random monday

For those of you who blog, I have a question for you.  Do you come up with random ideas throughout the day that make you say, "I should blog about this!" but then you forget them when the time comes to actually write up a blog post?  I am so that way!  I am always finding these random pictures on my phone that were meant to be blogged about but by the time I find them again I don't really feel like blogging about them.  I don't really have any point in posting this except to make sure that I'm not the only one.

Despite it's bad reputation, Monday is usually a good day for me.  I spend most of my time getting the house back in order after the weekend and having Steve at home for a day or two.  I do most of my 'deep cleaning' for the week and plan what I need to pick up at the grocery store.  There is always a lot to do because the house seems to always get ridiculously messy over the weekend, which I attribute to the fact that there is one more person home and we tend to spend most of our time doing things together as a family (which means I don't do the usual day-to-day cleaning/tidying that I do the rest of the week).  But there is one thing that never seems to pile up and that's the dishes.

Since I didn't have a dishwasher for six years and did all dishes by hand during that time, letting dishes pile up was a serious no-no.  I've gotten into the habit of making sure all the dishes are clean and put away before I go to bed each night, and it is such a lovely thing to wake up to a clean kitchen every morning.

It's funny how when you start loading the dishwasher and washing whatever won't fit, you just get on a a roll and start tidying every thing else up too.  I try to spend about fifteen minutes every night just picking up the random things that are lying around the living room, guest bath and kitchen island and putting them away before I go to my room or the couch to relax for the night.  What cleaning habits/routines do you have that make your day-to-day life easier?

Here's something that makes me sad and mad at the same time:

The only rubber boots that I've ever loved and now they're made in China instead of America.  So frustrating!  And they're so much cheaper now too, Steve's dad got a pair of the China made ones (on accident - he didn't think to check the box and didn't notice the difference in design on the boot itself) and they were starting to fall apart in less than 3 months.  I guess I'll be saving all my pennies up for these leather-lined rubber boots from Le Chameau.

Oh, and one last thing.  The sun has come back to Walden Road!  This is so exciting, you can't even imagine.  The sun doesn't rise above Pioneer Peak during the shortest days of winter, from about late November through early February.  I was outside this morning (first sunny day in a while) and suddenly a beam of sunlight burst over the mountain top and warmed my face as I shoveled the fresh snow from the porch.  Our house was filled with beautiful warm light during the midday hours and it just filled me with happiness and peace.

first time I've seen my shadow at my house in nearly four months!

motivation, or the lack there of...

Sometimes you just have to turn on the Charlie Brown Christmas station in Pandora, lay on your bed, and make lists.  Of course, if you have a baby, you have to drag some toys in your room first and make sure there's nothing laying around that could kill or seriously maim them.

I have no motivation whatsoever today, so I thought making a nice pretty list complete with a glitter gold star would make getting things done a little easier, or at least a little more fun.  I don't know how things are in your house, but after a weekend with hubby/daddy home, there is a lot to do around here!  My friend Joree wrote a post on her blog recently that got me thinking.  She wrote about how hard it can be to feel motivated as a SAHM to get cleaning and chores done, and I completely agree.  When I worked, I could always find motivation to clean/do chores before work by reminding myself how nice it would be to come home to a clean house with dinner waiting in the crockpot.  When you're home all day it's often hard to motivate yourself because, let's face it, there's usually no reward.  Hmm...I'd better clean the living room so that my baby can tear it apart in an hour when he wakes up.  Or wow, I really should make dinner, except that I just cleaned the kitchen and I don't want to get anything else messy again.  Sometimes it's just easier to lay on the floor in your babies room, in your yoga pants and high school sweatshirt, while your child crawls all over you scratching your face and trying to stick their fingers in your mouth.

In those moments, it's hard to find the motivation to get up and get going.  There is one thing that is always in the back of my mind that helps to motivate me.  Wondering what that is?  Ok, I'll tell you.  It's the thought of my hardworking lineman, freezing his butt off for 10 hrs a day, 6 days a week all because he loves me and Riggs so much.  Just one thought of him coming home to utter chaos and no dinner always seems to inspire me to get up and get certain things done by the time he gets home each day.

