Mrs. Wright, Gone Wrong

Finer Things Friday!

2011-03-17T22:19:00.000-08:00

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amy's blog, The Finer Things In Life. I seem to star every post she writes in my Google Reader. Her posts always remind me to cherish the little things, which is one of my most important goals to become a better mom and person. She started a link up where she shared the little things she cherished this week, and I thought it would be a good contrast to my Dirty Little Secrets posts. A little good karma never hurt anyone, okay!? Swing over to Amy's and link up if you want to count your blessings this week!

1. The Basics. Obviously this has been a HUGE week for counting blessings since we've all see the devastation in Japan. I couldn't imagine not knowing where my family was, having no home or basic necessities, or any real hope in the near future. I am so glad that I have a home, food, and my family all near me!

2. My bed warmer. It seems so stupid after #1, but I hate getting into a cold bed, and my electric mattress pad makes sure that never happens!

3. The look on my kids' faces when they learn something new, or are proud of themselves. I wish I could can it and ration it out for the rest of my life.

4. My dump run. It felt SO good to stuff my van with empty boxes, crap I'll never use, etc. and GET RID OF IT! Who knew you could have so much fun for the $5 dump fee? I felt so much better once it was out of my life.

5. Facebook. I know, but seriously, I love that I can feel like I know a little about what's going on with my circle of friends even if we don't have time to personally call each other all the time. Plus I can fit it into my life when it's good for me.

6. My new family room, and my husband who motivated me to get it done. We finally swamped out our old "game room" and repainted to make it a nice room for everyone. The kids love playing down there, I hopefully will have less of a mess in my living room, AND I gained a photo studio space out of the deal. Mr. Wright got a happy wife and kids- what more could he ask for!?

7. That I'm a Stay At Home Mom. I'd love to actually stay at home one of these days, but I'm am so blessed to be able to not work while my kids are young. I love that we can actually spend quality time at home together while they're on Spring Break, instead of me needing to work during that time.

8. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I can't end this all sappy! Peanut Butter Cups are like mommy fuel... or maybe like Mommy crack, I'm not sure which is more accurate. All I know is whenever my kids get them they know to hand them over because they'll end up disappearing from their stash eventually anyway. They're just dang good! Mmmmm!

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In!

2011-03-16T14:35:00.001-08:00

Is anyone else participating in the 40 bags in 40 days this year? I have to admit that I've gotten off to a less than stellar start this year, but it seems to be motivating me to "catch up" since I've only donated 4 bags so far, and they were already filled with stuff even before I started the challenge. Plus it's spring break so I have more free time to work on the house instead of playing chauffeur all day! Sooo, as long as I'm decluttering it doesn't matter that my kids are living off Lunchables in their jammies, right!? Yeah... you can get back to me on that one!

I know I have enough crap to donate, and none of it is currently getting used anyway since I can't find anything, but I have to fight that constant feeling of "needing" that, even if it just wastes away. I'm trying to break through that cycle and ditch anything that doesn't get used or loved.

As soon as I publish this I am heading down to my hoarder like laundry room to get rid of the "easy" stuff that's just in the way. Hopefully I'll have some better totals next week! Clearing out my life one garbage bag at a time sure worked for me last year, and I'm hoping it will again!

Total bags (Week One) 4
Remaining bags 36

How's your 40 bags in 40 days going??

Merit Gone Wrong

2011-03-08T15:07:00.000-09:00

Okay, so I totally blew it with the Merit for Moms thing, but who is really surprised? Life got in the way... I started working a few days a week, the after school activities started again and my family reminded me that they prefer clean dishes to dirty ones. They're all snooty like that...

Mr.Wright and I have been redecorating the family room to change it from the unloved ex-game room to a room we can all enjoy. We painted part of the room this fantastic shade of blue that is so buttery you just want to swim in it. We're still finishing up the painting, and since we had to clear the room to paint all my crap ended up in the garage. You never really realize how much stuff you have until you have to take it out load by load. Then you realize that you have a LOT of crap, and since we never hang out down there it's pretty much wasted crap. Keeping up so far!?

Tomorrow happens to be Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent ( I think, I'm kinda a Catholic drop out!). Last year for Lent I did 40 Bags in 40 Days and got rid of a different ton of crap (yes, there was MORE crap). So, starting tomorrow I'll be taking the challenge again. Since I actually finished that challenge last year it should be more promising than the Merit challenge!

If your interested in joining the 40 bags in 40 days challenge with me link up your progress on Wednesdays (starting tomorrow!) and we can cheer each other on! I'm excited (and a little disgusted) that after this challenge I will have dumped EIGHTY BAGS of stuff. Don't tell my husband or he'll just tell you that I have at least 80 more hidden ALL over this house. Shhh!

Merit For Moms!

2011-01-15T11:18:00.000-09:00

I totally fell off the wagon this week- I really should have built in some "off" days! No real excuse for why, but I just did. I'm back on track today and spent over 2 hours cleaning my bedroom, so that kinda makes up for it I guess. I was going to take pictures but the thought of literally showing all my dirty laundry on the blog was too much. Sooo, you're just going to have to trust me ;)

I'm also doing tons of laundry since I unearthed lots of clothes that might be clean, so I rewashed everything just in case. My kitchen has been staying halfway clean, and I've been keeping up with the dishes, so that's good news too!

We're headed out to a "bouncy" birthday party so I'm glad I got my organizing done for today since I may not be able to walk later! How's your organizing going?

Merit For Moms! A Clean Slate

2011-01-09T21:29:00.000-09:00

Finally, after who know HOW many 30 minutes sessions, I got my craft room clean!! It's so inspiring to not only have a clean space, but to have unearthed all my cool stuff that I forgot I had. I really want to craft all sorts of things, but I also just want to sit on my spinny chair and stare at the one uncluttered, organized, all MINE room in the house without messing it up.

Remember that craft table before? The one that held all the crap that I had NO idea what to do with?

Well, here she is now!

And I didn't just shove ~~any of~~ it into the cabinets either!

Now I have a nice place to organize all my batting, interfacing, scraps and random 'not pretty enough to display' fabrics! (Notice my brand spankin' new Silhouette that doesn't work :( I'm waiting for a reply from tech support.)

Fabric shelf pretty much looks the same

All my photography stuff tucked away waiting to utilize that blank wall at a moment's notice

I'm not used to having an organized closet, so I just couldn't bear to shut the curtains!

My little helper Georgia guarding the door from room trashing munchkins!

Are you sticking to your 30 minutes a day? I'm thinking of moving on to my laundry room since it will probably provide me with MONTHS of 30 minute sessions :P

Merit For Moms! Purse Clean Out!

2011-01-07T16:48:00.000-09:00

{What I had}

What has 29 receipts, 2 packs of gum, 9 lip glosses, 2 granola bars, 3 suckers, a first aid kit, $140 that I didn't know I had, a pound of change, wet wipes, a tape dispenser, recipe cards, and an emergency peanut butter cup? My overstuffed purse of course!! The funny thing is you don't know HOW MANY of those things I've wanted but "didn't have" since my purse was so messy.

{What I needed}

Target won the award for oldest receipt from 11/16, and I had coupons for shampoo that expired on 10/30. I'm still missing a $30 Target gift card that I'm hoping will turn up, but it's so nice to want gum and to actually know where it is!

{All tucked away!}

Dirty Little Secrets!

2011-01-07T16:22:00.000-09:00

I downloaded a trashy romance novel onto my Kindle since it was free, and ended up really liking it!

I didn't have the energy yesterday to do my 30 minutes of organizing on my craft room, so I sat on the couch and cleaned out my purse! Yes, sadly, it did take 30 minutes!

Everyone in Alaska was complaining about the lack of snow and the weird 40 degree temperatures, and I was in HEAVEN!

My kids had Campbell's soup, PB&J and hot dogs for dinner last night... in their bedrooms. Shh!

I air dried something that I needed because I didn't want to take the stuff out of the dryer and fold it.

My laundry room looks like an episode of Hoarders... again!

I would rather push my groceries in a broken cart through 12 inches of snow than let the people "help me to my car" at our small local store since my van looks like a dumpster.

I spent $175 on a Silhouette cutter and have barely touched it.

I spent another $100 on North Face jeans that I can't wear until I hem them... right around never.

I think it's funny that my kids' school has recycle bins in every classroom for scraps but sends eleventy billion sheets of information overload home every day.

I had an inappropriate dream about Vanilla Ice and felt sick to my stomach when I woke up. Seriously subconscious!? We couldn't do better than Vanilla Ice!? Luckily I woke up before anything happened. NO MORE Vanilla Ice Project before bed! *barf*

Merit For Moms- My Progress!

2011-01-06T13:20:00.000-09:00

I've been moving my craft crap back into my old craft room and spending my 30 minutes of organizing in there mostly. I don't have a before picture since it wasn't in this room before, but picture the dumpster behind a goodwill store and that's pretty close.

I was proud of myself that I organized as I brought things into the room instead of my normal plan of dumping everything in a huge pile on the floor and sorting it out "later" with later never coming. All the stuff left on the craft table are things that don't really have a home, but I still have some cabinet space left to fill, and I guess I could get rid of some stuff... if I really had to.

I was also proud that I ACTUALLY used an idea from 'My Favorite Things' by making the mini fabric bolts from foam core board. I swear I don't live in as small of a town as people think, but I bought the last 2 pieces of foam board in existence and still need more to wrap the rest of my fabric. Also, I've never been pissed that I owned so much felt until I had to unfold, smooth, refold, stuff and organize it to make it look cute. Don't be holding your breath for any felt projects any time soon either since I'd rather buy new felt than unfold and refold those babies.

All my neglected scrapbooking supplies, clothing for repurposing, and other crafty stuff that isn't "cute" found a home in the closet. I'm thrilled to report that the shelves were $90, and the foam board was $10, so I only spent $100 to transform my stuff from a pile of crap to a cute (and hopefully functional!) space. I'm also hoping that having all my fabric out in the open will remind me to use it instead of buying new fabric for every single project that I think I'll "someday" finish.

How are you doing with your organizing?? Are you tackling a giant space or a different little space every day?

Merit For Moms!

2011-01-03T16:42:00.001-09:00

So Sweetie Pie recently decided to become a Girl Scout, and even though the Daisy patches are kind of lame (Be Fair and Honest instead of camping patch, etc.) she is still really motivated and driven to earn her patches. She can literally show everyone what she's learned and done through Girl Scouts, all with the patch "reward" at the end. That should have been enough to give me this great idea, but it wasn't.

Have you ever just wandered around the library and found something that you were never, ever looking for but it kind of found you? That's what happened with this patch idea. I'm not sure why I was even in that section, or if my backwoods tiny library just shelves things differently than the rest of the world, but it jumped off the shelf. It was You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown Up Girls. I flipped through it and checked it out, even though the "badges" were earned through hobbies such as dancing and wine tasting- not really what I was looking for. As I read the beginning it really touched me, as the author passed away on September 11, 2001, and her sisters finished the book and got it published. It really drove home the "live every day like it's your last point" even if the ways I want to improve my life are a bit different.

The book sat on my counter for almost a week before all the ideas mashed up in my head and collided like my kids hopped up on Red Bull. Why couldn't I earn badges for doing my dishes!? Or laundry? I'd do almost anything for a little credit...

So, I thought it was a great idea for the beginning of the new year, and frankly I didn't have time to think about it with Christmas, Sweetie Pie's birthday and New Year's plans. Instead of making lofty resolutions that will be gone by February I'm going to break up my long term goals into smaller chunks that are easier to work on every day. I decided that every month I would work on a new "badge" starting with organizing, since it is the most obvious choice after the toy storm.

Every day in January I'm going to spend at least 30 minutes organizing ANYTHING in my house, whether it's my purse or a huge room. As long as I spend 30 minutes, every day, then I earn my patch. I made a button in case anyone wants to join me, but really this is something I'm doing for myself and my family.

Stay tuned for way more frequent updates about my progress earning my patch, and I'd love to hear from you and your progress if you decided to try it!

Hello?? Does anyone still read my sad, neglected blog?

