Work Out A Solution

I am a morning person. When I’ve had enough sleep I wake up feeling like I can take on the world. But unlike most people I cannot exercise in the morning. I’m not one of those people who are energized by a good workout. Working out wipes me out, for the rest of the day. But working out in the evening is hard. Other things come up by the time 4:30 rolls around, or sometimes I’m just too tired to drag myself and my three kids to the gym. Luckily I’m a big enough exercise addict that I do it anyway. Between Monday and Saturday I usually get to the gym 5 times. I just can’t live without my workouts.

Normally we head to the gym at 4:30. Then we come home and eat dinner and get ready for bed. This works great for us. This summer Grey’s tennis lesson has been moved to Thursday morning so I do a workout at the same time. Then we head to the waterslide. It’s a perfect solution. My kids need to swim and I’m too tired to do anything else but sit by the pool with the baby.

When do you feel you’re best? What is your favorite time of day to exercise? If you're having a hard time getting to the gym maybe a different time of day would work better for you. Experiment until you find a time that works. Don't give up on yourself!

Save A Lawn, Plant A Vegetable

I know that didn't make any sense! This is going to offend many people but television and lawn care are two of the biggest wastes of time I can think of. That’s it. You’re going to break up with me now aren’t you!

I love to tell people that we aren’t going to have a lawn in the landscaping of our new yard. They are astonished. Because everyone has a lawn they can’t imagine anything else. Well, just because everyone is doing something doesn’t mean it’s your only option! I am astonished by the huge amount of resources that are wasted on lawn care. The huge amounts of money, time and water people waste just for something to look at. Yes, a green, healthy lawn is beautiful but I can drive by a golf course and see one any time I want. Yes, a lawn is great for running around and playing on but I can do that at any number of parks within walking distance (you're paying for those too). When I drive through neighborhoods, guess what, I don't see people running, playing or even standing on their lawns. You can probably count how many times a year you actually "use" your lawn. Are those few occassions worth the investment?

Our property is going to have lots of trees, shrubs and flowers. No grass. Think about doing this on your property. Just think about it. If you use the right types of plants they will need minimal water, fertilizer and care. Think of spending the summer relaxing or accomplishing something worthwhile instead of wasting it away on lawn care. If you like yard work, plant a vegetable garden and learn how to bottle the produce. Then you and your family can benefit from your efforts.

If you enjoy impressing your neighbors with your perfect lawn, try my recipe and drive them wild with smells of the perfect BBQ instead.

Sweet Cheeks

After writing that and really thinking about the video situation in our home I decided to do something drastic. I boxed up every video in our home and took them to storage. We don’t buy new videos but I had quite a few collected from garage sales. With DVD’s so popular now, people are getting rid of their video cassettes and they sell them cheap, usually for $1 a piece.

It’s been about a week and I’m so happy with our new video-free home. The kids weren’t watching them every day but they probably watched one every other day. Now we don’t have any choice but to entertain ourselves. No TV and no movies. What is a family to do?

We're making balloon animals of course! My kids are selling them at our local country fair in a few weeks so we’ve been reading books and websites and practicing day and night. We ran out of balloons over the weekend and I didn’t think we would be able to make it till Monday when we could buy more! We’re addicts!

Ellie Love is 5 months old this week. Look at that sweet baby face. Thanks for capturing it for us Grandpa Robbins!

Live Your Life

I can’t stop myself. I have to get on the subject of television. How much is your family watching? The more television you watch the more advertisers will convince you, you can’t live without it. Now it isn’t enough to have a television in every room of the house. We have to have one in the car too. I’ve even seen people watching TV in their garages as I drive by. Don’t these people ever want to have their own thoughts? Why are we so worried about "missing" something on TV but we don't care what we're missing in our lives?

I used to think it was rude when adults tuned out children. Now that I have my own I realize why. If I listened and responded to everything my kids said to me I would never have a moment to listen to my own thoughts. If you sit the whole family down in front of the TV every night then no one needs to ever have their own thoughts. Advertisers can do all your thinking for you.

Here are some facts about television viewing in America. Please read them. I hope they will educate you into turning off the television in your home. I don’t mean for the day or the week. I mean for the rest of your life. Start living your own real life instead of watching other people living their pretend ones.

Do you say you want to get more organized yet you spend hours every evening watching TV? I read a great idea once for getting organized. It said you can accomplish so much by getting up off the couch during commercials to clean. You will have spent about 15 minutes cleaning for every hour of TV watching. Wow! I have a better idea. Turn the TV off and accomplish an hours worth of cleaning for every hour you would have spent in front of the TV. How’s that for a revolutionary organizing idea!

We do occasionally watch movies in our home but we do not watch one minute of TV. How are watching movies different than watching TV? They don't create a habitual need to watch and they don’t have commercials. One year when my son was little everyone kept asking him what he wanted for Christmas. He would just stare at them with a confused look. Finally we re-explained (he couldn’t remember the previous Christmas) that people gave each other presents for Christmas. The next time someone asked him what he wanted he thought really hard and then he replied, “I think…something purple.” He had no idea! He didn’t know there were thousands of different kinds of toys on the shelves at stores. It never occurred to him to make a list a mile long of things he wanted. He figured he had everything he wanted. No one was telling him otherwise. He didn’t watch TV.

That has all changed now that he’s older. He’s watched TV at the gym and at friend’s and family’s homes. Now when we go to the store I hear a constant chatter of, “Buy me this, buy me that. I want this, I want that.” But I’m on the hunt for frog eye noodles so I tune him out.

