Doll House

Please note, these are "before" pictures!  I've put main furniture pieces in rooms - not necessarily where they will end up - and just laid out the accessory pieces to see what's there.  All the rooms need work - good thing I watch so much HGTV! LOL!  Eventually I hope to add "electricity"; and also find a permanent home where I can maybe even put it on a turntable.  Until then, though, I'm looking forward to decorating it for Christmas!!

Fall Decorating

Every time I changed decorations, I just love what I've newly put out.  But fall is my favorite time of year.  I love that now my house is cozy and colorful!  I'm going to enjoy this for a few months.  In October I will add some pumpkins; and closer to Halloween I'll add a few fun touches, that will disappear again in November.  Then it will be time to start the change over to .... TA DA ... Christmas!!!

The tablecloth and dishes on the table were fabulous flea market finds!

The tree stays up all year.  I love the fall touches now.  It doesn't show well in the picture, but there are bunches of leaves that are glittery .. I love bling! :)

Mantle doesn't show as well as I'd like.  It would also have been better to move the vacuum out of the way! LOL

Note the cat in the window.  Definitely part of the decorations!

September 2012 Week Two

My major accomplishment for last week was dealing with the fluid bags. I did finally get all of them drained, bagged, and taken to the dump. Yya! Then I came up with a system for dealing with them. I got a cheap sytro cooler, punched some holes in the bottom, and set it up on a couple of wood blocks. Now I take the bags out the back door, hold them over the cooler and ship some drain slits in the bags and then just drop them down. On trash day I take a bag out and put ever how many are in the cooler into the trash bag - done! The only problem so far is that we had a storm the afternoon I had taken trash ... so I had to chase down the fly-away cooler! LOL!

I went around the porch, looking for the small bits and pieces that had accumulated, and got all of that out of the way. It's been extremely hot and humid here, so any thing else on the porch (or yard) will have to wait at least another month.

For the list part, I did well. I settled on what plan I will use (Holiday Grand Plan), and combined things until I have 2 notebooks. One is the "main" Christmas Planning book. But I'm keeping a second one only to track the cleaning.
I have most of the lists done, and have gotten many things plugged into my calendar. I have 3 "main" calendars. One I created in "Print Artist", and have already reprinted several times as I add in things. One is a "planner calendar" - 2 page spread per month - where I initially jot down things. Then part of each week's plan (Sunday morning) is to enter the week's events/appointments/plans into my Google calendar, so that I get reminders.

We are now moving on to Week Two. This is "question" week (which for me means I have an extra week to work on lists), and "Living Room" week. Over the last session of "The Plan" I cleaned out the book cases, the built in desk, and a big cedar trunk. There is no TV or any other electronic equipment, so this should be an easy room. The main focus will be getting some "deep" cleaning done ... such as, get the pictures off the walls, clean them all, wipe down the walls, moldings, baseboards, etc. My calendar looks full ... but actually, there's only one half day appointment and one all day one. And there's a half day of errands, that might be combined with the half day appointment.

I started making some Christmas quilted table runners last year, and never finished. I have added working on those to my calendar as well. I'm hoping that at least the reminders will keep me on track. I need to try to complete one a week this month and next. I have other projects to do too, so I had to remember to add those in to the schedule. And I had to at least preliminarily(my computer says that isn't a word - it is now! LOL!) block in baking days.

And because I *needed* another project, I bought something just for fun that I've wanted for many many years. I bought a doll house! It's a big wood one, 3 stories, and has a lot of furniture and things. First thing I had to do was find a place for it to live! I ended up clearing everything off a dresser in the guest room and putting it there. That may not end up being it's permanent home, but it'll do for now. I'm taking my time going through the little things with it. Then I need to get to the barn (that will have to wait for cooler weather!) to find the small stash of miniatures I have tucked away. It needs some serious cleaning and decorating, but I can tackle that one room at a time.

I think today will probably be a bit on the lazy side - considering it's already after 1:00! LOL! I have gotten a few things done; but I think I pulled a muscle in my back yesterday getting a big chair (recliner) in here, and it's uncomfortable today. I have runners to pin, lists to make, books to read ... lots to do today. :)

I would love feedback / comments on how y'all are doing! :)

August 2012, Week One

So, the HGP (Holiday Grand Plan) starts today. I've tried in the past (and failed miserably) to blog my way through the Plan. So, I'm going to try again. I would probably be more encouraged if I thought anyone actually read this. I only have 2 followers, and rarely get comments.
So, right from the get-go: if you read this, please consider (1) following; and (2) commenting occasionally. I really need the encouragement! LOL!



This first week is for List making, and for the Porch. A couple of weeks ago some friends came over and cleaned my yard and porch for me. It was a wonderful surprise, and an enormously appreciated gesture of friendship. I do have a few things to do on the porch. The biggest thing is that each morning I have to dispose of 2 bags with a small amount of left over dextrose. I can't dump it out in the house, because I'm afraid of the sugar building up in the plumbing and causing problems. So I tend to toss the bags beside the porch ... and let them build up. The day my friends were here I got rid of a huge amount of them; but since then it's been rainy a lot, and they've piled up again. So before this week is out, I have to empty ALL bags and then get them into trash bags and to the dump. Anything else on my porch is just minor maintenance and keeping it clean.

