Recently, our church participated in a Daniel Fast. I was not up to food fast this year (although I have done it in the past) so I decided to fast Facebook and in the process started a challenge to clean and organize my home. I will admit that I have been very lazy about housekeeping since Michael was born. He's been a lot more clingy than I'm accustomed to dealing with and it has made things more difficult for me. I've also been dealing with a little bit of post partum blues/depression which left me very subdued and unmotivated. As part of my Facebook fast, I decided to kick myself in the rear and begin this cleaning challenge to help me get out of my doldrums and re-enter life. I've also been using the YouVersion Bible App on my phone again to do daily Bible readings and devotionals, which have helped tremendously! The Challenge was originated by Katrina at The Organised Housewife So drop by there and take a look! I customized it to my needs but I love her layout and printables for during the challenge. I've just completed Day 6 and have been able to complete most of the tasks. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures of all the work until just recently but will try to add pictures as I go along from here.
Day 1 - The Laundry area: I decided to start with something small instead of the kitchen (a huge job for me) to work myself in to cleaning. With Eddie's help, I put a wire shelf above the washer. I plan to get another shelf for above the dryer (I couldn't find the length I need to go all the way across so I just got one shorter one and will add the second later.) I then cleaned the washer and dryer well (inside and out) and ran a hot wash with vinegar and baking soda to clean the washer well. I also wiped down the walls and organized everything onto the shelf and got most everything off the dryer. Once I get the second shelf purchased and installed, I'll be able to completely clean off the dryer. Lastly, I swept and swiffered the floor area. This was a great starter for my cleaning challenge...not too big and not too small!
Day 2 - Our Bedroom: This was a much larger challenge for me as everything was cluttered and messy. Our room tends to be the catch all so it took a while but I managed to get most everything done. I cleared off the dresser and bedside table and cleared out the drawers. I got rid of the "rubbish" and things I didn't need or use anymore and then re-organized everything so only the necessities were organized out on the dresser. Once I had everything in a new home, I cleared and stripped the bed, and put the sheets in the washer. I vacuumed the mattress and fan blades and then swept and swiffered the floor, including under the bed. It took pretty much all day, but I felt like it was a success. Our closet and master bath will be a later day.
Day 3 - Kitchen: Bottom Cabinets and counters - Eddie has Wednesday's off work so I planned the kitchen for Wednesday so I'd have help to get it all done. It's a good thing I did too because I never would have been able to finish it by myself! We have problems with mice every winter and this one was no different. I finally got mice poison bait block stations (the ones that are child proof) and placed them around the kitchen/living room area a few weeks ago and I'm fairly certain at this point that they're all gone. However, they've definitely left many signs of their presence...especially in my bottom cabinets -_- We had to pull ALL of the pots, pans, bowls, Tupperware, serving ware, etc. out of the bottom cabinets, clean the shelf liners and sanitize the cabinet walls...all of them. We swept up a mountain of mouse droppings afterward -_- Eddie washed everything in hot soapy clorox water to disinfect everything. He was a HUGE help! After everything was clean, I re-organized my bottom cabinets and got rid of some things we didn't need. I found some locker shelves at Wal-mart on sale for $4 so I grabbed a couple of them and used them to help organize my Tupperware and large bowls. It's so nice to be able to find everything again and for it to be clean when I pull it out of the cabinets! Afterwards, I cleared and cleaned the counters and kitchen table, re-organized, and then swept and swiffered the floor. Top cabinets and the drawers will be a later day.
Day 4 - Living Room: This was supposed to be Thursday but I had to teach the breastfeeding class at the health department and run some errands so I did it on Friday instead. This was another fairly easy room. I cleared out my basket and cleaned off my side table. I also dusted/cleaned off the entertainment center, pulled it out from the wall and cleaned out from behind/under it as well. I re-organized the bookcase area and then swept and swiffered the floor and had to stop there. I still need to vacuum out the couch and clean the ceiling fan.
