Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Thirty Thankful Days - Day 8


Today is Day 8 and it is really easy to choose what I am thankful for today. If you read my post from 11:30 last night, you can probably guess. Today I am thankful for forgiveness. I am thankful that I have the ability to mess up, to be sorry and to be forgiven. I don't try to mess up. I'd love to never mess up. But the fact is, that I do mess up. But I am forgiven. And I'm grateful!

Organized Home Challenge - Week 45 prep

52 Week Organized Home Challenge

Kids' Bedroom Organizing Challenge

Wow. Can my kids (and I) ever use this challenge right now! I also like the idea of doing this challenge at this point, where it is far enough before Christmas that we can weed out space for the incoming new items, yet it won't leave them feeling deprived of their purged belongings because Christmas will be coming up soon enough.

In the older boys' bedroom, they have two twin beds. We hope to change this out to twin beds or even really to this one bed I found that has a set of twin beds with an attached loft bed, creating an L-shape. I love that bed design! Three beds taking up the floor space of one! Perfect for a small room!

Anyhow, for right now, only the two older boys are sharing a room and that is the one that I am going to share with you. Their room is done up in a sort of sports theme. I wish it was more complete but it's a work in progress.

We start out with their beds. Two twin beds. We have had these beds in nearly every single configuration that is possible in this room. The way it is right now is the configuration that they have chosen. They also have their dresser and Koren's keyboard (for his music practice) and Cephas' violin and music stand (for his music practice). They also have some toys in their room as well as some storage drawers that they have inherited from my mother-in-law's garage sale pile. Well, actually, I inherited them, but then didn't need them afterall and so I offered them to the boys.

Cephas also uses an older wooden tv tray as a night stand next to his bed. I actually like this idea because it takes up less room than his old one did and it matches the wood tone of their beds. The dresser is another story as it does not match but that's something that I have just come to deal with. We bought that dresser back in the day when Cephas was an only child. And a teeny tiny child at that. Like two years old. It's been around awhile now. It definitely shows too!

But we're not here to talk about his dresser. We're here to make sure that their room is organized and functional for them. The first step to do that is to determine what this space is used for.

The first, primary use of their bedroom is for sleeping. For sleeping, they need beds. Check.

The second use of this space is for clothing storage. They have a dresser. Check.

The third use of this space is for music practice. They have their music area set up. Check.

The fourth use of this space is for playing with toys. This is one of the areas that needs some fine-tuning. They have storage and they have toys, but I think it could use some tweaking to be honest. Koren tends to be a very orderly child. He likes to have his toys separated into different bins or compartments or whatever based on what the item is. So all of his Hot Wheels are together, all of his dinosaurs are together, all of his sea animals are together, all of his stuffed animals are together, so on and so forth. Which I love! That is a child who takes after my CDO (a family joke - CDO is like OCD but in alphabetical order the way it should be).

Cephas also likes storage bins and having things organized. However, there's something missing somewhere between having the containers and keeping things organized. He also tends to be a bit on the hoarder side of things. Or so it seems. The fact that he has an old end table that we tried to get rid of and an old computer that barely functions in his closet is an indication of that.

So, that is the primary thing that I am going to be working on this week with them. Organizing their space for their toy/playing/entertainment functions. Check back at the beginning of next week to see how it turns out.

Tackle It Tuesday - November Week 2


After the weekend I had, there is plenty to tackle around here! *SOME DONE* I have a mountain of laundry that needs to be folded and put away.
I will be working on this today. Much as I'd like to not do it.

*SOME DONE* I have another mountain of laundry that needed to be washed and dried so that it could be folded and put away.
And another item that I will be working on today.

*SOME DONE* The main rooms in the house (front room, living room, kitchen, dining room and bathroom) could all use a thorough and detailed cleaning.
Not sure about a thorough cleaning but a good picking up is definitely in the cards for these rooms. Hubby did a fantastic job in the kitchen late last night so there really isn't much to do in that room. Same goes with the bar area of the living room.
I did a thorough job in the dining room and a general picking up of the other rooms. It works. I always start in the dining room for some odd reason and then work into the kitchen, then to the bar area, then the living room, front room, entry area, bathroom and then the hallway. It's the way that I clean the house. I don't know why exactly, it just is.

*DONE* The shed needs to be cleared out so that we have room in there to put our exercise bike (because we don't have room for it in the house at this point...although since it is getting colder and less likely that we would be using our regular bikes, it would make more sense to have this indoors) and for our bikes and for the lawn mower.
Before this blog post even went live, Hubby went out and cleared out a large portion of the shed so that we could begin to use it more effectively. So this item is already done. The bikes and lawn mower have yet to go in there though.

There is a pile of various things out in back of our house next to deck that need to be taken over to the dumpster so that it can be hauled away.
It has been raining and is set to snow later today, so this one is not getting done for this post. Maybe next week's post?

We need to put up some new fascia on the shed so that the rain (and eventually the snow and ice) doesn't damage the wood supporting the roof.
Because it has been raining and is set to snow later today, this one is not getting done for this post either. Maybe next week's post?

*DONE* I need to put away a card table that I've had sitting out in the bar area of our living room.
Before this blog post even went live, Hubby took down the card table and put all of the things that were on it, um, somewhere? I am not sure exactly where he put the things that were on it, to be honest. Probably in our bedroom? It's kind of messy in there right now but I have plans for that room tomorrow.

We need to clear off the front porch, which has become a collecting ground of sorts. Plus, my mom smokes out there and leaves her messes out there and I don't always see it in time to ask her to clean up after herself. (Plus, I would expect that a 50-something would just know and do it, but that's another story completely)
It is unlikely that this one will be done today due to the rain and impending snow this evening. Maybe next week's post?

We need to replace some of the boards across our back deck.
Nope. This one is DEFINITELY not happening today. Maybe next week's post?

I want to put up some chicken wire on the inside of our back deck so that I can send the dogs out there to get some fresh air. They will stay on the deck on their own but it's more for their safety than anything else. The little dogs can get really rambunctious and I don't want them to get crazy while playing and accidentally knock the other one off the porch through the rail slats.
I will probably do this one around the same time as the one above, so this one won't be done today either. Maybe next week's post?

We also need to work on our storage unit, decluttering and getting rid of things that we no longer want or need.
I am a wimp and don't want to work outside in the cold and rain on something like this. Plus it would be easier to do without the kids and when we have more time available to do it. Maybe next week's post?

Both of our vehicles need a thorough clearing out. They are both so messy! Plus, mine still has lots of stuff in it from camping three weeks ago? Yeah, it's needing to be done.
Once again, I'm a wimp. I don't want to clean out vehicles in the cold rain. Maybe next week's post?

*DONE* We have also been contemplating moving a few things around and making some changes to Cephas and Koren's room as well. We are thinking about making a music area in their room for Cephas to practice his violin and Koren to practice piano (well, we have a keyboard but you get the idea!). Not totally sure where we are on this though!
This is another item that Hubby had started and which I plan to continue working on some today. This is one that will be getting done today.

*DONE* I also could clean out the front closet and get it ready for winter wear. Which means we will have winter coats AND jackets being stored in there as well as our gloves and hats and scarves.
This one has a definite possibility of happening today as I need to get it done. our weather here varies so much that it is important to keep the items that we could possibly need for the weather on hand and organized.

*SKIPPED* I also have to prepare for our Daisy Troop meeting for next week! Oh my!
This also has strong potential to get done today. I need to talk to my co-leader though. She probably thinks that I've been ignoring her. Which I haven't. I've just been VERY busy!

So, which one will I choose? Check back to see!