Home Organization 101 Challenge

 

Last weeks challenge was to organize the kitchen.  I got a free pass since I did this a few weeks ago.  One thing that the blog author says is to empty all of your cupboards at once.  I disagree.  Even though she also says to make sure you can finish this project in one day (so have the husband take the kids away) I still disagree - this goes against everything Flylady teaches HA!  When I want to reorganized my kitchen, I do it one cupboard at a time, in 15-30 minute time slots because I KNOW I can get that much done before being needed by my kids.  Sometimes that means one section of my counter has things on it that I want to move or need a new home until I'm done but I also know that in a matter of 2-3 days my cupboards are all cleaned out.  When I did this back at the beginning of August, I ended up taking about 3 boxes of stuff (small boxes mind you) to Good Will AND I started my Christmas Wish list of things I'd like to replace like glasses, pots and pans and even dishes.  I tend to be someone who uses things forever even when I get tired of them because I feel like I need to get the full value of use out of it especially if it is a gift.  Well, I'm ready to move on.  (Just a week or so ago I was in Kohls and saw some adorable dishes!!)  You can see the post I did on "Phase 1" of our kitchen redo by clicking HERE . 

This weeks challenge is to clean out the garage.  This is on the list for my husband and I to do together in a few weeks.  We REALLY cleaned it back at the beginning of August - this time we just have things to store (like closet doors that we recently removed) and need to take care of other misc things that are out there to keep it a safe place for the boys to go into since that is where all of their stuff is stored.  So, I guess I'm ahead :-)  

So far this challenge is easy - I've either already done it or it is scheduled for a different week!

Building Habits for Life

One of the things I've been working on is habits.  We all have them - good and bad - but sometimes we need to work on building new habits in our daily life. Right? Or is it just me? 

This is something I've been working on for several weeks; I wanted to already have a few in place before I posted because, well, no one likes to fail in public ;-) 

The Kitchen Clean-up - Completed!
I know that I have mentioned it before - specifically, I remember it coming up last year in my Simplify goals.  Our kitchen is our main entrance to our home so I really have to work to keep it looking nice - it is so easy to allow things to pile up.  Everything from bags to shoes to dishes take over it quickly.  In the beginning of August, when it finally cooled off enough to . . .well, stay alive, I spent an entire morning in the kitchen - cleaning off the counter tops, cleaning out cupboards (just a little), wiping down all of the appliances and cleaning the floor.  My habit was to keep it that way.  Yes, it takes a few more minutes after lunch and after dinner to make sure that everything is put away even when it means carrying something to another room.  Normally I clean the kitchen on Tuesday but keeping it clean for the whole week is just a matter of a habit.  I can say that this IS a habit now.  I find myself throwing out the cheese wrapper at 3:00 AM when I make my husbands sandwich instead of leaving it on the counter to throw away later.  We had one weekend recently where, well, I fell off the wagon.  Between running out of Dish Soap for the DW and then, while hand washing dishes . .  a waterfall erupted under my sink . . .the dishes piled up.  (Here's a secret - I detest hand washing dishes . . .so I waited an extra day until I could buy soap and just ran everything through the dishwasher!!)  So check this habit off :-)  Yippee!

Drinking Water and Planned Snacking - In Progress
This is my most recent attempt at a habit.  Call it needing to be healthier if you want but really, I just need to change habits.  So, beginning the first week of September, I made it my new habit to drink more water and change my evening snack plan.  As far as the water - I have a water bottle that is just for water (I got the boys their own so they wouldn't take mine!).  Right now, I'm working on drinking 2 a day.  What else do I drink during the day?  1-1 1/2 cups of milk for breakfast, a Diet Sprite for Lunch, and usually Crystal light for dinner.  I'm trying to avoid pepsi right now only because it became my "coffee" this summer and I found I was back to drinking at least one bottle a day instead of limiting to certain times when I really want one (like when eating pizza!) This means that at night, when I want something - I'm retraining myself to drink water too

Even though I normally try to do one habit at a time, I also added my evening snack into this habit.  I love Ice Cream.  I will not lie ;-)  It's a family trait, ask my dad :-)  My husband eats a yogurt every night for his snack - he has such will power!  So, I've thought long and yard about my snack at night and right now, I am trying to make it my habit to have either a Yogurt with some animal crackers (for that crunch!) or a Pudding (they are fat free after all!) with a graham cracker.  Beyond that - water  . . .not nearly as tasty as Ice Cream but it is better for me. 

