Welcome February!

I can not believe that it is February already and the first month of 2012 is already gone.  That means we are less than 11 months away from Christmas ALREADY!  So with just a little overview on January's goals....

1.  No eating out.  This lasted for one week.  We found ourselves in sticking situations where we ended up out at a meal time and caved very quickly.  We are recycling this goal into February.  We have given ourselves 4 exceptions.

2.  No cussing.  We have both improved on this a lot, but neither of us are perfect and continue to work on this
goal daily.

3.  Daily Bible time.  This goal I can honestly say was the only goal that was kept.  I started a 12 week Bible study over the book of Ephesians.  You can find it here.  I have fallen in love with this study and have learned a lot along the way.

4. Attend Wednesday night service.  We attended the first Wednesday night service of the year, our pastor was out because his daughter had just had a baby, and the guy that lead service that night wasn't able to catch out attention enough to want to go back the following week.  We have started a couples study on Wednesday night service that will last for 8 weeks.  We have semi completed this goal!

5.  Do sometime of physical activity four days a week.  Physical activity....what's that!  We went for a family run ONCE! 

So as you can see we didn't do very well on our first month of 2012's goals.  Hopefully there will be a little more willpower and a little more drive this month.  I am excited to see February.  The more winter months (although it doesn't feel like winter) we run through, quickly, the sooner Spring will be here!  My favorite time of the year. 

Weekly Review!

Man OH Man, have I been busy this week.  Every January I move all of the previous year's paperwork/receipts/bills ect and move them all to envelopes downstairs, making room for this current year's stuff.  This process usually takes me at least two days.  If I get overwhelmed (which I usually do) it takes me three.  This year it took me three!  I feel so much better when everything is done and it all looks so nice, neat and empty!

After I was done with all of that I updated my Home Maintenance Log. You can find the cover sheet here.

I use a pencil pouch to keep our personal check book, stamps, address labels and an ink pen. 

Next I found printable monthly calendars here and here. 

 

I fell in love with this calendar as soon as I saw it!  Next comes The different tabs. 

Tab Names:

Daily Check Lists

Meals and Recipes

Cleaning

Travel

Budget

Goals and Inventory

Important Dates

Emergency

Church

Pets

Tab Contents:  

Daily Check lists contains "My Personal Assistant that I found here (under My Personal Assistant).

Meals and Recipes contain a monthly menu plan and weekly menu plans here and here.

Cleaning has weekly cleaning charts, Spring cleaning charts, seasonal chore checklists, quarterly chore list, Spring chore list, Summer and Fall chore lists and a home maintenance log.  You can find them here, here, here and  here.

The next section is the travel section you can find both printables here.

The section after that is the budget section I decided we should have a track your spending worksheet found here.  I also included a budget worksheet that you can print here.  

Goals and Inventory come next.  I started this section out with a "Year at a Glance" found here.  Josh and I have decided this year to make monthly goals instead of New Year's Resolutions.  So I printed this page to keep track of each month goals!  Next is a "Hope List" also found  here, this list is a home goal list.  Then I added Freezer Inventory, Pantry Inventory and Larder Inventory sheets you can print them here.  I forget a lot of times what I have, so I am hoping that these sheets will help us eat what we have at home first before I go buy more.  Next comes so cheat sheets that I found here.  I printed the freezer storage cheat sheet and the internal cooking temperature cheat sheet.

Next comes Important Dates.  This section also contains an online password form and a windows hot key form.  You can find all printables here and here.

Then I made an Emergency section that contains an Emergency sheet and a medical information sheet.

I sometimes have people come stay with my babies while Josh and I are out of town.  This is good for whomever stays here in case something were to happen.  The Emergency form can be found here and the basic medical info form here.

The church section comes next.  Our church sends out a quarterly statement showing how much you have tithed, I plan on putting that in this section.  I have a couple bible verse forms you can print them here, along with a prayer journal that you can find here. 

