Progress

Well, we've made a lot of progress, though not quite as much as I'd hoped (against hope) to make by this point.
Yesterday, we moved a ton of stuff out of the living & dining rooms. There's still a pile of ads on the couch & some random stuff on the coffee table w/my computer. There's a pile of receipts & random stuff on one end table & a few misc. things & old newspapers that need shredded for composting on the dining room table. Some progress was made on the kitchen counters & the basket of randomness was sorted out. We need to sort through our growing collection of incomplete sippy cups & decide whether to pitch or hold on to them and get them off the counter.
We've had a rather crazy day so far, but I think I prefer it that way... it's kept me from dwelling on the fact that, had he not passed away over 5yrs ago, today would have been my dad's 60th birthday.
not a day goes by that I don't think about him & what everything from May 23rd, 2007 onward would have been like had he not passed. Our wedding, where we'd live (we were able to buy the house because of my inheritance), what education & career decisions I/we might have made differently, our kids. I had been really looking forward to seeing him as a grandpa. -Ok, I need to think about other things before I break down...

So, what's happened so far today?
I clogged & overflowed a toilet. Go me. BUT! I also unclogged it & dried up the floor in the bathroom and even managed to get most everything that could be water-damaged out of there before it happened & it wasn't the nasty stuff that overflowed... So, yay for small victories.
Right after I got done dealing with that, I was trying to get dressed when the carpet cleaners showed up. I just yelled out my window "Just a minute!" and finished getting myself dressed before I went down. Then we had the fun of moving the rest of the furniture and getting the carpets cleaned on the main floor. They're almost all dry now & look SO much better! Hope we can keep them this way at least until Thursday!
While we were waiting for them to dry, I took Amber for a walk down to the park & watched her play for a while there. Met a nice lady & her 19mo old son there. Noticed he had on a cloth diaper, so I asked her a bit about that. Still have to win Paul over on that one.
On the way back, we collected some leaves & I did some art projects with Amber (pics later, if I remember) with them. We did crayon rubbings of the leaves & then painted over those with water-colors. She didn't quite get the idea of creating a washed out background with the paint. She just wanted to paint a picture, so we did one big one together & then I did a couple little ones on my own while she did three paintings of her own.
Edit: In the middle of writing this, my friend who helps clean my house came over, so I went & did some more work trying to find the kitchen counters & table for her, so the art proj. stuff is all cleaned up now.
After the art projects we took a little down time & I let her watch her new favorite show, Poppy Cat. Then we ran to meet up with this lady who sold me her used Mei Tei baby carrier. :D I went in Target & got myself some more eggnog & some fruit snacks so I could get cash back (& those items, of course) & pay her cash. I wanted to get the half-gallon eggnog, but they only had two & they both expire on Friday! Not a chance I want to take while pregnant TYVM. :P
Then we went to Gordman's. I'd gone on Saturday with my friends & had found a 20% off one item coupon that I let my friend use. So, I went to print another one today & the entire Gordman's website was down. I'd noticed you could also get a coupon like that by signing up for their e-mails, but that wouldn't work either. So, when I got to the store I asked about it & was basically told the first one was a fraud (It sure didn't look like it & it worked fine for my friend!!) and that the e-mail one only gets you 15% off one item. Ugh... so they had me fill out the paper form for the e-mail & wrote on it that I could get 15% off one item. Amber got her stuffed monkey she was pitching a fit over on Saturday (with her money - earned for accident-free days) and I found the maternity clearance section & was able to get a couple more tank-tops for layering! :)
We got back over an hour later than Amber's usual nap time, but she did fine & is sleeping soundly now. As I mentioned above, my friend came to help clean the house & has been working on the bathrooms. She gets an extra hour tonight to help us get everything in order. :D

New Challenge!

Yeah, I need to get the house ready for Thanksgiving... the basement is not a priority right now.
I did my laundry yesterday & got most of it put away today (a few sweaters were still damp.) and helped hubby with his a bit.
One of my friends who lives out of town (just out of state, actually) is visiting this weekend, so I hung out with her & another of our friends the last two evenings.
We've gotten most of the trash & recycling taken out. I clipped & sorted coupons this morning.
I also finished a jewelry Christmas present. I can't wait to share it online! I'm excited with how it came out. I got a good start on another one yesterday. Hoping to finish it today & get my jewelry stuff put away... though I have some other ideas. Anyway...
I did find the missing library book, but haven't gotten it returned yet. Our grace period ended yesterday, so we're starting to rack(sp?) up the dimes we'll owe. :/
I don't think there's much else to report.

