(Domestications)

Here's the fun we are having around the home.

Home made cleaning products:

A friend of mine kindly demonstrated some of her favorite home made cleaning products for our Mom2mom group last month.

I may be hooked.

"Why would you make your own cleaning products?" - You may be asking. Or maybe you aren't. But either way - let me tell you!

1. Cost. Phenomenally cheaper!

2. Environment. Am I all into being green and stuff? Um, really not as much as I need to be. But even one such as I, who just threw all of the empty cans for the huge crock pot of super bowl chili away into my trash can (sorry, sorry, sorry!), can recognize that this is good. Chemical free.

3. This one is pretty simple. They work. Yay!

4. Oh - we can't forget - Satisfaction! *Smile*


Okay - here are the ones I love (Oh - and don't let the ingredients scare you - I found washing soda, borax, and Fels Naptha in the cleaning aisle in our store):


Laundry detergent
1 bar Fels Naptha - grated
1/2 C Borax
1/2 C Arm and Hammer WASHING Soda

Directions:
If you have a food processor, you can shave the bar soap in about 15 seconds. Add all the ingredients together in a 16 oz. container. Shake well and use 1 Tablespoon per load. Use extra for super soiled clothes or extra hard water.

Breaks down to $0.07 per load!!


Glass cleaner
3 TBSP Rubbing Alcohol
1 TBSP vinegar
Purified water

Directions: 
Pour first two ingredients into a 16 oz bottle and fill the rest of the way with water. Shake and spray.

Breaks down to $0.17 per bottle!!


Disinfectant
2 TBSP Borax
4 TBSP Vinegar
3 Cups Hot Water

Directions:
Pour first two ingredients into a small bowl. Take a spoon and make sure that the borax is smooth. Add to spray bottle then add the hot water. Mix well.


Breaks down to $0.09 per bottle!


All Purpose cleaner
1/4 C Vinegar
1/4 C Baking Soda or 2 tsp Borax
(few droops) Dish Detergent 
Purified Water


Directions:
Pour first two ingredients into small bowl. Take a spoon and make sure that the borax or baking soda is smooth. Add to 16 oz spray bottle. Add a few drops of dish detergent then fill up the rest of the way with water. Shake until dissolved. 

Breaks down to $0.19 per bottle


Baby wipes
 1 Roll of Bounty paper towels
2 TBSP Baby Oil
2 TBSP Baby Shampoo
1 good squeeze Baby Lotion
2 C Purified Water
(optional)
Few drops Essential Oils
2 TBSP Aloe Vera Gel
3 Vitamin E capsules - prick with needle and squeeze out 

Directions:
Bring 2 C water to a boil in pot. Add oil, shampoo, and lotion (+ Aloe Vera if preferred). Stir until fully dissolved. Turn off heat. Cut the paper towel roll in half with bread knife. Place halved roll into 4 Qt. round plastic container with lid (Folgers coffee ones work best or Ziploc storage square container). Pour soapy mixture over roll. Place lid on and wait about 5 minutes. Flip container over and wait another 5 minutes. Pour out excess liquid and remove cardboard tube from center of roll. pull wipes from center. 


Breaks down to $0.01 per wipe!!
*******************************************************

To be honest, I have always been a bit of a Huggies snob when it comes to wipes. They are so nice and thick. That helps when you are dealing with a really yuck-o diaper. So, I still have Huggies wipes on hand for those really bad diapers. BUT - I have these on hand too, and it ends up helping me go through the other wipes half as fast. The home made ones DO clean well and they smell really good. 

Home decor:


Shamelessly stole this idea from my friend Hayley. When we visited them last summer I absolutely fell in love with her amazing, warm, classy, and homey decorating skills! I loved the white lights she had, accenting particular areas of their home! Her recent blog posts on "white light love" influenced me to try it too. 

They make me insanely happy.

Crafting fun:


The Valentine's Day crafting has begun. Not like I always do Valentine's Day crafting - or that I will do more, but hey, it sounded good anyway. ;)


Today me and the boys made a humongo mess had tons of fun with glue, construction paper, markers, ribbon, and tape.


Let me introduce you to ~ The Love Boat...

 Such fun! Now they are making cards and sticking them in the back - where we put a little slot for such things. Thank you very much Family Fun Magazine!! 

