My babies are night owls. It's not a problem for us for a variety of reasons. I stay at home so no getting up early to hustle them off to day care or preschool. DaHubby gets to enjoy them longer in the evenings. I get some me-time in the mornings when I'm at my best. We get to go to evening activities (like 7pm midweek services and such) with fewer behavior problems.
Anyway, Flicka was ex.haus.ted come 8:30 last night which is early for her. My brave "flicka krigare" (little girl warrior) swam the entire length of the pool, over the deep end, TWICE at swimming lessons yesterday. Then, she proceeded to celebrate in such a way (with a video and popcorn uninterrupted by Pojke) that no afternoon nap was taken."But, I'm so sleepy, Momma" was the last thing we heard from the back seat while driving home from Lowe's.
Concerned for her unbroken record of several nights without accidents, we were worried she hadn't "emptied" herself before bed. So, we laid her down with a double folded thick towel across the midsection of her bed and just let her sleep in her clothes.
Jump to 4:45am...in the midst of some SERIOUSLY deep sleep, my momma radar detects the patter of feet across the wood floors into the living room. I drag myself out, check the living room but no one there. Hmmm...go to her room. She's standing next to her bed straightening her covers. She turns and says indignantly "what is THIS?" (pointing to the towel). I explain our grown-up reasoning. "But, I don't need THAT anymore!" she sniffed.
She crawls back into bed, having taken off her shirt and sweats, and says accusingly "And, Momma, YOU forgot to put me in PJ's!" She huffs and lays down.
Then, "Momma can you make my bed?" (translation: pull the covers up over her and tuck her in)
Then, "And, Momma, I need my mid-i-fi-er. *sniff* I have a booger nose."
And, she curls up to go back to sleep. Apparently, I've been dismissed! Even at 5am, I didn't know whether to laugh or to start praying for her teenage years! Geesh!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Today for Heather
How appropriate that today is the National Day of Prayer!
Today - and possibly at the very minute you are reading this - Heather may be undergoing life-saving brain surgery for what was originally thought to be inoperable brain cancer. This woman has been on my mind and heart constantly the last week or so as I watch and read her blog in awesome wonder how her amazing faith is being walked out through this challenge. If you could, take a moment and lift her up to the Lord today.
Also, Heather seems to have a particularly soft heart for praise music and and a gift for singing. She posts videos of songs that inspire her over the last few weeks. This particular song that she posted on April 19th gripped my heart and will not let me go. So, I asked my pastor last night if he would consider allowing me the honor to sing it as a special after praise and worship this Sunday or next Sunday. I do it because I feel compelled. And, it's a tribute to Heather, her faith, and the Lord we share. But, I'm also hoping that her story and this song will touch someone at this point unknown to me in my church family who may be struggling with something.
Father God, may Heather's doctors find NOTHING to remove or, if they do, that Your will be done and may it be the best possible outcome for Heather and her family. Whatever happens: all for Your glory, Lord!
Also, Heather seems to have a particularly soft heart for praise music and and a gift for singing. She posts videos of songs that inspire her over the last few weeks. This particular song that she posted on April 19th gripped my heart and will not let me go. So, I asked my pastor last night if he would consider allowing me the honor to sing it as a special after praise and worship this Sunday or next Sunday. I do it because I feel compelled. And, it's a tribute to Heather, her faith, and the Lord we share. But, I'm also hoping that her story and this song will touch someone at this point unknown to me in my church family who may be struggling with something.
Father God, may Heather's doctors find NOTHING to remove or, if they do, that Your will be done and may it be the best possible outcome for Heather and her family. Whatever happens: all for Your glory, Lord!
Anyone Got The Number For a Modeling Agency? *wink*
No, *really*...these are my new favorite pictures! LOL
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Whole Room Organizational Challenge Completed
Good grief - the time it took to load all these pictures took nearly as long as it took to clean the basement! LOL
As I stated in my other post, I've been working on two projects for Laura who writes at I'm An Organizing Junkie. This challenge was a month long. I chose to tackle my kitchen closet and the basement. This post in about the basement. To be honest, it is not as completed as I had hoped but MUCH progress was made and what IS left should not be a problem to deal with.
