4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Day 2, Attempt 2, Part 2

Yesterday went well for the most part. I was able to start the first steps to cleaning out the fridge, so I'm pretty happy about that. Here's the results of the day.

Day 2 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

Once again, this didn't happen. I'm still working through a bunch of laundry as I can through the day!

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

 This got done, but was more or less exactly like yesterday. Here's the pic 

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

I got through the morning routine by about 1:30 or so and then tackled the *Sort Papers* task. I wanted to make sure if there were any important papers from the table I cleaned, they were handled quickly. After that I went on to the *Clean Fridge* task.

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your kitchen: wash the dishes/load the dishwasher, clear off the countertops, and, if you have time, wipe down the countertops and the outside of the cupboards with wet rag or cleaning cloth.

This was already done from the night before, so with a little upkeep throughout the day, I didn't have to do this task over again.

::Clean out your refrigerator. There’s a step-by-step guide for cleaning out your refrigerator here.

Here's the run down of the first part of this task.

First, I had to make sure this little guy was happy. Check!

 Next, I took everything out and got rid of any leftovers that hadn't been made within the last couple days. I did find a few science experiments growing, but nothing too scary.

This is the worst part of the fridge. Not too bad!

Here's the fridge empty! No major sticky spots in sight!

The shelves were done not too long ago, but they will be done again this time. I just didn't get them emptied and sorted through yet.

 That's as far as I got. No wiping down of anything, but at least I know there are no more gross things hiding in the back. Duncan decided he was done being in his bouncy.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Nights are starting to get difficult for some reason. Duncan has decided all he wants to do from about dinner time until 11pm or so is fuss and feed. I can't figure out why he's so irritable. I'm really praying this is not the first signs of colic. Hopefully this is just a phase he's going through. I hope it eases up soon. I'll be cleaning the fridge tomorrow, sanitizing and what not. 

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Day 2, Attempt 2, Part 1

This day did not start out how I was hoping :( While on the way to drop Isabel off at preschool, our car started making a very odd sound. The engine would rev up and then drop down to it's regular RPM's. It did this continuously all the way to preschool, and since we're supposed to go out of town this weekend, I thought it best to take it in to the shop. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything wrong with it, which I guess is better than finding something wrong. Well, that took me all morning to do, but we got home and I started tackling my list for the day. Here's the results of Day 2, Attempt 2

Day 2 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.

This is getting difficult for me for some reason. I'm hoping to change my wardrobe out this weekend. Hopefully I'll get to that after we get back home from our trip. It's just a daytrip so we will be back the same day. I'm tired of looking at winter/maternity clothes and am ready to have my spring/NON-maternity clothes back in the closet!

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

My morning routine was complete by 1:30.  Not as good as yesterday, but considering how our morning started, I'm not complaining!

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your kitchen: wash the dishes/load the dishwasher, clear off the countertops, and, if you have time, wipe down the countertops and the outside of the cupboards with wet rag or cleaning cloth.

First, I tackled the coffee table and got the last few things off.

It felt so great to be able to cross that off the list!

Next was the kitchen cleanup. Here's the before pictures:

Blech. I can't believe I'm showing you these! After pictures, PLEASE!

That last picture turned into this:

YAY!!!!  I'm glad I got at least part of the assignment done!

::Clean out your refrigerator. There’s a step-by-step guide for cleaning out your refrigerator here.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

I've decided I'm not going to be too legalistic about things, and try to stick spot on to the schedule. If I don't get to something one day, there's always tomorrow. As is such with this assignment. I'll be finishing up the clean out the fridge part tomorrow (April 19th.) I plan to just keep plugging away at these things and not get too caught up in what day they get done. How are things going at your house? Leave me a comment and let me know!

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment 2 Results

This blog is all about keepin' it real...and that means all the ups and downs of life. Yesterday was only a minor success, so since that's all I have to report, here are the details.

Day 2 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

To be truthfully honest, I didn't get out of my pajamas yesterday. Usually this means I won't have motivation to do anything else other than lying around the house (relativity speaking, of course) and taking things slow. However, that wasn't the case today. Even though I didn't get what I was assigned accomplished, believe me, with a nursing baby and 2 other rugrats, I had a very productive day.

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.

I did complete this task! 

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

I did get through my morning routine at a much earlier time than 6 pm. I think I was done with it by 12:30 or so! Huzzah! At this point I tackled the *Clean off the coffee table* assignment, and got most of it done. Unfortunately, there it stopped. This is pretty good for me though, considering I'm nursing Duncan every 2-3 hours and each feeding takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes, not counting all the other baby care throughout the day. On top of that, I was keeping up with multiple loads of laundry (and it was a diaper day!), not to mention meal prep and clean up! This is why I don't feel too bad about not tackling the other jobs of the day

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your kitchen: wash the dishes/load the dishwasher, clear off the countertops, and, if you have time, wipe down the countertops and the outside of the cupboards with wet rag or cleaning cloth.
::Clean out your refrigerator. There’s a step-by-step guide for cleaning out your refrigerator here.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

I am going to attempt this day again and change my schedule around a little bit in order to (hopefully!) accomplish at least one of the assigned tasks on the list. We'll see how this goes the second time around!

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment 1 Results

So I made it through this day finally! Here's my results from Assignment 1 of the challenge.

Day 1 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

I had already gotten dressed by the time I read this as Monday-Wednesday-Friday are busy mornings trying to get out the door for preschool! I didn't get a picture of my outfit, but I'll try to tomorrow!

