I came across this site via a link on a blog that I visited through a blog hop. I love how things like that happens sometimes! :) Anyhow, she is hosting a Spring reading 2011 party. And I'm most definitely going! I love to read but often don't make the time to do it. I have books upon books on the Kindle (for pc - I'm too cheap/poor to buy a "real" one LOL!) and I also have a number of physical books on my bookshelf that I haven't gotten around to yet. Brand new books just sitting and waiting patiently for me. So this is perfect!

For starters, I am posting the list of books that I would like to read during this spring:

• Daughter of Joy by Kathleen Morgan (I'm currently on pg 100 of 334)
• Somewhere to Belong by Judith Miller
• Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury
• Summer by Karen Kingsbury
• Someday by Karen Kingsbury
• Sunset by Karen Kingsbury

I also want to read with the kiddos each night, even if it is only for a few minutes. Natty has some great longer chapter books that I would love to read to him, JoNo has a number of short chapter books and Punky and Boo have lots and lots of childrens' books that I intend to read to them. I'd like to start by reading to Natty and then sending him up to bed, then JoNo and send him up to bed and then Punky and Boo and send them up to bed. The idea behind doing it this way is that Natty would have time to read to himself after he went up to bed, JoNo would have a little bit less time to read after going up to bed and Punky and Boo wouldn't have time to read. All the lights upstairs would go out at the same time. I think it is a good plan, in theory. We will have to see how it works out though.

You can click on the button at the top of this post to join in on the book reading party. You know you want to! :) Happy Spring and enjoy your reading time!

Deanne from A-Z

I came across this last week while going through the Company Girl blog hop, and decided that I was going to do it for this week, so here you go:

A. Age: 29
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore you dislike: laundry
D. Dogs: 1 - cocker spaniel

E. Essential start to your day: prayer and kiddo hugs
F. Favorite color: purple
G. Gold or silver: I love the look of silver or white gold
H. Height: 5' 4" 
I. Instruments you play(ed): piano, clarinet, trumpet, baritone, french horn
J.Job title: CNA although currently I am a homemaker
K. Kids: 4 - three boys and a girl
L. Live: Southeast Nebraska
M. Mom’s name: Rosetta, but everyone calls her Sandy
N. Nicknames: Dee (also spelled Dea)
O. Overnight hospital stays: one for each child's birth, appendectomy, twice for what the doctors thought were strokes (they weren't though), twice for depression as a teen
P. Pet peeves: being late
Q. Quote from a movie: "Never leave your partner" (Fireproof)

R. Righty or lefty: Righty for writing, lefty for sporting, amby for most others
S. Siblings: 1 brother who is 12 years younger than I am
T. Time you wake up: roughly 3 hours after falling asleep, but it varies. Usually by 6:40 am
U. Underwear: The last person did “Uniform” instead. I tend to wear jeans or cotton pants and nice t-shirts at home, slacks or khakis and a dressier shirt when I am going somewhere.

V. Vegetables you don’t like: I LOVE veggies. I don't know that there isn't one that I don't like...
W. What makes you run late: Waiting on the kiddos or Hubby to be ready.
X. X-rays you've had: oh wow, really? Hmm, back, teeth, shoulder, lungs, wrist, foot, ankle, knee...not sure if there have been others.
Y. Yummy food you make: Lasagna is a family favorite, as are enchiladas.
Z. Zoo animal favorites: This one is hard because I don't really like the zoo. I hate seeing the animals in captivity for the viewing enjoyment of people. But, if I had to choose an animal, I'd probably say either the bears, monkeys or penguins. Sharks are pretty awesome though too.


So, there you have it - Deanne from A-Z. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed answering it.

Tackle It Tuesday

Yesterday, I tackled the bottom portion of my front entry closet. It has been on my to-do list for quite some time and I am really happy with the way it turned out! I didn't get a before picture because it was really an impromtu thing to tackle.

So, I started by pulling everything out of there, from the rod down. Yes, the rod too but that was only because it fell down and it wasn't intended, but it also came out too, so therefore - I took everything out from the rod down.

We have tons and tons and tons of shoes. And after going through the shoes that were on the floor of the closet, I have come to a conclusion. One, most of them are mine and two, I have no idea where to store them. But we'll get to that yet.

What was in there before I took everything out:

• tote full of shoes
• box full of other shoes
• huge round clock
• picture
• wooden boards left over from our old entertainment center (formerly were shelves on there)
• plastic drawers - set of six
• Natty's walking stick from Cub Scouts

Yikes! I just took some finished pics of the closet and didn't realize that the littlest one took this pic while I was working on the closet. You can see how much stuff was crammed in there! That grey tote full of shoes, the short box next to the dog - shoes. The big box behind the dog had shoes too. Hmm, thought there was only one box and one tote of shoes... guess I did more than I thought I did. Oh - and pretty much everything you see here was IN the closet. And excuse me in the middle of the pic. Not the most flattering pic of me ever, but the Boo child was just tryin' to keep it real, I suppose.

I brought up a set of two plastic drawers from our bedroom because I wasn't sure if they were the same size as the drawers that were in our closet. Turns out, they were! So, I put them all together and had them all stacked up on the front right side of the closet to free up more of the rod space. Before taking everything out, the six drawers were stacked on the back left side of the closet, which took up about a foot or so of our hanging space.

But after looking at it, I decided that I didn't like the drawers in that spot, so I took them all out again and started over. I put two stacks of three drawers side by side on the floor of the closet once I realized that doing so wouldn't hinder the hanging stuff at all. That left a small square-ish area in the back left corner. I took a chance and tried the stack of two drawers that came from our bedroom to see if they would fit and they did.

Once I saw that configuration, I loved it! Oh, it looks so neat and orderly! I decided that the two drawers in the back left would hold a few things that the stack had been holding before anyhow. The top drawer has some plastic bags that our new curtains came in that I plan to reuse for something else and our extra vacuum bags. The bottom drawer has extra light bulbs, a heavy duty extension cord that needs to go out to the garage yet and the casters that were on the bottom of the stack of drawers.

The next stack over has three drawers, from top to bottom, they belong to Hubby, Natty, and Punky. The stack on the right side of the closet from top to bottom belong to me, JoNo and Boo. It is really easy to remember whose drawer is whose because of two things. First, if you look at the two stacks, moving from left to right, top to bottom, it is in order of our ages, (Hubby, me, Natty, JoNo, Punky, Boo) and second, Natty and Punky's real names both start with the letter A, JoNo and Boo's real names start with the letter J. We have long joked that the "A" kids belong to Hubby (because their personalities are so much like Hubby's) and that the "J" kids are mine for the same reason.

I put Natty's walking stick back into the closet. It's on the left side, propped up against the front corner and is very much out of sight, unless you are specifically looking for it. On the right side, there is a tiny nook area and I put one of our air mattresses over there. It's all folded up and neat, as it has never been used before. (We have three of them.) I plan to put it out in the garage once we get the room for it made out there. But that's another process altogether.

