Thursday

Another week is flying by.

Monday, my friends came over to give me a hand in my kitchen. It's taken so long because I'm not working on it everyday. I try to do a little, but cooking, laundry, and other necessary cleaning throughout the house gets in the way, as well as errands I need to run. The update is, all the wallpaper as been stripped from the walls, peeling has been finished and primer has been placed on most of the walls and cabinets. I still need to sand some of the diamond window panes and then we can get going on that. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Ryan played his last baseball game of the season. They lost their playoff game. But that's not the end of sports! He will be practicing in the summer for Fall Ball in September. Emily is playing T-Ball and taking a general sports class through Sports and Recreation. She just has three more weeks of that. Oh, then I can't forget swimming. She's signed up for a two week class. Kathryn will be taking a basketball class.

I had to do some major cleaning in my pantry. Let me just say, moths-dried goods, yuck! I threw out old food packages, old containers, and sorted through canned goods checking the expiration dates and whatnot. I scrubbed the shelves and bought new containers to use for all the new rice, pasta and flour I had to purchase. I vowed that I will go through my pantry more often and do a better job with my rotation of goods.

This morning I worked on dinner food prep. We are having jumbo shells stuffed with taco meat. I cooked the shells already and I would have cooked the meat, but I don't have enough ground beef. I need to stop at the store and pick up more. My salad is prepared.

I'm off to the grocery store now. Have a good day everyone!

Monday

Today was a busy but productive day. I was able to mop all the floors, do my laundry (but not put the clothes away), do some spring cleaning in the dining room and kitchen, and help with homework! I'm tuckered out, but it's a good tired. Now watch, tomorrow will end up being a slacker day and I won't get anything done. But since I've put that out there, I'll have to make sure I stick with my schedule.

This past weekend, Emily went to her first non-relative birthday party. Her friend from school, Katya, invited her to her princess birthday party. All the girls were to dress as their favorite princess so Emily went as Cinderella. I should have taken her picture, but I just wasn't thinking. All the little princesses looked so cute. There was even a real princess. Yes, Sleeping Beauty came and played with the girls. They played games, had face paintings and even story time. Emily was very enthralled.

This week, I plan on continuing with spring cleaning. The weather is supposed to be in the 70's all week, so that will put me in cleaning mode. Oh yeah, I'm also preparing my kitchen to be painted this weekend. My two girlfriends and I have decided that instead of giving each other birthday presents this year, we are going to help each other with some cleaning/organizational job that is needed at our homes. Since my birthday was in February, I'm first. I wanted help in painting my kitchen cabinets. But my one friend just loves painting and wants to do the whole kitchen! It's a small kitchen but still, I'm not sure the whole thing can be finished in a few hours. One of the walls has wallpaper from when we first moved in,14 years ago!! I tried peeling a little off today to see if it would be easy. It wasn't too bad, but underneath was another layer of a different pattern. That one looked real vintage. It was bright yellow with a bunch of red cherries or raspberries or something like that. It must have gone real well with our yellow tile, during the 50's( I can't wait to change that)! Maybe I should just leave that yellow wallpaper and turn my kitchen retro! It would save money in getting new counters! HA! HA!

I'm off to bed now as my mind is starting to turn to mush. Time to unwind and say goodnight prayers. May everyone have a blessed day!

Friday

Today I was able to accomplish quite a bit. Emily was in school, so I got to work and had to do it quick. I did my laundry and even got the clothes put away. Usually, I do the laundry and the clean clothes stay in a basket for a LONG time! We end up pulling the clothes out of the basket, doing a quick ironing job and putting them on. Doesn't make for stress-free living, but what can I say, we are definitely not always a smooth running machine here. So, I was quite pleased that the clothes were put away. Little things like that give me satisfaction.

I thought I was going to have a major chore today. Yesterday, Emily had soccer practice, but I could only find one soccer shoe. I could not find the other one, so she just had to wear her regular tennis shoes. For practice that is OK but not for the real game, which is tomorrow. So I had to tackle the BIG job of cleaning out her closet and soon. There is so much junk in there, I was ready with the trash bags because I knew I would be finding lots of things to just toss. I emptied out the shoe rack (more like a crate), put aside some shoes that don't fit her anymore, but no missing soccer shoe. I pulled out all her stuffed animals, and lo and behold, there is her missing shoe! It was buried under the pile of stuffed animals. I was so glad I didn't have to dig further into the closet. I cleaned out half of her closet and decided to do the rest next week. Lots of stuff will get tossed or stored in the garage. There is just too much in that closet.

I finally got my recent pictures uploaded onto the computer. I'll have to post some pictures on another post. I have a few from last weekend's marathon of games. It was a little hectic, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Ryan and I did manage to see Kathryn's game and he wasn't too tired. I still don't like the three games in one day, but I suppose we'd manage.