Day 5 - Floors & Pantry: Since Eddie's mom took the girls Friday evening, I used Saturday to catch up on my cleaning. I swept and swiffered our bedroom, laundry area, kitchen, and the living room. I also organized the "pantry" (all of 2 top cabinets -_-). A productive day but fairly easy. Most weekends are "free time" but since the girls were out of my hair, I took advantage of it.
Day 6 (Monday) - The Bathroom & hallway: I pulled everything out of the bathroom, cleaned the shower and tub, pulled the curtain down and put it through the washer, wiped down the walls and surfaces, cleaned the toilet, and re-organized the cabinet and shelves so it was less cluttered. The bathroom looks and smells much cleaner now and I'm quite happy with it! After I had everything cleaned and put back where it belonged, I organized the shoe rack in the hall way, put all the toys back in the girls room, and swept and swiffered the hallway. I then cleaned the girls rocker, Michael's walking toy, and a couple other large toys that live in the hallway before putting them back in their places. I'll be so glad when we get the larger bedroom redone so we can move the girls in there and get all their toys out of the hallway and organized into their room!
Tomorrow is Day 7 and I'm cleaning, decluttering, and organizing the girls current bedroom. It's all of 6' square...maybe a tad larger but it doesn't feel like it. LOL It has built in book cases around the top of the window. The twin size bed just barely fits against the window wall. The chest of drawers is between the bed and closet door with a pop-up hamper beside it that holds the girls stuffed animals. Most of the toys are kept in the bottom of the closet or under the bed with a couple of larger toys on the opposite wall. There's maybe 3' square of floor space left available and it's usually cluttered with toys. LOL I can't wait to get the larger room done! Until then, clean, declutter, organize and make do!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Monday, December 3, 2012
Update
Okay, so just a quick update...yeah it's been well over a year since my last post. Anyway, in my last post, I blogged about finding out I was pregnant. Unfortunately, we lost that pregnancy a month later. Two months after that, we got pregnant again and had our little boy in March 2012! Michael was 11lbs 3oz and 24 inches long! I ended up having pregnancy induced Hypertension (basically pre-ecclampsia just without all the blood and urine markers) that caused my blood pressure to go sky high! So I ended up having to be induced on March 22nd and was on 2 blood pressure meds to help control my BP during the birth. I did manage to have him without any other meds (including pain meds!) so I was happy about that. I shocked the nurses, I think LOL He is now 8 months old and 20.5lbs and 30 inches long. He's already clapping, and trying to walk on his own. I honestly feel like I had a toddler instead of a newborn baby LOL Anyway things are going great and we are a happy family of 5! My oldest is in Kindergarten this year and has been loving it! Mikayla just turned 3 years old. She had a wonderful Minnie Mouse party. It's a wonderful life! Merry Christmas everybody!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Newsflash!!!
So we've recently discovered a little news! I started noticing a couple weeks ago that things were changing...you know, lack of energy...nausea...the normal symptoms...of PREGNANCY! Woohoo! Yes we are expecting our 3rd child. I'm currently about 5 weeks along and my EDD is October 19th, 2011. We are REALLY hoping for a boy this time around! I'm going to be switching to a Certified Nurse Midwife with OBGYN Associates and I'm really looking forward to having a natural birth in the hospital (No, I'm not having an epidural) ^_^ I have been experiencing some nasty nausea since Thursday but managing....I'm really hoping that this one won't have me as sick as I was with Heather (I was SICK 7 out of 9 months with her...it was horrible....but SO worth it when she arrived!). Things are going well otherwise though and I'm looking forward to collecting this little bean's cloth diaper stash ^_^ We need a few more newborn diapers since I plan to CD from birth this time around ^_^ I managed to find a few kidalog organic fitteds on Diaperswappers FSOT boards and a couple of other fitteds on Spots Corner for great prices so I got them the other day. I'm really looking forward to my fluffy mail! ^_^ I'm getting gender neutral diapers for now but as soon as I find out for sure what we're having, I'm SO getting some super cute gender specific diapers for the baby. Anyway, I'll keep it updated as more happens. So happy cooking for us ^_^
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Customer's Longies
Here's a few recent longies customs I've made. I'm working on 2 more pairs of Paton's wool yarn longies that I haven't gotten pictures of yet. I've finished a grey pair and am halfway through a teel blue pair that are coming out nicely as well.
