Schooling On the Move

In case you were worried we were skipping school for the entire month of April, never fear, I am not that loosy goosey with our schedule.  Last week just happened to align perfectly with our Sabbath Week of school and was perfect for traveling and having a little fun in the hotel.

Pool time especially!

But now that we have changed locations for a while, we are back on week one rotation.  And yes, I did bring school for the kids to do.

Riley is currently taking an online class so technically, she has had no break and can often be found curled up with her computer.  This is her 6th online duel credit college course and she is doing quite well with it.  Because she still has a senior year and no more classes to officially take for high school, this will be her last course until fall, when she will resume online classes exclusively.

Salem will be going home with grandparents at the end of the month when we head home so we pushed for him to finish the majority of his schoolwork before we left on our trip.  He will have one novel to read, math to do, and one chapter of science to finish in May when he comes home, if I am not mistaken. For that reason and for ease of travel, we chose to bring the workbooks I bought him for the summer. He is working about an hour a day in those for review.

For Colby I was able to bring readers and mini book report pages, a math workbook, and his language arts.  Again, we will work about an hour a day, still leaving plenty of play time and time with Dad!

I am thankful.  I know that if we were not a homeschooling family, extended vacations like this would not be possible.  This time together reminds me of how blessed we are to have the freedom to be able to pick up and go at any moment, while still being able to continue school with minimal disruption.  Book knowledge is so important, but family time is even more so.  To be able to have both is a win-win situation for us.

As is this vacation!  I wish you could see the smiles and hear the laughter!  It is true that there is no place like home- but for us, home is wherever we are TOGETHER!

Blessings,

34 Weeks of Clean! Week15- The Master Bedroom

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, the bedroom.  A place of rest and relaxation.  And beautiful sleep.

Anyone?

Yep, me neither.  At least not most of the time.

Most of the time it is a catch all.  A place to pile waiting laundry to fold.  A place to throw the extras when unexpected company comes.  A place of piled up books and right now, care packages to be sent across the miles.

But rest...not really.

So today is the day.  Well, luckily for you, this WEEK is the week.  Yes, you have a week to make a transformation.

This week- the Master Bedroom.

We are going to make it a picture of rest.  A place to unwind.  A safe haven for sleepy heads.  (cue lovely music here)

Are you ready?

• First off- we are concentrating on just the bedroom proper.  Stay out of the closet for now.  Yes, I am talking to a few specific ones, I will not name names yet, that I KNOW like to get ahead.  Stop it!  You are making the rest of us look bad.  So stick to the assignment at hand.

Please keep in mind- this is that once a year, deep cleaning project.  Let's go!

• Strip the bed linens and put them in the wash.  ALL of them.  Comforters and bedskirts as well.  Trust me, they are dirty.  Throw pillows?  Them too!  Mattress pads?  Yep!  Take this time to replace anything that is old and ragged.

• While those things are washing, take everything off flat surfaces and take them OUT OF THE ROOM! Seriously, go on and do it.  I will wait.

• Now, with surfaces bare, dust.  No feather dusting this time, deep clean dusting only.  Tops, sides and more!

• Before you put anything back, pull furniture away from walls and hit those baseboards!

• Vacuum around the edges of the carpet.

• Now put furniture back- this is your time to do a quick rearranging if your husband is not looking- I mean if your husband agrees! ;)  Once this chair was cleaned off, it was actually traded out for another one!

• NOW, put your "stuff" back, but aim to only bring back half.  Is it needed?  Do you love it?  Is it time to give it to someone else to enjoy?  As you replace each item after much thought, much thought being the operative word, make sure it is also wiped down.

• A word about nightstands.  Why do they seem to be a second (or third) junk drawer sort of area? Honestly, keeping mine straightened is one of many biggest battles. I kid you not.  There is always a stack of books waiting to get read, with a a few in progress.  Add to that, chap-stick, emergency weather radio, pens (in case I want to take notes in said stack of books), hair bands, a tea cup and on and on and on.  I have a basket to hold those things but alas, the basket runneth over!   For now, I tried to reduce, but hey, if you have a handy dandy solution, make sure you share it with us all!

