Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Tossed It Tuesday - April 12

First of all, I want to give a little shout-out to Violet for her wonderful encouragement on this weekly post! It seems that she and I have been trading off weeks where we have a lot to post about.

Well, since last week, I have gone back to the consignment shop and paid my consignor's fee and am now ready to start taking over loads and loads of kids' clothes! Yay! So, you will see my box total each week for the consignment shop.

We rearranged our living room this past weekend and as a result, we had lots of miscellaneous items that we were able to get rid of. I don't even know what all left the house because as soon as I came across something that needed to leave but wouldn't fit into a trash bag, a child was summoned to take the item directly to the trash outside. There was absolutely no "make a pile until there's more to go out" for this project. Lots and lots of stuff went out.

Then, last night (because Tuesday is our trash day) my mother came over to continue going through her stuff that is stored in our garage. We also went through a lot of our stuff that is stored in the garage. I got rid of a LOT of stuff. I don't know what exactly all I threw away because honestly, I didn't look all that closely. My main plan with going through the items was to look for the one or two items in each box/container/whatever that was worth keeping around (if there was anything worth keeping around) and the rest of the box got pitched. I gave myself about 30 seconds per box. It doesn't take all that long to look through an item to see what is worth keeping. The thing that took the longest amount of time was books (we LOVE books around here and kept more than we tossed) and clothes (because of the whole consignment situation!).

In the end, out on our curb was:
  • our two regular trashcans, plus another trashcan with our yard waste
  • an endtable/microwave cart/stand type piece of furniture
  • an old smaller television that actually belongs to my mom
  • some old broken or just worn down toys of the kiddos
  • an old lamp that no longer works
  • and probably about 10 boxes of useless junk
We also got rid of three boxes of recyclables. Yay for purging stuff that we don't really need in our house or in our life!

Tackle It Tuesday - Shaklee Style

This week, we did a number of tackles. We tackled our living room and re-arranged it while also going through a bunch of "stuff" that was in it. At the moment, it is slightly messy due to kids and well, living in the room, but it will be cleaned up as soon as I am done with this post.

Our living room is long and rectangular and has a bank of windows on one side that make it difficult for some arrangements. Also, we have three vents in the room, which we try to not to cover up with furniture. We have a dog that covers the vents enough as it is.

So, here is what the room looked like before:


The main problem with this layout is the corner where the chair is. Stuff would get stuck back there and it was difficult to get to without pulling the chair out. I was getting tired of having to do that. Plus both the dog and Boo loved to hang out behind the chair (next to the vent) so there were a myriad of issues with that there.

Another was the entertainment center. The couch sat in front of the bank of windows and we would get a horrible glare on the TV if we had the windows open, which we didn't very often because it made watching TV up here nearly impossible.

The area behind the other chair (closest to our entry way on bottom right) often was the spot where we would put things that needed to leave the house, which makes sense. But it also often made it look cluttered and messy and let's face it, you open the door and that is the FIRST thing you see, followed by the entertainment center.

So, we changed it. The couch went to where the entertainment center was, one of the tables went with it, the entertainment center went to where the small bookshelf was, the small bookshelf went next to the door, and the two chairs and one table scooted in towards the middle of the window bank to balance out that side of the room. The cedar chest also got transplanted next to the entertainment center, instead of being used as a coffee table.

So now it looks like this:


Personally, I'd prefer to have the tall bookshelf on the wall next to the entertainment center, but Hubby says no to that for now. Plus that bookshelf may soon end up in our bedroom anyhow, so it's kind of a non-issue anyways.

And now, the small bookshelf next to the entryway is for our shoe storage, instead of having the shoes on the rectangular linoleum area that you all have seen before here. And that was okay, but it just didn't stay neat. And I am not about to spend 5 minutes ten or so times each day, straightening up the shoes. It's just not my thang. Yes, I said thang. No, it was not a typo. So anyhow, that's why the small bookshelf is over by the door. It is called the small bookshelf because it's short. Lower shelf, upper shelf and then top of the set. Three levels total. Lower shelf is generally used for kiddo shoes. The shelf has an open back and allows the vent to shoot air through it. The upper shelf is for more of the overflow shoes. The top of the unit is used for the things that need to leave the house. It can still look messy, but it still looks better than having the stuff sit on the floor behind the chair. Much better!

Then this weekend, I traveled to Erin's house to try out some Shaklee products. So, as of now, she and I are no longer online friends. We are in real life friends! Yay! So, anyhow, I came home Saturday night to a mess that Hubby left for me from his preparation of the family's supper. (I ate at Erin's house that evening. Thanks again Erin and Dusty!) The house was empty when I got home. Hubby had arranged for the kiddos to spend the night at Grandma's house and he had gone to his friends' house for the evening, so there I was with a stove looking like this:


Yummy right? Inviting? Wanna come over for dinner right about this point? If that isn't bad enough for you, try removing the burner and the drip tray. Just for fun. However, if you have a queasy tummy, I'd suggest looking away right now. Because I removed the burner and the drip tray and this is an example of what was below.


Yeah, um, gross. Just sayin'. I have no idea what it is or how it gets down there, but I *do* know that I don't like it and I had an idea that my handy dandy bottle of Shaklee's H2 would clear that issue right up, so I decided it was time to give it a try. I sprayed a generous portion of the H2 into the areas below the drip trays. Yes, our style of stove can lift up, but it is screwed shut and one of the screws is stripped, so I can't do it the easy way.

I let it set for a few minutes, just so it could do its thang under there and then I got busy and cleaned all the gunk out. It took several swipes and a few paper towels (sorry, but my nice microfiber was NOT going in THERE!) and then it was done. The end result?



Okay, let's do the before and after thing now:


I also took the time to do my microwave (inside and out), my fridge (inside and out) and my freezer (inside and out). It was awesome! I love the H2! I also have a bottle of the Basic G to try out in the bathrooms, but I haven't made it in there just yet. I was more concerned about the kitchen at that point.

I am sold though! As soon as my check situation at work gets figured out and settled, I am DEFINITELY going to be ordering my own shaklee! And then you can sign up to become a member under me as well! Doesn't that sound AWESOME?! I think it does! And besides who wouldn't want to transform their icky yucky stove from the before picture to the after picture? Seriously? My stove SHINES now. It truly does!

And that was my main level tackle for this past week. Phew! I'm exhausted! Even if Hubby was the one that did all of the work, except the kitchen cleaning. But I am so happy with the results!