Gettin' things done!

Today was an incredibly productive day. I ended up NOT having to work after planning to all week so I had an entire, unexpected day to get things done. And get things done I did!
The rundown:
- Swept and mopped all hardwoods and kitchen
- Vacuumed all carpet
- Bought and hung new curtains in the living room (new as in, we've lived here for 2 years now and never had curtains on those windows...in a very HELLO NEIGHBORS kind way.) - Pictures to come.
- Cleaned the kitchen
- Cleaned off dining room and living room tables (the piles of who-knows-what that gets dropped off there every day)
- Cleaned up the craft/bonus room
- Cleaned up in the bedroom (including putting away 2 weeks worth of clean laundry!)
- Painted my fingernails in a beautiful sparkly pink! (cause this is JUST as important as a clean kitchen!)

Surely there was more but that should be good for now.

Wanna know why I got so much stuff done? Chad took the TV and the computer with him to teach a lifeguarding class today. Or I would NOT have been as productive, thanks Pintrest. I told him that he should take them with him every time I have a day off...I feel great about everything I've been able to get done today. And I am going to love coming home to a clean house tomorrow too...totally worth it.

Wrap up. (edited!)

So much for remembering to bring the camera home so I could post pictures about our fun trip to Nashville on Monday. Maybe next week? As for now, I am thrilled that it is Friday and I don't think I will have to work tomorrow so that is fabulous (I was planning to but I believe my meeting is officially cancelled!). So, I am working every weekend in April, for which I am resting up for now.

I did take the afternoon off - just a few hours of flex time to make up for the many, many extra hours that I worked this week. My to-do list is far too long for one weekend but let's see if posting it here will encourage me to jump on it instead of taking a nap instead:

- Clean up the kitchen (counters, dishes, and floor) - everything but the floor is done!
- Fold multiple loads of laundry and put it away (always the catch here!) - everything is folded and all of mine is put away. Chad is super picky about his hung clothes so he can put his own away....come on - I folded them!
- Clean all the other floors (meaning: rid the house of Gwendolen tumbleweeds)
- Clean off dining room table (yep. still atrocious. embarrassed.) - it's a modern day miracle!! finished! We can even eat dinner in there...
- Clean bathrooms (sinks, toilets, floors, and the shower curtain. yikes.) - done! The shower curtain is waiting to go through the washer with a load of laundry but everything else is finished!
- Organize fabric stash (more on this later)
- Paint wheelbarrow (yes. seriously. it is getting rusty.) - sort of done - well, started. Four layers/top is finished - drying now.
- Plan dinners for next week and then go grocery shopping - done! Minus the planning part so we will be having interesting meals all week!
- Wash and store blankets that we use on the couch - done! stored (right where Wooby can take a nap on them. Awesome.)
- Take off, wash, and store electric blanket from our bed (don't need that dude anymore - thank you, 80 degree March days)
- Mow the grass (Chad thinks the clover in our yard is the only pollen the bees can find. I disagree. So, I get to mow. Stinks being right sometimes.) - done! well, the front yard is done that looked so bad and I did it! It is such a gratifying job...even if my pansy hands are sore today from pushing the mower. Back yard is still bee-friendly.
- Finish and file the taxes. - you'll notice I just added this one so I can mark it off. But hey, it's done and we didn't owe and that's great!

So, let's see A)how much I can get done before Chad gets off work in 3 hours and B)how much I can get done over the entire weekend. And.....GO!

back at it.

My sweet Chad is back at it again after a 12:30 arrival at home last night. Going on another 5 hours of sleep and headed back out to a fire. The called me from the top of the fire tower yesterday saying "hey, I get really good cell service up here!" but I can't imagine climbing that many stairs just to make a phone call. Guess he really loves me!  Please keep praying for rain. There is none in our forecast but we all know who controls the weather and HE can do whatever he wants!

My sister is coming this morning but since I was awake before the sun, I am going to do a bit of cleaning before she gets here - somehow breaking  yesterday's rule about what was more important. At least I will not clean WHILE she is here. Instead I will eat sushi and get a pedicure.

