MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, y'all!

As summer winds down, our activities are on the rise. Still lots of swimming, but there have been trips, concerts, school preps....all sorts of things.

My hubby and I just returned from Boston this past weekend. Today, my hubby and 2 oldest boys are on their way to church camp. I have been busy cleaning, laundering, making new chore charts and a few holiday things. (I will share more on that stuff later.)

Today, I want to dive into Making a Happy Home Monday. I would love for you to join me. Funny, I thought that this would take off a little bit better...you know? Moms helping to hold each other accountable...helping to inspire and encourage. I guess I'm somewhat unique in my desire to be a better housekeeper. Either way, thank you to those who read and do share. I will "TRY" to add Mr. Linky again, for the 2 of you who do link up. ;) If it shuts it down, I will remove it.

For today's edition, I have continued my work on my kitchen. I really need to get through the kitchen. With the holidays fast approaching, (see...you "guffawed" a few weeks ago, but now, you have to admit, it is coming quickly) I need to get rid of some kitchen clutter. I have secured several new kitchen assets over the past year that has made the area a bit harder to work in. I'm still able to cook, but when i start my baking and candy making, I NEED SPACE!

I want to create a baking center. I have about 150 cookie cutters in various locations. 100 of them are in a box. The rest are in various drawers. We use the big, metal cutters for sandwiches. It's a LOT more fun to eat a sandwich in the shape of an oak leaf instead of a square. I have over a dozen of the holiday/seasonal cutters like that. (You know the ones....the Wilton, metal, rubber grip) The box has everything.....alphabet, numbers, shapes, holiday shapes....in various sizes. So fun if I decide to make window cookies.

hmmmmm.....quite a rabbit trail, huh?

SO, ANYWAY *embarrassed chuckle*. I give you another kitchen cabinet. On the bottom, I had several serving pieces, and some glass measuring cups. Above that, a garlic roaster, various bowls, a vase with coins, above that, matches, candles, 2 crystal bowls, broken Christmas ornaments that needed mending, a baggie with small crystal-type beads for ornaments.....just a mess.

Now, it looks better.

Tell me what you think? Won't you join me?

BEFORE

AFTER

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

**So what totally blows is that I had this post done before one o'clock. I worked on getting it up. As soon as I tried to put my pictures in, the blasted thing completely froze. I had to leave and didn't have time to reboot...until now. (Yes, Honey, I KNOW that I have a nice new computer, but I couldn't get the pics downloaded onto it, so I'm using the P.O.C. for the post.)**

Hey, y'all. As always, I start with the line of "Sorry I've been so long." It has been a crazy summer. I'll blog about it later.

Before I forget, if I don't get on here for awhile, it's because we are going out of town. We have our Boston trip, church camp, trip to west Texas.....all that going on between Monday and the 31st. I will be busy packing. It is hard enough to get everyone ready, but having to do that with the idea that 2 will be in S. Texas, 2 in W. Texas and 2 in Boston.....hmmmmmm.....interesting. So, if you don't see me for the next 3 weeks or so, don't worry. (Knowing me, though, I will be on to just to say, "hi.")

OK....do you remember all those pictures I posted on the last blog? Well, this entry, and the next few, will be a follow up to this. In fact, if I work like I want, I will get more done, post it, but schedule my blog to publish it over the next 2-3 Mondays. (Did you know you could do that?)

Today, I have taken on one cabinet. It is the junk cabinet. It is still the junk cabinet, but it is "de-trashed" and a lot neater. This cabinet holds hubby's coffee grinder, filters, a nebulizer, meds, coffee cups, OFF, sunscreen....various bulky items that need to be out of the kids' reach.

BEFORE CLEARING OUT:

ALL ON THE COUNTER:

ANOTHER ANGLE (because I'm not above embarrassing myself)

ALL DONE!

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

I know I'm late.....and I'm sorry. Busy weekend, busy day......it never ends.

First an update. We did get the A/C fixed. Some insulation had gotten sucked up into something and was preventing the air from moving. We got it all taken care of and now it works better than ever....able to keep the temp at about 68....even when it's 105 outside. WOOT!

The dinner came off wonderfully....burgers. I'll share the recipe tomorrow....burgers, brats, kraut, chilies, queso, guacamole, devilled eggs, homemade ice cream, peach cobbler....YUM!!!