After two weeks . ..ok, lets be real, only one week.  I planned to start this September 1st but . .. I was working so hard on the boys room and it was so stinkin' hot that I drank more Pepsi than water and seem to recall having a few late night snacks ;-)  I'm on the wagon this week though - I will admit that I am having a hard time drinking water but I'm trying :-)

The Master Bedroom - Completed
I'm trying to establish habits for each room in the house so the next logical room was the master bedroom because we just "moved into" our new room so it makes sense to work on keeping it nice and clean.  Since moving in three weeks ago (so 21 days give or take a day) we've worked hard at putting things away and doing some finishing touches to make it easy to keep it clean. (Command hooks to hang things on, a rack on the door to hang things like PJ's, and a basket to put some thing at the base of the closet so they don't get lost.  We love our new space and I find that I WANT to keep it nice and clean.  Yes, mom, I even make the bed almost every day :-) 

The Dining Room - Brand New Habit!
The next room I'm building habits in is the dining room - i.e. the drop zone.  I don't care where your dining room is, you can bet that at some point in the week (or day!) you have something sitting on your table that doesn't belong.  So what are some of things I'm working on?  Wiping down the table after every meal instead of just dinner (I know - I always forget after lunch!!!)  Really, I'm working on having a total of 8 table clothes - I love table clothes but with kids they only last one day without looking icky - so I want 8 - after dinner every night I can take the dirty one off and put a clean one on for the next day.  I also am working at keeping the piano clean and sweeping the floor every night after dinner.  That room grows cats and dogs in the corners - it's like all of the lose hairs know that is the room to go to! 

So, one little habit at a time, I'm working on making some changes :-)  What about you? Do you have some habits you need to change or establish?

Remembering

I wanted to take a break from my normal schedule to remember the events of 9/11 today.  I think that any of us that lived through that day remember every detail.  I was teaching at the time and was pulled from the classroom and told the basics of what happened.  Recess was moved indoors and parents came to get children early.  Then I drove home and arrived home at the same time as my husband - we were both in shock and, like most people, headed to the gas station to fill up both cars because no one knew what tomorrow would bring.  Then, we sat in front of the TV and watched the events unfold.  We never turned off the TV that night out of fear that something else would happen.  We did not know anyone personally who was killed that day but a good friend of my brothers list HIS brother that day in the towers.  The stories that came out that day were unbelievable and still today keep us glued to the TV.  To see interviews of some of families who lost loved ones still causes me to stop.  As we take time today to remember that great tragedy in our country, I hope that more we take time to thank God for what He has given us.

This song by Alan Jackson pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

Homeschool Happenings - Week 3

With the quick change of plans that sent my kids to my parents house last week, we aren't actually starting our activities until today.

Really quickly, I thought I'd share our basic schedule - nothing fancy and totally just in my head right now but this is my plan:

6:00 - I do actually plan to force myself to crawl out of bed at 6:00 and take a shower, have my quiet time, and eat a small breakfast all by 7:00. 

7:00 - Computer time, my kids normally wake-up between 7:00-8:00 and the munchkin arrives during this time as well.

8:00-10:00 - On most mornings, this is "my time".  This gives me time to do my daily routines and work on anything else I may need to get done.

10:00-11:00 - SCHOOL!!!!  The basics will be do to calendar time (about 10 minutes) every morning and then do Bible with everyone (about 10 minutes).  The two younger boys can play as they please while Josh and I work on our All About Reading and Preschool Skills.  When we are done, we are done - it may be before 11:00 which is fine. 

11:00-12:00 - Free time for all.  The kids can play and I will have time to check e-mail, write blogs, etc. 

12:00-1:00 - Lunch :-)

1:00 - 2:00 Free time for the kids; Time for me to work on my Item of the day (On Monday's we'll go grocery shopping, while the rest of the week this time is for me to work on future lessons and on any projects I have going)

2:00-3:00 - Afternoon Activity - this varies daily.  We will cook, have a piano lesson, play a game or do some fun physical activity.

3:00-3:30 - Free time for the kids; time for me to get dinner prepped and pick up the house as needed

3:30-4:30 - Outdoor Time - as long as we possibly can, we'll go outside during this hour - this will give me time outside with the kids either to play with them or work in the hard (or read, lets keep it real!)

4:30-7:30 - These are the "killer hours" :-)  Getting dinner ready, eat dinner, clean up, family time, bath time and bed time.

7:30 - down time :-)

Now, that is our basic schedule.  Friday Mornings will be taken up with Friday School - we'll be gone from 8:15-12:15 and the afternoons will be basically free time - the kids will be ready to play and, honestly, I'll have things to get done too!

Every other Tuesday - we are planning on MOPS.  Our first time is this Tuesday so we'll see how it goes.  Assuming we decide to do it, then we'll be gone from 8:15-12:30 on those Tuesdays and again, the afternoon will end up being more free time. 

Yes, I have a plan each week of what I want to get through but, we'll going to move at whatever pace works for Josh so it may take us two weeks to get through a "weeks" lesson or he may move quickly some weeks and we'll get through more.  I do have some theme units that will add some fun things but, as I looked at our schedule, I've decided to not push those yet and just get us both used to have school work to do.  I'm leaning more towards doing Theme's at certain times (like around holidays) and focusing either one or two weeks only on those activities and taking a break from our regular work but that is just a thought :-)

Hopefully next week I'll have good things to report and some pictures too!

Things My Kids Say

* I think it is adorable that my boys like to carry purses and "get clean" (i.e. use my make up brushes).  Why?  Because it drives my husband insane LOL  I have started calling my purse a "bag" instead of a purse though because, well, they are boys. 

* Josh has a new nick name for Nate - He calls him "Net" when he is just having a conversation with him.  "Net, come here and play with me".  Ironically, Nate doesn't tell him that isn't his name yet if we call him anything other than Nate or Nathan, he says "I'm not cutie, I'm Nate". 

