Big Brothers Rock!

Do you have an older brother by chance? I do. Over the years of growing up, we certainly had our moments of fighting, laughing, learning various things together. Tom is 2 years older than me...well, actually 2 and a half! :) He has always been very protective of me throughout school. I loved that and still do. When Matt travels, I know if I needed him to come check out some sound in the night, he would do so without whining or complaining. That is just what he does. What brought on these thoughts?

Tom and all his girls. :)

Well, Matt left for Chicago on Friday. We are still in the midst of a transition in our home remodel. I feel helpless most the time as I can not do the different tasks simply because I don't know what to do. That got me to thinking. Matt must feel overwhelmed with his "to do" list because I just can't help much beyond cheering him on during his tasks. While he appreciates that, it is not checking things off quickly. So on Friday, the girls and I went to Menard's and found the lights we had wanted to switch out in the hallway. Then Tom, Tommy to me, got the call. I wanted to have him teach me how to exchange lights so Matt would not have that on his list and I could learn something new to be more helpful.

Saturday afternoon, he and his girls came over. He did the first light, explaining everything he was doing along the way. He was an excellent teacher. I did the second light by myself. While I was excited, only one of the bulbs turned on, which meant something was not connected correctly. Regardless, he showed me what was wrong with grace and we tried again. After three attempts, he made sure I had it connected correctly so nothing would start a fire! (he works for Koorsen!) Then he sat down and talked to me for an hour. Just chatting about his job changes, girls, etc. It just made me feel that although we are all grown up and have our own families, those times of laughing, learning together are not over. I am grateful for all of my family, but last night when Matt came in and saw lights, well, I was just so grateful I have a brother who gets my heart and is willing to come over to help me bless my husband. I truly love the men in my life....thanks Tom. You have always been a big brother who ROCKS! :)

Boys and Their Toys!

The girls have been on their big trip with grandparents which left Matt and I home alone to tackle a paint job. We got up on Friday ready to get going on painting the ceiling in the living room and hall. I was going around spackling the holes I made with all my pictures hanging on the wall. Matt kept standing and looking at the half walls that divided our living room area with our very tiny entryway. I should not have been surprised when he looked at me with that look I know so well.

Matt tearing the last part of the half wall out.

He had a vision to tear out the walls, fix the hard wood floor he put in when we moved in then paint. It all made perfect sense to him because if we have to paint anyway, now is the time to tear stuff out. I just keep thinking, where do these things come from? I mean, we both slept in the same bed, ate the same food and yet never have I ever started a paint job only to stop and think" Man, those walls need to come out". I just don't get it. Yet, I am also very blessed with a husband who knows his ways around the tools and is a perfectionist with his jobs. (who would go to a dentist who did not expect perfection?!) Anyway, he started tearing down the first wall and I just stayed in my happy place...the computer! haha! After he tore down one wall, he called me out and I have to say that while I really deep down just wanted to get the painting done so we could put the room back together quickly and have a date night, he was right. It looked so much nicer and he looked so proud.(and cute!)

Dr. Demo is his new name...looking way too cute and proud of himself!

The poor second wall has no idea what or who is coming.

So now he is out there still fixing the floor. I can't do much to help. I have sanded the spots I fixed yesterday but really I am just here for moral support and snacks. We still don't have the ceiling or walls painted, but I know they will be soon. He gets his mind set to something and he won't stop until he finishes. That is one of the things I love about him. He is much more of a risk taker than I am and let's face it...I'm so glad he is since we met on a blind date! :) I'll post after photos soon.

Dr. Demo completed his task: both walls down.

Upside Down Your Turning Me....

What a crazy weekend! We have a dear friend who is building built in bookshelves to surround our fireplace. We are very excited about their completion but he can not put them in until we paint. Oh boy, the crazy life of painting while still in school. Friday night Matt went to our small group while I kept the girls home with me since Doodle was still coughing so much. The girls and I started emptying the old bookshelves and placing everything from inside the entertainment center in boxes. The boxes are being stored on the bottom bunk in Doodle's room! She loves it! haha! We had no were else to keep them out of the walk way and off the floor. No one sleeps on that bed so it seemed like a good fit. :)

Saturday we filled the rest of the boxes and took pictures off the walls in the living room and hall. The girls are excited about the new shelves and are eager to help. Matt was ready to start painting the ceiling. What we did not expect was to find evidence of a mouse while we were working. I went into the kitchen to make lunch and found said evidence in the pantry. So the painting project ended quickly and clean out pantry mode went in full effect. We now have a house that feels and looks a bit turned upside down but the pantry is clean. :) Matt set a mousetrap last night and he had the little scoundrel this morning. So we should be in the clear. Makes me nuts to find those little guys but it is just part of living near fields. Not sure when the painting will be done but I know it will. I am just happy that my family likes to tackle jobs together and we don't lose sight of what is most important...the time spent together. We laughed a lot during this ordeal and we truly enjoyed our day. What a blessing.

