Twinkie's FLYing lessons

in stasis

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Today is my last day of work before the big move. it's a long day, but my holding pattern will come to an end and I can finally start getting things done! tonight I am going to sort the small things for the rummage sale in to tubs, free vs. sell. I know I am going to have a TON of things that are free. :)

Tomorrow if the weather is nice the three boys and I will go to the pool for our local moms group meet up. it will be fun. then in the afternoon I will start trekking everything to the place where I am having my rummage sale. All morning Saturday will be spent doing the rummage sale thing. Which reminds me, I need to see if Salvation Army will come pick up at the end of the sale.

Then will ensue a week of cleaning and packing, while trying to squeeze in outings for the boys in the AM. I know we all will be SO excited!

Moving ... again!

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:46:00 +0000

I have decided that I like moving. We have moved so many time in the past 5 years that I don't think I can count them. Since our big move 2 years ago and then shortly there after finding FlyLady it's been my personal goal to move less junk each time. I have all my original boxes and tubs from our first BIG move 2 years ago. it took a 29 foot truck, and it was mostly full! Six months later an apartment flood took out a TON of our stuff! Between that and FlyLady I've declutter SO much. Last time we moved I filled all our tubs and a few boxes (these Giant boxes, I think there were 8)

Move this time: my goal? ONLY the tubs, and maybe a box or two, but not much. We decided to move 3 weeks ago. I have done a lot of my move out cleaning. I've scrubbed my oven, bought new drip plates, cleaned and replaced light bulbs and covers. I've had to scrub lint off every surface in the down stairs bathroom, due to the rental company not fixing the vent for my dryer and allowing it to vent INTO the house for weeks.

we are doing well. I have a rummage sale planned for the weekend, I am trying to get rid of a lot of the "extra" furniture before we move. it's hard work, but if we can move all in tubs and a few big pieces I think I will feel accomplished!

Bubbles bubbles bubbles

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:36:00 +0000

How do people cook meals when there are always children underfoot, and the kitchen is not big enough to turn around in? Well here was my solution last night:

DS4 was sleeping up stairs with dad, as he's been sick. SO it was nice to only have one underfoot. He was entertained. I just had to keep the bubbles out of my food!

So how do the rest of you do it?

Routines

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 23:56:00 +0000

Routines, if you follow FlyLady at all you have heard about routines. Well I have been struggling with my routines lately. I had them all written down and in a sheet protector hanging on my fridge. DH asked me if I could label what time I want them done. In my craziness I had forgotten to label my routines, so I knew which one was which, but no one else knew.

I re-wrote my routines so that I could have them laid out more logically. I found that I was resenting my routines on the weekend. This resentment has carried on to the week, and things just weren't getting done. I was not happy and I was not loving myself! I now have two routine lists. My week day one gets me up and ready for work, through my work day, with 4-6 kids there's a lot of things to do! My weekend one does just the basics. I also decided to divide up the Weekly Home Blessing over the week. I just don't have an hour in a chunk, but I can find 10 min or less to get it done!

Eventually I redid my routines one more time. They are now hanging on my fridge and are nicely laminated. The dry erase marker wipes off much easier now, and they look so pretty as they are getting crossed off.

Last week the kids were sick (my oldest was really sick) and the house tried to fall apart. As I was not working last week I just did the weekend routines, then I crisis cleaned on Friday so that Saturday and Sunday I could be sick! I was hoping for R&R on the weekend, but I got a bad cold instead.

This week I decided I was going to limit my internet. It distracts me in the morning. I have included a time for internet in my routine during nap time. I can tweet once I have my Morning routine 90% done. I also decided this week I was going to do my routines whether I thought I had time or not. Often my excuse is "I don't have time to get the dishes done now, I will do them later." I am a stay-at-home mom, none of our play dates will kick us out if we are 20 min late... I have time to finish.

Because I've been sticking to my guns, I have had more time. I have been getting my morning routines done no later than 8:30 (usually an hour to hour and a half, which includes breakfast, and e-mail checking.) My nap routine has been getting done about the time the children are ready to be put down for naps, leaving me with at least an hour to watch TV online, listen to a Blog Talk Radio Show or what not.

