Tackling it Tuesday 11-25-08

We cleaned up the rest of the house (kept up with the laundry and dishes too) except the garage and the rest of the paperwork. I have a bunch of papers that are mostly for scrapbooking and memory keeping. I need to ween it down quite a bit. I think I am going to buy a bunch of manila envelopes to label by event. Where to keep them? In my craft closet - of course. I so hope I get a space to put all my crafty stuff in the next place we move to.

Here is the list:

Garage---

vacuum entryway rug,
clean oil spill,
sweep,
put tools away,
go through cords and computer items with Jesse,
hang bikes,
clean out car care bin,
hang organizer for gloves and hats,
clean out garbage cans,
pull out Christmas decorations/tree,

Papers---

organize memorabilia papers,
print pictures,
hang pictures in frames,
find paper for Christmas gifts,
wrap Christmas gifts

Take Goodwill and Recycling Out!!!!

Tackling it Tuesday 11-11-08

All things thrown aside and I am starting anew. I've been bitten by the SAD bug. For those of you who do not live in Alaska, SAD is not only an emotion of distress but also an acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder. It just means the sky is getting too dark too early for my butt and I have a hard time adjusting...so I have to use one of these lights ummmm but not for my butt (I bought it for much less at Costco a few years back) to try and clear the SADness up:

My idea is to hook it up to a timer switch and when it goes off before I wake up, I will get the needed light for my morning to be pleasant(er). Or maybe the thing has a timer. I can't remember. I forgot to use it all last winter. My husband threatened to take it back to Costco many times over. Thank goodness I held my ground. I definitely need it this winter.

So, while I crave the lovely pile-o-sweets from Halloween, have a hard time waking up in the morning, and feel down and tired on gray and gloomy days...I have a hard time coping and pushing myself to finish regular tasks like the dishes, laundry, etc.

So here is my list for the week:

Finish all laundry - including all the darn blankets, pillow covers, and rugs the children puked all over this weekend whilst they were fighting the flu. YUCK-O!

I finished the heap of dishes in the kitchen already today...yeah for me!

Compile the black hole of papers scattered about the house. Again. File, shred, just get rid of the darned piles.

Oust the books piled up to "sell.."

Vacuum out the car.

SANITIZE the bathrooms. Yeah - that one's a must as well - immediate must.

Dust house and wipe the windows down. I need all the light I can get.

That's about all I can fathom for now. What's your week looking like?

PS - can you send some sun our way? Or at least a little blanket of fresh snow to lighten things up around here. Snow fell and stuck here since Oct. 05 and it is starting to look a bit dirty and brown.

Tackling It Tuesday 10-28-08

We bought a fish for Brandon's class.

$5.oo beta fish
$2.00 fish medicine :0(
$2.00 gas

Seeing an entire classroom of excited children ready to name their new
pet fish - PRICELESS! (They named him Mr. Fred.)

I am still working on that extra closet. Less time on the computer more time getting stuff done.

I did not get a chance to go shopping at any place besides Fred Meyer for the battery organizer. Maybe next week or the week after!

So far I have organized the pictures on my computer. I need to get the old ones from my old computer and put them to disc so I can have access to them!

Christmas "album" is made.

Children's closets are now re-organized.

I went to a local craft fair and bought a few more Christmas presents there.


This week I am concentrating on ousting Freecycle, Craigslist and Goodwill items.

I am going to scrub the stair railing.

I am also going to finish up the computer files (music and pictures from old to new computer and reorganizing).

I reeeeeaally want to put up the new curtains. The old ones are so frumpy looking!

Tackling it Tuesday 10-21-08

I am still working on the boxes. Unfortunately, my husband whom I rarely see these days needs to help me with the remaining boxes. That might need to be put off for a few weeks. He is venturing into finals week and I think I will let him do what he needs to do for now.

Tasks for this week:

Now that the extra closet is clean, organize it.

De-clutter the kids' closets and organize them.

Hook up the color printer and see if it operates.

Find a battery organizer. I hate that I can't tell if they are dead or not.

Figure out the remaining Christmas presents to get/make.

Buy a beta fish for Bman's classroom.

Organize pictures better from computer, copy to disc.

Download music to walkman.

Make some Christmas music files to listen to.

Tackling It Tuesday 10/14/08

Just to make myself feel a bit better, I am posting pics of some things I have accomplished recently (can you tell I need a pat on the back):

I scrubbed the tubs

I scrubbed the fish tank

I bought flowers for the house (they usually last about 2 weeks). One for the dining table, and another bouquet for my bedroom. Don't mock my flower arranging skills. I am just happy to have them on the table!