What will you do oo oo for....your daddy?

I know that is not how the song goes, but that is what we are singing this morning. We have had some trouble keeping on top of lots of stuff lately just due to being gone so much really. Matt has not been able to mow as often as he likes to have it done which has allowed me to bless him by taking on that task from time to time. I actually found out I enjoy it. (shh...don't tell) Anyway, after the last couple times I mowed, I noticed it looked like we had harvested wheat more than mowed grass. Our yard looked horrible. Even I noticed, which truly I am not a yard nazi type person. I figure if God wanted it all cut down he would have made it short! :) Anyway, I enjoy nature as is for the most part. But Matt truly can not stand when his yard has lines of grass clippings looking like an unswept carpet. He likes it to look like a freshly swept carpet, I guess.

So today, after I mowed, I went in to get my eager helpers and between the three of us, we raked and bagged the grass clippings for our daddy. Why? Because we love him and wanted to bless him. Didn't take as long as we thought it would and you know what? No whiners. Because I told them this would bless Daddy from the beginning, they jumped right in to help. I also told them I would pay them for each bag they filled up after I realized how big the job was going to be. Well, little did I know how much grass we have! We ended up bagging 7 bags of clippings!

Doodle and Bean with the proof of their hard work.

As we finished, Doodle said," Mom, you should have taken a before and after shot for your blog." Oops! So, instead we have a girls sitting on the bags they filled and the after. You know, I love that they were willing to do the work without payment before I mentioned it. I love that they wanted to bless their Daddy in this way. I know it is silly but somehow I managed to make raking and bagging grass sappy. What can I say? I love my man.

A almost well manicured lawn.

The other side of our backyard and our nasty old shed.
Maybe that will be our next project. :0)

New Chore Chart

Recently I was talking with my mom about being overwhelmed with keeping up the house. I just can't seem to get it together to get all the jobs done the way I like them to be done. I have learned with homeschooling to let the dust build but I can't stand the clutter and boy have we accumulated clutter this year!! I know there are more important things I am teaching my children, but I just started feeling swamped. So, with that conversation came the wisdom of a woman who has been there in one way or another and came my freedom. :)

Mom reminded me that I basically have a full time job. When she went back to work full time, we all had to pitch in more to help keep the house. She gave each of us days to do our laundry and days to cook and clean the kitchen. The other days we did bathrooms, dusted and swept living areas and such. If we chose to not do our laundry on laundry day, we did not have clean laundry until the following week. Also, if we did not get it out of the washer and dryer by bedtime that day, it was taken until the next week as well. We had to do extra chores to earn it back. Now, I must admit, as a kid I hated this. But as an adult I see that it taught me to follow through with my tasks on hand and that I had to take ownership in my jobs. With that revelation, came our new chore chart.

Each day we have a certain task assigned to us. We all have a job to do that day. Of course there is the basic daily jobs of making beds, put away your clothes, shoes and toys before bed, but the big job of the day is to be completed by bedtime. If it is not, there is no t.v. or computer time the next day.

So far, Doodle loves the system. She feels she is helping out more. I am not reminding them of their chores as they both can read and know where the chart is posted. It is their job to do it. Now of course, I do mention that I am doing my job for the day hoping to pass that on to little one. :) The first week of this new chart, I taught the girls what was expected in cleaning the various areas as well as the laundry. This week, I plan on staying in the room to observe and next week I feel they will be good to go on their own. The plan is working and I see both girls feeling proud of what they accomplished in the day and I didn't have to remind them or nag them to get it done. They know if it is not done by bedtime there will be a consequence. Thanks Mom! I needed that advice and reminder that I can't do it all.

Alone at last!

Much to my dismay, my girls now have their own bedrooms. We have spent the past couple weeks emptying out the play/school room and dividing up the clothes, shoes, toys into two rooms. Bean had the choice of the bigger room with bunk beds or the smaller room with Gaga Rachel's furniture. She chose Gaga Rachel's furniture. (she got to decide since Doodle has always had the bigger room)

I have to tell you that I dreaded this move. I shared a room with my sister all her life. I don't recall not sharing. I guess when I came home from college and my brother was gone I did have my own but before that we were always together. I feared that due to their age difference, if Doodle had the chance to shut her sister out, she would because they just were so different.

I prayed a lot about this move and I have cried a lot about it. I just felt like I was caving and letting the fighting dictate what was going to happen instead of stopping the fighting. What I found though is nothing worked. They just kept fighting. The fighting was starting to cause resentment and that is not what I wanted at all. So I guess in that sense, I did cave or submit to my husband's wisdom. He really felt that the problem was that the two of them were always together with no breaks from each other.

We have friends with large families and this is not a problem. Then I remember, if someone is needing a bit of space, the one who is getting on their nerves does have others to play with. For mine, they are each others playmates alone during the day. So, with that, we moved the stuff. I got rid of my grandma's love seat from my playroom, which was a bit difficult. We got the furniture from Gaga Rachel's apartment. Then we went to work at getting the rooms set up.

Bean's new bed and dresser.

Doodle's new set up of the bunkbed.

What I have found is peace. I have to admit when I am wrong and I was WRONG! The girls have been playing together beautifully. Doodle finds time to do things with and for Bean that she never did before. They also have times when I find them playing alone in their own rooms. The other night, I came around the corner to see this:

My girls cuddled up in bed reading a book together.

Now that may not seem a big deal to you, but trust me when I say, it is a small miracle. My girls love each other but they are truly complete opposites. God knew what the other would need when He chose these two to be sisters. But being together for all day versus going to school and just seeing each other at night really did make it hard for them to find a way to just enjoy each other. What I am seeing now is that Bean and I have some work to do in the training department as far as taking care of her things. :) Doodle had always done that for her and had grown to resent it. Now, Doodle is sitting on Bean's bed telling her what to do so they can go play together. This would not have happened before.

Then there is Doodle. She is a girl who needs her space from time to time. I am seeing her being able to take that time during the day while Bean plays in her own room and there is peace. No fighting over being too loud or stop touching my stuff...or whatever. I am so happy to say that obedience brings joy. :) I did not want to be submissive and I recall being a bit nasty in my thoughts of this move. I am here to say, I was wrong and I am thankful I have learned enough in 18 years of marriage to let my man be the head of this house even when I think he is dead wrong because sometimes God doesn't fill me in on all the joys until after I have obeyed. :) Love that!

Bean in her new bed.

Doodle in her "new" room.

No More Fishy!

The Fishy Bathroom

Well, the day has finally come to take down the little kids "fishy" bathroom. Our girls will be 12 and 9 this summer and have definately outgrown the theme. Not to mention that the fish keep disappearing over the years from various kids picking them off my walls. Makes me giggle.

Anyway, the girls and I talked about what kind of bathroom they would like to have for the next 9 years....I know it's a dream but that is how long the fish lasted! Anyway, they decided on a "spa" type bathroom. Mind you, neither of my girls have ever been to a spa nor will they on my tab. This must just be something they have seen in a movie or heard about but it certainly gave us a starting point. First, we found the shower curtain and rugs.

The new colors

Once I saw the colors and knew that both of them would get their favorite color, that set it in stone. Next came the day I dreaded....taking the fish down. And you know what? It didn't bother me a bit! Who would have guessed?! I think I was so excited about working with the girls to create the bathroom they will enjoy that I just didn't have time to sit and think about it much. Either that or I am just really sick of the fish. Could be either. :) (loved the fish but it has been 9 years!!!!)

Doodle thought peeling the border down was so cool.

Bean got into the peeling action as well.

They did some pretty good damage but those fish still left their marks.

The next phase came painting. Doodle and I picked out the paint color together. She calls it spa green. It is pretty. I painted the bathroom last weekend and my honey trimmed it all for us.

Pickling Spice goes on the wall.

Then Bean and I went out looking for new bathroom accessories to go with our new bathroom. We chose some pretty cool silver assessories.

Bean's addition to the room....cool silver assessories.