I decided that with our current weather consisting of both warm and cold temperatures, the jackets and coats and backpacks and shoes in our launch pad were driving me a little bit insane. I don't mind the backpacks and either a coat or jacket on the hook. I don't even mind a pair of shoes for each person on the rug below. But multiple coats ans jackets, multiple pairs of shoes? Uh uh. It was too much and it was driving me bananas. So, I took all of the jackets and coats and hung them on hangers in the closet. I put all of the backpacks on their hooks and I removed all of the shoes.

Speaking of shoes, I went through the box and the tote of shoes and decided on a number of them to get rid of. I probably got rid of, oh, I'd say 15-20 pairs of shoes. Yeah. See why it was driving me insane? I still have quite a few pairs left to deal with as well, but it's much better than it was. I don't have room for them on the floor in the closet, I don't want them by the front door - it gets too cluttered too quickly there and just doesn't look appealing when you walk in. So, now I have to figure out what to do with them all. I have the idea of maybe having the kids store their shoes on the floor of their closets or just under their beds in their rooms, but I don't know. I think that they are more likely to get lost by doing that, so I will be looking for alternative ideas yet.

We have two other doors leading in from outside, one in our kitchen (no room there to store extra shoes) and one in the den. I actually could use that area for the extra shoes very easily. The other idea is actually to store them in an underbed bin in our bedroom. We have the room there and the shoes would stay neat and orderly and I wouldn't have to worry about them. It's worth giving it some thought. Oh - and we have underbed bins that we aren't using at the moment, so it's not like I would need to be spend anything on it. I think I like that idea quite a bit. So, that's where those shoes will be going later today. (Thanks for your help, y'all!)

Let's see, what else came out of that closet? Oh - the former shelves. Those will go down to our laundry room. We have a cupboard full of old wooden shelf  pieces. They were actually here when we moved here and since they were already here, we can't get rid of them because they don't belong to us. But we are welcome to use them anywhere in the house. I figure that I can put these boards in there with those ones (they are similar in style, wood tone and everything).

The huge clock we hung up in our den. I'm not sure I like it where it is though. We'll leave it for now and I'll see if it grows on me within the next week. It might be okay there if we just move it up another foot on the wall, because it is seriously a large diameter clock. Probably a good 2 feet in diameter. We're talking big.

And the last thing was the picture. I took it out and I have plans to put it up in the little kids' bedroom. I also took some pictures down in our den that will go in kids' bedrooms too. So, there you have it. My tackle for this week.

I still need to clean off the top shelves, but believe me, I got a lot accomplished on just the lower half of the closet!

(edited to add in the pictures)

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Menu Plan Monday

I hadn't even given much thought to the whole planning menus for this week due to the family being sick, but now that they are all mostly well again, I guess it's time to get back to the planning.

I have lots of chicken and lots of frozen sandwich meat as well, so I think this week may be heavy with chicken as the main dish.

• Monday - homemade chicken noodle soup - made with chicken hindquarters and using the bones to create the stock, homemade egg noodles, chopped carrots and celery. Yum! I will also bake some bread to go along with this meal.
• Tuesday - kids will be at Grandma's house for dinner and Hubby and I will probably have leftovers or sandwiches
• Wednesday - chicken enchiladas with beans and rice
• Thursday - white lasagna, with alfredo sauce instead of a tomato based sauce, broccoli and other greens and chicken. I will bake some super yummy parmesan oregano bread to go with this. Sounds so fantastic! (I will make this on Monday when I make the bread to go along with our chicken noodle soup.)
• Friday - chicken stirfry, with fried rice and mixed veggies
• Saturday - homemade pizza / kids' choice
• Sunday - roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (this is the day that we have company over as well)

Click on the picture above to connect to Org Junkie's site and to see what others are planning for this week as well!

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Saturday Night Special 3.12

Wow, what a crazy week we have had. I was so ready for our family movie night to begin! Tonight's featured film was a 7pm showing of "Aladdin". It's the original one, which is good. My personal favorite is the third one "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" - now THAT is a funny movie! Our encore presentation was a 9pm showing of the movie "Matilda", a classic. Love this movie! It was the first time my children had ever seen it. They loved it - particularly the older boys.

But for now, a recap of our week. Get ready!

Last Sunday was our family movie date with the kids for Frosty Flicks. Hubby thought that the movie was going to be "Megamind" but actually, it was "Legend of Guardian", based on the first three book of the "Guardians of Ga'hoole" series. Natty has the first three books in the series and had read the first book. I told him to be observant and see where the differences were between the book and the movie. It was the first time he had read a book before seeing the movie. He assumed they would be exactly the same. Man was that ever cute to watch him find the differences. I assume that the differences he noted were in fact accurate as I hadn't read the book and I didn't actually get to see the movie. Between needing pop and popcorn refills, three bathroom trips (two for Punky, one for JoNo) and then the movie being a bit too scary for Punky. (Remember, we thought it was going to be Megamind. By the time we realized it wasn't, we were at the theatre buying our tickets and it was kind of too late at that point to make alternative plans for her.)

Theatrical release poster from wikipedia

Punky and I ended up leaving the theatre and walked around the outdoor mall area where the theatre is located. We went into a few different stores and looked at clothes. Shopping without buying anything. It was a very new concept for my Punky Pie, but I think she enjoyed herself. I mean, isn't it every four year old girls' dream to go shop at Gap Kids, Gymboree, Von Maur (kids section), followed up by a stop at Claire's? Exactly. The stores in a short area were right up her alley. I did have to talk her out of going to Victoria Secret though.

Ever since she was three years old, she has had this thing for VS. I don't know what it is exactly, but I went shopping with a couple of new friends and Punky was with us. My friend, Gabby, asked Punky what she wanted to get at the mall and Punky said, "I need new unnerwears. I need CUTE unnerwears!" So, on the particular mall trip, I bought her some cute "unnerwears" from Gymboree. But even that day, she wanted to go to VS to shop. I couldn't figure out what the deal was for quite some time. I don't show at VS - I'm a plus-sized gal - VS doesn't fit me.

Eventually, I told my mother-in-law about the trip. I say eventually, but in reality, it was probably the following week. It was my mother-in-law who started the whole VS thing. She had been flipping through a VS catalog and had just absent-mindedly commented that she needed to go shopping to get some new underwear when Punky was in earshot. Punky had glanced over, saw the magazine and voila. My three (and now four) year old's obsession with VS. I just hope I can hold her off from the store until she's oh, thirty, or so.

I have to admit though, I have taken her into the store for their bath gels and lotions and sprays and stuff last year right before Christmas. But that's only because the store we were in has two separate entrances and it's divided up between the clothing and related stuff and the bath and shower stuff. She never made the connection that we were in THAT store.

Oh wow. Lots about VS there. Sorry for the tangent. But if you have been around here for any length of time, you know that I do that. A lot.

After the movie/shopping trip and a quick lunch at home, JoNo, Punky and I headed out. I was going to drop JoNo off at his friend, Con's house and also drop off our old stroller, carseat and base as planned and pick up our new lamps from Con's mom. The lamps were HUGE! I love them. They are in our living room on our tables up here. However, I think they match the style of the couches in our den. But the overall style in the den is more modern/contemporary - lots of black and silver and metal going on in that room, whereas our living room is much more traditional. I think these lamps work really well in here though. At least better than the black metal lamps that were in here before. Those are now down in the den, since they fit the style down there quite a bit more.