A Day In The Wrong

2010-12-16T16:34:00.001-09:00

My kids didn't pick up the million crayons they got out.
And they were all over the floor under the table.
So I made them clean up.
And they were "too cold".
So they wrapped themselves in big blankets.
And Little Man was more interested in flinging his blanket around than picking up.
And he knocked a full cup of sticky juice onto the floor.
So I went to get my Shark mop.
And I remembered that it wasn't working and needed to be cleaned.
So I started my computer to find the cleaning tutorial I bookmarked.
But I didn't have internet because the wind was gusting to 80 miles per hour and it knocked my power out for 10 second outages.
So I reset my modem and router.
And I attempted to get online again.
But my computer suddenly wouldn't turn on.
So I did the dishes and waited for it to turn on.
And it didn't.
So I took the battery out and tried again.
And it started.
Then it crashed and flashed me the blue screen of death.
So I panicked and slammed it shut.
And tried again.
Then it started.
So I went to open Firefox and it wouldn't open.
Then I Googled using Internet Explorer.
And system restore seemed like the best option.
So I was thinking I was going to lose all our recent family photos.
So I burned them onto a disc.
And then restored.
But I didn't lose them.
But Firefox still wouldn't work.
And I couldn't find the mop tutorial anywhere else.
And I still had a sticky floor and a broken mop.
And I didn't want to uninstall Firefox and lose all my bookmarks including the freaking mop one.
So I cleaned the floor by hand.
And threw away the sticky crayons.
And washed the wet blankets.
Then the power went out again.
And that made the smoke detector beep at 2am.
And it scared my kids.
And they were crying.
So I stood on a chair.
And I couldn't get the wires out.
So I had to wake up Mr.Wright.
Then we changed the batteries.
And I was grumpy and slept like crap.
So I got up and tried to get on my computer.
But it still wouldn't work.
So I took the plunge.
And I uninstalled.
Then I reinstalled.
And I didn't lose a single bookmark.
So I backed them up just in case.
And I fixed my mop.
And next time, I'll just pick up the freaking crayons myself.

My Favorite Things!

2010-11-28T16:41:00.000-09:00

Back by ~~popular~~ errr, no demand! I just felt like it... okay!?

An adorable little Homemade Felt Pizza setup from Chris, Erin and Jayce! Have I mentioned that I ♥ felt!?

A great post about getting motivated to organize from Steady Mom. Not that I need any help in that department or anything. Yeah... that was a joke.

There is NO way that I could keep up with this fantastic mini bolt fabric storage, but it makes my selective OCD tingle and that's always a good thing in my book!

I have a little tradition of picking out every holiday's shirts that I'm not going to end up making for my kids but that I think I will. This reindeer applique shirt is the Christmas version of my seasonal failure.

This Bibbee dress from Innocentia looks a little detailed for my mediocre sewing skills, but it sure is adorable! You could make them in all different colors or alternating colors for more than one little girl without being too matchy-matchy.

I'm also fooling myself into thinking that I'll make some of these handmade paper bows instead of slapping on a 5 cent squashed mismatched bow as we're running out the door... if I remember a bow at all!

Happy Holidays!

Accomplishment... And Other Sicknesses

2010-11-07T13:18:00.000-09:00

Yesterday I ran some errands in the morning and then decided to relax on the couch "for a minute or two". I'm not sure what happened next but my kids were all laying down trying to catch up on some Z's and I had rented season 1 of Reba. Please don't judge me, that's a good show! Plus it was only disks 2 and 3...

Anyway, I meant to watch "an episode or two" before cleaning up my pig pen of a house and next thing I know it's 6pm, I finished the whole season, and my kids had trashed my house even more. CRAP! I felt so guilty that I had wasted the day so I cranked up the Taylor Swift, popped in a frozen pizza and got cleaning. The first thing to go was the Halloween decorations. Technically all I did was take them down and make a pile to put under my house, but progress is progress. Little Man put all the shoes on the shelves and hung up all the winter gear so my entryway looked great!

I even went above and beyond and vacuumed the real spiderwebs that had accumulated above the fake spiderweb. While I had the vacuum out I remembered that my ceiling fan really needed a dusting, so I vacuumed that too. I was already standing on the counter, singing at the top of my lungs like an idiot, so I thought it would be a good time to suck up all that dust on top of my cabinets. My house was coming along, and the kids and I had fun doing it!

The problem is that today I've been sitting on my butt since I actually did something yesterday. I slept in and my kids had taken down a box of 8 Pop-Tarts before 8 am and left the wrappers and crumbs everywhere. 8 freaking Pop-Tarts for 3 little kids! Sitting around would be okay if I had done dishes or laundry yesterday, but I didn't. We have no clean towels, Little Man has been wearing Sweetie Pie's socks all weekend, and the kids are using my Grandma's breakable plates because we've used all the plastic. Oh, and since I used the pizza yesterday I have no plan for dinner.

The goal for the rest of the day is to catch up a little so we at least have clean towels, socks and plates for tomorrow. Bonus points for being able to see the kids' floors before bedtime ;)

Backfired

2010-11-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with some motivation... I swear I did. I got up, got in the shower, and started mentally planning my day. Unfortunately my bubble was popped when 2 minutes into my shower a puking/crying child came running in. Every time I'd get us both clean she would puke again. Finally it slowed down and I was able to get us both out and dried off. She continued to puke all morning virtually zapping any ounce of motivation that I had.

I guess I WILL accomplish some laundry today, but she's going through it just as fast as I could wash it, so I wouldn't really count that as progress. And I'm so stressed and emotional that I cried at the end of Toy Story 3. Sorry for yet another dry downer post, but it seems like there's bad news around every corner. Yep, one of those ~~days~~ weeks.

Ok, So That Wasn't Good

2010-11-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

That post I just poured my heart out in? The one about me feeling weird about my FB friends reading my blog? It just posted on Facebook. Awkward! I'm trying again, and hopefully now that I've changed my settings again, blocked Networked Blogs AND revoked the publishing rights it shouldn't show up anymore. BUT since this is my life I'm sure it will post this blog too. Then I'll feel really weird, shut down my computer, eat some chips and pretend this never happened. Avoidance is, after all, the best medicine. Deal? Good.

The Not Much Up-Date

2010-11-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I suck. We've covered this before. I have realized in the last few weeks that I want to post stuff on my blog but it was starting to bother me that everything I posted here would show up on my personal Facebook page. It didn't used to bother me for some reason, but now it does. I guess I just need to feel like when I bare my soul to the world it is mostly heard by people just like me. People who understand and don't just judge. I blog for the women who comment on my posts and say "I could have written that!" or "I feel that same way". I tell my sad, sad stories about what I found under my couch (crayons, socks, unidentifiable crumbs) or how long it's been since I changed my kids sheets (months!) and people say "Me too!" or just don't say anything at all (thanks for that too :D )

I'll lose some readers, and they can always still find me, but it won't be so easy for some distant acquaintance (whom I only friended because we have 29847 friends in common even though we've hardly spoken) to read all about how much dirty laundry I have on my bathroom floor. I believe that I've changed the setting correctly so that no longer happens, and now hopefully I'll feel more in the blogging spirit!

Whew, with that out of the way I can move on to my "not much update"!

I didn't do dishes for 4 days. Then I did, but they were so behind that I had to hand wash some and now I have a buttload of dishes to put away and haven't. They're all over my counter just like when they were dirty.

I didn't do laundry for 6 days. I started a load and then my washing machine stopped working. And we had NO clean clothes... because I hadn't done laundry in 6 days. I panicked and unplugged it, then plugged it back in. Thank goodness that worked, but every few loads it stops in the middle of a cycle and I have to unplug and replug. Pain in the butt, but better than buying a new washing maching.

I put up Halloween decorations. BEFORE Halloween. And they looked awesome. But now I have to take them down and that's not so awesome.

Oh! And my friend Mrs. Awesome helped me cook a bunch of ground beef to make freezer meals with because she rocks! But I don't really have any other ingredients to make meals so it's slim pickings tonight.

I've been horrible on the craft front, but realistic about how many "hand made" Christmas gifts I'll actually get done in time (none). I usually spend so much on all the supplies for a gift that I can just buy something cheaper and save myself the stress of not getting it done and shopping last minute.

So, that's what's up. I suck, and I'm okay with it I guess. After over 18 months writing this blog I think I've possibly gotten WORSE than I was before... which isn't good, but what can you do!?

Snail's Pace

2010-10-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

The good news:
I cleaned my kitchen for 6 solid hours this weekend. I took pictures on my phone but it's ALL the way across the room, soooo you won't be seeing them right now.

The bad news:
My selective OCD came out in FULL force so I only got a small section of the kitchen actually clean. If someone stops by to inspect my baseboards or cereal cupboard I'm going to be in GOOD shape though... as long as they don't need to to fit their purse on my counter.

You know that game at the fair or arcade where you drop coins into the machine and try to push a bunch off the other side!?

Yeah, that was the worst description ever, but does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Anyone!? Helloooooooooo?

Ok, maybe it's just me- that's how I feel when I put something on my kitchen counter except I'm trying not to push the stuff off the other side. It's very technical... ahem.

Oh, I also read three books this weekend. It's hands down my best reading record ever. And they weren't short little stories or anything either... ok, well, they weren't exactly Pride and Prejudice. Two were Sophie Kinsella novels and one was a similar novel that was weird but sucked me in. It was nice to float into the clouds with my books. I'm not super sure what my kids were doing that whole time, but they're still breathing today so that's good news! And I've decided that I just want to move into a Sophie Kinsella novel, just in case you were wondering.

Ok, back to earth- today I'm going to keep up with my dishes and do some laundry. If I'm feeling super crazy then I'll plan out some Christmas presents so I can get started on my handmade gifts that I'll abandon in November. Yeeeeep. That's it. :D

Slacker

2010-10-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

Ugggg, such a slacker. I've been so lazy that I haven't had the energy to whine about how lazy I am. My laundry is behind, I had to hand wash forks just so we could eat dinner, etc. You get the picture. Basically I've been in survival mode- the kids have gotten to school, on time, in clean clothes, with lunch. Anything beyond that is just asking too much these days.

I did manage to get my Halloween decorations up last week, which is WAY better than when I put them up on the 30th last year just to get ONE freaking trick or treater. I left them up until I got out the Christmas stuff in protest. Plus I wasn't delusional this year and just bought costumes for my kids instead of pretending to be super mom (like my crazy awesome friend who hand makes ALL her kids costumes every year, and they're themed to all coordinate with each other- see, isn't she awesome!?) I'm just proud that the costumes are purchased and ready, and that I haven't bought candy that I'll just eat.

Soooo, that's where I'm at. I've got tons of good posts floating around in my head, I've just been in a fog and haven't typed them out yet. Typical me :)

Lazy Mopping

2010-09-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm the laziest of moppers since I have a Shark Mop now. I leave it full of water (and sneak cleaner in there too so my floors don't smell like burnt toast!) so all I have to do is plug it in and mop away. I used to have a better system when I mopped the old school way and now my trash can stinks. How are those related!? I'll tell you...

I can't take credit for this since I remember reading it in a magazine, but when I mopped with a mop and bucket I would get SO frustrated that I couldn't fit my rectangular mop head in the round bucket. Sometimes I would just fill up my kitchen sink with mop water like my mom always did, but that requires that your sink isn't full of dishes like mine ALWAYS is. So this solution BLEW MY MIND!

This lady, whoever she is, would bag up her trash and then fill the trash can with hot water and soap! She would use it as a mop bucket while simultaneously soaking and deodorizing her trash can. GENIUS!

Like I said, I don't do it this way anymore, and now my trash can is paying the price. You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of nasties that get behind and under the bag! Disgusting.

So, to recap:
1. Bag up trash and leave it for your husband.
2. Dump out any crumbs over balcony and try not to drop the garbage can 10 feet to the ground.
3. Use the crappiest clogged spray hose ever to fill the garbage can (about 1/4 full) with hot water at snail speed since the sink is full of dishes... again.
4. Add soap and realize that your kids inherited your unnatural love for the smell of Pine-Sol.
5. Blog about how awesome you are for stealing someone else's idea.
6. Dip a rag into the water and wipe down the inside, outside and lid.
7. Mop to your heart's content!
8. Dump out the water into a drain or outside. If you're really thrifty you could dump a little in each of your toilets and have Pine-Sol fresh toilets too! Uhhhh, mine's going outside though! :)
9. Enjoy your freshly mopped floors and your clean & deodorized garbage can!

And that's why using your garbage can as a mop bucket... uh.... used to Work For Me!!

Sew In Control

2010-09-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

I could feel like my world isn't spinning out of control today for a number of reasons. The first could be that I actually got up at 6am this morning when my alarm went off, then I actually got my butt in the shower, and then I actually spent some quality time with Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown. Alright, fine... I just watched it from the couch. In my opinion it would be dangerous to undergo a new exercise routine without first reviewing it in my jammies AND consulting my doctor, so there you go.

I also did some sewing today. I don't know what it is about the act of messing up projects, but sewing is SO zen for me. I'm whipping up a few of those reusable snack & sandwich bags for my friend. They're so easy that I threw in a few for my own bagless kids too! AND I'm using up some PUL fabric that I bought back in my cloth diapering days. AND some other fabric that has been hanging out in the towering stack of "someday I'll use this" items.

