Earth Day Projects (Tackle it Wednesday!!)

After the ice storm, we had our electric line run underground. They cut a 20 inch trench out of our patio... I'm not in the mood to pay for a new patio, so I decided I could fix it myself. I also wanted to get my container garden ready for the herbs and veggies I'm planting this year.


The dogwood is in bloom, so I have the requisit photo of that :)


It's hard to tell, but there is hardly ANY sand in the kids' sandbox... that will soon be remedied! However, I forgot the after photo, so just pretend that it's now brimming with sand :)


Leah and I trekked to Walmart at 8:40 this morning and bought 10 pavers, 10 bags of playsand (4 went straight into the sandbox), and 8 bags of organic potting soil.


Last years' containers were emptied into the trench along with 6 bags of sand. This is all a lot of fun with a toddler sitting on your supplies :)


Little Miss Can't-Keep-Her-Shoes-On


Elijah was very interested in the 'helicopter' seeds from all the maple trees (those things are like WEEDS!)


Typical of Leah...


Practically DONE! I still need 2 more pavers because I didn't bother to measure :) The containers are ready for planting! My plants will arrive in about a week (I buy the veggie plants from the kids' school fund raiser). I even bought 7 foot stakes for the spiral tomato cages I ordered (talk about exciting!!).




Hannah and I planted the herb seeds this afternoon. We planted basil, cilantro, and oregano (a perrenial!)


We transplanted a few daisies and mini-sunflowers we started inside. I imagine we'll have some more to transplant soon. We also started some BIG sunflowers that we will be planting along the fence line. Apparently honeybees really like sunflowers, and we want to do our part to save the honeybees!!

Tackle It Tuesday - Sept 9, 2008

This week we have THE CLOSET TACKLE. According to the dates on the pictures, I've been working on this since the end of June! Now, it's possible that I just took the messy closet picture on that date, and didn't do any work on it until late July... I'm really not sure anymore.

Anyway, this is the before picture. It's actually hard to see just how stuffed this closet really is. It is about four feet deep, and it is literally jam-packed at this point.


Oh, isn't that cute. Here is an intermediate state where I'm trying to show how much work I've done... only, it's STILL really full.


Ahh, now that's quite a bit better! I can actually see the floor.


Today, the shelving arrived, so here it is. I plan on using these shelves to store bulk food items.


Here's another view where you can see how much shelf space there is a bit better. Oh, and look my sewing machine is now at the FRONT of the closet... just in case I decide I want to use it :)

Tackle It Tuesday (or Wednesday) - Sept 3, 2008

Since this project took me the better part of a month, I didn't finish on a Tuesday. So, I'm having Tackle it Wednesday this week.


Here is our office. Notice that my desk has about 3 feet of stuff on it. I didn't take a picture of the other bookcase, and I have no idea why. Our little Leah enjoys trashing the room as often as possible, so anything in her reach is in danger of being thrown to the floor and demolished.


Here is the new bookcase I'm adding to the office. It took about an hour to put together one evening early in the month of August.


Here is the revamped bookcase #1 (that didn't have a before picture)


Here's my desk, *gasp* you can actually SEE the it.


Here is bookcase #2.


Here is bookcase #3, the new bookcase. In a few months when Leah no longer removes everything from the bottom shelf, I will rearrange things a bit.

Tackle It Tuesday - June 24, 2008

http://www.5minutesformom.com/

I just did a small tackle this week. I had bigger plans, but only one project was done.

The lighting didn't work out too well in the pictures, so I don't know if you can really see the improvement.

The old blinds came with the house. I thought they were kind of cute, and I didn't feel like buying anything new, so we kept them for two years. A couple of the blinds were contrary and never seemed to open or close when we wanted them to. After two years of that nonsense, I decided it was time to replace them.

Notice how each blind is open to a different level. That pretty much drove me nuts!!



The new blinds let in a lot of light, but keep out the heat. They really changed the way the room looked in the evening.



Look! When they are up, you can't really see them at all!!



Next week I hope to get to a closet that is just STUFFED full of things, or maybe my desk would be good since it's stacked with about three feet worth of odds and ends.

Tackle It Tuesday

I've decided to start partcipating in "Tackle It Tuesday" on http://www.5minutesformom.com/

I needed to clean for Elijah's birthday party, so I decided to document some of the cleaning that took place. I'm a horrible housekeeper, so I need a little positive feedback when I make a dent in the housework!!

Here are pictures of the family room. We are terrible about stacking stuff anywhere out of reach of the kids. Any high, flat surface is game!!


The entertainment center before


Here's a close up of the mess.


After!


The kids' bookcase


After!!


The hutch


After... still cluttered, but better.


The art table and easels


After!!


The shoe pile and hearth


After!!