After dropping off JoNo, Punky and I headed over to Miss M's house. We got there a little bit early and I didn't want to just drop Punky off early, so we waited for a few minutes in the van across the circle from Miss M's house (her family lives on a cul-de-sac). Shortly after parking though, Miss M and her dad came out to their driveway and waved us on over, so we went over.

They have a beautiful house! After being in their house, they will NEVER come over here! LOL! I think our house is pretty nice, even if average, until I go to someone's house that is absolutely stunning. Just wow. So anyhow, Punky and I go in and she gets right to the business of playing with Miss M and the mom (Kate) and I sit and visit for an HOUR. I couldn't believe how easy she was to talk to! While talking, we realized that our lives connect in multiple ways. For one, she grew up near the area where we live and went to school where the boys attend school right now. Secondly, she is an ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) teacher at another school, but her best friend is one of the ECSE teachers at Boo's school. He attends school in the afternoon and Kate's best friend teaches in Boo's classroom in the morning. It's just funny how closely things overlap like that. Also, Punky's teacher from last year at the private preschool is now teaching with Kate at her school. I guess Punky and Miss M had the same teacher last year, but I don't know for sure if they were in the same class or not. I honestly cannot remember if Punky went to morning or afternoon classes. I am thinking she was in the afternoon class. I might just have to pull out some of her old papers to see if I can figure out if they were in the same class together last year too.

So, then after visiting for a long while Kate, I left with plans to go pick up Punky at 7:30 at night, which is super late for a playdate for her, but it worked out so well! Then it was off to pick up JoNo from Con's house and then head to the store to get supplies for dinner, then to come home, where Hubby, Natty, Boo and our friends Chris and Missy were waiting for us. We fixed dinner and then played some cards. During dinner I had a bottle of beer, not thinking about the fact that I was going to have to go pick up Punky shortly. I remembered that I still had to pick her up at about 7:25 and Miss M lives about 10-15 minutes from us. Crap. I'd had a drink AND I was going to be late. Just the impression that I wanted to make! Oy!

So I commandeered Missy as a driver and we took her vehicle to go pick up Punky. I called Kate to let her know that we were running late and that I'd be there shortly to get my child. She said that it was absolutely fine and that there was no problem with that. They'd only had one incident the entire time and that was when Punky needed to go to the bathroom and Miss M wanted to go in with her. Punky told her "no, I need my privacy" which I thought was hilarious and adorable! Can you tell she has three brothers?!

So, we get there and I get out and I'm standing in the driveway talking to Kate and the girls say goodbye and all is well. We go to the ice cream store and pick up ice cream for everybody and then I notice I don't have my phone. Oh crap. Figuring that the phone is in the car somewhere, we drive home and eat our ice cream, then continue looking for it. Still not able to find it. I call the ice cream store to see if they found it there. Nope. I call Kate and she and her hubby go outside and look for it. Nope. Missy and I check the vehicle. Nope. Chris and Hubby check the vehicle. Nope again. They leave and go to the ice cream store to see if it is in the lot there. Nope. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. I have things on my phone that I don't necessarily want other people to see. Missy teases me because she knows. But still the phone is nowhere to be found. I'm freaking out over it, hoping and praying that it isn't at Kate's house or that if it is, she doesn't go through my phone.

Eventually, Chris and Missy leave and then Hubby heads over to Kate's house to check for the phone. He finds it in the grass at their house. Oh. My. Goodness. I am so relieved! He comes home and all is well! Thank you!

Monday, the family starts to get sick. I'm feeling supremely blah and I sleep in and just don't feel very well. Tuesday night, JoNo gets sick. Wednesday, Natty is sick, Thursday, Boo and Hubby both get sick. Friday, they are both feeling pretty rough, but I'm feeling a lot better and JoNo gets sent home from school. Hubby took him in to see the doctor and we discovered that he had a bulging ear drum. The nurse practitioner, who we LOVE, says she is surprised that the ear drum hadn't ruptured. Poor guy! So we start antibiotics and numbing ear drops to help with the pain. Today (Saturday), Punky gets sick. Really sick. I had actually held out hope that she had missed the whole thing, but no such luck. Poor girly! Hubby was feeling better finally, but Boo is still under the weather. Since I never got sick like the family did, I'm wondering if I was able to skate through with just the blahs this week or if I'm going to get slammed like Punky did. At least, if I end up getting slammed, everyone else will be better (maybe?) by then.

I went through this week and did a major disinfecting of the common surfaces in our house. But I think for the most part, it was too little too late, as the bug was already in the incubation stages in the kiddos. Sigh. Oh well, the house needed it anyhow. And today, I'm going to go through and do it again. As well as clean the carpets. I did what I could as it was needed, but really, the carpets now just need a good, thorough cleaning. Motherhood. It's not a glamorous job. But definitely worthwhile!

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

"A Century Turns" by William J. Bennett

It took me a long time to read this book, as it is not a genre that I find enjoyable, generally speaking. However, I wanted to give the book a fair chance and so it took me awhile to read through this.

William J. Bennett authors the book "A Century Turns" and covers events in U.S. History from the election of George H.W. Bush through the election of Barack Hussein Obama. Mr Bennett's writing style in this book is mostly narrative, which I find can be hard to get through at some points. However, the writing itself is very nicely done.

It was an interesting read, as I learned things I didn't know much if any about while I was growing up. When the book begins, it covers the 1988 election. I remember bits and pieces of the election, but I didn't really know many of the details of President Bush's history or campaign or anything. I was only seven years old at the time. This book has provided insights that I hadn't even realized I missed out on and opened my eyes and my mind to all that was going on and surrounding the events that occurred in these years.

These events were too recent to have been covered in my history classes in high school or college and too time-consuming to be discussed in my other classes, except for little bits and pieces that pertained only to the class in which the discussion was held.

This book is one that will be on our bookshelf for a long time to come. I want my children to be able to read this book and to be able to use it to understand events that happened in their parents' childhood up to the events that occurred in their own childhood as well, so that they don't have such a narrow view of what these events mean for them and for our country, as I did growing up.

I would recommend this book to others interested in more recent history as I think it provides valuable insight into the timeframe of 1988 to 2008.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Showers and baths and cleaning, oh my!

Today's Small Thing was something that I had planned on doing anyhow. As you all know, we have had the sickies around here and when that happens, I like to go around and disinfect as much as I possibly can, as soon as I can possibly do it.

I had planned on doing today's Small Thing before kids' bath time, but tonight was so unorganized and poor JoNo and Boo were just having a rough night in general with not feeling well and I guess I should mention Hubby still isn't feeling the greatest either. All that to say, I didn't get to today's thing until after bedtime.

