"Master" Bedroom

When we moved in, the first room I unpacked was our bedroom. It quickly became one of the messiest rooms in the house, though. It also went through a couple rearrangements, which made even more of a mess. I got sick of the mess, and finally went to work. It's taken me several days because I've been pretty sick for nearly two weeks. I like how nice it is, and it seems like everyone else does, too, because the kids are always finding excuses to be in there.

It would really feel like a college bachelor's bedroom if it weren't for the girly touches of color and pattern throughout. Oh, and the kids... We just have a serious lack of furniture right now, and an even more serious lack of money, so it's going to look pretty humble for awhile.

The sleeping area. We got rid of our beautiful, storage-friendly bed frame back in September because it was falling apart from the moves it's been through. IKEA furniture really isn't meant to be taken apart... 

What used to be the kids' toy storage has become Mitchell's dresser. And we also use it as our entertainment center.

This door leads to the driveway and our car, so we use it frequently. That makes our bedroom a landing space for everything we bring in the house, which can lead to a lot of clutter. I'm trying to keep my purse orderly, and not allow stuff to be stacked on my dresser, except, of corse, the toiletries and jewelry that are supposed to be there.

I also organized our closet, but it's really mostly mine...

And this this the completion of the circle around my room. The door to the hallway, and Mitchell's work uniform.

This isn't the most exciting post, but I'm excited to have a clean and orderly room to spend my time in.

 

Charlie's Invitations

Charlie's 2nd birthday is in one month!! It's going to be quite simple compared to Annabelle's last 3 parties. I still decided to have a theme, Curious George, which is his favorite show to watch. I couldn't resist making these adorable invitations because I already had the stuff.

The Inspiration

The Result

Party Invitations

Annabelle asked for a Snow White party this year. I browsed on Pinterest for invitation ideas until I found something I could do with limited help and no cost. I ended up picking these simple apple invitations.

Mitchell drew the apple template for me and I scanned it in to Photoshop. I figured out how to duplicate it and put all the text in. I had 2 sheets of red paper left, and I was just able to get all the apples cut from Mitchell's template. And I had some green and brown scrapbook paper hanging around that I used for the stems and leaves. 

I think they turned out pretty cute!

House and Holiday Plan

Last year, I tried following along with the Christmas Countdown at Christmas.organizedhome.com. I really enjoyed doing what I could, even though I started late, had my appendix out, then had family in town for Mitchell's BFA show. This year, I'm still late staring, but that's because I'm going to try the House and Holidays Plan. I'm 3 weeks behind, and moving very slowly, but I am just excited to use it as a guide to get my home in order and prepare myself for a fun Christmas-time. 

Week 1 is all about organizing and planning. The first step is de-cluttering and organizing your home office/personal work space. I've been working on mine like crazy for almost a week now. So far, we've started rearranging the rooms so that my stuff and the dining room are all in the large area that we were using for our living room, I've sorted through my file boxes and thrown away over a foot of papers, and I started reorganizing my "craft closet."

This is a picture of the current state of my area:

I'm working in the open closet to the left. Once it's organized, most of the stuff on the floor will be inside it. I'm hoping I can make quick progress on it, even if I only work 15 minutes a day.

Chore Charts

I've finally gotten around to making chore charts for the kids. This is part one.

Some Progress

I'm mostly blogging because I made a goal to blog everyday, and I'm trying really hard to keep it.

I got a bunch of Ensigns, so hopefully things can move forward with that part of my scripture journal. I have been studying and learning a lot, though. I came up with a really cute idea today for one of the pages, but I don't have the right supplies. Maybe I can figure out how to get them.

My house is also getting cleaner and more organized. I did crazy amounts of laundry yesterday.

And I might be getting a job tomorrow.

Prehistoric Art

Sometime last week, I decided to start studying Art History on my own. I wanted to see if it was something I really enjoyed. I haven't been able to study every day, but I find a way to fit it in most days. I started with Prehistoric Art, since that's the beginning. In addition to studying art, I'm also including some others things. While cooking dinner and doing dishes, I've been watching documentaries on Netflix. I found three that cover the period I'm studying, so I've been cycling through them to retain as much information as possible. The three documentaries are "Caveman Coldcase," "Decoding Neanderthals," and "Cave of Forgotten Dreams." I figured that I rush through this period because it would be boring, but I've been fascinated by everything I've been learning. I'll try to go into more detail in further posts.

Scripture Journal - Pages 3-4

These two pages are very simple. I've been studying a lot more in depth, and recording the things that stand out to me. I'm really enjoying this focused way of studying the Gospel.

Organizing Part 2

I got so many things done today! I still didn't have the important documents that I needed, so I went to work on the area under my writing desk because I remembered sticking a couple stacks of papers down there. **Confession: If you haven't figured it out already, I'm a TERRIBLE stacker...** anyways! this is what it looked like: 

I always sort everything into piles before I actually start putting things away; it's much easier than constantly walking back and forth around the house. I had a lot of piles this time, but I was also able to add a couple more things to the Yard Sale Box and the recycling bin. Here's what my piles looked like:

A lot of it was just relocating things to other areas of the house (stacking!), including on top of my writing desk, which is mountain of horror. The box sort of under the table was the one that I had to repack with office supplies yesterday, but I figured out a solution for that! I grabbed an empty bin and arranged everything neatly inside; I was even easily able to get something out of it later in the day! Tah-Dah!

The stack of things on the dining table was a bunch of frames and stuff. One was just relocated to a new pile because it needs to be fixed, but I'm missing a piece. I was able to fix a broken mirror, though. The glass and back had separated from the frame, so I hot glued the glass back in place, screwed on the back again, then nailed it in as well because the screws were kinda stripped. I also used Elmer's glue on a corner that was coming apart, so I'm letting it cure overnight. I really hope everything holds up!

You can see the little golden nails that I hammered in.

I also was able to hang our temple marriage certificate and frame a picture of the DC Temple to start my "Temple Wall," which is a project I've been wanting to start for a few months now. I can't wait to get more pictures and frames to fill up the wall.

And I relocated our FHE board that use to be on that wall to the living room.

And I got all this done before lunch!

I was still missing a couple things I needed, so in the afternoon I tackled the next most likely stack: my computer desk.

I'm just letting it all hang out! ;)

I made my piles again, while Annabelle watched Nick Jr. on my computer and Joseph played one of his Xbox games.

I was also able to fix the doors on our TV stand because one was starting to fall off and it was missing the actual locking mechanism inside, so Charlie kept taking the game disks out.

I recycled another chunk of papers, relocated a few more things, and straightened everything that needed to stay on my desk.

I have a lot of reminders, which are the green Post-It's, and the stack of papers on top of the books are the things that I need to "get to."

I have no idea what I'm going to attempt tomorrow, maybe nothing because our schedule is a bit full. But I'm proud of what I accomplished today.

Today's Project - Organization

I decided to tackle a corner of our dining room today, mostly because I misplaced some important documents that I need for Annabelle's HeadStart eligibility appointment on Thursday. It had a bunch of boxes and bins that I've been stacking things in for months. It was pretty scary:

After I got about halfway through sorting, I was worn out, so I took a long break to watch a movie with Mitchell. This is what my dining room looked like then:

I was eventually able to empty all the boxes and bins. I had to relocate a lot of things to other areas of the house. I put a huge pile of papers in our recycling bin and threw away a small bag of trash. I also started a "yard sale box" of things we don't want and/or need. I did have to repack some things just because I don't have anywhere to put them; it was all my old blank notebooks and envelopes and other similar things that I used to have drawers for, but sold in Utah. So this is what it looked like at the end of the day:

From this angle, you can't see the huge piles of stuff underneath and on top of my writing desk. That's tomorrow's project. *fingers crossed*

Scripture Journal - pages 1-2

I've been studying about the Law of Sacrifice. I've done up the first two pages with things that I've learned from the scriptures. I just used a black art pen and colored pencils for this. I liked taking the time to draw a couple little pictures.

More Excuses

I managed to injure my neck somehow, so today has been crazy. My kids are still awake, running around, while I'm laying on my stomach with my head hanging partway over the edge of the bed.These conditions are not conducive to scripture journaling...

Busy

I'm currently looking for a job, and I'm researching into college majors, so I've been pretty busy. I think they are good projects, though!

Scripture Journal

I have started a scripture journal. I'm super excited about it! I've been feeling prompted to study the scriptures more, but I wanted a place to keep track of everything. So I started looking for ideas.

I found this website on Pinterest a while back, so I looked it up again and used it as my inspiration. I used her Table of Contents to create my own in OpenOffice (a free Word-knockoff).

And I found the Scripture Color Code on Pinterest awhile back, and have been using for the reading I've done on the iPad. But I wanted to be able to use my Scripture Journal without the iPad, so I printed one off. She also has blank ones to add your own colors and meanings. I might do that eventually.

So these are the first two pages, with the color code and the Table of Contents.

I wanted to make the Table of Contents look pretty, so I grabbed some pink ribbon out of my craft bag. I had fun putting it all together: measuring the ribbon, burning the edges so they won't fray, using glue dots to make it stick, etc.

As I complete more pages, and come up with more ideas, I will keep posting about this. This journal will probably be my main project for awhile.

Final 30 Days of Summer

I didn't get all 30 pictures... But I tried my best to take photos! I only took a few of them with the themes in mind, the rest just happened on our trip. So here's what I did do:

Day 7: High Angle

I was trying to stand on a stool to get above her. 

