I tackled the Backyard!

First of all let me say I have lived here for 6 years and I have always HATED my yard as long as I have been here. It was always easy to be lazy and blame it on a lack of money to do such a big job. But now I am tired of all the complaining and I am ready to clean up so me and my kids can go outside!!!

Even if it is still never a real lawn, it will be clean dirt without WEEDS EVERYWHERE!!!

My before shot is actually the other side of the backyard that I have not finished yet, and the after photo is the side I planned on finishing today, and I really got it done!!! Thanks to a good friend of mine who came over and helped when I called her all frustrated and angry (yes still struggling, but I am figuring out what helps).

Notice how happy my daughter is in the after shot!!! It's totally all worth it for a photos like that! I also have a picture of my hubby playing with my son....

I want to say a HUGE thank you to 5 minutes 4 mom to encourage me every week to get something tackled, life has changed since tackling things with you gals... thank you for your obedience in the form of a blog :o).

Tackled the Bookcase

Here is the very scary and mostly chaotic before picture... yes those are Star Wars legos in that cabinet :o) My husband collects them.

And here is the photo I am so proud of because I like looking into that corner now...I also made a new place for someone to sit :o)

Lots to do... so Little time

I am very busy lately either planning or actually making...

• Altered Starbucks Frappuccino bottles
• Altered Basic Grey Lunch Pails
• A client's album due at the end of April
• A bunch of inventory price tagging
• Going out today to get my son's pictures taken
• Visiting a friend today to plan more of the crop in May
• Making sure my home is presentable for my son's party on Saturday
• Laundry
• Dishes
• Blogging :o)

Pictures Taken

Frustration received!

My day so far made me need to come home and rest, so I am now venting to you. I am never going back to Picture People, they do NOT have good customer service!

I went both there and to Kiddie Kandids today... it wasn't that I was unhappy with the photography, or even the photographer at Picture People, I am just upset with their policies and lack of communication.

They were going to delete my son's 10 month photos without even warning me! So I had to spend $100 to get the ones I wanted today, because they failed to tell me two months ago that if I don't purchase at least one sheet the day of the sitting I cannot view them online, and they will not keep them any longer than a couple months... even though they told me they would email them to me two months ago! And even though I purchased some today they are still not going to keep them in their computer, so what I get it is what I get and that's it. I am sorry, but going though this is not worth $18 - $25 per sheet.

I am stickin' with Kiddie Kandids! They were so nice to me today, I went to sign-up for I time slot before my scheduled appointment with Picture People and since Picture People was so annoying I ended up late for my turn, but they took me anyway, they were polite about it, and they had no problem with emailing me my photos even though I wasn't purchasing on the spot, no questions asked, no dirty looks given.
*sigh*

Tackle it Trouble?

Okay Ladies! I do not know if this happens to anyone else, but it seems I continue tackling the same thing every week... I am always behind, and am tired of it! Will this feeling ever go away? Will I ever be the Suburban Superwoman that my heart longs to be?! You know the one in Titus 2... the sensible, pure, worker at home, who is kind, submissive and honorable.

I did three sink loads of dishes, and folded another couch full of laundry today... then I rammed my toes into the wall while climbing over the safety gate in our kitchen. And was out of commission because my toes were painfully swollen.

Will there ever be hope for me? The answer is YES! My husband is currently having me go through Psalm 121 and I have been very encouraged so far, because God tells me He will be my help, He will not allow my foot to slip, and He will not slumber. But it's a two way street, I have to let him help me... so here I am Lord, willing and ready, send me, even if it is only to do more laundry.

We have too many clothes!

Does this happen to any of you also?! Do you get the laundry cleaned, but not folded and put away? It happens to me all the time. I noticed I am more prone to putting it away if I leave the clean clothes in a spot that is "wanted", like my couches. Even when people are over I will fold clothes in front of them, because the seat is needed and I refuse to just relocate the clean pile.

I feel much better getting all the clothes picked up and put away, they were really EVERYWHERE! I didn't even mention mention the bags of clothes that were sitting in the kitchen waiting to go to the Goodwill, or the boxes of different sizes to be packed into the garage, or the second and third laundry baskets in my kids rooms! Oye! I had a lot of laundry to do today... but it's been tackled!

Look what I tackled this week

I have been quite behind on my Scrapping for Others work. My dear husband says I should stop waiting till the last minute to do things, but my response is always that I am taking a break to get some rest, but then after I get the "rest" I have to cram :o).

So this week is me cramming. I have three different albums all due very soon, and one last minute Altered Art project to do.

Here is a photo of the custom paint can a client of mine requested as a gift for her Pastor's wife.

And here are some of the layouts from the memorial album I delivered to a friend of mine as a sympathy gift for his wife Lila passing away a year ago of Cancer.

I also set up about 114 photos into 12x12 layout form to get ready to review them and take comments on them with my client tomorrow.

Encouraged to Join

This is totally ironic that I shared my crazy kitchen with you just yesterday and now I ran past this very nice group at 5MintutesForMom.com that is tackling tasks just like mine and sharing them on Tuesdays! 

As you might guess I lack motivation. I think it is just great to know there are others out there that let things pile up like I do, and that they are humble enough to share it! Well, this is going to be my new way of making myself tackle something every week, no matter what size. I am also excited to share my life of laziness, joy and encouragement with you. This is going to be fun!

Motivated on a Monday

This is my confession of laziness and procrastination! But after my poor husband watched the kids for me on Saturday, and seeing the sad look on his face yesterday about having no clean dishes... I knew I had taken it too far again! This happens all too often, but I don't let myself get too down about it and neither should you... It took me 2.5 hours to get those dishes done this morning, hours I usually spend playing with my kiddos, and they are more important than dishes anyday!

Notice how the very last picture has my dish rack sitting in the sink with some clean dishes in it? This is a trick I learned from my friend Andrea, it helps me keep fewer dirty dishes in my sink, and fewer clean ones all over my counter :o).

Also notice in that same picture, the left side of my sink is not so white? I have another trick for this, but it must work it's magic while I sleep (how wonderful)! I don't remember which friend I learned this from, but I believe she got it from FlyLady.net. So what I do is wait till bedtime, I fill up my sink with hot hot water, dish soap, and bleach... and in the morning I drain it, and rinse it, and TADA! It shines! Try it, you'll love it!