Project Time

I cannot believe that we are already ten days into the new year. Time sure does seem to fly around here.

The kids started back to school on Monday. Pumpkin's class is starting to learn cursive handwriting. Princess's class is doing more challenging read activities. Both of their report cards came home yesterday. We need to work on handwriting with both children. Princess needs to work on count to 100 by 5s and Pumpkin needs to work on his spelling skills.

I have been doing good on some of my January goals and falling a bit behind on other. Ha ha! Good thing goals can be changed and modified as needed.

We had a glitch with our kitchen plumbing starting on New Year's Day. I did take a laundry basket full of dishes to grandma's house last weekend. We hand washed the dirty dishes and had a nice conversation. Hubby attempted to clean out the p trap last weekend to no avail, so we called a plumber. The plumber replaced some pipes and attempted to clean out the line to no avail, so we called the sewer service. The sewer service got the issue resolved on Wednesday. Thank goodness! It is sort of hard to cook when you cannot use your sink. It is also kind of hard to work on eating more healthy if you have to grab a few meals out.  But, I have managed to lose two and a half pounds. 

My greatest accomplishment so far has been the southwest quadrant of the great room. I used Christmas money to purchase a small cube unit to help organize the room better. It is so cute!  Below are before and after pictures. My next project is the northwest quadrant, it will probably be more time consuming since Hubby has to help me with some parts of it. That is the same area that I would like to set up the reading nook in.

We did test out the proposed reading nook area today. We have a green swivel rocking chair that I had moved from the southwest quadrant. Right now it is temporarily in front of the mantel.  Both kids brought home flyers from school this week that they were excited about. It is a reading challenge of 360 minutes by February 23 to earn tickets to a fun amusement park. I figure that if we read 30 minutes every Saturday and Sunday, we will met the challenge in time. Princess and I worked together and read Blue Hat, Green Hat and Put me in the Zoo for 30 minutes. Pumpkin read me the first 4 chapters of Roscoe Riley Rules #1: Never Glue Your Friends to Chairs for 30 minutes.

Well off to conquer the northwest quadrant! What are your plans this weekend?

A Tale of Two Tables

I was chatting with grandma in July about one aspect of our homework dilemma: How to stay near Pumpkin while he does his homework and cook dinner at the same time. The problem was that the table in the kitchen had a drop down side that was worse for the wear and made it impossible to sit in a normal fashion.  Since our eating table is located in the Sunroom (where we have a wonderful view of nature and the pond), it became a catch-all table with piles of stuff. 

Last school year homework was done at a long sofa table in the Great Room. Unfortunately that table is not close enough to the sink, stove, and refrigerator so dinner often suffered. Hubby became very proficient in the art of making cheese toasties. It was his avenue to escape homework.  Ha ha ha ha!

Our kitchen table was given to my parents as a gift when I was a small child. After my mom and stepdad #1 divorced, it sat in mom's garage for a few years.  The heat, humidity, and cold did not treat it kindly. The painted legs were cracked and chipped. The top of the table and sides also suffered from the wood splitting apart. A gentleman from church fixed it up enough to be usable, but honestly it needs a complete overhaul.

Grandma had a wonderful idea, she offered to trade tables with us to help with our homework dilemma. The new kitchen table was my great-great grandma's kitchen table. It is just a touch larger than the other table without any drop down sides.  The finish still looks nice after years of use.

About a week before school started, hubby and a friend did the Great Table Switch.  The "new" table is working out well. Pumpkin is enjoying doing his homework in the kitchen. The table is no longer a catch-all area, although it is homework and sack lunch central. And best of all, I can cook supper while monitoring and encouraging the homework situation. Now if we could only speed the homework process up (wink, wink).

Topsy Turvy

It has been a rough fall.  In more ways than one.

The house is in need of deep cleaning and organization.  I am actually embarrassed to have company stop by.  I just do not know where to start.  Stuff just piles up, then it has babies and more babies until it is an uncontrollable mess.  I still have some areas that I have yet to touch.  I am not sure if it is that I am afraid to find something that I do not want to deal with (some stuff has been sitting around since before mom died, waiting for me to come back to it) or if I wonder what really is the point since it will be a mess once again in such a short time.  I was utilizing the e-book "31 Days To Clean" by Sarah Mae, but I did not make it quite past the first week.  I did a big flop trying to keep up with the kitchen cleaning schedule, being a working mom, and managing the kiddos in the evenings.  I guess I need to try it again, but at a slower pace.  I did come up with the following cleaning mission statement that I have on the wall in the bedroom.

