Couponing

I have begun couponing. I am really excited and saving tons of money. We will see how this works out and if I can keep it up or not.... :)

The House That Cleans Itself...And the gift goes on

I went over to a friend's house on Saturday to work with her on her "House that cleans itself". If you are like...huh??....I have written about the process in previous blogs. Short story...it's a cleaning book that rocks. I went over at 11am to work for a couple of hours. She was about 90% through the process and just needed help finishing. I am smiling when I type this because we spent 8 hours kicking her house's butt. We almost forgot to eat two meals. The best part was her 4 youngest kids and my two got along GREAT which made the whole process smoother since there is no way we both could have got sitters. It made me realize that I am not fully done with my process yet and also that brainstorming cleaning ideas is the best when you are cleaning impaired....which I AM! :) I want to go back through and re-read the book to make sure there is nothing else that I missed or that I want to tweak more. My house has come so far from where I used to be. Her's is shortly behind mine and I can't wait to get it there for her. I think we have another Saturday in our future once she recovers from my Drill Sargeant ways...
On a quick note I would like to share 10 housekeeping tips that I have learned.

1) Everything needs a home and need to be in it's home or else it just gets moved from room to room
2) If the object doesn't stay in the proper place tie it down. For example, if the hairbrush runs away from the bathroom all the time. Tie a string to the pipes under the sink and the other end to the brush. Viola!! You know where the hairbrush is. Her hubby really liked this one. :)
3) Wet wipes are good for everything. Get a pack of one for every room and you will see the difference.
4) A working mom will probably never get the whole day to clean so clean when you can and you will get more done.
5) You are never too old to make your own chore chart! :)
6) Nail polish probably does not need to be in the bread cabinet...just sayin'....
7) More furniture, another tote or another basket will NEVER make you more organized unless you are buying them for a specific purpose.
8) NEVER buy furniture unless you know that is has a specific place or purpose
9) Documenting everything with photos lets you know how far you have come...take pictures and lots of them
10) EVERYTHING is more fun with a friend. Find a friend to help you with the process if you can. Trust me...you will hear their voice in your head when you want to buy that really cute basket that you have no place for :) :)

GOD is FAITHFUL

Just had an AMAZING conversation with one of those people who is in my FAITH HEROES list. Not without her own battle scars though. God is faithful! I am going to choose to dwell on the blessings that I have and be grateful every day. I will not sit back and ride out this life. I am re-engaging myself and fighting for what I know is right. I am going to earnestly seek out what steps God wants me to take and which ones he doesn't. I am going on a Facebook fast and I am going to redirect that time into reading my Bible instead of checking to see what is going on with 100 people that I don't even know their address. The status update that I need is what God wants me to do next...and that is what I am going to search for. The best part is it's not 1:39am but only 12:39...woo hoo for daylight savings time and an extra hour to get my mental junk together.....

Wowzers

I haven't blogged in forever because lately every time I think about blogging it's when I need to vent and I just don't want to electronically puke on everyone. Right now is one of those times....but I will blog my thoughts and not others actions because it's the right thing to do.

Disclaimer: I am real. I will not write fluff when I don't feel it and this is how I really feel about life. I am not plastic. So pull up a chair and read or not...but here comes some ADD rambling....

We are looking for a new church. This is one of the hardest things that I have went through as a Christian. First, have you heard really stopped and looked at how many churches there are. Last I checked there was only one God. And yet people have branched off so many different times over the most trivial differences and now we have all of these different churches all on the same street. We visited the WORST church. They were very friendly but very small and very old. Oh, and they didn't have a children's ministry. Yeah, we made it through the first 2 verrrrry slow songs and then made a break for it. We are visiting a church right now that we really like but it's hard to know if it will be our new home. At least, I know that we are moving in the right direction and there is somewhere for us.

Landon was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with Sensory Integration Disorder. I wish I could describe this to you adequately but I am still learning what it is myself. I ordered a really good book from what I hear and I got it in the mail today and can't wait to read it. We have been having problems with Landon for awhile. He just gets out of control and can't handle change. He starts therapy this Friday and he really like his therapist. Her name is Jenny and Landon took to her immediately which is a huge step for him. I am ready to learn how to help him. I feel like the last month he has been getting progressively worse. It's exhausting.

Elisha is doing great in school. She is learning how to read and loves school. She is in an afternoon club called Read Right Run and she loves it. She is also in Firecrackers which is the Kindergarten version of the "gifted" program. I am so proud of her. Now I feel like I vented about Landon and praised Elisha but trust me other times it's the exact opposite. They take turns and this month it's his turn.