Last but not least is the pets section.  You know I have to make sure my babies are taken care of.  Like I said before they sometimes get a baby sitter if Nan and Poppy can't watch them.  I would be beside myself if something happened while I was gone and things were taken care of.  SO....there is a pet information sheet (you can find it here). Each section divider has pockets and in the very last pocket I keep a copy of the children's medical records and a check made out to our vet.  If something were to happen whomever is staying with them would need money to pay for this visit!

Everything in my binder I have found online and was free.  I also only did my binder by quarters.  I did not start my binder until February, so I have everything in there for the months of February, March and April.  In April I will update you on what got used and what didn't.  It is a trial and error kind of thing.  I hope you are able to use these resources that I have found and are able to create something useful for you and your family. 

Office Paint Job

This past two weeks have been filled with nothing but house projects.  Joshua hung the drop ceiling in the living downstairs and repainted the floor, the two of us re-did the laundry room and then I decided to paint the office.  Here is some pictures that I took the first or second summer that we lived here.  I have rearranged this room many times.  This just give you an idea of how drastic of a change I went from.

Here is the finished product.  You can notice from the past pictures compared to today's pictures.  I have reupholstered the glider rocker, when I rearranged the furniture I took down the folding table and we are just using the desk now.   

I also found this old picture of the laundry room.  Between this time and now I had added brown cabinets and I had taken the sofa table out.

Have a good weekend!

Laundry Room Remodel

 We are finally done!  There are still a few little things that I want to do.  I would like to put a curtain around the sink basin, hang a towel bar above the sink, replace the light fixture and mix and match a few more of my little trinkets.  So here it is...DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

I am totally digging my new washer!  I (and the hubs) hung the cabinets to the ceiling and then hung a shelf under that. 

I found this vintage picture online and loved it!  I only bought the mirror and the candle everything else I had lying around.

My laundry basket dresser!  The hubs made these for me.  It was the first thing that he has ever built all by himself.  I am totally in love with it!  I don't just use it for dirty clothes, instead of having a laundry baskets sitting around, I will empty the dryer and hang the basket back up.

I could not have done this project with out my lovely husband.  He hung this back splash for me.

He also cut all of the shelves for me and helped me paint them. 

I decided to hang my broom and that kind of stuff on the back of the door and the iron board on the wall behind the door.   I painted the laundry sign.

Weekend Wrap up!

So we have been "making over" our house this past week.  We are finally finished with the laundry room and have one coat of paint on the office walls, all I need to do is put the last coat on and we will be done.  I am hosting girls night this month which is this Thursday so I will have to get everything back together before then.  It took us exactly one week to start and finish the laundry room.  It snowed in the middle of our project so that made things go a little slower but we are finally finished and I am loving the end result.  Once we are finished with both projects I will be posting pictures. 

A week of painting

Since our washing machine went out on Friday, I decided to go on and paint the laundry room while there was only one bulky appliance in there, instead of two.  We you know me, I can't just paint.  That would be too easy, to simple, not very time consuming and rather boring.  So the hubs and I today have made our version of this.......

We aren't finished yet, we have almost finished one shelf and have the other one 1/2 way done.  He actually cut the wood before I could get out and take pictures, but I will capture where we are now and do a tutorial later.  I also like this idea.....

So I have painted the room this color and am in the middle of painting my cabinets white.  I am also going to add a shelf undernethe them just like in the picture.  I love the idea.  I also like this....

I will be buying these, just not right now.  They are $35.00 for the three so I think I will wait for Josh to go back to work.

I love this color.  I was torn between this olive green or the blue that I went with.  I love the shelf also.

I love these shelves and there is another picture on Pinterest that I could find that I also like.  I am putting a few of these over top of the sink.  

Not only are we redoing our laundry room but I am also painting our office.  I am not changing the colors just repainting.  I guess I have a four year itch or something.

Week One

Week one started off great.  I came up with an excellent menu, we were on top of the goals and going strong.  Until Friday, Josh sent me a text message while I was at school, telling me that our washing machine had gone out.  This shouldn't be a big deal.........NOT AT OUR HOUSE.  I really don't understand why purchasing appliances is always so hard for us.  We built a house together, we have been together for 8 years and survived many other relationship issues, but our marriage is put to the test every time we buy an appliance.  How crazy is that?