Day 15 (post)Update

I don't have many successes to report for yesterday, but I do have some. I didn't read the chapter, I didn't do much towards the challenge and I didn't get many more toys picked up, but I did get some put away. I did do a load of Amber's laundry & get it all folded & put away, and I did have a pretty good reason for having such an off day.
As if sleeping weren't challenging enough these days... I woke up around three & managed to get back to sleep before too long, but knowing that hubby's alarm was going to go off at 4:30 didn't help. So, then his alarm went off & we hear a "ker-thunk!"
"What was that?" I asked... Paul put on his glasses (& I think his coat) & peeked out the window & didn't see anything. I had a feeling I heard it from the other direction, though. I said "I think Amber fell out of bed."
So, he went downstairs & we didn't hear any more. I texted him & asked if everything was alright. Just as I got his reply of "yes" Amber started crying for Daddy. He was already in the basement, so I went & got her. Sure enough, she'd fallen out of bed. I later found out that Paul had seen her climb back in & lay back down, so not sure what the delayed reaction was about, but at any rate, I brought her back to our bed & laid down with her. She was sweet & cuddly & showing signs of actually going back to sleep when one of the cats came up & laid down on top of her. She thought this was hilarious & giggled, but laid still. Then the other cat joined us & everything went downhill.
The cats started playing/fighting and found a plastic bag. I kept trying to chase them off and I kept thinking they were going to let up. I texted Paul & told him they were going nuts, but got no reply. I debated about asking him to get them & lock them back in the basement, but they seemed to be calming down. It took a bit to get Amber settled again (& her brother kept going nuts en utero[sp?], too!), but she was calming down & they started up again!
Then, around 6, she announced that she was hungry, so I gave up & texted Paul that "it [was] going to be a loong f-in day." He came upstairs & met us (I think before he got that last text.) and one thing led to another & I just broke down crying. I was so exhausted!
I stayed that way most of the morning, other than a quick visit from the carpet cleaners for measuring I just tried to doze while Amber played. Thankfully, a friend was able to join us for lunch & played w/Amber a bit outside. I was surprised we made it to 2:00! Then we both napped... I for one hour & she for three!
So, most of what little productivity I had was in the evening.
I didn't sleep that great last night, either. I got enough sleep cumulatively, but I woke up frequently & had a lot of anxiety-ridden dreams.
Today Amber had an all-out fit after we got home from moms' group. Thankfully, little boy took his nap w/no trouble & she eventually started eating her food.

Day 14 Update

Today's chapter talks about avoiding excuses, planning ahead and, more specifically, finding the best time of day to be productive.
I already know my best time of day to work on these projects is during Amber's nap time. It's hard to get much done any other time. I'm not a morning person. It's good for me when I do have something to get me up, dressed & going in the morning, but this challenge isn't that. Not for me. This is about getting the house together. So, I can focus well, without distractions, during nap time. No kiddo, no TV, and I go down to the basement so I'm away from my computer and all the distractions it represents. :)
It's just a matter of getting her to sleep, losing a half hour of that time if I need a shower (like today) and getting off the computer!
I'm happy to report, however, that I did get my shower & I did work some more on the desk - which I'm counting for my challenge now. ;)
i cleaned out one of the big file drawers that was stuffed full of CDs & cassette tapes. I got all of them & their cases & whatnot into one box. I can't actually close it, but that's ok... it's just temporary... hopefully.
I got some of the toys cleaned up. There's a ways to go yet, but at least we made more progress than what Amber has messed up since!
I did also go bead shopping online. I didn't get anything yet, but I picked out a bunch of stuff I need/want.
I think I'll have to earn some money to justify spending any more on beading though. So, now I'm motivated to list some of the pieces I'd made a while ago & just didn't get on my Etsy site.

Earlier today I got a deal for carpet cleaning & got that all scheduled for next week. :D
I also got on the Icovia website & played around with layout options for the craft room when we move the guest room furniture down there. Here's a couple more ideas(click on them to get a larger view):

Now I have plans to meet up with my friend & her babies(twins) for dinner & a trip to the library. :)
Paul & Amber are looking all over for the library books. I think we've found all but one now.

