Tackle It Tuesday: The Beds

Anyone who has ever read my blog, old one and this one, knows that there has been an ongoing battle with the bedroom space in our little house. I went back and counted at least six different posts about different bedroom changes in the just over two years I have been blogging.


And yet, here's another. But I think (or at least, hope) that this may be the last one for quite awhile. Noah had been asking for a desk in his room for quite a long time but his room was way too tiny. The room upstairs is huge and runs the length of the house but for reasons I will not go into here, he will NOT sleep upstairs, so we couldn't move him up there. So a few weeks ago, Steve and I came up with the idea for a loft bed for him. Here is the set up of his bed before....a top of a bunk bed from my parents, which we love, but had lots of unused space underneath for such a small bedroom.

Knowing it was quite impossible to do himself, he enlisted the help of Ron, Deb's husband. Although he was not a willing participant at the beginning, you could tell after they got going that they found their stride.
The day became a flurry of activity, and not always in such a nice way.

As soon as we got home from church and lunch was done, the boys and I set to work with the initial preparation, which included moving ALL toys out of Noah's room and upstairs to Aaron's, which was already a MASSIVE pig sty. It became clear that rather than sorting through toys, it would be necessary to spill EVERY toy that we owned into a huge pile in the middle of the room and start from scratch.


At least one room was completely cleared.














Now let me just say that I have started having really bad PMS for the last few months lately(which I will be addressing at my annual in a couple of months) and this Saturday was the peak of this month. The poor kids didn't know what was coming :(

Add on top of that two little boys who really didn't want to spend the day cleaning their room. There was indeed screaming, crying, toy throwing, and other unpleasantness happening. But four hours later, Aaron's room was complete, with his new bed (Noah's old top bunk) in place.





Then, it was time to go see how progress was going on the actual construction of Noah's new loft.

It was pretty cold outside so I changed my mind about wanting Noah to be involved in some of the construction but that didn't stop the boys from wanting to go outside and watch a little of the construction before I brought them in to settle in for a movie after the trauma of cleaning we had endured.

After a pizza break for dinner, the big boys were finally ready to bring the pieces inside to begin to put it all together in the bedroom.

From that point on, it seemed as if things went pretty fast. Actually, to me, I felt that they cooked along at a pretty good pace all day.

Due to the time change, bed time came earlier than anyone expected and by 7:30 I was rounding kids up for bed, but having a small dilemma of where to put everyone to sleep. Aaron was SOOOO excited to go to bed in his new bed but Noah's loft was still a shell standing in his room.



So I put him to bed in our bed, knowing full well that it was pretty unlikely that he would be able to fall asleep with the drill going strong next to him and the saw going outside. And I'm still not sure if he actually fell asleep or not. But around 9:30 PM, about 7 hours after they started with a pile of wood and a sketch on paper, it was done! I still can't believe they got the whole thing done in seven hours.

And it is very sturdy. It even held me :)

And after waking (?) Noah up and moving him into his new bed, I waited for him to fall asleep before beginning the process of moving shelves, toys, etc, back into his room. It took Minnie (the cat) about 30 seconds to settle into a new home under the bed since she could no longer go lay next to her buddy anymore.

The next morning, both boys had to take turns posing from atop the bed. And Monday night, as I understand it, the boys were actually excited to go to bed in their new beds. One of the things that made me happy was that BOTH boys got new beds of sorts and Aaron loves his bed so much that he goes up during the day just to lie in it.














Of course, now MY part of the job starts. It will probably take me at least a month to sand it all down, fill in the screw holes with wood putty, and stain it, but I think I will wait until it gets warmer so I can have the windows open. Which means, folks, that there will most likely be even more posts in the future about this bed.

Wondering if anyone made it to the end of this post, but I'm at least glad that I have the event documented. Now to get off the computer and head out to buy balloons to stick on hubby's car to surprise him for his birthday today. See you all later :)

Tackle It Tuesday: Hubby's Tackle

This week's Tackle It Tuesday is actually Steve's. One of the things we noticed about our house seven years ago when we first looked at it was the MAJOR lack of closet space. We have made do the best we could, but it still remains a challenge. I have to use the front hall closet as my clothes closet and Aaron does not have a closet in his room at all.

