So far, there is no challenge at Biblical Womanhood yet this morning. If she gets one up later, I’ll update this then.

Our morning routine was done in a rush this morning because I had to get Ava to the doctor by 9:30 (and I didn’t have a chance to take a shower last night, so I had to ask Chad to stay home for a few extra minutes so I could get one this morning). She has an ear infection, so we’re starting amoxicillin today (if Wal-Mart pharmacy ever gets their act together). While we were at Wal-Mart trying to pick up her rx, we picked up the rest of the stuff I ordered for her room, too.

My to-do list for today:
1. Clean kitchen (there are still supper dishes to be taken care of *blush*…that very rarely happens)
2. Put Ava’s new stuff up in her room (I’ll get pics!)
3. Finish deposit
4. Print Week 23 pictures (and finish labeling Week 21)
5. Pick up Ava’s rx, or ask Chad to do it
6. File invoices
7. Balance business checkbook

I might not get to #3 and #4, though, depending on how Ava is doing. She’s been really cranky and not sleeping well at all. That was actually my first sign that it might be an ear infection…her doctor told me that if it’s teething, they have problems falling asleep, but once they’re asleep, they’re fine. If it’s their ears, they have problems staying asleep…and we’ve definitely had that!! She also has a pretty bad cough, which the dr thinks is related to the ear infection.

Oh, and we’re supposed to get more snow tonight! Probably 8-10 inches. We were really hoping to get to church tomorrow (it’s bee way too long….it just seems like every Friday night, either Ava gets sick, or we get bad weather *sigh*), but we’ll have to see….now we have illness and bad weather! *sigh*

**Follow-Up**

Wow, I got everything on my to-do list done! Ava took a pretty good nap after her appointment this morning and I got quite a bit done!! Here are the latest pictures of her room:

All I have left is her bedding set, her mobile, paint for the walls, a stencil, and glow-in-the-dark stars to put on her ceiling! Probably won’t get to any of that until January, since any extra money we have after our next paycheck will be spent on Christmas dresses that are on clearance (for Ava). Got to go get ready to put her in the bath.

ETA: I’ll have to get a better pic of her diaper stacker hanging on the side of her crib…

Posted: December 14th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 2

I’m getting to this a little late today because we finally had playgroup today and it’s the last one until January, so I really wanted to get Ava to it.

OK, morning routine is done. I think in the next few weeks when we don’t have to rush out the door to playgroup every morning, I’m going to try adding a few things to it…such as Pilates. I have accepted that I will never be one of those people who can get my butt out the door every day to walk. I couldn’t do it before I had Ava, so I definitely won’t be able to do it now! So with Pilates at least I can stay home! Oh, and I’ll probably add making the bed to my morning routine. I’m horrible about it…it usually gets done every day, but not until later in the day (sometimes I don’t even make it until after supper…and then it’s only so I can fold laundry on it )

My to-do list:
1. Print Week 21 pictures
2. Take Ava to New Baby Group
3. Clean upstairs bathroom
4. Sweep kitchen

For dinner, we’re having the same thing I planned for last night (Tuna-Vegetable Casserole and Biscuits). Chad came home and wanted to make cheesecake, so between THREE trips to the store for ingredients we didn’t have and him dominating the kitchen, it was just easier to have pizza.

And our challenge for today is:

Today’s project is the bedrooms. You can either choose to tackle all of the bedrooms, or you can just pick the one which needs the most work and start there. Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick pick up, declutter and throw out trash, do a quick dust and vacuum, and you’re done!

I’ll probably work on our bedroom today (since I’ll be doing a lot of work in Ava’s bedroom in the next few weeks since I finally ordered some of the stuff I need for decorating in there). I’ll try to remember to take before and after pics of our room…it isn’t too bad, but it could use a little straightening.

OK, I’m off!

**Follow-Up**

All done with my to-do list for today!! Here are the before and after pictures of our bedroom. I wanted to get our wedding pictures hung in the bedroom today, too, but didn’t get around to it.

Before:

And after:

And, even though I said I wasn’t going to, I did a little bit of work in Ava’s room. The lamp I ordered came today and I went to Wal-Mart to buy the rug that will match the rest of the stuff that’s on its way:

Sorry I don’t have any before pictures of this. I think I do somewhere on my computer, but I have limited time right now, so I won’t.

And I just found out that the other things I ordered for Ava’s room are ready to be picked up and I could have picked them up earlier while I was there. Oh well. Guess we’ll have to make another trip tomorrow. I can’t wait to post pictures after I have all of it. The only big thing missing then will be her bedding set (I’m hoping to have that by the end of January). Plus, now that I’ll have the curtains, I can get paint to match and start painting her room! I can’t wait!

Posted: December 13th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4

I don’t think there will be a Making Your Home A Haven Challenge today since she’s still having problems with her site. So, I’ll just make my to-do list here. I’m already done with my morning routine (we’re even dressed! LOL), which I think I’ll be revising soon.