First, a pair of custom striped christmas longies. I loved how these turned out ^_^
Next 2 pairs of Purewool Nature (2 shades of green) colorway longies. These are for 2 different children.
Pair 1:
The cuff on the first pair:
Pair 2:
First, a pair of custom striped christmas longies. I loved how these turned out ^_^
Next 2 pairs of Purewool Nature (2 shades of green) colorway longies. These are for 2 different children.
Pair 1:
The cuff on the first pair:
So apparently I'm terrible at keeping a blog...
Yeah....so as usual, I have been terrible at keeping up with this blog. I really ought to get into the habit of writing each week here....Anyway, just thought I'd give a quick update and add some pictures of some longies I've made for customers. ^_^
Eddie and I celebrated our 6th anniversary this past weekend (February 12th) by taking a family vacation to Atlanta, GA. We took the girls and my dad with us (babysitting help ^_^). Eddie loves model railroading and is slowly building up a stock of HO scale CSX engines and cars. In one of his "Model Railroading" magazines, he found out about a MR hobby show coming to Atlanta the weekend of our anniversary. We haven't had a family trip in ages and he really wanted to go to this show and we knew the girls would love it (LOTS of Thomas stuff for the kids) so we decided that instead of taking the typical date trip, it would be awesome to have a family trip. We found a Hampton Inn right around the corner from the Galleria Centre in the Vinings area (it was awesome!) for a great price and booked 2 nights there. So we drove up Friday evening after Dad and Eddie got out of work and checked in to the hotel. Saturday morning we got up around 8am and had a wonderful (complimentary!) breakfast of our choices of waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries/muffins, yogurt, cereal and lots more! Have I mentioned we loved staying at the Hampton Inn?! Anyway, after breakfast, we went over to the galleria convention center and found the Train show. We had a blast! We were there from 10a - 5p with a break at 1pm for lunch across the walkway in the Cumberland Mall food court. Heather LOVED getting to ride the Thomas train for kids and they had lots of kid areas with legos, wooden trains, and much more to keep the kids entertained! Dad helped out a lot with this and would take Heather and Mikayla around to these kid areas and let them play while we went through all the booths. Heather LOVED looking at all the model trains too! Eddie found 3 more cars for his model train and some other pieces he needed to update his engines that he already has. We also got Heather a wooden Thomas train set (the small oval track set with Thomas), some extra track that was on sale, and annie and clarabell to go with it. We also found a Thomas backpack that is perfect for holding all the train pieces! She would hardly let go of the box on the way back to the hotel that evening! Afterwards, we rested for about an hour while Dad took Heather to get a quick bite to eat at McDonald's. When he got back, Eddie and I dressed for an evening out and went to the Garrison's Broiler & Tap for our anniversary dinner. We both opted for steak and potatoes with a side salad. The meal was absolutely awesome and we had a great time! After dinner, we shared a brownie sundae for desert and it was SO Delicious and rich! We couldn't even finish it because it was so big! It was worth it though! The next morning, we all slept in a while (exhaustion from walking ALL DAY) and then had breakfast at the hotel again before going to the Georgia Aquarium. Dad's been a couple times but the rest of us have never been before and we THOROUGHLY enjoyed it! If you're in the area and can swing it, you should definitely visit this aquarium! The tunnel is AWESOME! Heather went through the tunnel a dozen time just to see all the fish in the huge tank. We got lots of great pictures that I'll have to share as soon as I get the camera charged back up...it died at the end of the visit. After we finished all the exhibits, we went through the gift shop. Dad got the girls matching t-shirts while Eddie and I bought GA and Atlanta shot glasses to add to our collection. After that, the girls were getting whiny and tired....and so were we ^_~ so we decided to load up and head home. All in all it was a wonderful family trip that I will cherish for years to come. ^_^
