Home projects and other news.

I wanted to post an update on my Unglued progress.  I am loving this book.  Loving.  It is the perfect book for me to read right now, at a time that I feel seriously unglued.  The book repeats over and over to put the word of God in your heart.  Read the word, memorize the word, meditate on the word.  Well, I think now's a good time to tell everyone that I'm about 3 weeks in to reading through the Bible in 90 days.  I haven't told you (or many people at all) that because, frankly, it scares me.  It's a lot of reading and I don't want to fail. I've started (and quit) reading the Bible from cover to cover, in chronological order, New Testament first... you name it, I've tried it.  And I always quit.  It's hard.  There are some places, especially in the Old Testament that make me go cross-eyed.  But, I'm going into week 3 tomorrow and I'm in Deuteronomy.  Which means I'm passed Exodus AND Leviticus!  Woot woot!  Those are a couple of my stumbling blocks from the past.  So, those are behind me and I've told the world (or at least my 3 readers) that I'm doing this, so now you're holding me accountable, right?

In other news.... I want to start some new projects around the house.  As most of you know, we just finished a ginormous outdoor renovation that I LOVE and I'm super-excited to enjoy it even more once we can light up the fireplace and curl up in front of it.  It's been awhile since we've taken on a project inside the house.  Here are the things I want to do... in order.  Jason, if you're reading this, don't fall over.... I don't plan on trying to do all of these at once! ;)
I would like to move Julianne's room upstairs.  My thought was to keep Julianne downstairs until we have another baby.... but I don't know when/if that's going to happen.  And since Julianne wakes up at every. single. sound. I think it would be great to move her upstairs and away from the morning business.  Jason gets up at tooearly:thirty and I get up about an hour later at tooearlyforme:thirty.  Well, as soon as we start stirring, guess who's up!  I tuck her back in her bed so that I can have a minute of quiet (or an hour since I'm reading like a ton of God's word daily)... but she's still up too early... which means she's super crabby and exhausted.  Will moving her upstairs actually help? I don't know *I hate it when people ask and answer their own questions, don't you??  Super annoying.*  But I want to try.  Julianne moved into the room we totally decorated for Lucy.  In fact, the only things we changed were the name sign on the wall (and that took like a year) and I had a friend paint a sign to put over the changing table.  Nothing else changed.  At all.
We totally re-did Lucy and Adelaide's room about 2 years ago and then we moved Adelaide into the guest room when she started Kindergarten (and bought her some bedding to make it look like she's not sleeping in the guest room).  We had always thought at least 2 of the kids would share a room... but right now, we don't like the combinations.  Lucy wakes up too early (do you see a trend?) and Adelaide really needs her rest because she's in big school all day.  So, instead of bunking Lucy and Julianne together (which I think would only result in them waking up earlier and earlier), I would like to move Julianne into the other guest room upstairs.  We would then have a guest room downstairs.  In order to convince Jason this would work for our future plans, is to tell him that we can paint the downstairs room that has always been a nursery gray.  I will use gray if we ever use that room as a nursery again.  I promise. :)  Anyway, it would be a guest room now and if we have another child (or two), it will remain the guest room/nursery.  And all of our children, for now, will be upstairs along with the playroom.  Sounds like a great idea to me!!!  So, first and foremost, I would like to turn the guest room upstairs into Juli's big girl room and I would like for it to look like this.
  If anyone would like to offer their expertise on repurposing furniture or other things into furniture, I'd love a good lesson... we would like to furnish this room on a dime. :)
And I would like to paint the downstairs room gray and move the upstairs furniture into this room for our guest room.  I would love repurpose an old, beat-up mantle into a headboard like this one.  I should take a moment to mention that I don't really like anything else going on in this room.... other than the headboard.
Next on my list is the pantry/laundry room.  I have asked a friend to make these.  My laundry room is tiny, and the storage isn't very functional.  It does have some great cabinets above the washer/dryer that I'm too short to reach without a step stool and a counter opposite the washer/dryer with a utility sink.  So, it has some bones that are great, but the use of the space hasn't reached it's potential.  I think the use of the pedestal under the washer/dryer will be great for sorting laundry and actually using that space.  Then I would like the other side of my laundry room, under the counter to look like this.
While all that is going on, I would love to paint the laundry room a fun color I wouldn't be able to get away with in the rest of the house, like a fun orange or hot pink. :)  Since it's so small, though, I might need to settle for a soothing green or Tiffany blue.  I wonder if Jason would go for a chandelier in there?  Hmmmm....
Speaking of under-utilized spaces, my pantry... it's kinda pathetic.  I know, I know... I'm thankful I have a pantry.  I really am.  But, only half of it is really used... actually less than half.  It's the size of a small closet, but the only shelves in there are on the back wall... and they stop about 3 feet from the floor.  We are losing some major function in the pantry.  I would love to yank all of the wire shelves out and toss them... paint and then get a great closet shelving system put in that will actually work for us.  Like with real shelves that won't let stuff fall through and that cans can't sit on levelly.
Something like this pantry.
Okay for long term, I would love to see about having my kitchen cabinets painted and glazed.
And super long term, I would like to pretty much rip out the entire master bathroom with it's beautiful but totally uncomfortable bathtub and start over.
Please don't take this post to mean that I'm not thankful for our beautiful home.  I am.  But I want to make it our's  and I want to make it work for us.
I don't see a point in keeping a perfectly suitable room upstairs just for guests that come once every three months or so (sorry grandparents)... we live here every day and I want it to work first and foremost for us.  And I didn't envision all of our girls having their own rooms, but if that's what gives everyone the most sleep, split 'em up!  Anyway.... stay tuned... I'm looking to start switching stuff up here soon.

