Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law were doing yard work and asked if I wanted to spend some time with my niece.  I did so I went to pick her up.  When I got there she said she had a note for me.  She went down to her daddy’s office and sure enough she had written three notes.  She had to look over all of them to remember which was mine before she could give it to me.

When I showed her mom (to see if she’d helped) she said she did this all on her own without help, guidance, or anything to show her how to spell AUNTIE.

Granted, it’s not spelled perfectly.  But, for an almost 4 year old I’m pretty impressed.  I think she remembered how to spell Auntie and this was her attempt.  What do you think?  (Besides, that she needs to work on writing her letters more.)

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Someone referred me to this really cool website. If you’re going to do some shopping online be sure to check here first. (You need to sign up first but, I’d recommend doing it!!!) For example:  I am redoing my guest bathroom right now.  I’ve been looking everywhere for a shower curtain and finally found the one I want at Kmart.com.  By going through Ebates.com I get the shower curtain at the same sale price Kmart has it but I also get 2% CASH BACK from Ebates.com.  Pretty cool deal, huh.  The cash back offers range from 1% to 26% with some set dollar amounts.  They also have special coupons.  It’s worth checking out!

(FYI…I am not sure how much e-mail they send…I signed up with my “spam account” (which I never check) so don’t get mad at me if they send lots of e-mails…you’ve been warned.)

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Java Gabbin’ my recent attempt at writing my thoughts in a more organized fashion. I do my morning devotions but writing in a paper journal doesn’t help me. So, this is my version of morning devotions. Join me for a cup.

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So, here’s what I accomplished today…

11:00AM Start
1:00PM Updates in red - snack break.
2:26PM Updates in green - music break (a friend called and wanted me to go play pool, I said no because I’m determined to finish)
3:00PM Updates in blue - back break
3:30PM Updates in purple - because I like feeling like I accomplished something
5:00PM Updates in pink - because I need to see my updates.
6:45PM Updates in orange - because I’m DONE!

1. Master Bathroom
   1. Scrubbing the shower including removing the doors to scrub (I couldn’t figure out how to take the doors off - but they got scrubbed good) and cleaning the tracks
   2. Scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees to get in the corners really good. (that floor is CLEAN!
   3. Cleaning the Toilet (you could eat off that toilet it’s so clean!) , Mirror, Sink (I also took out the stopper and cleaned the drain out), and Vanity.
   4. Organizing under the sink (I’ll do this later)
   5. Wipe down walls
   6. Wash all towels and floor mats.
   7. Wash stuff from the counters.
      
2. Master Bedroom
   1. Vacuuming (My vacuum is working, I was wrong, thank goodness)
      
   2. Changing the bed sheets and turning the mattress (do you know how hard it is to flip a mattress yourself?)
   3. Dusting
   4. Organizing nightstand drawers I’ll do this later
   5. Going through the closet including GETTING RID OF STUFF I know what I want to get rid of, need somewhere to take it
      
3. Guest Bathroom WOOHOO it’s done!
   1. Cleaning Shower, Toilet, Vanity, Sink, Mirror.
   2. Scrub floors probably not on my hands and knees because it doesn’t need it but I’ll decide when I’m in there. Didn’t need to do this on my hands and knee’s seriously, it wasn’t that bad.
   3. Organize under sink. Wasn’t as bad as I expected.
      
   4. Organize linen closet. Again, not as bad as I expected.
4. Hall and Laundry Closet
   1. Scrub floor including moving the washer & dryer to clean underneath Gross…do you know how disgusting it was under the washer and dryer? Blech
   2. Scrubbed laundry closet doors.
      
5. Office
   1. Vacuum I think my vacuum is broken.
      
   2. Dust Desk
   3. Pick up office, mini filing
   4. Honestly, I just did a lot of organizing here…I’ll finish organizing the bookshelves another day
   5. A few minutes of work because something didn’t get finished yesterday.
      
