Mommy Mondays

HELLO READERS! As you may have read, I am a slacker who is trying to change. Here is my first attempt.

I’ve decided that I’m going to name my weekdays as a reminder of what needs to get done that day. (Outside of the normal chores of course.)

Mommy Mondays
Trashy Tuesday
Washroom Wednesday
Throughways Thursday
Finance friday
Shopping Saturday
Funday Sunday

What this means to me:

On Monday’s, they suck the most, I am not required to do anything outside of normal chores. Don’t ask, the answer is no!

On Tuesdays I will clean out the fridge of uneaten left overs and accidental science projects, empty all of the trash cans in the house and haul it all out to the road for pickup early Wednesday morning. That will keep the fridge clean and the bathroom trash cans from over flowing.

On Wednesdays its clean the washrooms day! Yeah! NOT! But cleaning the bathrooms is something that needs to be done weekly in my house in order for them to look and smell sanitary. (I am the only girl in the house) I started this one last week, it took 2 nights to clean the master bath. This week I don’t think will be that bad. The boy’s bathroom, I think I need a biohazard suit! YUCK! Boys are G-R-O-S-S!!!

Thursday is the day I will run through the house as a “guest”. Any where I might go will get a quick pickup. This process starts outside. I want my guests to be greeted outside with a tidy welcoming feeling. (My garage is where everyone comes into my house, it needs an overhaul bad! Winter was far too long!)

Finance Friday means that I need to get the business paperwork done for the week. I will be playing catch up for a while but I will overcome!

Shopping Saturdays is not all fun and games. I know, major bummer. This is to remind me that I need to pick up groceries every week. And, as Sobomama keeps telling me, spend my budget every week and eventually my budget can go down.

Sunday is for family fun. Spending time with the boys doing whatever comes to mind.

This may seem silly, but if I can keep in mind that these are the things I need to get done outside of dishes and laundry and vacuuming etc. Maybe it will be easier for me to keep up. Do you have any suggestions for me? I’m open.

The truth is……………..I’m a slacker.

I always have the best intentions. I have a list, lots of them, and I plan to blog about projects and post pics. Unfortunately, I’m a slacker.

I fail to estimate the right amount of time each project will take me, and when it’s not completed when I thought, I don’t post about my progress. I guess I’m trying to hide my slacker tendencies. I don’t particularly like to fail and I most certainly do not like others to know about such failures!

So I decided to myself out there to all of you. I AM A SLACKER! I FAIL! ALOT!

Is it a reason to give up, NO.

My resolutions for 2013 have all come up short. I keep working towards them, but I really haven’t made much progress with any of them. I made it all of 3 weeks before I picked up smoking again. I have lost zero pounds and truthfully, I think I might have gained a few.

I did get the loft beds built for the boys and their rooms cleaned up. It is a struggle to have them keep them clean but I continue reminding them of the importance. I did take pics but they are still on the camera.

Their bedrooms puked everything they didn’t want back in their rooms into my living room, so it is now storage central. Packed to the brim with boxes, books and movies. I look at it everyday, stare at it really and think…where am I supposed to start?

And now the weather is finally breaking and I don’t even want to be in the house. The projects outside are calling me and I feel guilty leaving behind a beaten, battered and dirty house.

It’s a constant struggle to keep up with the laundry, the dishes, the vacuuming all while working full time (not that this is news). I add all of these projects to my lists knowing there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. And then I realize that there is, that I am simply a slacker. And that a pity party is not going to get it done either. I scatter my time, a little on this project, a little on that one. Hoping that one day, they will be completed. I think about this while I sit in the chair, looking at my home, T.V blaring some show I’m not even interested in watching.

The truth is………..I’m a slacker.

But today, today it changes!

It’s okay to be a slacker, don’t feel bad about it. I don’t. But I want to be a better me, so I am making chages, taking steps and moving forward!

I think we have had a hoarding break through!

The weekend before last I was finally able to complete the painting project in the little one’s room. I also got the carpet shampooed, again. Have I mentioned how much I HATE carpet?

We set up his room with just the furniture, the toys remain in the large boxes in the living room, and he loves it! He is sleeping in there every night!

We also went through all of the clothes in his closet. I let him do the sorting. It was good for him. He was able to let go of items because they were too small or had holes and was even willing to help bag them up to go to my sister for her younger boys.

I know I promised pictures, but it’s not yet completed as we have a bed to build and some more decorating to do.

After we completed the project, I asked him: “So what toys do you want in your room?”

His reply surprised me. “I guess I did have a lot of stuff I don’t need in there. I like it neat and clean the way it is now.”