I have to say, doing this with my girls and not just for my girls made it more fun. We do now have a bathroom that is in working order. Matt got the light, towel racks and stuff put up last night. It looks sweet. Now, I do want to have my dear friend, Lainie, help me write scripture on the walls, but beside that we are done for the time being. I think the girls will enjoy and I certainly enjoyed our time together working on this project.

The "finished" project...can you guess where the scripture will go?

Doodle and Bean's addition to make it more like a "spa".
They crack me up!

Tackle time!

This week I am preparing to leave for our Spring Break trip with my entire family: parents, sister and her family, brother and his family and then my family. So, with that trip over my head, I know I don't have time to tackle anything around the house per se, but I do have the chance to tackle what needs done before we leave Friday. So today, I am going to pack our clothes and organize our beach stuff so when I go to pack the van on Friday, it will all be together and no one will be questioning where the nets or shovels/pails have gotten to. I don't know that there will be pictures, but I will let you know when the task is tackled. Keep posted for updates!

Blog Party Question of the Day!!

List one or two resources pertaining to keeping the home that you have found helpful.

Keeping house is one of the areas I really struggle. I did not use to but since homeschooling, I just can't seem to find the right thing to get it all done. So, with that preface, know I am gleaning more from this topic than I can share...but here a couple thoughts.

I have found getting the kids involved helps a ton. Chore charts, rewards, zone cleaning have all worked for us.

Secondly, learning to let some stuff go helps me too. I know how I desire our home to look, I also know just how much time I would spend accomplishing that goal. To be honest, I choose to play with my girls instead. So if that is my choice, I have to cave on some of my expectations. Does that make sense? So instead of sweeping daily, bathrooms cleaned twice a week...etc. Now I know we will get the bathrooms deep cleaned once a week and clean surfaces once. We will sweep every other day and dust as needed. It has freed me up to be the mom I want to be at this time of their life.

I so struggle with letting the messes go though. I sit here knowing I have a pantry and two closets that need my attention terribly...which brings me to my third help. I found a meme called Tackle it on Tuesday. That has helped me focus on those type areas the past few weeks. What a blessing. Just making it a priority for a day helps. Then keeping it clean is so much easier.

Time for another great tackle!

It's that time of week again! Love it! I need all the encouragement I can get right now to tackle those projects that are calling out to me and yet I choose to walk on by over and over again. I usually find something else more appealing to do, but still these things call out. (don't worry, I am not really hearing voices :)

So, today's Tuesday tackle project is going to be something to bless our homeschool....bookshelves! I need to get in the bookshelves and organize our school books again. I like them to be in order by history topics (creation to greek, rome to reformation, middle ages, American History and modern world history) , science subjects, and then the various other subjects I have books to read.

This is one of 4 bookshelves needing attention.

I love books. They are my addiction. Nothing blesses me more than when I get my homeschool order in and I get to rummage through the new books. Well, maybe when my oldest daughter and I go to HalfPriced Bookstores and find the books we need for next year at half the price!! That blesses us both so much.

Regardless, we have accumulated quite the library of books through our 6 years of homeschooling and I just can't seem to see an end in sight. I love it. But the problem always arises mid-year that the books are not put back where they go and next thing you know our shelves are a mess. So, today, that will be solved. I will take a picture but I don't know that it will show much progress. The shelves themselves are not in disarray as much as they need organized. I am sure there will be some change in appearance, but not like the desk tackle a couple weeks ago! That was a mini makeover! I will post an update tonight to let you know how I did on this project.

Update: We did it! My oldest daughter helped me empty out every single bookshelf and organize them. (one of her talents by the way) So tonight, they are organized and ready for school tomorrow. yeah! I do think I will be finding a way to label the shelves as suggested. Just not sure I want the bookshelves in my living room labeled. Not sure how to get around that one. We'll see.
Here are some pictures of the process.

My living room floor was overtaken by books.

We sorted them by subject into baskets.

Can you believe I have two complete shelves just for American History!!

It feels great to have another job tackled. I truly am loving have the challenge to push me to finish a task at hand. Now....what will it be next week?

Tuesday's Here! Time to Tackle Something!

