So many of my friends are posting about how this is the last work day of 2017 for them. I love how some of them are posting how they're going to kick butt today and make it a great day at the office. For some, it isn't the last work day of the year but for all of us, it's the end of the year winding down in a hurry. As I look towards 2018, I wanted to take a few minutes and write down some goals for the coming year. I don't really do resolutions but 2017 was such a big year for us that I want to carry that momentum into the new year.

I have different goals for different areas of my world, so let's get started with a breakdown:

House:
1. Complete the downsizing and organizing of the downstairs.
2. Complete the downsizing and organizing of the landing.
3. Complete the downsizing, cleaning, and organizing of my bedroom.

Outside:
1. Clean and organize the barn.
2. Tidy up back deck.
3. Start preparing things for moving (packing up pots, etc)

Family:
1. Attend more things as a family.
2. Work towards both boys graduations.
3. Spend one on one time with both boys.

Writing:
1. Complete 2 full novels.
2. Set up a mailing list and have 1,000 subscribers.
3. Spend 1-2 hours each week learning things to help improve as an indie writer.

Personal:
1. Post on Welcoming Weight Loss at least 2x per month.
2. Work on plans for the "big move".
3. Be brave - this one isn't measurable but I know that there will be bad brain days and this goal is more about survival than about improvement.

So, there we go. I think all of these are attainable. I just need to find the focus that sometimes alludes me. I look at that writing goal list and I realize that I have a goal that I'm afraid to post. That tells me that it's a goal that's important to me and that's a good reason to get it added to the list. So...not so top secret writing goal #4: Make enough money from writing to replace the small amount of child support that I receive each month because it's going to be going away.

If you want to make your own goal list but don't know where to start, I want to recommend this great podcast/blog post done by Russell Nohelty. He doesn't know it, but he's kind of my hero when it comes to these things. Make sure you check out his site and his books.

Time for me to get to work!



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Three posts in one week! We're all going to get spoiled if I keep this up! It's been a while since I posted here about the house and what it's been like so I decided that it might be time to give y'all a bit of an update.

I'm not going to lie. I haven't done much over the past couple of weeks. I had hopes of a massive kitchen clean up over the boys' spring break, but life just plain got in the way. Their grandparents were in town (at their dad's house) and then I went out of town for the convention at the end of that week. In the middle, it was just plain busy. Then, when I got back from the convention, I had a bit of an emotional crash that took a bit to recover from.

That all sounds super negative, doesn't it? I promise that I'm not writing this post to bring you all down because absolutely nothing got done. Things have, just slower than I had hoped. Ben went into the kitchen one day and just did 5 minutes of tidying up. Both boys made a conscious effort to make sure that trash went into the trash and that things got put away. I've been incredibly proud of them for how they've jumped on board and are working with me to keep things going.

As for me? Well, I have a tiny bit of news. Tomorrow we have a plumber coming to look at the kitchen drain. It hasn't drained properly at all for over 2 years and not at all for the past 6 months or so. Some of you may recall that I was doing dishes in my bathtub. Then, the hot water stopped working a few months ago. I've been snagging showers at the community center and we've gone to all paper products for eating. It's also meant that I haven't been able to properly cook because I couldn't do dishes afterwards. It's been rough on all of us, but there hasn't been anything that we could really do about it due to finances and the state that the house was in.

Well, two days ago, Justin called and found a plumber who could come out to the house tomorrow. For me, that meant that the living room, kitchen, and laundry room had to be in good enough states
that the plumber could come in and access anything that he needed to and that I wouldn't have a complete meltdown over having him in the house. I'll admit it. I looked around and had a minor panic attack. Everywhere I looked, I saw something that needed to be done. The living room needed cleaning, the laundry room needed to be swept and to have the litter boxes changed and on and on and on the list went in my head.

But, guess what! It's just before 2pm the day before the plumber will be here (between 8 and 10am) and I'm relaxed on my couch, a candle lit, and Deadliest Catch running off the dvr. Why? Because I walked into the kitchen and in 5 minutes had the left side sink cleared and the new bookshelf box moved out of the way. I walked into the living room and in 20 minutes had everything tidied up and the floor swept. I walked into the laundry room and in 15 minutes or so had the floor swept, the litter boxes changed, and any/all litter mess cleaned up. I even cracked open the window in there and lit a candle to help with that icky cat litter smell that happens sometimes.

