Making Progress

I got it down to just one basket of junk in the corner. At least some progress was made. I still have 2 other baskets upstairs that need to be sorted through too. Perhaps tomorrow...

Something is wrong with this picture...

Why does this look worse than it did this morning!?!?!

I started off so well. I was making great progress sorting through the drawers in the office. I had just dumped out the last of the drawers that needed to be sorted when the phone rang. It was the school calling - Bryce had another migraine. Thus came an afternoon filled with calls to the neurologist, pediatrician and an allergist followed by Kim's denist appointment.
I'm now in a bigger mess than when I started. I know what I'm doing for the next hour until I have to fix dinner. I at least get the pile of stuff sorted and one basket taken care of!

Maintain It Monday

This is one of those embarrassing pictures I used to post all the time. This is the current state of the corner in my office. 3 baskets full of junk that has accumulated during the summer months plus some disorganized plastic drawers.
When my kids are cleaning if they don't know where something goes they put it in a basket. When I'm on top of life I regularly go through the baskets of misc. stuff and put it away. I've not done that recently so over the last few months the baskets have multiplied and are now in need of some major sorting and dejunking. My goal for the day is to make it through all 3 baskets of junk. I wish I could say these were the only junk baskets in my house but they are not. Hopefully within a week or two all the clutter that has accumulated will be sorted and either put away or thrown away.

The Best of Intentions Shot Down by Distractions

I woke up at 6:00 this morning ready to have a productive day. Then I remembered I never read the book 100 Dresses that I needed to read and pass on to the next person on the Relief Society list so I stopped and read the book.
By the time I finished it was time to start breakfast. From the time I start breakfast until the last child walks out the door takes 2 hours bringing me to 8:30.
Then the phone started ringing and ringing and ringing. I just checked caller ID - I've had 7 phone calls this morning. How am I supposed to get anything done when the phone rings 7 times? I really need to invest in a cordless phone. Our cordless phone died a long time ago so now when I'm talking on the phone I'm sitting down, usually in front of the computer. Not a good combination because then I check email, blogs, goodreads or facebook while I'm there.
To make a long somewhat boring morning short it is now 12:15 and no housework has been done. I'm not saying I haven't done anything. I have got things done - my visiting teaching appointments are set up, several things are crossed of my to do list. I've eaten healthy... but it's just not what I thought I would get done today.
My to-do list is still calling to me.
A quick trip to Wal-mart
Exercise
Dishes
Laundry
That's where I'm starting. Hopefully I can at least get those 4 things done before the kids start coming home in 2 hours. Or perhaps I'll still be roaming the aisles at Wal-mart when Bryce gets off the bus.

A New Week!

Thanks to the fact that it is flag day I'm awake. I guess I should be thankful Brett & Bryce had to go put flags up at 7:00 because it meant I actually got up at a reasonable time. Actually Brian got Bryce up and I went back to bed but when someone knocked on the door I got up to see Bryce off only to realize they were there to pick up Brett who was not yet awake. Since my goal was to start getting up earlier and making breakfast so we can eat as a family I figured I better just stay up.

So what's in store for me today?

New rule: Scriptures or an Ensign article and personal prayers before I can eat.
Breakfast together as a family & Family Prayers
Get the kids to do their chores
Laundry
Dishes
Clean my bedroom/change the sheets
Deposit check
Plan meals
Get a new planner
That's enough for now!

10:30 am update: Wow my bedroom is clean! It didn't even take very long it was most just a pile of clutter that needed to be dealt with. Brian should be happy that my side of the room is now clutter free! Waiting for the dishwasher to finish drying so I can get the rest of the breakfast dishes loaded and waiting on the dryer so I can wash the sheets from my bed.

Maintain It Monday

I didn't get out of bed until 10:30 this morning. When I went to bed the plan was to get up at 7:00 to exercise with Brian. However I slept horrible. I had an ear ache and sore throat and woke up multiple times during the night. I'm feeling better this morning but I'm definately starting my day late and moving slow.

My plan for the day is to simply get back on top of life. We haven't even unloaded the suburban yet and I have a weeks worth of laundry to catch up on.