Letting 500 things fall so that I can hold on to one

I often find that my life imitates a juggling act. One week my house may be clean and I am doing constructive and educational activities with my boys... but alas, I have spent little if any time in The Word and have not paid much attention to eating healthy and exercising.

The next week I am on a roll with getting up early, and finally making the connections with Jesus that I desperately need. I call friends and send cards.  Exercising at least three times in the week AND get a shower in before 9 am (big accomplishment here!). Feelin' pretty good about things.... until I see the state of my house. Dirty floors, dishes everywhere, and laundry that has surely begun reproducing.

It's a mad rush and desperate insanity. I pick one thing up only to drop two others.

And right now, today, this minute, I am closing my eyes to that which will not matter in eternity and turning my focus instead to what my soul is hungry for.

So, if you stop by today you will enter a house that would never be featured in "Spotless and Stylish" magazine (yes I did just make that up - but it's probably out there). There is the slight possibility that you may encounter a mommy who has yet to shower. Perhaps.

But you will find some one who knows they are exactly where they need to be and whose heart is at rest.

Organization inspiration

I'm so thrilled to be making {baby} steps towards a more organized home. Remember my organization frustration post from a couple of weeks ago? I got a wonderful response from comments left on my blog as well as friends and family who I see regularly. Giving me ideas and inspiration to try. Telling me I am not alone and fighting a fight that almost every mother has to battle and fine tune.

My sister in law gave me a book that I am very excited about exploring. It's called, "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh. It is about changing your lifestyle and just having less stuff.

Sara had left a great comment about not being too hard on myself, and then just really going for it when the cleaning bug hits. She helped me think through what is most important {my Dave and boys} as well as formulate a good plan to do more deep cleaning when I know I am going to have alot of time.

Elizabeth and Chelle encouraged my resolve to get rid of more stuff. Really decide what we NEED and what we use, and then throw out the stuff that just complicates our life.

Ashley had some amazing tips in a post she had written about what works for her. She is one organized woman!! Wow. It was great to read about her weekly schedule. She was also a big encouragement in helping me not to overwhelm myself. She mentioned that if things get busy, and you miss your scheduled job for a couple of days - just go to the next one and know that you will get the missed jobs when they come around on the schedule again.

Part of my frustration was that I was getting behind and then trying to do it all in one day - just exhausting myself. Some of your comments really helped me to see how helpful it will be to just pace myself.

Jacy was a huge help in her tips to lay out the boys clothes for the next day before going to bed as well as having meal plans in place for the following day! I'm doing more of that kind of stuff and I am amazed how much smoother our mornings go. Especially the mornings when we are on a schedule and have to go some where!

{Mommy etc }Elizabeth gave me some great links to the fly lady and helped by telling me some things that worked for her. She really helped me see that I am, indeed, in good company as I seek to get organized and simplify. :)

My mother in law also gave me some links to fly lady and some helpful books. She's right there with me in her quest for organization.

You all helped me in getting my priorities a little bit more straightened around, as well as giving me so many helpful hints that I have implemented and am loving! Thank you so much!!

Check out some of the changes I have made!

This was our front porch, which is used for some storage as well as play room, a few weeks ago.

After I got rid of three garbage bags full of toys and got my new "toys" and "stuff" totes {which I just love!} it looks like this.

I am so thrilled with it!!

Also, I have started keeping better track of what I have in my pantry. The shelves in my panty are kind of deep. If you happen to be a scattered person on top of that, you often get multiple food items that you don't need and end up being frustrated at yourself for the things you need and failed to buy. I'm just sayin' that could happen. Hypothetically.

My new system involves a label maker, dry erase board, and tally marks. :) Simple, but oh so very effective in my life!

I've also implemented my weekly cleaning schedule again.

{Oh - and if you can't quite see what that writing says on my cleaning schedule, let me give you a close up. Because it was probably one of the biggest encouragements in this whole endeavor.

That's my Dave. :) I love him.}

I had a little conversation with myself that went something like this, "Hey girl! Just because you had a couple of very busy weeks and got off schedule it doesn't mean that this failed. Brush yourself off and try again! And it will probably happen again, because your life is pretty packed right now. Do what you can and don't pressure yourself with guilt for what you don't get done!"