But I did it. I cleared the bathtub of the toys and all the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and soap and bubble bath and loofahs and then gave the tub a good scrub down. We still have some paint drips on the tile surrounding our tub from when Hubby painted last year and when I am in there taking a bath, I pick at them. I didn't feel like trying to work on those tonight, so I skipped the paint removal part of my bathtub scrub routine.

Then I went downstairs and gave our shower a good scrub down too. I don't know if it is hard water or soap build up or what, but our shower never looks clean. EVER. I cannot wait to get the Shaklee so that I can finally have a shower and shower door that look like I clean it every once in awhile. So frustrating! Agh!

I did end up needing to add some supplies to the upstairs bathroom, and thankfully, I had enough on hand to do so without cutting me short in the kitchen. Yay for that! Boo for it being harsh chemical cleaners, but one thing at a time, right? Right.

Okay, point totals. Today's first bathtub or shower scrubbed down was worth 40 points, then the second one was worth an additional 20 points and assessing the cleaning supplies was worth another 20 points for a grand total of 80 points! Which I would just like to point out that I earned all of. That brings my monthly total up to...400 points!

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

40 in 40 - Week 1

Today is the first link up for the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. I am excited to be a part of this challenge. I have so many areas to declutter yet (it really is a continuous process - the more I get rid of, the more I am willing to let go of) and this will be a great aid in doing so.

First off, I'd like to share my plan of attack for this challenge with you. The recommendation was to use black trash bags, so that you cannot see what is in them. But I don't have black trash bags on hand and I didn't want to have to go out and buy a box of bags just for this challenge when I have a HUGE box of white bags from Sam's Club.

So, my plan of attack around the house:
Day 1 (Wed. 3/9): Master bedroom closet (3 bags + loose items)
Day 2 (Thu 3/10): Yarn storage / cedar chest (1 bag)
Day 3 (Fri 3/11): Front closet ()
Day 4 (Sat 3/12): Laundry room / clothing #1 ()
Day 5 (Sun 3/13): Old Hyundai ()
Day 6 (Mon 3/14): Little kids' bedroom / toys ()
Day 7 (Tue 3/15): Laundry room / clothing #2 ()
Day 8 (Wed 3/16): Bookshelves ()
Day 9 (Thu 3/17): Kitchen drawers ()
Day 10 (Fri 3/18): Laundry room / clothing #3 ()
Day 11 (Sat 3/19): Hall bathroom ()
Day 12 (Sun 3/20): Van ()
Day 13 (Mon 3/21): Laundry room / clothing #4 ()
Day 14 (Tue 3/22): Newer Hyundai ()
Day 15 (Wed 3/23): Entertainment center ()
Day 16 (Thu 3/24): Laundry room / clothing #5 ()
Day 17 (Fri 3/25): Storage area #1 ()
Day 18 (Sat 3/26): Outside ()
Day 19 (Sun 3/27): Laundry room / clothing #6 ()
Day 20 (Mon 3/28): Garage #1 ()
Day 21 (Tue 3/29):  Storage area #2 ()
Day 22 (Wed 3/30): Laundry room / clothing #7 ()
Day 23 (Thu 3/31): Kitchen cupboards ()
Day 24 (Fri 4/1): Storage area #3 ()
Day 25 (Sat 4/2): Laundry room / clothing #8 ()
Day 26 (Sun 4/3): Kitchen cabinets ()
Day 27 (Mon 4/4): Garage #2
Day 28 (Tue 4/5): Laundry room / clothing #9
Day 29 (Wed 4/6): Kitchen counters ()
Day 30 (Thu 4/7): Storage area #3 ()
Day 31 (Fri 4/8): Laundry room / clothing #10 ()
Day 32 (Sat 4/9): Bedroom closet ()
Day 33 (Sun 4/10): Storage area #4 ()
Day 34 (Mon 4/11): Garage # ()
Day 35 (Tue 4/12): Armoire ()
Day 36 (Wed 4/13): Pet area ()
Day 37 (Thu 4/14): Boys' room ()
Day 38 (Fri 4/15): Guest room ()
Day 39 (Sat 4/16): Storage area #5 ()
Day 40 (Sun 4/17): Garage #4 ()

Total bags = 4
Days of non-bagged items = 1

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Company Girl Coffee 3.11

Well, I guess I will get a post in today, contrary to what I said yesterday. I am still feeling pretty rough and I wasn't able to sleep last night due to one child or another being awake and not feeling well. But at the moment, the only thing plaguing most of the children is a cough. There were no incidents of bodily fluids being expelled in an undesirable manner, no fevers, just the cough. Well, I have a fever, but I think all four kids will be able to attend school today.

I have been attempting to lose weight recently. I started in earnst on February 7th of this year and so far, I have lost 18.5 pounds! That is incredible and I am so encouraged by that! I still have a long ways to go yet, but I feel like I have gotten off to a great start already. I am really pleased. My largest weight drop actually happened just this past week and a half when I lost 5.5 pounds. It was a lot at once and it wasn't necessarily intentional either. I think it was just that I have had a lot of anxiety lately and plus, I was starting to come down with something, so I'm sure that factored in as well.

My house is a disaster area today and I will probably only be doing a minimal amount around the house today, unless I start to feel much better very soon. I found a number of different recipes last night for making homemade furniture polish. I decided to try one out last night that called for 2 tsp. olive oil (or canola oil or whatever oil you use to cook with), 2 tsp. of vinegar mixed with 32 oz. of water. I have a bottle of extra virgin olive oil in my cupboard that I don't use because I don't like the flavor, so I used some of that along with some apple cider vinegar that was under my kitchen sink. The bottle of vinegar is a 32 oz. one and it had very little left in it, so I emptied the vinegar into another smaller container and then mixed up the polish in the vinegar bottle.

My kitchen has a LOT of wood in it. Well, truly, my whole house has a LOT of food in it. Our house was built in 1964 and I'm sure the wood accents and such are original to the home. Anyhow, I took this mixture and poured some onto a rag and tried it out. I think it did an okay job on the areas where I tested it. The one thing about the mix is that just before applying it, you have to shake the bottle to mix the ingredients together well enough to use.

I also decided to look up some information about freezing different items. We have a lot of eggs and potatoes to use up one way or another and I discovered a few different things. The first one being that egg noodles are incredibly easy to make and at very little cost. Two, potatoes can be cut up into french fries or wedges and then seasoned and baked, allow to cool and the freeze in a freezer bag or other storage container. (I would use a freezer mate container from Tupperware myself.) The third item I discovered last night is that you can freeze eggs. All you have to do is take the eggs, crack them into a bowl and whisk them (much like you would if you were going to make scrambled eggs) add a little bit of salt and then place into a container to freeze. Who knew?! Oh, well, I suppose somebody did before they posted it on the internet. I would also recommend that if you are going to do that, you write on the container or on your label or tape how many eggs you used for the mixture. And the last item is that you can freeze milk. You just open it up, pour out a glass or so and then put the lid back on and place in freezer. When you thaw it out, just place it in your fridge and allow to thaw. You may want to give it a good shake when it is thawed though, as milk will sometimes separate in the freeze/thaw cycle.

