Fruits of My Labor

As mentioned in my last post, today I was going to work on the first room on my spring/deep cleaning list. Just to show that I am human, here is the before picture of our bedroom. It's kind of embarrassing, but it makes the after picture look worthwhile. Here is the before picture as you are looking into our room from the doorway: Here is the after!

Here is the before shot as you are looking from the master bathroom:And the after shot:
Before shot taken from the window area:
And, of course, the after:

So that's what I did today. I moved all the furniture (except for the bed because that sucker is heavy) and vacuumed, dusted and wiped down the while room. Tomorrow I will be working on my master bathroom and doing some deep cleaning in there.

I feel great about what I have accomplished so far and I'm motivated to keep going on these projects! It's so wonderful to have time to do this now.

Today is the first day

Of my new job as housewife! I've got a couple projects planned for me to do today and I'm so excited to get to them! I've been trying for some time now to come up with a good daily schedule and while I had some good ideas on what to do, I made it really unrealistic for me and it was hard to keep up. I tried to do everything in a certain amount of time and I would get discouraged if things didn't get done in that time frame. Awhile ago on the blog, Her Southern Charm, I saw a daily schedule that Jennifer created to help her get through her day and I loved it. There was really no time frame, but it was a good way to break down a list of things to do. I decided to make my own version and so far, it's worked wonderfully! The nice things about not having designated times for things is that I won't get frustrated if I get off of schedule. For instance, this morning I planned on getting up and having my quiet time right away. Well, my wonderful husband wanted to make pancakes for me to celebrate my first day home, so who am I to say "no"! If I had a strict schedule to keep up with, I would have been annoyed at my hubby and I would miss out on a wonderful opportunity to hang out with him. So my schedule needs a little bit of adjusting, but I can work with it!

Today on my schedule is the spring/deep cleaning of the master bedroom. Unfortunately in the past, our bedroom is the last to get any attention. I'm hoping to change that and keep up on it now that I have the time! On my master cleaning list for the bedroom is this:

~Clean out closet
~Clean out drawers
~Clean under the bed
~Vacuum
~Dust
~Wash blinds and windows
~Hot spot decluttering (We have a few surfaces that likes to attract random junk, so I want to get rid of that!)

Later I will post before and after pictures so you can see my progress!

Blessing in Disguise

Eric and I were talking this morning and we are thinking that this forced time off is a blessing is disguise. We aren't as stressed as we have been since we aren't rushing off to work and we have been spending so much time together it's been wonderful. We have also been able to work on some big cleaning projects around the house.

Yesterday I tackled our guest room (aka room of doom) and threw away a bunch of stuff that we kept for whatever reason. I was also able to vacuum, since I could see the floor after throwing stuff away and dust the furniture in there. I washed the bed linens and made the bed. Now our guest room is ready for guests!

Today I'm working on the cat room/office area. The floor needs to be vacuumed and then it's off tot he hard work of scrubbing the carpet and steam cleaning it. We have a cat that will pee on one specific area when he's mad at us. Little brat. I usually only have time to spray it with some carpet cleaner and wipe the area down, but not scrub it like I should. I'm planning on really going to town on that in just a few minutes!

We also will be working on our filing and shredding of this past years financial papers and re-organize our book shelves and desk areas. I'm dreading that actual work, but I'm looking forward to the end results! I'll reward myself later with a slice of the apple pie that is in my oven now!

We are really calm about this whole situation now. The first couple of days were hard, but we are resting in Him right now and it's the best place to be. On Tuesday we will be working on our resumes with my cousin and then Eric is going to hit the job hunt hard. He has a small lead already and we are praying that God will direct the job search.

We have decided I will get my resume ready for if I need it, but Eric will be the main one focusing on the job search. If he can't find anything great for right now, we will work on my finding a job. We are both satisfied with that direction.

God has been amazing through all of this and we could not be doing this alone. Our hope is in Him and I'm really happy about that.

Domestic "Stuff"

I don't know if it's because I have been reading some really uplifting home keeping blogs or what, but I've really been in the domestic mood lately! I even cooked a meal from scratch, people! My house it still a bit messy (I'm working on that) but dang did we eat well over the weekend.

Friday we, along with my parents, went down to my grandmother's old apartment to pick up my China and China hutch. It has been my grandmother's wish that I get her China when she passes away. She hasn't passed away yet (I think we still have a few good years left with her) but she has moved to a really nice assisted living facility and there is no room for her China hutch, so she told me to come pick it up! While we were down visiting her in Westminster, we took her to dinner at the Claim Jumper (Yum!) and went back to her new place to visit. We had such a wonderful time and I think Grandma is finally getting used to her new place. It really is a whole lot nicer than her old apartment.

I meant to take a before picture of the hutch, but I forgot and now, after spending 2 hours cleaning the lower portion of the hutch, I found out I'm going to have to re-finish the whole thing. Cleaning it took off the original finish and now it's almost down to bear wood. I have never, ever re-finished a piece of furniture before so I'm counting on my husband's fabulous internet research to figure this out for us.

Anyway, I was able to get a picture of all the China and the other numerous pieces that she has given me. This is all of it stacked nicely on me new( to me) kitchen table:




























Here is a close-up:















I don't know if you can see the detail, but it's just beautiful. It's white china with a white lacy pattern on the rim. It's from a company called Fashion Manor and the print is called "Lady Elegant". Isn't that a pretty name?

Since I had this beautiful China, I figured I had to get some use out of it, so Saturday night I made oven friend chicken from this recipe:http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1726,135176-250193,00.html
and I made biscuits from scratch from this recipe: http://thesparrowsnest.typepad.com/the_sparrows_nest/2007/01/biscuit_making_.html

The biscuits came out thinner than they should have been, but they tasted delicious. Next time I won't roll the dough out so thin. Just to make you hungry, and to show off my new China, I took some pictures of this fantastic dinner.

























































Another thing I received from Grandma was her box of recipes and recipe books. Eric and I went through it together and we found a carrot cake recipe in there. Eric's favorite cake is carrot cake and since yesterday was his birthday, I thought I would make it for him. It turned out really good and when I can remember, I will post the recipe.





























So that was my weekend of being domestic. I told Eric not to get too used to it.