things that are not fun but necessary taken care of you will be free to seek out things that make you  happy.

Then determine what you hate doing and avoid it as much as possible.

This has been the answer for me and this is my beautiful life.

SO I will see you next week for week five as we continue to the holiday.

 

Hi Kim here from a new day a new vision

Today I want to talk about fresh cut flowers.

I love fresh flowers and when I  do treat myself to a bouquet I want to make sure I give them some tlc to allow them to stay fresh and beautiful as long as possible.

There are a few very simple steps to follow when you bring them home to prolong their life.

First of all common sense will tell you that you don’t want to buy them and leave them in your car. Heat and cold can really shorten their life. Immediately upon getting home place them in water – get your groceries put away – eat dinner – whatever else you need to get done and when you have a few minutes to devote to their care remove them from the water and remove wrapping.

The type of flowers you have purchased will reflect your kind of containers – I use many different containers from crystal vases to pitchers to bathroom toothbrush holders. Remember that you can also use a vase within a vase if the container is too large or you feel uncomfortable putting food into a container that bacteria has been growing in – that bacteria will begin to grow in as little as 3 hours so if you are like me I don’t use them for both purposes .

I will have a video on different types of containers to hold flowers so check the site if you are interested in getting some more ideas on that subject.

OK put some tepid water – not hot – not cold in the container and add floral preservative it probably came with if you want – since I am not keen on chemicals I use a more natural approach to keeping the flowers fresh.

I think a better alternative is –to place a penny-and an aspirin in the water – the copper in the penny does not allow the fungus to grow and aspirin adds a bit of acid which allows the water to move up the stem of the flowers easier which they need to stay fresher longer

You can also use 2Tlemon juice or white vinegar (which is the acid) 1Tsugar which serves as food for the flowers and 1/2t bleach to impede the bacteria growth to 1 quart of water.

Cut 1” off of each stem diagonally with a sharp knife- do not use a serrated knife and always cut it under water so there is no chance for an air bubble to lodge in the stem that won’t allow the flower to absorb water you can use running water but it seems such a waste of our resources to have water running the whole time. So I just get a bowl and hold the end of the stem under the water while I cut

Strip off all leaves below water line but do not remove thorns on roses

Make sure that you place your flowers in a cool spot away from sunlight, and heating vents also do not place flowers near fruit –fruit gives off  ethylene which is a gas that will shorten the life of the flowers

Re-cut stems and change water every two days remembering to add the penny and aspirin to the fresh tepid water

So follow these simple tips and you will be able to enjoy the beautiful gift that nature provides for us just a bit longer.

Make sure to visit one of my four websites or look for my other you tube channels – all for you to help you make your life beautiful everyday!

See you in the next video.

 

Hi Kim here from A New Day A New Vision

Today we are taking about Herb – no we are not talking about your elderly neighbor and I apologize to all you linguists I never know the correct way to say it – is it Herb or erb Well I think if you have gotten to this point in the video you know I am talking about the spice

 I love herbs I love the smell and the taste and I am always trying to find ways to get more of them into my recipes.

 Herbs add so much flavor I now grow the ones I use most often in my kitchen I always have sweet basil and Italian parsley and switch out oregano and dill.

  I want to share some really fabulous  tips  on growing, using and storing them    Since I am not wasteful I am not going to let them go to waste.  When I buy them at the store I don’t always need as much in my recipe as comes in the package  I could dry them but  I usually have a container full of dried that I have purchased so I really don’t need more of them dried.

So what I came up with is a great way to preserve them.

Now I am all about saving time without compromising on eating healthy – home cooked meals so those of you that want to know more about me and saving time and living a beautiful life can watch my video who is Kim Upstone and why is she so happy?

OK let’s start at the beginning – I grow herbs in my kitchen window I bought some dirt and a couple of pots and seeds for all of that it was like ten bucks and it will make enough herbs to last me a couple years. I hate pesticides and have always hated them I think they contribute to our inability to fight off diseases and I believe they accumulate in our body so no pesticides for this gal and her family for the last 25 years. And health has been our gift. I eat everything but it has to be washed in a special way which I will talk more about in another video

Now if I grow these in my window I know that they are organic -nothing has touched them so just rinsing them is enough. But if I do buy them I wash them in a solution of 1T salt and 2Tlemon juice in a bowl of 4 c of water just let them sit a bit 5-10 minutes and then rinse.

I cut the top of the plants off just above the lowest leaves  – like this and place them in a bowl

Now this is my way that has served me for years. I am told that you are not supposed to chop and some say to only tear but I do it the quickest way is to use a scissors. And snip snip snip!

