Organize my life...

I spend a lot of time on Pinterest. One could say I was addicted. And it motivates me to get busy. Most of the time I squirrel away the pins with grandiose ideas of a more streamlined life and home. Now, I'm going to do something about it and get busy working! It's also a good way for me to be productive and focus the adoption thoughts in a healthy way. While we save our money to get off hold, I can turn to this project as a distraction.

Organize my life... is a Pinterest board of mine, so is Cleaning up my act (follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the red tab in the right column). Most of my pins include Food and Entertaining but I also love the organizing and cleaning ideas. And I am getting excited for Easter. So, my first deadline is going to be the day before Easter, April 19th.

I tend to be a master procrastinator. In fact, I could have majored in that at school. So, in order to be kind to myself and have realistic expectations without the guilt I will do this in stages so I don't get overwhelmed. Because, let's be honest. Clearing out the clutter, organizing what remains and cleaning as you go is a very big task. I also will include Spring Cleaning in here as well. The yard will be taken into consideration as well as getting the basement in working order. AND getting pictures up on the walls. That's another story.
I will be taking pictures along the way, before and after's even if it's embarrassing, documenting my progress. I think being accountable to the blog will help me with my efforts and keeping those procrastination skills I honed over the years at bay.

Here it is.
Spring is here, the sun is shining and the house needs to be purged, organized and cleaned. I am going to start planning a schedule for it all. Let's start with getting rid of anything unnecessary!

Deadline #1 ~ On or before April 19th.
Organizing my life...
Purging and sorting items to leave the house.
We need to purge what we are not using by donating, exchanging and selling. Anything we sell will go directly into the adoption fund and get us just a little bit closer to coming off hold. I will go through each closet, drawer and storage area to look for clothes specifically to get rid of. If they fall into any one of three categories.

1. Lightly used or out of date (donate).
2. Nice but not our size (Buffalo Exchange-anything they will not exchange will be kept for a garage sale). 
3. Anything we have not worn in the last 6 months (Buffalo Exchange-anything they will not exchange will be kept for a garage sale).

The Buffalo Exchange. The reason I am going there as opposed to a consignment store is because the consignment store may or may not sell our stuff. The Buffalo Exchange will give me a better deal if I choose the exchange option instead of the sell option. Plus, shopping for clothes is not in our budget while we are saving for the adoption and this is kind of a loop hole!

And anything that is not clothes that needs to leave the house will fall into similar categories.

1. Anything that we do not have a use for anymore that is not worth selling (donate). 
2. Small ticket items that we do not have a use for anymore or have duplicates of (garage sale).
3. Big ticket and nice items (online selling, Facebook, craigslist, etc.).

This is just the plan for my first deadline. I will only continue with the next deadline after Easter so I am not overwhelmed and I stay on task. Wish me luck!

xo Abby

We passed the inspection from the City of Englewood...

and now we wait for Xcel to install out two way meter (3-6 week wait). Once we receive that, we flip 3 switches, call customer service and then we are up and running!

It's so amazing that we are going to be saving and not spending on our energy usage. It's going to be pretty nice.

Attic work- reinforcing all existing beams to hold the weight of the panels.

 

 

 

 

ta. da.

The two videos below

can capture you in much different ways.

I laugh a lot...and cry. I just had to share them and I hope you enjoy and look at them both. One has a message, one has a workout (abs from laughing.)

Either way you will need a tissue.

Abby

and cry.

Because I laugh...a lot.

Solar

Our installation was delayed until Friday. More later.

By the way, there is no out of pocket $ to do this- it was surprising but we will actually be saving money. We would have not done it otherwise because it would not fit into our savings plan for the adoption.

Update

Hello!

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. Clearly I retreat from the blog world when I need a break or our lives are in limbo. We have experienced a few things in the last few months.

I am going to make these updates as brief as possible so I don't write a book.

November

Hours and Pay Cut.
Downsizing at the Nanny job because the little guy starts kindergarten and my pay drops considerably.

 

Car accident.
Long story short, Mat was in a car accident, a girl hit him and drove away. Luckily he was fine but the car was not (totaled according to our insurance company). We shopped around for cars but it was just too much. When you are working and saving for an adoption, the last thing you want to do is start car payments. My Dad drove his car out for Mat from Indiana. It's been great and we are very grateful. Quite grateful.

abbymade.
I was told by a few attorneys that running a business out of an unlicensed kitchen is not okay. I knew this, but was trying to work under the radar for some time. After it was brought to my attention that option was not possible.

October

Adoption Hold.
The two September $ involved events happened within 2 weeks of each other. That is when we had to put the adoption on hold for the 3rd time.

November

abbymade.
I was researching another business option for abbymade to succeed. I began discussions and meetings with the Senior Planner about the Cottage Food Bill.
I attended the City Council Meeting, I was on the agenda to speak on behalf of the Bill and how it affected the current Home Occupations Policy within my city. Spoke to council members after the meeting and exchanged numbers to continue the conversation and mail documentation about the Bill.

