Busy Week

Now that August is behind us and I have a plan for keeping my house clean, I have a birthday party to plan / get ready for. At least my house is clean, last year at this time I was scrambling to do in 5 days what I just did in 30. I am scrambling this year trying to finish Henry's video / picture montage that I traditonally do every year. I had my heart set on using the Dixie Chicks' song Godspeed (Sweet dreams) but I just could not get it to work. I think it was not meant to be. That song makes me break down in tears every time I hear it and I'm not talking getting misty eyed, I'm talking full on sobbing so it probably would be embarrassing for that to happen while everyone is gathered around the tv on Saturday.

So anyway I found a substitute song, which I won't reveal at this time. I think it will be cute. I can't wait to share it with you all on Saturday.

Of course I'm a perfectionist and need the timing of the photos to go perfectly with the music so I foresee late nights this week. I should be a zombie by Friday for sure.

30 days to clean - A success!

Well, my house is clean and it only took 30 days to do it. Now the challenge will be keeping it that way. Winston Churchill once said: "Success is not final, Failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts."

My maintenance plan is simple. Each day of the week I have assigned a room or area of the house.

Monday - bathrooms

Tuesday - dining room / Living room

Wednesday- mop the floors

Thursday- Kitchen (obviously dishes will be done daily. This day is for clearing clutter off of the counters, cleaning out the fridge etc.)

Friday- Toyroom

Saturday - bedrooms / laundry day

Sunday - Rest, family fun day



Now I will be flexible on this to a point. For example if I come home from work on Tuesday and I just am tired and don't feel like doing anything I can double up on Wednesday or if we want to go to the Zoo on Saturday I can do the bedrooms on Friday and Sunday etc..



September is going to be my 30 days to organization so I will be doing a little mini project each day on top of the cleaning.

Ya know how most people have a "junk drawer" in their house? Yeah, well I have hmmm, roughly....five or six.

This month I want to give my "junk drawers" a purpose and a meaning in life.

I would like to organize my garage too but I might save that for another month when it's not so hot. Maybe October would be a better month for this.

30 days to clean - Pictures of my bedroom!

I thought this day would never arrive! It seemed as though my bedroom was a never ending black hole of clutter. It seemed like cleaning my bedroom was some torture that Al Qa'ida had thought up. "hahahaha, she'll just clean forever and ever and it will never be clean, there will always be boxes full of clothes and other random items that she wants to keep but doesn't know what to do with" (I guess they speak in run-on sentences too.)

Can you see the overflowing boxes, the hastily hung curtain on the window, and the tables covered with clutter? By the way, don't you just love how I made the bed before taking my "before" pictures? I think it really accentuates the clutter.

Now for what you've all been waiting for.....

I give you my new bedroom!

Look I can close my closet doors!

Look at that smile!
She is so glad to be done!

Not only is it clean but Matt hung some new curtains for me. (thanks Matt!) Well, that doesn't sound too impressive, let me explain...there was no way to hang curtains so he had to get out power tools and install curtain rods on the windows before he could hang the curtains.

So on day 26 I finished my bedroom. I've got 4 days to go and my house is clean. The toyroom could still use some tweaking. It's not quite worthy of before and after pictures yet. But, when is a toyroom ever clean when you've got a three year old and a one year old there to help you keep it messy?! I'll still post before and afters of the toyroom in the next couple days.

Say Hey!

I am totally loving this song right now! Such a happy song...get up and dance and enjoy!

If you can't see the video here is the link

Wordless Wednesday - flashback

I love this picture of me and Henry. He is barely 3 months old in this picture. He will be 3 years old next Saturday(9/5). Monday was the day he was supposed to be born (8/24). He was a little late....

30 days to clean - Before and After Pics of the Living room

The living room has been clean for a while but I realized last night that I hadn't put pics up yet. This first picture is of all the laundry I had to fold the first night of cleaning the living room. Luckily Matt helped with that. I don't even know how many loads this is.

The messy living room!

This is a place where things seem to congregate. They are things that had no home, well, they do now!


Tada!! my clean living room!



Now, if I could get some new furniture.....

365 Self Portraits - try again

Last August I declared that I would be taking a picture of my self every day for a year...that lasted about a month. This year I have joined a group on Flickr.com that is filled with people working towards that same goal. If you want to see my picture everyday look on my photostream here. I only have 2 pictures on there so far. I'm hoping that this project gets my creative juices flowing and helps me to improve my photography this year. I'm also hoping it will be a lot of fun.

Today is day 3 and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out something super cool to do. Any suggestions?

