Tuesday's List: Spring Wish List

Today's list is spring wish list. I'm a pretty content person, and I know I've been blessed beyond belief. BUT. Here are some things I wouldn't mind having:

1. A cruise. Matt. Me. No cooking (buffets!) or cleaning. Sleeping in. Reading by the pool. Offshore excursions. Aaah, I want a vacation. 

2. Living room furniture. Ours is a little on the, uh, worn side. Not to mention that our sofa is just a piece from a sectional (and I don't have the rest of it). We currently have said sofa, a big circle chair (that I can't wait to move into our bedroom as a reading chair), and an ottoman. We need more seating. And, designer opinion aside, I want it to all match, dangit.

3. New exterior paint trim. When we built our house I got to pick all the colors of everything. It was awesome. What wasn't so awesome was that our lovely (note the sarcasm) homebuilder neglected to tell us that we picked the exact same brick color as our next door neighbors. That might not be such a huge deal if we hadn't also picked the same floorplan. Yeah. So in order to not have absolutely identical houses right next to each other, we changed our brick color. No big deal. Except. When we changed the brick color they wouldn't let us change the trim color, which no longer matched our new brick. So we were left with a pretty terrible combination of brick and trim. Matt's volunteered to paint this spring/summer, so you'd better believe that I'm taking him up on that.

4. Computer chair. I'm currently using a folding chair from Ikea. No bueno. Here's what I want. Isn't it cool?!?

5. Patio furniture. Well, really we need an actual patio first (vs. just a porch). This is a long-term project we have planned, and it will be so stinking cool. While we're at it, maybe we should put up a 12-foot screen in our backyard to keep our nosy back neighbors from watching us every time we're outside. It's creepy. 

The cruise and the patio are a tad out of reach for us at the moment, but I'm thinking the others are just on the horizon. Thank you Uncle Sam for our higher-than-expected tax return.

What's your list? Link up (click on the logo at the top for instructions) and join the list-making frenzy! 

8 Month Update

Avery officially hit the 8 month mark on March 3; I cannot believe how quickly she's growing! It's funny though because every new stage has been my favorite. I'm not really a "baby baby" person, so the older she gets, I love the extra interaction that comes with each age. 

Sweet Avery, here's what you're up to:

• You love love love to wave at anyone or anything at anytime. Sometimes you even add the "bye bye" (even if it's more like "bah bah bah bah bah"). 
• You've completely picked up on Peekaboo and it makes you crack up and give us the biggest smiles. You've even mastered "Where's Avery?" and cover your face with a shirt until we ask where you are and you reveal your not-so-secret identity! Yeah, I think you're pretty much a genius.
• If you're not a genius, maybe you're at least a musical prodigy? You sing when your musical toys start playing, even stopping when they do. It's so sweet! 
• We added a tiny bit of meat to your diet, but I haven't quite been able to make that myself. You're getting that in jars, baby. Sorry.
• You have an earlier bed time now and it's working beautifully (for all parties involved!). You go to bed around 7:30 now, and you sleep until about 6:30 am. As much as I miss the extra time with you in the evenings, I can really see a difference in you when you get enough sleep!
• Your teeth are still stubborn little boogers and refuse to come in. 
• You're "crawling" now, but in your own special little Avery way. :) I think you really know how, but you find it quicker to start the crawl and switch to the roll. You also army crawl like nobody's business, especially if you're trying to get to that annoying singing bird.
• You love to pull yourself up to standing, but you don't quite know where to go from there. You do have some great balance though! (Maybe you missed my clutzy genes.)
• I seriously need to do some shopping for you because you're outgrowing your clothes! You need 12 month clothes now because you're just way too tall. All of your "dresses" have had to become just cute regular shirts that you wear with jeans. And your jeans are becoming highwaters! It doesn't matter what you wear though because you are just the cutest. baby. ever.

Case in point:

We love you, baby girl! 

Friday Five

Ah, I love Fridays.  Here are the Five:

1. I'll admit that I've had a pretty crummy attitude lately. I've been noticing just how much negativity has been spewing from my mouth, and sometimes for no reason at all but that I feel the need to say something and all I can think of is complaints. That's just sad. So yesterday I decided that I was not going to say anything negative at all. I'm not sure the at all was entirely accurate when all was said and done, but I did notice a huge change in my attitude. 

I have this verse posted next to my desk at school, but I had apparently forgotten about it.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 

Ephesians 4:29. 