My afternoon routine is getting done more consistently, it's a simple one, just to put the daycare to bed (toys away, vacuum, swish and swipe the bathroom). My night time routine, it's the hardest and most involved. the worst part is getting the trash out. I never want to do it when the weather is bad. Also putting clothes away. I don't know why I don't like it, but I don't. But this week, I have just done it. Tweeting away each time I check something off. Soon the whole list got done.

The first night I did it all, I thought it was a fluke. Would never happen again, especially on nights that DH has to work. Well did it every night, and last night DH had to work. I did my all my routines. The dry erase marker filling the page. I even managed to give the boys baths, and still have 45 min. before the first one needed to go to bed! We got to sit down and watch Go Diego Go together.

Tonight I am done and am writing a blog post about how proud of myself I am. yeah! GO ME! My house looks good and I feel good. I feel like I am FLYing.

Ashes Ashes

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:28:00 +0000

The boys love Ring around the Rosy. It's fun to hear them sing it themselves. But then I get to thinking about the song, and what it really says. I never can get over how morbid a lot of kids rhymes are.

Ring around the Rosies,
Pockets full of Posies,
Ashes, ashes we all fall down.

Black death, that is what my DSalmost2 is gleefully singing about. Giggling as they re-enact people falling over dead. it all looks and sounds so innocent, but I can only imagine the horror of so many people dying all at once, from an unknown disease.

Why are so many children's songs and rhymes morbid, or about old political issues? We teach them the cute, but leave out what they are ACTUALLY talking about it isn't until years later they discover just what their favorite songs and dances are re-enacting.

What to blog about?

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Recently I have been TRYING to figure out what to blog about. I have felt like I don't really have anything to say. But the other day on twitter one of my twitter friends asked me how I planned meals for a month at a time. And I thought, how did I do that in 15 minutes?

So I will break down the thought process I have. I don't cook at least one day a week. That day is left overs, and I always cook for an army so there are generally leftovers. I start by picking the "no cooking" Day. This month it's Saturday. We always have a pizza day (this can be order out, or make at home, or even frozen). I picked Sunday to be that day. I decided to do something different this month and make Friday soup night. I am going to make soup out of some of my leftovers.

This leaves me with four days to plan. Tuesdays are my busy work days, I plan a Crockpot meal that day. I only need 4 meals that can be done in the Crock. Mondays are chicken night, so I planned four dishes that have chicken in them. Wednesday is "anything but chicken night" Usually ground beef, though my DH did put in a request for brats, so that is one of the meals. Lastly is Thursday. It's pasta night, so spaghetti, mac'n'cheese, etc.

Now I am also making enough for the four of us, and for my daycare kids for lunch. We almost always have the "leftovers" for lunch the next day. Warm, nutritious, and easy!

The easy part is making the plans, the hard part is be dedicated to follow those plans every day. But since I am home with my children, and the daycare kids are here every day, and my DH is here most days. It is really important to stick to it. I have also managed just by sicking to the "plan" to keep my food cost between $100 and $130 a week. this isn't too bad for all the people I feed! So the money I can save is the incentive to stick with it, even when I would rather call for delivery.

New things are coming

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I have returned. I am planning new things. I get a week off "work" with the extra kids going on vacation. So I am hoping to find a few minutes to get this blog up and running again. I have missed blogging. though being able to tweet has helped. I am going to continue in the FlyLady vein though I will likely focus more on the kids now, than I have in the past. notice my new feature is my twitter feed.

Moving day

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:49:00 +0000

To day is moving day. we went to bed last night at 10pm. That is the earliest I have ever been to bed the night before the move! When I got up in the morning I stripped the beds, and dropped all the bedding into the wash. got the kids dressed. Goldfish was having a hard night, he didn't sleep well and his asthma seems to be acting up. I took the boys to daycare.

The movers showed up at 9:00am. They got everything moved out in two and a half hours. It was so nice to have movers come and do it all for us. it was well worth the price! We had to go get Goldfish from daycare because he had an asthma attack. He is right now watching Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. My husband is right now loading all my cleaning supplies in our storage unit. When he gets back we will load up the car, pick up Cheese, and drive to our near by relatives.