Also for this first week is List making. I'm VERY good at making lists ... just not so good at accomplishing what's ON the lists! LOL! I have several notebooks I've started over the years (and just yesterday I discovered a box with 3 more of them!). So my biggest project for the week is to sort through ALL of the notebooks: I need to cull out everything that I realistically won't use (recipes, craft projects, etc.). Then I want to merge them all into 3 notebooks: One for lists for the plan, room by room; One for Christmas related exercises and prep; and One for year round household information (address lists, birthday lists, important phone numbers, etc.).

Hopefully next week I'll be able to report good progress.

Spring Post

My Christmas countdown is combined with following the "Holiday Grand Plan" (yahoo group). The "Plan" runs for 4 months, and repeats 3 times a year - the last session of course being geared towards Christmas. Tomorrow begins round 2 for 2012.

My house is in very good shape. I've worked very hard on many levels. I've moved furniture around (had to make the house wheelchair accessible); I've worked on decluttering all areas; and I've worked and getting - and keeping - it clean; and I've moved a huge amount of stuff out in the form of either trash or donations.

This time around I hope to focus on more detail areas. That includes things like wiping down walls, cleaning pictures, re-cleaning closets, drawers, cabinets. I have a lot of distractions (computer, TV, books, sewing); and a lot of obligations (many many doctor appointments, plus dealing with DH's medications, plus setting up dialysis every night).

Sometimes I'm not really sure why I'm working so hard on the house. I mean, it's not like anyone comes to visit. Next weekend I'm hostessing a multi vendor party - my part of it, of course, will be chocolate tasting. I don't even know if we'll have a good turnout; but it sure would be embarrassing in front of all those other ladies to not have anyone show up.

My point, though, is that I have to throw a party with other people and invite (literally) hundreds of people to get someone to come out here. Fail!!

Nevertheless, I'm very close to my goal: to be able to have a daily routine that will keep the house neat and decluttered, to be able to keep cleaning to being mostly maintenance, and have time for me along with all the other obligations.

Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with tracking my progress for the rest of the year.

Christmas 2011 pictures

OK, I totally blew it this year. The funny thing is, I was actually more organized than I have been in the past.
I got baking done, cards sent, house cleaned (with help), and decorating done (with help). Shopping was done mostly on line, but in plenty of time and wrapped before Christmas Eve! I didn't finish the sewing I wanted to do .. had several issues there ... but I have a great head start on next year! :)



blurry tree in sewing room.



Stair landing corner of living room.



living room tree and mantle.



Glimpse of white tree in bathroom.



multiple trees in guest room.



dining room.



star on chimney



lighted "gifts" on porch.

HGP Week 9

So OK, I'm really lousy at keeping up with a blog. And honestly? I'm not even sure anyone is reading it anyway. But, just to keep myself on track, I thought I'd update.
I'll review all the weeks up to now:
Week 1, Get organized & make lists. DONE
Week 2, Entry/foyer/porch. I only have porch. DONE
Week 3, Living room. DONE
Week 4, Master Bedroom. DONE
Week 5, Bathrooms. ONE DONE
Week 6, Kids Room (have none, did computer/sewing room). DONE
Week 7, Guest Room. DONE, BUT NEEDS TO BE DONE AGAIN
Week 8, Kitchen. DONE
Week 9, Pantry. THIS WAS DONE SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, SO USING THIS TO GO BACK TO GUEST ROOM.

Now, let it be clear: "DONE" does not mean the room is spotless top to bottom. It means I have addressed issues in each room, decluttered, cleaned. There will always be more cleaning to do, but the rooms are presentable.

Another phase of the HGP is the Christmas prep. I'm only partly up on that; though a lot of the items on the lists won't apply. I am working on hand-made gifts, and have been doing fairly well at getting progress made instead of waiting until the last minute. I made Christmas cards this year, and have most of an address list in tact. I have "lost" my box of envelopes to fit the cards, but if I don't locate it soon I do have some others that will do. I even have plenty of "forever" stamps to mail the cards. One way or another, they will go in teh mail by Thanksgiving weekend.
Baking is an area I'm behind on, but that's partly because it's been too hot. I have a gas stove, and inadequat a/c in the kitchen-den area - so I don't bake when it's hot. I have a few pound cakes made and in the freezer, and hope to soon get more in there. I'm also thinking to use some of the huge surplus of tomatoes I have frozen to make some sauce; but will have to find a freezer- recipe, because I don't do canning.
I have my gift list mostly done, with budgeting in place. A lot of my shopping has already done (mostly on line). I need to get busy wrapping a few things soon. The hardest-to-buy-for gifts are the ones taken care of. Yay!