A whole load of easy tips and tricks that will save money and time and is just good information to know. I even discovered a recipe for crackers, in the event that I would need to make some today for upset tummies. I love the research power of the internet!

Today I plan to rest as much as possible and see if I can get at least a little bit of work done around the house. If I don't get around to housework until Monday, I will be just fine with that too. The most important thing to me at this point is to take care of my family and to get better myself too.

Happy Friday to all of you and hope you are all well or at least on the mend. Here's to hoping my house(hold) will be on the mend soon as well!

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Tupperware Feature Friday

This week I am going to feature some items from Tupperware that will be available coming up on March 12 - April 8. This month features ways to "go green" in the kitchen and in keeping with that theme, many items are green as well. Some of these items are only available for a limited time and others are at a great discount. I will note which of these (or both!) is the case after each item shown. Also, you can click on the Tupperware bowls to the left of this paragraph to visit my Tupperware site to order your own products today. Or let me know if you would want to do a party. It doesn't matter if we are near each other or not. That is the beauty of the internet!  All product information and pictures are copied and pasted from the Tupperware website. Please click on any picture to take you to my website.

Tupperware® Fresh Herb Planter System
Grow your own fresh, healthy herbs at home without worrying about daily care requirements. Our system waters herbs accurately and automatically. Now you can savor the robust flavor of seasoned food without relying on expensive, pre-packaged fresh or dried herbs. The modular design uses very little space, so you can extend your garden as needed. Includes base, pot, microfiber water absorber G and water bottle with cap. Insert features helpful herb cooking tips and culinary uses for specific herbs.

Special introductory price! New! 
# 81998 $14.99 (Reg. $18.50 value)

Chop ’N Prep™ Chef
Chop fresh herbs, vegetables, fruit, baby foods and more in “turbo” time with this compact and earth-friendly tool. The easy pull-cord mechanism lets you do it all in just seconds and without electricity. Plus, it’s small enough to store in the cupboard, drawer or pantry. Includes virtually airtight and liquid-tight seal. 1¼-cup/300 mL capacity. Gift-boxed for added convenience.

Save over 35%!, Save $14.50!
Or host a qualifying party and pay only $10! See page 8 for details.
# 81907 $25.00 (Reg. $39.50 value)

Spin ’N Save™ Salad Spinner
Meet our “spin” doctor! Place your greens and other produce inside this 4-qt./4 L prep tool to quickly transform them into a healthy salad. Or use it to dry cooked pasta or thaw frozen fruits and vegetables. The virtually airtight and liquid-tight seal that’s included helps you save time by making it now and storing in the fridge for later. Includes bowl with four anti-slip feet, colander, spinner cover and seal. Gift-boxed for added convenience.

Save 35%!, Save $18.50!

# 81916 $34.00 (Reg. $52.50 value)
 

Thatsa® Bowl 4-Pc. Set
The unique thumb-loop makes it easy to safely grip these bowls for prep work or serving snacks. They’re perfect for family popcorn nights—everyone can have their own bowl! Deep walls help prevent messy spills, while textured interiors resist scratches. Virtually airtight, liquid-tight seals keep contents fresh for later use. Each set includes 6-cup/1.4 L Thatsa® Bowl Mini, 12-cup/2.8 L Thatsa® Bowl Jr., 32-cup/7.6 L Thatsa® Bowl and 42-cup/10 L Thatsa® Mega Bowl.
Get eight bowls for the price of four.

Buy 1 set, get 1 set FREE!, Save $75!

# 81917 $75.00 (Reg. $150.00 value)

Saucy Silicone Spatula
The soft-grip handle of this indispensable kitchen tool helps you make quick work of mixing and whipping of wet or dry ingredients. Angled tip lets you easily reach into the corners of straight-edged bowls and pans. Stain and heat-resistant up to 400°F /200° C. Pulls apart for easy cleaning.

Save over 45%!, Save $8!
Requires a $100 order
Limit one with each $100 order.
# 881839 $9.50 (Reg. $17.50 value)

Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoons Set
We give you more! Designed for a lifetime of everyday use, the Cups and Spoons each come in a set of six-that's two more than most others. They also feature easy-to-read, embossed measurements that won't wear off. Cups include pour spouts on either side for left or right-handed use; measurements are ¼, 1/3, ½, 2/3, ¾ and 1 cup. Spoons feature raised, curved handles
that allow them to sit flat on a counter; measurements are 1/8, ¼, ½ and 1 tsp., plus ½ and 1 tbsp.

Buy Measuring Cups, get Measuring Spoons FREE!, Save $11.50!

# 81915 $14.50 (Reg. $26 value)

Classic Sheer® Midgets® Set
No home is complete without a set of these little miracles. Now you can get two six-pc. sets for the price of one! Each container includes 1-oz./30 mL, 1½-oz./45 mL and 2-oz./60 mL markings. Seals are virtually airtight and liquid-tight, so you can tote small
quantities and not fret about spills or leaks. Use them for salad dressing; sprinkles for baking; travel-sized portions of liquid soap, shampoo and make-up; or sewing and craft supplies. When empty, simply stack for compact storage. Get 12 containers for the price of six.

Buy 1 set, get 1 set FREE!, Save $11!

# 81913 $11.00 (Reg. $22 value) 

Stuffables® Super Set
Stretch your storage capacity with this unique set. The flexible seals expand, reducing the number of containers needed. They also make odd-shaped or bulky foods easier to store. Includes 4-cup/950 mL, 6-cup/1.4 L and 8-cup/1.9 L containers. Note: Remove seals before microwave reheating. Set of three.

Save 50%!, Save $23!
Requires a $50 order
Limit one set with each $50 order.
# 881840 $22.50 (Reg. $45.50 value) 

Double Colander—now in exclusive color!
It’s two tools in one! Don’t prepare pasta or salads without it. Use the top and bottom separately or together for maximum straining and draining capability. The stay-cool handle and tabbed lid ensure your safety. 2-qt./2 L capacity.

only at a party—save 50%!, Save $10!
Limit 10 when you attend a party.
# 89448 $10.00 (Reg. $20 value)

Those are just a few of the great items available from the catalog this month! Contact your local Tupperware consultant (or me!) for a more detailed list! Enjoy cooking and being green with Tupperware!

And just for fun, some of the other products available for a special price this month: Disney Fun-tastic Friends Tumblers* (sale $17.50)  Floresta 1-Gallon/3.7 L Pitcher (sale $18.00) Jel-Ring® Mold (sale $11.00) Floresta 10-oz./310 mL Tumblers (sale $12.50) Floresta Bowls (sale $19.50) Host Gift Special (free with qualifying show) Kids Cake Taker Set* (sale $11.00) Kids in the Kitchen Set* (sale $25.00) Mickey Mouse Ice Tups® Set (sale $10.00) Microwave Extreme Collection (free! with $750 party and two datings) Mini Party Set (sale $17.50) Mini Gelatin Mold Set (sale $19.00) Mini Serve-It® Set (sale $9.00) Spider-Man Lunch Set* (sale $18.00) Shape-O® Toy (sale $17.00)

Forced Absence

Just wanted to let you all know that I will most likely be absent from the bloggy scene for a bit. At least this weekend, I am guessing. I have a post that should be finished to go live tomorrow and then that is likely all you will have of me for the weekend, depending on how things are going here.

