DIY and major messes Part 1

The Incredible GROWING mess starts with a mess I made that refuses to shrink. This major mess going on is completely my fault. Shortly after New Years I decided to gut the playroom, rearrange, redo, clean out etc. As a result I piled everything we took out of the playroom in the middle of the basement floor. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that mess before I cleaned it up but trust me you could not walk through it safely. The Playroom turned out great

Main view

The Built Ins - notice my computers are there (though I am in the family room right now ha ha)

The girls desks and computers near the windows...

The new Redneck Couch

The TV etc. that the Redneck couch faces

One of the bookshelves that got moved (actualy in the upstairs hall just outside the playroom)

My next step was to tackle the girls rooms and their clothes. You see having two girls 5 years apart means I have a lot of clothes to save for Hailey..they have taken up many shelves in our basement - tub after tub of shoes and clothes - I went through them and made them a new home in the empty trundle of Hailey's bed, this freed up a lot of storage space downstairs, so then I decided I better gut the girls closets and that just added to my mountain in the basement...But the girls rooms look great and they got a few of the toys removed from the playroom transplanted in their rooms

Laurens American Girl Tree House

Lauren's shelves full of books and doll stuff, oh and Phoenix the fish!

Hailey got my old doll cradle in her room

Along with another displaced bookshelf

Some of her American Girl Stuff

And the new CD player she had to have for Christmas

After that I was tasked with cleaning out the unfinished part of our basement, making room for new stuff to be stored. This included clearing a VERY messy floor, emptying tubs and deciding what stays and what goes, plugging in the Treadmil and pretending as though we may actually use it. This part of the basement rarely stays clean for long because it becomes the dumping ground for everything...however after this HUGE clean out I have freed up a lot of space and intend to keep it that way (for a while anyway)

Holiday stuff on the left, crafty cabinets in the center and all things that must be kept forever on the right hand side (notice one whole shelf is empty!).

Giant Cat in the hat. He is Lauren's - I HAD to have him when I was pregnant with her and now I find myself wondering what the heck am I gonna do with him?

The other side of the unfinished part...full of boxes, summer stuff, fans, paint and more (again 1 whole empty shelf and a parially empty one too)

But the Main part of the basement looks pretty good now. The wrapping paper is off the pool table, the gifts are gone from the air hockey table and some of it has been set up and ready for play time too

SO, in order to accomplish all the beauty you have seen above I had to go through the mountain I plopped on the basement floor from the playroom and the girls room, I had to clean out tubs, and floor space in the unfinished part and had to decide what stays and what goes. In doing this, the only way I knew how was to just kept throwing stuff in the spare room, kindly referred to as Grandma Mary's Room ...YEP- this is where I am shoving all the stuff I don't want to keep as I go through closets, shelves, tubs etc. I am now referring Mary's rom as "Mount Dumpall" you can't even tell there is a bed, television, quilt rack and nightstand in this room ..

So now I get to empty this very scary bedroom and decide for sure what goes and what stays, who gets what (good will, ebay, garage sale, consignment who knows...) Are you coming to help?

In the meantime - I have a lot of STUFF to do so....hopefully the end result Will be worth it. OH - and we can't forget the trash pile we lugged up the stairs and out to the curb tonight (sorry mother earth)


Still Coming:
DIY and major messes part 2
You know who you are
Lost and Found

Is it Friday Yet?

So, you know I have been looking forward to 3:00 Friday since, well since Sunday when it was decided the girls were going to get to Grams house for a night of DU Hockey, Grandma, Grandpa and loads of fun...as you also know the plans were almost axed as early as Monday when Hailey got a fever. I felt so bad for myself because I was not getting a night off for Hailey because she wasn't feeling well and was so looking forward to going to Grandmas. Well, she quickly overcame her fever and moved about the week in deeply hiding an impending ear infection and bronchial trauma perfect health!! We were all very glad the girls were getting their night out and mom and dad were getting to enjoy a quiet house and perhaps an opportunity to get some things done for Christmas! Yes, Christmas...I am anal, psychotic and more when it comes to figuring out Christmas...what comes from who (if you know what I mean) how many, how much etc. etc. etc. so I couldn't wait to get a chance to assess the situation and plan out a clear path of progression for the next six and a half weeks!

