Tackle It Tuesday - Jesse tree

To do: set up the Jesse tree (already 10 days late, yikes!)


Progress: done! Now to start with the nightly devos and get caught up. :)

Tackle It Tuesday - curtain

To do: Find a curtain for the baby's room.
Progress: Failed! After checking around at a few stores, I couldn't find anything that I liked.
New task: Make my own curtain!

The inspiration piece (the baby bedding/quilt):

I found a GREAT Columbus Day sale at Joanne's and was able to find the colors I needed on the clearance table. Clearance fabrics were an additional 50% off. Woohoo! Since I love ribbon, I knew I wanted to incorporate ribbon somewhere, but not too much since it is a boy's room. :)
(The most expensive part of this curtain was the blue thread! Crazy.)

The supplies:

After getting my kiddo to bed on Saturday night, I pulled out the machine and got to work!

The final product:

I'm really excited and happy with how it turned out. By the end of the month, our goal is to have the room cleaned out (boxes put in the attic) and we can move on to the finishing touches (i.e. crib set up, quilt hung on the wall, etc). Then, mid-November, with the Lord's grace, we'll be bringing home baby boy!

Tackle It Tuesday - stroller

To do: Try and resist putting the new stroller together :)

Outcome: failed miserably :) I couldn't resist!

Tackle It Tuesday - tv stand

To do: Use gift money from Christmas that we set aside to find, purchase, and assemble a tv cabinet to replace our "makeshift" stand
















Outcome: We've "grown up" and now own a real tv stand. It took a little while to shop around to find what we were looking for. The parameters were a certain dollar amount that we had set aside, a taller cabinet height, the ability to hide tapes/discs behind a door or drawer, plus our components behind glass (i.e. no open shelving). The one fit everything. The one change we made was to replace their wooden knobs with brushed nickel knobs to match our lamps and accessories in the room.

Tackle It Tuesday - craft closet

To do: (inspired by Heidi's last "Tackle" at Blue Eyed Blessings)
Clean out and organize the craft closet... I have stuff in the future baby's room (it used to be our art/scrapbook room) that needs a new home. Somehow it will have to go into the craft closet!

(the closet, "before," not being utilized fully)


















(stuff to put in the closet, in the baby's room - gonna consign the bookshelf to get that out of there too)


















Outcome: Done! Pretty much my leftover scrap stuff (getting out of this hobby) on the top shelf, along with yarn and my Knifty Knitters. Second shelf down is my gift box (I grab clearanced kids' toys, etc when I see them to stock up for birthday parties) along with gift bags and wrapping paper. Next shelf down is for board games. Lynn has space in her closet for her games, so these are mostly adult/older board games. Next one down actually holds more gift stuff in a box: ribbons, Christmas-specific bags, etc. along with a spare fan that we sometimes pull out. That leaves the floor for my sewing stuff: machine, sewing box, as well as a container full of scrapbook paper that is fair game for whoever has a paper/craft need. I also store some extra fleece throws in this space for grabbing if we get cold. I'm happy with what I got in there (and what I cleaned out and trashed from there!) The baby's room has considerably been decluttered. Now I just have to wait for the consignment sales to get the rest of the stuff out of the baby's room. Then it's fair game to become "baby boy's" domain.

Tackle It Tuesday - consigning

To do: Go through baby girl clothes and pull out some to consign. Now that we know baby is a boy, there is just no way that we'll have room to store all of Lynn's past clothes (which are now in various totes and boxes in the closet and attic) plus future boy clothes! I'm not sure of the Lord's plans for our future regarding more children, so I don't want to get rid of everything quite yet. However, I definitely can pare down what we have saved of Lynn's.


Progress: Pulled out girl clothes and items from 0-18mos and have "tagged" them. (Now I just need Mr. H to get in the attic to bring down the 2T-4 sizes). Consignment sale is Sept 10th. Maybe I'll bring in a little bit of cash to cover the purchase of boy clothes (or diapers!) :)

Tackle It Tuesday - silver jewelry

Problem/Solution: I've been trying to clean my silver chains, but those little cleaning cloth wipes only go so far. I was asking my jeweler friend about the best way to clean them, and she surprised me with a container of silver jewelry cleaner. I have been cleaning like crazy. Now my silver jewelry is "sparkling"! I'm so excited!

