31 Days-Days 30 & 31

Last day already!  This month has gone by way too quickly.

After a full month of using my control journal, my house is not perfect, but it's better.  So much better.  

"Before" picture of computer desk aka home office

"After" picture of computer desk aka home office.  Still needs work, but it's getting there!

"Before" picture of the end of the hallway between the two bedrooms

"After" picture of the end of the hallway.  The vacuum is no longer just a decoration as I use it every Monday when I do my daily checklist.  Do you see the little hand in the bottom right hand corner of the picture?  Little Man was following me around when I took the pictures.

"Before" picture of the kids' room.  *Shudder*

"After" picture of the kids' room.  *Blissful sigh*

"Before" picture of the kitchen counter

"After" picture of the kitchen counter.  All the kids' craft and activity stuff is stored in the corner next to the fridge. 

The bathroom.  I need to learn photoshop so I can add some "sparkles" to show how clean and shiny it is.

The master bedroom (haha).  Little Man ran past me just as I took the picture.  You can tell what side of the bed is mine...I'm always cold and Hubby is always hot.  So I have exactly 6 layers on my side while Hubby has only 3.  And he's usually still too hot while I'm shivering.

The great expanse of living room floor.  Is that Little Man again?  Sneaky little boy... 

My "Hot Spot", the coffee table.  I plan on buying a basket to put the newpapers, mail, etc. in to make it look a little neater.  I didn't get a before picture of this, but imagine the whole table covered in papers, toys, books, junk, etc. 

You wouldn't think that having a clean house would change your life, but it's most definitely changed mine.

Thanks to the Flylady system, I can walk across the living room floor without feeling like I'm running an obstacle course.  I can get up in the middle of the night to comfort a crying child without worrying about stepping on anything or turning on lights to make sure the floor is clear.  I can get my house looking pretty much spotless in less than 20 minutes.  I can have visitors over at little to no notice and be completely relaxed and comfortable rather than embarrassed.  I can spend more time playing with my kids because A: there's room to spread out and actually play now and B: I'm not spending so much time stressing over the mess and trying futilely to clean it.  I can look forward to Hubby coming home from work so much more now because I don't feel guilty that he's coming home to a mess.  I can sit down and read a book without feeling like I should be cleaning something because it's already done.  I don't freak out over messes that the kids make because, instead of just making a disaster even worse, now it's just one mess that can be quickly cleaned up.  My stress level has gone way down and I don't yell at the kids over little things like I used to do.  I don't start arguments with Hubby like before because I'm so much happier now.

How has cleaning your house changed your life?

31 Days-Day 29

I had a craft show today from 9-3.  My younger sister, came with me to help me carry (read: carry everything for me while I sit around and look pretty) all the boxes in and out of the venue so I wouldn't hurt my back worse than it is already. 

Little Sis came home with me to spend the night and help out since I've got so much to do tonight.  When we walked in, I apologized for the mess.  She gave me a funny look and said, "What mess?"  Hehe.  That's why I apologized.  To make her notice how clean it was.  It worked.

I made Kiddie Trail Mix yesterday.  It was really complicated and took me hours to perfect.  Actually, it took me, like, 30 seconds to dump everything in a container and shake it up.
First I threw some cheerios in an air tight container.  I didn't measure because, well, I just don't do that unless it's absolutely necessary.  Then I added dried pineapple, colored marshmallows, and chocolate chips.  I plan to add raisins and sunflower seeds when I get around to buying them.  Because Princess can't have regular chocolate chips (allergies to gluten, dairy, eggs, and nuts, remember?) I made her a separate batch in a different container with her special dairy-free, gluten-free chocolate chips.
The kids love the stuff especially since it's got pretty colors and chocolate in it. 

Are you looking forward to your day off from cleaning tomorrow?  A day off from cleaning doesn't mean that you just drop stuff on the floor and walk away.  Picking up after yourself should become a habit that you automatically do.   A day off means that you skip the daily routines and take it easy. 
Have fun!

31 Days-Days 27 & 28

I finished my weekly zone, the bathroom, yesterday (Thursday, whoop, whoop!).  So nice to have that done.  

Today, I worked on laundry.  I didn't get it all done though so I'll have to finish it tomorrow evening when I get done with my craft show.  I've noticed that doing laundry really makes my back start hurting again.  I'm guessing it has something to do with carrying heavy baskets up and down a flight of stairs, making a second trip upstairs to drag a screaming child back down to our half of the house (they really like going upstairs to see our landlady and her dog.  She gives them skittles) and leaning repeatedly into the washer and dryer to remove clothing.  Not sure what to do about this though.  It's not like anyone is volunteering to do my laundry for me...are they?  *Hint, hint*

My mom posted this cartoon on my dad's facebook wall today.  My dad is a banjo player and proud of it and we like to pick on him.  Lovingly, of course.  Okay, we actually get kind of mean sometimes.     

