Final Tidy Countdown Day 1 of 64

I'm ready to be done. I mean, I'm ready to take action to be done. By December 31st. Done-done.

I mapped out all of November and December, identifying which days I'll be able to devote to the final tidying tasks. There are 64 days until Dec 31st and many of those days, I can tell, I won't probably get to tidying for various reasons. I sense the Lord has a deadline on my final tidying and the end of the year is it. So I need to make this happen.

I made a list of a few spots that I think will be the most difficult and I'm going to do those first. I remember moving and doing the garage first, what a huge relief it was when that was actually finished! It motivated and propelled me because all the other tasks were small compared to the garage.

I quickly made a notebook with the lists and calendar. I'll be focusing (and taking ACTION) over the next two months so I can finish by December 31st.

Reviewing "Freedom Is":
-knowing what I have and where it is...(see below)
-maintaining with quick daily pick-up and tidy (we are already implementing this on our daily chores, each day is assigned one room and we tidy that one room to the best we can right now, we've come SO FAR, most of the rooms are actually quite tidy on a daily basis)
-embracing "what's next" for my self-education (as I enter this "final phase", the Lord is speaking to me about laziness and being willing to take action and discipline, it is really good! I'll look forward to some in-depth word study at the first of the year)
-being unencumbered to help my kids' education (what a delight that will be!)
-completing long term dangling projects (the list is down to:
help Sarah with room
go through cubbies
get rid more stuff
go through plushy boxes
clean playroom/other final tidy)
ALL THE OTHER PROJECTS are completed! Of course, I've started a list of "new projects", but those are new and I haven't procrastinated any of these. I think it is reasonable to have an ongoing project list. In the next couple days, I need to make the Thankgiving pillowcases which we decided to do a couple weeks ago and bought fabric (the kids LOVE their pillowcases)!

It is quite exciting to see that my "Freedom Is" list is really coming along and not too far from completion!

SO

the most difficult:
-playroom
-Sarah's room
-cubbies
-legos

Playroom:
This room is going to be awesome. Need to go through the bags of stuff. Be brave.

Sarah's room:
I need to help Sarah let go of some things. She needs me to do what's going to be best for her, not just what she WANTS.

Cubbies:
Actually, things are looking quite good. Just need to make a list of the cubbies which need attention and finish the job.

Legos:
Hmmm. I bought special boxes for the Legos for the other house. They just don't work here. I need to brainstorm some ideas.
-boxes to slip into attic, easy to retrieve
-maybe wheeled carts to fit in Dan's closet, easy to roll out when want to use
-could stack some smaller boxes behind Titan table in flop room
-what to do with large plates/storage for completed sets?

Out of these four, I think Sarah's room is the most difficult, then playroom, then cubbies and Legos. I'll start tomorrow on Sarah's room.

Status:
IN PROCESS-go through cubbies (I'm REALLY close to being done!)
IN PROCESS-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize (in Fred and in playroom)


DONE-finish taxes
DONE-finish quilt (gift)
DONE-finish handmade napkins (gift) 
DONE-finish a huge crochet project (gift)
DONE-finish handmade pillowcases
DONE-another afghan (waiting for yarn to arrive) {the yarn arrived, afghan 80% finished!}

FINAL TIDY COUNTDOWN:
Laundry
Flop Room/Desk
Pantry
Master
Master Bath
Master Closet
Kitchen
Dining Room
Playroom
Fred
Dan's Room
Sarah's Room
Office
Attic/Shed/Barn
Main Bath
TV Room

Seven Pillowcases Finished

The pillowcases are all finished!!!!!!!!

I did have to add a quick project, I found more fabric that belonged to the napkins, so I finished the last napkin and made a sweet little table runner with the last of the fabric. I'll give those to my friend this week.

Washed the quilt, turned out SO nice! I love the drape and feel. I would like to make myself something like that!

I can't believe it when I look at my list! I did have to add another afghan, though this one will be a lot smaller...long story, but I'm actually looking forward to it. I've ordered the yarn. There's a possibility there might be another, as well, but those will go quickly and it will give me even more time to listen to more Ranger's Apprentice!

So what is left is going through the cubbies and helping Sarah with her room and plushy stuff. AWESOME! This is really exciting!

As I cross things off my old project list, I am starting a new project list. But there's always things to do and these fresh new projects aren't weighing me down. I have a new outlook on projects and I'm being very careful not to add things that I really don't need to be doing (like making myself a cute quilty blanket)!

