I have a lot to say.

And absolutely no time to write it all down.


Next week my Beloved and I are taking a little getaway, and you'd better believe I plan on getting some serious blogging done. That hotel had better have wi-fi!

Easter Joys!

He is Alive!!!

Floods

Please pray for our city (St. Louis) - we are having some FLOODING with lots of highway closings and evacuations. Thankfully it is not anywhere too close to our home or our loved ones.....but still.

Spring Cleaning Progress

Well, I have been exceptionally tired lately. My doctor has me on progesterone and I swear I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment. It has kind of put a damper on my gung-ho type agenda I had for Spring Cleaning, but I am giving it what energy I do have.

Over the past several days I have:
- Vacuumed every nook & cranny of the house (including all walls, window frames, baseboards, and ceilings). There are no cobwebs or dust-bunnies to be found!
- Filled in various seams with caulking.
- Cleaned the backyard: Removing dog poop, bits of trash from the raccoons digging through our trash, acorns & wood chips from Daddy's wood-chopping. Tidying the toys including getting rid of broken toys or removing ones the kids don't use. Burning up some of our HUGE wood-pile & excess brush/twigs.
- Cleaned out the Hutch in the kitchen.
- Cleaned out the Junk Drawer in the Kitchen.

What about you?

62 words

Speed test

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick

St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints.

Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461.

Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone's Irish.

There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.

Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.

As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.

He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.

Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.

Why a shamrock?

Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

In His Footsteps:

Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.

(taken from Catholic Online)

Whew.

Can I just say it? I am EXHAUSTED. I feel like I have been running a marathon.

I have been a cleaning machine around here and I am tired. I am tired from all of the things I have done and I am tired from thinking about the ever-burgeoning list ahead of me.

We had a talk this morning about some of the things we'd like to do before putting the house on the market and I am exhausted just thinking about it. As I cleaned today I was very discouraged as every nook and cranny seemed to reveal yet another project. SO, I need to do what I always do when I feel overwhelmed. I need to make an actual list. Break it down into manageable parts.

I made a comprehensive "house projects" list last year sometime, and quite honestly, we have not stuck by the plan. We have done many things around here, and it will be interesting to pull it out and see how we've measured up and just how many things we can finally cross off that list.

I know one major thing that we just added to the list is having a new walkway put in. Ours is currently a brick walkway that is literally falling apart. We'd like an inexpensive replacement to add curb appeal as well as value to the home. And we are getting some siding replaced - and hopefully some windows - depending on what kind of bid we can get for all 3 projects! Those are the major things. Everything else is relatively minor (because we have already done the other MAJOR things like re-doing the bathroom and kitchen!!).

So, while I continue to Spring Clean, I am realizing that this clean is more about getting our house ready to put on the market so when the time actually comes, I can simply so a lighter clean and kick the kids out!

Spring Cleaning Schedule Amended

Well, our sweet dog Bella has been sick with the most horrendous diarrhea for the past several days and although I have been keeping her in the bathroom, the kids let her out this morning without my knowledge and she was covered in poop. Now so is my carpet. So directly after our visit to the Vet, we stopped and got a steam cleaner because poop covered carpets just will.not.do.
SO, I am spending the day steam-cleaning my carpets. I am thinking it may take more than one day. I think that this chore definitely counts as part of my Spring Cleaning, don't you?


On another note, Does anyone own one of these steam cleaners? I would love recommendations since I can see myself buying one in the not-so-distant future!

Kitchen Cupboards

Whew. I am finally done my kitchen cupboards. It was a long day yesterday. I didn't take before and afters of all my cupboards, but let me just tell you what I did.

Working one cupboard at a time, I first took everything out, and then I ruthlessly purged - who needs all those extra casserole dishes when I rarely use one? Extra coffee mugs? Gone. Extra dishes? Gone. Mismatched tupperware? Gone. Seriously, I was ruthless. SO, I got to the point where I had much less to put back in those cabinets, which felt great.

Then I simply reorganized the cupboards putting less frequently used items in a less convenient location. And running every.single.dish through our new dishwasher. And cleaning all those cupboards while I was at it. And the ceiling fan. And the stovetop - which also needed to have it's drip pans replaced. All that is done.

And I am taking today off.

Spring Cleaning Challenge Update

Well, I finished my kitchen pantry on 3-5 as scheduled. It was great to get that done!


Let me go ahead and include the before pictures.

Needless to say, our pantry was, um DISorganized!

It was hard to know what we had and what we could use to make meals - which just got expensive after a while because I was buying things I didn't know I already had in the pantry!



