Projects completed so far....

So if you remember, I posted this list in the beginning of July of projects I wanted to complete. I am still working through my list, and actually had another added that I forgot to list-- SOAP MAKING! I have been wanting to do this for a long time now, and just recently got the nerve to do it, thanks to having another friend that is like minded in these sort of endeavors. We had a great time making it today, and I will show the finished product as soon as its cut...but for now, here it is in it's current state...the gel stage:

I can't wait to use it. It contains lots of great oils- olive, coconut, palm and shea butter. There are NO chemicals or anything else added. The next batch we are going to add some essential oils...


Ok, so with only about a week and a half left in the month, here's my updated to do list...the things I have done are crossed off....and a few things were actually added in that will push a couple of my projects over to the next month's to do's...

*Get that garden planted! I dont know exactly how much time we have left to plant anything (as I am not green thumb inclined LOL) but we need to plant something this summer...going to do some searching on this but if anyone who reads this knows if I still have some time or a link to a schedule of things that can be planted in my zone and the dates that plant up until...leave me a comment! (finally got cool enough to plant the garden this past Sunday (the 18th) I am working on getting our projected harvest dates on the calendar also)

*Clean out school room closet- This has been a thorn in my side for a while and I am really looking forward to getting this done.**IN PROCESS I actually went ahead and started cleaning out the WHOLE school room instead..the closet will be done AFTER since moving things around seemed like a better idea :P I am creating a "teaching wall" where our maps, white board, and reference charts will go, as well as a place for a table and our bulletin boards. I'll share pics when I am finished with it.

*Clean out hall closet- I am hoping to convert this from a coat/storage closet to a toy closet. I plan on putting in some shelves and whatever fits in there stays, whatever doesn't, goes!

*Organize toys- see above- This was actually a great project for me...now all the toys are neat and orderly and ready to play with, without being in our school room or in the kids rooms only to be left out and readily accessible. With them put away in the closet, I can easily regulate them ;) This closet goes 3 feet back..so it holds a lot of stuff , and I havent gotten everything in it yet. The board games will all be out of reach of the 2 and 5 yr olds...I am really not liking stepping on monopoly houses ;p

 

*Sew fitted/pre-fold diapers for baby- she is growing out of her prefolds fast and I NEED to get these done this month. I will hopefully have my 2 yr old completely potty trained this month, and with that means saving money since I dont use cloth on him anymore.

**Paint Little Kids room. I have my youngest son moved in with his sister in her cotton candy pink room..nuff said ;)

          ** Sew Taggie Blanket for Baby A



So as of today, I need to finish up the school room...or at least put a big dent in the work in there....organizing books and getting things where I want them in there, and sewing is a big to do. Problem is, I am NOT an experienced seamstress and that will take me a while to figure out...but I have been practicing off and on and think I can get some of it done with no problem...we'll see. Will post pics of any of those completed projects as well!

Have a great day!

Update on Garden Plans!

I just found out that the septic system is on the other side of the house and that its safe to plant in the ground! It was going to be almost impossible for hubby to have time to make planter boxes for me, so I am sooo glad I can go ahead and start working the land to get it ready! We live on an acre and a half, so the septic is a good distance away from where our garden will be :)

Now, to figure out where to put this little precious thing while I do that work?

Any ideas? LOL

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what we are having for dinner this week (I am going to put what *I* am eating in parentheses since I am ditching carbs for a while.

• Monday- Leftover BBQ Ribs/Chicken, Potato Salad, Baked Beans (Grilled chicken salad)

• Tuesday- Shredded Beef Burritos, (Taco Salad)

• Wed- Crockpot chicken, Rice, Zucchini w/cheese

• Thurs- Chinese Chicken and  Fried Rice (mine will be fried cauliflower and veggies w/chicken)

• Fri- Pizza Night! (Mom salad and hot wings)

• Sat- Cheddar Burgers, Salad, Veggies

• Sun- Chicken Soup, Salad, Sandwiches

 Hope to see some other great menus this week!

Add another to the list..

See all those toys next to Baby A? See what she's playing with INSTEAD of those cute, colorful toys?

A Tag.

Yup, she'd rather play with, suck on, bite on that interesting little tag. Isn't that the case with every baby?

Guess I'll add  this project  to my list of to do's this month ; )

First Project for the Month of July

This month I plan to work on several projects, and planting a garden is the first on my list. Last year around this time things were much to hectic to get a garden growing (I was just getting over having morning sickness and hubs was trying to hold down the housework for me) but this year we are looking forward to getting something planted!

We actually have waited till now because there has been some apprehension in planting in our ground again. We have a septic system and were not sure of how that works with contamination as far as the leach lines, so we've just been searching into alternative methods instead of taking the chance of having our food be contaminated. We've planted on the land before, so not completely concerned, but thought we'd just use a different method this year while I still look into it.

Thanks to Kristi at Let This Mind Be in You, I learned yesterday that its not too late to plant a garden and now know WHAT we can plant and WHEN! I am hoping to get something in the ground this weekend and then again in Aug for cool weather veggies. Thanks for that info Kristi!

So the goal is to plant these things in July(and I am using SEED not plants, so we'll see if they produce in time!):

   ~Tomatoes (3 kinds- Roma, Beefsteak, and endless summer (cherry).

  ~ Eggplant

   ~Zucchini

   ~Peas

   ~Lima Beans  (my hubs fav- yuck!)

