I'd like to kiss

Yeppers, you heard me. I'd like to k.i..s.s... keep it simple silly...

I've thought a lot about simple living...

not in the trendy sort of way...just simple.

Typing this, I am looking at my bedroom and I see clutter on my dresser, on my night stand, on B.D.'s dresser and nightstand and a whole heap of clothes on my side of the floor that are screaming to be folded and put away. I have not had time... I am certain there are clothes in that heap that I would probably never remember I had should they disappear. I am also certain that in the midst of the dresser clutter are items I have forgotten we have.

What does this mean? Well, a few things. It means
1. I have too many clothes.
2. If I don't know I have it and I need it I will probably go buy another and waste money purchasing something I all ready own.
3. I have not made it an importance to care for these items
4. My children have too many clothes (thankful for hand-me-downs but I could always donate the excess)
5. I am wasting time doing laundry on clothes that may or may not have been worn or simply because of the volume of clothing period.

What does this mean?
1. I need to sort through our belongs, organizing as I go.
2. I need to have an idea of what my children, myself, and B.D. need to keep for clothes (let's say a list as to what our ideal wardrobes would be) to know what needs to be donated, tossed, folded/hung up or purchased.

What would it feel/look like when this happens?
Nirvana? Euphoric? Perhaps.

Aside from school, working on achieving what I stated in my last post about legacies and all the other things I do need to do in life...this is one of the things I will be whittling away at...bit by bit...it will be a process but, every step forward is a step forward, right?

I think I shall begin with the clothes situation...and then, perhaps, toys...I wish for our home to be a place of serenity and peace for us and those that happen to cross the threshold into our lives. I see the chaotic state of our lives in just about every area of our home (closets, cupboards, pantries, even our fridge). It is time to K.I.S.S it goodbye!

Big sigh of relief

Yes, three weeks into school and the routine of things is getting back to being normal. There are new things on our routine. New school schedule, new work schedule, new schedule of being home/away for B.D., drum lessons, swim lessons, a pay schedule for Jellybean.

Yes, she is watching her brother for the hour between the end of the school day and the end of my work day.  I am not about to ask her to do it for nothing but, given that she is a part of the family and is helping the family out by doing it, she is getting paid cheaply but it is "a lot of money" for someone her age - according to her. 

I like routine and that is why Fall usually brings me comfort.  You can rely on your meal plan because the weather will, 99% of the time, cooperate with your meal plan.  You can rely on Tuesday evenings being drum lessons so a quick easy supper is needed and Saturdays being swim lessons right after lunch so an early, lighter lunch is required and a planned snack brought for the car ride home.

I love Summer, very much but, I find by the end of it I have lost all motivation for meal plans, cleaning schedules, and have all but lost control on the ins and outs of running a smooth household.

This year has brought new challenges with schooling,  New school. New school system. New dynamic of children and new mindsets of children at the school.  Jellybean is experiencing racism and I think, although not substantiated yet, that that is the root of the issue with Bug being beaten up 3 times (that I know of) since the beginning of the year.  The biggest challenge for this mama is to not run to the school and feed the guilty boy to his parents on a nice platter and to just keep in contact with teachers and principal and documenting EVERYTHING... Ev-ery-thing...even if it is miniscule by itself to take to principals and school boards, if needed.  I have pictures of bruises and cuts and scrapes at the ready should this become a pattern and not a simple growing pain of getting to know a new school, the new kid and a bunch of new students who all ready have a natural order to their friendships.

It is also hard doing it without B.D. because I am doing this all alone but I am learning to adapt.  He has been gone 4-5 weeks out of the last 6 and will be gone the next 2 on top of it. I'm used to it though....it doesn't bring any more help when he is here.

So, here I am BIG sigh of relief escaping my lips as I sit, realizing routine and normalcy is beginning to settle into the walls of this house again...although we are a bit on the excited side with a countdown going to the day my cousin, Svein, comes to visit from Italy!  The countdown is at 16 days!

