Meal Time Conversation September 2, 2009

Our 4 kids constantly provide us amusement (when they are not making us pull our hair out & lose our voices) with their questions, -isms, pretend worlds, etc. Since I am having a rather challenging day, I thought it would be good for me to revisit & share a recent meal time conversation so I can refocus my mind with a humorous event.

There are a few bits of information that you must know before you read the actual conversation:
1) I am reading Proverbs nightly to our children corresponding to the day of the month.
2) Proverbs gives many warnings against marrying a “contentious” or “nagging” wife.
3) DH always tries to be funny, but doesn’t always pull it off.
4) I always try to out-do him with a comeback.
5) Children process information very differently.
6) I’ve recently stopped taking Singulair as it was causing me anxiety & depression and it’s withdrawal symptoms were worse than when taking the medication.

DH: “How are your feeling?”
Me: “Much better. The anxiety thankfully went away after only a few days.”
DH: “Well (pause) you’re still very contentious.”
Me: “Hey, it’s not my fault you didn’t read your Bible (before we got married).”
DH & Me: [Laughter]
9yo son (to DH): “What? You had a Bible?”

As a famous comedian says, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

And thanks to my prayer warrior friends; tempers calmed, behavior improved, and we had a very productive day!

Praise God’s Awesomeness August 25, 2009

This was the dark ominous sky above me as I began painting the 2nd coat on my back patio this afternoon.

Exhausted & sore from yesterday’s first coat, I silently cried out to God. I know my painting my patio is insignificant & it seems rather selfish to ask You to do such an awesome work for a deeply flawed individual like me for such a meaningless task, but please God, hold back the rain. I am powerless against your Creation, but I know You, the Creator & I believe that You can hold back the rain & that if You will hold back the rain I will share Your awesomeness to bring glory & honor to Your name.”

The dark sky hung right over my roof….the center stretched toward the ocean. It should have poured, but it didn’t. God held back the rain, so that I could share how awesome God the Creator is & how awesome His power over His Creation is.

2009-2010 Homeschool Year August 19, 2009

I wasn’t aware of this when I posted my update this morning. So I am editing my post a tad & linking up to share & participate.

Local public schools will be in full swing next week. And even though we are homeschooling on a year-round basis and are not on the public school schedule, out of habit we tend to evaluate, make curriculum changes, & refocus during the summer. (Might have something to do with attending the curriculum convention in July too!)

A book was mentioned in a seminar (2 books actually, but I’ve only managed to find the 1st one) at that homeschool convention I attended in July, Discover Your Child’s Learning Style. Words cannot do this book justice. It has been so helpful to me already. I did the profile on myself first & that was big eye-opener. Let’s just say something I viewed as a vice in myself, is actually part of my mental processing & learning style. It seems so obvious now, but I really guilted myself about it for…well…all my life.

As for the children, I have completed 3 of the 4 profiles. I started to work the final profile, on son #2, but he was not in the right frame of mind & we got nowhere. But the words written about my oldest sons dominant learning style could not have been truer. Again, another set of things we viewed as vices and tried wrongly to eradicate in him.

As for M & Q: M scored a 10 out of 10 on the Performer Learning Style & Q scored an 8 out of 10 in the same. So, they don’t just like dressing up as princesses or pretending to be animals (M actually gets on her knees & howls at the moon), but this role-playing is a big part of how they learn.

Can you see how/why this is great information to have?

This year we have made some big changes to our curriculum.

After 4 years of using Horizons Math for my boys & attempting to use it for my oldest girl, we are switching. Actually, I have been waiting patiently for about two years to try Teaching Textbooks. Well, it’s finally out for 4th & 5th grade. The boys tried the online samples and were begging for it! They were begging to do math? Who stole my children & replaced them with math-enjoying aliens?

