Tackle it Tuesday

Today we decided to rearrange the living room. I am trying to find a way to keep my living room from cluttering up. I don't even know if that is possible but I think I like the way this looks. At least for now!

Tackle it Tuesday

I am starting to prep my house for Christmas. I love Christmas and I can't wait to experience it with Anna this year. She is at such a fun age (3). I had to rearrange my living room in order to make room for our tree. We will get our tree (hopefully) the weekend of Thanksgiving! Here are the pictures from my make over. I still have some cleaning to do and I will have to move the yellow chair when we get the tree but that will not be as complicated as what I did. I had to move our computer and our bookshelf and the chair. I only got the before of my bookshelf.

Before

After

Y'all don't mind the walls. They are in the process of being repaired!

Tackle it Tuesday - Kitchen

I am on a cleaning mission. Unfortunately, sometimes that means going back and redoing things that I had already done. This past weekend we were so busy our kitchen looked like it blew up. After my energizing walk and time at the playground Anna and I went to work. I still have a few "hot spots" to work on but overall it looks great. Anna was a good little helper. She loves to help rinse dishes and wipe the countertop off. Of course she also likes to climb on the counter top and lounge around in the floor lol. We also worked on another tackle at the same time. We have started working on our Christmas music for church and we were practicing that at the same time.

Picture dishes everywhere, the countertops littered with mail, items from a birthday party we attended and who knows what else. It was a serious tackle!

See my little helper!

Dinner in the crock pot and my phone on the stove.

Welcome to my world!

My little helper again.

See how clean my window is? That was one of my projects last week!

Tackle it Tuesday!

We have had a busy day. We have been to the grocery store, cleaned out the fridge and worked in the garden! Now that we have done the work ya'll just sit back and see how it looks!

Tackle it Tuesday!

I actually did this yesterday. I rearranged both my living room and my daughters bedroom. I switched out some furniture between the two. I am so pleased with they way they look. I forgot to get before pictures but take my word for it it is a big difference!

Tackle it Tuesday, Shew!

So last night was exciting. Anna hadn't had her nap and she was throwing one fit after another. We just went to her room and read until she was ready to settle down. We both crashed a little after 9. Today we worked on our fridge. I don't think I have complained about our fridge on here but the freezer part had a leak down into the fridge that would just collect in the bottom of the fridge after dripping down each shelf in there. It was awful and disgusting and very frustrating. So I posted on freecycle to see if anyone would now how to fix it or whatever and received lots of great advice. Today Anna and I tackled our freezer and then cleaned up the fridge. It looks so GOOD! I don't have before pics because it was yucky but just look at the after shots! I just hope and pray that what I did today has fixed the problem. So far so good. We will have to wait and see though! Oh and don't look at how empty it all is lol.

Rachel Ray come see what is in my fridge!

After we did that we went out to watch the birds enjoy some afternoon sunshine.

Anna ran around in our new found back yard and rode her 4 wheeler. Our dog Buddy just prawled around enjoying the brisk air!

Manic Monday and Tackle it Tuesday

I was going nuts with the chaos in my house. I don't have a dirty house but I have a messy house. It has toys and clutter everywhere. I am taking charge! I think taking charge of my body is giving me strength to take charge in other areas of my life. I started in the kitchen today because it is the heart of the house. I worked all morning and with Anna's help I am very pleased with our results. I didn't take a before picture because honestly the spirit just moved me to get to work! I do have after shots though and let me just say there is a WORLD of difference!!! I still need to do the floors, clean out the fridge and the pantry lol but other than that it is GREAT lol. Boy I guess I didn't get as much done as I thought lol. Oh well look for yourself and tell me what you think.

