Get ready for Christmas and guests

It's almost Christmas and I am for the most part done with my shopping. I still need to get something for my parents and I have no idea what, so I think I'll wait until they get here and then just ask them. The point is that I am done getting the stuff I need for Christmas day.

Am I done with Edison's stocking? Not even close, but I am very optimistic that I will get it done even though I will probably be up really late Christmas Eve. This optimism comes from the fact that when I pulled out the fabric I saw that last year I had already cut it and sewed part of it together. Yay me! So I have to have the cross stitch done by Thursday so I can finish sewing Friday. Thursday I need to be doing the back stitching so I really have to be done by the end of Wednesday. The plan is to finish the right side by tonight since it is mostly done, the left side on Tuesday and what ever is left on Wednesday. I think it's possible, the only thing standing in my way is cleaning the house.

The house isn't too bad, it could be better but if I follow my cleaning schedule for the week I should be just fine. I hope.

I am having guests coming Christmas night, so I'll get their rooms ready on Christmas day. The kids will be distracted and all I have to do is wash the sheets, vacuum, and wipe the bathroom since they are still clean from the Thanksgiving guests.

Merry Christmas to all and I hope everyone can finish their crafts.

My short to do list

There are 2 weeks before school gets out (when I wrote this). I'm going to get all my Christmas shopping done by then. I'm also trying to finish Edison's stocking. If I want it done by Christmas than I need to finish the cross-stitch part by 2 weeks so I can have a week to sew it together. I'm trying to not stress out by not doing much. We'll see how that goes.

This is the week

This week I have guests coming and I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner! So I need to clean my entire house. I'm not where I was hoping to be by this point, but I have been getting things done so I'm optimistic that I can get everything done. Here is my plan:
Monday
Finish cleaning my room
-put my laundry away
-clean my bathroom
-clean off the flat surfaces

Clean the main bathroom
-This is the boys Monday job

Clean off the desk
-get rid of all the papers I don't need

Tuesday
Dust
-The regular Tuesday job

Wash sheets and blankets

Vacuum guest rooms

Clean the Kitchen

Wednesday
Vacuum everything

Think about finishing what ever I didn't do

Ready...Go!

countdown to guests continued

Two weeks until guests arrive.

Last week I cleaned out the guest room! It still needs to have the sheets washed and the carpet vacuumed but I'll wait till right before they come. I organized the toys, but the ones I'm going to get rid of or put away are still sitting in bags.

This week my focus is getting rid of clutter. Off the top of my head I can think of 6 bags and boxes of stuff I said I would go through later and have not yet. So I want to go through that stuff and the stuff on the desk and the stuff on the counter, and get rid of the newspapers in the front room. I also want to clean my room and catch up on my laundry. Perhaps this is too ambitious for me, we'll find out.

Are you there blog? It's me Jennifer.

So I've taken the last month off, I don't know why, I just surrendered and let the mess take me. Now it is November and family is coming for Thanks giving so I have 3 weeks to get everything cleaned up. I need a plan. Here is what I'm going to do This week.
-Clean up the guest room. It has been holding toys and random things and the closet door is off the track.
-Clean the hall way by the guest room. The downstairs bathroom is blocked off by stuff and I'm sure my guests will want to use it.
-Organize toys. They are everywhere. I have a plan.
-Put away Halloween decorations and costumes.

I'm starting with the areas I can lock and then see what the rest of the house looks like.

Time to get back to work.

Time management

Lately Edison has been crazy. He's been getting into everything and screaming a lot and just always in my way. After I dropped Alex off at preschool I had 2 hours with just Edison that I was planning on using to clean, but then I thought that maybe Edison is acting out because he wants more attention. So I decided to not worry about my house and played with my son. We went for a walk, we played with toys, and I pushed him on a swing. He was a lot happier. Then I wondered if I've been giving more attention to the house than to my family. So I'm wondering how you give your children, husband, house, and self the time and attention they need. Anyone have the answer? I think part of the answer is that I need to redo my schedule. I was going to post it but then I thought I probably shouldn't put that on the internet. So now I have given myself scheduled times to clean and play. So I'll be trying that this week.

