Painting Adventures

For the last two plus weeks I have been painting, painting and painting some more.  I took on the adventure of painting 5 rooms; 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms and the hallway/stairway.  Every day was started in paint clothes and ended getting out of those paint clothes.  The next day started the same way and the next and the next until a few days ago.  Today we made another big step towards the end of this long adventure.  One of my favorite days.  I will let the pictures tell the story! :D  We drew a tree on the wall, a tree that will hold our towels!!!

The Master Bathroom!!!

 My wonderful friend who helped me design, draw and paint the masterpiece.

 Closeup - Thanks to Aimee for this snapshot :D

 The finished tree!!!

The finished tree with the accessories of the towels.

The upstairs bathroom - top and bottom of the tree!

What a talented friend I have - So glad to have her as a friend!!!! <3

What happened!!!!

Today was a "crawl in the corner and die" type of day.  I have been doing fairly well at keeping my house up for the last few months, which is a huge accomplishment.  I didn't mind people stopping in because the floors were picked up and dishes done.  The last two weeks have been a different story.  Last week was spend helping a sick hubby, getting ready for a spur of the moment trip home for a funeral and running too many errands.  The house started falling apart last week.  I left for 4 days and left all the boys home (including dad).  Unfortunately, the mess I left at home (I tried to get it cleaned up but ran out of time) turned into a hurricane type mess by the time I got home.  This hurricane mess was 'my fault' I was informed because I brought the stuff in from the car.  :(  Yep I told the girls to empty their backpacks and scatter it all over the living room - NOT!!! 

While I was home at the funeral I caught the bug that my hubby had earlier in the week and became VERY ill.  So bad that my trip got extended one more day because I didn't feel well enough to drive 8 hrs.  I felt a lot better on Sunday and so I came home. For it to come back again on Monday and Tuesday.  Today I laid down with the baby around 10-11 AM and woke up around 3 PM.  UGH!!!  Needless to say, I haven't got anything done in the house.  The only thing that has been done is it is getting worse.  I am really struggling with having the motivation to even start because it has gotten so bad. 

Now for the reason that caused me to want to crawl in the corner and die.  I had to run off to a meeting tonight and so left the older boys in charge of getting dinner and cleaning up the living room.  I knew there was somebody coming over while I was gone and so I wanted the living room picked up.  When I got home I found out that popcorn was on the menu for dinner - which was now scattered all over the living room and made it look worse and they didn't even pick up the living room.  This gentlemen showed up to interview my oldest son and when I got home I found out that they went into my room to do the interview.  At least there wasn't any lingerie laying around the room - but I wanted to die that they took them in that room.  Not only did he see my messing living room - but he had to see my messy bedroom also.  They sat on my disheveled bed that wasn't made because I slept in for a good part of the day and looked at all the girls clothes that are scattered all over my room.  Ugh!!! Hope this moment finally gives me the motivation tomorrow to start cleaning.  At least I am going to bed with the kitchen sink empty (except a few glasses).  Let's see if I can fit in cleaning, painting two bathrooms and a moment of sanity into my day tomorrow. 

The Girls Bedroom - Toy Closet Included

I started out doing the girls room.  It could be easily called the black hole.  If I was missing an item - I was almost guaranteed I would find it in their room.  For example, a library book that has been missing for over 5 months and already paid $17 to replace it, an apple slicer (with the core still in it - YUCK!), almost our entire supply of sheets (why were they stashing these), and many more items.  Let's just say a lot more went out then was kept in their room. 

I got going on their room and realized that to put all the stuff away I would need to tackle the toy closet out since it had thrown up all over the hallway and their room.  And as much as had come out there was still that much more in there.  Where did all the STUFF come from????  Well I knew where it was going - sorted into piles in the girls room and then from there decided if it was to stay or go, and the stuff that stayed would be sorted into bins and placed into the closet.  There will be some more purging to go, but for now getting it organized was the main objective. 

