Tackle It Tuesday: Halloween Decorations

It's been a while since I've posted a Tackle It Tuesday post but this past week and yesterday I tackled so much. I love having football-less nights and days off of work.

This past week I pulled down out Halloween decorations out of the garage. Halloween is one of the two holidays where I really decorate the house (the other being Christmas). With Halloween, I decorate the inside and outside. I even string lights.

Here are a few of the pictures of my tackle.Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling.

My Return To Work...

This week I tackled going back to work full-time. It's something that I've been meaning to post about but my internet connection went away for a couple of days...actually, the modem broke.

Last Tuesday was my first day back to work. It didn't get off to a smooth start though. I had to run out to the store Monday night to grab a few items. I didn't get out of the driveway - my starter went out. My fiance' was able to get his mother's car for Tuesday...thank goodness! What a blessing! My other option would have left me in tears and bald... Work went good and some people were shocked to see me. I guess they should read my blog. They would have found out I was coming back.

Wednesday didn't go too smooth either. My son got sick. It was awful. Let's just say it left my sister sick to her stomach and my fiance' had to come home from work. I couldn't call off on my second day of work.

Thursday my fiance' had to head out of town for what he thought would be an overnight trip and return on Friday.

Friday my cell phone buttons quit working. If the phone rings and I get to it to answer it, I can talk on it. I can't text or dial out. NONE of the buttons work. I think my fiance' jinxed me. He was going to buy me a new phone for my birthday but I declined the offer. I wanted to stop my service when the contract is up which is a little over a month away.

On Monday, I had to attend a new employee orientation. It was pretty boring. I had heard it all before...after 5 hours, I was ready for lunch! My fiance' also had to head out of town again. Lastly, I got to the daycare 10 minutes before the daycare closed. I'm glad I wasn't late - it would have cost me $20. Then I get home and find out my modem is broken.

Now doesn't that sound exciting? Should I be happy that I returned to work? I wonder if all this would have been a big deal had I not been working. I'm thinking I would have blown most of it off but with being on the go constantly it seems like I can't get ahead of the game. Here's to a better second half of this week!

Visit Tackle It Tuesday to see what others are tackling and Talk About It Tuesday to see what others are talking about.

Talk About and Tackle It Tuesday: Taxes!

This week I didn't exactly tackle the office as I wanted to. Instead, I did my taxes. I was actually quite surprised at how quickly and smoothly it went. I claimed one of the kids this year versus both of them (as it was my year to claim both). My fiance' had to claim our son in order to carry insurance on him. Next year, I will claim both to help with the taxes that I will owe on my unemployment.

Anyways, I gathered all the paperwork and laptop then headed for the living room floor. Within an hour, I was done! Not only that but I am getting a refund. A much larger one than expected.

One thing I had done when I found out (actually got the feeling I was being laid off), I switched my tax exemptions from 1 to 0. Some people would disagree and say I should have kept the money rather than give it to the government to hold on interest-free terms. Had I received it, I probably would have spent it because it wouldn't have been that noticeable. Once I was laid off I was no longer paying the ridiculously high child care fees so that amount was put towards my debt. Now that I've been trying to survive on a less than 50% off my old wages, I will be getting a lump sum of money that was "planned" (in the budget). For me, it worked. I didn't blow the money, I grew my savings and I focused on paying my debt down (all on my measly unemployment check).

Sorry to bore all you with the details but that's what I tackled this week and have been trying to tackle over the past couple of months. I didn't tackle all my debt but hope to by year-end.

Visit 5 Minutes For Mom to see what others are tackling. Visit Lazy Organizer's Talk About Tuesday to see what others are talking about.

Talk About and Tackle It Tuesday: Making Rooms Complete

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to do some catching up. However, it's been at home versus on my blog or even my emails (sorry folks). I finally got around to getting some curtains hung in the living room. It looks so much better in there. They aren't the most expensive valances but they complete the room. It should have taken three but I made do with 2.

Before

AfterWe also spent some time working on the family room that I painted a few months back. We didn't have seating out there. We now have a futon. I even put the train table back together so it could get some use before my youngest son out grows it. The treadmill finally got moved out of the family room and into the workout area in the garage. Now I need to work on the computer area which is in the same room. We'll see if I can accomplish that before next week.

