sore feet.

The move. The move.

The move into our new home went well, but wore.me.out. I cleaned the entire townhome and filled up the closets on Thursday. Friday, the movers, a.k.a. John and Hector, emptied our storage unit. Furniture was set in place and I started the tedious task of emptying boxes. By Saturday afternoon all boxes were emptied and everything was pretty much put into place. On Sunday, John started hanging pictures and mirrors, we made a trip to Target and Home Depot to pick up a few odds and ends, and stocked up our fridge. Whew. We are adjusting to our new home nicely and hopefully by the weekend we will be completely settled, except for the nursery, that is. I am making great strides, however. 

I would not recommend being on your feet from dawn til dusk if you are pregnant. My stubbornness and O.C.D. got the best of me and now my feet, hips, and lower back are suffering the consequences. I exaggerate not when I say that the soles of my feet and top of my toes are BRUISED. On Saturday I attempted to wear socks with an additional sock padding on the heel. Didn't help. My Uggs felt great for about 5 mintues before my feet started sweating. Come Sunday I was limping around in so much pain I had to grit my teeth with every step. I guess that's the price you pay when you move at 28 weeks pregnant with an extra 24 pounds slapped on.

Here are a few pics of the progress made on our new abode:

...getting there!

cleaning and cars.

John and I had a productive, yet fun weekend. On Friday I decided to spring clean. Well, really I started with a closet overhaul, but one thing led to another and next thing you know, every inch of the condo is spotless. For example, I paid such close attention to detail, I even scoured our shower head. I wanted to share this cleaning technique that I found on Pinterest because it actually worked. Click here for a how-to on removing lime build up. SUCCESS! 

My closet project took approximately two whole days. I purged, I organized, I cleaned, I purged some more. On Saturday John and I took a huge load to the Salvation Army and another load to a consignment store in town. They accepted most of my items and I am really excited to see what does/does not sell. I keep checking online daily. Don't you just love technology? 

The fun began on Sunday (for John, at least). Through work, John and his co-worker, Jason, got tickets to the Honday Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the Barber Motorsports Park. This was my first time going to any car race whatsoever and I wasn't really sure what to expect—Talladega anyone?! 

To be honest, I had a great time, but I lost interest after about one lap around the track. I was more so interested in everything else going on...people watching, the food, and the recreation. So, it's no surprise that I ended up on the ferris wheel. 

The view. 

Main squeeze.

So, there you have it. Great weekend and great week, thus far. Tomorrow we are headed to Atlanta to visit my family for the weekend! I am THRILLED. I can't wait to get my hands on the three little Semanson munchkins and see my parents and brothers. It's been way too long. I'm bringing my big daddy camera home with me, so lot's of pictures to share soon! 

productivity at its finest.

This post was intended to be about our visit to the Plains on Saturday. We had tickets to the game lined up, filled the tank, made tailgate plans with friends, but ultimately it all fell through. When our alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning I looked over at John and he.looked.rough. I figured out quickly that he was feeling rough too. With a fever, aches, sore throat, and congestion, our trip to Auburn was not looking promising. In the end, we both decided it was probably not a good idea to go cheer on the Auburn Tigers—but, boy was I disappointed.

I didn't want the day to go to waste lounging on the couch with John all day so I decided to be productive. We had a list of things that needed to be done around the condo so my goal was to knock them out. Not only did we cross off everything on the list, but we (or I should say I) accomplished a couple of "future" projects, as well. It's safe to say that I got a little really carried away.

My first goal was to clean out and organize the storage closets on our back porch. One closet is John's man closet that is home to the water heater, where we keep all of his grilling utensils, charcoal, mop, broom, recycling bin, birdseed (he has an odd infatuation with birds. Particularly the dove that lives outside our bedroom window. Note: the same one that likes to taunt the kitties), etc. The other closet contains a hodge-podge of things from luggage, furniture, and an old TV, to the many bins of Christmas decorations, boxes and boxes of the "out with the old" stuff, and a sleeping bag. I don't think it was possible to stuff one more item in there. And that, my friends, is not a good sign.

We made a trip to Home Depot, on the fine morning that it was, to pick up everything that we needed to hang a few shelves. I took everything out of both closets, swept, purged, and organized while John did the hanging. Once everything was put back in there I realized that a few hooks would be ideal. So, husband got back off the couch (poor thing) to screw those in. They made all the difference. I ended up taking the TV and furniture out of the other closet and put them into our air conditioned storage unit down in the parking garage. Was this a sight to see. I'll spare you the details, but just envision myself and a broken bellman cart loaded to the brim attempting to make it from point A to point B (no bueno). P.S. Don't judge me on the "befores." It's totally unlike me to let these closets get that bad!!! I am mortified.

Man closet BEFORE.

Cleared out and in the process of putting up the shelving.

AFTER!

Miscellaneous closet BEFORE. Seriously y'all?!

AFTER!

