Smorgasbord Open House – Blogger Pamela Thielen of Be Organized with Pamela

Today my guest is Pamela Thielen who, with her husband, has renovated several properties over the years as a business.  This expertise has evolved into a fabulous blog that provides extremely helpful strategies to help people become better organised and also to stage their properties for sale. I will share some links to posts later in the interview.

First though I asked Pamela to tell us a little about herself.

I’m a sassy, creative and outspoken southern gal.

I believe that if you can read you can go anywhere.

Early on I had a passion for reading instilled in me by my Mom. I love to read. I am in 2 book clubs at this time.

I also enjoy helping other people. My friends know that I’m the queen of useless trivial knowledge and I won’t hesitate to use it. My family and friends come to me for all kinds of information useless or not. Google and me are besties. I think this stems from my years of having to do research as a part of my job.

I even have lists of things to take visitors to see and do based on time of year and activity levels. I live in a small town and when new neighbors move in I’m always willing to help provide them with the useless trivial knowledge I have gained by being here. Like I said I’m not afraid to use it.

One of my favorite sayings is “If you knew you could not fail what would you do?”

I was a paralegal for over 20 years. Organization is mandatory in the legal field. I’ve developed methods and tips to make life run more smoothly.

In 2008 my I husband and I started buying the worst houses in the neighborhoods. We turned them back into homes for families.

I always suggest anyone stage their house before they put in on the market. Yes I it’s painful, and can cost a little money. I understand what it takes to present a house in the best possible light. I also know how hard it can be for some sellers to make that transition. I tell my clients staging most always is cheaper than a price reduction. Plus the faster your house sells the faster you can get on with your life.

In 2010 I moved to Arizona with my hubby and 2 fur babies.  If you ask me there is not a better place to live. Why you ask. Come on, that’s easy it’s vacationland every day. Who wouldn’t want to live in vacationland? Yea I’ve heard it all about how hot it is. Right it’s hot in the summer. But we never have to shovel sunshine.

After having been asked for years by friends, neighbors and colleges to share my tips and organizing skills with their friends and neighbors, I finally started Bee Organizing with Pamela. I can’t tell you have much I am enjoying blogging and sharing tips to help bring to control to chaos, conquer your clutter or sort out your stuff. I want to help everyone be organized and in control of their clutter.

I tell people don’t worry. No matter how bad you think your clutter is. Trust me I’ve seen worst.

Bee Organized with Pamela
To help you organize and contain your clutter. Sharing tips with you.

Here are a couple of examples of Pamela’s posts beginning with this one for parents and grandparents who love letting children spread out but would like the toys and games to be a little more tidy.

Simply Sunday – living with kids

Having just moved house for the 17th time I am staggered by the amount of electronics we now have, including computers with several connections. You unpack and suddenly find yourself with more connectors than you know what to do with.. Pamela has some tips for both packing up your electronics and also organizing your boxes and also suitcases.

Moving on up! Moving Tips

Now it is time to return to Pamela with the questions she has chosen to answer for her interview.

Tell us something about where you were born and any stories you can share about your childhood.

I was born and raised on a farm in Oklahoma.  My parents would say I never walked. I rode a stick horse, until I finally convinced them I was big enough to ride a real horse. From that time I was horse crazy. My Dad traded a penny for my first horse. Her name was Penny and he got a bum deal. She was a typical pony. MEAN, Rotten and headstrong.

Absolutely a perfect horse for a 6-year-old girl, right? I would ride her every day. She hated me. But I loved her. She would try to rake me off of her back. Her favorite trick was to run as fast as she could under low hanging tree branches. Yep, I got 7 stiches in my head when I was 7 years old. But the next day I was back in the saddle again.

My dad decided that I needed a different horse. SO he bought me Snip. OH Snip, he was a Great horse. It was about 17 hands tall. That’s about 5’5”. I’m 8 years old, so you would naturally assume this might present a challenge. Challenge accepted. I would literally climb up this amazing horse. We went everywhere. I rode him in parades, in rodeos and in the pasture.

I lived in Oklahoma for 40 plus years. We had tornados, hail, floods, earthquakes, ice storms and wind blowing all the time. HOT summers with air you can wear. Not to mention bitter cold wind and ice in the winter. We didn’t really snow but if we did have snow it was devastating. The state had to shut down. The best part about snow in Oklahoma is generally by the next day it will be gone.

If you could live in any country in the world or continent where would it be and why?

I am so lucky as I get to live in Arizona.  I am constantly impressed with the diversity of the state. It is so much more than the Grand Canyon.  For example if you are in Flagstaff in Northern Arizona, there are pine trees, Snow and skiing.  Yes I said Skiing.  Snowbowl was open and active skiing.  It receives on average of 260 inches.