I think we have had a hoarding break through! He is even making his bed and vacuuming so it stays that way. I am a very proud mama!

He is requesting a storage solution for his Legos that will fit in the bottom of his closet so his room doesn’t end up cluttered again and maybe some shelves so he can display his favorite builds. He later told me he would like a gun cabinet, which freaked me out until he said it was for his nerf guns. I’ve been looking at the gun racks that mount to the wall, but mechanic man said they aren’t designed for bulky nerf guns. He is opting to build a custom rack when he builds the bed. I think it would be adorable.

We are getting ready for spring, so even the kids have been helping around the house lately. They are doing more maintenance than cleaning, but what I clean has been staying that way. I even saw my little one with the duster!

The snow on the first day of spring dampened our resolve though. Last night was unproductive.

Mechanic Man has finally joined me and agrees that a tile backsplash in the kitchen would be a nice upgrade, fairly inexpensive, and quite possibly a fun project to do. He even helped me pick out the tiles. He prefers the glass tiles for easy cleaning. I am very excited!

How are your spring cleaning projects coming along? Has spring arrived where you are? I know Sobomama has mowed her lawn twice this week. Yes, I am jealous! Mechanic Man has plowed twice this week. 😦

Still getting nothing done….but I’m okay with that.

The unproductive weekend seems to have taken over my entire week. Other than cleaning up after Mr. Poopsalot (seems as though he’s had a relapse) I haven’t done much. And you know what? I think I am okay with that. I am always talking about how far behind I feel when I read Sobomama‘s blog, but the truth is, we are all individual’s, each with our own specific needs and wants. I want and need to spend more time with my boys. The house also needs to be organized. It needs it because I personally cannot handle chaos. Everything has a place and it should be in it. If it doesn’t have one, get rid of it!

So I threw my to-do list out for a week. It will still be there later. Staring me in the face making me feel behind again on another day.

Mechanic Man and I took the boys to the pool last night. It was wonderful. Relaxing, fun, energizing, and it nearly killed the cabin fever we have all had the past few weeks.

I realized that I am completely out of shape and that my boys are fish! Or at least part fish. Last night was the first of many I think. It may become a weekly trip. It’s definately affordable at only $5 for the family. My everywheres felt the laps I swam, and they still feel it today. That is a good thing, I think?!?

But it aggrivated little man’s ear. We had a suspicion that he might be fighting an ear infection after his week long illness but it seemed to be getting better. He has an appointment this afternoon.

They are off school until next Tuesday, so I think we will be having some family fun for the next 3 days. Maybe that to-do list will wait another weekend? The boys worked together picking up the trash and such that they failed to take care of previously, so the house looks decent. Still need to paint that room though.

Either way….I think I’m okay with that.

I need a vacation from me!

So I posted yesterday about Mr. Poopsalot and that Dad was cleaning up the Tuesday morning droppings; (the dog is feeling better by the way) After I shampooed twice the night before and covered the entire carpet with baking soda, opened the window (20 degrees outside) put a towel under the door (to keep the rest of the house from freezing) and returned hours later to vacuum just before collapsing into bed. Have I mentioned how much I despise carpet? I came home yesterday, the door to his room was open and no one said anything to me about the floor needing my attention.

I moved on with my evening, homework, a walk in the snow with Mechanic Man, cooking, minimal cleaning, arguing over the homework, arguing over the tv show, arguing, arguing, arguing and arguing followed by putting my 2 little angels to bed. 🙂 This is when I found out that he could not sleep in his room becuase it smelled. Like poop. Upon inspection of the floor, I find that Dad simply removed the thickness from the top of the carpet. Fabulous! Now it is dried into the fibers of the carpet which will require far more cleaning than I am willing to do at bed time (9pm) and I am throughly exhausted from all of the arguing earlier in the evening. So he slept on the couch….AGAIN! The son, not the hubby.

After doing all the things that are required before laying my head on a pillow, I enter my room to the sound of some car show on the tv. Great. (enter ugly look here). I crawl into bed looking forward to disappearing from this world for the next seven hours in hopes to get a decent nights sleep. (I’ve been waking with pain and numbness from my back, oh and the nightmares.) And I feel Mechanic Man rub my back. At first I think, that’s sooo sweet. And then I realized, I was going to pretend to be sleeping even when I was not. I was mad at him. This is ridiculous!

Should I go to bed mad? No. But I was in no mood to chat or anything else, and I definately did not have the energy to explain to him what was wrong. And I certainly did not want to try and have yet another conversation in between his non-stop texts. So I slept. And I did get a fairly good nights sleep.