It all started 4 years ago when we first moved into our house.  Josh had a friend that had a brand new GE front loader washer and dryer for $800.00.  That's a lot of money, but they were brand new and it was actually more than half off.  My mom and aunt were buying us a washer and dryer for a house warming gift and weren't willing to pay $800, so after a lot of arguing I talked him into buy a scratch and dent set and when those went out we would get something nice.

Our washer was never really right.  We have had issues out of it from the beginning and I knew that our days with it were limited when it started making even more noise (ones I had never heard before) about a month ago.  So I had a layout in my head, front loader washer and dryer, new cabinets in the laundry room, new paint job and a counter top across the top of both appliances.  That was a good plan and all until Josh showed up and saw the price of front loader washing machines.  I kid you not when I say this whole entire weekend was consumed with arguments about what kind of washer we were going to buy and how much we were going to spend.  After a lot of vulgar words, yelling, screaming, fit throwing (on both of our parts), causing scenes in every place that sells appliances and a lot of tears, we came across a very good deal.

This is what we got. Home Depot ran a sale this week that actually ended Thursday, someone didn't take the sale tag down, so they had to give us the washer for the price advertised.  I get very bummed when we argue, we don't usually but when we do, we argue hard.  In the end I still had to go to the laundry mat because it won't be delivered until Friday the 13th and I had a weeks worth of laundry to do.

On a positive note, the rest of the week was great.  I had (before Friday) got my mouth under control and had done very well.  We ate great this week.  Saturday we did eat out, we were starving after all of that washing machine mess.

Jillian Michales always says not to let the times you fail define your ultimate goal.  So we will get back on the horse and try again.

 

 

2012 Bible Study

One of my January goals is to make a conscious effort to get in more Bible time.  As I was scrolling through my blog list the other day, I ran across this Bible study.  It is a daily study for 3 months.  I have been totally focused on food for the last two days making each and every meal  that I lost track of time and didn't get to read on Monday or Tuesday, so I had to catch up to today's reading.  

This Bible study is one of the best that I have ever participated in.  The Lord has spoken to me in ways, through these passages that he has never done before.  I encourage you to take a look at the link and start reading it for yourself.  This link gives you print outs for everyday and encourages you to do what they call "SOAP".  

S: Write out the scripture passage for the day.  I like this because, when I write something out it resonates more than if I just read something.

O: Write down 1 or 2  observations from the passage.  This helps me figure out what I believe God wants me to take away from the passage.

A: Write down 1-2 applications from the passage.  When I read regularly, I don't necessarily think about how I am suppose to apply these things in our everyday life.  This helps you to see what you can do to allow God's light to shine out from within you.

P:  Pray over what you have learned from today's passage.

If you don't have time to each and everyday.  You could always get the book of Ephesians on CD and listen to the daily scripture in your car and then write your thoughts down when you are done. 

We Welcome 2012!

We are welcoming 2012 with open arms.  We have decided this year that instead of making New Year's resolutions, we are making monthly goals.  I am a very structured individual and don't do well without organization.  If I make a New Year's resolution there is too much playing room.  We welcomed in 2012 in Florence this year, just like I have for many many years, we attended their local church this morning.  During Brother Tim's sermon he said that the number one resolution is to loose weight or diet, the second top resolution in the United States is to get your finances in order.  For the top resolution only 20 percent of people will actually loose weight and keep it off.  I feel that is because a resolution is just something that you wish to do.  80 percent of people don't stick to their resolution, so who cares if your are one of them?  That is why Joshua and I have decided to make monthly goals.  I feel like I am being held accountable if I call them monthly goals.   Here is this months goals:

1.  No eating out or drinking cokes.  The only exception is Subway, because you truly can eat healthy at Subway.

2.  Do some type of physical activity four times a week.

3.  No Cussing.  

4.  Attend every Wednesday night service.

5.  More couples Bible time.

I will keep you updated on how our progress is going.