We finished up in Lindsay’s room Monday evening. We ran into one problem along the way, O.K. one major problem (we didn’t count the little ones). As I was removing the carpet on Friday night, I ran into a wet and mildewed section. After some investigation, we found that our A/C had been leaking slowly over time, and the carpet has been keeping the sub floor wet. We also had to rip up a section of wet carpet in the hall as well. Without the carpet on those sections of the sub-floor, the wet spots are finally drying up.

We laid the flooring in Lindsay’s room, all except for that one patch. The flooring Gene found is really great. It is a floating vinyl, which works very well in a mobile home, or any home that has a chip board sub-floor. The vinyl doesn’t stick to the floor, they interlock and stick to each other. You can find the flooring at Home Depot. The color we chose is hickory, which I love!

Lindsay chose a teal wall color, which at first I was very unsure about. I thought it would look too dark and make her already small room look smaller, but with the new arrangement it looks quite open, and I love the color. In the near future we are going to get her a chocolate brown comforter, which will look great with the walls.

I have also started on my room, rearranging it for now, and in the future I will paint and re-floor it. I will also be going through everything in my room and closet, de-junking along the way. I have tons of fabric stored in my closet, which I am going to greatly reduce. I am going to get rid of a lot of scraps, and am going to store the non-seasonal fabrics. Because of all this re-arranging, my living room and kitchen are in chaos, which I hope to eliminate over the next couple of days!

Here are a few pictures from our re-do of Lindsay’s room

Lindsay has her mother’s penchant for collecting books. These books are on a 5 foot table and stacked about 2 1/2 feet high.

This is a portion of Lindsay’s room when we were preparing to paint. Her bookshelves and hope chest have been moved to the center of the room.

Gene laying the flooring.

Here is the flooring after we laid a couple of rows next to the teal walls, they go really well together.

Sarah is trying to take possession of Lindsay’s room…. hoping we won’t notice.

Another view of the room, with most of the floor laid.

Lindsay’s new bamboo blinds, which went with the flooring and wall better than we anticipated.

I’m trying to get back into life and life organization this week. I am feeling a great deal better, though I am still plagued with sinus headaches a lot. We will be doing many organizational things in preparation for school and life in general as we go through the next few days.

Today we are working in the kitchen, as my second and final set of shelves is being installed tonight! YeeeeHaw! (That’s Texacan for really really happy!) Tomorrow we will be finishing the sorting of our books, and re-organizing them on the shelves. I have a tendency toward OCD and all of my books have to be organized according to the Dewey Decimal System; if they aren’t I tend to go a little nutty and can’t find anything. Later in the week I will be delving into the depths of terror, which is my bedroom. Because we have 7 people in a single wide mobile home, most rooms are multi-functional, including my bedroom. It serves as a bedroom, office, and craft room. The craft supplies have taken on a life of their own, so the girls and I will be sorting, culling, and organizing all of our supplies. I hope to post pictures and updates of all of our organizational work as we complete it.

I am also getting back to planning my menus, which is another step in my life organization. I get so much more done when I have a plan, and I find literally seeing what I have accomplished written on paper to be a great motivator. If you’d like to see what others will be doing in their kitchens this week, drop by Laura’s blog.

Sunday– Breakfast Pizza

Monday–Mexican Cornbread

Tuesday– Pirate Stew

Wednesday– Dinner with friends

Thursday– Baked Chicken, Rosemary Potatoes, Honey Glazed Carrots, Butter Beans and Biscuits

Friday– Tortilla Casserole

Saturday– Homemade Pasta Sauce with Pasta and Homemade French Bread

I’m getting my menu plan in late… but at least I made one. So, here it is.

Monday: date night

Tuesday: Crockpot Steak over rice with broccoli and cheese

Wednesday: Frito Pie

Thursday: Roasted Rosemary Chicken with wild rice, cabbage and carrots

Friday: Taco Salad

Saturday: Chicken Quesadillas with homemade refried beans

Sunday: (potluck at church) Mexican Tortilla Casserole

Drop by Laura’s blog to get more menu ideas.

For the last 5 years, my 5 daughters have shared one small bathroom. The biggest thorn in my flesh for that room has been all of the toiletries and hair products. Do you have any idea how many toiletries and hair products 5 girls can have. Trust me, it’s more than you can imagine! Well, I had enough! I have been contemplating a solution for a while and finally arrived at one. I went to Wal-Mart and bought some small drawers that are 8″ across and 6″ high. I put 6 of them in the cabinet and organized everything that goes under the sink, into the drawers. It worked as well as I had hoped, if not better. I don’t have a before picture, as it would be too terrifying to see, but here is the after picture.

Be sure to visit Rocks in My Dryer to get lots of other great ideas.

This week I wanted to share one of my family’s favorite crockpot recipes. It is so easy, but wonderful. If you don’t want the spiciness of the Rot-tel tomatoes, you can substitute diced tomatoes. Since we have several who don’t like mushrooms, we omit them.
Crock pot steak
1 1/2 lb round steak, cut into strips (you can substitute stew meat)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 can Rotel tomatoes
3 T soy sauce
1/2 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 large onion, chopped
1 can mushrooms, drained
Coat steak with flour salt, and pepper, place in crock pot. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Serve over rice or noodles. Freezes well.
Join Sandra for more great slow cooker meals.