projects

An Edelweiss

Admittedly, this is an odd looking flower, but I just love them.  

I love the song from The Sound of Music, too. I sing it to my children almost nightly.

So I am feeling better.  I had a really bad month or so. We were going to change my fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue meds over to another med.  I weaned off the one medicine only to find out that I couldn't afford the other medication.  I had to wean back on the first medicine and the whole thing took about a month for me to finally feel good again.  I did learn something important.....  I was thinking the medicine wasn't helping very much. After weaning off of it, I realized how much it really is helping me.  Apparently my FM/CFS has gotten worse over the last year and I really do the medicine to function at this time.  With the medicine, I feel a little better than I was, with occasional flare ups. Without the medicine, I feel like I'm in one big flare up all the time. 

Not only did I have that going on, I also got sick.  AND the kids weren't sleeping hardly at all.  At least I got everything done and over with at once.  Although I wish they didn't have to deal with it, it IS nice to have friends who have similar problems and really understand what I am going through. I read a lot about people who do not have a good support system.  My friends at least understand me and sympathize.  

Now that I am feeling better, I am "waking up" to realize everything is falling apart! Brittany has done a GREAT JOB at keeping things rolling as far as laundry and picking up. Michael has helped out a lot with meals. However, some of the littler stuff (cleaning out the frig, messy cabinets, piles of papers, etc) needs to be done.  

Not only that, but I am waking up to some truths as well.  After talking to my friend April on  Friday, I realized that I really need to move in to my house.  Yes, we are moved in enough to reside here....  but I haven't made it a home yet.  We still have sheets up in the windows, boxes in our rooms, boxes in the garage, and from the outside you probably can't tell if we live here or not.  The reasons are numerous but the crux is, I needed to change my ways.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling good and with a mission.  I went straight to the garage (where we recently had our hot water heater flood) and started going through boxes. I opened and went through every box that was in there. I had to throw quite a bit away because of the flood... the rest I put in piles of whether to take inside, put in the attic or put away in the garage.  By the end of Saturday, I had worked 5 hours in the garage and finished one side of it.  Sunday morning I went back out and worked on the opposite side. I finished up the boxes and organized the workbench. I am not done yet, but mostly it is just bringing stuff inside and taking things to the attic.  Once I am done with that, the garage will be nearly empty and I will be able to park inside again! :-)  Not only that, but, if we had another flood, nothing would get ruined.  

One of the benefits of going through all the boxes was finding "lost" treasures! I found all my fishing stuff and had such fun looking through it all.  I also found many decorations. Now I am looking forward to getting things put up and put away and having our house really be homey again. 

Today I realized that the inside was getting very messy while I was working on the outside. Since Michael and Brittany were both gone, I thought I would surprise them and clean the kitchen and my bedroom.  Unfortunately the kitchen is taking a little more time than I thought. I got about half of it done and it's going to take another day.  It is feeling great to get it done, though.

Now I am feeling a little worn out. I am hoping I just need a nap to get renewed and that I haven't overdone it.  It is so hard not to try to get EVERYTHING done when I am feeling up to working.  I KNOW I should take it easy...but it's hard to do.  

Well that's what's going on here.... 

Another wonderful resource

The other day when I posted about "my brain," I included resources that I use to help get my brain in order.  However, I forgot about one wonderful resource I use all the time.... The Low Carb Diner ebook.  This book has an amazing section in the beginning explaining how you can simplify your meal planning. Lisa takes you through the steps to get your kitchen preparation and messes down to the fewest amount of days possible, but with delicious dishes coming out of it every day.  I love to cook once a month and use freezer meal planning quite a bit.  Lisa includes some freezer recipes as well as including other quick meal ideas (like how to make 3 meals at once) and ways to plan for the whole thing.  It is really a WONDERFUL resource I use so much that I forgot to include it...it is just such a natural part of what I do now!

Another wonderful thing about this ebook is, since it is Low Carb, most of the recipes are 100% safe for those of us that are Gluten-Free.  I can't think of anything off the top of my head that may need a substitution, but she might have soy sauce in a recipe or two.

She has a blog that goes along with the ebook and expounds on it.  She includes more recipes, explains how she makes things and has beautiful pictures.