About three years ago, we solved the no-closet problem in Aaron's room (I think it was Noah's room at the time. I don't know, they have changed so many times) by adding a second rod in the closet in Noah's room. Now each of the boys' clothes have a rod.

So this weekend, as clothes had created a mound beyond all comprehension on our bedroom floor, Steve decided to do something about it.

Here is the closet before the reconstruction. Notice we have tried to solve the problem with a set of hooks on the wall for his work clothes. That did help a little, but there are still things spilling out into the bedroom.











So while we were trying to find other things to do all weekend, hubby hung out in the closet. At this point, he was actually still smiling. That was not to last :(














The mound of stuff was temporarily moved to the bed during demolition and construction.












As with everything we try to do in our old house, this project had some hidden obstacles. After Steve was done tearing out the shelf and the rod that was already there, he noticed plaster starting to fall out. As he progressed to trying to drill holes for the new rods, entire chunks of plaster came out, creating big holes in the wall. He finally figured out a way to jerry rig some wood to hold up the second rod and it seems to be holding for now. Hopefully we won't have he whole thing come crashing down in the middle of the night and scare us to pieces at some point.



Here is the final product. Pretty good, huh? Next weekend, we will be attacking the huge carpet remnant in our basement and making it fit into this bedroom so we have some semblance of decent carpet in this room. It should make quite an interesting Tackle It post next week.










Stay tuned...






Have a good Tuesday!

Tackle It Tuesday: Housework and Books

In preparation for my MIL to visit Friday afternoon, I went psycho in house cleaning mode on Friday morning. I got rooms done that hadn't been taken care of in ages, including finding our bedroom floor which hadn't been done in quite a long time (I think ever since I hid Christmas presents in there back in December.)

I also found a way to tackle SOME of the book dilemma in our house. Noah's bed is actually the top part of a bunk bed that my parents gave us awhile back. It sits about 2 feet off the floor with a border all the way around. We had an ongoing problem of whenever he would have reading time in his bed, he would take a pile of books to his bed, and then just drop them on the floor when he was done.

My first solution was to divide them into nice baskets at the end of his bed, but they seemed to be in his way when it was time to go to bed at night.














A couple of weeks back, I shared with you a tackle that I got out of the Family Fun magazine. I had also seen an idea from that same magazine about a way to handle books in bunk beds, and after much finagling on the part of my husband, we made it work. We attached a window box holder to the end of his bed.


Now whenever Noah is reading in bed at night, or Aaron at quiet time (yes, they both use that bed at different times), they can sit and look at books and they can go right back into the flower box when they are through with them.







We still have the problem upstairs with overflowing books, but like I've stated before, is there a better problem to have than books that are read TOO OFTEN?

Have a great Tuesday!

Tackle It Tuesday: The Animal Zoo

I haven't actually posted a REAL Tackle It Tuesday in awhile, probably because most of my tackles lately have been personal, not house related. But I tackled several real projects around the house last week.

I have tried so many different ideas to try to corral the growing stuffed animal population in our household.

I have tried to sell them in garage sales, but most of them seem to find their way back into our house before the three day sale is over.

I have tried hanging them, but it doesn't work because the kids love to actually play with the animals, not just look at them.


I also tried a huge hamper. THAT didn't work because they were just overflowing the bin and I still needed another spot.

















Then I saw an article in the family fun magazine last month. I usually see these great ideas in that magazine, but never get around to actually following through on the ideas.

Then I went upstairs to try to start sorting Aaron's room, preparing for our garage sale in a few weeks. Want to know what the first thing I saw was?



















I am thrilled that my boys love to sit and look at books for a long time, but they NEVER seem to make it back on the shelf.

So I wondered if it might be time to try that idea I saw to corral the stuffed animal in one spot and figure out a new solution for the books.

Aaron was fascinated when I headed upstairs with a hammer, nails, and the glue gun (of course).

I started by nailing piece of elastic to make "bars" for the cage.




Here is Aaron "helping" with the nailing process














Then I used the glue gun to cover the nails with beads that I got out of our craft cabinet.














