Laundry Laundry Laundry!!!

Umm... I don't need a bed tonight, lol!!!

Tackled Relaxation!

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning :(

Pregnant mommy had a narcoleptic moment and didn't hear the kids up playing. By the time my older daughter came to me she was saying "Mommy they're into your stuff". I asked her "what stuff?" and she said Mini was writing on things with a marker. Oh dear, "what things?". "The couch, the wall, your pictures."

"NO!"

Happy to be prepared for what my eyes would see in the next room I realized quickly that mommy probably shouldn't keep that sharpie marker so handy in her purse!

This obviously makes the things already in my purse free reign for scribbles!!!

This hurt, because last Tuesday's tackle I spent ALL day making this book of notes for labor couching!

Luckily she mostly only scribbled in places that made things still legible.

I only re-wrote one page.

But I did have a lot of previously blank pages to tear out. OYE! How long was I asleep!!!???

The spots on the couch weren't as bad as I thought they could be...

... the magic eraser will get them out...

... just like it got these marks off of just about EVERY picture on the photo tin I made!

Before the magic eraser...

After the magic eraser...

Praise the Lord for magic erasers!

And praise Him that Mini decided to leave my Bible alone.

And that she didn't write on the newer photo tin I just made.

This was not all I had to deal with yesterday - it was just an exceptionally bad Monday - the kids were not "normal". So I was really worked on relaxation for me and baby in the belly. I realized later in the day that So You Think You Can Dance on YouTube is a great distraction!!! :)

To see what others are Tackling, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Scrappin' Sunday

For Scrappin' Sunday we share our "ta-da's" and our "to-do's" to keep us motivated each week. Join me...

TA-DA's...

I picked pictures for more layouts on Wednesday and even Digi/Studio scrapped one of them. I also ordered all 5 of the Studio layouts I have made so far, I can't wait to receive them in the mail!!!

I also finally sent My niece's belated birthday card out... only two months late!!! I had to make an envelope for it, but it didn't take that long, so I don't know why I was putting it off...

Look, my son picked us a bundle of adorable flowers on the way back from the mailbox :)...



...and look at this junkmail! All in one box really mailman!?!??! What a waste!

(Back on subject) I managed to get almost fully ready for a workshop I am teaching next Saturday! Here's some pics of what it looks like when I am hard at work.

It's a good thing we have a big couch and I have F.R.E.D. - I didn't wanna work at my table with my little one sick on the couch...

Notice I have the remotes and the phone right there with me too...

Here's all 23 kits so far. They are still missing some adhesive, but that's it I think...

Oh and here is the finished project they will be learning (without my personal photos and embellishments added - of coarse they will add their own)...

Now onto my running TO-DO list...

1. Finish getting kits ready for workshop.
2. See what's missing for workshop and get supplies.
3. Alter Recipe box for June workshop.
4. Make sign-up sheet.
5. Get Altoid Tin tutorial online.
6. Pack for workshop and retreat.
7. Make a wedding card.
8. Journal on old "finished" layouts.
9. Plan more layouts.

The stuff I finished from last week...

1. Plan more layouts.
2. Print Studio J layouts before they expire - This week!
3. Send out niece's belated birthday card - This week.
4. Alter Altoids tin for May workshop - This week!

Tackle it Tuesday

I tackled THREE weeks in a row!!!

That's so exciting to me - it means I'm getting stuff done! :)

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I got some more crossed off my to-do list (below).

I organized and pared down all the children's clothes I had in bins... actually 7 bins, 1 box and 1 garbage bag!

It's looked like this in my front room for probably a month. I kept telling myself that if I kept it all right in front of my nose I would be more prone to getting it done in a timely manner. Well I finally got it done...

This was part of the organizing process. I went from 9 containers of clothes to 3! All sorted by sizes...

I knew ahead of time that these three bins would fit under the crib, even though it doesn't look like it here...

... they do! :) and it's so nice to get them out of the way...

... I didn't take pics of it, but I was able to give 2 big trash bags of baby girl clothes to my friend and another 3 bags to the goodwill.

And with all that taken care of - and the hanging of my guitar - and a little rearranging - this is the AFTER shot! Much, much better...

I even got all my completed scrapbook albums out and organized them to go into the bottom-right cabinet the entertainment center pictured above.

I figured it was an empty storage spot and finished albums are meant to be looked through for entertainment purposes... so why not relocate them to the entertainment center? :)

I have 10 in all, but only 8 fit...

1. My old church camp album.
2. Our wedding album (the first one I ever made).
3. My husband's gift album of us before the kiddos.
4. Our oldest daughter's birth to 1 year / baby album.
5. Our son's baby album.
6. Our younger daughter's baby album (not complete yet - I have 7 layouts left).
7. Another album of the kid's layouts, but each each kid only gets 2 layouts a year.
8. And then it's our family album :)...

All very exciting organizing for me!!!

