Something new we are trying

I have a kiddo that desperately wants to earn money.  I struggle to think on the spot.  I struggle with consistency and memory issues.  For instance, how much was the job worth last time???

I, also, want balance.  There are different beliefs regarding kids and chores and allowances and do we pay them for chores?  Well, I haven't had a clear solution or hint of what to do in 18 years of parenting, that is till this weekend.  

The challenge?  Coming up with a solution that addresses the personality and heart issues and needs of multiple children in the home.  For instance, I have one or more that would be all over getting up in the morning and working for money.  Meanwhile, regular chores and school work wouldn't get done.  

So I finally had a "duh!" Light bulb moment. I posted rules for earning money.  I posted jobs available to be worked for money, and kept the amounts low and affordable for me.  I made sure there were jobs that would need to be done frequently.  I, also, put in a stipulation...An act of kindness stipulation.  For every job done to earn money, an "act of kindness" needed to be completed.  I want them to experience the balance of just doing because it is right and good.  What never fails to amaze me is the "blindness" to things on the floor or odd little tasks that need doing and NOONE. notices. them.  The glazed over zombie looks when I point them out just causes me to shake my head.  In the last few weeks, I have heard, "but you didn't asked me" or "you didn't tell me to" more times than I care to count.  Even once is one time too many considering the age of the culprits.  So I am hoping my plan will encourage initiative and thoughtfulness and a change in attitude.  I, also, left a post-it notepad nearby to jot down job ideas to stick to the posters.  The kids were quick to notice jobs not mentioned, cleaning the car and vacuuming the upstairs.  Post it notes have been added.  I, also, created a note for the Christmas nativity.  It needs to be put away with love and care, so it is stuck to the acts of kindness chart.  What isn't pictured are the cards with their names on them and their "assigned" chores, individual to them.  They each have a couple of jobs to do on a regular basis throughout the week.  I haven't decided how frequently I will swap those out, but for now, I am hoping this works.

A little funny tidbit to add.  My college student walked in while I was hard at work creating my posters.  She got super excited!  Couldn't wait to join in on this new endeavor.  Apparently I got a little distracted and my cent signs were switched to dollar signs... Cleaning the entryways was suddenly worth $75 each and the pantry was worth $50.  She was ready to get busy!   Eye rolling commenced and I quickly burst her bubble.  She made my point!  And I quickly fixed my mistakes.  Amounts may need to be tweaked, but I would rather increase rates and create cheering than decrease and experience mutiny.   

Before I could post this, we also encountered another heart issue.  There was an offense.  A big hurt.  It wasn't the kind of hurt that could be resolved by buying a replacement thing...no tangible restitution could be made.  Apologies were made.  Forgiveness given.  But how does one demonstrate regret and love??? I am not all about earning forgiveness and grace, but there are times when a personal effort can go a long way.  Since creating the assigned chores and the charts, an INSpired Idea hit me.  An "act of kindness" which I called an act of "redemption"/"repentance" could be done.  I suggested to the offender that since I had to take the sibling away from the house an act of kindness could be done by completing a chore that would become a hardship later in the day... leaving the house always means less time to do school and chores, especially when there is a desire for "free" time. Translation...less free time.  My kids don't think "free time" spent at doctors' and other appointments is all that much fun!  Go figure?? :)  Before I left I heard the "offender" declaring "I HAVE to do..."  I quickly responded with "No, you don't have to, you get to choose. This is something you get to choose to do to show love and repentance and kindness.  No one says you have to, it is your choice.  I think it is the right thing to do, but it was only a suggestion.  So only do it, because you choose to do it."  Out the door I went.  My heart soared much later, when I discovered the job done and nothing more was said. 