December

Their Christmas card was missing, it's a long and funny story but I found it in the snow out of the backdoor.

 

 

Family visit.
My parents came out from Indiana to spend some time with us, which we always enjoy. We were able to celebrate Christmas and my Mom's birthday. It was a great time. My Mom helped me with the "dough font" by drawing out the Love on parchment paper. We were both very pleased with the results, it was a fun time in the kitchen. We made Grama Betty's sugar cookies too. Special time.

Pecan pie I made with the help of my Mom for Mat's family.

 

 

 

Family Visit.
Mat's sister Michelle and her husband Mark came to visit from Nebraska with their two dogs, Kelsey and Jackson. It was so great to see them and we were able to spend Christmas with them, there was bowling and a birthday karaoke celebration for Yvette's boyfriend, Drew. We had a great time!

Solar City consultation.
Amazing opportunity with no out of pocket expenses to run our home on solar power. Made the decision to move forward. Home evaluation, easy online paperwork and waiting for permits from the City.

January

Family visit.
My cousin Leah and her boyfriend Zach came out to visit us from Minnesota. We spent New Year's Eve together hanging out, playing games and enjoying each other's company. Red Rocks blizzard visit too. We had a great time!

Memory Jar for 2014

Adoption Grant.
Giving notice to the wonderful helpusadopt.org organization who has a grant waiting for us. We have a time limit with this grant so I was communicating our hold status and what that means with our grant.

February

My birthday.
Mat surprised me with our friends meeting us downtown at the champagne bar. It was really great to see everyone and hang out together!

Galentines Day.
My friends Rach and Whit outdid themselves again for the 3rd annual Galentines Day Party. A day to celebrate the great girls in our lives, drink mimosas and the company of new and old friends. I look forward to it every year now!

Mat's knee.
Mat blew out his knee playing rugby. His ACL is not even visible on the MRI, he is currently doing prehab. He continues to walk without the assistance of his cane and increase the range of motion. He will have surgery in a few weeks.

City Of Englewood Notice Letter.
I received a letter from the City telling me I owed $1,500 because I didn't file for taxes. This was the moment that sealed it for me. Since November I had been retooling my business and working around my limitations. I was getting all of the Cottage Food Bill requirements put in place, reworking all of the pieces that are involved.

Tangent.
I had to stop, reflect and think. I made myself objectively see all the pieces of the puzzle. What pieces had I already obtained, which ones were possible to manipulate into something beautiful and workable and how many pieces would take a miracle for me to conquer.
It's so much. I am a perfectionist. And when I couldn't perfect all of the occupations that are involved, obtain all of the pieces of the puzzle, I just couldn't do it. A puzzle will not be truly complete if there are any missing pieces or some are mangled, faded or marred in any way. I am a baker, a foodie and a food lover. I am not an accountant, a marketing major, I don't know about web design or how to properly research my competition. There are legal aspects, packaging comparisons and City policies to consider. I have a counter depth refrigerator and one oven. The pieces were just not there.
Because I wanted this to succeed so badly, started it out of my love of baking and the love for our child and desperation to make more money for our family...I was determined it was going to be successful. However, in order for me to be happy with the quality of my business, meaning everything would be perfect...something had to give. I would have to nurture this baby business so it would grow and succeed. However, I cannot allow myself to remove my focus in any way from being a Mother. That is more important to me. That is what I have always wanted to be. And in turn, I would want the best bakery and business and would not be able to do that if I was distracted. I would like both if I'm being honest. But for now, I choose to stop this and refocus. 
I feel like this is one of my biggest failures because I saw it had the most potential. I truly saw it flourishing and me and my business making it. I really did.
Perhaps, one day down the road it will all come together. I don't know the answer now, but I choose to re-prioritize on what I know will work and get us from point A to point B with certainty.
I have been looking for a nanny-share for a few months now.

(By the way- about the letter/fine, I got it all squared away. I made some phone calls and it is all sorted. The woman I spoke to was surprised that I wanted to cancel my license because "all of the hard work you did for the Home Occupations Policy and the Food Cottage Bill in our City".
I don't know her and don't know how she knows about my work. However, regardless of my future endeavors with a home occupation, I am glad that I brought it to the attention of my City and fought for the opportunity for myself and others.

Announcement on Home Occupation Zoning.
Englewood community news. I spoke to the Senior Planner who has been acting as somewhat of a mentor to me on all City related items. He said, did you see our local paper, your issue is on the front page? The above briefly speaks of the issue. 

March

Having fun as a nanny. Making his lunch for school.

New Job.
I have a nanny-share in the works! I can give more details later.

Solar City.
Tomorrow is the installation for our solar panels- we are thrilled and hope to be on the grid in April! We will not only be saving money for 20+ years (because we will not have the increasing interest rates from Xcel) but we are reducing our carbon footprint. Hooray!

We hope everyone is well!
xoxo Abby and Mat