Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I hope you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas. Maybe you are still enjoying your holiday! I have actually been able to use some of my holiday break (meaning not having to tote my children back and forth to school) to do some creative projects.
I am all about making and preserving memories for my family and others. It is one of my favorite things! Handmade things are by far the best. So I am sharing one of the small project I was able to do for Christmas this year.

My creative ideas are usually inspired by something I see. This is why I LOVE Pintrest! Pintrest is like a candy store for creative people like me. You can pick and choose what you like, add it to your "treat bag" and create your own combination. There are so many ideas there! I love doing this because I will find two or even three ideas that I will combine and put my own creative spin on. 
I began a tradition years ago when I met my husband by giving him a Christmas ornament with the year on it. When our kids came along I continued this tradition with them as well. Now I'm sure you know most Christmas ornaments are not cheep. Early in the season I found my three ornaments,  for my husband my son and daughter. I really wasn't happy with them and I am pretty frugal. I always ask myself how can I make something like this cheaper (when possible). And this isn't just to save money but it makes it more meaningful and special. So I came up with my own project inspired by the the above photo found on Pinterest. And in the end I took the store bought ornaments back to the store.

So my end result was a bit bigger than a ornament or an over sized ornament at least!  But non the less a great momento for 2013 and cost way less than a store bought ornament! 
I hope you found something to inspire your creativity this Christmas season!  

Creatively Yours, 
~Melissa 
OCD Mama

My intention was to give you a blog post each week but last week was a long, hard, and busy week to say the least! This OCD Mama is still struggling with the new back to school routine. Though my mid-week left me feeling depleted (physically mentally and creatively) I still want nothing more than to be there for my kids. If you are a follower of my FaceBook page you know that last week was my daughters birthday. This celebration brought definite highs and lows to my week. I was able to spend time in my daughters class the day of her birthday bringing cupcakes to her and all her classmates. This was one of those definite blessing to not working outside the home. But on the other hand much of my busyness entailed preparations for her party on Saturday. Weeks ago I did what any crafty mama would do looking for inspiration for her sweet little girls Minnie Mouse birthday party....I went to Pintrest! Ah, yes Pintrest! My favorite place these days to feed my OCD mind. After all it is THE place to find all things to inspire ORGANIZATION, CREATIVE (projects), and DESIGN. There I found fabulous ideas for Minnie Mouse party favors, food ideas, decorations, even Minnie ears made from Oreo cookies. As the party got closer and my overloaded to-do list left me more overwhelmed, my grandiose ideas were replaced by simpler solutions. 

Though I thrive on being organized and get gritty over crafty projects I have discovered God is teaching me to let things go. Despite the fact that my daughters party turned out nothing like the vision in my head, she had a great birthday party. She and all her friends (actually mostly her brothers friends) had a blast. But I have a confession, though I am trying hard to let "some" things go in order to enjoy my kids more, I am still an OCD Mama through and through. I guess I just need to take my own " Wedding Planner" advice and give myself more time to plan. Maybe I should start on the Sweet 16 now! I want to know the cool and creative ideas and themes you have done for your kids birthdays. Leave me a comment and share how you got your ideas. Did it turn out how you envisioned?

Tomorrow I hope to bring you a bonus blog post with some BIG NEWS! I want to share with you something I have been pondering and praying about for a couple months now! This is a life changing decision for me and I'm super excited to share it. So I hope you will come back tomorrow to read about it!

Blessings,
~Melissa

Welcome to my first official post as the "OCD Mama". To fully understand what defines me as an OCD Mama please take a moment to look at my About page if you have not already. I hope you will find the humor in the double meaning. 
 
I find it ironic that my first post to my newly revamped blog "OCD Mama" is on the first day of school! 
Ok maybe not so ironic when you're a Work-at-Home Mama and it's the first day of "just a little bit of freedom after a LONG summer". 

I have to admit that my full fledged creativity has not unleashed yet after a hectic and eventful summer. But those creative juices did start flowing a bit during my morning of freedom in one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby. Actually I believe the organization side of my brain is monopolizing a bit.To be quite honest my OCD tendencies (in its true form, not the creative meaning) have left me a bit overwhelmed. Well, correction, this is where the two OCD definitions collide. Now that school has started my brain is flooded with to-do lists ,organizational ideas to deal with what's on my to-do lists, then a creative approach to my organizational ideas for my to-do list. You get the idea! My brain feels like a jumbled mess! And I desperately want things to fall into place.....LIKE RIGHT NOW! Am I the only one? 

I am so thankful though for one of my biggest encouragements www.Proverbs31.org and the daily devotions Encouragement Today that I recieve in my e-mail box every (week)day. Today's writter Glynnis Whitwer 
 talks about dealing with those times we want to procrastinate because we are afraid of the changes we need to make today or because we are overwhelmed and can't think straight. In addition to her devotion in Encouragement Today she added to her own blog http://glynniswhitwer.com/, a creative way of organizing her To-do lists and ongoing projects, a project management binder . I am often inspired by Glynnis and the wisdom she shares about her gift of organization. I may even share in another post the binder I created (over a year ago). Unlike Glynnis I didn't exactly stick to it......maybe I should get that thing out and try again!

On the top of my organizational To-do list would be to figure out our new school year routine. This year I am challenged for sure. My oldest (son) now has a full school day but, my daughter still only a half day. My commute one way is at least twenty minutes. This means A LOT of driving. Then there is squeezing in a nap for the younger one in a two and a half hour time frame. Unfortunately that doesn't include my travel time home and back to pick up my son. Today my daughter played in her room rather than take a nap in our tiny time frame. She finally fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up her brother. I'm not sure if a nap in the car is the solution but it's exhausting just thinking about it! It seems as though its just going to be a long year with lots of driving.

What are your methods of organization for your family, school, work and fun activities? Did you have to reorganize your schedule this new school year? I'd love to hear your schedule solutions and daily routines. You can leave me a comment or email me at melissakmacgregor@gmail.com. 

Be on the lookout for my upcoming "guest" post on www.gymnutfitness.com I will be sharing my amazing transformation (body, mind, and spirit) in the last four months. Also I'll be tweaking the design of my blog so be sure to stop by to see what is new!