Dirty Little Secrets

Dear Readers, it has been a week since my last confession... probably, but I'm too lazy to check, so here we go!

I've eaten my weight in Reese's today.

I'm such a lightweight that I took off-brand, expired cough syrup last night and could barely peel myself out of bed this morning.

I couldn't wait to get my washer and dryer reconnected after the sheetrocking, but once I had it back I didn't feel like doing laundry anymore.

Someone spilled juice under the dining room table and now it's all sticky. I've been too lazy to clean it up.

I force myself to play Guitar Hero because I spent so much money on it.

I bought everything to plant bulbs with the kids two weeks ago, and it's still sitting on the counter.

I am unnaturally excited about my laundry room being finished and painted.

To celebrate I bought 24 Bounce Dryer Bars on Amazon. They don't even ship to Alaska, so I sent them to a friend to forward to me. They are the BEST things ever, but almost $8 each here. I'm obsessed!

I secretly hope that Bounce sends me some free stuff for linking to them, even though I know they won't :P

I live in Alaska, but I hate snow more than ANYTHING. I wish it would just go away forever!

I haven't left the house in 2 days unless you count walking the garbage can to the end of the driveway.

Sweetie Pie stayed home from school yesterday and today because she is SO sick, cranky and tired that I wouldn't force the teacher to have her.

I upgraded our internet usage limit so I could stream a movie on Netflix.

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

Before & After!

We're all home sick today so my progress has slowed to a... uh, stop. Since I'm not getting anything done today I wanted to share some progress that I made on Tuesday. I have all the kids' clothes in one closet as it makes it easier for me to put clothes away and I pick Boo's outfits anyway so it doesn't really matter where I get them. This leaves an entire closet open for 'overflow' toys. The idea was that I'd lock this closet and put extra toys in there to rotate in and out. Unfortunately it ended up just being a pile of junk that I didn't want to sort through and that we obviously didn't really need.




I picked a morning that Mr. Wright was home to distract Boo and Little Man and started sorting into baskets. I didn't get pictures of the 1 bag of garbage or the 3 bags of donations yet, but I did take the 'afters' of the closet!




I'm linking up this post to Org Junkie's Org Challenge!
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
The hardest part was getting rid of stuff that I've been hanging onto forever. I had to overcome the fact the "because I've had it this long" isn't a good reason for keeping something. Another challenge was letting go of a lot of baby toys that I've held on to despite my kids having NO interest in them.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
I kept some open spaces for the future, and I have a new view of what I actually "need" to keep. Luckily this closet stays locked from little helpers, so it won't get disorganized unless I let it get that way.

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Some of it was donated, some was given to friends, and some was just plain garbage.

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?
I had some ancient Yaffa blocks that came out of my laundry room before that happened to be perfect to divide up some of the stuff that I needed to keep in the closet, and even created some free space for the future!

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?
Because I'm straight awesome, first off, and secondly because I let go of things this time that have made it past multiple purgings. I now have an orderly space that has room to grow, and doesn't make me scared to open the closet doors!

It Pays To Be Good!

I've been waiting a few weeks to post about my new bribery behavioral plan in case it didn't work out. Luckily it has been going well, so I'm ready ready to share our system. This entire project was fueled by my need to obsessively laminate, so keep that in mind if and when you attempt this on your own. I started by being SUPER frustrated with my kids and out of ways to make them behave. Then I decided to do something about it. Crafty, huh!?



I printed out tons of 1's, and some 5's, 10's from here. Then I laminated them like a crazy person and found a home for the 'bank' on top of the fridge where robbers couldn't reach them. I made a large pocket with 3 sections (with the kids' initials) by sewing two laminating pouches together filled with scrapbook paper, and then laminating the whole thing. I stuck it on the fridge where the kids could reach it and I started the brib, uh, encouragement to be good.

When the kids are good in general, when they do nice things for each other or when they help with a special chore they get a dollar. When they make bad choices they have to pay me a dollar and/or get a time out depending on the offense. You'd be surprised how much the hitting stops when Little Man has to pay me or his sister for his punishment. I still give time outs too because I don't want them to think that they can do anything they want as long as they can fund it.

Every Thursday the kids get to visit the "Mommy Shop" and buy little crap from the dollar aisle *ahem* trinkets for $10 each. I know that's a steep price, but I don't want a ton of crap floating around the house because they were too good that week, lol! I keep the Mommy Shop in a little bin on top of the fridge to keep it close and interesting to the kids.

All week the kids beg to go to the Mommy Shop, and the threatening of taking a dollar sure gets their butts moving where they need to be!! That's why our reward system Works For Me!!

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In

How is everyone participating doing with their 40 bags in 40 days decluttering? Leave a comment with how many bags (and of what) you've gotten rid of and how you feel about the process!

I have to admit that I put it off until the weekend, so on Saturday morning I had 4 bags to do already. Luckily I had so much crap in my laundry room that I could throw away that I filled two bags just with garbage, and another with garbage in the playroom.



I've already given a bag's worth of scrapbook stuff and a bag's worth of baby stuff to a friend.




I've been swamping out my Hoarders-like laundry room so the sheet rock can go up today and I couldn't be more excited! Here's the before and after of the clearing out. Most of it is moved somewhere else, but I did get rid of a lot of stuff too!





I can't wait to organize my newly purged scrapbook stash on my planned built-in shelves in my new laundry room. Once I can shuffle some of my stuff back into the laundry room I'll be able to start on the elephant in the house- under my stairs. I'd love to take a before picture of that, but I can't even get in there to do it. Scary! I'm excited to get rid of all this STUFF that's been weighing me down for SO long!

What The!?

I was checking out Etsy yesterday looking to steal ideas for stuff I'll never make, and came upon these gems:

Have you ever really needed pants for your kid but all you can find is a men's shirt you don't need anymore? Whip up these sleeve pants (pants sleeves?)and problem solved!



