Moving Jena to Oklahoma City

Written on Wednesday, May 20th...

After much packing and planning, Jena has finally moved to Oklahoma City and is she ever so excited!!! Too much excitement!!! :)

We took a van-load of stuff and packed Jena's car and headed south on Monday. After lugging all her stuff up two flights of stairs into her apartment, darting from furniture store to furniture store to find the perfect bedroom set and a couple short nights, she's moved and we're home.

You can see pics here - these are the ones I took while Dad and I were there.

Then, Jena has pics on her blog here - these are the updated ones with walls painted, furniture moved in and looks more like "home".

I know, it's been a little while....

....since I've written anything here and no, it's not a lack of things going on....it's the fact that there's not been enough time in the last 10 days to actually finish a single post!

For some reason everything came all at one time, even though I was planning otherwise (like that's a surprise!). Last week we moved Jena to OK City (pics to come!), followed by several things I had to have completed and ready for a Vacation Bible School meeting (oh....I've got fun pics on that too!).

Then I had to finish up some camp memory work and lessons (I know, it's not here til July, but I had to get stuff in early for the staff books). And then in and amongst those things, I was trying to finish my spring cleaning, plus I spent one day at Grandma's washing her windows. So much for getting my spring cleaning done by the 20th...it's still not complete.

After finishing several sewing projects for customers and time spent hunting down fabric for several future projects for customers, I finally was able to stitch a design on a quilt block I needed to do last night. And what do you know - I stitched it in the wrong color. Not because I threaded the wrong color, but merely because the colors were not grouped correctly.

I gave up.

I want to bed.

Today has started off to be much better.

Sometime, I think the issue is that I set unrealistic goals.

And now that Scamper has quit jumping up onto my lap and on my keyboard - btw, I already deleted her keystrokes in this post - I can finally "Publish"!

Last Kid's Klub of the year + BBQ!

Last Wednesday was the last day of Kid's Klub for this school year! The kids did a wonderful job of memorizing the books of the Bible and 10 Commandments! We had a year-end BBQ and the night couldn't be complete without WATER! For the kids, anyway! :)

In addition to that, Lori from church made a cake for Jena and I since she was moving and my birthday was Saturday. That was a fun and sweet surprise!! :)

Here's a few pics and you can see more by clicking here.

Spring Cleaning: The dining room

The dining room is just about the easiest (and smallest!) room to clean, if you don't take everything out of the china cabinet and clean it too. And it was more than time for a complete cleaning job - yes, one that takes each item out, cleans it and puts it back in an organized fashion. :)

But it's finished!

Dinning room:
X basic cleaning
X organize it
X resort china cabinet & drawers
X sort tablecloths
wall decorations

What a mess!

Not only is it clean, but organized in
symmetrical fashion, so the dishes
for the most part are balanced.

Wonderful!

Spring Cleaning: The family room

The family room is always a big job, but I can say it's now done! Some of the items on my list will have to wait, but the majority of it is finished!

Here's my check-off list:

Family room:
X basic cleaning
X organize it
X rearrange furniture
bookcase decorations
tabletop decorations
picture window curtains
burgundy lampshades
change decor above fireplace
X sort DVDs/videos
X prune potted plants
X change water in piano

Entryway - ahhh...so nice!

Once I get all my patriotic decor out, I'll change
the spring decor above the fireplace.

So wonderful!!

Spring Cleaning: The hall closets

Ah, yes - the hall closets. Can't forget about those small, but disorganized areas!

Hall & closets:
X basic cleaning (see below)
X organize it (see below)
X sort blankets/sheets/towels
X put candles & scents on closet shelf
family photos for walls

One of these days, I'm planning to hang family photos on one of the walls in the hall. I'd like to do some new photos of our family to put there, so it could be a while til I get that done. Especially since both my sisters are moving! :)

"Before"

Quite the mess!

"After"

Much better!

Spring Cleaning: The guest bedroom

This room was a breeze since I had already cleaned the majority of it a couple months ago, so I just did a quick touch-up in some areas and cleaned the outside windows.

Here's my checkoff list:

Guest room:
X basic cleaning
X organize it
X decide on quilt/stitch pillows
stitch curtains
X hang up blinds
decorations/stand/lamp
X move Jena's stuff downstairs


Then to decide what quilt to put on the bed.....

Burgundy & Ivory (Jena thinks this quilt is hers)

Yellow & Purple

Old-fashioned looking pink

I was planning on doing the pink, but after putting all three quilts on the bed, I am leaning toward the burgundy & ivory. The burgundy quilt and purple quilt have more color to them which brightens up the white walls.

So, I'm still not sure....and I can't do curtains or a bedskirt until I make a decision on the quilt.

More pics of my babies!

How is it that Skittles and Scamper always look the cutest when I'm trying to clean and involved in something? When I'm ready and waiting with a camera, they never seem to cooperate. I couldn't resist and stopped for a moment to shoot a few pics!

Btw - After a rough week, Skittles is doing well since her surgery. Thankfully she seems to be back to her normal, playful self. :)

The baby is almost as big as mama!

