Shoes, shoes, f-ing shoes.

So I took my stupid pill and threw out the "lets clean the coat closet" challenge to Elle.

What was I thinking???

This is JUST the shoe part......

But wait... there are MORE shoes......

The whole thing..... still in the closet......

Yes, the jackets and detritus are out of the closet... but the stuff the kids wore today hangs on the hooks.....  IT NEVER FREAKIN' ENDS......

And then there is the door insanity......

But, of course, it being Mother's Day Weekend.... I couldn't just clean the damn closet.  No.  I had to be SUPER MOM and PAINT first. 

I gathered my tools.....  standard issue valspar semi-gloss, fantastic short handled brush (I had two... in case someone came over to help or something), stubby foam roller, can opener, stir stick, and coffee.  I also had a rubber mallet...... we will get to that part later.

Wait.  Look at the photo above again... do you see the SIZE of the screw in that hook?  Shit.  Apparently I got tired of it coming out of the wall and went for the 2.5" screw.  Welcome to the 'stead.  We do things a little differently around here.  What would a contractor say?  He'd say, "Nice drill."  That's what he would say. 

Upon emptying the closet I remembered the scary trap door into the crawl space.  The beauty of living in a house built in 1897.  You can crawl under the dining room and kitchen.  You can't get under the living room or laundry room or bathroom.... that's where the bodies are stashed. 

I stuck the camera down the hole.  It was scary.  I didn't look.

Why yes, our house is logs on granite pile footings.  Does that worry you?

Slapping on paint.  Goodby yellowish smoker's hack closets... hello glowing white.

Fast-forward throught the boring bits.... and ta-da.  Gorgeous.

Now lets talk about that stupid black shelf.  It should fit.  I've made it fit in the past.  I had to use my rubber hammer.  I love that thing.  There isn't a lot you can't accomplish with a good rubber mallet.  Stupid fraggin' crooked walls.

I also smashed my thumb in the metal part.  Happy dance.  I had to curl up on the floor and whisper swear words.  I didn't want the kids to come and try to help me.

So.

How to organize this?  The closet is, basically, 4 feet long and 23 inches deep.  How to maximize storage?  Suggestions??

Small person.  Post brownie eating.  Wearing her (sister's) favorite jammies and her brother's shoes.

Do you see the giant shoe pile behind her??

There is this, smaller, giant pile.....

And this..... oh my.

It all came OUT of the closet... but will it all go back IN?????

Stay tuned.

The Technology Challenge

In case you hadn't noticed.... I can be a bit, ah, scattered.  I wouldn't call it a disorder.  I just really like to start things.  Finish them?  Not so much.

So I  made a list.  Of things.  Things that need doing.  It turned into an outline.  Remember doing outlines?  And how dumb they seemed?  I take it back.

The Technology Challenge
I.  Music
    A.  Remove all duplicates from iTunes
    B.  Have all music backed up on hard drive
    C.  Transfer good playlists from iPod to iTunes
    D.  Delete crummy playlists
          1.  iTunes
          2.  iPod
    E.  Create new and clever playlists
    F.  Make sure all random car cd's are copied to iTunes (and backed up)
II.  Photos
    A.  Have all negatives transferred to digital
          1.  Collect all negatives in one place.
          2.  Sort negatives by year and put in baggies.
    B.  Sort and purge photo albums (existing)
          1.  Collect all albums in one place
          2.  Toss crummy photos
          3.  Make sure photos were captured in negative scanning (above)
               a.  If not, scan.
          4.  Label, label, label
    C.  Create cataloging system with solid naming conventions for digital photos
    D.  Upload photos to Costco and Snapfish
    E.  Create digital albums for each year
III.  Video
    A.  Transfer all home video to digital format
          1.  Backup plan
          2.  Save native format with negatives (above)
    B.  Get rid of any VHS movies etc
          1.  Make list of VHS to buy in DVD (ignore blue ray)
IV.  Scanning
    A.  Sort all paperwork
    B.  Scan documents
          1.  shred as needed
          2.  find permanent and portable home fpr important stuff
    C.  Get rid of deposit box at bank
    D.  Have solid digital and paper filing systems
V.  Create digital baby books

Give me a GOLD STAR

I cleaned my car.  I deserve a giant freakin' gold star.  A sparkly one.