Don't forget the family dog! Do you need something cozy for your pup that took entirely too long to make and makes your dog look like he's begging to get his butt kicked? You're in luck- Etsy has this for you:



Poor thing! I can see the screams for help in his eyes. Don't have a dog? Etsy psychos have something for the feline inclined too! I know I spend my Saturday nights dressing my animals up like other animals- what isn't hilariously fun about that!? Here's a 'cat hat' in the bear version:



Are bears too ordinary for you? Need a bit more spice in your and your cat's relationship? I think the monster (that looks like a frog) cat hat is more your style!



Poor little guys! I could spend hours on Etsy and just jump from one ridiculous item to another. At least it cuts down on the time I spend eating :P

Scout Shoutout!

I happen to know an awesome young man (I feel SO old for saying that, but he’s not a kid anymore!) named Jameson. He is the son of my Super Mom friend so it’s no wonder that he turned out so perfect. He’s trying to raise money to get to the Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia this July, and trust me, he deserves to go! He needs $3000 to cover his airfare and all his expenses. He is selling sticker coupon cards to Subway, Papa Murphy’s, and Dairy Queen. If you get BOGO subs at Subway then you can justify getting a FREE Blizzard from DQ, right?! They are $10 each and have fantastic deals on them worth WAY more than $10!! If you’re local he can shovel the, uh… slush out of your driveway or bake you cookies. I’ve had the cookies and I’d pay $3000 for those alone. Mmmm, cookies!

You can purchase the coupon cards by emailing helpjameson@gmail.com and/or donate directly through Paypal on his blog http://excitedscout.blogspot.com/. PLEASE help me is supporting this great ‘kid’ so he can have the experience of a lifetime!

Dirty Little Secrets

My kids have been drinking out of plastic Miller Light cups that I keep rewashing from the Super Bowl party. I always dreamed of having 50 cups so we could get through a WHOLE DAY without me having to wash more cups!

I was being a rock star wife and washed all of Mr. Wright’s work clothes on his day off. Unfortunately I forgot to put them in the dryer and he had to wear weird clothes the next day.

I love getting a paycheck (no matter how tiny it is!) but I hate going to work. And I only work 7 hours a week.

I can’t wait until Summer when I don’t have to leave my house every day. Plus I can throw the kids outside to play without 30 minutes of snow gear application.

Checking the mail brings some serious excitement to my boring life. It’s like Christmas every day!

I have an Amazon addiction. I LOVE Amazon and check the daily deals every day even though I don’t need anything. I am pretty good about not buying stuff on there all the time, but if I get some windfall money I blow it on all the crap that I’ve had in my cart since the last time I had fun money.

I love to drink Koolaid. Probably more than my kids.

Sweetie Pie got invited to 2 birthday parties at the same time on Saturday. We don’t know either birthday girl very well so I think that’s an excuse to not go to either one.

We lost our surround sound remote and I’ve looked EVERYWHERE. I even ripped some fabric on the bottom of our couch thinking it was in there. It sucks having to get up to turn it up or down… what is this? The stone age?

I’m getting my laundry room sheetrocked on Monday and I haven’t even started swamping it out. I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend… besides skipping birthday parties.

My laundry room is FILLED with scrapbooking stuff and I haven’t done a scrapbook page in over a year.

I’ve eaten at least 50 gummy bears while typing this post.

Do you have any dirty laundry? Literal or metaphorical? Leave a comment and make the rest of us feel a whole lot better!

A Little Color

I’ve been waiting for WEEKS to get my hair cut and highlighted and today the day finally came! I was going to surprise Mr. Wright and go blonde, but unfortunately that didn’t quite work out. Apparently my hair shares my DNA, so it decided to be a pain in the butt and turn orangish yellow instead. My friend (the stylist) tried to tone down the carrot/lemon top but that just made it dark. Sooo, no blonde for me. It ended up being more light brownish, blondish than blonde, but I’ll roll with it. My sister in law went with me to get her hair done too, and between the two of us (me obviously being the troublemaker) we were there from 10:30 to 3:30. And it’s an hour away. And I had some errands to run afterward. Mr. Wright had the day off so he stayed with Boo and Little Man from 9-5 while I was gone. Here's the best pic I could get of my hair- I should really stop taking such unflattering pics of my nose... crap, now everyone's going to look at my giant nose!

I finally get home and Mr. Wright informs me that I wasn’t the only one who got colored today…

Apparently they had already scrubbed the walls by the time I got home. Judging by the amount of marker on Little Man’s back versus Boo’s back I’m going to say that she was the ringleader, but Little Man definitely had a part in it. Apparently they took a nap together with a smuggled bag of markers. Mr. Wright should have known better when they didn't make a peep for a whole nap. After dinner I stripped them down to soak in the bath and found even more fancy pictures hidden by their underwear. They soaked for close to half an hour before I drained the blue water and put them to bed. Hopefully we’ll all experience a little less color tomorrow…

WFMW: My Sanity Saver

Soooo... I don't really think it's any kind of secret that I'm not the most orderly person in the world. I have what I like to call "selective OCD" where the days of dishes in the sink don't bother me, but the pens and pencils in the drawer HAVE to be in their respective baskets. Anyway, I only have one child that has a life (aka 'leaves the house') and I work two days a week, but it quickly can spiral out of control if I'm not careful. Before my day went something like this:

Wednesday
7:00 am- why do you NEVER sleep in!?
8:00 am- why is there SO much oatmeal on the dog?
9:00 am- stop hitting your brother with that golf club, I don't care if he hit you with the Guitar Hero guitar first
10:00 am- school in 30 mins, start getting dressed!
10:15 am- snowpants, hat, gloves, homework, snack, boots, coat, brush your hair!!
10:20 am- GET IN THE CAR!!!
10:30 am- *shoves Sweetie Pie into school*
10:32 am- I wouldn't NEED a tardy pass for my kid if you didn't stop me at 10:30 and make me wait in line for a tardy pass
10:35 am- hang up your stuff and sit down! What? You were supposed to be here at 9 on Wednesdays!? And you don't have your show and tell!? Why didn't you tell me you needed 86 buttons, an empty peanut butter jar and a red sock for your project today!?!? AND you were cold lunch!?