Next came time to start piling the animals into their new home.














And I even sent a picture of the finished product to the magazine.



















I still need to figure out a solution to the book problem. For now, they are in baskets on the floor, making them accessible to the kids, but easily picked up off the floor.














I am quite proud of this tackle. I would love to hear any suggestions you have for the book dilemma. What a great problem to have, huh?

Have a great Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday: A Necessary Change

I know Tackle It Tuesday is supposed to be about housework. But I feel like I need to make an important change so I am going to blog about it, simply to try to keep myself honest. If I truly make it three months, I will be shocked, but I want to make a worthy attempt.

A little background:

Last year at my annual, I had mentioned several problems I was having. As a result and after many expensive tests, a diagnosis came down and I went on hormones. My life improved drastically, other than about a ten pound weight gain pretty much immediately.

Three weeks ago I went to fill my last month and found out that the hormone prescription ran out. I decided to see what a month without them would be like before getting back to the doctor, for many reasons. It has been an interesting experiment.

I am also trying to make the decision about finding a new doctor or sticking with the same. Either way, I will be facing many more expensive tests that I can't afford, which is one of the many reasons I have been putting it off. I also have gained quite a bit of weight this year, which another thing that I haven't wanted to face, but I know it is time to deal with it.

I am not a good eater. At one point I was a lifetime member at Weight Watchers, but that was before Noah was born and I can guarantee I will never see that weight again.

Nor am I a good exerciser. SO many excuse, but the truth is that I am just a bit too lazy to find the time...yup, I admit it.

But I need to start making some changes. After being up all night in misery from the cramps I am suffering, I know I need to make some changes, but haven't been sure where to start.

I have thought of one. All of you "good" people who are being conscious of diet and exercise out there may not see it as much, but I think it will be a good start for me. Here it is:

I am a habitual diet coke drinker...both with and without caffeine. I have been reading more and more studies that are suggesting that drinkers of diet sodas have a 41 percent higher chance of being overweight. I am not sure if it's true or not, but it is a scary finding nevertheless.

So my first baby step into a world of a healthier me is going to be to try to replace diet soda with water in my day.

I have also read somewhere that it takes 21 days to create a new habit of anything. Will I make it 21 days? I really can't say. I suffer from a serious lack of will power, so I am reaching out the blog world for my support. I have posted a ticker on the side to try to keep myself honest.

Wish me luck my friends. It's going to be a bumpy ride, but I have to believe that it will put on the road to changing other bad habits and eventually becoming a healthy person that I can be proud of when I look in the mirror, rather than ashamed.

Wish me luck!

Have a great Tuesday.

Tackle it Tuesday: Pillows

As you read this, I am probably sitting around at the resort pool or out finding something fun to with the family on our day off from the Disney Parks.

Although all of last week was one BIG tackle getting ready for our trip, I did do one "somewhat" crafty thing to get ready.

Knowing that I was going to pick the boys up and throw them in the car at 4:00 in the morning, I wanted to have pillows for them. I went to Target to get body pillows, but each pillow was $10 and then each pillowcase was ANOTHER $10 apiece. I figured that there was no way I was going to pay $40.

I bought the pillows and decided that I could figure out a way at home to cover them.
I do not own a sewing machine, nor would I know what to do with one if I did. I took one home ec class in 6th grade, but I got the thread mixed up so many times on the sewing machine that the teacher kicked me off, and I have been scared of them ever since.
So here I sit with two HUGE pillows that are being currently eaten by the Mutt (formerly known as the cat, Pumpkin) and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on fabric that I wasn't sure what to do with.















So I headed to the "linen closet" which is actually a very small hall closet STUFFED FULL with unmatched sets of sheets for many different sized beds, including ones that we don't even own anymore. (I guess that could be another tackle some time in the future...huh?) I pulled out two sheets that I didn't think we would use anymore and laid them out in the living room.

I was thinking that it would take FOREVER to hand sew these big huge pillowcases. So what else could I use?









How about the glue gun? When I was growing up, my mom had a major obsession with her glue gun, and glued EVERYTHING. We made fun of her constantly for it, which is why it is so funny that I have become so active with mine.















