13 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  Today I'll fill you in on the rest of yesterday's full living.  After soaking up the sunshine and appreciating the nature that we have right in our very own suburban backyard, we made a trip to the store to prepare for the week ahead of packing lunches and quick dinners.  Since I didn't have a specific coupon shopping plan in place, Walmart is the go to place for reasonable prices for us.  I really want to get back on board with my coupon shopping/planning and begin posting those savings again.  Maybe you will see more of that in the near future.

  After getting home from the shopping trip we decided to wash all three vehicles….

Before

After

 
 

The car was pretty dirty from all the salt on the road.  Yuck!






and give the dog a bath.  So I was able to check off some of my Happy New Year list in just one afternoon.  Speaking of the list…..let's see how I did….

Hamper (determined to wash, dry, iron, put away all clothes and get back to 1 load a day)I would say this was a success since I now am down to a manageable one load a day amount of clothes!  Check!

Before

After

Appliances in kitchen need a good cleaning
I thoroughly cleaned the outsides of the refrigerator, toaster, oven, microwave, dishwasher and coffee maker.  So…check!

Prepare a meal that I can freeze for quick lunches.
My daughter and I had a hankering for some Black Bean Soup, and while I didn't make enough to freeze, I do have enough to take for lunch a couple of days next week.  I would say that's a successful Check!

Pup needs a bath

Before

After

As usual, a good snuggly nap was in order directly after! Check!






Yarn needs organizing
I did get several skeins of yarn untangled and rolled into a ball, but still a lot to do.  It's a start!

New recipe (daughter and I will have fun looking through cookbooks passed down from her great-grandmother--Love you, Nanny!  We miss you!)
We didn't try anything new, but I'm hopeful to do this in the upcoming month.

Exercise with my daughter (join her while she practices clogging). EPIC FAIL!! 

Wear my new stylish bright orange hat I plan to crochet for myself for hunting.
I didn't make a hat, but I did make some more dishcloths and started a new project.  Not what I was planning, but an accomplishment none the less. ;)

Yield a nice batch of homemade dishwasher soap
I made a nice batch of dishwasher soap with this recipe.  Works great! Check!

Evaluate and exile the dreaded unused kitchen supplies cluttering up cabinets
I managed one cabinet.  This particular cabinet was dangerously close to becoming one opening away from a plastic avalanche! Don't ask me how a box of light bulbs ended up in there.  I threw away all non matching pieces, stacked the rest and put round lids in one baggie and square/rectangle lids in another baggie.  Check!  Definite success!!!

Before

After

Apron (finish apron that was begun 2 years ago!)
I have got to get over the procrastination of learning this new craft!  Put off once again. :(

Rest (I need to force myself to go to bed earlier, so that I can get up feeling refreshed and ready to go)
Several nights I averted the temptation of getting on Netflix and accomplished going to bed at a decent hour. Check!

  All in all I'm ok with what was accomplished.  I will start a new list for next month.  Stayed tuned for my Happy Valentine's Day goal list. ;)

Talk to you soon,

Jennifer

12 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  Today, we went out for a family breakfast and came home full.  My husband stayed outside to do some tinkering around while my daughter and I went on inside.  After a bit of putting away some clothes, checking emails, daughter hopping on the computer to watch clogging videos and some lazying around, I asked my daughter if we wanted to make some popcorn and snuggle up with the pup and watch a movie.  She said sure.  We had no sooner sat down to watch the movie, popcorn and pup in tow when my husband asked me to come outside to help him with something.  So we put the movie on pause and out I went.  He wanted to discuss some ideas he had for some outside yard improvements, and the possibility of us making a raised garden bed for the spring.  Yes please!!  While we may live in the suburbs and haven't found our dream house on property there's no reason we can't start a small garden right here.  Right? Right!  So we will be studying how to do this and deciding what we want to grow.  I love new projects!!

  After discussing the future garden a bit, my husband went off to finish his tinkering that he had started, and I started looking around and noticed what a gorgeous day it was!  The sun was out, the sky was blue and the temperature was in the low 60's.  Just perfect!  So instead of heading back inside I sat in the back yard on the swing that needs to be sat in much more often and just listened.  I heard some squirrels scurrying around, and the rat a tat tat of a Woodpecker nearby.  I sat real still and noticed the most beautiful Golden Finch flitting from tree to tree.  I could feel the warmth of the sun, but the breeze was just enough to keep it comfortable.  Ahhhh…..I was in heaven.