We will be staying with our relatives until August 12th. We are lucky to have nice enough relatives to allow us to stay with them until we can get out keys on the 12th. This will be a nice vacation.

crunch time

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:37:00 +0000

this is just a quick update. My Kitchen is complete. one cupboard has only the essentials left in it. Paper plates, snacks and sippies, and the fridge has stuff like yogurt and apple sauce. most all else I have tossed, and the rest has gone to the boy's daycare. We are going to finish off the living room tonight. I am hoping to do it while squeezing in an episode of Super Nanny. Then tomorrow there won't be too much to do. I will need to deliver my plants to their sitter. Get Goldfish a toy for the trip, and possibly Cheese too.

I picked up the boys today from daycare, and found out that Cheese had been bit 3 times. this is the third time this week the same little girl has bitten him. I guess he doesn't cry or anything, just decks her. in the mouth with his fist. a future fighter I think. At least he's standing up for himself since her bites are unprovoked.

the movers will be here between 7:30 -9 am on Friday. One full day left to go!

Near the end

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:36:00 +0000

The moving count down has now commenced. we are in the home stretch of our move. The movers will be showing up in 4 days. CRAZY! I have my kitchen down to half, and have decided not to cook any more from here on out. It was a decision that was force on me on Saturday when our fridge stopped working. My husband went out on Friday night with Goldfish to get milk 'cause we were almost out. Saturday morning I thought I would use up the last little bit of milk we had left. I pulled it out of the fridge and started to pour it on Cheese's cereal. It came out like yogurt. YUCK! so I immediately poured the milk and cereal down the garbage disposal. I check the rest of Gold fishes milk (which I had not poured yet) and it was sour too. I got out the fresh milk and the boys were happily eating their cereal by the time poured my cereal and milk. the milk wasn't cold, but it was under room temp. ICK! so we told the apt office as soon as it opened up. we had a new fridge with in 2 hours. I guess there was an out break of fridges not working this week. Well that's one good way to make sure you have a clean fridge when you move!

I am really getting this packing thing done. I am so excited. at least I was until I pulled a muscle. A few days ago I think I started over doing it. Then I started having a whole lot of pain in my side and back. It would go away with pressure, lots of pressure. I had to start sleeping with a pillow under my back, side or stomach depending on how I was sleeping. Today is my second day of "no lifting" by orders of "dr."husband. I am feeling much better now. I am no longer in so much pain I feel nauseous, or woozy. In fact, unless I am holding Cheese I don't feel too bad at all. :)

Pictures right now are going to all be old. but after the move I will show lots of pictures of the process.

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Progress is being made with packing. We've gotten rid of a few more things via freecycle.

Today the boys painted for a bit. I've also worked on my kitchen and bathroom. I scrubbed the bathroom, so that's one less thing to do when we move. It'll just need a few swish and swipes between now and then. I've been keeping my fridge clean and wiped down, so there shouldn't be any nasty dried crud that takes hours to get off. I think on Monday I will work on the oven again. It could use a good scrub, then it will only need a quick wipe to clean up. So I feel like this is not going to be too bad. I am not sure what I am missing for cleaning. I am sure something will pop up though!

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:48:00 +0000

What's new in my world of FLYing? My house is getting packed, my sinks are staying shiny, and I am drinking my water. I feel awesome about how much packing I've done. It's amazing how fast packing goes when you aren't trying to pack and move clutter!

I have got the closets packed (with the exception of clothes.) The boys' closet is full of tubs that are ready to be taken by the movers, my closet is storing things that need to be in our car. Today I worked on the surface clutter in my living room. I got some of my "pretties" put into small boxes which I can pack into a larger box. I don't have to worry as much about them if they are in a well padded box in a box.

Tomorrow is my last day of summer school! I am as excited as the kids! then I have just 2 short weeks before the movers are on my door step. So after havening a "relaxing" last day of school I am going to come home finish my surface boxing, and then start the kitchen purge and box. because while I have two crock pots, and I use two crock pots, they can likely be boxed up for the next couple of weeks 'cause it's too hot to use a crock! Do I really need all the stuff that's in my cooking utensil drawer? I know it's not likely, 'cause I don't know half of what's in there... I only filled the drawer 6 months ago!