They still love each other and sleep together!

Poor baby - she gets kissed 100 million times a day!

I'm a sweet kitty! :)

Me too! :)

Her shaved paw looks so funny where her IV was last week!

Spring Cleaning: The schoolroom

The schoolroom will always be the schoolroom, even though none of us are still in school. Just like Krissa and Jena's room will always be called such, even though they are moving out.

I really wasn't looking forward to tackling this room, because it was such a mess as you can see by the photo below. Part of it is because Jena has some of her stuff in there and then I have Sunday School, Kid's Klub and camp items everywhere.

But anyway, clean it I did. I still would like to spend more time organizing and sorting my SS and camp material. I keep stationary, Bible books, craft ideas and other things in the desk, so I really need to go through that at some point. But it's ok for now and much better than before.

Here's my checkoff list:

Schoolroom:
X basic cleaning (see below)
X organize it (see below)
X rearrange furniture
X sort SS & Kid's Klub material
X move Krissa's stuff downstairs
X new clock

Spring Cleaning: Main bathroom

The main bathroom upstairs we cleaned and painted last November, so it wasn't too difficult to tackle this time. I do have fabric for curtains (which I totally love!), so maybe next month I can get those stitched. Hopefully.

Main bathroom:
X basic cleaning
X organize it
stitch new curtains
wall decorations

Signs that Spring is here to stay!

blooming lilac bushes

flipflops

green grass & blue skies

luscious flowers

a good roll in the dirt

Dad working outside with Lady taking in the sun nearby

Spring Cleaning: Dad's room & bathroom

I guess it's habit, but whenever I start cleaning upstairs, I always start with Dad's room. We had new windows put in last year and they are supposed to be much easier to clean. So easy, in fact, that you can do it all from the inside and don't have to get up on a ladder and go outside to clean them.

Yeah, sure. Whoever came up with that idea didn't know how to clean windows. Sure, if you want to just clean the glass window itself, inside and out, you can do that. But if you want to get out all the dirt, fly specs, spider webs, and whatever else the wind has blown in, that won't work.

And their theory of just hosing off the window from the outside doesn't work either. Maybe it does in other areas of the country where there is no wind and the dirt just gently lands on the window. But here, the wind blows dirt and everything else into any little crevice in and around the window.

Now after saying all of that, they are still easier to clean than the windows we had before. The screen just slides out, the windows slide up and down easily and overall they are quicker and easier to clean. So I won't complain! :)

Here's what I can checkoff my list. Sometime in the future, I'm planning to make a new quilt for Dad's bed since he bought a larger mattress for his bed and this one doesn't fit the greatest. But that will be a future project.

Dad's room & bathroom:
X basic cleaning (see below)
X organize it (see below)
new quilt for larger mattress
X change lamp & shade

Spring Cleaning: Family room downstairs

The downstairs family room is finished. Furniture cleaned, some moved into Krissa's room and some moved out of the basement.

Family room downstairs:
X basic cleaning (see below)
X organize it (see below)
X get ready to sell elliptical & furniture

Spring Cleaning: Krissa's Room

Krissa's room is no longer her room. All her stuff (well, the majority of it, anyway) has been gone since March and now the last few pieces of remaining furniture have been moved out.

We've made her room into an exercise/storage room. It's also a place to store the two extra bookcases that I'm not quite ready to get rid of yet. Plus bookcases are always good storage.

And better yet - it's cleaned, organized and finished! Here's what I can checkoff so far:

Krissa's room:
X basic cleaning
X organize it
X take out blue closet
X move in elliptical/tv/fan
X move in metal & wooden bookcase
X store temp. boxes & totes there

Spring Cleaning: My bedroom - UPDATE

My room I cleaned a couple weeks ago, but since I like to actually checkoff what I've finished, here's my checklist.

You can see in progress and finished pics here.

My room:
X basic cleaning (see below)
X organize it (see below)
hang up wall decorations
stitch quilt/bedskirt/pillows for bed
X move camp supplies to schoolroom

I knew the wall decorations and new bed set would have to wait, so I did get accomplished what I wanted done. I'm happy with that for now. :)

Skittles & Scamper

I've had this great debate in my mind whether to get Skittles spayed or not. I know I will at some point, but I wasn't sure I was ready to yet. I love having the little baby kittens, but giving them away I can hardly stand to do.

But I made a decision to do it and this morning I took Skittles in for surgery and Scamper in for her second round of kitten shots. Every single trip I take with my cats, it always seems to be different. Just when they are content sitting on my shoulder or up on the headrest, they switch places - to my lap.

I also found out just how loud Scamper can scream. And trust me, you don't want to hear it repeated. Skittles was fine on my lap, quiet, content. But Scamper, nope! She had to be meowing at the top of her lungs - a full, loud Siamese scream. Finally she settled down by her mama.

Never in the whole entire 6 hours I drove to Colorado with Snickers did he even begin to scream THAT loud. Good thing too or it would have been a horrible 6 hours. ;)

It's time to Spring Clean!