For my girls, I purchased the manipulatives for Math U See. We bought the Primer & Alpha DVDs & Teacher’s Manuals last year. I wanted to see if it would interest anyone before I became completely financially invested. My youngest loves to watch Mr. Demme. She was asking for the blocks all year, so I decided to give it a try. Neither girl is interested in workbook math. I’ve long suspected that Q knows more than she will let on during a workbook session. She’s been caught several times lately adding things she’s never been “taught” to add. She’s practically doing multiplication. M is paying attention and following in her footsteps.

We’re trying Mystery of History this year, Volume II. We skipped Volume I since we have focused on that part of history for 2-3 yrs now and really need to move on.

Our 2009-2010 Curriculum Summary:
Math: Teaching Textbooks, 4th & 5th grade (boys I & G, respectively) and Math U See Primer & Alpha (girls M & Q, respectively)
History: Mystery of History Vol. II
Science: Creation Geology (pub. by Media Angels) & the In The Hands of a Child complementing project pack and World of Plants (AiG)
Character: Developing Godly Character in Children
Literature Study: Heir of the Forgotten Realm (Tweener Press)
Handwriting: Classical Cursive Book I (the boys)
Critical Thinking: Visual Perceptual Skill Building Book I & Book II (girls)
Latin: Prima Latina (We started this 2 yrs ago, but now I think the boys are ready to do the actual workbooks. Girls love to be involved & recite the prayers & memorize the words too.)

MISC: I am also looking at All About Spelling, various reading & language arts programs, typing, & finding more ways to incorporate fun into our learning & our lives. And just for fun, we are going to do the Hot Diggety Dog lapbook (the semi-annual Freebie) from In the Hands of a Child. I am hoping that this will be a really good experience, full of fun & intrigue, so that we can do more lapbook projects. I love the concept, but I hated doing all the work. At first glance (last year), I thought Pre-made lapbooks were too expensive, but I’m starting to see their value.

Community Service: Another family project this year (and forever) will be in politics. I am in the process of helping to establish 2 groups for young voters (1 for teens, 1 for 18-40). Since my oldest son has had a long desire to be president and his brother has a desire to serve in his brother’s cabinet, I sat them down to see if they would be my helpers in these endeavors. Of course, the girls were anxious to offer their help too. And by the 2012 election, my boys will be 13 & 14 and my girls will be 9 & 11. That makes me want to cry because it seems so far off, but it will be here before I know it.

Additional Goals:

• To learn about our Spiritual Gifts and how to use them for to the Glory of God.
• To develop Godly & Christ-like character, in our home & in public.
• Hide more of God’s Word in our hearts.
• Learn to be more loving & effective in correcting my children.
• Make personal sacrifices & eliminate wasteful tasks in my life.

About The Students:

• G is a 10yo boy in 5th grade
• I is a 9yo boy in 4th grade
• Q is a 7yo girl in 1st grade
• M is a 5.5yo girl in Kindergarten

Adventures in Couponing July 11, 2009

“Guess how much I paid for the milk?” I dared my husband as I lugged the two gallon jugs from the evil SUV into the house.

Failing to match my enthusiasm, he replied, “I dunno. How much?”

Undeterred by his lack of understanding of the pivotal nature of the situation, I proudly said, “8 cents.”

The “Online Coupon Sites” post at The Happy Housewife got me thinking that I should list the steps I took to get from Frustrated Occasional Coupon User to Excited Coupon User (who just paid 8 cents for two gallons of milk!) before I get so far into this that I forget how I got here.

I love saving money & getting awesome deals, so why did it take me so long to get serious about couponing?

Yes, I am a complete coupon novice. This is my 3rd week using coupons & other deals to save some serious money at the grocery store. Over the past several months I have been inspired by bloggers like Toni (The Happy Housewife) and all of the ladies who link up to Meal Plan Monday at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Still, there was the obstacle in between being inspired and actually saving money. I needed coupons. I had given up on the useless (to me) coupons in the newspaper & the tiring chore of thumbing thru circulars. It had never gotten me anywhere in the past, except frustrated.