Edifying speech not only benefits "those who listen," I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that it also benefits those who speak it. I might have to keep this up. :)

2. My sister comes home tomorrow! I always miss that girl when she's at school, and I'm hoping I can talk her into taking some 8 month pictures for Avery. Hint hint, Allison...

3. It turns out babies are pretty good for the ol' tax return.  We got our refund last week (go ahead and insert my dad's you-don't-want-a-refund-because-it-just-means-you-gave-the-government-an-interest-free-loan speech here), and we've been on a furniture hunt ever since. We've been checking out Ashley Furniture and the Rooms to Go outlet and their regular store because I typically like their furniture, mass produced as it may be. We found a sectional I love at Rooms to Go, but we're just not going to be able to go with a sectional in our living room because of the layout. But then we found this at Ashley:

I love love love the color, AND we were going to get a pretty great deal on the sofa, love seat, and a chair. We told the sales guy (who was surprisingly not so annoying) that we wanted to think about it overnight and would come back the next day. He said there was one day left on the sale and to come while he was working between 1 and 7. We went home and measured out the space, decided we definitely wanted the set, and went back the next day at 6:30 (our Sundays are pretty crazy and that was the earliest we could get there). Yeah, so he lied; they closed at 6. I even tried to call and see if we could get that same price the next day, and they said we probably could, so I was still hopeful.

Turns out they didn't really want the sale that bad because he couldn't match the price anymore. And now we're back to square one. And still sitting on our broken couch. 

4. I am FINALLY going to get to the grocery store this weekend. I'm determined. I am OVER eating fast food and am desperate to get back on our menu plan. After next week is over, I'll be home again in the evenings (not to mention that it will be Spring Break!).

5. If you've been following my 30(ish) Day Challenge either here or on Facebook, here's a preview of next month's challenge:

Scrapbook at least one page every night.

I'm fortunate enough to have a table and all my crafty stuff set up in our guest room, so that should make the challenge do-able (since I won't be having to set up and take it down every night). My motivation for the challenge is that I haven't touched a scrapbook since before Avery was born, and I am bound and determined to have her first year documented by her first birthday. This should help, right? Right? Well, I guess we'll find out and you can follow that challenge, too, starting in April (which will be here before we know it!). 

I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and an even better weekend!

30(ish) Day Challenge: UPDATE

As promised-- it's the Thursday update! Since the challenge only started this week, I admit that this update is sorely lacking since it only has three projects, but they are three whole areas that are now organized that weren't before. And that, folks, is what you call... score. 

March 1, 2010

The first area I decided to tackle was our "game closet." I include the quotes because it is (obviously) not just a game closet; it also houses toilet paper, paper towels, master bath towels, and even pretty table linens. Don't worry (not that you were), the system makes sense in my head. So before I emptied it completely, it looked like this: 

And after I sorted, tossed, and shifted everything, it looked like this:

So far so good! I love the huge sigh of relief I get when I finally shut the door on a completed project. This challenge might not be as difficult as I thought. (Yes, please remember this quote so you can throw it back at me at the end of the month.)

March 2, 2010

My cup cabinet drives me nuts. Well, let me be more specific; the top shelf drives me nuts. I can never quite reach it, so I end up just throwing plastic cups in that direction and hoping they land on the shelf without breaking any coffee mugs. Case in point:

So with a little rearranging (and discarding-- my favorite part), it all makes more sense:

Side note: Does anybody have a solution for my bendy top shelf?? (Besides take weight off it; it's really not that heavy. Promise.

March 3, 2010

Since Wednesday nights are our Lifegroup nights, I had to choose a relatively quick project. My neighbor Whitney is joining me in this organizational fiasco challenge, and she inspired me with her junk drawer transformation. I wasn't even getting to benefit from a place to shut all my junk away in the kitchen because our "junk drawer" was completely filled with manuals for items from our dishwasher to my apple corer to Matt's weed eater. Go figure! 

I made 3 piles (garage, manuals, and drawer) and started sorting accordingly. As I was sorting, I was reminded of my storage method for all of our baby item manuals. It's nothing fancy, but I just keep them all in one of those poly 8.5 x 11 clear envelopes. Easy solution for the rest of our manuals: the manuals for Matt's toys will get an envelope so they can stay in the garage, kitchen manuals will stay in the kitchen in their envelope, and so on. By the time I finished, the drawer looked pretty empty:

Tonight I'm running the clock for the soccer games, so I'm going to take my home notebook (I'll explain this later) with me and organize it in the press box during half times and between games. Gotta multi-task, right? I'll have Avery for a couple hours while Matt is judging a pre-UIL performance, so once he picks her up to take her home, I'll get it all sorted out. (Rest assured I'll be enjoying my sweet Avery time while I've got her!) 