Day 13: Reminds Me of Childhood

I had a snorkel and flipper set when we lived in Spain, and I wore it all summer long. Joseph loves his set now.

Day 15: Action

I love everything that is going on in this picture, but especially Annabelle.

Day 16: Mason Jar

I took this after a hot day in the pool on our patio.

Day 18: Eyes

Her eyes look so beautiful in this one!

Day 19: Summertime

Charlie is watching fireflies in the backyard, which are a huge part of summertime! I used a filter to enhance the streaks of light that are the fireflies.

Day 20: Water

Day 23: Black & White

Day 28: Transportation

Day 30: Family

Thanks for looking at my pictures everyone! I'll let you know when I figure out my next project.

Day 14 - 30 Days of Summer

It's been too long since I've posted. I've been trying to take pictures, though. I have a lot more catching up to do, but I have four pictures for today.

Day 3 (finally!): Hands

Day 10: Animal

I made Charlie a Play-Doh doggie in Nursery today. He cried when we had to clean it up.

Day 11: Silhouette 

I know this isn't the strongest silhouette, but I really love this picture.

Day 14: Someone You Love

These two little someones were holding hands just because. It's so cute!

Stay tuned as I try to take more pictures!

Day 8 - 30 Days of Summer

Day 8: Sunset

I had to someone major legwork to get a picture of the sunset. The kids and I walked about a mile to get there and a mile home. I kept thinking if I walked just a little further then I'd get to a good spot. I didn't really get what I wanted, but I still got some decent pictures. I have two different ones, I can decide which I like best.

I almost went deaf getting this picture, I like the way the train is "erasing" the skyline.

I like the colors of the sky, the church spire, and the lamppost. 

I took this walking home and liked it, too.

They were looking for fireflies.

One of these days I'll be making up the days I missed.

Day 5 - 30 Days of Summer

Day 5: Breakfast Today

Once again it's blurrier in the post... Maybe I need to put the pics on my computer first. This will be a learning experience. The real photo was great because the elephant bowl was perfectly crisp with Annabelle just slightly blurry behind it. I really like how this came out.

Day 4 - 30 Days of Summer

I know, I skipped Day 3. I'll be getting that photo soon, I hope.

Day 4: Clouds

It's really bothering me that my pictures look blurry on here, but not on the camera roll...

Anyways, I'm pretty excited about this because it was a quick picture taken while I was driving home from the zoo. We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic and it stopped long enough for me to snap this. I just thought the clouds were so pretty. I feel like I did well framing it the way I saw it in my mind. I wanted the focus to be on the clouds, but I wanted it to show the traffic, too, for story's sake. 

30 Days of Summer

I've been drawn back to photography again. I bought a couple apps for the iPad that I plan on learning to use. And I want to learn more about composition and such.

 I saw a challenge on Pinterest to take a photo every day in June, and each day has a theme. So I'm going to try to do it. I'm calling it 30 Days of Summer, even if that's not what it's really called. I missed the first day, and today... But I'm going to try to catch-up and still do 30 pictures.

Day 1: Self-Portrait

I had other ideas that I wanted to do for this one, but I just didn't have the time or energy, so this is it.

                                 

Day 2: Favorite Shoes

I don't really like any of the shoes that I have, I just make do. Plus, I love being barefoot if I can be.

                                 

Neither of these have been edited or anything. I don't know why the second photo is looking blurry now...

But stay tuned for more pictures!

The Arkham 100

It's been a long time since I've done anything with this blog! I just got so distracted and busy with other things. 

I'm coming back with a big new idea. I read about a board game challenge in which you place a game 100 times and keep a record. My favorite board game is Arkham Horror, which is different every time you play, so I decided I wanted to play it 100 times.

The idea evolved into not just recording the results, but keeping detailed noted of the game and turning it into a story. 

I have the results and the story ready from my first game. It's very rough because I'm not quite sure where I want to go with these stories. I have this one written in a sort of first-person, diary-entry way. I tried doing a sort of "accent", or way of speaking, but it's not throughout the entry. I'd really like some feedback on the style and such, so that I can improve the next entry. I might consider taking pictures of set up and stuff as well.

For some background, Arkham Horror is a board game set in Arkham, Massachusetts, which was a small town created by H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was an author of horror along the same lines as Edgar Allen Poe; the horror that Lovecraft created is also known as the Cthulu Mythos. The premise of the board game is that it is the roaring 20's and an ancient monster is about to awake and destroy the world. It is the job of the investigators to stop this from happening. 

So, without further ado, here's Arkham Tale 1, from the perspective of "Ashcan" Pete, a drifter:

I spent many years driftin' 'round this country. I don't have no place to call home. I'm a man of the streets, but I've got Duke, my dog, and my rifle, which keep me safe. I've seen many a strange happenin' as I've roamed the streets, but somethin' stranger has been hauntin' me at night. And it's leadin' me to Massachusetts.

