What I Did Today

I cleaned out the fridge. It was gross... like, really, really, really gross.

I recorded 10 HOURS of The Pacific for my dad.

I did 2 loads of dishes.

I ignored the laundry... again.

I put the premiers of 5 summer shows on my Google calendar. Seriously.

I screamed at my kids. They just aren't listening today, and I'm counting down until bedtime. Hopefully we'll have a better day tomorrow.

I watched Precious and regretted it. It was good but stressful- why don't I just stick with RomComs!?

I FINALLY made a two week meal plan with themed nights a la The Food Nanny.

I froze a BRAND NEW Magic Shell bottle with the ice cream I bought at the same time.

I took a shower- whoo hoo!

I bared my white ass legs to the newfound Alaskan sunshine... but then I forgot to go outside.

What did YOU do today!?

Dirty Little Secrets

Yesterday I did a huge wash of the kids' clothes. As I put it in the dryer I realized that I forgot to put soap in the wash. I dried them anyway.

As much as I love my new cup solution I still have to hand wash the cups every night which blows since I get hand washing. I stuck them in the dishwasher hoping they wouldn't melt and break my dishwasher again and it worked!! I may have done a happy dance at this point.

I left my cell phone at my parents' house and didn't even miss it. I've been drooling over an iPhone and how much I NEED one, and it turns out I don't really use my phone that much at all.

My sister made me do day one of Couch to 5K and I considered running away from home. I would have if I wasn't so tired of running at that point.

While we ran around my neighborhood I fantasized about having the money, time, and drive to have a nice yard like my neighbors. My yard looks like an abandoned yarbage (yard garbage) sale... or the remnants of a cheap plastic toy factory after a tornado.

I keep forgetting to set the parental controls on the kids' computer in the play room. Sweetie Pie is no longer allowed to Google thanks to the "HORS GAMES" search a few months ago and I trust her to go only go to her bookmarked sites, but even Disney leads to Disney XD which leads to God knows what when you click on the ads.

I canceled our Netflix subscription but they sent me my new movie anyway. I have 30 days to return it before they charge my credit card for it, and I plan on holding onto it for a good 3 weeks just because I can. I'm a rebel like that... Anyone want to borrow Precious!?

I'm pretty sure a bomb went off in my playroom. It's so bad that I couldn't even attempt to clean it for Little Man's birthday party. I just shut the door.

What's your dirty little secret?

Do you have a mountain of laundry piled up to be washed or folded?
Give your kids baby wipe baths?
Lock yourself in the bathroom with a magazine to get two seconds of "me" time?

Yeah... I don't do any of those things either... I just heard of someone else doing them. Yup. It surely wasn't me.

Share your own confessions in the comments!

Three Things

My house is a disaster, plain and simple. I walk from room to room and make a million mental notes about what needs to be picked up, vacuumed, wiped off and sanitized. The problem is that even when I am in the mood to clean house I have two hours at the most and it's just a drop in the bucket when it comes to this place. I'd need two DAYS at least, preferably with two willing helpers to keep me from sitting down and getting on Facebook.

I get so overwhelmed with the thought of cleaning up the house that I just block it out and do nothing. Actually, I've been keeping up on the dishes, and a few days ago I had ALL the laundry done, but all the other rooms of the house could use some TLC.

Last night I made a list of the three things that were bothering me the most: the entryway mess, the garbage cans around the house, and the two calls that I'm still putting off from 2 weeks ago. That's going to be my focus today! I'm really glad that I didn't make the list of the million things that need to be done since I woke up feeling like I got punched in the head repeatedly last night thanks to a sinus headache. It's only three things, so it's not overwhelming, and they're the three that are bugging me, so I'll notice my progress right away. I have a million other things to check off my mental list, but a million divided by three is still less than a million.

Once my three things are done I'll feel like I've accomplished something and can spend the whole afternoon on Facebook if I wanted to. Well, I'd probably do that anyway, I would just feel guilty about it. Feeling guilty about eating an entire package of cookies sounds way more fun anyway!

A Cup A Day Keeps The Dishes Away!

I've learned a few things these last few weeks without a dishwasher. I never quite realized how many cups my kids went through until I had to painstakingly wash every.single.one. Even now that my dishwasher is fixed I feel like I need to reign in the cup situation since it's just out of control. I have 3 kids that eat 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks, all with drinks. Mr. Wright and I usually use 2-3 cups each a day also, adding up to a mind boggling 20ish cups PER DAY. I'm not a huge fan of doing dishes obviously, so if I let them stack up for 2 days then that's almost 40 FREAKING CUPS. And yes, we have that many cups. Sad, isn't it!?

A few weeks ago (in the middle of the dishwasher crisis) I was inspired my my friend who decided that every day each kid would get ONE cup. I had no choice but to apply it to our family too. I let the kids know that after each meal it was their responsibility to put it in the sink so I could rinse it out to reuse it later. We use plastic disposable 'party' cups so that I could clearly write their names so no one would be confused or passing blame. Every(ish) night I wash the cups just like real cups and put them back in the stack to get used again. I have about 3 cups for each kid since I suck at doing dishes (and sometimes enforcing the "put it in the sink" policy) but even then it cuts down on total cups.

Yes, I wish that we could be a normal family and reuse real cups, or I could keep up with that crazy amount of cups. Yes, I know that disposable cups are bad for the environment, but if I reuse them as long as they hold up I figure that it's better than running a full 'all cups' load of dishes every night. But for now this, and my sanity, Works For Me.

One Of Those Days

I thought I was prepared for Summer... that is until I went to get dressed this morning. My pants (fresh from the dryer) were a little tight and I literally pulled a muscle in my back when I securely fastened them. I'm fairly sure that I'm the only person on the planet to injure themselves getting dressed. Seriously, it's hard to even admit that on the internet.

My mom called right about then to let me know that I had left my cell phone in her car. 90 minutes away. And she's not coming in for 3 more days. And it was ringing. FANTASTIC.

My muffin top and I then proceeded to get my three homeless looking munchkins halfway presentable and put them in the car. But the carseats were missing. I tracked down the carseats, dragged them through the driveway and installed them. I HATE putting carseats in. I'd rather change three poopy diapers than put a carseat in. Maybe even four.

I got all the kids buckled up, backed over at least 2 plastic shovels out of the garage and fight to get my garage door opener to shut the door for 20 minutes. It would have been a lot easier if I hadn't have pulled that muscle getting my pants on.

I guess I'm just planning on ignoring my chores this afternoon, reading my new library book, resting my sore muscle and waiting for the Biggest Loser finale tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will start out a little better... or I'm going to have to buy some bigger pants!

My Favorite Things

I'm in super homeschool mode right now, so I'm really excited to try this rainbow measuring activity from Mama Jenn!

I will never in a million years get around to making this fabric magnetic meal planner for my fridge, but I think it's adorable!

We're also committing to "unplug it" one day a week this summer. There is no way Mr. Wright will be able to go without Sportscenter for a WHOLE DAY, so ours will only apply to the daytime, but if I tie it into our library day I'm sure we can make it!

I thought this baby doll washing activity looked like fun! Little Man can surely find a plastic toy of some sort to wash if he objects to soaping up a baby...

I think all my kids will enjoy sewing up the sides of some punched foam sheets like this activity from Skip To My Lou!

I really need to clear off my craft table so I can start sewing again, then my favorite things will be more crafty!

What I've Been Up To

Whew! The last few weeks have just been a whirlwind and I'm finally catching my breath! My friend's husband Mr. Awesome came over and fixed my dishwasher on Wednesday so I am finally out of the deserted land of hand-washing dishes. I'll NEVER take my dishwasher for granted again! I'm so thankful to have her back in tip-top shape that I've even been keeping up with the dishes!

Sweetie Pie had her last day of school on Thursday and is enjoying playing with her brother and sister in our Alaskan heatwave of 60 degrees. I still haven't gotten to stay home all day in my jammies, but I believe in always striving for a hefty goal, so I'll try my hardest to get my jammie day!

Today I spent a good chunk of time planning the kids' "summer homeschool" to keep them from getting bored and me from going crazy. They beg to do homeschool and love challenging themselves so I'm excited to get started on Monday. I started planning by making a list of all the things that each kid needed to work or keep up on (handwriting, subtraction, etc.) and then I'll print games, activities and worksheets that work on those skills.

Boo will be three in a few weeks so her activities are mostly to expose her to things she will learn in the future, but I think it's important to let her be part of the fun! We're also going to do weekly library trips, art projects and cooking/baking that she can be involved in.

Little Man just turned five last week and his activities will be heavy with kindergarten preparation since he needs to learn something a few times before it really sinks in.

Sweetie Pie is six and just finished kindergarten. Her activities will be a review of kindergarten level and an introduction of some first grade topics.

All three kids will do age appropriate computer games to keep them busy while I'm helping someone else and if I can get my crap together in time I'd love to even include some small, informal field trips.

I'm excited to watch my little monkeys learn and grow over the summer and am looking forward to spending more time with Sweetie Pie every day!

Avoidance

Today I'm avoiding the mess left over from Little Man's birthday.
I'm avoiding the dishes since I'm still hand washing.
I'm avoiding the laundry that's probably starting to mildew in the washer.
I'm avoiding making two phone calls that I don't want to make.
I'm avoiding cleaning up my yard that is so filled with kids' toys it looks like a garage sale.
I'm avoiding cleaning off my craft table despite my yearning to do something crafty this week.
I'm avoiding making big choices.
I'm avoiding cleaning the playroom. Again.
I'm avoiding washing the MOUNTAIN of clothes in the kids' room that Boo kindly pulled out of all the drawers.
I'm avoiding cleaning out my freezer.
And I'm avoiding making a to do list of more things to avoid.

What are you avoiding!?
I'd love to hear your answers while I wait for our invisible maid to show up!

Love & Hate

I love my blog. It makes me feel good when lots of people read what I wrote. I'm addicted to my stat tracker. But I also hate my blog. Sometimes it feels like one more thing I have to do, and that's no fun. Add that to swimming lessons, volunteering, HAND WASHING the dishes that I couldn't even keep up with when I had a dishwasher (it bit the big one this week), laundry, picking up after 3 kids who were born in a barn, field trips, birthday planning, crafting AND watching ALL 60 hours of stuff on my DVR before we switch providers and I'm surprised I still have time to eat cookies.

Every mom struggles with balance, and lately my blog (and Facebook games! :O ) just haven't made the cut. Sweetie Pie is done with school for the year next week, so hopefully then I'll have a spot open for blogging!

Until then!

Stress Math

In the next 18 hours I need to:

pack 3 kids under 6 for a 4 day, 3 night road trip
take 2 kids to swimming lessons
cook up and freeze 5 lbs of ground beef
wash, dry, and fold 4 loads of laundry
clear off 3 counters
do 1 load of dishes
get 7 hours of sleep
make 4 beds
load 1 car
strap in 3 carseats
celebrate that for the first time I'm bringing 0 diapers on this annual trip
take 2 Tylenol...

And then the REAL fun begins!

Exhausted.

So. Freaking. Tired.

After almost a week my Grandma's 5000 square foot house is almost completely empty. I think everyone in my family is ready for a 3 month vacation (at least!). My own house looks like a tornado went right through since I've been bringing stuff home from my Grandma's house and from the garage sale at midnight and throwing everything everywhere. I tried to put some work in on my own house today, but after 90 minutes of unwrapping and sorting Grandma's dishes I got sidetracked and sat down. And then sat some more. Wishing I had some cookies. Or a chocolate malt.

I get to relax for a whole two seconds before I start to prepare for our out of town trip starting on Thursday. I LOVE car trips with small kids...