Making progress, and postponing the home tour.

In case you haven't figured it out already, I've decided to wait on doing a tour of our home. We're in the midst of doing so many projects around the home, I think it'd be better to just wait until December when the vast majority of the projects will be done, though I'm itching to do my own home tour!

Anyway...

My main focus lately has been in the living room. With all the projects we have going, one thing has to be completely done before we move on to something else. (Isn't that the way projects should be done anyway?) There are some shelves in the living room that will be moving to our bedroom and the dining room, but to do that they had to be cleared off. To do that, I had to clean out the living room closet (which I honestly don't think has been done in the 11 years we've been here). It's just a never-ending cycle. I wish I could remember to take before and after pictures, because I finished the closet project today. There are actually coats in the coat closet! Who'da thunk it? Almost all of the stuff I pulled out of the closet are going to charity or in the trash. Out of all the junk I pulled out, a small box of Christmas decorations were kept. Now, the only things living in there are: our coats, space heaters, extra florescent light bulbs for the kitchen, blankets, and a set of crutches we haven't needed since 1998 but mom won't let me get rid of because they're so expensive and "What if we need them one day?" Babysteps. Mom's getting there, though.

It's so nice to finally, after all these years, be able to talk to mom about getting rid of stuff and not being met with hostility or "That cost a lot!" or "We'll need it one day!" or "What if the other 2 we have breaks?" even if we haven't used whatever it is in years. I'm proud she's finally making progress and realizing that we don't need all this "stuff" nor have room for it. This house is finally starting to turn into a home, and I'm loving every minute of it.

Next on the project list is the dining room. There is a huge metal cabinet in there, along with a set of plastic shelves that are falling apart and a heavy wooden cabinet, all along one wall. There is a bench behind the kitchen table. There is a very cluttered TV stand that is falling apart. We're doing our family Thanksgiving this Tuesday (which is the same day we find out the sex of the baby!) because mom is sitting with her disabled sister Thursday night, so at some point next week, here's what we're planning to do to the dining room:

There is a brand new wooden bookshelf in the living room that I got Josh for his birthday. Well, my construction wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, so it kind of leans and has to be propped up against something. There's a set of black shelves in the living room, too, that were going to go in the dining room, but since they can stand alone, they are going in our bedroom for our books and the wooden shelf is going in the dining room, since it was going to be up against a wall anyway. The china cabinet that has been in the living room since mom got it is going in the dining room. The bench is going away, and a leaf is being taken out of the table to make it smaller. The white shelves and cabinet in the kitchen are going away, along with the TV stand. We're bring a bar in to put in place of the bench... It's just going to be wonderful. We have to do it next week since the boys are going to be out of school and can help Josh with the heavy lifting. My little pregnant self is in charge of the organizing and decluttering, what I love to do anyway.

Normally, it would take us forever to get all this stuff done, but mom finally called the charity we usually have pick stuff up after we've been decluttering, and they will be here December 3 to pick up the mountain of stuff we have piled up on the front porch. I think once we get all the big stuff out of here once and for all, we'll be able to keep up with the decluttering of little stuff since we have a drop off place in town now.

I can't even begin to tell you all how good it feels to finally be making our house a home. Look for before and after pictures next week!

Home Tours

I've been reading about home tours on one of my favorite blogs, keepingthehome.com, lately. I would love to do one of our house, but not in it's current state, lol. Still, I think it would be fun. I think I'll do some cleaning this weekend and try to post a tour of our home by no later than Sunday. What do yall think? (Not to mention I really want to show off our new couch, lol!)

In loving memory of Alice.

Sometime between 11pm last night and 3:30am this morning, our kitty, Alice, made the trip to Heaven. We think she may have had a stroke sometime yesterday, and as the night progressed, she just went downhill. We did everything we could to make her as comfortable as possible, because we all knew the end was near. Though we're not sure just how old she was, Alice was an old woman. She was an old woman when we got her.

We have had Alice since 2004. She wandered in to a friend of mine's house off the street. He said he'd seen her hanging around the dumpsters at his apartment, then one day she just came in and made herself at home. He was not an animal person and was going to take her to the pound, but called me first to see if I wanted to take her. My kitty had just died the week before, and though it felt too soon to take on another pet, I just couldn't let this baby go to the pound and end up being euthanized. So, off I went to pick her up and she came home with me.

A funny story about me going to get her... I didn't have a cat carrier or a box or anything, so my mom suggested that I bring her home in a pillow case. That's how they had always carried their cats to the vet, and it seemed the safest way possible to get Alice home. When we got home, the first person Alice saw was my mom, and they were instantly 2 peas in a pod. It's a running joke in the family that Alice never liked me because I put her in a bag, lol. We all know that mom was her moma. Mom always refered to Alice as my sister. Mom likes to make a big deal about how she doesn't like animals, but she loved that cat dearly.

This was so sudden and unexpected. I spent most of the morning at work crying. Thank God they had burried her before I came home because I honestly don't think I could have handled that.

