making goals

During the summer I made a lot of goals.  Remember the post about my wardrobe?  I'm happy to let you know that I did get rid of all of my maternity clothes and all of the clothes that were too big and all of the clothes that were too small.  Then I went and spent way to much money on new clothes, but I do look and feel better.

Then there were the projects.  I did three out of the four projects (way to go me!), but failed to get around to cleaning out the hall closet.  I think three out four is pretty respectable though don't you?

Then there was the ohmythesummerisalmostoverandIhaven'tdoneanything list.  Needless to say, not much got done off that particular list.

So here I am, one week into September, back at work for the new school year, with a big pile of undone stuff at home.  Being the list maker I am I have decided to make a fall To-Do list.  And I'm giving myself until Christmas to finish the majority of it off.  I think that's fair.

So...here it is:

Artsy/Crafty Goals

• Finish our beach vacation scrapbook
• Finish Logan's second year scrapbook
• Make Logan's third year scrapbook
• Update Gavin and Logan's baby books with pictures!
• Make Gavin's birth album using my free coupon from Shutterfly
• Figure out white balance on my camera
• Figure out some focus "stuff" on my camera

House Projects

• Clean out the hall closet
• Get new rugs for the back door, sliding door, and front door
• Hang pictures in the toy room

Health Goals

• Run for 30 minutes straight!
• Exercise at least three times a week
• Eat a healthy breakfast everyday (no fast food!)
• Pack and eat a healthy lunch everyday (no school food!)

Family Goals

• Read a book with Logan every night (he likes chapter books now!)
• Start reading with Gavin every night
• Create a chore chart for Logan
• Create a rules/consequences chart for Logan
• Have a date night every month with Justin
• Plan something special for Justin and I for Friday nights

Just for Me

• Finish my Nooma videos...I'm soooo close!
• Finish reading the Bible
• Do another book study
• Give up TV for a month???
• Keep up on my blogging...that's hard to do now that I'm back at work
• Keep participating in You Capture (hopefully every week!)

It is a pretty heavy duty list I know, but I don't think it is umanageable.  Now that I've said that of course something will happen to keep from doing some of those big projects!  'Course if I don't get it all done now I guess I can just put it on my "Winter List"!

Looking on the bright side

I like to find the positive in everything.  I'm not particularly good at it, but I like to try.  For instance, right now as we conquer The Great Flea Infestation of 2011 I am struggling to find a "bright side."  What's so bright about having your house over run by fleas?  And what is so great about having to vacuum an entire house twice a day?  And constantly worry about whether that little tingle on your skin is normally or little, tiny jumping flea?  Ugh....  See what I mean?  No bright side.

Then after spending the entire day cleaning - again - I stopped and realized that this little incident had forced me to tackle another summer project (one I was beginning to think I would never get around to).

Remember what my living room and "office" looked like before?

It's all just one big room.  And when I took these pictures it was a pretty messy big room.  And very disorganized.  And I hate disorganization.  But after much vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing, and rearranging it looks much better.

We got rid of a few things like the cat tower and an extra lamp, and we added a few things like the rocking chair from Gavin's room.  I like that we have a "living room" now inside of this great big room, and we're working on teaching the boys to keep their toys out of the "living room" and instead play in this great big space in front of my desk.  Maybe it will even stick...

I still have the hall closet on my project list, but after this whole fiasco I don't know if I have the energy to tackle anymore house project past the constant vacuuming for awhile.  Maybe I'll get to it over winter break...

So there, I found a bright side to our fleatastrophy.  Now can it please be over???

so much to do, so little time

****UPDATE:  I've already crossed two things off "The List"!!!!****
****SECOND UPDATE:  I've done a few more things...but not all of them.  Guess they'll have to go on the "get done before Christmas" list!****
Basically my summer is already half over.  Yeah, sure, I'm not contracted to be back at school until August 15th, but my students return on the 17th and two days is not enough time to get ready.  Especially since most of those two days will be wrapped up in building and district meetings.  That means come the first week in August I will be back in my classroom on uncontracted (this is code for unpaid) time trying to pull things together for those first few weeks of school. 