Skip the next paragraph if you don't want to read the specifics of what illnesses are currently plaguing my family.

Hubby is sick with some sort of a gastrointestinal infection. Natty is kinda sick with the same and a bit of a cold as well. I don't know if he is in the process of getting sick or if he is just mildly sick, but anyhow... Then JoNo is sick. He's had vomiting and is showing major signs of respiratory illness as well. He's hanging in there though. He got sick Tuesday night but has been semi-well since then. Punky has avoided it completely and Boo has had both vomiting and blow-out diarrhea. Poor baby guy. I've had an upset stomach and fever myself and just feel like I'm dragging. It's been awful!

I think most of the household (with the exception of Boo and myself) is asleep at this point and I plan on jumping in and doing some kick-butt cleaning. I need to do laundry. But I also want to do a very detailed cleaning in the house. I'm going to start with the main living areas and just try to get as much done tonight as possible. A full, top-to-bottom clean, including dusting and windows and vacuuming and carpet and upholstery cleaning and disinfecting all common surfaces. I wish I had already made the trip over to Erin's house to get some Shaklee to try out, but I haven't yet, so I will have to use the cleaners that I have on hand, which is what I would have had to do anyhow, but I still wish I had made the trip prior to this.

So, anyhow, if you don't see me around within the next few days - this is why. Feel free to leave me some comment love and I will try to get back to y'all as soon as I can.

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

100 Truths!

This is actually a note from facebook, but I don't want to do it on there, so I'm doing it here instead. Also, 100 Truths is actually a misnomer because it asks less than 100 questions, but here we go anyhow - all you have ever wanted to know about me...
 1. last beverage→ water
2. last phone call→ to Hubby
3. last text message→ Incoming- BFF Chris Outgoing- BFF Chris
4. last song you listened to→ I wasn't paying attention actually
5. last time you cried→ Last night while going through some old mementos

SIX HAVE YOU EVER:
1. dated someone twice → Yes.
2. been cheated on?→ Yes.
3. kissed someone & regretted it?→ No, if regret implies you'd do it differently given the opportunity.
4. lost someone special?→ Yes.
5. been depressed?→ Yes.
6. been drunk and threw up?→ Once.

LIST FOUR FAVORITE COLORS:
1. green
2. purple
3. pink
4. brown

THIS Semester HAVE YOU: (this implies that it is for someone in college but I'll just go with this year)
1. Made new friends → Yes.
2. Fallen out of love → No.
3. Laughed until you cried → Yes. My good buddy Iris makes sure this happens quite frequently.
4. Met someone who changed you → Probably.
5. Found out who your true friends were → Yes.
6. Found out someone was talking about you→ Yes, it's called family gossip. One of the (sarcasm) joys of being in a loose-lipped family.
7. Kissed anyone on your facebook friends list→ Um, you could say that.
8. How many people on your facebook friends list do you know in real life →225 out of 281
9. How many kids do you want to have→ I always wanted 5. We have 4 and I'm content with that.
10. Do you have any pets → We do. One dog, one guinea pig, one mouse.
11. Do you want to change your name→ No, I don't think so.
12. What did you do for your last birthday→ I don't honestly remember. Hmmm...
13. What time did you wake up today → 2:20 p.m.
14. What were you doing at midnight last night → probably on the computer.
15. Name something you CANNOT wait for → To find a new job.
16. Last time you saw your father→ Don't know if I ever have.
17. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life → That I felt guilty less often.
18. What are you listening to right now → Boo playing on a computer toy instead of going to bed.
19. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom → I have.
20. What's getting on your nerves right now? → Kids not cooperating with bedtime.
21. Most visited webpage → Oh, that'd be a toss-up between facebook, blogger, and my email inbox.

1. Whats your real name → Deanne Marie (Burson) Foote
2. Nicknames→ Dee
3. Relationship Status → married
4. Zodiac sign → Gemini. Although with the way it got changed this past year, I believe I'm now supposed to be a Taurus?
5. Male or female or transgendered→ Female
6. Elementary?→ Seriously? Be right back. Belmont, Elliott, Hartley, Huntington, McPhee, Park, Prescott, West Lincoln. I thought there was more than that, but I guess not? Oh - and one that I don't remember the name of in Florida.
7. Middle School?→ Goodrich, Park
8. High school → Lincoln High School
10. Hair color → brown
11. Long or short → shortish, around shoulder length almost
16. Height → 5 foot 4 inches
17. Do you have a crush on someone? → yes
18: What do you like about yourself? → I am an amazing mother and teacher.
19. Piercings → Two holes in each ear
20. Tattoos → not yet. I don't know if I am brave enough to ever actually get one.
21. Righty or lefty → It depends. Writing - right. Sports - left. Other things - ambidextrous.

FIRSTS :
22. First drink → whiskey, I suppose - for teething way back when. Otherwise, a screwdriver when I was ten, not realizing it.
23. First piercing → Holes in both ears when I was 6, I think.
24. First best friends → Nicholas Gene Ankeny
26. First sport you joined → Basketball. Eighth grade year.
27. First pet → No clue.
28. First vacation→ Worlds of Fun, age 14, as a nanny.
29. First concert → one at the fair with Hubby when we were dating. I don't remember who it was but it was horrible - we left early.
30. First crush → Ehm, probably Nicholas Gene Ankeny

RIGHT NOW:
49. Eating → nothing
50. Drinking → water
52. I'm about to → get back to knitting after this.
53. Listening to → Boo playing.
55. Waiting for → Boo to go to sleep.

YOUR FUTURE :
58. Want kids? → I'd be okay with more. It's highly unlikely to happen though.
59. Want to get married? → How about stay married? Yes.
60. Careers in mind? → Nursing or teaching

WHICH IS BETTER WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX? :
68. Lips or eyes → Lips. Although eyes are what first attracted me to Hubby.
69. Hugs or kisses → Depends on the person.
70. Shorter or taller → Taller.
71. Older or Younger → I prefer a bit older actually.
72. Romantic or spontaneous → A little bit of both. I'm not a real romantic person myself.
73. Nice stomach or nice arms → Arms.
74. Sensitive or loud → Probably more to the loud side.
75. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship.
77. Trouble maker or hesitant → Hesitant, I think.

HAVE YOU EVER :
78. Kissed a stranger → Yes. I was 12. Yuck!
79. Drank hard liquor → Yes.
80. Lost glasses/contacts → Yes.
81. Sex on first date → No.
82. Broken someone's heart → Yes.
83. Had your own heart broken → Yes.
85. Been arrested → No.
86. Turned someone down → Yes.
87. Cried when someone died → Yes.
88. Liked a friend that is a girl? → Yes. I like all of my female friends! Hello! They are my friends!

