A Mom’s Life Made Simple

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The weather is warm, the sky is blue, and the sun is shining brightly through my windows. I should be happy, it’s my favorite time of year for crying out loud! So why am I so stressed on such a beautiful day? It’s simple… the sun is shining so brightly that all it does is show the dust I have missed in the corners of the room, it brightens the room so much that I’m able to see all the clutter clearly, the grass outside is growing so tall it’s about to swallow my dog whole and it’s such a nice day that cleaning is the last thing I want to do!

I remember growing up my mom would ask me to make my bed and I would ask her why should I make my bed when I’m just going to get in it later? I mean seriously this made perfect sense to me, why should I waist time making my bed only to mess it up in a few hours, there were so many other things I could do with my time! I’ve now become a mom and I have to admit there are quite a few times I don’t fix my bed, call it acting out if you want to but it still doesn’t make any sense to me to fix it. Okay seriously now that I’ve gotten older I do realize that things have to be cleaned, beds should really be fixed and if I don’t make my kids help me they will never learn. I get it really I do, I spend hours every day cleaning but show up at my house a few minutes afterwards and you’d never know I cleaned anything because there will be toys everywhere!

It stresses me out more to try to keep the house clean then it does to actually clean it the first time! I came across the Good Housekeeping website and there is an article there that is titled “Good (Enough) Housekeeping” I love it! It’s right down my alley! I suggest anyone that has a busy life like mine to hop over there and read it because wow it’s wonderful. It should really be titled the busy mom’s bible. Here are a few things from the article I found helpful:http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/organizing/good-enough-housekeeping-oct06

Cut cleaning in half. Wash just the bottom part of a window. Forget the top, which is usually covered by a shade or a blind.

Blow it off. Use a hair dryer to speed-dust books, artwork, and figurines. Vacuum up whatever falls to the floor

Beat dusty blinds in an instant. All you have to do is close them in reverse — and no one will know!

Dust your floors. Give floors a quick once-over with a wet towel before tossing the towel in the washer

Make bed making easy. Freshen up your bed in a flash by replacing only the pillowcases.

Keep kitchen range burners spotless. Cover unused burners with pot lids to keep them from getting splashed while you’re cooking.

(If you have company coming over and no time to clean)

 A messy bathroom
Toss one of those blue drop-in cleaners into the toilet tank and no one will know that your bowl’s not pristine. Quickly wipe down the sink and toilet seat and swipe the mirror with glass cleaner.

Dishes in the sink
Quickly move them to the dishwasher. Or, if that’s full and you’re desperate, rinse them off and stash them in the oven. Just don’t forget to take them out, or the baked-on food will be really hard to clean.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! 

As we all know spring is right around the very next corner, even though today’s weather doesn’t give any signs of spring I know it’s coming soon. I love spring, it’s my favorite season of all because it’s not to hot and not to cold, I love the flowers blooming and the grass is growing, I love everything about spring… everything except the bugs!

Once warm weather hits all the bugs come out to play and I absolutely hate it. So this year I’m doing a little research and I’m going to be ready for them! I’ve found a lot of great pest control tips and recipes thanks to the internet and many thanks to Cafemom.

I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world that has to deal with pests every year so I’m going to post these tips and recipes here on one page so we can all come back from time to time and fight the pest battle.

Ants and Roaches Killer
For roaches

roach or water bug problem you can take an orange and cut it in half and rud it all over your baseboards don’t soak it just get a little on it and it keeps them away it is something in the orange scent they don’t like it deffianntly works

OR
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon boric acid powder.
Mix thoroughly and add the white of one egg, mix into a paste, put on a cookie sheet etc. about 1/8″ thick and cook in oven at the LOWEST temp (usually 200) until rubbery, cut into 1/2″ squares and put them around the place, under cabinets, in cabinets, etc. Very low toxicity to people and pets. After a couple of weeks, roaches disappear. Do it twice a year and you won’t ever have roaches again. 
 