Tackle It Tuesday - backyard minimakeover

To do: backyard mini-makeover: clean out and clean up!
Result: much better! :)

BEFORE:
















AFTER:





















More Tackles at 5M4M.

Tackle It Tuesday - grocery price book

To do: make a "price book" or list of grocery items along with the lowest price I've paid and where I bought the item

Why? to keep track of what a "good deal" is, to compare prices as I shop or as I look through the grocery ads making my grocery list

Outcome: done! I had saved up several months of receipts. It was so incredibly interesting (and sad at times) to see the difference in prices I had paid at different stores. I'm now more aware of which store carries the best prices on my most-purchased items.



I'm not sure how to attach the actual document, so to fill in the details... my columns are titled: "item," "brand," "price," "store," "date," and "sale/coupon?."
I then have my items broken out by sections: "dry goods," "cold foods," "frozen," "beverages," "breads," "produce," "health/beauty."

Tackle It Tuesday - "boy" shirt

Since this is the first time we've found out ahead of time what we are having, Mr. H let me indulge my desire to have a shirt that answers the question every preggo lady gets: "Do you know what you're having?" I googled around and found some cute options, but for more money than I wanted to spend. So, I decided to make my own. I picked up a plain maternity tshirt from the store (on sale) and then some iron on letters from my local craft store. After debating what exactly I wanted to say, I broke out the iron and ironing board and wa-la... my very own shirt!

To make: a maternity shirt with a "boy" saying on the front

Result: first time using iron-on letters... not so hard. Of course it took me like 30 min. just to figure out the placement, but well, that's what you get when you're an engineer's daughter :)

Tackle It Tuesday - sewing

Thanks to a little motivation inspired by my neighbor who has made such adorable dresses for her two girls (I keep telling her she needs to sell on Etsy!), I have cleared a little space in the future baby's room and set up my sewing machine. My past sewing projects have included couch pillow covers and several curtains. I have been proud of my projects, but am still very entry-level to this whole world of sewing.

Project: burp cloths, as seen at A Chelsea Morning.

Outcome: 4 done! This includes 1 that's a disaster (we'll just use it for baby H), 1 that is not quite up to gift-status (baby H's again), and 2 more that I am going to give to a friend as a part of a gift for her new baby (hooray!). I've got 8 more cloth diapers to use, and I'm hoping to make several as gifts (lots of babies being born to friends these next few months).

Here's a pic of my temporary sewing area









and my completed projects.

Tackle It Tuesday - kid's room!

To do: go through all of Lynn's "stuff" (while she's at school - this is not the time for her help. There are days that we go through and she helps pick out things that we can give away to children that don't have toys. This is not one of those days).













To do, part 2: make space to move her art desk from the art room (future baby room) into her room.












Ta-da! One trash bag and 2 boxes packed away for the next kiddo. Her desk is now in the far corner of the picture with a few more things rearranged (& put away) to accommodate the change.

Find more Tackles at 5M4M.

Tackle It Tuesday - baseboards

One check mark off the spring cleaning list...
Ok, I know that pregnancy makes you "dumber" but I honestly have no excuse not to have figured this out earlier than 12 wks ago...
VACUUMS HAVE ATTACHMENTS....
THAT WORK REALLY WELL FOR SMALL SPACES! (i.e. baseboards!)
I have on my spring cleaning list to take a wet sponge to my baseboards b/c well, the vacuum doesn't get close enough to get down in the crack where the carpet meets the baseboard. Plus the baseboard has accumulated a layer of dust on it.
Well, DUH. I just had an "ah-ha" moment and attached the long, thin attachment to my vacuum and it's perfect! Baseboards throughout the entire house are now dust free! (finally!)

(This is a half-done, half-not done photo - but now they're all dust free).

p.s. My vacuum has some amazing sucking power. If you haven't already, check out what I've previously vacuumed up (without any attachments) :)

Tackle It Tuesday - dinner

To do: Prepare dinner ahead of time!
Accomplished? Yes!