Yesterday after church, I took the boys to the Y for a swim. My 4 year old is so cute....thank goodness. He was floating around in his life vest snarling and baring his teeth pretending he was a shark. It was really cute until he swam up and bit a lady. I am not joking. Fortunately, he didn't draw blood.

Also, this past weekend, the same cute kid may, or may not, have broken his thumb. We will be getting it checked out.

OK....now time for Making a Happy Home Monday.

So much to post. So much I want to conquer. So much I want to take care of before the holidays start. (See sidebar for countdown to The Great State Fair of Texas....that is how much time I have.)

I am in the middle of a project right now.....bookshelves. I really should take pictures. I forgot to do a before, but I can do a middle and finished. There are a lot of books in DS #1's room that need to be put into #3's and #4's room. Then, I need go through MY classroom library, currently in the garage, and put some of those books in #1's room. During that time, I need to pull the books for #2 and put them in HIS room. Meanwhile, I am emptying the bookshelf in #3's and #4's room pulling the adult books (no...not adult as in XXX, just novels and such) and either donate, pack or put on my reading list. *sigh*

No...the pictures I want to share are of my kitchen cabinets. This, my friends, is hard for me to do. It's embarrassing. But, I think that sharing these will help me to work on this. They are terribly cluttered. I need a day, or three, of JUST ME working on these. My hubby has told me that sometime in the NEAR future, he will take all the kids out of the house for a day so that I may get stuff done. I look forward to it.

The goal is to organize. There are some items that I could get rid of, but for the most part, I don't think I will. There are a lot of things that I only use once or twice a year, but I NEED them once or twice a year....things like a cookie press, candy thermometer, certain cookie cutters....

The organization needs to go as far as the pantries and stockpile shelves.....a lot of what I keep on the counters (because I don't have room elsewhere) needs to be put out of sight. WISH ME LUCK!!!

Bottom 2 shelves of pantry

Top 2 shelves of pantry

cabinet with big stuff: trash bags, toaster, extra lunch boxes, dehydrator,)

Drinking classes, cups (it usually is a lot more cluttered, but a lot of cups were in dishwasher)

Casserole dishes, griddle, electric skillet, chopper

(UGH!) plastic storage containers

*hiding under a rock* box of cookie cuttters, BAKING CENTRAL (pie plates, cake pans, cake domes, cookie press, crock pot, spring form pans, big grill spatula and tongs)

another view of the above

crap....pitchers, thermos, the bottom has serving trays...not used often, but all used during holidays

plates, serving dishes, paper plates.....matches? money? glue? candles? I don't know.

"Pharmacy" ~ bug spray, sunscreen, nebulizer, allergy meds, box of OTC's, coffee mugs, coffee grinder

spices

Pots and pans, Food Saver

(um.....sorry), this is in my laundry area, which is in the entry way to my son's room....this is where I keep some stockpiled items and, quite obviously, more crap

Man....that was painful. As I was going through and labelling these pictures, I really saw the problem that I have. I hope to tackle this soon....I will post my progress as I get stuff done.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hello, y'all. It is time for another "Making a Happy Home Monday." This is a blog carnival that I started a few months back, in most part to keep me accountable to my own job.

By posting pictures and doing this every week, I hope to encourage and inspire others to do the same....or something similar. You see, if your home is in chaos (or C.H.A.O.S.), then I just don't see how you can be happy. I know I can't. BUT, it is hard to make myself do stuff sometimes. So, I have decided to focus on one thing at a time. I might only do 1 thing per week...I might do 1 thing per day, but the point is, I'm doing SOMETHING. I try to make certain areas prettier, neater, or more functional.

That being said, I would love for you to join me in this. Post some before and after pictures if you can. Describe things you are doing. Give me some ideas of areas I have forgotten about. Just sign up on Mr. Linky. Then, in your own blog, please refer back to here.

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For this week, I chose to continue the last MHHM I did.....bathroom cabinets. Only this time, they are mine.

This is really embarrassing....

There are several new razors in there (that you can't see.) Floss and flossers, vitamins, meds, curling irons, hair dryer, lotions, nail stuff....all sorts of crap that I NEED, but need better access to. SO, after about 20 minutes, here you go:

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

I'm back for Monday!

Welcome to another installment of Making a Happy Home Monday! I hope some of you will join me. If you are popping in as a result of the UBP, I REALLY hope you will join me :)

Let me tell you new readers about this blog carnival. I have hosted this for a few months. The point of this is to inspire and encourage women to choose an area of their homes that need some attention and love. If the area is dirty, cluttered or not efficient, then it is not happy. If it is not happy, the Momma isn't happy. And you know what they say? If Momma ain't happy....ain't NObody happy.

