Kickers and Puzzles

We went to see the Rockettes yesterday and it was a fun time. It was a very Christmasy show.

I finished making my puzzle the other day too. It was a pretty challenging one to do, especially the snowflake cookies.

New Picture

I got a new picture for over the couch in the living room for the Winter. It's nice and simple.

Bring on Christmas!

I am completely done getting ready for Christmas and it feels great! Hubby and I are even going to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular as part of my Christmas gifts. I think I will wrap one more small thing for Hubby to get on the big day, but everything else is wrapped, cards are mailed and I'm just working on my Christmas puzzle (you can see it on the table in the previous picture). We watched Christmas Vacation this past weekend. Next on the movie tradition is Rudolph. Still have a few movies left so we better pick up the pace.

Rearranging

The other day I had a dream about rearranging the dining room so when I woke up, I did it. I removed a small 3 tier corner shelf that was here and I moved the small hutch there. Then I moved the microwave to the wall where the hutch was. There's so much more room in there now. I love it!

Updates

I just finished wrapping all the stuff I have. I remembered that I have an order at my parents' house though. I'll deal with that soon and then I'm completely done. We started watching our large collection of Christmas movies last weekend. So far we've seen "It's a wonderful life", "Family Man" and "The Grinch" movie. This weekend we'll see "Christmas Vacation" and maybe one more depending on time. I will be freecycling the little bit of Christmas decorations I decided I could part with this year and I'll also be freecycling my Mom and Aunt's cast aways too. Even a pre-lit tree! We played A Charlie Brown christmas game last night and we started to put together my Christmas cookie puzzle. I'll share those pictures when it's finished.

Turkey and Reindeer

Thanksgiving was nice. The turkey soup is excellent this year. So much flavor. It really is the best part of Thanksgiving. As far as Rudolph day, I am doing awesome this year. Hubby is picking up the last 2 things we need to finish both of our parents' presents tonight. I will be officially done buying gifts, he's a totally different story, but that's him. After this post I am going to finish wrapping everything I have so that will be finished today too. I spent 2 and a half days decorating for Christmas, starting Thanksgiving night with the tree, per tradition.

The lattice gate you see around the tree is the only way we have found to keep certain cats from eating the tree like it's some fish feast. It's a little warped this year, I will have to find a better way to store it next year, but it still works.



Notice the cross stitch I finally finished hanging proudly above the fireplace.

Here is part of the village since I can't get the whole thing in one picture. I bought a new table this year to put it on that has an extra foot of space. That and my Aunt giving me extra walls, allowed a much bigger park area than before.

Holiday Plans

I've made some progress in the past couple of weeks. I bought all of my stocking stuffers and I have wrapped half of them so far. I have purchased some gift cards on my list. I still have some gift cards left to get, but that's about it. I will make one more Amazon order, but some of that stuff will be for next year gifts. I finished making out all of my Christmas cards, so I just have to drop them in the mail when it's time. Today I went grocery shopping and I bought all the stuff needed for Thanksgiving and Christmas desserts. I forgot to buy my small frozen turkey though. I need that for my turkey soup come Spring so I hope they have some next week when I go. I also put up my Winter snowflake and snowmen curtains in the two bathrooms. It's a little early, but it's one less thing to do when it's time to decorate for Christmas. I also put the solar Christmas lights on the bush by the garage the other day when the weather was super nice and mild. I haven't turned them on yet, but after Thanksgiving we just have to flip the switch on and they will start lighting up at night by themselves.

New Door Knobs

So after seeing the bronze and silver door knobs on house shows on HGTV, I decided they looked much nicer than the brass looking ones we currently had/have. We replaced all the knobs on the first floor this weekend. I think they look much nicer and fancier than the old ones.

No More Shop Vac

Yay! Finally, we got our sump pump installed so no more standing with the shop vac in the Spring when the rain goes on for weeks and floods the basement.

Gobble Gobble!

Here's a little picture of some Thanksgiving decorations. I don't have too many, but I add them to the Fall decorations so the house is still fully decorated.

Rudolph Day

I'm a little late on October's Rudolph day because we were on vacation and I really didn't do anything Christmas related this past week. I did pick up a few gift parts this month. I need to get stocking stuffers which I hope to do this month and then I need one more wrapping session and I should be all set. I still have to pick up a ton of gift cards, but I've started getting them here and there. All in all I think I'm on schedule to be ready for Christmas by the end of this month. Today I've put away Halloween decorations and I'll be putting out Thanksgiving stuff later. Maybe I'll put up some pictures later. Oh I did buy a new table for my Christmas village to go on. It's a 6 ft plastic one that folds in half. It's much lighter than the MDF one we use now, plus that one has some water damage from the Spring flooding in the basement.

New Shelf

I bought this shelf unfinished at Michael's and stained it black. My Mom and I liked it a few weeks ago, but I had no place to put it. Now that the love seat is where the couch was there is more room. I think it came out pretty good. It looks rustic like the table you see in the next picture. I used my coupon and got this shelf for $30 plus some black stain. Good deal.

New Chairs and Table

We switched the love seat to where the couch used to be and freecycled the old couch. The love seat is so comfy, like brand new. The chairs, not so comfy, but not horrible. They look nice and were cheapish. I bought the table unfinished at Michael's and stained it black. I sanded the edges a little to make it more rustic. I'm going to look for a small lamp to put on it soon.

Rug

Here's the new dining room rug. Nothing fancy, but new and clean.

Houseworks Holiday Plan

I just cleaned the dining room and kitchen this morning so I am officially done Fall cleaning. All the windows have been done at least once now. I ordered a new braided rug for under the dining room table and chairs, but I'm still waiting for it to ship. It's a light brown with red, green and blue parts. I cleaned out the pantry cabinet and I straightened out the food cabinets. I still want to organize the lazy susan, but all major cleaning is done until Spring.

More Rock Spreading

We just about finished spreading the rocks this weekend. We have to rock the corner still, but it gets so filled in with weeds during the Summer it's really hard to see the ground. We might try to do it in a couple of weeks, or we might wait until Spring.

New Picture

I took this picture from my Mom and reframed it to match my house. It had a smaller frame with a green matte. I had the frame and matte already from another project. Now I think I will have to paint the frame on the other picture black though because it's a little bold and unbalanced looking.



I took the cream part of the matte off so now the picture pops instead of the frame. It makes the other picture near it look old and faded now so I'll be looking for a new matte and frame for that one. At least a new matte, I can have Hubby paint the frame black if I have to.



Here is the other picture on the same wall. I got a new black frame and dark blue matte for it. The matte it had was very faded blue and a wooden frame. This makes the pictures look crisp and updated.

Fall Yard Work

We decided to get some decorative stone instead of mulching year after year. We thought it would be better to do it during the Fall since the weather is perfect. Cool and dry, just the way I'd like it to be year round. We got almost half of the rock pile spread. Spreading stone is a lot harder than spreading mulch. You can't just push through and finish in one day like you sometimes can with mulch. It's not physically possible. The results are wonderful though! It looks clean and neat and the best part is that it will stay like that. The stones won't fade or wash away and they only cost double the amount of mulch. Why didn't we do this in the first place?

This is the front banking. It took most of the stones we spread and a long time to do.


I love how the color of the stones coordinates with the color of the wall and stairs.

Houseworks Holiday Plan

I deep cleaned the downstairs bathroom this morning. It also happens to be the laundry room. I only have the kitchen and dining rooms left to Fall clean. I will be doing them in the next 2 weeks. We have a lot of yardwork we want to try to get done before Winter. I love the Tide washing machine cleaner. It smells so fresh. I have the washer door open so it will dry out and it's freshening the whole downstairs.

Halloween Update

I found this Halloween wreath when I pulled out my front door Halloween wreath. I added it to the mantle area so it's even spookier than before.

Halloween

I decorated for Halloween.


This is the first year that I've made my Halloween village on the mantle. I think it came out pretty good.

New Goodies

I got a little shadow box from my Mom yesterday. It even came with some minis to go in it. She got a new shelf for her dining room where it used to be and she kept offering it to me so I finally decided I'd make room for it. I hung it under the cabinets in the kitchen, since most of the minis are food related.



Now I'll have to be on the look out for tiny items to go into it. I have a few things for Fall/Halloween and for Christmas already.

