Monday, January 13, 2014

January Cure: Assignment #7 Flowers, Kitchen Organizing & Cleaning, and Make a Meal

My little Peanut is still sick.  We went to the doctor, who laughed and said two years ago she literally went through the same exact thing.  How nice to have a doctor that actually remembers who we are and takes the thirty seconds to read her chart.  I wish I could find a doctor like that.  All the ones I meet are incompetent idiots.  Anywho...

Assignment 7 was Flowers, Kitchen Organizing & Cleaning and Make a Meal.  Well, my lovely Hubby picked up a bunch for our poor, sick little girl.



Plus an extra bunch for me. 
 
I didn't clean the way they wanted me to, but I did reorganize some drawers and cabinets.  I relocated some small appliances.  Not perfect, but while only doing it in ten minute increments because my baby needed me to snuggle her, I'd say not too bad.
 
 
 
The make a meal portion of the assignment...yeah, I do that everyday.  Sorry I didn't take pictures of dinner.  That seemed weird.

January Cure: Assignment #6 Prep Artwork for Framing & Display

As I previously mentioned, I have a sick kid at home.  That combined with the enormity of stuff already hanging on my walls, I decided to give myself a free pass on  Assignment 6: Prep Artwork for Framing and Display
 
  If you came to my pre-my-dog-eats-all-the-paper-he-can-find-when-I'm-not-home, you would see my Peanut's artwork everywhere.  Since Big Head Pete started pulling it off the walls to eat, I started framing it all.  Jeff Lewis would recommend major editing, but I don't care.  I hate empty walls.  
 
 
Almost every wall of my house is covered like this.  Yes, it's a bit much, but who cares.  She's little only once and she likes that I have her artwork up.  Plus, she's my favorite artist, so why wouldn't I cover the walls with her work?

January Cure: Assignment #5 Pick a Project to Cross Off Your List

Step 5: Pick a Project to Cross Off Your List...so I cheated a bit.  I did a few things on my list, but none that made a noticeable difference, as we were instructed.  In lieu of taking pics of my nicely organized drawers, I decided to post pics of a not so project I did recently.
 
As usual, I have no before pictures.  This table was so beat up.  Plain, light colored wood...scratched up and sad looking.  I was planning of replacing it with the Hubby's grandmother's sewing table.  Then one day, as I embarked on the floor buffing project (ya know, the one I forgot to blog about), I had to move this table.  As it sat out of the way in the kitchen, I got it in my head to paint it.
 
 I had a free sample paint from Lowes (I actually have enough free sample paints to paint an entire room, but that a story for another time).  It's not as dramatic without a before picture...but believe me, a huge improvement.
 


For those that are curious, yes, those are vintage, insulated milk delivery boxes.


These metal boxes are for organizing slides.   The Peanut uses them for her rock collection.


This is a hand painted, 1950's bread box that we use to hide all mail and store circulars
from our paper shredding dog.


We picked up this piece of art from an estate sale.  It looks like it's painted on the back of a piece of paneling.  There's also a spring scene. 


 Perhaps, this project shouldn't count, but I have a sick kids at home, so this is as good as it gets....

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

January Cure: Assignment #4 Set Up an Outbox

Yesterday's Apartment Therapy's January Cure step involves setting up a space where things can go when they're in limbo.  Do I donate it?  Does it have a place in this house?  Should I just throw it out?  Don't decide right away.  Let it sit for a week and decide.  If you need another week to figure it out, that's okay too.

This seems like a great in theory.  See this picture?  It's my kitchen island.  It's also know as my Hubby's Outbox.

 
If I had the time or inclination to take more pictures, I could show you the other 5000 Outboxes that apparently exist my house.  I guess five years isn't enough time to figure out where things go.  My Hubby's solution is to pile things randomly, or cram everything into my office.  Often I come home and my desk is covered.  Who knew a filing cabinet was so difficult to put papers into?  Maybe there's a magical lock it that only myself and the magical fairies that clean up after him are able to open....
 
Since my Hubby has successfully deemed the entire house and every available countertop, the tops of all dressers and desks, and sometimes the floor of my office as his Outbox, this seemed like an unnecessary assignment.
 
Instead, this morning at the crack of dawn, after said Hubby broke a glass and woke me up, I set up a box for donations and a box of toys to go to my friend.  I also used that time to remember fondly the days of being single and not having a clean up after other people...just saying.

Monday, January 6, 2014

January Cure: Assignment #3



Does cleaning your house make you feel like this?  Then I would recommend Apartment Therapy's third January Cure assignment, 10 Mindful Minutes: Get a Fresh Perspective.
 
Now, when you first read it, you'll think, seriously?  Close your eyes, and in a quiet, meditative state,  imagine the room empty?  What's this hippie crap?  Listen people, this is what I've always done.  Now just because I envision it back together in way that looks and functions better doesn't mean it actually happens anytime soon.  What it does, is give you a goal.
 
 I kinda half-assed the assignment today because I've already done this for every room.  Well, almost every room.  My basement...I can't think straight when I'm down there because there's so much crap.  My office/art room I can't seem to figure out what would work.  In terms of the rest of the house, doing this has given me a vision that I'm slowly putting together.  I haven't run out and bought anything, I'm waiting to find the perfect pieces on Craigslist, Freecycle or at an estate sale, but I know those pieces are out there. 

BTW I'm going to have to buy my own flowers, since my usually very sweet and romantic Hubby has completely ignored my request....although, he did remember to pick up lunch meat, bread and honey, so I guess that's something...


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Are You Doing the January Cure?

Apartment Therapy does this whole house cleaning organizing purge thing called the January Cure.  Last year, I thought, "Oh, I should've done this."  But I never want to jump in at the last minute.  This year, I decided, let's just do it.  I roped the Hubby in, he didn't seem to care either way.

The first step was to make a project list.  You're not suppose to do anything but make a list, easy enough.  I didn't follow the directions and walk around to make my list.  Instead, I sat on the couch with a glass of wine while my sweet Hubby rubbed my feet and we talked about the things that needed to get done.

For example, the kitchen panties were in disarray and needed to be organized.  There were a million toys to sort through and donate.  The molding that Big Head Pete chewed up needed to be replaced.  The window sills needed to be wiped down, and the terrariums could use some maintenance.  It was a semi-long but pretty concise list.  A lot of people are posting theirs, but I won't bore you with mine.



Then, this weekend, the next assignment was Flowers & Floors, which meant I had to buy flowers (which I didn't do because we were snowed in), vacuum and mop all the floors (we only did the dining room, living room and kitchen, there was honestly too much crap in the other rooms to do those floors, maybe tomorrow...) and to gather earth friendly cleaners (since I make my own, they're all earth friendly, so that's not an issue).  You were also supposed to do three "chores" from your list.

The problem was, as we did a few things, I realized there were so many other smaller things that should've been on that list.  Do you add them?  Eh.  I'm not going to get too anal retentive or bent out of shape about how I do the January Cure.  But I have to say, it was nice to get a few projects done.

I don't think I'll be live blogging or whatever, but I'll keep you posted.  And if you're hopping on the January Cure bandwagon, good luck!