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of 5-10 goals for this week.

Here's my weekly goals for this week!

 

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

In all honesty, I didn't complete my MORNING routine until after 6 pm this evening. My morning routine consists of everything on this list written in blue including Dishes/Laundry. If I can get at least a load of laundry and dishes done, it keeps our house running much more smoothly. At least we'll always have clean clothes and dishes to use. In my favor, I had been trying to keep up with the laundry lately, but could never get it folded and put away in the same day. So I took all the laundry that needed folded and tackled as much as I could before something else called my attention away. I think the laundry itself took about 3-4 different sessions to fold. There were TONS of clothes!

 

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up the main living areas of your home.

Here's a couple of  before pictures of the living room :

And here's a couple of the living room after I picked up:

Not a major difference with the clutter and what not on the table, but I was able to vacuum, so at least I know the floor is somewhat clean!

::Clean out your purse and/or diaper bag.

Not much to do here since I had cleaned it out a couple weeks ago, just some small pieces of trash to throw out!

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

 Here's what I'm getting rid of:

I didn't get through as much of my daily list as I'd like to, but baby steps in the right direction is still making progress! I'm hoping this gets easier as the days go on!

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home Challenge

So after our sweet baby boy joined our family, all I've been wanting to do lately is be with him and  cuddle him all day long!

Big Sister and Brother agree!

This means I've (GLADLY!) taken time away from my housekeeping to do so! But I've been thinking it's time to get this house back into shape and do a little spring cleaning. All the clutter is starting to get to me and I don't need to be stressed out when I have these 3 little sweet kiddos to enjoy!

So I was delighted to see one of my favorite bloggers, Crystal Paine at Money Saving Mom, was going to be doing a spring cleaning series, 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home! She started at the beginning of the month, so I'm a couple weeks late getting started, but I figure better late than never! So over the next 4 weeks I'll be following along with the challenge, and hopefully blogging about my results. I'm so ready to have a house that feels calm and clean again! I'd love to have you join me so feel free to follow along! I'll update tomorrow evening on how things went with my first day!

A New Chapter

It's been almost 2 months now, and we're finally getting into a groove with our newest little one!

Duncan Jeremiah was born Feb. 22, was 7 lbs. 9.9 oz and was 19 inches long. He is such a sweet little boy and we are having such a good time getting to know him and watching his personality unfold.

Here's a few highlights of the day!

My "before" shot

Dyl headed to the OR

On the operating table...

A new family member!

sweet baby boy

All clean after first bath

Cocooned mama

Proud daddy!

Isa's first glimpse of her new brother!

Isa and Grandma

Feeling much better, but still a bit dazed

Shawn woke up in time to play Angry Birds...

and then was game for meeting Duncan

Aunt Yvonne came by to meet her newest nephew!

Here's the back story of me cocooned in blankets. My anesthesiologist had given me a bit too strong a dose of whatever drug he used so I asked for a dose of Benedryl which combats some of the side effects of the epidural. I forgot to tell him that I am fairly extremely sensitive to Benedryl, so I feel like I've been run over by a semi. Compound the strong epidural and Benedryl sensitivity with a large blood loss and my blood pressure dropped for a while. The nurses couldn't get it back up for a while so I was given a shot of adrenaline. I felt like a ton of bricks hit me! I was sleepy and freezing and couldn't really comprehend much at the time. I do have a few memories, but most of those first few hours after surgery are very vague. Even with that hiccup, the day went very well and I am so glad he is here, safe and sound.

He's now almost 2 months old and we thank God every day for this little one and are just enjoying spending time with him.  Praise the Lord for this blessing from above!

5 Days and Counting!

I'm very excited to get to Feb. 22nd. We go into the hospital by 5:30 am to be prepped for surgery by 7:30. Baby boy should be born within the hour, and I should be back in my room by 9 am. We're trying to prepare for those next few days in the hospital, trying to get schedules for the kids squared away and what not. We've got some awesome friends who are willing to watch our two older kiddos, and we really don't know what we'd do without them. Such blessings!
Other than that, I've been "nesting" as much as I possibly can these past few weeks. Honestly, it doesn't look like it much in the house since we've got to kiddos who like to undo all the progress I seem to make. My lack of energy in these last few days doesn't help either. I'm trying not to get overwhelmed with the amount of progress, or lack there of, on the projects I wanted to get to before baby came. Seriously, though, is it sad I haven't taken down the Christmas lights from around the windows?? I can't get to the boxes they go in so up they've stayed for the past two months.
We've gotten the computer room mostly ready to make the transition down to our den. We're waiting to see if we'll have easy access to internet down there, as Dylan may have to run wires, or call our provider to run them for us. Not too much is left in there once we cleaned it up a couple weeks ago. I think I took out 2 large bags of trash, filled our recycle bin to the brim and made a donation pile of stuff I knew we probably wouldn't use again. It's so nice to be able to walk in there!
Once we've moved the computer out, we'll be able to put furniture in there, including our rocker/ottoman set and the crib! Sometime after the baby is born we'll actually paint the room, since there's no way we'll have time for any of that before hand.
We've got his name mostly picked out, but are keeping a couple options on the back burner just in case he doesn't fit his name. The only other major things that need to be done is to find all our newborn clothes and pack the hospital bag. Both of those things will hopefully get done this weekend, along with any major cleaning I decide needs to get done at the last minute! Who knows, I might be up at 1 am cleaning the carpets or dusting the blinds.
Hoping to update one more time before the baby gets here, but don't hold your breath!