September Rudolph Day

This month's Rudolph Day I have accomplished quite a bit. I made 2 orders for gifts this month, wrapped the gifts I already had and worked on the master gift list of what's left. For the Holiday Houseworks Plan, I had already cleaned the spare bedroom when I painted it not too long ago so I gave the windows a quick clean and I washed the duvet cover and blanket that were on the bed because that's where Max the cat has been sleeping. I will be decorating for Halloween Friday. Can't wait. I'm putting my Halloween village on the mantle this year. I hope it fits. Until then...

Fall is Coming

It's been a little chilly here, especially at night these past couple of weeks. We took the AC's out of the windows the other day and it stays a little warmer inside in the morning. I cleaned the windows that the AC's were in and I put up the Fall/Winter curtains on the windows that get them. It's supposed to be warm 2 times this week, but a day to cool off in between so I think we'll still be ok without the AC's.

I've got to put out my scarecrow and maybe some leaves on the chair on the front stairs. I also have to start thinking about pulling out the solar lights and getting the yard ready for Winter.

Houseworks Holiday Plan

So this week is a bonus room week for me. I cleaned the upstairs bathroom and linen closet and that means the whole upstairs is officially clean. This week I made a plan for dinners too and it's a lot easier. I made a lasanga, chicken wings, ham and scalloped potatoes and I prepped a sausage/pepper/pasta bake that just needs to go into the oven. I have a couple of ideas for next week too. I need to work on doing this every week and prepping as much as I can on Sundays. It just makes dinner so much easier during the week and we don't have to have a can of soup or a frozen dinner as often.

Fall Cleaning

Yesterday, I steam cleaned all the carpets in the house. That's a Fall chore that I don't always get to. I always clean the carpets in the Spring, but sometimes I just run out of time and nice weather to let them dry in. This year they are clean and fresh and ready for Winter.

This morning, I was able to clean up the master closet. I got the shelves straightened out and picked up the stuff off the floor. I vacuumed the floor in there too. I also went through the clothes in the closet and in the bureaus. I have a bag to donate the next time they come around. All in all this has been a productive weekend, even though my chores didn't take too long.

Houseworks Plan

Yesterday, I decided to tackle cleaning the master bedroom. There's nothing better than fresh blankets and minimal dust in there. Now I'm a little ahead of the plan, but I noticed the plan includes the closet and I'm going to do that next weekend. The master bedroom was also the last room with carpet I had to clean so now I'm ready to clean all the carpets in the house. I will try to get that done this weekend too.

Weeding Too

Yesterday I ended up going outside and I weeded all the mulched beds. There are still a few weeds that I didn't get, but I can spray them with Round Up when I get a chance. It looks so much better. I also put out my Fall flag and the little scarecrow on the front stairs. I remembered I had little Fall wreaths for the shed doors so I got them out too. My Husband mowed the lawn and cleaned out the dryer vent so that's all set. The only thing left to do for outdoor decorating is put up the garage Fall wreath and my big scarecrow near the porch. Of course we have to start thinking about Fall lawn prep and that kind of stuff.

Houseworks Holiday Plan

The Houseworks Holiday Plan started last week and I've been following along. I cleaned the computer room last week. I don't do my filing paperwork until January so that I can put all the old paperwork from the entire year downstairs in the bin and I get all the tax papers ready. I just polished all the furniture and dusted and vacuumed everything and I washed the window and changed the curtains to my Fall/Winter shade. I cleaned up the computer armoire and that was a chore because that's where my Husband works from home. It was a mess! The room is fairly small so I got it done in one day. I had to leave in the middle to drop off some freecycle stuff and there are a lot of knick knack things on the shelves that had to be cleaned. I also cleaned the downstairs hallway that day. Week one of the plan...Done!

Today I cleaned the craft room. It's over the computer room and roughly the same size. It was a little easier since there're less knick knacks and no computer armoire to clean. I can't clean the window in there yet either because it's also the exercise room and there's an AC in the window. I'm not ready to take that out just yet in case of warm weather and trying to exercise up there. When the AC's come out I will clean those windows and put up Fall/Winter curtains on the windows that usually get them. I also cleaned the upstairs hallway and stairwell today. Week two assignment...Done!

Later today I think I will set up my scarecrow on the front stairs and hopefully get the Fall wreath up on the garage. That might be pushing it, but maybe by tomorrow I can do that.