The timing couldn't be better since I'm linking up on Friday to the Use Your Crap challenge! I'm so excited to actually be using something I already own instead of just buying new crap to add to the pile. Here's a sneak peek of one of the bags!

I'm also doing the "Use Your Crap" challenge across the board and clearing out some of my Canadian chocolate that's been wasting away for almost 6 weeks in my pantry.

This Coffee Crisp must be illegal in the U.S. for being TOO good, that's why they don't have them here. Mmmm, happy day! :)

Oh, and I got a comment from Valerie at Frugal Family Fun about her Awesome Remote with a bacon button that made her think of me and it made me smile. Thanks, Valerie, for letting me live in a bacon remote kind of world today :D
Any awesome things happening to you today?

Doughnut Pass Go

2010-09-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Uggg, slacking again. In my defense I've been editing photos during every spare second I've had since Saturday. My dishes are done but my laundry is piling up. I thought over my life plan with some doughnuts. After some pondering I realized that all I had figured out was that I wanted a second doughnut. So I ate it :D And now I have NO plan for today even though I have a million things to do... How's your week going??

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-09-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, and lately I've been so lazy that my whole blog has turned into a dirty little secret! If you have your own dirty little secret I'd love to hear it in the comments. As always, you can comment anonymously ;)

I'm so behind on laundry that for the first time in MONTHS Little Man had to search for socks before school.

I haven't made my bed in weeks.

My kids almost missed the bus this morning because I was playing on my phone.

The kids have a locked closet full of toys that I was going to rotate in and out, but I never did. I can't let go of them either though...

I told myself that I'd volunteer at the kids' school while Boo was at preschool but I didn't.

I talk my kids into hot lunch that sounds gross so I won't have to make cold lunch.

It bothers me that I used "kids" in the last 4 confessions and I feel the need to split them up. (that's its own confession)

I hate Fall. In fact, if we could skip straight from Summer to Thanksgiving I'd be happy.

I'm still thinking of starting my photography business. I have tens of thousands of pictures of my kids. I have ONE (outdated even) picture on my walls. ONE.

I still have my carry on bag packed from my trip I took a month ago. Skymall anyone?

C'Mon... what's your dirty little secret!?

Cleaning FAIL

2010-09-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I didn't do a whole heck of a lot yesterday. I did get my stove elements scrubbed and reassembled, but only because we'd be really hungry if I didn't. I got one load of laundry washed and dried, but it's all wrinkled up in the dryer still, with the second load mildewing in the washer. Whoops! Today isn't looking a whole lot better since Boo has preschool and I'll be totally kidless on Thursday mornings for the first time in over 6 years. Mr. Wright has the day off, so we're definitely not going to spend the morning at home doing laundry.

Today I will:
Collect the garbage and take it to the end of the driveway
Fold laundry from the dryer
Dry, then fold the laundry from the washing machine
Put the basket of folded clothes away from yesterday
Ignore the banister crap for now
Keep up with dishes and counters

What A Crock

2010-09-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

Captain Jammie Pants log, September 15th. Way too damn early in the morning.

Yesterday I mostly kept up with the dishes and counters. This morning I was left with a few things that didn't get hand washed after dinner, but for the most part the dishes are done. I'm probably the only person on the planet that makes my meal plan to avoid crockpots since I detest washing them so much. I'm searched high and low for those cool crock liner bags but haven't found them ANYWHERE! I made a roast yesterday in the crockpot and it's still soaking in water because I like avoiding things.

I didn't get a speck of laundry done yesterday either, but I'm trying not to feel badly about it since I did jackhammer my stove clean and soaked my drip pans and other elements in ammonia overnight. I also got a little work done on Boo's toy pit and collected at least 2 loads of laundry off Little Man and Sweetie Pie's floor. I even read a little in my book!

I've been busting my butt to get even the basics checked off my list, but I'm noticing that it leaves me with NO time to catch up on my shows, hang out with the kids, etc. I'm sure that sounds funny to ladies who do it all every day, but I miss my Teen Mom!! Although I've always had the urge to clean Amber & Gary's apartment... yikes!

Today I will:
Do 2 loads of laundry since I didn't do any yesterday
Put away the folded clothes that have been in the living room for 2 days
Reassemble the stove
Clean off (or work on) the banister behind my couch which is a catch-all for crap I don't know what to do with

Book Mark

2010-09-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

I'm SO tired this morning, and for the first time in 3 weeks I've had trouble peeling myself out of bed at 6am. I'm sure it's because I never did get around to watching some trashy tv and halfway taking a break last night. That bookshelf was just taunting me and I had to shut it up. It still has two baskets of random crap that was just too much to take on at 9pm, but for the most part it is better. I even got around to making a little homework center with pencils and extra paper!

The messy bookshelf before:

And after:

(More phone pictures, but I'm lazy and bad pictures are better than NO pictures!)

The laundry got folded, but not quite put away since I did it after the kids were already asleep. The dishes got done and I woke up to a clean kitchen again this morning! As it gets darker every day in Alaska I'm thankful for knowing there isn't anything to trip on.

Today I will:
Not give myself too many goals since I start teaching preschool with Boo
Keep up with dishes and counters
1 load of laundry- washed, folded and put away
Read some of my book that I abandoned when I started cleaning again!

I'm A Dork, And Other New Developments

2010-09-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

Sooooo, I've been trying really hard the last couple days to get my goals reached, and using my blog as motivation to actually finish something. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed when no one commented on my last two posts, but I understood that after not blogging for a month I couldn't expect floods of comments on day 1. Day 2 came and went without a single comment. I was getting lots of traffic, but no comments. I don't blog just for the comments, but it really helps when I don't feel like I'm talking to myself.

Aaaaaaand then I realized that I'm a dork. I had gotten comments on both of those posts, but apparently Blogger is still pissed that I broke up with it for a month and never e-mailed me about them. So I thought I was all alone on my messy island when really I have some lovely ladies rallying around me. Thank you Bethany, LaVonne, Shell & Erin for being a little light in my day, and to all my readers who stop by whether I'm up or down! :)

On to the progress report for today... I've stayed on track with my counters and dishes, and even put out a nice bowl of apples since people get all judgy when you fill your fruit bowl with chips. I got the kids clothes washed and dried, and they're waiting to be folded while I catch up on some trashy tv after the kids go to bed. The bookshelf remains untouched, but I'm trying to stay positive and realize that it will still be there tomorrow and isn't worth stressing over. I hate not reaching my goals, but progress is progress, so anything done is better than nothing!

The Proof Is In The Pudding... Mmm, pudding!

2010-09-13T07:09:00.002-08:00

I was tired and grumpy, and I didn't want to do it, but I got my goals accomplished last night after my kids went to bed. I got the counters cleared off and cleaned, folded laundry, picked up clutter in the dining room and living room, and did all the dishes.

Excuse the phone pictures- my camera died 5 pictures into a photo shoot with my kids that I've been planning for weeks!

Dining Room before:

After:

Kitchen before:

After:

Living Room before:

After:

We'll see how long this lasts!

Today I will:
Wash, fold, and put away the kids' laundry
Organize the messy bookshelf in the dining room
Keep dishes and counters under control

Babysteps To Productivity

2010-09-12T15:28:00.003-08:00

I'm lazy... in case you didn't know. I suck at meal planning, my house is a mess, my kids don't listen and I just can't keep up. My bills are late, my home is undecorated, there's clutter everywhere and my craft stuff is buried. There's books unread, projects unfinished, piles unsorted and traces of stuffy "somedays" thick in the air. My blog hasn't been updated in a month.

And it's MY fault. I have the time, the resources, the knowledge. I just don't have the effort... the motivation to accomplish the things that I want to do. And I get disappointed in myself, then lazy, until I feel like I'm stuck in a dryer from cycling so quickly.

If I knew how to break the cycle I'd be charging for that little secret. Unfortunately I'm just stuck- going around and around and around. I've tried (and failed) more times than I can count, but I have to keep going. I have six little eyes watching my every move, and what I do, say, and teach them will matter for the rest of their lives.

Today is the day. I could spend the next 8 hours cleaning my house from top to bottom, printing charts for organization or making a meal plan for the next 3 months in an effort to reach my goals for myself. OR, I could make little changes that are more likely to stick. It will take me longer to get there, but I'll have a better chance.

Today I will:
Clean off my counters
Fold what I already washed
Empty, then load the dishwasher
Play with my kids

Will my house be spotless by bedtime? Nope. Will I feel better about my handle on life? Probably not. Will I have much accomplished off my never ending 'to-do' list? Not even close. BUT, it's progress, which is a heck of a lot better than my old plan of sitting on my butt and not having any clean bowls for breakfast. And progress is all I can ask for.

Lazy Freezer Meals

2010-08-16T14:21:00.006-08:00

I'm obsessed with reading about freezer cooking and make ahead meals. I always convince myself that the next time I buy groceries I'm going to stock up and make a bunch of meals. It NEVER happens... I think it might be the meals that my family likes though. They're not really casserole people. ANYWAY, I like to have something in the freezer for the days when I don't plan dinner (almost every day, shh!)so in the past I've cooked a bunch of ground beef at once for hamburger helper, tacos, etc.

I took it one step further this time with the help of my awesome friend Mrs. Awesome, who is indeed awesome in case you were wondering. I dropped off 15 pounds of raw ground beef at her house and she threw it all in her 22 qt. roaster and a few hours later had her teenager drop the drained, ready to season meat off at my house. See!? Isn't she AWESOME!?

I put the hot meat in the fridge since I had to make dinner, put my kids to bed, & check my e-mail. You know, just the important stuff! Once I got around to packaging the meat it had solidified into a giant hunk of cooked ground beef. I put the whole bowl into super hot water and "folded laundry" (got on Facebook) while I waited about 20 minutes. The hot water melted the fat just enough that I could stir it up a tiny bit and I loaded it into quart sized freezer bags.

I added packets of taco seasoning and hot water to a few, poured cans of sloppy joe sauce in some, and left the rest plain for hamburger helper and casseroles. It went pretty quickly considering the time it's going to save me, and I know that I'm no more than 5 minutes from dinner as long as I have bread!

I stacked them all up flat in my freezer to save space and for quick thawing... hey, quit counting the ice creams! Don't judge me! There's broccoli right there too! It all evens out I'm sure... Anywhoo, I can open the zip top, throw one of these babies in the microwave for 5 minutes on defrost and I've got cooked seasoned meat. Now that is lazy freezer cooking!

The Un- Post

2010-08-14T19:52:00.003-08:00

Every day I think that THIS will be the day that I finally blog. It hasn't worked out yet. Well, I guess this kinda counts, but it's not really what I should be blogging about. I swear I've written at least 5 posts in my head and even taken photos to accompany my imaginary posts, but just haven't sat down and typed them all out.

I've been sewing, making freezer meals, cleaning and organizing, not cleaning and organizing, giving my vacuum a haircut, and writing invisible posts about all of it! Hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up refreshed, not busy, and ready to publish to the world... or maybe I'll sit in my jammies all day again.

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-07-30T15:36:00.002-08:00

Whew! It's been a while... I wish my secrets were juicier. I've been pretty lame lately and it's hard to pull shenanigans when you're feeling lazy!

I'm typing this post while on hold with the phone company.

The laundry pile in the kids' bathroom is taller than my tallest kid.

I spent $15 on iTunes to catch up on Glee... and ignored my kids while doing so.

I signed up for a 2 week trial of Blockbuster At Home knowing I was going to keep it after the 2 weeks, but told Mr. Wright it was just a trial. Shhh!

I had a weird dream that I delivered my friend's baby the other night... from the sink drain. I'd love to see what experts say about that creepy stuff.

I've been sending my kids outside to play in the rain because they are SO getting on my nerves. What do I have to do to get a sunny day!?

I'm both excited and nervous to have 2 kids in school, and excited and nervous to have one at home all day to entertain.

Boo spilled an entire carton of chocolate milk on the floor of my van and I haven't cleaned it up yet :X

I've been sleeping in and I'm dreading not being able to do that anymore.

My craft table looks like a tornado went through it. I have no energy to even BEGIN to tackle it.

I'm still on hold... 32 minutes and counting >:( Bleeping Phone Company!

What's your dirty little secret? Share in the comments!

My New Little Buddies

2010-07-27T21:19:00.003-08:00

BREAKING NEWS!!

I've given up the cookies and got hooked on these- Frosted Mini Wheat Little Bites. They taste like little bits of chocolate heaven but pack a secret punch of fiber and whole grain (which is how I justify eating half the box at once). I've been eating bowls of just the dry cereal as ~~breakfast, lunch & dinner~~ a snack and my kids think I'm the coolest mom in the world for letting them eat it for breakfast. Seriously, try them. And I wish I was getting free stuff to say that. Make sure you click the link and let them know to send me a lifetime supply. Back to your regular programming...

P.S. Eating Little Bites 24/7 Works For Me!

Picking Up The Pieces

2010-07-25T14:05:00.003-08:00

It's been a week since Grandma passed. A long, sad, hard week. I'm trying to be cheerful and just fake it until I make it but I constantly want to cry. Today I did some laundry- something my family was excited to see. Plus I finally ventured out last night to get some much needed groceries. When I fed my kids a Cup O' Noodles for dinner I knew it was time. I'm slowly trying to get back into my "routine" with the help of cookies and reality tv.

I've been given the opportunity to go to the burial in Michigan which will be while Sweetie Pie starts the school year. It's hard to let go of that control freak part of myself, but Mr. Wright will do a great job filling in... right after I teach him how to do her hair. Little Man starts school a week later, so I'll be back in time for his first day of kindergarten at least.

Today I'm going to curl up, watch a movie in my jammies, and eat 10 days worth of groceries...

Hazy

2010-07-20T14:52:00.003-08:00

I've gone to write this post I don't know how many times and just couldn't. The last ten days have just been a blur for me. I started off doing really well- my laundry was caught up, the dishes were done, the playroom was FINALLY clean. It was easy to maintain and my mood was improved. On Thursday my sister and I took a guilt free trip to Anchorage to see and movie and visit my sick Grandma. I knew she was going downhill, but she has been for months. I'm SO glad that she got to see Sweetie Pie and Little Man and that I told her I loved her. Friday and Saturday were horrible- I sat around moping just waiting for "the call". By Sunday she was gone... reunited with my Grandpa in Heaven.

I'm so relieved that she is no longer suffering, but sad that my kids will hardly remember her, much less know her lively spirit. I've been trying to keep up with the chores as well as I can, but it's hard when I just want to curl up and cry. I literally think of her every minute, of every day. I think of how she loved sparkly red shoes, college football, and potato chips for dinner... hmmm, I never connected that, but I'm sure she's the key to my snack cravings! It just seems weird to be here on Earth without her.

Tip Me Tuesday

2010-07-12T20:57:00.005-08:00

Between pools, swimming holes and lakes we've been spending TONS of time in the water this summer. In Alaska you can't waste a single nice day since you never know when (or if!) you'll get another one. Sometimes that means that we need our swimsuits ready to go 2 days in a row, or we haven't seen them for months. I've come up with a hot tip to help me deal with all the summer fun!

You know you're jealous of my MAD Photoshop skills! ;)

I made up a swim bag! The bag itself is a wetbag left over from our cloth diaper days, but I've seen some adorable ones made out of shower curtains and vinyl tablecloths. It stays in the laundry room so no little ballerinas can sneak their swimsuit out and lose them, and the bag is ready to go at a moment's notice. It has swimsuits for all three kids, extra sunscreen, and three 'b-list' towels since we're not fancy enough to have swim towels. It has saved me HOURS of searching for wherever the kids left their suit last after playing 'the kitchen floor is a super fun swimming pool ONLY when mom's cooking dinner in there'. Sooooo, there's my tip!

*Also linking up to Works For Me Wednesday so I can pimp more traffic out of my swim bag! Bwahahaha!

Just Keep Cleaning, Just Keep Cleaning!

2010-07-10T21:17:00.005-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week- I've been busy hanging out with the family and, get this- cleaning! Yeah, baby! You read that right! I'm on a cleaning hot streak and loving every minute! I always forget how much free time I have when I clean more often. Unfortunately I've always gone back to the dark side in the past.

I'm trying to stay positive but I know that it's easier to keep up in the summer when I have a bit of motivation. It's a long, dark, cold Winter, and it would suck the life out of anyone! I'm hoping to establish a good routine and make it stick before I add school, work, and the weather back into the mix.

We had a wonderful day yesterday and took our first official family 'hike'. There was a sign in the parking lot about making lots of noise to scare off the bears, which immediately scared the crap out of Sweetie Pie. Little did we know that bears wouldn't come within miles of us thanks to all the screaming Boo did.

I don't know what was up with her, but she didn't want to walk, she didn't want to be carried, she didn't want her shoes on, she didn't want to be barefoot, she just wanted to scream. I was the lucky one that got to hike with a tensed up, screaming 3 year old on my shoulders. Needless to say it was great family togetherness time... uh, kinda. I did manage to dangle my $1000 camera precariously from a piece of plywood over a rushing river and snap this rare family photo though, so at least I can pretend that we had the time of our lives.

*I just found this one, so I had to add it! Make sure you click to make it bigger so you can truly see how thrilled little Boo is to be hiking!

Please don't judge my white legs- it's been a LONG time since they've seen the sun. Speaking of that, right after our hiking adventure we headed out to my in-laws dug out lake and I wasted the afternoon away floating around on an inflatable raft. I didn't know until I got home that we stayed 4 hours too long... I'm going to miss that layer of skin! My sunburn is slowly healing, but I'm still sending keeping my bottle of aloe within reach at ALL times. Nothing feels as good as aloe on a sunburn!

So... yup, that's it. Clean. Apply aloe. Repeat.

When You're Up, You're Up

2010-07-07T12:46:00.003-08:00

My kids did chores today... and asked for more! In the past I have underestimated what my kids can really do, and I'm guilty of giving them something stupid to do just so they feel like they're helping. It's hard to give up control since I'm such a control freak (when I actually get around to doing said chores)but they loved to help!

Sweetie Pie (6 1/2) helped me by putting away the folded laundry, making all the kids' beds and putting a few things in the play room. Little Man (5) swept off the front porch, brought all the dirty laundry from the hampers to the laundry room, and helped in the playroom. Boo (3) put all the shoes in the entryway on shelves, helped me vacuum the stairs, and wandered around the playroom pretending to be picking up.

I paid them a fake dollar for each chore and Sweetie Pie was begging for extra chores. MY KID. Asking to do more CLEANING. It was miraculous!

After we had our chores done we went outside and I mowed the lawn. It's been really rainy here so it was nice to get it done and let the kids run around for a bit. I was even motivated enough to tackle a tiny portion of our backyard that has NEVER been mowed. Literally never. I don't think I've sweat that hard in years... it was like pushing a stubborn rhinoceros through a corn field, or at least what I think that would be like.

It will take at least 4 more 'sessions' to get it mowed (by then I'll have to start over!) but I'm looking forward to the day when we can move our million white trash kids' toys back there and class up the neighborhood a bit.

If I was like this every day then I would be SO happy. My house is clean, my kids are happy, they didn't watch cartoons until quiet time, we played a board game, got some yard work done and I'm even fitting some craft time in. I hope this doesn't fade like the millions times before...

Being motivated really Works For Me!!

WTF!?

2010-07-06T10:27:00.002-08:00

It's 10:30 am. My bed is made, my laundry is CAUGHT UP, the dishwasher only has breakfast dishes in it. My living room is vacuumed, and the carpets are STEAM CLEANED. The bathroom is bleached, the toothbrush cups are washed and put back. The mirrors are sparkling, the floors are mopped.

I made a huge decision over the weekend, and I can't tell if I'm cleaning because I feel better and am out of my 'funk' or if I feel worse and am cleaning as my natural response to stress. Either way, I kinda like it! Shh, don't tell anyone!!

Happy Birthday America!

2010-07-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Ahhh, the Fourth of July! The only time that I can buy nothing but junk food all at once and not be judged for my shopping since everyone just assumes all that crap MUST be for a BBQ or camping trip. I can (AND WILL) also eat pounds of potato salad just to celebrate, whether it decides to keep dumping rain or not. NOTHING gets between ME and my POTATO SALAD!

What are your plans for the 4th? What? Everyone's too cool doing fun things for the holiday and I'm the only person on the internet anymore!? Eh, maybe I'll make plans next year... maybe.

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-07-02T09:42:00.002-08:00

Welcome to another rousing edition of my Dirty Little Secrets! Please share your own dirty little secrets in the comments either publicly or anonymously. I promise I won't tell anyone ;)

I've forgotten to take my garbage to the curb 2 weeks in a row.

I've been planning dinner at 5:30 every night.

My kids haven't had a bath or shower in 5 days.

I can't remember the last time I washed my sheets, but I DID get them in the wash this morning.

I not only left out ALL the dishes from dinner last night, but I left the milk out on the counter all night too. Luckily we had a new one in the fridge or else the cereal would have been awfully dry this morning!

My kids ate fast food A LOT this week.

I've been meaning to take new photos of the kids for some frames on the walls but I haven't because the kids need baths, and hair brushing, and clean clothes, and to not be fighting. So... I'll get that done right around never.

I've been avoiding cleaning off the same counter for weeks.

My playroom is still so trashed that my kids refuse to play in there so they're driving me FREAKING nuts!

What's your dirty little secret?

Linking this post to:

My Own Medicine

2010-06-30T14:29:00.003-08:00

I can't count how many times I've cleaned our playroom in the last month. At least 4- and not just 'quick pick ups'. We're talking HOURS long cleaning sessions with all three kids that include crying, frustration and throwing fits. The kids don't like them much either!

EVERY TIME I make the kids help so that they know how much work it is to clean up. EVERY TIME they promise me that this time they'll put their toys and games away before choosing another. EVERY TIME I believe them, and they don't come through.

This week I got fed up with it, stuck the three fighting, outdoor-starved kids in the playroom and shut the the door. When it was clean (cleaner) they could come out. They argued for the first three hours, then banded together to defeat me in the easiest way possible, without actually cleaning of course. What can I say... they are MY kids after all.

They sent Boo out since she's the baby. At just barely 3 she expressed the message (from her brother and sister) that they shouldn't have to clean their mess if I don't clean my mess. Damn, I knew that was going to catch up to me somehow! Fortunately she cited my messy bedroom instead of any other dreaded area. I calmly told her that I made that mess, so I will clean it. I won't clean HER mess in the playroom any longer.

Today I made good. I went down to ~~the dungeon~~ my bedroom and paced around confused about where to even start. I eventually decided to collect all the laundry since it's the biggest problem in there. I collected garbage, brought up dishes, kept the wash going, sorted clothes to donate, FINALLY put extra less used clothes in our new dressers, made the bed and vacuumed. It took me ALL morning, but I am SO glad that I did it. I never realized how much I avoided hanging out in there until it was clean again.

My bed was calling me to lie down with a good book and enjoy my work. Unfortunately I still had the three (arguing) amigos and a thrashed playroom to deal with. Every part of me wants to go in the playroom and just clean it myself. It would take an hour- tops. Then I won't have to stress about it anymore. But then they win. And I lose. And that sucks.

Do you think Maury Povich has a boot camp for unruly preschoolers who aren't smoking and drinking but could use a kick in the booty? Like a Bootcamp Lite? I'm SO checking into it...

A Thick Blue Line

2010-06-29T11:36:00.004-08:00

File this under CRAP THAT COULD ONLY POSSIBLY HAPPEN TO ME.

It's been super rainy here for a while and the rainy weather causes my kids to fight and causes me to be ~~extra~~ lazy. Yesterday I got a whoosh of motivation and decided to rearrange the furniture in my living room. Who knows, maybe it will send me on a wild cleaning spree around my whole house! I even got the vacuum out which is impressive since we broke up two weeks ago...

Ok, step one. Move the recliner across the room to put the couch in its spot. Easy enough. Here we go... PULL!!! I drag the recliner ten feet across the room to it's new home. I stand up and see THIS... (make sure you click to blow up the photo so you can see it in all its glory!)

WTF!? The line was so perfect that at first I thought a marker must have been uncapped, upside-down, in the perfect position to draw a freaking line on my floor. Then I saw it. A blue crayon.

I dare you to go right now and draw a line that thick on your carpet with a crayon. Try it, go ahead. I'll wait.

*taps foot*

Are you back? It's next to impossible, right?! Unless you're really strong, and in that case I'm not responsible for damages. Sorry!

Apparently there was a crayon in the perfect spot under the foot of the chair, and as I dragged it across the living room it was caught in a perfect storm of crappy. A whole lot of scientific stuff went down with molecules and friction and equations and dog hair and the crayon MELTED into that nice blue line on my living room floor.

I freaked out and started running around like a crazy lady (not so unusual I suppose) trying to find ANYTHING that will erase this from my life. When all else fails pour water on it... or something like that. I sucked up the water with my carpet cleaner (it doesn't work well enough to use it like it's intended) and panicked. The blue color had just spread a few inches on either side and now I had a wider (but less blue) line on the floor. SHIZNIT!!