Updated to add: I did get a lot of stuff done! Cleaned off and rearranged the front porch...moved chairs to the back patio in preparation for fall fires in the firepit, cleaned off dining room table, cleaned up kitchen, emptied and refilled dishwasher, one load of laundry down and about to shower! I've had a productive morning!

wanna help? i didn't think so.

So I thought that maybe if I publically announced all of the things I have to get done before we leave town on Friday then I will actually have to stop procrastinating and do them. So, here is it, the most intmidating to do list ever (ok, maybe that was an exaggeration):
- laundry. lots of it.
- fold and put away said laundry to I can effectively pack
- set out clothes to pack
- set out scuba gear to pack
- buy Dramamine.
- sweep floors
- mop floors
- change sheets
- clean kitchen, put away dishes
- pack
- clean out litter box
- set out animal stuff for dog/cat sitter
- get travel paperwork together
- give Gwen a bath and give animals meds
- finish up work stuff

I am sure there are a ton of other things...that is all my brain can think of for now.

another night.

Long day at work today - they are working on the roof of our building and it requires a lot of banging, scraping, thunking, bonking, dragging, and loud conversation. Not very friendly to my work environment. Gonna be a good week of getting things done and big plans. Big meeting tomorrow night that I am responsible for, small group Wednesday night, dinner and beverages with a friend Thursday night and then it is Friday!  Did I mention that our office is closed all week next week and I get to travel?!? Woohoo!

After spaghetti and some vino tonight, I am finishing 3 big cleaning projects before I leave town: the sweeping and vacuuming of all the floors (goodbye Gwendolen tumbleweeds!), cleaning off the dining room table (I'm embarrased to let anyone in my house!), and folding the biggest pile of clean laundry you have ever seen (I might actually take a picture and let you see it because it is so impressive. It will make you feel better about all of your own housecleaning. Trust me.)

small victories.

I have spent the morning cleaning up in our spare room. Since Chad finished the attic stairs and storage area, I have been going through things to put up there and store away. Mostly things from my childhood that I am not ready to part with quite yet but it is just so much stuff! I have cleared out, thrown away, and made another Goodwill box even after taking a huge load of stuff not too long ago.

And lo-and behold- I found my passport. It has been lost since we moved a year ago - just boxed up with a bunch of other junk.  It is still no good since my name has been changed edging in on 3 years now *whoa* but it saves me a bit of paperwork to declare it "lost or stolen" and to use it as my proof that I say I am who I say I am. I was also a bit attached to it because it has all my stamps and visa from my last trip to India and my trip to Europe with my bff Jess. Thankfully they send it back, since they know we are all pretty emotional about saving this type of thing, right??

Chad is teaching a lifeguarding class through tomorrow night so I have the rest of the day today to clean and organize and all afternoon tomorrow as well. I am actually enjoying make some space and organizing things that have just been sitting around since we bought this house a year ago. Time sure does fly...

good things.

After a nice date last night, where we got to talk about a lot of stuff and I got to hear nice encouragement from my husband, we came home and watched The Visitor. (a random Netflix pick that turned out to be both sad and sweet). Our date was so nice...it was the first of the Great Date Experiment that we have been able to actually fit into our busy schedules so it was January's date in March. Now we are only two behind! Chad didn't seem quite as "into" it as I was and didn't really want to play along with all of their instructions but did about half of it and it was good to hear some of his answers and thoughts. I still suggest is...especially if your spouse is a little more into make a fool of himself than mine is!
We have gotten a ton of stuff done today...Chad swept the hardwood floors downstairs and put away all the clean dishes and cleaned off the counters. He is now working in the attic with his dad to put some more plywood down to give a little more storage space. We have a huge attic here but none of it was really finished out so they are doing that to make the space a bit more useful. Since we installed the solar powered attic fan last summer, it stays cooler up there and it is safe to put more things in the attic for storage.
I have cleaned the bathrooms, addressed and stamped the baby shower invites to mail out tomorrow, vacuumed the downstairs living room and the stairs (and literally broke a sweat on that one...lugging that thing up and down the stairs is a great workout!). Now I have to fold a couple loads of laundry and vacuum (that is a really funny word when you really type it out) in the bedroom and we will be done. Dinner plans with the family and possibly Avatar in 3D to see what all the Oscar hype is all about.