I am getting a control journal just for this insurance fiasco. Because the insurance was told by someone that they could repair our furniture, they are insisting we get it repaired. The guy told us he could repair it, but that it would never be repaired to pre-flood condition, and we would always be able to tell the difference. Which he either lied about to the insurance (hence forth shall be called "shysters") or just conveniently left out. I was thinking, what do you do when you do not like someone's opinion.... you get a second opinion. I called our "local" Ethan Allen store and asked them about repair recommendations. They referred me to two people one was a company in BIGcity, and they gave me the name of the corporation that owns them, and they have a store here in Town. I called LocalStore and they gave me the name of the guy who does all their repair work. He said that to repair this furniture "properly" it will be expensive, and one piece would be better off just being replaced. If you replace one then you have to replace them all as they are a matched set. NiceRepairGuy is going to bring AnotherNiceRepairGuy to look at the furniture tomorrow. They will then both give us their opinions on the furniture. We hope to get it in writing and have sometime to fight Shysters with.

On the other hand Shysters did send us a check so we can start replacing things. Yah! New highchair for Cheese. New computer for me. :-D iPod Touch here I come! So by the end of the week we will have money in our account again.... I think right now we are down to $0 and I get payed on Friday for my summer school. it isn't much, but every little bit counts, right?

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 17:13:00 +0000

We had a whole lot of fun yesterday. It was towel washing day, so we decided to wash the floors as well. The boys got in on the act. Cheese loved splashing the water EVERYWHERE, and goldfish loved helping and dragging the heavy wet towels all around the house. It was adorable and made short work of cheese's sticky floor.

I almost have the boy's closet done. I should be able to finish it today while they are at daycare. I can pull things out of their closet and into their room and not upset them. Then I will start boxing up the stuff in my closet.

off to do that and make beds.

Productivity

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:15:00 +0000

It is interesting that you can start out a day with the best in intentions and still not get anything done! I meant today to do something. But after I got home from my morning at school with the little people all hyper 'cause it was Friday, I was exhausted. And I don't think it was the 15 minutes of on the spot teaching I did while waiting for one of my teachers to show up. So I came home and napped. I didn't even manage lunch until I got up much later. This is unusual for me because I usually have crashing blood sugar by this time and I need to eat. Then after my nap I just couldn't function until it was time to make dinner.

I am finding summer school not nearly as fun as last year was. maybe that's because I can only get along with one of the teachers by keeping my head down and not talking. She's a strange one. There have also been several "pick on Twink" days. I also don't get to do any work with the kids. I am usually running the copier, or making sure the attendance gets to the office. me=gopher+mindless servant to do ones bidding. Maybe I should do a mathematical proof? nah, they never work out for me. But thank goodness school gets out on the 25. I really miss the peoples I worked with last year. I don't think I had anyone I really clashed with, and I was allowed a whole lot of freedom to work with the munchkins.

I have decided to get our furniture repair re-appraised by someone else. Some one who won't repair it in my home. My house is not a work shop and I do not wish it to be. The smells would drive me crazy!

I have planned for tomorrow to go to the storage unit and get some boxes, to wash the floors as it is towel washing week, and to get the boy's closet finished up, so I can stack packed thing in their closet. I hope this isn't too ambitious for a day where it's supposed to be rainy. I think I will also work with Goldfish some more on writing his letters. Today he learned his A "top to bottom, top to bottom, straight accros" and he remembers how to do 2 but he always does it so it's laying on its side. TOO Cute.

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:46:00 +0000

After nearly a month on vacation I am back. :) my updates from last time. Camp GonnaWannaFly fizzled out 'cause I got sick. Oh well, there's always next year. Goldfish however, did like his routine charts so they are still up. Cheese is officially a toddler now. He toddles every where and will walk all the way up the big ramp out sidle the building we live in to our 8th floor apartment (with an elevator ride). He's so big now. My parents and brother came to visit. We had been having problems with flooding and what not, so we had them come "camp" in our house instead of in thier camper. So we moved in to the big bed room with Goldfish and Cheese, and my parents stayed in our bed room with my brother. it all worked fine. I however could have never done it with out my routines and my Swish and Swipe. It did well to motivate me to do more decluttering. I also managed to get my bedroom cleaned.