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Due to my ADD, I was completely overwhelmed by the whole task...thus, explaining how it got that way in the first place! So, the hardest thing was finding a way to dividing this up into manageable, smaller pieces without getting frustrated, discouraged, or distracted. Luckily, the basement is kinda divided into "zones": two finished rooms, one large unfinished space, and the laundry area. So, I tried to stick with one at a time.
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
Well, this challenge was more about what we will using the space for. The main motivator? The one room that was a guest room but will now become a homeschool classroom in the fall. The other motivator was it would be wonderful to actually USE my stuff now that I knew what I had and where it was located.
Our biggest problem (other than organizational! LOL) was that we hadn't really defined what we wanted for each space. Once the first room was designated at a classroom and the unfinished side was "storage", the second room's issue became how to organize what remained: boat materials, office stuff and teacher stuff. With these "use designations", we have "zones" now where stuff goes now so it'll be easier to keep it together.
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Good grief! The garbage men are absolutely HATING us at this point! LOL I've also been using Freecycle, Ebay, and Paperbookswap.com to clean out the majority of our unused, until-recently-unseen stuff.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
Everything needs somewhere to go. And, everyone in this house needs to put away their "toys" when they are done with them! LOL
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Most definitely. I'll be finishing up our new classroom over the summer and embarking on my (and Flicka's, of course) first experiment with homeschooling this fall! I'll also be able to practice more of the craft and home skills I've been learning now that I have the space to do so. This cost me no money, only time. And, as a result, I actually MADE money, got free books, and blessed several people in my community! Then, I can make more money and/or save our money by using those crafty skills even more.
Now, the unveiling:
The "guest room" before:
The guest room after:
As I stated in my other post, I've been working on two projects for Laura who writes at I'm An Organizing Junkie. This challenge was a month long. I chose to tackle my kitchen closet and the basement. This post in about the basement. To be honest, it is not as completed as I had hoped but MUCH progress was made and what IS left should not be a problem to deal with.
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Due to my ADD, I was completely overwhelmed by the whole task...thus, explaining how it got that way in the first place! So, the hardest thing was finding a way to dividing this up into manageable, smaller pieces without getting frustrated, discouraged, or distracted. Luckily, the basement is kinda divided into "zones": two finished rooms, one large unfinished space, and the laundry area. So, I tried to stick with one at a time.
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
Well, this challenge was more about what we will using the space for. The main motivator? The one room that was a guest room but will now become a homeschool classroom in the fall. The other motivator was it would be wonderful to actually USE my stuff now that I knew what I had and where it was located.
Our biggest problem (other than organizational! LOL) was that we hadn't really defined what we wanted for each space. Once the first room was designated at a classroom and the unfinished side was "storage", the second room's issue became how to organize what remained: boat materials, office stuff and teacher stuff. With these "use designations", we have "zones" now where stuff goes now so it'll be easier to keep it together.
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
Good grief! The garbage men are absolutely HATING us at this point! LOL I've also been using Freecycle, Ebay, and Paperbookswap.com to clean out the majority of our unused, until-recently-unseen stuff.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
Everything needs somewhere to go. And, everyone in this house needs to put away their "toys" when they are done with them! LOL
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
Most definitely. I'll be finishing up our new classroom over the summer and embarking on my (and Flicka's, of course) first experiment with homeschooling this fall! I'll also be able to practice more of the craft and home skills I've been learning now that I have the space to do so. This cost me no money, only time. And, as a result, I actually MADE money, got free books, and blessed several people in my community! Then, I can make more money and/or save our money by using those crafty skills even more.
Now, the unveiling:
The "guest room" before:
The guest room after:
The bed will be coming out of there next.
The unfinished storage area before:
The unfinished storage area before:
And, then after:
Those remaining tubs and piles are things of Da Hubby's he needs to go through yet. And,that bookshelf has all my craft supplies now...all in one place and LABELED! Oooooo!
The second finished room before:
Those remaining tubs and piles are things of Da Hubby's he needs to go through yet. And,that bookshelf has all my craft supplies now...all in one place and LABELED! Oooooo!
The second finished room before:
And, after:
Small Space Organizational Challenge Completed!
I've been working on two projects for Laura who writes at I'm An Organizing Junkie. This challenge was a month long. I chose to tackle my kitchen closet and the basement. This post in about the closet. When I complete the post about the basement later today, it'll be here.
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Well, honestly? For this one it was finding the time when the kids wouldn't be "helping". This closet contains a lot of cleaners and "kem-cals" as Flicka would say. I had the baskets. I had the labeler. It was just a matter of DOING it! LOL
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? The biggest thing for this closet was instituting the "like with like" concept. Once I sorted everything, the mess immediately "looked" smaller. So, the trick will be to keep that up. I haven't thought ahead to what to do if something new comes in but doesn't fit the current categories of "plastic/tin foil", "light bulbs", "cleaning supplies", and "misc. supplies".
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
For the most part, it was thrown out. This space has a kid-proof doorknob so often when toys are taken from the kiddos for a time out, this is where they end up. So, there were a few toys that needed to be "relocated" back to their rooms.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
LOL - to quit just throwing stuff in here without thinking about where it goes because I don't have to "see" it. The biggest motivator for doing this closet is that it has our attic access door in the ceiling of it. So, I also needed a quick, easy way to move all this stuff when Da Hubby needed up there. Containerizing solved this problem perfectly!
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
I think it will maintain some marital bliss when Da Hubby can easily and quickly do what he needs to without me having to stop what I'm doing, clean off the kitchen table, and empty the closet every time he needs in the attic! My ability to unload the closet quickly means less time for him to get distracted and doing something else! *wink*
Now the unveiling! I actually have several pics: a before series, an after when I did it 2 weeks ago, and a today!
The before: the closet half empty and the other-half pile on the kitchen table:
The "first" after that day:
This morning:
So, Laura's asked us to answer the following questions in our finale:
1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Well, honestly? For this one it was finding the time when the kids wouldn't be "helping". This closet contains a lot of cleaners and "kem-cals" as Flicka would say. I had the baskets. I had the labeler. It was just a matter of DOING it! LOL
2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order? The biggest thing for this closet was instituting the "like with like" concept. Once I sorted everything, the mess immediately "looked" smaller. So, the trick will be to keep that up. I haven't thought ahead to what to do if something new comes in but doesn't fit the current categories of "plastic/tin foil", "light bulbs", "cleaning supplies", and "misc. supplies".
3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
For the most part, it was thrown out. This space has a kid-proof doorknob so often when toys are taken from the kiddos for a time out, this is where they end up. So, there were a few toys that needed to be "relocated" back to their rooms.
4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?
LOL - to quit just throwing stuff in here without thinking about where it goes because I don't have to "see" it. The biggest motivator for doing this closet is that it has our attic access door in the ceiling of it. So, I also needed a quick, easy way to move all this stuff when Da Hubby needed up there. Containerizing solved this problem perfectly!
5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?
I think it will maintain some marital bliss when Da Hubby can easily and quickly do what he needs to without me having to stop what I'm doing, clean off the kitchen table, and empty the closet every time he needs in the attic! My ability to unload the closet quickly means less time for him to get distracted and doing something else! *wink*
Now the unveiling! I actually have several pics: a before series, an after when I did it 2 weeks ago, and a today!
The before: the closet half empty and the other-half pile on the kitchen table:
The "first" after that day:
This morning:
WFMW: the Birthday Edition
Well, again...this tip may not be the most exciting but it certainly works for me. 
Remembering birthday cards was never much of a big deal...until I got married. And, until I married someone who is one of six! LOL And, most of those six have multiple children! Yikes! What's former only child to do when faced with 6-12 birthday and anniversary cards each month? Buy them all at once!
On the 25th of each month, my Palm pops up a little reminder to go buy cards. I buy all of them then. And, then they get placed in our bill folder...ya know, one of those things with 31 slots where you file your bills by what day they're due. But, I file them 5 days before the actual day. So, as I write out bills each week, the appropriate celebratory cards get filled out and prepped while the stamps and return address labels are already out!
As an adult with multiple relatives and a bad case of ADD...this definitely works for me! So, go to Shannon's site today and see what other birthday ideas everyone has. GO! Do it now! *wink*
On the 25th of each month, my Palm pops up a little reminder to go buy cards. I buy all of them then. And, then they get placed in our bill folder...ya know, one of those things with 31 slots where you file your bills by what day they're due. But, I file them 5 days before the actual day. So, as I write out bills each week, the appropriate celebratory cards get filled out and prepped while the stamps and return address labels are already out!
As an adult with multiple relatives and a bad case of ADD...this definitely works for me! So, go to Shannon's site today and see what other birthday ideas everyone has. GO! Do it now! *wink*
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Purse Meme
(Updated: Da Hubby pointed out to me that too much of our personal info was showing up on some of these pics so I re-posted with some altered pics.)
I was tagged by thatnosy friendly *wink* GiBee over at Kisses of Sunshine for the "purse meme" that's been going around the mommy blogs. I'm afraid she'll be very disappointed! LOL She picked a incurable tomboy with a very boring bag!
This is as transparent as it gets - I hate shopping so much plus I can't EVER seem to find a purse I like. As a result, every purse I've had in the last seven years, Da Hubby picked out! LOL And, this one is no exception. Knowing from experience how hard I am on clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses, etc., he chose one of these for a Christmas present in (I think) 2004. I've used it for 2 1/2 years and it barely shows any wear! LOL How's THAT for an endorsement! *wink*
So, here is mine. It's actually bigger than I need but that extra space comes in handy with the miscellaneous baby/toddler stuff that inevitably ends up in there as we travel.
In the main pocket is my wallet, checkbook (with a Duluth Pack checkbook cover provided by Da Hubby as well), my Palm, my cell (which is our home phone), a brush, a pack of floss and appointment card from my dentist appointment yesterday and the summer camp schedule from our local kids' science museum.
In the zipper pouch is a melange of hand creams, eye glass cleaner, hand sanitizer, lip balm, extra keys for Da Hubby's vehicle.
And, finally in the outer pocket is a Walgreen's receipt and coupon and the receipt/paperwork for Flicka's YMCA swim lessons.
See, told ya' it would be boring! *wink* You should see our diaper bag...I got tired of carrying everything but the kitchen sink and finally transferred into a smaller bag - my old college backpack! We're nothing if not frugal around here! LOL
So, to share the fun, I'm tagging Lisa, Christina, and JMom.
I was tagged by that
This is as transparent as it gets - I hate shopping so much plus I can't EVER seem to find a purse I like. As a result, every purse I've had in the last seven years, Da Hubby picked out! LOL And, this one is no exception. Knowing from experience how hard I am on clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses, etc., he chose one of these for a Christmas present in (I think) 2004. I've used it for 2 1/2 years and it barely shows any wear! LOL How's THAT for an endorsement! *wink*
So, here is mine. It's actually bigger than I need but that extra space comes in handy with the miscellaneous baby/toddler stuff that inevitably ends up in there as we travel.
In the main pocket is my wallet, checkbook (with a Duluth Pack checkbook cover provided by Da Hubby as well), my Palm, my cell (which is our home phone), a brush, a pack of floss and appointment card from my dentist appointment yesterday and the summer camp schedule from our local kids' science museum.
In the zipper pouch is a melange of hand creams, eye glass cleaner, hand sanitizer, lip balm, extra keys for Da Hubby's vehicle.
And, finally in the outer pocket is a Walgreen's receipt and coupon and the receipt/paperwork for Flicka's YMCA swim lessons.
See, told ya' it would be boring! *wink* You should see our diaper bag...I got tired of carrying everything but the kitchen sink and finally transferred into a smaller bag - my old college backpack! We're nothing if not frugal around here! LOL
So, to share the fun, I'm tagging Lisa, Christina, and JMom.
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