Project bookshelf.

I am not a fan of bookshelves. Truth be told, I think they look messy and most of the time they are really unorganized. The only exception is if you can decorate it well and use cute accessories on the shelves ... but then you aren't really using it as a bookshelf. And with all the books I have to fit on ours, I don't have much space to decorate without it looking even more crowded.

When we moved into our new house, we had no place for our bookshelf. Ideally, I would like it in an office, but since an office doesn't exist in this house, we had to put it in our bedroom ... not ideal at all, but it needed a place to go and this was the only empty spot we had.

Because I had no choice in the matter, I have to grin and bear it, and decided I would just organize it as well as I could, and maybe that would help.

Here's the before ...

Here's the after ...

I decided to organize the books and folders by color, and I think that made it look a little better.

Still not my favorite thing ever... but it'll work, for now anyway. :)

What's next on your to-do list around your home?

Cleaning is for the birds.

I hate cleaning, but love the end result. I love a clean house when I go to bed, and waking up to a tidy home makes my day automatically great. But I hate how messy and dirty it can get, then how you spend hours upon hours cleaning it.

So today I decided to make a cleaning list ... I googled "cleaning list", but then compiled my own. These are tasks to accomplish each day, each week, and each month. I figure if I do a little bit each day, then the house would be easier to maintain and maybe I wouldn't feel like it was so overwhelming to do all at once.

Here it is ...

Daily

Make the bed

Empty the sink / do dishes

Clear the clutter

Sweep (kitchen & dining room)

Spray the shower

Clean and clear off counters (kitchen & bathroom)

Weekly

Vacuum

Dust

Organize a drawer or closet

Laundry

Wet swiffer hardwood floors & bathroom

Bedroom (see list below)

Bathroom (see list below)

Kitchen (see list below)

Monthly

Organize interior of kitchen cabinets

Dust / vacuum air vents

Clean walls

Clean windows

Check smoke alarms

Clean interior of appliances

Clean / vacuum cars

Then, here's what I do each day:

Monday - daily chores, plus vacuum

Tuesday - daily chores, plus kitchen (see list below)

Wednesday - daily chores, plus dust & 2 loads of laundry

Thursday - daily chores, plus bedrooms (see list below)

Friday - daily chores, plus bathroom (see list below)

Saturday - daily chores, plus organization, mop floors, and remaining laundry

And lastly, here's a detailed list of things to do in each room on their designated day:

Kitchen:

Cabinets - exteriors cleaned

Scrub countertops

Appliances - exteriors cleaned

Clean garbage (inside and out)

Sweep / mop floors

Clean kitchen table

Fridge- remove food items, discard expired items, wash shelves and drawers, replace food in organized manner

Bedrooms:

Organize closets and dresser drawers

Remove bedding and put in laundry

Remove everything under the bed - sort, giveaway, trash

Vacuum underneath

Dust & clean fan / light fixture

Dust bed frame

Nightstands & Shelves - dust & organize

Clean windows

Vacuum

Bathroom:

Shower emptied, scrubbed, products organized and replaced

Toilet scrubbed

Floors washed

Toilet brush cleaned

Garbage cans cleaned inside and out

Rugs laundered

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Feel free to copy it and adjust it to your home and your preferences, if you'd like! Just let me know you did it so I can give myself a pat on the back for helping someone out. :)

Ugh.

This toy might be the end of me.

Why, you ask? -- It's just a cute little John Deere tractor with a trailer. Perfect for a little boy.

Wrong!!

The trailer obviously attaches/detaches from the truck, right? Well, my poor little 1 and a 1/2 year old cannot understand that. So every time it detaches from the truck, a major meltdown ensues. He starts bawling, screaming, does the rain dance, and brings it to me 728 times a day with these tear filled eyes that make me want to burn the toy. Or super glue the trailer on ... one of the two.

Guess we need to listen to Uncle Shane when he says "if it's not Red, leave it in the shed."