Now after taking some time off and getting into the swing of being at summer school (I am working with 4th grade math.) I am getting back at it. We will be moving in less than one month. We are going to move out of our apt on August 8th, and we get keys to our new place August 12th. Any one see a problem here? I do! there's 5 days between the two. How did that happen? well in signing our new lease we signed it to move in on the day that our old lease was to be ended. did that happen??? NO! when we let our land lords (University housing) know that we would not be renewing our lease they then said that we needed to be out by the 8th. So we had already decided to hire movers. it was nearly impossible to move in, so now we are moving and the kids will be in daycare, and we will move out or in while they are not around. and we will have 3 guys to help us. The moving company will also store our stuff. I think we will get a small U-haul (or something) to move the stuff out of our storage unit.

We also still do not know which unit we will be in because the owner who signed our contract with us, did not bother to let her office manager know that she moved our date up a bit from thier standard 16th. but hopefully sooooooon they will know so we can call and get in the plans for utilities to be turned on.

The other thing we have going is the insurance stuff. still... however our "list" of items has been approved. We are waiting to hear the final answer on the furniture still. As in they want us to have it repaired, and we want it replaced because I know that it can NOT be repaired to the quality it was BEFORE this whole mess. So we are still fighting this out. We now have a lawyer through the University's free legal system. Hopefully this will help. The other issue on having the furniture repaired is that, the guy who's supposed to repair it wants to do this at our house. I don't want that mess in my house, I don't want those chemicals, or tools in my house. SOOOOOO I think I might see about getting a second opinion, and an appraisal. (and if you haven't guessed the furniture isn't wal-mart press wood, it's vintage Ethan Allen that has been passed down in my family, it was originally my grandparents, then my parents, now mine. I wanted to pass it on to my boys, but now I want new so I can pass that on, as this is trashed furniture.) so last night I talked to the lady who went through our list, and I was told I could expect a call from our claims representative tonight. Well when my Husband called them he found out that she will be out until Monday. SOOOO we wait again.

Well I am going to go and leave somethings for tomorrow to write.

Clean Kitchen

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:30:00 +0000

To night I go to bed knowing my kitchen is clean. It's so clean it sparkles. Even my rugs are clean. The living room is looking better. I did two loads of laundry this morning. It's all done and put away. The kids room is picked up. The diaper bag is packed. Goldfish is sooooooo happy, Daycare is back tomorrow. He's been asking every few hours for the last 4 days if we can go to daycare, and "is daycare back from vacation." and "I want to go play with my children." It's always weird to hear a three year old say "my children."

I am currently bidding on an MP3 docking station. I'm hoping I can get it and replace my last one that died in the flood. I think I will like it. the newer comparable model is about $100 so if I can get this one, for about $25 I will be happy. It should work with my iPod Mini.

I have made some headway with making routines. tonight was my first night with them. I think I can do it. It will be great if i can get it to be automatic. here's what my evening routine looks like right now:

Clean up from dinner: Dishes, Sweep/mop, Wipe table, high chair, and counters.
Pack lunch and diaper bag
Prep Sippys for Cheese, and water for me
put out the breakfast things
find everyones shoes
make sure every one's clothes are laid out (work out and day clothes.)

Well that was just exciting. Goldfish just dumped 2.5 gallons of water all over the kitchen floor. he came out to the kitchen super quite and I didn't hear him until CRASH and WAIL started. I had no idea what happened. I found him sobbing in a huge puddle of water with a Diego cup in his hand. I had been refilling the 2.5 jug of water that we keep in the fridge for those that prefer their water cold, from our gallon Britta filter. It was full and I was going to cap it up and whisk it off to the fridge just before bed. Now my clean rugs are soaked, and so are the clean towels. I just washed them, so I had no dirty ones to get. My big jug is cracked so off to Kmart I will go tomorrow after the boys are safely in daycare.

Last night I did some great shopping. I had taken some baby things to a very picky consignment shop about 9 months ago. (just before I started flying) I had $44 still in "in store credit" that was going to expire at the end of the summer. They were having a blow out sale. all their summer clearance stuff was 70% off, if you came after 6. I got Goldfish a whole bunch of summer clothes in the next size up. I also got him a Thomas train for his wooden tracks, that turned out to be battery operated so it will pull his train cars. (it in fact can go forwards and backwards!) I also got goldfish a few winter clothes, these were all for full price, which still wasn't bad. any way I came out with a almost complete wardrobe for the next size. Of course there is still room for the Christmas gifts of clothes that everyone knows he will get!

go me week

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:23:00 +0000

This has been a real go me week. We've been having fun. We've also invited my parents to stay with us. As the zone this week was the kitchen I made some major improvements in the kitchen. I now have counter space! I have also done a whole lot of flinging. I managed to give away 3 bags of clothes that no longer fit my husband. I also let go of a whole bunch of VHS videos. They went to a daycare. I know they will actually be used!

Cheese has made a whole lot of growing up moved this week. He's walking around on anything he can get his hands on. He's also starting to stand up with out holding on anything. He also has so many more words. I don't think daycare will recognize him on Monday when he goes back. I am going to miss not having the kids at home, but I know they will be excited to be back at daycare.

Summer boot camp

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:21:00 +0000

Camp "GonnaWannaFly" was started today. It seems like the perfect week to do it. The kid's daycare is closed, and my husband has a break from summer classes this week starting on Tuesday. So this morning Cheese and Goldfish got up, dressed and set the table right a way. I got them started on breakfast while I got dressed. I did not get up at 6 as I had planned. I had, had a rough night.

After breakfast we washed the table and the dishes (un-heard of to wash the dishes before 4pm!) made beds, and brushed hair and teeth. we watched "Monster Trucks" and then went our to exorcise. Goldfish rode his bike and I walked the perimeter of the basketball court with Cheese in his stroller. We went in all hot and sweaty and had our morning snack of watermelon. I made dinner and put it into the Crockpot to cook. I almost forgot!

We went to a small park that is near our new apt. it was nice and shady. Some other kids showed up (2 boys 7 & 5 years) and one little girl who was almost 3. Goldfish loved playing with the boys. They loved having a little kid they could show off for. I heard such phrases as "I can jump off from way up here." "My brother can cross the monkey bars, and that's cool." They would jump off of the top of the slide, Goldfish would slide down it.

Now both boys are going to nap, and I am going to do the dishes, fold the towels (yes I did manage to get 2 loads of laundry done! My husband did pull the loads out of the dryer, now to fold and hang.) Then a shower and S&S.

OHH! and we got a TV. We've been without (and not really missing) a TV since "the great flood" but a friend, who is moving, didn't want to take the TV with (or the furniture) so they asked us if we wanted to buy it. and he, for $50 who cold say no. So I think we will enjoy it for our "Movie night" this week.

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:24:00 +0000

Saturdays are usually filled with whining and time outs. But I have managed to get the house work under control :) my husband helped me declutter the boy's room. The toys went from 4 tubs to two. I told him I wanted two tubs. he shot for one, and really did get close. Then I went for a morning walk (to stay in the habit even on my days off. This one was just for fun) and in the free pile in the front of our building was a 4 by 8 foot (122 by 244 cm) rug. I brought it upstairs for the boys. They had so much fun having padding to play on. I think just that cut the whining in half.

I took goldfish with me to the grocery store. He names a whole lot of the fruits and veggies for me. He of course wanted watermelon. I had to explain that we already had one at home. So that's what he wanted for snack after nap (a rainbow of watermelon)

After going to the store and buying groceries for the week (and it being under $100!) we came home and Goldfish took a nap. I took some more pictures of clothes for eBay. I made $20 last week on clothes I couldn't have gotten rid of otherwise. this is an incentive for me to declutter AND earn money.