Chris is working at a job right now that he hates and he is miserable. He has horrible hours and horrible pay. We have been on this rollercoaster for WAAAYYYY too long now. I am just ready to have him in a stable job that he likes. I can't take the stress for too much longer on this one. He works evenings and weeks so we don't see him much.

Where do I even begin to start with on myself. Geezo I should just start a new post right now. Ok here it goes.

Surgery. I had surgery a little over a month ago. My cycle has been messed up since I had Landon and it was getting worse. I went to the doctor about two months ago to look at options and in the process of that they found cysts that could be causing some of my pain and put me on a pill that caused me to grow another cyst. I ended up having my ovary removed because of two sizable cysts. I am now recovered from that and feeling better. Although, my hormones are so far out of whack that I sometimes lose my mind before I even realize what is happening. This should balance soon though. It needs to.

School. I am going to go to college to get my bachelor's degree. I start on January 10th. I am nervous and scared and freaked out and pretty much all of that. I don't know when I am going to find the time but I need to do it so we will see how it goes.

Work. I have had so many changes at work lately that I don't even know what is going on. I haven't traveled in forever because of all my medical stuff but this week I travel again so we will see how that goes. :)

I am going to stop now because if I don't I will end of violating privacy of the people around me and I don't want to do that. But point being, I am either on the edge of something amazing or on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I just wish I knew which one was coming.................

Mommy and Daddy were 'cleaning their room'

So I am at a barbecue at my Aunt Vickie's house for the 4th of July. Aunt Theresa comes in cracking up laughing (almost peeing her pants) and tells me that Elisha just told them a very interesting story. Elisha is storyteller so I sit down knowing that this will be good.
Elisha announced to a group of people that "Mommy and daddy were cleaning their room today. It took a really long time and we had to leave them alone. They shut the door so we would leave them alone and we had to watch a movie so that they could get it done." If you have already realized why my family was laughing feel free to chuckle if not keep reading - it gets better. Lindsay asks Elisha, "How often to Mommy and Daddy 'clean their room'. Elisha says, "Not often" My family is known for running with innuendos and had a lovely time with this story. Several comments were exchanged. I did have to disappoint my family and let them know that the story was a testimony to my housekeeping and not my love life.
The positive part to this is the following. My bedroom is clean! My main level of my house is converted and my family got to giggle.
For the first time in my married life I can say the following
I do NOT have a laundry basket filled with stuff to do later
I do NOT have any box, tote, shoebox or any horizontal surface with a project sitting on it.
You could come over my home and look anywhere and I would not be embarrassed. Ok, maybe my underwear drawer but whatEV. :)
The support group is going great. I can't wait to see other people finish this process :) LOVE IT!!!
For now as Landon would say, "Peace out and BOOYAH!"

Life

I am having an introspective day. Too many of these are not good but every once in a while you need to. I am moving forward. I signed up for college yesterday. I really needed to because my job technically requires it. In 3 1/2 years, I will have my bachelor's degree. I needed to do this and soon because our department is being taken over by our parent company. I am nervous and excited. School starts on July 10th.

I am quitting petsmart this weekend. It is fun up there but I will need the extra time for studying and I miss have the day to spend with my kids and hubby! Goodness I miss my Saturdays. Its funny how I felt so busy before and yet you are able to handle more than you think you could. I am learning that I am stronger than I thought I was.

I have other changes that I am processing and it's hard to remember that my blog really is public and I can't just spill my heart.

Chris works better hours now and is off at 4 every day. He loves his job and is happy. He only works Saturdays once a month.

I have started an online reading/support group with some friends reading The House That Cleans Itself. It should be fun! If you want to join message me on Facebook and you can join us. It is by no means exclusive. :)

I desperately need Starbucks....I am in a funk and need a caffeinated pick-me-up

My biggest change when you walk in my house....

The below picture is the first thing you would see when you walked into our house. One of the basics behind the book is to look at the first thing people will see when they walk into your house. When I looked at these pictures it was a revelation.

I realized the objects that I don't see while sitting down on the couch are actually the first things you see when you walk in my front door. Applying the principles from the book, look at the after picture.

Ok, so where did it all go. I have a that is next to the front door and I put all of the video games in totes. I have a tote for each gaming system. The controllers get dumped in there when we are done. The video games are behind the controller totes.