Yeah, so not exactly in the running for 'most put together mom of the class'. Luckily a few weeks ago I stumbled upon this little baby:

http://organizedhome.com/sites/default/files/printable/notebook_calendar_to_do_weekly.pdf

and my life has been MUCH better since then. I printed it out, laminated it with a borrowed laminator, and stuck it to my fridge. Every Sunday I fill it out for the week with the MOST important info with a dry erase marker. It only holds important plans, hot or cold lunch reminders, school times and activities and that sort of thing. No birthdays, holidays or anything that isn't urgent at 8 am. It's SO nice to only have 5 school days to worry about in front of my face at one time. And that's why this awesome (FREE!) printable calendar works for me. Now, does anyone have 86 buttons, a peanut butter jar and a red sock I can borrow!?

Let There Be Lent!!

I've been thinking for the past week or so about Lent, and what I should "give up". I'm not a super religious Catholic (and kinda a wannabe Mormon) but I've always liked the idea of Lent since I like testing my willpower. Plus I love a good challenge but I've never been into team sports, so Lent it is. I'm sure 'real' Catholics are thrilled with my stance on Lent, but I had to be honest.

Through another blog I stumbled upon the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. Basically you give up 'crap' for Lent! Mr. Wright will be THRILLED. No, seriously. I bet I hear once a week about how we have too much crap. It will be good for my sanity (after it's done of course!), good for my marriage, and good for me since I don't have to give up soda or fast food like I was originally going to. Whoo hoo for that!

Luckily Ash Wednesday isn't until tomorrow, so I get to spend one last day with all my crap. And then the bagging starts on Wednesday. Who wants to join me in the 40 bags in 40 days challenge!?

Why I'm A Cheap Date

I think from time to time all wives feel the need to junk punch their husband. Mine probably more than most, but he's always been that way and I love him. We decided many Valentine's Days ago that we're not "fancy dinner" people and we're not "romantic getaway" people and apparently HE decided that we're not gorgeous bouquets of flower people.

In the past our crazy Valentine's adventures have led us to such romantic destinations such as IHOP, Target and Home Depot. And don't forget Blockbuster. The truth is that we would MUCH rather stay home in our jammies, put the kids to bed and watch a movie (luckily I have 60 hours on my DVR :D) than spend our grocery money on overpriced shellfish and drop another $50 watching teenagers make out at the movie theater. And since we sit around together every night it's like every night is Valentine's... kinda. Unless he said something stupid. But that's beside the point...

The point is that when you have a great relationship to begin with you don't need smoke and mirrors to spice up Valentine's Day. Take us for example... normally I we watch romantic comedies so for some Valentine excitement we switch it up and get a thriller... see!? Cheap and gets you out of the same old rut! Of course I'm joking but it should be about what you do, it should be about who you're with. It seems that Valentine's day has become more of a show than reflecting the relationship between two people. I've never been one of those Anti-Valentine people but I think it's gotten a bit out of hand... and don't even get me started on gifts!

We were just discussing the year that he got me bacon for my birthday and how great it was. That's a pretty bold move for a guy because he was brave enough to buy me meat and call it a gift because he knew I'd love it. Mmmm, bacon. Oh, sorry... I'm not going to lie and say that I'd be perfectly okay with Mr. Wright not getting me a gift for Valentine's Day, but it's not about the cost for me. Like for my birthday this year he got me an electric blanket. It seems like a lame gift and I would even question a friend if her husband got that for her, but to me it was priceless. He knows that I hate getting into a cold bed, so we put it on the bed and it 'pre-heats' every night. THAT is the perfect gift... along with the man of my dreams and the father of my children sleeping next to me in my toasty bed. Happily ever after... until he needs to be junk punched again. :P

Happy Valentine's Day!

Questions Of Motherhood

Why will my kids eat the rice out of the sensory bucket but not the cooked, warm rice I serve for dinner?

Why do we NEED a "No playing the DS on the toilet rule"?

Why don't my kids hear me ask them 15 times to do something but come running from a mile away when I open a piece of candy?

Why do my kids beg for a bath ALL day and then sit there for 3 minutes and scream to get out?

Why do they always want to wear the ONE thing I haven't washed yet?

What is the appeal of wearing someone else's shoes that are 4 sizes too big besides making me look like a jackass at Walmart?

Why does my 2 year old ALWAYS have a chocolate mustache and beard even though she doesn't get a treat until after lunch? It's not like she can sneak to the gas station and pick up a candy bar.

Why does ONE dish in the sink attract 50?

Where the heck did all those sock matches go?

Why doesn't Sesame Street quit wasting my time and just play an hour of Elmo?

Why can my kids sort a billion blocks by color but not sort toys to put them away in the right spot?

Why do all my kids throw a fit over the green plate? How come no one throws a fit over the blue plate? And why does it even freaking matter?

Why do they eat french fries but not tater tots?

Has it EVER been okay to stand on the table? Why would it be okay today?

Why don't people like their kids to tattle? If someone's breaking the rules then I want to know. Follow the rules but don't tell me if someone else isn't following the rules? What sense does that make!?

Have you ever had a question of motherhood? Add it in the comments to share!

Dirty Little Secrets

Now nobody freak out, but it's Friday and I'm actually getting off my butt (well, not technically) and sharing my dirty little secrets. I know, I know. Usually when my blog gets quiet it's because I'm way too busy cleaning and organizing to whine about my life. Unfortunately this time is just sheer laziness... plus it's WAY more productive to sit on Facebook for 3 hours a day. Just don't tell my husband!

Here they are, my dirty little secrets:

We decided that Mr. Wright and I would each get $100 as fun money from our tax return. I spent mine... three times.