This week the kids are off from daycare, so we are going to do "CampGonnaWannaFly" I think it will be fun. I plan on going to the pool a whole lot. My aim is to work hard on picking up behind ourselves. I just never quite seem to get the hang of it. but for the last week or so my sink's been shiny when I've gone to bed, and the dishes have been done. SO new habit is, maintenance The whole family is going to work on it. In fact, this week is going to be sticking to our routines. I think that will help things not fall apart at the seams, and will help us more fun.

OOOH and on a fun note the house fairy came for the first time tonight. Goldfish did such a good job of helping after dinner, and picking up and putting away (his new routines) that she just couldn't stay away. He got a certificate for an extra bedtime story.

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:21:00 +0000

My to do list form yesterday...

No excuses workout -yes... and my arms are still sore, but by Tuesday they should be fine.
shower and S&S - Yes :)
Declutter the table. - we had a table we could eat off of! I got my clothes that I am eBaying off my table and in to boxes, I got the clothes that my Mother in Law sent me from some friends that have a son whose bigger than Cheese sorted. They are now incorporated in their appropriate tubs. I was able to exchange some of Goldfish's castoffs for some of the other clothes so Cheese won't have the exact wardrobe :)
put laundry away - I did it... this morning and started a load of darks
restart laundry - Well no...
clean Bedroom nope nope nope.
declutter the living area, again. (if there's time) Yep did that
pick up Cheese from daycare yes I did that
Think about some sort of morning routine. no didn't get there.

So yesterday wasn't as productive as I had hoped. But my husband and Goldfish were both home and sick, So I did a whole lot of things that weren't on my list. I did get Goldfish to start his new routine of setting the table, and bussing the table. Since right now we are usually eating off of paper plates, he dumps the plates in the trash, a puts the silverware in the tub. he the cleans all the crumbs off the table on to the floor "so we can sweep them up". Yah! Getting children involved keeps them from whining. Can't imagine why that works. mmmmm

Tonight we are having a friend over for dinner. SO I have to go grocery shopping. I cleaned out the fridge. I got rid of all the salad stuff that was getting yucky. I think in the morning tomorrow I will take Cheese, and maybe Goldfish to the local farmer's market. See if we can't find some good strawberries.

Well it's lunch time. I have already worked out, started putting dishes away, started the laundry. To day I will

clean my bedroom (provided my husband is feeling well enough to leave so I can have the room and the light to do it.)
finish up the receipts I have right now for the insurance company. Including a list detailing the cleaning supplies needed.
Pick up the boys from daycare.

I am signing off to get at it.

Did I do my to do list?

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:32:00 +0000

Yesterdays goals, and what I accomplished.

Leave my computer - did that :)
workout - 30 minutes of walking and avoiding puddles. I also got wet from the rain.
shower - yes :) and my morning swish and swipe
dishes - my wonderful husband did these while I was out shopping
grocery shopping - Did it, but forgot the cereal!
Declutter, if there's time - nope wasn't time
be sane when I pick up the children - my husband did this while I cut up a huge watermelon

I was about to start dinner (had water on to boil for rice, and POOOOF out went the lights. They didn't come back on for 3 hours. SO, I thought no problem we'll have sunbutter and jelly sandwiches. My husband informed me that "we are out of sunbutter" NOOOOO!!!!! so we ordered pizza. I was glad the whole side of town was not without electricity. As a result of no power I got in bed early and started sewing on my braided rug, I have been working on. I thought I'd recycle some old ratty clothes. I don't use rags, I have a TON of old washcloths for that.

So today, what to do???? I have Goldfish home with me. His asthma acted up prety bad yesterday. He's making good use of his day at home. He's watched Caillou and now he's on to "Elmo in Grouchland" this is his new favorite.

To do today

No excuses workout
shower and S&S
Declutter the table.
put laundry away
restart laundry
clan Bedroom
declutter the living area, again. (if there's time)
pick up Cheese from daycare
Think about some sort of morning routine.

I still can't seem to get the whole morning routine thing down. There must be a way to a flexible routine (with two small children every thing has to be as flexible as they are). Off to the forums then to change and do my workout.