I also thought about conference this week. What do you think about doing other things while watching? We had a family gathering here on Sunday and Saturday there was a lot that needed to get done. I was mowing the lawn between sessions and thinking about all the stuff I needed to do. I thought I could fold laundry on the couch while I watched the second session. But then I thought "No, if I'm going to watch conference I need to devote my attention." My kids take away most of my attention, I don't need to add more distractions. Just a thought.

Just another week

Last week I found myself without children for a few hours (during the day), I cleaned my kitchen in peace. It was wonderful. I looked at my quilt and made a plan of attack, and I got my carpet cleaned. It was a good week.

I've been trying to figure out what to do this week and as much as I try to avoid it, I need to clean off the desk. It's actually not that bad right now, but it still needs to be cleaned.

My plan for the quilt is to get the top done by the end of October. So I'll get the stairs done this week.

The end.

Like a frog in a pot

This is how my week went. On Monday Edison discovered that the cabinet with all the tupperware stuff had a broken lock. He then proceeded to take everything out and throw it on the kitchen floor. I didn't have a replacement lock and so I thought "I don't want to pick everything up, wash it off, and put it away if he is just going to do the same thing tomorrow. I'll just leave it on the floor for now and clean it up when I fix the lock. Since my floor is covered I can't sweep." On Tuesday I still didn't have a new lock and I thought "I can't sweep the floor so I shouldn't clean the counters off because I'll just be knocking more stuff on the floor and I'll just clean it all when I fix the lock." On Wednesday I made a dinner that required me using a lot of pots and then I thought "since I can't clean the counters off it'll be alright if I leave a few pots to clean later." On Thursday I saw how dirty my kitchen was and I thought "I deserve a brake, I had a busy day and I deserve to sit on the couch and eat ice cream." On Friday I thought "wow my kitchen is dirty, but tomorrow is Saturday and I should just wait until then." Then I read this:
http://www.homesanctuary.com/rachelanne/2010/08/the-secret-to-successful-home-management.html

I don't remember everything it said, but it said spend 15 minutes cleaning your kitchen and I thought "I can do that!" So Friday night I turned off my TV and set a timer for 15 minutes and cleaned. I didn't get everything cleaned, but I got a lot done. So that is my new plan, just 15 minutes every night that I can.

There is some happy news this week, I finished a craft! I had been working on this for a while and I really needed to just finish, so I did. Do you think I should paint the frame?




So my goals for this week are to get a new cabinet lock and clean my kitchen, and figure out what I need to do next on the temple quilt. I'm also getting my carpets cleaned this week so I'll probably spend a lot of time moving things and then putting them back.

My Food Storage Quest

For a long time I have been trying to organize my 3 month food storage. I have decided to try lots of different methods and then abandon them when I realize it won't work for me. I have a few things that are working, but it's not all there. This is reminding me a lot of programming because I'm doing a lot of guess and check. Here's what I have so far. I've gone through my recipes and pick out the family favorites that I want to have a 3 month supply of. I only have about 20 now but I'll eventually get it up to 30. I found an excel file that keeps track of what is needed for each meal and then the total amounts needed. I was planning on having a box for each meal with all the non perishable foods needed for 3 meals (including spices measured out). That way I would always know I had enough. I knew buying 30 boxes would be expensive, but if it worked it would be worth it. I found some boxes at home depot for $.99 and I bought 15 to try. I was thinking about this plan and then realized I didn't want spices sitting around for that long since I wasn't going to only eat these meals. Now I have a lot of boxes and no real plan. I'm going to try putting similar items in a box since I know how many I need. I think the only way I'll get there is to keep doing guess and check until I get something that works for me. Any Advice?

Taking Control

Um... I don't know what I've been doing, so no recap.

Moving on. Now that fall is almost here the kids have started playing a lot more in the playroom instead of outside. One day I thought "I should work on a craft." I then went to my craft table and cried. It was completely covered in stuff that I didn't know what to do with, and it's been moved and sandwiched between the TV and elliptical so I couldn't even put a chair at the table if I wanted to. So this week I'm taking my craft area back. Clean it off and get situated so that I can craft again. I also want to finish the temple part of the temple quilt, I really need to get that done.