That's another thing I did this weekend.

Me and my trusty little blue shop vac. 

There were surprisingly few french fries.  That just means the dog is doing his job. 

There were a lot of pistaccio nuts.  LOTS.  Apparently there was a spill.....  Interestingly they had all been cleaned up off the floor (and probably eaten) but the crannies where seats latch in were packed full like a small squirrel was storing up.  I considered picking them out and feeding them to the chilren.  Those damn things are pricy.  ($15 for 3lbs)  But I didn't. 

Also there were some congealed things in the far back cupholders that I don't want to think about.  Ever. 

I even washed the fabric floor mats.  Then I put in the new floor mat (for the driver) I got for Mother's Day.  Yes, I asked for it.  Yes, I love it.  What can I say?  I like things the way I like them. 

And tossed about 100 dead pens.  Why do dead pens collect in my car?

Washed the spidey "Fwow-up" towel.  (Folded it, put it under the seat, and then used it this morning to wipe mud off Bugsy's raincoat.... please don't ask.... she was on a worm rescue team.... very covert operation.... I could tell you but.....)

Washed the insides of the windows.  Ew. 

Stickers on car windows.  My pet peeve.  Especially those stupid "I buckled up" ones from Target.  You know what I'm talking about.  I very specifically DON'T buckle my kids just to avoid the stickers.  Ok, that isn't true.  But I've considered it.  The only thing worse than a sticker on the window.... PART of a sticker on the window.  Those are all cleaned off now.  Yeah.  These are the things that thrill me.

I had to reassess all the crap I haul around in my trunk.  I took out the snow boots.... risky in May in Montana.  But I like to live dangerously.  I have:  3 fabric shopping bags, a big first aid kit, a picnic blanket (from 31, via Elle, love it), an umbrella stroller (one of those super-cheap ones from Target... on sale for $10.... I finally replaced the last super-cheap one from 6 years ago), a dog blanket, a rain poncho, several sweatshirts in various kid sizes. 

Tidied the various storage spots...... coffee cards, gum, an actual working pen, lip gloss..... the usual stuff.

Put the tag on the plate (oops.... expired.....)
It isn't perfectly detailed or anything but it looks much better.

day 24. a photo of you that your hair looks nice in

Damn.  We were cute.  This was typical hair for me back in the active-life days.  But the point is I actually had cute hi-lights back then.  I haven't had my hair colored in YEARS.  Sigh.

Life as a Single Parent: The Recap

First.  I'm wounded.  I sliced my ring finger on my left hand and stabbed something sharp under the nail on the index finger of my right hand.  And I slammed my left thumbnail in a terrible way.  If it wasn't already painted blue-grey it would probably match my other blue-grey nails anyway.  It is throbbing.  I think it got hit far enough out that nail won't fall off.... but it is gonna turn black.

Thursday:  Hot left for a distant land (Sarah P.... I was going to tell you to watch for him.) to teach a class.  I promised the kids a trip to Target to spent their loot.  Tuff has tooth money and the big kids got money from Grandpa for picking up all the bale twine.... they wound it round and round their arms and then couldn't get free.....  And they all cashed in their change from the Easter eggs. 

So off we went.  It was agonizing.  Bugsy was quick to decide.  Sally Hansen Xtreme wear in Gunmetal.  (Hence the blue-grey nails as reported above.)  She was so sure we had to stop in the toilet paper row and paint her nails.  Yes, I am that parent.  Sweet knew what he wanted.  Lego.  Star Wars to be specific.  And it took all of his cash.  Tuff shopped and shopped.  She settled on some lip gloss, Disney princess dive sticks & new tennis shoes with straps (velcro).  I had to float her a small loan to cover the shoes.... but she loves them and I got some good extra chores out of her to make back some of the money.  Don't tell her I would have bought the shoes for her anyway..... she needed them.