Sweetie Pie learned how to whistle this week and while I am very proud I also wish she would never do it again for the rest of her life- or at least buy me some Excedrin.

I opened the van door at Sweetie Pie's school today to let her out and some Wendy's garbage jumped out as well. I pretended I didn't see it because I thought that was a better option than picking it up and chucking it back into my mom-mobile.

Even after the previous confession I still didn't clean up the garbage even though I sat in a parking lot waiting for 30 minutes for my sister.

I had a rough morning so I spent $30 on Etsy for patterns that I'll never make.

I still have paper plates and cups (clean at least!) from our Super Bowl party on my counter.

I spent 6 hours this week organizing the playroom and it's still not done. Plus once it is done there is NO WAY I'm letting those monsters destroy it.

Last spring I threw all our cleaners away (except for my beloved Windex) and bought all environmentally friendly green cleaners. Last month I got my sanity back and bleached the heck out of everything we own. I love me some bleach.

I have 60 HOURS of stuff on the DVR that I can't delete. I probably won't ever watch it, but I just can't delete it.

I got some razor burn on my leg last week and then used it as an excuse not to shave my legs. No wonder guys can shower so fast- not shaving knocked a good 5 minutes off my competitive time!

Someone dropped off a huge bag of tiny little crap toys for my kids and I hid them and made them buy the toys with their fake dollars they get for being good. It's a win-win in my book.

What's your dirty little secret!? Please share publicly or anonymously in the comments!

Friend Making Monday!

Alright... FMM. Amber wants the lowdown on Valentine's Day. I actually had the BEST Valentine's Day ever! I really, really, really wanted a new cell phone since I never text (I had a tiny number pad) or have a charged phone because my old one dies every 5 hours. Mr. Wright surprised me with a brand new AWESOME phone with a QWERTY keyboard.


Yeah, baby! This picture doesn't show the full keyboard that slides out of the bottom but it was the quickest image to 'borrow'. This was a great enough gift but then Mr. Wright came home from work with this:

And then I felt like an ass for yesterday's post even though he never even read it. Oh yeah, AND he brought me Burger King because he is that awesome. I finally got to give him the complete series of The King of Queens that I've hidden since Christmas and he pretended to be overwhelmed with excitement :P

We spent the evening catching up on The Amazing Race while I ate my weight in Reese's hearts. And it rocked. I hope everyone had as wonderful of a day as I did! ♥

To see how others answered this week's FMM question head on over to Amber's blog {AE Filkins}.

Friend Making Monday!

It's been for.ever since I was part of a Friend Making Monday but I'm lazy so fill in the blank questions are right up my alley! Stop by Amber's blog to link up with everyone else's answers!

Outside my window... it's cold and horrible and wintery. And windy. Come on Spring!

I am thinking.... about starting my photography business.

I am thankful... for my family's health and happiness.

I am praying... for others' health and happiness.

I am reading... Not Buyin' It! My Year Without Shopping

I am creating... A new spot in the living room to organize toys.

From the kitchen... there's a smell in the air?

Around the house... there's lots of stuff on the floor.

One of my favorite things... is watching dvd's in bed with my electric blanket.

A few plans for the rest of the week... celebrate my 25th birthday, file my taxes and prepare my hubby's Valentine's present!

My Favorite Things

Does anyone remember way back in the dark ages when I did "My Favorite Things" on Sundays? It was how I justified reading blogs for an hour every day... oh, except I still do that for no reason. Anyway, I stopped doing it when I started Handmade Holidays because I was running out of links but I'm ready to bring it back. Of course it's still me though, so in typical Mrs. Wright fashion I'm sure I won't post every Sunday (especially since it's already Monday), but hey, I'm kinda trying.

I've been dreaming about adding shelving like this closet redo at It's The Little Things That Make A House A Home. That 'after' makes my (selective) OCD feel so nice.

And a much less glamorous project, but still useful- a reusable swiffer pad from old towels! I'm planning on making two and using one wet and one dry.

I'm slightly obsessed with felt and have an entire cabinet plus a huge pile on top stuffed with felt so I'm really excited to try these felt monster softies for my own little monsters!

And while I'm checking out my felt idea folder I'll share the felt dolls and clothes that I'll never make.

Oh, and the felt vase I'll never make.

I'm going to use some of my dusty scrapbooking stash to make this paperclip matching activity to keep in my purse for those sanity busting moments.

And since I don't like leaving my house or being outside in the cold this indoor ice skating in your living room looks perfect for my kids and me!

Someday I'll follow this tutorial that shows you how to make adorable counting bean bags that my kids would probably throw at each other seeing who can make their sibling cry first.

Need more links? Check out all the past versions of "My Favorite Things" by clicking HERE!

I'll save some for next time since my list of things I'll never get around to making is getting kind of long ;) Back to the dishes and laundry... in a few minutes... I think.

Dirty Little Secret- Slacker Saturday

It's been a while since I 'confessed' or even blogged at all. For a while I was doing great so I was quiet on the blog front. We had clean clothes, clean dishes, healthy planned meals and I had plenty of free time... and then ONE day I didn't feel like jumping from chore to chore. And now I'm too overwhelmed. I'm trying to take baby steps, but with three tornados wild kids trashing the house three times faster than I can clean it I hardly make progress. Today I'm just going to do my best to get as much done as I can. Hopefully my motivation kicks in here soon :P

You can always share your own confessions in the comments! You know, so I don't feel SO horrible!

I wore Hannah Montana perfume the other day because I thought it smelled nice.

I spent $18 on a PUR water pitcher so I could be healthier... then I spent $18 at Arby's.

Mr. Wright bought me an electric blanket and I put it in my bed so I could 'pre-heat' it at night.

I've hardly done laundry in a week. I had to wear underwear from my honeymoon yesterday...

My kids are wearing skirts and shorts... in January... In Alaska. I really need to do laundry.

