Blessings From Home

I'm posting this the night before so that I can get started on it first thing in the morning, instead of getting lost on the computer for too long.

I'm a little upset with the girl's room, because not a month ago I went through and straightened everything up when I set up their daybeds. Part of it is my fault though, because I started stacking boxes of old toys in their, opened, and they started going through them. That and I never completely finished sorting and putting away all their summer clothes. And I never stayed on top of them like I said I would. With all that said, it won't happen again.

~Maintain Clean Rooms-kitchen, living/dining room, master bed/bathroom, family room, laundry room, bathroom/hallway, boy's room

~Spend time working on home management binder and cleaning routines for kids. If I have time, I'd really love to make some little binders for the older kids to help give them some more responsibility, also so that I won't have to constantly direct them, until they get used to taking care of things on their own, like their rooms, and their daily chores.

I don't anticipate this room taking quite as much effort as the boy's room, but it still needs some work. Pretty much what you see is what you get in their room. In the corner on the left is a big open space where I am currently storing tubs of clothes for different sizes. It doesn't look very nice right now, but it serves a purpose, and I will try and make it look prettier later on when I have time. To the right, is the girl's large closet. It's not a walk in, but it's very wide. And right beside the closet is a dresser. I will update this as soon as I can, and then I can move on to my last and final room....the playroom. As I said before, the playroom is the most daunting for me. But one thing I've realized in this nesting mission is that although I have been able to go through every room and do some serious straightening, there is still much work left to do in each room. That's where the zone cleaning will come into play, as well as my daily routines, and basic weekly plan. So for now, I'm off to bed, and praying for a productive day tomorrow....

Nesting Mission-Day 7-Boy's Room-Updated

I pray you all had a blessed weekend! Ours was quiet except for the unexpected collision with the deer on Friday night. We spent Saturday evening at my parent's home watching OU Football, and I proudly say We Won! Not that I really care, but for hubby's sake, I put on a caring face. lol.

So with 3 days left until Thanksgiving, and 3 rooms left to clean, I am working away on my little mission. The last 3 rooms are the bedrooms, one being the girl's room, one is the boy's room, and the last is the playroom, which for now houses more crafting supplies and junk than toys.

I decided to start with the boy's room today, because it is one of the more visible rooms from the living room, and it also houses all the baby clothes and things, so if I can get it done then I'll feel much better. Tomorrow I'll move on to the girl's room, and then I'll face the dreaded playroom on Wednesday. So here is my daily goal list for today...

~~~Maintain Cleaned Rooms-Kitchen, Living/dining room, Master bed/bathroom, family room, laundry room, bathroom, hallway~~

~~~Make a run to the grocery store. I usually go on Thursdays, but I'm going to go ahead and make my list today and get it done, so I don't have to mess with the crowds as much.~~

This isn't the best shot of their room, but the room is small and square, so it's hard to get all the angles. To the left is Nick's bed, a captain's bed. There is a dresser underneath, but also behind that is lots of storage. And at the end of the bed is a built in desk. Right beside his bed, just inside his door is a small night stand with his pet hamster's cage, and his hamper. Directly to the right is their closet, which is fairly large, not huge, but big enough for 2 boys, and then there is baby boy's crib, and beside it is his dresser. The main thing that needs doing is toys gone through and everything put where it needs to go. The boxes you see there is my hubby and son's baseball cards, which can be stored away, the gray tub holds all of Nick's summer clothes. So now I'm off to get some work done, and I'll post pictures of the finished product this evening or tomorrow.

It took me the bulk of the day to go through everything. You see, my son, God love him, is a hoarder. He saves every scrap of paper, every box from everything he's ever gotten. From this small room, I managed to get rid of a large 13 gallon bag full of trash, and a large box full of toys. He was so thrilled with the finished room, and promised me, he would always keep it that way. I told him that if I found one toy out of place, that it would go away to a little boy who would take care of it.

Today was a tiring day, and the rest of the week promises to continue much in the same way. The main thing I've come to realize is my children have entirely too many toys. I'm not sure though, that I can go through and get rid of a bunch of things at once, without dealing with some heavy crying on my children's part. So I'm going to work through their rooms one grocery sack at a time. Maybe only filling one a week, but I will definately be getting rid of a lot of toys. And once all of their rooms are cleaned, if they don't take care of their things they will automatically go away. For the longest time they had the excuse of not knowing what to do with it all, but they all know now that mom has found a place for everything and everything WILL go back in it's place or it WILL go away. So now to move on to the next to last room on my nesting mission...the girl's room...

Nesting Mission-Day 5 & 6-Laundry room and Bathroom-Updated

My time on the computer is always very limited on the weekends, as this is the main place my hubby spends on his days off, but I just wanted to update on my nesting mission. I have still been working diligently cleaning from room to room, and maintaining the rest of the rooms that have already been cleaned. This weekend, I have worked on the laundry room, and today is the bathroom and hallway. I have not been remembering to take before pictures, but first thing tomorrow I will update this post with after pictures. The laundry room, although not perfect, is much nicer than it was and I was able to make much more room in there. The reason why I didn't get the whole room done exactly as I wanted was that most everything in there is hubby's tools and misc. things that don't have any other home. So I organized everything to the best of my ability, and put it all out of the way until spring, when everything can be sorted through and yard saled or gotten rid of.

Maintaining the other clean rooms has gotten increasingly easier as it becomes a habit for each of us. As of right now, I have only 3 rooms left to clean...the girl's bedroom, the boy's bedroom, and the playroom. The playroom will probably be the most difficult because it seems to be a catchall for everything, as well as all my crafting supplies. So I am anticipating that it will take me a few days to get it done, but I will at least get a start on it. I am planning on cleaning the girl's room Monday, the boy's room Tuesday, and will work on the playroom on Wednesday. I will do only what I can in the playroom, and at least straighten it up a bit, and then if baby hasn't made his arrival yet, will relax for the holiday, and spend the weekend getting our Christmas decorations out. Have a blessed weekend!

Here's my laundry room. It's small and still has a lot of stuff that needs going through. I'm standing by the door that leads into the backyard. There's another door behind the drying rack that leads to the front, but we don't ever use it. Trust me, this room has made a drastic improvement. There was barely a path to get through the room. To the near left is my deep freeze, and the two containers on top of the dryer are my homemade laundry soaps, one for baby, and one for the rest of us. On the shelf to the right I have 3 baskets, one for dirty towels, one for baby clothes, and one for clothes to be put away. Underneath the shelf is a laundry sorter, where I keep darks, lights, and whites sorted.

