True Confession Tuesday: My Dirty Cleaning Secrets

1. I am a crisis cleaner. The home teachers are coming in five minutes?!? Commence with the crazed crisis cleaning!
2. I rarely finish a load of laundry clear from sorting to putting away. Sad but true.
3. When I'm reading a good book I'll read a chapter, then clean a room. Read a chapter, do the dishes. Read a chapter, read to the kids. This method works for me! I don't get burned out cleaning, and I don't waste a day reading. This way I can clean most of the house and reward myself for every victory. (* This totally doesn't work if the chapters are long or if you have no self control when it comes to books. :)
4.When I was a teenager I would see a messy SAHM's house and say to myself, "I'll never be like that!" Then reality happened and I realized that a messy house usually doesn't mean the mom it lazy or neglectful. It means someone is sick, there is something more important happening, or mom is mentally/spiritually/physically fatigued.
5. I believe fly lady when she says you can't organize clutter. You don't need more shelves or storage bins. You need to give away or throw away most of your stuff. I'm getting better at this. I hope to have a neat, simple, organized home, with habits that keep it that way...and a built in work force. Namely, my children. Muahaha!

Monday Momories

Once upon a time many years ago my brother Ben and I were getting ready for Halloween. Weeks in advance we planned our costumes and started digging though my  parents closet and the laundry room looking for what we needed. I went as a gypsy with a scarf on my head and canning rings for earrings. Ben tore up an old sheet and went as a mummy. It took ages for him to get all wound up and ready to go. Finally we got in the car and headed to our first stop. Mom stopped in the driveway and we jumped out and ran to the door of one of our friend's. Their house was still under construction and they had chicken wire on the sides of the house that weren't textured yet. We knocked and yelled, "Trick or Treat!" The man who had answered the door smiled and said, "trick." We stared at him in confusion with our empty bags held open. He laughed and said, "You do a trick, and I'll give you a treat."  Eager for his treat, Ben decided to do a hand stand against the side of the house. He threw down his hands and kicked up his feet, and his wrappings got stuck to the chicken wire! He stayed there with his face turning red and finally came down ripping his wrappings to shreds. Needless to say Ben's costume didn't last very long after that. Hmmm...Maybe I'll ask for tricks before I hand out treats this year.

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Today I'm thankful for my husband. He is always grateful and never critical. I'm telling you, this man doesn't complain when there is no clean underwear, no clean dishes, and no food in the house. Even I complain when that happens and it's my fault.  Don't worry! This hardly ever happens! It only happens when I'm a postpartum basket case, or when we're all sick at the same time.  Sadly, we run out of clean clothes fairly often, because I have some kind of mental block when it comes to laundry, but I'll get over it...or I'll do what my mom did and declare Independence and tell everyone if they want clean clothes they can clean them themselves! I don't think that'll go over well with 5,3,1 year old children.
Anyway, Mathan won't complain. He'll just say, "I'm out of socks," and when things are back on track he'll always thank me. He works hard all day and when he comes home we're both ready for a break and more often than not I'm the one who gets it. He'll take over the kids and help them through their bed time routine. He's been on his feet all day and will still go on a walk with me. On the weekend when he's ready to stay home and I'm ready to go out, he'll make it work. I'll get to go out on my own, or we will all go out together. He'll listen to my silly opinions and concerns patiently, and never call them silly. He tells me I'm cute when I'm a mess. He doesn't let a meal go by without thanking me, even when it's a pathetic excuse for a meal. When I'm worried or stressed, he stays calm and collected. We often talk about how someone in heaven must have conspired to bring us together. When we got married we knew it was right more than we knew each other! I can't wait to find out who it was and tell them THANK YOU!

Exciting Idea!

I just read a friends blog and her theme today was Tuesday's True Confessions, or something like that. I have seen a Thankful Thursday on another blog. So here's the idea... why don't I have a theme for everyday? Like Monday Memories, Wednesday Words of Wisdom, Friday Freak Show. Just kidding on that last one. I'm intrigued. Maybe this will help me post more than once in a blue moon. I'm sure this isn't a novel idea, but who cares! It might be fun! Miscellaneous Monday... Weird Wednesday... I'll have to think about this.

Random Thoughts

#1. Bottling pickles and other produce is a lot less finicky/precise/difficult than I thought it was.
#2. I must control my temper! (think beauty and the beast)
#3. The pioneers left behind precious possessions and took their children with them. Today we are leaving our children behind and working for precious possessions. (from a talk I read)
#4. If you buy a big beautiful house, you have to fill it with big beautiful things, and you spend all your time and money taking care of things instead of your family.
#5. The human body and spirit can take so much abuse! You get to the point where feeling awful is feeling normal and you don't realize that you're missing out on a lot of health and happiness.
#6. If I didn't have a husband I would eat a lot more junk. Mathan away= Eva and kids eating frozen pizza.
#7. Sometimes I want to throw everything I own away and keep only the absolute essentials. I remember when I could fit everything into a compact car and move across the state with a day's notice. Now I have a house full of books, a piano, dishes, food storage, clothes, furniture...and two goats. But the goats only come in when you leave the back door open and they are out of their pen.
The End

Happy Birthday Thomas!!!

I was hoping he would just dig in and enjoy his cake...He ended up just fingering it for a minute, then looking up and objecting in baby language. May was in the background, objecting in very loud language, "NO! NO! CUT IT!" She couldn't handle the thought of Thomas just digging his grubby fingers into that gooey goodness, and apparently Thomas didn't like the idea either, so we cut the cake like normal, civilized, five and one year olds. Okay, maybe "normal" isn't the right word.                                                                      I love this boy so much it hurts! He is just so full of love and smiles and giggles. When he gets bumped or startled he frowns and huffs and puffs and wrinkles his little chin, and melts every heart in the room. He'll spontaneously crawl up to you and lay his little head on you and smile. He is a sweet, heaven sent blessing in our home. We love you, Thomas!

The Month of May

August, so far, has been all about our little May. We've been busy trying to prepare her for the big changes that come with going to Kindergarten. All of the preparation has paid off, because she is loving school, and seems to be taking everything in stride. She also turned five during her first full week of school, making her one of the youngest in her class. We debated on sending her next year, but so far she has proven to be more than ready for school. I even got to bring a snack in for her class on her birthday. It was like an out of body experience. I just couldn't believe that I am old enough to have a child old enough to be in school! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?!

Not to mention that I have one on deck and one in the hole!