Before

After

Besides working on the house and finishing rooms up, I've been doing a lot of volunteering. This is one area that I didn't do a lot with when I was working full-time. I hope to be able to continue volunteering when I find full-time employment (or even a part-time job).

To see what others are tackling, visit 5 Minutes For Mom's Tackling it Tuesday or to see what others are talking about, visit Lazy Organizer's Talk About It Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday: Toilet Paper Roll

This week I tackled quite a bit from the laundry room lent to the dust (and tiny dirt) along the baseboards to the dust on the blinds. I think my biggest tackle this week though was teaching my 4 year old son to change the toilet paper roll.

He came to me and said, "Mom, I think the toilet paper is almost out."

Me - "Almost?"

Him - "Yeah. There's only enough for you."

I headed down the hallway to check it out. Here's what I found...
Me - "It looks like it needs changed now, doesn't it?"

Him - "No, there's just enough for you. Anyways, it's your job to do it."

HOLD UP! My JOB? Wrong, wrong, wrong... Let's just say that day he learned how to change the toilet paper roll and when to change it.

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling.

Tackle It Tuesday - The Freezers!

This week I tackled the freezers. We had planned on getting a half of beef so I had to make room for it. We've decided to hold off on the beef but we have clean freezers now. I threw out quite a bit of food from each of them.

Here's the before pictures...

I did inventory while I was cleaning them. I probably could hold off going to the grocery for a couple weeks. I normally go once a month but haven't been for this month. As I mentioned in this post, we have lots of pork left (even more than what I thought). We also have 12 pounds of ground beef and 4 packs of chicken.

Here's the after...

They may not look all that organized but they are clean and I know where everything is. I've even it explained it to the fam. Hopefully it stays organized for a while.

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling.

Tackle It Tuesday: Beauty Cabinet and Hair!

This week I tackled my beauty cabinet as my kids like to call it and getting my hair cut! I couldn't tell you the last time I had been though my cabinet. Since I knew I was headed to the salon, I wanted to make sure that I had the products that I might need for my new-do (which I did). I filled up a trash bag of stuff and passed along a bunch of new hair products and jewelry to my nieces.

This is the before picture (or halfway shot - I had already cleaned most of the top and third shelf).

This is the after picture. I can't believe how many rubber headbands and hair clips I have! I know where everything is now. I even found stuff I forgot that I had...all kinds of jewelry.

This is the before picture of my hair. It's a bad picture but I tried several times to take it. The ends look pretty thinned out but they really aren't...it was me rushing to get in front of the camera (don't trust the kiddos with the camera after them dropping my old one).

This is the after...still not a good picture but you get the point. I got 6-7 inches cut off. I love it! It's a little shorter than I wanted but it's actually working out perfect. I thought I would miss being able to pull my hair up in the morning - not at all.

This is what it looks like from the front...a little darker (for now).

To see what other's are tackling, visit Tackle It Tuesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tackle It Tuesday: Where'd the batteries go?!?

Why search all over the house for that one single battery you need it, right? Or dig through more than 10 packs of batteries? Well, this is what I did on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when I was putting batteries in some of the Christmas presents. I found many packages of the same size battery that had been opened and only one or two batteries having been removed. I had to find a solution. I did just that! While my fiance was cleaning our detached garage, he came across a storage box (probably some sort of tackle box). I scooped it up and brought it into the house. I organized our batteries. They are no longer just thrown into a plastic basket (still in their original packaging).

This is the packages that we had...
This is our nicely organized battery collection. Now I can see what we have and don't have as far as alkaline batteries.

I will give you one piece of advice...that I didn't know until I asked my fiance (good thing he's older and wiser, I guess). Don't place the 9-volt batteries tops against each other. It will cause a short circuit between the batteries that will produce heat.

To see what others are tackling, visit 5 Minutes For Mom's Tackle It Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday: Repairing and Stocking the Toy Shelf

Last week, I tackled the BIG toy mess. This week it was the toy shelf that needed to be fixed. I have to say that I'm not longer "scared" of power tools. I had kept the broken dowel rods when I cleaned up the room. So, I took them to Lowe's Home Improvement and found the size I needed to repair the shelf. It was a little longer than I needed but that wouldn't be a problem. My fiance is the man of tools! I also had to pick up a few new screws to put it back together with. I came home, cut the dowel rods, and screwed them in place.