 Why don't I do this more often I thought.  I pulled out my phone, not to ruin the moment with technology, but to text my daughter  (I didn't want to take a chance of getting sucked back into the house by getting up) to come sit with me and bring the bowl of popcorn with her.  A few moments later she comes with the bowl of popcorn and says, "What are you doing?"  I said, "Shhhh…just sit here a minute and listen."  What a nice moment to remember.  She and I just sitting eating the popcorn and watching nature instead of the iPad.


The squirrels have certainly been busy with the acorns….


  That was only part of our day….I'll finish the rest tomorrow….going to go spend some more quality time with the family. :)

  In the meantime….next time you think about watching some tv/movie….make some popcorn and go sit outside a spell.  The show was quite captivating today!

Have a great day!

Jennifer

11 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  Yesterday instead of zoning out in front of the computer, my daughter and I opted to play a good 'ole game of Monopoly.  We love this game!  We play it so much that we have gotten quite fast at it.  My daughter and her grandpa have played up to 3 full games in an afternoon.  She even got Papaw the Hallmark Monopoly ornament this year to hang on our tree so that they can always remember all the great afternoons they've spent playing and laughing!  

  If you all could just be a fly on the wall listening to the friendly smack talk that goes on before, during, and after these games!  When my daughter approached me yesterday with the idea, it's never…."Hey, Mom?  Wanna play Monopoly?"  It's more like, "Hey, Mom?  Up to getting your butt sopped in a game of Monopoly?"  Of course I respond with a more mature comeback, "Bring It!!!"  

  Yeah, it's serious bragging rights around here!  So, I have to be a grown up and admit that my daughter kicked my tail yesterday……No worries though…..we have a tally sheet going……

  Mom 24 to Daughter 20!!! Oh yeah!  Uh huh!    Totally doing the cabbage patch right now!  So, what games do you like to play at your house?

Until next time!  Have fun with your family! 

Jennifer

9 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!

Hi all!

  Pretty busy at work the last several days taking down Christmas, building new displays, and preparing for inventory.  However, I managed to finish up getting down the rest of our Christmas decorations at home.

Before

After

  As for my Happy New Year list….So far I've accomplished getting more rest.  I am making an effort to go to bed earlier and I have to say, I have felt so much better!  I really needed some good solid rest.  Slow start but a start none the less. ;)

Hamper (determined to wash, dry, iron, put away all clothes and get back to 1 load a day)

Appliances in kitchen need a good cleaning

Prepare a meal that I can freeze for quick lunches.

Pup needs a bath

Yarn needs organizing

New recipe (daughter and I will have fun looking through cookbooks passed down from her great-grandmother--Love you, Nanny!  We miss you!)

Exercise with my daughter (join her while she practices clogging).

Wear my new stylish bright orange hat I plan to crochet for myself for hunting.

Yield a nice batch of homemade dishwasher soap

Evaluate and exile the dreaded unused kitchen supplies cluttering up cabinets

Apron (finish apron that was begun 2 years ago!)

Rest (I need to force myself to go to bed earlier, so that I can get up feeling refreshed and ready to go)

  I did manage to crochet myself a nice washcloth with some of the yarn my daughter got me for Christmas.

Purple-my favorite!

Love this pattern!

  I have made so many cloths with this pattern, that I can do it by memory.  Makes it go much faster!  This time I just went with one solid color throughout for a super duper quick project.  I've decided despite the quicker satisfaction of a finished cloth I prefer using two colors and will most likely do that from now on as it shows off the edge much better.

Be sure to check out the two Hops I jumped onto this week!

Hope you all are having a wonderful New Year so far!  Thanks as always for stopping by!
Jennifer

8 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  One goal I am achieving is taking more time to do the things I love rather than wasting that time on mindless tv watching and surfing the web.  I have been crocheting away.  My employees reap the benefits, as I often have this homemade goodies as prizes for fun contests at work.  The last contest I held was that the winner was to get a ruffled scarf made by me with the color of their choice.  The winner happens to be a huge Green Bay fan, so she opt'd for the Green and Gold Team Spirit Sashay yarn by Red Heart.  I really love working with this yarn.  I fun twist to regular crocheting with traditional yarn.