Ok, take 2... I came up with a cocktail of really hot water mixed with vinegar and doused the blue beast. I let it sit for a few minutes, and sucked up the water. Success!! Kinda...

I'm still not sure if there is blue residue left over on the teal carpet, or if the rest of the teal carpet is so dirty that the clean spot looks really bright, but I'm choosing to ignore either situation. I never thought I'd want to thank my 19 year old self for picking TEAL carpet, but I guess this is the one situation where teal seems like a good idea. Maybe I'll just put a couch over the spot and forget about it. Everyone loves a couch 2 feet from the tv, right!?

Another One Ignores The Dust

2010-06-24T14:48:00.003-08:00

I woke up this morning, got the laundry going, and made my bed. I came upstairs, made breakfast, rinsed the dishes, started cleaning the counters, and cuddled my babies. I got out my chore box, made a new list of the stuff that needs to get done and washed the table.

I'm not sure what happened after that since I must have blacked out, but 5 hours later I'm sitting on my couch with an empty Pringles can watching TV in my jammies.

Shiznit. Better luck tomorrow I guess!

Do's and Don'ts of Dishes

2010-06-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

I just read this article that was on the Yahoo home page about how 'pre-rinsing' dishes before running them through the dishwasher was a waste of water and time.

You have NO idea how much I wish that to be true, but I just don't buy it. I've tried ~~all the time~~ occasionally to stick yucky dishes in the dishwasher in the hope that my life would be changed by my magically clean dishes, and I could shout from the rooftops "Kenmore CHANGED MY LIFE!!". It hasn't happened yet. Instead I open the dishwasher to newly cemented crusties where last night's dinner was before. Then I get the extra special chore of jackhammering the crap off with a butter knife just to pre-rinse, then wash again. How much water does THAT waste "experts"??

The whole thing makes me want to take some nasty dishes to Lowes and make them run me a sample load before I buy a new dishwasher. Or maybe I want an excuse to make someone else wash my dishes... you decide! Why should I need a new dishwasher anyway!? Our dishwasher is a mere 6 years old, and again, according to the "experts" it shouldn't matter if my dishwasher is run by a hand crank- I still shouldn't have to pre-rinse.

I'm still VERY grateful to even have a dishwasher since it decided to take a vacation a few months ago, but for Yahoo to get me all excited with a "Dishes Habit To Avoid" headline is just mean... or maybe my head read it as "Dishes IS A Habit To Avoid". In that case I would have printed it out for Mr. Wright when he wondered why the house smelled like dinner from Tuesday!

What's your dishes policy? Pre-rinse? No pre-rinse? Come to my house and pre-rinse?

Let me know!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-06-18T13:46:00.003-08:00

My first dirty little secret is that I JUST realized it's Friday- whoops! Mr. Wright has his days off during the week so I never know what day it is during the summer.

I've gained 3 pounds this week from eating mass amounts of broccoli and rice... smothered in cheese... prepackaged... and swimming in sodium. What? They're REALLY good!

I filled up half of my new DVR with movies from Starz that I recorded just to watch over and over.

There are 10 loads of unfolded laundry on Mr. Wright's poker table. I should probably be folding them right now... hmmm, maybe later.

Our 50 inch plasma TV exploded this morning and I'm PRAYING that it wasn't all the dust all over it that did it in. And I'm scared that Mr. Wright is never going to be complete again without his baby.

I still don't have any desire to dust anything else as a precautionary measure.

We're spending the night at my parent's house in 2 hours and I haven't packed anything. And I can't pack because I haven't folded the laundry. And I haven't folded the laundry because I'm watching the movies on my DVR. See how I just spiral myself into laziness!?

What's your dirty little secret? I promise I won't tell!

Procrastination

2010-06-17T13:41:00.003-08:00

I should be doing dishes, calling Dish Network, folding laundry, washing more laundry, clearing off the table, bringing in the trash can, putting my kids down for a nap, de-cluttering, blogging about something useful, cleaning off the counters, brushing the dog, mowing the lawn and a few other things.

Instead I'm sitting on the couch, in my jammies, watching the US Open. (Also known as Annual Bor-Fest 2010) I did get 250 pieces of a 300 piece Hannah Montana puzzle done with Sweetie Pie this morning, so that's something. That thing was harder than it looked!

Before & After!

2010-06-14T15:23:00.003-08:00

I'm so lame today that I'm posting an OLD before and after... maybe it will inspire me to clean something. Doubt it, but it could happen! I was really inspired to clean today when it was sunny- I even made my bed today! Now the clouds have rolled in and my motivation has packed up its crap with the sun.

These photos are from the end of May right after this post. Sorry, no exciting photos of the garbage collection or phone calls!

Here's my entryway a few weeks ago before cleaning:
(It's like an I spy! I spy a clorox mop, backpack, 239843 shoes...)

And here's my entryway a few weeks ago after cleaning:
(Ahhh! The same amount of light is coming in, but it just looks lighter and brighter!)

The entryway currently is in between the two, but thankfully closer to the second than the first.

Wait... maybe I'm starting to feel a little inspired. Maybe? Yes!...uh...maybe?...nope. It's gone now- Whew! That was close!

Paint Party

2010-06-13T18:10:00.004-08:00

Ok, so I have another Dirty Little Secret... I hate paint. My poor kids rarely get to paint, and when they do we stick to watercolors. Even that takes DAYS to totally clean off every single surface that they touched. Sooooo.... I don't allow paint in the house. You know, because it's always spotless anyway! Uh, yeah. Moving on!

I saw this great idea at Little Hands, Big Work to put some paint in a sealed ziplock bag and 'draw' letters in it. I really wanted to try it, but due to my selective OCD I don't own any paint.

Luckily my mom and I has some free time to hit some yard sales on Saturday and while they were super disappointing in general I did come across this ONE thing- 6 big bottles of paint for a whole dollar.

They were so excited to see the paint, and even more excited when I started filling gallon bags with their favorite colors. I'm still me so I skipped the colored paper beneath it that she had on the blog, but they still thought it was really fun!

Little Man loves green, so he practiced his letters with the green bag.

Boo wanted blue and yellow and was more into feeling the paint squish between her hands than drawing letters.

And Sweetie Pie wanted to make purple, but took her time marbling the colors together slowly.

They played with them for 20-ish minutes this morning when we made them, but have picked them up and played for a few minutes at least 10 times already today. And the best part? NO clean up!!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-06-11T12:15:00.003-08:00

Welcome to this week's edition of my Dirty Little Secrets! Don't tell anyone... mmmkay!?

I've been letting my kids stay up WAY too late just because I haven't had the energy to do the bedtime routine.

I bought those crappy cheesy peanut butter sandwich crackers for my kids and ate most of them.

I'm addicted to entertainment headlines. I check People.com at least twice a day like a stalker.

We've eaten macaroni and cheese from a box two nights this week.

I haven't cleaned the kids' bathtub in months.

I watched Hannah Montana: The Movie this morning and cried at one part. I'm such a freaking baby!

I had 200 photos printed in the hopes that I would feel like scrapbooking, but I still don't.

Uhhh, I think that's it. I don't have as many when I keep up with the dishes & laundry! :D

What's your dirty little secret? Share in the comments!

A Whole Lot Of Random

2010-06-10T21:32:00.005-08:00

I've been SOOOOO busy and I have so much going on at once that I just haven't had time to even play Facebook games! I'm not sure if it's related or not but I did see this when I logged onto Yahoo today:

Coincidence!?

It's good to know that Farm Town, Social City and Restaurant City are missing me as much as I miss them! I have gotten a few things done off my never ending to do list though. I finally got the play room TOTALLY clean, and have checked it every hour since then to make sure it stays clean. I got 8 2-liter soda bottles cleaned out and filled with emergency water. I almost kept up with the laundry and I have been relatively keeping up with the dishes. Oh, and I threw a tiny party for Boo's 3rd birthday.

Now that I type it out it seems pretty pathetic for a whole week's worth of stuff, but I felt like I've been trying hard. I'm going to link this post up to a whole bunch of stuff to hopefully get some new readers and re-inspire me to get off my butt and get blogging again. I have easily 15 posts in my head that I need to get written but just haven't had the motivation. Soooo, welcome if you haven't been here before, and look forward to some new posts if you're a regular reader!

I'm going for a record of participating in the most blog carnivals in one day EVER, lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

Seeing Red

2010-06-03T20:47:00.002-08:00

Yesterday I was busy cooking dinner with Mr. Wright while the kids played outside. They play outside ALL THE TIME with no incident, but this time the 10 year old neighbor girl was playing with them.

I would normally assume that having a 10 year old with them was a good thing, but this time it turned out to be not so good. I don't want to blame anything on her since my kids were also covered in red spray paint, but some of the "art" was a bit too accurate for my 6 year old to have created. I checked on them periodically while I was making dinner and they were happily playing in the water table.

Little did I know that they were so enthused with the water table because they were trying to get the fire engine red paint off their hands. They had gotten the spray paint from our paint shelf in the garage (that's been there since they were babies and they have NEVER even given it a second look) and decided to decorate my house, their playhouse, their water table and a folding chair that was outside. WITH RED FREAKING SPRAY PAINT!

Luckily there was only one small spot on my green house, and I faded it a lot with a Magic Eraser, but they still used spray paint at 5 & 6 years old. I flew outside like the house was on fire and immediately sent them to their rooms. I glared at the neighbor girl for not mentioning this little activity to me and stormed into my house.

The kids ate dinner and had to sit on their beds until bedtime, which of course is the worst thing that I could possibly EVER do to them. I lectured them on making good choices, knowing right from wrong, yada, yada, yada. Then today happened...

I'll skip the details so this isn't a 12 page novel, but I found out that they stole 3 Hershey's bars from my in-laws motor home and hid them in Sweetie Pie's sweatshirt until they could get home and eat them in secrecy. It's SO stupid because if they had asked they would have gotten 12 candy bars, I'm sure, but since they had to take them they got in tons of trouble.

I'm SICK of punishing, and I'm sick of my kids being the hellions that I dreaded having before I had kids.

They don't make enough Butterfingers to get me through this week...

What I Did Today

2010-05-31T18:51:00.002-08:00

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

2010-05-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-05-27T09:01:00.003-08:00

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!

2010-05-25T17:32:00.005-08:00

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

2010-05-25T12:49:00.002-08:00

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

2010-05-23T09:18:00.002-08:00

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

2010-05-22T16:37:00.003-08:00

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

2010-05-17T12:59:00.002-08:00

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

2010-05-14T09:25:00.002-08:00

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

2010-05-05T14:45:00.003-08:00

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.

2010-05-03T19:24:00.002-08:00

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...

Dear Mrs. Wright

2010-04-27T20:52:00.004-08:00

I have a great tip today that I can't believe I haven't shared before! Since it's Works For Me Wednesday I thought I would let everyone know (one of) my secrets.

I e-mail myself. A lot. Probably more than anyone else.

I have free e-mail through Hotmail, but Google, Yahoo, etc. all would work. I e-mail myself reminders of things to do, addresses for me to remember later, and the most important thing- documents and photos!

It won't work for thousands of pictures obviously, but if you have a very special photo of your dog wearing a Halloween costume or the once in a lifetime photo of your kids ALL smiling and looking at the camera then you should e-mail it to yourself and you'll have it FOREVER... without paying a monthly fee for online storage.

I have a special file in my e-mail for important stuff like photos, resumes and other documents. If, God forbid, there was ever a disaster I would have some basics online that I'd be able to eventually access. I've been meaning to scan our social security cards, identifications and that kind of thing and save them in my e-mail too, but you have to personally decide if the security risk is worth the peace of mind. So... that's why e-mailing myself works for me!

Friend Making Monday!

2010-04-26T09:05:00.007-08:00

This week's Friend Making Monday topic is....

List 5 things {besides the obvious!} that you LOVE!

1. Sewing

I love making something fun out of a pile of fabric! I'm still learning so nothing is ever perfect, but I like that I can save money on things we would normally buy by making them!

2. Pajamas

Nice to meet you... I like jammies. I know that Mr. Wright would NEVER, EVER, EVER wear jammies like that, but I thought the picture was cute. Jammies straight from the dryer on a cold Alaskan evening is as close to heaven as it gets to me!

3. Reality TV

Currently it's Tori & Dean, The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, Kendra, The Ultimate Fighter, Deadliest Catch, among others... I just can't get enough!

4. Photography

I have a long way to go before my photography will be where I want it to be, but I'm having fun trying and using my basic skills to capture moments in time!