Now I don’t know if any of you have compared prices on broth but the large can is so much cheaper than the little can so I always buy the big can and freeze it in ice cube trays so here is the trick – put your chopped herb in the tray and fill up with broth and freeze – pop out when they are frozen and I keep a freezer bag marked with each herb . I like to lay them in a dish after I pop them out to make sure they freeze completely separate – takes just a couple extra minutes and saves me time trying to chisel them apart later.

You can do this with water or wine too but we rarely have bottles of wine that are just sitting around. This way when your recipe calls for fresh parsley or basil you just throw in a few cubes and you are done.

You can take this even further by combining herbs but we will save that for another video

For now just give this a try and growing or freezing some herbs it will make life so much easier – one more step to help you create a beautiful life everyday!

And I will see you inside the next video. 

Hi my name is Kim Upstone and I am the owner of A New Day A New Vision –and I have found happiness!

The name of my company is a constant reminder that each and every new day when I wake up I can reaffirm who I am and choose my vision of who I want to be. And that vision includes happiness. I’m not implying that you don’t know these things yourself your smart it’s just that I know it is so easy to get caught up in planning to live and forget to actually engage in creating a life that includes what you determine is most important for you.

A life that includes all the things that are important for your  happiness – rising above the circumstances in your life and living each day focused on what is important. I take great pleasure in being happy.

How I got happy is the real story here. Many years ago I decided to take a journey to find what was missing in my life. From the outside someone would say I had it all. Beautiful children, happy marriage- house- cars -friends and even faith but I was searching for something, a piece that was missing.

Let me tell you a secret the defining  moment the moment when I realized that  I was spending my life trying to make everyone else happy I thought that other people being happy  would make me happy. But with all my effort  and giving it my all, other people were not always happy. That’s when I realized it was all about me. I am not responsible for anyone else’s happiness and no one else is responsible for my happiness but me I also realized that what other people think  of me is none of my business.

 I am the only one that needs to worry about liking me. And I am worthy of being happy and enjoying my life even of others decide not to. So would it make me happy to give up doing things that were important to me, doing them did not make me happy because they were not fun. But they were all things that I couldn’t compromise on because the effects of not doing them made me really unhappy.

Things like cooking healthy meals, grocery shopping, household chores, having my office, wardrobe and life organized were among the things that were important but yet not fun so what I did was figure out ways to  streamline all those things that took up my time and give me the free time I needed to pursue things that were really important to me, things that brought me happiness.

So what am I doing with this video blog and my A New Day A New Vision website? Well I already have a website that works to empower and help you define what will make you happy –at that site I give you a trail to follow to find your everything.  That is my site for my book All I Want is Everything and I have a video blog and website for my profession as a designer and feng shui stager and that is my Step By Step To Sold site and I have a site to read great books to little children and that is A Story Because I Love U and all those things serve others while being true to myself and they make me happy.

All these things are not obligations they are choices. So at this site I will give you all my tips and tricks and allow you to make choices on which ones you use to simplify your life. You will hardly notice it’s all changing because we are going to make tiny steps one after another and soon you will have free time to do what you choose without giving up anything that is important to you – no compromises. Just happiness.

 I am not going to try to motivate you I want to offer you inspiration. Inspiration is like a ripple in the ocean and each and every pebble that I drop into the vast sea, every piece of inspiration will reach someone who is waiting for it. Motivating you would stop the minute I am no longer right there with you. But inspiration stays with you because you can see each and every video that I have been there and found a way to make it all work. Inspiration is something you can keep with you to use again and again because you are now working towards what makes you happiest.  

Let me tell you about my inspiration. She graduated from college in an era when it was uncommon for women to do so. She has written books, traveled the world, spoken out against wrongs, campaigned for world peace, human dignity and women’s rights. She counted among her friends John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Mark Twain. There was no boundary to her courage and faith and endless determination. She did all this as a deaf, dumb and blind woman. Of course it is Helen Keller.

She is my inspiration because if this woman can accomplish all of this and find happiness in her life with such difficulties and challenges then I can really do anything I choose. Helen Keller said “the only thing worse than being blind is having site, but no vision”. And that is the key that is what I want to help you do.

Create a vision for yourself.  Find out what you love to do, and have the time to do it.  Decide what you can not compromise on and find a way to do it quicker and easier. Find out what you don’t like to do and avoid it as often as possible. This brings balance and peace and happiness to your life! So join me, create that vision for yourself, whether your 19 or 90 makes no difference. Step onto the path today the one that leads to your everything.  We will see you in the next video.