For ants
Use sugar, boric acid, and flour to make a watery paste and put around in bottle caps, etc. It’s effective on carpenter ant kill and pismires. For fire ants, cook boric acid into grits and dry, then spread around near mound. They take it to the queen and it kills the entire mound. Effective about 2/3 of the time

 Ant invasion
Get rid of ants in pots by soaking them, lifting out the plants then removing any ant nests at the base. Now stick your pots on bricks which are wiped every month or so with eucalyptus oil, or some other sticky substance, to repel another invasion. A ring of white pepper around the pot may help, too

MICE

 They hate the smell of mint. Plant some outside and some inside and you’ll have no problems with mice.

Fruit Flies

Basil: One of the best home remedies for fruit flies is to simply put a pot of basil on a window sill or table. This will help reduce the number of fruit flies in the area.

Soap: Dry soap acts as a fruit fly repellent. Sprinkle it into garbage cans and any other problem areas.

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say?  And why are you waiting? 

~Stephen Levine

I love this quote! Absolutely love it! You never know what is going to happen, tomorrow is not guaranteed actually the next five minutes aren’t guaranteed if you want the hard truth about it. Why put off telling somone how much you love them or how thankful you are that they are in your life just because you assume they will always be there? They will not always be there… you will not always be there… so now is the time to tell them.

My only problem with this quote is I would have a really hard time knowing who to call. If I knew that my time was up here on Earth I would want to tell my kids goodbye for sure, my fiance and my family. It would be too hard to pick between them all! Knowing that I love my children, brothers, sisters, father and absolutely my step father more then anything and my fiance’s voice is certainly a sound I would want to hear, I still know that my fingers would automatically dial my mother because she’s more important to me then I could ever have her understand, it’s not that she’s more important to me then my kids or other loved ones but it’s just a bond that no one can touch. Her voice, her laughter, and the strength in her voice as I know she would have as she would tell me all the right things to make me feel better even though at that moment she wouldn’t believe any of them I’m sure is exactly what I would want to hear for my last phone call. Hopefully I’ll never have to deal with that and if I do have to only make one phone call before I die maybe everyone will be in the same house together and I can talk to them on speaker phone!  

So take a moment and think about that quote… who would you call?

Good Weight loss Wednesday! I’ve been drinking more water, not as much as I should but more, and watching what types of food I am eating. I’ve lost 4 pounds which I’m guessing was mostly water weight or whatever. I came across a site that I think my eleven year old will enjoy which can be visited here:  http://adisney.go.com/healthykids/  It seems to be a really neat site directed towards helping kids get healthy the fun way.

The site is set up in sort of a camp theme. You have a camp counselor that helps you along the way. You are competing against another camp called Lazy Acres for tokens and stuff.

There are different sections to learn about and compete in. One of the sections is Mickey’s Mess hall which is where you learn about the food pyramid. There’s also Lilo’s Luau where you learn how much food from each pyramid group you should eat. The last two sections are Kim Possible’s Science Cave and the Incredible Island. At the science cave you compete and learn about food moderation while learning about physical activity over at the Incredible Island. 

One of the best things about the site is the cool parents section which gives parents advice on fun activities to do as a family and fun meal ideas to make with your kids.

Disney characters make this site even more interesting. If you want your child to be healthy and have fun while doing it I really think this would be a good place to start.

The weather is warming up and it’s really got me in the mood for camping. I haven’t been camping since I was a kid but it’s always been something I love to do. Camping with kids may be a little harder to deal with then I think but I’m hoping they are at the age to really enjoy it. Or am I kidding myself?

Things have changed for camping though, kids now have their handheld games to take and portable tvs, campsites come with swimming pools and cable tv! I don’t want any of that! I want my kids to get a taste of true camping and that’s what they are going to get. Hopefully it’ll all work out and we can go.

My fiance has only been camping once in his life and that was with a group of guys from his job a few years back. He says he doesn’t even know how to cook or put the tent up! He’s really not going to use those excuse because I was raised camping… I don’t need his help!

Tips on camping (gathered from many different sites and books so my fiance can’t say he doesn’t know how to do anything)

Buy a good tent

Carry flashlights, toiletries, food, drinks, cooking supplies, sleeping bags, bug spray, lanterns, map of the area, sunscreen, matches, ect.

Check the weather before going and prepare for the worse

First aid supplies

Make sure someone knows where you will be camping since it can become quite dangerous.

TIPS FOR CAMPING WITH KIDS

Make sure you can always see and hear your kids.

