You Don't See That Every Day

Is it the changing of the season that does it to me? Or maybe the rain? I'm getting that claustrophobic feeling again, that my house is crammed with t oo much stuff . Everywhere I look I see something that needs to be cleaned and cleared. When I see it that way, I get overwhelmed and sit down and eat ice cream. Ok, not really but I want to. So I'm trying to take it little by little. Maybe I will make more progress that way instead of getting overwhelmed, throwing up my hands and sticking everything in a box with a lid. So I won't have to see it. Yesterday I recycled (because this IS Oregon and we recycle, we don't throw it away!) over 3 years accumulation of my running magazine. 3 years! Holy cow! Why did I have those, all nicely lined up in magazine boxes!? I really thought I would go back through them "someday" and read those pages I had marked. So yesterday I did that, but on speed-dial. I went through each one, looking at the cover, looking at the pag...

Has it really been 7 days since I last posted?? This week has flown by. We spent a day out at the farm, weeding garbanzo beans working on our muscles. Homeschool PE. It's awesome. It involved a trip to a certain burger restaurant, which was a good motivator for some of my minions. We finished up a couple of our school books. It looks like we might actually be on track to finish school around the same time that The Boy does in June. Miracles do happen. We went to The Boy's last regular season track meet. It was the first meet where we didn't freeze our toes, or get soaked in the rain. And he ran really well, making some PRs in his races (the 800 meter and the long relay). There is a chance that his relay team qualified for a meet of champions ... more info pending. We made a trip to the library and now whenever I look around I see a girl with her nose in a book. Yes reading is a wonderful thing, but there are times when they should be doing something else and the book g...

It's a rainy Saturday in Oregon. I have a child who is still sick. So she and I and Little K. stayed home this morning while the other 3 kids and G. went to the Awana Games. Our sick girl was quite disappointed she was not able to go! It was her last year of competing and she was a key player. Unfortunately, her body didn't cooperate with her plans. So we stayed in and watched TV. Well, they watched while I cleaned and baked. We like to watch the Food channel; Chopped is one of our favorites. The only problem with that is ... I then go in the kitchen and crank out some kind of goodie, but tweak the recipe a little. (I guess that isn't really any different from any other time I cook.) This time I took my oatmeal muffin recipe*, the one from my awesome friend Debbie, and I added jam to the center. Wow! Such a little change, but so yummy! I've got the chili in the crockpot going, and I'm working on cinnamon roll from PW 's cookbook . Here's the thing ab...

A picture of our new dishwasher(s) They love to 'hide' in this hole, or read, or play there. You know how fun boxes are for kids - well, holes work nicely too.  

It's the end of August ...  and my girls are singing .... Christmas carols. Yes, of course. why not? In my free time, when I'm not driving the kids , er, traveling the world, I managed to clean out some of the crevices in our house. I moved boxes, and desks, and beds. I painted. Oh yes! did I paint. I was hoping to get some photos up (once again no deal) but the computer is being wonky and won't upload. Sigh. I hope to either get a new computer (cough, ahem) or get this one working better. The room that was once orange downstairs is now a beautiful white, with the window sill and closet trim painted a lovely green. All this because we moved a boy upstairs, and also because we are having company! Nothing motivates me more to clean and declutter than having company come! So, this means I was able to make room in our downstairs storage room, er, playroom, so that the kids can actually use the piano and games and floor that we have in there. And this means that they fou...

Have you ever had one of those days you just want to re-do? Can I get a start over card? Yeah, yesterday was one of those days for me.Well most of it, there were highlights in amongst the low points.  Our dog was sick, so the crate needed some major cleaning. Ick.  Thankfully my son took care of it without complaining! Our dishwasher has gone kaput. So we are now washing by hand every day.  Thankfully my husband thinks he knows the problem and will give it a try to fix it. And I ruined our computer yesterday. It sometimes just turns itself off in the middle of me working. grr . So this time, I thought a ha, I see something that says Recovery F10. So I hit it. Augh,. I wish I could go back and do that over! I would NOT hit that button. It basically erased everything. Everything! All my bookmarks, my beloved pages I go to at the click of a button - gone. All my documents - gone. All my photos - gone. Thankfully, we have backup! Thankfully my photos are on...

Does anyone out there like cleaning the (house) bathrooms? Really? Raise your hand. You are the winner of  a trip to my house and here, you can clean my bathrooms, weekly! to your heart's delight. Yeah, I didn't think I would have any takers. It is one chore I really don't like to do. That and washing dishes. Hmm... washing dishes, washing down the bathroom ... I see a (slight) correlation. I recall one bathroom at a B and B we stayed in - it was an all-in-one kind of room, no dividers between the shower, sink and toilet. In the middle of the floor was a drain, and the whole room was in tile. I think I would love a small bathroom like that. Spray it all down and get a hose to wash it all off. Easy-peasy. A few years ago my older kids wanted - nearly begged me - to help scrub the toilets. Back then I didn't want their little bodies exposed to the chemicals in the cleaners. What was I thinking? I set a precedent that has been hard to change! Now the same girl who ask...

I cleaned the garage today! It was an immense task, carried out over months actually. Ever since we took down the For Sale sign, and started plans for remodeling, the task of unearthing items we have packed away has fallen to me. Mainly since I packed it all and the kids are more adept at opening boxes and leaving. So I called in my troops (my mom!) and got to work this morning. Actually the real reason for cleaning up the mess of boxes and ... stuff... was because my second refrigerator was not working! I had unplugged it - to get to it "later" and this month is finally "later"; mainly because Thanksgiving is coming and I can't get everything ready over a few weeks without somewhere to store the food. (7 mouths to feed and holiday fixin's and a 2nd refrig is quite handy.) Surprises in the refrigerator! Little mice droppings and nesting. Ick. I don't know which was worse, mouse evidence or moldy refrigerator shelves. Gloves, bleach and a shop-vac wer...