To me they are pretty lofty goals, which honestly would be easier to achieve if I did not work outside the home.  So, I will slow plug away at achieving what right now seems the impossible.  I did stumble across the website Women Living Well this evening and they will be having a five week challenge:  Making Your Home a Haven.  I am going to try the challenge and see if it helps to inspire me to be more diligent about the cleaning and organization of my home.

Pumpkin is having a lot of discipline problems at school this year.  First grade is really rough.  I had the honor of meeting with his teacher and the principal last night pertaining to his behavior at school.  He has yet to reach the same maturity level as his peers and his social skills are lacking at times which is leading to some serious problems.  He also has it stuck in his head that he is a bad boy, so he thinks he needs to act like a bad boy and that nothing that he does is right.  I have a whole list of things that were suggested to work on, but no ideas on how to actually accomplish the tasks at hand.  I walked away more frustrated and feeling more like a failure as a parent than before I attended the meeting.  

It was suggested to give him a few more weeks until the mid-term arrives, then the school will probably recommend that we visit the pediatrician about his behavior.  We took him to the pediatrician last fall and his behavior problems then were a combination of an ear infection and lack of maturity that equaled his peers.  Our pediatrician said he was a typical boy and he would mature in his own time.  

I just do not know what to think or what to do.  We have been praying every night with him about school and I have been praying with him in the mornings too.  Yesterday morning Pumpkin told me that my prayers were not working.  I replied "You can pray that your room will be clean, but if you do not try it will not get clean.  It is the same with school,  you can pray to have a good day and make good choices, but you have to try if you want things to get better."  He is a good, smart, loving kid and it is so hard to see him struggling with school this year.

Well it sure is late and I have to be at work early, so I best be shutting everything down for the evening.

Whew . . . What A Week!

Definitely an interesting week. . . . .

We woke up Monday morning to about 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of snow.  Thankfully my boss called and told me to NOT come to work.  Hubby on the other hand was not so fortunate and had to work.  The kids and I had a good snow day.  I shoveled and shoveled and did not quite get any progress made until hubby got home from work and finished up.  So since my car could not go any where we built a snowman and took the sleds down the hill in the yard.
 

View from the back of the house

View from the front of the house down our driveway

 View of the front of the house

 Kids with the snowman

The heron . . . . 

On Tuesday I caught a few good pictures of these beauties through the window at work.  It was so funny watching the toms walk through the snow.  They would take a step, then flump down they sank into the snow and pluff went their feathers all fanned out.  Then they would repeat the process.  Oh, how I laughed at the sight!

Reminds me of a mirror image

 Two toms hanging out

 

Today the kids and I were home for the holiday.  A friend came over and installed a new garage door for us.  Yay!  The old solid wood one was on it last leg, literally.  It started to fall apart as it was taken down.  Princess and I went to the grocery store this afternoon.  When we returned home hubby and Pumpkin had found a painted turtle down at the pond.  Spring has to be right around the corner!  Then we came inside and had a "tea party" with the tea set Aunt L gave her on Wednesday.  We served pink lemonade and letter crackers.  
 

Before view of the garage door (earlier in the week)

See the rotting panels at the bottom of the picture

The beautiful new door

 Painted turtle . . . spring is in the air

We wish all our family and friends a happy and joyous Easter!!!!!   

Where To Start?

I think I am in a funk.  Motivation to accomplish things while at home has completed disappeared.  There are so many things on my to-do list at home that I might just be buried under the ship, instead of going down with the ship.

I need to get a move on with my list because . . . . . In two weeks we have the kids joint birthday party.  And then there is a family reunion on my husband's side coming up in May, we were informed (not asked) by the hosting family member (who just happens to have the most immaculate house I have ever seen), that we would be showing our house off to out of town relatives sometime during the three day event.  Yikes!!!!!  No pressure of course, my husband's grandparents only built the house (in the late 30's early 40's) and most of those out of town family members have not been inside for over ten years.