30 days to clean - Day 18

I can't tell you how pleased I am with my progress so far. My house has never been this clean and I hope that I can keep it up. I have done really well (with the help of my awesome husband) at maintaining the cleanliness. Monday night I mowed the lawn and was too tired to do any housework and last night I came this close (I'm holding my fingers very close together by the way) to finishing my bedroom. I have a laundry basket and a rubbermaid container that are filled with things that still have no home. Tonight I plan on mopping the whole house (minus the kids' rooms) and then I may conquer the cluttered computer desk in the dining room. I think I may finally paint the kitchen this weekend if I can get some primer put on the walls one night. I might just end up priming the walls this weekend. We'll play it by ear. That's what I do. That's the way uh huh uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh.

Anyway, my month of August has been such a success thus far that I think that the month of September is going to be 30 days to organization.....more to come on that later!

Someone else's sandwich

There is an older man I work with, we'll call him G(I'm not sure how old he is because he won't tell me...) G is always bringing me food. About once a week I'll come into work and there will be a Hardee's bag sitting on my desk with a Bacon, Egg, and cheese biscuit inside. I love those mornings. A few weeks ago he brought me a bag of cucumbers from his garden I didn't think I would eat them all...but I did.

Today he got a foot long sandwich from Subway and offered me the other half. Since I had just eaten lunch I declined but since he insisted, I put it in the refrigerator to eat for a snack later (I know, I like to eat, so sue me). I ate it and it was delicious, different than anything I would have ordered from Subway.

I usually have the tried and true, Mayo, Yellow mustard, lettuce, tomato on a turkey sandwich. Once in a while I might go crazy and put some green peppers on there.

The Sandwich that G shared with me today had chicken, bacon, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, pickles, olives, tomato and probably something else that I didn't even know was on there. It was delicious, but nothing I would have ordered for myself in a hundred years.

Sometimes you get stuck in a rut, not just with food but with where you go, what you do with your time, the type of movies you watch, the type of friends you make. So, I urge you to live dangerously, do something different. Why don't you start with having someone else make you a sandwich how they like it and split it with you!

Some pictures of my progress

In my house when the cabinet looks like this

The dishwasher looks like this:

and the sink looks like this

You'd better take a picture cuz it won't last very long!

here are some before and after pictures of my kitchen:

I think that the word on the dish-soap bottle best describes my feelings right now.

30 days to clean - Update

Some of my adoring fans have implored me to update my blog. The cleaning is going well. Over the weekend I cleaned the kids' rooms again although they really didn't need it, I decided that I need to get in the habit of cleaning even if I don't think it needs to be done. I changed the sheets on their beds, emptied their trash cans and swept the floors. After that I worked on my bedroom more which I think I have a good chance of finishing this weekend!! (fingers crossed) On Monday I cleaned the bathrooms, especially concentrating on the bathroom in my bedroom and it looks awesome. It's very small so it gets cluttered very easily. it is now clutter free. On Tuesday I organized the bookshelf in the dining room. I should take a picture of it for you to see. I didn't do anything the last 2 nights. Last night I did not feel well so I watched a movie (7 Pounds with Will Smith, I would recommend it) and Wednesday night I spent some time with Matt. I thought that I deserved a night off from cleaning. I pick back up this afternoon as I need to clean my kitchen.

I have a friend coming over tonight and I am very excited. I have not had a friend over in a long time (not counting my family). I honestly have avoided inviting anyone to my house because I have been embarrassed of the mess. Now that my house is looking good I can invite people over without being worried. I love this feeling!

11 things you must know to survive and thrive in America

I used to have this list hanging in my office at work. I came across it as I was cleaning the house this weekend and thought I would share it with you all.

11 things you must know to survive and thrive in America
-Ellis Cose

1 Complain all you like about the raw deal you have gotten in life, but don’t expect those complaints to get you anywhere.

2 Expect to do better than the world expects of you; expect to live in a bigger world than the one you see.

3Don’t expect support for your dreams from those who have not accomplished very much in their lives

4If someone is bringing out your most self destructive tendencies, acknowledge that that person is not a friend

5 Don’t be too proud to ask for help, particularly from those who are wiser and older.

6 Recognize that being true to yourself is not the same as being true to a stupid stereotype.

7 Don’t let the glitter blind you.

8 Don’t expect competence and hard work alone to get you the recognition or rewards you deserve

9 You must seize the time, for it is already later than you think.

10 Even if you have to fake it, show some faith in yourself

11 Don’t force innocent others to bear the price of your pain

Reminder to all fellow bloggers

ANYONE CAN READ YOUR BLOG!!!!! If you want to write private things that you don't want people to read then write it in your journal. Have a nice day.