It's nice to to give everything a place to be. Even from last week's tackle with the bunkbeds, I had extra boards from the disassembled top bunk that had to go somewhere in my 2 bedroom apartment! So I slid them under the couch! :)...

Strange? Maybe, but it works. I also wanted to share another little trick that brings me sanity :). An unused scarf tried to the doorknob and the new bunkbed to keep the kids from opening and closing the door a million times when they are playing...

LOVE it!

Now onto my running TO-DO list - I got 2.5 things crossed off...

1. Organize and pare down hand-me-down clothes in bins.
2. Hang acoustic guitar on wall in front room.
3. Pack hospital bag.
4. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach.
5. Get kids to doctors appointments and sign-up for WIC.
6. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
7. Get birth certificates and immunization records.
8. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed.
9. Donate car.

Tackle it Tuesday

I tackled two weeks in a row!!! :) And got three things off my To-do list (below).

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We ordered a new bunkbed Thursday evening and it came Friday afternoon!!! So I tackled moving the crib out of the kids room and into the empty spot in my master bedroom.

Here...

I had to take it halfway apart to get it through the doorways and the hallway, but here it is all re-situated :)...

The kids played nicely in the front room while mommy was in the back rooms tackling...

I even got to put the baby's bedding in. And we picked up a chocolate colored mobile from our local consignment store when we got the safety bed-rail for my toddler ;)...

Here is the spot I moved the crib from, all empty and ready for the bunkbed to arrive...

And here is me with all the bunkbed parts sorted on the floor, ready to go... wait - I should cook dinner first, not ignore it...

While the lasagna was in the oven my hubby took the kids swimming to give Mommy some tackle time with the new bunkbed...

After dinner I worked right into the kiddo's bedtime and finally got it all done...

Thanks hubby for your help with those last couple stubborn screws!!! (And sorry for the attitude!)

The room had two bunkbeds in it. We originally planned to keep the brown one up because we bought mattresses for both top and bottom...


... but the mattresses were kinda ghetto! Anyone else have a flashback to their childhood?!!! Even without that though, they are WAY heavy, TOTALLY hard - like sleeping on wood, and when you move them you can hear the springs giggling around. And they are not a flat surface, they were rounded, weird, I couldn't sleep the night my son slept on his because I was just waiting for him to roll right off....

So I ended up taking the top bunk off the older bunkbed as part of my tackle as well We also got my son a better mattress (I would rather pay $100 for one good mattress than $100 for two ghetto ones :)...

Look, this is Mini sleeping in her "big girl bed" for the first time :*)...

And this is her Big Sissy right above her, not sleeping yet of coarse...

And this was her... all happy in the morning :)... so sweet!!!...

I also tackled some organizing of post office bound packages, but I posted about those HERE if you are interested in my victory :).

Oh, and I backed up my hard-drive!

Now onto my running TO-DO list...

1. Organize and pare down hand-me-down clothes in bins.
2. Hang acoustic guitar on wall in front room.
3. Pack hospital bag.
4. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach.
5. Get kids to doctors appointments and sign-up for WIC.
6. Back up hard-drive.
7. Get old scrapbook packages ready and go to post office.
8. Get a "big girl bed" for Mini and move her crib to master bedroom.
9. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
10. Get birth certificates and immunization records.
11. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed.

Tackle it Tuesday

Brushing up on my tackling stills :)

I tackled some other painting and decorating plans a month ago, but before that I hadn't tackled in a YEAR!

I think I will keep a running To-Do list here (at the bottom) like I do for Sunday Scrappin' to keep myself accountable.

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For last week I finally got my bedroom wall painted after having the paint sit around for a month and a half!

Here's my wall all clean and ready...

Here is me and baby (24 weeks) in our painting clothes :)...

Here is the Chocolate - "Brownie" paint I got from Wally Mart...

Here I was done with my least favorite part - preparations blah! Taping...

Here are my kiddos "helping" with their pieces of tape, lol :)...

First coat - edging and top half done...

Whole first coat done - it looked really bad!...

And I looked pretty messed up myself...

But the kids were still having a good time, because I wasn't paying as much attention to their "quite time" :)...

It all looked MUCH better once the second coat was completed!!!...

This is the only picture I could find of what the room looked like before I took everything off the walls and moved the furniture away...

And this is the after picture with everything back in place :)...

I totally love it. Now I can't wait to get my 2 year old a "big girl bed" so I can take her crib and move it into my room for the new baby... it will go to the far right in this picture :)

Now onto my running TO-DO list...

1. Organize and pare down hand-me-down clothes in bins.
2. Hang acoustic guitar on wall in front room.
3. Pack hospital bag.
4. Make labor index cards to help hubby coach.
5. Get kids to doctors appointments and sign-up for WIC.
6. Back up hard-drive.
7. Get old scrapbook packages ready and go to post office.
8. Get a "big girl bed" for Mini and move her crib to master bedroom.
9. Get a work-space built for homeschooling in the Fall.
10. Find online courses and sign-up to do my own general ed.