This and That.

Here it is Thursday already.  I can't believe how quickly this week is going...

• Cleaning Day(s) has resulted in a fairly presentable home and--for once in my life--I feel like I am on top of my housekeeping duties. Here's hoping that I can commit to doing a little each day in order to maintain it!
• For the last two nights I have made an effort to go to bed early. Am I feeling the positive results? Not so much. I think I woke up 47 times last night because I just could not get comfortable. Hate that.
• Today is full of things that I just don't really want to do. I'm itching to do something creative, but I just can't decide what on a project...
• Connor has been stuffed up and coughing all week. He thinks that he might be feeling a little better today. I'm really hoping that we can avoid the sinus infection and bronchitis that so many people are enduring right now. Why is it that beautiful trees and plants can make us all so miserable?
• Connor has soccer practice tonight. I'm hoping that it will be warmer than the last two practices. There is nothing better than being outside in the beautiful spring weather, watching kids play soccer. There is nothing worse than being outside in the miserable, cold and rainy weather, watching kids play soccer. You just never know which one you'll get in April.

Time to get started on my work. Nothing to it, but to do it. :-(

Cleaning Day.

I hereby declare today to be Cleaning Day.  Woot Woot. 
(Imagine me dancing like a pre-teen Disney star). 

I'm about as excited about it as I would be for a root canal, but the dust bunnies are holding a convention under our kitchen table, there are cobwebs hanging in every corner of every room, and there is mud (!) on more than one wall. 

The health department would surely cite me for several critical violations and an entire book of less severe, non-critical, violations, though I'm sure that they would approve of the nicely organized spice cabinet that I worked on for several hours on Friday.  You have to have priorities, right?

It's time to get busy.  I just hope that the bunnies don't gang up on me. 

Okay.  No more procrastination.  I have to get the kid to school, return some overdue library materials, and mail off our tax payment (What will the state of Missouri do with our $4.00?)before the cleaning fun can begin.  Perhaps, if I'm lucky, I can figure out a way to work in a trip to Walmart.

It's going to be a great day... (she said, sarcastically!)

Update:  It's 10:22 and I've cleaned one room.  The good news?  I found our missing phone wedged between the mattress and foot board.  The bad news?  While vacuuming our bedroom, I sucked up the cord to Jason's pillow speaker.  That's $21.20 worth of damage so far.  Yay me.

Sunday Gratitude.

Today, I am grateful for...

1. mild, springtime weather--even if it ushers in a big storm.
2. a boy who still enjoys playing with stuffed animals.
3. a funny husband.
4. bell peppers (finally) growing in my little pots.
5. good movies. 
6. time to work on my classes.
7. my coffee pot.
8. our cozy little home.
9. sleeping until eight this morning.
10. crafty daydreams.

Our Saturday.

Today began early {because 7AM always feels earlier on Saturday mornings} with the usual Saturday-in-Springtime question:  Has Connor's soccer game already been cancelled or will we have to wait another hour to get the call?

We had to wait.  We had to shower, get dressed, force C to eat breakfast, force C to get dressed, gather up the snacks (it was our turn), drive to the field (through the rain & thunder), park in the crazy lot, and then find out that the game had been cancelled. 

Good times.

We decided to take a drive to Lebanon.  There's not much to do with a six-year-old in Lebanon, but we managed to hit one pawn shop {I waited in the car and read the newspaper}, one game store {I waited in the car and read a magazine}, ate a cheap lunch, and stopped at three antique stores / flea markets.  Sadly, I didn't find any treasures today.

The sun came out on the way home and we decided to take the scenic route.  Jason likes to take me on curvy, hilly roads because he thinks it's fun to watch my face turn green and to make me yell while going over hills too fast.  He's mean.

We nearly ran over a small turtle so...we decided to "rescue" it.  In a sand bucket.  Did you know that turtles can climb out of sand buckets?  Our very persistent turtle friend did not stop trying to get out of his container for one second of the 14 mile drive home.  I think that he was ticked off because Jason was driving too fast on the curvy, hilly roads. 

After looking around our front yard for a bit, Turtle is now sleeping under a bush in our flower bed.   I feel a little guilty about our turtle-napping, but I think it will be pretty happy once it figures out that there is a pond down the road.  Sure beats getting run down by a pickup truck on a curvy, hilly road...

Thorns.