Although I am doing this of my own volition and get no money out of the deal (I just want to share the great resource!), I feel it is only right that I let you know that Lisa is a wonderful friend of mine as well. :-)  She is an exceptional lady with a great family.  I have been privileged to know her for about 10 years now.

My Brain

It's that time of year again.....Time to weed out my brains and create a new one.  I realize you might be thinking I have lost my mind, rather than my brain. Actually my "brain" is a name I have for my home/school organization binder (the term is borrowed from my friend, Lisa, many, many years ago) I haven't really used one much since being here.  I missed it this year and have decided I definitely need one for next year to keep everything in order: our larger home, three homeschoolers (doing two different tracks), several co-ops, a bible study, a few other outside activities, Michael working overnight and my mother in law needing care.  I do almost everything on the computer and my iphone but there are things that I like to see on paper and be able to see the "big picture." I also like: being able to check things off, having things out to remind me constantly (it can get forgotten on my iphone), and being able to take long notes at meetings instead of having to either a) write it on my iphone quickly or b) typing it out after the meeting.  This will be my first time attempting to integrate my home brain with my school brain.  I am not sure if it will work or not....I'll let you know.

Here are some of my favorite resources I use for my "brains:"

• Flylady 
• DonnaYoung.org
• The Archived version of Large Family Logistics
• Heart of Wisdom Printable Freebies
• This article by A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
• Keeping House ebook by A Virtuous Woman
• Menu Planning ebook from Graham Family Ministries
• ExecutiveHomemaker.com
• Polestar's Family Calendar

I haven't yet started working on my brain, but I will be working on it this week in between packing.  I am excited. This kind of stuff is my favorite kind of stuff to do.  I love the planning.  It's the implementing I need to work on!  ;-)

My closet

One of my 101/1001 things was to clean my closet. I had no intention of doing that today and it wasn't even hitting my radar of things I would do soon. But today, after I got my clothes put away, while waiting for Emily to get done with her clothes, I had extra time. I decided to clean my closet! WOOHOO!!

I didn't take any before pics, but my closet wasn't messy at all....it just had clothes that I didn't like and didn't fit me. I wanted to go through and get rid of all the stuff that doesn't fit or that I don't like and reorganize what I did have. So here are the finished pics:

This is my dressy side...aka the church or date side. :-) The box on the bottom left has clothes that are one size smaller, just my favorite ones. The shelf holds winter jammies and sweats and the stuffed animal Michael bought me on our honeymoon. It also has Emily's guitar because the kids were getting into it.

This dress hangs up as incentive to lose weight. It is a beautiful dress with a large bow in the back. Would be beautiful for Christmas.

This side has my everyday clothes and my shoe rack. The shelf holds my journals and sentimental items.



So, you're wondering how much I got rid of????

Setting things in order

I need to "set in order the things that are lacking." Titus 1:5

This verse really yelled at me today! I mean just got right up off the page, pointed its finger in my face and SCREAMED! Things are NOT in order right now. Blessedly, this time it is not BIG things, but rather the little things that make things run smoother. However, I have found myself grumpy and irritable lately from the little things that aren't getting done.

I have a dear friend who lost her baby a few weeks ago. This was heartbreaking for her and her family and also very hard for me as I was with her when it happened. It brought back many feelings of loss that I have for Jacob. I took care of her as well as I knew how (including involving other people, don't worry, I didn't do it all on my own!) and especially tried to do things for her I appreciated from people when Jacob died. (Or things that I wish had happened when he died.) Anyway, it was an emotional week or so and then I got a big, bad cold. Not just your garden variety cold but a BIG BAD one. I basically laid around for another whole week.

Needless to say (and yet I am going to say it), things aren't in order around here. We are a little behind on our laundry and our cleaning. However, I am VERY proud to say, we are not terribly behind and I am not feeling overwhelmed. I have to give kudos to my kids who helped out amazingly this past month. In fact, I am feeling energized and raring to go! I already have systems in place that are good, just have to re-implement them and maybe tweak them a little.