Did you do the math? In less than an hour, I had those three rooms at a level that I don't care if he walks into them. Sure, the dining alcove is still a disaster and we haven't touched the office/studio.
Oh well. I will. This is a journey..and each and every step counts. Each and every step is a step towards reclaiming this house, reclaiming my life and making a better world for myself and my boys. The best part? I've proven to myself that the work I started 4 months ago has been mostly maintained. I didn't backslide to a point where I wasn't 15-20 minutes from clean.

Earlier today I told a friend that I was ashamed to say that I hadn't been properly cooking for my family because of how I'd let the house get. I realize now that I was looking at things from my as usual skewed bipolar lens... Even when things are at their worst, nobody went hungry around here. It may not have been the healthiest food, but I made sure there was food and even if it was just throwing it on a cookie sheet, I "cooked". Two days ago, I looked around this living room and felt horrible about the way it looked. Turns out that it really wasn't all that bad. I need to remember the hours that I've put in and the changes that I've made. I'm happy to report that I'm doing okay and to give you a little sneak peek at my upcoming house plans...

Upcoming Goals:
1. Finish the dining alcove
2. Build/get the new bookshelf into place
3. Put the old bookshelf out by the curb for trash (unless someone snags it)
4. Clear the front porch & paint it
5. Repaint the front porch benches
6. Mow/trim the lawn and pick up any brush/trash that has arrived during the winter (this weekend!)
7. Repaint the tire planters
8. Refill the tire planters
9. Reclaim one flower bed
10. Start my seeds
11. Get a start on the "wall" aka the office/studio

Those are my goals for between now and the start of June. Will they all get done? Maybe, maybe not but we'll be doing them as we're able and before you know it, I'll have some new pictures to share with everyone! Keep your fingers crossed that the plumber can get the work done for $300 because that's the budget! If so, dishes will be on the agenda for this weekend too!



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Marie Kondo’s unique KonMari Method of tidying up is nothing short of life-changing—and her first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has become a worldwide sensation. In Spark Joy, Kondo presents an in-depth, illustrated manual on how to declutter and organize specific items throughout the house, from kitchen and bathroom items to work-related papers and hobby collections. User-friendly line drawings illustrate Kondo’s patented folding method as it applies to shirts, pants, socks, and jackets, as well as images of properly organized drawers, closets, and cabinets. This book is perfect for anyone who wants a home—and life—that sparks joy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you read my post Reclaiming Me, you'll know that one of the things that I'm working on as part of reclaiming me and my life is reclaiming my house. So, it should be no surprise that when this book became available for review, my curiosity got the better of me. I'm a pretty good organizer but nobody is perfect and new ideas are always welcome!

Let me start out by saying that if you haven't read the first book, you may have difficulty with this one. Over all though, I found this one to be handy. I really love her theme of keeping things that only bring you joy. That's one of the things that I've talked to others about and something I truly believe in. Your home should be your sanctuary and if it's filled with things that make you unhappy then you won't be able to relax in it. This book is more in-depth and while it may seem repetitive at times, it does give a lot of great information. Granted, if you're like me, you won't consider your belongings to have human emotions and such, but if you can look past that, there's a lot of good information to be found.



I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own.

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Early after being diagnosed with Bipolar 2 and all the rest of the mess, I said that I would be as transparent as possible with things. One of the things that I deal with is a combination of ocd and hoarding tendencies. What does that mean? When I get really low, I surround myself with things. I'm poor as all get out so I'm not really buying much, but I also don't get rid of things. I just sit things down and leave them there. I build a protective nest/wall around myself. Then, the ocd kicks in and my brain says if you can't make it perfect right now...with every tiny project finished, you shouldn't even bother. The lower I get, the worse it gets and it doesn't take long before the house becomes a representation of the chaos that's in my head.

As if that's not bad enough, this starts a vicious cycle because as the mess builds, my mood sinks further and further because the voices in my head pipe up telling me how useless I am, what an awful mother I am, etc for letting it get this way to begin with. My mood drops, the mess grows and I get stuck in this awful cycle that feels impossible to break.