So, here’s what happened:

1) A friend told me about Southern Savers.
2) Got a coupon education at Southern Savers. Learned about CVSing. Signed up with Coupons.com, Smartsource.com, CoolSavings.com & a few hundred other sites (I might be exaggerating but it doesn’t feel like it).
3) Interrogated children ages 10, 9, 6 & 5 about their favorite foods & meals.
4) Made my 1st ever weekly menu plan for our family of 6.
5) Made a list of all the manufacturers I could think of, visited their websites*, signed up and/or printed coupons (some are being mailed to me).
6) Used the online circular at Publix to make a list from the BOGO’s & sale items.
7) Combined store deals & coupons to save almost $60 my first week, over $70 my 2nd week, & $52 today (my 3rd week) & reduce my overall grocery bill.

My list is by no means exhaustive, but this is how I got my jump start into couponing. I’m still learning (and there’s a lot to learn), but I now look forward to making my menu plan, making my grocery list, & handing over my coupons to the cashier. When I get a little frustrated or worried that my plan isn’t coming together, I’m learning to take it all in stride, knowing that some weeks will be better than others. In time I know that it will require less effort for me to reap the same rewards. And it sure beats going to the store 5,6,7 times each week.

Oh, the 8 cents for two gallons of milk…I used my CVS Extra Care Bucks ($5.50) that printed July 1st, which I earned by filling mine & my son’s allergy prescriptions in the 2nd quarter.

*Here are some of the manufacturers & other coupon sites I registered with and/or printed coupons from:
Arnold Bread
Conagra
Kashi
Start Making Choices
Betty Crocker
Everyday Eating
Kraft
Nestle
Proctor & Gamble (Note: P&G have another site that links up with certain store cards & stores your P&G coupons on those cards. Doesn’t work in my area & coupons are not printable from their site.)
Scott
Blue Bunny
Box Tops 4 Education (Note: I homeschool, but I was able to link up to support the school of my choice…in my case I choice a local Christian school.)
Dunkin’ Donuts
Eat Better America
Pillsbury

Meal Plan Monday – 7.6.09 July 5, 2009

Can you hear that? It’s the Bangles singing, “It’s just another manic Monday….” . Actually, that would be my Friday (7.3.09). I know! I know! Who has “manic” Fridays? Oh, oh, pick me, pick me!

I better get to my menu for this week, my 2nd meal plan in my entire life, before my brain goes on strike. And this is my modified menu from what I originally had planned because when I said we were having pizza on Friday, my husband took that to mean we were ordering out…you know, I’ll just paste an email conversation at the bottom on this for anyone interested in seeing how crazy my Friday was. You need a good laugh, right? You won’t see why or how my menu changed, but trust me, it all started on Friday.

Breakfasts: Pancakes, toast, or Special K; chocolate milk, hot cocoa, coffee.

Lunches: Mac n Cheese, Chicken, Mozzarella sticks, Rice and leftovers.

Dinners:

• Monday – Tortellini & homemade breadsticks
• Tuesday – Chicken, Fries, & Mozzarella Sticks (kids) Bertolli’s OvenBake Ravioli Dinner (dh & me) (Cub Scouts bottle rocket night)
• Wednesday – Fettuccine Alfredo & homemade breadsticks
• Thursday – Rotini with broccoli & sun-dried tomatoes & homemade breadsticks
• Friday – FROZEN pizza
• Saturday – Spaghetti noodles with Parma Rosa sauce & homemade breadsticks
• Sunday – Leftovers

On some levels, I see that as a really pitiful menu, so much pasta, but such is life. I’ll cook up some vegies & chicken breasts to go along.

Don’t forget to check out the hundreds of other menu planners linked up at I’m An Organizing Junkie.

