As a work at home mom I find that instead of having a lot of time on my hands I am more limited for time now then what I was when I worked out of the home. I find myself going back and forth with my hours as clients and needs at work change and that really ends up throwing my whole schedule off track. I just began working nights again after working days for the past few months/year. I’m not sure which is causing more problems in my home… working days and not having enough time to clean or working nights and waking with the kids after only two hours of sleep and being to tired to clean! Either way my house has completely gotten out of control but hopefully by posting my most difficult and embarrassing problem areas online I will be able to regain control here soon.

I’ve decided to join the many folks out there that do Tackle It Tuesday so that I can feel that there is some type of support there for me! At least by reading everyone else’s Tackle It Tuesday posts I can find the encouragement I need to get going on my disasters!

I decided to start on something small but something that becomes a HUGE problem in my home… LAUNDRY! Now I don’t mind washing, I don’t mind drying, and to be completely honest I absolutely love hanging the clothes out on the clothes line to dry but I hate to fold and put it away! I find myself leaving clean clothes waiting in totes until they have all be used and are ready to be washed again. Now I don’t do this because I’m lazy nor do I only do it because I don’t like to fold the clothes I really just can’t find anywhere to put them once they are folded. It takes forever trying to find somewhere to put them plus when you have kids, especially girls you end up washing not only their clothes but also their dollbaby clothes, dressup clothes, and as you see in the pictures below even stuffed animals. I’d rather just leave them in the totes! Of course I know this can not go on so I am not only tackling the clothes today but today starts the beginning of always folding and putting away clothes after they are dry!

Now I’m off to do the next three loads, yes there is tons of laundry!  I hope everyone has a happy Tackle It Tuesday and if you want to join in on the fun just click on the link and add your name!

It’s been really nice outside the past few days but as we all know, this time of year brings afternoon showers and storms. When we moved in this house there were little trees growing in our gutters…. a couple of years later there are still little trees growing in out gutters! 

I hate to admit that but it’s the truth up until now. My wonderful son threw a ball on top of the roof which then turned into him cleaning out the gutters and boy did he do a great job!

He was such a trooper digging through all the pinestraw, dirt, baby trees, and bugs. I am hoping this will help the water flow further away from the house so we’ll stop having a huge muddy puddle at the end of the house. Now in case you don’t have an eleven year old that loves danger here are some tips on how to clean your gutters from http://www.hometips.com 

1) Scoop out loose debris
Starting at a drain outlet at the low end of a gutter, use a narrow garden trowel to scoop out loose debris, working away from the drain outlet. It’s usually easiest to do this when the debris is slightly damp and pliable, not soggy or dried and encrusted. To minimize cleanup later, you can scoop the debris into a plastic garbage can liner.

2) Blast out the gutters with a hose
Using an on-off high-pressure nozzle mounted at the end of a water hose, wash out each length of gutter, working toward the drain outlet. This can be a messy job; try to avoid splattering mud all over your house. If necessary, use a stiff scrub brush to break loose encrusted dirt.

3) Clear obstructions in drainpipes
If water doesn’t drain freely through drainpipes, try flushing debris down them with the hose. If that doesn’t work, use a plumber’s auger (snake) to free and pull out debris from the bottom.

I don’t know about how things go in your house but in our house bedtime is a joke! It’s funny I see moms asking questions like “when did your little one sleep on their own” or “when did your little one start sleeping through the night?” My response is always the same… “You mean kids actually sleep on their own and wait a minute they even sleep through the night!” Someone is pulling my leg!

I guess when sleep manuals were being handed out to babies my kids missed that day.  I kid you not my kids do not sleep, well okay my 11 year old has started sleeping through the night and doesn’t come into my room at night wanting to sleep with me but I promise you that this is literally something that just recently happened!  It’s okay though, no really it’s okay because I have come to peace with the fact that I will not sleep until my girls are probably 11 or 12 just like their brother… wait what am I talking about then I’ll be having to stay awake to make sure no boys sneak around the house because yes kids are seriously starting this whole dating thing too early… well that’s another topic for another day.

My answer to the no sleep rule… I work. Yes I work from my home office from midnight or earlier until 5 or 6 am, I mean really if I have to be awake why not make money for it!  Honestly I have tried everything, they all go to bed at 10:00 every night, I read to them, I make sure they have gone to the bathroom and are all tucked in but trust me the minute I walk out of the room I’ll hear… “mommy come tuck me in” or “mommy sissy won’t talk to me”    so after going into their room a hundred times they finally fall asleep around 12 or so only to wake back up a million times throughout the night. So if anyone knows how to get kids to sleep through the night please enlighten me because this is one topic I’m doomed for disaster on.

I absolutely hate doing the laundry! It seems like I am constantly washing clothes, everyday I do at least two loads of clothes and that’s the minimum! I was finally able to convince my fiance to put up a clothes line so that we could save a little money from not having to run the dryer so much and if I could convince the kids not to change clothes every five minutes and to stop putting clean clothes in the wash room I might actually get to take a day off from washing clothes!

I have learned something about laundry day though… it goes by a lot quicker if you recruit help from EVERYONE in the family.

It’s really not that big of a deal most of the younger ones actually enjoy helping out.

The only thing to remember is you have to constantly keep your eyes on the helpers because they tend to get side tracked sometimes.

I’ve often thought about my job description, I mean I have one as a work at home customer service rep, but while I’m taking calls for work during the day I am also tending to my children, running around doing chores, and everything else a stay at home mom does so that job description isn’t the only one I need. I was looking for ways to make my daily routine easier or at least help me to handle it all without feeling like I’m on the edge of a mental breakdown every second of everyday when I came across this site  http://www.tips-for-moms.com/index.html and there was the perfect job description!

THE FAMILY MANAGER CREED

I oversee the most important organization in the world
Where hundreds of decisions are made daily
Where property and resources are managed
Where health and nutritional needs are determined
Where finances and futures are discussed and debated
Where projects are planned and events are arranged
Where transportation and scheduling are critical
Where team building is a priority
Where careers begin and end
I am a Family Manager

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

~Napoleon Hill~

This quote explains my reason for not keeping up with this blog. I have been working so much, dealing with school events, sports, new puppies, and now summer vacation that I have failed to keep up with everything important to me… once again. I do have another blog that I have pushed myself to update often which you can visit here:  http://motheringthree.today.com/     but I’ve found it too difficult to update both for some reason. I always say I’ll do it tomorrow and tomorrow never comes! So starting today no more procrastinating I’ll be around more often!