After this verse struck me this morning, I knew today was the day to start getting things back in order! WOOHOO! Yes, it will keep me from my crocheting, but I will reward myself with some crocheting time after we are done today. (I am working on an afghan for hubby for Valentine's Day) :-)

I am at lunch right now, after a good morning of school with the kids.

Here is a quick update: Ethan has been a little hard to handle yet, but I refuse to call it "terrible twos." They are going to be his "terrific twos!" Speaking of that, he just turned 2 on Monday! Emily has been full of good ideas lately! She has come up with some that surprise us all. Kaedra is doing great and is capped again. Brittany is lovely and wonderful and crocheting almost as much as me, lately. Michael is out of town for the week, in KC for a manager's meeting. He is still on nights when he gets back home and it has been really hard on him and for the family. Please pray that he gets done with that soon! No news on our move at all. Still praying that there may be an opening in OKC.

So, today is the day. I am going to start putting things in order again. Here are my lists of things that are lacking:

1. laundry
2. chore lists getting done
3. house cleaning (go back to a little a day or stay at one big one weekly?)
4. Emily's room
5. Kaedra's closet
6. attic (organize/declutter on warm day or in spring)
7. clean out/declutter my closet
8. leave a little time for reading (in other words NOT crocheting)
9. lesson plans in advance
10. zone cleaning (ala Flylady)
11. work on next year's lesson plans (I am writing our curriculum for next year)

I am also working on SMART habits again. They will be in my sidebar.

I will check back in a few days and see how my "ordering" is going!

13 great programs for your PDA

These 13 programs help me do my job. (which is, of course, taking care of my hubby, kids and house)

1. Documents to Go, which came free with my palm pilot (and is available for many different mobile platforms), has been a life-send since having Ethan. I can produce or edit Word and Excel documents wherever I am. This has allowed me to blog, write schedules, make chore lists and plan schooldays, even while nursing in bed. Since my palm pilot goes with me everywhere, I can also work on those things while at the doctor, while in line at the bank, or anywhere else I have extra time. Once I get back to my computer, I sync the two devices together and I am able to finish editing (if needed) then print or publish to my blog.

2. SplashShopper- There are a lot of shopping programs out there and I demo'd a lot of them. SplashShopper has so many features I love; here are some of them:
a. you can make any amount of lists you want and customize them in myriads of ways. Truly your imagination and creativity are your only limits.
b. The lists don't have to be shopping lists. You can have library book lists, video lists, to dos, thank yous, routines (I have all my daily routines in this program), take out menus, Christmas and gift lists, Lists of places where things are stored, travel lists, curriculum ideas, future Thursday Thirteen ideas....you get the idea.
c. Within each list you have 4-6 (depending again on your creativity in customizing it) categories you can put each item in. For instance in shopping I have: store, category, aisle and price; while for my morning routine I have: day of the week and upstairs or downstairs.
d. You can sort by any category. I sort my grocery list by aisle and my routines by what floor I am on.
e. It has a desktop companion. This is wonderful especially for first getting the lists set up.
f. If you chose, you can put the prices of items in there and check your budget as you make your list.
g. You can make "quicklists" which are saved, mini lists you can use time and again. If you use a rotating menu, like I do, you can just click on 'week 1' and all my items for that week's menu are added to my list. This would also be handy for seasonal chores or certain people's favorite items off of a menu.
h. I'm sure I'm missing some great features, but you get the idea. SplashShopper does cost ---- but it is worth every cent.

3. PDA cookbook- This cookbook is a nice, easy to use program. It also has a desktop interface which makes it easier to enter recipes. You can create a menu plan with it and it even syncs with SplashShopper to make your shopping list!

4. WWCalc- A Weight Watcher point calculator. It's a little hard to find, and only available for Palm OS but it is awesome. It has lists of food and their points, an activity calculator, ability to bank points, checkboxes for vitamins, counters for water, veggies and milk, etc. And this one is FREE! All you have to do is actually lose the weight. ;-)

5. NFP- If you use Natural Family Planning, this handy little freeware program is very useful.

6. Avant Go- Brings web content to your PDA when you don't have wifi. Each time you sync with your computer, it uploads the current pages you have selected to your PDA. You can choose from their channels, sites they have categorized for you, or you can add your own sites. You can even download maps from Mapquest which I have found to be one of the most useful features. Avant Go is also freeware.

