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September Home Challenge

After a busy August with lots of grandchildren days, our entire home is in need of cleaning and organizing just about every corner. It’s a bit overwhelming as it can’t all be done in a day or 2. 

So I made a list of everything I wanted to fix and was surprised it added up to 30- which is  also the number of days in September.  

So,  my plan is to work on least 1 area a day and by the end of September,  our home should be good shape again.  

I’m off to a good start as 3 of the areas are already back in order and another one is started.  

Before and after pictures below and I am rather embarrassed by them but I know everyone wants to see results.  

The last photo is the before of the messy breakfast room- it will look much different when I’m done.  

The month is just getting started- anyone else want to join me on this challenge? 

Get ready for Fall 

organization and clean up plan 

1. Back room desk

2. Back room closet 

3. Hall bath under sink cabinet

4. Hall linen cabinet

5. Toy room closet 

6. Sewing room closet

7. Sewing room fabric

8. Front closet

9. Hall book shelf

10. Hall dust photos

✅11. Dining room dust wall stuff✅

✅12. Dining room table top ✅

13. Laundry room cabinets

14. East hall- cabinet and hat rack 

15. MBR end tables

16. MBR vanity

17. MBR general declutter 

18. MBATH cabinets and wash curtains 

19. MCloset file cabinet 

20. MCloset my clothes 

21. MCloset Jeff’s clothes

22. Garage- sweep, spray and declutter

✅23. Tornado building- sweep, spray and declutter✅

24. Kitchen junk pantry

25. Kitchen big pantry

26. Kitchen upper cabinets

27. Kitchen lower cabinets

28. Kitchen drawers

29. Breakfast nook and hutch - started 

30. Living room tables & mantel 

Tornado shelter before and after 

(It’s an 8 foot square above ground concrete room in the backyard, rated to withstand and E5 tornado)

Dining room before and after 

baby succulents, bobbing for marshmallows, meal planning and coupon shopping

Most all of succulents I started from leaves and cuttings are growing.
I ordered a set of 16 tiny clay pots on Amazon but that was not nearly enough.
So I looked on Pinterest and found an easy way to make seed pots with the larger plastic Easter egg halves hot glued onto tiny tiles from the Lowe’s flooring department.

They seem to grow almost daily and I’m really enjoying their progress.  

Public schools in our area are all in session except for the elementary school where these 3 grandchildren are enrolled.  That school is moving into a brand new building and all the heavy rains we had in the spring for the construction work off their schedule.  

Hopefully their new school will be ready for children by next week. 

In the meantime,  these 3 are mostly spending their days with me as their parents work at different schools that are in session.  

We’ve been looking for fun things to do and I made a list of things we can do this week.  

So far, we’ve scratched off 3.

Above, they were having a great time ‘bobbing for marshmallows “ 

I filled that tub with water and then we dropped in a few of the larger marshmallows. 

The kids each put their face in the water until they caught a marshmallow with their mouth.  

I thought it was kind of gross but they had an absolute ball doing it. 

With busy days,  I thought a detailed menu plan would be helpful.  

And it has been! We aren’t eating these meals in this exact order,  but I  have all the ingredients on hand for everything and it’s easy to just decide what to serve each day as we go along.  

side dishes are fruit,  salad, fresh veggies like celery, carrots and tomatos from our backyard,  also frozen vegs, crockpot baked potatoes and veggie straws. 

These grands are especially fond of fruit and my husband and I usually eat several servings of fruit daily.  I was happy to find peaches for .48 a pound, red grapes for .75 a pound and the pears were 3 pounds for $1.  

I also found our favorite kinds of bread and buns marked to less than half so I bought some of  those and put them straight in the freezer when I got home.  

Yes, I still shop at CVS most every week and has been trying out Walgreens.  

I’ve found some good deals at Walgreens but their digital coupons don’t always apply and their register rewards and points system is complicated.  I will shop there st least an few more times as I have quite a few points built up but after I spend them,  I think I will pretty just stick with CVS and occasionally Dollar General and Family Dollar.    

I used coupons and rewards for all this stuff at CVS and Walgreens,  spent about $25 cash and got about that much back in store money for my next trips.
my husband is happy I found deals on his 2 favorite kinds of coffee,
and I was happy to find deals on bags and disposable plates and bowls.
The grands like the fries and chicken nuggets for fast meals- there are 2 bags of each as they are Buy 1 Get 1 Free at Walgreens this week.

hope you all have a good rest of your week

and hope it is cooler where you are.  

We've been under a heat advisory but the weather people  say cooler days are coming soon! 

Company coming for lunch

It’s Saturday and I think a simple lunch is suitable for our guests coming today.  

I made turkey and cheese on little buns from Walmart

Ham and cheese on croissants from Aldi 

Mustard and mayonnaise for each person to add as desired 

A bowl of chips- Poppables and 2 kinds of Sun Chips

Fresh cantaloupe, strawberries and red grapes

Homemade cookies 

Beverages will be iced tea, lemonade and water. 

I have both the coffee maker and tea maker loaded and ready to turn on if anyone wants a hot beverage afterward. 

Paper plates, cups, utensils and napkins will also be used - they are only used when we’re hosting a group

That’s it 

The cookies are a recipe that I’ve been making since 2012.  They stir up quickly, no mixer needed.
I make as the recipe says but I omit the raisins, use extra cinnamon and usually use vegetable oil and plain Greek yogurt.  I know those sound odd for cookies but if you read the recipe,  you’ll see.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2012/09/26/one-bowl-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/

I made these cookies earlier this week and took them to my parents when my brother and 5 grands were there.  Everyone enjoyed them.  One grandson said “Grandma,  I know what job you should get when you get a job,  you should be a chef”.
I have zero plans to look for a job but I do think I’ll bake cookies for my grandchildren more often.

And the cold things are covered and in the fridge just waiting for lunch time.

Swim poncho and succulents update

As promised,  one of the towel ponchos modeled by a very cute 4 year old.  

And of the 75 or so succulents I hope will grow,  at least 2 of them are showing real signs of new growth.  It takes patience the experts say.  But I’m very pleased with this bit of quick progress

We will see!