And I like it!

You all know how I feel about floral arrangements. They gotta look really good, they gotta be very affordable, they gotta be NOT country and very me.

Recently I was at JoAnn’s with my mother-in-law with some money to spend, some coupons in my pocket and a really good clearance sale and I found a RED vase that I just fell. in. love. with. And it was on sale!

With red being a major color in my dining room, I want to use red touches like this to carry the red over into the living room (and kitchen) for continuity.

While at JoAnn’s I also grabbed up a handful of red flowers and some interesting and exotic red feathers (which would have been more expensive than I wanted to go for if it weren’t for the 50% off coupon I had!)

I. adore. them.

I chose one stem or bush of each flower on purpose, I wanted it to be a blend of a variety of reds and flower shapes.

I picked out the little red flowers with the really light green stems and leaves to help break up the dark shades of the reds.

The feathers… what can I say about the feathers? There was no way the feathers weren’t going in there!

I added the curly sticks because they bring more fun and whimsy to the arrangement.

I think they look great on my piano right now and I can’t wait until we move out of this house and take this little gem of a room decor piece with me. I know JUST where I’m going to put it!

Today I’m trying something new. Simpler. Hopefully better. With our recent traveling, cramming in school, attending fall parties and running of errands.. our house is being taken over. By the clutter bug.

It happens when you come home from vacation at 11:00 at night and don’t put all your stuff away. It happens when you hurry out of the house as soon as school is done to make a trip to the store, return home just in time to eat supper and finish supper just in time to put the kids in bed – without making sure all the school items, groceries and dishes got put away.

In other words.. it happens.

I can’t, shouldn’t, won’t slack off on school to recover on the housework – not with as many vacation and holidays we’ve taken in the last month. So we press onward. I can’t, shouldn’t won’t ignore the clutter until the weekend when we’re not doing school. I need to try to find a way to overcome the clutter while getting school done at the same time. And I need to do it now – before the clutter grows.

Because, Y’ALL. Clutter is like rabbits. It multiples. Rapidly.

So last night I made a list of threes. 3 specific chore items I want to get done today, 3 items I need to do for myself today, 3 items I need to have the kids do today and 3 other items that really need to get done (or at least worked on today.) It’s still a full day’s workload, and at the end of the day, the house isn’t going to look a thousand, a hundred or even 50% better than it did this morning. But if I practice MAINTAINING while working on my threes (staying on top of the kids to put things away when they are done using them, taking care of dishes right after lunch, etc.) then every day this week, the house should get a little better and a little better and a littler better.

It’s about biting off manageable pieces. Ordinarily I’d make a gigantic long list of EVERYTHING that needs to be done, and I’d work real hard today and maybe tomorrow, too, but then I’ll collapse from exhaustion at some point. Not today.

Today I begin working smarter. Not harder. How’s that for profound?

My list of 3′s for today is as follows:

1. Three Chores

• Wash all the hand dishes
• Clean off the sink & counter in the master bath
• Sweep/Mop the kitchen/dining area

1. Three “Me’s”

• Sort the vitamins into the weekly pill box and take today’s. (I never remember to take them! But I do if they’re in the pill box…)
• Bible Study
• Exercise

1. Three for the Kids

• All school
• Clean kids’ bathroom/hall
• 30 minutes cleaning/organizing in their rooms

1. Three Others

• send invites for Prince’s bday party
• promote bloggiversary
• work on best friend’s website

Tackle It Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom – what are YOU tackling?

**If you’re here to see how we use our workbox system, click here to see how our system has evolved and how we use it now.**

For those of you who are thinking, “YOU HAVEN’T STARTED SCHOOL YET??” — hold your horses because the girls have been doing summer school all the way up through last week. (And for those of you thinking, “Your poor children, they had to do school all summer, TOO??” — yes, they did, but we school year round and take breaks frequently so it all evens out in the end.)Now that we’ve gotten out of the way, BOY HAVE I BEEN BUSY! And I’m still not done. Oy.The biggest thing I worked on this past week was finishing up a workbox system for Princess. I adapted the new and popular homeschool system to meet our own needs, I came up with a plan that would work for us and I created the numbers labels and completion chart myself. It was hard work! To get it done, I took some banker’s boxes from Wal-Mart, wrapped them with inexpensive gift wrap, used some file folders and file folder jackets inside and added the numbers with sticky velcro dots.

The number tags I made.

I also started printing out and prepping some file folder games for each of them to use in their workbox systems during our first week. For Princess I printed a sign language alphabet game (an interest of hers), and a homemaking handbook. For Drama Queen, I printed an odd and even numbers game and a word family game. For Little Prince I printed a “smallest to biggest” sequencing game and an alphabet train that makes me smile.