Before-

During and after-

• Now open those drawers and get to work straightening up what is inside.  Clothes you do not care for or wear anymore go in a pile to be donated.  Old raggedy stuff goes to the garbage. Everything else goes back.  No cheating and heading to the closet. Stay with me here and stick to just your drawers!

• Look up, try not to cry and clean off those ceiling fans and light fixtures.

Yep, gross!

• Wipe down light switches and door knobs and door frames, both sides please.

• Wipe off window frames and windows.  If you have mini blinds, I am sorry.  Those get done too.  If you have curtains, into the washer they go.  If you are simply too afraid to wash them, at the very least, take them down, pop them into the dryer on air dry and give them a few minutes.  You will be surprised at the difference even that will make, I promise!

Oh look, me doing MORE mini blinds!

Too much moisture from the snow caused mold.  Since I have had the blinds down, I never saw it!  YUCK~

Better!

• Remake your bed. I admit, I did buy something new to spruce ours up.  My hubby liked the current quilt we were using, I made it after all what choice did he have, but he complained because it is so heavy.  (I have a thing with flannel quilts)  So I have been on the lookout for a new bedspread I could use with it.  Months of patience, HA, finally paid off and I found one I like.  Hope he will too!

• Lastly, finish vacuuming and you are done.

Actually, before you are done, make sure you print and frame Kemi's beautiful wall art!  It is lovely, as are all the things she creates over at Homemaking Organized!

Seriously, you are done!  That is a lot of work.  Reward yourself with a cup of tea, a chocolate treat and a good book.

Oh, and a good night's sleep, of course!

Who's ready to share how you did with last week- Arts and Crafts?  We would love for you to link up or leave a comment.  We' re all in this together and sharing is half the fun!

Week 14- Arts & Crafts

Week 16- The Master Closet

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up with-

Blessings and sweet dreams,

You Can Take A Southerner Out of the South...

Seriously, ya'll, I did not intend to blog about the South while we were gone.  I wasn't even sure I would post often other than the 34 Weeks of Clean posts that are scheduled and ready to go, but once we got here, well, how could I not share!?!

Just for a quick background - we are officially Southerners, so it is OK to poke fun at ourselves.  We were born in this area and raised here until we went to college.  But, since we got married, our time has been spent mostly in the mid-west area and we have been OK with that.  I often tell people we are southern traitors.  I do not miss the heat, the bugs, the hurricanes or the tornadoes.  I am a wimp like that!

Nevertheless, as they say (whoever they is)-you can take a southerner out of of the south, but you can't take the south out of the southerner.  It is in our blood I guess, and it has taken this unexpected trip to remind us that this area does hold a special place in our hearts.

It also provides a lot of laughs!

Like seeing places called PooBahs (a clothing store, believe it or not), and Mr. Bunky's Market, and a restaurant called Lizard's Thicket (don't even want to know what they are serving there!).

Then there are places like the Piggly Wiggly, Krispy Kreme, and Bojangles!

And waitresses named Princess.

And the sincere smiles and welcomes and yes ma'ams!  Oh how I have missed that!

There is enough moisture in the air to swim through and Ashton's curly hair is soaking it all up! (this was at the end of the day, after her brother had combed it.)

There are beautiful purple wisteria plants in the trees and azelas in full bloom everywhere.  It makes my heart smile and my sinuses hurt.

Today for lunch we were welcomed like long lost family and told goodbye like they meant it.  The waitress teased us about hospitality and had a full conversation with Colby.  She took time to pay attention.  She called as honey and sweetie, maybe in the same sentence!

There is red clay everywhere.

And palm trees.

And even mountains.

People here speak like us, and yes, we are falling back into Southern speak quickly.  Even Colby is perfecting his Southern accent.  Won't his Guatemalan foster mom be proud. ;)

And last night someone told us to have a nice night, and used 5 syllables for the word "nice" alone!!

We giggled and told ourselves Welcome Home!

Blessings,

Operation Dad Vacation

I am going to let you in on a little secret - we are not home.  Now don't worry, we have friends who are staying at our home so I am not giving away security information!

So where are we?  Right this moment in Nashville, but that is not our final destination.  We are actually headed to South Carolina for a few days and then Alabama.  We lived in Alabama once.  I did not care for it.  I am hopeful this visit will change my mind about that state.