Days 12 & 13 Updates

Well, I've caught up on the reading & photographed a few more records. Discovered one had a near mint condition poster included with it... the whole set might actually be worth something! Yay!
I didn't really do the tasks I'd assigned myself... which is kind of ironic, since day 12's chapter is all about focus.
I'm bad at this part of it. When I do actually get in a productive or creative mood, my head tends to swirl with all the things I'm suddenly excited to do again! Then I'll jump from project to project & a lot of times this leads to a lot of unfinished projects. Which is what Crystal's encouraging us to avoid.
On the other hand, sometimes I'll get stuck and switching to something else will refresh me & let me come back ready to tackle the original task later. I finished two necklaces, one of which was rather complicated, in two days & started on a pair of earrings. Well, yesterday I finished one of those earrings & I don't think I like how it came out... so they sit there waiting for me to make up my mind.
On the more productive front, I've also stagnated a bit... as you've seen if you've been following my writings here. I want to get the end goal in sight, but I can't really envision it working until we're able to replace the flooring... which probably won't happen until we get Christmas money.
So, I'm not as inspired/motivated by my mega-project.
My Grand goals plan, though... Well, I've played around with the room layouts some more & talked with my hubby some more & we're both excited to make that happen.
So, while kiddo's with Grandma today, I was struggling to decide what to do with my "free" time after my appointments this morning. So, I texted my hubby & asked him what he'd like to see me get done.
He said he'd like to see the grand plan start to come together & he figures the first step is to clear out my giant desk in the office so we can see about getting rid of it.
So, my new task was to work on that. I think I made a good deal of progress today. I went through the bag of random office supplies that was on top of it & all the pens in the drawer & threw away the ones that didn't work & sorted the ones that did. I took all such office supplies & put them in our storage closet.
We(I) also have coin collections, paper money collections & stamp collections (most of the latter two I inherited from my dad) that we'd been trying to keep in the lock-box until we discovered they wouldn't all fit. So, I put all of them in a shoebox and put it in storage for now. Now the lockbox just has important papers & can be locked again! :D
I cleared out all the top drawers of the desk & much of the top surface. What's left are a bunch of random electronics & components(most of which I have no idea what they're for or what to do with them) and the stuff in the big drawers. The one on the left is full of CDs & cassette tapes. That'll be dealt with (at least temporarily) easy enough if we can find a good box about the right size. The other side has some really random stuff. There are a couple of boxes that, at least according to the box outsides, contain the old 5.5in floppy discs (that were actually floppy) and I saw the manual for my photo editing program, titles to the cars (maybe those should be in the lockbox??) and so on... random!
At any rate, I don't feel too bad about deviating from the Mega Project plan because it's all part of the same goal, I was productive & it'll make hubby happy! :D

Oh, I almost forgot, I had my therapy appointment with my psychologist today & was telling her about the challenge & mentioned the accountability partner thing and she raised her hand like "ooh ooh me!" lol. I told her about how my bestie, Andrea, has been my accountability partner since 2nd grade when we'd talk on the phone while cleaning our rooms. It did keep me from hiding in my closet with whatever book I'd found or just sitting down & playing with the toys I'd unearthed, but it did not always keep me on task. Likewise, I have been similarly lenient with my half of the bargain through the years as well. ;)
So, I asked my counselor, "Seriously? Daily check-ins?" [I'm doing well to afford appointments every other week with insurance covering most of it!] and she said I could e-mail her! I've been hesitant to e-mail much to her as I'm not sure what's allowed... what needs to be done in session or whatever... but sure, I'll take all the support I can get!
She suggested I make a new rule for myself that I make this a "success blog" & only post an entry when I've accomplished my daily goals.
Me being me, I'm already exploring the grey areas, such as "well, I didn't stick with my original plan, but I was productive!"
I do think it's fair though if I go back & re-vamp the plan again... just harder to make that part of my half-finished 21 day challenge. I think as long as I find something to focus on & make progress overall, we'll be happy though. ;)

