Making life a bit easier

So, during our first deployment I was a full-time college student (20+hours) and mother to one with Anna incubating. Needless to say, it was a bit overwhelming, but I found a fun/interesting way to not only make the days go by faster, but to help myself by picking a new product each paycheck that could help me finish a task more quickly or eliminate the need of doing the task altogether. This allowed me to have more time for myself/schoolwork by freeing up time away from housework.  Honestly, one of the best things I have ever done for myself...was to invest in a few products that make life eaiser or make me happy. I hope to continue this trend when Ryan deploys again, but I found some REALLY great products during that time that I continue to use this day. So, if you are at all interested...here it goes!

1. Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner:
I love the one that has Frebreeze in the container because not only does it keep my shower clean...it smells divine! I cleaned my then completely tiled (and really old) shower from top to bottom, and after that initial cleaning...I just simply pushed a button and it's like a team of maids just *POOFED* into my shower and cleaned it! Now we have an all white shower, and after convincing my husband that he MUST use it, it's still a pristine white! I no longer SLAVE away in tiny spaces with a scrub brush, my magic team of maids does it for me! Although, I strongly suggest using the coupons....saves you a ton of money (and not using it every time you shower, but every other time, otherwise it can get $$$)!

2. Swiffer WetJet
So, I haven't actually used this one...I used a different cheaper brand and regretted it, but this one is my next purchase. I LOVE my Method O Mop from Target...it's green because the heads are washable, but this mop takes SERIOUS strength, you are SCRUBBING the dirt away...and breaking a sweat while you are at it! So, I will be saving my O Mop for once a month cleanings and using this bad boy for daily cleaning. Perhaps it's time for a confession...I am CONSTANTLY sweeping my floor...and I choose to blame it on my kids, so it'd be nice to have an easier daily mop that can keep me from having to bust a sweat more than once a month.

3. Bounce Dryer Bar- Fresh Linen Scent
I love good smelling clothing...a lot! When I found out my sweet husband is allergic to the fibers in dryer sheets, I gave up on the idea of EVER having freshly scented clothing. Low and behold, they came out with this miricle bar! I slap it inside my dryer once every 3-4 months and forget about it. I do notice that the scent loses strength over time (not as noticeable) before the bar clearly reads "replace". If you scrap the bar a bit, it regains it's strength. But I adore that it does make my clothing smell delicious!

4. Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay
This is one of my more recent discoveries, thanks to a coupon at the Comissary (the military grocery store)...and can I just say that I DEFINITELY felt the difference on my hands. Enough so that I have to fight my thrifty self with my vain self! Although, I will admit that I water down my dishwashing liquid after I use about 1/4 of it.

5. Denture Cleaner (The super cheap kind with whitening power!)

You can go ahead and laugh. And no, I don't have dentures. I use denture cleaner in my toilets. I plop two little capsules in each bowl at night and wake up the next morning, swirl my brush in and viola!  I didn't believe it would work, but  I was lamenting to my Mama Dot that I had a toilet that would NOT come clean in our old home...it was stained from the previous owner...and I tried everything. My darling Mama Dot made the suggestion and I was desperate, so I tried it. It worked!
Go ahead, laugh if you want, try it if you dare.



What would make your list of things that make your house work easier! I'm always looking out for new products!

Meal Plan Monday- From my freezer

So, we have been struggling to get back "on track" with our budgeting. To do my part, I'm going to be cooking from our freezer with minimal purchases (milk, eggs, cereal, and bread and coffee filters...how can you survive without coffee? even when it's decaf!). I'm hoping that doing this and a modified "envelope" budget for about two pay checks (only taking out our groceries/dining out/entertainment/children budget amounts) will help us not only save (ie catch up) but become more mindful spenders.

So for this week-

Monday- Kung Pao Chicken, Leftover veggies thrown in to up nutrition, with fortune cookies for dessert
it comes from a box and has a GREAT coupon on the website! A dollar off!

Tuesday- White Chicken Chili, beans are leftover from a few weeks ago, bought the packet at the store for flavor and the chicken is a few thighs from the night before!

Wednesday- Pan fried Tilapia with Asparagus (Asparagus was on sale two pounds for $3!)
heat your oil in your pan, dip Tilapia into  a 1/4 cup of powder mixed in with 2 tbs of Season All, cook til done
Asparagus-break into bite size pieces, heat over on high broil, toss asparagus in 1 tbs oil 2 tbs Balsamic Vinegar. Broil for 15 mins. I always end up adding more Balsamic Vinegar and salt and pepper to taste when done.