All-in-all it went well but it sure makes for a long day when you spend an hour in the toy row at Target.

Friday:  VIGILANTE DAY.  Or, as Elle noted, "This is not your usual VD."  Vigilante Day is a uniquely local tradition.  This is the 88th year of the parade.  The high school kids get the day off and the little kids have 11:00am release.  So I stopped at the local grocery deli for corn dogs and chips, picked Sweet up at school, zipped out to the valley and got the girls, parked back at my work, had a picnic on the lawn, and walked down to see the parade.  The floats are all themes from local history.  My husband can tell some very naughty stories about what they did when they were supposed to be working on their floats.  It reminds me somewhat of homecoming when I was in school.  A town of almost 30,000 acts like a town of 200.  Then when it is over we went back to daycare..... it is fairly hilarious to see floats tooling down the main drag at 35mph.  It is even more fun to see the cars from out-of-town that don't have a clue what is going on.  And then there are the people you see wandering around town.... "Do you look like that every day or are you a float escapee?"  I saw a kid in boots and wranglers wander by three or four times..... carrying a trombone.  WTF?  We followed a float going 60 towards daycare..... they turned off and we realized there were kids still ON the float.  Yikes. 

Friday night was the usual movie night fun.  Cheese pizza and panda moons (potstickers).  Bugsy was still wandering around saying, "Where.  Daddy?  Where.  Daddy?"

And then, this is crazy, WE GOT CBS.  Wait.  Let me explain.  We have rabbit ears.  Shoved out the window.  We get NBC, FOX & ABC.  If we turn the rabbit ears just right we can get something on channel 10... I can't remember what it is but it has cartoons early on Saturday.  But it hasn't been coming in.  So I turned the ears and tried to scan between channels 9 and 20.  I didn't want to mess up the tv programming for the channels we get on 21 (but wouldn't get if the rabbit ears were turned).  Are you with me?  Did channel 10 show up?  No.  But channel NINE did.  It was CBS.  Wow.  I'm so excited.  Now if I could just align the ears so we could get all the channels at the same time.  Also... if you open the screen door it messes up the tv reception.  I'm not kidding.

Saturday morning my little tv addict (Sweet) was excited about all new cartoons on CBS.  The kids were up at 0-dark-thirty and ready to have a big day.  I painted the closet.  More on that later.  The kids played and played.  They made a lap track in the garage for scooter racing.  We went swimming in the afternoon.  I'm not as thrilled with my new suit as I was originally.  I still like the suit but I guess the problem is I don't like my body.  Who knew?  The two big kids jumped off the diving board over and over.  We tested out the new princess dive sticks.  We swam and swam and played and played.  Everyone was so tired we got home, ate a bite, played a couple of games of Sequence and the kids were in bed at 7:15.  Hot called to tell me he had dinner with our friend (a game warden) so that was fun.

Sunday the kids were up by 6:30 again.  I promise I will have to drag them out of bed on Monday.  I'm the same way.  Why is that?  When I have a fantastic fun weekend I wake up early and enjoy it.... on a workday I can barely drag myself out of bed.  I slapped another coat of paint in the closet while the kids played submarine.  I'm not sure of the rules but they used both laundry baskets, the couch cushions and the ottoman.  We got the house vaguely kicked into order and then we had a date.  My father-in-law took my mother-in-law, me & my kids to afternoon brunch at Izzak's.  It is a great restaurant in Craig.  Yes, we drove an hour to eat.  Then we took the long way home..... gorgeous.  It was a great and relaxing day.  Wish Hot could have been there. 

Then we diddled around.  I have no idea what we did.  We made brownies.  We snacked.  We played Guess Who.  We folded laundry.  I started to put the closet back together.  Finally it was bedtime for the kids and I settled down to work on my latest project... music files.  Specifically.... getting rid of all the duplicate music in iTunes.  Progress.

I"m pretty sure all three kids are in our bed waiting for me to come up.  Hot gets home tomorrow.  Yeah.  I'm tired of being a single parent.  Good night.

