Roy Pool, Here we come!!!

I've been on a down turn for the past few days. I'm struggling just to keep the dishes done. I haven't been sleeping well and that always sets me back. I do my best cleaning and organizing in the morning so if I wake up groggy I don't get much accomplished that day. I'm hoping I can get a fresh start tomorrow and set things right again. The first thing I'm going to do is mop the floor since I'm going upstairs to sweep it right now!

I did get my garden raked, new compost added and my green beans planted on Friday. Then Kate and I spent the afternoon sewing her a new dance outfit. I've been wanting a new serger that sews a cover-stitch for knits but I didn't think I could justify it. The only kind of sewing I've been doing for the past several years has been quilting. Now that I have a daughter that's dancing I want to make her dance clothes. I think I am ready to splurge!

We're hoping for some warm weather tomorrow so our outdoor pool will open. If I can get the house cleaned and the lawn mowed then swimming will be a special treat for all of us!

Tomatoes and Green Beans

I have completely disregarded my goal of sweeping the floor every day. It actually stays pretty clean. The part I'm talking about that is so disgusting is right where the kids eat. I never venture that way so it's easy for me to ignore it. We're headed upstairs right now and the kids are going to clean it!

Yesterday I did some work in my garden. I moved some herbs that were taking over my vegetable bed. I clipped back some bushes, pulled weeds, re-arranged the drip hoses and staked some leaning trees. I'm going to stop by the store and buy some stronger stakes for a couple of the thicker trees. I also need a couple bags of compost for my veggie garden. I need to get my green beans planted. That's about all I'm planting this year since I'm hoping I won't be around to harvest. Of course we will probably aren't going anywhere soon. At least we'll have green beans to eat. I did plant one cherry tomato plant in a container so I can take it with me!

The Return Cupboard

I only have Chris' organizing to write about today. He amazed all of us by returning some huge, un-used bags of insulation that we've been storing for two years. He also picked up new fence parts for our damaged fence. Tonight he took the entire section out and put it back together with the new parts and it looks great! That's two more things we can check off our list.

Do you have any returns you need to make? I keep telling myself I will never buy another item that will need to be returned but I just can't help myself! I like to bring things home so I can decide here that I don't want them. What works for me is to tape the receipt to the item and store it in a cupboard by the back door. I check the cupboard before I run my errands and grab anything that needs returning. This works for things that need to go back to friends and family as well as library books and such. When my friends drop by I look in the cupboard before they leave so I can send them home with their forgotten things.

You might think leaving an item out on your kitchen table will help remind you to return it. Sure you will notice it there for a few days but eventually your brain will get sick of thinking about it and you will look right at it and not know it's there. Don't clutter up your home and your mind like this. If you are afraid you'll forget about it if you put it away, make a note in your Planner to return it by a certain date and get the thing out of your sight!

I'm sending off a catalog return today that I've had sitting in my sewing room for the past three weeks. I knew right away that I wanted to return it. I should have sent it back the next day but instead, I choose to let it bother me for three weeks. This is exactly what I'm trying to teach myself not to do anymore. I'll keep working on it if you will!

Headset Telephones

I cleaned out my refrigerator yesterday while talking to my sister on my headset telephone. If you don't have one of these phones you should seriously get one. Our daughter jumped down the stairs with ours a few months ago and we had to tape it back together because I was lost without it. Not that I spend a great amount of time on the telephone. But, the moments I do spend are never wasted. As soon as I pick up the phone I get to work and before I know it, I have a clean house. It's like when you're driving a familiar route and you get home and say, "I have no idea how I got here, I don't remember a thing." You just go on auto pilot. There is no better way of cleaning your house than on auto pilot. It's so painless!

Here is the phone we have that works great, although we didn't pay anywhere near $100 for it. I think we got it on sale a couple years ago for around $30. Shop around the internet and see if you can find one at a good price.

One of my favorite things about this model is that I can wear it around my neck if I'm expecting a call or I'm working outside. When I'm talking outside people probably think I'm wearing a radio on my head and singing. I must look like a goof!

The Junk Room

This is just an organizing update. I think I mentioned before how I don't have a house cleaning schedule like some people do. It would be nice but it just isn't possible with my husband's schedule. I do all my cleaning when he's gone and we play when he's home. So what I've been doing the last few months is making sure my kitchen is clean at all times, watering the plants once a week and then spending 15 minutes a day cleaning whatever is bugging me that day. I'm happy to say that this is working out splendidly so far. The last few days I have been spending my 15 minutes going from room to room vacuuming every nook and cranny with a shop-vac. So far I've done 5 rooms. Today I got side tracked and spent a couple hours cleaning out my junk room.

I was laying in bed last night feeling very agitated. I kept asking myself, "What is bothering me?" There must be something in my life that's bothering me for me to feel like this. Then it occurred to me. It's my junk room. Over the last year it has been getting piled higher and higher with things I don't want to deal with. Items to take to the thrift store. Clothes to take to the consignment shop or give to my niece and nephew. Furniture that I want to paint. Etc.

I knew I had to start getting it cleaned out if I wanted to get my head un-cluttered. I did all I could today until I finally got a brain cramp and couldn't do anymore. Of course it looks worse now that before I started. I have piles all over the middle of the room but I'm feeling better already. I have a box in my van to take to the thrift store. I threw out a huge bag of garbage and I have some empty closet shelves ready to use for the things I am keeping. I think a couple more hours in there and I'll be done for the time being.

Rush, Rush, Rush

I went through my daughter's room with her and took out most of her toys. We were both sick to death of the disaster her room was. No matter how many hours I spent helping her clean it and showing her how to put her things away, it was always a mess. She just couldn't manage to put anything away when I asked her to. My philosophy is this: If kids can't take care of their things then they have too many things. Of course this doesn't only apply to children.

If we, as adults, can't take care of our things then we have too many things. It is beyond me why people have enormous homes with manicured lawns, several vehicles, boats and four wheelers, swimming pools, pets, computers, home entertainment systems, and on and on and on. How do they think they are going to have time in their lives for all this stuff! People can't figure out why they are always rushing around. Why they don't have time to sit and eat dinner together. First of all they have to work a billion hours to pay for all this crap. Then they spent the rest of their time taking care of it. Did they forget that they have a responsibility more important than their toys? Their homes are immaculate but their kids are neglected. Am I missing something here? What is the point of that?

I personally, am overwhelmed by all the responsibilities that come with our home and cars. First of all I struggle to keep up with the kids. Their education, their health, their amusement. I spend most of my time teaching, feeding, loving and cleaning up after these two little darlings. Then on top of that I have a home to take care of that seems to be falling apart before my very eyes. Our home is only 8 years old but already we've had to fix or replace the dishwasher, a toilet, the washing machine, and the sprinkling system. We've had to divert floods from our basement. All the flooring upstairs needs to be replaced. Then we have a lawn and two vehicles that require constant attention . The list goes on.

How can we make our lives simpler so we can really enjoy them?

The New Do

Kate got her hair cut short. Mornings look relatively calm around here again. Her hair is so fine that it's difficult to keep looking good. If I style it in the morning and we go anywhere in the afternoon, I have to style it again. Basically I have to work on her hair every time we leave the house. This isn't a lot of fun for either of us. I have to spray it wet and haul out the blow dryer to straighten it out. It's too thin to stay in any kind of a pony tail or barrette longer than a few minutes. Of course when you're four it's hard not to dream about having beautiful long hair.

Just so you know. I didn't force her into getting her hair chopped off. I talked her into it the same way I talked her into giving up 95% of the toys in her room. Gently. "If you cut your hair short it won't get tangled and hurt when I comb it out." "If you get rid of these toys you won't have to spend so much time cleaning your room." These are arguments that a little girl can appreciate. Everywhere we go, I point out beautiful girls and women with short hair. Kate loves her new short hair and her new clean room. She brags to everyone about how she can do her hair every day all by herself and her Mom only has to do it on Sundays

I had my hair cut about five inches shorter, the same day, to show my support for her situation. She asked me why I didn't cut it as short as hers. I told her it was because I wasn't as cute as her. Now she feels sorry for me that I'm so ugly I can't have short hair. I guess I'm the kind of Mother only a child can love.

An Organized Office

Remember that office garbage can I emptied last week? Well, I was so inspired by seeing a clean garbage can, I spent the next morning cleaning the entire office. Of course it only took a few minutes. Fifteen at the most. I dusted, vacuumed, and organized everything. Well, not my husbands papers. I'm not allowed to do much with those. I just moved his piles onto some empty shelves I had in there. See? It runs in the family. He's a Piler too. Maybe one of these days I'll get lucky and he'll let me get my hands on those piles of papers.

It's amazing how doing one little thing can get me motivated to do more and more. The more organized my home and life get, the more organization I crave. If this ever becomes an unhealthy obsession you'd tell me, right?

I haven't forgotten about my kitchen floor today. My daughter ran off with her Auntie Kathy this morning so there isn't much point to sweeping. I'll do it anyway though, just so you know I'm serious.

Where's Spot?

It's finally happened. I am officially sick of Cheetos! It took a little over two months and I won't tell you how many monster sized bags of Cheetos. I'll tell you I ate a small bowl of Cheetos about every other day and the rest of the family ate them whenever they wanted and shared them with their friends. I think everyone else feels the same way about them that I do now. My daughter won't even go near them. What will my next food project be? Twinkies maybe? I don't think that one will take long at all. Why do I think I like Twinkies so much? Gross, I know!