Eddie and I celebrated our 6th anniversary this past weekend (February 12th) by taking a family vacation to Atlanta, GA. We took the girls and my dad with us (babysitting help ^_^). Eddie loves model railroading and is slowly building up a stock of HO scale CSX engines and cars. In one of his "Model Railroading" magazines, he found out about a MR hobby show coming to Atlanta the weekend of our anniversary. We haven't had a family trip in ages and he really wanted to go to this show and we knew the girls would love it (LOTS of Thomas stuff for the kids) so we decided that instead of taking the typical date trip, it would be awesome to have a family trip. We found a Hampton Inn right around the corner from the Galleria Centre in the Vinings area (it was awesome!) for a great price and booked 2 nights there. So we drove up Friday evening after Dad and Eddie got out of work and checked in to the hotel. Saturday morning we got up around 8am and had a wonderful (complimentary!) breakfast of our choices of waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries/muffins, yogurt, cereal and lots more! Have I mentioned we loved staying at the Hampton Inn?! Anyway, after breakfast, we went over to the galleria convention center and found the Train show. We had a blast! We were there from 10a - 5p with a break at 1pm for lunch across the walkway in the Cumberland Mall food court. Heather LOVED getting to ride the Thomas train for kids and they had lots of kid areas with legos, wooden trains, and much more to keep the kids entertained! Dad helped out a lot with this and would take Heather and Mikayla around to these kid areas and let them play while we went through all the booths. Heather LOVED looking at all the model trains too! Eddie found 3 more cars for his model train and some other pieces he needed to update his engines that he already has. We also got Heather a wooden Thomas train set (the small oval track set with Thomas), some extra track that was on sale, and annie and clarabell to go with it. We also found a Thomas backpack that is perfect for holding all the train pieces! She would hardly let go of the box on the way back to the hotel that evening! Afterwards, we rested for about an hour while Dad took Heather to get a quick bite to eat at McDonald's. When he got back, Eddie and I dressed for an evening out and went to the Garrison's Broiler & Tap for our anniversary dinner. We both opted for steak and potatoes with a side salad. The meal was absolutely awesome and we had a great time! After dinner, we shared a brownie sundae for desert and it was SO Delicious and rich! We couldn't even finish it because it was so big! It was worth it though! The next morning, we all slept in a while (exhaustion from walking ALL DAY) and then had breakfast at the hotel again before going to the Georgia Aquarium. Dad's been a couple times but the rest of us have never been before and we THOROUGHLY enjoyed it! If you're in the area and can swing it, you should definitely visit this aquarium! The tunnel is AWESOME! Heather went through the tunnel a dozen time just to see all the fish in the huge tank. We got lots of great pictures that I'll have to share as soon as I get the camera charged back up...it died at the end of the visit. After we finished all the exhibits, we went through the gift shop. Dad got the girls matching t-shirts while Eddie and I bought GA and Atlanta shot glasses to add to our collection. After that, the girls were getting whiny and tired....and so were we ^_~ so we decided to load up and head home. All in all it was a wonderful family trip that I will cherish for years to come. ^_^
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Crocheted Woolies ^_^
Hi Everyone! Just thought I'd post a few pics of some woolies I've made in the past ^_^ These pics are hosted on photobucket, btw. All of the NB stuff is for sale btw! Just message me for a price and measurements.
Preemie/NB Skirty in PW ELegantly colorway
NB Skirty in PW (forgot the colorway name)
NB wide leg longies in PW Elegantly colorway
NB Capris with extra ruffly legs in PW Cristal colorway
Large Longies with standard ruffle in PW Elegantly
Large acrylic Skirty
Large Acrylic Soaker with ruffled legs
And just for the cute factor... ^_^
Heather
and
Mikayla
Preemie/NB Skirty in PW ELegantly colorway
NB Skirty in PW (forgot the colorway name)
NB wide leg longies in PW Elegantly colorway
NB Capris with extra ruffly legs in PW Cristal colorway
Large Longies with standard ruffle in PW Elegantly
Large acrylic Skirty
Large Acrylic Soaker with ruffled legs
And just for the cute factor... ^_^
Heatherand
Mikayla
Monday, October 4, 2010
A bit of everything...
So things have been pretty crazy around here lately and I see it's been a while since I've posted but in my defense there's been a lot going on! ^_^ So here's my update...
