Week 2 Plan

Week 2 is here! This weekend I took a vanload of stuff to the donation center...it felt good, but I sometimes still fight the guilt of getting rid of something. "What if we need that?!" It's all good though. I also repainted baby Jif's room and I think this time it's just what I was looking for. I also ordered new fabric (on sale!) for curtains....so cute!

This week I will be focusing on CLOTHES, CRAFTS/HOME DECOR, & FURNITURE. There are a lot of off-season coats & jackets that need to be purged & I'm just going to have to get tough & slaughter my craft stash. Hope I can do it! =) I doubt there will be any furniture leaving, but there isn't a whole lot. (We'll see when I get up there & dig around though!)

Week One - Done!

I can't believe it, but week one is done already & I couldn't wait until Friday to show the before & afters!

Toys before:


Toys after:

(These are not all the toys Peter Pan & Skippy have, just the ones that were shoved up in the attic. BUT all together there is quite a bit less!)

Christmas before:

Christmas after:

(I didn't have a lot in the way of Christmas decorations, etc. so the after isn't a whole lot different but definitely more organized! Going through it all I found things I didn't know I had.)

I do still need to box everything up & head to the donation center; I can't wait to get it out of Jif's room! It was clean & spacious for the first time in a long time & now it's back to being full so I'm ready to have it that way again, even if only for the weekend until week 2 starts. =)

P.A.A.

P.A.A. = Plan of Attack for the Attic.

I will post a plan of attack at the first of the week and progress pictures at the end of the week for the next 4 weeks and I'm counting on you to keep me accountable! =)

Here is the plan for this first week:

Monday: figure out master plan of attack Done!
Tuesday: collect & sort* through toys!
Wednesday: toys again!
Thursday: sort through Christmas decorations
Friday: take pictures & post
first trip to donation center

*Sort means dividing into 3 categories: Keep, Donate, Trash

Nesting

*If you came here from OrgJunkies challenge, please click this link to get to the right post. I don't know how to fix it! Sorry!*



I guess they call it nesting, that weird phenomenon during pregnancy where cleaning & organizing & decorating....Must.Be.Done. I think I'm there. I've already painted baby Jif's room, complete with flowers & birds & bugs (I'm starting to get into the girl thing), I even sewed some valances. But, I don't like it. (I'm blaming my fickleness on this pregnancy ok?) Soooo, I'm going to pick out a better shade of paint & cover up those tacky little flowers & animals and go with something a little more sophisticated & not-so-childish. And maybe sew some more curtains to go with. I also have quite a bit of other sewing I want to do before the baby comes (which by the way will be in about 10 weeks). Not to mention painting walls & a BUNCH of shelves that sweet Farmer is making for Peter Pan & Skippy's room. I have my plate full! But since I am in the nesting stage, I want to get as much done as possible...which brings me to the attic. The over-stuffed, go-to space for any junk stuff that needs to be out of any room in the main house. It's horrible! See....! Oh the shame! =) And not to mention just plain not safe! Org Junkie is starting a challenge today & it goes thru the month of February. I am going to try my hardest to get this attic into tip-top shape this month & enjoy the tips & encouragement Laura has for us challengers! I think my best chance to get this done is to make a plan/list/schedule to try to stick to; that is what I'll be doing the rest of today & tomorrow. If you'd like to join too, click on the button & it'll take you to all the details! There are prizes too!

I do really want to do this & get it done this month but always in the back of my mind I have the thought that I will fail & that I will be a laughingstock for even having tried. I know, I know, I'm trying to overcome things like this in my life so I will be bold and post this & REALLY try to get all of my projects completed.

That should mean plenty of "post"ing material for you faithful readers! =)

P.S. I've been trying to post a short video tour of the attic but I can't seem to get it to upload anywhere! Grrrr!!! Maybe I will be able to post it on my Before & After post on March 1!

We Just Don't Get It

There is one thing that has slowly been seeping into the corners of my thoughts....none of us get It, not really. The lives we're living? They're pretty much a sham. I don't think we realize just what It is that we're missing in the day-to-day "stuff" we call life. THIS is not life. HE is life.

I don't get It. Sure, I believe Jesus is the Way, the Truth & the Life, the only way to the Father, but I still don't get It. I believe in the 10 commandments, but I still don't get It. I believe that we must love God best & first & our neighbors as ourselves, but I still don't get It.

It saddens me to see everyone else missing It too. A lot.



But.



There is Someone who is crazy about me & if I let Him, He will show It to me.

Answers

I love it when God sends answers to questions in ways you weren't expecting!

I have never read through the entire Bible. Sad, but true. I'd heard about the 90-day Bible so I thought I'd give it a shot beginning January 1st. (It's not a resolution, just a great time to start something new!) So far, I've gotten all the way to Joshua & let me tell you, Leviticus was hard! Deuteronomy too! And after reading those books, it just seemed to me like it would have been virtually impossible to live up to the commands & sacrifices & all that God gave His people. So many thoughts about these things were swirling around in my head; what about this? What about that? It's definitely had me thinking. We watched a video (1 within a series) done by Andy Stanley in sunday school this morning; he was talking about the twist the word sin has taken to the word mistake. A lot of the things I had been thinking about/questioning from the old testament were talked about in the video and especially how it connects to Jesus in the new testament. God just made it so clear to me today & I'm grateful that He showed me through an avenue I wouldn't have thought would lead to where it did.

I am not always able to accurately articulate what I'm thinking so I'm hoping all of this isn't confusing. But I wanted to share God's faithfulness with you, His faithfulness even in the little things because it was so cool to be sitting in class thinking, "Thank you Lord for caring about what I'm thinking & learning that you would bring this to me now."

It's just amazing to me.

My Thoughts on baby Jif...

Well, for Christmas we told everyone who baby Jif is going to be, or at least who we were told Jif is going to be! =)

Jif is a girl!

Hmm, I'm not sure what to think about this. I guess this post is more for me to process through the thoughts I'm struggling with today than anything.

Really, is Jif REALLY a girl? I don't believe it! I want to but seriously, I'm having a hard time convincing myself; I want to buy cute pink things, paint flowers on the walls, etc. but girls are so rare in Farmer's family & I really never thought I would have a girl that I'm afraid to do much! It's more the worrying that the prediction is wrong & I'LL look like an idiot for believing it & telling everyone who've been waiting for a girl, than the fact it wouldn't actually be a girl. I'm really struggling with this. And to be clear...if Jif actually turns out to be a boy, I will not be sad. Disappointed that pink & girly wouldn't be in the picture but not sad that it's a boy, it's what I would have expected anyway!

I almost wish we wouldn't have found out! Then I wouldn't be having such a conniption because as anyone who knows me or my family genetics knows, worrying is deeply ingrained in the brain!

And I don't think Farmer & I will ever get a name picked out, this one seems to be so much harder than with Peter Pan or Skippy. And we're still going to have a boy's name ready, just in case!

And I can't even explain how scary I think it is to even raise a girl! The emotions-I've just started getting a little bit of control over my own, how am I going to handle another female's craziness! The physical differences-this will be easier to adjust to but still scary! On and on my brain would go if I let it...

Do you think I'm crazy by now? I'm starting to think I am! Well, anyway, thanks for listening, I needed to get that out of my head & into some concrete form. I'd also be grateful for your prayers! As silly as this may seem to some of you, it's actually quite a big deal to me and I don't want it to be! I want to enjoy these last 3 months!