I spread out the pillow and sheet, inside out, and started on the long side, gluing the pieces together. Then I did the end and stuck the pillow inside. The sheet was about 18 inches too long and it kind of looks like a scene from CSI.















So Thursday night, I decided to try another idea. It was given to me by a friend of mine on my facebook page. What about if I took two regular pillow cases and merged them together (again with the glue gun)?









It worked so much better and I finished BOTH pillow cases in less than fifteen minutes.












Of course, Aaron hindered the process a tad when he decided he liked them just the way they were an d he NEEDED to lay on them in the hallway at that exact moment. Aaron decided to make a bed out of them right in the middle of the hallway.









I guess I will let you know when we get home home how the pillows actually worked out, but I was proud of how someone as UNCRAFTY as myself actually figured out a solution to my problem without spending money.

Have a great Tuesday.

The Strangest Tackle

I bet I will win the award for the strangest tackle you will see today.

Let me explain.

As anyone who has read me lately knows, we are now less than three weeks until we leave for our vacation to Florida and three days of Disney World in the midst.

For the last few weeks, I have been trying to assess our warm clothes situation trying to figure out what we will need. A few weeks ago I posted about the shorts situation for Noah. I have found three pairs for him, and that should be plenty since we have a washer and dryer in the condo.

I also had to tackle Steve's shorts, since he only has three pairs, and one needed a new button, which I took care of yesterday. (See, I actually DO have one domestic bone hiding somewhere in my body ).

So the big tackle this week was shirts.

Now I know a lot of people think this is going a little far, but I read about this idea several years ago and I have made use of it ever since.

Whenever we go to a place with large crowds, I always dress us alike. It is not necessarily for the "cuteness" factor, although I do think it is cute. It is more for safety. When we are in a crowd of thousands of people, or are going to be be really spread out, it is easier to find my kids is they are dressed similarly, then we can find them more quickly. And if Steve and I are dressed in the same color, they can find us quicker as well.

So in preparation for several days in some of the largest theme parks in the world (I can only assume), I have been working to put together several color matched schemes. The funniest was that the first color I did was green, and I forgot that we are going to be there during St. Patrick's Day...kind of funny)

So, other than finding a white shirt for me, I did it. Five piles of color matched outfits.

I still have to tackle prayers that ANY of my capris from last year will fit. I have put on quite a few pounds this winter :(

If you have any other ideas that have worked for you for keeping your family together in large or crowded places, I would love to hear them. And if you have ever done this color match as well, please let me know so I know I am not the only crazy person out there.

Happy Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday: Two First Days

Both last Thursday and yesterday, I had "firsts" in the morning. And both days, I accomplished a ton of stuff in the first few hours of the day.




Let me share them with you.





As I mentioned last week, I disabled my facebook account Wednesday night and I learned the next morning just how much of my housework I had been neglecting because of the computer addiction from which I was suffering.

In two and half hours, I managed to:

Clean and vacuum the living room













Unload the dishwasher













Dismantle and scrub all of the pieces of the stove














De-clutter and disinfect the kitchen counter (I wish I had a before shot...it was bad!)











Scrub the bathroom floor



















Dust all of the end tables in the living room













Wash, dry, and fold three loads of laundry



Has anyone else noticed that every time I post a picture that was taken in my living room, there is always a cat lazing around somewhere in the picture?






Have enough patience to let Aaron mix the eggs for lunch.

















As I also mentioned, I decided to pull Aaron from preschool. So the first morning home we decided to tackle his upstairs bedroom. On Saturday when the boys were playing upstairs, Noah came down and said

"Mommy, the whole thing just fell down!"

I knew what he meant but I never went up to investigate because I didn't want to see. So when I went up Monday morning, this is what I found:














After about an hour and a half of ONCE AGAIN, sorting toys, moving furniture, etc. I ended with this:














So I guess both of the "first" mornings were quite productive. I actually am a little worried about not getting as much done now that Aaron will be home in the mornings, but instead, I will choose to enjoy these next few months of enjoying spending time with him.




P.S. How is your carnival craze coming? I have found a few favorites.