first home improvement project

Saturday, January 26: We did our first real home improvement project! We installed shelves on the wall above my table to create more storage space. I am so excited! Now most of my scrapbook stuff is off the table, which gives me more room to work--now I will be more likely to scrapbook and do other creative projects because I WILL HAVE SPACE TO WORK!

This is the before: I took the picture after I had already cleared off some stuff but this is is pretty much how it looked:


This is the wall space after everything was removed from the table and the table was taken down:


The mess I made of our office with all my stuff moved:


The shelves installed:

That was quite a project! What we thought would be a 30 minute project turned into about an hour project. The walls in the office are soundproofed so the screws didn't go in all the way with the cordless drill fitted with a screwdriver bit. We screwed in the last quarter-inch or so by hand with a screwdriver. That was rather hard work! We found out our drill COULD screw them in all the way with an adjustment to more power--when there were only 2 more screws to put in. *rolls eyes*. Oh well. We got it done!

And the finished project:


I'd like to do a little more in the way of decorating and I may move things around a bit, but for now, it seems to be working.

Happy crafting to me!

jordan's weather book

This is a slideshow of a weather book Jordan worked on in school. I thought it was really cute!

christie's indian project

Here are some pictures of Christie's Indian project she did for school:



This is the speech she gave in class:

The Teepee

The Comanche were Plains Indians. The Plains Indians lived from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to Mexico. They lived along rivers and streams so they could have water for bathing, drinking and cooking. When living in their villages along the rivers, the Indians built earth lodges. The Comanche tribe mostly lived in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

The buffalo was very important to Plains Indians. Buffalo provided meat to eat. The skins were used for teepees and clothing. The bones were made into musical instruments. No part of the buffalo was wasted. The buffalo herds roamed the plains in search of food and water. The Comanche Indians followed the buffalo herds. When hunting, they lived in teepees.

Teepees were made of animal hides. The hides were stretched over poles arranged in a circle. The poles leaned together at the top. The teepee opening always faced east. If the teepee flap was open, a visitor was invited to enter. If the flap was closed, the visitor was to announce himself and wait for the host to invite him in. Teepees could be set up and taken down quickly to follow the buffalo herds.

When a teepee was taken down, the poles were used to carry the teepee and the family’s belongings. This was called a travois. The travois allowed the Indians to travel with the buffalo herds.

The Power of Routines

This is what my kitchen looked like this afternoon:


A mess, huh?

Some time ago I developed a routine for cleaning up my kitchen quickly and efficiently. It has 11 steps. I know, I know, that sounds like a lot. But trust me, once you get into some kind of routine, it goes fast.

So, the steps are:

1. Clear off the table. By this I mean clear off every last thing--the dishes, the food, the used napkins, the salt and pepper shakers, the hot pads.
2. Give the table a good wipe-down. Pay attention to sticky spots.
3. Make the table pretty. This can be a tablecloth and centerpiece; placemats and a basket of fruit or whatever you have that is attractive. My table decorations change with the season or holiday. Right now I have snow-scene placemats and a wire basket of fruit on my table.
4. Put away all food. Leftovers, food used in preparing a meal, spices--any and all food is put away.
5. Put away anything that is not a dirty dish. Recipes, cookbooks, trash, small appliances--all this is put where it belongs.
6. By now the only thing left to deal with should be dirty dishes. But before we can deal with dirty dishes we need to have a place to put them. So the next step is to put away the clean dishes.
7. Now we're ready to move on to the dirty dishes. This is significantly easier if you have a dishwasher. And it gets even easier if you have the kind that doesn't require pre-rinsing.
8. I always have some things that need handwashing, so that's the next step.
9. After dealing with all the dishes, I wipe down the counters and stove top.
10. I then collect everything that does not belong in the kitchen and put it in a laundry basket to put away where it belongs.
11. Final step is to sweep the floor.

This is what the kitchen looked like after I was done:


How long did that take? From start to finish--45 minutes. Some days it takes less time, some days more time.

I love having a kitchen clean-up routine because no matter how bad the mess, I know I can get it cleaned up without feeling overwhelmed. I just start out with the table and continue all the way to sweeping the floor and putting things away.

Set up a kitchen clean-up routine for yourself! It'll be much easier to keep your kitchen clean!

Open House

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2008

[open house]

Welcome to my blog! I hope to share my thoughts about lots of different ideas, from homemaking to scrapbooking to gardening to child rearing to...whatever! I'll post pictures and videos and tell stories...whatever strikes my fancy. Hope you enjoy your time here in my little corner of the blog world!