Anyway, to do today:
1. Take Ava to playgroup
2. Drop federal tax deposit at the bank
3. Fold darks
4. Wash, fold and put away lights
5. Print out Week 19 pictures

I’m sure there’s other stuff that I’ll have to add later today.

For supper, we’re having Tuna Vegetable Casserole and biscuits.

OK, gotta run….have to nurse Ava before playgroup…and put her shoe back on…

***Update***

Even with all of Ava’s fussing, I got everything on my list done, with the exception of playgroup since it was canceled due to ice (we went to the breastfeeding clinic to weigh her instead…19 lbs, 7 oz!).

Posted: December 12th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 5

Well, the day didn’t go as well as I thought it would when I planned it all out this morning. I did my whole morning routine except getting dressed. *sigh* Yes, Ava and I both stayed in our pajamas all day. We had an ice storm, though, so we weren’t going out anyway.

As for my to-do list, I got everything done, except folding the darks (got them washed and dried, though). Once I started on the photo album, I just didn’t want to stop, so I got 3 weeks’ worth of pictures printed out instead of 1. That’s probably why I didn’t get the laundry folded *rolls eyes*

I got the checkbook balanced, too, finally. Luckily, I wasn’t off so I didn’t have to sit there forever trying to figure out what I did wrong.

It was a pretty rough evening, though. Ava has become so stubborn about going to bed, even when she’s obviously exhausted. It took about 2 hours tonight and I was at the end of my rope several times (I had to have Chad go up and stay with her so I could cool off a little). I so hope this is just a short phase that she’ll outgrow soon.

Hopefully tomorrow Day 8 of the challenge will be up. Something was wrong with the site tonight (I thought I’d been blocked for some reason because when I went to it, it said it was “forbidden”) and Crystal said they’re having problems with it but they’re hoping they’ll be resolved soon. It will probably be up and down until then, though. Just to warn anyone else who’s thinking about taking the challenge with me….

Posted: December 11th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 1

Two years ago for the Feast (when we were in Colorado) Chad bought me some really nice shoes with sheepskin lining. I love those shoes! I wear them all the time and they’re so warm!! The other night we had ice and snow and stuff and I was wearing those shoes and someone was like, “You’re not even wearing socks! Your feet must be so cold!” But the sheepskin keeps my feet so warm that I feel like I’m wearing socks…they’re never cold at all in those! If you’re looking for a way to keep your feet warm this winter, you should look into getting a pair of sheepskin boots !

Posted: December 11th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

Every time we travel up to Wisconsin and back, we see tons of trucks on the road. Especially down here in Kansas, it seems like we see more pickup trucks than any other vehicle. For those of you who drive pickups, you probably need some truck accessories! This is a great site to check out!

Posted: December 11th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

I just found out about this Making Your Home A Haven Challenge yesterday, so I’m going to jump right in and start today even though it’s already Day 7.

Here’s my morning routine, part of which is done already:
1. Change Ava’s diaper, put in contacts, brush teeth
2. Fix and eat breakfast with Ava.
3. Unload and load dishwasher
4. Pump
5. Get dressed, do hair and makeup

I already do that routine anyway, so it’s not much of a change.

Next is my to-do list for today:
1. Balance checkbook
2. Print Ava’s Week 15 pictures (I’m having such a hard time getting her 3-6 month album done!)
3. Wash, dry and fold darks

We’re having kind of a snow day today, so I don’t have much I have to get done.

And for supper, I think we’ll have ranch chicken, mashed potatoes and asparagus.

The challenge for today is to either:

1) Clean out, declutter, and organize a drawer, shelf, or closet.

2) Tackle a project you’ve been procrastinating on for too long.

I think I’m going to take #2 and try to get some work done on that photo album I was talking about earlier!

OK, off to tackle all this!

Posted: December 11th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 3

These things are way more Chad’s area of expertise than mine, but this is a good site to look at if you need Cat5E . I’m not exactly sure what these things are for or why you would need them, but they are an excellent choice for use in compliance with 1000BASE-T (no, I don’t know what that is either).

Posted: December 8th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: none

We have snow!!!!! I’m so excited! We woke up this morning to snow already falling, so all of us decided to take a snow day and not even get out of our pajamas. We did put Ava’s snow suit on over her pajamas and get a few pictures and videos of her outside during her first snowfall. I’ll upload those later.

Posted: December 6th, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 5

Do you have a car, boat, plane, house or RV that you just need to get rid of? Have you ever considered car donation ? Car Angel is a non-profit company that uses car and other donations to make videos for kids and teens. They have given away over 2.4 million videos. Their goal in making these videos is ensuring that the next generation (our children) have the same values that have made America great. They even schedule towing and handle the title transfer! I think this is a very worthy cause to donate to!

Here is one of their videos:

Posted: December 2nd, 2007 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 4