Day 9

So TODAY, the temps were very spring like and so I told the kids "get out there while you can!". And so, Frankie, in true Frankie fashion, puts on his winter coat and pulls up the hat! I think that kid thinks it's a hoody sweatshirt. Once the coat goes on, it usually doesn't come off until he gets home! Oh well, they got out there anyway! I told them the trampoline time could count as their 30 mins of PE. Gracie went out earilier with me though and had already put in a good 45 mins. I went out to take stock of all the yard projects we are going to have and to burn some stuff in the burn barrell. I love the smell of burning trash (it was mostly paper and boxes, so it wasn't stinky stuff) however I always worry when it gets real smokey if someone is going to think the garage is on fire and call 911 and the firestation down the road will show up. We called once, not long after we moved in because it smelled like something electrical was on fire in the air outside, and they came lights and sirens! I was so embarrassed, then I was more embarrassed when they couldn't find anything. The weird thing was, when you walked through the middle of the yard it was very hot but there was no rhyme or reason.....The other "experience" I had with the firemen, one day I was out blowing leaves in the front yard with the leaf blower, (those things are really loud btw) and the truck was on it's way back from a run. Well they must have come from a boring run and needed some excitement, because as they got close to where I was, they blasted the sirens real quick to startle me and they are lucky they didn't have to turn around and get me out of the tree I just about jumped in when they did it!!! See if I send any Halloween candy THEIR way! They TRICKED me for sure! WOW! I can really get off track can't I?!  Now, how did all that come from a post about how nice the weather was today..... THIS is why my house is full of 1/2 fiished projects, my mind easily goes from one thing to the next without any reasoning...... You've heard of the 7 degrees of seperation, I can easily do that with my thoughts as well and be able to come back full circle!

Day 8

Well, had I known how today was going to go, I would never have made yesterday a day off! We all showered last night with plans to go to church today. I got up to let the dogs out and felt all achy all day! I layed back down with the intentions to get back up in a few minutes (which no one ever does) and just could NOT get myself back up. I felt horrible! I know Chris had been struggling with a cold all week, but this was not like a cold. My first thought was flu, because of being so achy. HOWEVER, I had been working so hard all week, with fruits and veggies, hand washing, hand sanitizer etc... so SURELY I could not be getting sick. Well I stayed in bed until lunch time. Thankfully, I had put a roast in the crockpot last night, and THANKFULLY my mom had taught Gracie how to peel and cut potatoes, so I was able to ask her to do that and add them to the roast earlier in the day (I had put carrots in when I let the dogs out). **which I just want to point out, it really does pay to teach our kids how to do things, for times just like this. Yes it may take a little longer at the time, but you will be greatful later**** Anyway, I digress, after lunch, my ears were feeling a bit plugged and my lymph nodes near them ached. I got up and felt very dizzy and had a hard time focusing. Later while laying down, I did not feel nauseas, but ended up running to the bathroom and "unloading". My stomach never hurt, didn't do it any more after that, but for whatever reason, I was sick. So I stayed in bed and slowly added things (especially saltine crackers) to try eating the rest of the day. Now this may be a TMI post, but this IS how I spent the day. I will also say, my family did a wonderful job waiting on me hand and foot and I wanted for nothing, including their love all day!

Day 7

NOPE!! Didn't even make it a whole week! I was exhausted from trying to implement all my new goals, AND could not figure out a picture to take to represent a day of doing absolutely nothing! Which is what I did all day. I used to try to make Sunday's a day of rest, however, that never ends up happening, so I decided to take today....so my picture for the day is....NOTHING and that is how the day went! AND it was wonderful!

Day 6

So today I spent the day helping my friend Barb go through her attic and sort, purge and organize. It's so much easier to do someone else's stuff than your own! LOL. But I have to say she was a good sport about it. She also has a nice attic space (better than my basement) for storing stuff, I ended up quite jealous of it! At any rate, we worked hard all day! However, when I planned my menu for the month, obviously days that you plan stuff last minute are not taken into account. So I was not able to fix the "planned" meal of grilled basil chicken. However I improvised with a meal I did have on the menu, just for a different day....Grandad's chilli. The bad thing is, no matter how I try or do exactly what he does, mine never tastes the same. It didn't help that I had no macaroni, so I had to substitute broken pieces of spaghetti. At any rate, I have watched him make it. I have tried to copy what he does, but it never comes out like his. But we made do with what I made. It was better than eating our or grabbing a pizza like we usually do when I have been super busy all day.......

