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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