Latest Craft

So I finally finished my Summer cross stitch. A little later than I was hoping for, but it's all ready for next year when the nice weather returns. I think I will hang it in the living room for the Summer.

Year Round Holiday House

This is my Dept 56 Year Round Holiday House done up for Fall. My Aunt made the Fall wreath and garland for it so that it truly can be decorated year round.

Fall Project

This is the Fall centerpiece I made over the weekend with my Mom and my Aunt. Just about every year we make a craft project for Fall or Christmas. I saw something like this in a catalog and thought it would be nice. I like ours better than the catalog one and it was cheaper.

A Little Taste of Fall- A Little Early

The polka dotted cow picture will most likely be replaced with a Fall basket arrangement soon. I still have to put out most of the Fall wall stuff.



This is the shelf above the living room window. I Fall cleaned the living room the other day, including the shelf, and I made sure to decorate it so that I didn't have to climb back up there. Well, at least until October when I'll add Halloween items.



This is the kitchen cart that's actually in the dining room area.

August Rudolph Day

Today's Rudolph Day again. This month I've been doing a little of everything. I ordered a Christmas gift for hubby, I've come up with an idea for my in-laws that I think will be great if I can find out a little more information about it, I've Fall cleaned the living room, and I've decorated for Fall a little. I was supposed to go through my Fall decorations to see if I could freecycle anything to make room for new stuff, but in order to do that I had to see if everything had a home so I put it out a little early. I'll try to take some pix a little later. I still have some stuff to put out in the dining room, but I'm really tired today so maybe tomorrow. I will have to go through my Halloween bins downstairs to see if there's anything to freecycle in there. I know I have a couple of things in the mud room decoration bins so that will have to be done next.

Spare Bedroom Done Over

This past Saturday I painted the spare bedroom. Three coats on the walls and 4 coats along the top trim. I was so sore. I think it came out pretty nice. I also Fall cleaned the room when I put it back together, bonus!
I tried to get most of my Eeyore collection into this room. The color is a light blue/green, although it looks more blue in this picture.

This quilt on the wall was the inspiration for the color and it looks great against it.


I bought a new lamp for the nightstand and a few little things for the room, but I already had most of the stuff in the room so the redo wasn't too expensive. I even got a break on the paint because the color is called "icing on the cake" from Benjamin Moore, but when I went to pick it up they didn't have it in satin finish and that's all I buy so I had it color matched at Walmart in Dutch Boy paint for 10 bucks cheaper per gallon.

Spare Bedroom Redo

This past weekend I picked up the shelves for the spare bedroom redo and put them up with my Husband's help (even with his broken toe!). Everything was going fairly easy which is a feat for me because I can tell if something is 1/8 of an inch off and it "burns my eyes" and I can't stop obsessing over it until it's fixed. Right up until the last screw on the last shelf, that is. The screw broke off inside the anchor and we couldn't get it out no matter what we tried. These are the big plastic dry wall screw in anchors too. My Hubby hobbled downstairs and out to his garage to get his drill and supplies and he countersunk the hanging hook on the back of the shelf in a different place so we put a new anchor and screw in next to the one that we can't get out of the wall. Then we had to bang the broken one into the wall a little so that I can spackle over it. The shelf is now a little bit off and we can't get it to correct no matter how much we tighten or loosen the screws, but it's a really tiny bit and I am able to counteract it by putting something slightly taller on one side of the shelf and then it's an illusion that fools my eyes into thinking it's straight enough.





The items on the shelves might change a bit once the room is painted, but for now those are the items looking for a home on the shelves. The Eiffel Tower picture on the other wall used to be in the living room for part of the year before the polka dotted cow picture arrived. I think it will look nice against the new color in there. Oh yeah, you can maybe see the new color on the shelf in the first picture. It's the lightest one on the strip and it's called "icing on the cake".

Another Thing Off the To Do List

So this weekend included getting another thing checked off the To Do List...Staining the gazebo. The gazebo was looking very ratty and old and this coat of stain in the color new cedar has made it look fabulous. If only you could've seen me on the roof trying to stain the cupola! It had to be done though so I stretched and balanced and I even repaired 2 shingles that had blown off at least a year ago. It was so nice sitting out there with it being all clean and fresh. It's even worth my sore arms! Too bad the heat and humidity are coming back so we won't be using it for a few days.