It was a pretty good little pep talk to myself if I might venture to say so.

I hope to add more bits of organization to my routine, but for now this is what I've done. I just had to share, because even though these are baby steps, they have proven to be a HUGE help in encouraging me that I can do it. :)

As I close, I am super pleased to report that we are all doing well and are pretty healthy. K has bounced back beautifully. We still have some medication issues to work through, but he is back to his awesome crazy self.

Noe still has a couple of coughing fits each day, but his resilience shocked me! Twenty four hours after his pneumonia diagnosis he was just about back to 100% 'two year old' energy. Definitely answers to prayer!

My life is packed full busy right now, so finding time to write has been a bit challenging. I'll try to pop in again when I get a chance!

organization frustration

I like clean. I love organized. When I am in homes that have alot of organizational tools and storage I admit I get a massive case tinge of jealousy. I've shared before that our home has very little storage. Like two small closets in the entire house little. This is how ridiculously giddy I get over small things when it comes to organization. Last week we were at Target (the store just rocks - plain and simple) and I saw an over the door shoe organizer. I knew these things existed, but it never really clicked in my brain what an amazing thing it was. I grabbed it and threw it in the cart while trying to steady my accelerating heart beat. Dave looked at me with that one eyebrow up "You okay?" look. I pointed to the item causing the organization excitement and whispered "look!". He nodded slowly with one eye still on me, just to make sure I was, indeed, okay. When we got home I didn't even have my coat off before I was positioning the lovely new home organizing product in to one of the two closets. 20 pair of shoe fit into it! Our kitchen immediately looked more organized and roomy as I pulled all of our shoes out from under and around my pantry. I seriously had to laugh at my self that night. I was really happy. All night. Over a shoe organizer. So, as you can see, being organized is a peace and happiness inducing state for me. Unfortunately I am not great at achieving it. Although part of it is our lack of storage, and shortage of fundage to attain more storage, I must admit that I lack that organizing, and keeping things organized, gene (cause I've got to blame it on something y'all. :) I have written often about my desire to have my priorities right. How I really want spending time with the kids, spending time cultivating relationships, having quiet time, pursuing ministry and developing strengths to be more important than cleaning. As I try to put important things first, and not spend all of my time worrying about the state of my home, I am sinking into the depths of despair frustrated as I seem to be getting more and more behind on keeping things neat and tidy here. I don't want the cleanliness of my home to drive me and over take my life, but at the same time, this is our wonderful little spot to relax, make memories, be ourselves, love each other, and enjoy time with friends. I want to make it an oasis for us. I want it to be decorated in a pleasing way and organized in a way that makes it easy for us to find things when we need them. My days are rough when the house is a disaster. I find myself continually telling the boys "later", or "you are going to have to wait till mommy has this clean" when their requests for reading stories or playing games repeatedly come. That doesn't meet my parenting standards. But the honest to goodness truth is - these things HAVE to get done. No one else is gong to do it and if I put it off yet another day it will multiply. You know what I am talking about - that strange phenomenon of one days worth of dirty laundry turning into 5 days of dirty laundry over night when you don't tend to it. A couple of weeks ago I began trying a daily cleaning schedule. I did a small task each day and at the end of the week the entire house was clean and looking pretty good. Than we had a really busy week. I got so behind that I kind of lost my momentum. I tried getting up earlier, because when the boys are up things are pretty constant, and I want to be able to focus on them. I was getting up with Dave at 5:15 every morning and was amazingly productive! But then I had several late nights in a row and sleep became more of a need. I'm sadly wondering if blogging is going to have to be replaced with cleaning. I am not great at discipline and balance. To spend more time with the kids, but still get things done that need to - will something else have to be taken out of my day? So friends, a little help?? What works for you? How do you get those priorities where they should be? Any words of wisdom on keeping toys, papers, etc organized and looking neat in a small space with little to no storage?

Been looking for a cleaning crew?

Charge: 2 pennies each (Plus diaper changes for the littlest one as needed).

Some of the work may need to be re-done, but the entertainment value is priceless.

Besides a clean (ish) bathroom you also get to see eyes shining with the satisfaction of accomplishment and cuddle breaks.

Pretty good deal eh?

Feel Good Friday - so many reasons!

