Summer To Do List

Disclaimer:
I am a teacher and yes there is much controversy over teachers not working during the summer, but you need to understand that just because we work 9 months a year doesn't mean that we don't spend our summers working on things to make us better teachers.  AND, not to mention the hours we put in during the school year taking time away from our families to write lesson plans, attend teacher trainings, and grade papers which all make up for our only working 9 months a year.  Enough said about that, because my blog isn't really about my only teaching 9 months, it's about how I spend my summer doing things that I don't get to do during the school year.

Actual blog post:
Do you ever write that summer to do list, or even a daily to do list?  I am a big list maker, always have been, and probably always will be.  Makes me feel so much better to cross something off my list, and sometimes I even forget to put something on the list and therefore I will add it to the list just so I can cross it off.  You can call me crazy, but we all have our own little tendencies that others think are crazy!!!!

So my mind has been racing lately about the things that I need to accomplish this summer in regards to my house.  I'm great at multi-tasking, but one thing that lacks during the school year is the maintenance on my house.  One thing my folks and I argue about is how much I can really do on my own, because they would just rather hire someone and pay them to do it then attempt to do it themselves.  That's great that they can do that, I on the other hand, would like to do things myself.  I've never been good at asking for help and really enjoy creating and doing things on my own.  I will admit there are things that I can't do on my own, for example grounding my outlets throughout my house, re-tiling my bathroom (which actually I would have really liked to attempt), and cutting back my very tall and large Oak tree (again, something that I would have liked to attempt).  In reality, there are things in life that you can't do without help and I'll admit, I'm glad that I didn't attempt some of those things.  However, I have quite a few things that I need to get done around my house this summer and am going to attempt.  Sometimes it's okay to learn a little when actually trying to accomplish something and if I fail, I just keep trying until I get it right.  So here is my list of summer to dos (and I'm sure that I will continue to add more things as the summer progresses).  These are in no particular order.

1.  Install new toilet seat (Never knew it was that easy, nor did I know that a scotch brite pad would scrub all the stains and paint off of it!)
2.  Rake leaves out from under water spigot and along house in backyard
3.  Measure area under tree for patio
4.  Buy pavers, gravel and sand to put patio under Oak tree in backyard
5.  Build fireplace pit in backyard
6.  Keep backyard mowed (I'm really bad about this because my mower constantly dies on me)
7.  Spray down basement stairs
     7a. Then shovel leaves off drain at bottom of basement stairs
8.  Buy and put new dryer vent on outside
9.  Lay brick around Oak tree and add mulch
10. Spray driveway with roundup
11. Paint garage (this may never happen because my garage needs to be completely redone and it may be worth more by taking the ugly 1950's paneling down and seeing what's under it)
12. Paint living room
13. Replace front screen door
14. Replace front porch cement
15. Sand and re-stain my kitchen table
16. Buy and install blinds in living room and kitchen
17. Sort through my office
18. Sew seat cushions for classroom
19. Sew panels for front living room closet
20. Figure out what to do with weeds that grow in Southwest corner of backyard
21. Re-stain deck
22. Pull out old bird bath in backyard
23. Cut out all trees from fence and throughout backyard
24. Write lesson plans for thematic units
25. Finish classroom website and publish it
26. Cut shrubs in front flower beds
27. Get all stuff off deck and ready for junk day
28. Spray weeds in backyard sidewalk


These are the things that I really want to accomplish this summer.  Some of them are probably a little out there, but these are all things I have neglected over the past couple years (except for #'s 24, & 25; those are new this year).  I know that once I accomplish many of these I will begin to feel better about my house and maybe enjoy living here a little bit more (I know realistically I probably won't be moving anytime soon)!!

So now that I have made my list, it's time to start crossing it off.  Don't be surprised if I add something to the list just so I can cross it off because then I know I'm actually accomplishing something and not being a lump on a log this summer.  Happy Summer!!!!

Spring Break minus the spring

Spring Break was this past week and I can't believe it's already over. I made a to do list and was only able to cross off a few things, but I feel like I got a lot more done than my checklist shows.  I'm still working on the de-clutter calendar, but this week I worked more on getting a few things organized.

Saturday
Last weekend at the beginning of my spring break, I spent most of my time cleaning out my kitchen area, re-organizing and getting rid of stuff.  I went through my pantry, my cabinet above the microwave and reorganized my counter tops.  It felt good to get rid of stuff that I don't use and re-organize things to better find what I need for cooking.  My favorite part of my kitchen is my spice board.  I made it awhile back and devoted a post to it, but since then it has fallen 3 times from where I had put it.  I was tired of it falling and all my spices falling off and out of order.  The good news was none of the containers came undone so thank goodness for that.  I even got my table cleaned off even though it's never used (however after a weeks time, it has been layered with stuff again; but good news is it's all stuff that is leaving my house).  Here are a few pictures of my clean kitchen.

