Kitchen counters

As a way to get my house decluttered and cleaned I have started following this Facebook group and trying to work along. I have tried to follow Flylady.com but have not stuck with it very well. If you know me, you know that my kitchen counters and table are always cluttered.  I do not do a lot in the kitchen.  I hope that when I get this done that I will keep up with it and maybe even cook a little more.  This first week focus is the kitchen counters.  I will post a few pictures as I complete tasks.  This is my accountability.

 

Kitchen East Counter (Before) This looks normal for my kitchen.

 

Kitchen East Counter (After) Have you ever seen this counter top this clean?

West side of kitchen (Before) My kitchen is such a mess.

West Kitchen Counter (After) This is good for me.

 What do you think?  Sure I still have the table and floors to work on but next week when we do the cabinets, I am ahead of the game on the west side of the kitchen. 

2015 Goals

I am setting up 2015 goals which is based on projects I did not get done during 2014 and the regular household and spiritual goals for each year. 

 --Unfinished Quilting & Sewing Projects--
1.  Quilt Off-Set Blocks quilt
2.  Quilt Storm at Sea quilt
3.  Quilt Garden quilt
4.  Quilt Garden quilt wall hanging
5.  Finish Hand Quilting Embroidered Baskets wall hanging
6. Quilt Embroidered Flowers Quilt

 --New Quilting and Sewing Projects--
1.  Island Sunset Paper Pieced Quilt
2.  Camping Appliqué wall hanging
3.  Harvest Moon wall hanging


  --Household--
1.  Clean and organize storage in basement
2.  Clean and organize bedroom & closet 
3.  Clean and organize laundry room
4.  Clean and organize mud room
5.  Clean and organize kitchen cabinets 
6.  Clean and organize sewing room/office
7.  Clean bathtub
8.  Install shower surround
8.  Seal bathroom window
9.  Vacuum or wash curtains
10.  Wash windows inside and outside


  --Spiritual--
1.  Read scriptures daily (Note: I have not missed a day in 2 years now)
2.  Pray daily
3.  Attend church services and meetings weekly
4.  Attend temple 2 times (if not more) 
5.  Journal in a jar topics
6.  Work of family history
7.  Family search indexing
8.  Read monthly Ensign magazine

--Physical--
1. Exercise 2 days a week
2. Drink more water
3. Drink less pop
4. Cut sugar intake
5. Lose 15 pounds
6. Cut down medications

Once again I do not expect to accomplish every goal but do want to work on each one.  I want to be a better person, do more, waste less time. 

2015 will be a great year.  I am looking forward to it.

Rose

2014 Household and Spiritual Goal Review

The year is finished and I want to review my progress on the goals I set at the first of the year.  I had set daily routines and have followed them some but not completely.  I do it for a while but then something comes up and I get busy with other things and let it all go.  Below are the goals I set and are ready for review.

Goals:
  --Household--
1.  Clean and organize storage in basement
2.  Clean and organize bedroom & closet  (Bedroom Done)
3.  Clean and organize laundry room (Done)
4.  Clean and organize mud room
5.  Clean and organize kitchen cabinets  (Done)
6.  Clean and organize sewing room/office
7.  Clean and caulk bathtub  (Note 10-14-14: Shower surround is cracking and the entire thing needs replaced)
8.  Seal bathroom window
9.  Vacuum or wash curtains (Done)
10.  Wash windows inside and outside
11.  Install rain gutter down spouts (Done)

 --Spiritual--
1.  Read scriptures daily (Note: I have not missed a day in 2 years now)
2.  Pray daily
3.  Old Testament Seminary Study
4.  Attend church services and meetings weekly
5.  Attend temple 2 times (if not more)  (Done-attended 3 times)
6.  Journal in a jar topics
7.  Work of family history
8.  Family search indexing

Review:
--Household--  Done
1.  Clean and organize bedroom & closet  (Bedroom Done)
2.  Clean and organize laundry room (Done)
3.  Clean and organize kitchen cabinets  (Done)
4.  Vacuum or wash curtains (Done)
5.  Install rain gutter down spouts (Done)
These projects I did work on but did not get done.
1.  Clean and organize storage in basement
2.  Clean and organize mud room
3.  Clean and organize sewing room/office
 4.  Clean and caulk bathtub  (Note 10-14-14: Shower surround is cracking and the entire thing needs replaced)
 5.  Seal bathroom window
6.  Wash windows inside and outside

 --Spiritual--Done
1.  Read scriptures daily (Note: I have not missed a day in 2 years now)
2.  Attend church services and meetings weekly
3.  Attend temple 2 times (if not more)  (Done-attended 3 times)

I needed to work on these a little more.
1.  Pray daily
2. Old Testament Seminary Study
3.  Journal in a jar topics
4.  Work of family history
5.  Family search indexing
I do pray every day but my prayers are a lot of little prayer snippets and not as much as formal, on my knees prayer.  I got side tracked early so quit working on the OT Seminary study.  I did pick a few topics and write about them but not as much as I would have liked to.  I feel so overwhelmed every time I get out family history to work on it.  I did sign up for Ancestry.com and have Root Magic program but have not gotten past the anxiety.  I did not even try to do any Family Search indexing. 

I never expected to get everything done but to at least have a listing and guideline for the year.  I feel good about all I did accomplish.

I will now need to set new goals for 2015. 

Rose

White Out

Last evening we had a little snow and a lot of wind.  Results: White-Out.  Mom & Dad took my Cadillac to church because a pack rat ate through wires on their van.  It started snowing while they were in church. As they were ready to come home Mom called me to let me know it was bad out and they were on their way home.  Surprisingly Dad actually had the cell phone with him and very grateful he did.  15 minutes later I got another call from Mom saying they were in trouble.  I thought they were probably in the last mile, could see my yard light and was giving me a hard time.  I was wrong! They ran into a white-out blowing across the road and could not see anything.  It felt that they were going off the road on the north and as Dad over corrected and  ended up in the south ditch.  He could not drive forward nor backwards. 

Dad thought it was too bad for anyone to come get them so he said they could just stay in the car till it quit during the night.  I threw a fit and he agreed to at least call Derrick to see what he thought.  In no time I saw Derrick on the Ranger going to the shop and he instantly came flying through the ditch and down the road in his 4 wheel drive pickup.  He picked them up and got them home in short order.  Dad said he had to push snow away with the door to get out and there were drifts on the Wachendorfer hill but Derrick was able to bust through.  Dan and Delores called Mom & Dad to check on them.  They had gone off the road twice on their way home and got concerned about my parents.  Thank you for checking on them. 

The snow was to quit around midnight but the wind was not to let up till later in the morning.  The forecast was for -4 degrees.  At this time I decided it was a wise choice to stay home from church this morning.  Nobody should be out on the road in these sub zero temperatures and even colder wind chills.  At 6:30 Sharla texted me that she was not going to church either because of the roads. 

Thank you, Derrick, for being home and able to help Mom & Dad (G-ma & G-pa).  I do not think I could have gotten my Dodge Journey through to get them.  Calling Judy and Steve would have been the next option to get them to safety. 

Today, in the sunlight, Judy took this picture of my car in the ditch.  It was not me that put it there!  So grateful Mom & Dad are safe, home and warm.

I have always said that if I have to put a car in the ditch and have it towed out I'd rather it be the Cad instead of the Dodge.  Once the road crews clear the road, we will get the car pulled out and back home.  Winter in Kansas.

Rose