It's Feel Good Friday again! Yay! :) Thinking positive thoughts... Today Elizabeth @ Mommy ETC has posted a theme for Feel Good Friday. Of course I just had to participate today, because the theme is song lyrics. Just a small obsession of mine. :) In Elizabeth's words: "Post song lyrics that make you happy, that teach you more about yourself...about God, that make you cry, that make you feel special...that make you "feel good". Oh, and she said that we could post other stuff that makes us feel good too. :) So glad she gave me permission. :) I haven't posted in a few days and there's so much good going on right now. This song has touched me deeply since the first time I heard it. I'm very drawn to any song that talks of brokenness restored. Any song that speaks the truth of this untidy life and our wayward nature - but then brings in the relief of the wonderful reality that is God's never ending grasp on us and our steadfast hope in Him -quickly becomes a favorite.

Natalie Grant, I Will Not Be Moved
- Natalie Grant Lyrics Okay, So things have been a little bit crazy around here with Dave working 8 hours at his day job, only to come home and put in about 6 here on our life long project - our 80+ year old house. :) Let's not even get started on how many hours he's put in on the weekends. This guy knows how to work! He is doing an amazing job!

I knew this busy time would present some challenges. How does one commit to a project that is time sensitive (due to ripping a roof off and the possibility of rain...), have a full time job, do the family thing, participate in ministry, and - well, do life. :) I have been praying alot that God would help me to be supportive rather than needy and exhausted as Dave spends every waking hour fulfilling these things. It has definitely put more responsibility on me as far as the boys are concerned. I'm putting in 12 hour days myself. :) Some days the boys only get a glimpse here and there of daddy. At this point I do believe they are noticing the strain and pushing my buttons. They wouldn't do that though would they?? Those sweet little boys?! :) Oh, yes, they most assuredly would.

Here's the feel good part (Thought I was flipping the theme didn't you!) - God has given me the strength needed to do this. Moment by moment. :) I have discovered a new level of energy this week - energy I feel like I haven't had for a few months. That would be God stepping in.

Our project is coming along slowly but fantastically! Last weekend I saw this:

Check it out - my father in law is standing in what was kind of a part of my kind of closet. So then I was seeing things like this: And now I am seeing this: And on the other side, this: That beautiful dark grey color on the top of the newly built dormer - those are called shingles. :) The very crux of this project. Originally it was going to be the extent of this project. Why not knock out a wall here and tear down a roof there, rebuild it and make things better though?! Feeling good about it!

So that is what he has been accomplishing. I'm nearly bursting to show you what I got done. Unfortunately you just aren't going to be able to appreciate it the way I do. Pictures can not capture the amazing atmosphere of a clean house. Right now it is sweetly quiet, I still smell the subtle aromas of pine with a hint of lemon and orange - very fruity here. I'm seeing cupboards that have been scrubbed, appliances shined up, floors that are practically blinding me in there cleanliness. Okay, so perhaps I am a bit overzealous. It's just that I have settled for less than this for quite a while. Things have been crazy busy and trying to get such things done while tending to my children has been a challenge I have not met very frequently.

So how did I accomplish all of the above tasks this time? Well, yesterday K had his annual neurosurgeon appointment. It was very routine and went well. Dave was so kind to offer to take him (Really big deal under the circumstances!) and he also offered to take Jay. *Pausing for this to make an impact* He took a 5 year old who isn't walking securely yet, and a very active, newly potty trained 3 year old who would miss his nap. All in the time he could've been on his roof . Yes, Dave really is that amazing! :)

Noe decided to nap for 2 1/2 of the 3 hours that they were gone. At first I heard the quiet and I stood in the middle of my house stunned - had no clue what to do with myself. :) I talked on the phone for a while (and I could hear!), then turned into a crazy woman. I swept and scrubbed, threw stuff, mopped, shined - it would've been a wild sight to behold. :) The satisfaction is unbelievable. :)