My new spot for my spice board

Monday
I got an email stating that Dalton's dresser had arrived at Walmart.  I was shocked because I hadn't ordered it that long ago.  It said online when I bought it that it only weighed 30 lbs so I thought I could handle it.  I should have known better because it was real wood.  Got to Walmart and it was 112lbs.  Luckily I got it home and in my house at the cost of a pulled muscle in my back.  Didn't get to put it together until Friday afternoon because I had no where to put it.  But with only one ding and 4+ hours of putting it together I thought it looked pretty good. 

Friday
While in Manhattan on Tuesday and Wednesday, I ended up buying a wire shelving system for my laundry room because I kept saying I was going to build something but it wasn't getting done.  So I just happened to find something I knew would work and bought it.  My laundry room is not a place you want to be.  It used to be the back end of my garage, but thank goodness I was able to get walls up and enclose it with a door to the garage.  It has been a spot where a lot of things go when they don't have a spot to go and it was time to fix that.

I needed to go up with shelving because I was running out of room and I have a very large tool box that was in the way on the floor.  So after 20 minutes I was able to move the contraption into the laundry room and began to put stuff on it.  As you can see from the pictures, I don't have a lot of room so I needed something to help me maximize my space.  The tool box went on the bottom shelf and then began putting things on each shelf.  I have a lot of plastic bags, but I do use them for my trash can liners.  I am hoping that I can use them instead of just throwing them away, I don't like to waste things. 

View from the kitchen

My new shelving- yes one whole shelf is devoted to plastic bags

A few weeks ago, I sold Dalton's old bed to a friend of mine and luckily they came and got it Friday evening so I would have room to put Dalton's dresser in his room.  Although, I got a call on Friday morning to inform me that his new bed would not be delivered on the 23rd like anticipated.  NFM didn't get it from the manufacturer so they rescheduled my delivery for April 17th.  I called them back and said no my son was not going to be bedless for that long and they moved it up to the 13th.  I'm going to continue to call and pester them to see if I can hurry them and move up the delivery date.

Friday night I let my son sleep with me because his room was a disaster as I was rearranging furniture. Sorry I decided for his sake that I wouldn't take before pictures.  Saturday afternoon I began putting his room back together even without the bed.  I'm hoping that when the bed comes it should fit exactly where I intend to put it.  With the snow on Saturday I was able to focus on getting things done instead of out spending money that I don't have.  Here is a picture of his new bed that was on display at Nebraska Furniture Mart.

I don't plan on putting the desk on it and there is a bar behind the desk so it should still be structurally sound, at least that is what the guy that helped me told me.  

Saturday
Now it's just time to try and keep his room clean until the bed arrives.  Here are pictures of his room beginning on the left side and going around his room. Even though the loft is not there it is going over the Lego table and his short white bookshelf which are in the last two pictures.

 

 

 

 

He is super excited about his room and I can tell this is going to be a good change for him.  He is also ready for a change and has asked for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle decor instead of Cars.  If I can't find TMNT fabric I'm just going to stick to the 4 colors for his curtains.  I would really like to find a way to display his TMNT figurines with their masks and weapons.  I also got him some large TMNT posters for him to color and then I will frame them on his wall.  So happy that it's all coming together!!!!

Enjoying his room

Sunday
So I have to go back to work tomorrow, but we were able to spend one more day getting things done.  We got 6 inches of snow this weekend and Dalton and I spent the afternoon shoveling my driveway and a sad attempt at making a snowman.

Happy Spring Break!!!

Spicing Up The Kitchen

So, it's been a crazy 2 weeks and I'm still working on following my de-clutter calendar.  I may not do the activity on the actual day, but I try my hardest to catch up on the weekends.  I've been really busy and I'm beginning to see what a difference it makes to de-clutter and how much stuff I really have gotten rid of.  I am thankful for the support of my friends and family because they have checked in with me to see how I am progressing. 

I finally got under my kitchen sink organized.  I was really irritated because I bought this really nice under the sink storage with drawers and then it wouldn't fit under my cabinet because of all the tubes and pipes.  I had intended to use the organizer on one side and then I bought 2 storage drawers for the other side.  Unfortunately the only thing I could fit under there was 1 storage drawer.  Not exactly what I wanted, but I had to make do.  So... after cleaning out under there and finding lots of wood rot, I was able to put the storage drawer on the right side and I filled it with dish soap, brushes and sponges.  On the left side I had to resort to just stacking my saran wrap and such.  Can't believe how much stuff I had under there and how many things I have multiples of.  Good thing is most of them were bought at the dollar store, so it's not like I spent a lot of money on the stuff.  Here is a picture of the before (top) and after (bottom).