Here's our main bathroom. It's still in the middle of a remodel, but we aren't really working on it right now. The walls need to be fixed and the baseboards replaced, but it still looks nice enough and is quite functional. The toilet and pedestal sink are both brand new, as is the floor. There's a medicine cabinet behind the door on the right, and a floor to ceiling cabinet with lots of storage on the left. I got it all cleaned out and straightened.

And here's the hallway, with our cedar cabinet. From where I'm standing at...behind me is the bathroom you just saw, to the right leads into the family room, and to the left is the door to the girl's room. Ahead...the door to the left is the boy's room, straight ahead is the door to the playroom, the first door on the right is a closet, and then past that is the doorway leading into the formal living/dining room. We had quite a mess in the hallway, but I've got it all straightened and put away.

Although I am going through getting every room straightened and organized as much as I can, after the holidays I am going to start working through my flylady zones, working through and doing some more serious decluttering and getting rid of some of this junk that I don't know what to do with, and spending more time in each area. For now it's on to day 7 of my nesting mission....

Nesting Mission-Day 4-Family Room-Updated

I am so glad yesterday was an easy day of cleaning. With only 16 days left until my due date, I am not getting around as swiftly as I'd like to be. To say I look like a waddling duck is an understatement. So far I've managed to get through 4 rooms counting the family room, in 4 days, and the more I get done, the happier I am. I have been so worried that I was going to go into labor before I got at least the main rooms done. But the Lord has allowed me to get all of the main rooms with the exception of the main bathroom completed.

I don't have before pictures of my family room. Today, hubby took off and so we had a bit of a lazy morning, and then we all just quickly worked together to get the family room straightened. This is another room that I have been keeping pretty well maintained, with a few exceptions. So here's pictures of my family room....

Here's the view from one end of the family room. There's our main sitting area, the ugly yellow chair is mine, as is the foot stool. It was my grandpas and a treasured, and most comfy place to sit. I spend much of my time, when I get to sit down, in my old yellow chair rocking my babies, or working on whatever handiwork project I'm trying to get done. To the right is the door that leads into the kitchen, and past that you see my portable dishwasher which is serving a different purpose as tv stand until the insurance adjuster comes to look at our tv that "blew up" a couple weeks ago. Then the little tv will move into the tv cabinet, and my dishwasher, well....may be used as an end table, or if I'm really lucky, maybe a dishwasher. To the left, you can see a few boxes stacked, and I'm ashamed to say that all those boxes holds papers, yes, papers. Of all things in my life, the one thing I've never managed to gain control of is paper clutter. From bills, to important documents, to papers my children have drawn me or made during school, it's all there. I attempt to go through it about once a week or every couple of weeks, but no matter how much I go through and shred, trash, or file, there always seems to be twice as much there the following week. So if anyone has any ideas of a better, easier way for me to handle all the paper clutter, I'd love to hear it.

The door you see past the tv cabinet leads to the hallway where the main bathroom, and the kids rooms are all at.

Here is the other end of my large family room. This is where our kitchen/homeschool table is at, our computer desk, and all of our homeschool ~~junk~~ necessities are at. You can't see them very well, but past the door that leads to the kitchen are a large set of cabinets that are perfect for storing all of our homeschool material. The bookshelf, which needs to be gone through again is at the end of the table. And the door you see at this end leads into the laundry room, which is where I'll be heading tomorrow.

As I said this room stays pretty clean, if I can just deal with all those papers, and do a bit more decluttering. This is the main hub of our home and the place we all spend the most of our time between meals, family games and tv watching, and homeschool, we practically never leave it most of the day. I would love to find another home for all of our papers until they can all be gone through, which is something I may be able to do as I work through the other rooms in the house. I may be able to find a space in the laundry room tomorrow.

We've been maintaining the other rooms very well, and the kids are gaining much more responsibility as we go along, and more than anything they've been learning to just pick up after themselves as they go along. This has been a great experience for all of us.

As I said tomorrow we'll be working on the laundry room. So we'll see you then, unless I have a baby before....we'll see.

Nesting Mission-Day 3-Master Bedroom/Bathroom-Updated

I'm so thankful to say that day 3 of my nesting mission is an easy one. The last couple of days, although so rewarding, have also been very tiring. I cleaned my master bedroom and bathroom up several weeks ago, and have managed to keep it pretty well maintained. I learned how nice it was to go to bed in such an inviting and clean room.

As I shared in my previous post, the newly cleaned living/dining room is such a blessing, and so is the kitchen, and my beloved rewarded me with taking me to my favorite resteraunt, which only spurred me on to do even more.

So on to today's goals. As I said, today will be an easy one, the bedroom only taking me at most 15 minutes to finish. The rest of the day will be spent resting and doing the regular every day stuff....

~Projects-today I'm going to do whatever I feel like I can get to. I may just work on the tea towel, and if I feel up to it, I will work on the girl's dresses.

~Since I got to eat out last night, we will be having the chicken potato chowder and a side salad for dinner tonight.

The view from the door that leads to the kitchen. To the left is the bathroom, to the right, hubby and my closet. All that needs doing from this view is putting shoes in the closet, making my bed, and picking up hubby's dirty laundry.

This is beside the bed looking towards the kitchen door. That is the baby's pack n play. I have a basket of laundry needing to be folded there on my dresser and just some general straightening.

And here's a small view of my small bathroom. Everthing needs to be wiped down. All the clothes and towels in the tub need to be taken to the laundry room and that should take care of this room. I'll update when I'm all done, either tonight or tomorrow. Have a blessed day!

My room only took me a few minutes to get done and the rest of my day was spent just resting and maintaining the other rooms I've already cleaned. So here's my room after it was all cleaned up.

The stuff you see piled on the baby bed is my bag to take to the hospital and also my sweater. I straightened everything up, took care of the giant basket full of dirty clothes, and cleaned the bathroom, all of which took me about 15 minutes, except for the laundry, which I worked on throughout the day.

Nesting Mission-Day 2-Living/Dining Room-Updated

Ok, so the kitchen is done, and tired as I am, I fully intend to keep on going with this mission. It brought such satisfaction to go to bed last night with a clean kitchen, knowing there wasn't a dirty dish left in the house, and not a single sticky spot left unwiped on my cabinets.