Emily's team would have won if score was kept. There is no official score keeping. They just go out there to have some fun. Emily scored 4 goals, and all for her team, not for the other team like she did the week before, LOL! Kathryn's team won, I don't remember the score, but it was a shutout.....I think. Ryan's team lost.

This weekend is another round of games, two on Saturday and one on Sunday.

My two DVD rentals for this weekend are: Love is a Choice (the life of St. Gianna Beretta Molla) and Gumby Essentials (sure to bring back lots of memories).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Tournament Weekend

Kathryn is playing in her first soccer tournament this weekend and we are all excited. It's going to be hot over here but where she's playing is real close to the beach so we should have nice cool breezes.

Kathryn will be playing two games today and in between I need to take Ryan for a haircut. I've delayed it so many times already that he really couldn't go much longer without him starting to look too unkempt.

This past week has been mostly spent doing some spring cleaning of our patio. The weather has been very warm so I've hosed down the patio, cleaned windows, dusted cobwebs, beat out some old mats and just did some sprucing up. While out there, I'm sure finding a lot of those black beetles I mentioned before. I think I'm kind of getting used to them now. I'm not so freaked out.

Well, I'm off to the tournament. I hope I can take some decent pictures to post later.
I'll leave with this link for a free Fruitista Freeze from Taco Bell if you like that type of food. It looks delicious, especially on a nice warm day!

Monday

Today was not a productive day. And it just goes to show that when I mess up and am not disciplined to do what I'm supposed to do, things kind of stay a mess. It seems I go in spurts. Last week, I was very productive in my work. I was focused and things got done. Some areas of the house actually looked presentable. So with that, it usually follows that with all that work, I tend to slack off a little afterwards.

Today was one of those days. I started out fine. Did some of my morning routine, then realized I really needed to get some necessary items from Target. Did that, but then I thought I would rest a little before picking up Kathryn & Ryan from school. I kind of got the knitting bug so I did a little of that. I saw how much progress I was making on Ryan's hat, that I continued with that. Needless to say, I never got back in the work groove. So I'm a little frazzled now because I'm playing catch up with kitchen clean-up, laundry sorting and general getting stuff ready for tomorrow. But at least I have an almost completed knitted hat to show for it! And I have to say that I did enjoy that! :)

Tomorrow we're going to have breakfast at school. They are having a Fat Tuesday Pancake Breakfast and we are looking forward to it. We have to leave even earlier than usual to make it, at least by 7:00 AM!

Lately, I've been having such a precious time with little Emily. She's been my little helper when I unload the dishwasher. Her favorite task is cleaning the bathroom, believe it or not. I don't give her any yucky stuff to do, just things like straighten things out on the counter. She does like to swish the toilet with the brush, but I make sure that I've done the main cleaning. And of course, we both thoroughly wash our hands! She loves to come up to me and say, "Hug and kiss!" Then she'll reach for me, give me a kiss, then rub her little face against my cheek. That's her hug! I just love those! I thank God that I've been able to be at home to experience all this. These are such precious times that will be over before I realize it. I want to truly savor these moments.
Thank you, Lord!

Morning Routine

This past week was spent trying to get back into the daily routine. Having Steve and the kids home, Christmas, doing fun things was all great but now everyone is back to work and school.

My concentration has been on re-establishing my morning routine. My morning routine consists of:

Making the bed
Shower
Devotional time
Swish/Swipe bathrooms
Unload dishwasher
Reload dishwasher (if dishes were left from the previous night-has been happening way
too much!)
Get laundry going ( I do two loads a day)
Help Emily get dressed
Some dinner prep if needed
Go over to-do list
Do a 2 minute Hot Spot cleanup (per FlyLady)
Oh yeah, I eat breakfast somewhere in there!

If I can finish all that by 10:00 AM, I'm doing pretty well. That sets the tone for the rest of the day. Then I can get to the detailed cleaning items. I wish I could have most of it done prior to that, but it seems like the earlier I get up, Emily wakes up just as early. Plus, I have to make sure that laziness doesn't creep in. I can easily get distracted with the computer, a book, the newspaper, just about anything. It pretty much is a constant thinking on my part to say "yes" to the Lord's will for me - doing my duties. I recently ran across a quote from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. It said:

The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God,
secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.

Holly Pierlot talks about that idea in her book, A Mother's Rule of Life. That's why I really like her book and would recommend it to anyone who's looking for meaning in doing their daily duties.

I think I got off on a tangent. Back to what I had been saying, I can get easily distracted from what I should be doing. So, for me, trying to get my morning routine down pat does a long way in getting much more done throughout the day!

Emily has been learning to be my helper. She helps me unload the dishwasher, load and unload the washing machine/dryer, and helps make the beds. I hope to train her better than I did with Kathryn and Ryan in doing chores.