Anyway here is my home to-do list that I need to chip away at.  Some are routine tasks and others are not:

CLEANING!!!!
- Sweeping, Vacuuming, Mopping: so very far behind on this.
- Dusting: Oh, can't tell you the last time I did that.
- The stove, oven, and refrigerator could really use some TLC.
- I don't know why, but I am terrible at remembering to clean the bathroom.  Maybe because half the time I am not wearing my glasses and I just cannot see how dirty it really is.
- Cleaning windows:  hahahaha, we still have one window that had cat nose smudges from our cat and she disappeared October 2008.
- Are we suppose to wipe walls down?  We have lived here since December 2004 and I have yet to do that.
- How often are we suppose to wash curtains?  
- Oh, just remembered I am behind on laundry again.  Sigh!  The chore that just keeps on giving. ;-)

ORGANIZING:
- Clutter: It is everywhere and grows and multiples and it has babies that grow and multiple.  I really am not a pack rat!  It just seems that certain areas are safer to piles things away from the children.  Some of the piles are from before mom and grandpa died (2 1/2 years ago) and I am a bit apprehensive about what I might find in those piles.
- The kids rooms:  Toys everywhere!  And it is like pulling teeth to get them to give something up.  Of course we also have books everywhere.  I do need to start going through and weeding some of those out too. 
- The basement:  It really needs to be organized, it is a disaster area.  I'm not even going to describe that chaos.
- I so wish this house had more closets and cabinets.  I need to try to reorganize the kitchen.  I have kitchen stuff everywhere- the basement, the sun room, the great room and of course the kitchen.  If only the cabinets in the kitchen went all of the way to the ceiling.  Oh the extra space that is not utilized.

UPDATING AND / OR REPAIRING:
- We need to do some patching of a cracking area in the hallway ceiling outside the bathroom.
- Painting of most of the rooms (definitely a long term project).
- We need to fix some loose trim in the sun room.
- We definitely need a new garage door sometime this year.
- I would love to get new floor rugs for under the tables in the sun room and great room that are not shredding apart.
- A window in the sun room needs the outdoor trim work replaced.  Eek!  That will be an expensive one.
- I would love to have a new refrigerator, but that may have to wait a few years.  I think the duct taped on the door shelf will hold out a bit longer. 
- Oh to replace the lighting fixtures in the great room, that would be a blessing.  If we could get lighted ceiling fans it would really help with the air circulation in the core of the house.

I have came up with a outline game plan, but the trouble is finding the time and sticking to it.
January- Kitchen
February- Great Room
March- Sun Room
April- Bedrooms
May- Basement

Well wish me luck!!!!! Oh and if you see the cleaning fairy send her my way.  Thanks!

Snow White

Sometimes life feels like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  There are those good days in life.  There are days filled with work.  There are days when you are running for all its worth.  There are days that you feel like one of the dwarfs.  And then, there are days that witch and the poison apple appears.

I thought that the poisoned apple would make an appearance yesterday.  Yesterday the memorial bench for my mom and grandpa was installed at a local nature center.  It was nice to see it accomplished, but at the same time it was a sad reminder that they are gone. Next week will be the two year anniversary of grandpa's death and mom's two year anniversary will be the next month.  

To add to the day, I went with my dad to his doctor appointment.  We both had anxiety going into it.  What would the doctor say?  Would the cancer be gone?  If the cancer is not gone, what would happen next?  Thankfully the doctor said that the cancer was in remission. Yay!  Thank you God and thank you to everyone for the prayers!  

But, I have been thinking over the past week and one of my biggest worries is, if dad ever did pass would I be the one to find him?  I honestly don't know if I can do that again.  The day that mom passed, I was the one to discover that she was gone.  Grandma was in the other room on a phone call and I desperately tried to find a pulse, a breath, anything before I told grandma what I thought to be true.  Then I had to make the call to the hospice nurse to come to the house to confirm that mom had passed.  It was absolutely terrible.  I know that mom is in a better place and I know that she no longer hurts from the cancer, but sometimes you feel frozen in time and cannot as hard as you try get a horrible image out of your head.  I'm hoping with time that memories of that day fade, I just am not sure that I can relive them again anytime soon.

Thankfully my thoughts have not been all dank and dreary this week.  We took the kids to the library and finished the summer reading program.  The kids really enjoyed themselves with the program this year.  They both received a book for completing the program.  Pumpkin got "Mac And Cheese" by Sarah Weeks.  Princess got "I Love New My Toy!" (an Elephant Gerald and Piggie book) by Mo Willems.  I picked up a few books too, so hopefully one of these days maybe I'll post about another book that I have read.