Thursday- Fried Chicken, Greens, Cornbread, Leftover beans and Corn on the cob. All which are found in my pantry/freezer!

Friday- Leftover Chili and Baked Potatos

Saturday- Lunch will be leftovers (if there are any). More than likely, we will have leftover fried chicken over a really large salad. Homemade pizzza that night!

Sunday- We have some browned hamburger meat that really needs to be used, I may make manwich (according to the new commercial it has a FULL serving of vegetables!) But...I'll be serving mine on hotdog buns...someone suggested this to me and I think it's a BRILLIANT idea of eliminating the mess!

For dinner on Sunday, I'm not sure what I'll do. We have a ton of frozen soups that need to be eaten as well as some deli meat. We may have a leftover soup smorgusboard!

Check out what other families are up to at Meal Planning Monday!

Tot School-1

Thanks in large part to the wonderful introduction of workboxes to my older child Kaelyn, Anna and I have really been able to start to do some "structured" activities together! Anna is 18 months old and growing by leaps and bounds! Her vocabulary has taken a leap this past week with an increase in not only words (up and down used appropriately, off and on used appropriately, pink, blue, Kaelyn, etc) but also "sentences". She's started asking "Mama Elp" for Mom I need help, as well as using please and thank you to "get her way"

This week we...

Used a recycled egg carton to "sort" foam beads by color. Anna wasn't interested in any actual sorting, but we did talk about colors (she can now recognize Pink and sometimes blue) and had a lot of fun dumping them out and picking them back up. Fine motor skills right?

Played with "flash cards". Anna will point out the ones she knows and say "hat"  or "baby" or "loon" balloon, so I will pick up ones she doesn't know and tell her what it is. She loves the colors of the cards!

Painting with water, because Anna likes to eat things she shouldn't! I love these water reveal pictures! Anna also has black construction paper hanging on our easel with colored chalk that she has been drawing on all week!

Seuss story time! We read Green Eggs and Ham and Anna LOVED being able to say "no" with the main character to Sam. She also loved shaking her finger and saying Don't. It was a great way for her to get to use her voice!  (Yes, this is me bribing my 18 month old to sit for the ENTIRE Seuss story plus Cat and the Hat with popcorn! And it worked...I am not ashamed!)

An egg experiment that went with our Green Eggs and Ham day (which Anna thoroughly enjoyed!). Anna obviously didn't get any of the "science" but she did learn to say "bubbles" as well as feel the "jello" egg and the hard egg.


We had a pretty fun little tot week (these pictures were all from the same day, but we did these same activities multiple times throughout the week)! I can't wait to see what the other families have done for their tot school!

Preschool Corner- Seuss, C, and Workboxes

So, March 2 wasDr. Seuss' Birthday! In addition to starting our Calander Binder's this week (and workboxes), we focused on the letter C for our writing pages and our sight word is Can.

We did some cutting exercises!

Pattern Puzzles!

Spelling/Magnet letters

So, on Tuesday we had Green Eggs and Ham...read Cat and the Hat...and did our C worksheets.

(I've learned that after nap with a snack is the BEST time to read! The girls were entrance through three stories!)

After nap we read Green Eggs and Ham, started our Egg experiment (I included the finished pictures from the next day).

Kaelyn holding the end product...a gooey egg!

Egg in Vinegar over night.

Comparing the Regular egg with the Vinegar disolved the shell egg, and the insides!

Kaelyn played with my first printable ever!

I made story cards for Kaelyn. The cards were pictures of places where Sam-I-am tried to get the main character(anyone know his name?) to eat Green Eggs and Ham. Kaelyn matched the words to the pictures and helped tape them to popsicle sticks. We reread the story, and as Sam suggested a place Kaelyn held up the picture card and then made the appropriate face show!

It would be a great activity for a group of older kids because Kaelyn was slightly overwhelmed by the number of cards since the places come so quickly in the story.  Although she LOVES using the cards to retell the story to her dad and sister!




Tomorow we are reading Horton Hear a Who, making elephant ears and a clover as well as writing her C page for her Alphabet book! We will also be catching up on our calander binder. Can I just say that it's AWESOME how quickly she has caught on to the pattern of this month! And it's amazing how much work we accomplish now that we have the workboxes(made from cereal boxes).

I am excited to see what the other ladies at Preschool Corner have done this week!

Happy Dr. Suess' birthday!

We have had a fabulous day over here. I say that knowing that I RISK jinxing myself (although I did knock on wood)...that is just how good of a day it has been.  We started our morning with some lovely green eggs and ham! Followed quickly by Kaelyn asking for school work! I was all too happy to oblige now that we are rocking the "work box" system. Kaelyn even remarked how "this is just like getting a present mommy". Within an hour we had worked through all five boxes! I am a total believer in this system!

While Kaelyn was able to work independantly after just a few moments of instruction from me (thank you workboxes!), Anna and I were able to do some fun learning games! So nice to be able to focus on both girls, but also give each one some real quality time!

We played with foam beads. I would show her how to put the same colors together, but she really just liked filling it up and dumping it out!

painted with water! I love these little water reveal books! Anna eats all sorts of arts supplies, so when she tastes her water...I don't even worry about it!

Anna and I also colored and played with her flashcards (they are pictures of common things and we work on saying the words as well as the animals sounds or colors).

While the girls napped, I wrote this post AND made a great little printable I can't wait to show off! Later, we are going to work on my cool little printable during story time (it will be our stART projecct for this week!), make some cookies for daddy to take to work tomorrow to help with the morale of the guys he's working with (they have had a really rough year, and what else can I do but provide ample amounts of baked goods, I mean a cookie ALWAYS makes you feel better). Tomorrow, we will be reading The Cat and The Hat and making a hat to wear as well as working on -at  word families! And then on Friday, we will be rocking Horton Hears a Who, making our own elephant ears and a tastey elephant inspired treat!

Those of you with more than one child, how do you manage to spend quality time with each one? Also, any good baked good recipes would be greatly appreciated!

Life

Ever felt like you needed one of these on a daily basis? For the past month, I have been STRUGGLING to find my pace and not feel like I'm treading water, or not treading and just barely keeping my head above water.  I've had a hard time finding my mojo...you know, the rhythm of life, the ability to take anything in stride and make it work. To have the RIGHT kind of perspective...the one that makes bad or less than ideal situations perfect. Maybe it's just me, maybe you guys don't need mojo, but I do, and somebody totally hijjacked it.

So to help get my mojo back (because the thief is totally not going to hand it over willingly), I decided to identify what was making me feel like I wasn't able to tread water like I normally could and address it  or let it go! Didn't have to pay a penny for that realization...gotta thank my Psychology minor for that little insight!

1. My laundry was overwhelming me. So, organizing my laundry has helped...in all seriousness...having one little spot in my life where I spend a TON of my time organized has helped me get a grip...so even on nights like tonight, where I'm folding and sorting til my hearts content I just want to scream...I'm feeling like I can do it. I can manage...because DAMN my laundry looks good! 

2. Crazy Doctors/Dentist/Dance/Appointments (seriously, two kids, ob appts, dental for two of us, lots of weekly appointments)...I've ironed out a schedule... Wednesday's are Appointment Days. Sounds silly, but this has helped!

3. Homeschooling- Mondays are nothing but Dance Days, I'm not even going to try and do homeschooling! NOT going to try! I've also started using the workbox system, except it's revised...I'm using Cereal boxes that are covered and filled with the things that Kaelyn needs to get accomplished as well as setting out activites to do with Anna (playdoh, coloring, sensory boxes, cutting, counting, etc).  I started it today, and WOW it's already made a HUGE difference!

4. Military/Baby 3- I'm having contractions...and am having to learn to let some parts of my house go...like washing my floors. When I let it go, I have far less contractions.

As for the military, I have no control over the military...none. I have no way of knowing when/if my husband will deploy, or if he'll be home for the baby. It's driving me mad! MAD! But I'm learning to let it go. Still no news on the waiver (fingers crossed, it's about a week late in coming)...but Ryan is about to undertake a new position...that if done well could be a great thing for his career, and if done poorly, well we won't think about that! :) Although, this new job basically means that Ryan will more than likely just barely make it to the birth of the baby if he leaves ASAP after this new job. Oh, and did I mention that this new job requires my husband to be gone between 430 am til 7 pm...pretty much won't be seeing him, and won't be getting any help with the house or the girls. <-see, that's me not being my usual self...I should be focusing on all the GREAT things this job could mean! He's an assistant flight commander, a Captain doing a Majors job, hand picked for the position....see those are GOOD things! It looks good on his review for his promotion boards in a few years.


I must say, that after a day as nice as today (despite a VERY whiney 18 month old, who blatently told me No when I asked her to say sorry to her sister on more than one occasion), and all the excitement about this week's Dr. Suess activities...I'm starting to find my mojo, and the world is starting to look just a tad bit brighter! Maybe it was hormones...


Ever lost your mojo? If so, how do you get it back?

My 28 Day Challenge Entry- Laundry Room

*I answered the wrong questions in an earlier post, so I apologize if you are seeing the same/similar post again.Thanks guys!*

From RAGS To RICHES on $2.76

Don't believe me? 