And why are we on the road?  Well, because after four months of separation, we found this cute guy in the airport! ;)

And since he is hanging around for a while we are hanging out too!

As luck would have it, we have our Sabbath Week of school this week so we are just going to read books, swim, and spend some much needed time catching up with dad!  After that we will resume school on the road - one of the many blessings of homeschooling!  Yes, I did bring some books with us!  See?

I pray that you and your family had a blessed Easter!  Spring is coming, ya'll - there is GREEN grass around here!

Blessings!

34 Weeks of Clean! Week 14- Arts and Crafts

I want you to know that I am not an arts and crafts kind of gal, so this week is just for you all.  You are welcome!  I used to like doing a few simple things like cross stitch, making cards, and sewing clothes.   The cross stitch stopped after my eye sight went south, the card making has Hallmark people in hysterics and the clothes-making stopped when I wore a dress I made and someone asked how far along I was.  I wasn't!  Now I stick mostly to quilting when I can find a free moment and otherwise save the crafts for people with more patience and talent and better eyes!

But I do have a few things lingering, plus I have a daughter who makes a living as a seamstress so we do have a craft/sewing room.  Well, it is mostly her sewing studio, but she humors me occasionally by letting me hang out there.  This is my little space she created just for me.

Don't let her fool you.  I think she just wanted me to get my junk out of her way! ;)

But speaking of junk, she has come a long way as well.  This is what her small space looked like not so long ago!

(She would like you to know that the lighter is for melting the ends of ribbon. Oh, and that this is what happens when you have too much stuff in too little space)

It was a tiny extra room in the house we are currently living that cannot qualify as a bedroom because it does not have a closet.  It was a cramped mess and my few projects made it worse.  One day she had an epiphany and decided to swap out her bedroom and her sewing room.  My first response was "no way," like the open-minded mom that I am! haha! Her thought process was that she spends all day in her sewing room and simply sleeps in her bedroom. While skeptical, I let her make the change and now have to admit she is a genius.  Ok, at least she was right! 

                            

                             

The change has been a great one, providing better light, a much needed bigger space and additional space for her fittings.  Bring on the sewing jobs!

The point here, Michele, you might ask?  Think outside the box!

Be creative with your spaces!  If you need more space, look around and see what changes you can make!  Do you have an extra closet you aren't using? A guest room that barely gets used?  In cleaning up our storage spaces we were able to even carve out a small space for my teen son to work on his projects!  The agreement was that I would also use it as a gift wrapping area, but soon after this picture it was taken over by nerf gun upgrade projects and I haven't wrapped one gift yet!  Oh well.  

                                                

                                                               Work space for crafts or wrapping gifts in our storage room!

Other ideas-

Recycle from about your house!  You don't always have to go get more stuff to be more organized.  This plastic bin was in my girl's bathroom.  When they decided not to use it, I knew I had the perfect idea for its use!  My  remaining stamping supplies.  Now, no, I do not make cards and such as much as I used to, and I have recently given away a huge stack of stamp sets, but I did keep a few for when I have more time on my hands.  I WLL have more time on my hands someday, right?

Get rid of what you do not use!  Remember, we are on a mission to take back our houses.  Let's commit to stop holding on to things we do not use and do not need.  I know it is difficult to let go sometimes, but let's not allow "stuff" to take up our heads, heads, or homes!  Give it to a friend who will use it more, donate it to a retirement home or hospital, or take it to your local Goodwill.  Regardless, move it out.  Stop thinking you might use it later and live for today!  If years from now I decide to take a cross stitching again (it could happen) I know where to get a new piece of fabric and some thread.  

Kemi from Homemaking Organized created some adorable crafts labels for you!  I love these and I know you will too!!! Oh, the possibilities!

Now, I know some of us are still tackling our pictures and scrapbooks (PLEASE someone tell me I am not alone!) but let's keep going this week and hit those arts and crafts area.  Meanwhile - show us your hard work so we can cheer you on!

Week 13- Pictures and Scrapbooks

Week 15- The Master Bedroom

An InLinkz Link-up


Blessings,