Dialog about my “manic” Friday

Friend: “I am not sure what you meant about “After the day I’ve had ( see below )” follows up with? “

Me:“LOL I was so tired that I didn’t get into the explanation of just what a day I had had. I had gotten very little sleep because I stayed up late trying to get my coupons printed & organized, and my meal plan in order & my grocery list completed. I wanted to go shopping 1st thing Friday morning. But I finally gave up on that desire & finally went to bed. I woke up at 7am because I couldn’t sleep knowing I still had all this work to do to get ready to go shopping. I worked on it for 3 hrs and finally headed out to do my Dollar Store & CVS run. Then I came back home (I got free milk at CVS) to drop off that stuff. Then [Q] decided she wanted to go with me to Publix. I knew better, but I let her go. I figure she has to learn to endure even when you’d rather be home already. The Publix trip took longer with her in tow…and her constant “Are we done yet?” At least she didn’t throw a fit. Anyways, I was trying to keep all my stuff in order, not lose or forget any coupons I worked so hard to put together….etc, etc, etc. So, we get to the car and I’m loading everything and [dh] calls to tell me that [friends invited over] finally called back and they are coming over at 6:30 (It was 15 to 3pm) and “Did you pick up the stuff for the smores?” I hadn’t because I figured the kids could get by with the Oreos I got with my CVS deal (to get the free milk). “Well, you need to get the stuff for smores because I promised [them] we would have smores when they come over.” I told him that it was too late at the moment, but “I guess I’ll just come back later for that stuff.” Then he said, “Oh, I’ll go then.” The thought of him going to Publix after I worked so hard at saving $70 was too much and I said “Ok, fine. I love you, bye.” I hung up. THANK GOD!!!! That he walked outside to help me unload the car and realized that the lawn needed to be mowed. I didn’t bother with any discussion of getting the smores stuff. I waited for a good moment & left with [Q] again to get the smores stuff (and more fireworks since I knew what I had bought on my first trip was really lame).

Oh, also, I was having a hard time understanding whether they were eating dinner with us or what. [Dh] took my questions to mean I didn’t want them to and he had already invited them. “Well, yeah, we’re having pizza for dinner, right? That’s on the menu, right?” So, they’re eating with us? I finally get an affirmative answer. Apparently, not for lack of having been told this already earlier in the week, he assumed pizza meant order Dominos. Uh, no…pizza meant I bought frozen pizza and we’re going to limit our ordering pizza.

Anyway, Dominos had an awesome deal. Medium pizzas were $5 (must order at least 3) and $1 for 20oz sodas (must order at least 3). So, for $34 I got 6 pizzas & 4 cokes for 10 people.

So that was the day, I had had up to the point when our friends finally arrived.”

Friend: I love you!!!! Now I totally understand why you were so fried that you even forgot to tell me that!

BTW…I really did have an awesome time with our friends that came over that night. We hadn’t seen them since Spring 2002. Their twins are the same age as our oldest son. They all played together so nice. There weren’t any arguments…not even amongst my own kids…the entire night of pizza, rice crispy treats, smores, & fire”forks” (that word is courtesy of my 5yo dd). My day ended on a very positive note.

The Great Bathroom Rug Dilemma of 09 June 30, 2009

Don’t know why I am blogging about this. Perhaps to get into better blogging habits. Or maybe someday I will need an answer to “why” I decided this in the first place.

Thanks to The Happy Housewife’s Itch To Pitch challenge, my brain is looking at everything in my house with decluttering lenses. So, I made a bold decision last night in regards to the kid’s bathroom. Yes, I’m locking the bathroom door and sending them into the backyard to dig their own latrine. No, not really. Although it would probably be cleaner.

After a few days of gazing at the bare floor, not being in any hurry to once again run the bathroom rugs thru the washer & dryer, I decided the rugs were not returning. The kid’s bathroom was the project in our Bathroom Mini ReMod a few months ago. Dh laid the tile & the more I look at it, sans rugs, the more I wonder why I’ve been so bent on bathroom rugs in the first place. Initially, I think the rugs were a way to distract one’s attention from the yucky old laminate underneath.

These bathroom rugs have plagued me, for various reasons, ever since we did our remod.

