Happy Anniversary

29 YearsI LOVE YOU, SWEETHEART!!!!!

Vacation???

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, no matter where in the world you are! I missed my Aunt Pete's cookout....and seeing my cousin's Sheryl, Janie, Will and Toni. It ended up being a day of work here. I know...but it was a good kind of work. I will share about that in a minute. First I want to show you my mom's new kitchen and guest bedroom. I spent all day on Thursday helping her get things in order. First, remember her old kitchen?
Now the new....
Even the switch plates got a new make over. She is still waiting for her sunshine yellow curtains and some sunflower accents she ordered. It turned out beautiful. All her cupboards and the wood paneling needed to be cleaned with Murphy's Oil soap. The tile and counters all got cleaned also. I am trying to convince her that "less is more" and a clean surface is a happy surface, but she likes her "stuff". At least she keeps it all clean.

The guest room got all new bedding and curtains. I hung those and put the dust ruffle, sheets and comforter on. It got a thorough cleaning and is now ready for her company to arrive today for a 3 day stay.

The other spare room got a fresh coat of paint, new curtains and a change to the computer room. She'll kill me for posting that picture. That chair is now replaced with a new one we bought that same day. A beautiful camel color suede high back.

The rest of the house got a once over too, with Charlotte pitching in. Those wallpaper people really made a mess with all the sanding of the walls!!!

My mom's dog Ike (we all name our dogs after Presidents), watched from his favorite spot...note his bed in the corner, yet he sits in Mom's chair.
Afterwards, we headed home to do some work on our own house. The new valance had arrived and I put it up right away. I really like it!

If you need curtains or valances, check out Swags Galore. They have great prices (though shipping was high) and I got my package in 3 business days.

I also washed out my new salt and pepper shakers and filled them up! Aren't they wonderful??? Another treasure from my childhood. I am certain these go back to Byron when I was Charlotte's age....maybe even older. Now onto another subject. I LOVE to journal and have done it on and off for years. I usually get bored and stop for a while. Since I have been blogging I have not done as much...I blabber all my thoughts right here!!! I was so impressed with Cheryl's scrapbook journaling, I thought I would give it a try. Here are a couple of pages. This one is done during my quiet time this morning. It was actually a very close time with my God.

Yes, I know. Unlike TJ, I am no Picasso, but it is just my doodling....

This next page was done this morning too, and shows some things I would like to do in my home, along with a food goal for the day.

Now comes the reason I missed my family get together...
Though it does not officially start til Sunday, Sweetheart is on vacation. Not the kind of vacation where we go on day trips with the kids, or spend time off somewhere else...that one comes closer to fall. This one is the "take a week off of work to WORK" vacation. All those things every year that need time to get done. Sweetheart never has 2 days off in a row, so this work week every year is very important. Today, we made the list...I put it in my journal, and have several things crossed off already. There is a list of "need to do's" for me and Sweetheart, a list of "want to do's", just incase we get to them, and a list of things we need to purchase. Today we spent alot of time on the front yard and porch. It is not finished yet, but it is getting there. I will show you when it is done. This picture in my journal was taken from the Diane Phalen calendar my Aunt Pete bought me. I took it from April and look forward to using other past months in the future.
It will be a very busy week here. Exciting too...we really want to be done by Wednesday with our list. This gives us a couple of days to rest, but if not, we will be taking Thursday off at least. That is the day Niki is coming. It is getting so close...can you stand it???? Me, either!!

If you are at all interested in the scrapbooking journal, visit Cheryl's post where she explains exactly how she does it! It is great fun. A wonderful way to keep track of quilts, and even your thoughts during the creation of the quilt. I am going to make a separate one just for that! I felt inspired by the pictures I cut out of my Country Homes magazine (dated June 1993).

Happy 4th of July

Happy, Happy Birthday, Aunt Pete!!!!!!

An Organized Home School System

Well it works, if you work it. That has been my own personal experience. Just as my kids need structure and organization, so do I. It has been a goal for me to organize all the school "stuff" and have it in one place. Ever since I evicted the kids from the sewing room, things have been scattered. Some things remained in the sewing room, others went to the pantry. Some went to the big pantry and I found Charlotte's bucket in the upstairs closet. That is exactly where it stayed, and everything else was moved to. This closet is in the upstairs hallway just outside the kids bathroom and my sewing room door. It is narrow, but tall...8 ft. tall. It has wonderful shelving and until today housed the kids bedding and some puzzles. A total waste of space, not to mention a MESS!!I cleaned it out and put the kids sheets and bedding neatly in their own closets. They both have wonderful shelving in the tops of their closets, and are for the most part empty.

I bought $1 dishpans and organized ALL homeschooling supplies.

The top couple of shelves have bins labeled TEACHER MOM, and FUTURE CURRICULUM. My bin holds my scheduling, and master books, and the other hold any thing for the future. For example, I was given the 3rd grade Saxon math and will not use it for another year. In this bin it is safe for when I need it.The next shelf hold bins labeled, ART SUPPLIES and EXTRA SUPPLIES. In our town, the school supplies will be picked over in the next couple of weeks. It will be very difficult to get anything good so now is the time I stock up for use in September.Everything is labeled with the child's name so there is no fighting! The EXTRA SUPPLIES bin holds extra paper, folders, pencils, erasers, etc.

Next are CHARLOTTE and ZACHARY's bins. They will grab these every morning when coming to the table. After school is over, they will go back on their shelf. I am putting 2 stackable trays on my desk for them to put completed work that needs to be corrected.
The bottom shelf holds all the math manipulative's and the shape bucket.

We use these often and TJ loves them too.

On the floor is the file box. It holds completed work for the year. When work has been graded and corrected it gets filed here.Charlotte is red and Zach is blue. Each has a folder for each subject. The yellow is mine and holds tests to be given, master lists, etc.
At the end of the year, all work will be put in a box, taped up and marked

"CHARLOTTE AND ZACHARY SCHOOL YEAR 2007-2008"

Our state has no guidelines for Homeschool, but I save it ALL...just in case.
So I now have a system in place for our supplies. Now I am going to figure out and set up an organized plan of learning for our first half of the new school year. Choosing books and curriculum...it is as fun as shopping for new school clothes to a public schooler! Thanks to Donetta, and her generous gift of Zachary's math curriculum, I will have extra to put into building our heritage library. We do much of our schooling from there.

What are your systems for organizing your home school? What about organizing your sewing supplies? Or your kitchen? Share some of your organizing tips!! I would love to learn them.

Of course TJ needed some supplies for Grandma's house too. He is a regular Picasso!!!
SAY CHEESE!
What a fun mess!!Look up at Grandma!I got a Preschool workbook with tear out pages for when TJ is here and the kids are doing school. TJ can join in. I think he may be here a couple of mornings a week after Baby Emerson is born. Rachel will need that morning nap!!! That is ok. TJ can come to Grandma's Preschool!! See, homeschooling DOES work!!!!

Tackle It Tuesday and My Tuesday

Is there a room in your home that NEVER stays clean??? No matter what I do, my sewing room/office is always a mess. The desk is a catch all and my sewing supplies are everywhere. I clean it and in less than 24 hours it is a disaster again. So once again my Tackle is this, never ending, mess of a room.

BEFOREAFTERBEFORE (my desk top, blurred)AfterTuesday is my day to work upstairs, but I spent a big part of the weekend deep cleaning up here. Yesterday, the entire downstairs was dusted, vacuumed, and cleaned. What does that mean for today?Quilting Deadlines...I have so many of them, but will be able to finish this project today.

Another decorating dilemma. My mother gave me these pictures when my sister moved in. She says now that my sister has moved to her new home, she needs them back!! I understand that, but I need to do something with that wall. I would LOVE to hang my pre Civil War era antique quilt there, but Sweetheart is not big on quilts hanging on the wall. Sad for me, a lover of quilts.It is bubble gum pink and lime green. The quilt dates back to the 1850's, but a new binding was added over the original in the 1940's. It received a ribbon in the local quilt show!

Here is something else I wanted to show you. How many of you buy organic meat? I love organic meat, but at 6.99 a pound for ground beef, it is not a good choice for our pocketbook. I sell my homemade soy candles at our local health food grocery store "Choices". When I get my money from these candles (after splitting it with my partner, Rachel) I spend it on organic meat and seasonings, which I normally could not afford to buy. Last night while making tacos, I could not believe the difference in the organic ground beef and the Kroeger ground round! The organic beef was so much leaner and darker than the Kroger beef (which was suppose to be much leaner!)Little TJ came yesterday while Rachel had her sugar test. He had a rough start!
Lot's of whining and wanting something, then not wanting it. Yelling at Zach (who is his yelling role model), when finally I said firmly, with pointed finger, "TJ! That is enough. No more yelling and you talk nice, or you will get a time out." Zach was sitting there watching the whole thing in awe....TJ's bottom lip came out and the tears started to roll. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. Zach watched this all happen and looked from the sobbing TJ, up to me. He looked very concerned and said, "Don't buy it, Mom!!" I started laughing and could not stop, which turned TJ's sobs into laughter and Zach standing there shaking his head with a look of disappointment on his face. "Too late", he said! Anyway, TJ was a much nicer boy after that, so it was a success.

For more Tackle It Tuesday posts, visit 5 Minutes For Mom.