One pocket holds the pumpkins on the left, Even and Odd pockets to sort them on the right.

I also worked some on their bible memory verse cards, but I still haven’t finished up with those yet! Other things I still need to do: finish the workbox systems for Drama Queen and Little Prince, print some more file folder games, supplementary worksheets and e-books, go to the library for the first couple books on their reading lists,… I also need to buy a clear vinyl tablecloth protector and a world map,… I also need to get the bulletin board prepped and hung and ready…

School stuff in the organization process. I DO have a place for it all to go when it's done... I think...

Think I can get it all done before next Monday?? We shall see. In the meantime, it’s nice to see things finally coming together. The first day of the new school year is always crazy, but still, I’m hoping for a really good year ahead. =0)

Tackle It Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom

What do these three things have in common?? Nothing except that they all have to be tackled today. And it’s going to be hard!

For the last few years at least I’ve suffered from horrible hormonal shifts and I hate it. I despise feeling helpless against sudden mood swings and irrational irritability. This week has been particularly hard but still I can’t let it be a crutch and an excuse for being angry. I have to tackle every single temptation to snap (and there are many) and hand them over to God.

The temptation is to just sit on the couch and hide in a book or on the computer and wait for it to pass. But you know and I know how bad an idea that is. Besides, I did that yesterday and very little got done around here — and typically when I do that the kids take their cue to run amok. They’re good at running amok.

Having said that I have to try to get some things done around here – even in the middle of the evil PMS.

• I need to get the dishes washed.
• I need to get the clean laundry folded.
• The kids need to do their school
• I need to finish making the kids’ bible verse cards for handwriting for the upcoming year.

If I can get those things done, and make it through the day without being sent to the loony bin, I’ll be happy. I just keep repeating:

“I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me!” Philippians 4:13

Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

This is a tackle that’ll make my mother happy. Though I’m pretty picky about keeping the lenses on my eye glasses clean, the same cleanliness doesn’t naturally stem over to computer monitors and laptop screens. I just never seem to find the time for it.. and don’t get me started on the keyboard. ICK.

I don’t usually notice, I look right through the fingerprints and dust and I type on the keys regardless of the smudges. I’m sure my mom noticed EVERY SPOT when she was here a couple weeks ago. Don’t you DARE touch her computer screen. Because it had finally gotten bad enough to bother me, and to make my momma proud, this week I tackled the Macbook – screen, keyboard and outside, too.

How to Clean Your Laptop

Step 1: Clean between the keys.

It’s recommended to power off the laptop before cleaning it. Some instructions also recommend removing the battery.

With a few q-tips and small amounts of rubbing alcohol, gently clean between and around the keys on the keyboard. Rubbing alcohol is good because it evaporates quickly, therefore is less likely to actually get moisture down inside the computer.

Step 2: Clean the tops of the keys and the wrist rest.

Dipping a soft cloth in rubbing alcohol, gently rub the tops of the keys to get them clean. Be careful not to squish the cloth and squeeze alcohol down between the keys. Wipe down the wrist rest, the touchpad and the other areas around the keyboard.

Step 3: Clean the screen.

Using a damp soft cloth, gently wipe the screen to remove the fingerprints and dust. Remember not to press too hard to avoid scratching the screen with a piece of dirt or damage the screen with too much pressure.

Step 4: Clean the outside of the laptop.

With your damp cloth, wipe down the rest of the laptop to complete the process.

Step 5: Step back and admire your newly cleaned laptop.

Isn’t it pretty? You may now resume your normal usage and touching of the screen.

Pretty easy, huh? Now we have no excuse for dirty laptops.

What have YOU been tackling? Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom!

This entire past week has centered around one thing: my kitchen. Every to-do, every tackle, every errand was in preparation of the kitchen makeover.

I mean, nevermind the monster to-do list on Friday, the painting of the dining room table on Tuesday or the chandelier last Monday…

Don’t forget about the painting of the two overhead cabinets I did on Friday and the picking up the stove from Craiglist on Thursday…

This past weekend was packed with kitchen tackling all over the place! Saturday we (my parents, husband and I) spent most of the day working the cabinets under the sink. The front face was rebuilt and a new cabinet floor was added.

On Sunday, we focused on getting in the “new” sink I found on Craigslist for 50$ that is twice the size of the old one. And on Monday I focused on getting the dining room painted and put back together so that I could get some of the kitchen stuff out of my living room.

And there’s still so much more to do! But hopefully by the end of this week it’ll all be done… Stay tuned for Part 4 next week!

Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom!

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