I found Elle's dream home.

Ok... it would be her home but my dream.

The house across the way from us is for sale.

They dropped the price by $75k.

If you look closely you can actually see our house in this picture of it.

Come on Elle.... buy it.  The kids can go down the driveway, across our creek (the bridge is already there) and up the hill to my house.  We could even build them a bike trail/ cross country ski trail for it.  Do you see our awesome sledding hill?

The house is big enough for you.  I know all the neighbors.  And behind you is a giant mountain.  The school district is excellent and it is only about 10 minutes to a coffee shop.  We can take the kids swimming at the natural hot springs (and health club) that is only about 5 minutes away. 

This house is on a side road so you aren't even on the main road (like we are).... NO TRAFFIC AT ALL.

Yes, we will have to do some serious remodeling but I know some really good guys (also neighbors) who do custom work.  We can design a beautiful rustic-modern home.

No sales tax.

Excellent skiing (downhill and cross country).

You can have goats and chickens.  And ride the guy next door's horses.

day 23. a photo of your friend as a baby

I got nothing.

Just go back to this post and review.

So sweet.

Another one grows up

Last night was fun.

Tuff lost her first tooth.

Hot pulled it using dental floss... he can't stand it when they are all dangly.

Tuff got "five bucks" out of the deal.... she's excited.

My baby.  Growing up.  Bittersweet.

Change that.

Dinner tonight will be Jade Garden takeout in celebration of Mother's Day.  Early.  Because Hot has to travel for work starting tomorrow and he won't be back until Sunday.

I love Jade Garden.  What a treat.  I only had a little bit of lunch so I will have room.

Meals this week

Elle has this week's menu up.

So I thought I'd share ours.

Monday:  delicious juicy sliders (mini burgers on the George & homemade buns)
Tuesday:  emergency food (chicken nuggets and torillas with cheese)
Wednesday:  Daddy night.  Probably mac-n-cheese or tacos
Thursday:  Daddy is gone.  Mummy Calzones maybe....
Friday:  Daddy is gone.  Kirkland cheese pizza, egg rolls and panda moons from the freezer

Weekend delight:  Daddy is still gone so we will eat things he doesn't like all weekend.

Next week:
Monday: tacos
Tuesday: chicken tender salad
Wednesday: noodles with white sauce
Thursday: paninis
Friday: canned soup and cheese sandwiches and popcorn

We are in that season of life where simple trumps everything.  Hot and I are trying to eat lighter which means, often, caving to what the kids will eat and just having a salad.  It isn't perfect but it works for now.

Game On. Mission Organization

More closet work.

This week(end) we are tackling the "front closet" at our house. 

It is going to SUCK.... so join me.

To the shed go the snowpants (9 pairs in there at last count).  Wash the winter coats.  Shuffle the summer coats down from upstairs.  Tidy the mitten tubs.  Try to talk Hot into thinning out the hat collection.  Triage the water bottle collection.  Label the sunscreen (SPRING 2011).  Deal with snow boots/ mud boots/ cowboy boots/ tennis shoes/ crocs/ sandals/ work shoes/ hiking boots.

I'm really NOT looking forward to this project..... YOU try jamming 5 people worth of living into a 4 foot wide closet. 

Willie or Winkie

Am I getting a niece or a nephew???

Mission Organization: The Makeup Edition

Elle put down the makeup challenge during Clinique Bonus Week which isn't really fair.... Now.... I've been meaning to pick up a Clinique mascara for months and it was in the bonus so, logically, I dropped $42.50 on some fabulous moisturizer with sunscreen (spf 25) to get the bonus.  I know, that's called Homestead Logic.  You should be here when we do Homestead Math.  Anyway....  I was going for sunscreen but the sunscreen they have isn't a moisturizer.... like I'm going to do two steps.  And the tinted one did not match my neon red face.  So the sales lady nixed that option.  (Note:  Wasn't it nice of her to tell me?)

