WORK

Simply stated, I don't want to.

It's not that I am lazy. I just don't want to GO to work.

The need is coming. I will stay home this year. Next year? I'm not exactly sure what is going to happen.

I understand our situation. I know what we need to do. I want to do my part to help my family....to help my husband. It isn't fair that he takes on the entire financial responsibility....and the stress that comes with it.

I feel like (after 4 years) that I'm JUST now getting the hang of housekeeping. Don't laugh. I'm GETTING the hang of it....I haven't GOTTEN the hang of it.

Also, we are just so busy. With my hubby gone 18 days a month, I have to get the kids everywhere they are going to go. I don't begrudge them that. And, I don't hold it against my hubby. He is doing a great job providing what we have and giving me the opportunity to stay home as long as I have. I often think (when feeling a time crunch) of how stressed I'd feel during TAKS testing, grading period and lesson plans. (And, yes, they all come at once at some point during the year.) I won't NOT let my kids play soccer or have music lessons because I'm tired.

When I was teaching, I didn't start my work until all the kids were down. I usually had 2-3 hours of work to do each night. (I am a middle school teacher.) I'm just extremely worried that I will be a bad teacher and an even crappier mother and housekeeper. What if my stress comes through in my mothering? What if I'm so tired that I don't want to spend time with my kids? What if they want me to do something with their class and I can't? What if I miss my kids too much?

So tomorrow, I will be going to the school to fill out the paperwork for subbing. I don't mind. It will be OK to go a few days a month. I wish it could be that way all the time. It just can't be. I have thought about trying to do a job share...perhaps for one year. First, I don't know if I would make enough money to do that. Secondly (and mostly), I would have to do a job share for kinder or 1st grade. EEEK! I don't want that age. Period. They won't do job share for middle school, due to the testing.

Let me clarify our situation. There are some things we need to pay down/off and other things we would like to do, as a family. We can't, if I don't work. If I don't work, we are stagnant. If I work, we start to pull ahead. We need to pull ahead.

So, there ya go. This isn't any surprise to my husband. We have talked about it. He knows how I feel. And, if things get better with the economy, I know he will keep me home as long as possible. I also know that if I do go back to work, he will do his best to get me home as soon as possible. He says he likes me to stay home. I enjoy trying to improve on my housekeeping, my cooking, my being a homemaker.

I pray that I will get more time in the near future.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Yes! It is that time of week again. And, being Labor Day, it means we must labor. Right?

Actually, this bit if labor was done a few days ago. I just decided to put it up.

Making a Happy Home Monday is a small blog carnival that I created. It is hopes of inspiring and encouraging others to find one area in their homes to improve upon. Make it pretty. Make it more functional. Make it clean. Whatever you do, make it happy.

I would love for you to join in. If you do, just link up down below (on Mr Linky) and show/tell us what you are doing!

Over the past month, my hubby and I have really done a lot with the boys' rooms. My oldest switched with my 2 youngest (who share a room.) They are now in the bigger room with their bunk beds. My oldest and 2nd now have "big boy" rooms....meaning it is set up to facilitate homework a bit better.

Well, in my mind, it was just a matter of moving a few key pieces of furniture. Hmmmm....it took us over a week. We had to switch beds, move dressers, clean, rearrange, switch closets....this even included my 2nd son, who had some furniture in his room that belonged to my youngest.

So, we FINALLY got that mostly settled. (I'm still working on detail stuff, but for the most part, we are done.) The thing that was just overwhelming had to do with the toys. TOYS! TOYS! TOYS! There is no way that 4 kids need that many toys! Actually, I'm referring to the 2 youngest, mostly. My oldest, who would rather be on the computer, watching TV, playing DS or reading, has a small selection of toys.....mostly transformers and a few games. My 2nd is in the transition of not really playing so much with toys. Though, he does enjoy lego's, k'nex and more "sophisticated" forms of play. He has a small tub full of his stuff.

Nope, the area is in my youngest boys' new room.....they had 3 of the GIANT tubs, 1 large tub and 3 baskets full of so much. It was sad. Now don't get me wrong. I'm glad that we have been blessed with gifts from friends and the ability to get so much of what our boys want. But, they don't play with them all. Some are outgrown. A few were broken. Some are just not liked by the kids.