Time for a tip!!

I love dry erase markers.  They are one of my secret tools!  I don't go shopping very often, especially with all of my kids.  But, occasionally, I will run into a store and find something I want to try on.  You want to know my secret weapon for fitting rooms with 3 small children!?  That's not fair, you had hint.  That's right, dry erase markers.  Give them over and let them go to town on the mirror. They can draw silly faces on their reflection or I ask them to draw what I have on... It will give you a good couple of minutes to throw your clothes on!  I also keep them in our church bag.  I just read a tip somewhere yesterday (maybe Parent's magazine?) that said to rip out the pages in those workbooks that cost like $20 for a book of mazes or capital letters... pop each page in a page protector and let them work them with a dry erase marker.  Then they can work them over and over again.

I have another awesome way to use dry erase markers!  On your washing machine!  You think I'm crazy, don't you!?  Am I the only person that loads the washing machine with good intentions to take out such-n-so to air dry/ hang dry/ lay flat and totally forget in my rush to throw everything in the dryer??  I do that all the time!  Well, today I decided to write it on my washing machine when I loaded the washing machine so I would remember what I needed to look for when I switched the laundry over to the dryer.  I got this idea when I saw on etsy the other day, decals to put on the washing machine... like contact paper! It was so cool looking, but it mad me think of dry erase markers.  Here's what I put on my washer this morning...

Cleaning schedule and meal planning

Okay, I've been harassed into blogging today (I'm pointing at you, Liz) and I don't have a lot to talk about. That last part isn't true. I always have a lot to talk about. Where should I start!?

Well, first of all, Jason is home! I'm SO thankful he's back! Last week, Jason went to Cuzco, Peru on a medical mission trip. They saw like a gagillion patients. For real! I am super proud of him, as are his girls, but I am so relieved that the trip is behind us. We all missed him terribly, but Lucy had the hardest time of all. She was crying about any and everything. I kept trying to get her to talk about Daddy. Where is he? "Peru." What's he doing? "He gets to be Jesus' hands." She kept saying she was so proud of him, but she is the most intuitive child. She knows when something just isn't right. She sensed that a piece of our puzzle was missing and nothing else was fitting right with him not being here. I hated seeing her go through that and not feeling like there was much I could do to help her. I tried, but I didn't know what to do. I lost my patience. A lot. I fussed right back at her and acted like a child. I admit it. I prayed for months before this mission trip, that I would handle the stress of him being gone with grace. I failed. Big time. I'm not a very calm person. Nor am I patient. At least not patient enough. Is it possible to be patient enough? If so, I'm not. I'm ashamed at how I behaved in the middle of the week. I wish I could do it over again. Well, not the trip, but I do wish I could change my attitude about it. Anyway, I'm glad it's over. I'm glad my children have a Daddy that wants to do all that he can to repay the debt we all have. He was able to show over a thousand people last week the love of Christ. And that was just in Peru. I know he made an impact on many people here... especially his family. Our girls kept saying, "I'm so proud of him." I'm glad they are... and I hope they always will be. Their daddy is pretty special and I'm thankful for him.