Steve is on the left, old picture but you get the idea

My 'Steve list' includes having some kind of food ready for when he gets home, tidy bedroom with the bed made, a somewhat picked up living room and kitchen, and at the very least a stack of clean clothes in the bathroom for after he takes a shower.  I want our house to be a nice place for Steve to come home to, and I think it's a pretty easy way to show him that I love him.  Plus I've found that when I finally get up to get those 'Steve list' things done, I suddenly have the energy to do everything else that I need to do to!  What are some ways you motivate yourselves to get things done?

Weekend Warriors

Steve and I had the most productive weekend ever, and it feels so good to have gotten so much done! The weather wasn't exactly the most motivating, but we got everything we planned on done anyway.

Last week we decided to stop talking about getting rid of our futon and recliners and actually do it. We sold the futon the day we posted it on Craigslist and sold the recliners to some friends of ours in Homer. It was a relief to sell everything so quick, but it meant we had to go search for new furniture, which was fun and overwhelming all at the same time.

Friday Steve got off work early and so we used the time to head out searching for a couch-like piece of furniture to fill the space. We also wanted to look into an Ekornes Stressless recliner for Steve, so we went to Scanhome first. He has always wanted one, and I felt it was pretty important for him to find a comfortable chair due to the chronic back pain he has. They are on the pricier side, especially compared to our Costco recliners, but we decided to go ahead and order one for him. Merry Christmas to Steve!

It won't be here for a few weeks, but these are the color choices we went with.
I can't wait to see it in person, it's going to looks so, so nice! :)

Then we headed over to Sadler's and found exactly what I was looking for in a sofa. It's grey and has a chaise lounge-like side for me to stretch out on. Plus we will be able to seat more than just two people, which is always a plus :)

We picked up the couch Saturday and got our living room all set up. It is SO comfortable and fits perfectly. There is only one problem: I feel like it clashes with the current paint colors, so I told Steve there might be some painting in his future, which I'm sure he's pretty excited about...

This is what our living room used to look like...

...and now it looks like this! Quite a big improvement :)

Sunday we woke up to high winds and pouring rain and decided it would be best to stay put for the day. Our circle and road was glare ice and there was debris from the high winds everywhere.  Steve was happy to snuggle into the new sofa and play Call of Duty the entire morning. He had his headphones, his dog, his coffee and some chocolate chip cookies, so he was good for a few hours.

I was filled with a burst of random energy and decided to deep clean and organize...the entire house! I started on Steve's desk, which really was a completely unorganized mess. I cleaned out and went through every ding drawer, the entire surface and everything that was under the desk. I also went through the shelves above his desk and reorganized them when I was done.

I got rid of two full black garbage bags worth of trash, and moved onto my next project, after vacuuming all around his desk and starting a load of laundry. This involved washing the dishes from the evening before and making a nice brunch for us to eat: eggs scrambled with cream cheese and pigs in a blanket.

I switched loads of laundry, cleaned the entire bathroom, and got everything laid out for Steve to replace both fixtures in the shower and re-caulk nearly everything in the bathroom. He finished his last game and got to work. While he was busy in there, I deep cleaned the kitchen in preparation for him to replace the faucet there when he was done with the bathroom.

The bathroom was a piece of cake for him, but the kitchen faucet was a different story. After TWO trips to TWO different home improvement stores due to no fault of his own, I might add, he finally got the new faucet all set up in the kitchen.  I made dinner and some cookies for Steve's lunch tomorrow, and cleaned up the remains of the faucet project in the kitchen.

It was so nice to get so, so, so much done this weekend and even though I'm exhausted now and ready for bed, I can't wait to finish cleaning and organizing the house tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend and has a great Monday!

unplanned cleaning day

DAY THREE:  I am thankful for having a house full of nice things to put back in their places, lots of warm, snuggly clothes that need to be washed, folded and put away, and plenty of dirty dishes that need to be washed, dried and tucked away in the cupboards.

My mom has a plaque in her kitchen similar to this, and I always look at it when 

I'm washing dishes.  I really need this at my house as a reminder every time

I wash the dishes, sometimes multiple times a day, to be thankful.  It's so, so true!