Well, here we are again looking at another Tuesday. I have struggled to know what to tackle today as I truly have tons of projects that could be done. After considering my options, I have decided to attack the ironing. I tend to go with the "throw it in the dryer" mode, if it is something that will dewrinkle that way. Or I suggest another shirt if possible. I really don't enjoy ironing. So, I haven't done it for what seems like forever. Since that is true and since it was just his birthday yesterday, I thought I would continue with my thinking of ways to bless him and iron the shirts in his closet that need it. Little did I know that when I opened that can of worms, there would be so many shirts that needed it. Regardless, by the end of the day, maybe midnight, I will have tackled these shirts.


Update: It is done! Yeah!

21 shirts needed ironed

After watching Piglet's Big Movie with the girls, the job is finally tackled! I am proud to say that I have managed to tackle my second Tuesday job. Sadly, it takes gimics like this to keep me motivated.

Tuesdays Tackled Project!

I really did not want to tackle this project. Truly, I had been stashing stuff around my desk for several days if not weeks! It was beyond gross. Truly, I can not tell you what stress that caused me everytime I went into the room. So here are the before shots...this is so embarrassing but good to be humbled. (love me despite my dirt! :0)

The desk! Ugh! What a mess.

The storage area for "office" supplies. Gross!

Now that we have that moment over, I must admit, I am glad to say that I not only tackled this project, it inspired my girls to tackle their desks as well! Lead by example! So here is the finished project and my girls desks as well. Good job girls!

The clean storage area!

Look at that desk! What a gem.

Doodle's desk....looking good!

Bean's desk is good as new!

Not bad for a first time on the tackling a project on Tuesday. Now I just have to come up with the plan for next week!

Tackle it on Tuesday!

I am finding these little incentives very helpful to this disorganized mama. I don't know when I lost my ability to run this house as I once did, but somehow, clutter and poor time management have prevailed. So for my first Tuesday project to tackle, I choose my desk area. I will take a picture tonight of the before. Then I will work on it tomorrow and show you pics of the finished project.

Menu Planning Monday

Since I have had more time at home with sick kiddos today, I decided to get online and find the resources some of my other friends have found to help them get organized. So this is my first Organization Junkie post! (Thanks Lain!)

Obviously, we will be shaking up our typical menu this week as we have a sick kiddo and who knows who else will fall to the bug. Therefore, I have tried to keep it simple and quick. Here is what the crew will be eating this week:

Monday: chicken noodle soup, hot turkey/cheese sandwich for all that are well

Tuesday: chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans

Wednesday: chicken and rice, broccoli

Thursday: cheese quesadillas, rice and black beans

Friday: roast, potato, carrots

Saturday: left over roast

Sunday: ham, potato, cheese casserole, salad

A New Outlook

Okay, this is so weird! I had to get up early this morning because we are getting a new roof today. Did I mention...we are getting a new roof today!!! Woohoo! Anyway, the guys were suppose to be here at 7. So I got up at 5 with Matt. He goes to Bible Study Fellowship early on Saturday mornings so this week I joined him. After he left, I got a shower, got dressed and proceeded to clean my bathroom.Then I went out to the kitchen. I made muffins, cleaned the kitchen and do a quick sweep through the living room. This all before 8!! For those who are morning people, you are thinking...So what? But for those who know I am sooooo not a morning person you realize God has blessed me this morning. What a joy it has been to have this time alone working and praying as I go. Why can't I do this more often? I am actually happy to see my little girls' faces appear around the corner instead of the feeling of oh no!! not yet! I usually have. It shows me that I can do this if I choose to and that is just another blog for another day!!

Flylay to the Rescue!

For those of you who are not domestically challenged or are Type A personalities, you may not find the same joy in my new saving grace. However, I am really struggling to keep this house in order right now and need someone to guide me through the muck into see the other side. While this comes so easy to others, for me, I get overwhelmed with the clutter and feel like it will never be any better so why bother. I cave to that Eeyore inside me at times. But after praying about, God really knew I needed help above and beyond. I found the website flylady.net and am hooked! You take babysteps in getting rid of the CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome) in your house. I am so excited to jump into this with both feet and know that this is what I need to pull me out of the muddy pit we have put ourselves into since Christmas. A detailed plan and encouragement from someone who has been there before is all I can ask for really. I just think my God is just so awesome that He knew when to let me find this site. I should never be amazed at how much He takes care of every single detail in my life. Even the ones I cause myself....clutter. So, with that, I am off to shine my sink!