Once the outdoor closets were done, I decided to take it indoors. My first stop—the laundry closet. Not laundry room, but closet. This space was in the most need of shelving. I was using the top of the stackables to house the detergent, softeners, bleach, stain removers, garment bags, iron, plus a handful of other necessities. The closet is also home to my beloved Dyson, steam mop, and ironing board. John got off the couch, again, to hang some shelves in there (I promise you, I'm a good wife and took good care of him while he was on the couch). I put my organization skills to work and loaded up the shelves. When I stepped back and looked at the finish project I was grinning from ear to ear. Who knew?

I am so embarrassed.

One last BEFORE.

Sick hubby hard at work.

AFTER!

Gotta love organization.

I tackled the front closet next. This is our coat closet, as well as Coco and Goose's bathroom. Gross, I know. But, there wasn't anywhere else to put the litterbox where we could keep it concealed. Like the other closets, I removed everything, cleaned, and re-organized. There were a lot of things that made its way to the trash. John drilled hooks for the tennis racket and a couple of seasonal wreaths and added a few hooks to the new shelf to keep the dust pan and pooper-scooper off the floor. The new entry closet=perfection. Unfortunately, I don't have any before pictures, but here is the after:

Can't even see the litterbox anymore...

Lastly, it was time to clean. I started with the back porch. We picked up some mums while we were at Home Depot and after upgrading the flower pots, potting soil was everywhere along with all the debris that I swept out of the closets. So, we cleared the porched, swept, and finished up by hosing down the brick, sudsing up and scrubbing the table and chairs, and spraying down the windows/doors. When it all dried, everything was put back into place and then I windexed each window pane to erase the water spots. The finishing touch? Hanging an old birdhouse given to me by my parents.

An old pulley that we found. I'm hoping to turn it into a light fixture...eventually.

Orange mums (not yet bloomed).

Our doormat (thanks Les!)

Yellow mums.

The ferns are still hanging on.

I performed my usual cleaning routine indoors—dusted, vacuumed and steam mopped. The condo looked great and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. It was an extremely productive day, but I was exhausted!

The productivity of the weekend didn't stop there. We made yet another trip to Home Depot on Sunday. Stay tuned for the result of that fun project! I hope that everyone had a great weekend and WAR EAGLE!!!

clean and tidy.

Some may call me crazy. Well, I take that back...MOST call me crazy because I am infatuated with cleaning and everything associated with it. There is nothing more satisfying than scouring my condo from top to bottom. The finished result and all the glory that accompanies it is well worth the three hours of my Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It completes me. No lie. I am a sucker for cleaning products, as well. My favorite? Clorox Clean-Up with Bleach. Clorox Green Works is for the birds. Fumes? Yes, please! I am also a huge fan of the Swiffer Duster. It is great for all of those hard-to-reach places. As for going to town on the drapes, couch, chairs, and bed, I use the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Handheld Vacuum. The suction on this little gadget is UNREAL.

Now, my floors are a touchy subject. I have ebony hardwoods in my kitchen, dining room, and living room. Two cats + ebony flooring = not good (as in having to vacuum at least three times per day). Don’t get me wrong…I love to vacuum, but when you have a vacuum that weighs more than you, scratches the floor, and spits dust, litter, and pet hair back out, it’s not very enjoyable. So, on Saturday I decided that it was time to put the joy back in my daily chore of vacuuming and invest in a new vacuum. After not a lot of deliberation, John and I (more so I), decided on the Dyson Ball DC25. It felt like Christmas morning. Do you know that feeling when you are so happy that your heart feels like it’s about to burst?! Well, that is what I felt like when John took the vacuum out of the box and began to assemble it. After it was put together, John went to the gym and I vacuumed. Twice. I could not wait for John to walk through the door so I could show him the hair, fibers, dust, dirt, and litter that the Dyson picked up. He was shocked! I was exhilarated.

This is after my third go-around. Look at all of that! You may think it's gross. I think it's amazing.

If you are still not sold, let me tell you about a few of it's features:

1. You can use it on ALL floors. It has a motorized brush bar for carpet and at the press of a button you can turn it off to use on hard surfaces.

2. It's bagless! I know, "Welcome to the 21st Century, Lauren." But, not only is it bagless, it has another button that opens the bottom of the bin so you don't have to have any contact, whatsoever, with dirt and it's quick to empty. Brilliant.

3. It has Ball technology for easy steering. I no longer have to lift the vacuum to move it around corners and furniture. It glides at the turn of your wrist. So fun.

4. It has a lifetime washable HEPA filter, which is designed to trap microscopic allergens and is certified asthma and allergy friendly. It may be in my head, but I promise I feel like I can breath easier. Even better, the husband hasn't coughed or sneezed in two days.

Read on about this magnificent machine here.

Isn't she a beaut?

I could go on and on about our newest addition, but the cleaning process doesn't stop here. After vacuuming, I then steam mop the floor with the Shark Steam Pocket Mop. Again, another great investment. Lucky for me, it was a Christmas gift given to me by my parents (they know me so well). When I'm done, I let the floor dry and then let Goose, the wild kitty, out of the closet to frolic and shed his white hair on the spotless floor. The next night, I'm at it again...