Don't Scream

"Don't start screaming", that's what I tell myself when I go into Katherine's room lately.  She spent the night with my mother so I was able to get in there and work on throwing out and getting rid of junk without her hampering any progress.  It's really not her fault.  Evidently, I have not given her the organizational tools she needs to keep things tidy.  She owns way too much stuff purchased mainly by me. 

Here's a view into the closet.

I think overstuffed drawers irritate me the most. 

I ended up with 1 full bag of trash, two bags for Good Will, and several bags to be consigned.  There was also quite a bit of dirty laundry lurking in dark corners.  Next is on my list is the baby's room.

Great Idea

We went to the beach this past weekend and had a great time.  Chuck needed to be able to use his phone on the beach and we stumbled on a great idea.  We put the phone into a ziploc bag and it was able to function through the bag and stayed sand and water free.  I don't know that this would work for all phones but it's worth a try in a difficult situation.

Rainy Day Project

I have a bad habit of letting magazines pile up on my nightstand.  I just love magazines, but I can let them get out of hand.  Last week we had several rainy days so I took the time to go through and pull out pages that I want to keep.
I have a couple of three ring binders with page protectors, one for holidays, home decor, and kid stuff.  My favorite is the holiday one.  Each holiday I flip through and decide what projects I want to do.  It's a great way to keep ideas organized.  And if I'm really organized I can search for items that I need all year long.
 

I found this idea on-line last week for Fall. 

So I need two large pots, fall leaves, and lots of fake pumpkins.  Beautiful.

A Good Deal

Some of you have seen me with "my best friend twice a year". It's my collapsible four wheeled shopping cart! I keep it in the back of the car every spring and fall for shopping the consignment sales. It receives much attention from other shoppers who wish they had one. An opportunist could really make some cash selling these outside the sales.

You can buy this one this week at Walgreens for $14.99! That's $5 cheaper than what I paid. These carts can be elusive when you're specifically looking for one. Take advantage of this if you can.

Class Of 2010!

I remember sitting in the hospital calculating the year my youngest brother would graduate from high school, 2010 what a cool year! Patrick was born when I was almost 16 years old. He was one the best thing that ever happened to us. Life had become very boring before he came along. Here are a few photos of the two of us together:

This photo always makes me laugh, me and Grandma wearing entirely too much make-up.

Here I am with grandma again at my own graduation. I always end up crying at life changing events. I really don't handle change well. I was a mess at my own wedding. Patrick asked if I was ever going to live with them again and it broke my heart to tell him no.

We have another graduate in the family this year. Chuck's mom graduated from college last weekend after 21 years. It was a great accomplishment for her. Here she is with her two sons:

Way to go class of 2010!

The Perfect Housewife Day 1/The Only Day

Last week I challenged myself to be a better stay at home mom. I have become a bit lazy when it comes to cooking and cleaning. A year ago I made a chore chart but I might have followed it a handful of weeks since. Here's how Day 1 of being the perfect housewife went down:

Thursday-clean master bathroom, 1 load of laundry, and load/unload dishwasher.

I got my cleaning caddy and a roll of paper towels and went to work on the bathroom. Things were going pretty smoothly until I called for Charlie who'd been quiet for a moment. He obediently came to me with my missing bottle of Clorox Green Works hanging out of his mouth. He obviously had been drinking it. Chuck called the Clorox company and found out the product does not contain bleach and we just needed to watch him for any ill effects for the next hour.

I was quite shaken with almost poisoning our child so I used my nervous energy to vacuum. Vacuuming was not on the chore chart for Thursday but it should have been done the day before. Charlie loves it when I vacuum. He usually follows me around and touches the vacuum lovingly. But that day he discovered how to yank the cord out of the wall and make it stop. The second time he did this I had had enough! I screamed at him so loudly, Chuck came running out of the office yet again, to see what all the fuss was about. He blessedly took the baby and entertained him until I was finished and had cooled off with some angry tears.