So here it is on the window ledge.  Two bags, a great lipgloss/lipstick thing, a compact with blush and two eyeshadows, a mascara, a moisturizer and a makeup remover.  You can also see the toothpaste (with fabulous binder clip) and the fact that I use a tiny glass jar (in the tin bucket) to corral things... yes, it is from some delicious cheese paste.  I confess to also using these jars for kid drinking glasses and a vase for daisies.

Then we move on to the makeup drawer.  I once swore by Aveda tinted moisturizer in sweet tea and I still like it but I moved on to some Sonia Kashuk stuff at Target for a while.  Then I had some serious work stuff that required the full face so I switched back to Bare Escentuals for work and tinted sunscreen for weekends.  I love sunscreen.  So that's my bare escentuals stuff in the tin on the bottom.  (It's a tin from a set of notecards but I like it.)  In the back there is the tinted moisturizer, some regular moisturizer, some nighttime moisturizer I'm using up and Boots Intense Serum which I like to think is keeping me young.  On the side is my noxema face scrubber (which I actual use mostly to make my sinuses feel good), the tooth pick thingy, pit stick, face wash and... hey.... why are there two pit sticks in there?  Huh.  I should use one up.  I'm still in search of the perfect organizers for this drawer.... the orange thing is part of a candy box from the most delicious candy in the world.  I love to repurpose and I love Le Chatelaine.  But I need more little organizers in this drawer.

On to the makeup bag.  One, two, three.... dump.  What have we here?  Eyebrow pencil/highlighter, green baby toothbrush that has been my eyebrow brush since the 6th grade, eyeliner sharpener, white pencil to color under nail tips, mascara brush for removing clumps, stray purple ponytail holder for Bugsy, pink solid purfume by Pacifica, tweezers, Mary Kay lip stuff, green eyeliner, grey eyeliner, eyelash curler, eyeshadow brushes, blush brush, more stray pony holders, and the most fabulous hair bands ever.

I confess to also having an old Sonia Kashuk "palette for brown eyes" kit that I stash at work.... it has a bit of cover up, some brown eyeshadow/liner, blush & an eyebrow pencil (and it once had lip gloss)... it works on those days I go into the office thinking I have no meetings and discover a lunch date on my calendar.  Target doesn't seem to carry it anymore but they have this which is sort of the same idea.

Oh... here's the Clinique compact.  I got pink.  And see that cute boy in the mirror.  He's wondering why I'm taking pictures of my makeup at 6:45 in the morning.

Bonus.  The rest of my purfume collection.  Velvet tuberose lotion from Bath & Body works... now discontinued.  And Thymes Olive Leaf.

There you have it.  What shall we tackle next?  Is it finally far enough into spring to tackle the inside of my coat closet?  Or should I aim for some other point of denial?  Or should we have two weeks of easy and take a look inside the daycare bag?

Easter Sunday Branding: I'm getting tired now

This has nothing to do with branding..... I just thought it was a nice shot of the house.

Also nothing to do with branding.... nice ride.

Mmmm.... grain truck.

Five left.  Five.  Got enough vaccine?

Generation One.  The Boss.

Again.... Due in September... WTF?

My brother.

Can you see that he singed off his eyelashes on the left side?  Oops... sucks to run the irons there, lefty.

The Boss came out to see what we were doing... think he's dressed warm enough???

Easter Sunday Branding: Various Shots

He would hand her a road apple and she would say "Ew."

Again I tell you.... 5 months.  Due in September.

Babies in Braids.

Hey Playtex.... here's your next sippy cup ad.  Also, check out the awesome waterproof hikers on that kid.... we put in pink shoelaces to class them up.

Redneck Boy

Sweet demonstrating how he jumped to the side to avoid a calf coming out of the chute.

The new Bond Girl....  Nice guns.

Generation Grandpa showing Generation Great-Grandpa how to telescope the calf hook.

Where the saying comes from.... too many irons in the fire.

Banished but still wanting to help.... Sarge.

City folk look at this photo and say, "Cow" or "What is that dangly thing in the background?"  Country people say, "Geez, you have a lot of hay left for it being the end of April...."