How is your organizing going? I know that at least three people have joined me so far! Shout out to Amy W, Lacey S, and Whitney K! Let me know what projects you've tackled this month (and what you plan on getting to soon) by leaving a comment on this post or on my imported Facebook note. (And if you're just following me on Facebook, why aren't you reading my actual blog?!? The formatting is much prettier there-- check it out!) 

I can't wait to here how your projects are going-- don't forget pictures!

What We've Been Up To...

I've been really wanting to write a big update to bring my blog up to speed on our goings on, but the longer I procrastinate, the longer the list gets and the less motivated I get. Here is a brief glimpse, in pictures anyway:

February Snow (more than a foot!!)

Clearly not a fan.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Avery's baby dedication at church. Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Sick the next week. Pitiful...but cute!

Sick days are tiring!
Feeling better by the end of the week. That was one long stomach bug.
Girls night! L-R: Me, Megan, Cat, Audree, Caty (fun work friends)
Avery meets my oldest friend. Okay, that sounds weird. Friend I've known the longest in my life? A little better. (Rock those bangs, Betsy!)

After-church lunch with Kendra and our families
Oh there's more, but that's the best I can do for tonight. Check back tomorrow for my 30(ish) Day Challenge update!

The 30(ish) Day Challenge!

I have taken an involuntary (due to time restraints) blog sabbatical, but I'm (hopefully) back now for some consistency. 

Projects make me happy. Therefore, I came up with my own. Enter: the 30(ish) Day Challenge. It's a month-long challenge (not all months have thirty days, hence the "ish") in which I will do (or not do) something different every. single. day. for that month.  I already created a list of potential challenges, but they're subject to change as a result of varying circumstances. Some future challenges include: be soda-free (my "drug" of choice), scrapbook, read the Bible, cook/bake, ditch Facebook, etc.

But now for the part you've been waiting for: What's on the agenda for this month? Well, I'm glad you asked because this month's 30(ish) Day Challenge is...

GET ORGANIZED.

That's right. I'm going to organize something every day for the month of March. I even have a list of things in my house that need to be faced, sorted, and tossed.  For the sake of transparency, here it is:

• cup/glasses cabinet
• plastic/rubbermaid/etc. cabinet
• medicine cabinet
• sock/underwear drawer
• purses/bags in closet
• shoes
• gift wrap
• filing cabinet
• game closet
• baby gear cabinet in kitchen 
  
• pantry
• freezer
• media shelves
• Avery's blankets
• Avery's toys
• Avery's sock/headband drawer
• Stamps
• Craft paper
• Home notebook
• Recipes
• Books
• Laundry room shelf
• T-shirts
• Soccer gear
• Glove box
• Cookbook cabinet
• Junk drawer
• Addresses
• Bathroom cabinet
• Cleaning supplies

Whew! I got tired just typing that list. It does seem like I'll be able to have one heck of a garage sale in April though. I'll track my challenge status via pictures in the blog. Thursday seems like a good challenge update day, don't you think? 

So. Challenges are more fun when shared. Who wants to join? Anybody in the blogosphere interested in challenging yourself each month? You don't even have to accept the same challenges I have; set your own! We can all check in with each other on Thursdays. If there's interest I'll set up a McLinky and everything. :) I've always wanted to use that, haha. 

Who's in?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I've never jumped on the Not Me! bandwagon, but I felt that today seemed like a great day to start since I've already done so many things that were just, well, Not Me!

1. It was not me who slept until 7:15 this morning when I have to leave the house by 7:40. This was definitely not a result of being rudely awakened by my precious puppy throwing up on our carpet at 3:45 am. It was also not a result of Avery's screaming teething fits from 5:00 until 6:00 am. Nope, I would still be responsible to wake up on time so I wouldn't be late to work. 

2. It was also not me who decided to forego her shower this morning as a result of said late rising. That would just be gross.

3. And I would never wear a sweater with a hole in it all day long and not even notice until 7th period. That's not me at all. 

4. Finally, it was not me who blogged during school while her students were working diligently. That would just be a bad example. It was also not me who defended this decision with the excuse that my student teacher is teaching and I just don't want to grade the stacks of papers that are waiting for me. 

Tag, you're it! What have you not done recently?