Day #15, 16, and 17

I guess it doesn't really matter what day anymore right? I should name them projects instead of days because there are just some days I can't get one day and other days (like today) that I get a few done. So PROJECT #1 is. . .


Desk drawer #1Mostly pens in there. Crazy.Now they are organized pens.

PROJECT #2
Desk drawer #2Electronical type stuff. Lots and lots and lots of cords under there.That's a lot of stuff fitting in my little drawer (really its not very big)Wow. Now isn't that pretty??? The top bin (you know I never really thought I needed a labeler. Now I'm thinking more and more that I do need one.) has stuff we use. External hard drives, cords to cameras and what not. The bottom bin is cords and random stuff. Alan's old blackberry he won't get rid of. His box his iphone came in. Power cords to our old laptops that we still use. (we switched to mac's and I don't have photoshop for Mac yet so I still have to use the old laptop). And a bunch of other stuff. All easily accessible now!!

PROJECT #3 for the day (so day# 17 according to the challenge)
The mail system. I had actually done this the other day without realizing it so there is no before picture. I did it when I was going through a stack of mail and the bills wouldn't fit in the file cabinet anymore and I found a bill that was past due. (whoops) so I dug this outI bought it awhile ago in an attempt to be organized. It hadn't been used yet. And I also grabbed this.
That I found for a dollar at Big Lots. (Its a folder with 3 plastic pages with pockets on each side. I didn't know what I would use it for when I bought it but it was a dollar and it matched my file thing perfect!) And then I did this. . . .
See the pockets??? They are everywhere. I love it! I did the following catagories. . . .

1. Grocery List
2. Unsorted Mail
3. To File
4. To Pay
5. Jake
6. Gracie
7. To Do List
8. Address labels/stamps

This one is self explanatory. I'll keep the bills in here for the year and at the end of the year. Very organizationally move them to the file cabinet in preparation for the next year (hopefully this works. It should. It seems easy enough.) And the last part of the mail. . . . This is how stuff goes to work with Alan. I leave it hanging on the garage door in hopes that he'll remember to grab it. Sometimes it sits there for a few days but it is mostly out of sight unless you leave our house through the garage. So I don't mind. And that is my organization day. Ahhh. I liked those projects they were easy fun ones.

Day ???

Not sure what day I'm on anymore. On the blog I'm supposed to be on 16 I think. But on my blog maybe day 14? Who knows? Anyways, It was the fridge. Mine was in desperate need of some lovin'. I picked a bad day to do it. I was ornery, cranky, moody, crabby, did I mention ornery? Oh, yes I did. Well, hopefully that gives the idea of the mood. Not a good day. Not a good time to do it. I thought I had 3hrs while Alan was at a scout thing (although he did tell me there was a possibility he wouldn't have to stay but it never works out in my favor so I was planning on 3 hrs) Well, he was home in like 30 mins. But I had already started and therefore I was trying to clean the fridge, make dinner, keep the kids from fighting and bossing Alan around. (Yes, bossing. I'm telling my deep dark secrets) After a looooonnnnnngggggg hour a delicious dinner was made (brown rice, green beans, Mediterranean chicken. Now I just need dessert!) and a beautiful fridge came to pass.

Before. . . .
Ewwww. It was so beyond dirty.


Wa la! I will be stacking the eggs but I managed to soak the counter with water. Which included the bottom of one of the egg cartons. We didn't want them to soak onto the other carton so we did side by side. Actually Alan did.
It may not be as organized as I would like. Alan was trying to help. It was just buggin' more than anything. (Really cheese, grapefruit and garlic cloves all went in the same drawer. Really?) But at least its clean. And semi organized (I did re-do one of the shelves in the drawer. Didn't take an after pic. Sorry. I'm ready for bed. I was an hour ago.)
And this picture just because. . . .
Gracie actually told me to take it and they held this until I could find the camera, turn it on blah blah blah blah. My camera is ancient so it takes a long time to load up. Good night all. I'm hoping to find some yummy dessert to eat. Please magically appear homemade chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream doused in toppings. . . . .

