Jennifer Cardwell

Yay! I have no plan for the blog at this point as all plans went out the window again. I have no desire to give up. I love to share & document what I work on & what is going on in my life. I am going to get back on the ball again. I am not promising timelines, yet.

I just got over pneumonia which completely wiped me out for over 3 months. I thought I was getting over it in October, no not even close. Every time I have made progress in something this past year, something has come up to test my resolve. It has slowed me down immensely but I am still working towards my goals.

I hope to share more soon!
Jennifer Cardwell

Finally got a new computer & hoping to get things going again. I am just recovering from pneumonia so it will be a bit slow going getting everything transferred to this computer & getting things caught up, but I am very much looking forward to sharing with you all the fun & exciting things that I have been up to.

Still working on computer problems. I could swear that I am having the worst of luck this year....technology issues, family dying, appliances breaking, car troubles....I really hope my luck changes soon & I can actually get something accomplished! Will keep you posted, as I can.

Sorry, get all software working and then hardware breaks. Not much access to a comp at the moment. Will update you as soon as I can.

You work on a post and it doesn't want to post. Very frustrating. No, time to fix it now, so hopefully this works. Today we are working on clearing off our desks, or whatever we use as one. Let's get them cleared off, cleaned up and organized. Please let me know how you did!

Jump In January - 13 Jan 14

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I hope you got to spend some time with your families.  Did you get over zealous and work on any challenges you didn't quite finish?  I know I did.  I didn't complete all of them, but I did work on some of them some more, and I made sure to spend plenty of time with my family.  We spent a lot of time playing games (like Life, etc).

I got so busy this morning.  I have had very little sleep again (I know I need to work on that), and so I went straight into what I needed to do.  I got to working on our challenge today and realized that I hadn't posted our challenge, so that you can play along.  In fact, I didn't get any blog posts or crafting done this weekend.  I spent too much time playing with the kids.  Oh well!  I was in a ton of pain and didn't feel up to doing much else, plus I know that there will be a time where my kids won't want to spend any time with me.  So, it all worked out.

Anyway, back to today's challenge, we are cleaning off end tables.  End tables, are another one of those catchalls in the house.  People sitting by them set things down, people walking by them sets things down, and no one hardly ever remembers to move it to where it belongs unless of course they are looking for it. 

One end table, in my house in particular, got so bad that finally I just put a bowl there.  Things get placed in it all the time and I try to get it cleaned out and put away regularly.  That doesn't help all the papers that gets tossed on it, or books, or anything else, but all the little things are kind of contained.  Well it has been a couple months since I cleaned that bowl out, and all of my end tables look to be buried under a mountain of junk mail, graded school papers, books, and little trinkets.  So, it is time to get those cleaned off and resituated. 

If you are one of those people, like me, who need to have lotion on hand at all times, as well as tissues (always need those with little people), get yourself a cute little basket or container to place those items in so they don't get lost and buried everytime someone places something else on the end table.  Plus, you don't have to spend any money.  You can shop your house.  The bowl I leave on one of the end tables is just a regular breakfast bowl in a solid color.  It doesn't have to be fancy, but it does need to be practical and functional. 

I can't wait to hear how you did with this challenge today!

Jennifer

Jump In January - 11 Jan 14

Wow am I behind the ball curve again!  I had to take some meds to sleep last night.  It has me still very groggy and it is noon.  Hopefully, I can get everything done today!

So, yesterday we were working on straightening up our laundry room/area.  It took me about 20 minutes to get it finished.  I was so clost to having it cleaned up and straightened when my 15 minute alarm went off that I just went ahead and finished it.  It sure is refreshing to walk into that space again!

Today, we are focusing on our floors and general clean.  We are going to spot clean any areas that need it in our rugs/carpets.  If you have the time and feel like it, feel free to take a carpet cleaner and clean the whole floor, but that isn't required today.  Scrub up anything that may have gotten stuck to the floors in the kitchen.  Basically, a general clean of things today. 

Today, we like to spend time with our family do things fun, so I don't want to over work you.  You can feel free to work on anything that you may not have finished this week, if you so choose.  I hope you have managed to do well this week!  I want to hear how you did!

Jennifer

Jump In January - 10 Jan 14

Well this week has gone by quickly!  It feels like it is only Tuesday!  Hope you got some work done with those cookbooks, yesterday!  Did you clear out a bunch of space?  Do you have a bunch of new recipes on your calender for this next month?