It isn't impossible though. It takes a lot ...a lot of emotional energy, a lot of physical energy, a lot of deep breathes and a lot of support... but it isn't impossible to break the cycle. It took every bit of brave that I had, but I posted before photos of my living room to a private group on Facebook. The support that I've received has kept me going on days when I just want to hide. Only a couple of people outside of that group know how I've spent my time offline. I want to share it now with all of you. Maybe it will give hope to someone who is stuck in that same cycle. I know that I'm not alone in it. When I wake up and feel like I'm useless and can't do anything, I look at these pictures and can see that it's just not true. Sometimes there's no better reminder than physical proof.

Roger got to the door first and all I heard was "Holy shit, mom...are you some kind of wizard?" Ben got to the door and his response was "Oh my god, mom...this is amazing!" They were proud of me and seeing Roger sprawled on the floor doing homework pretty much made my weekend. That helped fuel me to work on the bathroom this week...


It's only been 2 days in there, but progress is happening. This isn't all of the bathroom in photos, but it is the areas that I've worked on so far. I'll take more tomorrow to cover the rest of the room..and maybe I'll continue to share them here.

Things have been wiped down, emptied out, organized, purged, and put back. I have an entire grocery bag full of extra bathroom things that I'll be donating to the Homeless Angels once I also collect up outgrown clothing and spare blankets to go with it.

Today was a very emotional day for some reason and I told myself that it was okay to not do anything and to just have a self love kind of day. Instead, I found myself changing over the laundry..folding the dry, hanging the wet (my dryer died), and putting in another load to wash. I told myself that was enough..then when I went into the kitchen or the bathroom, I found myself doing a bit of tidying. I needed a tote for part of the bathroom project..and realized I had one in the laundry room full of fabric I would probably never use. So, I grabbed it..after all, it's not doing much and I could relax on the couch while doing it. Three totes later, I'd purged 3 trash bags full of fabric (already posted and picked up by someone who lives locally) and only kept 1 grocery bag with some crafting things and fabric in it.

This whole thing is important. As I reclaim this house, I'm reclaiming myself and I'm reclaiming my belief that I have control in my world. I'm showing myself that I can do things. I don't have to be stuck. There will be good days and bad days, but like I said before...I'm still here and I'm still fighting...



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This New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

========================
Achieve strikes again! Achieving a tidier and healthier living space.

Okay, I'm a sucker for certain types of books. Organization is on the top of that list. By nature, I'm a natural organizer, but I'm always looking for new ideas. I didn't necessarily find any in this book, but she does have a simple method that I've been telling folks for years... Does it bring you joy? If not, let it go. It's a method that I talk about in my own Organization group on Facebook and it's one that I think everyone should employ. Obviously, this doesn't work for certain things like necessary cooking or cleaning products, but it does in nearly every other scenario. There are certain things that don't work in every home (such as placing bookshelves into closets), but I think that this is a book that everyone can take something from and make it work for you. No plan is perfect for everyone, but everyone can tweak.



I received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review.  All thoughts, comments, and opinions are my own.
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It's actually been close to seven weeks since my birthday, but for one reason or another...or one excuse or another, I never sat down to write this post. Now, I am..it's time to recap, recover and roll out the goals for the coming year.

I'm happy to say that this past year brought no physical deaths to my doorstep. Sadly, it did bring the deaths of some friendships. As life changes, it seems that sometimes people do too. People move on and I'm learning to deal with the aftermath of that. I won't say it's been easy, but it's not knocked me down as hard as it may have in the past.

There have been good things, as well. Both of my boys are happy and healthy. Ben is up in high school now and though he's struggling with the amount of work and how not to become overwhelmed, he's doing well. He was even the girls' swim team manager, which I know that he loved. Roger is busy being Roger. He's a straight A student, was on the football team and is now doing basketball. Did I mention he's in band and jazz band, as well? As a mom, I do a lot of running around these days. While it can be exhausting, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

One of the not so great things that has happened has happened with me. I've really struggled with the bipolar side of things over the past year or so. I'm on new medication now so I'm really hoping that it helps. While I've come to terms that this is something I will always have to deal with, I haven't done so well in setting up routines and such to help keep the house functional. If I'm honest, the house is in pretty rotten shape right now. It's not as bad as it has been, but it needs to be a lot better.