The kitchen got cleaned, a nice meal was cooked, and my husband was much appreciative of both. I also managed to get the fabric and one pattern prepared for the girl's dresses. I apparently misread the pattern thinking it had sizes from 2 to 8, but found out it was only up to size 5, thankfully though I have another similar, though not exactly the same, pattern to make for my oldest daughter. The tea towel was ironed and the iron on transfer was applied, and I started working on it during the few moments I had to sit down last night.

~Projects-Today I want to get the other pattern prepared and start cutting both dresses out. And work at least 15 minutes on the tea towl.

~Tonight's dinner is Chicken potato chowder and salad. We have some pumpkin muffins leftover for dessert.

So now onto the before photos of my living/dining room. I will tell you, I am not proud of this room. It's the first room you see when you walk in my house and it is such a mess. I've gotten into the habit of walking on past it and not even looking around. We spend no time in there, and since moving here in July, it has become a catch all for the yard sale stuff we've been gathering, the empty boxes, and other stuff I haven't taken the time to deal with. It's shameful really, but, like I said, I promised that I would share it, in all it's ugliness...so here it is....

Here is the view of my front door, taken from the door that leads into the kitchen.

And now the view from my front door. That door is the kitchen door, and to the right, which you can't see, there is a door that leads into the hallway. The only furniture we have for this room is the dining room table, a chair and a side table, my cedar chest, and the china hutch. The green chair you see is barber chair that we got for $5 at goodwill. I cut all my family's hair and then some, and this chair has made it a lot easier, if I can only find a more permanent place for it, otherwise, it may have to go away. Not that a regular chair wouldn't work, but when you're cutting at least 9 heads of hair a month, it sure is nice to have a chair that goes up and down. I would like to get a small formal loveseat for this room, but won't buy one unless I can find it at a yard sale or for free, so for now, my goal is to just get the boxes cleaned up, the dining room table useable, and everything that has a place where it belongs. We intend on having a yard sale first thing in the spring, but for now, I need to find a place for all of our junk, it may go to my parent's storage building for now if there is room, we'll see. I'll post my updated pictures this evening or first thing in the morning, for now, I'm off to get to work. Have a blessed day!

Well, yesterday turned out to be quite productive. The living/dining room was a bit more work than I anticipated, but I still got it all cleaned up with the exception of a few boxes. I didn't get to any of my crafting projects, but I'll have more time and energy for that today. So without further ado, here is the completed pictures of my living/dining room...

Here's the view from my front door. My dining room table is all clean and we're going to enjoy our dinner their tonight.

Here's the view from the dining room table to my front door. The boxes there, sitting on top of my cedar chest are all yard sale things. I was going to take them over to my parents storage building, but I figured that I would find a lot more things on my way through the rest of the house, so they'll stay there until I've gone through all the other rooms.

Here's a nice little sitting nook where I can sit and read my bible in peace and watch the sun come up on my front porch.

And one of my favorite items, my old treadle machine, still in working condition. And now it isn't buried in the junk and I can actually practice using it.

Cleaning this room was another great blessing to my family and I. My husband was so shocked to walk in and find this. Now when people come over to see the baby or otherwise, I won't be so imbarassed to bring them in and let them walk through the living room and kitchen to get to the family room.

I also managed to maintain the kitchen as well, and it still is so nice to wake up to a clean kitchen, and I'm finding it so much easier to keep up with on a daily basis. My hubby was so pleased, he even took me out to eat at my favorite resteraunt. So the chicken potato chowder is on the menu for tonight's dinner instead.

Nesting Mission-Day 1-Kitchen-Updated

This is my second attempt at the same post today. I had it all typed out earlier today and then poof it was gone. So yes, my ticker says 19 days left, but for some reason, this baby being my 4th, my body has been especially in tune with the moon's cycles. And on last Thursday, you would have thought that this baby was coming any moment. I was in what I thought was real labor from 7pm Thursday night until 4am Friday morning. We readied ourselves for the trip to the hospital awaiting that moment that told us this was indeed it, but it never came. The contractions, although steady, painful and quite regular, never got any stronger or closer together. So, with that said, I am still very much pregnant, and awaiting the next new moon, for which my midwife has said I will most likely have this baby. The next new moon happens to be Thanksgiving night, so I guess we'll see.

Lots of things have been going on around the home. Lots of preperations made, craft projects being completed, and teeth being knocked out. If you're wondering about that last part, I'm speaking of my middle daughter. She and my son got a little rough playing in the house, after many reminders from me to settle down, when my son raised his head and hit her smack in the mouth, knocking her two front teeth loose. Thankfully, the teeth that were knocked loose were next in line to come out any ways, but probably not at the same time, and probably not with so much pain being inflicted.

Later on I will post on the many projects I have been working at completeing, but for today and the next several days, (or at least until this little one makes his arrival,) I am on a nesting mission. Although I work steadily on getting things done, I regret to say that I am mercilessly behind on getting my home in order for this baby. So, starting today, I am going to be posting a list of my daily goals, which will include one room a day to tackle, and whatever other projects I intend to work on. I will also post a picture of the before picture (in all it's ugliness), and will update the same post later in the day with the after. So for today...

