Just before the first of the year, Justin and I got to talking about ebooks and he asked me how many I had on the iPad. The honest to goodness truth is, I haven't the first clue. I have both iBooks and the Kindle app on there and between the two, it's probably well over 1,000. Typically amused by my never ending pile of reading material, Justin has challenged me to read through all of the books in iBooks before the end of 2012. Out of my ever loving mind, I took him up on the challenge. The only way I can get out of reading the book is if I've already read the iBooks version.  Keep your eyes open as I (probably semi-frequently) keep an updated list of the books I've read so far:

4.50 From Paddington
The A B C Murders
After the Funeral
And Then There Were None
Appointment With Death
At Bertram's Hotel
The Big Four
Black Coffee
The Body in the Library
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Cards on the Table
A Caribbean Mystery
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Clocks
Crooked House
Curtain
Death Comes as the End
Death on the Nile
Dumb Witness
Elephants Can Remember
Endless Night
Evil Under the Sun
Five Little Pigs
Hallowe'en Party
The Hollow
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Hickory Dickory Dock
Lord Edgeware Dies
The Man in the Brown Suit
The Mirror Crack's From Side to Side
The Moving Finger
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
The Murder at the Vicarage
Murder in Mesopotamia
A Murder is Announced
Murder is Easy
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Murder on the Links
Murder on the Orient Express
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Mystery of the Blue Train
N or M
Nemesis
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
The Peril at End House
A Pocket Full of Rye




First posted 1/15
Updated: 2/5
Updated: 4/27

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How did everyone's weeks go? It's hard to believe it, but we're already on week 3 of this year! That means it's time for a new challenge, but before we do that, how about we check in on last week's challenge? Here's my after picture for cleaning off one of the end tables:


I'm so much happier with how it looks! I confess that it's probably the only clear space in my living room (including parts of the floor right now!) but every time I walk into the room, my eye is drawn to that space and it makes me smile. I love creating yay spaces. Having them motivates and inspires me to work on the next area which is....


The top shelf in one of my kitchen cupboards! Yep, this week we'll be creating a yay space in our kitchens. Mine apparantly looks like something the creative folks behind Chopped would use to create one of their baskets. I see Chocolate Cheerios (how long have those been there?!?), hard taco shells, bacon bits, bisquick and who knows what else. Time to throw out the old, expired food, keep what we love (and will eat) and donate any of the rest. If it's unopened, it will go to the local food bank. If it is opened, I'll post it to Freecycle. People around here are in some tough places and even a 2/3 box of bisquick can be a real blessing.



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Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope that everyone had a good and productive week. I know that I actually did. I didn't get as much house type things done as I would have liked but every day, I did a little bit and I'm making good and healthy changes around here. Starting next week, there are going to be some major scheduling changes in my life but the challenges here will go on!

So, how did everyone do last week? Do you have clean and pretty entertainment center tops now? I won't even remind you how bad mine looked. Instead, let me show you how mine looks now:


Doesn't that look so much better? The pig is actually a new edition and I'm not sure that she's going to stay there. She was actually my February Design Team project over on CropChocolate.com. I also have to say that I love love love love love the Do It Afraid canvas. It was sent to be by the lovely Corinna. If you guys follow Sunday Shutterbugs, you'll be familiar with her. She saw all of the changes that were/are happening in my life and sent that to me. I put it up on top there because it's a view I see probably a million times a day and it keeps me going.

Now, for this week's challenge. I want you to go someplace that might be scary. It might be terrifying. It might even be well...disgusting, but I know that all of you can do it. I want you to go into your laundry area..*covers her ears against the screams of horror* ....Ok, deep breaths folks. You can do this. I want you to go in there and tackle your shelving. If you don't have shelving, tackle wherever it is that you keep your laundry soap, dryer sheets and that sort of thing. Remember, you're not alone in this. I'm doing it right along side you.




Yuck, right? Don't worry, it won't stay like this, I promise you! Make sure you pop in next week to link up your challenge posts and to find out where we head to next! I can't wait to read all of your posts and see your bright, shining areas! Remember, we're getting rid of what we don't love and simplifying our lives!



