Thanksgiving - November 22, 2012

My camera in the hands of a 3 year old.  These are some of the artistic photos she took.

And the one I took.

I think hers were better.  They really captured the essence of the day.

Dry Erase Board - November 21, 2012

My mom has an ugly dry erase board in her front hallway.  She uses it to inform the parents of the children she watches of any important dates, such as her vacation days.  It's ugly.  It's white and boring and just sits on the bookshelf in the entryway leaning against the wall.  I found I had an extra large picture frame and decided to make her a new "white" board.

I just took a scrap of thin cardboard and some scrapbooking paper, added some letter stickers for a title, and put the frame back together.  I'm going to add a strip of velcro to the frame to attach the dry erase marker.  Also considering attaching a clothespin so my mom and the parents can pass notes (or checks) back and forth without anything getting lost or misplaced.


One Christmas present for mom, done.

Organizing - November 20, 2012

Knowing I have all this time on my hands, I'm finding that I'm more excited about cleaning than about crafting during this first week.  The cabinet under the bathroom sink has been bothering me for quite a while now.

Cleaning supplies are a disorganized mess on the right.  Extra shampoo and soap, etc, are a disorganized mess on the left.  And I don't know what I have or what I need.

So I pulled all the bins out and organized them in the living room while watching TV.  I don't need to buy shampoo, Windex, Swiffer dusters, or deodorant any time soon.  But I do need to pick up some Ibuprofen.

I don't know if it looks it in this picture, but this is after organization.  It feels good to know what I have and what I need and what I should buy during my next trip to the store.

Salad Prep - November 19, 2012

I saw this salad prep idea on Pinterest.  The pin was actually about making salads in mason jars.  I have mason jars on my Christmas list, but for now, the ugly tupperware will have to work.  I had bought some lettuce and spinach that isn't in a bag because I heard the bagged stuff should not be eaten.  Don't know which of my organic/paleo/freakshow of a friend told me, and I'm not sure I believe it, but I did it this time.  I grabbed a turkey breast from my parents from our early thanksgiving this weekend.  I sliced off some pieces for the BF's lunch and kept some for my salads.

I opened a can of chickpeas and shredded most of a giant carrot.

 I added some turkey, ripped the spinach and lettuce, and added it to the bowls; making four salads at once.

Then, when it's time to eat, you just flip the entire dish upside down into a bowl so the lettuce is on the bottom.

Add a little dressing and eat.

Looked at the original Pin again, and I'm looking forward to including cherry tomatoes and some pasta into the salads next time.

November 17, 2012

Daily Calendar - November 16, 2012

It was my last day of work.  The girls took me out to lunch, then I went home.  Since it was only a half day, I didn't get to work on too much of my list.  But on Monday, it's going to look something like this.

daily unemployment schedule
wake, shower, dress
make coffee, breakfast, lunch for BF
coffee and breakfast while blogging
laundry/dishes
five or more cleaning items
exercise
lunch
send out resume
plan/start/shop for dinner
crafting/scrapbooking/christmas prep

Of course, it's up for changes, but I've been working on this over weeks.  I won't be tempted to turn on the TV for distraction since daytime television sucks, but the computer is always going to be a problem.  Especially with many of my items including the computer.  Besides, there's also this...

other unemployment activities
mail birthday/anniversary/holiday cards
plan meals and make grocery list
save all photos to exterior hard drive
convert VHS tapes to digital
select items to go to storage unit
freecycle or thrift extra junk

I am so excited for Monday!  I think unemployment is really going to agree with me.

November 11, 2012

November 10, 2012

It's my birthday!

I crafted in the morning, finishing up some ornaments I started months ago.  Then my wonderful boyfriend took me out to dinner.  Yum!

Cleaning Calendar - November 3, 2012

It's the end of my first week of cleaning.  While I didn't get all 39 items on my list cleaned, I'm pretty impressed with what I did accomplish. 

Some things are so quick and easy to do (emptying the trash in four rooms are four different items) that I did far more than the required 5 per day.  Other days I came home lazy and did nothing at all.

But tomorrow starts a new list and maybe I'll get a different combination of items done.

October 30, 2012

Cleaning Calendar - October 28, 2012

I really hate cleaning.  And I'm bad at it.  Though I dislike greatly living in squallor, so I do it occasionally.  But unless we have people coming over for a visit, it doesn't get clean or stay clean for very long.  So I created a cleaning list.  Every flat surface is its own line item, and even the bathroom toilet and the kitchen sink are on their own lines.  We have a small apartment so I managed to come up with a list of 39 items.  Divided by seven days a week, I decided I need to clean at least five items per day.

Day One of the cleaning week is a Sunday, so I should be able to get a few extras done.  In fact, today I got so excited about my list, that I got 12 items done during commercials and in between football games.  The first week is going to be the hardest though, as I'm starting from scratch with every surface piled high with junk.

I just really like lists.  And I like crossing things off of lists.  So this could be an interesting experiment.

October 27, 2012

October 25, 2012

Snake Wreath - October 4, 2012

Since I've decided to be a wreath person, I decided to make a Halloween Wreath.  I found the idea on Pinterest.  Bought a vine wreath at the fabric store and plastic snakes online.  All you need is some hot glue and you're done.

The glue didn't react well with the plastic snakes.  I'd maybe sand the bellies of the snakes if I made this one again.  Since some of the snakes were coming loose, I wrapped some thin black string around the wreath to hold the snakes on if the glue fails.  Kinda a nice effect, to be honest.  A little spiderweb-ish.

Enjoy!

October 3, 2012

October 2, 2012

October 1, 2012