Housekeeping Personality Quiz

I would like to say my house is always clean and orderly. If I had it my way, it would be.

Apparently, I only get it my way at Burger King.

And, they don't clean houses.

With four young kids, homeschooling, and activities I just get as much done as I can and try not to stress about the rest. The "rest" is the stuff above and beyond the vacuuming and dusting - oh, and scrubbing toilets! The rest usually happens when there is an accident.

Accidents like -

The garbage can gets scrubbed out when one of the bags gets a hole and leaks.

My bathroom cabinets get cleaned out when I leave my sink running while I hop in the shower and it floods my entire bathroom, leaking into the drawers and cabinets on the way to the floor.

And, my refrigerator gets cleaned out when a major hurricane comes and knocks out our power for 2 1/2 days.

Is that bad that I only get to the "rest" when I have to pull something out to clean a leak?

I have to say - there seem to be plenty of events around here that cause me to get to the rest. Fortunately, these events are not all hurricane related. Somehow, they do seem to all come at inopportune times - like as we are expecting company, or just walking out the door. How does that happen? Kind of like how the smoke detector batteries always decide to chirp at 3 am. Always!

Here's another Ike related to-do -



I've been meaning to chop 3,000 cords of wood (even though we have gas logs in our fireplace)and just haven't gotten around to it. Now I have to if I want to get out of my garage.

Thanks, Ike!

{What's your housekeeping personality?}

Homeschool Room - Again

It's coming along. We have furniture in the room, and I don't feel like passing out from the fumes everytime I go in here.

What do you think?





I think I need a new rug. And, curtains. Oh, and a white board.

But, like I said - it's coming along.

I have stopped decorating so I can plan the actual schoolwork for this year.

That might be important. :)

So far, Bear is quite content playing with the pencils on her desk.

That's fine with me. We'll work on Trigonometry later.

The kids all picked out their reading pillows (on the floor, there behind my desk). They have good taste - soft, feather pillows. Ahh... hopefully, they won't fall asleep during our reading time.

I'll post the Grand Finale when I get something on the walls.

Homeschool Room Update #2

To be more accurate - it's not the homeschool room.

Just the closet.

It's amazing to see all of our stuff all lined up.

And, I know where everything is!

Take a look around the corner -

I know.

I will have to take another picture after school starts to see how long this lasts.

Where is My Treasure?

I've always heard, "One man's trash is another man's treasure". I would usually think of it in reference to garage sales. I've never really thought of it when thinking about the poor. Those who don't have anything.

That thought came today.

We have a room devoted to our school and we have an important rule - No Playing in the Schoolroom!

For some reason - like me letting it happen - that rule goes out the window on Christmas and Summer break. The room becomes the kids' craft haven. Paint and little scraps of paper cover the floor and since I'm on break too, I just let it go.

Then, I have a big clean out day when it's time to get back on track.

That was today.

So, back to the trash.

Like - several bags of trash.

I had visions of orderly bookshelves and school supplies all in their labeled containers in my head. I didn't notice that Moses had come up with everyone to see what was going on. As I put something in the trash, he would inspect it, sometimes removing it and taking it to his desk. He finally mentioned that I was throwing good stuff away.

I was throwing good stuff away.

Little notebooks with a few pages marked, crayons, little toys, stickers.

Some of it was trash, like dried out markers, but a lot of it was perfectly usable. My problem was that we had tons of it and I was tired of finding places for it all. The stuff was still good, but used just enough that I wouldn't want to give it away. In America, nobody would want it.

Moses took several things and said he wanted it, or he would take it for the small children. I wanted to send everything in the room with him.

Through Moses, God is teaching me to open my eyes. He is gently showing me the areas that I am taking for granted. I think one reason I don't think too much about this stuff, is that the stuff is not my treasure. But, I think I would miss it if all of it were gone. Maybe just the excess stuff is not my treasure. hmmm...

I remember to thank God for my family and our good health. But, I probably take most of my life for granted. I assume it's all going to be here tomorrow and I even complain that it's too much to keep track of.