Stupid John Deere.

Living room woes.

Our living room is huge. Okay, not huge, but it's really big considering the rest of the house is... not so big. The room has a fireplace, which isn't really a fireplace because it has been boxed off. The room also has 2 big windows {which I love!}. We also didn't have a choice on what corner to put the TV in, because of the cords, hookups, blah blah blah.

All this to say ... we had issues finding the right furniture arrangement. Because of all the things listed above, there was stuff we had to take into consideration and try and find a place for 2 couches, a recliner, and a side table. And I really wanted to keep it open, so Jaxon can run around like a mad child and play in a big space.

While my parents were here, we tried a few different arrangements. Thought we found the best option, so we left it that way. The more I sat in the room, the more I hated how it was arranged, so my husband kept moving 'this' to 'there', and 'that' to 'over there'. Poor guy had to do it alone... all the while probably saying not-nice things about me to himself. ;)

In order to save our marriage {just kidding -- but seriously...}, I decided to draw and furniture to scale, and we could rearrange the room on paper. In order to do that, I used: 1 foot = 1/4 inch.

Here's the room, with no furniture... {again, everything to scale}

This is how we had it arranged when my parents left ...

I didn't hate it this way, but the corner in the upper left where the couch ended was so awkward... that wall space between the couch and window is empty and the entire corner just felt so weird and abandoned.

So we tried...

... this, along with about 20 other combinations that I'll spare you the pictures of. You're welcome.

Thought the living room was hopeless, until my brilliant husband suggested...

Winner winner chicken dinner.

So, above is how we currently have it and I finally love it. The room feels really open and I thought putting the couches diagonal would take away a lot of space, but it doesn't.

I would post a picture with the real furniture and how it looks and all ... but, right now I have mis-match curtains and I don't feel like picking up all the toys all over the floor.

So use your imagination and tell me how cute it looks. :)

Exploring the city.

Our car was broke down for a few days this week, so once Tyler had some time to fix it, Jaxon and I spent the next day out on the town ... we were thankful to not be under house arrest anymore! While we were out, I found this really cool shopping mall. It's not your typical mall ... it was a huge warehouse that they remodeled and turned into one large shopping area, so instead of each store having it's own 4 walls, every store was out in the open and you just roamed from place to place, not even sure if you were in the same store as you were just 5 seconds ago or not. Some stores were blocked off with curtains or decor, others were not. It was a little overwhelming at first, but once I figured out what was going on I really enjoyed it. Then, no matter what store you bought from, you paid in the same place up front. It was an interesting concept and I'll definitely be back... they had some really cute stores and just cute stuff in general!

Here's some pictures I snapped while there ...

{sorry for the picture overload, I didn't realize how many I took until I uploaded them!!}

Cute maternity section ... too bad the plain t-shirts were over $70!
{everything else was super reasonably priced ... just this particular boutique was crazy!}

All the jewelry was $2 each!

Granted, it might break tomorrow, but at least you only spent $2 on it.

Awesome stationary/graphic design area

Cute little cafe ... they have a $5 lunch menu and everything sounded yummy!

In the back corner {where you see black/white words} was where I got my eyebrows waxed ... it was cheap, only $12 and she did a really good job.

Wish I had the time/energy to scrapbook or do anything creative for that matter ...

sigh, maybe someday.

Know my sister would LOVE this section ... cute cute clothes!!!

Loved all their home decor ... I could have done some damage there to my bank account, but I resisted. :)

Lucky for my husband for me, these are the only things I walked out with ...

4 necklaces for 8 bucks. Not too shabby.

Just part of my plan to dressing cuter ... figured a few accessories might help!

{29 weeks, 2 days - in case you were wondering!}

I was in a hurry that day as I had to be home to make dinner before Tyler got home, but I easily could have spent a lot of time there and hope to go back someday soon ... it would be great to find a friend to go with ... hopefully someday.

Guess you know what we're doing when you come visit us, huh? ;)