SO, pick a project...ANY project. Make it big. Make it small. Clean it. Paint it. Organize it. Do whatever you need to do to make that area happy. The goal is to do something....ANYTHING. Just one area a week to get your home on the path to happiness. I hope you will join me. Just link up on Mr. Linky. Post info about your task. I would love to see some before and after pics, too.

For my project, I chose to clean out the cabinets in the boys' bathroom. These shelves are used for some stockpile items, as well as all the boys' toiletry items. This cabinet was just gross....GROSS! Anytime I took something out, other things fell out behind it. It was hard to know what all (or how much) I had stored in there. Not only that, but I'm sure there were lots of things that needed to be thrown out.

Here is a before picture. This is embarrassing.....but as I'm trying to get YOU to do something around your home, I figure I need to be totally transparent on all of this. The top shelf isn't really that bad...neither is the middle shelf. But, the bottom? YIKES! The picture honestly does not do it justice.

BEHOLD!!! The contents of the bottom shelf only. OH MY!

OK....bottom shelf done. Filled up one plastic bag with junk that needed to be tossed...either expired, too empty, too gummy....do we REALLY need 5 contact lens cases?

I wanted a picture of the contents of the top shelf 'cause I was really wondering how many I had.

You're wondering too, right?

• 8 shampoos
• 8 conditioners
• 6 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioners
• 12 body washes

While I'm at it, I counted the other stockpile items from the 1st and 2nd shelves (not shown specifically)

• 9 deodorants
• 7 hand soaps
• 15 tooth pastes
• 14 toothbrushes
• 5 (brand new, in the pkg) razors for both men and women

This doesn't count anything currently in use. And if you think I buy tons of one item....well, inspect the pictures a bit more closely. Out of the toothpastes, I probably have 5 different kinds. Shampoos? Well, we have Herbal Essence, Pantene, Garnier Fructise, Suave, Finesse.....body wash? Zest, Irish Spring, Soft soap (Spa line), and a few kid shampoo and bath items.

And here we go....the finished product. It only took me about 30 minutes. I emptied every shelf and wiped them down with Clorox wipes

SO.....there you have it. Sign on up! I would love to see what you're doing around the place.

IN LIKE A LION

Hey, y'all! It's spring! Well...almost.

Here in Texas, it has been spring for weeks....all the blooms are fading and the trees are leafing out. AND in true Texas weather fashion, you count on at least one more cold snap by Easter. I hope that we are in the last snap right now. Yesterday, it was in the 80s. Today, it is in the 30s/40s, windy and rainy...with more of the same for the next 3 days.

I'm not sure what it is about spring that makes me want to do a bit of cleaning. It makes me want to get stuff done that I don't think about every week....or every month, for that matter.

As I LOVE lists and how-to type things, I thought I would share a few things with you.

First, here is a link about spring cleaning:

http://organizedhome.com/spring-cleaning-chore-checklist

Back in the day, a serious spring cleaning was done, mostly in the colder areas. Houses were sealed in tight to keep out the cold and keep in the warmth. When it was finally warm enough, windows were thrown open to air out the "sick germs" and freshen the rooms. The home was cleaned from top to bottom.....a lot of soot on surfaces from the stove that, I'm sure, was kept burning 24/7.

All the linens washed, rugs beat, clothing switched out.....gardens were put in, fences were white-washed, and an inventory of the canned goods was taken. Since most people didn't get to just run down to the store, they had to live on what they had "put-up" during the summer.

In this day and time, we are in a bit of an easier situation, but it is still a good idea to jump into spring cleaning. Here are some things that I am doing and will be doing over the next few weeks/months. I would love for you to comment and share some things you might do that I haven't thought of. (Some of this stuff is done more often that once a year, but these are some things I'm needing to do right now - or have DH do. Also, I will not list things in a normal week of cleaning......stop laughing, DH!)