New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean House, Clean Life Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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It's Tuesday again! Can you believe it? I cannot believe how fast time seems to move these days! Another week is gone and it's already time for a new challenge! But, before we do that....How did everyone do last week? Are your nightstands all spiffy looking? I hope so because we're tackling our homes one little area at a time! I know it doesn't seem like much but think of it this way, if we get one section spot on clean each week and we maintain the others, before we know it, our houses will be making us smile instead of groaning in frustration!

So, let me show you my results from the nightstand challenge:


There it is. It makes me smile every time I walk into my room and see it. While I was working on it, I packed up some of those books so they're ready for the move and left only ones on my nightstand that I want to read before I pack them away. I still need to finish packing up the rest of that righthand stack but I need to get a box first. While I was at it, I completely "re-wired" that area and for the first time in months, my lamp actually got plugged in! Please ignore that cord going up the side of my bed. That's my cell phone charger cord which usually lays up on top of the night stand.

Now, this week's challenge.........Entertainment Cabinet! For the past 18 months, I have been staring at the top of my cabinet thinking, "You really need to clean that off. What a mess!" and you know what? For the past 18 months, I haven't done it. So, this week, that's what we're doing. We're clearing it off, wiping it down and only leaving what we love on top. If you don't have a tall cabinet like I do, how about a bookshelf? If not that, I challenge you to find any object that has a flat surface and get it cleaned off. Ready to see mine? 


Can you tell that I love candles and Scarborough Lane? And can you spot the Christmas item that I missed? Don't ask me why there are all of those bells up there. Those actually belong in my gifting box. We give one to my grandmother every year for Christmas and a couple of years ago, I found a good sale and stocked up. Clearly this is an area that I've ignored for way too long! I can guarantee it won't look like this next week!



New to Tackle It Tuesday - Clean House, Clean Life Challenge? Don't worry! Just jump into this week's challenge. Be sure to come back and post your blog links to celebrate your progress and achievement!

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Welcome back to another challenge week! I hope that some of you stopped by and saw last week's challenge to tackle a dumping ground spot in your house. I am happy to say that I have a nice, clean table and I'm hoping that my boys and I will be able to sit down at it this weekend and enjoy dinners together. If so, it will be the first time in 4 years since we've sat down at a table and enjoyed a meal together.

Now, part of the fun of all of this is that I get to share my after picture with all of you.  This is good because it holds me accountable to actually tackle my own challenge! So, here we go, one cleaned off table:

Yuck, right? Books stacked taller than the stand, wrappers, more books, kids' water bottle and yes, that is a box of cookies. That poor teddy bear looks like he's hanging on for dear life! I guess not only am I going to clean, I'm going on a teddy bear rescue mission! Who will join me?



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Hey everyone! It's another Tuesday and since I did get a few responses saying they would be interested, today will start our first of many, many cleaning and organizing challenges. Since I have to prepare for a move, I will certainly be doing this right along side all of you.  I do need to mention that these challenges are in no related to the fabulous ladies over at 5minutesformom.com. These are all me.  I'm posting them on Tuesdays because well, these are all areas I need to tackle each week and as I prepare to start packing.

This week's challenge is one that I know all of us can tackle! We're going to find one space in our house where everything just seems to get dumped. Ok, if your house is like my house, that can be two or three places, but this week, I just want you to choose one.  I chose my kitchen table:


Now, I suspect you might be thinking that it doesn't look too bad. Well, I will confess that last night, I decided to go out and remove all of the holiday decorations that had been adding to the clutter. Yes, I am still putting away holiday decorations, but that's another challenge.  In fact, I'm going to share that challenge with you. If you have not gotten all your decorations down and put away yet, get to it! Clear out the space in your home to make room for other things that make you smile!  My goal is to have all of mine out into the barn by the end of the weekend. It should be sooner but I have to take the weather into account.

Ok, now back to this week's challenge. Ready? I want you to find your spot, clear it off, polish it up and then keep it like that for a week. Think you can do it? I know you can! As for me, I''m going to go tackle mine right now and then next week, I'll share my after photo as well as the before one for next week's challenge! Good luck and make sure you come back and share your links with me! It's good to feel that none of us are in this alone.