SO....the other day, I decided to dedicate a bit of time. Little did I know that it would take me about 5 hours. I went TOY BY TOY! I kept the ones I knew for sure they would like. I sorted out the ones I knew they didn't like. THEN, the ones that were on the fence, I put in the floor to see if they were picked up. If not....they went into the discard bin.

By discard, I mean donation. We have a lovely charity place down the road. They run a thrift store. The merchandise is all donated. I would rather donate than go through the "fun" (note the sarcasm) of a garage sale. (For the record, there was only 1 kitchen-sized trash bag full of trash and/or broken toys.)

Here is a picture of what I'm donating.

The large tub? We still have 2 of those full of toys to be loved by my children. The basket? Just overflow. The bags? Kids' clothes. I recently went through the dresser of my youngest 2 and pulled out grown clothes.

What do you think?

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

Hey, y'all! Hope you are having a good beginning to the week. We are. It's just hot hot!

So, before I forget, I will try to activate Mr. Linky.....but he hasn't been cooperating with me lately. SO, you may, or may not, be able to link up. If it's not up, please leave a comment!

A lot of you already know what I do here, but I suppose there may be a few new readers....either to this blog-carnival or to the blog, in general. I started this blog-carnival as a way to hold myself accountable. You know....pride can be a powerful ally OR a horrible enemy. I have chosen to use it to work on my house. I tend to get a little lazy. But, if I put something out there, then I will do it. Otherwise, I might just think about it and never get it done.

The purpose of (hopefully) allowing everyone else to link up is the same. My hope is that this blog will encourage and inspire others to do something in their homes.

So what is a happy home? A happy home doesn't have to be spotless. Heaven help us if it does. LOL! It does need to be clutter free and well-running. I find that if there is an area of my home that doesn't work well...either it is cluttered, ugly or dirty.....then I need to remedy that somehow. When I do that, I'm happier. My hubby is happier. My kids are happier.

Please join me. Find an area of your home that needs to be cleaned, organized or beautiful. Take pictures if you can. Share them with us. This is a long process. One that, sadly, will never be DONE. It is a work in process. I hope you will join in on that process with me.

SO, without further adieu, I will share what I did for Making a Happy Home.

BOOKS!

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I had the teaser about my cookbooks? Well, it is coming together, so be sure to tune in tomorrow for some BIG NEWS!

For today, let me show you the before and after.

I keep my cookbooks above my bar in the cabinets. Above my bar, on the counter, on the hearth, by my bed, in the FTU, on the sidebar, in the floor, on the kitchen table...the point is, my cooking library has exceeded the capacity for that space above the bar. That will probably not change. I can't give up more kitchen space because, well.....I cook and need that space. I don't want to keep it on our bookshelves in another room because that just seems wrong to me, somehow. :)

I have too many books. Specifically, I have too many cookbooks. (We'll talk about regular books later.) There are some cookbooks that, no matter how much I may or, may not, use them, I will never part with. There are some that I have looked through once and that was it. I'm sad that I invested the money into these and didn't use/keep them. I think my hubby understands, I hope so....otherwise, I'll never get another cookbook. :p

Here is a before picture of the area with my cookbooks.

Here is the after. Not too bad, huh? Just wait till you see what you might could get!

**HINT HINT** You REALLY need to leave a comment.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, y'all!

Hope everyone is having a great beginning to the summer. We sure are....it's already been crazy-busy, but we are having fun. I'll post about some of that later.

So for today's (late) installment of Making a Happy Home Monday I will talk about YARD WORK!!

First let me say this....I'm opposed to yard work.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it being done. I am opposed to MY doing it. LOL! I don't like to work in the yard. I don't like to dig in flower beds. I don't really like to garden....though I'm trying to convince myself that I do. I don't feel "girl-power" when I mow. I truly understand why farmers, back in the day, popped out many babies.....for the yard work. :)

SO, with all that in mind, my sweet hubby is in the process of teaching my 9, soon to be 10, year old son to do yard work. Last summer, he learned to ride the tractor mower (nothing too difficult....he is MUCH smaller than the old John Deere, but we keep it to straight patches.) This year.....he is learning how to weed eat!

Share with me what you are doing at your place to make your home happier.

Love to all!