And here is it all completed:
So, the top shelf is breakfast food on the right, extra tall items in the middle (like my oil bottles), and then "adult" snacks on the left. Because when DH and I have in-house date nights we like to nosh on some eclectic snacky type foods like these incredible flatbreads from Trader Joe's along with some Boursin cheese rather than you know, Goldfish and graham crackers. No offense to the Knee-High Gang or anything.
The next shelf down from the top is kids snack foods. Period. It's high because I am a mean mommy who likes to regulate just how many ritz crackers my kids eat.
The next shelf is main course dinner-type foods. Pastas, rice, etc.


The following shelf is baking goods which sort of spills over into the last shelf which is miscellaneous cook books, plastic wrap and bread.

The bottom of the pantry used to be chock full of crap and now it is clean and only houses a few things like all my pampered chef stones that I never use. Maybe now that I can access them, I will use them.

Spring Cleaning Challenge!

Well, last year I participated in Monica's Spring Cleaning Challenge and made some great progress in the rooms I did. For me, I do a moderate cleaning in each room almost every week so a truly Spring cleaning is typically going a little deeper to the spots that don't get attention regularly.

I have already finished some of my deep cleaning of a few rooms for this Spring so I won't include them in this Challenge. I have finished my Master Bedroom & Closet, Laundry Room, Kid's Bedroom & Closet, Play Room, and Kitchen.

Now what I am entering into the challenge.

3-5 Kitchen Pantry
3- 8 Kitchen cupboards (a deep cleaning/reorganizing)
3-10 Dining Room
3-12 China Cabinet (this will take a while - it's a catch all.)
3-14 Craft Room Sewing Area
3-16 Craft Room Storage
3-18 Desk Area
3-20 Bill Pay Center (A 2nd China Cabinet - now random junk)
3-22 Basement Pantry (A huge storage area in the back 1/2 of my laundry room)
3-24 Underneath the Stairs


My goal is simply that all of this major de-cluttering will help us be that much more ready to list the house for sale in a few months. I plan on spending much of April painting & doing small house projects, so getting the "stuff" out of the way will certainly help with this.

I plan to not just clean for this Spring Clean Challenge, but to truly purge and re-organize according to the way we live and the way we WANT to live. I don't want anymore extra STUFF!

My secondary goal is that I will be finished all of this BY the 24th of March so I can relax and enjoy it before a) my Mom comes in town; and b) the kids birthdays both come at the end of March/beginning of April.

Hi Daddy!

Oh-Mop!

***Updated to add:
I wanted to clarify that the oMop, or the swiffer, or whatever, is NEVER a substitute for the traditional "on hands and knees scrubbing" that every kitchen should get according to the need. This "quick mop" is to do light maintenance in between scrubbings. I cannot stand having pawprints, footprints, small splashes, etc all over my floor all week long until my regular scrubbing is scheduled and I am not going to get on my hands and knees and scrub every day. SO, this helps with maintenance and really does help the scrubbing go a lot faster. So, for those of you whose comment seemed to imply that you are still looking for the miracle mop to REPLACE the traditional "on hands and knees scrubbing," I am sorry, but this product is not it.


I promise this is not becoming a cleaning product review blog, but I just had to tell you my most recent homecleaning joy! (I think with Tim out of town for 8 days, I am filling my time with a whole lot of cleaning! )

Well in my recent floor cleaning craze I remembered that I needed a new quick mop (you know of the swiffer variety). But I had had it with my old swiffer, it was flimsy and all those refills got pricey after a while. Besides which it didn't meet the criteria for my gradual transfer of all of our household cleaners to all-natural, toxin-free, environmentally friendly variety. So this time I went with the Method oMop. And I LOVE it!! I highly recommend this oMop to you - if you like clean floors and clean air.
One of the things about the oMop that I like is that it has these microfiber mopping pads that you can just wash in the washing machine - LOVE it!! Rather than just throwing something in the trash, you can reuse it over and over! And for the sweeper, you have the disposable cotton tissue like pads, but I think I am going to make a few of my own washable sweeping pads - microfleece is AWESOME for picking up all the dust bunnies!
The other thing about this oMop is that the mopping solution is 100% all natural and contains no harsh chemicals - so I don't feel horrible using it around my kids - and they can even help me! And while the instructions say to use at full strength right from their dispenser, I dilute many of my Method cleaning products so I thought I would try that with this as well and see how it did. I got a small spray bottle from the toiletries section at Target for like 99cents and filled it about 1/3 of the way with the solution and then another 2/3 with water.
And it cleans PERFECTLY! Even the grimey pawprints in the kitchen came up without even so much as a scrub!

SO, y'all should really come over for dinner....on my floors! (again, kidding. only kidding)