Which brings us to the list...This year's goals:

Outside of the House:
1. Clear out all of the flower beds - They're overgrown and some even have trees in them!
2. Finish spray painting the tires and get new roses planted in them.
3. Clear the front porch and make it look inviting.
4. Paint the front door - It's time to give this house some character.
5. Finish clearing the back deck.
6. Get the front porch roof repaired/replaced. - This is a job for the owners and may include the entire roof.
7. Create a third composter for all of the after garden soil.
8. Complete barn re-organization.
9. Clear out any trash that has blown/been dragged under the front porch.
10. Get cable re-hooked up to the barn.
11. Clear out pile of rubble from in front of barn.

Inside of the House:
1. Replace living room flooring.
2. Complete wall redecorating (clean, new shelving, organizing, purging)
3. Complete living room redecorating (clean, paint, organizing, purging)
4. Get everything hung up in boys' room.
5. Complete master bedroom redecorating (clean, paint, organizing, purging, light repaired)
6. Purge until we're only surrounded by the things we need and the things we love.
7. Get dryer repaired - owner job
8. Get water repaired - owner job
9. Get heating repaired - owner job
10. Get living room ceiling repaired - owner job
11. Maintain what I've already accomplished.

In Life:
1. Continue to build up the websites, this one and Geek-o-Rama
2. Focus on true friendships ...quality over quantity
3. Travel
4. Spend as much time with the boys, doing things we love.
5. Learn Irish (again) on my own.
6. Take time for me.
7. Take care of me - mental health and physical health
8. Work on finding more writing and editing jobs.
9. Remember what's really important in life.
10. Build routines to help manage life.
11. Be someone that I can be proud of, no matter what others may think.

Whew..that's some list but instead of being overwhelmed or intimidated, I'm excited to see it down in writing. Now, to pick an area and get to work!



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It's that time of year again, isn't it? You know the one..where you want to be outside enjoying jumping in the piles of crisp fall leaves but instead the wind is blowing and the rain is coming down in sheets? Yep, that's the one that's happening here right now. I had beautiful plans of finally tackling the front porch. It's still stacked with things that I needed to unload in a hurry and it needs to be done before the snow sets in. However, mother nature had ideas of her own so today, I'm stuck indoors.

Since I can't be working outside, I got to thinking about all of the projects that need to be done not only outside, but inside as well. This kind of weather is a sure sign that I need to be taking advantage of the good weather days to get the outside winterization done. On days like today, I can work on the inside jobs that come this time of year.

My current list of projects is miles long but that's just because if I don't have a project, I don't know what to do with myself! Today, I'm going to share a list of 5 simple and easy projects that you can do around your own homes to help save some money this winter! After all, we can all use a bit of extra money these days.

1. Block the drafts - Check under your outside doors. If they're anything like mine, there are drafts coming in. I have an old house and over the years, it's settled and nothing is quite square. My solution? I'll be making my own draft blocker! It's super easy and I bet any of you can do this. (Don't tell my kids where their pool tube things went, ok?) If you don't want to make one yourself, head down to any of your local department type stores and look in the holiday sections. At this time of year, they always have cute draft blockers. They'll cost you more than making one yourself, but you'll be all set!

2. Run your ceiling fans on reverse - I wish I had ceiling fans! Did you know that warm air rises and pools up around your ceiling? By flipping that switch on your fans so that the blades rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, you could save up to 10% off of your heating bills! That's insane!

3. Turn down your water heater - Do you have any idea what temperature your water heater is set at? Most installers/plumbers set them to 140F. By simply turning it down to 120, you could save 6-10% on those energy bills. Most people don't even realize the difference since a shower at 140 is so hot that we don't turn the water up that high!

4.Install storm doors and windows - This one takes work..like actual manual labor, but can be so worth it! Did you know that simply installing a storm door can increase energy efficiency in your home by up to 45%? Also, for those of you that have storm windows installed on your home, make sure they're closed! I know you're thinking duh, but I've lived in this house for 3 years and just in the past week realized that my front door has a storm window that lowers on it! I need to check my back door now for something similar!

My thanks to Wil Wheaton and his friend Loren for taking this picture and allowing it to be spread across the internet.