5. Snacks

Hi, nice to meet you again. I also like snacks. If the packaging of the snacks in this photo wasn't so old I would have been craving these things right now. Which I'm not... well, maybe... no, I'm not. Except the Oreos. But who can resist Oreos!?

Too Busy To Blog

2010-04-24T14:52:00.002-08:00

Sorry for the lame blog week but I've been SUPER busy.

I've been cleaning.
I've been sewing.
I've been purging.
I've been cooking meat for the freezer.
I've been planning a birthday party, a mini vacation and a garage sale.
I've been prepping our homeschool lessons for the summer.
I've been doing laundry and folding and folding and folding.
And I've been snuggling my babies, so all is not lost... :)

Bread Gone Wrong

2010-04-22T16:47:00.004-08:00

As lazy as I am, for some reason, I've always wanted to make my own bread. I think it's because my awesome friend makes her own bread... from scratch... every single day... with home ground wheat. Yeah. And she thinks I'M awesome. I don't know what's up with that either. Moving on...

I've always wanted to make my own bread, but I suck at baking. When my Grandma's bread machine was up for grabs I thought it would be the perfect way for me to "make" my own bread without being too responsible. Too bad the cloud of suckiness (not sure if that's a word or incorrectly spelled) that hangs over me decided that it wasn't my day to bake perfect bread.

First off, the breadmaker was clunking and grinding SO loudly that Mr. Wright asked that I move it into the bathroom. I didn't, but it was THAT loud. Apparently there were still some baked chunks from the last time where there shouldn't have been, and it results in a noise similar to those that I would imagine a dying cat would make.

After 4 long hours of waiting (actually, I forgot about it after the clunking phase was over... shhh!) I had my first EVER loaf of freshly baked bread. Kinda. It didn't rise very much, and was a *cough, cough* bit crispy, but I love her anyway. Her appearance may scare some, but everyone remembers their first loaf of bread... or not. Actually I'll keep trying until I get a perfect loaf, then remember THAT one as my first loaf of bread.

Earth Day Gone Wrong

2010-04-22T12:36:00.002-08:00

It's Earth Day! Celebrate the Mrs. Wright way by not making extra packaging from mop refills, cleaner bottles, or paper towels. I also watch my vacuum emissions and conserve water by skipping dishes and laundry... maybe for the whole week! I just love the planet- what can I say!?

Happy Earth Day!

Lazy Daze

2010-04-20T08:55:00.002-08:00

My kitchen is still trashed, but I was hardly lazy yesterday. My sister came to help me move all my new bedroom furniture, then I spent the afternoon moving two queen mattresses and box springs by myself through my house. My back is PISSED today! I haven't even started putting all the clothes and stuff back in the drawers, or moving on to another room, but I doubt I'll do ANYTHING today that doesn't involve laying on the couch whining ~~and eating snacks~~. I came home with boxes of things from my Grandma's house to integrate into my life since we spent the weekend cleaning out her house in preparation to sell. It is SO weird having my Grandma's possessions while she is still here on Earth, but I know that she wants us to all share her 'stuff' and not have it go unused in her empty house. I really want to share a picture of my new bedroom, but since I can't see it from my new home on the couch, I'll just have to wait a little longer! Mr. Wright is off work today, so maybe he'll get the kitchen all spiffed up for me!! Excuse me while I go DIE laughing at that thought! :P

Slipping Away

2010-04-19T08:36:00.002-08:00

On Saturday I made sure to get my kitchen all clean again, but then I forgot to run the dishwasher. To make it worse I was gone most of the day yesterday so my house is starting to spiral out of control. My entryway is littered with snowpants, gloves, boots, dirt and other random stuff since we're still battling the Winter monster here. And apparently my kids don't know how to hang stuff up... in their defense they HAVE been raised in a barn :P

I haven't done laundry in a few days, and I only cleaned my room to make space for my grandmother's bedroom set that I'm inheriting. The worst part is that I don't have much motivation today. I just want to get back in bed and sleep the day away. In my jammies. With cookies. And wake up when I feel better.

Maybe I can compromise and bust my butt this morning to get something done and snooze all afternoon. Maybe. Or maybe I should just find the cookies!

State Of My Kitchen Saturday

2010-04-17T08:59:00.003-08:00

It was just last Saturday that my kitchen was in pretty sad shape and I spent ALL DAY cleaning it. I've struggled every day this week to keep the dishes caught up and the counters clear, but when 5 people are constantly producing new dishes and putting crap down on the counters it is a lot to keep up with, but I did it. In fact, the kitchen was still spotless even yesterday, but I ran out of steam last night and never loaded the dishwasher or cleaned up the dinner dishes.

It's funny that last Friday even that photo would have been a super clean version of my kitchen, but by now I just get disappointed when I see it. I can FEEL my new clean kitchen slipping through my fingers, and it makes me panic since I've worked so hard to keep it clean(er). I'm going to get it back in shape RIGHT NOW, before I get distracted with ~~Easter candy~~ something super important.

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-04-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday again... time for some dirty little secrets! If you have dirty little secrets of your own PLEASE share them in the comments. I'm sure you're not even the only one who feels that way!

Sometimes I think about flipping my kids's doorknob inside out so that I can lock them in. I'm not a huge fan of jail time though, so I never do it.

I ate 2 full size kit kats for breakfast on Wednesday, and 4 peppermint patties for breakfast yesterday.

I take hundreds of pictures of other people's kids, but NONE of my own.

I haven't printed pictures, even snapshots, in over a year.

I LOVE my house clean and decluttered, but I hate putting in the constant work.

When Mr. Wright forces me to watch 25 hours of The Pacific it makes me fantasize about forcing him to watch 25 hours of Tori and Dean.

I've forgotten to let my kids pick out their prizes from the "Mommy Shop" two weeks in a row.

I know that if I exercised I could lose my muffin top, but I'm just way too lazy to even try.

My kids haven't had a bath in almost a week.

I wore a shirt one day this week, then slept in it, then wore it again the next day.

What's your dirty little secret!? I promise I won't tell!

Things I've Done Thursday!

2010-04-15T08:59:00.002-08:00

There are a million things that I wanted to get done and didn't. There are a million things that I should have done and didn't. But today I want to share what I DID get done:

I spent 2 hours working on the playroom and I'm starting to see a glimpse of light in there.

The kids and I sorted their dress up, baby clothes and puzzles and made a big pile to give away.

I've been fighting the good fight against a cluttered, messy kitchen. It isn't as perfect as it was on Saturday but it's WAY better than it normally is six days after I clean it!

I've gotten multiple paperwork things done this week that I've been putting off for MONTHS and it feels SO great to not have them hanging over my head!

What have you gotten done!? Leave a comment so we can all be impressed!

Lunches Gone Lazy

2010-04-13T21:15:00.003-08:00

Since it's no secret that I am not a huge fan of getting stuff done I thought I'd share a little lazy tip for Works For Me Wednesday. I HATE making cold lunches for Sweetie Pie, especially the sandwiches since you have to wait until the last minute to make them or else the jelly gets all gross on the bread. UNLESS you're a lazy mom, then you could make it the night before with a tiny modification. You ready!?

Put the peanut butter on BOTH sides of the bread, then some jelly in the middle. That way the jelly can't soak into the bread and get all nasty. The BEST tip ever is this... you make a bunch of sandwiches like this, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, put them back in the bread bag and toss them in the freezer. Now you have ready to go single serving sandwiches that you can literally throw in the lunchbox as you're yelling at the kids to get in the car because you're late- and they can thaw before lunch time! Not that I ever need that type of thing... but this possibly works for me!

Played Out

2010-04-12T21:38:00.003-08:00

Today is officially day eleventy billion of the playroom clean up 2010 and I'm super thrilled to report no new progress... unless you count moving stuff out of the new playroom back into the old playroom so it looks cleaner progress. Yeah... I don't either.

My new plan:
anything that isn't put away yet probably doesn't have a home
if I don't have a home for it can go downstairs
if the kids and I don't notice it's downstairs then we don't need it
it will be easier to donate when it's downstairs anyway

So technically there is a method to my madness, but right now it just looks like I'm stashing all the crap I don't want to sort through in a room that I can lock. Which may ~~or may not~~ be true.

These photos are from Saturday, but it doesn't look a whole lot different now.

Scary, isn't it? I can't wait for it to be d.o.n.e so my kids will play in there and leave me the heck alone for 2 whole seconds. A girl can dream, can't she??

Chocolate Sunday

2010-04-11T19:32:00.003-08:00

I'm still really tired and worn out from yesterday's cleaning spree. I tried to continue the energy burst in the playroom but got tired and the Easter candy started taunting me. Why must you be SO tasty marshmallow eggs? I did maintain my spotless kitchen, and my dining room made it through 3 meals and playdoh without a speck on the floor.

I unfortunately made hardly any progress in the playroom and I'm growing increasingly frustrated with the mess with each passing day. There is too much stuff and we could give half away, but the kids won't part with it and I don't want to cause a screaming fight over McDonald's toys. Little Man also recently stopped napping which makes it really hard to sneak crap out of there without being caught. I guess I'll just have to avoid that room for a few more days until Mr. Wright will be home to distract the little ones. Until then I'll just have to hold the couch down some more and hope my back feels better. Now where did I put those marshmallow eggs?

My Favorite Things

2010-04-11T07:10:00.005-08:00

Mousepads and bathrooms, beanbags and placemats, these are a few of my favorite things! Be thankful you can't hear me sing that...

I am SO going to alter a mousepad like this for the kids' computer like Kimbo from A Girl and a Glue Gun!

Ashley from Make It and Love It whipped up this bathroom makeover with some extra fabric... I wish I could pull that off!

Someday I'll get around to making a few of these adorable beanbags for my monkies to jump on!

I thought these set-the-table placemats were so smart, so I'm going to print out a few and get my little ones to help me set the table before meals.

Sweetie pie would ADORE this kindergarten level sewing activity I saw on Flipflops and Applesauce.

I HATE hemming because I have to measure every inch or so with my tiny hem gauge. I think this pressing guide may just change my life!

I'm also planning on using this fantastic PVC pipe as a curtain rod tutorial in a few places around my house! How cool is that!?

I hope you enjoyed my favorite things!

Pain In My Back

2010-04-10T18:39:00.004-08:00

Now I'm REALLY cranky, and tired, and wishing that I could afford a maid, but my kitchen is clean!

Here's the before and after:

And my dining room got a cleaning too!

I also bleached the bathtub and all the kids tub toys, vacuumed and steam mopped the bathroom, dining room, and kitchen, did 2 loads of dishes, cleaned off the counters, washed, folded and put away 4 loads of laundry and made dinner. Now my back freaking hurts and I'm going to need to medicate it with Easter Bunny Kit Kats... and York Peppermint Patties... and maybe some Resse's Pieces. What? I had a hard day!

Saturday Update

2010-04-10T08:50:00.004-08:00

This week sucked... hate to admit it. I'm still really excited to try my new system, but it didn't quite work for me this week. I think it would work better for me if my house was already clean, and I used the system for maintenance. Since my house is currently a nasty pit doing one or two things in a room really didn't make any difference. The rooms that were clean (the bathroom and kids' room) did stay clean with a daily pickup, so at least I made some progress this week!

Every morning I wake up telling myself that "today is the day" that I going to bust my butt and make huge progress. Mr. Wright will be so happy when he gets home, and we can spend the evening singing Kumbaya (too lazy to google the spelling) and cleaning up after ourselves. Buuuuuut, that never happens. I do one or two chores, get distracted or tired and vow to do better tomorrow.

I REALLY need today to be somewhat productive. We don't have any clean dishes, I've had to match Mr. Wright some socks out of the sock orphanage two mornings in a row, and Little Man STILL doesn't have any pajamas. To fully motivate myself I'm going to post this super scary kitchen photo so I can force myself to post a super shiny Marta kitchen later today. Or I can look like an ass and post a less dirty photo. Or I can forget and not post any at all. But I'll try for the first one!

Yikes... maybe I should just move instead!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-04-09T09:46:00.003-08:00

This has been quite the slacktastic week, so I'll have no shortage of secrets to spill!

I made a double batch of pasta bake last night for dinner so that we could have leftovers today, but then I decided to get caught up on Private Practice and left it out all night.

I may have also left a batch of cookies burnt to the pan out all night. Oops!

I haven't watered the kids' plants in a week and they're starting to fade.

I still have easter stuff EVERYWHERE with no plans to put it away anytime soon.

I've been giving my kids Capri Suns because we're out of juice because the sink is full of dishes so I can't make more.

I found a basket of crap in the kids' closet full of toys that they haven't missed in 3 months, but I can't bring myself to just dump the whole thing.