Day 5

So today, I took my friend Barb, to her therapy. She recently had surgery and could not drive. I was happy to get to spend some time with her, and happy that the kids are old enough, that at times I can leave them here while I go run errands. Anyway, after her therapy, we did lunch and some Sam's Club shopping. When I took her home, she showed me she had some long stuffed animal like things that were dog toys. She got a really good deal on them, but her dogs were not interested. So I bought them off her and brought them home to miss. chews alot! She LOVED them. Hunter even got in on the action. At one point it was a tug of war with one dog on each end. Tried to get a picture of THAT but they quit when I moved! So at the end of the day, I was quite exhausted. Evidently so was my baby girl, however she was NOT going to give up her new favorite toy, nor risk someone taking it while she slept. This was how she slept for the next few nights, with whichever one she had with her before bed. Meanwhile, I am constantly walking through the house picking up the "guts" of fluff she keeps ripping out of the them!

Day 4

AHHH! The memories! Today, my brother called and said he had a box of stuff for me. He's been cleaning out his house and whenever people do that, I some how get offered the cast offs! LOL. Hey, one man's trash is another man's treasure! In this case, it really was a treasure. He had been given a big box of games from my grandmother's house after she had passed away. Games and toys that we played with while growing up there. As I went through the box with my daughter (at 9 o'clock at night!), a flood of memories came back to me! These were the games we grew up on! And while yes, some are still around, such as Aggravation, they no longer look the same.....

I mean do you remember when the checker pieces were WOOD and not plastic!

Still not sure what the piece below is. I have put a picture out on facebook hoping someone might recognize it and help me out.

It was funny to see the games like "Easy Money" which is like either a predicessor or generic version of Pay Day! lol Or "Careers" which is an awful lot like Life!

 I also found an old 1978 Tonka Toy Gas Station, that I can remember spending more time trying to remember how to assemble it, than actually playing with it! But for me, that was the fun part! It's missing some pieces now, but I actually found one on ebay that's also missing some pieces. Debating on buying it and seeing if two "parts" can make one whole! At any rate, it sure was fun going down memory lane with a bunch of old games/toys........

Day 3

The Christmas tree is finally down, which means back to some normalcy. It also means a bit more room. The dog crate can go back in it's spot, and out of my bedroom! This is it's usualy home and obviously the dogs are missing it! HA! HA!

It's also time to get the Valentines decorations out and up. I don't like to wait until February to put them up because then there isn't much time left to enjoy it. Plus my daughter's birthday is at the beginning of Feb so that ends up taking precidence at that time. So, I must say, as much as I enjoy Christmas, I really enjoy the house getting back to normal!

Day 2 Working on more resolutions

It's a good thing Frank does not read my blog, I doubt he would be pleased with this picture as he said I as annoying him by taking pictures! Today I got most of my CHRISTmas decorations down, except, as seen in this picture, the tree. And putting the Valentines Decorations up, which as of this post are not done either, so I have a half Christmas and half Valentines Day house. And I think it will stay that way until tomorrow as I am pooped! Amid the mess of this massive project, the kids had to also start on their "new adventure" that is known as the new chore charts. One of those items is 30 mins of excersise, which is what Frank is doing here. He chose Wii Fit, and is doing some karate game on there. Today, I have also accomplished getting their school stuff all caught up, entering some more of my grandmother's diary (that's a forever ongoing project to get over 40 years worth typed and saved on the computer), making healthy meals (let me tell you we were def. eating to live and not living to eat today, cuz it sure was not so tasty), then after lunch is when I starte taking down the Christmas stuff and here it is after 6PM and I am over it for the night! Ready to go soak in nice wonderful warm bath (it snowed today and is very cold) and read a good book and then crawl in to bed for the night!

365 days Day 1

So I have seen several people doing the 365 pictures a year where you document every day of the year with atleast one picture and journal just a bit with it. I tried to start that last year....didn't get very far. But being one to never quit anything for good, I decided to give it a try again. Maybe doing it on my blog, I can kill two birds with one stone. I can keep up on the blog and hopefully on my 365 pictures. Here's to hoping 2012 will be the first year I actually KEEP some of my resolutions!

So my first picture is my first attempt of the new year to get organized AND one of my other resolutions, to actually try to put to the test some of the things I discover on Pinterest. I actually have tried several recipes and tried a few tips already, but this year I want to start documenting for my tested and reviewed pins! I saw this idea and thought it perfect, so when purging stuff the other day, I came upon this shoe organizer we had originally bought for my daughter for her Barbies. Well she doesn't really play with them any more and wanted to take it down. Thankfully I had seen the idea on Pinterest to use it in your pantry for things like mix packets, fruit snacks etc.... So while starting to put my groceries away, I remembered that and got to it. I also got out my handy dandy label maker (it always makes things APPEAR organized if you stick a label on it!) and labeled the ones we buy frequently and left the misc ones blank. But now that I have done this and no longer have them shoved in a ziplock bag in the pantry, I can see I need not to buy taco seasoning again for a while! HA HA!  I also like the whole repurpose/reuse thing as well......Here's to hoping to become more organized and less STUFF in 2012! Oh! AND to keeping our resolutions!