This weeks project was to clean off the counters in my kitchen which again too embarrassed to take before pictures of.  Lets just say that I haven't seen my counters this clean in years.  I've always felt that I had to keep stuff on the counter, because 1) I don't have a lot of storage, and 2) I didn't feel like I should get rid of stuff.  But now I'm learning that it's okay to get rid of stuff.  Today I decided to start on a project that would help me clear off my counter tops and has been in the works for over a year now.  I searched and searched for just the right containers, then had to figure out where to put them.  I even attempted to paint a portion of the wall above my stove with magnetic paint, but it wasn't working and now when I move out that will be interesting to paint over.  Finally found a magnetic board almost a year ago and today I finally put it all together. 

I knew that I wanted a better way to store all my spices and I really liked the magnetic containers but couldn't figure out how to get them without spending a butt load of money.  Here is a picture of all the materials needed for this project. 

Need: Spices, stainless steel containers, adhesive magnetic sheets, label maker (not pictured: ruler, scissors and pencil to measure and cut apart the right size magnets)

I applied a magnet to the back of each container.

Then I filled it with each of my spices.  I also put a label on the front with my label maker. 

They began looking really good and then of course my label maker ran out of paper so I resorted to sticky notes until I can get to the store to buy more.

I had a lot of spices and I know that the picture up above of all the materials doesn't show nearly the amount I have because many of them are the really small containers.  So, because some of my spices had multiples I couldn't completely fit it all in one container.  So with the leftover space at the bottom I decided to write in the ones I had extra's of to hopefully prevent myself from buying anymore until I'm completely out of them, then I kept them in the white basket and put them in the cabinet.

So now that that project was finished I could finally completely clear off my counters and re-organize everything.  Thank goodness for the weekend because I would never get all this stuff done without my days off. 

Here are a few pictures of my kitchen counters.  I know that I still have a lot to do, but at least this is a start. 

And I placed the spices up on my stove.  You can see the black magnetic paint on the wall behind the board, but unfortunately the board doesn't have a way to hang on the wall.  Would love to figure out something so that it's not on my stove and it covers the black paint.  Although, seeing the black paint everyday will remind me that I need to work on repainting my house at some point this year.  

 So I've been busy as you can see and continue to organize, de-clutter and create a better living space for my family to live in.  Next week it's back to the bedrooms again to clean out more clothing. 

De-Cluttering is Harder than you think

Another week of de-cluttering is almost complete and another blog is about to be written about it. 

I'm almost done with this month, and yet I don't feel like I've made any progress on de-cluttering.  I know I've only done it for 4 weeks, but I guess I wish I saw more results. However, I will continue to work on this in the hopes that I will begin to see progress.

This week was harder to do than any other week has been.  Monday I had to finish a project I had started so I finished cleaning the kitchen.  Tuesday was to find a place for something I constantly am looking for.  This was easy.  Wednesday was to stay and finish a project before moving on to something else.  Still sounds easy, right????

Thursday-Saturday was probably one of the biggest de-cluttering projects I have had to do and the hardest so far.  I had to tackle my email, which I am sad to say I'm still working on.  I don't know why, but I just can't get rid of emails.  I have 2 email accounts, my school address and my gmail address.  Combined I had over 1600 emails in  my inbox's.  Gmail had approximately 950, and my school email had about 850.  Glad I had 3 days to tackle this task, however I still can't seem to delete my emails.  Something must be wrong with me.  I was able to reduce my gmail inbox down to 330, but my school email still has about 800.  I just don't like deleting things that I may need to refer back to later and I've decided not to waste paper and print them out like I used to.  Email has gotten so much better that now I can type a few words into the search field and find the email that I'm needing to refer to.  My gmail account can have many different folders and I should clarify that my inbox was 950 and is now down to 330, but I have about 5 folders that still have over 200 emails in them that I've never read.  And, out of the 330 emails still in my inbox 144 are new emails never been opened. 

Does anyone else have this problem?

I'm really bad about looking at my email, if you really need to email me my school email is where you should try first.  I read them, but then I forget to delete them.  If I delete them and need to refer back to them what do I do.  Needless to say, I'm still working on this.  Hoping by the end of the day I can get all my gmail inbox and a couple folders down to 0 new emails.  Plus I plan to go through my school email and delete emails that are over a few months old.  I can do this, I know I can, just need to get over my need to keep things.

Next week is going to be a scary week as I tackle my hobby room... my sewing/office.  Cleaned it last summer and now you can't even walk into it.  The primary cause is all the magazines that I have.  Well look for next weeks blog and see how I manage this coming week.  