I rewashed a mildewing load of laundry with a tiny beat of bleach so no one would know it ever smelled. Shh!

My laundry folding table is COVERED in stuff to fold, and Little Man hasn't had jammies in 4 days.

I need to take Sweetie Pie to school in 10 minutes and I still haven't made her lunch, brushed her hair or stopped blogging.

I spent $20 on new water bottles that I've used exactly once.

I ate 10 20 starbursts for dinner last night, after telling my doctor that I eat a balance diet.

I freaking HATE American Idol.

I can't wait for summer when I can wear jammies all day again.

What's your dirty little secret? Please share in the comments so I can show my husband that I'm not the only one who doesn't have it all together. Don't worry, I'll probably forget to show him anyway!

Ultimate Blog Party 2010!

2010-04-08T20:55:00.003-08:00

I love making new friends, so I jumped at the chance to participate in the Ultimate Blog Party 2010! If you're coming from the UBP'10 then welcome! I'm Mrs. Wright... I hate cleaning, and I suck at it. I love my kids, but I suck at doing fun stuff with them. My husband doesn't appreciate never having clean clothes/forks/floors, but is patient (most of the time :P) Join me on my journey to get my 'chores' done, be a better mom to my kids, spill my secrets, and occasionally do something crafty. If you enjoy my site then I invite you to subscribe (right above my hot photo ;)!) or follow me through Google Friend Connect and/or through Facebook or Twitter. I'm everywhere baby!

Did I link to enough crap in that paragraph? I hope all the links work since I typed this while watching 16 and Pregnant since I have Task ADD... It's like multitasking without all the responsibility. Thanks for stopping by!

Decisions

2010-04-08T14:08:00.002-08:00

I'm tired. And cranky. And I just want to take a nap and sleep the whole day away. Unfortunately I STILL haven't gotten off my butt and organized the play room, or done anything in the living room (my Thursday room!). I did work on the play room for a little bit yesterday, but nothing too productive. Now I'm faced with a hard choice... admit defeat again and take a nap, or get up, clean something, and move on. I'm still undecided... maybe pajama pants would help!?

WFMW: Tomorrow Bags!

2010-04-06T21:26:00.003-08:00

Back in January I found this post from Give It A Go about an ingenious idea to make a drawstring bag for 'tomorrow's' clothes and was instantly inspired. I made a bag for each of my kids (a GREAT fabric stash-busting project!) and even hung hooks in the bathroom for the kids' bathrobes and tomorrow bags. If I could do it again I would use silky ribbon since it can be a chore to cinch up the flannel fabric on grosgrain ribbon, but I'm pleased that I didn't have buy anything for this project.

If you notice in the photo I don't have the bags on the hook in the bathroom since the little munchkins have been getting up at the buttcrack of dawn and are banished to their room until 7:30. You can also get a first glimpse at the orphanage style bedroom setup! This is the darkest room in the house (useful for kids in Alaska in the summer!) and all they have in here is their beds, clothes and a tv. Don't mind that "curtain"... I bought a real one today but haven't gotten it up yet obviously. I'm still working on the (new) playroom, but I did get the master bathroom bleach-ified today.

Every night, when I pull out their jammies, I grab an outfit for the next day and ~~shove~~ gently place their stuff in the tomorrow bag. I throw it over their bedpost and my kids won't look AS homeless and mismatched the next day! That's why Tomorrow Bags work for me!

Bleached

2010-04-06T14:39:00.003-08:00

Day one of my 'new plan' went off without a hitch! I got a ton of laundry done that came from the bathroom, cleaned the toilet, counter and sink, and left the whole room tidy and smelling like bleach. I try to be environmentally friendly, but nothing makes me feel productive like the sweet scent of bleach. Maybe I should invent a bleach scented candle and sell it to all the other tired 'homemakers'. I could make millions!

Today I'm supposed to be working on my bedroom and master bathroom and as of almost 3pm I haven't done a thing. I actually need to focus my energy on finishing the bedroom swapping that I did over the weekend since I dropped the ball and now my monsters don't have anywhere to play. I'm hoping to get my bedroom a little picked up, give the bathroom a bleach makeover, and get most of the new playroom organized today. That's a lot to take on, but I'm feeling extra motivated today... must be my new bleach candle!

A New Plan

2010-04-04T21:37:00.002-08:00

You know when you've never heard of something before, then all of a sudden you hear about it again and again within a few days? That's what happened with The Food Nanny and me. My friend Mrs. Awesome had mentioned this great show that she had seen on BYU tv and told me all about The Food Nanny. Then I saw this post from Jen @ Tatertots & Jello and got all excited again. My meal planning 'strategy' (plan when I feel like it and scrounge for the crap in the bottom of the freezer when I don't) needs some serious TLC, and this seemed SO easy. It gave me the permission I needed to make the same type of this every Monday. And it also got my brain thinking...

This system made meal planning seem like a no brainer. I already have recipes printed out and sorted by the main meat in my recipe binder, and it would be easy to move them to theme dividers instead. My OCD wants to sort them by theme and then by main meat, but my OCD also wants to alphabetize the cheeses in my deli drawer, so I don't listen to her very often... she's a little nuts. Anyway, I'm getting off track- if this system made dinner seem like a no-brainer why couldn't it work for other things? I'm not sure if you've caught on yet, but I have some trouble keeping my house clean. Would this magical Food Nanny brainstorm help me keep my house from looking like a bomb went off and then a tornado came through the wreckage? Stay tuned for the answer to that one.

I present my new housekeeping schedule:

*Monday*
Bathrooms
*Tuesday*
Master bedroom/ bathroom
*Wednesday*
Kids’ rooms
*Thursday*
Living Room
*Friday*
Kitchen
*Saturday*
Extra room
*Sunday*
Something crafty, fun or for yourself

I need a schedule that's pretty flexible, at least in the beginning so I can figure out what's going to work for me. Tomorrow I'm going to start on my bathrooms, and just commit to doing ANYTHING to make them better than they are now. I made sure that Tuesdays and Thursdays were the least important areas since I work those days and am less likely to do something super productive those days. Saturdays are for the laundry room, garage, entryway, etc that don't really need weekly upkeep but need time. I really hope it works out and actually have tried this years ago with fairly good results!

I'm linking this post to Messy Monday at Moms In Need of Mercy, since I know all about Messy Mondays... and Tuesdays... and, well, you get the point!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T09:01:00.002-08:00

We actually did our Easter morning yesterday since Mr. Wright had to be at work at 6:30am today, so today we're laying around watching Barbie in a Mermaid Tale and doing laundry. I hope everyone is enjoying time with their family!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-04-02T09:10:00.002-08:00

Welcome to another rousing edition of Dirty Little Secrets.

Sweetie Pie's wet swimming stuff from Wednesday is still sitting on my laundry room floor.

I can never remember to charge my cell phone at night, so we're paying $100 a month for me to basically carry a dead phone in my purse.

I love magazines and books, so I buy and subscribe to tons, but then never get a chance to read them.

Yesterday I made cookies that I know the family doesn't like so that I could eat them all by myself.

I keep my netflix movie for a whole month without watching it and then force myself to watch it just so I can send it back and get a new movie I won't watch.

If I could hire a maid or a cook, I'd hire a cook. I HATE making dinner... and lunch... and breakfast.

I haven't done anything crafty in at least 3 weeks.

We're moving our Easter to tomorrow since Mr. Wright has to work on Sunday and I'm SOOO unprepared.

Sweetie Pie is supposed to wear jammies to school today, and in the past I've had the decency to at least put her in clean jammies. Today she's going in the ones she wore to bed.

My entryway is SO gross with mud and dirt everywhere, and I haven't even wiped the mud Little Man got all over the door, much less the floor!

Mr. Wright has been asking me to file our tax amendment for months, and I still haven't done it. Maybe tomorrow!

What's your dirty little secret?

Blogiversary

2010-03-31T13:12:00.003-08:00

Today I:

got ALL my counters cleared off
got my dishes washed and put away
washed and folded 2 loads of laundry
rearranged the living room furniture and vacuumed
practiced counting with Boo
organized the Easter Bunny's goodies
fed my kids leftover pizza and cheetos for lunch
ate some pudding before 11am
got dressed
planned ahead for Little Man's birthday gift
spent too much time on the computer
wished for a miracle
talked on the phone...

and today I celebrated my very first blogiversary.

As I said in my whiny post, I'm not happy with my progress in the last year, but tomorrow is a new day. With the help of my friends, other bloggers and even strangers across the world that stumble upon my little site I've felt not so alone in my quest to get it all together. I've read every single comment, and appreciated each one... except those few about prescription meds. Those comments suck.

Anyway, today also wraps up March, the month with the most visitors to my site ever. Thousands of people in 20+ countries come to read the random crap I have to say every month and that just blows my mind. I'm just a little lady from Alaska blogging in my jammies who hates dishes... and laundry... and prescription med spam.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In Week 5

2010-03-30T18:13:00.002-08:00

Another week gone- how did you do? I've completely stalled out on the 40 bags projects since I can barely find a place to put down my cereal (for dinner) bowl, much less sort and purge. I did find some bonus uncounted trash bags in the garage that were left behind from the game room projects, but I'm still going to have to bust my butt tomorrow to get my bags done although it is technically past the 40 days. I'm no theology major, but I'm pretty sure that God gave us more than 40 days between Lent and Easter because he knew I would need a few days off.

*That was a joke, please don't send me e-mails with big words in it!*

I have no pictures, again, because my camera card hasn't left my laptop in 2 weeks, much less taken a photo. I need a day off of life to catch up, but I'd probably just collapse and take a nap instead.

Here's my totals:

Week 1- 5 bags
Week 2- 11 bags
Week 3- 0 bags
Week 4- 19 bags
Week 5- 3 bags
Total on Day 42- 38 bags

How are you doing in the home stretch? Leave your progress in the comments so I don't feel so alone!

Whine & Dine (A Whiny Post)

2010-03-29T09:21:00.003-08:00

I'm down with a case of can't get my life together syndrome. Obviously I was never good at getting it together, but the last few weeks have been pretty interesting. I can clearly see what needs to be done, and I can even take the first step to get things picked up and put away, but then I just stall out.

Earlier this week I cleaned the living room. I tipped up the couches, vacuumed everything, organized what stays in the living room and put everything that doesn't belong in a laundry basket to be sorted and put away. Those 2 laundry baskets are still sitting in my dining room. If I just sorted them it would take maybe 10 minutes, but my brain can't focus on that since I feel like I could do 10 minute jobs for the rest of my life and still not get it all done.

As a "good mom" I'm supposed to remember that my kids won't remember whether there were laundry baskets in my dining room for 2 weeks and do something fun with them instead. As a good time manager I'm supposed to schedule a time when I do my cleaning and organizing that still allows for family time. Unfortunately I tried that (remember the living room cleaning!) and didn't even get one room done. As a good housekeeper I'm supposed to be Spring Cleaning using one of those never ending lists that include taking pillows outside to air out and wiping heating registers. I'll get right one that...

With my 1 year blogiversary coming up on Wednesday it's become more clear than ever that not only am I no better at life than I was a year ago, but looking at my dining room it's almost worse. I don't want to be super mom, and I'm fine with never airing my pillows or wiping the heat registers, but keeping up on the dishes and laundry still seems like a fantasy.

I wanted to do a giveaway for my blogiversary, but fittingly I didn't get my crap together in time... there's always next year!

Sheet Folding 101

2010-03-27T09:13:00.002-08:00

Yesterday after baring my soul on my dirty little secrets I finally got around to folding ~~all~~ some of that pesky laundry. I had been avoiding it since it was the last of the laundry room stuff so it was basically a giant load of fitted sheets. Anyone who enjoys folding fitted sheets needs therapy, but this video from Life As Mom made folding a billion fitted sheets suck a tiny bit less, so I had to share!

How To Fold A Fitted Sheet- Life As Mom

Check it out!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-03-26T09:30:00.003-08:00

It's Friday again, and that means it time to tell you that I've made NO progress on any of my dirty little secrets from last week.

I've had laundry baskets filled with sheets and towels for almost 10 days now sitting unfolded in my living room. When I pick up I just stack them on top of each other.

I have a million things to do, but I can't help but sit around and watch tv or movies after the kids go to bed. I should be folding, editing, cleaning or purging, but I'm just mush these days.

The previous confession makes me feel really old.

I got my glasses this week but I can't decide if they make me look cute or like a librarian.

I was scared that the garbage truck wasn't going to pick up my trash because I can't remember when I last payed the bill. I made a point to get home so I could bring it in before a lot of people saw in case it was still full.

I hate making lunches so I try to talk Sweetie Pie into eating hot lunch everyday since I don't have to do anything.