Heat Up Your BBQ

I was never interested in cooking when I was young but I’ve spent the last 9 years of married life learning. Now that I have acquired a taste for “real” food you cannot force me to eat most boxed, bottled or prepared foods from the store. Everything tastes better made from scratch. But cooking doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Our favorite meal is to cook meat in the pressure cooker and then grill or broil it. It’s very quick and easy and you’ve never tasted better BBQ. We make spicy BBQ sauce by the gallons!

Spicy BBQ Sauce
2 cups ketchup
3 ounces tomato paste (half a can)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar (any kind)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup hot sauce
1 tablespoon fresh garlic

Mix all ingredients. Brush it on any kind of meat you'd like and then grill or broil. If you like more heat add 1 tablespoon ground red pepper.

Moder Times Continued

I’ve read articles in design magazines about people building homes that don't even have kitchens. Well, there's a kitchen but not the way we thing of a kitchen. It's not a place where you could cook a meal. There is a tiny refrigerator for drinks, a sink and maybe a microwave. I guess the microwave is for heating up left over Chinese food.

Speaking of Chinese food the Gallaghers (our family and the In-laws) eat out at a certain Chinese restaurant so often that the owner gave us a baby gift! Whenever we go she holds Elisabeth for us while we eat. We’re hoping Elisabeth will learn to cook Chinese from all these tours of the kitchen!

Chris and I have always eaten out much too often but we both enjoy cooking. Several months ago we decided to save money by not eating out so often. Our new rule was that once a month Chris gets to choose a restaurant and once a month I get to choose one. Then we might have fast food once a week. We are having such a good time cooking at home that we haven’t even made it to a restaurant once a month. We have come up with many delicious recipes and are constantly trying new things. Not only are we saving money but we’re eating healthier and having fun!

Modern Times

I have fantasies about our new home. I dream about how easy it is going to be to keep clean. I put a lot of thought into the design but is there any such thing as easier? We have modern conveniences that people didn’t have 60 years ago. Are our homes cleaner? Ok, so they may be easier to clean but I don’t think they are any cleaner. Look how we’re spending all the extra time created by machines that do everything for us. Instead of cooking we’re eating. Instead of washing clothes we’re shopping. Instead of watching our kids, they're watching television. Don’t even get me started on that subject!

I was talking to someone a few months ago and she said she hated washing dishes. She actually said, “They should make a machine that will do if for you.” Hello! Dishwasher! Have you ever heard of one? Or do you mean a machine that will clear the dishes from the table, wash them and put them back on your shelves? How lazy are we?!!! It used to be that cold cereal was a fast, convenience food. Cold cereal isn’t fast or convenient enough for us anymore. Now we need cereal bars. If you have never seen them they are cereal (sugar) with pretend milk (sugar) in the middle. We don't have time to eat in the kitchen? We have to feed our kids their breakfast in the car?

To Be Continued...

Yes, we picked up our building permit Friday and John (our builder) staked out the house. We're scheduled to start digging next Friday. Things should start moving more quickly now!

No More Excuses

I keep thinking that someday I’ll get my house clean and it will stay clean. Some day it will be clean “enough”. Some day I will be thin enough. I was going to add “rich enough” but I’m not someone who is searching for riches. That’s my husband’s job. Of course I want to spend the riches when he finds them!

Let’s face facts. Our homes are never going to be clean enough. They are never going to stay clean. I clean my kitchen counter off every day and it is always a mess. Why? Because we use it! If we didn’t use it then there would be no reason to even have it. You can be happy with your home right now. You do your best and it is beautiful. Yes, it will be a little bit more organized tomorrow than it was today because you are working on it but don’t make excuses for it. Ever. When I go into someone’s home I don’t want to hear excuses of why it looks the way it does and neither does anyone else. It just makes people uncomfortable.

I have a neighbor whose house is always perfectly immaculate. I’ve been in it a few times and nothing is ever out of place. Every time I walk in the door she says, “I’m sorry it’s such a mess in here.” What! Is there invisible dirt somewhere that I can't see? Are there socks in a drawer that havn't been ironed? It’s creepy.

I don’t believe that a home can be too clean but I do believe a person can be too obsessed about it. It reminds me of someone who is anorexic. They are thin but they can’t see it. All they see when they look in the mirror is a fat person. They are sick and need medical help to learn how to accept reality.

I have a friend whose house is always a disaster. There are toys everywhere, the garbage cans are overflowing and the floors are sticky. It’s not because she’s lazy and doesn’t clean it. She has four little kids. She never makes excuses for the mess and I always feel completely comfortable in her home. As long as I keep my shoes on!

Organize Your Glove Box

After opening the glove compartment in my van today I had to struggle to push everything back inside before I could shut it again. You guessed it. I ran for my bags! I filled one small one with plastic utensils and wet wipes. The other one I filled with medicines and personal items. All that was left was a pile of napkins. I stacked them right in front where I can easily grab them when I need them.

New Lower Prices!

If you are wondering what is up with all this talk about organizing bags I’ll tell you. I finally found someone who can make them cheaper than I can. All the bags are now black and I’ve lowered the prices. The large bags went from $5.00 each to $4.00 and the small bags went from $2.50 each to $2.00. I’m so excited! I wasn’t very interested in selling them before because they took too much of my time to make. Now that I have a big supply on hand and they are even more affordable, feel free to stock up!

My regular e-mail isn’t working for some reason so please e-mail me at gallagherclan@utahisp.com with any orders or questions.

Buttons

What do you do with the extra buttons that come with new clothing? As soon as I come home with something I sew the extra button into a side seam. That way I always know where to find it when I need it. If you don't know how to sew on a button then you need to learn. It really is possible to sew a button on so it won’t fall off. Don’t you wonder why clothing manufacturers can't figure this out? In fact, they're so sure their buttons will fall off that they give you a spare!

Works for me Wednesday