Summer, Please Don't Leave Me! I'm Not Ready Yet!

With my summer quickly dwindling away, I need to get my poop together and get some stuff done around here!  While pondering this the other day, I decided that I needed to get moving on some projects before heading back to work at the end of August.  One of the projects that has been hanging over my head for a couple of years is painting the kitchen ceiling.  (Look!  I made a punny!) Unfortunately I knew it would not be a simple project. This is because in addition to painting the ceiling I also need to repaint the walls because the paint is peeling.  So I decided to start peeling paint of the kitchen walls so that I could start the process of painting the ceiling.  

Why am I peeling the paint off of the kitchen walls?  Because whoever owned the house before painted a latex paint over an oil-based paint.  If you aren't familiar with paint - painting latex over oil is a HUGE no-no.  This is because the latex simply peels off of the original oil based paint.  And when I say peel I mean PEEL in huge sheets.  Not all of the paint peeling has been in huge sheets.  There has also been a lot of chipping that crap off with a razor blade.  

Well, as the Hubs and I were finishing up the walls today we made a horrible discovery.  The ceiling has to be peeled too.  UGH!!! This just added even more time/work/money to this "simple" summer project.  So, in order to get everything done that I would like to do this summer I am having to be a little more structured with the remainder of my time off.  This being said, I am putting my "TO DO" list on my blog in the hopes that someone will actually read it and hold me accountable for making sure I do this.  So here is goes...

Monday:
-Work on Dissertation for at least 4 hours
-Make purees (butternut/yellow squash, red pepper, cauliflower)
-Call Assistant Principal about possible Professional Development Presentation for faculty

Tuesday:-Work on dissertation during Babycakes' nap
-Work on Little Firecracker's baby blanket for at least 30 minutes 

Wednesday:
-Peel paint 

Thursday:
-Swimming with Babycakes (it is summer after all!)
-Dissertation during nap
-30 minutes on Little Firecracker's Blanket

Friday:
-Minimum 4 hours on dissertation
-"Catch-Up" on household chores


I know this may not seem like an enormous list of things to get finished in a week's time when I don't have to go to work and Babycakes is in pre-school 3 days a week.  But I am not very good about finishing projects and I need to get something done!  Please keep me motivated!
Thanks!  I hope you all have a wonderful (and productive) week!

Resolutions Continue...

Another day off for bad weather.  Living in a rural area where flooding can be an issue allowed me to have another day off today.  I bundled Babycakes up and took her to "school" (read: daycare) so I could get a few things done around the house.  So far I have finished a novel I was reading, paid some bills, and caught up on my blog reading.  I still have a mess of stuff to do but it will get done.  On to the point of this post...

I have been working on decluttering my home during the month of January.  While I haven't made as much progress as I anticipated, I need to focus on what I have accomplished.  So here it goes...

The upper cabinet beside my stove has been a disaster up to this point.  So I brought home some baskets that I had in my classroom that were not being used so I could organize my cabinet a little better.  This is what I came up with...

 The top basket is for my baking supplies, the middle basket (shown below) is for my hot teas and the bottom basket is for things I use on a fairly regular basis when I am cooking.

While not a great picture, this is where I decided to put all of my hot tea accoutrements for easy access.  While I consider myself more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker, I better start using some of this tea so I can free up that shelf!  (Don't worry, we have an entire cabinet devoted to coffee)

I also used some of my decluttering mojo to work on my nightstand.  Since I spend my quiet time before bed reading, sewing,etc, my nightstand has a tendency to get out of control.  But here it is after a little clean-up.

 

My remotes for the tv and DVD player (love me some Golden Girls!), pens, lip balm, tissues, and foot cream are all easily accessible. 

Truth be told, I forgot about the foot cream and discovered it when I cleaned all the crap out of this drawer.  So I went ahead and put a date on it.  If it isn't used up in 6 months it goes.  I even put a date on the bottle to remind myself!

I also decided to clear of the top of it while I was in a decluttering mode...

I know it looks cluttered, but these are my night time must haves - ice water, glasses (so I can see aforementioned Golden Girls), hand cream, Bible, alarm clock, current novel.

And just because I miss her, here are a couple of recent pics of Babycakes...

