#9 - Clutter

I've finished yet another - I've managed to declutter every room in the house. I just finished going through Anna's baby clothes (I can't believe how small she was!!) and giving away those that we never used and will never use. It feels great to have our house clutter free. I hope to keep it that way. It's really a big stress off my back as we go into this holiday season!

Thinking Ahead - Christmas Cards

I've been thinking for a few weeks about Christmas cards and was wondering what I should do this year. Now that we have our new addition to our home, I decided I would print calendars for each set of grandparents for Christmas. What a great gift for them! I'm really excited to get them in the mail!! I also just found out that they do birthday cards. I wish I had known about that for Anna's first birthday. Maybe next year will be our year to use that feature! I wanted to do a photo card. I've never done a photo card before but I use Shutterfly to print photos and make photo books like this one...

and I knew that Shutterfly always did a great job getting my printing needs met. So, I thought I would take a peek and see what they had. They've got some great designs this year and I'm really excited to get our Christmas cards now! They make it really easy to just put a few cute pictures from the year into your card. Some of the cards even have the feature of adding your Christmas letter right into the inside of the card. How easy is that?! I know that around the holidays I run out of time and don't seem to have enough time to put a letter together. I also know that Shutterfly gives you the option of having them mail your cards for you. You wouldn't even get them sent to your home. I can't possibly imagine a better time saver! To add icing onto the cake, I came across this opportunity that Shutterfly had a great opportunity for bloggers to get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly...sign up! Here are a few of my favorite card ideas.

Joy Magic Story Christmas is such a cute design! I love that it shows the montage of pictures and still brings out joy and magic, which are the highlights of our Christmas this year. We can't wait to see the magic of Christmas through our daughter's eyes! This will be her second Christmas, but she was so young last year that she slept through most of it!







Family Wall Noir Christmas is very simple and straight to the point. It allows you to highlight many pictures from the year on the cover but is still very classy and sophisticated. It has a very clean, neat cut to it.















Many Memories Trees Christmas is also a little more basic but trendy. I like how it says "Merry Christmas" right in the middle of the card. I think I would have to use black and white photos on mine too so that it would bring out that "Merry Christmas" greeting.
















This is also one of my favorites. It's called "Most Wonderful Story". I like that it is focused on just one picture with the red stripe around it. It's almost as though that picture is a present. That is how I feel about Anna. I feel that she is God's gift to us. I think maybe for that reason I would have to pick this card.

I'm not sure which one I'll pick. But, I know that in the end it won't matter. I will have a great Christmas card that I was able to make stress free! Take a peek and see what you find. Maybe you'll find a card that will work great for your family this year!

It's Been a While

I'm still here and I'm still working on my list. I just haven't been blogging about it. Sorry! I think that life got in the way. Anywho...here are somethings that I've accomplished.

#21 - We purchased a new steam cleaner and have cleaned our carpets. They were very, very dirty!

#23 - I've made the decision to put teaching on hold. I'm not ready to be a teacher and would like to focus on devoting time to my family right now. I did get the information from Martin Luther College that I was looking for.

#37 - In an effort to get my baby weight off, I've been putting off eating dessert for a long time. I think it's working. I'm only 7 lbs. away from my pre-baby weight!

#73 - New windows for the kitchen are on order and will arrive the second week in December. We couldn't be more thrilled!

#82 - I've purchased cloth bags and only use them when I shop. I love that the handles don't break when a lot is packed into the bags. I also love that the bags don't tip over in the trunk when I take a sharp corner!

#95 - Thanks to my new stylist - Nicole at Sandy's Family Hair Designers in Menomonee Falls 251-1889 - I've been getting my hair trimmed on a regular basis. She is fantastic and I LOVE her! Give her a try if you are looking for a new stylist!

That's all for now. I just realized that I have a year to go so I had better step it up and get things going so that I can finish this list in time!

I'm still here!

I have been mighty busy completing one of the tasks from my list...#27 start a family. Miss Anna Mackenzie came into our world on November 8th, 2009. Now that I feel like a normal person again, I can get back to completing some more items from my list. While away from my blog, I did complete a few more items. Here they are:

#13 Rinse dirty dishes - Our dishwasher broke so we have been washing dishes by hand. While this may be cheating - we have been washing and rinsing every day so keep up with our dishes.

#20 Buy a fireproof safe - While it may also be cheating - we have accomplished this goal. Mathew had a fireproof safe but lost his key. While we were decluttering the basement (another goal that's almost accomplished) we found the key! Yeah for not having to buy another safe!

#26 Visit Jenny's classroom - I have wanted to see my sister in action for quite some time. I took advantage of my maternity leave and went in the morning. Her students presented their Powerpoint slide show on what they learned about the Holocoust. It was fun to be in the school setting again. I would like to go back some day!

#72 Update states scrapbook - I have a scrapbook of the 50 states. Our goal is to visit each one of the 50 states. Mathew is collecting shot glasses and I am doing a page in the scrapbook to go along with his collection. We are really enjoying ourselves!

#76 Fix bathroom fan - Mathew climed into the attic and duck tapped the bathroom fan so that the steam will go outside and not directly into the attic. Duck tape can do anything!

#77 Update chimney issue - Our chimney was old and falling apart. We decided to tear it down so that we wouldn't need to maintain it. It it nice to have a major project checked off from our list!

Museum

I completed another on my list...Go to the Milwaukee Public Museum. One of our college friends, Tim, came down from Racine to go to the Museum. We had quite the exciting outing. Little did we realize at the same time we planned to go to the Museum the Great Circus Parade would be in town too. So, we decided to cut our visit a little short so that we could beat some crazy traffic. I must say, though, my attention span was not what I expected it to be...I think I may have a little ADD. I wanted to go from one exhibit to the next and just look at it...I wasn't too interested in reading or learning. I kept imagining the exhibits would come alive, like in that one museum movie that I can't remember the name of. Afterwards we headed over to Applebees for dinner. I could always go for a good ice cream shake and Applebees food!

I'm working on it...

I went to the dentist yesterday. I got yelled at because I stopped wearing my mouth guard a while ago. You see, I need to wear my mouth guard because I grind and clench my teeth in my sleep...not a good thing if I want to keep these teeth of mine around for a while! So, I went home last night, dug out my mouth guard, and finally, once again, wore it to bed. My teeth did feel better in the morning, I must admit!

A few weeks ago Mathew and I decided to go to the coffee house and get smoothies. We took a wonderful walk down by the Menomonee Falls waterway and had excellent conversation. It was nice to step out of our normal routine for a few smoothies and some great talk!

On a side note: We are going to see the new Johnny Depp movie on Thursday. I am pretty excited. That's the movie that was filmed in Wisconsin. It will be nice to see some areas that I am familiar with on the big screen! That's all for now. Have a happy fourth of July!

I can make my bed!

I have completed another TWO tasks on my list! I have made my bed for 30 days and I cleaned out my spice cabinet. What have I learned by completing these two tasks?

1. It is much nicer to come home with a bed made than without!
2. I love going to bed with the bed nicely made. It seems warmer and more cozy.
3. There are spices in my cabinet that expired in 2006 - yuck! What a waste of space.
4. I found a seasoning bottle to make pesto pizza that I forgot about - yum!

It feels wondeful, as little as these things are, to be productive and feel like I am accomplishing certain things that I have put my mind to!