1. They are okay rugs, but not great. I’ve always got them in the back of my mind whenever I walk thru Smarget or BB&B. But I never find anything to replace them with, so my discontent lingers and grows.
2. The new vanity cabinet has a bottom toe-kick drawer, which I use to store toilet paper & various other bathroomy things to help declutter my linen closet. The drawer cannot be opened with the rug in place.
3. Every time I move the rug to open the bottom drawer, I groan with parental disgust at what’s under the rug. It’s usually soaked from someone’s Barbie sink-bath or my children’s inability to keep water in the sink and not on the counter and the floor. So, into the mudroom it goes once again (I already mentioned my dislike for washing these rugs).
4. I have taken to removing these rugs any time my girl’s take a bath because they ignore my please to keep the water in the tub.

The floor is beautiful all on it’s own and with the way this bathroom is (ab)used, I’m done worrying about these rugs or any replacement rugs. So, I will wash & dry them one final time & pack them into my donation bin.

And as for the masterbath rugs…I will ponder their disposal when we tackle our mini remod in there.

Product Review – ItzaBitza – 6.29.09 June 29, 2009

As a home educating mom of 4 and a wife to a technology guru, two things are prevalent in our house: researching & trying out new curriculum & learning tools and technology.

ItzaBitza is one of the most intriguing kid’s programs I have ever seen.

Most computer games of this genre make claims they never come close to delivering on. Our game bin is full of so-so and down-right disappointing wastes of money.

ItzaBitza, while it has a slight learning curve (no more than any good game), is so enjoyable. All of the integrated aspects (drawing, reading, following instructions, problem-solving, and creative play, etc.) was beyond my expectations. I especially enjoyed watching my children work independently, not requiring too much assistance from mom after the initial run through.

I downloaded the game last week at ItzaBitza.comand had my 6 yr old try it. I meant to have my 5 yr old try it out that day to, but we didn’t get around to it until this morning. Before long, the entire gang was crowded around the computer, each demanding a turn.

When they were finally done playing (3 hrs later), I interviewed them. Here’s what my crew had to say:

• 10yr old boy says: “I though it was pretty cool and very interactive. Very fun! I liked how I was able to draw and how I could get a dog.”




• 9yr old boy says: “I enjoyed playing ItzaBitza. It was fun to draw houses, find the mail, and get the packages. I liked building a doghouse too! And picking the flowers, making it rain on the flowers and the puppies. I liked all of it!”




• 6yr old girl says: “I liked making a house, making a tree, and a sun and a cloud. I liked all the dogs.”




• 5yo says: “I want to play it again! It was beautiful. I drawed everything.”




My Suggestions to Parents:


1. Unless you only have teenagers, don’t let “PreK-K and up” steer you away from this game. The older kids enjoyed it just as much as the younger ones. There’s nothing “babyish” about it.
2. Download the trial.
3. If you or your child don’t like background music, turn it off under Options before you start the game. (I personally find most background music detracting & annoying.)
4. Sit with the child the first time and make sure they understand the instructions. They’ll be off and running on their own before you know it.
5. Watch/Listen and delight in their fun, enthusiasm, excitement and creative learning.




My Playing Tips:


• Make sure your child understands that we read text from left to right, top to bottom so they can move their mouse over the words in the proper order (it reads to them if they can’t).
• Draw from the bottom up, i.e. the bottom box of the house first, then the roof or the tree trunk first, then the tree top, etc.
• Click on the faded stars to see further instructions for completing a task, then the star will turn gold.
• Some things must be drawn full size and in place (houses, trees), but other things can be drawn any size (piece of mail).




Well, I hope you enjoyed our family review of ItzaBitza. You can download your free trial at ItzaBitza.com You can also Follow the CEO, Margaret, on Twitter .



Note: This was an independent, unsolicited product review.

Meal Plan Monday – 6.29.09 June 28, 2009

This is a very exciting day for me! I made my very first weekly meal plan ever. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time, but for a variety of reasons I just never pulled it together. But after being introduced to Southern Savers and learning a lot about couponing at my local stores, I was anxious to get started on this new endeavor.