The picture above is the biggest improvement. We have had the little rack you see in the corner forever and never put it together. So Anna and I put it together and put it to good use finally! We also tossed out things we didn't need or put away other things that were just lingering.
This was a vast improvement too. The window seal needed a definite scrubbing. I keep all of my important mementos in my kitchen window for some reason. You will see the unicorn my brother gave me, a few candle sticks and holders given to us at our wedding, a little tiny egg plant pitcher and beautiful flower vase given to us by my hubby's me-maw, a few little figurines given to me when I was a little girl one by my aunt and the other I can't remember where that one came from maybe my parents, the little candle holder with rocks in it is for my hubby and well Anna too now I guess (they both LOVE rocks) oh and don't forget the little wood bear in the corner. This little bear has traveled with me since I was a girl. My friend, Jody's Dad made it for me one year. I think it has a date on it let me see it says 1988 how about that lol. Oh yeah and don't look at the dishes in the sink!
Of course here is the best treasure ever! I can't take pictures without her wanting in on the shot.
Don't you love my flat top stove! The pictures behind it are pretty cool too. They were given to me by my mother in law and I thought they would look great back there. My sister in law, God bless her, cleaned them up for me a few weekends ago. They get pretty messy hanging up there!
Here is our dinosaur microwave! We have had that little thing since we got married and we are working on 12 years. It still works at least most of the time so we hang on to it lol.

PS. What do you think about my counter tops. Our builder told us not to go with these because we would hate them after being here a year. I think we have been here 8 years now and I still LOVE them. They are different and fun.

Yard Work and Poop

Anna and I went out this afternoon after her rest time. Nap time didn't happen but she did rest. After about 15 minutes of playing with Anna and her Tonka truck, I decided I would get some work done.

I did the fun job of picking up all of the poop left by my big ole boxer. That was a great job that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was honestly the most stinky and yucky job that has to be done. It was either that or have Anna picking it up with her bare hands and putting it in her truck cause she did try that the other day. Gross, huh!

After I accomplished that lovely mission I decided I would tackle the flower bed that is the bane of my existence. I didn't get it all cleaned out because let me just tell you the weeds LOVE that bed. I did rake out the leaves and most of the mulch and got about half way through the weeds. We had to stop cause our wheel barrel was full and we didn't have anywhere to dump it. At least that is my excuse ha ha. The truth is I was extremely thirsty and HOT. Yes that is right it is the middle of January and I was in Jeans and a short sleeve shirt and I was HOT! It is sad.

Tomorrow we have a play date in the morning and in the afternoon we will attempt to complete the bed.



If you have any inexpensive tips for keeping out weeds please let me know!

Ho Ho Humm

I am so sleepy! We have been having a few rough nights this week. Anna has a terrible cough that wakes us up usually once a night, typically around midnight. We are awake for about 15 minutes with her coughing and then it takes me forever to get back to sleep because I worry about her. Ah, the joy of parenthood. I feel like I am trying to get a bug but I certainly hope not. Our Christmas program is this weekend and I can't sing if I am sick.

Anna wet the bed for the first time in about a week last night. I don't know how that doesn't wake her up. It is super gross. So I clean her and the bed up and she sleeps right through it. I roll her around and tug off wet clothes and she is totally clueless.

I have so much stuff I need to do. My Tackle it Tuesday will be my to do list lol. That is all I have the energy for at this point.

1. Clean living room
2. Clean kitchen
3. Clean bedroom
4. Clean both bathrooms
5. Clean off the guest bed
6. Clean outside toy
7. Finish Christmas present for Yia Yia
8. Start the one for Casey and Pop and Daddy too
9. Email Jena Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie recipe
10. Watch Rudolph tonight!

I think I will stop there. I am exhausted just reading the list lol. If anyone wants to come help come on over. I have cookies left!

Tackle it Tuesday

I thought I would give an update on my Potty Training tackle I started November 5th. I believe we are pretty much complete. YAY ME!!! We went from 0-60 in 3 weeks or really 2. I will share my strategy with any interested parties. I felt pretty much like I was going at this blind. I had read a few things but still didn't feel like I had a good handle on it.