I am thankful for this new perspective. We don't need to bring so much stuff into our house. We need to turn our focus outward to others' needs. Others that have true needs - like food and clean water needs.

God has really laid it on our family's hearts to look after the orphans and the widows. It's pretty plain and clear right there in His Word. These people are so important to Him; and if they are important to Him, I want to make them important to me. I can't believe it took me so long to see this.

James 1:27 - "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

Something's Not Quite Right

When I opened this page up, I found the colors are in the wrong places and it's missing some of it's pieces. It may be fixed by the time you see it.

When I noticed it, I thought to myself, "hmmm, sometimes that's how I feel, too."

It's true.

Sometimes, I feel like my color is a little off, something is just not right, or I'm missing some pieces.

I am kind of in that mode right now. My schedule is off. Each day, it seems like I wake up and try to think of what I need to get done. There is no plan, so there is no rhyme or reason to what I decide is getting done. Then, I feel behind when I realize there were some other things I probably should have prioritized above what I did. Does that make sense???

I do really well when I have our schedules planned and I'm working on a well thought out to-do list. Our days run little more smoothly when I'm in that mode. Notice I did not say everything runs smoothly. That would be impossible. But, that's where I really like to be.

Now, I just need to get myself there. It takes a plan. And, it takes time.

Since it's summer, our schedule is pretty loose, so I have the time. Somehow, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around getting it all sorted out, so the plan is where I am getting caught up.

It seems like it should be so easy. I have folders full of cleaning schedules and meal plans that I know have worked for our family in the past. We have used them successfully. Why can't I just start using them again and move on?

I have known I have to get back on track for a while now.

I'll start today.

And, to think it all started with some messed up blog colors. Who said blogging is a waste of time? It looks like blogging is getting my rear in gear!

Lunchtime and Free Tips!

Pizza cutters - they are not just for pizza anymore! I have heard of people using scissors to make cutting their kids' food up easier. But, I find a pizza cutter is easier to work with. I don't have to pick the food up to cut it, and it's faster. I have a few that I keep on hand to cut the kids' food for them. They work great for cutting waffles. I stack 2 waffles on the plate and cut it across into 4 strips. Turn the plate and cut again 3 times. Voila! Much easier than hacking at it with a knife. How old fashioned!

I use a pizza cutter for pretty much all of my kid-food chopping. Chicken strips, toast triangles, even pizza!

After cutting the pizza into wedges, I cut up to, but not through, the crust.

Then I cut it across until I have it all in little squares.

I am left with a tasty crust piece that I can steal for myself if that child is too young to notice. a hem! I mean a young child could choke on the tough crust.

I also use it to make Logan's Monkey Bread. I have to quarter the biscuits in the recipe, so I just use the pizza cutter and it makes the job much easier. So dust off that pizza cutter and keep it handy.

Amazing what happens when we think outside the box. Even if it is the pizza box!

Egg-cellent Idea!

Have you ever thought of something and just wanted to tell everyone you know? I have - and I am busting to let it out. It's probably not life-changing and won't bring world peace, but I am nevertheless very excited to share it with you. I think I am so excited because I have what seems like millions of tips and tricks running around in my head that I have read over the years. For example, I know that WD-40 cleans crayon marks off anything, beautifully. And, that cornmeal kills fireants (yes, even in Texas). But those are other people's tips. This is a tip I know I have never heard of. I have never read it anywhere. I am claiming it. I thought of it. And, I will share it with you.

This idea came as a spin-off of someone else's tip I have in my repertoire. It is to spin an egg to tell if it is hard-boiled or raw. It kind of works. But sometimes I would question the spin and really still not be sure which one it was. This left me being very cautious about separating the boiled and raw eggs in the fridge, which took up precious space. But - I had another problem. Time would pass and I would forget how long ago I had boiled those eggs. Then, came the idea!


Are you ready?


Hold on to your hat!

I wrote the date on each boiled egg with a pencil and just put them back in with the raw eggs.

Simple, but pure genius - I know!




I used a marker so the date would show up better in the picture. I will be sure to share my wealth of knowledge in the future with you. Oh, and if you have heard this tip before - please do not tell me.