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
89. Yourself → Most of the time.
90. Miracles → Yes.
91. Love at first sight → No. I believe in attraction at first sight. I believe love is a choice and a commitment.
92. Heaven → Yes.
93. Santa Clause → No.
95. Kiss on the first date? → Well, I have, so I suppose so.
96. Angels → Yes.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
97. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → Yes.
98. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? → Yes.
100. Posting this as 100 Truths? → Yes, I titled this blog post 100 Truths

Insomnia

Man oh man, this insomnia thing is just kicking my butt. I haven't been able to sleep very well for the last few weeks and so I end up spending my nights either puttering around on the computer, working on projects around the house or laying there in bed, waiting for sleep to happen.

Last night (Monday night) I even took some Melatonin to try and help me fall asleep. Well, technically I guess I should say to help me fall back to sleep. I was really tired on Monday night and conked out around 8:00 when the kids did. I was awake again around 9:30. It was so disappointing. Then I couldn't fall back asleep, so I took some Melatonin around midnight or so. I finally fell back to sleep around 8:00, but woke up around every 30 minutes until 1:30 when I finally just got up for the day.

My schedule is so wonky and it is driving me crazy. I can't stand this! I hate sleeping during the day time when I don't have to work nights (which I'm not right now!) but I can't sleep at night and I sleep fitfully during the day. This is just not working for me! Gah!

Okay, so moving on...when I work on projects at night I have to make sure that they are relatively quiet projects. I'm not the only one in my household who sleeps like crap. We have kids who get up in the middle of the night and change sleeping locations. Tonight alone, Natty came downstairs to the living room while I was taking a break from the project that I was working on and asked if he could sleep on the couch in our den because he had a nightmare. I'm sure he would have just taken the couch in the living room but that's where Hubby and Boo put each other to sleep tonight. (awww, so cute!) So anyhow, Natty went down to the den to sleep. Before that, I had been working on my project and came up to the living room to take a break and found JoNo in my chair. I promptly sent him back up to his own bed. And before you think that I showed favoritism to Natty, let me assure you that had Natty been in MY chair, he would have been promptly sent up to bed as well. No one gets Mama's chair. Just the way it is.

So, as I was mentioning, my project. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the closet before I got started on it because I wasn't really sure how much time I was going to spend on it or if I would even get it done. But surprise surprise! I made a HUGE mess in my room when I emptied that closet out! I took EVERYTHING out of the closet. And when I say everything, I mean E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. The closet is roughly 4'x5'. To the right side of the closet, there are shelves and cubbies that take up about 2' of the 5', which leaves an open floor area of 3'x4'. Let me just start out by saying that the shelves and cubbies were PACKED full of miscellaneous stuff. Okay, really, who am I kidding? The closet was packed full of miscellaneous stuff. I had no clue what was in there. The only thing I did know was that the pile of "stuff" in there was taller than me. I'm 5'4". Yeah. Stuff and stuff and more stuff.

So, I started with the spot right in front of the door and worked my way down to the floor. By this time, I had acquired a sizeable trash pile, three totes that held items that belonged in different areas (kitchen, living room and kids toys), and a clear floor area in the closet. Oh - and I had "lost" my queen size bed, most of my bedroom floor and a card table under the mountain of stuff that had come out of this closet.

Since the main area of the closet was clear, I grabbed a chair and stood on it to get totes and boxes and more down from the upper shelf (the one that is like six and a half feet off the ground! Then I started in on the shelves and cubbies. What a workout!

First of all, I want to tell you some interesting (or perplexing) things that I found. First, I found six rolls of Christmas wrapping paper left over from the after-Christmas clearance sales from 2008, so I took those and stuck them into my Christmas tote that was in my room anyhow waiting to have a home cleared out for it in our basement. Only one thing at a time, please!

Let's see...what else did I find? Oh - I found two air mattresses. One twin, one queen. I know one of them doesn't hold air, but I can't remember which. They are both laying on the floor next to my bed at the moment because I am trying to decide whether I want to test them both out and purge the one that doesn't hold air, or if I want to just go ahead and get rid of both of them since we never use them anyhow.

Hmmm...I found lots and lots of clothes that I am going to have to wash because I have no idea how long they have been in there and it was dusty and yucky in there from being neglected and having more and more crap thrown in on top. At the bottom of the pile I found my mother-in-law's old vacuum cleaner that she had given to us when ours stopped working about two years ago. She had just gotten a new one and figured she could part with this one. It doesn't do the greatest job but it is still a decent vacuum. I plan to put it out in the garage to use on our vehicles once I get the garage cleared out. For right now, it's tucked back into the back cubby area, where it fits wonderfully. I might even just keep it there and vacuum the cars out in our lower driveway, which isn't far from our bedroom and has an outdoor outlet right there anyways.

But the real kicker, the one that really took the cake for the finds...a used pregnancy test. The cap had been put back on, by the way. But the thing of it is, this test was most likely taken in, oh, February of 2007. That is the most recent it could have been taken. Let me also point out the fact that we moved into this house in December 2008. So not only is this test 4 years old, but it flippin' moved with us! I just don't know. I mean, I remember keeping it for a short while in our master bathroom, but really? I thought I had thrown it away. It just boggles my mind. And just for the record, the test has been thrown away.

Speaking of throwing things away, this is what the closet yielded:

• 3 kitchen size Glad Force Flex trash bags full of trash
• 3 hot wheels race car tracks with missing pieces
• 1 or 2 air mattresses that may or may not hold air
• 1 folding chair that has a severely torn seat
• 2 full boxes of papers and cardboard (really it's for the recycling, but I didn't want to make a whole separate category for recycling for that one little bit)

 Then things that got moved to another area:

• books to my bookshelf in the living room
• books to the kids' bookshelf in the living room
• medicines (still within expiration date) to the cabinet in the kitchen
• vhs tapes and dvds to the entertainment center in the living room
• kids' toys and stuffed animals to their floor of the house
• a set of 2 stacking shelves which I repurposed - you will see this soon in another post

Things that got put back into the closet:

• questionable laundry bagged up and ready to be taken downstairs as I work on laundry today
• 3 table legs that go to a kiddie table that belongs to the little ones. I think the 4th leg is in the basement and I know the tabletop is down there for sure.
• sports cards (in binders and sleeves or in cases)
• a few board games
• 2 small totes of keepsake items and pictures
• a small tote of bags (backpack, messenger style bag and rolling duffel bag)
• a small tote of cords that I am going to have Hubby go through. He knows what we need to keep and what we can toss out. I'd just toss them all and end up having to buy a replacement one. I don't want to have to do that. I already had to buy a VGA cable (I think that is what it is called) to hook up our new monitor to our new computer tower earlier this year. Guess what I found in that tote? A VGA cable. Darn it! That was a waste of $15 right there. Wonder how much money I have truly wasted in this one closet alone. Eh, scratch that. I probably don't want to know.
• and 2 empty laundry baskets and 2 empty totes

So, the closet probably wouldn't look incredible to some people, but if you had any idea just how much crap was crammed in there, you'd understand. Seriously. I know it still needs work, but it is soooooo much better than it was before! I am really pleased with the amount of work I got done in there tonight. And maybe, just maybe within the next few weeks, we will be able to start using the closet in a more appropriate manner. Just sayin'. It's a goal.