Initially, I thought I would set a grocery budget and work from there. But I decided to start with a meal plan & use coupons instead because I felt until I had mastered meal planning a budget wasn’t going to help.

To begin, I asked each of my 4 children what they like to eat. I started this list several months ago and found today that they had added some new foods in that time…which helps me greatly in the meal planning process. My goal over the past few weeks was to get out of my bad habit of capitulating to all the picky eaters. I made dinners and everyone was expected to eat…or go to bed hungry…which is what happened to one child this past week. I do use dessert as a motivator and it has encouraged picky eaters to try that which they believe will kill them.

So here is our meal plan for the week beginning 6.29.09:

Monday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mac n Cheese ($2.84), Chicken
D: Tortellini ($3.49), home-made breadsticks

Tuesday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mozzarella sticks ($3.85), Broccoli Rice
D: Enchiladas (leftover frozen for dh & me), Quesadillas (for kids)($1.69), Mexican Rice ($1.49), Corn bread

Wednesday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mac n Cheese $2.84), Salami sandwich ($.30)
D: Dh has fish to eat, I have a meeting so I will just have a salad, kids will have chicken & fries ($6.78 — I know my dh will cook both bags & scarf some…but they will have some leftovers)

Thursday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mozzarella sticks ($3.85), Broccoli Rice
D: Parma Rosa (frozen from last week since I cook as if for an army), home-made bread

Friday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mac N Cheese $2.84), Salami sandwich ($.30)
D: Pizza (frozen) ($10.58 – not really a deal until you consider we easily spend $40 on ordering pizza)

Saturday
B: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: leftovers
D: leftovers

SundayB: Pancakes ($.15), Special K (.75)
L: Mexican Freestyle – chips ($2), salsa ($1.20), cheese, meat ($2.00), rice ($1.49)
D: Fettuccine Alfredo (aka Rapuccino Alfreddy- 5yos favorite meal), home-made bread

Yes, our breakfasts are very routine. The pancakes are varied, mostly plain, some blueberry, I made all of them myself of Saturday night. Oldest son usually has Special K or toast for breakfast. And I have a guilty pleasure for breakfast, premade Starbucks Frappaccino. Aside from that, I don’t generally eat breakfast.

Lunch doesn’t vary a whole lot either. Oldest son will not eat Mac n Cheese, so he eats chicken or salami or leftovers.

If there is no price, that’s because I already have that item or what I need to make that item in my pantry. Those prices do not represent everything I bought because the meal plan doesn’t represent everything either…like salad or drinks or dessert (which will be Breyer’s ice cream as it was BOGO plus I had a coupon so I got 2 for a grand total of $3.99) and other guilty pleasures….but this is where it all starts.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to have done this. And I can’t wait to see how we get thru the week with fewer meal hassles, less waste, no figuring out dinner at 5:30, fewer trips to the store, reduced unplanned spending, etc.

I’m so excited to finally be able to join the other menu planners linked up at I’m An Organizing Junkie. It’s all those wonderful people who put together menu after menu who have inspired me. Their efforts & know-how provided the encouragement, resources, templates, and examples to help move me in a positive direction and take on meal planning for my family!

Itch 2 Pitch – 6.29.09 June 28, 2009

Thanks to The Happy Housewife I am tackling my clutter this summer…week by week, and room by room.

Once again, I was very ambitious in picking the room I needed to declutter this past week…the 20′ x 20′ family room / school room / play room / my work area. I documented the mess with my camera, but in the end (after a long week of learning how to coupon & making a meal plan) I had to settle with being happy with the progress I was able to make. So, I won’t bog down this week’s pitching post with all the things I didn’t get to in this room. I will just post those before pictures as I actually make progress in the coming weeks. Cuz I’m gonna be decluttering this room for awhile.

Before I get to what you can see, I want to list the things I worked on that you can’t see. It was very tedious & time-consuming, but well worth it.