Favorite Things...Vinegar

Vinegar. 
I rediscovered vinegar when The Man was diagnosed with an egg allergy.
We had to start keeping vinegar on hand to make a substitution mixture for eggs when baking.
It works.
Then he grew out of the allergy, and now I forget about this little trick for egg substitutions.  If only there was a trick to remind me when I run out of eggs so I don't have to run to the neighbor's house to beg for eggs. 
Once vinegar was in the house, I started to experiment a bit with it. 
I love it in my laundry.
My Sis-in-law told me she used it as fabric softner.
It works.  Put it in the rinse cycle.
When I use vinegar as fabric softner I get a bonus out of the deal...my clothes don't fade.
If you ever do a dying project at home, they always recommend a run through the washer with vinegar at least once to set the colors. 
Well vinegar will do that for your clothes. 
My daughter was the first to notice.  Cause she gets those t-shirts for this or that and they have to been worn every week.  Well hers wasn't fading like her friends.  Vinegar. 
It is, also, a disinfectant.  Sick kids/family.  Colored sheets?  Colored towels? Colored PJs?  Want to disinfect all this and whatever else the germy family has drooled and snotted all over.  Bet you don't want to use bleach on all of it.  Well vinegar won't hurt the color or fabric.  If I am feeling real germ-a-phobic, I will put it in the wash cycle and the rinse cycle. 
There are lots of recipes out there for window cleaners, multipurpose cleaners... I haven't gone there yet. 
Maybe one day, I will take a moment and give some of the other possibilities a try. 

I want this!

I saw it at Marshall's.  Didn't think I had a place for it.  Then my brain stuff started kicking in....
Hubby has been more than accomadating to get the basement in order and I found a place. 
But it was gone.  Sigh.....    I think this sign fits out home very well.  Maybe another day, another time. 

Free Samples of Finish Quantum Dish Washer Detergent

Free samples of Finish Quantum Dish Washer Detergent

Favorite Things...Dishwasher

I have a maid in my home, that almost never was.
I grew up as the dishwasher. 
I remember fighting with my sister over doing the dishes. 
I remember her growing up and moving away and being alone at the kitchen sink.
When I grew up and away myself, I still didn't have a "mechanical" dishwasher.
I was the automatic dishwasher and sometimes not so automatic.
Married, our first apartment did not have a dishwasher. 
Doing dishes, was definitely less a chore, with a hubby beside me sharing the job.
Sometimes, I would wash and sing and he would join me. 
Sometimes, I would hear him in the kitchen singing and washing...
Something that doesn't seem to happen so often with a dishwasher.  It is done and over so quick.  While being forced to pause at the sink and focus on the task at hand.  How it would quiet me. 
Sometimes, I wash by hand now, just for the time of quietness.

The day came we welcomed Fun Girl into our home.
All the baby gear started to make the apartment feel cramped.
So Daddy O and I started home shopping. 
Unable to find a 3 bedroom on the same floor, we looked into new construction. 
New construction comes with all sorts of hidden expenses.
First up was picking the appliances.
Dishes had never bothered me, but cleaning stoves always has. 
I discovered smooth top stoves and fell in love.

I did the math and asked hubby if I could have the smooth top and in exchange we wouldn't get a dishwasher.  I had done dishes by hand my whole life and it was no big deal.  My mother was dumbfounded.  In shock and exclaimed, "You didn't!"  Fortunately, my mother didn't have any heart problems and hubby declined my offer. 
Instead he granted me the smooth top stove, and insisted on a dishwasher.  I still didn't get why having a dishwasher was all that important. You see, I still had a lot of time on my hands and just didn't know any better. 
Well a lot has changed over the last 16 years.
If my dishwasher broke down tonight, all would be well.
We would manage.
My kids might think the earth would swallow them whole, but they would survive.

My dishwasher runs 2-3 times a day.  We are talking 7 people 3 meals a day!
 
But it doesn't just wash dishes.
Over the years, it has sanitized:
 tooth brushes
baby bath toys....this is a blessing like none other!!
baby toys in general ....same thing....nothing like disinfecting toys while napping with the babies!
brushes and combs
sink stoppers and pampered chef scrapers
science lab equipment
and sometimes...you just don't know what you will find when you open the door!

My dishwasher has enabled me to enlist my children in the dish washing earlier than planned.
When they are too little to reach the faucet, they are still big enough to put plastic ware away.  They are still big enough to put silver ware away.  They are big enough to hand me the glasses and plates.  All at the same time helping, and learning that a family works together and plays together.

Favorite Things....Baking Soda!

Kids walked in on me tonight.
As did the hubby.
They always seem to know I am in the bathroom.
Fortunately, I was dressed.
The floor was covered in Baking Soda.
This led to a lot of questions..
From the Dad: "Why? and where did you learn all of this?"
Cause it is non-abrasive and it works really well at cleaning up the hair goo residue off the floor.
And well, I had it in there to clean my hair with and so I had no more excuses to why I couldn't work on cleaning the floor.
This led to more questions.
Baking Soda is really good as a clarifier for your hair.  It removes hair goo residue. I think it helps with the chlorine from my swimming.  Deep from the recesses of my brain I say something akin to intelligence and scientific about the bonding capabilities of sodium with other elements like chlorine and forming salts, etc. 

Little Princess responds with: "Oh, okay.  Well the floor looks better.  Still a little dirty, but better. "
Yes, I know. But I am tired and ready for bed.  Maybe tomorrow.

Anyhow, one day I was reading the bottle of clarifying shampoo and noticed most of the ingredients were sodium based and remembered my chemistry class days.  I knew baking soda worked well at removing hair product build up. So far, it seems to be working pretty well with the chlorine from swimming.  I have done some research online and found a few sources that suggest baking soda as well, so there you go!  As a paste, baking soda does a really good job at cleaning hard stuff like the product goo off my bathroom floors.  I like it in the laundry, too.  It it really successful at getting some of the yuckiest odors out of my kiddos' clothes.  You can find it here on Amazon.


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Sometimes it takes me a while...

I have been slow to come around. 

You see I can remember back in the day...way back in the day
When Candle Light (spelling) was all the rage.

It was back when I was young and in love and newly married.

Before 5 kids.

They smelled pretty.

The home parties were fun.

So I have heard rumblings here and there....Scentsy.

No way! 

You see I gave up my candles. 

Somewhere around kid number 2.

Just couldn't keep up when I was alone. 
Someone was always out of sight.

And well fire can be so pretty.

It can be so fascinating.

Then they learn to blow and well, they just blew them out.

Then I was hook line and sinkered into scrap booking.

Then along came child number 4 and 5.

Well, not doing much there. 

But all these neat and wonderful things cost money to keep up with and keep going.

My kids are the same way!

Come this past March I visited my frugal friend Dara.

Hook line and sinkered me! she did.

They got to her.  She is just as penny pinching as I can be, but they got to her.

I fell in love.

Pretty to look at. 

Pretty to smell.

But I didn't buy.  I just smiled.

Then summer came.

My boys played!

Need I say anymore.

I got to where I didn't want to go downstairs.

Opening windows helped.

Air freshners helped. 

Deodorant helped.

But only for a while....

Then I went to my family reunion.

They auctioned off some scentsy.

For sure what I thought was a bargain price.
(and it was!!! I soon found out...see the frugal me. )

But I had no warmer.

So I batted my eyes and said pretty please to hubby

and

he looked at me with this look that I know all too well.

The one that says, what is this really going to cost.

And he asked me what is SCENTSY???

Makes the house smell pretty.

Still the look.

Remember Candle light when we got married??

Maybe that wasn't the best comparison, cause that was a little pricey...

The eye brows go up!

But there is no fire.

We don't have to worry about the house burning down.

We would have a pretty smelling house....

He just can't resist my smile and eyes.

And I know it and I am sooo bad.  

He asked how much?

I had to restrain myself so he didn't go apopletic.

Then the next week, I inherited some from Papa and Grandmama Mac
(my parents!!!)

I saw them in their house and was so excited cause they were a part of the club!

Papa was like I don't know where the baseball thing is.
It was for a fundraiser, here take it all!!!

Are you sure?  It is pretty.  Surely Momma wants it.

Nope, they stuck it in my box of books.

I have been waiting and waiting.

My stuff came today!

My bathroom, cause I should get first dibs!!

 

My living room!

 

 

I quickly plugged them in and left for the night.

When everyone re entered they smiled!

Even hubby! 

He even agrees the basement needs one or two!!!

Then he asked about the cubes. 

I figured it out. 

Well it is a bit more than I spend in air freshners...

but it smells so yummy!

Surely I can stretch it out a little bit...

Surely, with some frugal conniving,
I can sniff to my heart's pleasure!

 

Going Vertical !

 

Grandpa Mac retired from teaching this past spring, well sorta...

We received an email offering us some bookshelves.

I got kinda excited. 

Cause despite our best efforts, school always ends up in the dining room.

School gets scattered all over the table.

School time runs into meal time and well we end up with piles.

Piles everywhere.

Piles on the floor.

Piles in the living room.

Piles on the piano.

Piles on the fireplace ledge.

Well maybe this would be the fix...?? 

The Hubby was not to sure about more stuff in the house.

First he said, "No," then he paused and said, "Yes."

Then he asked where?

He was not too sure about my plan.

But after this many years of marriage, he is learning to let me try and fail....

and sometimes not fail!!!

This was definitely a win!!!

I am learning too.

As time has passed and lots of decorating fails, I am learning.

With his agreement to buy some pretties to pretty up my dining room.

I spent a whole weekend in between activities and such

sprucing up my dining room and going vertical.

 

 

 

 

 

Free Household Cleaner anyone?

My sister recently received the opportunity to test out Soft Scrub's All Purpose with Bleach cleaning product.  The spray bottle works upside down.  She mentioned it is difficult to get it to work upright immediately after using it upside down.  That would be a little bothersome if you forget.  However, I am forever just needing a bottle to work from strange angles.  Getting a chance to give it a try for free excites me....woohoo!! 
Just so you know, I get nothing more than a friendly and loving thank you from my sister for helping to spread the word.  I don't even get extra "tickets" in the drawing. 

Check out this post and opportunity for free bathroom cleaner from Soft Scrub.



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Cause you just can't have enough shoes....

Pretty much a daily occurrance:

Time to go, get your shoes on.

I must tell them to get their shoes on.

Some, have thought is was perfectly okay to leave home without shoes!?!?!

What they were going to do when we arrived, I have no idea.

Definitely a source of exasperation to a mother on the go.

 

Fun Man shows up..

Something tells me to look down.

 

 

No!

"But I can do it!"

No.

"I will put socks on Mom, it will work."

No.

"Mom I can't find my shoes."

No. You can't wear socks with your flippers.

"I will put socks on, it really will be ok."

No.

Dad tells him, to go find his shoes.

Now it is not like we don't keep some back up shoes on hand

for this boy.  He is forever losing shoes.

He has been known to leave the house in two, I am saying two different shoes.

For instance, a sandal and a tennis shoe!

His brother saves him and announces he has found his tennis shoes.

Relief

Fast forward several days.

Mad family cleaning session.

I find another "flipper" as I call them. 

Ask if it is The Man's?

"YES!!  Cause I had only 2 left feet.

Now, I don't"

Yep, you are correct, you don't have 2 left feet.

Woohoo!

This boy makes me smile.

 

**Same cleaning day**

In the storage room cleaning.

I find a lonely shoe.  No mate.

I have a box upstairs of lonely mismatched shoes waiting to find

the other one in the pair.

I holler for Dad's Bud to come here.

I hand him the shoe and instruct him to take it upstairs to the box,

if he doesn't know where the mate is.

If he knows where the mate is, collect the mate

and put the pair in the correct bedroom.

His response,

"It must be mating season for the shoes today"

 

Really, not making it up.

I couldn't come up with one that good if I tried.

Post sickness cleaning

We recently had the worst bug on earth.

At least it seemed that way.

105 degree fevers, that would not come down.

Trips to ER for dehydration.

Fun Girl has a tendency to sleep too much.  Since she sleeping,

she isn't drinking.  Then she gets dehydrated.

This is the second time it has happened.

So we must be the annoying parents that won't let her sleep when she is sick.

Much cheaper than paying for ER trips and IV fluids.

It all started with THE Man.

Then starting at 2 in the morning and in shifts, children woke with

headaches,

fevers,

coughs,

body aches

and all sorts of misery.

Then mom woke with it.

Big O Daddy O came home and took care of his 4 sick children and wife.

Yep, only Dad's Bud didn't have it.

But that wasn't for long....

2 days into it, Dad's Bud joined our club.

I slept for 2 days straight.

Just as we were all starting to mend, Big O Daddy O got a milder case.

A much milder case, one that we were thankful for.

He was able to work in spite of the headache.

Work he did, since he had Guard Drill weekend.

As soon as I started feeling able

I set about disinfecting.

Bleach

Vinegar

Lysol Wipes

all became my best friend.

Since THE Man was feeling better, he was assigned door knobs and light switches.

This means he takes the Lysol wipes and wipes down:

all door knobs

all light switches

all remotes

all cell phones

refrigerator handles

dishwasher handles

All the surfaces we so casually touch in our homes.

 

I started laundry.

I originally was going to throw away all of our pillows.

We had fevered, drooled in our sleep, snotted and coughed in bed.

The thought of keeping the petri dish pillows made me cringed.

But that is a lot of pillows in a family of 7

 

Then I remembered my dad's washing machine.

 

 

oh yeah!

Not only can I do twice the laundry if I go to my dad's house.

It has this beautiful tub with no agitator.

Pillows in a washing tub with agitator come out lumpy and distorted.

Pillows in this beauty, come out just like they came from the store! 

 

 

Oh Yeah! 

Add some bleach and gone are the yellow stains!

Hello bleach and clean smell!

A couple of the pillows went bye bye.

But I was excited for the bug God planted in my head to try my Dad's washer.

I can replace pillows at a much more gradual pace than all at once!

 

2 different definitions of clean............

I have been on a cleaning spree.  My family keeps trying to hide.
Though husband is happy about this sudden urge to clean.  It means I am the one doing it.
Lately, I have been urging him to conquer, the basement boys' bedroom.  When we had 2 boys upstairs sharing the room, I normally attacked it at least monthly.  Since the combo room moved downstairs, I have just avoided it like the plague.  Begged hubby to take on the instructing of his boys in how to clean their room.  Finally, out of desperation to try and find Hockey Player's i-Touch, I headed down there.  Not too bad, since 2 weeks ago, Big O Daddy did venture down there to help the boys.  The first thing I did was pull out a drawer from under the bunk beds. 

NOT SO GOOD! ! ! !

I found 4 rolls of toilet paper.  Mostly unrolled!  What on earth??   None of it used, which was actually pretty cool..cause I had just run out of toilet paper in my bathroom.  Now I didn't have to go to the store right away.  I continued to pull stuff out from under the bed.  Mind you these are twin size bunkbeds.  With drawers underneath.  There isn't a lot of room under there.  I filled a large dirty clothes hamper with laundry and 2 trash bags with trash. 

I thought the men (husband included) cleaned 2 weeks ago.  On one of the many trips up the stairs, I popped into the bedroom and gently woke my not feeling well hubby, to tell him, "Our definition of clean is NOT THE SAME!"  He just rolled back over and went to sleep.

I kept asking my kids over and over.. "any sentimental value, attachment issues"  As long as the answer was no, it went into the trash.  That worked really well with "The Man" until he realized trash bag really meant trash.  Ohhhh the tears.  He would follow Hockey Player to the dumpster with the bags.  We started trying to slip things out while he wasn't looking. 
Then I started in on the closet!
I don't know how they live like this.  I know where all the socks have been hiding.  No wonder they never seem to have any clean clothes.  All their dirty clothes ended up in the toy box.  Aiy!!
I forced them to stay with me and clean. 
4 bags of trash + 2 laundry hampers filled later, I announced, "NOW you know to clean your room!"
Hockey Player looked at me with his big eyes and said, "Ok."
Time will only tell. 

Good Bye to my 6 Square Foot Wireless Router.

So we have this mammoth desktop computer.  You know the kind, I know you do.  The ones before laptops!  Not only is there a big hard drive, but there is this huge monitor.  I am talking anciently huge.  It covers 2/3 of the counter's width.  Not one of those thin flat screens.  Too frugal here to upgrade between the desktop generation and the laptop generation.  The only use it has been getting is we plug the wireless router into it.  Really!!!  Six square feet of valuable counter space has been occupied by what you could call "our wireless router."  Ridiculous.  But it has been my "procrastination project" this month. 
Yep, it has taken a month to do the following. 
Back up all the files I want onto my external hard drive that is smaller than my wallet.  (Actually took me less than 1/2 hour.)
Convince hubby to wipe the hard drive. That took some reminding.   Then it took some, "How long is it going to take?"  Then he walked over to the beast and started the process.
It did its job while we worked on other things.
Finally, tonight I looked online at Goodwill Industries.
Hubby sent me an email a month or two before this project was started.  The email informed us that Goodwill accepts Computers, etc. 
Hence my motivation to start this project.
But hubby questioned my memory.  Since I had deleted the email, I need to get online and research. 
Less than 5 minutes later, I had searched and located our area's Goodwill websites and found my answer.
Not only that, I discovered this page.  It is a Value Guide for items being donated.  I knew there was something out there.  But I have always done a guestimate.  LOoking at the values, I think I have been under-valueing our belongings.  Good to know for the future. 
And tomorrow...I hope we make a trip to Goodwill. 
Then I can say, MISSION COMPLETED.

Why it seems nothing ever gets done at home...

Lately, I am trying to keep from losing my hair.  Gray hair, no problem.  Hair loss could be a problem.
I look around my house and it seems to be in utter disarray. 
Then I have a day/night like I did today. 
Up early, got around for the day.  Took care of some paperwork.  Answered some school questions. 
Met realtor to review inspection list for house my dad is buying. 
Get ladder to inspect a roof.  We were having trouble believing the roof was okay.  Seller said the roof was replaced in 2009.  We happen to know there was softball size hail in the neighborhood in 2010. 
Big O Daddy O climbed up and all was well.  Matter of fact, he was greatly impressed.
Off to get a Pepsi, cause I am fading now. 
More paperwork, phone calls, count up popcorn sales and money for Cub Scouts, it is due tonight.
Whoops, missed lunch.  Time to teach English.  High school English and discuss MacBeth. 
The time quickly passes. 
Time for allergy shots, schedule a handful more and then post some packages at Dillons.
Home once again.  Just in time to start thinking of dinner. 
Fortunately, Fun Mom offers to prep dinner, while I lay down and work on Cub Scouts with Daddy's Buddy and Awana with Little Princess.
Little Princess is off to do her research now that I have her pointed in the right direction on the Awana website.
Daddy's Buddy is brushing teeth, lotioning hands and personal chores thanks to the Cub Scouts' section on caring for one's self.  Then, we discuss character trait: Faith. 
Close the eyes, but it is time to eat and I have to choose between snooze or eat.  Did I mention I missed lunch, and instead ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and a few handfuls of Cheez-its? 
Fun Mom has made chicken noodle soup from the basic of ingredients.  A great job she has done.  No canned soup for this girl. 
Time to leave:
First drop off Fun Mom for a play performance, featuring several home school friends. Then, a stop at the library cause it is only 2 or 3 blocks from Cub Scouts. 
Next, Daddy's Buddy has Cub Scouts and Little Princess and Flutter Nutter will hang out with us there.  Hockey Player will be picked up and taken to the rink by a teammate. 
Blink, blink, notes here, notes there, a little flag folding, wiggling, election, debating, and snacks Cub Scouts is over. 
Late heading out, a few phone calls while driving, pick up Hockey Player, pick up Fun Mom, and take the long way home around because the short way is closed due to construction!  Home sweet home and it is 9:45. 
10:30 and everyone but mom is in bed. 
Leftover Braum's and a bit more paperwork, computer work.  The day is done. 
But wait, just in case I can't remember why my house looks like it does in the morning, I will blog a reminder of the day(s) before. 

Then what princess am I ?

So, I can't leave well enough alone.  After realizing, Cinderella I am not, I started to wonder which princess I most like.  I have to admit, I don't feel much like a princess these days.  Not with a household of seven.  Princesses live lives of glamour, beautiful clothes, and travel.  They must, right?  That is what all the fairy tales paint it out to be.  Never mind that the England's new princess opts to do her own household chores right now.  She doesn't have kids.  William doesn't count.  I mean seriously, my life is most like Snow White and the seven dwarfs. 
Yet, when I spend time reflecting on the qualities of Snow White, the animals don't come peacefully into my home to help clean.  No, they come bounding in the door in the shape of a black lab, one that figures obstacles were meant to be mown over.  Doesn't matter if the obstacle is a pile of clean laundry.  The trash can is just a large food dish. 
Though, I do have a lot of little people around.  But they never put me in a glass box in sadness because I am "asleep" and they miss me.  Nooo, they shhhshhh each other out of fear of waking me.  I am beginning to think I resemble the old hag the most.  The scary one.  Seriously, I am not taking the nap cause I feel my most charming self.  They aren't shhhshhh each other out of love for me and my need for rest.  They are shhhshhh each other, so I will stay asleep, cause when I closed my eyes I was just as haggard as the old women in the story and just a mite grumpy.  They fear if I awake a bit too soon, I will still be an old hag.  They are hoping for a miracle, that I will awaken as Snow White. 
Like I said, I think I should have left things well enough alone. 

If we could only be Cinderella..