And for the record, I'm still not tired. Grrr. Hopefully that means that I will be able to get a lot accomplished today! It's worth trying anyhow! Or at the very least, get our bedroom back to normal before Hubby goes in there to get ready for the day (kinda seriously doubt that will happen though!)

Oh - and how perfect is this?! Rachel Anne's Small Thing for today was to just start something. Don't get caught up in the details, don't over-analyze, don't wait for the perfect time or the perfect opportunity or the perfect plan. Even if it isn't the right time, the right plan, the right whatever...Just get to it! And, as you have read above, that's exactly what I had done this morning. Woo! Love it!

Oh - and that gave me a quick and easy 40 points for doing what I had already done today! Yay! My monthly total is now 320 points! I still need to bake something from scratch to earn points either today or tomorrow. That particular "assignment was from last Thursday and she gave us a full week to get it done, and I'm quickly coming up on the end of that time frame. I may be back later today with another Small Things post. We'll see!

Tackle It Tuesday

If you know me, then you know that I'm a knitter. I love love love to knit! But my life is not always conducive to allowing me the time to knit, so I try to sneak it in when and where I can. Which means that my knitting supplies and my yarn both end up sometimes in disarray.

Today, I took the time to dig into the depths of my cedar chest where I keep my yarn, and to sort it all out. I separated my wool yarns (I didn't realize how much I still had on hand - that is GREAT news!) from my acrylics (and I only kept the acrylics that I actually loved - I have a real love/hate relationship with acrylic) from my cottons (once again - I had more than I realized, which once again, was GREAT news!)

Now, my cedar chest is well organized and I can find what I need quickly and easily! I also put a couple of WIPs (works in progress) into little plastic drawstring bags so that I could grab a project and go if I so desire. I still need to figure out a good system for my knitting supplies - extra needles, tapestry needles, scissors, measuring tape, row markers, stitch markers, pom pom makers, etc. etc. etc. but I'm taking it one step at a time. And right now, all those items are together - on top of a bookshelf so that the kids can't get to them. Maybe tomorrow I will have a chance to get to it.

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Tossed It Tuesday

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I have tossed out this week. I had hubby take out the garbage last night (as it was trash night) and I barked out a bunch of stuff that I wanted him to make sure he got out there. Let's see if I can remember some of them...

There were the two long boxes that some curtain rods came in that have been hanging out around our house for way too long.

There was the top front wooden piece to an entertainment center that we used to have in our living room that we got rid of, oh, about 8 months ago. For some odd reason, this one piece has hung around ever since then though.

I finally got rid of a carseat, base and stroller combination that has been here since Boo was a baby. He's now 3 1/2. That was nice to get rid of. Hmm, not really thinking of anything else at the moment. But that's a pretty decent list, I do think.

Oh - we also took two more boxes of clothes to the clothing drop. We will be doing that forever, I think.

ALSO - please consider making a donation and sponsoring my boys by clicking on the links under my banner above. They would really appreciate it!

Tables, tables everywhere...

Today Rachel Anne was talking about the tables and furniture pieces in our homes that do such a great job for us. We need to give them a little bit of attention too, you know! So she offered up a full 15 points per furniture piece that got some attention today. Limit of 10 pieces. Still, that is a possible 150 points for ONE day! Wowza!

So, I dove right in. First I had to clear off the end tables in our living room so that I could give them a good dusting off and a quick shine up. The shine doesn't really last on these pieces because they are hand me downs that were rough when we got them. I still got them to look as nice as I could though. That part netted me 20 points.

Then I moved on to the cedar chest that has functioned as nearly everything in this house. It has been a TV stand, an end table, a night stand, a coffee table, a chest, a piece at the foot of our bed, everything. Right now, it is currently being employed as a coffee table / wool yarn storage space. The cedar keeps moths and such from making homes in the wool. Did you know that? So I gave that piece of furniture a quick dusting and a shine too. Now I'm up to 30 points.

Then it was on to my bookcase. It's low and sits next to my chair in the living room. It holds mostly my books and reference books for the kids that they have to have permission before using. I gave the top and the two shelves there the same treatment. The kids' bookcase got the same treatment as well - the top and all four shelves. At this point, I was up to 50 points. Only ten more pieces to do to get the full amount! Woot!

I moved onto the entertainment center and gave that some attention as well. While I was there, I also straightened up the shelves and wiped off the television screen and dusted the TV too, for no extra charge! Funny how doing one little thing can so easily lead in to another! So that left me at 60 points.

Hubby's desk was next in line (because it was the next piece of furniture on that wall) and I did the desk and desk chair both. The chair really needs to be cleaned but I will have to do that the next time I pull out the carpet cleaner so I can use the upholstery attachment on that - well, really, all the furniture could probably use it but Hubby's desk chair and my recliner show it the most because they are both light in color. Okay - slight tangent there, let's see where were we? Oh yes, I was up to 70 points.

Two side tables in the den were calling my name, after they saw what I had done to their friends in the living room, so I went down and settled them down too, giving them a nice rub down and thanking them for their services here. Two more pieces equals 20 more points! New total: 90 points.

The television stand in the den was looking pretty rough. I had just brought it in from being stored in the garage (because I wanted to move the cedar chest up to the living room to use as a coffee table and get it out from under the t.v. in the den) and it was dusty! Blech! Poor thing! It's black and it looked nearly white with dust. So then, the t.v. stand got a good polishing up too. Once again while I was at it, I dusted off the t.v. and wiped down the monitor. 100 points!

Moving on to our bedroom, I did a quick dusting off of our dresser, chest of drawers, both of our night stands and our bed frame. That was five more pieces for an additional 50 points, which maxed me out at the 150 point limit. But I didn't stop there. I was on a roll!

I went upstairs to the kids' bedroom level and also knocked out five bed frames, one night stand and two dressers. I came back down to the den, realized I had forgotten the armoire, so I took care of that as well. Then went down to the basement and knocked out two more dressers! That left me with a total of 11 extra pieces that I dusted and made to look nice. It was just so easy to keep going once I got started. Maybe that's the key to the "small things". It's a gateway to bigger and more involved things around the house. But yay! The wood furniture is dusted, so this weekend's Mega cleaning (formerly known as perfect clean) will be just a touch easier to do!

Total for today was the whole whopping 150 points!
Total for March is now 280 points. Wow.

Ketchup Caught!

Oh man, I cannot even begin to tell you all how happy I was to see today's small thing from Rachel Anne! Apparently I am not the only one who slipped this weekend. I mean, I did do stuff this weekend, but I've been dragging and just haven't been up to doing as much as I have been lately and so while the minimum maintenance things are getting done and I'm still doing okay with my "just good enough", I haven't been going much further than that.

Today's small thing was to just catch up on something. So, I decided to get caught up on the groceries getting put away. It was something that I hadn't done yet because I needed to rotate some food around (first in, first out, you know!) and so I just hadn't gotten around to it. Now it is done!

Today's small thing was worth 40 points, which brings my monthly total for March up to 130 points!