• Our important documents – I went in search of birth certificates & I was dumbfounded with all the junk I had kept and deemed as “important”. So, I cleaned out this special space sending lots of stuff to the shredder.
• My two-drawer file cabinet – I rarely use the thing & I couldn’t even remember off-hand what was in there. It’s main purpose is to hold my printer & printing supplies (on top). It was full of junk, junk, and more junk. I purged it off all the unnecessary paperwork and set several files aside to go into dh’s work area. I reclaimed the top drawer and half of the bottom drawer.
• I listed some stuff for sale on HSLDA’s Curriculum Market.

So now the pictures for this week:

BEFORE – Ignore the rest of the picture and just focus on the bookshelf. Okay, you can look at the artwork on the wall, but ignore the rest. Did you find Jesus? He’s there.

AFTER – I discovered something very interesting. You may not know this, but I suspect you do, you can think about doing something for a long time, but thinking doesn’t hang shelves on the wall. Hanging shelves hangs shelves the wall. Hardware and screwdrivers are very essential too. (The globe is a gift from Lindsey.) — Look at all that space on the shelf now!

BEFORE – I don’t even know what to say, except that this is why I will be working in this room for a long time. The focal point in this picture is the top of the shelf. I know, it’s not much.

AFTER – I was able to clean up that unsightly mess on top of the shelf by organizing it in the reclaimed file cabinet space. Now I must resist the urge to put things up there. It’s so much nicer to look at…the bright spot in this area of the room.

DONATION BIN – This is my donation collection bin in the mudroom. It was emptied a few days after my mudroom attack and now it is being filled again.

Oh, there is so much to pitch just in this room alone. Some things I am struggling with Do I get rid of keep the Leap Pads my kids never play with? Or am I being premature? How do I pitch the unruly stacks of “artwork”? Which items deserve to claim the empty space on the newly cleaned shelf? It’s time again for me to stop thinking and starting working.

In case you missed my 1st week in the Itch to Pitch challenge CLICK HERE!

Itch 2 Pitch – 6.15.09 June 15, 2009

Thanks to The Happy Housewife I am ready to tackle my clutter this summer…week by week, and room by room.

For this first Itch to Pitch week, I chose the worst room in the house, the mudroom. This is Clutter Central of the Shaffer abode. This proved to be a more than overly ambitious endeavor on my part. While I made considerable progress, this room will need to be revisited again another week.

What I find when I attempt to declutter is that even if I start in one room, the process takes me to several rooms. The mudroom can literally take me to every room of the house, but I refrained from deviating too horribly. I wanted to stay on task to show what I started with and what I ended the week with.

I didn’t take pictures of my trash, but I happily dumped two big garbage bags worth into the trash. What I did take pictures of is the containers full of stuff going to AMVETS on Tuesday.

So, here are my before & afters for the Itch To Pitch Challenger, Week One:

Mudroom Before

Mudroom After

BEFORE AFTER

BEFORE AFTER

BEFORE: Various

AFTER: Various – There is still a bit of “clutter”, especially on the left side of the bed, but it’s my lack of storage space. I’m trying to find a good place to store our luggage. A lot of the stuff on the bed is homeschooling related. I left it here because otherwise I would just be adding more clutter to my desk area…and it doesn’t need any more clutter…obviously another soon to be tackled Itch to Pitch space.

BEFORE

AFTER

These boxes contain all of the things I found in this room to donate. AMVETS called on Sunday to tell me they will be by on Tuesday, so these items will be outta here very soon!

This was my deviation. It is in the office (what used to be our garage). As I was cleaning up the mudroom, I decided to relocate some of the homeschool supplies to my cabinet…after I cleaned up the cabinet of course & relocated some of it’s contents to “my” desk in the office (it’s mine in name only & by what is kept in it, otherwise I don’t use it, but dh does use the desk space).

So, there it is…I haven’t decided which area to tackle next, but circumstances might determine it for me.