On another note, I'm planning to redo the spare bedroom. I'm looking for a light blue/green color and I'm going to get some shelves for the walls. I don't want to spend too much so I'm going to use what I already have except for the shelves. I should be doing it in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for that update.

Things Against the New Paint

This is the part of the hallway near the kitchen. This is the part of the big wall that's in the computer room.

Happy July Rudolph Day

Money has been tight this month so I have just put together a good list of gifts to finish off my Hubby's shopping. I think with what I have it will be plenty, I just have to order it when we get some more money.

I organized recipes this month. I have binders with ripped out magazine recipes and printed recipes so I finished filling up two of them and I made an index for each one so that I can find what I'm looking for easily. I have chosen chocolate peppermint fudge for my Christmas dessert and I can find it in one of the binders I finished when it's time.

I ordered a gift for my friend so I'm just about done with her for the holidays.

Today, I have painted the downstairs hallway the same color as our living room. It's hard to paint the downstairs because all the rooms run together and I love the light blue that I painted the computer room, but I have never loved it in the hallway. I never thought anything looked nice against it. Now it's a creamy off white and the stuff is going to look great on it. I kept holding it up to the living room wall to see how it would look and it's way better. Now I just have to wait until it's dry so I can put all the stuff back on the walls. I hope none of the walls that are in this color need a lot of touch up because I'm almost out of the paint now.

I'm going to be doing the Holiday Houseworks Plan from organizedchristmas.com again this year. I usually get the Fall cleaning bug a little early so I'm ahead of the game when it starts.

Happy Christmas in July!

A Little Redecorating

The other day I decided to redecorate the mantle and area above it. I also went to a craft fair this weekend and I got a cute polka dotted cow picture and a sheep plate that I added to the area. I always wanted to put the paper mache cow on the mantle, but I could never find something to balance the other side until I remembered I had bought a Christmas plate on clearance and I decided to see if that would work. It did, so I had to get an every day plate and that was my mission at the craft fair. Unfortunately, I didn't find any every day plates so I had to stop at a little shop on the way home because I knew they had some plates and ta da...the sheep plate.

Christmas in July and Other Things

So I found out that I don't have enough stuff for my Hubby set aside for Christmas yet. I have a couple of things left to wrap, but I still need a Birthday gift for him as well, since he's a December baby. I will set out to round up some more ideas and start picking them up this month. I do have a few things left on the list I wrote out for him so I should look into getting them. I think they are mostly things that I have to go to the dreaded store to get. I have also started my Mom off right in picking up some things on awesome sales for him. I will update my progress on Rudolph Day.

The other things are that the deer have been visiting every night for the past couple of weeks and they have succeeded in eating every last Hosta plant in the backyard. I should have put the repellent out there, but it stinks so bad it repells us as well. We can't even open the windows when it's out there. Not that there has been much opening of windows lately. It's so hot and humid we live inside with the air conditioning every day. I can't take much more of it. It makes me look forward to Fall and Winter even more. I wish it would hurry up and get here. Until Rudolph Day...

Rudolph Day- June

This month I ordered more gifts for my hubby. I checked on the prices and they went down so I jumped on it before the prices increased again. That's really the only thing I've done to prepare for Christmas this month. Besides stocking stuffers, I'm done with hubby. I was planning on wrapping again, but I haven't had time yet. We just bought a fancy new car and all of our time has been taken up with that process. So we're half way to Christmas now and I'm doing pretty well preparing. Now if only I could get hubby to plan ahead it would make it even easier on the wallet.

Porch Made Over

This weekend we painted our porch to match the house siding. It looks cleaner and brighter than it did. It used to be a dark brownish stain and it was looking dirty and old.

I even bought a new cheery door mat to put on it.

May Rudolph Day- Ha, that rhymes

So it's Rudolph Day again and this month I didn't feel like buying gifts so I put on some Christmas music and I wrapped the few things I already have. I also wrote down my Hubby's list to organize that. One or two more orders and he will be done. I also have my friend's gift totally planned out and I have most of it. I'm well on my way to having the most organized Christmas ever! I think I'll be done super early this time.

