Refocusing

It's so important to jot down your priorities every so often, so here I go...this is more for me than anyone else, this is my notebook to self.

This list is borrowed from God's Girl

1. Keep up with my daily Bible study and prayer time.

2. Exercise DAILY!!!

3. Read with my kids every day.

4. Organize all of my household paperwork(go paperless)

5. Figure out how to cook more "lean and green" meals.

6. Have more fun with my kids and husband.

7. Try to find one new activity or place to visit per month.

8. Organize garage and down-size home supplies.

9. Keep in better touch with friends and family.

10. Pay off all debts this year (besides mortgage-won't happen).

I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!

Check out my other blog. I'm doing a giveaway right now!!!! For any one who wants to win a $25 Old Navy Gift card, go check it out!

http://clothedwithlilies.blogspot.com/2010/10/giveaway-old-navy-gift-card.html


Mariah

7 steps for a Shiny Clean Kitchen

  I'm taking this from my blog : thisisthetaste.blogspot.com because I think it's a great motivation-to-clean list!

 (my actual kitchen, :)

 

Shiny Clean Kitchen

Everyone loves a shiny clean kitchen to prepare food in, but the reality is just not there. Last night I was defeated, I stared at yet another disastrous episode of my Kitchen rebelling against me over the weekend, and I giving in to it's strong will. Our weekends are Sunday-Tuesday. Last night I was just overwhelmed and annoyed that I let the Kitchen get SO gross. I'm talking maybe 3 sink fulls of dirty dishes all over the kitchen. You can't even walk in there without crunching or sticking into something, the table has residue from each meal we ate throughout the weekend. I'm so embarrassed to write this, but I'm being honest. So, since I was so stinkin' sick of feeling defeated I decided to figure out a quick list of things I can do to clean up the Kitchen, without having to wonder "where do I even begin, and then what next?"

Here are my 7 steps to cleaning up the Kitchen when it's overwhelmingly dirty, it worked great for me last night (and has for a few months now)!
(First things first, wear some shoes or slippers if your floor is anything like mine was)

1. Put all trash in can
2. Put anything left out back- in cupboard, pantry, another room, etc.
3. Wipe off table, counters, stove top-moving all dirty dishes to one side of sink
4. Empty dishwasher if clean
5. Load dishes into dishwasher or wash dirty dishes by hand(dry and put away)
6. Clean out sink and make it shine, you can use little bleach and baking soda for porcelain, and some bar keepers cleaner first then olive oil last to scrub and shine stainless steel. 
7.Sweep up the crumbs and mop if needed, or use a little rag and wipe up the sticky spots, until you can mop.

Your Kitchen should be completely clean after those steps, you can take out the trash if it's full and go to bed, or move on with your day!

Just a little laugh: Caleb(3) just came to me and said, "mom, Lili(1) pooped." I said, "oh really? ok, I'll take care of it in a second. thanks" and he said, "yeah I can tell because I felt the saggy fat on her butt." LOL, I don't know why, but that just seems so funny, you get the image of a baby with a SUPER full diaper sagging way down. yeah...:)

Interesting post on PCOS

Click on Picture to check out the post. I know so many women with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome, I thought this was interesting!

3 Quick tips to encourage New Moms

 
For any moms out there with toddlers and babies, 
here are 3 of my own personal tried and true tips. 
I may have been given them before from a friend, or I may have made them up.
Either way, I think they are great!

1. If you have a young toddler at home and about to have another baby...a great bonding time with the 3 of you, after baby is born, is to sit together on the couch and read to your toddler while you're nursing your newborn. Toddler won't feel totally replaced, and you'll be able to keep better tabs on him/her while stuck to the couch. :)

2. If you have toddlers who able to sit up in the bath well(2yr+), let them play in the tub with shave cream, tub crayons(with out water first), then take a bath...during that time you get to clean the bathroom or fix hair nicely and put on make-up while keeping eye on the little one(s).