This is planning to be a busy weekend. I'm taking Ryan to go shopping for a birthday present for a little friend of his. Tomorrow is the birthday party. He also has a baseball tryout tomorrow. I don't know why 6 year olds have to try out but that's the way it's done in this league. Also, Kathryn and Ryan's school is participating in a basketball tournament so everyone has been encouraged to attend and show school spirit. We like to show spirit so we'll be going.

If I have time (hahaha), I have some movies that I rented that I'd like to watch. One is St. Rita. I rented this from the church library and it looks good. I don't know about St. Rita, so it will be nice to see what's she's all about. My other movie is Eight Below. I must have heard something good about it at one time because I had it on my Netflix queue forever. Now that I'm reading the description about it, I don't know if I'll make it through the movie! It says that some Antarctic scientists have to leave their sled dogs behind amid a cruel winter to fend for themselves. I have a feeling I'll be crying and feeling so sad for these dogs! We'll see if I can watch it.

Well, for someone who doesn't have much time, I'd better end this post and get going!

Making Your Home a Haven - Day 3

I wasn't able to join in yesterday's challenge, but I will try again today. Obviously it can be a little difficult to do what you intend when you have a little one at home and some unexpected things occur.

Schedule:

Refresh my spirit.
Morning routine
To do list
1) 15 minutes decluttering master bedroom
2) Organize DVD's that are all over the house. Place them back where they go.
3) Order some Christmas gifts on-line
Dinner prep in AM
Spend 15 minutes cleaning laundry room.
Catch up on laundry.

So, that's the plan.

Making Your Home a Haven Challenge

Yeesh!! My house is a mess right now. So it's the perfect time to join in Crystal's Making Your Home a Haven Challenge. She has listed some areas to concentrate on and will focus on something different each day. You can find out more information about it here at her site, Biblical Womanhood.

First, we need to refresh our spirits in the morning. I will do my Daily Offering and the Scripture readings for the day.

Next is establishing your morning routine. My five things are:

1. Make the bed.

2. Swish and swipe the bathrooms.

3. Shine the kitchen sink, which means do the dishes that were sitting there since last night. YUCK!

4. Load of laundry.

5. Review menu for the day.

Next is the assignment for the day. I'm supposed to survey what the entryway looks like and take some time to spruce it up.

So, here I go. Time to get started!

More Wind!

It was windy all through the night, but not enough to scare me and keep me up. I have surveyed the damage and here is what needs to be done:

• Pick up aluminum cans that are strewn around in the backyard. Don't ask what they are doing there. The story goes way back.


• Tie up some rose trees back to their stakes. They have broken the ties that were holding them on and now they are swaying so bad I'm afraid they might snap.


• Monitor the trash can sitting at the curb. Today is trash day and our can is loaded. If the top flips off with the wind, some of the trash bags could fall out. That would not be nice.

I also need to do plenty of work inside the house, too.

• I was working on laundry when the power went out last night. So I need to finish that and put them away. Clothes are in all places.


• Clean the kitchen. It's a mess. Dirty floor and dirty dishes.


• Clean up the clutter everywhere.


• Start with getting the disaster preparedness kit going.

So I'll be busy today!

Popping In

I realized that it's been over a week since I last posted! Not much going on here. Just the everyday stuff. I've been lax in my housework so I'm desperately trying to do catch up and do a little extra deep cleaning. Kathryn's bedroom needs some serious work. Emily will be moving into her room soon so we want to get furniture rearranged and the room newly painted before she moves in. Before we do that, we need to work on decluttering. I would like to get as much stuff done before school ends this coming Thursday. After that, all three kids will be home and the fun begins!

Today I have to catch up with laundry! I have lots of baskets of clean clothes to fold and put away. And I have to make my menu for the week! I haven't even thought about it and I need to go grocery shopping !! YIKES!!! I better get off the computer and get to work!

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff!!!

I am overwhelmed right now with STUFF! I have been trying to de-clutter every room in the house and I am overwhelmed with how much stuff my kids have. There are parts to pirate ships, parts to Mr Potato Head, Little People parts. Everywhere are parts! I separate things and put them in their proper containers and they somehow reappear all over the place. It is time for me to take drastic measures. I am going to pack everything. A few things will stay in their rooms, some will go into the garage to be rotated at certain intervals, and some will be given away. Broken items and items missing crucial parts will be tossed.
AAHH! There is freedom in decluttering!

I have pack rat tendencies but am really learning to let go. I need to set a good example for my kids. I want them to see that one doesn't need to hang on to every single paper, toy, or thing that comes into our hands. It's not possible to save everything! I want to have the freedom that comes with simplifying. I have a long way to go but I'm trying.