School starts this week, woo hoo!

Yay new stuff!

I went and visited my family in Oregon, just me and the kids. When I got back my sweet husband had cleaned the house. It was so nice and clean, but after unpacking the car and eating dinner it turned into a huge mess from which there was no escape. If there is a big mess that I have to clean (such as a bodily fluid) I have a surge of adrenaline and happily clean everything within it's radius. If there is a big mess that I should clean but don't necessarily need to (such as an overflowing counter of mail and dishes) I have no desire to do anything. So this last week I sat around sulking about how much I need to clean and just watched from the couch as the mess got worse. I didn't actually watch the mess, I watched So you think you can dance and Great Expectations. Anyways, I think it is time to get off the couch and get things done. While I was in Oregon I bought 4 metal baskets, one for each person that has papers to keep track of. Mike just hung them on the wall and so far I love them.


I'm going to go through all the papers I have and divide them up. Then I'm going to go through my stuff and nag my husband to go through his. The other thing I want to do this week is going to be very challenging. I want to post something on my family blog.

Here is my bedroom makeover reveal:
Before



After



I'm still working on decorating, but I don't have to wait for painting anymore.

How much do I love my stuff

Woo hoo my bedroom is painted! No pictures yet because I'm still putting things back in and trying to get it cute.

I cleaned out my linen closet with the help of two boxes and a bucket. I put all the dental hygiene stuff in a box and skin care stuff in a box. I also put all my bathroom cleaning supplies in a bucket so I can move it from bathroom to bathroom easier. There were a few things I learned from cleaning the closet:
1. I'm almost out of soap. At Christmas time I thought I had a year supply but apparently my family uses hand soap twice as fast as I thought.
2. I have a lot of cleaning supplies I don't use. I don't think it means I buy too much cleaning supplies, I think it means I need to clean more.
3. There is a lot of space in there if things are organized. It's amazing how it went from overflowing to half empty just by getting two boxes and a bucket and folding the sheets and towels. I didn't take anything out. Here are the before and after pictures.



I've been reading that you can't organize clutter you just move it around. The only way to be organized is to get rid of clutter. I have a lot of clutter. The only problem is when I think of things I want to get rid of it's all my kids or my husbands stuff. This either means that my kids and husband have way too much stuff or I love my stuff more than I like theirs. It's probably both. So what should I do? Does everyone have to get rid of an equal amount of stuff or does my stuff trump theirs? Just a thought.

I don't plan on doing anything this week, but thanks for reading.

I am thankful for vomit

So I had been meaning to vacuum out my car for a while but never found the time. Then last week Edison threw up in the car. I was so sad at the time because it's gross. I took out his car seat and washed it, and then I figured I had the car seats out might as well vacuum, and so I did. It wasn't that bad or time consuming and I was so glad it was clean. So Edison throwing up was the motivation I needed to clean my car.

I have my "mud closet" done. It's so nice to have a place for backpacks. I am also using a hook for my keys so hopefully I'll stop loosing them.


Now I want to focus on my linen closet. I just keep throwing things in there and now I have no idea what is in it. My plan is to get boxes. Boxes for soap, dental hygiene, and other stuff. Michelle gave me a copy of Wendy Glass's organizing presentation, and I was practically drooling looking at all the storage boxes that she kept things in. She is my inspiration. Here is my before picture:


And finally I think this is the week I'm going to paint my bedroom. I really hope this is the week. So I'll be busy getting things out of and then back in. Woo Hoo!

Time to get ready for school?

I've been trying to catch up on things. I cleaned out my storage room! you probably can't see in the picture, but you can actually walk in and get to things.

I've also worked on my recipes, but there is a long way to go. I realized index cards won't work for me so I just got a bigger binder and sheet protectors. My recipes are now divided into family favorites and recipes to try. If we don't like a recipe, I will get rid of it. My quilt is coming along, but it's taking a lot longer than I was hoping.

So I'm realizing that the Summer is going by fast. There were a few things I wanted to do before school started and I think I need to start on that before it gets too late. So this week I will create my "mud closet". Right now everyone just throws their bags and shoes in the closet near the garage, but I want to take that space and make it more functional. My plan is:
1. Take off the doors. They just get in the way.
2. Add hooks for jackets and backpacks. I'm the one who puts jackets away because the kids can't reach the rod.
3. Clean it out and make sure everything has a spot.

What do you do with your kids school stuff?

I'm back

So after a surprise vacation I'm back. A few weeks ago I was thinking that in the Summer I will have so much time because I don't have much scheduled. I envisioned the kids playing on the swing set for hours while I sat on the patio and read a magazine. So far that is not working out. Edison learned how to climb ladders and is always trying to climb the ladder of the swing set. He fell through the rungs once and got really hurt so I have to always spot him. Also Alex loves to swing but doesn't know how to pump himself so I have to push him. The kids also love to ride bikes in our cul-de-sac, but Edison runs in the road and I'm not comfortable leaving a 3 year old in the street by himself. The point is that I think it's great we are spending so much time outside but I have hardly any time to get things done in the house.

So this week is nothing new I'm going to work on stuff that I already tried to do and didn't finish. I got my bucket lids so I want to wash everything and fill them. Mostly I want to work on the quilt I'm making for Bobbie. Everyday it weighs on my that I need to do it. So every spare moment I find I want to work on that.

Happy Summer!

goal switch

Last week started off with project night. It was really good, I got rid of one box of random stuff. It was mostly Tyler's school art projects, but I went through them all and organized the ones I wanted to keep. I didn't finish Alex's baby book at project night, but I did finish it during the week. Woo Hoo I am done! Later in the week I pulled out all my DI stuff and got it ready to go, but I didn't put it in my car. The next day I drove right by DI and was so sad I forgot my stuff. So it's still in my bedroom, but soon to be in my car. I didn't clean my storage buckets because I need to go buy lids for them, but I did do something else. I bought a fire/water proof box for all my important documents. My kids birth certificates, passports, ss cards, all that stuff was in a pile on a book shelf and other places. A few times we had to search to find things and it was driving me crazy. I didn't want to get a regular plastic box because I wanted to make sure these things would survive in an emergency situation. So I got a box and everything Is neatly put away. I also didn't get paint samples, oh why is this so hard.

I know I said my storage room would be my next project, but I've changed my mind. I'm really embarrassed by this, but I am failing at meal planning. I look at the adds every week and I still don't know what to make. So I've decided to try something new. I'm going to try this:

http://littlenannygoat.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-heck-it-30-meal-plan.html

I think this will help me in a few areas. first is meal planning, second is organizing my recipes because they are a mess, and third is building my 3 month food storage. I'm not going to set a specific goal because I don't know how long it will take me, I just want to get started.

My next craft project is a quilt. Everyone told me not to but I did it anyways. I told my friend Bobbie I'd make her a quilt of the SLC temple. I want to get this done as soon as possible. So this week I want to get all the paper piecing printed out.

Wish me luck.

Back to Work

Do you ever have a week were you feel like you are always doing something, but nothing gets done. That's how I'm feeling about my last week. I worked on cleaning off my counter, I made some progress but there is more stuff I need to figure out were it goes. And I did nothing for Alex's baby book. So I hope I can finish it during project night.

A couple of weeks ago when I was going through the boys clothes I found some baby clothes that needed to be put in its corresponding box in the storage room. I went to the storage room and I couldn't get to clothes box. I have been putting stuff in there gradually that I didn't realize it was getting so messy. So even though I don't want to, my next project will be my storage room. I'm going to begin by getting rid of my DI box. It's sitting by the door and it's overflowing. I'm going to get it out and put it in my car so that the next time I go that way I can drop it off. I'm also going to figure out what is in there and where things should go.

I also have empty buckets that I need to wash and fill with my big bags of rice and sugar.