We have had a relapse around here.  There is something called Princess Syndrome that runs in my family.  Painful to admit.  For those of you who have not heard of this syndrome the symptoms are:
*an inability to see things that need to be picked up
*if said things are seen, there is an inability to pick up and put away these stray objects because it must be someone else's job.
*if these items are mine, well, someone else should do it for me, cause I am ever so busy. 
*a strong desire to laze about and live in a dream world
*beginning to compare one's self to Cinderella
*dreams of being whisked away to a far away castle where there were people who actually enjoyed doing things for you
*complaining or grumbling or just having in general a bad attitude while doing chores

It is painful to admit but I know these symptoms all too well.  I too have dwelled in the fantasy world of wishing my Prince Charming would appear and whisk me away to a castle.  I just loved the story of Cinderella growing up.  The fabulous rescue, the sense of "in your face" mean ol' stepmother and stepsisters.  No more serving you.  But I had an aha moment this summer when I watched one my own sweet princesses struggling to overcome this syndrome in her own life.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a gracious, delicate aha Cinderella moment, it was more like a clutzy stepsister aha moment.  Our Princess Syndrome behavior was nothing like Cinderella.  Cinderella was kind and gentle, she served others with forebearance.  She didn't like how she was treated but she didn't act out or rebel or return evil with evil.  She returned good for evil, she whistled while she worked (i.e. did all things without murmuring or complaining).  And in the end she was blessed by her King of Kings. 
Ouch...
So not Cinderella here, but I want to be with all my heart.

Guess what I did today??

I vacuumed our dog! Yep! Sure did.
He was shedding, hair was getting everywhere. We would brush and the hair would fly off him. Kept thinking, would be kind a cool if we could use the vacuum and keep the hair from going all over.
So I tried it.
He let me do it! Okay, someone held onto his collar. Hence, he knew he was caught and didn't struggle. BUT..he did not growl. He did not try to get away. He did not nip at me or the vacuum or the person holding his collar at the time. He just sat there.
I used the vacuum this morning.
Then this afternoon, he stunk. Like barn stink. yech! So we gave him a bath. As the water hit him in the shower, chunks of hair started to fall off of him. I was flabbergasted. I scrubbed and rinsed. Before a few minutes passed, I was covered in hair. I had no idea a bath would cause his hair to just fall off of him.
So we got the brush (defur-inator) and more chunks of hair. Needless to say, Little Princess had the job of keeping the drain clean and free from the hair. Dried him and let him loose. Still lots of hair on the hand after petting him.
We got the vacuum out again. He looks 10 pounds lighter. He wasn't obese. He was HAIRY! He is really calm tonight. No bouncing around or trying to get on the table. Thinking we might need to keep the vacuum out all the time.

Tackling the 15 Year + Collection

Earlier this month, I tackled Big O Daddy O's closet. When it comes to getting rid of the clothes, he is the worst. For 15 years I have tried really hard to respectfully leave his clothes alone. But, I just couldn't anymore stand back. His closet was crammed full. Hanging them up made them wrinkle and well, I wash and fold clothes, but I am not a fan or ironing.

Some of his reasons/excuses for holding onto antiquities and treasures.
You bought it for me.
The kids got it for me.
My mom got it for me.
It is in style, everyone is wearing it. (This one causes me to roll my eyes and remind him he is not allowed to buy himself shirts anymore.)
It goes with my suit...the suit he wore when we were dating.... Olive Green. We've been married 15 years, he put sympathy pounds on throughout my pregnancies.... Does anyone think that suit still fits? It was in the closet too!

"Something came from this store and its (WAS A) really nice shirt." Translation: he paid quite a bit for it back in the 80's.

"It will make a really good chore-work shirt. Painting, under the car, etc."

Hmmm, Does he really need 4 or 5 tshirts with built in under arm airconditioning...

Like I don't do laundry? ? Anyone read any of my laundry posts! ? ! ?

Fun Mom was mortifiied and willingly grabbed all of them and threw them in the trash.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't take all the tshirts. I didn't touch the workout shirts or his wear under BDU tshirts. (BDU's = military fatigues) There are a lot of those. He has more workout shirts than there is time for him to use them all in a week. And don't forget I do laundry only a couple of times a day so there really isn't any reason for him to run out of workout clothes.

So with a lot of brutality and determination I ended up with the piles below. This is what was worthy of passing on. I didn't take picutres of the trash can pile.


The only thing he fought hard to keep was THE sweatshirt. It is horrible. We had to do the math, it is 23 years old! He still won't part with it. It looks horrible. He even tried it on to prove it still fits. He promises to only wear it when he works on the cars. My anniversary present to him... I let him keep it. Fun Mom grabbed the camera to document this story! Thanks Fun MOm.