Easy Stromboli

Frozen Bread Loaves (3 per bag)
I haven't found these anywhere but at Harris Teeter. They're not at our Walmart or Food Lion.
Spaghetti Sauce
Meats you like (Ham, Salami, Pepperoni, etc.)
Cheese you like (Provolone, Swiss, Mozzarella)

1. Thaw the loaves
2. Roll out the thawed loaves into rectangles
3. Spread spaghetti sauce down the middle
4. Place meats then cheese on top of sauce. Feel free to sprinkle with Oregano or Italian seasonings.
5. Fold up and secure with wooden toothpicks
6. Brush the top with egg whites
7. Bake at 350 until golden brown

Tackle It Tuesday - house plants

My goal is to repot a few plants, for their benefit & mine, I'm hoping. My poor plant (I forget what it's called!) needs more humidity and a small pot, according to my houseplant book. It is going brown at the tips, big time. So, although this seems crazy... I put it in a pot with great drainage holes in the bottom and placed it in my shower! We have a garden tub, so there is plenty of room. It should not get direct water spray, just lots of mist and humidity. So far my hubby hasn't called me "weird" or anything, so I guess he's game to trying it. :)

The next repot was simply so that I could have the pot to plant the above plant into. I did switch it out into a pot that's orange, though, to go with my accent color in the bedroom. I kept it in a smaller pot because I like how the babies sprout off when it gets root-bound. Here's a before and after:
I also freshened up several other plants by scraping off the top layer of soil and mixing in some fresh potting soil. I am not the best when it comes to regularly fertilizing, so this should help to add some fresh nutrients to their soil.
I have a bunch of houseplants around my home. I love the look and the benefit of natural air purifiers :)

Tackle It Tuesday - digital frame

To Do: Fill up the SD card with pictures to display on the digital frame that hubby's parents got us for Christmas.
Progress: Man, how do I go through and pick out several hundred?!
End result: Done! How neat!

Tackle It Tuesday - iced coffee

I've been wanting to try this "recipe" of sorts for a few weeks now and I've finally purchased all the necessary ingredients. A friend of mine at church makes this each week for the Sunday School class she teaches (senior high students). It's the same iced coffee that you can purchase at Burger King. Mmmm, it's so good. I have never been a coffee drinker, but well, this just might get me hooked.

Here are the key ingredients: chocolate syrup, coffee, french vanilla creamer









I made a nice thick layer of chocolate syrup at the bottom of my pitcher, then added equal parts perked coffee and creamer (32 oz creamer and about 5 cups coffee. I'm not sure about this whole making coffee thing: I poured in 4 cups water/32oz, but I think it perked closer to 6 cups? Anyways, it tastes great, so feel free to experiment depending on your coffee strength desire).

Stir then serve over ice. It's that easy! Yum!









Money wise: I bought the chocolate syrup and vanilla creamer at Aldi pretty cheap and then just bought name brand coffee. Again, I'm not a normal coffee drinker, so it's up to you, but mm, mm, I'm on my second cup. Good thing I made decaf! :)

Tackle It Tuesday - paintings

Over the years of our marriage (8 years today!), we've accumulated various paintings, pictures, wall hangings, etc. that we've used in our homes over the years (7 houses/5 states!) The ones we're not using now have just been piled up in our third bedroom closet.















Because it's January and I'm an organizational nut anyways, I decided to tackle the mess and sort through what we need and what we don't. I now have a big donation pile and have boxed (and labeled, check it out) what we've got... just in case I need an extra wooden picture frame "which I know we have around here somewhere." Now I know! :)

Tackle It Tuesday - bed pillows

To do: Recover 2 throw pillows and 1 chair seat in new fabric, for the master bedroom. I wanted to give some "punch" to the standard, out of a bag, bedding on our bed. Since I needed to get fabric to recover an old chair seat that we got from my parents anyway, I took the plunge and went orange for all three!


Update: (work is still in progress) One pillow down!


Update #2: Two pillows done! (I have to wait on the seat to get some new cushion. The old one is pretty dilapidated.)


Also - check out who else has been inspired for creating! She's using a stapler to make a pillow with some cotton balls and remaining fabric.



p.s. Here's the tutorial I used for sewing these removable pillow covers. I've made these several times (for these same pillows, actually!)

Tackle It Tuesday - paint color

Trying to decide on a paint color for the bathroom! We want to go green - literally :) The up-close shot didn't turn out so well, but we ended up going with the one on the far left. I believe it's called "Palm Coast."