Do you have a list?

Paul and I are both big proponents of lists. We have no less than 7 shared lists and I have a couple personal ones too (and this doesn't count work lists.) We are currently using Wunderlist to organize and share our personal lists and it is working much better than the previous applications (and even better than my trusty piece of paper.)

How do you organize your lists?

We have the obvious:
Grocery List
Gift List - By person with sub-tasks for gift ideas
To Do List - This is mainly daily/weekly life stuff
Kids Stuff To Do - Anything kid related like get Miles a crib, pass on outgrown clothing, etc.

Then the more tailored to us:
House To Do List - Probably our longest list and this has sub-lists that are created from it.
               Ex: Sub-list Bathroom Project
Build List - Projects I'm building or going to build

My current personal lists:
Thanksgiving - We are hosting this year. Don't want to forget anything.
Book Club - I'm hosting in December. This is how I don't forget anything.
Path to Christmas - this has projects and things I need/want to complete for the holiday season.

You can set due dates and view things based on what is due this week or based on the lists above. To some, this might seem like list overload but it is the only way I continue productivity without being overwhelmed.

How do you organize your life and keep track of all the moving pieces of your lives?

Dumpster Crates

It is no secret that our house is a lifetime project and if you've come to our house, you know it isn't decorated AT ALL. We've made a point to try to avoid putting too much pressure on ourselves and just do things as they come.

For a while, Jo has been utilizing a cardboard box in the living room as her toy chest. (Classy, I know.)

Might be ghetto but it is ADORABLY ghetto.

Fast forward a bit and dad found a bunch of free wood next to the dumpster by his condo. I thought it would be a perfect fit to make a few crates to store some of her toys. I didn't take any building pictures but here is one during painting. (Left over paint from the kid's table.)

And here is the finished product. (Finished is in italics because i have a couple ideas of things I might do to these still.)

Do you go to the doctor everyday?

Our little household has had an eventful couple of days. On Tuesday Jocelyn got to spend some time at Children's Hospital and get tubes in her ears. After fighting numerous ear infections the ENT suggested this course of action and man, we are glad we did. She seems to be hearing MUCH better.

Pre-surgery Snuggles

Then yesterday Miles had his 4 month check-up and shots. He is a growing boy.

His stats are as follows:

Weight: 16.2 lbs 57%

Length: 26 inches 77%

Head circumference: 17 inches 85%

Pre-Shot Smiles

Luckily everyone is doing great!

Did you get the demo memo?

Last week we started the process of getting two of our wall mounted toilets converted to normal ones. As with anything plumbing, there are ALWAYS surprises.

Someone in this house's past life did a pretty crappy job with everything plumbing. The wall mounted toilets were installed crookedly and would have never gotten a good seal, hence the conversion. Our awesome plumber started the process to unearth the pipes.

Bathroom 1 went fairly smoothly except that we discovered the tile wasn't waterproofed so the water from the shower was just leaking through the tile. FUN.

Bathroom 2... oh bathroom 2. The past-life plumber (or DIYer?) decided encasing the pipes in concrete sounded like a stellar idea. This makes our current plumber's life a little more difficult and the hole in our floor much larger. Oh and that tub next to the toilet, they did a crappy repair there causing leakage too... So that pretty wood floor in the bedroom next to the bathroom, oh yes, some of that is gone. Oh and there was 2 inches of layered sub-floor from years of half-assed bathroom renovations.

Luckily for us we have kick-ass friends. This weekend Chris (the friend, not the brother) removed all the tile and sub-floor in bathroom 2 in a half an hour.

Next Chris started on the tile nightmare that is bathroom 1 and then went to go help another friend with a honey do!

And in a matter of minutes Dad built an awesome wagon to assist in the effort!

When Chris returned, Paul and dad both jumped into help. 6 or so hours later (and a lot of beer and sweat) we have a clean slate. I can't seem to find a way to accurately express how much work they put into this. Removing the tile from the walls was NOT easy. They rock.

Man's best friend

No Tile!

Oh and a little bonus for you... bathroom 1 had 1 small section of insulation?

Oh and somehow Paul managed to squeeze in replacing a motion sensor light and fixing a sprinkler too. Plus we had people over for football watching and went to a Halloween festival in town. We need a weekend from our weekend but instead we're both back at work feeling like zombies. (Thanks especially to our adorable children for the lack of sleep last night!)

While recovering from gallbladder surgery I...

About a month ago I had to have my gallbladder removed. This coincided with my last week of maternity leave and the first week the kids were back at daycare. The doctor said I should take it easy for a week. I asked for clarification of what that means. (Lay in bed for a week?) He said "Don't lift anything over 20lbs."

Awesome, I can do that. Dad and I decided to use some of my new found freedom to build some of the items on my ever growing list.

Dad's work didn't cooperate fully with our plans so I ended up building this baby all by myself. (Notice the beautiful kreg jig joined piece below the chair. It was eventually incorporated into a cat box enclosure for Miss Bella.)

It proved to be a little difficult (not impossible but frustrating) to put the chairs together alone so I waited on him to do the rest. I cut all the wood and then did other little projects around the house.

When he got home we proceeded to make a table to go with the chair and then put the other 3 chairs together.

Then I started the finishing process. (dad generally avoids these tasks. :) )

Jocelyn loves here new chalkboard table and chairs! :)

Plus, huge score on the rug. $6.99 at Ross. :)

Pumpkin Patch 2013!

This weekend we went to the Pinery Pumpkin Patch with the Vargas, Petersens and the amazing Becca. She took some wonderful photos.

A little Throwback Thursday, 2012 Pinery Pumpkin Patch: