Schedules and Other Ugly Words

Several months ago Kelly at Kelly's Korner did a post on Show Us Your Life - Cleaning Tips. If you have visited my blog for any length of time, you know that I hate cleaning. I decided to read several of the links people gave with all their tips. The one common tip that kept coming up was a cleaning schedule. My mother use to clean house once a week. Now, she kept things picked up everyday but as far as vaccumming, dusting and cleaning bathrooms that was a once a week job. So, I took on the same schedule as my mom when I became a big girl and got my own house. Here is the problem...as more people have been added to my house the mess has gotten bigger. In my newlywed days, I could clean the whole house in about an hour because it wasn't very big and we weren't very messy.

Sidenote...After we were married for a year, we moved to Texas for Cliff to go to a Bible college. Our apartment was so tiny that I could vaccum the whole thing from one plug. Too funny!

Anyway, as I was saying now that there are four people in our family with two of them being children I can't clean the house in an hour. It takes me practically all day and then I'll just be honest and tell you that I don't have a really great attitude when it is all done. And don't you even think about messing something up after I have cleaned all day...Do you see the problem?

So from the reading on all the cleaning tips I want to implement a cleaning schedule. Basically you clean something in your house everyday and your house always looks clean. Here is an example, one lady cleans her bathrooms every Monday. She also washes all the bathmats on Monday because they are included in the bathroom. Tuesday might be floor day and vaccums, sweeps and mops on this day. Some included laundry in their schedules but I can't do laundry only once a week. My family would not be happy with me.

I have been trying to implement a schedule for weeks now. Do you know what my problem is? Well I previously cleaned my house on Fridays. So when I want to start my cleaning schedule on Monday, well the bathrooms still look clean. And who wants to clean something you just cleaned. So then I wait and say I will start my schedule next week. Well come the end of the week the whole house is so messy and needs cleaning that I clean everything. And do you see the crazy cycle? Monday rolls around and nothing needs cleaning.

It really wears me out but in the end I think a cleaning schedule will make my life easier. Especially this summer when I don't really feel like doing anything but laying in the pool.

So do you have a cleaning schedule or do you clean once a week? I would love to hear your comments.

So Long May

May has gotten away from me. It seems like the last couple of weeks were a blur of busyness. I did want to update you on the talent show. At the last minute, my little performer decided that she needed flames on her skirt.

The talent show was on Friday morning and on Thursday night I was enjoying a girls night out. So I enjoyed going to Walmart with my girlfriends at midnight in search of flames. Luckily, I found fabric with flames on it. I am not exaggerating that I was up until 2:30 in the morning cutting out flames and ironing them on to her skirt.

Honestly, it was all worth it when she saw the skirt. She loved it and I think I impressed her with my "flame ability". Here is a picture of my little performer.

She did great lip singing her song, but unfortunately the moves did not come to her. She basically just stood still. I was just so proud of her for getting up in front of her classmates and performing. She already has big plans for next year's show.

When did it happen?

This Friday my daughter is in the talent show at her school. It really surprised me when she told me that she wanted to try out. She is going to be lip singing to a Kids Bop song called Fire Burning.

Well, she made the cut for the talent show but her music teacher did tell her she needed to get some moves. If you know anything about me, you know that I do not have moves. Oh sure I can move if something is chasing me, but to choreograph a number to the tune of Fire Burning isn't really something I am good at.

Despite my short comings in the dance area, I thought I would give it a try. Today I thought we could just do a run through and get some "moves". I started the cd and gave it a try. My daughter immediately started laughing and telling me how goofy I looked.

Apparently my moves are goofy and something to be laughed at. It kinda hurt my feelings. When did I become goofy and uncool?

Best I can tell, it all happened when I got the name "Mom" a little over 9 years ago.

Then some drama ensued and I had to get a reality check. I got a little to into the talent show and my expectations got a little out of whack. Do you ever do that?

I read a devotion this morning about not letting your tale feathers get ruffled. To step back from the situation and make a choice. Let your head spin around a few time or choose joy or grace or mercy or patience or love.

