Queen of Clean (for a couple hours)

D & I are pretty good at keeping our public areas clean. Recently (the last few months) our master bedroom has been the catch-all. It's awesome working from home, but there's only so much I can do before I must go to sleep. Usually keeping the kitchen clean and semi-caught-up with the laundry is about it. (D does the rest.)

So, here's a real, before picture of our bedroom in late October. I know it looks like we messed it up intentionally. (disclaimer: if you're one of those incredibly organized friends of mine (ahem J.H., M.G., A.G., R.L.) and seeing a *really* messy room might jeopardize your friendship with me, then please, please close this window NOW!!!) :)


Tonight, after returning from dinner with some girlfriends, David and I channeled our energy toward tidying up. :) We still have a small box of stuff to go through (you can see it on the dresser near the window)and a few more items to find homes for, but I think you'll agree...drastic difference! We want to paint the walls behind the bed and the window wall...I just want it to be calming (not red)...any suggestions?



Oh, also organized our bathroom. :) Couple things that helped to clear off the countertop was 1) putting my curlers in the drawer (& David drilling holes in the cabinet to get the cord to an outlet. You can see the drilled hole in the last pic of this post) and 2) installing a hair dryer holster on the side of the cabinet (thx D!).



So, I'm gonna be brave and tell you my next project...maybe I'll actually get it done before spring. :) Kaia's closet (was supposed to clean this the week before her due date, but that's when she decided to join us). What's yours?

Girl Time!

What a fabulous weekend so far! Friday night was going to kickoff with some girls from work, sitting out on Kristin's patio (heated), eating, drinking and chatting. Too many people canceled, so we'll be picking a new date. :) My friend Melissa texted a bunch of us on Thursday for a movie night on Friday - ALL of us were able to make it! We had amazing food (choc covered nuts and cherries, hummus, rock-hard rice krispies, ...), watched a heart-warming movie (Fried Green Tomatoes), and had lots of chatting & laughter. Most of these ladies go to bed far earlier than I...we couldn't believe it was nearly 1am when we said goodbye!

Tonight (Saturday) was another girls' night - planned a couple months ago. Six of us met up at Olive Garden (along with 2 cute infants who were wonderful the whole time). We had a great time re-connecting over a 2 hour dinner and having a little break from the kidos (thanks to all our guys!).

I felt so energized, I came home and David and I "tore it up" cleaning the house. Check out the next post...I'm even going to post a before picture (gulp!).

Sorry no pics - gotta get in the blog-mindset.

Inreach

Our small group had our third inreach yesterday. For those of you not in our small group, the concept of an inreach unfolded when discussing various outreach possibilities earlier in the year. The idea was that while we were out in the community helping and loving strangers, why don't we also spend energy helping eachother in the same way. So instead of an outreach, we birthed the start of the INreach. So, I put together a schedule where once a month, everyone in the small group goes to one of the small group family's houses and does any random chores or odd jobs that the family needs doing.

So, yesterday's was at the Ross' home. It was a beautiful day with some rain sprinkling here and there. We helped move lots of stuff and get rid of things that the Ross' didn't need any longer. Their neighbor coincidentally had rented one of those giant trash bins and graciously allowed us to use it. So we filled it with all kinds of jazz. While some of us were doing that, others were pulling weeds and still others were painting inside the home.

I can't tell you how beautiful it is to see people give of their time to help their fellow brother. There we were doing work that we all dislike doing (especially pulling weeds) and yet we were there on a beautiful Sunday afternoon working our rear off, but smiling and laughing the entire time. It was unusually enjoyable.

It's strange how when you're doing something in love for a person that you love, even pulling weeds becomes fulfilling.