Oh, and I bought 2 fall pillows for my house. I guess I should buy winter pillows since the snow is sticking to the ground already! Plllbbbb.

I did 5 loads of laundry, washed 3 loads of dishes, sewed my sons Halloween costume, worked out, made dinner and had guests over, cleaned both bathrooms, swept bare floors, and vacuumed carpeted floors (all in one day - yesterday....snore snore yep need some sleep). Lest you think - WOW she is dynamite (or maybe this is a usual day for you)... there is a reason so much work was to be done. The reason being I let the work sit undone for days before hand. Now to process my Flylady within me (helllooo helllooo are you in there?) and make sure I keep on top of these things before they all pile up into one day. Okay I am off to procrastinate again! Goodnight all.

Oh- yeah my list for the week:

File paperwork pile (and designate a paperwork spot).

Hem, mend and iron.

Hang pics, take family pics.

Go through 3 storage boxes.

Set up the start of our 72-hour kits.

Recycling to the center.

Clean off toys from back patio.

Get newsprint rolls from newspaper office.

Wrap Christmas gifts.

Work on other Christmas presents.

Hang other curtains.

Tackling It Tuesday

I did plenty on my list and not over the past few weeks and I even took pictures. I am trying to figure out how to download the pics from my new camera (yeah). For now, you will just have to take my word for it.

Bathtubs scrubbed - check
Fish tank cleaned - check
Trash cans cleaned - check
Odds and end pictures and decor changed - check
Flowers bought and set out - check

So I don't remember what else there was on the list and I am too lazy to look right now - I had a lonnnnnng day. So if I get to the camera tomorrow (Tuesday), I will post some pics for your enjoyment!

Whew and gooooodnight.

Tackling-It Tuesday

Per request I will from now on let you know the next Tuesday how my tackling went and if it got done. I might even post pictures. Hmmmm...

For this week, I am planning on the following:

Scrub the tubs. I can't believe I let it go for so long!

Buy flowers to spruce up the place and make it less depressing with all the gloomy rain lately.

Get through 2 boxes of memorabilia and store properly.

Take wedding dress to the cleaners and get it stored properly as well.

Scrub T-man's high chair - YUCK!

Change the "scenery" in the living room. (Decor) I would looove to buy or (better yet) make a few cute pumpkin pillows for the season.

Clean out the unused fish tank and send it off to B-man's school.

Vacuum under the beds.

Let's see how far I get now, should we?

Tackling It Tuesday

To tackle this week:

Extra boxes around house are to be sorted, emptied and tossed.

Kids bulletin board set up in the hallway for projects, reading lists, exercise program, fun activity ideas, etc.

Paintings matted and hung along with mail sorter.

Kids toys and clothes sorted before the holiday season begins.

The car needs an overhaul - inside and out!

I feel like Martha Stewart with her little calendar of things to get done for the month for everyone to see. I always thought those things seemed boring. I still do. Sorry if I bore you, but these cleaning lists are more for me than you I am sure! :0l

Tackling it Tuesday

This week is leftovers for chores! :0)

I didn't get a chance to clean out under the oven as previously planned.
We didn't get to poor ol' Nemo's tank to clean out the "golden" water.
We didn't get to painting the tables.
Oh - and my sweet husband reallllly needs to clean out the cooler...really.
Today is recycling day for us so I will take the kids to the local recycling center and we will dump the bins. Instead of once a month recycling I think we will need to go once every two weeks.
We are tackling the rest of the garage this week as well.
Two of our family are going to school so things will get hectic around here next week.
Wish us luck!

Tackling It Tuesday

Tackle: to pummel, to go head strong at, to push through (my own definitions if you couldn't tell).

This week ... I suppose I should ... no I need to ...

clean underneath the stove. This is a job I dread. Not because I don't like it looking clean or because it is that tough of a job. Well, normally it is not that tough of a job. When we moved into this rental, our landlord was "in the process of cleaning up and doing the last minute touch ups." No. He wasn't and no - he didn't. (Say that last line with two snaps in the air and a slide slide of the head). The kitchen drawers were stocked with someone elses trash and goods (old keys, sippy cups, Top Ramen, a broken plate, paperwork, an inappropriate sticker on the children's bathroom mirror...and the list goes on) when we moved in.

BUT the worst of it all is the area around the stove doesn't seem like it has been cleaned since the place was built. No wonder they have a bazillion gazillion ant traps pasted around the place. Ewwww. And I don't mind cleaning up after my own mess. Someone elses mess I do not know and therefore I do not know what might be under there. Hmmmm this bothers me. So, after living here for almost a year and the weather starting to get chilly (hence bugs try to move indoors from outdoors right about now) I proclaim it the week to clean under the stove. With rubber gloves, bleach, paper towels, nose plug, goggles, a jackhammer and old grungy clothes on. Wish me luck everyone!