I went to the library and paid my late fees, got some new books and a video for the kids, then had new late fees 10 days later.

I lost my expensive winter jacket at Sweetie Pie's school just days after lecturing her about responsibility.

I've been watching teeny-bopper movies in my warm bed after the kids go to bed instead of hanging out with my husband.

I finally started organizing the playroom that I've been meaning to get to since before Christmas. Of course I haven't finished yet though.

I record PBS shows in the middle of the night so that my kids won't watch Spongebob and other annoying mindless shows that are on in the mornings (in our timezone) along with their 10 minutes of advertisements per 20 minutes of show.

I'm blogging so I don't have to start the laundry.

I'm just as excited for summer vacation as my kindergartner is. I HATE leaving my house every day.

My kids ate their breakfast cereal with forks. Plastic forks. I guess I'll get to the dishes right after the laundry.

Why You Should Clean Out Your Bathroom Drawers Today

Today is the day. The day that you should clean out that drawer in your bathroom with all the "stuff" in it. I'm sure organized people with non-retarded builders have multiple drawers for all sorts of little things and keep them somewhat separated and purged. Not me. I have two big-momma drawers. One keeps curlers, curling irons, hair clippers and the hair dryer. The other keeps everything else you could possibly need in a bathroom.

I'm not going to pretend that it was every organized, but even if it had been it wouldn't have stayed that way long since it's at the perfect height for my 2,4, & 6 year olds to dig for treasures. When I need to find anything I just move stuff around until I finally spot the tiny nail clippers or earring back that I was looking for... 5 minutes later of course. The drawer was messy but it never really bothered me enough to do something about it. Until this morning.

So why should you go clean out your bathroom drawer NOW?
Because maybe you forgot to brush your daughter's hair before bed.
So maybe her hair has now has rodents living in the giant knot.
And maybe it really needs to be brushed.
And because maybe you'll be running late for school because maybe it's a day when school starts 90 minutes early.
And maybe you'll shove your hand into the drawer to feel around for a brush and not look because your two year old happens to be putting things in the toilet and your four year old is recreating the Mommy, Mom, Mama, Mom? scene from Family Guy.
And then maybe your hand will be instantly coated with mystery slime along with EVERY tiny earring, hair clip, elastic and comb that was in the giant drawer of crap.
And maybe since the drawer was so messy before you didn't notice that someone put an entire bottle of ass strawberry scented Princess body wash in the drawer.
Open.
Upside-down.
All night.
And maybe your daughter got to school 10 minutes late.
With un-brushed hair.
And no hair clips or ties.
And then you got to spend over an hour wiping down every.single.thing that was in that drawer.
Because you never cleaned it out.

So that's why you should clean out your bathroom drawer today. Like NOW. Before this maybe happens to you.

Knock On Wood

I don't want to get to excited, since it is, after all, only January 2nd, but I think that my New Year's Resolution to make THIS year the one that I get my life under control is going really well. And do you think I could have used any more commas in that sentence? My dishes are done, my counters are spotless and sanitized, and my laundry is caught up. I don't know what to do with myself...

In fact, I went one step further and accidentally disconnected our internet while crazy vacuuming... and Mr. Wright happened to be on some kind of 'kill streak' while playing Call Of Duty online when it happened. Oops! I think he was enjoying the clean house until 'the incident' but now he's just pissed.

I am dreading life getting back to normal on Monday though since it's way easier to keep a clean house when I'm here all day to maintain it. The real test will come when I have to add taking Sweetie Pie to school, keeping the school papers under control, working, volunteering, plus all the crap I barely have a handle on right now. So please, knock on wood for me... and my jammies.

RIP Clean Kitchen

If you read this blog regularly you'll know that it's no secret that I can't keep my kitchen clean. I love when it's clean, but I just can't keep up with it. We've hosted 3 parties in the last 7 days and I've even kept it clean for each party and kept up with the mess. Tomorrow will be the 4th (and last) party and my kitchen and I are more than ready. I'm of course dreading it too since it means that my first born is 6 years old. I can't even believe it myself!

At least I'll be able to distract myself and focus on how freaking old I am now while I clean my kitchen. Again. I've been cleaning it almost like a normal person. I don't think it's at all a coincidence that I've been really tired and keep breaking my nails. I'm pretty sure cleaning the kitchen repeatedly is bad for your health. I'd better stop, you know, just to be safe...

Denial

Has everyone else realized that Christmas is actually happening on Friday?? I was planning on being so prepared this year, of course, but I'm just pretending like I don't know that Christmas is coming and I still have 3 blankets to sew, a million presents to wrap, a giant Barbie house to assemble, plus figure out how to even up the presents since Boo got a little shorted this year. Oh yeah, and did I mention clean my house, take care of 3 crazy kids, 4 turtles with a filter that keeps clogging, plus a dog with an ear infection?? On top of all the regular household duties that I started this blog because I couldn't keep on top of them? Yeah... it sure is a lot easier to pretend it's still late November and just hang out on the internet and watch The Polar Express. And eat fudge.

My goals today (that I'll probably laugh at later):
Wrap everything that doesn't need to be assembled or charged
Empty/Load dishwasher
Wash all the big serving pieces that don't fit in dishwasher
Organize stocking stuff
Vacuum and mop
2 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded and put away

What's a few more things to be in denial over!?

Santa Ain't Coming To Town!

What is it about this time of year that makes kids go nuts!? You would think that since Santa is watching and Mommy reminds them of that fact every two minutes they would be on their best behavior. I'm ready to wrap my kids up in some paper and tape and stick them under the tree until Friday.

Little Man has always been cuddly, but today he decided that I was supposed to be holding him inside Target. And he let EVERYONE know it. HOLD ME!!! MAMA HOLD ME!!! HOOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDD MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Everyone was looking at me like I was the worst mom on the planet since all he wanted was to be held. First off, I'm not going to reward him for throwing a fit inside Target by giving him what he wants. Second, how the heck am I supposed to steer the giant aisle sized cart with two other whiny kids aboard while holding 40 pounds of cranky 4 year old!? Luckily my sister was there to help steer the S.S. Crankypants and direct me to the things on my list while I dragged my screaming son around beside me.

