...And the after pictures

Now this is what I am talking about! I can't tell you how much better I feel just by getting rid of all that junk!

The only thing left that I have to do is shred a bunch of personal mail that I have been putting off.

That's it!

I had coffee and doughnuts for breakfast Monday and I think that's the only thing that kept me going.

I got rid of so much stuff that there is now an echo in here.

I like it. I think I'll keep that echo.

From the living room looking toward the back door

From the back door looking toward the living room

From the back door looking towards the dining room and kitchen

From the corner with the lamp looking toward the back door

From the corner with the TV looking toward the front door

Another view from the dining room into the living room

From my desk looking toward the living room and hall

So there you have it.

Better, no?

And it only took about 5 hours from start to finish and that includes the trip to the donation center.

Living room before pictures aka "Don't Judge Me"

A little warning about these pictures.

They are terrible. Do not call CPS or the show hoarders.

I am embarrassed at how bad they look - BUT - there is 3 rooms worth of clutter in these pictures. The kids room, the craft room AND this room.

I can promise you, the after pictures are going to be AWESOME!

From the dining room looking toward the back door

From the back door looking toward the living room

From the back door looking toward the dining room and kitchen

From the corner with the lamp looking toward the back door

From the corner with the TV looking towards the front door

And the after shots...

From the door looking into the room

Looking to the right from the doorway

Standing in the corner by the lamp looking toward the other corner

Standing in the corner with the sewing machine looking toward the door

I know it doesn't look all that much better than the before picture, but trust me. It is SO much better. There is more room in there now and that is always a plus!

Before we put the bed in here I had room for a large table which I took my pictures on, my ironing board AND my fabric bin. But now all that stuff is either hidden or in another room of the house.

So now I am off to tackle the living room.

Then after that will be the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen has so many dirty dishes piled in the sink! GAH! I hate that! I run the dishwasher at least once a day and before I can even Caitlin unloads it, there is already a sink full of dirty dishes. Does it ever end???

My guess is no.

Watch out! Momma's cleaning house!

I have a post ready for today but I didn't like that it was another whiny post. I need to stop doing that!

I'm working on de-cluttering the whole house. It is a disaster!

We have an abundance of stuff which is a big reason why I have been whiny. I can't see how blessed we are because we have too much. I resent the stuff we have.

Seriously, we have TOO much JUNK.

Throwing away and donating feels so much better than looking at the stuff piling up.

I can already feel a huge weight being lifted from my shoulders.

and that is a GOOD thing :)

Sophie chatting with the stick in the t-ball holder. Gosh I love that kid.

Tell Your Time - Special Black Friday Sale!

Are you looking for an easier way to get things done? I seem to run out of time most days and then end up feeling like I didn't accomplish anything I wanted to.

I am not a perfectionist by any stretch of the means, but there is always that thought in the back of my head that I *could* have done more if I just had the time.

This is where the e-book "Tell You Time" came in to play. I jumped at the chance to download this book right when I heard about it.

This book has helped me come up a schedule and STICK TO IT. (which is always the hard part)

What if you could change your life in less than 30 pages?

Like Amy says in the beginning of her book, this book will help you:

• Identify the most important things in your life
• Set long-term goals for each
• Determine how you can reach those goals
• Manage your time so you can accomplish those goals

It really does.

Starting tonight at 12:01 am she is offering her book to you for half off! Her book currently sells for $12 and let me tell you, it is worth EVERY penny of that, but starting tonight her book will be on sale for only $6.00!!

When: Sale starts Black Friday (Nov. 26) at 12:01am and ends Cyber Monday (Nov. 29) at 11:59pm.
Coupon Code: MONDAYBLACK (this code must be added to your shopping cart at checkout to get the deal)
Sale Price: $6 (that's 50% off!)

Run don't walk... wait... SIT don't stand and order this book starting tonight! You will not be disappointed.

Are you a canner?

I have only canned once in my life and it was this past spring. I made strawberry jam. It was/is delicious.

Like, the best jam ever. Never mind that it has about 6 cups of sugar and lots and lots of strawberries.

I am pretty sure the reason is was so good was because I made it.
Me.
In my tiny kitchen. 

OK, yes it was the delicious strawberries and sugar that made it good but who cares. Not me. I won't be buying the stuff at the store again.

Homemade jam is so much better. Aaaaand I know what is it in.

Have you ever noticed how hard store brand jams and jellies are to spread? I guess I never noticed until I made my own. They spread without ripping the fresh bread to shreds.

I bought a bunch of green beans at the store over the summer while they were cheap and I had ever intention of canning them.

I ended up throwing them away.

All 10,000 lbs of them.

Actually only about 8 lbs but still... that was like 6 bucks worth of beans that I could had made into food for my family.

The reason I didn't can them was because I don't have a canner. I wanted to purchase one but then realized I would need an expensive one since we have a glass top stove. I can't use those cheap ones on glass top stove.

Who knew? Apparently not me.

I could have improvised with a large stock pot like I did for making the jam, but my pots just weren't tall enough to fit jars and still have them covered with enough water to ensure proper sealing.

Fast-forward to today and low and behold I found a place in our city that will help you can food!

Here is a little exerpt from their website.

... the Canning Center provides an institutional kitchen environment.  All equipment necessary for canning is provided onsite.  Users provide their own ingredients. 

... The client list includes Duval County residents, boaters, various churches, people on restricted diets, non-profit organizations within the city, the 4-H School Enrichment Program and other governmental agencies.