This made me laugh.

Little Man loves playing with my pins when I'm pinning my sewing projects.  Today, he dumped them all out on the floor and oh-so-carefully picked them up and put them back in the little plastic box.  Then he dumped them back out.  He spent a good half hour playing with my pins.  And he never once poked himself.  He did, however, poke his sister a few times.  Let's just say that that didn't go over well.

A month ago, I could never have posted a picture like this because this floor would've been strewn with toys.  I see the kids' toy broom laying in front of the fireplace, but that's it.  Makes me so warm and fuzzy to see the carpet.

I made stuffed crust pizza and pizza breadsticks for supper on Thursday.  Yummmmmm.  My secret?  String cheese.

For the pizza, make your pizza crust like normal and then cut string cheese sticks into thirds.  Arrange the string cheese around the outer edge of the crust. 

You can put your string cheese closer together than this.  I was running out so I had to stretch mine out so it would go all the way around the pizza.

Next, fold the crust over the string cheese and pinch closed. 

All tucked in and ready for toppings!

Make the pizza the way you normally do and enjoy!

I forgot to get a picture of the cheesy breadsticks, but you basically use the same technique as you did with the pizza.  Use refrigerated crescent roll dough and pinch two triangles together to form a rectangle.  Put a whole piece of string cheese in the center and roll the dough around the cheese.  Pinch the edges closed.  Brush with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt before baking.  So easy and completely calorie and fat free!  Or so I keep telling myself.

31 Days-Day 26

Guess what?!?!  I finally checked every single thing off my Morning Routine list!

I erased all my neat little checkmarks and then realized that I hadn't taken a picture.  As uploading a new picture takes 2 cameras, a photo-editing software, and 11 minutes to complete, I decided to skip it and just use the picture I took at the beginning of the month.  Lazy...or smart?

At the beginning of the month, I told you that I wasn't checking "Do sit-ups/10 min. of exercise" off the list because I had just hurt my back.  After procrastinating for a while even though my back was feeling much better, I finally decided to just bite the bullet and exercise.  And it wasn't as bad as I thought it was.  Plus, I got to see a completely checked off list with no gaps this morning.  What a great feeling.  I'm hoping to give myself a flatter stomach by my birthday next May.  Ha!  We'll see how that goes.

My list for Wednesday includes cleaning out the refrigerator.  I gotta be honest with you...I almost didn't do it.  I saw it on my list and thought to myself, "Self, you don't really want to clean out the fridge.  Just skip it til next week."
But then I slapped myself in the face a few times, got in my face like a drill sergeant, and chewed myself out, "Self, just do it!  Get in there and clean that fridge out!"

Never one to disobey a direct order from the higher-ups, I cleaned out the fridge.  It took me less than 4 minutes.  I had to throw out three things that, if left in there another week, would've been much more...unpleasant to dispose of.
What I'm saying here is that if you find yourself thinking about procrastinating or trying to talk yourself out of doing something, just do it anyways.  You will feel so much better afterwards and it probably won't be half as bad as you thought it would be.  

31 Days-Day 25

Today has been a pretty good day.  On Tuesdays, I spend 30 minutes in the weekly zone (the bathroom) and in that 30 minutes, I got everything done on my list for the bathroom except for going through the cabinets.  It makes me feel so happy to see all those little check marks next to my list.  *blissful sigh*

The house was pretty clean, but then while Princess was playing with her "rice pan" she spilled rice all over the kitchen floor.  I have yet to sweep it up, but I have plans to do that during the kids' supper. 

In case you were wondering, a rice pan is a pan filled with rice to play in.  I use a cake pan about half full of rice and some measuring cups, funnels, and miscellaneous toys to play with in it.  When I was growing up, we had a "beach pan" filled with white sand that my mom brought back to Minnesota from when our family lived in Florida for a few years.  We had such a blast playing with that when we were little.  My mother-in-law has something similar for the grandkids to play with at her house.  She filled an under-the-bed plastic container with feed corn (farmers, remember?) and little tractors and shovels.  The kids absolutely love playing in it and since it's a bigger container, several of them can play at once. 

This is an example of a rice play box.  I put mine on top of a cookie sheet when Princess plays with it to make clean up easy. 

Right now, our rice box is plain and boring.  As soon as I remember to buy some more food coloring, I'm going to be dying our rice!  Here's some easy instructions for dying your own.

  I ordered this closet organizer from the Lakeside Collection catalogue to set up next to my sewing machine.  I really need a place to hang clothes when I get done making them plus this rack has lots of shelf space for my overflowing fabric collection.  It came in the mail today so my trusty screwdriver and I assembled it ourselves.  Yay for extra storage space!