Day #11, 12 and 13

Day #11 The Freezer - Super easy. We just bought a deep freeze a couple months back and so there's not much in here. As you can see. So I took it all out gave it a quick wipe downAnd the after. . . .
This old piece of crap camera hates me and I can't get the pictures flipped. Super annoying because its only on some of them. I can't WAIT to get my good camera back. It is taking way too long to get here. Anyways -


Day #12 The spice cabinet - before

And after -
Day #13 - The Medicine cabinet beforeAnd after (ya, the spots? They're on the camera.)
So today was really supposed to be day #14 for me (under the bathroom sink) I already did that and I haven't had time to the pantry or toy organization yet. I thought 3 was good for today. Tomorrow's supposed to be medicine/vitamin storage. I don't have that. Well, what I do is in the medicine cabinet so its already done. So I'm skipping a day and doing the fridge. I hope to do the pantry or toys on Thursday. Wish me luck!!

Surprise!!

We surprised Alan at work with a little gift (handpicked by the kids. Sweethearts from Jake. A chocolate tin from Gracie) and heart attacked his office. We were actually planning on doing his car but he happened to not be there when we got there so we opted for the office instead.
The kids painted their hearts ALL morning long.

Gracie was proud of the ones on the back of Daddy's computer! Hmmm I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I guess I'll have to think on that one. Maybe a present for the kids! Oh, there's an idea!

Valentines Day!

So we run late here in the Martin household. We didn't used to. In fact I still HATE to be late. But sometimes its inevitable. So as of Tuesday night at 10:00 our kids have still not received a Valentine's present and Alan and I have not had a Valentine's date. But I did put forth a little effort and made heart shaped sandwiches! Lol pretty lame.
Jake's always my little helper. Not sure what's on his face.
Thank you heart shaped cookie cutters. (So I guess we are doing a week of Valentines! Woo Hoo! Sunday - cookies Monday - sandwiches Tuesday - see next post)

Cookies!

After the farewell we made Valentine cookies!! Well and Christmas and whatever holiday cookie cutters I had. Here's some shots of our good times :)

The Farewell

Part of our crazy weekend consisted of watching our cute nephew Dakotah give his farewell talk in Mtn. Green. His equally cute brother Jaden joined him on the stand. Fabulous job Martin boys!! We're going to miss you Duh!

Crazy Weekend

So its been a crazy weekend. Like insane mass chaos. Wedding, farewell, family in town. Need I say more? (I'll blog it later) I haven't forgotten about the challenge. I will do it. (Freezer, medicine cabinet, spice cabinet and tomorrow's was under the bathroom sink but I already did that so I may do the pantry. Its going to be an all day chore) But I am going to take one more day off. To recover. I'm not doing anything today. Not even celebrating Valentine's Day. I'm moving it to tomorrow. Really. I am. Alan and I can't go out til this weekend for it anyways. So maybe we'll make it a Valentine's Week. Hmmm, I'm liking the sound of that. . . .

Day #10 - The Laundry Room

So if you look at the Bowl of Lemons blog at all she talks about a launch pad. A place that helps you get out the door in the mornings. Well, the laundry room is ours. Its also our collecting ground.

So with these pictures you have to give me a little bit of a break. I had, literally, just walked in the door and dropped everything. Took the pics and shut the door. My friend was over for awhile and then I tackled this bad boy. Pretty amazing transformation if I do say so myself. It took 4 hours!! Yes 4. Because I was trying to be thourough and wash the walls/baseboards etc. . . . Well, I have a slight problem with that. Our dryer vent isn't connected right (nor will it ever be) so lint goes EVERYWHERE but outside or wherever its supposed to go. It literally climbs the walls and spreads out on the floor. I wish I would have taken a picture of under the clothes hamper. But it was too embarrassing. Or disgusting. Either way I didn't. But there was soooo much lint I eventually gave up because I was just spreading it around rather than cleaning it up. I changed my rag 3 or so times because the lint was just collecting on it. Soooo gross. (but my clothes dry faster than anyone elses so I can't completely complain!) So here's the embarrassing pictures. Before. . . .

Oh and its been a collection place for all my fun bins I keep buying! I love organizing bins!! I always have and I'm so glad these tasks "require" me to buy them!!!



During. I should've taken piles of the mess. There was lots of crap.

And after. . . It'll look a lot better when I get rid of the presents. (Proof of how nuts my life is. I've missed 1 birthday party and just haven't ever given a couple of my friends their presents from when their sweet babies arrived.) Someday they'll disappear. (Anyone having a boy baby anytime soon?)




Dang. Not sure how to rotate this bad boy. Sorry. Just tilt your head. Oh, the biggest, subtlest change, I got rid of the carpet that went in front of the washer/dryer. It TOTALLY made our room look bigger!