Blind Swap

I'm in the middle of changing all the blinds in the house to shades. I think they collect less dust and block the sun out better on hot days. I got a blue shade for the downstairs bathroom because there was a blue blind there, but for some reason I didn't like it with the old Summer valance. I got this new valance for Summer and I like it much better (even though it's a pain to iron!).

Look who came to visit!

This is the first time I've seen any deer this year. I'm convinced they were just scoping out the plants and by tomorrow morning all those hostas you see in the foreground will be nothing but sticks with no leaves left.

Carpets are Clean

I just finished cleaning the carpets in the house. They look pretty good. The only thing left on the Spring cleaning list is to clean the fridge and freezer. I am finally going to cook the turkey that's been in the freezer this Saturday. Then, I can clean the fridge and freezer and the Spring cleaning list will be done. Finally! There are a few more things that need to be done outside, but at least the inside is taken care of. Hubby is outside in the garage working on getting that Jeep back together. I hope it's back on the road soon!

Stool or Stoolie as I've been calling it

Here is the little stool that has been given a makeover. It is well over 10 years old and it was originally bought for my cat, Midnight, so he could look out the windows easier. It had dark wood finish on the legs and a pink floral pattern on top. It never matched the decor of my parents' house and definitely not mine and I've wanted to redo it for years, but never got around to it. Finally, I did it with leftover stuff we already had. My husband spray painted the legs with leftover paint from a kitchen cart that he sprayed the same color and the swatch of fabric for the top is blocking the glass doors in the bathroom cabinet so you can't see through. The cat we have now, Max, avoids the stool like the plague, yet he uses my bear bench in the living room like his personal ladder. Grr!

Bounce Dryer Bar- Revisited

So I put the new Bounce Dryer Bar in the other night even though there was a little bit left on the old one. It wasn't softening the laundry anymore and you could see the whole word "replace" on it. I did 3 loads of laundry last night and the first was jeans and of course it left white marks all over them again. Then I figured it out...turn jeans and dark shirts inside out for the first few loads and then any marks will be on the inside and never noticed. Unfortunately, my jeans have marks all over them and I tried to wipe what I could off with a wash cloth. Next time I will remember to turn them inside out. It doesn't do it for very long and it seems to particularly like jeans so that's my solution for continued use of the bars.

Rudolph said I should do it

I searched for the same item and found it for only 2 dollars more than the lowest price it's been so I ordered it. I also ordered a movie for us that we've wanted. I already have my Mom's Mother's Day gift and card and we have a card for my Mother in law, but I need to get a gift for her. I think I will get her a little pot of mums at the grocery store when I go this week. They are Spring colors and she likes mums so I think it's a good choice.

Rudolph Day?

So Rudolph day has come and gone, but I still don't see the April update on the Organized Christmas website. I had to look it up for myself. I was going to make another gift order, but the prices in my Amazon cart have gone up so I will wait to see if they go back down before making the order. I have been working on my Summer cross stitch and I'm updating a small stool. Both will be making appearances in the blog soon. My husband and I have been working in the yard and he's still working on getting the new Jeep engine in so there's not a lot of free time for crafts. I've managed to stuff a few things in anyway. Pictures will follow soon.

Hooray!

Can you believe it? It's done. I guess you probably can believe it because you don't know that I've been "working" on this cross stitch for over 2 years! It's not that it was hard, I just never seemed to have time to work on it or felt like working on it, but at the beginning of this year I was determined to finish it and move on to another project. I already started my next cross stitch too :-)

A Touch of Spring

I cleaned up the corner of our lot where there are Forsythia bushes. Here's a little taste.



The other day I put out my little chair that my Aunt and Uncle made for me. I had to redo the wreath. It used to have an ivy vine on it, but all the leaves were falling off so I put a hook in the back slat to hold the wreath there instead.

Easter, Spring Cleaning and Such

So Easter was nice. Food was yummy. The one problem was this lemon cake that I made, twice. No matter what pan I use or what type of spray (the recipe says baking spray with flour) some (or all) of the top sticks to the pan. Needless to say we have a "whole" cake in a ziploc bag on the counter. All the ladies liked their Easter chicks I made though. My Aunt (the one with the Dept 56 Holiday House) made us Fall decorations for the house so now our Year Round Holiday Houses are actually year round with decorations for all major holidays and seasons.