Here's Mr. Mischievous:

I learned a good lesson, I'm not the perfect housewife and I'm glad. Upon reflection if I was, my friends would hate me. And it appears that trying to be perfect just makes things more complicated so I will continue with the chore chart and cooking healthier meals but some days are just going to be eventful!

Tax Bill Threatens My Lifestyle

I've spent the last week under the threat that I need to find a part-time job due to a very large tax bill. Talking with an older friend on Sunday opened my eyes to what an awesome job I currently hold, as a stay at home mom. Her view of being able to stay at home is not quite what happens but it sounded quite charming. My current life through her eyes:

"You have all day to keep a tidy house, keep the pantry and fridge stocked with plenty of healthy food for made from scratch dinners. Plus have time to play and tidy the children before Dad gets home. And of course meet him at the door refreshed and cheerful whilst a yummy dinner awaits him in the kitchen."

Uhhmm, yeah, that's exactly what happens! I didn't have the heart to contradict her as she has never had the opportunity to stay at home. Her view did make me rethink how lucky I have been and maybe I haven't done my best. Her little fantasy could be made a reality.

We received some very good news today. My husband landed a contract that will pay the taxes and allow me to continue being at home. But I am determined to be a better employee at my current cushy job.

Easter Sundays

Just a few Easter photos from the past. My brother and I on Easter Sunday years ago.

Katherine's first Easter. My mom wanted to set up a cute "Eastery" photo session. It took us quite a few shots to get a good one but we did!

Progress Report on Resolutions

Before Photos


I am proud to say I have made some progress towards organizing my home. I dropped off 130 items of clothing at one of my beloved consignment sales. Tonight I started on the toys. I HATE toys with multiple pieces. They are difficult to keep together and no one wants to play with a toy that's missing pieces. Three boxes of books, toys, and baby paraphernalia have made it to Goodwill. I haven't even begun on my 2nd child's room. Must.....be.....ruthless.
Chuck was feeling energized and organized those shameful kitchen cabinets for me. He did a wonderful job, I will never doubt his skills again!

Valentine's Weekend

Wow! This weekend started out with a bang, a rare snow day in central Alabama. Of course we are not prepared for such weather so Charlie's "gloves" were disposable plastic gloves over a pair of socks. That lasted for about 8 minutes. He spent most of his time falling down but loved every minute of it.

Katherine lost her heavy coat at school several weeks ago and then another coat a week after that. Frustrating! So we just piled on some fleece and a heavy vest. She proudly made her very own snowman with a carrot nose or is it an eye? Hard to say.

Chuck worked hard on the front yard snowman. Aren't they cute together. The snow lasted one day but it was a good one!

100th Post

The 100th post. What to say?! I think at one time it was popular to share 100 things about yourself but that's just too self-absorbed even for me. And it creeps me out that anyone would actually spend the time to read 100 things about anyone. That idea is probably out-dated anyway. Blogs are sooo "two years ago" according to Amanda on "Ugly Betty". I like to be fashionably late into the world of technology. It works for me.

Hoarders

Have you seen this show on A&E!!! If you haven't, it's about different individuals who hoard to the point where their homes are no longer livable. I'm glad that I've seen the show because it has motivated me to get rid of some of of my own clutter. I see these people doing the same thought process that I do when I rationalize why I have to keep something that I haven't used in years.

One of my biggest projects is now done, my Christmas stuff. I donated 6 boxes worth of stuff. It was painful for a second. I was thinking "this is good stuff, I might use this some day, I could sell it". But the bottom line is I don't use it and I'm tired of storing it. I'd rather have an organized and clean space. I went through every box and sorted how I use it. For example, all the outside decor is now sorted into their own boxes and labeled. Next season when it's time to do the outside of the house I can just pull those boxes down instead having to bring it all down then go through pulling out what I need.


I'm so happy that it's done and next Christmas season everything will be so easy to put up. Now I'm onto another organizing project...

January Stinks

I'm not really looking forward to January. When I think of January I think of icky weather, no sparkly decor, and being bombarded with weight loss commercials. NO fun.