7. Olivetree Bible Program- Olivetree has a great program with many available add ins. The program is free, as are several bibles and texts, but they have many items you can add in for various costs. I have stuck with strictly the free items for many years and been very happy. It is great for looking up verses or keywords on the go and you can add bookmarks and notes to any of the texts.

8. Palmreader- Palmreader came with my PDA but there are also other freeware e-reader programs out there. These programs allow you to read ebooks from your palm. Many, many books are now being published in this fashion and you can find everything from free classics to best sellers with hardback book prices. One of the uses I have found for this is downloading children's stories and reading them to my kids while waiting at the dr.

9. Big Clock- An easy alarm or timer program with 4 alarms you can set. It's freeware and much better than all of the pricey alarms I demo'd.

10. Moviementor- great program if you really like movies. It lists new movies (theaters and videos) and hundreds of old movies. You can make lists of movies you own, you'd like to see, favorites and seen. You can also give ratings to movies which are uploaded to the site when you sync. Another cool feature is the search mechanism. When I first got this program, I stayed up many nights just reading their synopses and reviews. It seems to list quite a few Bollywood movies and is missing some that I consider classics, but I think it is definitely worth the price of 17.95.

Okay, enough of the serious stuff, let's get to the games!

11. Pocketbo- the PDA version of Skipbo. I actually played it on my palm before playing it in real life but I love it both ways now. You can play against the computer or against another person. Lots of fun and free!

12. Patience- freeware solitaire suite. This package has a ton of solitaire games. I have been using it for years and I really enjoy it.

13. SuLite- Suduko. There are many freeware, shareware and software versions of Suduko out there. I will readily admit I have not tried them all. I tried three and really liked this one so this is the one I use. This one is freeware.

So, there you have it....the programs that I added to my regular palm suite to make my life easier (minus the one that figures out how long a tank of oxygen will last which I figured didn't have a lot of call for it...if you want info on it, let me know, lol)

If you'd like to see more Thursday Thirteen entries, click here.

End of Organizational Challenge

I finished the organizational challenge. Because of the rules of the challenge, I put my end pictures and thoughts on the posts I had already made. If you are interested, here are my final posts:

Under the Kitchen Sink

Garage

Thanks for all your encouragement! It was lots of fun and I love having it all done!

Organizational Challenge - Garage

Today was my first day since starting this challenge where I had a chance to spend a lot of time on my garage. I had hoped to get started earlier in the month, but didn't have anyone to hold Ethan and/or help me. Michael actually had the WHOLE day off today (he usually works 1/2 days on Saturdays) so he was able to help me and Brittany took care of the babies. We took the car out and I took today's "before pics." (These were slightly better than the before pics from the last two posts on this subject since I had a chance to do a little decluttering and we threw out the toilet.

We discussed where we wanted everything to go when we were done. We then took almost everything out of the garage and put it in piles outside.

We had a giveaway/sale pile:

Kid's Toy pile:

Auto pile:

Gardening pile:

Garbage pile:

Stuff to go in the cars pile:

Stuff to go in the house pile:

Projects that need to be done pile:

And here is the pic of the garage cleaned out:

After we cleaned everything out we discussed what we wanted to go where. It was nice to see the piles and be able to see what would actually fit where. We had to rearrange our ideas a little, after we saw how much/little we had of each thing. We also changed our mind about where the garbage was going to be kept, so that moved everything (in our mental blueprint) around.

At this point, we ran out of time for the day which was quite discouraging!! We put everything back in the garage (keeping stuff in the same piles) and we will finish it tomorrow.... I can't wait!

As a side note, I don't think we will need to purchase anything for the garage which is great! We had a few empty tubs that I bought when they were on sale and, other than those, I think everything else is fine! By making some decisions (like hubby's car would NOT be in garage -- he is buying a new truck in a two months that won't fit in the garage anyway) we were able to use what we already have instead of having to buy anything. I would like a wireless entry but we will have to wait on that until we budget that money in.