PS Today is the 12 year anniversary of my son's death. I've chosen not to post about it this year, but if you're looking for the post about it, you can find it here.

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*Yaaaaawwwwwn* Holy cow, I am so sleepy today! I blame yesterday..lol! For those of you wondering about yesterday's tackle, it turned out just fine. In fact, in some ways, it was as if 15 years hadn't gone by. We met up at Denny's and just hung out there for hours and hours and hours, talking. In fact, it was something like 1:30am before I crawled into bed. Sadly, I'm starting to think I'm getting too old to be out that late..lol!

Now, I know that you all also want to know the theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs. Really guys, you could just go look yourselves. *grins* This week's theme is Eek! The girls, as always, have some incredible photos. I am always in awe at their skills with a camera. Thank goodness, they let us amateurs participate as well!

This is Marmalade. He's our new orange kitty and as you can see, he was having some problems climbing up onto the desk chair. Don't worry though! Mr. Bronty reached out his long neck and helped him finish climbing up there. Marmalade is the newest edition to the Baa & Friends gang. For more information about them, check out Baa & Friends. Not all of it is currently viewable because our account expired, but hopefully that will be corrected soon.

I want to start out with a quick apology for those of you who have been following along all month with my turning The Wall into a room. I need to post one final very photo intensive post for the challenge. It's going to contain the before and after photos as well as answering some tough questions. If you don't want to read, I totally understand! For those of you who do, let's go!

Let's start with the Before photos. Just a quick reminder as to why my son is wearing shorts in February, in Michigan. He wasn't. My camera batteries died and the batteries were buried well...in there. Luckily (?) for me, the room hadn't changed at all since August when I took these photos. Well, except to get worse since we kept shoveling things in there and the cats kept coming in and knocking stuff over as they used it for their personal jungle gym. So, even though it's embarrassing to admit, these before photos make the room look better than it was.
This is "The Wall." It's called that because as you can see, it was nothing more than a wall of boxes. Boxes, boxes, everywhere...and a cute kid who tries so hard to help mom get rid of those boxes (mostly so he can have them to play with.).

This is "The Wall" from inside. I risked life and limb to climb in there to get this shot. There aren't any other angles simply because you couldn't move off the tiny path enough to get any other angles. But, aren't my suitcases fabulous? lol!

This seemingly random shot was included to show that the nice clean spot on the floor in the first picture was totally gone by the time February rolled around. You can see the disaster around and under this poor chair (which has since had a makeover!).

Now, for the after pictures. I have to say that I am incredibly proud of this makeover because all it took was hard work. I didn't put even $1 into doing this space.

This is approximately the same angle as Before Photo #2. As you can see, there are no boxes. They are totally gone. This is my "tech desk" and the left side of my craft table. I hung those shelves all by myself. I had the aching muscles to prove it for two days after! All of the jars and storage items were things that I found in "The Wall" and reused!

This is an angle that you couldn't see before. It's the inside wall of "The Wall". The card table is now the boys' craft and work area. There are 2 chairs (you can only see one in the photo) and each of the boxes is sorted into different categories and labeled. My 8.5x11 craft papers are in the paper sorter and the containers on top hold all of my 12x12 papers sorted by color. My unused albums are stored on top of the bookcase and the bookcase holds albums (finished and in progress) as well as crafting books, computer books and fantasy genre books. The box in the lower right corner is actually a Build A Bear house that our kitten has taken as her personal hideyhole. The basket next to it holds all of the cords I found while doing the room that still need to be matched up to electronics in boxes elsewhere in the house. Once they're matched up, all extras will be gotten rid of and the basket will be reused elsewhere or Freecycled.

