Extreme Makeover Cleaning Edition Part III

Our projects today were the living room and office.  We actually completed the living room early this morning because Chester and Annie (my in-laws pups) were coming at 9 this morning to spend the night with us while my in-laws take a quick trip to Austin.  But, I think the living room looks great.  Just see for yourself! (I do however need some serious help with what to do on our shelves.  Right now it's just a hodge podge of stuff, and I really don't know what to put on them.)

 

See the frame above the TV with the pictures?  That's new!  I actually bought it by myself (which is a huge task for me because 1. I don't like spending money and 2. I have a hard time making decisions that I actually want things (and about anything really) and 3. I don't go shopping).  All of the pictures of us were taken by Jennifer and you can see some of her other work here.  She is amazing!  Here's a close up.

 

Here's one more picture from a different angle of the room.  I had to retake this picture because the one I took earlier in the day didn't come out the way I wanted it to.  I prefer more daylight, but this will have to do.

The office is still a work in progress unfortunately.  It became our catch all whenever we'd have company come over and we'd have to frantically make the house presentable, so it has been a huge task.  We did a lot of work (spent over 2 hours on it alone) and it looks way better, but I'm going to hold off on a picture until we complete it.  We also want to rearrange the furniture so I'd rather wait until it's a "new" room.

I'm really happy with how everything is going.  When I come home from work a huge weight is lifted just by not having to look at all of the clutter the instant I open the door and not feeling the burden of the million things that I should be doing when all I want to do is rest.  It is amazing how much better it makes me feel!

Ps.  I have actually already made 2 other posts this weekend (crazy! I know!), so if you missed them, you might want to check them out.  I promise, I never intended to take up so much of everyone's time.  I really didn't think I'd have much to write about.  Hopefully it's at least not to boring!

Extreme Makeover: Cleaning Edition Part II

I am on week 2 of getting rid of the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) in my house and we were successful this weekend as well!

What have we been up to today?  Well, we have been to a meeting for the leaders of the small groups in our Sunday school class, cleaned the dining room table off, cleaned the front entry table and all of the other miscellaneous clutter in those 2 areas, and vacuumed the whole front part of the house (which is actually a huge task because you have to empty the vacuum what seems like every 5 square feet because there is so much dog hair and my vacuum is terrible.  I really wonder how they even have any left on them!).  I have to be honest, this weekend I didn't have the energy and excitement that I had last weekend so it was very hard to push through.  I always get started with lots of momentum, but towards the end when it gets down to the hard stuff that I just really don't know what to do with, I get very overwhelmed and want to quit.  Fortunately for me, I have a husband who is very supportive and helped me make it through!  It looks great!!!  I'm almost ready to have company :)  See for yourself...

 Do you see how much space we have to cover on that table?  We pretty much utilized it all.  Not any more though.  My goal is to not put things on it so it doesn't get hidden again.  I need some of that police tape to put around it so I can't go in there anymore.  Ha!

It is so much more inviting now!  Before, I would come home and immediately have to look at clutter and it would just totally depress me.  Now, no matter how exhausting my day may have been at work, I can walk into a pleasant environment.  No more "Ugh!" when I walk in :) Woohoo!!

Also, my sink is still shining which is probably a record.  Most Saturdays I would have to wake up to a dirty kitchen and I would have to spend at least an hour cleaning.  Not this weekend!  And it's not because I didn't do anything that could have dirtied it during the week.  I actually cooked real meals twice (and had enough leftovers to have them twice too), but rather than leaving the dishes, we did them that night.  I still didn't want to do the dishes, but it was definitely worth it to get them over with and not let them pile up.

I am hoping this will help me enjoy cooking again.  In college, when I lived off campus, I cooked dinner most nights for Brandon & me.  I really loved doing it, but ever since I started teaching, I don't have the time or the energy that I had in college.  It doesn't make cooking quite so appealing anymore especially since cooking always requires cleaning and that already isn't my favorite thing to do.  If there was a job that was staying at home and cooking so friends and family could come over and visit, I'd be all over that!  Ha!

In case you're wondering about my daily Bible reading...I wish I could say it's gone perfectly and I've read it each day, but it hasn't.  However, I have read all of the passages for the week.  I just did them in a couple bigger chunks.  Something is better than nothing, right??  Also, I'm not sure what version they email, but it is not the most friendly version to read with all the ye's and thou's and such, so I may just look at what chapters I'm supposed to read and then go to my NASV bible.  I think with the emailed version I'm not as likely to pay attention since the wording is so crazy.

It is hard because I want everything to be perfect right now, but I know if I tried to make it that way all at once I'd fail.  It's just too much to take on all at once.  I have to keep reminding myself that as long as I stick to my plan it will all get done.  This way I won't end up burnt out and right back in the CHAOS.

Well I think that is all for now.  My hubby and I are off to Lupe Tortilla for a much needed date after all that work (plus we have a giftcard, so that always helps)!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Here's to Something in 2010!

Maybe I'm the only person that gets like this, but whenever I feel like I can't do something right, or can't do it the way I want to, I tend to give up and not even bother trying. So here I am, just trying to figure out how to balance all the roles in my life and learning to accept that I'm not perfect, will never be perfect, but can still be successful as a child of God, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and teacher.

I've had lots of people tell me I should start a blog, but I've always made the excuse that I don't have anything worth writing about or anything that others would be interested in reading. But, if you've read my title, I'm learning that doing something is better than nothing. So here I am! I may only post once a month, but then again, who knows, maybe I'll post much more than that. I have no idea where this road will lead me.

My "something" that I did today was shine my sink, which led to then cleaning the whole kitchen because you can't have a shiny sink and a messy kitchen. It looks great and makes me smile every time I go in it! I had some extra help from my wonderful hubby, who I am very thankful for! And, if you're thinking I'm crazy for shining my sink, visit www.flylady.net. It's a website created by another woman who wasn't born with the natural ability to be neat, clean and organized (like me! I envy those of you who it comes so natural to, but am working to make it a habit). She started with shining her sink and took baby steps to take back control of her home. I am determined to eliminate the CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) by the end of the month and keep it away.

Here's a picture of my finished kitchen. I'm so proud!

So here's to something in 2010! Are you doing something?