It's not free, but if a large group of people got together to make food for their families to share, it would totally be worth it. Like a co-op type thing.

The canning center provides ALL the equipment to can. All you have to do is bring the ingredients and jars. How easy is that??!!

They also occasionally have workshops that teach people how to can soups.

Depending on whether or not I break down and buy an expensive canner, I may just give this place a try. Our kitchen is small tiny and it was a little cramped while I was canning the jam.

It would be a nice change to actually cook in an industrial sized kitchen!

I may never want to go back to my little tiny kitchen. (when I say tiny, I mean it. I have less than 3 ft of counter-top space.)

Signed,

Hopelessly needs a bigger kitchen and flat bottomed canner

Goals for today

1. Dishes. They have taken over my kitchen.

2. Clothes. They have taken over my room.

3. Floors. I don't like stepping on crap all day while I walk from one room to another.

4. Dinner. Someone has to feed these hooligans.

5. Bathe. Yeah. That one speaks for itself. P.U.

6. Bake. I have been craving an apple pie like you wouldn't believe!

7. Put on a happy face and not complain. It's a bad habit that I have had for years and I am trying to quit. :)

Be happy.

Not gonna let this keep me down!

Did ‘ya have a good Monday??

Are ‘ya having a good Tuesday?

So far this week for me is going pretty horrible.

Yesterday, a guy backed up his big ‘ole truck into the side of our van as I was driving behind him in the bank parking lot. I didn’t see him and he didn’t see me. It was simply an accident. Thankfully it wasn’t out on the interstate or on the highway at a faster rate of speed, but it still did quite a bit of damage.

The point of impact. The door gaps at the bottom. You can literally see the road as it passes by.

Kinda hard to see the dent on the sliding door, but I can assure you, it goes all. the. way. down. The black streak starts on the front quarter panel where there is a small dent and then continues to the back bumper.

I did manage to go to the bank and to Walgreens to get diapers, but it did ruin my trip to the grocery store. I ended up going back to the store later that night and it was a success! No one munched me this time!!

Today… ugh. What a day! I seems like every time I get up to do something, my husband calls me and needs directions or wants to know where the nearest “whatever” store is. Let me just tell you this… trying to find a store when you have no idea where the other person is located is pretty darn difficult. I know it sounds easy, but it’s not. It’s even more difficult when you have 3 kids screaming in your ear and the radio going and the dishwasher going and blah blah blah… you get the picture.

BUT!!! I have managed to get 2 roasts marinated, beans with sausage cooked, every single dish washed and delegated some chores to my oldest. She is on bathroom, floor and trash duty.

So even after a horrible start to the week, I am not gonna let it get me down! We will just keep on trucking along.

Bows, bows and more bows

I had forgotten just how much I love making bows. It's been over a year since I made one.

Until this week.

And I have made roughly 40.

I have had lots of past customers, 1 VERY persistent Twitter friend and numerous small children that live under this roof asking for bows.

I caved. And I am so glad I did.

I uploaded some of the bows I made to my Flickr page. But here is one that I made last night that I absolutely LOVE.

It's not really a bow. But I like it. And it's made of ribbon.

Sorry for the poor photo quality. It’s been overcast here and I had to use the flash. Bleh.

In other news, I have been painting the walls in our house. See, I have 2 little girls who like to draw messes all over the freaking walls mommy beautiful pictures on the walls. You know, because they don’t have enough coloring books. Since when is 498,289 coloring books not enough?

To their defense though, our walls only have primer on them. The brainiacs that painted this place when we moved in didn’t finish the job. Have you ever tried to get marker/crayon/highlighters off of PRIMER only walls. Yeah… it ain’t pretty. I went through at least, AT LEAST 5 magic erasers on 1 little teeny tiny spot behind my desk. Good Lord it would take me long and cost more to do the whole house.

Sooooo I’m just painting over it.

With semi-gloss. :)

AND since our crown moulding is white, our base boards are white and we have tile throughout the house, guess whose job just got easier?? WOOT! Can you say easy cleanup??

~~~~~

Update. I found a picture of one of the walls with the “art” on it. Check this out.

On a roll!

Since Chris has been gone I have been on a serious organizing kick. I have become more organized in the last few days than I have in a year!

Sunday I made a list of dinners I would make for the entire month he was gone. Went to the store and bought most everything. Went to 2 more stores and now I am done.

I have cooked and prepared and portioned and froze nearly EVERYTHING to get me through the month.

And you know, it really hasn't taken that much longer.

I had dinner ready at 5:30 on Wednesday, 6:00 on Tuesday. That's EARLY for us. I like it too!

The babies are not so grouchy and are willing to try new things. That makes everyone happier.

The girls are getting into the swing of things. Remember, Caitlin just went back to public school 3 weeks ago so we are kinda still trying to get into the groove. Homeschooling for nearly 3 years made me VERY lazy when it comes to getting up early. Chris was always the early riser.

Speaking of Chris, I miss him dearly. I have talked to him a lot so that helps.

2 years ago he lost his wedding band while cleaning out our gutter during a hurricane (don't ask) and he never replaced it. I wanted to get him one for Christmas, but decided not to. Getting things for the kids was WAY more important.

He bought one tonight and sent me a picture message of his hand and his new band. Sweet. I love it.

Can't wait to see it in person.

He asked me how the coupon organizing was going. Ha! I had to tell him I haven't even started on that yet. One thing at a time.

I'm getting there... I am on a roll!