Day Three - Living Room Redo

I decided to give the kids a break today from spring cleaning and did a job on my own. 

When it comes to my home, I love change and one of the easiest ways to create change is rearranging furniture. Now, most people change their furniture layout only occasionally and some have limitations due to the way a room is laid out. I have limitations when it comes to my living room - fireplace, TV connection, sliding glass door, etc. - but this doesn't keep me from changing things around.  

This time I placed the love seat in the middle of the room making two areas of access to the sliding glass door which leads to our back patio. With summer coming, we spend a lot of time out there. 

The sofa was place in front of the windows with an ottoman being placed in front of each sofa.

We have two tables in the living room and I changed the location of these also. I put the smaller one in the back of the room and the other at the end of the larger sofa.

With the room rearranged and in order, all I have to do is wait for Dave to get home and see that same smile he makes every time he walks in and another room of the house has been changed.  

Maybe later today the kids and I will go through their clothes but if not we will save it for another day. I am just glad to be sitting in my newly arranged living room soaking in the rays pouring in through the windows.  

Tuesday's Meal - Spinach and Artichoke Baked Pasta

Yay!! Another successful meal acquired via Pinterest. 

This pasta was very easy to make and the only substitution I had to make was the pasta. I was unable to find orecchiette so I used pipette. 

Of course, I chose to use actual onion instead of onion powder and my little "onion detective" Matt was able to find every onion in his plate of pasta. Next time, I'll use the onion powder. 

This recipe makes a full 13 x 9 casserole dish of pasta so we will be using this as a leftover meal later this week.  

Family rating - 4 thumbs up.  Looks like another addition to the family meal recipe binder. 

Day Two - Basement Completed!!!

Yesterday was day two of our spring cleaning effort here at home.

We have a half finished basement which serves as a toy & video game play room, homework, laundry & workout area. Because this room serves so many functions it is important to keep it as organized as possible. 

As the kids have gotten older, their choice in toys have changed direction. No longer are they interested in multi piece systems - their interests tend to be in Legos (boy & girl), trains, cars, etc. Lego's are the most dominate. Every spring we go through and purge the toys that aren't being used or of interest. 

The kids did an awesome job! As you can see from the picture, the basement is very clean.  Here are a few more pictures of our efforts.

This is the "hallway" that is designated as the toy storage area.  I told you Legos dominate.

Here is a view inside the hallway & the storage shelf that holds all the other toys.

Emily is my little organizer and without any advisement on my part she decided to label the toy bins and areas. 

So happy to check off another cleaning task on our spring cleaning list.

Monday's Meal - A Miss

Tonight's dinner was 30 Minute Lemon Brown Sugar Chicken.

It is a good dish but the lemon flavor is very strong even with the brown sugar added. Dave and I were pleased by the taste but the acidity of the lemon was too much for the kids. They prefer that this not be made one of our family meals, which is fine.  If only two people like it a recipe, it isn't worth making again. 

If you do like the taste of lemon, you can find the recipe here. 

Day One - Kid's Rooms Done!!

This morning at 10 a.m. the cleaning began here in the Wessel house.

Emily was on her own. Her room tends to be very clean and organized already so little supervision is needed. Matt, on the other hand, needs my assistance to stay focused and actually make decisions on what to keep, donate and trash.  

As you can see, things always get worse before they get better. We were able to get through all Matt's toys and books. The only thing left to do with both kids is to go through their clothes and see what is needed for the upcoming season.

Here are a few pictures of what we accomplished today.

Matt's closet while in the process of cleaning.

Matt's closet after.

Matt's room when our work was completed.

Emily's room when she was finished with her spring cleaning.

Emily's closet

It is so nice to have their rooms so clean. Tomorrow we are headed to the basement to tackle the toys, DVD's and Wii games.
Oh and we continued our tradition of "milkshake Monday" taking a break around noon. Of course, our little outing also provided me with a much needed cup of coffee.

Day one of spring cleaning was very successful.  Just hoping the kids keep their cleaning momentum for at least one more day.  Hoping to get in some outdoor work this week too. Tune in tomorrow to see what new tasks we accomplished.