Today I will be honest and tell you that my head started to spin and then I got a hold of it. I am so proud of my daughter for having the confidence to stand in front of the whole first grade and lip sing to this song. At her age, I would never have dreamed of doing something like that. So I had a real choice to make - ask like a crazy mom or let go of my expectations and let her do it her way. I chose to let her do it her way. She says that the moves will come to her and you know what I bet they will.

Oh Monday, Monday, Monday!

My Monday morning did not start out at all how I wanted it to. Why is it that on Monday your sheets hold you captive? My bed never feels better than on a Monday morning.

So, I surrendered to my sheets and sleep through the snooze about 4 or 5 times. When I finally mustered the energy to get up, well we had to throw it into high geer to make it to school on time. Of course my daughter did not feel the need to hurry or to like any of her clothes this morning. To say it was a struggle is an understatement.

I finally get us to the kitchen to be reminded that we did not have bread, waffles, muffin mix or basically anything. I did manage to find some pancake mix in the pantry, to which my daughter said she did not really want pancakes but she would eat them.

Well, thank you! (That pretty much sums up my feelings)

While serving my delicious breakfast, I spot some legs on our deck. The four legs look a lot like my dog but how can he be out of his invisible fence?

I had no time to think about the dog because I was busy being a drill sargent; "Get your shoes, brush your teeth, get your bookbag, HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!"

I was tempted to not return home after taking the kids to school because of all the fun that awaited me. My husband was in the bed not feeling well, my dog was muddy and out of his fence and Lucky (formerly know as Snowball) was starving.

I managed to get my dog back in his fence but not before I was muddy from head to toe. I also got Lucky fed. Then I headed to the bath where I wanted to sit for the rest of the day.

I concluded the day by feeding my children box macaroni and cheese but I made it healthy by serving it with apples and grapes. I had to serve this because I still don't have bread or much of anything else.

Oh Monday, Monday, Monday you never disappoint.

Oh The Fun I'm Having...

Well, this week I have learned more about baby kittens than I ever thought I wanted to know. My new knowledge has given me a great, GREAT respect for the mama cats in this world.

Let me just tell you if you are in the throws of motherhood with a little one, I am going to share something with you that will make you thankful today.

Did you know that little kittens are not born knowing they need to use the bathroom. Now if you are in the midst of having a child in diapers you might think that is a really good thing. Oh but you just wait!

The mother cat plays a huge roll in the little baby kitten realizing it needs to use the bathroom. You will never guess what she has to do...she has to lick its behind!

Oh yes ma'am she does!

You may be asking yourself how I know this. I learned that interesting fact this week and have spent a couple of days having to rub a certain kitty's behind myself. Let me just tell you that I have obviously lost my mind. If you would have told me last week that this week I would be rubbing a kittens behind and feeding it with a bottle, well I would have laughed at you.

We had a huge celebration on Wednesday morning. Snowball finally decided to use the bathroom during the night and I for one was just about giddy. For me it meant no more rubbing of the behind! Hallelujah!

(I can not even believe I am blogging about this.)

Today I spent most of the day cleaning out my son's closet. I did the dreadful "Switching of the Seasons" and used the most wonderful thing today. I finally tried Space Bags and I love them! I was amazed at how much you can fit in a bag. And it is really exciting when you suck all of the air out of it.

Obviously with the week I am having, it doesn't take much to excite me.

I then moved on to my car and decided it was beyond time to clean it out. I discovered that my daughter has a real problem. The girl had six bags/purses full of junk in the car. Honestly it was mostly her stuff in the car. I climbed into the back row of seats and was disgusted. Apparently someone spilled something nasty back there and decided not to tell anyone. I got out the Joy soap and went to town. Now I won't be embarrassed to let people ride with me this weekend.

I can not wait until Saturday! Me and several women from my church are going to see Beth Moore Live in Woodstock. I am so looking forward to the conference and to hearing Travis Cottrell lead worship.