Did that not just blind you? I almost need sunglasses to stand in my own kitchen. :) Some other accomplishments: I even climbed up on a chair and dusted all of those super hard to dust mementos - -And shined up glass that was positively covered with chubby little hand prints. :) Yes, I was almost tempted to just leave them - what's cuter than little hand prints? I give 'em a few hours though and the adorable evidence of little people in my house will be back!! :) Perhaps it has been futile to try to share my exuberance because you all didn't know how it looked before. Use your imaginations friends! They are 5, 3, and 18 months... Think about scraping dried yogurt off the floor under the table, picking up so many books you'd think you had been transported to a library, tripping over toys every where you stepped, and dust from the roof project covering pretty much every thing. :) Yep, I'm feeling good. :) Oh, and one more little thing that is feelin' good - my creative side is being fed. :) I even had some time for a little bit of scrap booking! Loving it! The best part of all of this for me is this: with all that I accomplished yesterday I will be able to relax and enjoy these guys to a much fuller extend today. That really makes me feel good!

What I've been up to

Little scattered today. This post will likely be an unsystematic hodge podge of information related to nothing in particular.

• Waiting. Waiting on K's new glasses. Waiting on word from our school of choice for him this fall. Waiting to hear if/when he will be getting into the intensive therapy program we have him on a waiting list for.

• Contemplating whether we could possibly be encountering a slight case of discrimination from the school system. Makes me sad. Trying not to come to unfounded conclusions.

• Cleaning. For other people. Why is it so much more fun for me to clean other people's houses than my own? Today mine begs for my attention.

• Making new friends. I love this!
  
  Deepening present friendships. Loved my night out closing down the Olive Garden (living on the edge people!) with my Jazz and Cori a couple of weeks ago. Loved my morning out to breakfast with my mom2mom friends yesterday. Hmmm...A theme; food. Seriously, it was about the friends, not the food, but the food was amazing. :)
• Still cheering on Dave's softball team. Tuesday was a bit off for them, but circumstances were not optimal, and this time I didn't bring chocolate chip cookies. Lesson learned.

• Needing to admit that my 3 year old is out growing nap time *sob*. Since his night time sleep is beginning to be hindered, we are in a transition stage with his schedule. He fell asleep sitting up at 4, 5, and 6 last night.

• Loving my new orange plaid bermuda shorts.

• Feeling a bit replaced by a new (to us) lawn mower that will be joining our family today. The only other time I remember that look in his eye we were dating and it was about me...:)

• Contemplating how 'John Deere 3 16' sounds So much more like something you would find in your Bible than in your garage.

• Regardless of mower jealousy, appreciating a new level of openness and communication with Dave. I love this!

• Translating the volumes of words that stream out of Noe's mouth. Wow, this boy can talk. I don't know where he gets it?! I can understand about 1/3 of what he says.

• Planning a Mother's Day zoo trip. Dave was talking to his mom about it when she was here a couple of days ago and because we weren't sure of our plans, and didn't want to get little ones hopes up yet, he told her we were thinking about going to the 'z-o-o'. Some day we will realize that our little ones are not babies any more... K turned his little body around in record time and flashed one of his rival-the-sunrise smiles, "The ZOO?! Are we going to the zoo dad?!" We most definitely are!

• Continuing my study in 'Seeking Him' on honesty. I love this. Oops, Maybe I am stretching the truth...just a little bit.

• Almost completely caught up on laundry. One more load and it will all be washed, dried, folded, and put away. Sorry to drag you into the true mundane of my life, but this is a tremendous victory! :) It is a remarkable feeling.

• Contemplating how I will accomplish my civil duty of stimulating the economy. It's a high calling. (Oh wait, lovely green and yellow 3 16 already took care of that for us...)

• Trying not to be so contemplative.

I don't want to forget...

The days are long, but the years are short

I have heard this adage so often in the past couple of weeks that I believe it is something I really need to 'get' right now. I've seen it in the comics, I heard it from a friend, I heard it from a stranger, I heard it at the conference we attended last weekend.

I don't want to forget that although I have my moments of being overwhelmed, those moments of pure childish awe and wonder are just around the corner. You know the kind I'm pertaining to: "Mom, I'm going to hide, come find me!" and you find yourself being swept back into a time where just the fact that an adult cared enough to take time out of their busy day to pretend they didn't know where you were and they began to look everywhere for you meant the world to you. "Where could you be?! I know, are you in my clothes basket?...no you wouldn't fit in there. You're under the love seat!! No. Hmmm where are you?!" Little boy giggles are music to my ears. When their joy manifests itself into uncontrollable giggles it is priceless to me!