Status Update:
IN PROCESS-go through cubbies
IN PROCESS-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize
-another afghan (waiting for yarn to arrive)

DONE-finish taxes
DONE-finish quilt (gift)
DONE-finish handmade napkins (gift) 
DONE-finish a huge crochet project (gift)
DONE-finish handmade pillowcases

WOW!

Next week is going to be really good...full speed ahead on these last (big) projects!

Returning to Our Routine

Staycation was good, but I still feel derailed because the Expedit is in the hallway. It will be so nice when that all gets back to normal (soon)?

Tonight I'm working on the pillowcases and listening to more Ranger's Apprentice. The crochet project is DONE (la la lallaahaalalaalaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)!

Update:
IN PROCESS-go through cubbies
IN PROCESS-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize
-finish handmade pillowcases
DONE-finish taxes
DONE-finish quilt (gift)
DONE-finish handmade napkins (gift)
DONE-finish a huge crochet project (gift)

Staycation CONTINUES

This has been so good!

We are going into week two of our staycation...it might get extended even further, we'll see. Here's where we are:

IN PROCESS-go through cubbies
IN PROCESS-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-finish a huge crochet project (gift)
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize
-finish handmade pillowcases
DONE-finish taxes
DONE-finish quilt (gift)
DONE-finish handmade napkins (gift) 

Wednesday (tomorrow) is a busy day. Thursday we're babysitting for the first half of the day and the second half, we're going to my Mom's to paint two walls for her. Friday will be another day for projects. I'm feeling REALLY good about getting free of these dangling projects!

Sarah loves to celebrate holidays, special occasions and birthdays. The next event on our calendar is Oreo's first birthday. Yes, the cat's birthday. Today Sarah made him a special catnip-filled pillow. Oh my word, Shadow is already onto it! She finally wrapped it and HID it! He'll be receiving it in a couple weeks. :)

I'm feeling ultra motivated now that a few things are finished. Ah, just thinking about the hooks being up, the taxes being DONE, and a few projects brought to completion makes me feel R E A L L Y good.

I just didn't realize I don't have to live like this...I've always had so many things in process and always starting new things. I'm excited about the prospect of FINISHING many of these projects and perhaps WAITING to start anything new (though I already have a list going)!

I feel like I'm coming into a new season...a season of freedom. Thank you Lord, I'm looking forward to it!

Staycation Day 5

We've made good headway in Sarah's room! We emptied out all the stuff that was on her floor. It is soooo wonderful for her to see her floor, the beginning of good things.

On Day 2 of our Staycation, we discovered the water dispenser in the dining room had been leaking. On the h.a.r.d.w.o.o.d floors. WOW. We had to empty and move the big Expedit, relocating it to the playroom/living room and hallway! That kinda took the wind out of my sails. BUT it certainly is going to help me finish the cubbies for that Expedit! It might take a week or two to get it back because the floor has to dry.

We haven't had my family over for dinner in YEARS. We hosted my Mom's birthday tonight and had a great dinner on the patio and a campfire, what fun we had! I need to blog a bit about entertaining...it used to be so difficult, but having everyone over was really pretty simple since the house is pretty organized and tidy. We needed to do a little picking up so we could vacuum, but everything else was ready to go (except for the cooking, of course).

As of Sunday night, here's the status on my projects:
-finish a huge crochet project (gift)
DONE-finish quilt (gift)
DONE-finish handmade napkins (gift)
IN PROCESS-go through cubbies
IN PROCESS-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize
-finish handmade pillowcases

I gave my friend 16 handmade napkins for her birthday LAST YEAR. I actually only gave her TWO and had intended on finishing the other 14...soon. Well, I just finished them! Hooray!

Another project was started in July for a different friend's birthday and I just completed it. I made a quilt with cheater fabric for the top. I've made patchwork quilt tops that I've sold on Etsy, but never have made a quilt with the batting and backing and binding. I gave it to her without the binding and then told her I needed it back so I could finish it(!) I started hand-stitching on red bias tape, but it was really ugly. I went to a local quilt shop and received instruction on the binding. I learned how to quilt using YouTube, but the binding was kind of beyond me and I needed someone to show me. Ah! What a difference THAT made! I decided to remove the bias tape and made my own binding and attached it. It is NOT the world's most beautiful quilting job, but I'm proud nonetheless!

Staycation Day 1

Last week I was thinking about the unfinished dangling projects and several other things I just don't seem to get to.