Unload Suburban and put everything away
Vacuum Suburban
Dishes & Kitchen Clean
Make a good dent in the laundry
Get Kids to put away their clean clothes and clean their rooms
Pay Bills
Check Library site and gather up books that are due
Check grocery ads
Get Kids to do their chores
Clean off my desk
Exercise
Eat Healthy

That should keep me busy most of the day.

9:00 P.M. - I didn't get my entire list done :( Half the Suburban is unloaded, dishes got done but the kitchen didn't get finished, I did 3 loads of laundry but it hardly made a dent, oh well there is always tomorrow.

Maintain It Monday - Overly Optimistic

I still have at least 3 loads of laundry to wash, dry and then fold, kitchen counters to clean off and wipe down, all the laundry to put away, haven't even got near my bedroom or the bathrooms. I was a little overly optimistic on what I could accomplish by noon!

I have folded several loads of laundry, matched a pile of socks, done the dishes, mopped the kitchen floor, wiped down the sink & stove and cleaned off and wiped down the washer & dryer.

My errands are going to have to wait until tomorrow because I'm not allowing myself to leave the house unless I get my list done. By the time the list finally gets done the kids will be home.

Maintain It Monday

Usually I go shopping on Monday mornings. It's the first day I can shop the new sales and the shelves are usually stocked. Today however I'm staying home to get on top of my house. There are no deals this week that I'll be really disappointed to miss so I decided my time would be better spent getting some deep cleaning done. We are so well stocked that I can't even find a place to store more food or supplies so I'm cutting back on my shopping. Unless it's free or nearly free or we're completely out I'm not buying anything. I'm glad I took Mary Ann's advice and wrapped last week. It's so nice to have my Christmas shopping done and have it all wrapped.

Finish laundry & get it ALL put away (Have I mentioned that I hate putting away laundry)
Clean my room (Since I'm insisting my kids have their rooms clean I better get mine done)
Dishes & Kitchen
Clean all 3 bathrooms

If I can get all that done before noon I'll run out and do a few errands
Deposit checks at the bank
Return library books
Drop off Activity Day reminders

Once the kids get home we'll spend another hour downstairs and hopefully get it all clean. We came close on Saturday but didn't quite get it all done.

Then dinner, Family Home Evening and hopefully early bedtimes.

At least I have a good book on CD to listen to. That always helps time go by faster and the jobs don't seem as bad.

Maintain It Monday

It's Monday! I'm finally feeling like we're back on a schedule and have a routine. We gave up on the idea of scriptures in the morning. The kids all leave at such different times that it's not worth it to me to get the little ones up at 6:25 for breakfast and scriptures when they don't have to leave for school until 8:30. They are much more pleasant when they get enough sleep. So we've opted to read scriptures at dinner and have multiple family prayers in the morning with just whoever is wake and leaving.

I'm back on the healthy living wagon. I will be attempting to post how I'm doing daily on my healthy living blog. This morning started off great with a good workout already complete.

As far as Maintain It Monday I've got the typical Monday morning messy house. Laundry, dishes and clutter to take care of. Kylie is off playing at Jessie's until noon so I've got a couple hours to shower and then work on the house.

I'm going to focus on just the upstairs today. Several loads of laundry, dishes, kitchen, bathrooms and the carpeted area. Perhaps even the office and my bedroom. We'll see how far I can get by noon.

Maintain It Monday

Back to life, back to reality. Trying to get back on a schedule and attempting to deep clean my house in the process. Too many things have been let go this summer. Very little good cleaning has taken place and the layer of dust makes that quite obvious. Today I'm in the kitchen wiping and straightening the cupboards, dejunking the countertops, scrubbing the floor, etc. etc. etc.
My kids may drive me crazy before long. No media & no friends on Monday means they have to come up with their own fun. They are not going to be happy when school starts and I don't allow them Media on Tuesday or Thursdays either. At least they can play with friends on those days.

If you came to see me stop by anytime... if you came to see my house please make an appointment!

I received some "harsh" criticism in an email Saturday evening from someone who has been at my house once and that was over a year ago:

Kathy: Your house is a pigsty. You live like a PIG and you are teaching your children to be PIGS. No one can even sit in your house without getting food on themselves. It smells like urine and it doesn't even seem to bother you that your children are filthy and can't even find clean clothes to wear. That they sleep where they drop each night because you are too tired to deal with it...

I've thought a lot in the last couple days if this is a fair assessment of my home. Obviously I have willingly posted pictures of my messy house on this blog repeatedly because I know it is a weakness of mine. I struggle to keep on top of my house & my laundry. It's been a lifelong battle because I'm definitely not what flylady would call a "born organized" person. Many times my house has suffered from being in CHAOS - Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. But as I looked around my home Saturday I would have to say that this was far from a fair assessment from where I am at today. I've been working hard to keep on top of my house and laundry and to teach my children to work.

My kids all had tons of clean clothes in their drawers and a pile of clean clothes waiting for them to put away. They had all recently had a bath or shower. Brett & Bryce had spent the morning cleaning the downstairs by themselves and it looked fabulous. Brian says he's never walked into our home and felt like it smelled like urine. The couches and chairs were all food free.

Does that mean my house is perfect? Absolutely not! The floor in Kim & Brad's room is often littered with art supplies & Legos because at bedtime they spend a lot of time coloring and playing Legos in their room while they listen to books on tape. There is always more laundry, more dishes, bathrooms to be cleaned, toys to be put away, clutter that accumulates, vacuuming that needs to be done, etc., etc. etc.

As far as where my children sleep and how bedtime works at my house is it really any of this person's business. But for the record they all sleep downstairs except for Kylie. I have always had the rule that I don't care where my kids sleep as long as they are downstairs and quiet and don't come back upstairs unless they are sick, have had a nightmare or the house is on fire! 80% of the time Kim & Brad sleep in their room, Brett sleeps in his room and Bryce sleeps in Kylie's room (Bryce snores and Brett is a light sleeper so they have trouble sharing a room, Kylie often sleeps upstairs because she isn't very good at going to bed quietly yet. We tell her to lay down and go to sleep or she will be sent downstairs and she lays down and is out like a light - It works for us). The other 20% of the time one of my kids may end up falling asleep on one of the couches downstairs or chooses to sleep on the floor of their room instead of in their bed. Is that a sin? Does that make me a bad mother? Not in my book.


Will my house ever be perfect? Nope!
Am I working on it? Yep!
Am I a perfect mother? Nope!
Am I working on it? Yep!

So now back to the reality of life! It is Monday morning. I was up for 3 full hours with a horribly sick child and she's still not better. Thankfully all my laundry & dishes are done including all the towels and blanket that had to be washed during the night. Thankfully my list of Maintain It Monday items is much smaller than usual. But reality is that I might not get any of it done today because my priority is to take care of my sick little girl. So here's to a day of rocking my daughter and washing any sheets, towels & blankets that end up soiled from her stomach virus.

So for now we'll let the cleaning and scrubbing wait until tomorrow:



I've seriously thought of having this printed up and nailed to my front door:

If you came to see me stop by anytime, if you came to see my house please make an appointment!

Mt. Washmore Monday

My laundry is out of control. I didn't keep up last week and I'm paying for it now. I've got at least a half dozen loads to wash, fold & put away today! Not to mention the rest of the house...

Maintain It Monday

Back at it again!

It's definitely Monday morning. The house is screaming for my attention. It was completely clean on Thursday night when Richard & Glenda pulled into town but you would never know that now!

Today's list:
At least 30 minutes of exercise
Clean the kitchen
Laundry
Vacuum
Put away Easter Stuff
Clean the bathrooms
Put away all the clutter that seems to be everywhere!

Errands:
Library
Kim - Dr Appointment @ 4:00

Maintain It Monday

Thanks goodness for conference weekend. I started the year off great with lots of goals and lots of motivation. But by the end of February that motivation was disappearing. By the end of March the motivation was gone! March was a struggle for me and I'm grateful to have been rejuvenated over the weekend. So today I am back on track. I have only worked out three times in the last 2 weeks and that was only for 20 minutes each time. So goal #1 for today is to get a good workout in. Goal #2 is to eat healthy today. Again there was only 1 day in the last 2 weeks that I succeeded at eating healthy. Thankfully we kept the house clean over conference weekend so I just need to buzz through each room & pick up a little clutter and then vacuum & wipe down the kitchen & bathrooms. I need to run a few errands this afternoon. So it will be a busy but hopefully productive day!

