I finished!!!!!!!

I finished the kitchen. YAY!!!!!! Next room, I think I'm going to tackle Riley's room. I was going to go room to room, but I decided instead that R's room needs to be cleaned. Of course, this means that I can't start till Mon when he's not home. I just can't do it when he's home. I mean, he doesn't want to get rid of stuff. He is such his dad's boy!


I'm feeling really frustrated with stupid people getting themselves pregnant. I mean, if you're in a not good time to get pregnant you have a couple of choices. Keep your legs closed or use birth control. To the lady at MOPs, I'm sorry that you're pregnant when you have a 5 month old. Must suck to be fertile. If you didn't want more kids right now, either refrain from sex or use birth control.


It just sucks when people get pregnant when they don't want to be. It can be prevented. Just don't be stupid & then bitch about it to ME.


Alright, more when I get started on the next room!

Last week

Last week was pure hell. I got nothing done at home. Heck, the laundry is still waiting to be put away.

Mon I worked. It was such a bad day that I was in bed around 9:30. I wanted to cry. It was awful.

Tues I worked again. Much better day, but I worked, came home, ate dinner, went to Bible study, came home, had to make a CPS report, went to bed.

Wed I ended up spending much of the day out at the power plant with the wife of a coworkers of Brads. When I got home, I was busy cleaning up cat pee off my floor.

Thurs I had to take Bismarck back to the vet, where he ended up spending the night for treatments.

Fri we had gymnastics. Then picked up Bis. Then had to go out to Roseville to buy jeans.

Sat we went to play in the snow with friends. That was a TON of fun! Can't wait to do that again!


So, this is a new week. My plan for today is to put away the dishes, do the upper cabinet, & put away laundry. At least some of it!

Wish me luck!

Well, that didn't work!

I worked Mon & Tues, so I have gotten nothing done here at home. Mon was such a bad day that I came home & wanted to cry. Today I got home, relaxed for a few minutes, had dinner & went to Bible Study. But tomorrow I will be home, so I hope to get stuff done.


Wish me luck! How are YOU doing on your cleaning/purging?

Not too bad!

So today I found a recipe for a bbq sauce that I can eat, no tomato. COOL! Except that I cannot believe it. In this house I have 4 kinds of vinegar: malt, distilled, white wine & balsamic. The recipe calls for red wine. Fortunately, Brad is awesome & went to the store for me. BUT because of looking for it, I got the upper left hand cabinets done. And, duh!, I did the upper right hand cabinets done yesterday.


Tomorrow my plan is to do the bottom cabinets, which won't take long cuz I did those when we had the mouse, and the upper cabinets on that side. I'm putting off the fridge till the end of the week, when I have less food in it! lol


Not doing too bad!

What I got done today

So I got up this morning and Brad & Riley were going to a train show. I did some stuff in the kitchen. Now I need to stop watching Say Yes to the Dress & get my butt on the Wii! lol

Left drawers
Right drawers
Towels
Cookbooks


To cheat, I did the drawers about a month ago when I replaced the liners. But I checked them, they are still good. :) So I am off to a good start! I did some other work in the gun rack, but I didn't separate it out, so I'm not listing all of it separately.

Here we go!!!

Alright, I decided that I am going to post my plan for organizing/decluttering each room. I am going to allow myself 2 weeks per room, because Riley is gone 2 days of the week, so that means that the other 5 I have him home. I also never really know my schedule day to day because I could get a 6:30am phone call to work. I figure if I finish in less than 2 weeks, good for me! If I take the full 2 weeks, oh well!

My plan is to start at one end of the house & work my way back. However, I am going to work in Riley's room when time allows because I can really only do his room when he isn't home (or when he's outside) and it is just BAD. I haven't cleaned it since before Halloween. I know, bad Mommy. But every time I start to work in there, we either have a party or he has friends over & it ends up looking like a bomb went off.

So, here is the kitchen list:
Upper left cabinet
Upper right cabinet
Lower cabinet
Upper cabinet
Left drawers
Right drawers
Oven drawer
Pot cabinet
Gun rack***
Tupperware
Towels
Cookbooks
Oven
Stove
Microwave
Fridge
Freezer

Keep in mind, this isn't a cleaning list. This is an "organize & get rid of" list. So things like "sweep" aren't going to be on here!