The point is that my summer is speeding by, and I had so much planned and now I have so very little time left in which to do it all!

But...I really like to make lists...and this means of course that I have a list of things I want to get done over the next month.  And for some crazy reason I have decided to make it public knowledge along with my health goals and project goals (both of which I'm still plugging away on relatively successfully...).

So on to the list!

Artsy/Crafty Stuff

1. Complete beach vacation scrapbook (Uhhh, this vacation was over a year ago, but I did finally buy materials with my birthday money!)
2. Complete Logan's second year scrapbook (Yes, he just turned four.  Yes, that puts me way behind.  But, I only have like two pages left - I just didn't quite get them done last summer before Gavin arrived on the scene!)
3. Print pictures for both boys' baby books and update the information (this requires getting hubby to fix the printer...easier said than done!)
4. Start Logan's third year scrapbook (I have all of the pictures printed already)

Household Stuff

1. Make a July menu (I like to plan meals by the month b/c it has actually proven to help reduce our grocery bill!)
2. Pin down Justin and figure out our August schedule (he starts his Master's and his instructor position at the college in August and there are tons of training dates and class dates that I need to be aware of!)
3. Plan an August menu (I'll do this later in July after I know our schedule.)
4. Create a weekly cleaning schedule to help keep up on everyday stuff and deep cleaning tasks (I had one, but after I had Gavin we switched into "survival mode" and regular cleaning went out the window and I haven't gotten back into any kinds of habits since!)
5. Start creating a new budget for this year (yes, my years "start" in August...it's the life of a teacher...I think...)

Family Goals

1. Read books to both boys every night before bed (gotten lazy on this lately)
2. Create a chore chart for Logan (want him to start learning about helping out regularly)
3. Create a consequences chart for Logan (a great blogger has posted some help with this one here.)
4. Work with Gavin on using sippy cups (he's a year old in August and I want to say Good-bye to bottles by then)
5. Plan a date night with Justin before we rush back to work in August (we used to be really good about doing this once month but not so much these days for many reasons...must get back into the habit before life gets crazy again!)

Random Personal Stuff

1. Finish Nooma video study (I only have like seven - maybe eight - left!)
2. Finish Continue reading Bible regularly (I'm about half way through which might seem good...except I started two years ago!)
3. Do one other study book (I have a shelf full of books I've been meaning to read - some for years now - but haven't gotten to.)
4. Read books for fun!  (I have about five more I'd like to get through this summer!)
5. Learn to use the manual focus on my camera well (This one is becoming urgent as for some reason the auto focus on my camera is pooping out and I don't have money laying around for a new lens!  (But oh how I'd like one!))
6. Give up TV for a month (maybe in August...after SYTYCD is over???)
7. Back up my computer files (Ummm....I'm sorry to say I haven't done this since March! Bad Kassandra, bad!)
8. Blog, blog, blog!  (I'm really enjoying blogging, but I must push myself to do it sometimes!  If I don't it will go the way of the scrapbooking and only get done occasionally!)

Continue with health goals & project goals!!!

See what I mean?  Lots of stuff, not lots of time???  (Remember:  I have boys (and this includes husband) to take care of amidst all of this!)  I may have to give up sleeping...though I'm not sure what the big deal there is since it is almost four o'clock in the morning right now and I'm up!  (Couldn't sleep...too busy thinking about all the stuff I want to get done!) 

But I'll be honest...I probably will be lucky to get half of this stuff done before I head back to work - especially since I'll be visiting family in Iowa for a week this month.  The point is that I am a person who needs goals, needs stuff that I'm working on or else I kind of flounder and end up with very little done (which would basically be the story of June). 

So there's the list.  I'll try to check back in regularly to let you know how it is going (Ok, to let myself know how I'm doing!), and who knows?  Maybe I'll get more done than I think is possible!  Wouldn't that be awesome!  It just may happen if I give up sleep...which doesn't seem all that crazy since it is four o'clock in the morning and I'm to wired to sleep!