This is our PC corner. What I love best is that I got this desk (in August) from Freecycle so I didn't pay anything for it. Now that I think of it, my blue craft chair and the red desk chair were also freecycle items. The white/clear drawers hold various crafting/scrapbooking supplies all sorted by type and are labeled. The totes/baskets to the left of the desk hold office supplies and some of the boys larger crafting items that need to be stored separate from the ones on their table because they're mom supervised crafts only.I wish I had moved the desk chair. This angle makes the desk look cluttered on the corner, but it's not at all. Neither is the top of those drawers. Bad camera angle strikes again!

This angle most closely matches Before Photo #1. This is from the doorway looking in. Again, you can see the "tech desk" and my craft table.

Whew! The final picture of my After photos. This shows the full craft desk/tech desk area. As you can see, I've stored my crafting/scrapbooking travel bags under one end of the table where they're out of sight but easily accessible if I need to pack one to go somewhere.

Now, onto Laura's questions:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

- The hardest part...Getting into the room? Quite literally. This room was full of boxes, some of them stacked higher than my head. It was almost impossible for me to get into the room and then the challenge became where to start and now letting the whole process overwhelm me.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

- Everything has a place now. If I want a pair of fancy scissors, I know where they are. If I want a computer game, I know where it is. There isn't anything in this room that doesn't belong in it. Plus, now that I have it looking this good, I have no desire to see it going back to looking like a junkyard. My kids are also thrilled with the change and instead of coming in here and dumping things, they're picking up after themselves. In fact, I heard my younger one chastising his brother earlier for not picking up fast enough!

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

- The Stuff. Yep, I think that deserves to look like a movie title. By the time I was done decluttering this room, I had freecycled over 250 pounds worth of stuff from this room. That doesn't count the approximately 5 trash bags of recycling that went out to my curb for my service to pick up. Anything else that didn't belong in the room was moved to the room it does belong to.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

- Yay for storage solutions! Yay for me being an organizing junkie like Laura! I didn't have to go out and buy a single basket, drawer or shelf for this space because I already had them hiding in the room. I don't know how creative any of it was because to me organizing is like breathing. It's just something that I'm good at doing. I think though that two of my ideas were maybe a little bit creative. I took old fashioned canning jars and used them to sort buttons and ribbons into. Now, I can easily see what I have and pull out just that instead of everything. I also have a free standing cd/dvd rack in the room and after I finished purging software, I didn't have enough to fill it, so I took a few of my smaller books and filled one of the top shelves with those. As for the rest of the storage, it's mostly made up of boxes and baskets and drawers. It took forever but each one has a specific purpose and now I know right where everything is!

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

- Did you see this room before I tackled it? lol! Well, how about 5 points as to why I think I ought to win:

1. I single handedly kept my local Freecycle group going for the month of February. I actually got emails thanking me for my generosity from people who weren't sucking up to get my stuff!
2. I took a wall of boxes and turned it into a space that my entire family can use.
3. I recycled enough papers and cardboard boxes to save a dozen trees from the rainforest.
4. Because my kids said I did a good job and I should win.
5. Because I've taken the momentum from this room and have been using it all over my house. This hasn't just been a declutter challenge, it's been me finding myself hiding in that disaster and turning my home into my sanctuary. I'm finding the woman who let perfectionism and depression fill her house with stuff and loving her and taking care of her instead of berating her for letting things get to this point. I'm reminding her that she is a strong woman who is loved and who can do anything she wants to..she just has to take the steps. My awakening is the Freecycle world's gain!

Wow, that got pretty deep there at the end but you know, that's ok. If you managed to read all the way here to the end, thank you. If you didn't..well, if you didn't you're not reading now, are you? *grins* I don't know if I'll win, but it was worth going through this process anyway. I'm not done with my cleaning or purging and I'm sure there will be more posts about it in the future. Stick with me folks and we'll all get there, one room and babystep at a time!

My thanks to Laura over at OrgJunkie for hosting this challenge!

Wow, I didn't think I was going to get the chance to do it, but I got my second small space done today! My bathroom isn't totally finished yet, but I am thrilled to present you with the before and after photos of my bathroom drawers/cabinet.

This is the cabinet before I did any cleaning/organizing in there. It looked like someone just opened the door and started throwing stuff in.

Unbelievably, this is everything that was under the cabinet. Seriously. It amazed even me and it's my cabinet.

