It's that time of year...

Well, even though Phoenix doesn't officially have a fall, I like to do "fall cleaning" right before I set up my house for autumn decorations and then Christmas decorations a few weeks later.

Gary is going TDY to Florida for 2 weeks (leaving on 10/13) and I thought this would be the PERFECT time for me to get this cleaning done. It will help kill time and all the clutter that has been building up and driving me BONKERS will be gone! I try to do one room a day to keep myself from wearing out (gotta love Fibro) and if I'm feeling good after one room, I just move on to the next room. I actually have a cleaning list that I print out on a monthly basis that has me cleaning one room a day each day of the week but I tend to fall behind on that one thus the need for a fall cleaning!

I know that I've posted these PDFs before but I thought I would share them again.
I have a girlfriend who uses these "lists" to keep her house in immaculate order. They include organization for everything from cleaning to grocery shopping to keeping bills in order. There is even a few blank calendars that you can print out. There is even a vacation and packing planner. They're amazing. When I saw them, I knew I had to have them and she was nice enough to share!

Here are a few examples of what she sent me:

Like I said, these are amazing. If you'd like copies just send me your email address over Facebook or through email and I'll pop them in the (e)mail for you ASAP. If you are already mostly organized or really need to GET organized these are the files for you! 

I hate my kitchen but....

I hate my tiny kitchen. There is barely enough room for Gary and I to work together in there. We have a little dance that we do as we're both working on dinners or scrambling around in the mornings. I wouldn't call it graceful. A bigger kitchen is on my wishlist for our next house - whenever that may be. And before you ask why I'm taking on this project on the weekend, it's because Gary had to work today. I hate when he has to work weekends, but with as much as I had to get done today I'm kinda glad he did have to work. :(

Anyway, clearing out the non-Paleo foods started yesterday. I sent Melia home with a huge tub and two grocery bags full of stuff. Then I cleaned out the pantry and the rest of the cabinets from stuff she didn't want or like old boxes of cereal. What I wasn't thinking about before starting was that this would leave my pantry WIDE OPEN for everything that crowded my kitchen counters.

Ok, now it's messier than usual because I had just gotten home from the store and stuff from the cabinets I was getting ready to toss was still sitting out, but do you see how cluttered it is?? ARGH!

 Here it is with everything put away! We have SO much more counter space. The only thing that's out of place are the two oatmeal boxes on the floor. There is a gap in our cabinetry and Walter likes to get up in there to where I can't reach him and he's so big now I'm afraid he's going to get stuck... hopefully soon I can toss those boxes. Next thing I need to tackle is the fridge. I need Gary home for that though because some of the science fair projects growing in there make me gag if not throw up. :D





p.s. I would love to get rid of that damn toaster oven!
p.p.s. I still have to go through the stuff on the little bar (that I conveniently left out of the picture).

Little of this and that

It's been a while since I've updated. The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind!

Things with me and Gary are going very well. Since my doctor upped my Lamictal my moods have been 99% under control. We've had a few "Meh" moments but nothing to worry about.
It's getting stinking HOT here so we did some summer clothes shopping. Lots of shorts and tees for him and dresses and tanks for me. It's just SO HOT! It's supposed to be 115 today and tomorrow and it's only June... we still have July/August/September to go!

Speaking of September - I booked our airline tickets to go home at the end!!! We'll be gone 9/19 til 9/27. I'm already nervous as crap to fly but I have 3 months and I can't just worry about it the entire time. I have to find somewhere to board Quagmire. I'm hoping our old vet still boards. He's a special needs dog and I really trust them to take care of him properly. We've never gone on vacation without him and this is going to be a long one. I'm going to worry about him the entire time I'm gone and probably drive the vet nuts calling to check on him daily... if not 2 times a day. :D
I'm pretty excited though. Even though Mom and Dad were out here November '10 (wow it's been THAT long?) and Mom was out here last December for my surgery, WE haven't been home in I think July will be 4 years. At that time my sister Lisa was still living in Florida and now she's in Maryland so I finally get to see her and meet 2 of her babies I haven't ever met and 3 I haven't seen in YEARS!!!
It's going to be exciting. We're also going to drive up to NY to visit Gary's family. Yeah, it's going to be a fun trip!

Good thing about living in Phoenix is there is no "Spring" so you can skip Spring Cleaning all together... which has left my house in an atrocious state so I'll be doing that for the next week. Guestroom is done and all I need to finish the computer room and bedroom are 2 bookshelves which I think we're going to run out and get this weekend.
We also need to grab a new printer (our current one is a piece of crap that doesn't work AT ALL now) because I found the cutest little PDF files you can print out to keep you more organized.
Here are some pictures of what I have and if you're interested in any of them let me know via email (rachelcdoyle@gmail.com) and I'll mail them to you to!