I don't have a list for Riley's room yet. It just needs to be gone through! I really should take pictures of it.

So I'm off. I feel the desire to work on the gun rack***!



***This is a converted gun rack that we got for $5. Brad knocked out the parts where the guns would lean against & built shelves for it. It now holds my dishes, wine glasses, dish towels, things like that.

Stealing an idea

So my friend Sara posted some goals for the year that she has. And I thought "Gee, that's a good idea! I should do that!" lol Keep me accountable if it's in writing. So, here goes.


1. Save money. Being cheaper and actually putting more money in savings.

2. Plan more ahead. Be ahead of the game for things like birthday parties and the such.

3. Organize this house. Room by room. And declutter while at it.

4. Work out. I was really good last year, till I got bronchitis. That kind of threw me off.

5. Get used to this new way of eating. Having to cut out tomato & onion is NOT an easy thing to do.

6. Less computer time. I don't think it is helping my depression at all.

Ok, that's what I've got for now. I will try to remember to post & update on how I'm doing!

Sad

We went to a birthday party yesterday. She will be 3 this week. She is a little taller than Riley, maybe about 40" tall. She weighs 63 lbs. Yep, that is not a typo. 63 lbs. It was so sad. She was out of breath, she couldn't climb up on things like the other kids, nothing. She couldn't run with the other kids, nothing. She isn't just fat. I'd say she's obese. It was so sad. And there is nothing that we can do.

People just suck.

I was supposed to scrap today. The idiot who was organizing it canceled it and failed to notify me. Yeah, I'm annoyed!

Do people REALLY believe this stuff?????

Had my MOPs meeting on Tues. I sat there in shock. I could not believe that one of the women was saying what she was saying. I couldn't believe that people still think this way!

We were talking about friendship, the importance of it, maintaining friendships, stuff like that. This woman was telling us about her "best friend"* who is a lesbian. Who she doesn't want her kids around because "I don't want them around things like that". WTF!?!?!? People still think this way? And VOCALIZE IT!? In a room full of people who they barely know? I was in shock! She also said that she wants her kids around people who think like they (I assume her & her husband) do so that the kids know that as normal. Again: WTF!?!?!?

I want my kid around people who DON'T think like I do! I want him to learn about different thoughts, religions, views. I want him to be educated enough to be able to make his own decisions as he grows. It doesn't mean that I don't teach him about what we believe or that he doesn't go to church with us. But I want him to learn, from a young age, that not everyone thinks like we do.

This woman acted like gay was contagious. I think most reasonable people don't believe that. But this was nuts. And the fact that she says this is her "best friend"? How weird to me! I can't imagine not wanting my child around my friends. The only time I wouldn't want my child around a friend is if they were a child molester or abuser. And I wouldn't be friends with someone like that! Makes no sense to me!

Am I off base here?

Really pissed

My folks have really pissed me off right now. Dad is all pissed because he thinks that Riley doesn't speak as well as he should. He thinks that we're ignoring a problem. Apparently, mom agrees with him. Of course, the pedi who thinks Riley is fine, is apparently an idiot. Let's see, he's spoken to speech pathologists, his mother, THE TEACHER, thinks he is fine, the pedi thinks he's fine, the special ed teacher thinks he's fine, the preschool teacher thinks he's fine. But apparently we're all idiots.

So I've been thinking

which I know is a scary thought. But seriously, I've been thinking. And I'm frustrated. There just is NO WORK. The state screamed for YEARS that we need teachers. I finally finish & I can't find anything. Not just here either. I'm looking in other districts and there just is NOTHING. It's all support staff . . . aides, bus drivers, janitors, stuff like that.

So I've been thinking about what I can do. I can sew. Not super well, but I can. So I was thinking of an Etsy shop where I make cloth wipes, wash cloths, maybe blankets for toddler beds. Then I started to think about soaps & bath salts as well. So, we will see. I am thinking that I want to start making the salts & soaps & selling them at local boutiques. I think it could be fun.

So we will see what happens. Who knows, something could come of it, something may not. We'll see.

9 years

9 years. Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary. We've been together almost 13 years though. Some reasons I love my husband:
He's cute!
He's sweet.
He believes in "old fashioned" roles, as in, I get to stay home with Riley.
He supports me in whatever I do. Be it a new job, school, nursing, cloth diapering, no matter what it is.
He is helpful. No matter how stupid it might be to him, he will drop what he is doing to help me.
He is loving.
He is gentle.
He is smart.

