Decluttering Challenge Week 2

This week over at Carla's, the challenge was to declutter a family space. If you remember my first post with all of the challenges listed, I was focusing on my basement for the whole month. Even with these 4 challenges, there are still things to focus on (clothes bins, other storage totes, going through stuff from college). Despite the seemingly endless list of things to do down in the basement, I did get week 2 complete (and ahead of schedule too!).

Just to remind everyone, here is the before picture again. In all fairness, it really wasn't as bad as it looked. The drying rack was actually over out of the way, but we had already started moving some stuff to prepare for painting the floor. As you can see, it was still quite messy and the floor was gross!

And now onto the afters:

This one is taken from the same angle as the before picture. We flipped the couch and futon around, put a slip cover on the futon, and we angled the futon towards the TV and projector. You can also see the drying rack is way out of the way now over by the washer and dryer. Hmm, imagine that, a drying rack over by the laundry!

This is looking at it from behind the family area (where the mess of garage sale stuff was). Josh has all of his gun and golf supplies and they are neatly organized. (And before I get questions, the guns are kept in a locked gun closet, are not loaded, and the ammunition is kept somewhere else...we take gun safety VERY seriously!)

This shot was taken from over by the futon. We have the snack center with the mini fridge and microwave, a little entertainment center, our US flag, and the Giants flag. We have also added a little kitchen cart under the US flag that we keep plates and things on to complete the snack center.

Last picture, you can see our projector screen, the TV next to it (for the months when football and baseball overlap and we need to watch the Yankees and Giants!)

What you don't see in the pictures: We hung a dart board to the left of the TV and have been down there at least a few times a week playing, Josh has sports shirts hung all around the perimeter of the space. What you can see if that the floor looks a TON better...even though the pictures don't do it justice!

We aren't sure if we are going to leave the floors like it is or put carpet or laminate floors in there. Josh is also building a coffee table out of broken hockey sticks to put in front of the couch that I think will really add to the family area/man cave feel. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Decluttering Challenge Week 1

I am back with the after pictures for Carla's Week 1 Decluttering Challenge: Personal Space. I will show you the before picture, and then a few after pictures.

Here is the before picture:

And here are the after pictures:

Looking into my scrapbook/craft room. The hubby had just taken this set of shelves out of a pantry in the kitchen and to give me some more storage if needed he hung them up in this little spot. It fits great! No idea what to put on it yet, but I'm sure I'll thinking of something.

This is the same angle as the before picture. I decided to move the shelving system to the opposite wall and now this area is home to the kitties. We have the cat litter box, cat litter containers, and you can't see it, but a nice 3 shelved thing to hold wet food, dry food, and extra dishes.

This is where I moved the storage shelves to. They now hold cleaning supplies, office supplies, and some other things.

What do you think? I am so pleased with the outcome! Thanks for looking!

Another layout

I have one more layout to show you from my scrappin' time this weekend. It is based off of a sketch at Boy's Rule Scrapbook Kits. I also used the November kit from Boy's Rule to complete the layout.

A close up of the staples, brads, and burlap.

A close up to show the dimension of the banner and the Tim Holtz tickets. (LOVE those things!)

Thanks for looking!

Sunday Night Chit Chat

I skipped last week, but I am procrastinating so I decided to join up again this week. You are supposed to start with a picture. Here is a picture of me during the summer of 2010. I was on vacation in Punta Cana. I miss warm weather and sunshine. I am totally not a winter person, which when living in upstate NY is not good. I guess I just like money more than sunshine because the hubby and I have talked about moving south and we would both lose our retirements if we did. :-(

Anyway, on to the rest:

What are you…

Reading? IEPs. Fun, huh? I even had a snow day on Friday to get these progress reports done, but I have been procrastinating big time. So here I sit on Sunday night when I should be going to bed, but working on those instead.

Watching? Nothing

Listening to? Josh has the TV on in the bedroom. Not sure what he is watching. Football? Sunday night cartoons?

Cooking/Baking? Nothing. I will let you all in on a little secret. I HATE the kitchen. I hate cooking, I hate dishes. I don't mind baking, but then Josh just tries to "help" (he can't stand having someone else is his kitchen) so I just give up and let him do it.