I got mine straightened up.  I decided against tossing some, probably should have though.  I also have 2 new recipes on my menu calender to try.  Maybe I will share them with you when we try them?  Anyway, the area looks better, and I can find them.  So, I count that as a win.

Today's focus is on the laundry room, not the laundry (though you are welcome to work on that as well), but the actual room itself.  Depending on the layout of your space this may be more involved.  Get all the soap consolidated.  My kids seem to think they need to open a new one everyother time we run laundry.  Sweep up or vacuum any dryer bits and spilled powder soap.  Clean out the dryer vent really well, use the vacuum to get it a little more than normal.  Organize your supplies.  Straighten up anything else that may be in the space, if your space is shared with something else (ie other storage, etc). 

This shouldn't be an overwhelming task.  I wanted a task that would help the home today but not keep you overwhelmed, as I know Fridays can be a very hectic day in itself.  I hope you get this challenge done and still enjoy your day!  Let me know how you do!

Jennifer

P.S.  I have updates coming later on my BPC classes and a few other challenges for you coming your way!  Keep an eye out!

Jump In January - 9 Jan 14

How did everyone do yesterday?  To be totally honest, I only managed to locate and toss the broken dishes after I had done my post.  I ended up dealing with sick children.  But, I am happy to have that much less to do later.

Today, we are focusing on our cookbooks.  If you are like me, you have a couple hundred cookbooks.  You have some that you cook from regularly, some you may touch from time to time, and some that you have barely even skimmed through.  Let's set that timer for 15 minutes and go through them as quickly as possible. 

With these, you have a couple options.  You can toss the ones you use regularly, if you want to make a digital copy elsewhere.  You can quickly skim through the cookbooks and see if there are any new recipes you are dying to try and mark them and make sure they get on your menu calender within this next month.  Get rid of any that has one or two recipes that you will or do use.  You can always copy those recipes down and use them. 

I am sure there are other options here, but the biggest thing is to get them straightened up.  Make sure they fit in the space you have.  Make it so you can read all the spines.  If you need to (because some people do), put them in some kind of order.  Consolidate and combine where you can.  You don't need cookbooks in 6 areas of the house, though my kids seem to think otherwise. 

This task could take very little time, to an hour or two depending on just how involved you want to get with them.  Just remember it is harder to get rid of things if you sit there with them to long, so do try to be as quick as possible. 

Let me know how you do and if you have any fun creative ways you use to get it done!

Jennifer

Jump In January - 8 Jan 14

I am running behind today!  Hopefully, you will all be able to work on things with me today. 

How did we do yesterday?  I got about half of my fridge cleaned out before my energy waned.  I am telling you it is no fun being sick!  I managed to toss everything needing to be tossed, and scrubbed the first couple of shelves really well.  I am hoping to get back to it today.  My dear husband said he would help me finish this weekend, if I don't get it done by then.  That is really sweet, but I really hate to leave everything to the weekend.  At the same time, I may have to in order to get enough rest to feel better. 

Anyway, you are probably wondering what today's project is.  Well, today we are working on the dishes and dining linens.  What do I mean by that?  Do you have dishes that are either not being used for various reasons, or just plain need to be replaced?  If so, toss or donate them.  Do you have a child that when it is their turn to do dishes (like one of mine) likes to just toss the dishes into the first cabinet they come to without putting it away properly.  If so, let's get those cleaned up and organized properly so we can find them. 

How about your wash rags?  Are any in need of replacing because you have worn them out?  Let's do that today.  How about any table cloths or cloth napkins?  Are they stored in a way that is functional?  Do they need to be replaced?  Are you tired of them?  Let's go through these, get them stored properly, set our table all nice, toss or donate any unwanted ones.  Doesn't that look so much better?!  And just for fun, see if you can find a nice flower arrangement or candle set to place on the table. 

I bet you can have the linens and table taken care of in 5 minutes.  I know I did this morning.  I wanted to be able to start the day feeling like I accomplished something, and it sure looks nice.  Wish I had a way to develop film at home so I could scan in a picure. 

Now I just need to tackle the dishes organization, and contact a Tupperware person about replacing some broken ones (got to love lifetime warranty).   Hope you can join me in getting things done today!  Can't wait to hear what you've accomplished so far!

Jennifer