Oh, and I will also tackle the compilation of computer cords, hard drives, extra CDs, phone cords, etc. with my man the Jessinator.

Oh, and I will also tackle the rest of the filing since I didn't get to it last week.

That brings on another story (bear with me here!) about fish. I love fish. I am grateful to acquire a big source of fish every year. I am not particularly fond of that fish smell. Ahem... so we are now learning how to brine and smoke the silvers we caught at the end of July. My father-in-law lent us an old cooler and told us to fill it half full with water, add salt, garlic salt, and brown sugar. Let it settle and dissolve overnight (the cooler in the bath tub), add fish in the morning. Let it sit all day and smoke it in the evening. So my sweet husband and I performed all the steps we were told. Except for one little thing. He did not put the cooler in the bath tub.

That morning, he placed all the fish in the cooler, and left it on the edge of the kitchen floor - which is right next to the dining room carpet. That morning, I woke up and took a shower. B-man came running downstairs and told me Princess dumped the fish food (we have a pet fish). Assuming fish flakes, I finished what I was doing and came upstairs to find the entire cooler of fish and brine spilt all over the dining room carpet from one end to the other. That was Friday, the 1st of this month. I intended to finish the filing last weekend. All the towels in the house soaking up fish brine water, two mops of the kitchen floor, three washings of the fish, making more brine and soaking the fish again, three (scratch that it was four) carpet steams and a bottle of orange floor freshener later... I was exhausted (thanks Mom for the help you are great at coming to the rescue).

The moral of the story: If you brine fish in the house... leave the cooler in the bath tub! And don't assume you are going to get a big project done in just two days!

Oh - my sweet little girl - she was just trying to show her brother how strong she was by lifting the cooler of fish and brine. Yep - she's pretty strong alright! Yes, I still love her. Deeply.

Tackling It Tuesday

A few tidbits I want to work on this week:

Paint sofa table black, top with chalkboard paint on 1/2 and checkerboard for checkers on other 1/2

Paint entry table

Scrub out fridge

Scrub out garbage cans/under the sink

Scrub car inside and out

Plan out Christmas presents

Plan out B-mans lunch schedule

Start making bows, sample shirt...more on this later!

Make a cover for the big pillow

Hook up the color printer

Tackling It Tuesday

Let me dig in to the work pile here:

Paperwork: I went through 3 trash bags (oh I mean the biiiiiig yard bags) full of paperwork recently. Yuck and whew. I still have one more bag to go, my filing cabinet to reorganize, and all the miscellaneous stuff that somehow decided to mingle with the papers put away. Then the papers will be manageable. Boy I cannot wait for that to be in place! (Being a business major and all...)

Laundry: Back to being in order again. I don't have to catch anything up at this point.

Craft closet: Organize all pictures, scrapbook accessories, and sewing supplies.

Bedroom: Finally hang the pictures in there.

Floors: Sweep, Vacuum, Mop. Somehow the kids/guest bathroom still smells like a gas station bathroom (and I SWEAR I didn't hang a cardboard tree in there to add to the ambiance)!

Fish tank: Clean the goobs and "gold" water from the tank of poor fat ol' Nemo the goldfish.

Garage: Do I really have to go there? OK - so it is a project that needs some kick in the pants to get going. The bikes, skis, and tools need to be hung, food storage organized, shoes put away, tools organized, and the floor swept. Then - ta da! A better entrance area for the guests...Who thought of putting the front door in the garage? Good thing it's just a rental. I would change the location of the door ASAP if we owned the place - and what a hassle that would be!

So this is the list for the week. What kind of projects are you all working on?

Tackling It Tuesday

Today was a good day to tackle some yucks lying around the house.

Three things I worked on today:

1. Clean all floors. As I found the baby searching for snacks on the kitchen floor I thought this might be a good task to get to today! Cringe Sweep, mop, vacuum all floors (except the garage that is another project in itself).


2. Scrub the bathrooms. Children make the bathroom smell like urine. Guests don't like coming to my home and using the "gas station" toilet. Bleach the toilet, clean the sink, tub, heater and mirrors.


3. Finish big laundry. Those down quilts (yes we are still using the down quilts - sucks to be in the cold rain day in and day out..sun come out, come out wherever you are!) pillows and blankets need to be cleaned too! They waited patiently for far too long. The dust bunnies threw a few parties and unleashed their sneezing powder all over so I need a box of tissues next to me while I do laundry lately. Finish all blankets, pillows, robes, and quilts today.

Of course these are not all I worked on - I did pick up things in the garage a bit. Again, that is a monumental task for another day.