~Projects- Today I would like to ~~prepare the fabric and pattern for the two dresses that I am making my girls for Christmas~~. I would also like to ~~prepare the tea towel (#3 in a set I am giving as a gift) to be embroidered.~~

~~~For dinner, we are having roast chicken, baked potatoes, and salad. Dessert is pumpkin muffins.~~

So if you can bare to look, here is the before picture of my kitchen, dishes piled up and all....

My kitchen is inevitably small, but it works well for me. Basically what you see, is what you get. It actually has a lot of storage space and room to work. I usually have 1 kitchen helper and myself working in there and it works out quite well. On the other side of the stove is another small cabinet, and then the door to our bedroom. On the left side of the sink is a hole where my dishwasher may eventually go, but for now they are done by hand. Beside me is the pantry cabinet, which is also quite small, and bare right now. I'm standing in the door that leads to the dining room, and to my right, beside the icebox is the door that leads into the family room. After it's clean, I'll post some more detailed pictures of the whole room and all it's components.

As I said, this is my second attempt at this post, so many of the things are already done. The kitchen is on it's way to clean, the chicken is roasting in the crockpot, the pumpkin muffins are done and cooling, school is an ongoing process at the moment, and the fabric for the dresses has been washed and is awaiting pressing. I will work on the pattern after the kids are in bed, because I want it to be a surprise for the girls for Christmas. So if you're keeping up with me here. Later on today or first thing in the morning, I will post the completed photos of my kitchen and update on what I got done. The title will say "Nesting Mission-Day 1-Kitchen-Updated". For now, I'm off to finish what needs doing! Have a blessed day!

So here is the updated pictures of my kitchen, which will give you a better idea of the size and layout of my kitchen.

Here is the same view as above, only no dishes piled up and the stove is all clean.

Here is the view from the family room. That is our pantry area. I keep a lot of stuff in there, although right now it needs restocking. I have had to get creative with food storage because I try to keep stocked up, so we have storage in several other areas in our home. The hanging cabinets and microwave are something we just added when we moved in here, that wall was bare before.

Here's my sink, dishrack, and hole in the wall. I still have a portable dishwasher that my eventually go in that hole, but for now, it serves no purpose, other than making me realize how much I wish I had a dishwasher there. lol.

Here is the view of my biggest cabinet area. My main work space. The little window there leads into the family room, and makes a good pass through to the kitchen table at meal time. Those are my favorite canisters that my mom gave me for Christmas last year, and my prized Bosch mixer that I found at goodwill for $15.

And the last picture, this is from standing at the sink. I have two coffee pots in view here, one electric drip, and one percolater. I'm in a controversy here over my coffee pots. You see, I love the convenience of having my coffee ready when I wake up in the morning with the drip, but after having percolated coffee, the taste is so much better. So for now, I have both. I have a feeling the percolater will win, but time with a newborn will soon tell.

It is such a blessing to have a clean kitchen. That's why I chose to tackle this room first. It makes cooking such a joyful task for me, and my husband appreciates it so much. I'm learning to do the dishes as I go, and take care of them directly after meals so that they don't sit there and get all yucky and harder to clean. I've also enlisted each of my children, even my 3 year old to help me on a daily basis in the task of drying. Right now, all they can do is dry and stack them on the cabinet, but it makes the task of putting them away so much easier, plus it is teaching them some good habits, and hopefully before long, they can help mom out by taking turns washing the dishes as well. I've also gotten in the habit of sweeping the floor every night before I go to bed. So now, tired as I may be, it's time to move on to day 2 of my nesting mission. Be prepared, this may get ugly! lol.

And while I'm at it...

I might as well share some other goals needing to be accomplished this week. There's a feeling I get every year when the holidays roll in of so many things needing to be done in preperation, and for the first time, we are not only preparing for the holidays but also a new baby. All my other kids have been born in Spring or Summer time, so this will be an especially busy holiday season.

It doesn't help that these last weeks have been very uncomfortable for me. I'm having problems that I never experienced with the other three babies. It's somewhat expected being that this is my 4th baby, and I am a lot busier this time around than I was with the previous three, but I always enjoyed being pregnant right up to the very end with the other 3, and this time, I can't help but count the days already. It's hurting to walk, it hurts to sit, it even hurts to lay down sometimes. I'm having an extremely hard time breathing, but at the same time having to go to the bathroom every hour all day and night, which both are something I've dealt with before, but never at the same time. (Picture me, running to the bathroom, out of breath, constantly, not a pretty picture). All of this to say, that even though I would rather be layed up in bed for the remainder of this pregnancy with a portapotty right by my bed, there are still many, many things to be done.

I've already shared my crafting goals here. So here are some other things needing to be done this week.

~Continue maintaining "clean" rooms. These are the rooms that I have already spent cleaning and decluttering and have them just as I want them. So far those rooms include the family room and the master bed and bathroom.

~This week's Flylady zone for me is the bathroom and one other room. I have lots to do in the bathroom including scrubbing everything down really well, and organizing the cabinets there. For the other room, I've decided to get all the kids clothes switched over and put away for the fall/winter season, something I needed to do a few weeks ago. We have lots of clothes that need to be gotten rid of. We are always being blessed by others of clothing for the kids, so much so that we end up having too much most of the time.

~Keep up with daily routines and basic weekly plans, which will help in maintaining the clean rooms in the house.

~I would also really like to start working on a rotating fall/winter menu so that I can make ahead more things for the freezer and also make grocery shopping a bit easier. I would like to make a list of breakfast meals and lunch meals that we can eat on a weekly basis, and then a rotating menu for dinner.

So basically by week's end, I hope to have the family room, master bed and bathroom, and main bathroom all cleaned, decluttered, decorated, and most importantly maintained on a daily basis through routines and daily cleaning. The one thing I've learned is that if I can get these rooms cleaned the way I want them, then they are so easy to maintain if I just keep up with them on a daily basis. My bedroom for instance is such a nice place to retire to at night time and sometimes for little breaks in the day, because I spend all of 5 minutes making my bed and putting away things where they belong.

I'm off to bed for now. It's been a long, cold day. We did our shopping today with hubby helping and went ahead and paid bills so that I don't have to get out tomorrow. It's getting a bit too hard for me to do a lot on my own, so my husband's been helping out as much as he can, God bless him, and putting up with my mood swings besides. lol. Have a blessed day!

A Lovely and Helpful Article on Washing Dishes

On my wonderings around the web, I stumbled upon a site called Shepard's Hill and found a wealth of information on just about every topic on homemaking and homesteading you could imagine. And one in particular that I wanted to share, being that my recent topic was about washing dishes was this one.