** Due to my studying JBQ, I'm not working on specific scripture memoriztion outside the Bible Fact Pack.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME AND MEMORIZATION MONDAY

Hey, y'all

It's time for Making a Happy Home and Memorization Monday. The purpose of MHHM is to hopefully inspire and encourage others to take a small area in their homes and make it a happy place. This can be done by cleaning it, organizing it or making it pretty. Whatever you do, it will make you happier. That happiness will filter down and make your family happy.

It's been crazy. I will be posting more about why I have been AWOL so stay tuned.....there may even be more than one post today. (In fact...that is my goal so I can get caught up on things.)

Let's get down to business, though, shall we?

For Making a Home Monday I am working on a few of MANY housekeeping issues for me.

It seems my nemesis, well not really...laundry is my nemesis.....but a problem for me is my dining room table and my kitchen bar. I have so much trouble keeping them clean. It is a vicious, vicious cycle....

I get them cleared off and then promise myself that I will not allow them to get out of control again....only to wish I kept my promise to myself just a few days later. :( I will have the table or bar cleaned off, swearing I won't get into the clutter problem again....after all, if I just put things away as I use them, it won't be an issue. But who does that? Really. Who? It starts with one pile of coupons, or one or more cookbooks, telling myself that I will get to the pile soon and that it is not out of control...until I have about 8-12 piles of cr@p going.

I would imagine that this (or something similar) is a problem for you, too. So you might see this on MHHM often....I just don't know that I will kick the clutter habit.

Since I'm so behind in blogging (see other posts) I haven't even started this yet. I just took some before shots. I will be back in a few hours, or days, to share my progress.

This is embarrassing....so please don't judge me.

And now for Memorization.

First off, I'm pleased to announce that I have received my 10 point seal for Junior Bible Quiz. I had to learn a lot for that. I had 288 questions that I had to learn. Then, for the test, 30 questions were chosen randomly (from the 288) and out of those 30, I had to answer 20 correctly. Fortunately, I knocked them out so I didn't have to worry about almost not getting it. Now, I start working on my 20s. That will only be 192 *harder* questions.

Anyway, I came across this list and I'm basically going to start cracking these out - along with the 20 point JBQ questions I need to learn.

http://www.wholesomewords.org/family/kjvad.html

The first one, I know. I had to learn that for JBQ. Now, I will work on memorizing the 2nd which is Psalm 1:1-6

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall ot wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

OK...we will TRY Mr Linky, but I might have to remove it. I hope not. Y'all take care.

GOINGS ON

HEY, Y'ALL!!!

Just thought I would come on here and touch base. I feel as if I have been neglected all 3 of you. LOL!

It has been busy. This time of year is busy for me with school parties, springtime activities and other things.

Monday night, I played a fun game of Bunco with some great friends. I actually won the $5 I put into the pot....for the fewest number of wins. It pays to lose!!! Anyway, I had spent all day baking a coconut cream pie (esp. for my friend tollesons4him) and a cinnamon chocolate cake with PUDDLES of icing. yum.

Tuesday, after the smoke fiasco, I spent the day on a field trip with my oldest. It was fun....but hot. Fourth graders don't have cute smells anymore...it's just B.O!

That night was spent airing out the house and wiping things down...TRYING to deodorize the house.

Wednesday, I went to the school to teach a lesson on volume (the measurement) to my 2nd son's class. That was a lot of fun. After that, we had guitar lessons and soccer practice.

Yesterday, I FINALLY started on my regular housekeeping duties. When you need to run 3 loads of laundry a day to stay in control, and you haven't done anything since Saturday....well, you find yourself in a laundry conundrum....heh....I like that word. Picked up the kids from school for more lessons/practices and such.

Today, went to the store to buy things for my 3rd sons birthday party. He turned 6 on Tuesday. We are having his party tomorrow at the park. It will hopefully be fun for all.

I do have a gripe....and I have to write "in code" as I'm not sure who all reads. All I can say is this.....there needs to be a school handbook written, FOR PARENTS, on how to be a room mom/dad. I mean REALLY? Some of these moms I'm dealing with are using some questionable decision making skills......well, they are being ridiculous. (Please note that ridiculous has NO "E's" in it.....) LOL (that's a whole " 'nother" peeve of mine.)

Anyway, if you are a room parent, your job is to make the teacher's job easier, when it comes to parties. I'll be quiet for now....I guess I'll go work on that handbook. LOL!!!