Today I planned on cutting out the rest of the pieces I need for my Christmas yellow brick road quilt.  I also need to cut off the extra batting and backing so I can sew the binding on the quilt I made for my little rigglet Rowan.  I left my rotary cutter at my sister Kelsey's house last time I was there, and it's always more fun to cut with company, so I just planned on going over to her place and having a cutting party.

In the back of my head I knew I had some cleaning to do that I've been avoiding by working on Christmas crafts, but I figured I'd get it done tomorrow.  I got my stuff together that I needed to take with me and took Beau outside for a quick (and chilly!) morning walk.

Then I took a shower, and the water didn't drain.  I mean it did eventually, but I can't stand it when things don't work properly and especially despise bathtubs that don't drain efficiently.  Usually I would try to get on my knees, bend over, and get in the drain myself with a wire hanger, but I looked down at my rather large belly and decided to just call the plumber.  I had just cleaned it out about three months ago anyway, and had gotten a rather large amount of hair out of there, so I figured it's probably further down the pipes.  I live in an old house, and the pipes for the sink and bathtub are interconnected and hook up to the main pipes after a pretty sharp corner, which we've had problems with before, so I'm glad to be getting it good and cleaned out.  Last time we had it snaked was over three years ago, so I guess it probably needs it anyway.

I called the plumber around 9am, and was happy to hear they could fit it in today.  But they couldn't come straight over of course, so I had to cancel my plans for a cutting party.  Instead I've spent the morning cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning.  I always forget how I am about cleaning; once I start I just can't stop.  I just see more and more things that need cleaning, or organizing, or putting away, and I just keep going and going!  I decided to take a quick break to blog about what I'm thankful for before I forgot (and to eat lunch) and realized that I am so thankful just to have things to clean!  I'm also thankful for the energy and lack of back pain I have today - it makes going on a cleaning spree a lot easier and more productive.  But now I have to get back to organizing Steve's desk.  Hope you have have a thoughtful, thankful Thursday!

rainy day productivity

After laying in bed for two hours this morning reading and listening to the rain, I decided to get out of the bed and get something productive done.  I went to work cleaning the kitchen, and reorganizing the pantry, which included making a list of foods that I had in the pantry and freezer so that I could plan some meals for the next couple of weeks.

Probably the most negative aspect of being pregnant for me has been complete lack of energy and motivation for getting anything done around the house.  I'll get maybe one task done a day, and then zone out in my recliner staring at the wall till Steve gets home, at which point I drag myself to the kitchen to make a salad to go with the steak he is grilling for himself and pour myself a bowl of cereal for my own dinner.  Either that or we would eat out.  Pretty lame, especially since I am usually a little bit obsessive about keeping the house clean, organized, and I love to cook and bake.  In the last week or two I have noticed a daily increase of energy in regards to getting house work done, and I am rejoicing in this new development!  Maybe I will be back to my old self just in time to be slowed down by a big baby belly lol.

One of the biggest reasons I have not been cooking at all has been my lack of any idea of what to make for dinner.  That or not knowing what we actually have and going to the store to buy more groceries that we didn't really need just to make one dinner.  So I decided today that I would tackle this problem by making a list of what we have and organizing it into possible meals that I can make without getting any additional groceries.  I'm so excited!  Now all I have to do is run to the store and grab a few extra staples that I don't have to complete some of the recipes/meals I've figured out, and I'm happy to announce that this list is only made of about 7 things (some of which we've been out of for a while, like brown sugar - so wierd!  I always have brown sugar!).

Hope you are having a productive, rainy, Monday!

snowy, productive Wednesday....

What a day...woke up this morning at 8am ready for getting stuff done! So I started the laundry, swept the floors, vacuumed the floors, mopped the floors, changed the laundry, washed dishes, cleaned the cabinet doors, put the dishes away, changed the laundry, tidied up my room, tidied up the bathroom, and changed the laundry once again. This was all before noon! Then I had to mix up some food for Beau, who is very sick and is on a extra lean hamburger & rice diet (1/4 cup mixed every three hours). After feeding him, Steve and I settled down for some MacGyver with our grilled cheese and tomato soup. Steve took a nap while I messed around on the computer, then we went for a ski with Pepper. What a great day!