***********************************************************************************
updated for end of Organizational Challenge
***********************************************************************************

Well I wasn't able to work on the garage Sunday. On Tuesday, I ended up inviting my mother in law over to hold Ethan and I finished up.

Here are the final photos:


















1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
The hardest part of the challenge was finding time to do this. I knew it would be a big project and I didn't have a big block of time. I am a person who likes to get something all done at once. I am not as good at working on things little by little. I also knew it would be easier if I could do it in one (or two) big blocks so that I didn't have to keep moving things in and out. (which I did have to do once) My hubby had an unexpected day off and we were able to take care of most of it that day. It was a pain to put it back in and not finish the project, but it was certainly something I overcame! After coming back to it on Tuesday and it only taking another hour or so, I came to appreciate breaking up a large project a little bit more.


2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
The biggest change I put into place is I put tape on the ground and made "areas" for like minded items. I have a garbage area and a toy area. I even labelled the tape in the toy area so they would know where each item went. However, even if the kids just got the toys within the taped area I'd be happy (shhhh don't tell them!). I also created a project bucket on the workbench so that the projects weren't just scattered all over the place. I labelled the workbench so each tool would have a home. I put a trash can with a liner near the car, so we can empty the car each time we get home and that trash will actually make it into a BAG. WOOHOO! I also cleared off the toybench (next to the freezer) to be able to use it as a landing zone for items we need to leave with.

3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Most of it was trash. I can't believe how much trash we were storing!! We donated some to Prevent Blindness (who just happened to call in the midst of this challenge). The rest of the items went into the house or attic where they belonged.

4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
That I need defined spaces with LIMITS for like minded items. Also, to have readily accessible trash receptacles. (say that 3 times fast)

5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Oh yes!! I am already THRILLED with the results. Leaving and coming home are so much less stressful with clear, clean paths and an orderly looking garage. When the cat got loose in the garage last night it was so easy to get her (she has nowhere to hide now!) and finding what I need is not a problem. I love having everything I need at my fingertips in pre-defined, labelled spots. I am much less stressed in general when things are decluttered and organized...so thank you sooo much for this challenge! I am SO happy to have this BEHEMOTH off of my back!

30 Day Organizational Challenge Part 2

I got to work on the Spring Organizational Challenge today. I chose to work on my Small Room/ Area which is under the kitchen sink.

First Emily and I took everything out from under the sink.



Then we threw out what we didn't want anymore, put away the stuff that went somewhere else (how on earth did a cinderella wand get down there???), organized all the cleaners into categories and went up to my attic and got containers that I had on hand. I decided not to put shelves down there because it is an odd shaped cabinet and it has the disposal hanging down and all the pipes.

I made 4 containers: furniture stuff, carpet cleaning stuff, general cleaning and sponges/gloves. I made labels for them all and also my all purpose cleaner.



Just as a reminder, here was my before picture:



And here is what it looks like now:







Updated to finish off challenge:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Just making time to do it. It seemed like it would be a fairly easy thing to organize and clean, I just needed to find the time. Having a baby less than 3 months old made it a bit difficult, but we figured it out.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
I labelled the containers so that stuff can be put back in the correct place. The biggest change is I have added "check under counter" to my nighttime routine. Now I check the cabinet before bed and if anything is not in the container, I can quickly put it in there before everything gets out of control.

3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Most of it was trash. Some of the things went to new locations..like the car cleaner stuff went to the garage and the wipes for the bathroom actually made it to the bathroom. And of course the Cinderella wand....that got put with all the royal treasures. ;-)


4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
To keep up with it. There is not much down there but it can get out of control when it is not kept up. By keeping up with it daily, I don't have as much to do and can find everything much quicker.


5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Definitely!! Any organized area in my life makes a little piece of stree-free life for me! I love seeing the results. I LOVE to open the cabinet now and see the labelled containers and the organized look. It soooothes me. (don't worry, I do realize I am pathetic!)

30 Day Organizational Challenge

I am so excited! I am participating in the Spring Organizational Challenge put on by Laura at Organizing Junkie.

She has two categories: a large room/area and a small room/area.
I am participating in both. My large room/area is my garage and my small room/area is under my kitchen sink.

