So today is New Year's Day. That means it is the day for resolutions to be made. I have to admit that I have made a few this year, but the one to get my greatest attention is definetly to make this the year I focus on this blog. Last year I had the best intentions, heck I have a phone full of pictures for post. Unfortunately, they just never seemed to make it from my head and my phone onto the page. This year that will change! Goodness me it isn't like I don't already have tons of ideas to enter so I am pledging to "get 'r done!"
Now, what am I sharing with you today? I want to share one of my other resolutions, and that is to work on de-cluttering my home. This month that includes a challenge from Clean Mama and the Country Chic Cottage here . I love the idea of a new (quick) challenge each day to jump start this process. Today, was "3 bags." I gave each member of my family a bag and said to go to your room and bring a bag back of something that you can get rid of. For my oldest son that was going through his old school books that were still cluttering his book case, he managed to get rid of a half milk carton of books and half a bag of trash. My youngest son went into his closet and pulled out a bag of clothes he no longer wears or doesn't fit anymore. This one has grown so much in the last year or so I would bet I could find some more but hey a mom has to be grateful for the bag being full!
And for the piece de resistance......my husband and I each with a bag in hand tackled our bedroom bookshelves! I don't know about the rest of you but for us open shelving has an ugly habit of becoming a catch all. Especially, for my dear husband, but I won't tell him hehehe!
I must admit though I had a whole lot of books up there for homeschooling that our boys had outgrown a long long time ago. Of course, there was all the wonderful novels that I thought some day they would read and enjoy soooo much! Well that never happened and I'm not holding onto them any longer. I wish I could say that my boys are avid readers, but that would be a lie. They are both very good readers and if they really get into a book they will read it happily, but with our busy school schedule I know that I won't have a chance to push extra books, so away they go.
Yes, it made me a little sad because I love books, but now seeing all that empty space on my shelves makes me very very happy! And the best part is we ended up with two bags of books and a bag of things that we trashed. Hooray for us!
In the end we ended up with four and a half bags to go and half a milk carton. It really didn't take the boys even a whole 30 minutes the challenge set out. Hubby and I probably were pushing 45 in the end, but who cares it is done and we didn't mind the little extra time to get it completed.
Here is the fruit of our labors:
The clothes will get donated, the trash will go out to the can in the morning and the books will go into the mountain I have in my old classroom for the book sale I still have to find this spring. Ugh, another resolution :)!
So if you want to join us in this process just click on over to join the challenge! I would love it if you comment and let them know that I sent you!
Now, y'all know that I like to keep it real. And, I have a really small master closet. No I am not being modest, no you are not going to scroll down and think, "My goodness it is bigger than my children's room!" Nope, it is small. I jokingly tell people that some people talk about their country home and the doggone thing ends up being an estate. I just say I have a home in the country, because that is what it is. A nice little house in the country. The main problem in my house is storage. The house was designed for up north where it should have a lovely basement. But this is Gulf Coast Texas, a basement would be a bog of red clay and water. It just doesn't happen here. So the storage is all very tight!
I have had several configurations to my closet and they have all been horrible. To be honest, though, a pretty new closet from a store is just out of my budget. So, I am trying to make as small an investment as possible. Here, is what we have been living with for several years, absolutely horrible. I think at some point I just got so frustrated that I just gave up and lived with whatever!
Now, the confession part hehehehe! This has been severely purged when I took this picture. I have already gotten rid of a bunch of clothes and several totes that were just stacked up at the end. Yes, that is new light fixture for my bedroom that I put together and hasn't been put up yet.
So over the next couple of weeks (okay, maybe months) I want to show you the transformation and the projects that helped to make the improvement. I wish that the end product was going to be three feet wider and a foot or two longer. Unfortunately, it won't but I think I have some ideas that will definitely work better and ascetically be more appealing. Of course, what wouldn't be :) !
Before you start this post I must say in my own defense I wrote this post a couple of weeks back but could not for the life of me get the pictures to load. Finally, today I tried another server and boom it worked! So, I guess my kids have been right for some time and I will be forced to part ways with Internet Explorer :( So with no further adieu, I'm Back!
Okay, so I must admit that my little holiday break has turned into a whole stinking winter hiatus! Well, maybe not the whole winter but I have been away much longer than I intended.
I have to say though this break has actually been very, very busy in the real world. We have been knocking out little and not so little projects all over the house.
Do you ever have those little projects that just build up all over the place? I mean I have supplies for this project and that stuck in every nook and cranny!
Well, my oldest is the "neat" one in our house! And though, he loves to point out my own messiness, he does help to keep me from getting totally out of control! LOL! A few weeks back before his new semester started he and I got on a spring cleaning kick. In one week we cleaned out FIVE closets and my craft room/storage building. Okay, to be honest my kids call it my "crap building" instead of my craft building. Aren't they so cute ;)! And maybe sometimes (okay most of the time) it is true. You can come to my house for any function and find it looking pretty presentable but DON'T and I can't stress that enough look into my building. All those supplies for all those projects will definitely be shoved into a bag or box and dropped in the building!
So we cleaned out the building and guess what I found a whole lot more little projects than even I realized I had. I mean that is money sitting around being wasted in my book. And I can't stand to waste money. So my spring cleaning turned into project time!
Now, you all know that I am very new to the blogging world. So, some of the projects got really good pictures and some got the "Oh no! I forgot to take pictures" pictures! So here is a quick overview of a few of the small and not so small projects we have been working on! Stay tune and tutorials and overviews will be coming shortly!
Well today my oldest son had his wisdom teeth removed. So far all has gone well and he is happily snoozing in a narcotic fog LOL! But, I did want to share a wonderful pin that helped get us through today! http://www.pinterest.com/pin/46865652346358658/
These little goodies really work. I was able to gently shape them to his face and being a little mushy allowed them to not poke or have hard spots like traditional ice packs.
I actually made 4 of them so that I could always have 2 hardening up in the freezer. The only thing I would probably change would be to double bag them as one leaked some once it started to defrost. Granted it was an easy fix just re-zip the bag, but who wants to smell like rubbing alcohol.
So that is all for today, as I am heading back to my nursing duties! Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend!
I just wanted to share a moment from our lives last weekend. The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall came here to Magnolia and on Veteran's Day weekend.
I've never had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. but have always wanted to visit all the incredible monuments. This was a fabulous opportunity to feel a little connected to those amazing places.
The Wall itself was quite something to see. But the silence that seems to fall around it brings
home all those young lives that were silenced in that far away place. As a mom of two boys my heart ached as I looked at those names. Though, for all its sadness there is something really wonderful about that monument. I hope that if it ever comes near your home that you and your family can take the time to visit. And thank you again to all those that have and do continue to serve this country!