Both of her Grandpas and her Daddy all served in the Air Force.  This is her late Grandpa Gene's toboggan.  She had a blast wearing it around the house last week!

And her she is with her entire family of bears (Mr. Bear, Mr. Bear 2.0, and Mrs. Bear)

Hoping all of you are enjoying some decluttering/resolution bliss!

 

Resolution Update

Whew!  Hard to believe the weekend has come and gone and it's Monday again.  We have a 2 hour delay due to some icy conditions so I have a little extra time this morning to update you all on my resolution project progress.
While my goal was declutter every single day, I'm not sure that was a realistic goal.  With the Hubs in class on Wednesday nights, the excessive amount of illnesses we've battled this Fall/Winter, and life in general I feel that was a little ambitious on my part.  But I haven't given up.  I keep plugging along getting rid of excess as I go.
This weekend I decided that my planner was not working for me.  While I do use Google calendar, I still need a paper planner to get me through everyday life.  When I went to Staples on Saturday to get a refill for my Franklin Covey planner I started talking to the cashier about trying to get myself more organized.  She shared with me that she uses the ARC system.  I immediately went to check it out.  After looking over their products and seeing what I had purchased for my FC planner, I made a decision to give the ARC system a try.  I was able to put together an entire system for less than the refill items I had purchased for my FC system! 
Without further adieu,  I give you my updated planner...

I thought about getting something a little more "fun" than brown, but felt this looked a little more professional.

 I love the front pocket that I can tuck notes/documents into, I just hope it doesn't get out of control!

 I love, love, love that it has dividers so I can organize my paper life a little better.  I think I'm going to change a couple of the labels though.

I sub-divided my "to do" list into work and home in order to make things a little more manageable.

In the front pocked I tucked a couple of hair cut ideas.  In this push to simplify I'm thinking shorter hair might make things a little more manageable.

Dissertation notes...

My grand plan to update our kitchen.  I did finally finish scrubbing that awful floor last night. Yay!!!

And also tucked in the pocket is the beginnings of a Valentine's Day gift idea for the Hubs that I saw on Pinterest.  (Shh!  Don't tell him!) Cleo had to make sure she got in the picture too!  See her cute little paws?

 I have other projects I have worked on and completed.  I will post those later.  But for now, I need to see if I got a snow day!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Resolutions

With inspiration from Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project I decided I would embark on my own Happiness Project instead of New Year's resolutions.  The premise of my project is fairly simple.  Each month I have a "resolution" to work on.  Nothing too difficult, but things I feel will add to my overall happiness.

As a teacher, I have the opportunity to have 2 new years.  One in September and one in January.  One thing I have struggled with since school started in September is the massive amount of clutter I feel I am constantly surrounded by and the stress it adds to my life.  So I thought I would begin by reducing the stress clutter in my life. 

With a little help from Gretchen Rubin and the FlyLady, I have determined that I can do just about anything for 15 minutes a day.  So my Happiness Project resolution for January is to spend 15 minutes decluttering every day keeping only the things I need/use or that bring me joy or recall fond memories.  So this evening I worked on the bathroom closet.  I could not believe how much stuff was in that closet!  I didn't take any before pictures (although I should have) but I wanted to share the "after" because I am pretty darn proud of myself!

I love this closet because it is so deep and I can store a TON of stuff.  I also hate this closet because it is so deep and I can store a TON of stuff.  We keep the trashcan in the closet because Babycakes gets a kick out of opening and closing the lid and I think it's an absolutely disgusting thing to do.

And do you see that empty(ish) shelf?  No idea what I'm going to do with that but I am thrilled to have it available!

While not a resolution, I have decided to scrub my kitchen floor.  Since our house was built in the 1940s, and the kitchen is all original, we have the floor from hell.  There is no way to clean it other than to get down on my hands and knees with a brush and scrub it.  (Trust me, we have tried everything!)  Since I can do just about anything for 15 minutes, I have been setting a timer each night and, on my hands and knees, scrubbing the floor.

You can see in the picture below the difference in the floor.  The area in front of the stove is the area I am working towards. 

I am thinking that this may be the kind of floor that needs wax.  I have no idea how to wax a kitchen floor but if it saves me from getting on my hands and knees every week, I'll do it!

So what about you?  Any resolutions?