Tomorrow is the 25th. I know you don't need reminding (well, some of you do) that tomorrow is the monthly Rudolph Club Meeting over at OrganizedChristmas.com. And I feel it prudent to remind you that, including tomorrow, there are only 8 more meetings until THE DAY!!!

Other things I'm thinking about.....I really want the sheet music to some of the Twilight movie soundtrack. I want "Bella's Lullaby," but until I hear the soundtrack, I don't know for sure if it has what I want. I can't find the part that I want. It might just be some "free composing" on top of the melody. That is fine....I just want to know for sure.

I have some Pampered Chef stuff that I need to get handed out to my friends.

My son's ear appointment went well. We are going to wait 18 months, on the advice of the surgeon. That is OK....now we know.

I have a lot of work to do around here. I feel 5 steps behind, ALWAYS! I need to pull an all-nighter. Wish I still had it in me to do, but I just don't. Maybe in the next few, my hubby will take the kids for an extended play date. *hint hint*

I'm about to start making all of our bread. I'm pretty excited about that.

OK....that's all. Y'all have a good day. I'll be back my Monday, at least.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

So I missed last week. Between the flu and the funeral my house was in horrible shape. It's really not that much better, but I'm trying.

This post I have for Making a Happy Home Monday was actually done BEFORE last Monday, but I never got it up.

I started this blog carnival with the hopes of encouraging and inspiring others to make their homes a happy place. If you are in a dirty, cluttered house, you won't be happy. I'm not saying your house has to be spotless, but it needs to be something that works for you.

The point of this is to take an area of your home that needs some "fixin' up." Make it happier by cleaning it, organizing it, fixing it....whatever you need to do to make it nicer to look at and more functional.

With that being said, it IS a carnival...open to anyone who would care to share some of their projects. Just link up on Mr. Linky. Describe the work you are doing and even post some pictures.

I can't wait to see them!

For my last project, I tackled my son's closet. I'm really embarrassed to post these, but the goal is to "encourage and inspire" so here is my attempt.

This was one of the bigger projects....not a little 15 minute perk up. Nope....this took my hubby and I THREE HOURS of working together to get this.

We went through clothes (of which we donated 3 of the large lawn and garbage bags FULL).

We went through shoes.

We emptied the shelves.

We organized.

You should be able to see, from the first few pictures, how it would take 2 of us three hours to get this done.

Baby afghans. School uniforms. A basket of shoes (some with mates, some without). A box of gift bags. A poster. Other things I can't even describe....'cause I don't know.




FINALLY!

Doesn't it look better?

The top shelf holds a big box of pictures, a Smart Saver bag of the baby afghans, rocket stuff and other keep sake items that aren't needed often.

The top bar, to the left has my 3rd son's church clothes that really need to hang. The bottom bar contains my 4th son's church clothes. The shelves (from top to bottom): games, DS #2 shoes, DS #3 shoes, DS #4 shoes.

The bar to the right has DS #2 school uniforms and some church clothes. The dresser is his. (My oldest has a dresser in his room and my other 2 share a large dresser in the bedroom.) Oh....and the plastic box on top of the dresser? DS #2's treasures. These are items that do NOT have to be shared with anybody else.

The box on the floor (the one in the very back that you can't see) contain gift bags, gift wrap and tissue paper. The big blue box that you can see contains a lot of outgrown school uniforms. The shoe hanger thing-a-ma-bog has shoes that the some of the boys will grow into.

Well, there you have it. I hope you join me.

TA-DAH

Here is the latest project. We have been doing so much around the house. As always, I have a disclaimer about the word "we." "WE" is my hubby. I am the one taking pictures and saying, "Ooooo, it's so pretty."

This is the nasty stuff we looked at for a few years. No, it's not dirt....I don't think ;) This bit was in a high-traffic area and it is just scuffed badly. The whiter portion was under our dining room table.


Here is a picture of the flooring going down. This stuff is actually a vinyl something or other...it is completely waterproof. It goes down on top of the floor so you don't have to pull-up, put down toxic strippers (hee hee) or scrape anything. All we (hubby) had to do was to pull the baseboards and cut the planks to fit. They are 3 feet long and ??? wide. (Maybe Hubby will leave a comment with the width, should anyone want to know.)

Here is my fly-boy and our 2nd son figuring out what piece to use next.

A close-up.

Finished dining room. It went on into the kitchen, pantry area and laundry area.....it took him about 3-4 days to get everything done.