Goals

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Goals for today

Leave my computer
workout
shower
dishes
grocery shopping
Declutter, if there's time
be sane when I pick up the children

If I can accomplish goal #1 I should be fine for the rest!

a long day

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:11:00 +0000

We had a nice long weekend of play. I took the kids to the pool. They loved it. Goldfish even talked me into going "swimming" with them. So we went in the 3-4 ft water (approx 9-12 meters). The three of us together and no one drowned so that was good. Cheese was still feeling a bit icky from his shots he got on Friday.

By the time Monday rolled arround the house was trashed. Oh well. I still must master the "clean as you go" thing. But tonight I got caught up on dishes. This is my kitchen clean. I wish I was a door shutter. But some how I just can't get the hang of taking the two seconds to shut the doors doesn't occur to me. Since I am short enough not to bang my head on them... well no physical reminders. But at least my sink in shiny and I don't have too many dishes to put away in the morning when I "unload" my dishwasher.

I have got to find a way to cook and have the kids around. it's just so hard in my kitchen. I feel like I am stepping on myself let alone if anyone is with me! I need to declutter under my counter so that ONLY the trash is there (as if it ever stays there!) Maybe Cheese would be happy with his music center under there. But I'd still have to find away to get Goldfish not to get out, open, and stand on my step stool. He doesn't understand that there isn't a good place for him to watch where he isn't in the way. Any of my un-talkative readers have an idea? You could always give ideas in the "friendly thoughts" part. OK OK I know I'm just begging for feedback. I'm done now.

Today the boys went to daycare half the day to give them a chance to get a good nap as they both have colds. Cheese napped for a couple of hours. It was good for him. Goldfish... only naps with dad. So I had a lot of complaining and whining (which I didn't respond too) but it frayed my nerves to raw after about an hour. Tomorrow they stay all day. I think I will drop by as tomorrow is water day. :)

I also managed to go on my first interval walk for 40 minutes. It was nice I did a good job and made it. I have also weighed myself on my new scale. I have lost 10 lbs since December. That's not bad for not trying. Since September I lost 15 pounds. I'm finally past loosing baby weight, and down to loosing Burger King weight. I am going to work hard this summer and get in shape and maybe even need a new wardrobe when school starts next year. That's my goal anyway.

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:34:00 +0000

Our insurance guy finally came. He was here for less than five minutes. We spent longer on the phone trying to guide him to our apartment building. I tried to clean the boy's room, I did manage to get Thomas the train with real steam put away. Or at least hiding in my crock-pot.... the one place MAYBE Goldfish won't find Thomas. When he got home from daycare he wanted to play with Thomas. I told him Thomas went on vacation, he cried. However Thomas HAD to be put up because Goldfish wasn't playing with him; he was turning him on and leaving the room.

Today was spent running errands. I bought a bathroom scale. I think I got a good one this time. My last one (pre-flood) was horrid. It read E more than any other thing. Now I can gauge just how much weight I lost (or gained) (or shifted) working the past semester at "crazyschool". The boys also had their first well checkups since moving to the new state. So far we have only managed to see our CNP and not the MD Doctor. We waited for 2 hours in our little room. This was during a usual nap time. They both got fingers poked and Cheese got three shots. Poor little guy.

But it's bed time, diner is put away, dishes are clean and sink is shiny. Tomorrow is a new day and we will have a home blessing hour, and then I think we will go to the pool for an hour or two. I should have good afternoon nappers then!

The first day of summer

tebranson@gmail.com (Twinkie) — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:44:00 +0000

I dropped Cheese and Goldfish off at daycare today, and didn't go to school. Weird. I felt strange leaving my children in the hands of other people, knowing that I am not employed, or at school. MMMMM But in three hours I had the living room whipped into shape. I decluttered all the horizontal spots. (compare the picture of yesterday to the one of today.) Now when insurance guy comes some time tomorrow we won't have to worry about being crushed by all the junk sitting atop of the "furniture." I am amazed at what I got done with out a baby screaming or a preschooler whining. I need to be careful, I could get used to this!

I am now working on the receipts. It took me a while to figure out how to get my excel program to print my list out with numbers. I finally conquered it. Now my husband is running down to the computer lab to pick it up. Hopefully this will work and I can make a dent in it. I am off to get a smoothie and sit back down for more work.