5. Put on a sweater - Let's face it. We're all getting older and the days of us laying about in our skivvies with 6 inches of snow on the ground are probably long past. If they're not, hey don't let me stop your fun! But, did you know that simply putting on a light sweater can add about 2 degrees of warmth to your body? A heavier sweater can add up to 4 degrees! That can easily translate into not having to have your thermostat turned up so high. Plus, who doesn't want to pull out all of their ugly sweater candidates? Make it an ugly sweater fashion show with hot chocolate going to the winner!



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Yesterday, was my birthday. It's hard to believe that not only another year has gone by, but that so much can change in just that short amount of time. In the past year, I've lost friends and my grandma passed away.  I've gone through some really dark times. My world started caving in around me.

On the other side, I've gotten to know some really amazing people and I'm lucky enough to call some of them friends. I've been blessed to do some travelling to spend time with those friends. I've had friends who have stuck by me for years remind me that they're still there and willing to kick me in the ass when necessary. There's a certain bonus that comes with knowing people who won't feed you a line no matter how down you're feeling.

It is thanks to the amazing people in my life that I'm coming out of the dark period and into a new and far more fun period. They've pulled me, sometimes kicking and screaming along until I've remembered the good things about life. I'm a much stronger person than I was a year ago and perhaps it's because of the bad times but it's also because of the support that I had through those times.

The year ahead may hold some more tough times, but I'm more prepared for them. I have goals and that's a great first start for me. I already showed you the start of the barn project. I've actually done a bit more out there and it's coming along nicely. It's just the start in a long line of goals that I want to share with all of you...this isn't a new years resolution kind of thing, but more a list of what I know I can do and what I want to do before my birthday rolls around next year.

Outside of the house:
1. Clear out all of the flower beds - They're all overrun and it's time to give them a fresh start.
2. Build up the flower beds again. - The rails on them have fallen down and it just looks a mess.
3. Put in a small vegetable garden. - A couple of the flower beds would be great for that.
4. Clip the bushes into shape. - I dislike these things but unless we buy the house, they have to stay. There's no reason they can't look semi-decent though.
5. Clear the front porch. - It still has things on it that need to be put away.
6. Get the front porch roof repaired/replaced. - This will be a job for the owners.
7. Clear out the trash from under the front porch. - Not mine but it looks a mess.
8. Put in a new compost bin & area.
9. Complete barn re-organization
10. Clean out the van.
11. Get cable rehooked up to barn.

Inside the house:
1. Replace bathroom flooring.
2. Complete kitchen redecorating (clean, paint, flooring, cupboard organizing)
3. Complete wall redecorating (clean, new shelving, organizing)
4. Complete living room redecorating (clean, paint, new shelving, area rug?)
5. Get desks & hope chest into house.
6. Repaint boys bedroom.
7. Repaint master bedroom & get light repaired.
8. Empty out laundry room and put new flooring in.
9. Purge until we're only surrounded by the things we need and the things we love.
10. Get dryer repaired. - Owner job.
11. Get plumbing repaired. - Owner job.

In life:
1. Continue to build up my websites, including the new baby of the family, Geek-o-Rama
2. Continue to build up my friendships.
3. Travel.
4. Spend as much time with the boys, doing things we love.
5. Learn Spanish (again) with Ben.
6. Learn Irish (again) on my own.
7. Continue to do what makes me happy even if it doesn't make everyone else happy.

I think that's a pretty good list for the upcoming year. Maybe from time to time, I'll revisit this and cross things off as I get them accomplished. I'm eager to see what the next year has in store.



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 Ok, I admit it. I totally dropped the ball on posting the weekly challenges here on the site. I hope that you can forgive me. If you're ever wondering what they are (because I yet again forgot to post them), they all are up on the Facebook group. It's pretty quiet over there but don't let that put you off. Just jump right in!