Here are my before pics of the garage:






And here are my preliminary answers to these questions:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
to be storage and ready access for several different types of items:
a. car (or cars, depending on hubby)
b. tools/ home improvement supplies
c. gardening gear
d. garbage cans
e. kids outside toys
f. winter gear (might move this to the attic, now that I think about it)
g. freezer

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
I need some better storage solutions. Maybe some shelving, some more hooks, some tubs, would like a wireless entry system for when we take walks.

3. What can I remove from the room?
tools I don't use, cleaning items I don't use, old paints, some things can go to the attic

4. What problems do I see with the room?
too many uses for too little space. putting everything that doesn't have a place in the house into the garage. Not a good system in place for kids to use.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
Cutting down on the uses (like putting the winter gear in the attic (at least in the summer, maybe I could switch out in the winter and put the kids outside toys in the attic), defining areas of use: a gardening area, tool area, car stuff area, toy area

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
follow up on kids putting toys away when they get in. Put things outside on workbench myself so it gets put away in the right place. Limiting the amount of stuff we keep. Regular purging.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Very limited (maybe $50 or less?)

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
Need a few good days of working on it a few hours at a time. Could start purging it right away, though, in smaller increments.

9. What is my plan of action?
a. purge the unneeded stuff
b. move winter stuff to attic
c. decide on areas in garage for each type of item, make limits on the area
d. put like items together
e. decide what supplies/containers are needed for each area
f. buy items and install
g. put things where they go
h. take pictures and post them! :-)

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
my kids, Sherria (my neice), my hubby, maybe Ashton or my mother in law to hold the baby while I am working.


And here is my before pic of under my kitchen sink:


And my answers to the questions pertaining to under my sink, now:

1. What do I want the purpose of my room or area to be?
cleaning items storage

2. What do I need in or near the room to serve that purpose?
shelves and/or containers. childproof locks.

3. What can I remove from the room?
several cleaners I don't use. who knows what else is down there!

4. What problems do I see with the room?
too much stuff! Not staying in boxes. Boxes not labelled. Too hard to access boxes since it is a corner cabinet.

5. What organizational tools might solve those problems?
shelves and better containers.

6. What habits need to change to solve the organizational problems?
putting things away in correct box/container. making it friendly for others to know where to put stuff.

7. What kind of a budget do I have to create the organized room of my dreams?
Very limited (maybe $20 or less?)

8. What kind of a timeline is necessary to organize the room?
just a few hours

9. What is my plan of action?
a. purge the unneeded stuff
b. make categories of items
c. decide if anything can go anywhere else
d. research shelving for corner cabinet with sink
e. buy shelving and/or containers
f. install
g. put to work, label
h. install childproof system

10. Who can I ask to help me with this?
Sherria, my mother in law or Ashton to hold Ethan

I am excited about getting those areas done as well as the possibility of winning prizes! WOOHOO! Do you have any areas you want to work on? Come join me and the other people at Organizing Junkie's site!

homemaking Meme

Aprons - Y/N? If, Y, what does your favorite look like?
No, but I want to make some for the girls and me.
Baking - Favorite thing to bake:
at the moment, Apple cake
Clothesline - Y/N?
No.
Donuts - Have you ever made them?
Once recently, with Tarry's technique. Several times when a kid.
Every day - One homemaking thing you do every day:
laundry
Freezer - Do you have a separate deep freeze?
Yes.
Garbage Disposal - Y/N?
Yes.
Handbook - What is your favorite homemaking resource?
Once A Month Cooking book
Ironing - Love it or hate it? ROFL--if you know me well, you know this is my MOSTdreaded chore. I only do it when hubby has a bigwig coming to visit. And only then if I cant get it to the cleaners in time.
Junk drawer - Y/N? Where is it?
yes, in kitchen
Kitchen - Color and decorating scheme.
chili peppers--red and green and stucco walls
Love - What is your favorite part of homemaking? cooking
Mop - Y/N? Brittany does for me
Nylons - Wash by hand or in the washing machine?
Nylons??? Rofl! Never wear them!
Oven - Do you use the window or open the oven door to check?
open the door
Pizza - What do you put on yours?
I dont much like pizza. If I did make one it would be with alfredo sauce instead of tomato and some veggies.
Quiet - What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment?
Read, pencil puzzles and computer.
Recipe card box?
had to graduate to binder
Style of house?
mish mash
Tablecloths and napkins - our tablecloths are mexican blankets. We usually use paper napkins, but I made chili pepper ones at one time
Under the kitchen sink - Organized or toxic wasteland?
a little of both
Vacuum - How many times per week?
supposed to be twice
Wash - How many loads of laundry do you do per week?
who knows
X's - Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off?
yes!
Yard - Y/N? Who does what?
last year we hired friend.
Zzz's - What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed? feed cat, turn on alarm, lock doors, make sure kitchen is clean

