I'M CRAFTY!

I did stuff!

Pictures!

I started with putting shelves in the back and hall closets downstairs. I bought one shelf (the white metal one), and then had to cut it down and do crazy shit to make it fit, so I decided when I did the second one that just cutting down some wood we had in the garage and using the supports we already had would be easier. It was.

THEN I decided that the front porch was looking more and more like a crazy, tool-filled jungle (which is actually something that's been rolling around in my mind for a while...) so I went and got one of those plastic storage-bench-actually-kinda-looks-nice things.

My dad says I have my own timeline. I think he's right.

BENCH!

And you can see part of the jungle... 

Also? On the directions, it should really say,

"DON'T SCREW THIS IN TOO TIGHTLY,

or you'll break it."

Oops.

A little bit of Amazing Goop, a few clamps, some duct tape, and a couple of hours later, and we're good to go!

Finished product! Yay!

You probably noticed this in the corner of the previous picture.

I went to OSH, Home Depot, ACE, and an actual garden nursery looking for a tiered potted plant thingy. The closest I got was Target's website where what I wanted was ugly and would have cost upwards of 150 bucks. BOO. So, I went to the garage, found two old-school wine bottle cases, took them apart, and built this. It has history (from 1982-83) AND it's functional.

I am awesome.

Finally, the only injuries incurred from all of this was...

::drumroll::

Yeeeaahhhh... That was fun.

Bah.

So after months and months and months and months, I'm ready to get back in this game. Light "upkeep cleaning" has been going on since August, but nothing hardcore... I'm gonna go ahead and blame it on the fall rush and holiday hours at work. But like I said, ready to get back to the big tasks - also, it helps to have Dad on my side. Hopefully we can accomplish something together. I had a thought that it'd be great if he and I could send Mom on a two-week trip with her best friend so that we could get some serious work done in peace. NICE WISH.

I vacuumed and picked up 90% of the crap in the family room and vacuumed the kitchen and dinning room yesterday. Today, I picked up the random paperwork and stuff on the stairs and vacuumed there as well. The dog's a little freaked out about all this vacuuming stuff... =D

Slow and Steady Wins the Race?

So, of course, I got sidetracked by real life and all the other things I have to work on, but it's coming along. My room still isn't what I'd call "done," but it's getting there. Also, the Family Room's starting to look pretty good - threw out a whole bunch of old paperwork and magazines my mother didn't need.
One day, I'm going to get rid of this ugly old thing:

(The chair, not the dog.) However, it may take some convincing on the part of my father, whose mother had it reupholstered to that and gave it to him when he went away to college.

Anyway, back to work.

5 days

Five days of work "got in the way" of my project. However, I like my job, and I needs monies, so I'm not gonna complain.  Still working on my room... You know those boxes you can see in the pictures of my closet? Two of them had clothes in them and went to Goodwill, several of the ones on the shelves had random paperwork and old binders from school in them and the contents are now residing on the Family Room floor while I sort through it. I've gotten rid of at least two bins of paper recycling, pulled out several items for garage sale or gift usage, thrown some junk away, and went to Target to pick up filing boxes for the stuff I actually want to keep (I have fantasies of making school/Job's Daughters/DeMolay scrapbooks somewhere down the line, but if it doesn't happen with in two years, I'll pay someone to do it for me so I don't feel guilty about these materials just sitting in a box forever).

After five 8-hour shifts in a row, I'm only scheduled to work 4 hours at the end of the day today, but I think I'm gonna take it easy and hang out with friends instead of trying to clean. Wednesday and Thursday I have off, so possible cleaning flurries with a chance of crazy coming in from the southwest tomorrow. =D

So my room's not done yet...

...but I compiled this list to help me out. I'm definitely a list person -- it makes breaking down goals into reasonable tasks really easy. The first two items are really close to being checked off.

Year One
❑ Aimee’s Room & Bathroom
❑ Back Hallway
❑ Family Room
          ❑ Media Center Left           ❑ Media Center Right
          ❑ Media Center Bottom      ❑ Piano
          ❑ Secretary & Desk           ❑ Bar
          ❑ Computer Desk & Surrounding Area
          ❑ Top of Media Center & Bar “Mantle”
❑ Hall Closet
❑ Half Bath
❑ Kitchen
          ❑ South    ❑ North      ❑ East        ❑ Island
❑ Dining Room
          ❑ South    ❑ North      ❑ West       ❑ Table
❑ Front Entry
❑ Living Room
        ❑ South      ❑ West       ❑ North      ❑ East
        ❑ Bookshelves              ❑ Piano

My Room is a Mess

Honestly though? It's probably the cleanest room in the house. My room and the family room (which will be next), but only because we've had guests for the last week, so the family room had to be clean, but I digress. I promised pictures. So here goes...

My closet is scary.

My bookshelves aren't AS scary... But that vanity is.

Hmm... This is getting scarier by the minute.

Okay, now I'm just depressed.

However, I'd like to point out how much open space there actually is.

I'm gonna go clean my room now... =D

Let the madness begin...

Okay. I am super-tired of this joke about cleaning the house.
Here's how it usually goes:
Me: "Can I do Event XYZ that involves my friends coming over for an extended period of time?"
             (Note: "Extended period of time" is any time long enough for
              people to actually enter the house and see it in its "natural
              state." Also, I'm past caring what other people think of the
              house because I know it's not all my fault, but this is getting
              pretty ridiculous. Anyway, back to my joke...)
Mom: "No. The house is too messy, and since you never decided to clean after the last time you asked, I don't think it's fair of you to think you're entitled to having friends over." Or something like that...
Me: "Oh, okay. Well I'll just go back to not vacuuming, not dusting, and not organizing then."

Now, I'm not completely innocent here. After all, I have her genes. But there comes a point where you look at all the crap that's accumulated for no good reason and you begin to wonder if this is where you'll be in twenty years. Dear God, I hope not.

Starting with my room.
Pictures tomorrow.