   ~Watermelon (this surprised me, I thought it was way too late..but I guess not!)
 Now whether I use an above ground square foot garden or pots is still undecided. I may just throw the seeds in the air and let them land and plant at will! LOL! THAT would be a real experiment!

Our Fall garden will be much larger (and better planned) and the kids and I will be starting some of the seeds indoors now as an experiment for fun : )

I am hoping we'll have some success, but if not, it won't be too much of a loss since I have some great info now to get us started for many gardens to come :)

Projects for the month of July

                                                         (picture of our garden the summer before last)

Wow, June flew by for us here! We had a birthday (my oldest turned 11), our annual vacation to "The River", and other family happenings. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that July will be as busy as June, so I have scheduled in some projects that I would like to be completed before I start with school things again in August.

Here is my list of things to do/complete in July:

*Get that garden planted! I dont know exactly how much time we have left to plant anything (as I am not green thumb inclined LOL) but we need to plant something this summer...going to do some searching on this but if anyone who reads this knows if I still have some time or a link to a schedule of things that can be planted in my zone and the dates that plant up until...leave me a comment!

*Clean out school room closet- This has been a thorn in my side for a while and I am really looking forward to getting this done.

*Clean out hall closet- I am hoping to convert this from a coat/storage closet to a toy closet. I plan on putting in some shelves and whatever fits in there stays, whatever doesn't, goes!

*Organize toys- see above

*Sew fitted/pre-fold diapers for baby- she is growing out of her prefolds fast and I NEED to get these done this month. I will hopefully have my 2 yr old completely potty trained this month, and with that means saving money since I dont use cloth on him anymore.

**Paint Little Kids room. I have my youngest son moved in with his sister in her cotton candy pink room..nuff said ;)

I really hope to accomplish these things this month so that I can effectively complete the goals and projects I have set for August. As a homeschooling family, the summer months are at a premium when it comes to having extra time to do these sort of things, so I plan to take full advantage of that!

Monthly Cleaning Schedule

So I have been working on our summer schedule, and of course, starting getting ADHD and am revamping our cleaning schedule a bit. I am still having a "room a day" of sorts, but am breaking down what is done in those rooms each week in addition to just basic daily cleaning. Here's what I have done so far (of course if we have something come up I will swap one day for another..but you get the idea) Everything is done in order to be useful for the following week as much as possible..so the deep cleaning will happen before I cook, declutter before I deep clean etc) I will be posting these in more detail through out the month and keeping them on my sidebar (just as soon as I reconfigure my template).


(If there is a week 5 in any month I will spend it doing a project/decorating that room)

Monday- Kitchen Day

• 1st week- Deep Clean (wash outside of cabinets, wipe out insides, clean oven, stovetop, bleach counters, wash floors on hands and knees, etc etc)
• 2nd week- Bulk cooking
• 3rd week- Declutter drawers/cabinets
• 4th week- Organize Fridge/pantry

Tues- Office Day

• 1st week- Menu Plan/Grocery List for the MONTH (divided by week, store etc)
• 2nd week- Organize personal files in filing cabinet
• 3rd week-Organize top of desk/clean out computer inside and out
• 4th week-Organize school files in filing cabinets/get things ready for the following month

Wed- Laundry/Catch up day/Health Food Store (this day is double ad day so I can get 2 weeks of deals..will go twice a month)

• 1st week- Kids Sheets/Organize closet and drawers/put away things outgrown into closet tub/inventory any clothes needed for following season, make laundry detergent, fabric softener
• 2nd week-Our sheets/straighten drawers and closet/put away things seasonally/make a list of things needed for next season.
• 3rd week- Kids sheets, sewing projects for kids, store to buy clothes for kids if needed
• 4th week- our sheets, sewing project for us, store to buy clothes for us if needed

Thurs- Errand Day This will be divided by week as well with activities, appts and such.

Fri- Cleaning Day (this day is for deep cleaning rotating rooms in the house as well as a general cleaning of the whole house like vacuuming etc but that is on my daily schedule)

• 1st week- Bathroom(we do a daily wipe down as well as a weekly cleaning of floors and tub) this includes walls being cleaned, floors on hands and knees, wash shower curtains, rugs, windows, decluttering cabinets, linen closet in hall
• 2nd week- All Bedrooms Dust, wipe walls, etc etc..basic deep cleaning of rooms
• 3rd week- Family Room/Dining room/living room Deep clean all surfaces, vacuum couches, dust walls, wash windows, de clutter any surfaces, put things back where they belong
• 4th week- School room/entry way/porch /dust, sanitize surfaces/bookshelves, vacuum cobwebs/corners, clean windows, prepare new bulletin board for following month, put away supplies for next month, organize work done for month, sweep entry, wash door in entry and floors, sweep porch, cut any plants overgrowing.

Saturday- School Planning/Garden day/Misc

• 1st week- (depending on pay period)Yard sales, Big Grocery Shopping, ,Car clean out (inside), weed garden, plant new seed or plants, sewing projects..
• 2nd week- Big Grocery shopping Or Car Wash (outside), weed garden, sewing projects..
• 3rd week- Clean out car inside, Baking Day
• 4th week- Car washed outside, School planning, school room decorating (adding bulletin boards, new art projects done and hung)

So this is just a rough draft of how I would like things to go, will get more detailed as I figure it out. I am needing to have things a bit more orderly with my time out of the house for errands and within the house for our new school year.