3. Laundry...blah, anyone? I don't think so, why? Because we've turned it into a game at my house. The kids LOVE to help with laundry, granted, not every day, but many times during the week. Here's my routine plus game:
A) I gather up all the dirty laundry accumulated the day prior each morning after waking up. I sort it into piles until I have a pile large enough to wash. I usually wash 1-2 loads per morning, ever morning. Every afternoon, while dinner is cooking, and I have an extra moment, I sit and fold. My kids sometimes help with folding, but at age 5,4, and 2, that's not their favorite thing to do.So, they are my delivery men.

B) Delivery Game- I ask them to pick an animal. They choose whatever they can think of, lets say Tiger. I say "Ok, you are a Tiger, traveling through the jungles of monkey island, hop high and fast all the way to "Busy's Cave"(my daughters room), be ware of the poisonous snakes." They will grab the pile of folded laundry that belongs in my daughters room and set it on the floor in her closet after hopping through the house to her room. If it's their own room they are delivering to, they put the clothes away where they belong. Once we are done. I go into each room and put everything away correctly. It's really quick to do.

Have any more tips for newer moms??? Leave them in the comments section!

Recommended Must Read and free web curriculum

Has anyone read the book, Mother, by Kathleen Norris?

I was recommended it. I think I'll try and read it in November as part of my 12 things.

As for September, I was suppose to start homeschooling my kids. And I have, and we are doing really well. Kindergarten is a breeze though, lol. I've misplaced their first day of school pics. Bummer...I'll try and find them to post later. GREAT TIP: For anyone with preschoolers or kindergartners that still need to learn phonics, check out the free website tools at Starfall.
It's great! My son LOVES it. :)

Life Happens,

Mariah

At My House 2

Well, my brave husband heroically saved the day when he found the mouse again after coming home from shopping. Behind the head of our bed (the only place we didn't look). Oh, it was gross. And 20 minutes of screaming, shouting, and hoping around our room like gorillas and we catch the mouse! My husband took care of it. And I fell into bed a nervous wreck, but happy to feel some-what safe to sleep. The next day I found 2 places the mouse/mice had taken residence in my room. Behind the head of my bed being one of them!!! Blach!!! I can't believe it! *shivering*

After I cleaned everything really well, and put it all back...I was a little happier and a little less nervous. Until "attack of the mice strikes again"! Round 2...as I am looking at myself in a mirror, I see through the mirror that behind me is another mouse, running for my bed!!! Geesh! Now I'm freaking out like crazy. 2???? I thought one was just a freak accident. So I again fly on top of my hope chest screaming for my brave 4 and 5 yr old sons to come save me. Their daddy was at work, after all. :( Well, the boys were great little mouse hunters at first. I found 2 clear boxes handed them each 1 and told them where the beast was. My 4-yr old is a little spacey and silly and let the mouse go right pass him. It went into my closet. Again, the shoes must ALL come out. They are being flung left and right...until we spy the little critter at the back of the closet. My boys all of a sudden chicken out and I threaten them with my life to press on!!! (lol, i'm terrible). So they do, but the mouse runs pass again to the other side of the room, where a closet door is leaning against a wall. Behind the door is the mouse. I position one boy on one end of the door and the other boy on the other end. I teach them how to carefully hold the box, so they can trap the mouse. I shake the door. The mouse runs to my oldest boy(who's doing great at this), right when the mouse gets to the box he turns around fast as lightening and runs toward the space cadet child. My younger son is goofing off like usual, and falls over pressing his box to the ground. In that split second the mouse had run into the box and was trapped. I hip, hip, horrayed the rest of the day. My 2 little heroes!!! I should mention though, that threatening them for my life meant telling them they could have the biggest ice cream EVER if they just catch the mouse!!! They did. We took them to a frozen yogurt land, and they enjoyed the heroic ice cream of their choice.

Hero 1

Hero 2 (having a pity moment)

The beast, my husband took care of when he got home from work...yuck!!!