I am going to be doing a lot of crafts this weekend; finish baby book, make poster for ward activity, bind a quilt, ... So after I finish those I'm going to give myself a break for the rest of the week. Maybe I'll read a book.

And just to throw in something else, I want to get paint samples for my room.

Do you do Spring Cleaning?

Back To Basics

I went through my kids clothes this week. They have a lot of clothes, I'm really jealous. It was really good to get that taken care of because I haven't seen the bottom of their closet in a long time. I got 2 more pages of Alex's baby book done, but only 2. I'm worried about my deadline of next week, but I'll finish it soon.

So I haven't had my kitchen clean in a long time. I've had family in town and things I've been doing in the evening so I've been putting it off. Also my shredder broke so I have a pile of mail and papers on my counter that need to be taken care of. So this week I'm going to focus on getting my kitchen and the other things in my house I've already cleaned clean again. Once I get everything back in order I'll start new projects because I have plenty.

I'm still planning on project night so I'll try to finish as much of Alex's baby book as I can and finish the rest then.

Motivated Confusion

I started this week really motivated. On Monday I went through the kids art supplies and workbooks. I thought this would take me a really long time, but I just had to get rid of some stuff and put the rest away. The only thing I don't know what to do with are the crayons. Alex loves to color so I want them easily accessible, but Edison loves to eat crayons so I want them out of his way. We have a little kids table and chair that is perfect for Alex to color on, but Edison wont leave him alone. I was thinking about giving Alex a spot on my craft desk to color (since it is so clean) but I don't have a chair that I think Alex would be fine sitting on. I think the folding chair would fold up and he would fall off the stool. When do kids stop eating crayons?

By Tuesday I had all the pictures I needed for Alex's baby book uploaded to Costco and had the paper picked out for the other pages I was going to do. I should have assigned myself more to do this week because I was feeling motivated and I never seem to do more than I plan on.

I was going to do more, but I wasn't sure what to do. My next project was going to be the toys in the play room. I have a place for everything, but everything wont stay in it's place. So this week I was looking at all the toys on the floor and thought about what my kids have played with recently. Nothing! My kids played with nothing that was on the floor they have been doing other things. So I picked something up and put it away. As soon as I put it away my kids grabbed it and said they wanted to play with it. So again nothing was put away. The main problem is that most things are in Edison's reach. If I put anything on the shelf he takes it right off. So what do I do? I was thinking about high shelves on the wall where they could see the toys but not reach them. That way they would have to ask for a toy instead of grabbing them all. But would that really happen? I envision them climbing things to reach the toys and then falling off and getting hurt. I thought about a cabinet, but if they can't see it they will forget about it and I'm worried about them climbing on that and it falling on them. So really, what should I do? Should I just wait for Edison to get older? Here is what the playroom looks like clean. Notice the nice clean paper cupboard.


So while I figure that out I've decided the weather is (hopefully) warm enough to bring out the kids shorts and put away all the clothes that don't fit. I've been throwing all the outgrown clothes in the bottom of the closet and it is getting full.

I'm also going to finish 3 pages for Alex's baby book. That's it for this week, that and just keep working on what I've been doing.

Project Night Moved

Due to scheduling conflicts I have moved project night to Saturday May 22nd.

Everyone get ready!

Good week!

I talked to the kids about strangers. I'm not worried about Tyler because he doesn't like people he doesn't know, but I am concerned about Alex. I thought about having someone try to get Alex to go with them next time we were at the playground. Is that mean to set him up?

I thought there would be a lot of crying and complaining from Tyler when I told him to do his job, but everything was fine. He happily accepted his responsibility and did it. Yay!

I hate receipts! I'm finally done going through all the old receipts and now I just have to remember to put away and organize the new ones I want to keep. I love having a clean bedroom. I don't love my bedroom but I love having it clean. I want to redo my room to make it someplace I enjoy going. I plan on it taking a long time but I'm going to start doing something. Here is the before picture:


And finally I finished a few pages of Alex's baby book. I looked through it and realized I am so close to getting it done, so here is my plan.

For the entire school year I have been putting Tyler's school projects into a box. I have put lots of other things in the box too and now it is overflowing.