Day 5 - Living Room

So You Think You Can Dance was on last night so I cleaned the living room while watching. Cleaning the living room also involved folding a weeks worth of laundry which Matt did most of (thanks!) I did not finish but I came very close. I believe that it will be clean next Wednesday. I thought about finishing it tonight but Matt thought it would be best for me to stick to my schedule so, tonight I conquer the toyroom!

Day 4 - Dining Room

I seriously debated whether I should even put this "before" picture on here. I mean, to me, when I look at this picture it screams slob! but I decided to post it anyway because I'm sure that there is at least one person who will see this picture and feel better about their house because theirs' has never looked this bad or maybe it does and they will feel like they are not alone in this world.

My dining room table is a "catch-all" seriously, if there is something that needs to be set somewhere the dining room table is the place to be.

Let's play hidden picture: in this picture, mail, paint, a purse, a box, zucchini and tomatoes from my garden, a cup, and a non matching set of salt and pepper shakers. We also have things that end up under the table. Can you see now why the clutter stresses me out? Well anyway, lets move on:

Before:

After:

ahhh that's better!

I still have a lot of work to do on this room. The desk and bookshelf for starters but this is why I gave myself 30 days to clean my house and not 7. Capiche?

Day 3 - Bathrooms and some other notes

Last night I spent an hour cleaning and only got one bathroom cleaned. I thoroughly cleaned it though and it looks really good. Tonight I conquer the dining room. I plan on posting before and after pics of the dining room tomorrow. (I didn't today because I just don't think a bathroom is very exciting :))

In other notes I just want to write some things down for posterity sake because I know I'll never write them in the baby books and in a couple years I'll forget all the cute things my kids say and do. So bear with me as I gush over my children or stop reading.

Zoe is such a joy to my heart. She always is so excited to see me, or Matt, or Henry or food. She claps her hands and squeals with delight. She has a fish thing in her crib that attaches to the rails. She shows it to me every day when I go in to get her. She will go from standing to sitting, mumble something in baby talk, turn it on, look up at me with a big smile and clap her hands. Last night she was pushing a step stool around the house and walking on her knees. She just went up and down the hall....probably doesn't sound cute to you (if you're still reading) but I loved it!

Henry is not three yet but he has entered the "trying threes" He tests the limits daily and it's so hard to be consistant with him. Yesterday he told Matt that he was going to take all his toys and put them on his pirate ship and sail away from here. When he saw that this upset Matt he told him "you can come with me daddy". On the other hand he can be such a sweet, funny boy too and this describes him the majority of the time. He has lately been obsessed with sharks and pirates. He also has made up a song about sharks, and yesterday made up a song about going to sleep. Do we have a future songwriter on our hands? Time will tell I suppose.

If you have read this far then you must really like me... :)

New pics from my photo session Sunday

I took pictures of My sister's Husband's sister's daughter Sunday (did you follow that? LOL) She is very cute. Take a look if you want and leave a comment. I ♥ comments! I'll have more to come later this week.

Day 2 - My bedroom

It's amazing how neglected my bedroom is. It's the one room that I don't ever clean because I don't have to. When I have people come over to my house they don't go in my bedroom. I use my bedroom for sleeping and that's about it. I wish that my bedroom could be a sort of sanctuary where I could go to relax and feel at peace. Instead I feel stressed every time I go in there because of all the stuff. I still have boxes in there from when we moved in over a year ago! My goal at the end of this month is of course to have a clean house but the room I am most looking forward to being finished is my bedroom.

That being said, I did not finish my bedroom yesterday. I knew that I wouldn't, so no big disappointment there. I worked on it for 2 hours and got the closet organized and a couple boxes cleared out. I can't wait until I can post after pictures from that room.

Day 3's assignment is the bathrooms. Not very exciting but necessary! The biggest thing in our main bathroom is the clutter that collects on the counter. It's amazing how good an empty bathroom counter can make the rest of the bathroom look.

Day 1 - cleaning the kids' rooms

Day One was a success! I feel like I accomplished so much!

This is what Zoe's room looked like this morning (I'm turning my head away and blushing because I am so embarrassed!)

oh, what? you can't see it good?

how about now? (cue the "Psycho" music)

Are you happy now?

And now this is what it looks like

(cue the "Hallelujah Chorus") "Hallelujah!"

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

Ha - le- eh- lu- yah!

I also cleaned Henry's room. I didn't bother taking before pics of his because it wasn't that bad to begin with but here are some after pics. I rearranged his furniture and I think it gives him more room to play.

Look! nothing under the bed!!

So all in all a success! Tomorrow I tackle my bedroom but I won't have nearly as much time to work in there tomorrow as I did today so I don't foresee me finishing that room this week. (hey, I've got 30 days, get off my back dude!)