* We are working on pro-nouns . .. when I ask Josh where Nate is he'll respond with, "I'll go get her mom"  :-)

*At the ages that they are, my kids often mis-hear how to pronouce words which makes it lots of fun!!

A Tape Measure = Temperture (Say tape measure really fast . . .it kind of sounds like that!)
BO = Radio
Madison (one of our babysitters) = Medicine.

*The boys have been told that they cannot go into the back half of the basement - that is where Darryl's work area is so we don't want them in there. One day this week, when Josh told me he had to go downstairs, I reminded him to stay out of the work side . . but then he proceeded to explain to me that it wasn't his fault if he did because if the Spiders run in there he has to follow them. Seriously? HA!

Weekly Menu

We had a week with a lot of accomplishments!  Amazingly, despite the holiday weekend throwing us a slight curve ball (my dad going into the hospital with what appeared to be a heart attack but that turned out to be a pinched nerve) meaning that my parents couldn't come over on Monday to celebrate Labor Day at help us paint, we still got lots done.  I "busted a move" (as my husband said) and painted the boys room on Tuesday along with moving out just about everything that was in the room.  On Tuesday, I moved on the rest of the furniture and sealed the floor.  During the day on Thursday, I worked on some projects for the room as well as some homeschool projects that I wanted to get done while the kids were gone (did I mention my kids were at Papa and Nana's for the sole purpose of us getting that room done!!).  Thursday evening we pulled off the baseboards to get ready to put the floor down.  Friday I finished up my projects and did some grocery shopping before we started to put down the hard floor on Friday evening.  As you read this today, we are working diligently to get the floor all down, a couple of electrical outlets replaced, and everything moved into the room.  Don't worry, I'll be posting pictures soon - I'm waiting for  some photo printsn to come that I ordered as well as a piece of vinyl art work that I picked out to arrive.  Once I get those things done, I'll share what we did :-)

So . .. we followed our meal schedule pretty well - we ate out every night.  Well, actually, I cooked on Thursday night - my mom had sent home some corn on the cob and steaks with us (that we didn't eat on Monday - that whole hospital thing kinda threw off dinner plans . . .) so we ate that on Thursday.

Now on to next week. 

Saturday - For lunch I am making French Dip Crescents, Chips and Dip, and fruit - probably just a bowl with apples, bananas, and strawberries in for people to pick out and eat - my parents will be here working so I want to have a good lunch; Then, dinner is going to be Crockpot Cube Steak and Gravy with mashed potatoes (Bob Evans Style - so easy!), Roasted Zucchini and Carrots, and rolls.  Again, my parents will be here for dinner (I'm assuming) so I wanted to have something in the crockpot ready to eat - the potatoes get warmed up in the Microwave while the veggies roast for 20 minutes :-) 

Sunday - First, I'm hoping to start a new tradition of Mini Cinnamon Rolls on Sunday Mornings - I saw this idea on a friends facebook status and thought, "How fun to have the kids always smell Cinnamon rolls on Sundays".  They are quick and easy so we'll see how it goes! This is Football Sunday - it's Kick Off baby!!!  We like to have some fun foods to munch on throughout the day so I made up some Brushetta, Apples and Caramel Dip, cheese/crackers/pickle tray, and chips and salsa, - then  got stuff to make our own pizza's for after church (quick and easy) and I have chili in the crock pot for later in the evening

Monday - Tacos - we haven't had them in a very long time :-)  And Salad.

Tuesday - Spaghetti, Salad and Garlic Bread

Wednesday -  Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak over egg noodles, green beans, and salad

Thursday -  I think we will be doing something we rarely do - it will be left over night.  We have some bigger meals this week and I have a feeling that there will be lots of left overs in the fridge.  I can always cook up more veggies, Mac and Cheese, or baked beans if needed as an extra side to add to things.  Worst case - we will grab a $5.00 pizza for dinner :-)

Friday - The boys are on their own - I'm going scrapbooking!!! (I will probably have a box of Mac and Cheese and hot dogs for the boys to eat so no one will go hungry HA!)

As far as sweets this week - I will be making some white chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes for Sunday - the boys love them and they are so easy :-) 

Food Friday - Summer Vegetable Tian

Summer Vegetable Tian
adapted from Budget Bites

Yes, I am always looking for creative, fun ways to serve side dishes.  Vegetables and other sides get so boring!  We are big fans of Zucchini and Yellow Squash so I thought I would try this recipe out.  It was really good but, next time, I would leave the potatoes out.  They don't seem to really go with the other flavors, at least in my opinion, and they really have zero flavor.  I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes either but my husband really liked it so I will still include them next time . . I just end up picking most of mine out! 

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium potato
1 medium tomato
1 teaspoon dried thyme (I did not use this . . .not a big fan of thyme)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup shredded Italian cheese

Directions:
Step 1:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic.  Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about 5 minutes)

Step 2:  While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.

Step 3:  Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray.  Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish.  Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern.  Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper and thyme.  (Note: by generously . .. I mean generously . . .:-) )

Step 4: Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil, top with the cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.