This morning I awoke to the chaos I had come home to the night before. No one knows where the trash can is, where groceries can be returned to after use or what the dishwasher is used for. Coffee, I need coffee. I almost had a coronary when I went to the coffee pot and found milk spilled on the counter, fresh. Really!?!?! You know you did it, wipe it up!

I think I need a vacation from me. I need to go away somewhere where no one knows my name, no one needs anything from me, the place I am at should be cleaned by someone else and someone needs to bring me my food for once. I don’t want to hear any negative statements, or notifications of a new text, just silence. Just for a day or a night. Oh, and there should be wine. Definately wine.

Updater Post

My back is a little more serious than I originally thought. It seems as though I have a herniated disc and a nerve impingement which is causing the top half of my left leg to go numb. UGH! I am supposed to “take it easy” and I start therapy tomorrow. I also got a new narcotic cocktail until the therapist works their magic. I’m not to fond of taking narcotics but back pain is the worst pain there is. There is not a single thing you do in daily life that you are using your back.

On top of that, mechanic man got sick. So he went in to see the doc today. Pneumonia. Both lungs. 😦

Kitty is doing much better since her trip to see the vet and got realigned. She more playful, walks straight and is actually investigating the rest of the house. 🙂

But having pain has not stopped me from organizing my kitchen. I continue to have the boys bring sections of my cupboards contents to me for sorting. It’s coming together nicely. I will post pics of the finished products later. I’m hoping to pick up a few more bins for sorting this Saturday. (and those elusive picture frames mechanic man said I couldn’t have. hehehehe)

So if my posts seem a little scattered in the coming weeks, keep in mind, I’m taking medication and I’m trying as hard as I can!

Oh, I have been smoke free for 8 days and 3 hours. And yes, I want one. But I won’t have one, cause I know I can say NO!

2013 – You will not discourage me!

Seeing as most of my resolutions are falling behind, I’ve been looking in webland to try and find some helpful tips and tricks to make my dream of a better me a reality. sobomama.worpress.com has a ton of ideas for repurposing in her journey to cheaptitude. (Also, she’s my bestest friend!) Her ideas are great, and I LOVE them, I want to do them…..but they don’t always fit into my lifestyle or my space. 😦 Storage space in my home is little to none, no hall closet, no pantry and so on. But her post about organizing a freezer has changed my life! If you get irritated because items in your freezer are lost and ruined in the chaos, check it out! WOW!

Pinterest is an addiction a great place for ideas too. I’ve shared a couple of the decorating ideas I’ve found and my version of them. I love them because they make decorating look neat and tidy, setting the mood for the rest of the house. But my last adventure got shot down by mechanic man. He said this looked like a 1950’s design.

Why did I take him shopping with me again? What I ended up with was a stainless steel looking dry erase board. No frames, no color. No pretty printable menu planner for the main attraction. Very boring weekend craft project. So borning in fact, that I didn’t even attempt to do it. 😦

I have a feeling though, that I will end up with a version of what I envisioned for the fridge by the end of this weekend. I just won’t take him with me to pick up the frames.

With that I have decided to focus on a couple of my resolutions at a time. Based on the last month, there are just too many changes to make all at once. I thought that baby steps would work, but apparently my baby steps are still too large. So here is my new plan.

1. Focus on creating a well running home. Making sure that everything has a place and it is in it when not in use. Creating and utilizing a launch pad for mornings (created it, only to have it get piled with stuff because no one took those items to their homes), and getting the kids into a pattern of behavior that will decrease morning anxiety.

2. Focus on creating a well running business. Having my husband retrained adjust his paper work habits to decrease my paper work anxiety. This will decrease the amount of time I spend on it all year, allowing me a fraction of time for myself.

I think that working on those 2 right now will free up time allowing me the freedom to work out and lose those nasty 40 lbs. I would really like to make progress towards that before I see my doctor in May! I hate getting scolded.

I will post pics of the launch pad tomorrow. I am implementing it tonight! 2013 – You will not discourage me!

Exactly what you planned for me, nothing.

Yesterday was my birthday. Mechanic man planned nothing. It is just another day I suppose. It’s just that I try to make sure that everyone’s birthday is special in my house and I got nothing. I’ve always said that it’s not a birthday without balloons. They did tell me happy birthday and constantly reminded me that it was my birthday, and that I should decide what to do.

There are a few things I don’t think the birthday person should ever have to do.

1. They should never have to decide what to do for their birthday the day of. If it was your plan to take me out, but wanted me to choose the place, fine. But I should be informed of this a few days prior to my birthday. It lets me know that you’ve actually thought about it.

2. I don’t think that the birthday person should ever have to make their own cake. EVER!

Although I did not make my cake, I think they were hinting towards it all day. (I do make a mean birthday cake!) And my friends and my sisters did not forget me.