Ashley Judd.  Why is it that her face gets puffy and folks think she's had plastic surgery, but my face gets puffy and people think that I've been hitting the glazed donuts a little too often?  Am I the only person who finds her annoying?  I may agree with some of the things she says, but she is way too intent on letting all of us know that she is brilliant. 

I wonder why there are still roads within the "metro" Springfield area that are labeled things like "Farm Road 138" and "Highway J."  Every time the "traffic watchers" on morning radio tell us that there is an accident on one of these roads, I picture two tractors that have collided on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere when in reality it's probably two minivans intertwined in front of a Starbucks near south Campbell.  It's very important to me, for some reason, to name these roads.  How about Smith Road and Jones Drive?  How about Bugs Avenue and Bunny Street?  Maybe Ashley Blvd and Judd Expressway?

Why is there salsa on my computer screen?

Is it wrong that I'm praying that Connor's soccer practice gets rained out tonight?  I'm not a great sports mom, but I'll never let Connor know that.  I pray for a weather incident in private while enthusiastically helping him dress in shin guards.

I wish that I could wear fun sunglasses instead of my one and only prescription pair.  I daydream of lasik.

How is Rock Center different?  Isn't it just another version of Dateline?  Did we need another primetime news show?  I guess I didn't realize that there were people out there still needing more news about all of the tragic things happening in the world.  Tell me more about the potential risk of my child being kidnapped.  More details, please, about that horrible accident that happened last week.  What does Ashley Judd think about the objectification of women?  Thank you, Rock Center, for addressing these important issues.

I am crabby with a capital C.  Perhaps I'll take a nap and try my hand at being human again later. 

Pinned It and Did It {Again}!

We have a room in our house that has served many purposes.  It has been a guest room.  It has been an office.  It has been a craft room.  More than anything, though, it has been a storage warehouse for all of the stuff that has no other home.  This, of course, means that it is always, always, always a giant mess.  I've cleaned it and organized it many times over the 8 years we have lived here, but it always degenerates back to chaos, but...


{wait for it}


...this time is different. 


"Why?" you ask.  "How?" you snicker.


Because I have found the secret of the universe and I'm here to share it with all of you:

Source:  Pinterest via Heather Black

It was late one night.  I should have been in bed, but I just wasn't ready to say good-night to my old friend "Pin."  I sat on the couch, repeatedly scrolling down, enjoying the pictures of tiny Yorkie dogs and deviled eggs designed to look like baby chicks and suddenly, I saw it and I was overcome by a sudden feeling of clarity and happiness!  I knew right then that:

Hangy Shoe Organizer Thingies

are the key to organizational success / ruling the universe! 

Who knew???  I found mine at Walmart for $5.97 each and I have purchased four of them so far this week.  That's right.  Our store is now out of them and knowing our Walmart as I do, they will never {ever} restock.  That spot on the shelf--it will still be there months from now, but they.will.never.ever.restock.  Can you tell that our Walmart makes me sad?


Ready for the tour of my newly {re}organized {again} Guest room (without a bed)/Craft room/Office?  Here goes...

Bad picture, I know, but the joy is in the fact that I can see everything I have without having to hunt and hunt and hunt, then go to Walmart to buy whatever it is I can't find only to find that the spot on the shelf where my item should be is {you guessed it} empty!

A real-life conversation at our house this past weekend:

Jason:  Where the {bleep} is the {bleeping} scotch tape?
Me:  It's hanging on the guest room closet.
Jason:  O...kay.
Me:  Did you find it?
Jason:  Yes.

Ahhh.  Did you feel that?  The winds of change are blowing my friends.  My husband found something without my assistance.  This is nothing short of life-changing!

Admittedly, there are some things that can't hang in shoe organizers and I'm at risk of running out of closet/door space so here are some other ways I'm trying to tame my clutter...

Fabric is now stored (by color) in a dresser.

Sewing and embroidery supplies are stashed away in this little cart.

My little paint collection is organized by color.

My paint "chips" are sorted by color, too. 

I have a small shelf full of miscellaneous craft stuff and magazine storage and though I need to find a way to pretty it up, it has potential.

And finally, this chest has two drawers devoted to scrapbook paper, one drawer for buttons, and one for zippers and lace.  Yes, zippers and lace.  I seriously need to stay away from craft stores for the next couple of years. 

So.  There you have it.  Pinterest has improved my life (again) and I'm in control of my guest room/craft room/office (again) so all is well in my world (again).  At least for now...