  As promised here is the finish project from the yarn in my previous post……..

  I don't know why the green looks so black, but it is definitely Green Bay green and gold!  Again, I need to learn how to take better pictures.  I think I should add that to the list of goals as well. :)  If anyone knows of a good website to help me out with that I would love to hear it!

Have a great day everyone!

Jennifer 

7 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  Seeing as how behind I got on my weekly posting, I figure I'll post more often when I can in an effort to get back on track.  This month I have several things I want to accomplish on my journey to living full.  I'll list several of the things here, then post about each one individually as they come about.

  First, as you all may have read in previous blogs, I am a Flylady fan.  If you are not familiar with this you can read all about it here.  While I do fall off the wagon often, I try to just hop right back on.  I also have to adjust the cleaning goals/expectations as life/schedules in general changes.  With the new year upon us I have decided to get back on track with just making sure that my sink is clean, and stays clean throughout the day.  So, I did a nice thorough cleaning of my sink this weekend, and between my daughter, husband, and I we have managed to keep our dirty dishes in the dishwasher and clean stovetop and counters as we go.

    Secondly, I need to get down all of my Christmas decorations.  Since I have so many decorations out, and don't want to burn myself out by taking my entire off day working at home, I have decided to do this in stages.  Today my daughter and I took down our outside and family room decorations and they are now packed up and stacked away in the basement.

Before

  Yes, that is a pile of laundry on the coffee table waiting for me to fold and put away.  Just keeping it real. ;)

After

  I gave the room a nice vacuum and lit a candle to give some warmth, since the rooms always feel so empty after taking down all the Christmas.

  Now for the outside before and after pictures….

Figured I would show the night shot, since that is when the decorations are the prettiest. :)

After

  That's good enough for me on the Christmas decoration take down for one day.  Will continue on another day with the rest.

  Third, I like to have fun when making goals for myself.  No matter what the goals are, cleaning, work related, recreational, giving to others, making a game of it puts a fun spin on it.  So for the month of January I'm going to make a list of things I want to do by using each letter in the words "Happy New Year!"  

Here's my list….

Hamper (determined to wash, dry, iron, put away all clothes and get back to 1 load a day)

Appliances in kitchen need a good cleaning

Prepare a meal that I can freeze for quick lunches.

Pup needs a bath

Yarn needs organizing

New recipe (daughter and I will have fun looking through cookbooks passed down from her great-grandmother--Love you, Nanny!  We miss you!)

Exercise with my daughter (join her while she practices clogging).

Wear my new stylish bright orange hat I plan to crochet for myself for hunting.

Yield a nice batch of homemade dishwasher soap

Evaluate and exile the dreaded unused kitchen supplies cluttering up cabinets

Apron (finish apron that was begun 2 years ago!)

Rest (I need to force myself to go to bed earlier, so that I can get up feeling refreshed and ready to go)

  It was challenging to come up with something for all these letters, but will be a lot of fun checking off this list. :)  I'll keep you posted as I complete things.  

  Fourth, I held a contest at work for my employees.  I will be working on crocheting a prize for the winner who is a big Green Bay fan.  Here's the yarn…

You'll have to visit again to see the result. ;)

   So, what do you have going on/planned in this fresh new year?  Feel free to play along with me and make a list of you own.  Would love to see your goals in the comments.

Have a great day!

Jennifer

6 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!

Hello all!

  Seems I have some catching up to do!  Christmas preparation, and holiday rush at work just took more out of me than I expected.  Couldn't muster up much more than getting the basics done, and even that was a challenge some days.  While still always going from one season into the next at work and constantly being busy, I feel I have a moment or two to just breathe.  So, back to doing things I love!

  For Christmas, I received some new cotton yarn from my daughter.  Woo Hoo!!  I just love working with it and making useful items to keep and to give away.  I couldn't wait to get started on something.  Right after the morning Christmas celebrations I showered, snuggled up on the couch and crocheted away.

  I've given most everything I've made away lately, so this time I made some washcloths and face scrubbies for myself.  I just love the color combinations.  (Sidenote:  Adding to my goals for the 52 weeks of living…..learning to take better pictures for blog. ;)  )

 

 

Happy New Year!!

Jennifer