31 Days-Days 23 & 24

I thought about blogging yesterday and then I made a deliberate decision not to.  Sundays are a family day for us so I usually don't even turn on the computer.  And I feel that I deserve just one lazy day a week. 

After being gone all day Thursday, getting ready for the craft show on Friday, and then being gone most of Saturday and Sunday, my house was a mess.  It never ceases to amaze me how the house mysteriously makes a mess of itself while you're not home.

I flew through my morning routine today and then started the Monday routine which for me is spending an hour "blessing" my home.  Even with my house messier than usual, it still only took me the allotted hour.  And that was with two adorable munchkins following behind me to undo things as I did them. 

Little Man sneaked into the bathroom while I was cleaning the tub and stuck his hand in the steaming hot water coming from the faucet.  I didn't realize he was in there next to me until I heard him whimper.  I turned to find him shaking his wet hand in the air and staring at it in shock.  Thankfully, he didn't get burned or scalded, it was just hotter than he was used to. 

Another thing on my list today was to make the weekly menu plan and do the grocery shopping.  The grocery shopping was interesting, thanks to Princess's big mouth.  There were several Amish ladies shopping with their young children and Princess had lots of questions.  Lots of awkward questions asked loudly, within earshot of the Amish.  Not quite sure why she was so curious today as she's seen lots of Amish around town, and when we set up a booth at the local farmer's market, she made friends with the Amish at the booths across from us.  I tried to field her questions as best I could while being respectful of the Amish culture.

Just when I thought we were done with questions, a large man passed us.  Just as he was next to our cart, sweet Princess, ever observant, loudly asked, "Mommy, why does that man have such a big tummy?"

I almost crawled beneath our cart at that point.

You know what's really cute?  She asked me that same question this morning as I was emptying the dishwasher.  Thank you, my dear child, for pointing out that the baby tummy hasn't been disappearing as quickly as I would've liked.  At least this time, she asked me this at home.  Last time, that question came up, it was at the dinner table at my in-laws when there was a sudden lull in the conversation.   

Tomorrow's task is to spend 30 minutes in the weekly zone which is the bathroom.  What's your zone this week?

31 Days-Day 22

So according to my control journal (that nifty 3 ring binder book with all the lists that we put together at the beginning of the month), Saturday is the day to clean out the van and my purse.  I did clean out my purse, but the van...not so much.  I had a craft show today (and one last Saturday, and another one next Saturday) so the back of my van is full of my boutique stuff.  But I did pick up the garbage and toys that had accumulated in the van over the last week.  So I guess it is clean, just not empty.  I didn't get a chance to finish my list of chores for my weekly zone, but I got most of it done and, although tomorrow starts another week, I do plan on doing a few more things on the list for the living room.

Technically, starting tomorrow, my weekly zone is the bathroom.  This one will be pretty easy which is good because I have about 8 tutus, 14 pairs of ruffle pants, 10 ruffle skirts, a skort, 6 applique shirts, 2 dresses, and 2 pairs of bloomers to make next week.  And, crazy as I am, I'm looking forward to all that sewing because I seriously love doing it.  I just wish I had more time in the day.  I know other work-at-home moms stay up late every night to work after the kids go to bed, but that's really not my thing.  First of all, I kinda like spending time with Hubby.  Shhhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I, like, have a major crush on him.  Secondly, I need sleep.  And lots of it.  If I don't get at least 7 hours a night, I crash and burn.  And it's not pretty.        

The reason the bathroom will be an easy room to deep clean is because I deep cleaned it last month when I actually started using my control journal.  Yes, I know.  I cheated.  I should've started the same time everyone else did, but I had no idea I was going to be doing the 31 Day blog challenge until...34 minutes before I published my first post.  So no Before and After pictures of the bathroom (like you'd want to see them anyways, right?), but I will post some pictures of my clean shiny bathroom next week anyways so you can see what yours will look like when you're done.     

31 Days-Day 21

Can you believe how close we are to the end of the 31 days already?  Only 10 days left!

Today, I'm going to share some cleaning and organization tips I use.

The cardinal rule of a clean house: Pick up after yourself.  And if you have to, pick up after family members too.  I do expect Princess to clean up after herself most of the time, but Little Man is still figuring this stuff out and Hubby, well...I've pretty much given up on that idea, so I do clean up after "the boys"

If you have little girls, put a shoe bag over their bedroom door and use it to store and organize their hair accessories.

On that same thought, just go ahead and buy an over-the-door shoe bag for each door in your house.  Keep shampoo, soap, etc. in the one in the bathroom.  Organize belts, scarves, and accessories in the bedroom shoe bag.  Hang one up in the pantry to store snacks, spices, etc.  Put an extra door in your craft room just so you can hang several in there as they're the perfect way to organize ribbons and other crafting supplies.
Go here to see other uses for over-the-door shoe bags.