Well, I must go. Snowball needs to be fed one more time before bed and I am really tired. All this cleaning today has worn me out!

Enjoy your weekend!

I Promise I Am Not Making This Up!

What is that sawing I hear coming from my kitchen? It must be my grand kitchen renovation getting underway, complete with granite and stainless steel! I CAN NOT WAIT!

Oh no, I'm just dreaming! The sawing is a rescue effort that is underway...

I must go back to last night so you will understand what is going on.

Last night at church the kids discovered two very cute kittens. They were tiny little things. If you know anything about me, you know that all my cats have come from the church. So after standing around taking in all their cuteness, I decided I needed to get out of there. Just recently our two cats have gone to discover greener pastures or the neighbors house or whatever. (Our neighbors took our first cat Ariel and renamed her Penelope and decided she was going to be their housecat. What does it say about me that I did not go over to their house and fight for her? Well, I'll just let you decide...)

I do not believe that they have our other two cats, Calli and Savannah. Savannah likes the "bad boy" neighborhood cat and I think she ran off with him. I'm really disappointed in her. Calli does not have the ability to like boys anymore if you know what I mean, so I really don't think she has run off with a bad cat. She just likes to take vacations occasionally and we are hoping that she comes back soon.

Well, my husband was a total softy yesterday and totally gave in to crazy requests. Yes, you guessed it...when Max turned on the waterworks his dad gave into him. (I probably would have done the same thing.) And this was the result...

This morning I got the kitten out to try and feed it. I sat it in the floor of the kitchen and turned to open a can. When I turned back around the kitten was gone.

GONE!

I soon saw the tip of it's tail under my cabinet. There is a small, small opening under my cabinets and that kitten crawled in there. The space is not accessable at all. I quickly pulled out the drawers thinking I could grab it, but nope that cabinet is completely closed off. So I opened the corner cabinet doors and began feeling around, but nope that cabinet is also completely closed off. The kitten is in a small space behind the kick plate on the cabinets.

I knew at that point that the situation was just really not going to turn out well. I began to pray and beg for the kitten to come out.

Cliff came back home to get something and I filled him in on the situation. We quickly determined that it was all his fault for bringing the kitten home in the first place. You know the best thing to do in a situation like this is access the blame up front so there is no confusion. Ha!

For the next two hours...TWO HOURS...we begged and pleaded with the kitten to come out. We both tried our very best mama kitten meow and then I just thought I would change it up with a variety of cat sounds. (I was loosing my mind at that point) Cliff started making some crazy clicking sound and I told him there was not an animal alive that made that sound. Finally the only option we had left was to start sawing a hole so we could get our hand in there to grab it.

Well, all that sawing scared it to death and it went way back in the hole. We couldn't hear it or feel it. I thought maybe we killed it by causing it to have a heartattack. We waited awhile and still no luck. So the only thing left to do it take up the shoe molding and the kick plate.

I was pretty much sick at this point because I knew my kitchen would never be the same. Cliff finally gets the shoe molding off and then we hear a tiny meow. At least we knew it was still alive. Cliff reached his hand up in the hole and was able to grab the kitten and slowly pull it out. I snapped this picture to document the insanity...

This was exactly the way I pictured my week starting. I am afraid of what might be in store for the rest of the week.

Spring Break

Well today is bringing Spring Break to a close. It has been such an exciting week that I can hardly catch my breath.

Oh how I kid!

My children did not want to do much of anything. I tried to entice them with a trip to the Zoo, Six Flags or The World of Coke. The Zoo was too boring to them. Six Flags would be too crowded and The World of Coke just did not interest a certain little boy. (Who are these kids!) I guess this mama just did not want to sit at home and look at all the things she should be doing.

We did make it to the movies one day because it rained. We saw Diary of a Wimpy Kids. It was cute.

We also entertained spend the night company and I cleaned and did laundry. I know it was more excitement than I could stand. Just let us know if you want us to plan a very exciting week for you!