Does It Ever End?

In the midst of this thankful month...I'd like to share a few thoughts on housework. 

I don't like laundry and dishes.  Mostly I don't like the fact that they never end and stack up so quickly.  A few weeks ago we had a really busy week.  Along with being busy doing things other than laundry and dishes, we were still eating and wearing clothes.  This is what I saw one night:

dirty dishes

clean clothes

I eventually got everything cleaned up and put away.  But in the meantime, there was even more...it just never ends. 

So, what do I want to share with you about chores...I'm thankful that I have them, that I have the ability to complete them, and that Scott never judges when I don't.  I know some of you have probably had clothes piled high on the couch too and would never admit that out loud.  If that's you, you don't need to tell me, but try to hear what I'm saying...there's nothing wrong with that.  Life is about priorities and finding contentment, among other things, perhaps.  During that crazy busy week I still read to the kids and relaxed in front of the computer after they went to bed.  I could have taken those minutes to empty the dishwasher or fold clothes, but I didn't.  I'm good with that.  No guilt. 

Also, I'm not always so positive, but I try to be.  The gifts and blessing that have been given to me come with responsibility.  I like to think that anything worth doing has an upside and a down side.  My favorite example is sledding.  It's a thrill to go down that hill, with the crisp, cold wind in your face.  Then there's the walk back to the top.  Totally worth it.  It's the same with raising a family.  I'll gladly, although not always with a smile on my face, climb that hill again and again.  And again.

A Day in the Life

It's a good life...the one I lead. I have my moments when I wonder how things have gotten to this point. This point being whatever frustrates me at the time. Overall, though, it's a good life.

Let's take today, for example. The boys slept in and Gracie and I got a little one-on-one cuddle time before breakfast. That rarely happens. If Tyler sees anyone near me, he has to get nearer.

After breakfast we got ready to go grocery shopping. While Jace was putting his sneakers on, I had the chance to explain the saying "behind the eight ball" to him. You see, I hadn't gotten the load of laundry in that I wanted to nor had I gotten the dishes cleaned off the counter. So, when we got home I was going to have all of that to do and groceries to put away. I think he got it...and I'm sure I'll hear him use it correctly soon enough.

We got to the store and were discussing which cart would be best for us today. (The commissary, military grocery store, has three different versions.) Jace took a drink of his water and told me he thought he was going to throw up, "Blaaaahhhh." Well, at least he warned me. I let a bagger know so it could get cleaned up and we came back home.

In no particular order I did the following things:

• put in a load of laundry, including Jace's vomit spattered pants
• got Tyler and Gracie a drink of juice
• found Tom and Jerry on TV
• called Scott to ask if he could get a few things for dinner
• called to reschedule an appointment I had today that I was planning on taking the kids to
• emptied the bathroom garbage can into the larger, kitchen one so Jace had a puke bucket
• did a load of dishes by hand

Then I relaxed. I cuddled with my two well children. I played on facebook and chatted with my sister. I read books, watched movies and cartoons, and did more laundry and dishes. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I really like doing dishes by hand. I have a very small dish drain so it took me several loads to get the neglected counter cleaned up. But it's a thoughtless, restful activity that I enjoy from time to time.

By the end of the day Jace was feeling better, sitting up and reading, and I made a trip to the commissary with Gracie to got groceries for the week...the ones Scott hadn't so lovingly brought home without complaint.

I have a wonderful little family and everyone is (relatively) healthy and happy. What more could a mama ask for on any given day in her life?

Our House

I wrote my post title and totally started singing the song in my head. "Our house...is a very, very, very fine house (fine house)."


I digress...


What I was going to do was fill you in on how we're settling into our house, now that we've been here about a month. We're settling pretty well. There are two main things I'm still having issues with, though.


1) Our master bathroom.


There it is. I've gotten used to the size. I don't mind so much that it doesn't have the huge amount of storage that our last home had. I'm currently not bothered by the lack of a tub. When Scott is out to sea that might be a different story...it's sometimes nice to relax in a hot bath with an adult beverage. I'm not sure how that'll work in the kid's bathroom, but that's my option so I'll work with it then.

Anyway, there are shortcomings to this bathroom that I'm willing to look past. I even thought I'd finally learned how to get in and out of the shower without hitting my head on the top of the shower door. Two days in a row now I've managed that feat! Hold your applause though. Getting out of the shower today I scraped my shoulder and then sitting on the toilet this afternoon I hit my head on the towel rack across from it.

I believe, though, that I'll eventually stop hurting myself in the bathroom. It just may take a few more months to get there...

2) The kitchen...



I actually like our kitchen, mostly. The two things I don't like about it are the corner of the cupboard over the peninsula and the inefficient stove fan.

The peninsula counter was covered with all sorts of tools, mail, stuff we didn't know what to do with for a few weeks. Last week, though, we had some friends over and I cleaned up. Almost immediately I hit my head. (I know. I'll never be able to shave my head.) I would like to keep it clean, however I'm torn by the fact that I keep trying to lean across it for one thing or another...and hitting my head some more! Ug.

As for the fan, it's right above the stove. Seems like that would be a good place to put a fan that's meant to pull up the steam and smoke and what not that's created while cooking. Maybe, if the fan did it's job, that would be enough. Ours doesn't.

I make bacon almost daily. And the attitude in our house has turned to this: "Great. It's time for breakfast. OK. The sooner we set off the smoke alarm the sooner it'll stop." That's what Jace said this morning. He's so encouraging.

I didn't make bacon this morning. On the mornings I do, though, I've begun opening the kitchen window that's above the sink and the sliding glass door in the dining room.



I'd say half the time that's enough, but the rest of the time it still chirps and squawks and hurts our ears. The kids run and open the living room windows and the front door. I finish making breakfast and then we eat without talking until the blaring noise stops, at which point we all sigh. Not exactly the ideal morning routine.

But, aside from these few things, the house is treating us well. Scott and the land lord put up a shed in the back yard and he's working on organizing that and the garage to his satisfaction. During homeschool we're making use of the classroom, and enjoying it. The kids like to play both in their rooms and in the playroom downstairs. They usually only play outside when it involves going down the road to play with their friends, but that's starting to change as well. I just kicked Jace and Gracie out and they're playing Mom and Dad (they're version of Playing House, I think) and enjoying themselves.

Things are fine in our house. Not perfect, but very, very, very fine.

Pictures!

I know, I know...you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting and waiting and waiting for some pictures of our new house. Well, don't fall off...but here are a few. This is day two of homeschool. We baked banana bread. It took them a minute to figure out how to get 3 1/2 cups when we didn't have a 3 cup measuring cup. But seeing the light in Jace's eyes when it clicked was fantastic!


And here are the kids in the classroom. It takes up about half of our basement room. We have a toy box that Scott's Dad built for him when he was a kid. I put pillows on it and that's where the kids currently like to sit and work. We have chairs for them too. They might need to be separated a bit more at some point!



On the same side of the basement we have a book shelf with games, Scott's military books, my small collection of psychological thrillers, school books, and writing schtuff. We snuck in a little play area and my sewing desk too!


I didn't take a picture yet because it's still in a bit of disarray, but the other half of the room has a corner desk with our desk top computer. That's our office. We also have a television in the corner for movie watching and it gets local channels...that's 76 local channels for anyone who's counting! What happened to local channels being ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox if you held the antenna just right? I guess that's gone the way of the rotary dial phone and actually getting up to change the channel.

We don't have a pull out couch yet, but we plan on getting one to put back to back with the toy chest. That will serve as a comfy place to sit and relax and also our guest bedroom. So, let us know when you're coming and we'll get on the ball and get a couch!

A Few Things...

This is going to be a quickie, but I feel like I've accomplished a lot today and wanted to share. So, here goes...

Even though I've left the house every day this week for one thing or another, including grocery shopping, I needed to go again this morning for three items. I was irritated before we walked about the door and figured that what should be a 15 minute trip was going to turn into much more. It didn't! Twenty minutes round trip. I feel good about that. And now I shouldn't have to run to the store until Tuesday, which I believe is going to be my new grocery shopping day.

I unpacked the last of the boxes. There are two boxes of mementos and one of wine glasses that I left packed and stuck on a shelf. There's only so much horizontal space for things!

Yesterday we bought a new-to-us dining room table and chairs and moved the old one to the classroom. Things are looking really good down stairs and up. I really like our new set. Yes, I'll take some pictures soon.

The moving people came and picked up our boxes of paper and the pile of broken down ones and took them away. They seriously took up at least 1/4 of the garage. Scott's gonna be excited!

Tyler took a 4 hour nap. He asked for it at 9:30 this morning! Who am I to say no...and apparently he needed it!

All three kids are playing contentedly downstairs. I know I just mentioned that it's looking good down there. Hopefully that will still be the case when they're done playing!

I balanced both check books. Well, technically I gave up on the one account and drew a few lines and started over at the balance as of the last statement. This particular account, with USAA, is where Scott's checks get deposited and the one we pay all our bills from. Everything else happens in our Focus Bank account. Scott used the USAA account when he was in Connecticut and I obviously didn't keep up with his spending or the random deposits of travel money. On top of that, I haven't balanced it in four months...so I figured it was easiest to count our blessings for not overdrawing and start fresh!

Now, why do we have two checking accounts? Because Focus Bank has a high interest checking account. As long as we have less than $20,000 in the account (they want you to invest it someplace if you have more), check our account online at least once a month, and use the debit card associated with the account at least ten times a month, we get 4.5% interest. Not bad, huh? Go ahead, check 'em out! And, by the way, that account balanced! Woo hoo!

So, I think that's what I've done, along with shower, cuddle, make and eat breakfast and lunch, nibble on some nuts, have a glass of lemonade, take out the recycling and do three loads of laundry. I know...you're disappointed that I haven't folded that laundry yet. I'll go do it now...

The Middle of July...ALREADY?

I don't know about all of you, but July 15th snuck up on me! We get paid on the 1st and the 15th of the month, which is also when I pay our bills. So, last night when I realized it was the 14th I was shocked! And this morning I paid bills. Good times, huh? More than trying to make everything in both check books (that's right, we have two!) is the fact that it's the middle of July!

For those of us who were on the Georgia school schedule that means we've been away from actual structured learning for two and a half months! It means that goals I had in mind to meet by the end of July and running short on time. I've got to get my act together and get our Gebel Family Homeschool up and running.

We are making strides, but the basement is so far from organized we're going to be starting out with a mess on the other side of the room...not ideal for focusing, but it's going to have to do. There's just no place to put all the rest of the junk, er...I mean stuff. We're going to be getting a new kitchen table tonight and the one we currently use will become our homeschool table. That's going to help, not with the other side of the room, but with our classroom feeling like a great place to learn and explore!

Jace and Gracie also took math assessments today to see what level of math curriculum I need for them. Gracie, who is in Kindergarten, will be jumping into Horizons 1st grade math. She completed her little test with a great deal of excitement and even surprised herself with all she knew. Jace, on the other hand, struggled. He cried almost immediately because he could remember how to write a "4" and didn't know how to read all the clocks on his assessment. I sat down with him and went through it, but it appears he's not ready for Horizons' 2nd grade math. However, he's more than ready for their 1st grade. They must pack a ton of skills into that particular year!

So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do for Jace's math. I asked some questions of the Alpha Omega people (who publish Horizons). I'm hoping that Jace can use Gracie's books and start mid-year someplace and learn the things (like borrowing with subtraction and carrying with addition) that he didn't learn last year and then be ready for the 2nd grade curriculum in a few months. We'll see...

Since we're talking about math, though, let me tell you about a little chit chat I had with a few old friends today. I stopped by to visit the place I used to work and one of the women who works there now has a son the same age as Jace. We were talking about our decision to homeschool. She encouraged it, saying that Washington's schools weren't the greatest. As an example she told me that her son wasn't learning the terms "add" and "equals" but instead was learning to say "more than" and "is the same as." Everyone in the office felt that Jace, Gracie, and Tyler will benefit from being taught at home.

That makes me smile.

I hope I'm still smiling at the end of the month...by which time we'll be starting school! Right? Right. I hope.

Getting Here, Getting There

If you follow my blog at all, you know that we recently moved from Southern Georgia to Western Washington via Western New York. It was a long and exciting couple of months.

The last five days of the trip were driving from New York to Washington in a little caravan. Here's what I saw:













Occasionally I looked in the rear view and saw this:
























Sometimes when we'd stop I've even get to see this:






Or this:




And when we stopped at Mt. Rushmore I got to see this:



Oh, yeah, and this too:





As you can see, we had a great trip. We're unpacking and settling in. In fact, I think all the mover's boxes are unpacked. I'm not guaranteeing that everything has been put away yet, but it's all out of the boxes. And I will admit, too, that there are a few unpacked boxes of books that we'd packed up many moons ago when we had to clean up our Georgia home to get it on the market. But those should be unpacked and put on shelves in no particular order in another day or two. Pictures are on our walls. We've eaten inside at the dining room table and outside on the deck, once because we couldn't find the dining room table. But the other time was because we wanted to enjoy the weather!

We're eating well and ready to lose the poundage we put on over the last few months. I've been back on Mark's Daily Apple and am stocking the cupboards, fridge, and freezer with Primal friendly foods (minus the goods I bought to make chocolate peanut butter chip cookies for a neighborhood 4th of July party!). I've found a local CSA and plan to visit them personally to learn more by the end of next week.

We've got plans to start swimming as a family, camping, and hopefully fishing. Scott got a bike to commute with. The kids have made friends in the neighborhood.

Life is good. We're getting there. And we're happy to be headed in the right direction.

Good, Clean Fun

In a little over a month I'm going to be moving out of this house. The kids and I will be staying someplace else in Georgia for a few weeks and then weaving our way up the coast, eventually landing in New York for a while. After visiting there we'll be convoying cross-country with my husband until we make it to Washington state where we'll be moving into someone else's home and making it our own.

I know most of you think I'm crazy, but I'm excited about this! I think it's going to be a wonderful trip...a great way to see a lot of different people and places.

And tonight I found something new to be excited about. Wilderness Childe posted this week about spring cleaning. Normally this isn't something I'm giddy about, but since it's in conjunction with all the other fun we'll be having over the next few months...I'm ready for it. And now, with Wilderness Childe's suggestions, I really am ready. She's got some great ideas to clean the gunk and grime from all the nooks and crannies of your house with products you probably have or can buy cheaply.

Here's one of my favorites:
"Dislodge gunk from your can opener by mixing 2 tablespoons of baking soda and
1 teaspoon of water. Scrub with an old toothbrush."

Old toothbrushes are so helpful. I also like the motorized toothbrushes. I don't mean the expensive ones, but the under $10 ones that you're supposed to get rid of when they wear out. My kids got some from Santa a couple years ago and when they got replacements 6 months later I kept the motorized ones to save myself some elbow grease. They're great. My favorite place to use them is in the shower. We have a stand alone shower with a glass door. The toothbrush gets into the texture on the bottom of the shower and into the grungy spots where the screw heads are...everywhere and really gets the schtuff out.

So, take our ideas and add your own (feel free to add them in the comments section) and go have some good, clean fun cleaning your home this spring!