This week's challenge was to tackle our hobby supplies. Since I feel like the queen of hobbies, I chose just one and decided to tackle it. Since it's going to be getting cold here soon, I decided I ought to try to make some sense of our barn/garage. It's a total disaster and you're lucky if you can find a path through it. Don't believe me? Here's the corner that I decided to turn into our gardening/tool area before I started:

See what I mean? Things are stacked everywhere! Right after I took this picture, I spent about 20 minutes just rearranging things and throwing some stuff out.  This got it to here:


It's amazing what a mere 20 minutes can do to a space, isn't it? I created a path and discovered that there really was a workbench under all of that, just like I remembered! The next steps required three..yes, three trips into Lowes. I decided to tear down the old peg board (it was cheap and filthy and badly hung) and replace it with some new and improved peg board. Then, I decided I didn't want it to be brown...and here's where I made my mistake. For some unknown reason, I thought it would be easiest to spray paint it. So, I bought one can of spray paint...yep, just one...now you see where this is going right? One can got me this far:



Another trip into town and 4 more cans of spray paint later and I had this :



Yep, this required a 3rd trip into town and 2.5 cans of spray paint more and finally all of the peg board was painted :


Then, I grabbed the gallon of yellow paint that we had bought for the kitchen (right before I decided I wanted to paint it red!) and I painted the top of the work bench. It took 3 coats and needed a 4th but since it's a workbench, I don't mind it looking a bit scruffy.

Today, I headed back out to the barn and after...well, we won't say how long or repeat a few of the words I may/may not have said...I managed to get the peg board hung up.  It's not the prettiest job but my nails kept bending and I was trying to hammer and hold at the same time :


Ta da! Badly seamed peg board! That's ok because I promptly went to work covering all that up. First, I added this cabinet that I picked up on the side of the road last summer. It was missing an interior shelf, but a quick look around the barn/garage and I came up with a scrap that fit perfectly!


Up next was sorting out the tools and getting things onto the workbench itself.

Last but certainly not least, I hung up the tools that I saw laying around (I'm sure there are more somewhere!) and put those pretty flowers into a larger vase. They probably won't survive too much longer but I'll enjoy them while they do.  When it was all said and done, here's the final look:



Oh! I forgot to mention that I did do one little side project while I was doing this. I had 2 partial and 1 full bag of potting soil laying around. Since nobody has invented a bucket on wheels, I bought a 5 gallon paint bucket, wrote potting soil on it and put it on top of a plant dolly. Now, whenever I need potting soil, I can just pull it out. I filled it with both of the partial bags. The full bag is going to end up in my composter as soon as I drag it out back.


My thanks go out to the guys at Lowes who good naturedly teased me every time I walked back in the door to buy just a few more cans of spray paint. I hope y'all enjoyed this little step by step walk through of the first but certainly not the last of the home improvement projects I have scheduled for around here!



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One of the biggest challenges that I face when I go through a depressive period is making an attempt at keeping our home clean. For me, when I'm caught up in the mental chaos, my home quickly turns into physical chaos. That's why I'm so thankful that we live in a period where finding good cleaning products is as simple as walking to any store.

Recently, I received a bottle of Soft Scrub Total Bath & Bowl to try out. I have to say that I like this product. It works upside down, which is great for those tight areas. It can be used  not only on the counter tops and outside of the toilet, but also inside the toilet. Plus, it has a handy dandy flippy thing on the nozzle so that you can switch it from spray to foam.

Today has been a good day around here. I'm feeling mostly healthy and completing one project yesterday inspired me to start tackling my bathroom today. I won't get into the details of how icky it was..let's just say I have two boys and one of the cats had a field day knocking things over in there. Enter this product. Quite literally within about two minutes, I had my bathroom counter shining and happy again. The smell isn't overpowering and my lungs don't feel as if I spent ages inhaling chemicals. All in all, a happy counter makes for a smiling me. Up next....the toilet....

But, before I go and tackle that, I want to share a couple of things with you! Soft Scrub is currently holding a sweepstakes with $3000 in prizes. First place gets a lovely $1000 plus they're giving away 50 other prizes where the winners will receive $40 each. If you'd like to enter The Tough & Gentle Sweepstakes, simply click this link and fill out the form.

But wait, there's more! (Haven't y'all always wanted to say that like a cool infomercial person?) Not only are they doing a sweepstakes, but I'm doing a giveaway! That's right! Two lucky readers will receive a coupon that will allow them to get their own Soft Scrub product for free!

To enter, simply check out the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Soft Scrub provided me with a bottle of their Total Bath & Bowl for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are 100% mine.
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I have to say a serious shout out to Kate because now that she's sucked me into the artist chat, I'm becoming far more productive online. I sit there in a virtual room, watching artists work and feel like a slacker, so I pull out a project and get to work.