1. The first thing I had to do was get her to pee pee in the potty for the first time because we couldn't seem to make that happen. So I started letting her run around without a diaper and didn't have any luck except a few puddles in the carpet! Then I thought well she usually goes after sleeping so after her nap (with a diaper) I stripped her and sat her on the potty and finally we scored! She got her choice of Halloween candy!


2. After she realized she got chocolate for pee peeing we were golden! Well except for pooping we had a few accidents but thanks to the good Lord she hates mess! So once she felt that a few times she was ready to give it a go on the potty. She cried and begged to get off and always says she is cold right before but we had success!


3. Our next obsticle was the fact she didn't like using strange pottys and by strange I mean any potty besides her own. A few accidents while out and about seem to have curred her of her fear. Now she even goes at restaurants! (without the potty ring!)


4. We had a few casualties - my phone got dropped in the potty, candy got dropped or eaten by the dog.


5. Now our last few obsticles are weaning her from needing a reward for pee peeing and pooping in the potty and also, wetting the bed at night. As long as we don't give her anything to drink after 7 we usually do great at night so hopefully we will be good on that front soon. The needing chocolate well we all want chocolate and rewards so I don't how we will cross that one lol.

Thanks for joining me on my journey! I will try to stop posting about it so much lol! What are you tackling today? To see more go here!

PS if you have time how about voting in my poll over on the side for my Christmas card!

Tackle it Tuesday!

Well my tackle will be an on-going tackle that will last me God knows how long. I am tackling the whole potty training fun stuff with Anna. We actually started yesterday. She went twice and and had one accident. She must have an awesome bladder cause she is only going like every two hours. Is that normal, lol? I am hoping that I can stir up a lot of been there done that Moms and get some good advice on what you did to help your little one along. So any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

If you don't mind offer up a little prayer for my sanity :)

Tackle it Tuesday

Today I did a different type of tackle. I decided that instead of cleaning or whatever I wanted to do something fun (well sort of lol). I made some chicken and dumplins for the first time ever! It was actually very yummy for a first try. I think it had to much liquid in it so I will have to adjust that next time but it was pretty good. Anna didn't care for it so much but it usually takes her a few times to warm up to new foods.

That was my tackle what was yours? You can go to 5MFM to see more.

Tackle it Tuesday

My tackle today is one you can't see but I will hopefully be able to tell the difference. We have way to many pictures on my computer and it is slowing everything down. So today in between dealing with a sick toddler and not feeling well myself, I am going through the pictures and deleting duplicates. Then I will move them all from my hard drive onto dvd's. I will make a copy for myself and one for my inlaws so that I know we have at least two sets in case something happens to one of them. If you have any other ideas on how to make sure we don't lose them I would love to hear them.

For more tackles go to 5MFM!

Oh yes and while you are there sign up for their latest contest. They are giving away a Passport Portable Harddrive! Gee that would be a great thing for me to win!!!

Tackle it Tuesday

OK so this is a very embarrassing tackle but one that needed to be done! Our master bath collects EVERYTHING! No one really uses it but me and my hubby so it is one of the last things to be cleaned and obviously has been skipped totally for a while. So here are my before shots. Don't judge me I promise we aren't total slobs - just partial lol.

Here are our after shots. It is amazing the difference!

I still need to scrub the toilet more because I have that pesky ring and I need to scrub the shower more because we have the textured floor and it is a challenge for me to get it clean. Any tips to get rid of either of those would be much appreciated lol.

If you would like to see more tackles please go to 5mfm!

Tackle it Tuesday!

Well, we have been tackling my guest room! It had turned into my Christmas collect all plus some room lol. With my Mother in law and sister in law coming to celebrate Anna's 2nd birthday I wanted to have it nice and clean (for a change lol). So we started on it yesterday & I have a few more things to do to it today. I will post pictures hopefully when Anna is napping! So swing back later this afternoon.

If you would like to see more exciting tackles go to 5mfm!