Days 10-12 Pre-Update

If that title makes sense... I have to catch-up and move on to day 12. Last night I did read chapter 10 & got a preview of chapter 11 on this blog. Both deal with finding yourself an accountability partner.
My best friend & I were already trying to be accountability partners for each other, but we're both kinda softies when it comes to that. My hubby generally is, too. I didn't really ask him to be an accountability partner, but I have talked to him about the challenge. I wish I had more of a following on my blog, but I know the way to do that is to reach out & follow other blogs more closely... & if you've read this or know me at all, you know that I struggle with the computer time-sink, so I'm hesitant to add anything more to what I feel obligated to do on the computer! :P
Today I'm babysitting, and lucky that the kiddos are playing nicely at the moment. ;) Sometime within the next hour, little boy will, hopefully, go down for his nap & then I'll get Amber & I lunch & work on getting her packed up for tonight. When little boy wakes up, we'll get him lunch & then his dad'll pick him up around 2, just in time for Amber's nap. Then I can try to get back on track with my challenge.
Today, I plan to do some general cleaning up, keep photographing records & start sorting through the books on one of the bookshelves if I still have time. Since I'm skipping a couple steps & tomorrow was my official day to start on the bookshelves, I'll be back on track.
Tonight I'm planning to go to a babywearing meeting. I didn't have much luck with it when Amber was littler. I got a ring sling & a "free" fabric sling. The ring of the ring sling always dug into my shoulder. I think I'd need one with a smaller ring. I actually like the plain fabric sling, but it doesn't work for a very little baby. I think I might like a mei tei carrier. I'm hoping some of the other participants will let me try out what they have & the presenter can help me maybe get the ring sling more comfortable or, if not, maybe I can find someone who'll be willing to buy it.
My hubby'll be taking Amber to go stay the night with my mom. I have a couple appointments tomorrow, but no kiddo to take care of, so hopefully I can be extra productive! ;)
I'm also hoping for some time to continue working on my jewelry projects & play a little Minecraft. :D

Days 10 & 11 (Non-)Updates

So, I kinda fell off the bandwagon again. I've enjoyed my weekend though!
I haven't read the chapters yet, and I haven't photographed any more records. I haven't done any laundry, so my life hack isn't applicable. My Day 10 assignment to myself was to do general clean-up for the rest of the hall to get ready to set up the furniture pieces for the kiddos' craft room as my Day 11 challenge.
The main problem with that is having the records & a couple large coolers & other large items that need better homes. I think I may need to re-vamp & skip to some other steps. Of course, the only furniture-type item that needs set up for the kiddo craft room is a wire shelving unit where I plan to store the art supplies. I'm hesitant to have ALL of them within Amber's reach though...
Day 12's challenge was to move all the art supplies down to that shelving unit. I might skip all those steps until after we get the new flooring installed.

What I DID do this weekend was go with the family to look at armchairs. Our glider in the living room isn't holding up very well. Plus, it's a pale beige/cream color & shows all the little spills & cat hair. We went to Furniture row & found a couple of clearance pieces that showed some promise, but were far from ideal, aside from the price. Next, we went to the La-Z-Boy store. They were doing a Veteran's day weekend sale where a bunch of chairs were on some sort of BOGO(%/amount off) deal. Our sales lady turned out to be the mom of one of the ladies in my moms' group who is in turn the mom of one of the girls in Amber's gymnastics class last spring. She talked us into getting two chairs! The color isn't ideal & they weren't as cheap as the clearance ones, but they were much better in every other way. So, the grand plan of my last post has been revised a little to make room to put the 2nd chair in the office.
After we got home I found that my beads I ordered had arrived! So, I excitedly got to work on some new jewelry pieces. I've been working for years now to try & make a special necklace for Amber with real amber & turquoise, her birthstone. I finished it yesterday:

I started another necklace that's going to be someone's Christmas gift. I finished it today & started a pair of earrings to go with it.
Between yesterday & today, I played around with our ideas for the grand plan & measured all the furniture in the two basement rooms & our guest room & figured out how to fit things in the new plan. I used this free room-planning website to figure out the layouts & came up with these plans:

That shows the office with the new layout, except for the door is actually bigger & thus there's not room for the bookshelf to the right of it as represented by the rectangle; especially not if we want access to the light switches. We'll probably put that bookshelf in the hall, even though it won't match the other two already out there.

This is my craft room with the antique furniture pieces from the guest room. There are a couple more of those wire shelving units in there currently that I didn't include in this layout. There's also big bins, boxes, baskets & piles of STUFF that needs to be dealt with both in the craft room & some in the guest room.

Today, I had planned to get back on track some, but I was lazy this morning, ate lunch, showered worked on the necklace & packed up my beading stuff to take to the "crafternoon" with my friends. After the get-together we had dinner & then clipped coupons & planned a shopping trip, which my hubby went & did while I was writing this & taking care of kiddo. We helped put the groceries away already.
All that & some phone calls & Skype video calls are what comprised most of our weekend. So, I don't feel too bad about not sticking with the challenge exactly & feel like I was a little bit productive and overall reasonably relaxed. ;)