I'm also ready for a new organizing project. I have kept my van remarkably clean for over a month now and I don't think I could ever go back to living with it messy. The kids and I clean it out every day and I vacuum it at least twice a week. So the focus for my next project is going to be my kitchen floor. I hate cleaning it more than anything! I have to move all the stools and rugs before I sweep and then put them back. I think it just isn't decent that it should get so filthy! What we really need around here is a dog to clean up the crumbs the kids drop. But then I'd have to clean up after the dog so never mind.

I gave the floor a thorough cleaning yesterday. I swept, mopped and scraped up every spot that wouldn't budge on it's own. Starting tonight I will sweep the floor once a day. Anyone want to join my challenge?

It's Time For A Fire Drill

Can you walk through your home in the dark without tripping over clutter and breaking an arm? This is a great concern for my family since I seem to have a light switching problem. If I pass a room or hall with a light on, I switch it off. Is it possible that I was born with this disorder? However it developed, it appears to be driving my family crazy. I don't see what the problem is. We've lived here for six years. People should know their way around by now.

When I do my evening walk-through of the house I turn out all the light (obviously), lock all the doors, adjust the temperature, and make sure we have clear access to all the exits. But, no matter how diligent I try to be, I still get my surprises at night. My kids have a funny way of re-arranging their toys and my furniture when I'm not looking. Inevitably I end up bashing a big toe on a stray skate, cracking my shin on a little red stool (thanks Grandma!), piercing my foot on a pair of Barbie sunglasses, or slipping on a book at the top of the stairs and finding myself at the bottom a bit sooner than I had anticipated.

Sometimes I'm so tired in the evening that I don't have the energy to fight the room-cleaning battle with my kids. The only way I can sleep without fearing for their lives is to clear a path to their door on my way out. I can rest peacefully knowing they won't fall over a Lego tower and break their heads open trying to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

If you're wondering how your family will make it out of the house in a fire you may need to re-think some of your storage issues. The hall isn't the best place for those boxes you haven't opened since you moved in six years ago. You can start going through them now and it won't be as painful as you think. If you've waited six years you won't need or want most of what's in them anyway. If you've maneuvered a box of books to the top of the stairs hoping your husband would notice it and take it down to the basement for you, let me give you some advice. Buy a dolly and move it yourself before someone gets hurt. My husband bought a dolly a couple years ago and it has really helped our marriage. Instead of nagging I can re-arrange the furniture when he's not looking!

Get Up And Take Out The Garbage

Our latest exciting news is that someone shot a hole through our front bedroom window with a BB gun. We have no idea who did it or even when. It is a bedroom that we don't use except for storage so I never open the drapes. For all I know it could have happened six months ago. Let's see, could we have one more thing to fix before we sell our house? The list is getting longer instead of shorter!

For those of you who are interested, we have made an offer on that property I wrote about several weeks ago. If everything goes well it should be ours in a few weeks. Hmmmm, 21 acres of farmland in the mountains. It sounds like Heaven! Like I said, we can't afford to build a house on it so we might be homeless for a while. If you would like to make a donation to the Gallagher Farm project please contact me and I'll tell you where to direct your check. :)

Let's see...I'm supposed to be writing about organizing I think. I've been plodding along the last couple of days. Not spending more than my required fifteen minutes on anything. I cleared off a clutter colony from my sewing table, found a home for a stack of garage sale videos and scrubbed the heck out of our shower walls. This last one was my least favorite but once again I overestimated an easy job. Instead of getting right to it, I let it worry me for a couple weeks.

How much stress would we save ourselves if we always took care of our concerns immediately. I don't mean within moments but within a few days would be a huge improvement. What is bugging you today? I have an overflowing garbage can right here in the office that is a big eye-sore. I think I'm going to have to get up right now and take it out before I waste another brain wave on it.

Buttered Peas

It constantly amazes me how difficult it can be to communicate with people even when you are speaking the same language. I guess no two people really do speak the same language. The other night my husband was eating a bowl of buttered peas when our six year old sat down beside him. Chris said, "Do you want a bite of my peas?" Grey answered, "Not with the butter". "Then you want it without the butter?" Chris asked. Grey replied, "No, without the peas."

This small interchange was so funny to me, I still find myself laughing about it! I just love it when our kids out-smart us. Of course it's not difficult for them. We're adults and they're at an age where they still know everything.

Grey was three years old when Utah was busily preparing to host the Winter Olympics. A giant parking lot for spectators was built down the hill from us. We drove by the parking lot every day that summer with the sun glimmering off the hot, black surface. Grey was convinced that what he was seeing was light reflecting off a lake. Chris took this opportunity to drive me crazy by agreeing with our son and making comments about how we would be going swimming and boating there. If you know anything about three year olds they do not let discussions like this drop. Day in and day out, we drove by that parking lot with Grey telling me it was a lake and with me saying no, it was a parking lot. Months passed and I thought it would never end. Then came the day when we saw men painting yellow parking spaces on the lot. As we passed, Grey stated confidently, "Yep. I was right. It's a parking lot." I felt like screaming but all I could do was reply, "Yes dear, you're always right."