Here's the repaired toy shelf. You can't tell that it ever had anything wrong with it. Then it was time to put the toys back. Since the toys had been placed in the "trash", we (my youngest son - the culprit, my fiance and I) agreed that we would only keep the toys that he plays with. All the others would be trashed, if damaged, or passed on to others to enjoy. It was easier than I had thought it would be.

Our completed toy shelf with toys in bins. I'm glad that's over with...

To see what other's are tackling this week, visit 5 Minutes For Mom's Tackle It Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday - A BIG Toy Mess

This week's tackle was unexpected and unwanted! We had family over Friday night for a Thanksgiving dinner. Our house is pretty small, as I've mentioned several times before, so the only place for the kids to really play were in the bedrooms. Yes, very bad idea but it was too cold to throw them outside - like I now wish we would have done. My 4 year old son and his 4 year old nephew tore up his room...that's putting it lightly. The toy box got broken, one of the dowel rods on the toy shelf (similar to this but made of wood) got broken, and the knobs on the dresser were broken off...then the room was trashed with toys. I had checked on them and 15 minutes later went back to find this...
The after... I will be tackling the toy shelf this week. Hopefully, I am able to fix it. It's been around for 7 years through 2 kids and was never broken. To see what other's are tackling, visit 5 Minutes For Mom's Tackle It Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday - Entertaiment Center

A couple weeks ago I updated our family room but didn't really do anything as far as the furniture that went into the room. I put back the "old" stuff. We didn't really have an entertainment center. We just had a "tv holder"...it was junk (yep, missing the glass doors and all). Check out all the cords - not a pleasant sight. I had purchased an entertainment center a while back. Since we have guests coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner on Friday (and my fiance was out of town again), I thought it would be a great time to get it together. It sure makes the room look a lot better and more inviting. I hope to get our tree up in our living room by Friday evening so I can move the small couch out into the family room for additional seating.

To see what others tackled, visit 5 Minutes for Mom's Tackle It Tuesday.

Talking About and Tackling Tuesday - Updating the Family Room

With being out of work, I get bored really easy. I’ve tackled just about every room in the house and even had a garage sale to make a little money off the junk. We cleared out a ton of toys. It left us with a family room that we could actually us. There was a problem – it was ugly and uninviting. I got the idea that I would update it as we did the rest of the house. My fiancé was out of town so I had to do it on my own. He didn’t know what he was in for when he left me with paint brushes and rollers…LOL. I didn’t pick up the paint until Monday after he headed out of town.

When we converted ¾ of the garage to a family room, we added numerous outlets, stomped the ceiling and put down new carpet. The paint was dull and lifeless. The walls remained bare.

Now we have a warm and inviting space in Milk Chocolate (hum, wonder what I was craving?!?). There's also a trim border going around the room that tops it all off. I removed more clutter from the room, cleaned the carpet and rearranged a few things. My treadmill ruled the room. It’s now out of the way when it’s not in use. We have room for a couch now. Since we moved our ventless fireplace out and into the living room, I need to find a wood entertainment center that has a top shelf to it and some storage. Then the room will be complete and ready for the Wii on Christmas morning!

To visit other’s Home Tour on Talk About Tuesday, visit the Lazy Organizer. To see what others are Tackling, visit 5 Minutes For Mom.

Tackle It Tuesday - The Little Things

Over the past week and a half, I have been very busy around the house. I tackled the little things that I’ve been putting off. I was on a roll after the CLR Bathroom/Kitchen Tackle. My fiancé was out of town so it was my chance to get lots of stuff done. That’s exactly what I did.

I started with the kitchen drawers. What a mess!

Before

After

Before - not sure what happened to the after...will look for or take another picture (it's still clean).

Don't have the before but it looked a lot like the above picture - this is the after.

Then it was off to the kitchen table.

Before

Anyone want leftovers?!?! I’m not sure how long some of this stuff had been stuck there since we usually don’t drop the sides of the table. It’s probably been there as long as we’ve had the table (not going to let you in on how long that’s been). But it's gone now...

After

To check out what others are tackling, visit 5 Minutes for Mom. Stop by next week to see my BIG tackle – the family room!!