26 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  Clearly I would have to post A LOT in the next few days to catch up and complete this series before my 52 weeks are up.  I will try to post as many as I can however, to give it a go.  I have to be honest and say that my original plan of less internet/tv at the beginning of the series has not been what I would call a very successful venture.  While I have cut back, it's not been near enough to really not just waste away so much of my free time.

  Work continues to drain me, even though in the whole scheme of things, as far as traditional jobs go I do really enjoy it 90% of the time.  I am typically pretty tired though after a long day at work and just don't have the desire to much more than the kitchen, dinner, shower and sofa plop.  I really need to find that drive and joy I once had when I didn't work full time when completing homemaking tasks.  One thing I've learned about myself is that I get more accomplished early on in the day.  When I say early, I mean super early.  Like, get up around 5am, go straight into a cleaning routine shower, then BAM!  I've completed what really needs doing before I even have to start my brick and mortar job.  Once I'm home, I can then do whatever I want without guilt.  If I have the energy to crochet,  or try a new craft, blog, or just go for the plop, I at least know that I've blessed my family, myself and my home first.

  So, this week will be about me doing my best to maintain rather than letting things pile up.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who says…"Oh, I'll just do that later."  When later finally comes you have spent a majority of your free/off time to do a major clean, when if I had just stopped for a few minutes here and there to maintain I could spend about an hour and have a super clean house!  I have to remember what I used to tell my daughter all the time….it's easier to keep a clean house clean, then to clean a dirty house!

  With that…off I go to fold the clothes that are now washed and dried rather than continuing to pull clothes out to wear one by one until the basket is empty!  ;)

Happy Maintaining!

Jennifer

25 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!!

  I haven't posted in a long while.  Been really busy with work and trying not to spend too much time on computer.  We are still on the hunt for land.   Have made a few more crochet dishcloths for myself and for a housewarming gift.

  Today I went out and clipped a few of my flowers for a last minute arrangement for the cookout later. Hope you all are having a wonderful 4th!

Happy Celebrating!

Jennifer

24 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  Today I will be able to check off another item on my Happy Easter list.  You can read all about my goal lists here.  I will be updating the 2nd "E" in Easter.

Hunting hat still needs crocheting
Artistic craft with my daughter
  Today my daughter and I enjoyed some artistic time together by coloring in her adult coloring books.  It is really relaxing.  The adult coloring books are just about everywhere you look these days.  In all sorts of designs and themes.  We used a nice pack of coloring pencils in order to have some control for the small intricate spaces.

 

My before

  I chose a nice woodland owl for my coloring pleasure. :)

After

  Here's my daughters beautiful spring heart of flowers.  She was well into her picture by the time I thought about snapping our before pictures.










Post enough to get caught up on the Living Full series (behind 11 posts still)
Plan square foot garden (still reading the All New Square Foot Gardening)
  Over the last few days my husband, daughter and I have filled the beautiful raised garden box my husband built for us.

  We purchased 13 bags of this compost (since our compost bin is too new to have produced any of our own black gold).  This filled our 4 x 8 ft. bed up almost to the top and we had one extra bag left to add to our compost bin.

I never knew I would be so excited about dirt that I would want to take a picture of it.  I couldn't wait to start playing planting.   We bought 8 tomato, 4 yellow crockneck squash, 12 strawberry, 2 bell pepper, 9 broccoli, 2 cucumber and 12 lettuce plants.  

    I just love our very first garden!  I look forward to walking out in the backyard everyday to tend to our beautiful vegetables.  This is all new to us, so this will be a learning experience for us and lots of trial and error, but I think this will be a fun adventure!  
Yarn is very close to being all untangled, organized and made into balls ready for projects

Eliminate all clothing in closet that I no longer wear
Apron will no longer be my nemesis!!!
Sachets to be made with repurposed shower curtain
Try a new homemade cleaning or health and beauty recipe
Every piece of clothing hanging in the laundry room will be put in it's proper place

  While most of these clothes just needed to make their way up to my closet, there are some that are just not worthy to wear to work anymore.  Many of my white work blouses are dingy and have gray stains on the cuffs from the boxes that I have to open at work.  I am looking to find ways to repurposing those.  If I don't find a good useful way of doing that within the next day or two, I'm just going to let go and throw them out.  

  I also have a couple of old faded black pants and old sweatpants that will be cut off to make shorts for working outside and/or sleeping in.  My old t-shirts that are faded and/or stained will now become sleeping shirts or cut up for a great cleaning tool I plan to post about soon.  Hopefully I can find a good use for those old dingy white blouses.  If so, I'll be sure to post what I find.  

Well, that definitely looks much better!

Read daily I've been reading everyday….a lot (not all) of the reading has been off the internet, researching how to's, etc.  I plan to add more time reading good ol' turn the page book in hand reading time as that is one of my most favorite past times.  

Until next time….

Happy Living Full!

Jennifer

23 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  Just popping in for another update to my Happy Easter list.  You can read what my lists are all about here.  So far, I've posted two of the completed tasks.  Today I will update you on the 2nd "P."  We planned, and planted our garden! :)

Hunting hat still needs crocheting
Artistic craft with my daughter
  Today my daughter and I enjoyed some artistic time together by coloring in her adult coloring books.  It is really relaxing.  The adult coloring books are just about everywhere you look these days.  In all sorts of designs and themes.  We used a nice pack of coloring pencils in order to have some control for the small intricate spaces.

 

My before

  I chose a nice woodland owl for my coloring pleasure. :)

After

  Here's my daughters beautiful spring heart of flowers.  She was well into her picture by the time I thought about snapping our before pictures.










Post enough to get caught up on the Living Full series (behind 11 posts still)
Plan square foot garden (still reading the All New Square Foot Gardening)
  Over the last few days my husband, daughter and I have filled the beautiful raised garden box my husband built for us.

  We purchased 13 bags of this compost (since our compost bin is too new to have produced any of our own black gold).  This filled our 4 x 8 ft. bed up almost to the top and we had one extra bag left to add to our compost bin.

I never knew I would be so excited about dirt that I would want to take a picture of it.  I couldn't wait to start playing planting.   We bought 8 tomato, 4 yellow crockneck squash, 12 strawberry, 2 bell pepper, 9 broccoli, 2 cucumber and 12 lettuce plants.  

    I just love our very first garden!  I look forward to walking out in the backyard everyday to tend to our beautiful vegetables.  This is all new to us, so this will be a learning experience for us and lots of trial and error, but I think this will be a fun adventure!  
Yarn is very close to being all untangled, organized and made into balls ready for projects

Eliminate all clothing in closet that I no longer wear
Apron will no longer be my nemesis!!!
Sachets to be made with repurposed shower curtain
Try a new homemade cleaning or health and beauty recipe
Every piece of clothing hanging in the laundry room will be put in it's proper place
Read daily I've been reading everyday….a lot (not all) of the reading has been off the internet, researching how to's, etc.  I plan to add more time reading good ol' turn the page book in hand reading time as that is one of my most favorite past times.  

Happy Gardening!

Jennifer

22 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  Just going to update my Happy Easter List.







Hunting hat still needs crocheting
Artistic craft with my daughter
  Today my daughter and I enjoyed some artistic time together by coloring in her adult coloring books.  It is really relaxing.  The adult coloring books are just about everywhere you look these days.  In all sorts of designs and themes.  We used a nice pack of coloring pencils in order to have some control for the small intricate spaces.

 

My before

  I chose a nice woodland owl for my coloring pleasure. :)

After

  Here's my daughters beautiful spring heart of flowers.  She was well into her picture by the time I thought about snapping our before pictures.











Post enough to get caught up on the Living Full series (behind 11 posts still)
Plan square foot garden (still reading the All New Square Foot Gardening)
Yarn is very close to being all untangled, organized and made into balls ready for projects

Eliminate all clothing in closet that I no longer wear
Apron will no longer be my nemesis!!!
Sachets to be made with repurposed shower curtain
Try a new homemade cleaning or health and beauty recipe
Every piece of clothing hanging in the laundry room will be put in it's proper place
Read daily I've been reading everyday….a lot (not all) of the reading has been off the internet, researching how to's, etc.  I plan to add more time reading good ol' turn the page book in hand reading time as that is one of my most favorite past times.  

 We had a really nice time just chatting, giggling and coloring.  Amazing how something so simple can be so much fun!

Happy Coloring!

Jennifer