Friday came...and boy did it come! Friday started out very early and very sad...at approximately 5am I started trading emails with my friend Becky and quickly ended up throwing on some clothes and rushing of to the Vet ER to support a friend in her time of need.

After returning home I had to have a quick conversation with Daddy about whether or not Hailey should attend school even though she seems to have Laryngitis and most likely we will find out she has croup if we take her to the Dr. We decided, "no fever, healthy appetite" might as well head off to school, so I rounded up the troops to rush off to the SUPER QUICK shower, dry the hair, throw on the clothes and rush off to school. After dropping Hailey off we got to
make a slick U-turn and head back home for Lauren's D@^^n retainer!

On my way home from school #2 (insert mommy guilt here) I called the Dr. to grab an appointment so Hailey could get checked before she goes to Grandmas house...after 10 minutes on the phone with the nurse that rubs me the wrong way and finding out that all the "good" Dr's are out today and I was going to have to face the "new" one...after telling Nurse Rub Wrong that I was not happy about that and I could not believe she could not offer me a Dr. that already knew my children and listening to Nurse Rub Wrong say "Oh, Mrs. Emerson I remember you"
ha ha ha ...no seriously she hates me, anyway I got an appointment for 20 minutes after preschool lets out.

At 11:30 I picked up Hailey and headed to the Dr's office to face Nurse Rub Wrong and New Doesn't know my child Dr...waited in the waiting room for 30 minutes (D@^^m) with a hungry, voiceless, tired child (insert more mommy guilt here). Finally we got to see the New Dr. Her name? Dr. YOUNG. That is SUPER encouraging! Well, NEW Dr. Young looks in right ear, says it is PERFECT, looks in left ear and says "Oh she is quite infected" (Mommy guilt mounting) - listens, looks, pokes, prods...Prescribes Antibiotic for Ear Infection and Steroid for Bronchial trauma. OMG. I keep telling you that mommy of the year award will never be mine. Do you believe me yet?

Quick, call Grandma and beg her to still take the girls for the night, ask her kindly and give her plenty of opportunity to back out. Feed Hailey at McDonalds the picture of HEALTH FOOD for my sick child, drop into Walgreen's where the fantastic pharmacists know us by name and pick up DRUGS!

Once home, it took both mom and dad to give Hailey 1 1/2 pills that have to be crushed and mixed in yummy food to get down...Hailey can not be tricked she knew what was coming and it was more like restraining a horse than a 3 year old. Not sure how much of that steroid she got (probably ok though since GRANDMA OF THE YEAR said the girls could still come!)

Now comes the GOOD part...I picked Lauren up from school (Hailey slept the whole way) dropped two VERY happy, excited and barely looking or acting sick children off at Grandmas where GRANDMA OF THE YEAR had the most amazing snack plates on the table for them and I headed home, alone, in the car, listening to MY station...(not very much mommy guilt here)

I arrived home to box on my porch from my dear friend Becky...and in it: A beautiful tower of goodies from Harry and David. and the best part. I am Home Alone and I don't have to share, nah nah nah nah! YUMMY! Please go meet Becky if you have time, she is new to the blogging world and embracing it with open arms!

And now you know more about why Becky is one of my favorite friends and if you know me at all I have VERY few friends and they are all favorites because I am sort of picky, a little...maybe a lot.

Daddy and I headed off to dinner at Outback (THANKS GRANDMA MARY!!) for a quick dinner (sans children) and we did NOT get seated at a table close to screaming toddlers...we did get to sit very close to Lauren's second grade teacher though!

Home (still not very much mommy guilt) tackle the craziness of Christmas in the basement, jump on computer and type this post...my only interruption came from Grandma of the Year when she sent this LOVELY photo from her blackberry. I think she was so proud, I can just hear here saying "let me send mommy a photo so she can see you guys are fine and having fun". Well Mom (Grandma) next time you might want to look at the picture before you send it!

So now, Friday night is almost over, The girls got to go Grams, I got some quiet time and I will head off to bed (insert mommy guilt again) thinking about my girls, my evening and pondering this fantastic thought:

"When did quiet time at home trump going out and having a blast with your husband?"

Thanks for listening (reading) if you made it this far!

Now go back and hit all those hyperlinks they aren't to be missed!