I pulled the Santa card. It was time. I let him know that if he didn't behave like a normal, non-crazed boy right this minute I was going to let Santa know ASAP and he could watch his sisters open presents on Christmas morning. Yep... he just cried harder. It made me so sad, but I can't give in and just give him whatever he wants whenever he screams loudly enough for it. It sucks to be Mommy sometimes.

We get back to the car and he's still wailing. Then my sister pulls out some gum. Silence. He chews some gum and acts like he didn't just spend the last 30 minutes screaming. Uhm, okay. I sure wish I would have figured that out 30 minutes ago.

All I can think of is that he is just overstimulated with all the parties and excitement of the week. I just can't wait for Christmas so I can see his face as he opens his presents, and then is busy playing with all his new stuff for those glorious 2 days before he's bored again.

I wish I could throw a screaming fit every time I was overstimulated. I'm sure going to be close after we host our 4th party in 8 days on the 27th (Sweetie Pie's 6th birthday!). I know in two weeks the holidays will all be a blur, but for now I'm taking it hour by hour. Right after I stock up on gum...

Sick Sucks

My kids are still not 100% better.
So they're cranky.
And fighting.
And not listening.
My house is trashed.
I can't get the laundry under control.
I have no plan for dinner.
I'm feeling under the weather myself.
I have to take Boo to the doctor and have NO energy.
I'm freaking out about my Christmas gifts not being done/what I want/here on time.
And now my hair is falling out like it did after I had my kids.

I've actually been making great progress on my house in general, but I feel like my getting sick is going to be the setback I've been dreading. For right now I just want to lock myself in my room, curl up with some Grey's Anatomy dvd's and pretend I can't hear the arguing. Sick just sucks.

Dirty Little Secrets

I'm really not feeling the Dirty Little Secrets post this week since I've been up to my ears in dirty stuff all week. My washing machine and I are going to be thrilled when this sickness is over. At least I found a use for all those dusty cleaning supplies... *sigh*.

I bought The Polar Express for my "kids" but I'm the one that wants to watch it all the time.

I forgot about the 6 cups of corn that didn't get eaten on Thanksgiving and it sat in my game room for almost a week. Then I dumped it outside so I wouldn't have to take the garbage out.

I put off the garbage so long that I had to sprint to the end of my long driveway with my can as the truck pulled up. At least I've already brought the can back in!

I went WAY overboard for Christmas after promising myself to keep gifts in check this year.

Mr. Wright told me I belonged on People of Walmart today and I agreed. I really need to wash some of my own stuff instead of constant puke washes.

I'm addicted to Hoarders and am now hoarding episodes of Hoarders.

I bawled at the end of Jon & Kate plus 8. I totally think they should stop the show, but I've been watching since the very beginning and it was sad.

I've had cookie cutters on my Christmas tree as kid safe ornament for the last 5 years, and it makes me a bit sad that I don't need to do that anymore.

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

Hoarders

So... I was all exhausted from cleaning up puke, decorating the house for Christmas and doing endless puke laundry so I decided to take a break and catch some TV. Not a whole lot is on Sunday night, but I came across a show called Hoarders on A&E. I'd heard a bit about it a few months ago but never saw it at the time. Watching this show is the strangest thing because the filth that these people live in is unbearable to watch, yet I couldn't look away. Except when they found TWO cat skeletons in one woman's house. I had to look away because I was eating. Yes... I learned my lesson to not eat during that show. Maybe I should save some weekly calories for my Biggest Loser pig out anyway.

Back to the show- these people who obviously have mental health disorders just add garbage on top of garbage and literally walk over all their possessions to get where they need to be. It was odd to watch the show because although my house isn't a single percent as messy and cluttered as there's were it still struck a chord with me. On one hand it inspired me to clean off my cluttered countertops, but then the laziness kicked in and I decided that mine are practically shining compared to the hoarders' houses. And then the show ended and I could finish my Doritos. Damn Hoarders diet.

The Week That Wouldn't End

I've been quiet this week due to my laziness, a bunch of stuff out of my control, plus sheer exhaustion. Over last weekend I cut out a billion turkey hats for Sweetie Pie's class and ran errands all day Monday. Tuesday was Mr. Wright's and his grandpa's birthday. We had a party and came home to put the kids to bed. I got an urgent call saying my grandma had called 911 and something was wrong so I threw on my shoes and headed to her house. She's 82 and lives alone and had suffered her second stroke. I was at the hospital until the wee hours of the morning, and then had trouble falling asleep once I got home. I've been in a fog so of course I forgot to bring Sweetie Pie to school early on Wedesday. I visited Grandma on Wednesday and Thursday, and had a great Thanksgiving meal.

Friday my mom and I were up at 3am to do some traditional black friday shopping, and it was a great distraction. Later our friends came over for some MUCH needed grown up time. It was great, but 2 hours after I finally hit the hay The Great Puke-athon '09 began. I slept on the couch in 12 minute increments all night Friday. Mr. Wright was sick too and took yesterday off work. I haven't been able to visit Grandma or head up to my parent's house for the weekend like I had planned. This afternoon my other two started puking alternately. I'm running back and forth between them like a game of Puke Mania that I can't escape. The worst part is that I feel like it's just a matter of time before I fall to the Great Puke-athon.

My house is in such a horrific state that I didn't have an empty sink to rinse puke bowls in. I had to run back and forth between sick kids making a stop every few minutes to throw a couple things in the dishwasher before the next round began. Eventually I had a clean sink... I've been keeping up with the laundry because I have no choice, but some hasn't gotten folded yet, and a lot hasn't been put away. This week I'm hoping for survival more than progress... and maybe a little mercy from the puke gods!