I have thought of some New Year's resolutions. Sorry, they're all predictable and not very exciting. The first one is to get organized. I have faced the hard truth, I'm not organized. I've been in denial for years. I've been in denial up until last week in fact. My personal belongings are a mess, there I said it. I promise to accept the help of my husband whose belongings are all annoyingly tidy.

A friend of mine taught a class recently on this very subject. She pointed out that when you move into a new home things get shoved into cabinets with little thought other than getting unpacked. This explains why some of my kitchen cabinets are slam packed and another barely used. So the kitchen cabinets are on "The List".



The spaces underneath all of the sinks also made it onto "The List"


and my closet, What is all that on the floor?! I'm not sure yet. I make my child clean up when her closet floor looks this bad. What a hypocrite I am.


and the biggest problem of all...the laundry room. I really want this room to be welcoming as we enter and exit our home through it. I have seen some really great laundry rooms on other people's blogs, so it is doable. Or maybe these people are aliens.




More on my resolutions later.

Celtic Christmas Anyone?

I have a thing for the Scottish. One day I'll visit Scotland and see my husband in a kilt.
In my enthusiasm I purchased a Scottish Christmas CD several years ago. It's a serious contender for the most annoying music ever made. The first song is great but then the rest of the CD is endless bagpipes and some sort of stringed instruments. The songs all sound the same. A headache will develop within minutes.


Last year on Christmas morning I thought we would play a joke on our families. I wanted to see who would complain first about the music, my dad or Chuck's mother, it was a toss up. Unfortunately, it turned out to be me who just could not take it anymore. I think we'll try again this year.

I Hate Fundraisers

Katherine's been in school for about 3 months. I'm tired of the endless asking for money. I particularly don't like my child being promised "prizes" to sell from a catalog. And we all know what "great prizes" they're given. What really makes me mad is the threat, "we don't want your child's education to suffer during this year of proration".
I was complaining to my mother about this very thing when she shared what my brother's school is asking for, her scrap gold. They had a local jeweler at the school to weigh in parents' donations. All I could do was laugh.

Attitudes of Thanksgiving and Annoyance

We had an adventure over the Thanksgiving holiday. My mother in-law rented a beautiful row house in Savannah, GA for all of her children to meet there and stay for a few days. This was Charlie's first long car trip. He didn't enjoy it.

Thanksgiving day had some ups and downs. Our meal was very good but it was my bright idea to try and get a family photo. It was a disaster. We walked to a small park to take advantage of the natural light but the kids went nuts. We had four kids age 2 and under. It was difficult trying to keep them together while we set up the tripod with the perfect background. We managed to get one shot with everyone happy.


My sister in-law ended up walking off in a huff at me because she was caught at the end of the group shot. Remember my rule about the outside person looking heavier?! I'm sorry Samantha. I think you're beautiful even when you're ticked off.


I've never been to Savannah and had big plans to shop and eat at The Lady and Sons, and the Casbah. The shopping was fun but my favorite part of the town was the Casbah, a Moroccan restaurant with performing belly dancers. I thought the food was awesome. I think I'll try cooking some Moroccan recipes myself. Paula Dean's restaurant was good but it took a lot of waiting and fuss to get in.

Christmas Parties

My husband's side of the family is full of fun. We spend Christmas Eve with them for a Dirty Santa exchange and dinner. We hosted this party at our home a few years ago and Chuck dressed up as Uncle Eddie from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Only his Nanny, who loves the movie as much as we do, knew him immediately as Eddie. One of his aunts thought we might be hard up for money.


The following year we decided that everyone would dress up "tacky". It was so much fun! Aunt Leigh Ann came in asking "Where's my cat? Has anyone seen my cat?". Katherine loved this after she caught on to the joke.


This group had to get gas on the way to the party. Can you imagine what a site they were!

This year the decision was that we'd have a "As Seen On T.V." Dirty Santa round. Sounds silly and fun!