Getting Out Of A Slump

So, it's probably been pretty obvious by my lack of blogging lately that I've been in a little bit of a slump. I know I blogged a little bit about it during July, but honestly, I feel like I'm just now starting to come out of it. Going on a little one night camping trip to the mountains with Matt and Andy definitely helped. I'm hoping we can do that more often! I still can't really pin point what has been causing me to feel this way, so that makes me think that maybe it's just a whole bunch of different things. I kind of just took a mental break for most of the month of July. I stopped letting things stress me out and I stopped keeping up with things I normally take care of. I had absolutely no motivation. For anything. Well, now, the not keeping up with things is starting to stress me out. I'm feeling ready to get back to my normal pace. I probably won't get my August list up until Wednesday, but that's okay.

I've realized over the past month that I actually feel worse when I don't hold myself accountable for getting things done, and then that makes me feel less motivated, and then I feel worse... and it's just a vicious cycle. I've been starting to remember why I started this list in the first place. It's to make me feel LESS stressed by actually getting things done. Although it's been nice to lay on the couch with my husband at night watching back to back episodes of old shows on Netflix... I'm realizing that I can't do that every night! I think I'm starting to find a balance between getting things done on my list, and keeping up with the day to day... or at least I hope so!

Okay... SOOOOO... what have I accomplished during my little blogging hiatus? Well, let's see... (and PLEASE ignore the really terrible photos... I left my camera on vacation and had to take all of these with my cell phone!!! Uggggghhhhh!)

First of all, I got the hall closet finished up. Back in April, my husband created a little storage area under the stairs in our house. It's where I am keeping all of our Christmas containers. We haven't done anything to the closet since. It's a pretty deep closet, and the coat rack used to be at the back of the closet. We had to take it down when we put in the door to the storage area, but also, it just wasn't that practical. We decided to install a coat rod closer to the front of the closet instead. This puts our coats within reach, and still leaves storage space behind them. I'm using that space to store our vacuum and carpet cleaner.

I also put an old hanging shoe holder that I had previously thought was destined to go to Goodwill, on the inside of the closet door. This way we can keep our "everyday" shoes neatly organized instead of piled in a heap on the closet floor.

All in all, I'm much happier with this closet now!!!! Okay, project number 2... touch up painting Andy's room. Andy decided to nap one day with two painted wooden blocks from this shape sorting box that was my husband's when he was a toddler. I didn't think anything of it until I went to get him up from his nap and saw that he'd used the red and green blocks to "color" his wall!!!! And of course his room is still the flat paint that our whole house was painted, so.... I couldn't wipe it off.

It stayed like this for a few months.

Finally, yesterday I bought a mini roller and paint tray and took some of the wall paint and got the whole thing touched up... then I spent a good 30 minutes going around the rest of the house and touching up the walls that still have that beige flat paint. I am beginning to think that I should really do that every couple of months!

I also refinished two bedside table lamps that I have had for five years. They were perfectly nice looking brushed nickle lamps.... but I wanted them to be more of an oil rubbed bronze finish so that I could use them in our master bedroom.

Nothing that a can of spray paint won't fix!

I haven't decided yet what to do for lamp shades because I haven't found any bedding for our bedroom that 1) I like and 2) can afford... sigh... so that is on hold!

Also in our master bedroom we FINALLY installed a ceiling fan!!!!! This is also our overhead light... our ONLY light. Yes, we lived in our house for THIRTEEN MONTHS with no light in our master bedroom. So, finally, yesterday I splurged and bought the ceiling fan that I had my eye on at Lowe's. After some mild frustration, Matt got it installed! Hooray! And the best part??!! Tonight when I was back at Lowe's for some black spray paint, I noticed the SAME FAN was on clearance for $30 less! So I brought my receipt to customer service, and now have $38.30 (with tax) back in my wallet! Whoo hoo!

Over the course of the month I've been stock piling things to get rid of. Yesterday I removed thirty items from our house. Taking a cue from 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge, I decided that it would be pretty easy to get rid of thirty things. The following have left (or are leaving) my house:

Pair of curtains

Thermal lunch box

Package of underwear (the wrong size)

One pair of men's dress pants

Eleven men's t-shirts

Tea pot

Bathroom light fixture

Four glass canisters

Outdoor baby swing

Baby gate

Cardboard guitar box

One men's dress shirt

Five tools

Other than the tools (which are going to my brother) and the cardboard box (which is going in the trash), and one of the glass canisters (which I dropped and smashed on the front porch) everything went to Goodwill.

Okay, I'm almost done... on Tuesday night I started crocheting a baby blanket for my friend Heather. She's due with her second child, a little girl, in September. I'm DETERMINED to a) finish this and b) not screw it up. Even though I go to our weekly Stitch n' Bitch group, I'm not what you would call, good at crocheting! I tried to make a baby blanket once before, but it ended up looking like a trapezoid... no kidding. Then another time, we were making "friendship scarfs"... each person adds a section to everyones scarf in their own yarn and pattern.... well, I added my section in the wrong direction to my friend Amy's scarf. We decided it could be made into a pocket.... because seriously... how practical is a pocket on a scarf?? Right??!!

The only thing I've made successfully is a dish cloth. I've actually made three. So, my friend Megan, who is an uhhhhh-mazing knitter and crocheter is teaching me a pattern for a blanket that she swears I can do... we shall seeeeeee-eeeeee.....

And last, but not least (for this post anyway), I mailed the bridal shower invitations for my future sister-in-law's shower in (yikes!) THREE weeks!!! This was a challenge in and of itself because for the past three times that I've gone to the post office, my wonderful, sweet, loving, adorable child has pitched some kind of fit... for no apparent reason. THIS TIME, I was prepared! I'm totally not above bribing. I went to Walmart and bought a package of Goldfish (his favorite... but he hasn't had them in about a month) and I let him eat right out of the package (gasp!) while he was in the stroller. THEN... I gave him a juice box. Forget the sippy cup! Straight juice ... not watered down... out of a REAL straw!!!! That kept him quiet long enough for me to buy 3 books of stamps and stamp all the envelopes... and get the heck out of there!

Whew! Are you still reading? Probably not! This was ridiculously long! I promise to get better about posting! I am, after all, coming out of my slump!