Since we are planning to try to sell our house in the (hopefully) very near future I have started working on preparing our house to call a real estate agent.

I started with our spare bedroom.  Since we don’t use this bedroom it always ends up with stuff just getting stuck in there.  I usually keep on top of it by straightening it up every week or so.  But before Christmas it got messy and then I was sick and then we weren’t home, and then Hailey had pneumonia, and so on… It’s gotten really bad.

The bed has bags of clothes that need to be put away in that rubbermaid container.  Plus some random boxes, wrapping paper and other random items.

I usually use the desk to put craft supplies for the activities I have planned for each week.  But the stuff has been piling up since before Christmas and I hadn’t put away the stuff I had already used.  There are boxes of stuff that I have already packed and boxes I used for wrapping Christmas presents.

This side of the room isn’t too bad but still needs to be straightened up.

All straightened up.

Looks very empty.

All done.

This room is all done- it looks empty because things have taken off the walls and packed up.  I won’t be doing that in other places- but since we don’t use this room I thought I’d get it all done.

Stop by 5 Minute for Mom to see what everyone else is tackling.

I realize that Christmas was two and a half weeks ago… but I still haven’t put away all of Hailey’s new toys.  Since we were leaving the day after Christmas to go out of town the new presents that came from Santa stayed under the tree.  When we got home on the 5th we had more presents from other relatives to add to Hailey’s collection.  Last week for Thursday Thirteen one of my goals was to put away SOME of Hailey’s new toys.  And I did get quite a bit done.  But there was still a lot left to do.  And since I haven’t been feeling very good it hasn’t been a priority of mine to get everything put away.  But I just can’t take it anymore.

This is the living room yesterday morning.

Another view of the living room.  I know you can’t really tell but there is quite a bit of stuff still hidden under the tree too.

By evening time I had made some progress.

The end result- for now.  There are still a few toys that need to find new homes.

Another view of the end result- with Hailey waiting with a handful of books for me to read to her.

Don’t even ask me when I’m tackling the Christmas tree.  That won’t happen until sometime in February- at the earliest!

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see what everyone else is tackling.

Can I make a little confession?  I haven’t started wrapping my presents (okay, actually- I wrapped a few on Monday).  Now to some of you that might be okay.  But I am not a last minute type of person.  I like to work on it a little bit at a time.  So last week I planned to start wrapping a little each day so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed.

Then last Wednesday I started not feeling well.  I had a slight cough, was achy and had a low grade fever.  Thursday I felt the same way except a little worse.  But I had shopping to do- so off I went.  Friday I felt even worse so I stayed home all day- getting over a foot of snow helped encourage me to stay home too.  Saturday morning I thought I felt a little better so off we went- more shopping to finish up.  When I woke up on Sunday morning I thought for sure I would die.  I can not even remember the last time I have felt so sick.  My fever was high, the coughing would not stop, my whole body hurt, and I just felt terrible.  I laid around all day, went to bed early and didn’t get up until 11am on Monday.  (Thank you so much to Rich for letting me just sleep and keeping Hailey quietly occupied!!!  In fact, Rich has been amazing the whole time I have been sick.  He has been doing everything.)  I felt a little bit better on Monday but not good enough to actually do anything besides lay around and complain.  I don’t think I have ever had a fever for 6 straight days.  (And just so you all know- I had my flu shot- so I don’t want anyone lecturing me about how I should have had it.)

Anyhoo- that was a long story.  All of that to say- I need to wrap my presents!  And I need to let Rich just do our baking.  He keeps asking me to let him do it and I keep telling him that I’ve been looking forward to doing it.  But I don’t think anyone will want to eat our Christmas cookies knowing I made them.  So, my plan for today and tomorrow:

• Wrap presents
• Let Rich and Hailey do the baking while I take pictures.

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see what everyone else is tackling.

Last week for Tackle it Tuesday I had a whole list of things I wanted to get accomplished by the end of the week.  And shockingly enough I finished everything except for one item on my list.  Wow!!  Since I did so well with my list last time I’ve decided to make another list of things I want to get accomplished by the end of this week.

• Figure out what I’m baking and make a list of my needed supplies (this is the one left over from last week).
• Go to the mall and get a few more shopping related things finished up.
• Go pick up a few gift certificates.
• Pick up a few gifts for my furry relatives.  (Dogs and cats)
• Grocery shopping- get all of the necessary baking items.
• Make a trip to Target.  (I love Target)
• Start wrapping presents so that I won’t be overwhelmed with doing it all next week.
• Have some down time with Hailey to do some fun Christmas crafts.
• Remember the reason for the season!

Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom to see what everyone else is tackling.