Things I Want To Teach My Kids

This could be a long blog I'm sure. There are so many things I want my kids to know. But a few have come to mind lately.

BUDGETING - Natalie wanted to get Mc Donald's the other day. I explained to her that I already spent all the money we had set aside for eating out, so if she wanted to eat out she could use some of her spending money (remember she has a save, spend, and God jar that she divides her allowance into). I told her she had $5 left and she could use that. She decided on a double cheeseburger and fries (gotta love the dollar menu). She asked about a drink, but I said we are eating at home so you have drinks there. I explained her items would be $2 so she would get $3 back. I added that we had Cheetos, her fave, at home, so if she wanted to have those and a drink with the burger she'd get $4 back. My lovely daughter said I'll just get the burger so I don't use as much of my money! Yay!

NOT BEING INSTANTLY GRATIFIED
Man, this is going to be a hard one. But as I was setting aside "junk" for the garage sale at church...man we have a lot of stuff. And I think I have a fairly uncluttered home too. But we just got a "new" tv stand from my parents and I needed a basket to put all our controllers in to "hide" them. I added it to the Walmart list, but then thought I'm SURE there is something in this house I can use. So I repurposed a few things. This then made me think about shopping with Natalie. She never has her spending money on her (unless we plan to go out and use it) so she's always asking me to buy her something. She hasn't really figured out she could ask me to buy it for her and then she can pay me back at home. BUT when she does, I'm going to say NO. She can go home and think about if she REALLY wants it. And what a great way to introduce the idea of not putting things on "credit". If you don't have the money on you, don't buy it! Hopefully I can get these concepts in at an early age and keep expanding on them.

MANAGING MOODS
So maybe I am moodier than I like to think I am. Now that I have a mini-me running around grunting, sighing, screaming...sigh...I'm really trying especially hard to tell her it's okay to be mad, but it's not okay to scream, hit, throw (yes, sometimes sewing gets the best of me). It's okay to be excited but it's not okay to be crazy and run screaming around (her, NOT me).

FOCUSING ON WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Right now I'm thinking about being on the phone/computer so much. It's hard when I'm trying to run a small buisness from home. I want to be able to be in touch immediately with customers. But, I also need to spend time with my kids and husband. I do NOT want to be one of those families walking around the store with both kids wrapped up in the phone. Really, it's not that important. Right? I grew up just fine without one. So I'm going to work on cutting back (hey Ryan's out and the kids are in bed so who cares if I'm on the computer now...)

Cleaning Schedule

So with my plan to spend more time with the kids, inbetween housework and sewing, I investigated several cleaning schedules. I found one in Better Homes and Gardens and adapted it to fit our house the best. It's been about 3-4 weeks and I've stuck to it. I feel like it has made cleaning take up less of my day, while still keeping the house neat and tidy. By the way...if there is company or something I may do EVERYTHING in the house, but at least this schedule ensures everything is cleaned well at least once a week!

Shortly after we had a spring cleaning "lesson" at our Girlfriends mom's group. The lady showed us her cleaning apron as well as her tricks of the trade. Most of the ideas I already used. Of course, as k. mae designs, I thought I better try to make one of these aprons. I'm not sure that I'll really use it, but I know others that will. There are 2 loops to hook cleaner bottles on. The 2 rows of pockets have specific purposes. The top row is clean rags for the cleaner on the left, and the other top outside pocket is for the cleaner on the right. Then the pockets below those are for dirty rags. The middle upper and lower pockets are for trash and for things you pick up as you are walking around (toy cars in our house). This apron keeps your tools at your finger tips and helps cut down searching for things as you clean.



And if you are so inclined, here's my schedule!
Daily - 15 min

Make beds

Dirty clothes in hampers and loose items returned to their place

Wipe counters in bathroom/kitchen

Put away dishes

Sweep Kitchen floor



Weekly in a 2-3 hour block or 15 min increments

(I am putting my days and floors I assigned myself to)

Monday Upstairs, Thursday Basement

Bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms

Empty trash, then starting with the farthest aways room dust cowbwebs, fans, door frames, pictures, lampts. Then dust furniture with spray/cloth. Clean mirrors. Vacuum from furthest corner to the door.