"Whistle While You Work" infected me yesterday afternoon.  I purchased and replaced the dryer ventilation tubing.  I also purchased some pipe and duct work insulation for hubby to do some work in the crawl spaces.  I fixed a stuck kitchen drawer (the back was separating from the sides).  I fixed a squeak back door, gotta love WD40.  I also fixed supper. ;-) 

Pumpkin and Princess were a riot this morning.  They were fighting over which one of them is Mommy's friend.  So they argued back and forth, it was quite cute.  Then Princess called herself a pretty princess.  Pumpkin told her that she could not be a princess, because she is not pretty.  Then he called himself a pretty superhero, because superheroes are good and he wanted to be good.  Hahahahahaha  I know what he said was not nice and thankfully my pretty little Princess didn't really pay any attention to him anyway, but it sure is funny to hear how kids process the world around them.

Busy Day

Today has been busy!  Daddy went out and got donuts for breakfast.  Yummy!  Pumpkin, Princess, and I went to church.  While daddy headed out to the farm to help his dad check on some sick cattle.  

Pastor had a great sermon today.  He is not one of those ministers that just stands behind the pulpit reading his notes.  He steps down into the aisle and preaches with variation of volume and uses his hands and facial expressions to bring life to his sermons as he moves about the church.  What an amazing man!  After church we go to Sunday school.  The kids to their class and me to the younger adult class.  It is a wonderful time to spend together and explore scripture as it applies to our daily lives.  I like to sit back and listen more than use my voice, but everyone is different.

We had an interesting lunch.  Princess ate half of a banana, then decided she was tired so off to bed she went.  Pumpkin had half a cheese toastie with a slice of American cheese and a bowl of cheese crackers.  Daddy had a cheese toastie with two slices of provolone cheese and vegetable barley soup. And I had a cheese toastie with a slice of provolone and a slice of American cheese with tomato soup.  Cheese toasties are so good on a cold winter's day.

After Pumpkin headed to his room for quiet time.  I went down to the basement and got the Christmas decorations finally put away.  I had whisked them downstairs on New Year's Day, but wanted to wait until we found most of the Christmas stuff before I took the time to put it away properly.  I got the twin bed in the great room made and placed a new light weight comforter on it that I found on clearance yesterday.  It is is beautiful shade of light green and Princess will be able to use it later time.  Right now the northern half of the great room is the cleanest place in the house.  I'm sure my sister will be quite surprised.  

I still need to work on cleaning the southern half of the great room and clean the sun room today.  Plus we have a mound of laundry waiting for its turn in the washer.  I guess Rome wasn't built in a day and our house will not be clean in a day either.

My messenger bag sewing project maybe delayed again.  I had to move the sewing machine table to make room for the twin bed.  The new location does not allow the top to open.  So my options are I will either need to move the sewing machine to sew, borrow my grandma's sewing machine that is not attached to a table, or delay the project.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to supper tonight.  I am making creamy lemon chicken pasta, fresh asparagus and have some crusty bread.  We also have some leftover cupcakes and pudding in the refrigerator for dessert.  Oh heaven!!!!!!

Going Under

I'm sinking deep into my overwhelming to do list.  This coming week is going to be pretty busy and my house is in dire need of cleaning, but all I can think about is snuggling up in my bed for a nice winter nap.  

Today's To Do List  (warning scary pictures may be seen below!)

~ grocery shopping (check)

~ clean sunroom (check)

~ put kids down for naps /quiet time (check)

~ start on the washing backlog- eight loads to do (check)

~ put groceries away (ummmmm . . . . not quite there yet)

~ clean great room (the table is clean, at least that is a start!)

~ fold six loads of clean laundry (I have one load done, does that count?)

~ make homemade beef stroganoff for supper  (sirloin steak is thawed)

~ make chocolate chip banana bread

~ wrap the kids birthday presents  (have to do while they are down for the count)

~ take Princess to get Pumpkin a birthday present

Tomorrow's To Do List

~ go to church and Sunday school

~ go to basket weaving class (Berry basket, Yay!!!!!)

~ clean the kitchen

~ continue washing and folding laundry

~ clean bathroom

~ work on everything I did not have time to do on Saturday

Upcoming Chaos List

~ Monday: Pumpkin's surgery

~ Tuesday: Family dinner night

~ Wednesday: CLEANING!!!!!!!

~ Thursday: Princess's birthday

~ Friday: CLEANING!!!!!!!

~ Saturday: Kids birthday party

~ Sunday: Pumpkin's birthday & church

I'm willing to feed anyone that would like to help me with my cleaning & decluttering projects (wink, wink).

Bath Time!

Well, the painting is done.  And the sealing is done.  The plastic shower curtains have been hung.  The shower supplies have been stocked.  The bathroom is officially open for business.