This is the cabinet afterward. Yes, there's almost as much under there, but now it's all put in neatly and I know precisely where/what everything is. Like items (cleaners, extra bottles of bodywash/shampoo, etc) are with like items and now I can reach right in and find just what I'm looking for.

This is the lower drawer before I tackled it. As you can see, again, things were just tossed in there and we could never find anything.

This is that same drawer after. There's a ton less stuff in there. Some of the items (like extra shampoo and nail polish remover) are now under the sink in the cabinet portion. Other stuff is just gone! Now, I have my face cleaner, extra razor blades, thermometers, bandaids and spare toothbrushes stored in there. This drawer doesn't have even half of what it had before in it.

This is the top drawer before I touched it. It's also our kitten, Mittens and my toes. Hello toes! As you can see, it was shove full of all sorts of stuff.

Yes, this is that same drawer after. I got rid of all expired medicines and a ton of sample sized bottles of things. In the lower drawer, I have one ziplock bag with sample sized items for when I travel. I also had empty bottles in this top drawer. I have no idea why. They're gone now.

Now, for the questions!

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

- The hardest part was honestly just taking the time to do it. I'm a master declutterer but I was using all sorts of excuses for not going in there and doing it. I think it only took 20 minutes once I went in. Looking at the photos, I think I succeeded!

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

- Like with like. I've known this rule forever and it's one that I've always practiced. I'm honestly not sure why, when I originally unpacked this room, I didn't put it into practice. I also got rid of a bunch of stuff that was either expired, empty or we just no longer needed. Less stuff means less clutter.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

- It went to one of three places: Freecycle (extra samples and usable items), the trash or the recycle bin.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?

- Hmm..I really don't think I did anything really creative in this space. Then again, I don't think it needed it either. It really only needed to be gone through, sorted and either purged or put away. I didn't need additional space, I needed less stuff.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

- Well, I don't know if I should but I sure would like to. I'm honestly just thrilled that my space is more functional and that I can now reach in and put my hands on whatever it is that we need. Really, that is a huge reward that and the feeling of peace I feel whenever I open one of those drawers. Now, if someone wanted to give me a prize for found peace, I certainly wouldn't complain!

I promised you pictures and I have pictures! I'm sorry for making everyone wait so long but it seems that my body decided it was going to sleep in some this morning. No worries, though. I'm obviously awake now and I have all of the pictures downloaded off of the camera and ready to go right here onto the blog! So, without more of me babbling...here are the photos!

Photo #1: From the doorway, looking in on the two desks. The two pieces of paper you see are actually my work space. I do a lot of stamping and this protects the table cloth.

Photo #2: Welcome to the tech table. As you can see, it holds my pazzles, scanner, stereo and just to the left is my printer. Above the table are two shelves, holding craft supplies and other things that make me smile.

Photo #3: This is the PC corner. The tote and containers to the left of the desk are holding office supplies and some smaller scrapbooking albums and supplies.

Photo #4: This is to the left of the desk area. The box on the floor is full of wall hangings. It has my certificates from college, some photos and other hangings. The reason that it's still sitting in the room is that it's too heavy for me to move out! Some of those frames are darned heavy. As I find places for them to be hung, I'll take them from the box. When the box is light enough for me to move, I'll move it out!

Photo #5: Here you can see my bookshelf, dresser and part of the boys craft table.I just realized I need to tidy up on top of the dresser, but have no fear.. I'll do that as soon as I hit post on this. You can just see the handles of the two baskets that are on the floor in front of the bookshelf. One is holding all of the cables and cords that I found. I still have electronics in a box in the laundry room, but once I"m sure we don't need these, out the door they will go. The containers on top of the paper sorter hold 12x12 papers and the albums on top of the bookshelf are empty and waiting to be filled.

Photo #6: Another shot of the tech desk area.

Photo #7: One last look towards my craft table. As you can see, I have my craft bags stored under one end of the table.

And that's it! It's done! I'm so excited! I know there's more purging to come but I am in love with this room right now so I'm going to enjoy it.