The word of the week: Organization

I can say without a doubt that the Nesting Swans have had a successful weekend! Now upon opening our front door you are immediately greeted by a desk full of family photos. Our deck stairs (which Mr. Cob, his dad and brother built all by themselves!!!) now has a handrail - so you no longer fear for your life whilst walking up them. (I have to interject that I had no idea my husband was so handy before I married him...even after living together for a year, I had no clue. I guess there aren't too many things to really fix in an apartment - but I am amazed and so proud of what he does around the house! He's my very own Mr. Fix-It!) Our garage has working electricity and one fully operational electric garage door opener! I potted my first plants ever - two Boston ferns which are adorning our front stoop. The key hooks in the kitchen are hung (whether or not Mr. Cob actually hangs his keys on them are another story altogether...). We have four blinds hung on the basement windows. We have two new window valances hung in the family room. (The valances are thanks to my awesome mother - I helped her hang them, but she created and made them from scratch! The fabric matches the couches perfectly and makes the room feel warm and cozy. Mom you rock!!!) My car has a new Dekalb county license plate. The floors are mopped, the bathrooms are cleaned and the laundry is done! Even if we had only accomplished half these things, I'd call the weekend a success. (Although I must admit, the to-do list is not empty...we didn't make it to the grocery store and we didn't buy bookshelves for the office - however, we did TRY to purchase bookshelves, the store was out of the shelves we wanted.)

All these successful projects did not come without some "issues." While perfecting the angles for the deck railing Mr. Cob got a bit overzealous with the saw and sliced open his arm a little. Luckily it wasn't a deep cut and only required a bandaid - but it was enough to leave a mark! He said today that he's going to be so proud of the scar - only a mans! The blinds in the basement also required some saw action...my measurements were a little off and the blinds were about half an inch too long. (I could have returned the blinds for the correct size, but seeing as how they have been sitting in the basement for 2 months, I had no idea where the receipt was, so I decided to make do with what I had.) I tried to power sand the sides down, but after about 45 minutes (and an "I deserve a beer", and ok, a few swear words later), Mr. Cob realized the saw would do the trick, and he was right. I was a little disappointed with the blind experience because I was sure I could hang them without the husband's help, but something went terribly wrong (something other than the blinds being entirely the wrong size)...the drill bit broke off into the wall!!! I've used a drill before and I'm just not sure what went wrong...so now we will forever have half of the drill bit stuck in the basement wall - WHOOPS! (I have to give a shout out to the hubby for not freaking out when this happened...or for hiding his anger well! I think the fact that I felt so defeated made him feel a little bad for me. And he ended up having to help me hang the remaining 4 blinds...but at least they are hung!)

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of all the new "stuff" from the house (and Mr. Cob's war wound), but I'm so excited we're getting stuff accomplished! Our next big project is planting my vegetable garden (and Mr. Cob's "hops" to start brewing his own beer again) - unfortunately I know next to nothing about gardening and don't exactly have a green thumb. All of the house plants I've ever owned have died - though the cat is partially to blame, as she eats the plants. But I am serious about this garden and so tomorrow I am going to buy a Vegetable Gardening For Dummies (or Idiots..I think its safe to say I fall under both categories) book to learn about gardening. Wish me luck!

Speaking of Bailey Ann, we let her outside for most of the weekend (she has been an indoor cat her whole life (well, aside from the whole wheel well experience . She LOVES playing in the grass (and eating said grass - resulting in a lovely regurgitated gift when we got home last night...if anyone knows how you can stop a cat from eating grass and plants, please let me in on the secret!). Rather than being a black and white cat, between the red Georgia clay and all the yellow pollen, she's now a shade of orange and gray. But its worth watching her purr and roll around when she manages to get outside - it makes her so happy!

Ok, I'm off to plan our meals for the week and my grocery list - as part of my attempt to get organized, I just created nifty charts for our weekly dinners and a grocery list. I'm hoping this will eliminate the nightly discussion with Mr. Cob of "what's for dinner?" Now I will have an answer! My cutesy charts are below - they're quite amateur, but they get the job done!