Happy you accomplished this week? Scrapbooking. I have been in a rut lately and haven't made enough time for me. I want to scrap, but by the time Liam goes to bed and I get everything done that I feel need to get done, I'm too tired for me. So I took 2 nights this week and did what I wanted to do rather than what I thought I should do.

Looking forward to next week? Not sure. More scrapping time? Progress reports being done? Definitely the Superbowl on Sunday and having some people over for that!

Thankful for today? Great friends. I went to go see a friend and her baby today who I haven't seen in almost 4 months. I went with another friend of mine. It was nice to be able to see her, meet her little guy, and just be yourself.

Thanks for reading and have a great Monday!

February Declutter Challenge

If you missed my post from earlier, Carla over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily is doing both a decluttering challenge and a low (no) spend challenge. I haven't had time to sit done with my budget yet, but I have some pictures and details for the decluttering challenge. Here are the details of what's involved:

Week 1: Personal Space Challenge

Week 2: Family Space Challenge

Week 3: Productivity Challenge

Week 4: The "Dreaded" Challenge

I hope I'm not cheating,but I'm combining them. Our basement is a disaster! My scrapbook room is down there and I am not motivated to go someplace to scrap that is a complete mess (the basement, not my room) and not a functional family space. So here is the plan of attack, I am combining all the challenges and hubby and I are going to get the basement under control. It won't get completely finished because we have to finish the bathroom that we gutted, put carpet in one area, and put cheap tile in another area. Although we have the supplies for the bathroom already, it is too much to add to this challenge.

Anyway, here are pictures with some details.

Week 1: Personal Space. This is what I am counting for my personal space challenge. This area is right outside my scrapbook room and I am sick of walking past a mess to gointo my room. I also want something more functional for additional storage if I need it.

Week 2: Family Space. This is the family space. I want a more functioning space sothat Josh and Liam can come down into the basement and play or watch TV while I am scrapping. I am totally a social scrapper so I get bored and lonely sometimes when I am down there alone. This is the area we are eventually putting carpeting into, but I doubt that will be this month. It just needs to be cleaner, more organized, and less cluttered before it can be used better.

Week 3: Productivity Challenge This is the garage sale stuff. It is unorganized, messy, and I have no idea what is there. My goal is to get it organized and ready to go once spring hits. I will count this as my productivity challenge because it is productive to get things ready to sell and make money. (Luna wanted to be in the picture.)

Week 4: The Dreaded Challenge This is definitely the dreaded challenge. Josh's "office" space is the catch all. If we don't know where something "fits" but it's important enough to be saved, it gets piled on Josh's desk or the dresser next to it.

Since the first of February falls on a Wednesday I will be doing the challenges Wednesday to Wednesday. Again, it may have bitten off more than I could chew, but we shall see. Luckily, I don't have too much going on at work this month so I won't have to worry about that. I will be busy planning Liam's first birthday party (first weekend in March), but I think I have a good handle on that. OK, a demanding almost 11 month old is calling for my attention, so I better go. Have a great day!

I heart challenges

As all of my friends that I scrapbook with know, I love challenges! I use sketches for my layouts a good 95% of the time and if I can combine that with another challenge, that's great. For this layout I used a sketch from Elle's Studio and combined it with the Weekend Warm Up at ScrapFIT. The challenge there was to use Kraft cardstock on your layout. Anyway, here is my creation.

I used Kraft cardstock for the strip of paper on the left of the layout and the journaling strips.

Here is a closeup pic of the stars on the bottom and the journaling strips on the bottom.

Thanks for looking!

Why not make life crazier...

OK, as if I don't have enough to do between my full time teaching job, my part time tutoring job, being a mom and wife, and being me, I have decided to take part in Carla's challenges over at My Half Dozen Daily. I'm not 100% sure if I am doing both, just one, or maybe I'll decide it's just not possible to do either. But I'm going to try! So excuse the break from crafting (I'll still post some projects and layouts), and enjoy my journey through the month of February. I'll be back later with some specific goals once I learn more about the challenges.