6. Living Room/Dining Room
   1. Vacuum including behind the couch
   2. Dust
   3. Clean dining room table
      
7. Kitchen
   1. Counters including moving everything off and cleaning under/behind stuff
   2. Clean the oven
   3. Scrub down the stove top
   4. Clean out the refrigerator and freezer
   5. Scrub the floor including the pantry
   6. Scrub the pantry doors
   7. Scrub window sill
      
8. Windows
   1. Goodness I can’t believe I’m admitting this but I’m going to clean the windows inside AND out. Hopefully I can figure out how to clean the outside of the kitchen window — second floor with no way to stand outside, and I am not even going to attempt the bathroom window (FYI…absolutely NO ONE can see the bathroom window so it’s no big deal that I am not cleaning it).
      1. Bedroom
      2. Living Room Slider (big problem…my nieces star fell between the doors and I can’t get it out EEK)
      3. Office (I went outside in my scary clothes…good thing no one was around LOL)
         
      4. Kitchen (inside…I can’t get to the outside)
         
      5. Entry
9. Me! Cleaned, dressed, hair done, and my teeth are brushed!

I have to do some laundry still tonight but I’m almost out of laundry detergent. So, I need to go to the store to get some. I’m also going to grab something to eat because I don’t want to mess up my clean kitchen by cooking in it tonight. LOL

But, this house is

and company is WELCOME once again.

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Don’t bother coming by today, the hostess is not accepting company. I’m dressed to scare, literally, in clothes that no decent person should be seen in. I’m not sure when I’m going to brush my teeth. I might take a shower but it’s not going to happen right now. My hair could frighten a bear…trust me on this. The house is cold…it’s not quite warm enough to have every window in the place open but you know what, it’s OK because I’m

SPRING CLEANING!

and not all of us can look like this when we clean.

Don’t ask me why I have decided to do it today but last night I decided it was time and today I’m doing it. So, here’s the plan. I’ll check in later and let you know how I did.

1. Master Bathroom
   1. Scrubbing the shower including removing the doors to scrub and cleaning the tracks
   2. Scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees to get in the corners really good.
   3. Cleaning the Toilet, Mirror, Sink, and Vanity.
   4. Organizing under the sink
   5. Wipe down walls
2. Master Bedroom
   1. Vacuuming
   2. Changing the bed sheets and turning the mattress
   3. Dusting
   4. Organizing nightstand drawers
   5. Going through the closet including GETTING RID OF STUFF
3. Guest Bathroom
   1. Cleaning Shower, Toilet, Vanity, Sink, Mirror.
   2. Scrub floors (probably not on my hands and knees because it doesn’t need it but I’ll decide when I’m in there.
   3. Organize under sink.
   4. Organize linen closet.
4. Hall and Laundry Closet
   1. Scrub floor (including moving the washer & dryer to clean underneath
5. Office
   1. Vacuum
   2. Dust Desk
   3. (Honestly, I just did a lot of organizing here…I’ll finish organizing the bookshelves another day)
6. Living Room/Dining Room
   1. Vacuum (including behind the couch)
   2. Dust
7. Kitchen
   1. Counters including moving everything off and cleaning under/behind stuff
   2. Clean the oven
   3. Scrub down the stove top
   4. Clean out the refrigerator and freezer
   5. Scrub the floor including the pantry
8. Windows
   1. Goodness I can’t believe I’m admitting this but I’m going to clean the windows inside AND out. (Hopefully I can figure out how to clean the outside of the kitchen window — second floor with no way to stand outside, and I am not even going to attempt the bathroom window.)

Wish me luck. I’m not sure how long this will take…it might be an weekend adventure for me. But, I’m going to do it. I’ll check in later with progress.

I guess you could say this is my full acceptance that I am staying here.

P.S. At home group last night I prayed for compassion towards our friend upstairs. I needed to figure out a way to come to terms with him being there. I felt God telling me to pray for compassion towards him. So, please tell me what compassion is so I can find it.

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OK, so I mentioned earlier that I freaked out when my mom sent the picture of my nephew’s allergic reaction.

Here’s what he usually looks like (OK, I just needed a reason to post a cute picture of him LOL)  This was taken when they were visiting us in May (and no, we didn’t still have snow at my house, we had to drive about 10 minutes east to get to the snow).

Well, here’s what freaked me out…

And yes, I do know that it a horrible picture. My mom took it in her office on her camera phone. But, hopefully you can see his horribly swollen eyes and how miserable he looks.

Here he is just a few minutes ago. He told his mommy “my eyes don’t hurt so much any more”.

Still a little swollen but not so bad. Want to know what caused it? Pollen. Poor guy. I’m so lucky to not have to deal with pollen/seasonal allergies (One of few in the family) but I think he gets the award (if you want to call it an award) for the worse allergic reaction.

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