WHAT? You glued PAPER to the Floor???!!!???

Yup.  I glued paper to the floor!  AND I'll do it again!

Miz Aisey enjoying the paper bag floor from her penthouse suite.

I'm so excited to say that the floor in the front part of the basement is almost officially complete.  I have three coats of Poly to put down, but that'll be done tomorrow.

We ended up using more than one role of contractor's paper as well as some paper bags, packing paper and some other brown paper Dad was able to supply us!  I wanted to make certain it was all done in one day as I had taken vacation to work on this project and had a schedule that I needed to follow!

Today, I put three coats of Poly on the floor . . . tomorrow will be the final three!  Then, it'll be time to install the trim, repaint the walls, sand the steps (and restain 'em) and FINALLY move my office!

I LOVE how the floor looks and have to laugh when I think of all of the comments and odd looks I received when I said I was going to glue paper bags to the floor!

The 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge ~ Sea Shells!

I had a huge baggie of sea shells and sea glass from one of my trips to Myrtle Beach to visit Heather.  This baggie would continuously get in the way and I'd move it . . . and then forget about it.

Then, I decided on the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. 

The baggie is gone!

Miss Mia and I actually made a craft project out of them!  She loved picking up the smallest of the shells and saying in this cute, tiny voice "Look at the little babies!"

Thank you 40 bags in 40 days for another excuse to spend quality time with Miss Mia (and for a chance to make a mess for the Husband to clean!).

40 Bags in 40 Days!

I began emptying my house of 40 bags of stuff on Wednesday!

It is already making me feel a little better!

I put Miz Aise in her bouncy chair today . . . we'll be saying bye bye to the chair within the 40 days as well!  Poor tyke is looking like a giant in the thing.  I know she didn't look so big sitting in it last week!

Our baby clothing will be going to goodwill or yard sales as Tiff had a boy (yah!  she had her baby!).

Today's bag:  Grandma S's containers = an entire bag of the plastic containers went back to her today!  (The Hubby had been putting them in our already overly full cupboards).

 

Purge!

Last year at this time, I was starting to gain back my energy that the first few weeks of pregnancy has wiped out.  I was also starting to get in the PURGE! mood. 

Then, I watched something on the news one evening where people were reducing everything in their lives.  I loved the feeling I got from watching that segment and made it my goal to attempt to reduce everything in my life by half (although, no one has yet to give me an answer on my biggest question - if I only have one husband and I need to reduce EVERYTHING in my life by half . . .).

In the weeks that followed, I celebrated many small victories.  I had tons of bottles of shampoo that I had started to use and set aside after becoming bored with the scent.  These all were mixed together and I used the shampoo cocktail in my daily showers.  It still sudsed up and my hair was just as clean.  Plus, it was great to see my shelves empty of products!  Old and mismatched socks were tossed.  Clothing I'd been hanging on to from my skinny days went to the Salvation Army, Mary Kay samples were shipped to friends everywhere.  Victory.  Victory.  Victory.  Each item leaving this house was a small victory against clutter.

I'm ready to do this again this year.  I missed the 111 items in 1/11, so I'll be trying the 40 bags in 40 days for Lent idea . . .

The goal.  So Simple.  Remove 40 bags of STUFF from my house in 40 days.  Bags could be any size, just NOT ALL Ziploc Sandwich bag size.  Bags can be destined for the garbage, Goodwill or a friend's home.

Some ideas already:
1.  Mary Kay Samples to the Gals @ work
2.  Clean out the fridge
3.  Office paperwork
4.  My clothing (again!)
5.  The hubby's clothing
6.  Miss Mia's clothing
7.  Miz Aise's clothing (c'mon Tiff, have that baby . . . . we have girl's in newborn - 3 months!!!!)
8. The basement!!!!!  (right there would be my 40 bags!)
9.  BoxTops labels for school
10. Campbell's Labels for school (I noticed the piles of 9 and 10 have recently reached the uncontrollable stage)
11.  Miss Mia's toys (she has stuff with which she and Miz Aisey will never play, so let's get it gone!)
12.  My books!!!!!! 
13.  Medicine cabinets
14.  the pantry - hey, I can always cook some stuff up and take it in bags to work, sharing with my coworkers!

Along with the purging, I'm trying to use up the miscellaneous items that are half empty, to include the lotions that lost favor, the razors I disliked, etc.  I know my husband is notorious for starting new containers prior to finishing up the old ones - I think we have 4 tubes of diaper cream all over half empty.  SIGH.  Maybe I should start a goal of 40 lessons to teach the Hubby????

Now, it's time to get out those 40 bags and prepare to start filling them over the next few weeks!

~ Jaime

Subway Art

I love subway art.  I've been working at one and like how it turned out but know that it needs a lot more work as I forgot some key words.  I'll keep this one framed until I get one exactly right!

Miss Mia's ABCs

Miss Mia drew a "circle" ~ something she loves to do!  It's amazing how much and how quickly she is learning!

Miss Mia has been really fascinated lately with her ABCs.  She also love to "write" and color.  So, I decided to grab some page protectors, print out some ABCs from a homeschooling website, and toss them in a book. 

Our plan is to have fun and let her learn at her own pace.  We currently like to trace the letters and color.  I chose red for this lesson as apples are red.  We use dry-erase pens, called magic pens.  She is almost as fascinated with how easily her tracings are erased with a dry cloth as she is with creating the actual letter. 

Mommy:  What letter is this?

Miss Mia:  YAYAA!!!!!

~ I couldn't really tell her no as we always say "A is for Amelia".  She also looks at the letter T and states it is Tia and D is Dada!

Baby Quilt Preview

The front and back of a burp cloth made from same flannel as the quilt I'm currently making.

My friend has requested a baby quilt for a baby girl who will be making her debut in January.  Although the burp cloth is all girly, I'm only doing some pink.  The flannel is so soft and so warm.  I am loving it . . . but I'll be good and let her have it.