Tuesday Upstairs, Friday Basement

Bathrooms

Spray cleaner on shower doors, walls, tubs, sink, and toilet.

Then start cleaning top to bottom, left to right.

Clean toilet in, out and behind.

Vacuum, then mop

Wednesday Upstairs, Friday Basement

Wipe cabinet fronts from top to bottom

Empty toaster crumbs and clean microwave

Get behind things on the counters

Clean the sink

Vacuum and mop, then don't forget fridge vent



Monthly - all 8 on a Saturday or 2 a week

Clean sliding doors/shower door tracks

Run vinegar through coffee pot

Wash shelves and bins in the fridge

Clean stove hood

Vacuum under couch cushions

Clean artificial plants

Clean top of fridge

Wash trash cans



Yearly

January - clean out medicine cabinets

February - clean behind stove, fridge, washer, dryer, sofas, beds, dressers

March - clean carpets

April - windows and screens

May - organize pantry and cabinets

June - wash duvets, blankets, comforters, pillows

July - Clean and organize garage

August - clean out drawers and closets

September - clean out linen closet

October - defrost and clean fridge, stove, oven, freezer

November - Polish silver, clean china, dust in hutches

December - turn mattress, vacuum furnitures and drapes

Prayer and Church

Man, I can't wait for the kids to behave a little better at church. It's so trying on us as parents. We aren't able to get much out of the service by trying to get them to behave. I think I'm going to have to rally some people to work in the nursery! If you can pray for our family and for our church we could use some help in this area :)

Balance

Today is a little slower. I really need to work on finding balance in my life. I'm very driven, and when I have a list of ''to-do's" I have a hard time waiting. I want them all done RIGHTNOW. This drives my husband crazy for sure...as I keep nagging about all the furniture that is waiting to be sanded and painted. You can also see this in my post of my crazy day yesterday. Could some of the things I did wait another day? Probably. Do I like to let them? No. I have orders that are not needed until a September vacation and they will probably be done in the next week or so.

The cleaning schedule has kind of slowed me down there, and given me a few tasks at a time instead of the WHOLE house. Today I tried to make a list of which projects I was going to tackle in the sewing room and then LEAVE. Not do just one more thing, or cut one more fabric, or blah blah blah. You get the point.

It just seems that I can never fit anything in, and I need to be okay with that. If I make time to go to the gym, clean, and sew, then I don't have time for friends that day. If I make time for friends, something else has to give. I guess it will always be a work in progress.

This also may be why I have very little patience. It has to be related some how. I've ordered a lot of fabric, bedding, printer cords, etc online and I am constantly checking the tracking numbers to try to find out why nothing is here yet. I want the whole world to operate on Kim-speed.

But for today, it's a sucess. Gym done, visit/play with a friend, lunch and cleaning, 2 hours of sewing, and I'm up here blogging while waiting for Jacob to get up from nap. I may even have my shower done before long so I can leave for bunco tonight (subbing for another group) without rushing around like yesterday. Kids are thrilled because they get a babysitter since Ryan has his Board of Education meeting tonight. Everyone is happy, most especially Ryan as he can play video games while I'm gone and the kids are asleep. Win, win, win!