Washing Dishes

Yippeee!!! Yahooo!!! It is time to wash the dishes!!!! How exciting!

Okay – yes, I know. Washing dishes is not THAT exciting and certainly does not deserve that much hype, right?! I hope that by the end of this article that you will have changed your mind. I pray that you will have a new found joy and excitement in this mundane task that never seems to be finished.

Let’s first look at how dishes need to be washed. Over the 30 or so years that we have had gatherings in our home, I have been blessed to see many folks helping with dishes.

It is almost a study in human nature to see the progression of sisters in the kitchen when a meal is done. Some will immediately head for the sink and start water running, soap squirting and cloths whisking away. When there are a couple of “dishwashers” in the group I get tickled to see them almost waiting in line for their turn. They will step up the minute something has been washed and rinse, or they grab a towel and start to dry and then there is yet another putting away. It is fun to see if the dishwasher can keep up with the dish rinser and dish “putter away”. One of my favorite aspects is the chatter that goes on in a kitchen full of women cleaning up. There is a steady hum, with giggles and chuckles and sometimes even a song will rise through the activity. I LOVE IT!! I would have get-togethers just to enjoy the clean up time.

Of course, then there are some who are not dishwashers. I get tickled with them too. They so want to be a part of the events but they can’t stand to wash dishes, so they will head to the potty or some other far off place until all the washers, rinsers and putters away are in position. It isn’t that they don’t want to help. They just haven’t realized yet that every pair of hands is needed and more importantly wanted.

I wonder sometimes if these were the children whose parents perhaps shooed them out of the kitchen because they were “under foot”. Now I will say – we shoo children out of the kitchen when we are cleaning up after a big event, but when it is just our family, we put the children to work. Our girls were washing dishes when they were 6 and 7 and they were drying and putting away not long after. We always made sure to let them practice on the plastic items or the forks and spoons first. This is so they can have an accident with no breaking. It is up to every mother to train their children to care for a household. We must teach them proper procedure in each aspect of kitchen work from cooking to sweeping to cleaning out the ‘fridge.

I want to share with you some important things I have learned over the years in washing dishes. First step, and I learned this from my Daddy, you must begin with HOT water - As hot as your hands can stand. There is no way to clean off food particles properly and completely with cold water. I would venture to say that you could even do without soap if you had to as long as you had plenty of hot water. We fill the wash pan with hot water and then add a bit of soap. You don’t have to squirt soap in an endless stream – that is wasteful. Just a small amount is enough to do the job. Then there is an order to the items being washed. We always start with the drinking glasses. Of course, if there is something thick – like V8 or chocolate milk or a milkshake in the glass you will need to rinse that out first before putting it into your water. I fill the sink with several glasses or cups so that the others can soak while I wash each one.

Then comes the rinsing. Again HOT water! My father retired from the Birmingham Fire Department after 25 years and he was a stickler on washing and rinsing with HOT water. The reason was that as the men took turns washing dishes some of them would not be so diligent and then they would end up in the bathroom with diarrhea from soap being left on the dishes. Not a good thing when you are a fireman or anyone else! One of our daughters had a problem with remembering to rinse in hot water and after a month of periodic diarrhea running through the family – I thought it was a virus – I finally realized that it happened whenever she was doing the dishwashing. This was quickly taken care of and we haven’t had any problem with it since.

After we wash the drinking glasses then we do the silverware. I think that anything that touches your mouth should be the first thing to be washed. It is usually the least dirty of the dishes and you want to have the least dirty water to wash in. Be sure to examine the silverware to make sure that all food particles are cleaned – especially the spaces between the tines of the forks. Mononucleosis is one disease that can be caught by eating from dirty silverware. YUCK!! Another area that seems to be missed is knives that have wooden handles. Check the edge of the wooden handle where it attaches to the metal of the knife. This is a really nasty spot. Wood cannot be sterilized so you need to make sure that you have scrubbed this and poured hot water on it to get it clean.

Next we do the dishes. It is important to scrap the plates (give the scraps to the chickens, dogs or hogs) and then rinse them if they are very dirty, before you put them in the dish water. Again, put them all in the water so that they can soak a bit while you are washing each one. It makes for a much easier scrubbing when you get to the next one. Children are really bad to miss washing the back of the dish. They will do a great job on the front and then the rinser finds mashed potatoes stuck to the bottom. Double check.

After the drinking glasses, silverware and plates are done, then you can progress to the serving dishes and then the cookware. If you have had a large meal it is not unusual to have to redo the dish water with fresh. This is one good reason to use a washpan instead of filling the sink. You can get plastic washpans from the dollar store. Use the waste water to water plants. Just don’t allow the food particles in the bottom of the washpan to pour out. When washing serving pieces and cookware, sometimes you will need something more than elbow grease. We use a plastic scrub bud and if that is not enough we will use an SOS pad. You must keep in mind that SOS pads will rust if allowed to sit in water. They just need a minimum amount of water to work and they will scratch china and enamel so only use them on heavy metal items that have a no scratch surface.

Just a note here on cast iron. Once you have seasoned your cast iron you really shouldn’t use soap on it. Generally you can wash them out with a damp cloth or even a paper towel. If you do use water, be sure to dry them thoroughly and re-grease them. Sit cast iron items upside down in the oven and turn it on 250 degrees. Once it reaches that temp cut the oven off and you will keep your cast iron seasoned well.

Okay, I think we have covered it all. Oh, one more thing. If you use a lot of plastic – a tip is to rinse it in vinegar to get greasy residue off. It works really well. Now, what about all that joy and excitement I mentioned. Here it is. Have you really considered what those dirty dishes and messy kitchen mean? So many people in our nation have been incredibly blessed in their lifetime to never know what hunger is. Some have been in a bind and weren’t able to get pizza sometimes or perhaps they couldn’t go out to eat after church on Sunday every week, but they really have never known what it was like to miss a meal because there was no food. Or be a parent and know that the next meal was no where to be seen. I have been there - on both sides of this – child and parent. Hunger is a terrible, lonely thing. It renders a person to a state of helplessness and hopelessness that many in this country cannot even understand. When I see the mound of dirty dishes in my kitchen and the stack of cookware to be scrubbed – it brings a swelling joy to my heart that I cannot find words to explain. Those dishes, those pots, pans and spoons all mean one thing – my family is not hungry. There is food for them and for me. My babies are not in bed crying because their tummies are empty. Praise God forever because today – TODAY – I know that we are taken care of. HALLELUJAH!!!! My God Reigns!

The next time you are facing a sink full of dirtiness, lift up your head and thank God because that work is there as a sign of blessing!