The kids had their first official bath in the tub tonight.  They played and splashed around for almost an hour before they got cut off for bedtime.  Night number one of tub bathing was a huge success.

I just have a few minor details to finish.  I still have to sew the shower curtain.  Take a look at this gorgeous fabric.

Sometime in the next few months, I would like to replace the almond colored tension rod which protects the window.  I'm thinking maybe white or brushed nickel.  I would also like to replace the curtain hooks over the window.  The current ones have definitely seen better days and the metal hooks are a bit rough and corroded.  

Oh . . . last but not least, this beautiful picture (taken by me) is going to be hung on the wall as an 8 x 10.  Maybe I'll change it out seasonally. 

Light at the End of the Tunnel

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we are getting closer to finishing the bathroom remodel.  Our friend finished up his part on Thursday evening.  We definitely could not of done it without him!  We can now use the sink and toilet but are holding off on the shower/ tub until after the painting is done.  It will be less painful to wait, as to dealing with ripping a toddler and preschooler away from their new tub so soon. 

Anyway, a short walking tour of the "new" bathroom.  The floor is now a mossy brown tile instead of white stained vinyl flooring.  The sink faucet has been replaced with a taller model and we now have a drain stopper that works.  Our friend discovered why our sink was extremely slow to drain.  He found a razor cover and hairspray cap blocking the pipes.  For the record- I do not use hairspray, so it must of been there a while.  The new toilet has a taller base, uses less water, and the lid is a no slam lid. It is so much fun to watch.  Just close it a bit and watch it slowly close the rest of the way.  Of course the best feature is actually having a bathtub, no more walking in shower with doors that fall off the track.  A beautiful white tub of perfection!!!!  A double shower rod was installed.  The wood around the window has been replaced with plastic that looks like wood.  A privacy film has been added to the window.  And last but not least we have a bathroom light/ fan again.  I'm in heaven!

So what is left to do?  Just the painting!  My sister will paint the walls and ceiling for us, but first we have to finishing preparing the walls for the paint.  Easier said than done with two children running around.  I am going to make an outer fabric shower curtain and may be upgrade the garage can.

Looking Good

Today is day number ten in the bathroom remodel project.  
The last six days have just flown by.  

My husband and I have been working on removing the paper backing and wallpaper glue from the walls.  I had hoped that it would be done by now, but I my wrist has been swelling.  So needless to say it has been a really slow process, which is at a stand-still for the next 72 hours.

Our work friend has steamed ahead and has done a wonderful job so far.  The plumbing for the tub and shower are completed, the tub surround is in place, and the shower fixtures are in place.  The shower head is even higher than the last one, so it should be above my head instead of coming to my shoulders.  Yay!!!!!!  The ceiling light/ fan has been installed- so beautiful!  The tile floor was just installed this afternoon- hence the 72 hour ban from the bathroom.  The floor looks absolutely gorgeous!!!!   

This coming week, the toilet, sink/ cabinet, and trim will be installed. I'm very excited to see the a majority of project completed this coming Friday.   The only portion that maybe not be completed by Friday is the painting.  But that will depend on when the walls are ready to paint and my sister's schedule.

Underway

Our bathroom project is underway.  Today was day number four.  

First off, I'm thankful that we have a basement half bath with a small shower stall.  Secondly, I'm thankful that my grandma let the kids and I stay at her house for a few days during the demo stage.  Thirdly, we are very thankful that a work friend is able to help us out with this project.   We definitely could not do it without him.

Here are some pictures of our bathroom before the project began.

So what has changed?  The big thing is we are going to have a BATH TUB!  That's right a real bath tub in our house.  Yay!  We are keeping the window, laundry shute, wall tile, vanity, sink and cabinet.  The toilet is moving to the basement to replace the toilet with a cracked tank.  Due to water issues with the toilet, the five layers of floor were removed to reveal the sub-floor.  Which thankfully had not rotted like the layer of hardwood floor that was on top of it.   The wallpaper has been stripped off.  The wall & ceiling will be replaced with a fresh layer of paint (thank you to my awesome little sister).  We are also going to have an bathroom exhaust fan again, which will replace the 13" gaping hole left by the other one that quit working about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago.  Oh, last but not least, a privacy film will be added to the top of the window in the bathroom.

It is still in the rough stages right now, but we are getting excited.  Plywood has been added on top of the sub-floor for strength, the tub is in place and the plumbing for the tub-shower has been redone.  The wall has been prepared for the surround, which should go up tomorrow.

More to come as time allows.