We've been pushing ourselves since we moved and all of us need a breather. Enter "staycation".

The kids and I are going to take the week OFF. Well, not entirely, chores must be done and the projects attended to...here's the list:

-finish a huge crochet project (gift)
-finish quilt (gift)
-finish handmade napkins (gift)
-go through cubbies
-help my daughter purge and organize her room
-go through several bags and boxes of plushie accessories and organize
-finish handmade pillowcases

I doubt I can finish everything this week, but I'm going to make a huge effort toward it all.

I've schedule our weekly meals to include...get ready...FROZEN MEALS! Yay, I won't be cooking dinners this week at all.

Tax Return 2 and 3

This is really a GREAT feeling! I meant to take photos of the checks, but they got deposited before I got to it.

We got back the other two checks...$$$! We no longer have "the taxes" on our "to-do" list!!!

But the most satisfying part, which feels a little surreal, is that we are CAUGHT UP. The first ten years of our marriage, we did our taxes every year. Then somewhere along the line, we didn't and fell behind. We've been limping along for the past ten years having this project constantly hanging over our heads. If we had a weekend with nothing planned (rare), and we had a moment to breathe, inevitably one of us would say, "we could do the taxes".

I feel like I've shed a huge burden. And got paid for it!!!

Tax Return 1

I'm in SHOCK!

We received one of the three tax returns back...that was really fast!

Yippppppeee! Not only am I excited about the $$$ we got back, but the fact that it is DONE!

The Hooks Are UP

The hooks have been on the "to-do" list since March 1st...and today was the DAAAAAAYYYY!

Organized the shoe shelf, and wait for it, the best part is I put our "shower shoes" and "beach shoes" that we take camping or to hotels in the back closet in a bankers box-PERFECT! LOVE having a shelf for electronics (iPods and Kindle) and a shelf for my purse and camera, along with a spot for me to put things that are "in process", like lists or checks to cash when I go to the bank.

Worked outside on the back patio, yay, that's getting picked up, too!

LOVE having all the coats off the floor! OH, and the brooms, dust pan and Swiffer all got a nail, so they are hanging up off the floor-AH! To the left of the door, I hung the hats and visors and those lower hooks are Sarah's.

Did some pinning of boot trays and after all was said and done, I'm going with the cheapest (Target $4.99) because it is the right size, can't wait, it fits right under the coats. Muddy and stray shoes can get tossed on the tray and the tray will be super easy to clean...love that!

Seven More Cubbies Tidied

I needed a place for my daughter's glue gun, my LOL stuff, my word study books, put the trash bags in a cubby near the recycle box, got the Vitamix off the counter into a cubby and labeled a few others. I'm using the cubby spaces for NEEDS because these cubbies are so easy to access. As I find I need a place for something, I clean out the cubby, label it and insert organized items. I just added 7 more! That's a total of 15 done out of 75!

New Window

The front window was single pane and sucked all the heat out in early spring. I assume it was difficult to heat that room in the winter, with the heating registers right under the window!

Today, there's a new, beautiful vinyl window!

In order to get ready for the replacement, my husband had to clear out the rest of his boxes of books. Look at the floor! I'm totally inspired to do what it takes to get this room EMPTY so the kids can play!

Sarah's stuff needs to be purged again...she has about five large trash bags full of boxes and things for playing plushies. We need to go through all her stuff and get rid of a lot of that, since she doesn't use it all. In my dreams, I see all that stuff on the bottom Expedit shelf, but I don't know it that's going to work...

Taxes One More to Go

I'm kickin' up my heels! We have two of the three years D O N E! I can breathe, it feels SO WONDERFUL! The last one I'm working on tomorrow, we'll get them in the tax program tomorrow night and we'll get them in the mail Saturday, right on time for the deadline! WAHHHOO!

Finishing the Taxes

Freedom is...completing long term dangling projects. This week, I am working to complete a HUGE dangling project, THE TAXES. We have been dragging our feet for YEARS to get caught up and this is the time.

Yesterday, I got the box out (for one of the years to be completed) and sorted through it. I'm not sure why, but my heart was racing as I went through the box. All these receipts are a reminder of times I'd rather forget, but I am going to press on. Thank you Lord for this sense of urgency and desire to jump in. I keep thinking of how awesome it will feel when it is done. Deadline to be in the mail: July 13th (Saturday).

(photo taken in Langley on Whidbey Island)