Isn't that the truth, knowing that those dishes are there because you were able to feed your family, and praising the Lord for it! With such uncertain times, it makes me feel blessed that we do have enough money to feed our family, and the common sense to start stocking up, so that when hard times do hit us, we'll be ready.

Have a blessed weekend!

sara

Not as planned, but still good

In my daily post, I spoke about trying to stick to my daily routines, and basic weekly plan, and how much I really needed to do that especially as the time for our newest blesssing is to arrive draws nearer. And as true as that is, today did not go as planned. School took longer than it usually does, housework didn't follow along any faster, and by day's end, I felt like I got nothing done, except for a load of laundry, and a few dishes, and ofcourse schoolwork.

Right after dinner, though I was blessed with a sudden burst of energy, and boy did I use it. My girls room has not had any work done to it since we moved in. The most I've done in there is gather some dirty laundry, wash bedding, and tuck my girls into bed, while I tripped over every single toy and doll on my way out the door. I couldn't really blame them for not putting their toys up, because they had no idea where they went. To say that my girls' room looked like a tornado went through it would be kind. It was awful, we literally had a path through the room, and even it had to be cleared at least once a day.

So I cleaned up from dinner, got the kids situated playing in another room, and I set to work. Sorting, purging, and organizing toys, gathering trash, and things that didn't even belong in there, and putting it all away. We just set up two new (to them) day beds over the weekend, so now we had lots of extra space under their beds to store things. They also have a nice sized closet with high shelves where I can put some of their toys that I don't want them just getting down whenever they please. I worked for a steady 2 hours in their room, from 7 to 9, and I'm thankful to say, I'm almost finished.

Tomorrow I would like to finish up in there even though it's not really part of my daily routine. I still have another hour or two worth of work in there. After gathering all their toys up from all over the house, I'd like to go through all the toys one more time and get rid of a lot more. Their baby dolls for instance is insane. Then there's the stuffed animals that need to find a home. And I would like to finally get there pictures hung and their room decorated a little bit.

At another time, I have the big task of making the "great seasonal clothing swap". lol. That will take me a bit of time, although I do have their clothes sorted in tubs by size already, but the act of getting them all switched out will take me the better part of a Saturday. I'll try and post a picture or two of the finished product if I can get to it.

Part of me would like to do this everyday, pick a room, work on it for a couple of days or until I feel like I'm done, and then move onto another room in the house, until everything has been gone through, but the problem is that I don't know when I'll honestly have the energy to do that much. I can see myself getting the girl's room finished tomorrow, but only because I did the bulk of the work today, but to hope for another burst of energy like that again is not always promising in these last weeks of pregnancy. I guess I'll just take these oppurtunities as they arise and use them for all they've got.

But for now, it' nearing 10pm, and that's my bedtime. My children are all snoozing away, and I envy them so. I'm off to join them in joyful slumber. Have a blessed evening!

Cleaning Marathon-Day 2

Ok, so my cleaning plan didn't go, well, as planned. I worked so hard all afternoon, but I still didn't manage to get everything done that I had written down. But I'm not giving up. Here's what I did get done....

~Got leftover roll of vinyl, borrowed tools from my dad, and a few other things that made there way from my folks house loaded up and taken down to their house.

But somehow life seemed to get in the way. Hubby needed his hair cut, older children acted out and needed disciplining, and my youngest was having a head up mommy's rearend kind of day, and wanted to be held and coddled all day long. And ofcourse the little one in my womb had to show his colors and I suddenly found myself passed out in the floor while in the middle of picking up. Thankfully hubby's leg found it's way between my head and the floor before I really did some damage. After that, cleaning didn't seem so important and I took it easy and went to bed early per hubby's request.

So, what to do today? Well, going at it a little slower wouldn't hurt, we don't want a repeat of yesterday, but I'm still going to get some things done. Now I've realized that there are a few tasks that are going to take one or more days to do on there own. So I've jotted down a list and will work on those things a bit later. Things like going through and shredding, filing, or trashing the piles and boxes of paper and many of the outdoor tasks will take several days to complete even with hubby's help. So, without further a do...

~Move on to playroom. The play room will take me a couple days, so if I can get to a little bit today and more tomorrow.

I guess the plan is to work on a room until I'm done, and then move on to the next. If I get several rooms done, then great, if not, then I'll work on it tomorrow.

Cleaning Marathon-Day 1-The List

It seems I made a grave mistake when beginning our school year this year. I wasn't prepared. I had all the school books bought and ready, I had all the supplies we needed, I even had my lesson plans prepared. So where was my mistake? My house is a mess. We started school right in the middle of our mini home remodel because I felt a need to get started.

The problem I'm incurring now however is that I'm so behind in housework that I have no hope of catching up while schooling three children at the same time. Things still needing to be unpacked, rooms finished, laundry caught up, decluttering to be done. I'm struggling daily to fit in everything that needs doing, but all that I seem to be able to do is get some of the daily doings done, like dishes, dinner, laundry, while the rest of the mess just sits there waiting for another day. So I sat the children down, and told them they were going to get a short reprieve from school work until next Tuesday, after labor day. They were actually a little sad, which made me feel good, to know that they're enjoying their school time. But were ready to help mom get the house under control.

I know there are a lot of families starting homeschooling next week as well, so if you're wanting to get your house in order before starting like us, I would love for you to join in, so that we can encourage and urge each other on to get it done.

I'm starting this afternoon by making my list of all that I want to get done before next week, and sorting it into things that the children can do, that I can do, and things that will need dh's help, like getting the old toilet off of the front porch, and of course the things we will work on all together.

Counting today, we have 6 days to get everything done, although I would like to try to get it all done by Saturday evening, as Sunday is a family day and church day for us, and Monday is Labor day, and we will likely do something together then as well. So I'm shooting for 4 days. I'll get on here later and post my list and if you're joining in with us, post your list either here or on your blog, and let me know about it. On your mark, get set, go!

So I have 4 days and 12 areas of my home and around my home that I would like to work on. That works out to be 3 rooms or areas per day. I sorted them out so that I'm not doing more than one really messy room at a time. Here's the breakdown....

~In the living/dining room, break down empty boxes, straighten designated yard sale gathering spot.(where all my decluttered stuff will go. We're planning a yard sale in a few weeks after we declutter through all of our things. Also, wipe down dining table, sweep and mop floor, and vacuum area rug.

~In the master bed/bath, get all dirty laundry out of the room and ready to wash, make bed, unpack remaining boxes, clean off nightstands and dressers, set up pack and play for baby, wipe down toilet, tub, and sink, and sweep and mop.