But I got no card, no cake, no balloons, nothing. This doesn’t happen every year, and honestly I’m not going around for months ahead of time reminding everyone either. I really didn’t expect much, but I thought I would get at the very least….a card. It made me feel like the only people who wanted to celebrate my birth were my parents, and they are all gone. So I cried on my birthday.

Will I say anything to mechanic man? Probably not. They only thing I said is when he asked me for the 100th time…”What do you want to do today?” I replied, “Exactly what you planned for me, nothing.”

I’m getting older and the excitement for being another year older is fading anyway. Will I not try so hard for everyone else, no. I will continue making their day as special as I can because I love them and that’s what I do.

2013 Resolution update:
1. Did not start exercising like I should have.
2. Repeated snow days has given the boys cabin fever and I am unsure of how to spend time with them when they
are trying to kill each other.
3. We are eating at home more….obviously, since we didn’t even go out for my birthday.
4. 2012 paperwork is nearly ready for the tax accountant.
5. Ebay store has stalled out, the book is soooooo boring!
6. I’m down to 5-7 cigs a day instead of 10-15.
7. The garden is on hold until spring.
8. Collecting supplies for the refrigerator project, expected completion is this weekend.
9. I am still successfully deflecting drama from outside sources.

Oh, and we are currently on the hunt for a kitten. Per the allergic husband’s request.

Trudging along

Finally! I have replaced the card reader! Lets see if I can get some of this to work. First, the before pic of me.

Scary huh? Well, that is going to be the old me. I will be working very hard to make a lot of that me disappear! I start exercising this week.
Organizing and improving my home has been ongoing and I am really enjoying it. I found this on pinterest…

After getting some family pictures taken and finding all the right stuff, this is what I ended up with.

THIS WALL IS NOT PINK! I have no idea why it would look like it in the pic….There are NO pink walls in my house. It’s a light tan. I am repainting this spring!

Over the weekend, I cleaned scrubbed the kitchen and decided on a paint color for the main part of the house. Spring project of course. My next project is pinterest inspired as well. Here’s a preview.

I have a lot of things I want to do, but I keep reminding myself that it’s one step at a time. With my sisters help I am nearly caught up on all the business paperwork and that takes the majority of my time. Mechanic man and I have come up with some exciting new products for the business too. I will post once I get the first prototypes online.

Oh, and hormonal son #1 managed to pull his F in math up to a B! I knew he could do it. Love seeing that look in his eyes of self accomplishment. I am a very proud momma! Lets hope he keeps his grades up now that he’s ungrounded.

Trudging along with all my resolutions, how are yours hanging in there?

Waving the White Flag!

You have good days, you have bad days. Sometimes, you have good weeks, and you have bad weeks. Crazy part is, it’s been unusually good.

The hormonal 13 year old has had a steady improvement on his grades once we put our parental feet down, my sister has been a huge help with the business paperwork, and I am making progress in the house. But with all of this good news, why do I feel like I should be waving the white flag?

Probably because after catching and releasing the bug that went around over New Years, I have been non stop at trying to keep up with my resolutions, make a positive change in my life for once. And it’s a LOT of hard work. Which stands to reason why so many resolutions get tossed aside in February and March.

As much as I would like to waive the white flag, becuase I still can’t find that SD card reader to add pics to this blog, or because I am exhausted, and staying that way to try and keep up, I won’t. I have given up on the card reader, I will replace it on my next trip to Walmart. Which means I will find it within 24 hours of replacing it, and I will then have 2. And I am okay with that.

My friend and follower sobomama.wordpress.com nominated me for the Very Inspiring/Lovely Blogger Award.


So a big thank you to her! Check out her site by the way, full of tons of money saving and organizing tips!

So according to the rules I have to tell you 7 thing about me:

1. I only watched soap operas because it meant an hour and a half when the boys would leave me alone.
2. I HATE spiders!
3. I LOVE to read but never have the time
4. I love to garden, but I don’t like vegetables
5. When I was 4, I wanted to be a stripper
6. I started dating my husband when I was 15. We’ve been together ever since
7. Unlike most women, I’m not fond of chocolate or shopping

My nominees are:

1. http://sugardishme.com
2. http://victoriablt.wordpress.com
3. http://sturner2.wordpress.com
4. http://domesticdivamd.wordpress.com
5. http://texanaskitchen.wordpress.com
6. http://TammyeHoney.wordpress.com
7. http://chrismartinwrites.wordpress.com
8. http://thebettermanprojects.wordpress.com
9. http://malouprestado.com
10. http://ladyromp.wordpress.com

Here’s hoping our words make a difference to someones life!