Then drive south a few hours and you are in Phoenix ~ the sixth most populated city in the United States.  The winter temperatures are incredible and mild.  You can hike mountains in the city.  As a matter of fact South Mountain Park is the largest municipal park in the United States.

How about playing some golf.  OK not a problem. Phoenix metro has almost 500 different courses.

Are you hungry? Seriously, we have any thing you want from world-class restaurants to amazing family owned diners.  If you can’t find it here it probably doesn’t exist.

Are you a shopper?  Fashionesta’s can head to Scottsdale’s Biltmore Fashion Park for their Prada, Jimmy Choo, and Saks.  Bargain Hunters rejoice, as there are multiple outlet malls

Sports check out Professional baseball, football, basketball, hockey, Golf Tournaments, Nascar auto racing or what ever floats your boat.

Speaking of boats.  You might be surprised to learn Arizona has lakes.  From Lake Havasu to Canyon Lake. You will not have to go to far try stand-up paddle boarding on Tempe Town Lake you probably saw it when you landed at Sky Harbor Airport.

Drive West 5 hours and you are at the Pacific Ocean!
South and you can visit Mexico.

Don’t want to cross the border, not a problem.  Tuscan is an amazing old west town.  Want to play cowboy?  Sure that can happen. You can find many Dude ranches or how about a day trip to Tombstone.

Bird watching.   Snowbirds winter here plus migratory routes pass right through the state.

OK I could go on and on about how great Arizona it.  But I hear you. Yes it is HOT in the summer.  You have heard it’s a dry heat. It is.  More importantly you don’t have to shovel sunshine.  So I’ll take the heat for a few months.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Oklahoma. I love the spring, the fall and summers. But Arizona has won my heart. Over 6.7 Million people can’t be wrong.

Do you have a secret talent and if so any stories to tell us?

I was a Rodeo Queen, Princess, Associate Queen, Mini-Queen.  From the time I could walk I was riding and I was Mini queen.  Then I just kept on competing.

I was the Rodeo Mini-Queen in when I was 8 and  I was riding in my hometown parade. As great as Snip was he had one phobia. That was a snake. Plus anything that reminded him of a snake. Now he is a BIG HORSE. So hoses, blowing paper streamers and of course snakes would send him into a panic. Jumping, rearing and bolting.

Well, as luck would have it that day was a windy day. (Not unusual for Oklahoma – You know where the wind comes sweeping down the plains. Yes, that Oklahoma) A red paper streamer blew across and tangled in Snip’s feet. Yep he went NUTS, he was rearing up and jumping. I was like a monkey on his back. But I held on… until I didn’t. All of the sudden I had been thrown from the saddle. I was on the ground looking up at his feet coming down towards me.

Snip luckily did not stomp on me. I was snatched up off the ground by a friend of my Dad’s and plopped back in the saddle on Snip. I kept smiling and waiving at the crowds. My Mom just about blew a gasket. My Dad however said you got to just get back on the horse.

Throughout the years I continued my reign as some type of Rodeo Royalty. Why? Because every year the round up club would have a raffle and I would sell tickets to anyone and everyone. No one would ever say I was shy. So, based on raffle sales and riding ability I would win contests. I was having a Blast. Making friends in every small town at parades and rodeo in Oklahoma. I was Rodeo Queen in 1979. Then my life got busy and I had to pass the crown and hang up my Stetson. But the ride was amazing.

Tell us something about your work in progress.

In August I am going to talk about the following on the blog:

• Making your space function for you.
• Hoarding and how to start a mass declutter
• Are you a Pilot?
• Tuesday Trivial Trivia will be all about Family reunion games.

Goals for 2016 and 2017 ~

I have much to learn about Social medial and blogging. I just started my blog the end of April. I had no idea where to begin. I knew what I wanted to talk about but not how to make it happen. So I want to continue to learn and grow my blog following.

I have been told that I am the go to person for knowledge. I am now the Queen of Useless Trivial Knowledge and I am not afraid to use it. So based on this fun fact I plan to share tips on Tuesday. Hopefully you will find that they are not so useless after all.

Additionally, I want to expand my staging business. I want to help sellers realize a quicker sale at a higher price. I hope to add a specific day of the week to be a staging day. Maybe Super Staged Saturday or Sunday.

It sounds like a busy time for Pamela but thankfully she is considerably more organized than most.. Delighted to know more about her life and her blog. Please head over and connect there and on social media.

Blog: http://beeorganizedwithpamela.com
Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/beeorganizedwithpam/
Twitter:   https://twitter.com/beorganizedwpam
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/TheThielens/bee-organized/?etslf=5713&eq=bee
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/beeorganizedwithpamela/

Thank you for dropping in today and as always look forward to your comments.. Please feel free to share.. thanks Sally