Sept. 25th - I picked up my consignment sale check and I have to admit I was rather disappointed...didn't sell a lot. My guess is that there's just too many people consigning at the MKA sale. They have an overload of clothing! (Hence the reason I spent so much...I kept finding more stuff to buy!) So I brought home my Winnie the Pooh Travel System (stroller, infant car seat, & base) and a basketful of clothing that didn't sell. *sigh* I'm going to do a yard sale at my dad's (along with a friend of mine) in a couple weeks to try to move some things out. Dad has several things he needs sold as well so I'm going to be busy getting everything together, cleaned, tagged, and ready to lay out that day. -_- Eh...I need to get started on all this soon...
Sept. 26th & Oct. 3rd - A friend of mine from church and I discovered a need for sewing lessons so we've started a sewing small group at church on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. We have a pretty good sized group so far. Debi's handling all the actual sewing teaching and I help with the sewing machines (I honestly didn't realize I knew so much about sewing machines until I started helping some of these girls and women that knew NOTHING about sewing!!!). So Sept. 26th, we went to Joann's and Debi walked us through picking out fabrics & notions and taught us how to locate and read pattern covers. We all picked out our fabric and notions that we needed for our first project (a simple but very cute apron). I picked a chocolate fabric with the names and containers of different spices arranged on the fabric for the main fabric with a contrasting chocolate fabric with green circles all over it. It looks really good together! On Oct. 3rd, we got together at the church and Debi walked us through layout of the pattern on the fabric, how to pin down and cut out and little details we needed to know to cut our patterns out of our fabric and then we pressed the fabric to prep it. Then we all got out our machines, turned them on and used scrap fabric to test our skills and tension and all that before starting on our projects. Most of us got the main parts of the apron seamed together and the pockets made and ready to be put on. Did you know that you're supposed to press your seams as you finish sewing them? ^_~
Oct. 2nd - I went to a Creative Memories Scrapbooking meeting with a friend of mine and we had a great time! This one was at the consultant's house and man is it a beautiful place! They have 27 acres with a lake and a beautiful house! She had a whole room that was just for her scrapbooking stuff and meetings!!! We spent the day scrapbooking and just having a great time! I had to make a Scholarship Drive poster board for the dance school Heather and I attend so I did that first. I got to use one of the cricut's that was brought along and that thing is awesome! Debi (the friend I went with) ended up buying it from the lady that brought it for a great price! After I finished it I got 4 pages done on Mikayla's birth scrapbook before Eddie arrived to pick me up at 5pm. After that, we rushed back to the dance school for the Open House. IHS Dance has recently acquired a new studio building in town and we've all been working hard to get moved in and start dancing there. We started having classes in the new building a few weeks ago and just had the opportunity to have an open house. There were several people there and we had a blast! Kelly (the director) had us all doing the chicken dance, a version of a line dance, and a bunch of other fun dances around the studio. Everyone was laughing and having fun. ^_^
Newest News: I am now a LICENSED seller of Wigglebunz Creations Soakers, shorties, longies, and Skirties! I can make them as cloth diaper covers with gussets and extra room in the bottom for those fluffy cloth diapers or I can make them with flat bottoms for babies and toddlers to wear as clothing over disposable or AIO/pocket cloth diapers as well! My plan is to start making a regular weekly blog post of my work in progress with pictures! I'm hoping to get enough business from this to help pay for Christmas presents for the girls. So if you want custom sized bottoms, please email me to get a slot! Oh and my new business name is Lizzie's Loops! (Mikayla's middle name is Elizabeth, and Lizzie is a nickname and I was thinking about different combinations for a business name and this came up ^_^) As I get more organized and everything, I'll post an official opening blog post and get some pictures up of items I've made in the past. I'm hoping to add crocheted shirts and other items as I find patterns that I like and can get permission to sell the items made from them. Hopefully, I'll get enough recognition that I can do a collaboration with some yarn dyers, too and get to work with some nicer yarns. ^_^ Hopefully this endeavor will succeed and I'll be able to work at home for a while...it'll be a nice distraction from cleaning and sitting around bored too ^_~
Sept. 25th - I picked up my consignment sale check and I have to admit I was rather disappointed...didn't sell a lot. My guess is that there's just too many people consigning at the MKA sale. They have an overload of clothing! (Hence the reason I spent so much...I kept finding more stuff to buy!) So I brought home my Winnie the Pooh Travel System (stroller, infant car seat, & base) and a basketful of clothing that didn't sell. *sigh* I'm going to do a yard sale at my dad's (along with a friend of mine) in a couple weeks to try to move some things out. Dad has several things he needs sold as well so I'm going to be busy getting everything together, cleaned, tagged, and ready to lay out that day. -_- Eh...I need to get started on all this soon...