Operation Logan's Room

So I finally did it.  Finally!  Logan's room is completely cleaned out and organized.  It took at least two hours...maybe more...it was that crazy in there!  See we moved Logan out of the nursery and into the larger spare bedroom over a year ago, and since then there has been birthday, Christmas, and Easter presents.  Not to mention all the toys he has collected in the past year from Happy Meals, Treasure Box (daycare thing), and random "Sure you can have that today" gifts.  This means that for over a year now I have been putting things wherever I could find space.  And that meant that nothing was together which in turn meant that lately it was getting harder and harder to find certain toys. 

Here...take a look at the mess...I'm brave enough to show it...but only because I've already cleaned it...

This is Logan's room...it doesn't look to bad from a distance...does it???

But then you get closer...for instance here is his headboard full of books, stuffed animals, an airplane, and a micromachine, and even some old birthday cards...and none of it in any kind of order as you can see. 

And here's his table...I think it speaks for itself...

And this is inside his toy box...it's best not to try to find a specific toy in here because, well, you can't.  Hard to believe...ok maybe not...

And this is the closet...inside here is complete chaos...so bad it makes his actual room look organized.

See we bought this really cool shelf with cubby holes and boxes that fit in the cubbies a couple of years ago.  It works really well for storing toys...at least it does when the poor boxes aren't stuffed so full of toys they no longer fit into the cubby holes...

And there are lots of cool art supplies in these blue tubs, but they are up to high for Logan to reach and even if he could reach them they are so messy inside he couldn't find a crayon unless he dumped the whole box out!  Oh, and that stack of clothes...those are winter clothes I pulled out of the dresser and shoved in the closet haphazardly one day instead of taking the time to pack them away for the summer.  Plus there is a stack of books there that didn't fit on the book shelf because, well, you saw the book shelf so you know they're not going to fit!

Basically I had my work cut out for me.  I started in the closet by packing away all of the winter clothes and cleaning out the art boxes.  And from there I was able to move onto the bookshelf.  After that I conquered the toy box, and finally I was able to clean out the cubby shelf.  In the end I had one plastic Walmart sack full of trash, another full of toys for the day care Treasure Box (we recycle), and a stack of books and a few toys to move to Gavin's room.  And here's the final result!

I had to adjust the shelves on the book case a little to fit all of the books, and I had to move a few of Logan's "babies" (a.k.a. stuffed animals) to the closet or Gavin's room, but I made it all fit.  Of course to keep the shelf looking this nice will require routine maintenance since Logan likes to pull books and animals off the shelf and play during "nap" time.

And look...I got the little table completely cleared off!  I also moved the train table around.  The new arrangement doesn't make the most sense as far a use of space, but it allows Logan more access to his train table with out Justin and I having to go in there and move it out of the corner to he can play on it.

And this is inside the toy box.  It may not look a lot neater, but trust me it is!  I know exactly where to find all of the Toy Story toys, the remote control cars, and all the pieces to "Gator Golf."  Again this will take maintenance, but at least all of this stuff has a "home" now!

Here's the closet...my pride and joy!  All of the art supplies is now neatly contained in the box.  It's still to high for Logan to reach, but I decided that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing...we're talking about paint, play dough, markers, and scissors here!  Oh, and those boxes of Legos...those are Justin's...he's a grown man but he still likes his Legos!  And look how clear the floor is - we can acutally walk into the walk-in closet now!

And now for the cubbies...don't they look nice???  Cars and airplanes are separated into storage containers on top while each cubby below houses a specific type of toy.  One bin for stuffed animals, one for blocks, one for costumes, one for Little People, one for bigger cars, one for miscellaneous toys, etc. 

When Logan got home from day care today I took him on a "tour" of his room.  He was so excited about it all - he was so happy that I "found" some of his toys.  Later on this evening out of nowhere he said, "Mama you cleaned my room really nice."  I could have melted - I love it when his sweet side comes out!