Last night I had that inevitable thought which always pops into my head after I decided that it would be a good idea to make waffles, pancakes, or french toast. Seemed like a delicious idea at the time. Those are some of my favorite meals. Dave and I worked together to make scrambled eggs, sausage, and waffles. It was great. By the time every one had their food, cups filled with liquid of choice, waffles cut for them, and food consumed, it was getting late and I was feeling very 'done' for the day. That's when the aforementioned thought hit me, "WHY do I make things that 'require' a sticky, difficult to clean off substance be poured all over them?!" I think this every time I make these things. And I still make them. So through my tired haze I began cleaning up little boys, unloading and reloading the dish washer, and scrubbing syrup off from the table, chairs, floor, curtains, blanket, light fixtures (okay, I'm getting carried away, but it FELT like it...). I didn't want to be doing it. I wanted to sleep. The boys still needed to get their PJs on, medicine needed to be given, as well a final bolus of liquid for K. It was in that moment that my sweet K scooted over to me (scooting on his bottom is still his preferred method of getting around. Although he took his first steps, he has to be greatly encouraged to do that) and got the twinkle in his eye that I love. He informed me that he was going to hide and I could see the hopeful expectation he had. I left the syrup. It would still be there for me after the boys were in bed. If it wasn't I would do the happy dance. So, we played.

We tickled and giggled.

We hid and seeked.

I am fearful of experiencing a moment some day of looking back, wondering where the time went, and having regrets. I don't want to let that happen. So I am reminding myself that in the midst of this season, where the demands are many and energy is short, the 'precious moments' (Grandma P's coined phrase for the week) are waiting to be found. I want to remember what it feels like to have a little one climb up on my lap and ask if I will snuggle. I want to remember what it feels like to fall in love with my husband again and again as I watch him as a daddy. I want to remember the sweetness of little people becoming big people and asking the questions that help them figure out their world

So today, as I deal with the sticky spot I missed (I'm never using syrup again!), the dirt granules that I feel under my feet as I walk into my kitchen each day...and still have done nothing about, the little glasses that broke last night...for the second time in 3 days, and the numerous needs that I must meet, I am remembering that the days may be long, but the years are short.

De-weekending

Have you ever noticed that if you take one day off from normal daily maintenance stuff (laundry, clutter control, dishes, etc) the next morning you wake up to what appears to be some kind of terrible disaster? I usually do pretty good at keeping up with day to day tasks, but it is so constant and every now and then I try to give myself a bit of a break. Yesterday I was lazy. I hadn't slept well Saturday night and still wasn't feeling 100% healthy. For those reasons the boys and I stayed home from church and just chilled out together. I knew I needed rest to get my strength and complete health back. So I did nothing. Oh, I changed diapers, fed hungry little ones, that kind of stuff, but compared to how my days normally go, I did virtually nothing. I paid for that today. I am almost done with what we around here call "de-weekending". Once I get started it doesn't take very long, but wow, getting started can take some real work. Also it seems that whenever I start a cleaning project I get interrupted by little ones wanting my attention or I get reminded of things that are very important, which pertain to those little ones. Take Jay to the potty (YES! We are getting some where with this! I may not have 3 in diapers forever!), get some more liquid down K, try to get some more calories into K, help K with his oral motor exercises. These are the things that slow my progress. They slow my progress on things that ultimately don't matter and force me to spend my time investing in lives that do. I hope always to remember which of these things really matter. Most days I get frustrated by not having gotten done what I think I should have. It's a hard balance. Trying to have things neat, tidy, and clean, and yet spending quality time with my kids is a juggling act I haven't learned yet. The first load of laundry is folded, the dishwasher is running, the kids have had lunch, Jay is down for his nap. We are making progress! I will leave in an hour to "go to work" (as my boys say). I spend about 3 1/2 hours volunteering at a Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC) each Monday afternoon/evening. I started about 7 months ago. I began by answering phones, sorting baby clothes etc. Now I am counseling women and doing parenting classes. This is an amazing ministry! My life has been enhanced greatly by the few hours each week that I am able to work at the CPC. I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday and that your de-weekending does not overwhelm you. Just remeber, little by little, room by room, and slow down to notice those precious little people who really don't care if the rug isn't vacuumed yet.