Of course, it keeps me sitting here at the computer so not much else gets done during that time. Although, it's so late at night that nothing else would get done anyway so it balances out!

Last week, I was camping all week long though I did manage to add half a dozen more items to our Goodwill clothing bag. This week is going to be totally insane, as well. Roger starts football camp tomorrow and that runs until Thursday night. Then, on Friday, I fly to Phoenix for 10 days! I'm going to do my best to actually write up next week's challenge ahead of time and schedule it to post for y'all on time. We'll see how successful I am, though. The best of intentions and all that...

This week, the challenge is to head back to your living/family rooms and check out those dvd/video game racks. Do you have any that you never watch or never play? Pass them on to someone who might love to have them. How about those that have scratches or don't play? If you want to replace them, add them to something like an Amazon wishlist to remind yourself and get rid of the broken ones. There's no reason to hold onto them. Clear the space and smile at the organization!



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I know we're an entire day early and that I could have just scheduled this, but nah...I'm taking my kids camping tomorrow so let's just give y'all a sneak peak and then you can start tomorrow.

Last week was a make up week and I was going to tackle that top dresser drawer. Instead, I ended up tackling my top 4 dresser drawers! I collected half a trash bag of clothes that I'll be donating.  I know it's mostly empty at this point (we're doing a massive laundry catch up right now!), but here is my after picture:



It's nice to actually be able to see what's in there and know that there's plenty of room for when I track down the rest of my underclothes!

This week, the challenge is clothing and I swear I didn't remember that so I could work ahead! I just thought it'd be a good thing to do since we have a ton of clothes that are getting washed up and needed homes.

So, for all of you..pick a drawer, pick a closet, pick a kid and go through the clothes. Toss what can't be salvaged, donate what's still in good condition and put back only what you love and what fits!

Since I already did my dressers, I'll be purging as more loads of laundry get caught up on and only putting away what I really love and will actually wear.



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Week 28?!? We are somehow over halfway through this year and I honestly don't have the first clue how that even went and happened. It's been a mad whirlwind and it's just been over the past couple of weeks that I've been starting to feel like I have some control over things again. This is a good thing. It means that things are getting done. Things  getting done means that I'm a calmer, more contented person. All in all..things are good.

So, know what that means? I got last week's challenge done! Now, I'll confess and say that some of the items were stacked in another location. This is because I need to come up with some new organizational plan for "The Wall" aka my studio aka the office. That and I need to do some purging in there. For now though, here is my finished space!



Ta da! I have space! It's a lovely thing. This week will be a continuation of the never ending attempt at catching up on laundry. Since it's also a make up week, I'm going to go back and tackle one of my drawers. It's time to purge some clothes and to just generally tidy it up so that I can actually fit the clean clothes in the drawer again! Let's see if I can score a picture of my top drawer for you...I'm honestly a bit afraid to open it up and see just how bad it's gotten...


Hmm..I suppose it could be worse but there is certainly work to be done. I wonder when the last time I purged this drawer was..Well, I guess next week I'll be able to answer that question for you. Until then, don't forget that I love to see your before and after pictures, so please feel free to link up to your posts here!



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Since we started the Facebook group for this challenge, I have gotten lazier and lazier about posting these here and I apologize for that. This started as a blog challenge and I really would like for it to continue that way. For those who prefer the Facebook Group, please don't hesitate to head over there and send a request for an invite if you need it.

Until then, let's just jump right back in where we are, ok? This week, we're tackling our desks. Now, in this house that could be any number of spaces. There's the desk in the boys room, the desk in the office, the folding table in the office and my two tables in there as well. For this week, I decided to tackle the table where my laptop currently resides. Ready for the picture? It's not as scary as some of the spaces I've posted, but it still makes me cringe!


Yick, right?!? It looks like the dying ground of technology or something. Oh and let's just ignore the fact that I *may* have been playing a game instead of cleaning when this picture was taken. Well, it's just a starting point and not an ending point and by next Monday, I should have a much tidier space to show you. Until then, don't forget...you're not behind. Just jump in on this week's challenge. Any tidy space is better than no space!


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