Putting off 'til Tomorrow....

What can be done today! I have always been one to put things off, not just little things either. I am always waiting for the bigger, better thing to do what I need to do. What I mean is....I'll take better care of my house when I'm living in a house that is ours.....I'll lose weight when the weather's warmer and I can go walking....or I'll do "this" when "that" happens. Crazy, huh?!

The problem is that when that "thing" finally happens, do you think I follow through, usually not. The big one I'm facing right now is taking care of my house and all the duties it entails. No, this isn't "our" house, it's a rental, but it's where our family is living right now, and that's what matters. I really need to focus on growing where I'm planted. Taking care of the things that are right in front of my face. Doing the things that need to be done today and not waiting until tomorrow or the next day, or the next month. This has been on my heart all weekend and I just wanted to share.

Managers of their Homes

Someone recently told me about the book at Titus 2 called Managers of their Homes and also Managers of their chores. With my recent worries over homeschooling and getting it all done, it looks like something that would be very helpful. I realize a self help book like these are only helpful if you're willing to get up and do what they say, but I'm hoping that this is what we're looking for. Has anyone here ever used these books and if so what were your thoughts on them?

Decluttering

Well, today, I threw out all thoughts of going through my house and decluttering in any kind of organizational fashion (yeah right, what was I thinking). And I did the box method. You know what I'm talking about, the keep box, yard sale box, the belongs in another room box, and a trash bag for all the trash. And I didn't start in a room that I'm in all the time, like the kitchen or the den, I started in the room that bothered me the most. The back room of my house. The room that has no real purpose, except for the storage of my many, many sewing and crafting supplies and miscellaneous junk. In other words, the room where everything that doesn't go anywhere gets put.

And right now, it is also the room where we are gathering everything we can to have a yard sale. So as you can probably tell, the room is just jam-packed with stuff. So I went in there with 3 boxes and a trash bag, and I went through every ounce of stuff in there and got rid of quite a bit. Now if that were all I had to do, that would be great, but now I need to go through and organize all the keep stuff, which will be my hope for doing tomorrow. I'm hoping if I can get through in that room, then I can make lots of room for all the yard sale stuff I'm going to have. xxfingers crossedxx

Tomorrow we will be going to church in the morning, and I will spend the rest of the day organizing what I've gone through, while hubby watches the superbowl game.

I'm going to organize the stuff into categories of what all is in the room. From what I can tell I've got:

And of course all the miscellaneous stuff that doesn't really have a specific category. I'm off to bed for now. More updates on my "mission declutter and organize tomorrow." Have a blessed night!

Working on a new routine

I haven't been posting as often as usual because I think I've finally learned to put God, my family, and my house first. Don't think it came easily or naturally, because it didn't. I had to learn to ask the Lord, please help me prioritize my life as you would have it. That along with the fact that my ever surmounting duties are piling up on me like Mount Washmore. One day I just stopped and looked around and I was shocked at what I saw. Laundry piled everywhere, kids running a muck, a disorderly house, and a husband who was none too pleased about any of it. I don't know how my house got into that state. I was usually at least keeping my head afloat. I know a lot of it has to do with the little boy I've been babysitting and the many extra duties that he brings. My husband told me though that it would make him feel so much better if I kept watching him, and I will. I've just got to prioritize and work my schedule around so that all things are getting done. Not an easy feat, but if it makes my husband happy, then I'm happy.

6am-wake up, get hubby up, and help him get out the door on time, get dressed, fix breakfast.

7:15am-Maddy leaves on the bus for school. Little boy I babysit arrives. His grandma always brings dry cereal and milk and that's what he has for breakfast every morning. I clean the kitchen from breakfast.

7:30am-I usually have time for a little computer time, but if I'm not done with everything else, then it has to wait.

8am-11:30am-I spend this time doing my daily chores, working on laundry, etc. Oldest son helps and does his own chores while my youngest and the little boy stay close by and help me with little jobs, and I keep an eye on them.

11:30am-12:30pm-This is when I fix lunch for hubby and kids and then we clean up.

12:30pm-Quick pick up. The kids and I take this time to do a quick clean up around the house picking up toys, trash, etc.

1pm-2:45pm- Nap time for the littles. Schooltime with son. Most of the time we don't get done before the little ones wake up. So we usually finish up what we're doing and stop until later.

4pm-Homework time. We finish up any homeschool work and I spend some time with Maddy reviewing her schoolwork and doing any homework with her.

8pm-baths and bedtime. After all are in bed, I usually take my shower/bath and spend some time with hubby or on the computer or working on a project. Then I try and spend some time in prayer and in God's word.

10pm- mom's bedtime...at least sometimes. Sometimes I end up staying up late on the computer or working on something.

I know all of that looks like too much. But honestly most days look like this. The problems occur when the little ones don't want to play nice or behave themselves and I'm not able to get all my housework done, or when one of them won't take a nap and I end up not getting schoolwork all done until close to bedtime.

I'm not sure how much longer I will be babysitting. I know I have spring break off and the summer off as the little boy's grandma works for the school system, but we may be looking to move sometime in April if the Lord sees fit to find us a better, cheaper rent house. April is when our lease is up. We'll just have to see how it goes. I actually do not have him most of this week because my youngest is sick with what her little grandson had. Imagine that? And we've got a lot of other to-do's going on. I'm just going to keep on praying God's will in this and all things in our life. I know He has plans for us and will lead us in the right direction.

Time to get to work....

So I went and got the boxes today for the big pack up of toys and things. And let me tell you, with our 50 mph winds, this was no small feat. My little sister helped me, and I think she nearly got airborne a couple of times and one of the boxes smacked her in the face. lol. I felt bad, but couldn't help but laugh out loud about it. So the boxes are now here and tomorrow I will set to work.

I'm still working on a plan as to how to go about this, but I'm thinking that I will go ahead and start with the clothes. Hopefully this will help me as well. I've decided to go ahead with 5 outfits, 5 pairs of underwear, 5 socks, 1 pair of pjs, and 1 church outfit. Everything else will go straight into garage sale box or an earn back box. I'm actually planning on doing this for myself as well. I think it will help me get a handle on the laundry, and after all is said and done, we may be able to go down to just a few outfits for each person. But more than anything, I just want to be able to get a handle on everything and for us to all learn how to take care of our belongings.