It's time to Spring Clean! I started making out a list (yes, I usually have a list for everything!) and jotting down notes room by room of what I wanted to accomplish, I kept thinking to myself, "I've only allowed three weeks for this? I'll never be able to get all of this done."

Well, I may not, but I sure am going to give it a try. If I could do nothing but deep cleaning all day long, I would be able to finish it. But life does not always allow for that. I still have a business to run, classes to teach, meals to fix, meetings to attend and whatever else is in my planner for the day.

I know I'm the greatest believer in lists and planning, but don't you know that making a list is in the spring cleaning code? But mainly because I am a fan of lists and I never, ever do a large project (or many times even a small one!) without a list to check-off, here's my list for cleaning/organizing/sewing/decorating the house in the order I'm planning to do it. Yes, I know, I set Mt. Everest goals; but hey, I can plan it that way just keeping in mind that I *might* not get it all accomplished.

Disclaimer: I may, can and will at any time have the option of changing my mind on any aspect, idea or plan I have right within this master list of cleaning chores.

Btw, if you are/were a permanent part of this household (or maybe even if you aren't; I think I've made lists like this for others outside my family), this is the type of list you receive when I'm out of town for a few days. It comes complete with notes, details, explanations and step-by-step what to-dos. ;)

--------------------------------------------------
Spring Cleaning 2009

My room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
hang up wall decorations
stitch quilt/bedskirt/pillows for bed
move camp supplies to schoolroom

Krissa's room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
take out blue closet
move in elliptical/tv/fan
move in metal & wooden bookcase
store temp. boxes & totes there

Jena's room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
rearrange furniture
move in blue closet
move in Jena's boxes & totes

Sewing room/office:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
rearrange if needed

Family room downstairs:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
get ready to sell elliptical & furniture

Dad's den:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
sort bookcase, shelves & cabinets

Freezer room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
straighten shelves
reorganize holiday decorations
defrost freezer

Fruit room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
go through cabinets

Dad's room & bathroom:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
new quilt for larger mattress
change lamp & shade

Main bathroom:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
stitch new curtains
wall decorations

Schoolroom:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
rearrange furniture
sort SS & Kid's Klub material
move Krissa's stuff downstairs
new clock

Guest room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
decide on quilt/stitch pillows
stitch curtains/hang up blinds
decorations/stand/lamp
move Jena's stuff downstairs

Hall & closets:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
sort blankets/sheets/towels
put candles & scents on closet shelf
family photos for walls

Family room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
rearrange furniture
bookcase decorations
tabletop decorations
picture window curtains
burgundy lampshades
change decor above fireplace
sort DVDs/videos
prune potted plants
change water in piano

Dinning room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
resort china cabinet & drawers
sort tablecloths
wall decorations

Kitchen:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
wash & sort cabinets
clean fridge
defrost freezer
clean oven
clean microwave
clean dishwasher
dust/Windex skylight
find home for new crockpot
organize cookbook shelf
sort recipes

Utility room:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
organize closets
wash & sort cabinets
sort & label cleaning supplies
stitch curtains
wall decorations

Dad's bathroom:
basic cleaning (see below)
organize it (see below)
sort closet
check wall decorations

Odds & Ins:
clean back porch
clean garage
hose off front porch

Basic cleaning consists of:
wash windows inside and out
dust all woodwork (baseboards, doors, frames, etc.)
dust walls, corners, ceilings
dust furniture and decorations
liquid gold and polish all woodwork
dust & wash ceiling lights and fixtures
wash counters/bathroom fixtures
Windex windows and mirrors
wash/vacuum curtains
wash air vents & registers
spot clean carpet as needed
vacuum carpet and room edges
sweep & mop floors

Organizing it consists of:
sort through drawers & shelves & closets
toss out the junk
pass on the stuff no longer used
label items/drawers/shelves as needed
move items to correct location

--------------------------------------------------

Ok, now that I've outlined this big, long list and you feel sorry for me having to do ALL this by myself (I think my sisters planned to moved out before May just for this reason!), yes, I'll be glad to accept your offer of help! ;)

In true reality, I listed things that I know will not happen this month and I know that. Items such as re-decorating, stitching a new bedroom set for my room, a new quilt for Dad's room, curtains in various rooms and defrosting the freezer will come sometime later.

My main focus is to get the cleaning and organizing done in each room in addition to some of the notes I jotted down. But I wanted to list everything I want to get done, so I have a master list to work from in the months ahead. My eventual goal is to start cleaning/organizing one room a month, so in one year's time, I have each room on a rotating cycle. Then there won't be a need for a massive cleaning job every May.

Every couple of days I'll post my progress, check-off the finished items on my list and try to stay on schedule. I've already started with my room a couple weeks ago and plan to be finished by the 20th. If I can be done by the 16th, that would be even better, but seeing the length of my list, I think I'll widen my goal to the 20th.

Now I'm ready to get started!!!! Grab something to drink, click on some music or a movie let's (me, myself & I) get started.