So I am announcing project night! Friday May 21st from 6:30pm to 1:00am. So anyone who wants to come over is welcome, just give me a call so I know (you don't have to be there the whole time). Project night consists of sitting in my basement working on any project and watching masterpiece classics. I will be going through this box and making a binder of Tyler's projects that I want to keep. This is in 3 weeks and here is a list of what I need to do before:
-Finish Alex's baby book (I don't really need to but I should just get it done)
-clean my basement

So here are my goals for this week.

Find all the pictures I need to finish the baby book. Not get them printed, just find them on my computer and upload them to costco's photo site. Also I want to finish 2 pages that are super easy, just tape a piece of paper to a pretty piece of paper.

To start with my cleaning of the basement I am going to organize the kids art supplies and work books. I keep putting this on top of this cabinet instead of in it and now Edison is tall enough that he pulls everything off the shelves. Also we don't use everything, probably because we don't know it's there.


I want to get into the habit of making my bed. I have never cared about making my bed but I've realized that when I do it makes my room look and feel so much better. I'd like to get my kids making their beds but I think I need to start caring about mine first.

No preparedness goal. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have an excuse.

I started the week with a fire drill with the kids. It was fun and educational. Tyler seemed to understand but I'm not sure what Alex got out of it. The only issue was that I told Tyler to go out the window if the door felt hot, but he isn't tall enough to open the widow.

I told Mike that I was going to listen to the blessing and type it up and his reply was "my dad already did that." So that was easy. I thought about doing something else, but I didn't.

Then I went to Target and bought a new receipt holder. I started to go through all the old receipts, but there are so many of them. So I didn't finish.

Then Mike's parents came into town and all my intentions of finishing ended.

Oh, and my scripture reading was good but my getting ready for bed at 9:30 was not.

So this next week I want to finish what I didn't do this week. I am going to finish going through my receipts and finish cleaning my room. I want to get everything that doesn't belong in my room out, the Easter decorations, picture frames, all that stuff. Now that I have Alex's blessing typed out I want to make a page for his baby book and finish another page.

I am very paranoid about leaving my kids at the playground by themselves this is partly because I've never talked to them about stranger danger. So that's what I'm going to do.

And finally I need to get the kids to help me clean. I made the chore chart for Tyler but I keep waiting for when he gets bored to make him clean and ofter he doesn't do his job for the day. So I'm thinking I need to make him do it after lunch and before he gets to play wii. He should get things done fast if he hast to do it before wii.

I am not an overachiver

I found this door lock. I think this is what I need for my pantry since I have sliding pocket doors. No handles or hinges. I'll let you know if it works.


So this week was good. My cleaning schedule was good for me. I found a little time everyday to do my cleaning and if I forgot what I wanted to do I just looked at my chart. Yay!

I got my scrapbook pages done. I only had to add the title but here is a page I finished.


I put batteries in my flashlight, that's all the effort I put into that.

So my craft area... I cleaned it off but as I was cleaning there was all this stuff that I didn't know what to do with. So I put it in a box with the intentions of dealing with it later. I felt a little bad about that, but then I thought it's okay I'll deal with it later. Maybe I should just through away the box. Here is the after picture, the wall was a little bare so I put up a poster of Legolas.


So next week...
I keep thinking I want to have a FHE on fire safety and what to do if there is a fire but there is always something else to have a lesson on. So I was thinking why am I waiting for FHE when I spend all day with the boys. This week I want to have a fire drill with the boys.

For Alex's baby book I want to get his blessing typed up. Mike's Dad recorded the blessing but now I need to listen to it, figure out what Mike said, and type it up.

I don't know if it's alright to admit this, but I'm not consistent in my scripture reading. I used to read every night but then I thought I shouldn't do it at night because I was tired and never remembered anything. I can't find a better time for me so I'm going back to before bed but earlier. I am going to go to bed at 9:30 so I can read, get ready for bed and go to sleep at a decent hour.