Keep a dry erase/corkboard on your refrigerator to write down what you're out of while you're still thinking of it.  Or, if you don't want to have to transfer the list over to a piece of paper that you can take with you to the store, type up a list of what you usually keep in the pantry with some blank spaces for other things.  Then just print it off and keep a fresh list on your refrigerator so you can check things on the list as you see the need.  Below is an example.  

That's it for today!  Keep up the good work :)

31 Days-Days 19 & 20

My Brain
Definition: Something that weighs my head down so it doesn't float away like a helium balloon.  Not to be mistaken for a useful tool for thinking and remembering things. 
Synonyms: Useless, counterproductive, ineffective.
Antonyms: Helpful, cogitating device, useful in any situation.

Ever feel like you're a broken record?  I forgot to blog yesterday.  Yup.  Realized it while I was falling asleep in my nice warm bed last night.  I thought about getting up and blogging quick before midnight.  But I didn't.  Moving on...

I dutifully did my morning routine and the Wednesday routine yesterday.  I also did some work on my zone which is the living room.  One of my friends was over visiting, and I put her to work helping me swap out the kids' toys and books for the ones I had put away.  It was like Christmas at my house when the kids got up from their naps.  The little dears dumped everything out on the floor.  And here's the fun part.  It's all still there.  I did not clean today.  At all.  I had a doctor's appointment this morning in a town an hour and a half away from here, and if I'm going to be in The Big City with all them fancy stores and such, I'm going to get my monthly stockpile shopping done.  We live in a very small town (pop: 1426) that is 45 minutes away from the closest superstore so about once a month, I spend all day in The City stocking up on junk...I mean stuff we need and can't buy where we live.

My mom and Princess came with me today.  Little Man, in true boy fashion, hates shopping with a passion so I generally leave him behind with one of my sisters.  We found some good stuff today.

Dairy Free-Gluten Free chocolate chips for Princess!  My little chocolate lover about died when she saw these.  We found them at a Food Coop. 

Guitar shaped cake pan for Little Man's birthday.  I didn't buy it today, but am so thrilled that I know where to get one now!  Guess what the theme for his second birthday is going to be?  I have almost all the details planned out and his birthday isn't until May.  Have I mentioned I tend to be a little OCDish at times?

Zebra print sugar sheets for decorating cakes!  How cool is this?!?!  I had no idea how I was going to make Princess's birthday cake (Not until January.  I know, I know...) for her zebra themed birthday party.  This will make it so easy.

Eric Carle shirt for $9 at Target!  I'm a sucker for anything Eric Carle so I had to get this shirt for Little Man!

Also at Target, a hot pink Cat in the Hat shirt with zebra accents!!  Princess's favorite color, her favorite print (zebra), and one of her favorite books, all rolled into one adorable shirt.

White chocolate candy corn M&Ms.  Have you tried these?  I mean, really.  Have you?!?!  They are yummy!  And very sweet, so don't eat too many at once.  Totally wish I'd have gotten more than one bag since the next time I get to Walmart, they won't have these anymore.  FYI, if you want to be my favoritest reader of all time, you can email me for my address so you can send me a few dozen bags.  Just sayin'

31 Days-Days 17 & 18

Hmmm, I seem to have missed another day.  This blogging for 31 days straight thing is harder than I thought it would be.  But I'm still truckin' along and I'm going to make it to October 31st, even if I miss a day here or there.

I feel a little guilty because my house was a little messy today and yesterday.  I'm supposed to be helping everyone else conquer their messes and get their houses clean this month, and here I am setting a bad example. 

Let's spin this a little though.  *Climbs up onto a soapbox and gets all inspirational-ish*  I'm here to say that even if you slip off the wagon a little or fall off completely and get run over by said wagon, you can get back on!  Don't lose heart and don't beat yourself up.  Lasso that wagon and reel it back so you can climb back on. 

Okay, enough with the western cliches.

But seriously, though.  If you slip up, it's fine.  I slipped up quite a bit, but this evening, after about 30 minutes of catch-up cleaning, things are looking pretty good around here too.  Actually, what prompted me to do a quick clean of the house was the loss of a spool of white thread which I kinda need to finish my sewing projects.  I got things cleaned up, but I still didn't find it so I'm thinking that an angel faced cherub may have misappropriated it to some random place where I'll find it in several months while doing some deep cleaning.

My plan for tomorrow is to change out the kids' toys and books with the ones in storage in their bedroom closet and clean the sliding glass door in the living room (my zone this week!).  To be honest, I haven't cleaned the sliding glass door since...well...ever.  There are fingerprints and smudges on there from when Princess first crawled over to bang on the glass with her drooly little fingers.  She's now almost four.  Up until now, I've put it off by telling myself that it's a "memory door" with all of its little fingerprints and nose smudges.  Pathetic, I know.    

What's your plan for tomorrow?