Maintain It Monday

Last week is over!
What a week it was.
Glad it's a new week.
Today I'm trying to get back on track with exercise & eating right.
I'm also going to keep on top of my house.
The house was completely clean on Friday so it shouldn't take long to whip it back into shape.

Today:
Exercise
Eat Heathly
Plan Meals
Get House Clean Again: Dishes, Laundry, Vacuum, Mop, Bathrooms & Pick Up Clutter
Take kids to the Library
Deposit Check
To Scout Store
Start April Ensign
Finish City of Glass

I'm off to get breakfast and get started!

Monday, Monday

Boy morning came early today. I actually woke up at 5:00 and was wide awake. I couldn't get back to sleep. At 5:30 I rolled out of bed and read my scriptures which was enough to make me tried enough to go back to sleep. I probably should have stayed up and done my workout but I kept thinking it's not even 5:00 am yet on pre-daylight savings time.

So I'm off to a little bit of a slow start but motivated. We cleaned carpets on Saturday so the house looks good this morning. It's amazing what a difference clean carpets make.

Today's list is a bunch of different things:

Workout
Dishes
Laundry
Activity Days reminders
Prepare for Activity Days
Put away basket of junk
Start Business taxes - They're due in 1 week!

It's not an overwhelming list and there is always more I could add but I'm starting with this.

Maintain It Monday

Hooray!
For the first time in a long time my house is not a disaster on Monday morning. The upstairs is almost clean. The laundry is done. There are only a few dishes. The only room upstairs that really needs attention is the office. Too bad I can't say the same thing for the downstairs!

On the list for today:
Parent Teacher Conferences - 3 of them right after school
Treadmill - 40 minutes
Office - 30 minutes
Deposit to Bank - Hooray for a small condo that closed!
Milk, Fruit & Vegetables from the Grocery Store
Downstairs - 30 minutes

The kids get early out at 1:15 today so I better get moving so I can get all this done before I have to head to their conferences.

Maintain It Monday

It's Monday so as usual my house is a disaster. That "day of rest" gets me every week. The kids have chores to do when they get home so I'm going to focus on what they won't be doing.

• My room
• Dishes
• All but 1 load of laundry
• Paperwork
• Bills

Once the kids get home I'll need to spend at least an hour helping them get their chores done right.

As far as "maintaining me", I've done a 70 minute intense workout this morning and I'm eating healthy. I should be finishing up 2 books today if I get a few minutes to sit down and relax.

Slow Start Monday.... Again

Why are Mondays so hard?

Kylie is sick so I was up with her for an hour and a half last night. One of my goals this week is to get enough sleep so I pushed the alarm back until 7 and slept in instead of getting up to workout. I've been working on my to do list this morning for an hour and a half (payroll, thank you notes, budgetting, bills, etc.) Time has just flown by!


Before the kids start to come home at 3:

• Workout for 1 hour
• Read my scriptures
• Do the dishes & clean the kitchen
• Prepare FHE lesson
• Type up point chart & money charts for new Chore System
• Run to the library & scout store

ETA: At the rate I'm going I won't even get this list done by 3. It's one of those slow days where I think I'm moving in reverse or stuck in neutral!

ETA: I just got ready to head out to the library and scout store and found Kylie sound asleep in the middle of the living room floor. There is no way I'm going to wake her up so I guess I'll go to the library and scout store tomorrow.

Slow Start Monday - Maintain It Monday

Kim is home sick today. The day is starting off really slow. I've got part of my workout done while Kim laid on the couch near me. The other kids are off to school the boys, Brian & I did have breakfast together. Time to kick it in gear and get moving! I'm staring with a small manageable list:

Finish my workout - treadmill & abs workout
Dishes, counters, table & kitchen floor
Fold Laundry
Clean 3 bathrooms

I'm going to see how long it takes me to finish those tasks and reevaluate what I need to do for the rest of my day. It may be I just need to sit and hold Kim.

ETA: Kim's feeling fine. Thankfully. I got my list done and then made permission slips & a flyer for our activity day's field trip tomorrow and took them around to be signed. It's now after 3 and I am going to go read my scriptures and relax for a few minutes until the kids get home.