I've always wanted a nice clean, cute and relaxing bedroom but I don't. I keep waiting for a good time when I can completely redo it, but that has not happened yet and I'm not sure it will. So I'm going to start with my "little bit at a time" plan. I want to get my room cleaned up so I can take my before picture. I'm going to work on organizing my receipts because they are all over my bedroom. I had an organizer but it broke and then Edison started scattering them on the floor. So I have 2 years worth of receipts I need to do something with. I used to organize them by month when I kept everything, but now I'm only going to keep receipts of things that matter so there should be a lot less of them. Is there a better way to organize them?

A thoughtful week

This was a good week, I really felt like I was getting somewhere. I don't know if I really am, but I felt like I was and that's good enough for me.

Something else I realized this week is that I need to find a way to lock my pantry. It has pocket doors that slide easily. Edison opens it up and takes everything out that he can reach. So my pantry is messy again.

I've been making breakfast more often and I've also been gaining weight. I'm hoping the weight is from the 3 days of eating out for lunch and dinner when my in-laws were here. But it might be because the only breakfasts I've been making are baked goods. Lots of muffins and pancakes and breakfast cookies. I've also realized most breakfasts are not healthy. So I'll have to find some good healthy recipes to mix in with the unhealthy ones.

My goals for the week went well. I got the junk out of my car and made sure all the important stuff was in the glove box. It needs to be vacuumed and wipes out, but I'll figure that out later. I got some more of Alex's baby book done. I'm getting closer! My coupons are put nicely in my folder and I actually used some when I went shopping. And My 72 hour kit is ready to go in case we need it.

So here comes another week.

I want to have a cleaning schedule so I made one. A lot of it I got from the Fly Lady. I liked what they were teaching, but I needed to make it more for me. So every day I have something I clean during the day, some days have scheduled laundry, and then I have a "hot spot" that I need to clean off. I'm sure I'm missing stuff, but I'll figure it out as I go. I also have a list of chores for the kids to do. This is in addition to my daily jobs like cleaning up after dinner and straightening and vacuuming the family room.

One of my "hot spots" is my craft table but it's not organized. So that's what I want to do this week, clean off my table and make sure everything has a home. I've cleaned off my table before but I just put things on the floor until I was done with the table and then put all the stuff back. No more of that! Here is the before picture:



To go with that I've got a few scrapbook pages for Alex's album (not baby book) that I started but haven't finished. Those are on the ironing board near the craft table. So I'm going to finish those and put them away. and also because I have more, finish 2 more pages of Alex's baby book that I started but need something small to finish.

My preparedness goal is to put working flashlights in an easily accessible area and not let the kids play with them. This might mean having some they can play with and some they can't.

This is a lot for me to think about this week. Bring it on!

Starting again with things that start with C ish

Here is my food storage chart which is not really a food storage chart, but more of a price sheet. My problem was that when I would see something on sale I wouldn't know if that price was better than Costco or if Costco's prices were really that good. So I made this price sheet of the things that I buy and what the best sale I've seen is and how much it is at Costco. Does that make sense? I also have a spot where I can say if I need something or not. So every time I see something on sale I add the price to my sheet. I also add more food as I remember it. It's obviously not done, but I'll keep working on it. Let's hope this helps me.

This week I've decided to work on things that start with C's.
Home: This isn't really my home, but I need to clean out and organize my Car. When I pick up Kevin from school he comments that his car is a lot cleaner than my car. I tell him "I sure hope so" but I have seen worse. I'm not going to detail clean it, just get all the crap out of it.

Behavior: Clip Coupons! I have them all saved and sitting on my counter and every time I go shopping I think "I wonder if there is a coupon for this?" The plan is to do this Sunday night. I'll enlist the help of my husband. If I do this every week it shouldn't take long and save me money, right?

Preparedness: Go through 72 hour Cit. Make sure all the food will still be good and the clothes will fit in 6 months. I'm trying to do this every conference weekend.

Craft: That counts for my C. I want to get the first page of Alex's baby book done and finish 2 pages that just need titles.

Here we go again.

Is it too soon for a break?