More De-Cluttering

Almost the end of the month and I'm still working on decluttering.  Staying on track with my calendar and feeling good about getting things done around the house.  This week was cleaning out my closet which I actually did when I changed all my clothes for the winter back in December, so not much to declutter at this time.  However, I looked through to see which clothes I haven't worn since I put them in my closet and  I had 2 sweaters that I pulled out.  I also pulled out 5 shirts that are short sleeve and shouldn't have been in there, so they will be moving to my spring and summer closet.  Along with cleaning out my closet I also cleaned out my dresser and armoire.  Too many clothes, but I really hate wearing the same thing within a 2 week period and I hate doing laundry.  So, yes I'll admit I have a lot of clothes, but in my defense I wear them all.

Not only am I decluttering this year, I have some major projects that I want to work on as well.  Really struggling with trying to find storage pieces for some of my projects.  I'm still trying to find shelving for under my sink in the kitchen.  I know that I can build my own if I want, but then that's one more project that I have to add to my list which is already pretty long.  Also need to change my filing system.  Thought that I was doing pretty well with my current filing system, however I haven't been staying on top of it and now it's a giant mess.  My biggest project is my laundry room and that is something I will have to build.  I would like to make a bench slash storage unit for my laundry room that I can put my toolbox under, have storage above that, then a bench and then a back with hooks and more storage cubies above that.  Pinterest is awesome and I've already found plans for 2 that I really like, but it's finding the time and money to get started on this project.  However, I know that this is something that needs to happen fairly fast and it's too bad that I didn't get materials and things for this weekend since I have tomorrow off.  Just wasn't thinking ahead, plus it's so cold out that I wouldn't have wanted to park my car outside so that I could build in the garage.  What to do, what to do???

Those are the thoughts going through my head right now.  Just proud that I have completed a week of decluttering and hoping that I can continue.  If I can get Dalton involved he will keep me on track in remembering to do it, however he struggles with keeping his room clean so no guarantee that he will help me complete the tasks on my list!!!

The beginning of the Declutter Calendar

So last year I found this really nice website www.simplerlife.com and signed up for their weekly emails.  This woman had also created a declutter calendar and unfortunately I didn't sign up for it at the beginning of the year but in April, so yes I did get the calendar, but I had a hard time starting it.  This year it may be day 12, but I've already completed the first 12 days of the calendar and my goal is to stick with it.  It feels so good to check off what I've completed and the results are awesome.  Some examples was to create a plan for what I want my kitchen to look like, clean out refrigerator shelves and clear everything on the outside of the furniture and reorganize what I want on it.

So......

Today I printed out the 2013 calendar and got to work.  I hate my kitchen, I don't like to be in it, but I like to cook.  My kitchen is super super tiny!!!! My plan for my kitchen is really just to make it work better and be more efficient.  I have so much stuff crammed in there, but it's not organized and it drives me nuts.  The extension of my kitchen is my dining room table that I inherited from my great grandma and I love the table even though we don't actually sit at it.  Hopefully this year I can re-stain it and keep it from being so cluttered.  So January 7th-11th dealt with my kitchen.  First on the 7th was to make a plan, then on the 8th and 9th I was to clean out two shelves, on the 10th clean out my condiment shelves and then yesterday I was to clear everything off the outside, wipe it down and put less back on.  Long story short, I did all of those this morning.  And for good measure I also cleaned out my freezer.  Found a lot that I don't eat and a lot that I use that I didn't know I had.  The results are phenomenal.  Almost makes me want to finish the rest of my kitchen, but I know that I need to pace myself because I'm really bad about thinking I should keep going when I really need to stop and take a breath.

Here are a few photos of the before and after.  Struggling with finding good software for putting pictures together and this one I found wouldn't let me type anything.

 My clean refrigerator, sorry didn't take before photos, it was just too embarrassing.  Had a lot of things I use but didn't know I had, so can't wait to cook tonight!!!

 

My clean freezer.  The pictures on the left are the before.  It may not look like a huge difference, but there was a lot of stuff crammed onto those shelves that you really can't see.  Now everything has a spot and I threw away a ton of stuff I've had in there since 2008.  Oops!!!

More Decluttering to come!!!

2012 Resolution Recap

This was my goal list from 2012.   12/20 tasks completed which is pretty good although it would have been nice to complete them all.  Hoping that 2013 helps me finish these and the new ones I will start for 2013!

1. Build Fire Pit in Backyard
2. Buy new car
3. Clean out gutters
4. Lose 5 lbs
5. Lose 10 lbs
6. Lose 20 lbs
7. Lose 40 lbs
8. Lose 50 lbs
9. Redo bathroom
10. Redo front porch
11. Re-organize basement
12. Re-organize Dalton's room
13. Re-organize garage
14. Re-organize kitchen
15. Re-organize living room
16. Re-organize my bedroom
17. Re-organize my office
18. Re-stain kitchen table
19. Start teacher website/blog
20. Trim tree in backyard