• clean all linens (including curtains, bed spreads and blankets)
• flip/turn mattresses: vacuum the mattress before AND after the flip. Freshen with either Febreeze or baking soda
• wipe down walls, doors and baseboards
• air out the house (open windows....at least two on opposite sides of the house so the air will pull through)
• vacuum UNDER/BEHIND furniture....the heavy stuff
• wash light fixtures (yes...you have to remove the globes)
• put away the winter coats
• clean out fire place of all ashes; close damper
• hose down outside of house
• work on garden
• clear out computer files
• clear ceiling and walls of any little fuzzy cobwebs
• wipe down the inside of all kitchen cabinets
• wipe down TOP of refrigerator (yep...the top you don't ever see, but know that it is NASTY!)
• get lawn mower, tractor mower, tiller and weed-eater up and running

WOW! I guess now that it is up there I actually have to start working on it. Who said I'm not smart?

Hope you have a wonderful beginning of spring. Let me know how you are doing.

ETA:

clean out the vent-a-hood

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, y'all. It's that time of the week again. Time for me to do something, 3 of you to join me and the rest to read, criticize or whatever. LOL! (I'm not bitter, really. I am TOTALLY thankful for the 3 who do join me. Thanks!)

So I started this *little* blog carnival called "Making a Happy Home Monday." The idea is simple...you take one area of your home and make it better. How? You make it more functional or just prettier. In doing this, you do make your home a happier home. The goal is to have women come together and link up down below (on Mr. Linky) and take us into your home, via your blog. You can either tell us the details or you can put up pictures. The purpose of all this is two-fold: 1) it gets you into doing something positive around the house and 2) it encourages and inspires others to accomplish #1. :D Please join me.

This post is about my cards. I sat down to make my Christmas cards. I have some before and after pics. If you will scroll down, you will see the disaster!

OK. Yes...I do know that these are not Christmas cards. However, it totally gives you a glimpse into my mind. Heh...I DID sit to do Christmas cards. I had to go to one of THREE....that's right THREE junk drawers in my kitchen to look for something. Well, during that search I got mad at the thought of having three junk drawers when one of my utensil drawers was always getting stuck. Which reminded me that another NON-junk drawer had a lot of crap in it....which reminded me that the cabinet above my stove (housing my hot pads and aprons) always dropped things when I grabbed an oven mitt. (I never said this would make sense...only that it is how I think. Sadly, this is not an isolated event. I have priorities, they just fight each other for first place and I don't know who to listen to. :D )

This time, I listened to the drawers.

Don't they look better? I emptied them completely. I wiped them out with bleach wipes. I had to re-line a few. In the above photo the 2 outer drawers were junk drawers. The other is by my sink. While I still maintain 2 junk drawers, I have promoted one to begin holding my utensils.

Next Monday? CARDS.........maybe!

OK. Your turn. Link up on Mr. Linky so we can all pop over and show some blogger love and see wha'cha got goin' on.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, y'all. Another wonderful Monday to make your home a happy home. I started this carnival a few weeks ago. The idea is to take an area of your home....any area...and make it better. How? By making it prettier, or more functional.

I am a clutter-bug...and what's worse is I tend to be a lazy clutter-bug. BUT, I can't have the home I want with so much stuff all over the place. So, what I have started doing is picking a small somethin'-somethin' to do and improve on it.

It is SO TRUE that it is easier to keep something in good shape than it is to get something in good shape. All of this, I really think, is helping me to be a better housekeeper. I WANT to have a clean, healthy and happy home. Well, it takes work.

I know...I know, you technically want a home that doesn't look like a "showplace" or you want it to be "clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy." WHATEVER! If that isn't a stupid statement, I don't know what is! But I digress...

I hope you will join me. What you do is this: Choose an area of your home to improve in ANY WAY. Clear your nightstand. Paint the trim in your bedroom. Hang a wreath on your door. Whatever you choose, tell us about it by signing up on Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.

Any improvement is better than where you were to begin with, right? Spend 5, 10 or 15 minutes doing something to make a happy home!

Can't wait to check it out!


So here is another hot spot I was telling you about. My bar is always a mess. I am too busy lazy to keep it cleaned. It catches EVERYTHING (including cookbooks that need only be relocated about 3 feet above the bar.

Hmmmm.....let's have a look at what is there: baking stone, spoon rest, standing mixer, food processor, bowl of pumpkins, something orange, some kind of schmagooga, candle, tissues, potpourri, home-management notebook, sticky notes, bag of birthday party goodies, cereal bowl, school work and various other things that need a new home.

Fifteen minutes later? Not too bad, huh? The papers are from a Pampered Chef catalog party I'm doing....it must stay in my face so I don't forget to get money from people.

And aren't the pumpkins perty!