Sept. 26th & Oct. 3rd - A friend of mine from church and I discovered a need for sewing lessons so we've started a sewing small group at church on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. We have a pretty good sized group so far. Debi's handling all the actual sewing teaching and I help with the sewing machines (I honestly didn't realize I knew so much about sewing machines until I started helping some of these girls and women that knew NOTHING about sewing!!!). So Sept. 26th, we went to Joann's and Debi walked us through picking out fabrics & notions and taught us how to locate and read pattern covers. We all picked out our fabric and notions that we needed for our first project (a simple but very cute apron). I picked a chocolate fabric with the names and containers of different spices arranged on the fabric for the main fabric with a contrasting chocolate fabric with green circles all over it. It looks really good together! On Oct. 3rd, we got together at the church and Debi walked us through layout of the pattern on the fabric, how to pin down and cut out and little details we needed to know to cut our patterns out of our fabric and then we pressed the fabric to prep it. Then we all got out our machines, turned them on and used scrap fabric to test our skills and tension and all that before starting on our projects. Most of us got the main parts of the apron seamed together and the pockets made and ready to be put on. Did you know that you're supposed to press your seams as you finish sewing them? ^_~
Oct. 2nd - I went to a Creative Memories Scrapbooking meeting with a friend of mine and we had a great time! This one was at the consultant's house and man is it a beautiful place! They have 27 acres with a lake and a beautiful house! She had a whole room that was just for her scrapbooking stuff and meetings!!! We spent the day scrapbooking and just having a great time! I had to make a Scholarship Drive poster board for the dance school Heather and I attend so I did that first. I got to use one of the cricut's that was brought along and that thing is awesome! Debi (the friend I went with) ended up buying it from the lady that brought it for a great price! After I finished it I got 4 pages done on Mikayla's birth scrapbook before Eddie arrived to pick me up at 5pm. After that, we rushed back to the dance school for the Open House. IHS Dance has recently acquired a new studio building in town and we've all been working hard to get moved in and start dancing there. We started having classes in the new building a few weeks ago and just had the opportunity to have an open house. There were several people there and we had a blast! Kelly (the director) had us all doing the chicken dance, a version of a line dance, and a bunch of other fun dances around the studio. Everyone was laughing and having fun. ^_^
Newest News: I am now a LICENSED seller of Wigglebunz Creations Soakers, shorties, longies, and Skirties! I can make them as cloth diaper covers with gussets and extra room in the bottom for those fluffy cloth diapers or I can make them with flat bottoms for babies and toddlers to wear as clothing over disposable or AIO/pocket cloth diapers as well! My plan is to start making a regular weekly blog post of my work in progress with pictures! I'm hoping to get enough business from this to help pay for Christmas presents for the girls. So if you want custom sized bottoms, please email me to get a slot! Oh and my new business name is Lizzie's Loops! (Mikayla's middle name is Elizabeth, and Lizzie is a nickname and I was thinking about different combinations for a business name and this came up ^_^) As I get more organized and everything, I'll post an official opening blog post and get some pictures up of items I've made in the past. I'm hoping to add crocheted shirts and other items as I find patterns that I like and can get permission to sell the items made from them. Hopefully, I'll get enough recognition that I can do a collaboration with some yarn dyers, too and get to work with some nicer yarns. ^_^ Hopefully this endeavor will succeed and I'll be able to work at home for a while...it'll be a nice distraction from cleaning and sitting around bored too ^_~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)