I've noticed that I've been giving myself until the next Friday to get things done, and I usually do it Thursday night. Oh well, I'm getting stuff done. I finished my 3 pages for Alex's baby book, there is still a lot left but I'll get there.

I worked on my food storage chart and now I just have to buy food. I plan on buying things when they go on sale so I don't know if I can plan ahead and challenge myself with this. So I think instead of having a "food storage" goal I will change it to a "family preparedness" goal. Reading Michelle Denna's blog made me realize there is a lot more than food storage needs to be prepared.

I made a box for mail. This was more complicated than I thought. Do I want a small box so it can't get too full or do I want a big box since not all mail is letter size? I decided to use a magazine box we had and try that before I buy something. It's nice because I like to keep the weekly food adds and I could put mail and adds in the box, but then the small mail gets lost in it. I'll try this out for a little longer and decide if it is working.

Changing my habits is really hard. Meal planning went better this week, but waking up did not. I think I should have made going to bed on time a goal before waking up on time. Other than waking up everything else in the morning went well. I made breakfast (not everyday, but I don't think I want to everyday), got dressed, washed clothes, and put away some dishes. I wasn't perfect but I'm happy.

So this next week my in-laws are coming. I have no idea what is going on so I don't want to plan anything and then not have time. I know it's only 2 weeks in but I'm giving myself a break. I will still work on my morning routine because Tyler still has school, and I'll try going to bed at a reasonable hour, but that is it. Until next week.

Some great some not

Hooray! I finished Tyler's baby book. It only took me 5 years so I guess that is my goal for all the other children, finish theirs by the time they are 5. Here is a page of my work. Not too fancy but I am happy with it.














I also cleaned out my pantry! It probably looks the same, but I know where things are and I know what's in it. At least for now. I know it won't last, but it's good to clean it out every so often.









For my food storage I made an excel file of things I want in my food storage. I have columns for how much it cost at costco and what a good sale price is, because I always forget how much things cost. I'll fill it in when I go to costco and as I see sales.

And finally my sad news, my meal planning did not work out. So I'll have to try something different. I'll try planning only 2 weeks on Tuesdays when I get the adds so I can see what's on sale.

Here are my new projects:
I want to finish organizing my kitchen. For the most part my kitchen is fine, but I can't seem to be able to keep my counter clean. I blame it on the mail. We don't have a spot for mail, it just goes on the counter, and then other things pile up with it. So this week I want to find a way of organizing mail and getting my counter cleared off.

Keep working on my food storage chart.

Work on Alex's baby book. It's farther along than I realized, but it's not done. There are a lot of pages that I started but did not finished because I needed to cut something out. So I will finish 3 pages by next week.

Try meal planning again and have a morning schedule. I was thinking it would go like this:
wake up at 6:30 (I know I can do it if I set my alarm)
get dressed
start breakfast
empty dishwasher
wake boys get them dressed
eat breakfast (me too)
brush teeth
start laundry

We'll see how that goes.

My First Attempts

I pick my pantry. It is big and deep and everything is falling out of it. My plan is to make permanent spots for the things that are always in there (oil, bread crumbs) and then see what is left to work with. Here is the before picture.

















My behavior choice is to do better meal planning. Not just dinner, but the other meals too. I'll try planning for the whole month on the first Saturday and then edit it as needed every Saturday. We'll see if that works.

I need to finish Tyler's baby book. When I look at him I keep thinking "I can't believe I haven't finished that yet." I only have 4 pages left I just need to get it done.

For food storage I want to take inventory of the things I have and make a list of things I need to get.

Other than meal planning, everything should be done by next week.

Finished before I started

Yay me! I decided that my first home project would be the laundry area because it would be easy, and then I organized and cleaned it. It was easy. It's not too impressive, but here are the before and after pictures.

What I'm trying to do

I've realized that my life is unorganized and causing me a lot of stress and frustration. As my children grow I need more organization to keep my home running smoothly. These are the areas I want to work on.

-House (closets and rooms)
-Behavior (create good routines and planning)
-Crafts (finish some)
-Food Storage (get some)

I will pick a project for each category to be working on. We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!