I don't know, he is just wonderful! :) I am an amazingly blessed woman to have him.

OMG!!!!!!! IT'S A PANDEMIC!!!!!!!

Please, this is just getting stupid. Guess what folks? Swine flu/H1N1, whatever you want to call it, it no more of a risk than the normal seasonal flu. Get over it. Media, how about you stf about it and stop trying to make people afraid? Oh wait, then why are you here? Oh, I remember . . . TO REPORT REAL NEWS!!!!!!! This is beyond stupid. I am so tired of hearing about this crap. I understand that people are dieing, I really do. But they die every year from seasonal flu as well. No more have died from this than from seasonal. Why the rush oh wonderful government to get that vaccine out? Have you forgotten what happened the LAST time you rushed through a vaccine for this flu? You killed more people with the "prevention" than died from the flu. And you ruined the lives of many many more people by causing a chronic disease as a result of the vaccine.

It just amazes me how over reactive things are about this. I just don't get it. Maybe because I don't worry about illness. I guess I'm weird.

The things my kid says

"I like to go to 49er (restaurant) because they have cute girls!"

"Bismarck's nose is juicy, like a watermelon!"

I thought of another way we aren't normal

We don't care about nudity in our house. Riley showers with us, gets dressed with us, whatever. We don't hide nudity around here.

We also only hold hands if there is a safety issue. Like a busy parking lot or a busy street to cross. But encourage Riley to just stay next to us. If it is a busy area we do hold hands.

We allow him to walk away from us in stores, at 4 years old. Even to go into the next aisle without us! *GASP*

We allow and encourage him to talk to strangers!

We encourage him to do things that push him. For example, climbing up & down the ladder. We help if he needs it, but we encourage him to do new things without help.

He got a chore chart when he turned 3. And is expected to do the chores.

When I tell him to do something, he is allowed to say no. He needs to do it, but he can express that he doesn't want to. Guess what, some days, I don't wanna do it either!

I'm sure I'll think of more!

Another thing I never thought I'd say

"Don't put the screwdriver at the cats head!"

I don't think I'm normal

I have realized something. I don't think we parent like most people. Here's where I'm seeing that we're different.

1. Riley has a lot of freedom with media. If he wants to watch tv, he can (unless we're watching something). We don't edit what he watches on tv or listens to with music. He watches Tim Burton films and listens to punk music, complete with *gasp* swearing! On the other hand, he also watches Veggie Tales and loves their music. He has a broken iPhone (no sims card, can't get online) for music, movies and games that he plays with. He also has his own log in on dh's computer and can go to his web sites when he wants (as long as dh isn't on the computer).

2. He doesn't have a set bedtime. He goes to bed when he's tired or when we are. Sometimes he is in bed at 9, sometimes 10. One night, him & dh were playing with trains in the garage and I woke up at 1:30am! They were still playing! But he never goes to bed before 9.

3. He sleeps with us. If he feels the need to be in our bed, he is.

4. We don't worry about what he eats. If he wants ice cream, he can have it. He asks for carrots. We have never had a fit in a store over him wanting candy, instead he approaches the produce man and asks for carrots. Obviously it is working! We do not fight him on eating things. Yet he is an amazing eater.

5. He plays on his own, and is expected to. He goes in his room to play by himself. At the park, I chat with other moms, talk on the phone, read a book while he plays.

6. We don't do time outs. Instead I will tell him to go to his room until he can behave. He can play in his room when he's there. He doesn't need to sit in a corner to calm down.

I know that there are more ways, I just can't think of them right now!

Too cute!

We're watching Dora. Her grandma is sick. So her & Boots are taking Grandma a basket of treats. Riley sneezed. He said "I sneezed. Dora needs to bring ME treats!"


This kid cracks me up!

Things I never thought I'd say

1. "Take off your shoes if you're going to crawl over your brother's head!" Said to my friends 12 year old.

2. "Son, we don't sleep with produce. Your pumpkin may not sleep in your bed." Said to a 4 yr old Riley after we bought him a mini pumpkin. He decided "But my pumpkin is my best friend!" Oh boy.