The clothes alone may take me a couple of days, especially since I'll be sorting to be gotten rid of and to pack away, but I'm not going to stop until I'm done, except to take care of my other household duties and ofcourse to sleep. Then I'll move onto the toys, and books, and puzzles. Each child will get to choose 1 toy, 1 book, and 1 stuffed animal, and maybe 1 puzzle, but I'll have to think about that. I'm trying my best to be as realistic and as organized as I can about this, and want my children to understand that they will not just be given "things" anymore, that they must earn them from here on out. This whole process may take me as much as a week, but once it's done, the lesson begins. I'm going to take pictures before I get started and after I'm done as well.

I've decided, after some much needed self evaluation, that my children aren't the only ones in need of a major overhaul and I will be packing many of my own belongings away until I can learn to take care of them, mostly my sewing and craft stuff that tends to get out of hand.

In other news, the house that I spoke of yesterday that we may be moving into may be a while before we actually get to move in. I got to look inside it today, and it needs a lot of cleaning. It's just plain filthy, and there was mold in a couple of places. eww! I'm afraid if they don't fix it up, then we may be out of luck. Hubby and I talked and decided that we would just wait it out here until the Lord showed us where he wanted us. I figure if this is where He wants us for now, then He'll help us find a way to keep paying the rent. Hubby and I will be taking a homebuyers class on the 12th which should help our credit rating. Maybe by the time our lease is up, our credit will be a lot better.

So tomorrow starts day 1 of Operation Overhaul. Let me know if you're joining me in this big endeavor. Ladies, let's start our engines.

Major Changes

I found this link through Deanna's blog, and have just loved looking through all of the wonderful archives. One thing that definately stuck out to me here lately was the post where she spoke of helping her children learn to care for their things little by little. Meaning, she cleared their rooms of everything except the basic needs and gave them only 3 outfits and their bed to care for and once they were able to care for those things properly, she gave them more to tend to. This is something that I am going to be doing...for several reasons. First of all, because my children have become incapable of taking care of their things, chaos has ensumed, and mom's not happy about it. And secondly, as we are striving for a more simpler life this year, I think it will help them to appreciate their belongings a bit more, and give me a chance to do a major decluttering. So over the next few weeks, I am going to be doing a major overhaul. I am going to go out tomorrow and find some boxes, as many as I can find, and then I am going to start going through their rooms. Everything will be packed away, except for one set of bed linens, one pajama set, 3 outfits, and one toy. As I pack everything away, I will keep one box for garage sale/give away and another box for toys to be earned back, and another box for clothes to earn back. I am hoping and praying that this will give my children the chance to respect their parents and their belongings a lot better.

And while I'm at it, I will be decluttering throughout the house. I plan on getting rid of so much stuff, not just out of want, but out of need. The clutter in our life takes up too much space, not only physical space but mental space. I'm tired of spending all my time worrying about what I'm going to do with all this "stuff". Laundry, for instance, it's piled a mile high on my dryer, and why, because I don't know what to do with it. Why do we do this to ourselves? I want so many things for my life and for the lives of my family? But I know we will never accomplish these things, if we don't simplify and organize what we have, and if we don't have respect for the belongings that we do have.

While reading through the Little House books over the last weeks, I often wonder how these families were only able to pack what they could get on their wagon. It's because they only had what they needed, not what they wanted. That's not to say that we shouldn't have things we want, but we need to really consider why we want these things. Is it because somebody gave it to us and we would feel guilty if we got rid of it, even if we don't love it, need it, or use it? For instance, my MIL gave me this creamer that looks like a cow, that's ok, but it is painted in these awful colors that makes it look, well, nothing like a cow. I don't love it, need it, or use it, so why should I keep it. Would my MIL be mad if I got rid of it, well maybe, but I think she would be happier knowing that I'm happier without it.

I will be blogging about some major changes in our life in future posts. We've made such significant changes just since last year, and we have grown so much. I think that this next step of major decluttering will help us grow even more. I'll try and post daily about how much I've gotten done and what I've done to simplify our lives and to save us money.

In other news, today we rung in the New Year with some blackeyed peas and cornbread. We did some cleaning and a little decluttering. We are supposed to talk to somebody tomorrow about getting financing for a house. We'll also talk to the realtor about looking at that house that we found that we have both fallen in love with. Please continue to pray for us as you see fit. This seems so right for us, but may just be out of our grasp. Blessings,

Where's my Motivation?

Well, if you saw in my house right now, you would think I should have plenty of motivation, but for some reason, I just don't. My house is a wreck, we're completely off schedule, and I'm just not sure where to begin. I feel so guilty for not taking care of my home and family the way I should be. So what am I going to do? How about getting off my rear and just doing it!

I long so much for a simple life...One in which I have a clean, clutter free home and a happy family. But I know I can't get that by just sitting here hoping it will happen on it's own. My lack of energy and self discipline is dragging me down and taking my family with it. I know what I need to do, so why do I keep sabotaging myself.

My husband said something to me the other night as we were talking about finding another home and my hopes and dreams of having a few small farm animals. He said, you can't take care of what we've got, so what makes you think you can handle more responsibility...ouch, that hurt! But it was the truth. I realized right then and there that I would have to prove myself to him and show him that I'm capable of doing what's needed of me. But what did I do the whole next day....nothing. So last night, I sat there trying to formulate a plan. I decided my first step would be to decide what my husband wants and what I want...our goals and dreams. So I've been working on a list (yes, those darn lists again) of things that I know are important to both of us. Things such as a clean home, a simpler life, etc. I'll post more on that later, and then I decided I needed to figure out how I was going to attain these things. And then I'm going to post it on my refrigerator, so it's there to stare at me every day, making me ask myself what have you done today to attain your goals? But for now, what needs to be done is I just need to get off here and get some work done. I'll post later on as I have time about things I'm going to be doing to get these things done. Praying your day is a blessed one!

HMB-Section 2-Basic Weekly Plan

Ok, I'm finally back to this, and my computer's working, so when I get through I'll post a picture of it all. Today, I'm going to share my Basic Weekly Plan. It's what I do everyday to keep up with weekly tasks.

3. Homeschool Prep (I like to do this on Wednesday so that I can list any extras we might need for a project before I go shopping.)

7. Zone work (This is my main zone work day. I usually only spend 15 minutes a day on whatever zone I'm in, but on Wednesday, I try and spend at least 30 minutes.)

2. Baking (I like to do the bulk of my baking, canning, etc on Saturdays, but do still do some during the week)

5. Projects (projects are things that really need working on that I don't usually get around to in my zone cleaning, like the shed this weekend.)

2. Family dinner (I try and make a big meal on this day and invite close family and friends when we can)

And that's my basic weekly plan. Up next I think will be my zones. I'll get to that in the next couple of days. Be blessed, Sara