I can't wait for real Alaska spring so I don't have to keep track of hats, gloves, snowpants, and boots.

I ate an entire box of red beans and rice by myself yesterday. And just typing that makes me want another one!

What's your dirty little secret!? You know you want to share...

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In Week 5

2010-03-25T09:12:00.003-08:00

I've had a week that just wouldn't stop 'giving' so I totally forgot to post my 40 bags in 40 days update!

I'm really regretting upping my personal challenge to 60 bags last week like a dummy. I'm sure I could do it crap-level wise, but I didn't really account for all these disasters taking up all my free time and energy. I did manage to get a few cabinets in my kitchen decluttered, but other than that the progress has been slow. With the challenge wrapping up next week I'm starting to panic a bit about making the original 40 bag finish line, much less the cocky 60 bag challenge I gave myself.

Here's my updated totals:
Week 1- 5 bags
Week 2- 11 bags
Week 3- 0 bags
Week 4- 19 bags
Week 5- 3 bags

Total so far: 38 bags

I still have a coat closet, 2 bathrooms, my bedroom and some stragglers from the big game room cleaning to go through, so my goal is still attainable if I put in the work, but that's a scary place to be when I'm kinda known for not putting work into anything. The good news is that I seem to have a pattern in my decluttering style that allows for one slacking week, then one panicking week. Hopefully the panicking will really kick in on a day when I actually have the time to devote to finishing up!

How is everyone else doing in their quest for less crap?

A REAL Dry Spell!

2010-03-23T22:34:00.003-08:00

We got to stay up really late Sunday night and wonder what was going on when all our faucets started spraying sandy water. After a midnight visit from my father in law (who tried to look down the well with those darn moose who are wearing out their welcome just a few feet away!) we were instructed not to use any water until he could come back and check it out in the daylight. Not an easy task with 3 kids, and inevitable cooking and cleaning to do. My awesome sister came to the rescue and brought me a few gallons of water in the morning, but it really showed me how unprepared we are for a real emergency! I do have storage water in the garage, but I never put bleach in it so I'd only be able to use it for toilet water and washing anyway. So if there was a catastrophe today, I'd have NO water!

I've always kept a MAJOR disaster plan that we'd use the 800 gallon water bladder under my house that my well feeds to, but unfortunately my father in law discovered the bladder was the culprit of our sandy issues. Apparently my well is pretty dry this time of year so the bladder was completely full of AIR, instead of water. That would have really sucked in an emergency!

I'm just glad that for now, hopefully, we'll have water as long as we try to conserve and not leave the well pump on all the time. And I also want to point out that I've never wanted to shower more than right after I haven't been able to...

So, my mission for this week is to fill up my empty 5 gallon water bags with bleached water so I'll be more prepared for next time. My life has always followed the "if you have it then you'll never need it" philosophy, so I like to look at my future water supply as insurance against 2012 and zombies. My friend linked me to this awesome emergency preparedness blog that lists the amount of bleach per gallon for storing drinking water. I immediately subscribed because the whole blog was filled with great ideas!

I'm thanking my lucky stars that my supplies were tested without the consequences of a real emergency and now I'll be able to get my act together! Being prepared with even basics like water Works For Me!

Friend Making Monday!

2010-03-21T21:29:00.002-08:00

It's Friend Making Monday again, and I love making new friends!! Check out Amber's blog at {AEFilkins} to catch up with how everyone else feels about Spring!

1. Favorite things about Spring:
Hearing the birds come out, and the SUNSHINE that we don't see often in winter!

2. What I'm doing for Spring Break:
We already our official school spring break. We sat around in our jammies a lot.

3. Favorite Spring flower:
Tulips, but I rarely have fresh flowers in the house.

4. Do you have a garden?
We have some bulbs started, but it's still too cold to put them outside.

5. If so, what do you grow?
We planted peas and wildflowers this year just for fun.

6. Do you do Spring cleaning?
Yes, I'm doing the 40 bags in 40 days challenge for the clutter, but Spring just always make me want to actually clean stuff.

7. What is your weather *really* like right now? {Just b/c it's "officially" spring, doesn't mean that it feels like it for some of you}
It's been 30-40 degrees here which is a heat wave in Alaska in Spring, but we still have a bunch of snow on the ground.

8. Snapped any weather related photos lately? Share one with us!
I took one for this post of my moose in the snow that are STILL HERE, 8 days since that post!

9. What's your favorite thing to do on a sunny afternoon?
Yesterday we played at my brother-in-law's house and it was so fun to play in the snow without totally freezing my butt off!

10. Favorite TV show right now?
I've been watching all the Big Love on my DVR, so I love that show right now, but I'm also loving Undercover Boss, The Amazing Race, and The Biggest Loser. And I LOVE Tori Spelling, so I'm already counting down to the season premier of Tori & Dean in April!

Dry Spell

2010-03-20T09:31:00.005-08:00

There's still dishes in the sink.

And crap on the counters.

Sticky stuff on the floor.

Laundry to fold... and put away.

Bills to pay.

Errands to run.

Games to play.

Rooms to organize.

But... there's no longer a diaper to change.

I can't decide if I'm happy or sad. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled at the prospect of never wiping a nasty tush again, but it is just one more sign that my little munchkins aren't so little anymore. After being day trained since we did 3 Day Potty training last June she's been wearing diapers only at naptime and bedtime. It's better than all the time, especially since she rarely did more than pee in them, but it still sucked to buy diapers. Finally this week I decided to try again and put her in undies all the time. She did pee one night, but only because I forgot to take her potty before I went to bed. Other than that we've had 6 dry nights which makes me very happy... and sad. Now I'll have more time to not clean or organize!

Dirty Little Secrets

2010-03-19T09:01:00.003-08:00

It's that time of the week again- where I share all the happenings of this week that probably shouldn't be happening. Here we go!

I've been keeping up with washing and even folding laundry, but I haven't put any away for over a week and there's folded laundry everywhere but in the drawers.

My kids spilled milk all over the counter and our census, but didn't tell me until I found the dried milk and shredded census... 3 days later :-X It smelled SO bad.

Sweetie Pie hasn't had a sheet on her bed in a month because I washed it and didn't put it back.

We ran out of bread and I packed a 'turkey on hamburger bun' treat in Sweetie Pie's lunch yesterday. I accented with stale chex mix and some Valentine's candy. Mother of the year strikes again.

You can hardly walk in the kids' bathroom because there is a SHALLOW layer of laundry on the floor.

The other day I ate eggs, Resses cups, and tortilla chips... all day.

Little Man has needed a haircut for a month, but I just keep letting it grow.

Do you have a dirty little secret? Share in the comments!

Still Sewing

2010-03-18T09:13:00.003-08:00

I spent yesterday sewing a new purse instead of purging and organizing, but now that I have a clean craft space I can't keep on task to do anything else. I just want to sew, sew, sew! I'm not scared for my 60 bag goal though, since I know as soon as I get my act together I'll fill a bunch of bags. For now I'm going to craft away and plan out my attack on the clutter in the rest of the house... from the couch anyway!

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In Week 4

2010-03-16T06:00:00.002-08:00

28 days in... how are you doing? I didn't get anything bagged up last week so I had a huge week with 2 week's worth of crap ready to get shipped out. Here's my progress:

Week 1- 5 bags
Week 2- 11 bags
Week 3- 0 bags
Week 4- 19 bags (10 bags of donations, 5 bags of garbage from the game room, 4 bags of kids clothes to the consignment store)
Day 28 total- 35 bags!!

I've decided to up my goal to 60 bags since I still have SO much stuff to go through. Plus it's a tiny bit more than 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter anyway. I am THRILLED with my newly cleaned and organized craft space and I can't believe that I robbed myself of that experience just to hold on to *crap* that I don't even miss. Yes, it was a lot of work to sort everything and get rid of it, but it's a lot of work to maintain a ton of crap too.

I'm looking forward to cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and washing them all out this week. Did that really just come out?? I can't wait to grab something out of a cupboard and not have to pull something off the top of it first. And I'm SUPER excited to be able to grab a utensil out of my huge mess of a utensil drawer without playing a minute-long version of Spot The Spatula. Depending on how much time I find for purging and organizing this week I'd also like to hit the bathroom cabinets and the scary pile of junk in my coat closet.

Are you participating in the 40 bags in 40 days challenge? How's it going? How are you feeling about your progress? Did you find anything cool that I may want!? JUST KIDDING... unless it's SUPER cool.

Random Sewing, Organizing, Moose Stuff

2010-03-13T17:02:00.006-09:00

Ta-daaaaa!!

After weeks of cleaning, sorting, purging, organizing and stressing my game room is now spot.less. {See the before picture here} 10 more bags of donations were dropped off the other day, and 5 bags of garbage went to the dump this morning. I celebrating by slacking on cleaning anything else and SEWING instead. It's been months since I was able to sew on my sewing table- in fact, when I cleaned off the table I found HALLOWEEN projects on the bottom layer. Halloween, people. It's almost Easter.

Here's the laundry room already buried in 'to be folded' laundry. Notice my new ironing board "cover" that I hot glued on to match my folding table :P

Today I made this adorable ruffled camera strap but made it into a slipcover like I learned how to do here. I attempted my first slipcover way back when I didn't have a TON of fabric, so I used some Hello Kitty scraps just to try it. I ended up leaving it on for a really long time until I finally ditched it and had a naked strap again. And it's been naked. And cold. For a year. Until today.
Please don't look too closely as I don't really have my 'A-game' on...

I also wanted to share our little friend who is stalking us and preventing us from bringing the trash can in the ONE week I really want it. I've gone to get it THREE TIMES and had her there every time. Take note of the "Spring Break" weather we have going on... practically tropical.

I'm taking the weekend off and then starting bright and early Monday morning on kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Maybe.

Dirty Little Secrets!

2010-03-12T13:20:00.003-09:00

Slow week since I've been too busy to cut corners... here's this week's Dirty Little Secrets:

I still have books from the school library from over a month ago.

Sweetie Pie really needs a bath.

I still haven't watched any of the 60 hours of stuff I have on the dvr.

I'm dreading school starting again. I've been enjoying Spring Break since I didn't have to get dressed and leave the house every day.

I spent our anniversary money on stuff for myself. Shhh.

I kept a TON of scrapbook supplies but don't know if I'll ever scrapbook again.

My entryway has looked like a hurricane came through for the last 3 weeks at least.

After organizing all my fabric I've decided that I have a problem with buying fabric with no purpose.

I have at least 10 loads of laundry to fold that I've been avoiding because it has sheets in it and I HATE folding sheets.

My kids hardly got any dollars for being good this week because I've been in a bad mood. To be fair, sometimes they are the reason that I've been in a bad mood.

I've been shutting the door to my bedroom when we have people over instead of just cleaning it up. Because that would make more laundry... that I wouldn't fold.

I have 15 books on my 'to be read' shelf that I NEVER get to.

I waxed my eyebrows yesterday and then walked around all day with fuzzies stuck to the sticky residue that got left behind. It rocked...

Do you have a dirty little secret to share? Leave it in the comments!

Folding Table Re-do!

2010-03-10T12:08:00.004-09:00

I was browsing blogs the other day and came upon this post from the Thrifty Decor Chick where she hot glued fabric to an ugly table. My heart began to beat a little faster as soon as I realized I too had a fugly table, 2 yards of the perfect fabric, and a (stolen) hot glue gun (thanks Mom!).

Yesterday, an hour before we had to leave for a party, I decided to bust this project out. I put the fugly table on it's side and dusted it off. I think this came from my brother in law, and I remember it spending a winter on my porch which explains it's gorgeous appearance!

I glued the selvage edge right along the underside of the table about 6 inches at a time so the glue wouldn't cool too much before I could get it straight.

All the way to the end...

Then I trimmed all the other sides of the fabric about 3 inches from the edge of the table.

I flipped the table over, and stretched the fabric to the other long side. I glued the second long side just like the first making sure to pull the fabric taut and even all the way across.

I did the short sides the same way, then kind of squashed the corners and sandwiched some glue wherever it would stay.

Then I realized that I'm an idiot who forgot to IRON the fabric, so I turned my iron on super low and got as many wrinkles out as I could before the burning plastic smell became too great... this step is not pictured. Also not pictured is me eating a Thin Mint between each step. Shhh!

Then I put a few scrapes in my newly painted walls trying to wrestle it into the laundry room without collapsing it because I'm lazy.

Someday I'll put the skirt on it like Sarah's so I can hide crap under it, but for now it is just what I needed! Welcome to your new life Table Formally Known As Fugly!

*** If you liked this post check out my matching hot glued ironing board 'cover' or some of the other Crap I Made! ***