The house is just too quiet tonight. Usually, anytime you walk through the kitchen, day or night, Alice would meow "Noooooooooooooow" to you, telling you she wanted food, no matter how many times she had eaten that day. Now, with mom at her sister's and Josh at work, it's just too quiet. *sigh*

We all loved Alice dearly, and she is very, very missed. Rest in peace, little kitty. We love you.

Ta Da List 10.11.09

The last 2 weeks have been completely insane around here, and the housework has suffered greatly. I got to come home from work early today, so I've got basically an extra day off this week to work with. Hallelujah! Soooooooo much needs to get done! I'm feeling kinda green around the gills today, so hopefully once I get up and going I'll feel better. Babysteps. :) I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished. Maybe not everything on my ta da list, but it's just a guideline. It would be nice to mark everything off, though, hehe.

I've allowed myself to slip into a kind of funk this week. What with my aunt still being in the hospital (had 2 stints put in her heart on Tuesday and other problems have come up since then) and working all the time, I've barely been home. When I've been home, I've been in bed. My sleep schedule is all over the place, so hopefully I can make until at least 6 tonight without a nap so I can sleep through the night tonight. Anyway, on to the ta da list...

Bedroom
1. Clean off the desk.
2. Take out the trash.
3. Wash bedding.
4. Remake bed.
5. Clean off the other flat surfaces.
6. Put away shoes/clothes/random stuff.
7. Sweep.
8. Mop.

Bathroom
1. Wash, dry, fold & put away one load of laundry.
2. Swish and swipe.
3. Sweep.
4. Mop.
5. Put up new shower curtain.

Kitchen
1. Clean off counters.
2. Shine the sink.
3. Put away stuff that doesn't belong there.
4. Sweep.
5. Mop.

Once I get all this done, I might venture into the baby's room and see about doing something in there. That'll just be a bonus, though, hehe.

What a week... Ta Da List for 10.04.09

So I wrote the other day that my aunt was coming home from the hospital yesterday. She did, but she wasn't even home 20 minutes before she was rushed back to the ER because she couldn't breathe and had an irregular heart beat. Josh, mom and I were at the hospital until almost 11pm last night, and they admitted her again. *sigh*

We came home and I slept until 1pm this afternoon! I guess I needed it. When I woke up, Josh was up and getting ready for work. Mom's at the hospital with her sister right now, so I've got the house to myself. Mom and I went through some of the boxes of Christmas decorations that had been cluttering up the carport Friday night and now our kitchen looks like Christmas Town or something, lol. While it's quiet, I think I'll get some work done.

Kitchen
1. Wash dishes.
2. Put away Christmas items.
3. Wipe down counters.
4. Sweep.
5. Clear off the table.
6. Fold and put away clothes.

Bathroom
1. Swish and swipe.
2. Sweep.

Bedroom
1. Wash bedding.
2. Remake the bed.
3. Clean off the desk.
4. Sweep.
5. Put away clothes/random stuff.

Ta Da List 10.02.09

Hooray for Ta Da Lists! I'm finally feeling rested and am ready to get to work around the house. I'm working on stopping this cycle of cleaning every couple of days and just maintaining the cleaning. Oh, and my aunt gets to come home from the hospital tomorrow! Yay!

Bedroom
1. Take out trash.
2. Remake bed.
3. Fold and put away clothes.
4. Clean off the desk.
5. Sweep.

Bathroom
1. Wash, dry, fold, put away white clothes.
2. Swish and swipe.
3. Sweep.

I think this is it for today. Time to get to work!

Happy October!

Happy October, everyone!

I absolutely love this time of year. Here in Alabama right now, the weather is starting to turn pretty chilly. We've had lows at night down in the 40's! This is also the time of year everyone in our home starts getting the sniffles. My youngest nephew, Tylar, just got over a combination of the flu and walking pneumonia. The poor little guy was simply miserable! Josh's asthma has really been bothering him, too. He finally got his new Advair in (the 500/50), so hopefully that with his Singulair can help him not have such a rough time while the seasons change. This is one of the roughest times of the year on him when it comes to breathing, so anything we can do to make it easier on him, I'll do.

It's been a truly crazy week. Monday, we had to put my aunt in the hospital. She should be able to come home this Monday, the doctor's hope anyway. She's still being watched, though. I was luckily off Monday and was able to take mom to the hospital with her sister, since mom can't see to drive after dark, but I didn't get in bed until midnight that night. Not getting hardly any sleep+work every day=I'm exhausted! I took about a 5 hour nap today and am starting to feel better, but this not getting any sleep thing while being pregnant just isn't working too well, lol. I'm working on getting to bed earlier, and I am, for the most part. But when something like that happens, what can you do?

I'm keeping the house picked up pretty well. There's a load of laundry sitting here that needs folding, and it may not get folded until tomorrow, but hey, it'll get done. :)

I guess this was just an update on how things are going. Hopefully I can get into a routine of posting here more regularly soon!