Cleaning Sponges

I obviously get excited about the weirdest things now! But check this out:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two minutes in the microwave can sterilize most household sponges, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

A team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida found that two minutes of microwaving on full power mode killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as spores, on a kitchen sponge.

"People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave," said Gabriel Bitton, a professor of environmental engineering who led the study.

"To guard against the risk of fire, people who wish to sterilize their sponges at home must ensure the sponge is completely wet," Bitton's team wrote in an advisory.

"Two minutes of microwaving is sufficient for most sterilization. Sponges should also have no metallic content. Last, people should be careful when removing the sponge from the microwave as it will be hot."

Looking to be a great day!

Today is looking like it is going to be a great day! Do you ever wake up in that kind of mood?? Kaedra woke me up at 630 this morning which I wasn't too thrilled about at the time, but has really gotten my day off to a great start. I already gave her a bath, did her treatments, picked up her room, checked my email, updated my blog from yesterday and made breakfast all before my other girls even got up!

Soooo since I am starting off in one of those "conquer the world" days, here are my plans for today:

1. Start my oamc marinara sauce cooking
2. make my 2 wild rice chickens (using the chicken that was in the cp last night)
3. grind up the rest of the chicken for Kaedra's food
4. pick up the school room and top of TV (two "hot spots")
5. get today's laundry going and Kaedra's laundry put away
6. pantry cleaned
7. keep working on school schedule
8. My friend Teri Kelley is coming this afternoon with her kids to visit, so I want to be able to relax by then.
9. I have my OB appt tomorrow, so I need to get everything ready to get out tomorrow. (Brandi- I will be sending the Munchkin tomorrow and Logan's card. I know it will be late, but at least it's the same week this year!!! (or at all!!)
10. Tonight we have a nurse, so I am going to sleep! WOOHOO! :-)
11. Forgot this: I need to make an inventory of what's in our freezers and clean out the old stuff!


Hope you all have a great day too!

WFMW- Meal Planning

I didn't know if I had a WFMW this week. I wasn't sure I could think of anything that works for me that would work for a lot of other people! So here I am ready to do my menu plan for the next few weeks and I realized, hey, this might be of benefit for other people!

So....my WFMW is about Meal/Menu Planning.

I don't like to grocery shop very much. My hubby only gets paid once a month, so, for a long time I shopped once a month (for everything but produce and milk.) Michael picked up the milk and produce on his way home when/if we needed it. To do that, I had to come up with a month full of meals, so I knew exactly what to get.

Since being very pregnant, I have increased my shopping to two times a month. I just can't push/pull two carts around Walmart anymore! I still have the menu plans and they are a huge help. This is what I did to get my plans:

1. Make a list of all your family's favorite meals
2. Separate them into categories (ie chicken, beef, fish, vegetarian or crockpot, quick, grill, long bake (or lots of prep) or a mix of both)
3. I chose 2 crockpot meals, 2 quick meals, 1 grill, 1 long bake and 1 night for leftovers for each week. Also include side dishes.
4. After you get each week figured out, make a grocery list for all the recipes, including side dishes and desserts, for the week. (If you shop for 2 weeks at a time, do this for a 2 week period, same with a month)
5. Now when you are ready to go to the store, you just need to grab the grocery list for that set of recipes and you are all set with a pre-made meal plan and pre-made grocery list!

Anyway, it works for me!

If you would like to peruse other WFMW please check out Rocks in my dryer.