Just do

Re-structuring our basement...it looked like the garbage dump had thrown up...I only wish I were kidding. I did NOT take any "before" pictures as I am certain my camera would have broken. Again, wish I were kidding. 

We moved in here fast which means we packed and unpacked even faster.  Things have run amuck and these places are small...the basement just had things crammed into it...piled precariously with hopes nothing would fall...

Well, I have thought about it and thought about it...ran ideas through my head, himmed and hahed about what I could/should do... Today I began to just do. I have thrown out a couple boxes of stuff, a big black garbage bag and have one more of those to go in the trash right now.  I moved a few things around and I am on the way to having an area where the kids can bring their few toys (namely Bug can as Jellybean doesn't play toys too often...she is "10 and a half you know".. There is a spot where they can sit and read if they want to or at least bring the book up to their room without having shelves of books in their teeny little rooms. 

I will put after pictures up once it is complete...this may be awhile as we need to buy shelving units to safely pile our rubbermade bins of stuff...

I only wish I were kidding about how bad this is...but it will get better...each item I throw out helps...right...right...?

Spring Cleaning?

Heck no! I like to call it Spring Purge.  I went through my bedroom today - ok, I am still going through my bedroom but it was getting lonely in there and I just neeeded a bit of a blog break. Blame me? No. Didn't think so. {Grin}

I have gotten rid of SO much stuff in there it is... well, shameful really.  You see, I tend to prioritize my cleaning in order of visibility, guest visibility to be more precise and ours too I guess.  How much time to we spend in our room? How much time of that is spent with our eyes open to see the rubble around us the clutter piling up? Sadly, our bedroom is, then, the very last place on the face of the planet in our home & yard to see organization... heck, let's be real...a broom and dustpan even.

Soooo, today I plopped myself in that room and I vowed to have it ship shape by bedtime tonight. I had a few distractions so I may be pushing bedtime back a smidge... I purged clothes (I still have pants that can go but, I need to replace them with something before getting rid of them), I purged papers and boxes and books and...the list continues...but now, although I truthfully have a few more things to get off my bed as that was the master sorting area, the improvement is almost "bus driver, move that bus" shocking. If Ty Pennington were here with grandiose gestures and shouting, I am sure we would all be crying at the "big reveal".

Alas, I was too ashamed of the state of said room to take any before pictures (no one ever said I wasn't genuine) so the effect of any after photos will be lessened. You know, if I take any after photos.  They can't even be classified as "after" since there was no "before". They could only be "currently" and who has ever heard of that!?

Hoping to get my basement done soon.  In need of time to purge that and get some shelving units and all that jazz to declutterify our ugly basement...yep...uuuugly! It is an unfinished basement and in a clutterific of a mess. Moving may be the only fix for that... :-D

There is a full out attack on my nasal passage

I am not taking this lightly! Oh no! I brought out my Mr. Clean Febreeze Meadow and Rain scent. {sidenote: how does Mr Clean Febreeze capture that meadow/rain scent. Hmmmm? "'Splain" that to me, as Bug used to say.)

Anyway, this full blown attack, this war of the nasal passages - one of the worst smells I have ever had to smell (and I grew up on a farm that raised horses, cattle, chickens AND pigs and my uncle raised sheep!).

Rotten potatoes!!!!!!

It hits you like a rusty nail through your sinuses, right into the very center of your brain!

And I know you are all wondering 'did the Mr. Clean Febreeze Meadow and Rain scent make your home smell like meadows and rain?'.

No stinkin' chance! {grin} It made my house smell like rotten potatoes frolicking in a meadow with rain....

I think I need to bring out the big guns... tomorrow... me, the rotten potato smell and bleach!  {but mum's the word, ok.  I don't want the word to get out on the street. No snitching my plan so this deviant smell knows what to expect. mmmkay?}

Why couldn't my house smell like... homemade bread or apple pie or the sweet chili chicken and sushi rice I made this evening... {to clarify it was only the meal I made today. I certainly didn't have time for the homemade bread nor the apple pie... just keepin' it real y'all. GRIN}



Today

found me getting groceries.  I have, so far, made the school sandwiches for the kids and put them in the freezer.  Tomorrow I will be making up some meatballs and about 4 batches of the waikiki sauce to put in the freezer as well.  Yay!

Today also found me at out local thrift shop unloading more crap stuff from my car that was uselessly in my house.  You know, things like the clothes I ended up washing and washing and washing because the kids wouldn't wear them or they were too small; so instead of putting them in the bin with the too small clothes, they would put them in their laundry hampers each time they cleaned their rooms or the rubber boots that haven't fit for a couple of years.

There is more stuff in my basement that can leave.  I can feel it in my bones! {grin} I want to get rid of it. I can say with certainty that I am not a minimalist but I am tired of living with the excess clutter, the stuff that is in my house for no good reason to me or my family.

I bought 2 heavy duty shelving units the other day so we can start getting our boxes organized and neater.  Most of the stuff down there though is my husband's... computer books, papers, cables, cords, things I would have no idea whether they are important or neccessary for us to keep.  {Grrr}

I can tell you that right now we have more of our stuff in a neighbor's basement!  Seriously!  I don't know how much or anything but there are boxes of our stuff in someone else's home and I need to go through it and make it so my stuff is in my home where I know where it is.  Like my geneaology book so I can start getting stuff sent to my cousin from Norway, who found me a few weeks ago.  Is that not the coolest thing ever!?

Let's get this {organizing/purging} party started!

Watched an episode of Hoarders

You know the show. I was watching it in the midst of my latest decluttering spree. That was probably some of the best inspiration a girl can have.

What a sad life for the people who suffer from this. My grandma (my mom's mom) was one of these. I didn't know her very well but I do remember the smell of her house, the garbage, the feeling of drowning when we were at her house.

I have struggled with keeping things. I feel attached to the item, feel like the memory is somehow attached to a thing. I have said on here before that our house burned down when I was a child and I can honestly tell you that I need to keep on myself to get rid of the things I had hung onto out of a fear mentality.

In my effort to organize, I had, somewhat, lost control - not to the same degree, or even close to, as the poor people on this show or my grandma.

The last while of purging and decluttering has been so freeing! My "throw it out" mentality has seriously brought so much freedom. Each piece of paper, each article of clothing, each non-used item gone is like a deep breath of fresh, country air. Now, I can assure you that my home is not a hoarder's home but I feel that it is no where near where I want it to be as far as organizing it.  I have a high expectation for what I want my home to look like... I mean, hello, Martha!

So, I, once again, have a few more things to get out of my home to take to the thrift store. I have two big bags going and the aspiration for more to follow suit very quickly! Our move into this townhouse happened at an incredibly busy time of year and I am still waiting for things to be done. (We just got Jellybean's bed frame put together for pity's sake).  There are big plans in my head for organization. I lack the funds and time to bring it all to fruition in the manner I want or in the time-frame I want but that's ok. Moving forward is moving forward; growing is growing and it will come.

Right now I am tackling my basement/storage room because we have boxes of things that need sorting, need organizing and purging. I am organizing from the inside out, right down to the hard drive on my laptop. One day, my medicine cabinet will look like this.

I am

not a stay-at-home mom. I wish I were but, alas, our situation does not, at this time, allow for me to fullfill that desire. I don't wish to be because I think that stay-at-home moms have it easy. That is far from it. I think they work just as hard as working moms, if not harder at times.  My desire is to be that mom that can have homemade cookies made for her children when they come home from school, to have the laundry washed, dried, folded and put away (in the same week {grin}), etc.

When Jellybean was young I was able to stay home during the day and then work a few hours during the evening so I did get to do a lot of those things and it did my heart good to feel like I was caring for my family the way I felt I needed to be.

I miss that.

But I can not change what my life is now or what our life requires of me and I will not begrudge it either.  I do love my life and all that it entails; I would just prefer things slightly adapted if I were given my choice.

So... since I have one evening and one weekend day a week to prepare, plan and do "deep" cleaning, I have to make sure to keep myself organized because family time is first and foremost on those days! 2011 marks the beginning of me re-structuring my household management skills. As I go through trial-and-error, looking for things that work for a busy family of 4 home of 4 (we are a bigger family than that only 4 live here now), I will share with you what has worked and not worked for us and, being teachable and ready to learn would love to hear from you what has worked and hasn't worked for your family.

Why re-invent the wheel right?

Uber busy moms, housewives, business women, house dads...

with your uber busy schedules do you micro-manage schedules in your house?

I'm working on implementing some major reconstruction to the sheduling infrastructure in this house. (using those words just made me feel incredibly powerful - grin)

Why re-invent the wheel? If you have a great idea "let 'er rip".  I mean, please do share!

98 Days

until Christmas Day.  I am not including today because it's half over.

I don't know about you, but I don't plan on going overboard with gifts this year.  We never really have in our family.  Christmas, to us, is so much more than the gifts.  Don't get me wrong; we still buy gifts but we most certainly do not go into debt overspending.

Our children will get gifts from us - some practical and some fun.  The older kids will probably get gift cards. Impersonal?  Maybe. But they are out and on their own and have a much better idea of what they will need or want than we will(and let's not forget know proper sizing) and I am not one for buying something just because it is on sale and I can give it to everyone.

My dad doesn't like us spending money on him... so, for our parents we take nice pictures of the kids or the whole family and, there you have it, a nice, inexpensive gift they will enjoy.  Christmas cards this year will be the same as last... I am taking the kids out, hopefully tomorrow, and having a nice photoshoot with them in order to get our cards ordered.

B.D. & I, I don't know what we are going to do for each other this year or if we will get a shared gift for each other or if we will just put money on a bill and say "Merry Christmas". I'm really beyond that this year.  I really just want to get our one last debt paid and get some money saved to buy me a better car.  (I am tired of the regurgamobile and ALL of its many problems)

Anywho, this whole post wound up way more serious than I intended for it - I think I am suddenly in need of a nap {grin}.  What do you do to plan for Christmas?  To keep it within budget? Are you an early shopper? A Christmas Eve shopper?  Did I catch you off guard with the whole 98 day thing (which by the way I had to count to see how many actual days there were left)?

A time to sow and a time to reap

and a time to prepare some things in advance...

"Peanut butter AGAIN!!!!"

If I don't take time to do some prep work for school lunches that is what I will hear. I find that being able to utilize an hour or so one day a week really helps me to not have to rely on the standard P.B & J sandwiches for my kids' lunches.

So, yesterday I did just that.  I currently have 5 bbq turkey buns and 13 cold cut subs in my freezer just ready to be taken out and topped with scruptious veggies.  I also pre-made snack bags of baby carrots, pepper strips, grapes, almonds and mixed nuts. 

Most evenings we don't get home until quite late and if I can do this little step to divert some of the nightly chores (other than minimal assembly) all the better! For myself, I find it way easier to grab a couple buns or bags of soup or burritos (etc) out of my freezer, add a couple veggies, a fruit and a juicebox.  Doing it this way, school lunches take 5 minutes (during the weeknight) to get into lunch kits. 

Yay for time savers!  What's your best time saver?

I'm envisioning

a nice message, planning, organizing center in my back entrance hallway...

It looks real nice in my head...

A place to keep the meal plan handy, my work schedule (since I work at two different jobs that will come in handy for everyone to remember where I am supposed to be at), cleaning schedule, chore list for the kids and all that jazz. 

Right now it's all on my fridge door and it looks cluttered and messy...

I hate cluttered and messy...

Do you have one?  What has worked for you? What have you tried and feel failed and why?

Calling all cooks!

Yep, that's right; I'm talking to you. Heck, I'm talking to all the not-so-hot cooks too, you know, the ones just like me. Average joes, so to speak.

I'd love to hear from you.  Please share your favorite recipes that will help us all out in our sometimes chaotic schedules. Freezer meals, crockpot meals, what have you...share them.  I know I would love to hear and I am certain my other readers welcome a change to the same old same old same recipes they use every day as well...

I'll go first.

Meatball Stroganoff

(now this doesn't save any time unless you pre-make the meatballs which I do the day of grocery shopping)
Make your favorite meatball recipe and fully cook.  To make the sauce add a 500 Ml container of sour cream and two cans of condensed mushroom soup.  I also like to add a bit of worchestershire sauce.  Cook until heated through (with the meatballs).  Serve over your choice of pasta noodle and with a big old salad and garlic bread.

It's a delicious meal on a dreary winter day!

Your turn.  Please share...

Winds of change are blowin'

Yes, they most certainly are. I am at a crossroads in my life where I have decided to get serious about a few different things: budgeting, food planning, organizing, pre-cooking meals for those days... You know the ones; the ones where it seems like you could have 3 or 4 of you and still not have enough hands or bodies to get all the things done you need to.

I am pleased to announce that, after many ups and downs, poor decisions, hard decisions and all that, we are currently down to having one debt left to our name!  And I would like to share that our debt load is now under $1000!

Tonight, we were asked if we wanted to go out with a few friends.  I would have loved to!  I love being able to do stuff like that.  I think we all do.  However, we decided that we would be better off going home, putting some bread in the toaster and having something to eat that we had all ready bought.

Small steps... Every step forward gets you closer to your destination.  Don't lose heart thinking you aren't getting there as fast as you should be. Forward is forward! Sometimes we need to re-assess ourselves, our habits, our instinctual responses and we sometimes need to come to a conclusion to revamp who or what we have become.

B.D. will be gone with work the entire month of September (not including weekends); that's a lot of days and living for me to be doing on my own.  It takes me back to my single parenthood days.  I had to be very deliberate in all that I did.  I'm getting back to that point right now.

My heart is my family.  My focus has been taken off of where it has been for the past year and put back to where it should be - my family.

The winds of change are blowing and I hear them whisper that good things and good times are coming for me!

All boxed in

Yes, we are all moved.

Had a floody yard sale on Saturday.  It rained and it rained and it rained.  We moved it into the living room of the old house.  Considering the weather, the outcome was not so bad.  $358 and some odd cents.

It was odd watching my stuff leave in someone else's hands but I will not be attached to things.

Told my husband we will never again have so much crap in our house!  EVER!!!

Circumstances beyond my control made it so I can't go see Rush two days in a row. She's mad at me - calling me a promise breaker. I really can't help it; my car broke down. I'm devastated and heart broken....

The boxes are piled up in my basement and in my kitchen.  They are slowly being managed and emptied.  It would make me happier if they would empty faster...

and on that note, I need to get back to work.

'Cuz I like making lists - that's why!

Ok, I need a game plan and I need to be able to have access to the game plan, and, you know, not accidentally pack in a box or something.

It could happen.

{seriously}

So,  here is my week in a nutshell or, at least the things that I need to get done

Monday:
→ kids to school
→ go to grocery store to grab a few items for the week for school lunches (fruit and juiceboxes mainly)
→ clean Jewel's litter box and prepare for her to go with brother (in-law)
→ pack in Bug's room
→ go pick up Bug from school
→ make him lunch, say goodbye to Jewel, take a few minutes to cry
→ pack
→ get Jellybean from school
→ pack
→ make/eat supper
→ kids to music lessons
→ immediately following lesson, head to church for skit/song practice
→ no more packing tonight - just sleep

Tuesday
→ kids to school
→ packing
→ bottles to SARCAN for return
→ pick up Bug
→ packing and picking up Jellybean and supper
→ corporate prayer team meeting (why do I have to do this?)

Wednesday:
→ same as above (other than SARCAN and corporate prayer mtg)
→ song and skit practice

Thursday:

→ more packing
→ Day one of 4-day conference that I am demanded to be at

Friday:
→ no school for Bug
→ packing
→ Day two of conference (again I have to go to this...I just want to get my stuff done and be with my kids)
→ B.D. finally back home (hopefully I can actually get some help)

Clone me

Now that's a scary thought!  More than one of me running around this world.  Yikes!  I think the world can only handle one; seems like a credible thought process to me given I wasn't born a twin.  {grin}  I only jest; I know twins can be just as different as night and day.

Let me tell you why I need to be cloned once or twice - perhaps a bajillion times.  I actually only need the clones for a week, maybe two and then we can get rid of the excess me's before they run amuck. {grin}

In the next 7 days I have:

a house to pack up
a garage sale to hold
a new place to paint
a skit to rehearse with all my actors
a song to write
to find someone to write some music to the song
boxes to move and unpack
a 4 day conference beginning next Thursday (I really wish I didn't have to do this but I fear the repercussions if I don't)
no husband here to help me
a cat to find a home for
2 children to provide care for {for some reason they feel that they still need to eat when I am busy - GRIN}
a family of three still living with us

Wait a minute!  What in the world am I doing on here!?  I need to get to work!  Just needing to *visit* with my friends for a bit.

And about those clones... none of you happen to be mad scientists by profession or hobby?  No?  Just checking.  {Um, ppssstttt, email me mad scientist friends we'll get this whole cloning thing worked out, mkay?}

This is how we do it, baby

Actually, this is where I ask you, how do you go about your shopping? Are you a once a week shopper? Every pay period?  Monthly? 

I tend to be the every 2 week/pay period shopper with a run to the store here and there {lately} because of absentmindeditis or some similar affliction.

But I am wondering what works for you and why?  How do you plan your shopping, with a meal plan?  Is is a set weekly plan, bi-weekly, monthly?  And...in your grocery budget do you only purchase food?  Do you have a separate budget for personal items, cleaning products, etc?

I lump it all in one.

I'm using this time of moving to fine tune some things in our lives from clutter, to budgets, to organizing, to... well, you get the idea and so I thought we could share our best tips with each other.

Since this is my game, I get to go first.

I found that as soon as you have more than one child the snack items in the house seem to become just another thing to argue about so...

I took matters into my own hands and got "shoebox" sized plastic containers, labelled them with each of the kids' names, and I divide snacks accordingly.  I will also pre-bag homemade cookies, crackers, etc for quick access in lunch making AND to avoid "She ate all the {insert delicious snack here}" or "Yeah!  Well, that's just 'cuz he ate all the {insert something equally tempting here}".

I would take pictures of our lovely snack boxes to share with you however, they are, presently, empty as grocery day is tomorrow, and baking day is on the weekend. 

Your turn...

I have a secret...

SSSsssssHHHHhhhh!

Don't tell anyone but...




All this organizing for the move and getting stuff into appropriate storage containers and {gasp} getting rid of stuff is really exciting! 

I am looking forward to a new start and a brand new chance to get my home organized once and for all!

With the change in housing size, organization is going to be key!

But, don't tell anyone.  I wouldn't want it to get out that I am enjoying this.  OK? Mmmmthanks.

28 days

Yep, 28 days.  Depending on the circumstance, 28 days can seem like a long time.  When you are downsizing and moving into a different home, it feels like a deep breath. (on twitter I thought it was 27 but I remembered that there are 31 days in May.)

Today I had the day off and thus, the ability to collect some boxes and make some plans.  I have, to this point, gotten 1 1/2 boxes of kitchen stuff packed and a BIG box of stuff collected and priced for a garage sale.  I don't even know if I dare post pictures of the bags I end up throwing in the garbage.

Oh, speaking of which, I still owe a post showing what I got rid of on my last purging/clean sweep episode...with all the chaos of the last few days, I totally forgot. 

Off to take the kids to music; B.D. is out of town for the week, and when I get home I will continue with what I can pack so early.
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Speaking of B.D., his bounced cheques for child support to his e-wife mean I get to figure out how to pay yet another debt....