Talk about what to do if one of the kids becomes lost. Go over rules before getting to the camp site.

Bring extra flashlights for the kids to play with

Have a few game ideas to play as a family

Go hiking on a trail

Talk about the animals and trees you see together.

Plan for special around the fire snacks and stories.

 This is my kitty Timber. No we aren’t cooking her but for some reason she loves to find odd places to sleep and for this photo is happened to be my crock pot! Below is her favorite sleeping spot, she loves to sleep in plastic bags.

Timber is now a little over a year old and we’ve had her since she was only a few weeks old. I actually had to feed her milk like a baby!  Timber was given to us from a post on freecycle.com. She was saved from a burning home and was going to be taken to the pound if someone didn’t take her… we took her and it’s been the best decision ever!

Timber has become a huge part of our family taking time out daily to show our dog Chelci that she was here first and she runs the show!

When the days are long and she’s tired of dealing with us all she takes a moment to herself where we can’t get to her.

Timber loves ear rubs, eating the kids potato chips, and chasing mice (which we haven’t seen site of with her around). She’s part of our family and we love her or rather we are part of hers and she seems to be alright with that.

Remove those ‘I want you to like me’ stickers from your forehead
and, instead, place them where they truly will do the most good –
on your mirror!

~ Susan Jeffers

This is something that has and is still taking me a long time to learn. As I get older I care less about what others think of me but I still have a hard time walking in a store or seeing someone from highschool without feeling like they are thinking about how I look. It gets tiring trying to wear the clothes that I feel will fit in with the other moms at my son’s school, or say the right thing to them.

When I tell my fiance that I want to lose weight or get my hair cut differently he always says “why I like you the way you are isn’t that all that matters”  ummm no it’s not all that matters! I’m not trying to impress anyone I have to be happy with myself but when you aren’t happy with yourself you find yourself dwelling on whether or not others like you and of course since you don’t like yourself you assume they don’t like you either. Love yourself forget everyone else’s opinion!

I have not lost a drop of weight! It’s been a really stressful time around the house and I tend to eat more when I stress. The thing is I don’t eat a lot as some people would assume, instead I eat the wrong things and at the wrong times. I eat what is quick and easy. I don’t have time to cook three meals a day so I just grab a cereal bar or some candy which ends up not filling me up and sending me back looking for more food. I also have a problem with soda! I believe I am the person keeping the soda industry running and it’s not because I don’t like water it’s because it’s easier to just grab a can out of the frigerator instead of having to find a cup and fill it with water. Yeah ok that sounds extremely lame and lazy now that I’ve written it down but it’s the truth.  My goal for this week is to drink more water, eat good meals throughout the day and continue my workouts.

Weight loss tips

My daughter got a book full of Sponge Bob stickers for her third birthday and this is where they ended up… here and on the doors, the wood floor, the cat and none of them ended up on paper! What in the world was I thinking? Of course it kept her busy for hours and after she finished playing with them, the ones that she could unstick from the floor and walls she put in a box to play with again later. The sticker fun also kept me busy for hours… I never knew how well stickers could stick to walls and floors. Too bad I’m not into Spongebob I might actually let the stickers stay on the walls just so I wouldn’t have to keep scrubbing!

Tomorrow is Monday so you know what that means…. spend all day pampering yourself and relaxing to get ready for another week! Here are some great recipe ideas to help you relax the day away.

First lets get your mouth awake and fresh:

Baking soda or sea salt with a drop of peppermint oil and 2 ounces of water. This makes for an outstanding mouthwash!

Pore reducing Face Mask

2 egg whites.  
Spread along face in an upward direction.  Leave 10-15 minutes and wash
off with lukewarm soapy water

Healthy Skin Scrub

1 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp dried rosemary
- 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1/4 cup honey Instructions:
- Place lavender, basil, rosemary and oatmeal in blender and blend until
coarsely ground.  Remove from blender and add honey.  Rub mixture on
face gently using a circular motion.  Allow to “set” for 2-3 minutes and
rinse off skin with warm water.  Towel dry face.

Goat Milk Lotion

1/8 tsp. borax
1/4 cup cold goat’s milk
1/2 cup coconut oil.
1 Tbsp. beeswax
1/2 cup Aloe Vera gel
**1 tsp. Vitamin E oil.