Dirty Little Secrets

The good news is that I've been super sidetracked this week so I have confessions from being such an idiot, but the bad news is that I've been so sidetracked that I forgot half of them. Here's what I remember of mine, and leave your own dirty little secrets in the comments!

I still have a few Halloween decorations up, and I'm not planning to take them down until I put the Christmas stuff up next week.

I totally forgot to bring Sweetie Pie to school early on Wednesday for her 'challenge' day. Then I tried to make up for it by bringing her to extra computer lab yesterday, but we were so late that we missed half of it.

I washed a load of dishes, but apparently didn't put any forks in there, so now we don't have any clean ones.

I did a little too much online shopping this week.

I've used up all my last minute dinners on my meal plan from just being lazy and now I have 10 days of meals left that need tons of preparation.

We have SO many toys that I'm embarrassed to even say. AND Christmas is coming, AND Sweetie Pie's birthday is right after Christmas. You can't even walk in my kids' rooms.

I have 2% of my Christmas gifts made/purchased. And I get sick every time I think about it.

My dog hasn't had a bath in 3 years. I leave her out in the rain a lot though. (That was a joke animal activists! Kinda... the porch is covered!)

What's your dirty little secret?

Handmade Holidays, Week Five (Decorations)

This week I'm out of energy to pretend that I'm going to accomplish some kind of masterpiece craft for every single person I know, but since I'm cheap and like to go all out for Christmas I wanted to share some links to some seriously fantastic holiday decorating ideas.

If you need to catch up here are the links to the previous editions of Handmade Holidays:

Week One, Kids

Week Two, Women and Teachers

Week Three, Teenagers

Week Four, Men

And away we go...

I'm a sucker for felt, but you would not believe this felt Christmas tree and gifts! Start now for next decade year!

If you can't pull off the whole tree then just make some felt ornaments!

And I have the perfect fabric to procrastinate on this table runner with!

I almost don't want to share this cookie cutter wreath so that everyone will think I'm genius once they see mine (right after I finish the table runner...)

I probably have a better chance of getting this ornament wreath done though, since I have a bagillion unbreakable colored balls from my toddler proofed trees of Christmas pasts.

or I could whip up some cute little scrappy stockings!

And I definitely need to check out this post with a million different advent calendar tutorials!

Whew! Now that I've fake decorated my house for the holidays I think I need a nap! This really Works For Me and check out all the other Works For Me Wednesday submissions HERE!

Back To Basics

Some of my original readers may have noticed that I've been avoiding one subject for.ev.er... The state of my house. At some point it just got old to post every single day that I still did nothing toward my larger goal of seeing my floor, eh, I mean, getting my house under control. It's been a long time since one of my 'bursts of productivity' where I pretend to be a real person for a few days just to hit a bump in the road and land right back in square one.

The bad news is that I have a LOT of mess backed up from months of doing nothing. I mean, it's not worth a call to child services or anything... I halfway did the dishes and kept the laundry going, but usually only once we were totally out of forks or socks or towels.

The good news is that I feel different now. I don't feel like I'm going to scrub every inch of my house and then neglect it for 3 more months like my usually cleaning pattern. I feel like I'm going to slowly clean it, little by little, so hopefully I won't burn out and crash with the slightest little bump in my schedule.

I've been doing my best to pick up after myself and take a few minutes to teach and reinforce to the kids where the laundry/toy/coat actually belongs. It's been a slow process over the last week but I'm hoping that it's a slow and steady climb to my ultimate goal- not panicing when people drop by, and not spending all day cleaning my house to never make any progress.

Way back in the day when I was an 18 year old newlywed I had joined Flylady after reading an article in the paper. I moved straight into the wife role from living with my parents so though my mom had taught me all about laundry, cooking, and all the other wifely crap I was still relaxing from not having a 'boss' telling me what to do when. Flylady was great before I had kids and even when I had a newborn that wouldn't go along behind me and mess up all my progress, but once my life changed I clipped Flylady's wings.

After 6 long years I recently stopped by her site on a whim to see if I could possibly work it into my super busy schedule of stressing about my life while sitting on the couch. I signed myself back up for the e-mails and have been taking it painfully slow. Today I spent 15 minutes cleaning my shower that Mr. Wright has been asking me to do forever, 15 minutes clearing off my sewing table so I have some hope of ever sewing there again, and 15 minutes decluttering my SCARY laundry room. Did it get done and now I have awesome after pictures?? Of course not... but I did start something that I haven't done in a while, and 15 minutes tomorrow sounds a lot more do-able than finishing a whole huge organizational project in one day.

Dirty Little Secrets

Another week has come and gone- here's my dirty little secrets... Remember, you can make me feel not so horrible and add your own dirty little secrets in the comments. Or you can just leave me out here in the cold... alone... bearing my soul. How's that for a guilt trip!?

I ate a whole box of 6 90 calorie Special K bars. It was like a Biggest Loser temptation.

My kids were horrible in town today and I wanted to pretend to be the babysitter.

I gave Boo my car keys inside Sports Authority to shut her up and she promptly lost them. Luckily once I realized they were gone (in the 10 degree parking lot of course) I went back to the first place she had them and they were there.

I rented Up! for the kids to watch, and then stole it out of their room so I could watch it alone at night without them bugging me.

I went to the grocery store to return the movies and get 4 things, and I ended up renting 3 more movies and spending $70. Shhh!

I got home from running errands and found dried kid boogers on my forehead. Awesome.

I still haven't started making my billion Christmas presents, and I haven't sewn in weeks.

Yesterday my whole kitchen smelled like nasty tuna since I never washed the tuna press from Wednesday's dinner. It was all I could do to not gag.

I have a ton of things to do and I'm going to take a nap instead.

Handmade Holidays, Week Four (Men)

This is the week of my crafty linkin' series Handmade Holidays that I've been dreading... hand making something for a man that they'd halfway enjoy is about as easy as getting that smell out of my washing machine. I don't have a ton of ideas this week, so please leave comments if you have an idea for men, or just buy them a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader calendar and move on to hand making something for someone easier!