This is a two day project and I am now completely exhausted.  Now to the biggest task - getting the girls to keep it that way!!!

What did it look like before and after - here are pictures that tell their whole story.  There are three (mostly) in each collage.  There are before, after day 1 and after pictures.  I added one picture to the hallway to show the finished toy closet.

 We even left the dollhouse all cleaned up! :D

Master Bedroom Surfaces and Floor

I broke this project up into two different Focus Areas - but I am going to report it all in one post.  It was lots of work and I finished it all on the 18th of February and I am proud to say that it has stayed that way to this day.   Now onto the pictures.

Before

 After

 

Before

  After

 

Before

 After

Now to the floor.  It is a drastic difference also.  I am loving the clean bedroom by the way!!! :D

Before

 After

 Before

 After

 Before

 After

Week #10 Focus Area - Master Bedroom Cupboard

This cupboard has become a catch all.  It is the place to hide stuff from the kids (and the parents), put something away that doesn't have a home, medicines, memorabilia, and many more things.  I have been dreading all week to tackle this project.  It is a very deep cupboard and it is full and almost overflowing.  But I did do it and even though my back is now sore, I am so glad I did it.  

I didn't get a before picture before I started, but did it part way through.  First picture is just the bottom shelf stuff that is on the bed.  I lost my bed when the second shelf came out.  It was a mile deep!!! :D

So what did it look like during and after ...

BEFORE/DURING

This is the stuff from the bottom shelf only!!!

Before - with bottom shelf emptied with new organizers to get a fresh start.

AFTER

It is still full but it is organized.

I found lots of stuff I haven't seen in a long time.  I started a yard sale pile.  Filled two garbage bags full of garbage (novel idea - haha).  Went through all the memorabilia and sorted them by child and put them in binders or pizza boxes (clean ones) that the teachers sent home with their school work in it.  I just added more to it.  To top it all off - I found 9 bottles of Elmer's glue.  What am I going to do with 9 bottles?  Guess I won't have to buy it next year for school. :D

Well, our first 10 week challenge for Magic10 is now completed.  We are taking a few week break and then back at it again.  I am so glad to be able to do this program.  It is giving me the encouragement to push forward in getting myself organized. 

Impromptu Project - Chair Wheels

A while ago, the kids left a ball of yarn on the floor and it got caught by the wheels of the computer chair.  I cut off the ball but never took the string out of the wheels.  I knew it would be a project because it had got caught in most of the wheels. Today I saw the string hanging out to of the wheels and was tired of dragging the chair where I wanted it instead of rolling it.  I turned it upside down and was horrified to find out it was more then the one ball of yarn that was stuck in the wheels.  Who out there has actually looked under the wheels of rolling chair.

Here is what I found ...
 

Yes - you could say I was horrified.  All of that was pulled out of 5 little wheels.  My question is when and how!!! No wonder it didn't roll any more.  The orange yarn is what I knew was in there.  All the rest was a big surprise!!!  Needless to say - this task took me a lot longer then I thought it would when I went to turn the chair over.  But so glad it is done.  I had to sit down and roll around for a minute.  What a great feeling!!!

Week #3 - Focus Area - Desk

So confession time.  The pictures were taken on Week #3, project started and finished on Week #10.  But it did get done!!!

So my desk is always a disaster.  I get it cleaned and within a few days I can't see it anymore.  Well I am doing this post on Saturday evening.  It still looks like the After Picture except for a few items that were put on it today while I was doing another project, but too tired now to take it off.

So reveal time ...

Before

After

 I was in such a cleaning mood after I finished the desk that I moved on to the cupboard next to it.  Unfortunately I don't have a before picture but suffice it to say that you wouldn't have been able to see the top of the cupboard.  With all the clutter, you really couldn't even see the cow!!!  Plus I dusted and reorganized everything in the cupboard and you can actually see what is in there because the windows got cleaned also.  Yay!!! For a productive day.