I've finally come to this place... Arkham... after weeks of nightmares drivin' me here. It seems to be a small town, very quiet. There's somethin' strange 'bout this place, can't put my finger on it. Seems I arrived during some sort o' festival, 'n' it's bein' held by some strange lookin' folks, not quite like the rest of the people here. I'll have to poke around and find out what's goin' on in this little town. Maybe then I can sleep soundly at night.

I went to the Science Buildin' up at the University to ask some questions today, thinkin' one o' them smart teachers could answer me. I stopped in the Department o' Alchemy first. One o' the professors looked at me with somethin' like fear in his eyes. He started to chantin' and wavin' some odd-lookin' trinket in my face. Once he were done, he told me I was blessed. I don't know 'bout any blessin' that could come on me, but we'll see if there's anythin' different. He also told me there's been strange goin's-on up at the Woods. 

I didn't want to go straight up to the Woods without knowin' what I was gettin' myself into, so I decided to head over to a place called the Silver Twilight Lodge. I was told the people there think they know magic. When I was pokin' around, the head "wizard", Carl Sanford, wanted to speak with me. He pulled me into his study for a lil' chat. This man had a terrible, powerful air about him that just about scared me right outa that place, but I stood my ground and learned much more. He said somethin' about a... Nightgaunt... that were flyin' round the Woods. He also talked about some kind of gate and a place I never heard of afore, somethin' bout a Great Hall. Afore I left, he mentioned a ritual they were goin' ta begin that night, and that gave me tha shivers. I also heard 'bout more strange trouble near a bar downtown, I think it were called Hibb's...

I decided ta stop by the Historical Society on ma way towards the Woods. I was able to glean more information from some town folk. They were talkin' more 'bout that bar downtown. They was sayin' it's gone to the Abyss and some kind of Spawn is roamin' the streets. It seems that these strange things is happenin' all over town...

When I woke this mornin', I saw somethin' strange shamblin' around. I took my stuff and went after it. I was scared nearly to death by this creature, and I'm a street man who's used to seein' strange things! After I got over ma fear, I shot tha thing and killed it. Now I feel blessed, even though there's a great storm ragin'.

I finally made it ta tha Woods this mornin'. Then somethin' happened! I felt a peculiar sensation, and tha world around me seemed ta change. Now I'm in a strange place and I don't recognize a thang. This must be that Great Hall them wizards was talkin' 'bout. While wanderin' around, I did stumble upon a small gun. I added it to my stash of items.

I took some time this morning to exercise my body, seein' as I don't know what I may encounter here. I did learn from observing the strange people here. This is another world that I'm in! Those rituals and festivals bein' held in Arkham are intended to call some great and powerful being. Now I know that I must stop it.

I spent more time trainin' today, but I don't feel blessed like I were before. I found my way back to Arkham and managed to use all the information I'd gained to make sure that the Woods are safe again. However, as I was beddin' down a great monster attacked the Woods. I was injured slightly, but mostly I'm mighty anxious.

I braced my mind for what I may find in Arkham today. I snuck out of the woods and went to South Church, hopin' to find comfort there. Father Michael merely convinced me that there are others in greater need, so I gave him my only dollar. The ritual that was goin' on when I left has been completed, I feel that hope is gone...

I went to the Witch House near by that Lodge with the wizards. I was taken through another one o' them gates. This place feels almost like Arkham, but there's somethin' different... I got so lost in the town that I didn't make much progress, it was almost as if it weren't the town, but a maze instead.

I felt I finally got out of that maze, but it took me another day. I had to sneak past many monsters that were a-lurkin' around.

The Ancient One awoke! He is a great reptilian being by the name of Yig. As soon as he appeared, I felt his curse settle upon me. I intend to fight until I have no strength within me, though. I lost Duke in the scramble, but I'll fight to honor him and his loyalty!

During my first encounter with Yig, I used a magical powder I had been given during my travels. I could see the damage I did to that great monster! He got a hit on me, though... I didn't get away fast enough.

I took some time to prepare myself before going after Yig again. I missed my shot, but he couldn't catch me either.

I got him this time! And I'm still too fast!

Got him again! But he caught me one, too.

I shook off that curse before I went for him one last time. I knew this had to be the end for one of us. I managed to get off enough shots to destroy that great monster!

After the commotion cleared, the people of Arkham named me First Citizen. Maybe I have me a home now.

And here are the technical details for anyone interested:

Arkham Game 1

Played with Base Game. Ancient One was Yig. Character was "Ashcan" Pete.

Starting Possessions: $1, 3 Clue Tokens, Duke, Rifle, Powder of Ibn-Ghazi, +1 Luck

Play: Took 15 turns, Yig woke up the 12th round because of too many open gates.

Score: 11

Please let me know what you think! I need some good critique!