Squeezing a blog into the day

Like I have time for blogging. Here's a run down of today.
6:30 - wake up, get breakfast, do computer 'tasks'
7:00 - Natalie comes out dressed and ready to eat. Super compliant today, yay.
7:30 - Jacob is up. At this point I strip the sheets on all 3 bed, dress him, get him food and start laundry. Remake beds with clean sheets. Put laundry in dryer and start washing diapers (cuz I only have one more left...oops).
8:15 - Let dog out and get kids moving towards shoes and the door to get N to preschool. Pull out at 8:30, drop N off and successfully pay the last tuition payment for the year!!!
9:00 - Start hour long body pump class. After a week off I did less weight and still am sore tonight.
10:15 - Leave the gym for quick Walmart trip to get snack stuff for Bunco, Wednesday pre-K, Thursday playdate and sewing supplies.
10:45 - Pick up Natalie and mail 2 packages at the post office
11:00 - Stop at Whitney's house and go over her 'vision' for her twins room. Look at paints, fabrics, etc online.
11:45 - Take whiny kids home for lunch. While feeding them lunch I switch laundry again. Do more computer tasks, start the dishwasher, dust and vacuum bedroom end of the house so I can put him down for a nap.
12:15 - Jacob is asleep. Natalie and I finish the upstairs chores. She loves dusting the keys on the piano and the baseboards. I vacuum the rest of the upstairs and put Solid Gold on all my wood furniture (not the living room...going to sand and paint it may as well leave it dry and old).
1:15 - cram in a bagel and coffee while designing embroidery designs and ordering more fabric and managing Quickbooks.
1:30 - make a coupon binder. Go to get the mail around 3 (thankfully Jacob is still napping) and get a shirt to embroidery. Knock that out before he gets up.
4:00 - Kids eat a snack, put more orders and checks into Quickbooks, sort mail, post pics of customer orders on Facebook, open/sort mail, order new bedding with great discount (YAY, thanks MOM). Sometime during the chaos Ryan comes in and I beg him to take the kids to dance so I can finish up, shower and go to bunco.
5:00 - finally get in the shower after setting the oven to cook nuggets and fries to be ready when Ryan gets home at 6 with the kids. Showered, dressed, and hair dryed (and lip gloss/mascara too!!) by 5:15. While checking e-mail and making a Walmart list.
5:20 - grab 3 deliveres of k. mae to take to Bunco, 2 pacakges to mail, checks to deposit, 2 tupperware full of chocolate chip cookies filled with frosting (did I forget to mention I made those sometime during the lunch area of the day - cooked 48 cookies in 10 minutes with my convection oven and convection microwave). Manage to make it to the post office, the bank, Starbucks and Walmart before getting to bunco at 6:25, 5 minutes early! I won the prize for biggest loser too!
8:30 - got home, enter checks and orders into Quickbooks, order more fabric, balance checkbooks, talk to Ryan, file recipts, add a gift card to my Starbucks account...and BLOG.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. HA HA!

Bedroom Makeover In Progress

So after 7 years of wedded bliss, our Target put-it-together-yourself furniture is finally reaching the end of its lifespan. Pretty darn good for particle board furniture that moved to 3 houses in 2 states! I think 3 feet are held on with wood glue, there are water rings on the night stands from glasses, and Ryan pulled a drawer front right off.

After scouring furniture stores for something we like (plus I was determined to get something new that I didn't have to do work on) we never agreed on anything. We also didn't feel like dropping $3000 on something we just didn't love. So then we turned to our good friends, Craigslist and Google.

My mom found us a set that we passed over a few times, but the price kept dropping and our interest went up. We have an odd shaped room - it's big, but has not many wall spaces between sliding closet and patio doors, a regular closet door and a bathroom door. This set was modern, plain lines, and low profile. It looked like a a light wood, but I thought we could paint/stain and add handles. For $290 for a solid wood set it was fine! We got it and the good news was it is Lane furniture so a great brand. Bad news, the finish was "Make It Stone" by Krylon. Just in case you want to make anything look this fabulous...check this out...It looks like it's made of concrete! Here's the Craigslist post.

We've decided to sand and paint with a high gloss white for a super contemporary look. Ryan already built the frame for the bed, and the headboard too! The headboard only cost about 50 before paint (primed MDF). We found directions on the Ana White site and this DIY site. We combined both of them to come up with this look!



Of course, since I didn't get to do the woodworking, I decided that a new tailored bedskirt and valances will be needed, as well as new bedding. We found bedding we liked at Target and I found coordinating fabric on fabric.com! I'm going to do box pleat valances and a pleated bedskirt to hide the platform. I'm trying to mix modern with some traiditional elements which seem to be our style. I'm going to still use my red shade lamps and red sheets as accents. Here's what it will look like! Bedding Fabric Valance Style

Check back for updates on the progess. I've been busy redoing the living room too. I added new throw pillows to our "new" denim couches (they were my parents). I also recovered the piano bench. We're going to sand the tables/hutch for some distressing, paint the inside of the hutch an accent color, and glaze all the wood pieces with ivory. Man, are we going to be busy...