So that was what I was up to today.  That leaves me with half of my summer projects list completed.  Left to tackle is the living room/office area and the hall closet.  Originally I was hoping to have them done before Logan's birthday next week, but seeing as I only have one day between now and then where both boys will be at day care I don't think that is going to happen...especially since it is my birthday next week too! 

Oh, and as far as summer to-dos go, remember how I told you I could be a candidate for "What Not to Wear"?  Well, my wardrobe has not improved any, but despite my claim that I refused to weigh myself I stood on the scale anyway today.  And guess what???  I've lost five pounds!!!

Today is what I would call a good day.  Hope it was the same for all of you!

Operation Gavin's Room

Last week I told you about a few summer projects that I want to complete.  One of those projects was to clean up and clean out Gavin's room.  I actually started and finished Gavin's room the same day I posted but I just never got around to showing you what I did.  What can I say?  I got lazy...  Better late than never right?

Before

The changing table needs to go - Gavin keeps trying to crawl  off of it!  Oh, and that pile of clothes on the dresser - all too small!

Shoved behind the rocker are two extra pillows, a pack 'n play (not packed up), a boppy, and a sack of Logan's sippy cups and breast pump/feeding supplies (none of which is in use right now).  MESSY!

And the closet...oh sheesh the closet...what a mess!  Guitars and clothes and toys and a whole lot of other stuff we're not using!  Time for it to get packed up and moved out!

So after a few hours of packing, organizing, dusting, and vacuuming I had a finished project.

After

Good-bye changing table!  I took our cookbook shelf from the dinning room and turned it into a "changing station."  I no longer have to worry about Gavin attempting to launch off the table (or pee down the wall behind it).  And all those too small clothes?  Packed away.  And inside those dresser drawers are neatly folded and organized piles...sigh.  I so love organization!

 Good-bye rocking chair and pile of stuff behind the chair!  Hello big boy toys!  The rocker was moved back into the living room and everything else was packed away.  I now have somewhere to put all of these toys!  Course I would prefer a toy box or something to actually put them inside of, but since my goal was to spend very, very little money and we have plans to eventually turn this into a play room and have the boys share a room, it seemed silly to go that far at this moment.

And the closet...oh sweet, organized space...I adore thee!  Everything we're not using/done with was packed up and sent out leaving me room for extra diapers, toys, and clothes Gavin has yet to grow in to.  And I can actually find everything!

To top it off, I not only cleaned Gavin's room, but I took care of the piles of stuff I pulled out of his room!  The pile:

That big pile of stuff is all neatly packed away.  It is now sitting in my garage as I debate what to do with it all.  Do I keep it (you know...just in case...) or do I donate it?  (Don't suggest I garage sale it - I don't do garage sales.  The thought alone makes me break out in hives...not even kidding a little!!!!)

I'm super happy with the result, and so are the boys who are busy playing with their "new" toys.  I swear Logan is having more fun with these toys than he did before I packed them up a couple years ago!  And Gavin, he likes himself the big boy toys!  

This means one project down and three more to go.  Tomorrow both boys will be at day care again so I have plans to commence Operation Logan's Room.  Hope to be back with the before and afters in a more timely manner this time!  Stay tuned!

Summer Projects

So I'm on my third week of summer vacation, and I don't have too much to show for all this time off.  Course I've been sick, the kids have been sick, Justin has been sick, my sister came for a visit, and then, well, there's been a lot of laziness going on too. 

This is kind of a strange summer for me.  I'm a teacher so I've had summers "off" for awhile now, but I've never really been "off."  Before Justin and I were married I spent the summer working a part time job.  I spent the following summer giving birth and caring for Logan.  The next year we were between day cares so I spent the summer as a stay at home mom (which as any parent knows is not time "off").  The year after that Logan was in day care two days a week, but I had just started my Master's so any time "off" I had I used to do homework.  And then last summer Logan was in day care three days a week, but I was trying to cram three months of homework into two, write nine weeks of lessons plans in preparation for my maternity leave, and, oh yeah, I gave birth again!  So I've always been busy during the summer, but not so much this year.  I finished my Master's in December, Gavin is in day care full time still (for the sake of everyone's sanity - an infant in part time day care is miserable.  Trust me!), and Logan is in day care three days a week.  That means three days a week I'm home with not a whole lot to do. 