Just take a look!

Before:

 

After:

 

 

(The corner to the left of the door, my sock bag and tote bag for downstairs dirty/clean clothing, prior to this, this corner was empty!)

 And the hook on the back of the door (was originally empty)!

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?
Actually finding time to start the project. I've really been feeling overwhelmed by life (waiting for husband to get waiver and deploy, planning for baby three, homeschooling, cleaning, you get the idea)...not to mention my laundry room, so to finally find an area of my life that I can gain control on was a blessing indeed. I really LOVE coming into this room to get to work because it's FUNctional! I mentioned in an earlier post that I loved my older laundry (even though it was impossible to open both the wash and dryer at the same time, or to have either machine open and use the doors to enter/exit the room..serious space issues) because it was functional and organized! I was happy to do laundry...to spend time taking care of my family by keeping their clothes cleaned and orderly! Now, I'm enjoying my new space!

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?
I am now emptying the room when I go to get the girls from their bed in the mornings...which prevents that MESS of childrens clothing from forming in the laundry room, the sock line has allowed me to match my socks quickly and prevent them from getting out of hand (not to mention keeping us from having to hunt for socks before we can leave in the morning), and as our clothes are dry-ed I am carrying them to the room. By keeping the clothing from piling up, I'm able to utilize the tops of the machines as folding/sorting space. I'm still using my tote bag system to carry the "clean" kitchen laundry downstairs in the mornings, and the "dirty" laundry up at night. I also store the white/black/not easily matched socks in my tote bag to be sorted once a week (as opposed to waiting til the bag is overflowing).

3. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
The main items purged from the space were just stuck there because I was being too lazy to put them where they belonged in our storage area in the basement. The drying rack that came with the house went into the original dryer (why didn't I do that months ago?), and the storage bags went in our "moving supplies" box for when we get our next orders!

4. What creative storage solutions were you able to introduce in order to create additional space as well as establish some limits and boundaries?
I spent $2.76 on some hooks to hold both the Kitchen Laundry Tote and the Sock Tote as well as the dryer rack for our dryer. Because of my poor planning...and my serious lack of motivation, my budget for this room was ideally $0....but $2.76 meant I wasn't going to have to take my pregnant self into the basement to move boxes and find the extra hooks we had....but I WAS NOT going to buy storage solutions...so instead I made them! 

.My storage bins started out as these:

 

Yep, those are old diaper boxes and wipes boxes! And there is TONS of room left on that shelf, and wrapping paper (from leftover Christmas Sales...although it doesn't look very festive) to make more of these boxes for future storage!  I have one for bulk items (extra detergent and stain fighters), Stain fighters and Bleach, and Needed baby storage items.

 

I made the sock line using yarn and paper clips (didn't have any clothes pins) to help me match my socks more easily!

I wrapped the shelf that had been sitting under our sink to match, and installed it at my level so that I could easily reach my detergent and frequently used stain fighter.  These hooks cost 2.76 and were my ONLY purchase. The small blue/green bag is used to hold unmatched socks that would require concentration to match (white/black/etc) and the pink polka dotted one is carried downstairs each morning to put clean dish towels away and carry dirty ones upstairs.

 

The third hook is put on the back of the door to hold the drying rack for our dryer...it is RARELY used! And I cleared the tops of the machines off and covered in white shelf liner to provide a space to fold and sort! The girls clothing goes on the left of the sock line (which serves as a boundary) and our clothing goes on the right. Surprisingly enough, this is how my laundry room STILL looks (except there aren't any towels, and there IS a flight suit "air drying" per USAF regulations on my door hook along with the dryer rack. It'll be gone in the morning...when Ryan gets ready for work.

5. Why do you think you should win this challenge?

It may sound absurd, but  I think regardless of whether I win any prizes...I've already won a bit of control back over the madness that seems to be the prevailing theme in my life (waiting for a deployment date, waiting to find out if I'll deliver alone, homeschooling, ballet, drs appointments, etc). So much is "out of my control" it's prize enough to have something that is in complete order and completely within my control. I can keep up with this small part of my life, and plan accordingly. I also hope to take the peace that this has given me, and the freedom this room has given me and expand it into the rest of my life...starting with the sewing room that will be becoming the nursery.

Perhaps, I'll manage to have a beautifully organized home before our newest addition arrives in August!

If you want to see what other spaces have been attacked and organized...go to I'm an Organizing Junkie to view her 28 Day Challenge Participants.
For final products of small spaces (the category I'm entered in) click here!