Tuesday, March 8, 2011

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.

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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.

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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.