So, last week I made some health goals.  And this past weekend I started working on some more "summer" goals.  These goals include the following projects:

1. Reorganize Gavin's bedroom.
2. Reorganize Logan's bedroom.
3. Deep clean and rearrange furniture in livingroom/office space.
4. Clean out hall closet.

All of these are things that really, really need to be done, but take more time than I'm willing to give on a weekend or week night.  Both boys have rooms crammed full of stuff that needs to be gone through in order to decide what stays, gets pitched, and what gets packed away.  Their closets are the worse.  And our livingroom/office area is indesperate need of some cleaning - I don't think I have vacuumed under the furniture since last summer!  Ewww...  Finally, the hall closet, the catch all for stuff that has no real home, needs to be made functional.  It would be nice to actually be able to find something in it!

Here's a few "before" pictures just for fun!

See all that stuff crammed behind the rocker???  It makes me crazy!

TOO.  MUCH. STUFF. 

The livingroom does not normally look this nice...hubby had just finished picking up...

MESSY!

Do you know what is in here, because I don't....

Today both boys are in day care (normally I have Logan home with me on Mondays, but we did some day switching) so I'm commencing "Operation Gavin's Room."  Hopefully I'll be back later with pictures to prove my hard work!

A Candidate for "What Not to Wear"?

A very sad fact was brought to my attention by my husband and sister this past weekend:  my wardrobe could easily land me on the show "What Not to Wear."  School is out for the summer and my work clothes are on hangers probably not to be touched until at least November since they are almost all more cool weather clothes and it has settled in the mid-90's here...and it is only June!  For a week now I have been getting up every day and dressing in stretchy pants and rib knit tank tops.  Or stretchy pants and nursing tank tops.  I own exactly one pair of shorts (that I bought with my sister this weekend), and the majority of those tank tops I have been wearing?  Well, they're maternity tank tops, and well, this means they may be a touch baggy.  (This may be a good time to mention that I am not pregnant, and my youngest, my "baby,"  he's almost ten months old right now.)

I took this wake up call as an opportunity to go through my stored pre-pregnancy clothes only to realize that I didn't have any pre-pregnancy summer clothes left.  In all honesty I probably packed them up two summers ago and dropped them off at Good Will realizing I would be pregnant the next summer (we were trying to get pregnant) and come the summer following that I wouldn't like any of them anymore (or deep down inside I realized they probably wouldn't fit right).  And, if I'm really honest with myself, it doesn't matter that I don't have any summer clothes packed away because they probably wouldn't fit anymore because despite the fact that my baby is ten months old, my body insists on hanging onto the last 5-10 pounds of pregnancy weight gain.... 

And this leads me to the next sad conclusion I myself came to this past weekend:  I'm too squishy in places that shouldn't be that squishy, and I'm in desperate need of a healthier diet and more regular exercise. 

Keeping all of this in mind, I've decided that it is time to make some summer goals.  I think I'll start here:

1. Walk the dog everyday (regular exercise people!!!)
2. Exercise 5 days a week (this is ON TOP of walking the dog!)
3. Eat a healthy breakfast every morning (I like to skip and binge at lunch...oops)

I think three is a good number...  And, no, I have not attached any weight loss goals to this because looking at the scale will depress me and send me to the couch with a pan of brownies and Netflix at my fingertips. 

And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that none of this solves the fact that I'm a candidate for "What Not to Wear" right now because I'm not giving up my maternity clothes yet (I can't go naked, people, and money is a factor here...if you're overly concerned about my frumpy wardrobe feel free to nominate me for the show...(do they even still make that show?))  I do, however, promise to good will them all at the end of July and buy new clothes (preferably in smaller sizes...)  

P.S.  I considered taking pictures of my closet and favorite dresser drawer (you know, the one with all the tank tops and stretchy pants), but it was too depressing...and I didn't want to upset myself my camera...