Yesterday, I was able to Spring clean our bedroom so all the rooms are done. Yay! I just have to clean the carpets and do the fridge/freezer. I've been waiting for the freezer because I have a turkey in there that I want to cook before it gets too hot outside. I like to make a turkey in the Spring so that I can have turkey soup one more time besides Thanksgiving. Yes, the turkey is only a means to get homemade turkey soup. Ok I'm am going to list some items from Spring cleaning on Freecycle now and then I'm going to take advantage of this wonderful weather and rake some more of the yard. Be back later.

Here Comes The Rain Again!

Yep, it's pouring rain for the second day in a row. We're preparing for the basement flood that's sure to come within the next couple of hours. Aside from that, I was able to Spring clean the upstairs hallway, linen closet and stairwell today. It doesn't take too much time to do that. I organized the linen closet last year with many basket shelves on the backside of the door. I did weed out some older towels that we'll use for rags. I'm going to work on a cross stitch that will be appearing on the blog soon. In between checking the basement of course.

Mission Accomplished

I made the Christmas gift order just like I said I would. One more thing crossed off the list. I Spring cleaned the spare bedroom yesterday. I am forcing myself to clean the closets this Spring so I did that closet. It's not as well organized as I'd like, but I really don't know where to put the rest of the stuff that's in there. At least there's no junk, it's all stuff I'm keeping.

Rudolph Day

So it's Rudolph Day at www.organizedchristmas.com although I haven't been thinking about Christmas too much lately because I've been focused on Spring cleaning. I still have all of my Aunts that I buy for done (even wrapped!) and I have a list for my Hubby and I have a stocking stuffer for my Mom. I know what I'm doing for my friend's Birthday. I have a few things in the gift closet on hand too. I've made a couple of orders for my Hubby already, but other holidays before Christmas are getting in the way and taking his stuff. I think I will make another order soon. I am pretty much set with his list for this year though. You know what? In honor of Rudolph Day I will make an order right now.

Raining Again

It's raining again here. The rain makes me not want to do anything, but I'm trying to be productive anyway. I am in the process of washing the bedding on the spare bed. I have to head out in a little while, but I hope to finish washing the bedding when I get back. I'm going to polish the bed and cover the scratches with a stain pen and then the biggest part of cleaning that room will be done.

Clean Clean Clean

This morning I was able to Spring clean the upstairs bathroom. I only have 2 rooms left and the stairway and linen closet. I also have the fridge/freezer to clean out and the microwave. Then it's mostly outdoor stuff left like finishing raking, fixing some of the plants that didn't make it through the winter, washing the AC filters and fertilizing the lawn. I also want to attempt to make a rain barrel this year. There was a pretty easy one from the Better Homes and Gardens website that I think we'll try. Today the rain has returned which is why I'm thinking about the rain barrel again. Let's hope we don't have any more flooding.

Spring Cleaning Continues

Today I did Spring cleaning in the craft/music room upstairs. Since the whole first floor and mud room have been done, all I have left is the upstairs. This year I'm making it a point to clean out all closets while I'm doing each room. I ended up with a bag of trash and 2 bags of stuff to give away from that room, which is the smallest room upstairs besides the bathroom. I will try to freecycle some of the stuff, but I'm hoping there will be a charity yard sale I can donate it to because it's so much easier to give away whole bags than have to list each item separately.

Anniversary Wreath

I put a couple of flower garlands around the Summer garage wreath. The old ones were looking a little faded. The flower garlands I used were hanging around the doorway of the Inn where we got married. They've been sitting in a bag in a closet for almost 10 years. I decided that since this year will be our 10th Anniversary, that I would use them on the garage wreath so that we can see them and have a little reminder of our happy day all summer long.
I still have most of one garland left to have as a keepsake. I've just been decluttering and cleaning stuff out and figured why have them all taking up space. I think they look lovely on the wreath (much better than the last garlands).

Ambitious Again

Today I did normal Thursday downstairs cleaning. I got the mud room Spring cleaned and decorated for Easter. I have the window open down there so it can dry out. It's a beautiful day today although a bit breezy. I raked the whole left side of the house and cleaned up the banking out front. The large right side yard is still left and the back, but I've begun!

Have You Ever Seen A Max-In-The-Box?