Tackle it Tuesday

My tackle today will be my kitchen. It needs an overhaul. So today we are going to put away a bunch of stuff that is just hanging around. Maybe give some of it away on freecycle and clean all of the cabinets and countertops and maybe if Anna will allow it I will get the floor mopped. So check back in this afternoon for the grand finale!!!

For more grea tackles go to 5mfm!!!

Finally ALL done!!! Of course, now I need to do my dining room lol. Ah a tackle for tomorrow!!! So much fun!!! It is nice accomplishing something though!!!

Tackle It Tuesday

Here are the objects of my obsession for this Tackle. I have scrubbed from head to tail. Bleached their bedding and scrubbed the floor! It took me well over an hour to feel like both dogs were actually clean. With all of the rain we have been having they have been smelling like wet dog - can I hear you say GROSS! Now they smell much - much better. The floor feels much better! & Their beds are all clean!!! Yay for a successful tackle!!!

For more exciting projects please go to 5 Minutes for Mom!

So after reading on Works for Me Wednesday about something called Angel Food Ministries I decided to try it out. So I will pick up my order on Saturday between 12 and 2! I am very excited I can't believe the price that you pay for so much food. My tackle today though is to create a menu for the next few weeks using the items we will receive so that I know what to buy at the grocery store. I am appealing to you creative ladies for help because my menu creating skills are sorely laking. My creativity in the kitchen is pretty much non-existant! So if you have any creative dishes that you would like to share with me please do so either through an email or in my comments! I would really appreciate it and my hubby would probably love you forever lol. You can only eat the same dishes so many times before they are not so appealing anymore!

®
J U L Y 2 0 0 7 M E N U

(1) 4 lb. I.Q.F. Chicken Thighs

(1) 16 oz. Gourmet Bean Soup
(1) 12 in. Supreme Pizza

(1) 24 oz. Home-style Hash browns
(1) 2 lb. Banquet Lasagna Dinner

(2) 7 oz. Healthy Steamed and Seasoned Vegetables
(1) 1 lb. Chicken Breast Fajitas
(1) 12 oz. Philly Steak Portions

(1) 7.5 oz. Mac & Cheese
(1) 2 lb. Popcorn Chicken

(1) 16 oz. Frozen Baby Carrots
(1) 16 oz. Smoked Sausage

(1) 16 oz. California Blend Veggies
(1) 2 lb. Breaded Frying Chicken

(1) 10 ct. Flour Tortillas
(1) 2 lb. Fresh Yellow Onions

(1) Each, Dessert
(1) Each, Dozen Fresh Eggs


ALL THIS FOR THE LOW COST OF JUST……..…..…..$25.00


JULY SPECIAL #3

8 lb. Lean Beef Home-Style
Hamburger Box $18.00
16 8-oz. Patties

I will play around with a menu and post back on here later. Maybe by then I will have some wonderful ideas from you fabulously creative ladies and/or gentlemen! Happy Tackle it Tuesday! If you would like to read more Tackles go to 5 Minutes for Moms! I am posting a little early so you won't see more until the morning.

Tackle it Tuesday - my blog

I have been unhappy with the look of my blog for a while so I am determined to get it to a point that I can live with it if not love it. So far I can live with it but there are a few tweaks that I want to make. Tell me what you think so far or if you see something that I can do to improve it - give it to me. I am up to constructive criticism! Just be gentle lol!!!

I have changed Anna's too so if you have a minute to swing by there tell me what you think of hers too! Thanks for dropping in and if you would like to see more projects go to 5 Minutes for Moms!

Tackle it Tuesday

Today my tackle has been my neighbor. She is going through a very tough time. Anna and I have been keeping her company. Keeping her mind occupied and trying to keep her focused. I am also collecting some of my baby things that we aren't using anymore and giving them to a girl on freecycle.com that is on bedrest. So that is what we are tackling today. What about you what are you tackling? If you want to see what others are up too go HERE!