If you need to catch up:

Week One (Kids)

Week Two (Women and Teachers)

Week Three (Teenagers)

For Men:

Sew a laptop sleeve!

Personalize a tie with his initials!

Make golf club head covers from old sweaters!

What guy doesn't need a t-shirt with a fake tie on it!?

Uhhhhh, that's all I have. Guys are hard. That's why I usually just get Mr. Wright electronic gadgets. Happy Wednesday!!

Hand making instead of buying really works for me!

Dirty Little Secrets

Friday loves to sneak up on me, so of course I'm late posting again. Maybe I'll aim to post on Thursdays so it will actually get posted by Friday! Here we go!

I ate bacon that had been sitting out all day. I love bacon... I know that doesn't make it better, but it makes me feel better.

I was so pissed that I busted my butt to get my Halloween decorations up last Friday to only get one trick-or-treater that I left them up all week. I hoping to get them down today.

I'm avoiding making my menu plan and doing the grocery shopping. I have to run to 4 different stores (I already went to the 5th) to get the best prices and I'm not looking forward to doing that.

I'm so behind with my laundry that Boo had to borrow some panties from her sister yesterday. Even worse, I still didn't wash laundry yesterday and now she's wearing the extra pair I keep in my purse.

I've eaten my weight in carbs and Halloween candy this week. My garbage can is overflowing with candy wrappers.

I cried when President Obama was speaking this morning. I'm not sure why... I was still in bed so maybe I'm more emotional in the morning. What a dork, lol!

I'm making the same thing for dinner that Sweetie Pie will have at school for lunch. I know she'll probably throw her lunch away anyway and just eat the tater tots. Because they're all carbs. And she's my daughter.

What's your dirty little secret?

Handmade Holidays, Week Three (Teenagers)

Welcome to Week Three of my series! Today we're focusing on a tough group- teenagers. I'm always so intimidated and scared that I'll become that person that gives teenagers lame handmade Christmas gifts that they'll always remember for all the wrong reasons. I've always shied away from making things for teens and instead stocked up on iTunes gift cards for anyone from 10-18. This year I'm promising myself not to do that. Maybe.

Here is Week One (Kids) and Week Two (Women and Teachers) if you need to catch up!

An iPod pouch that can be customized with favorite colors or character fabric for girls or boys!

This fleece blanket with sports balls, team logos, or initials on it!

Sew a handmade gift card holder if you do go the iTunes card route!

A handbag from a placemat!

Make a fabric keychain for a driving teen!

A purse notebook for the tween set!

I don't have a specific link, but I'm sure older teens of both genders would appreciate a laptop sleeve!

Once again, I'm hoping I can make the Handmade Holiday Work For Me!

Halloween on Wright Time

Even though all the other bloggers are already churning out adorable Fall decorative ideas and pre-planning their Christmas tablescapes, I, of course, am just getting around to posting my Halloween pictures. And only because I have TWO people harassing me for them. If not I would have posted them sometime before Christmas... maybe.

Sweetie Pie, who at the last minute changed from Taylor Swift to "a weddin' girl with Taylor Swift makeup"



Little Man, who lost his inflatable Buzz Lightyear wings due to a tiny hole from last year and Mommy's limited lung capacity



Boo, who went as everyone's favorite breakfast meat (and her IRL nickname) Bacon. This whole costume cost about $.75 in felt!



A group shot right before the angry candy seeking monsters came out of my sweet, adorable children



Happy Hallowe, er, Happy Harvest Fall Time Almost Thanksgiving Time!

Handmade Holidays Corrected Link

I just realized that my link to last week's post wasn't directed to the right place. I'm sure most of you figured it out, but I wanted to correct it anyway.

Week One (Kids)

Week Two (Women and Teachers)

Dirty Little Secrets

Here's my dirty little secrets... Be sure to leave your own dirty little secrets in the comments section. It will make you feel better AND it's cheaper than therapy!

I've hardly decorated for Halloween at all, mostly because I was too scared to go under the house and get the decorations until yesterday.

Earlier this week we used dishes out of the dishwasher all day... then I realized I never ran them the night before. I didn't tell anyone- shh!

I'm embarrassed to open my van door at Sweetie Pie's school because garbage falls out, but not embarrassed enough to clean it out.

I still haven't started on my MILLION handmade Christmas gifts even though I was determined to start on time this year.

I'm addicted to putting things I don't need in my amazon cart just for the high.

I wake up every morning and wish I had my hair from high school. It was stick straight and shiny even though I never blow dried it or used product. Now I look like Carrot Top if I don't slather it in crap and blow dry it for 15 minutes.

Handmade Holidays, Week Two (Women and Teachers)

Welcome to week two of my handmade holidays series focusing on friends and teachers! I love that when I say that it sounds like I'm actually hand making the things I share. Hopefully I'll accomplish a few of them, but mainly this is just a list of things that I would hand make if I found myself alone in my house for 3 weeks with a bottomless Joann Fabrics gift card... until then, I'll have to pick and choose which to attempt. Right after I get out of my pajamas of course.

Here is Week One (Kids) if you missed it!

An easy and quick fleece scarf that an older child could help sew and clip!

An appliqued leaf fleece blanket! Little kids could gather leaves and older kids could help sew.

I can't knit to save my life, but I love this cowl neck scarf!

Or maybe I'll try a No Knit Scarf!

Who do you know that could use some adorable handmade oven mitts?

What about some matching tea towels to use up the oven mitt scraps?

Oh my apron! This would be a great gift for anyone!

I love this ingenious teacher gift that can help me use up all those $.25 boxes of crayons!

Or how about some hand stamped cards?

I hope you found something you like! I'm going to get cracking as soon as Halloween passes... this year I really am going to make Handmade Holidays work for me!