The School Area ! !!

I have been talking with God about how I need help in my basement. I have been feeling overwhelmed. The last couple of weeks I have been hard at work. A lot has happened over the last year. The summer got away from me and well this summer brought in more of a mess. School starts Wednesday. I have been plodding along and it was beginning to look like things were not going to get completely finished. Especially, since I am guilted by family into taking the kids to watch things get blown up on Saturday. That will be another post.
I mentioned way back in March we were putting in cabinets and counters. I never did post pictures because things just scattered all over the place.
Dear sweet friend, Robyn asked if I would like her to come over tonight. She did !! She came over. She wouldn't let me quit when I got overwhelmed. She forced me to let go of things that were good ideas, but the reality is I won't ever get too them. Honesty, it is a wonderful thing even if it isn't what we want to hear. She wouldn't let me quit even when the cabinets spilled their contents all over and it looked worse than when we started.
There are still things to do in our school area....
However, I am soo excited. After 4 hours of work this is what our school area looks like...



What isn't shown are the two work tables we completely cleared off. I have a SMALL stack to take upstairs to put in the car. CDS for listening to and work pages for Daddy's Buddy during church. Another pile of things to take and make copies! I finally have it all in one spot, so hopefully I can make one trip and be done!
Thank you Lord for good friends who are willing to help. For good friends who prefer to clean up someone else's mess and hold them accountable. Oh by the way, the post it notes are to help us remember the new 'homes' for our stuff!

Laundry and more Laundry and Laundry Soap !!

On my summer to-do list, attempt to make my own laundry soap.

Dear friend of mine has been doing so for months.
I wouldn't dare take it on during the school year. Afraid of what I might get myself into it.
It was a PIECE OF CAKE !!
A few bumps and spills along the way, but so easy.
A late night trip to Wal-mart to get supplies, and a desperate phone call to friend..did I mention LATE... But she was sweet and told me where everything was and described the boxes.

Not about to attempt this with all the children around, I tucked them into bed.
Dear husband is not too keen on me doing this.
He was willing to let me try it out as an experiment though.
He thinks I have enough to do. Which I do, but as I discovered this evening. I was able to putz around in the kitchen cleaning. Measure out stuff, talk to daughter all while the pot did its thing on the stove. Doesn't need a whole lot of babysitting. My kind of project.

So I spent roughly $10-12 on supplies. I don't know for sure, cause I picked up a TON of fruit for the family. I can't just buy 7 peaches or 7 apples. That is only one for each of us and then I would be back at the store. Sooo, I have to guesstimate.

I have been saving my detergent bottles since I decided I would try this. I filled up what would have been about 2 months of laundry bottles. I calculated what I spent for each bottle of detergent at the store and that was $25. I am already ahead of the game here. I have enough supplies for 2 more batches. I will only have to buy more Ivory soap ($1/3bars at Wal-mart) to continue making more soap with the remaining ingredients. Oh the savings.

The Fun Mom did some math in her head and was like WOW !! at the savings. She also got excited about the recycling part. That made me want to chuckle. She told me, "you're saving on oil too, cause you are reusing the bottles." What a smart, eco-cookie she is. I am just glad she didn't start calculating how I could spend the savings on more clothes for her, for me to wash.

It didn't take more than half an hour. Clean up took half an hour. That's cause I didn't pay close enough to the instructions. It says STIR in the remaining ingredients. Umm, I dumped.
It foamed. Foamed some more, and I just stood there and watched like a dummy.
Fun Mom was quick to say, "The stove's never been cleaner." She is such a comedian.

She got to clean the pots. Why me? Cause there is dirty dishes in the sink and you can use the soap on the pots to wash them. Hee hee, one more eco-friendly aspect of our adventure. The other reason, cause I had more laundry to do. Have I mentioned, I do a lot of laundry. Flutter Nutter and Daddy's Buddy change clothes 2-3 or more times a day. I find clothes everywhere.
At least 15 loads a week, that doesn't include bed linens. So I am looking forward to the savings on detergent.

Earlier in the year, after my stash of liquid fabric softner ran out, I began using a tip from my sister in law. I use Vinegar now as fabric softner. Works pretty well. A lot cheaper as well. Clothes don't smell like vinegar. Just fresh and clean. I do occassionally need to use a dryer sheet, but not at all like I used to.
Off I go to get another load out of the dryer!!