He is also the author of a brand new blog that has quite a following already. You should check it out! www.bevelup.wordpress.com. He explained to me what bevel up means, but I don't really get it. Something about a needle. He's so nerdy.... er, smart. :)

In other news, I've created a new cleaning schedule in hopes of getting rid of my cleaning lady. She currently comes every other week... I love her. She's been cleaning for us for the better part of 7 years... and I think I'm crazy for letting her go... but she's expensive. Really expensive. And I should be able to do this myself. Right? I normally can keep up with things just fine, except for the floors and the bathrooms... let's face it. We have a lot of floors... and bathrooms. But I'm hoping with my new cleaning schedule, I'll be able to stay on top of all the cleaning and save some money every month. I can do it, right!? Right??

Here's the plan for now... I'm sure I will tweak it. I have flylady habits running through my veins, but I have a hard time with some of her daily challenges... sometimes they just don't fit my house... you know? So I'm trying to make a schedule of my own. The last couple of weeks I've stuck with it and I've done the whole house with every step. I think, starting next week, I'll break it down to upstairs one week and downstairs the other. We'll see how that goes....

Monday- daily routines (I'll list them below), clean toilets, wipe down bathtubs (alternating upstairs and downstairs... there are 5 bathrooms altogether... that's a lot of toilet scrubbing...)

Tuesday- daily routines, change bedsheets, dust wood, clean glass (I'll do all sheets every week, because I just can't stand leaving them on more than a week, but I'll alternate the wood/glass for upstairs and downstairs)

Wednesday- daily routines, empty garbage, wipe out microwave and fridge (this won't alternate obviously)

Thursday- daily routines, vacuum, mop floors, vacuum cabinet doors and vents, under furniture, stairs and pick a closet (I'll focus on upstairs/downstairs with the exception of our high traffic areas downstairs)

Friday- daily routines, a monthly task (these will alternate... I'll list them below)

Saturday- daily routines

Sunday-daily routines

Daily routines:

Kitchen-

1. wash dishes, load/unload dishwasher

2. wipe down countertops

3. vacuum after meals

Bathroom-

1. wipe down counters in main bath

2. wipe down to and back of toilet

Make beds/open blinds/turn on lamps (it just makes everything look cleaner)

Laundry

1. wash a load of laundry and put it ALL away (usually I do more than one load, but I try to do at least one a day)

2. collect all dirty laundry at night (I like to pick up all the dirty laundry when I tuck everyone in and sort it at night. I put a load in the washer at night and put detergent in... so all I have to do in the morning is push the button. This cuts down on procrastination in the morning and helps to get everything started as soon as I'm moving in the morning. I also have a recipe for homemade laundry detergent that I love... I'll post that soon. :)

Tidy up seating areas

1. fold blankets

2. fluff pillows

I'm bad about leaving the blankets sprawled over the couches during the day from our lounging on the couch at night... no more! It looks so much better when the pillows are properly fluffed and the blankets are folded!

Pick up!!

1. 15 minute tidy at nap time

2. 15 minute tidy at bed time

Monthly chores:

clean out garbage cans

vacuum wall corners and ceilings

vacuum inside couch

clean stove top trays

cycle clean the dishwasher and washing machine (this is usually done more like bimonthly)

vacuum inside vents

wipe down switch plates and door knobs

dust ceiling fans

sweep/vacuum garage

launder bath rugs

scrub grout

Quarterly

change air purifier filter

clean oven

wash bed linens (for the kids, this is usually more than quarterly)

vacuum mattresses

vacuum window treatments

clean coffee maker (usually more than quarterly)

clean out fridge and freezer (thorough clean), vacuum crumbs, wipe down with soapy water

I've also made a meal plan for the year... here's what's for dinner this week:

Monday- we had the Pioneer Woman's meatloaf... yummm!!!! with mashed potatoes and macaroni... yes, I realize, there wasn't a veggie... it wasn't meant to be healthy. :)

Tuesday- chicken rollups ( a can of chicken, block of cream cheese, package of ranch dressing mix all mixed up... put a dollop onto a crescent roll, roll up and seal the edges and back on 350 for like 30 minutes... delish... found on pinterest) with green beans.

Wednesday- italian grilled chicken with corn

Thursday-leftovers (Jason working late)

Friday- english muffin pizzas

Saturday-??

That's all I've got for today. Lucy and Julianne are performing in Hunter Street's spring program tonight. I'll have pictures shortly. :)

Oh, and if anyone knows how to get that weird white box at the top of my blog to go away, I would greatly appreciate it! ;)