40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge

Declutter your life - starting NOW!

Feel like you have stuff  all over the place?  Feel like you might be sucked into a big paper/junk pile when you walk into your house?

Then this challenge is for you.

I found this 40 bags in 40 Days challenge on Memories on Clover Lane.  Every year, during Lent, she goes through her house, one area at a time and declutters the area.  The goal is to remove (at least) 40 bags of clutter/stuff/garbage/paper in the 40 days during Lent.

Here are some areas to consider:

Master Bath Cabinets
Master Closet
Master Bedroom
Medicine cabinet
Hall Linen Closet
Pantry
Kitchen Cabinets
Front Hall Closet
Basement Closet
Family Room
Craft Cabinet/ Area
Office
File Cabinet
Laundry Room
Garage
Attic
Night stand
Papers to shred / file
Email
Purse
Work bag, back pack, gym bag
Kid's Closet (s)
Kid's Dresser (s)
toys
play room
Living Room
Dining Room
Desk
Car
yard
shed

The places are endless.

So, what do you do?  How do you start?

Choose a room or area that you want to clean/purge/declutter and start going through it.  The point is to touch it once.  Make quick decisions.  Think about it.  Do you really need to keep this item?  Keep a box and garbage bag by you.  Toss what you don't need or want to donate.  When you are done with that area, toss the bag of garbage, recycle (if there are items to be recycled) and put your donations in the trunk to be dropped off the next time you are running errands.

This purge is done every (week) day (you get the weekends off!).  If you miss a day, it's okay.  Just jump right back in and pick up where you left off.  This isn't a race.  There are no winners.  Just do your best and keep going.

This challenge is something that you can do a few times a week, once a week or, if you're house is really cluttered, then every day for the 40 days.  I don't think I have enough clutter and places to make the 40 days, but, with the kids bringing home tons and tons of paper, junk mail that enters the house and the all of the miscellaneous items that the kids find and bring home, I might come close.  

If you reach 40 bags, Great!  If you have less than 40 bags, that's great too!  The key is to keep going.

It's almost Spring. What a great way to start off your spring cleaning. Get rid of some things and once the area is clutter free, start cleaning.

Give it a try.  I know I will.  I would love to hear what you plan on tackling and be updated with your progress.

So, what are you waiting for?  Get started!  

Whistling a tune

So, I have developed this bad habit. I will get a song in my head and I will start to whistle the song. At this point, I realize that if I continue, RT will ask what song I am whistling and will start singing/whistling/humming the song. 

I know. That doesn't sound awful.  But, trust me, it is when, three weeks down the road RT is still whistling what used to be my favorite song. I say "used to" because it was ruined by weeks and weeks of torturous renditions of the song by you know who. 

This is where my "bad habit" comes in to play. I will start whistling the song, then realize that RT might be listening so I change the tune I am whistling. What I whistle does not come out sounding like any particular song. It's just a bunch of random notes. 

RT caught me the other day. He asked what I was trying to whistle. I said , "a song...."  He finished my sentence with, "a song you don't want me to sing."  (busted!)

He then said it sounded like a Russian battle hymn. He was wondering when I got into that genre of music. 

He wanted to know what song I really was singing. I told him I don't want him to ruin it just yet. 

Until then, bring on the Russian battle hymns.

A cup of tea, or me?

So, for the last couple of days I have been fighting off a cold. I have to say that my body is doing a great job fighting it off. I'm thinking its the healthy diet.(I've been eating fruits and vegetables. Very little processed foods). I have also upped my tea intake. I like to have a cup of tea now and then. When I'm sick (like now) I will have more than a cup of tea per day. 

I do notice, and maybe it's just me, the affects tea has on me. For me, drinking just one cup of tea is the equivalent to drinking ten gallons of water.  

It probably doesn't help that I was drinking water while drinking my tea. 

It doesn't hit me right away. It's delayed a couple of hours. And when it hits, well, I have to go. My biggest worry is waking up in the middle of the night. Will I make it?  

I always find it interesting to see how some people get to my blog.  They don't comment and let me know if they found what they were looking for.  Were they amused? Will they come back?  What were they thinking?

The top searches on Google for the month of February that brought people to my blog:

daisy journey count it up
panera bread field trip
pink petal is daisy
scary unsolved mysteries

Hopefully my girl scout idea's helped some people.

And, to the scary unsolved mysteries person?

Hey, we're still trying to figure it out here.

Stay tuned.

Anytime you give chores to Bella, she gets overly dramatic and starts crying. She makes a simple chore into the most awful, humiliating act. I mean, what kind of people are we that ask her to pick up after herself?  Torturing her and making her pick up her dirty dishes and put them into the dishwasher?  And, asking her to sweep the stairs?

Just call her Cinderella. 

Why is the kitchen a big mess on days I have to go to work?  Is it that hard to rinse your plate / bowl / cup off and out it in the dishwasher?  I don't seem to have a problem doing it. 

Pallet (he)art

I found this cute Heart pallet wall art here and fell in love.  Rebekah at Somewhere in the Middle made this adorable heart on a mini pallet.  Oh...and she used glitter!  OOOHHH!  (click on the link and you can check it out)

You know how I love hearts and I love red and I just love, love, love Valentine's Day.

So, I had to make one.

Luckily we have a lifetime supply a lot of shims.  We have a box that RT bought for our washing machine (at our first house) when we first got married.  And, it's still full.  I think he used one or two there.  When we moved here, I think he used one with our old washing machine.  Then, somehow he collected a billion some more.  He told me I could use them for anything I wanted.  I didn't think I would ever need or want to use them..... until now.  Enter the Valentine's Day project.

Supplies needed:
shims
paint
paint brush
stencil
hot glue gun
glitter (optional)

It's a pretty simple project.

Paint your shims.  Put shims together.  Use two shims to glue to the back.  (see here for picture).  Attach stencil to shims.  Paint.  Add glitter.  (every thing's better with glitter)

 Heart on a pallet?

A little side note.  Make sure that your stencil is on card board and not paper.  I had a little accident with my paper.  The red paint went through and it looked like my heart was leaking (melting?  breaking?)  I did a quick fix (see picture above) with my white paint.  Maybe when this dries I can post another picture.  I was desperately trying to get this done before Valentine's Day.

If you decide to make one, let me know.

And, if you need any shims, I might be able to find some for you.

Happy Valentine's Day!