Cleaning House Is Hard To Do

I bet most of you working parents can relate: You work full time outside of the house(or at home full time without the chance to really clean because you have to be doing work while home), have a kid (or a few) and a spouse or partner. Days off you want to spend with your family and don't want to clean. After a long day of work, you don't want to clean either. Before you know it, your house is cluttered and untidy. You try your best to pick things up, surface clean the "important areas," like the kitchen, living room and the bathroom people use when they come over and on the surface it looks great. But before you know it, you and your significant other look around and are arguing over the clutter and mess and who doesn't do what and who works more, etc.

Confession: I have never been an all-star housekeeper.

As a kid, I was messy. My parents cleaned, and we cleaned but the house was always disorganized and messy. To this day, my parent's house is still messy and is almost borderline hoarder status to be perfectly honest. Why? Because once you get it, it's hard to get out. Once you start collecting and not taking stuff out, it's hard to stop. Once you get out of the habit of cleaning, it is hard to get back into it. When you let things go, it is overwhelming, to say the least to take care of the problem. It can be emotionally draining to get rid of things when you have things you want to keep, you have memories with these things, you have them because you want them, like them, need them.

When I moved out on my own, I was a decent housekeeper. I put things away, vacuumed all the time, swept, mopped, cleaned the bathroom, etc. But after having a husband and a kid, things got sidelined. After moving all my "stuff" into a house that was too small for it all, collecting more and then adding my husband's stuff and daughter's stuff; the house became a disaster. It just kept getting worse and worse as we moved around and had weird storage situations. It got worse and worse as I began to work full time and not have time to myself or as much time with my family.

Before anyone starts judging: My husband also works full time, more than full time. He works 40 hours a week an hour away, teaches online classes for the local community college and is taking PhD courses. It has not always been this way, but he has always worked in some facet since we have been married. When he was home because his jobs were only online, he was working at home and although I think he could have done more to help clean, he didn't feel he had the time due to working so much. To be honest, I always underestimated what working at home takes and what teaching takes, so when I got upset about things in the house being messy or it falling upon me, I claimed he doesn't do his part. This isn't necessarily the case.

Well, now I am at home full time again. Long story short, after I got laid off due to funding cuts from a job related to my degree, after I finally found full time work again I lost my job due to calling in when my kid had a snow day from school.

It is time to buckle down and get the house in order once more. Looking at it's current state is overwhelming but it needs to be done. Don't get me wrong, it's not a disaster or a health hazard or anything but we have too much stuff that we don't need or use; I haven't given a deep clean to the house since we moved in two and a half years ago.

So I devised a plan: First, I will spot clean the usual, lived in areas. Then I will go to the areas that look pretty bad and make a plan for those areas (like the totes in the office that prevent us from using the elliptical...in order for them to go anywhere they need to go in the shed for storage...but the shed needs cleaned out first....and then they can go there until we pack up the Christmas stuff again...then that needs to go back to the top of the shed so I can clean out the storage unit so we can get storage stuff into the shed to get rid of the storage unit and save money monthly).

I write this not only to make myself accountable but to show support for others. You are not alone! Don't let anyone shame you into thinking you are the only one who has a messy house. As messy as our house is, I have been told many times that it looks clean compared to theirs or compared to other people's with children. But a messy house can sometimes derail a relationship and I sometimes feel like my husband and I are fighting over the mess or clutter and we lose something in our relationship with every bickering match we have. Unfortunately, I am  not alone in that. Many marriages suffer over clutter and it is time to take back our lives. It can be done. It has to be prioritized.

10 More Days of Elf on The Shelf

So we started our Elf on The Shelf early this year because we bought her this year and were excited to start. Maybe next year we will start on Thanksgiving like most of the rest of the world, especially if I can't come up with anything new for ideas!

If you want more ideas, see my previous post where I show the first 15 days of ideas!

Day 16: December 3: We sometimes have a hard time with our daughter brushing her teeth before bed. When she gave us a really hard time, I decided to put Charlotte into action. My husband is against using her for "naughty" and "nice" bribes, so I used a different but similar tactic. See the note Charlotte left along with a new toothbrush and her toothpaste message on the mirror. Also, note: toothpaste is VERY hard to get off the mirror...especially when for 24ish hours! If this idea is used, first, smear toothpaste with paper towel, douse with glass cleaner, use paper towel once over with glass cleaner, then wet a hand towel with water and scrub that way, after the toothpaste is off, clean with glass cleaner again....best method!

Day 17: December 4: My daughter and I need to bake cookies for her snack day in class on the 6th, Charlotte decided she would help get things out and ready for us! 

Day 18: December 5th: Today Charlotte decided that she would hang out in the refrigerator, missing the cold of the North Pole. 

Day 19: December 6th: Charlotte and Anna were riding horses under the tree when we woke up this morning! 

Day 20: December 7th: Charlotte and the snow man decided to play Connect Four and eat Veggie Straws

Day 21: December 8th: Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture before someone messed up the scene, but Charlotte gave a free concert to the stuffed animals under the tree! 

Day 22: December 9th: Charlotte brought us some holiday M&M's and she decided to start eating them without us! 

 Day 23: December 10th: Charlotte made a "shoe shoe train" under the Christmas tree.

Day 24: December 11th: The elf decided to build some Lego things for kiddo. 

Day 25: December 12th: After the disaster with the snowman, I think Charlotte felt bad and brought us a different kind of snow.

Day 26: December 13th: Mario, Yoshi, and the Lego people joined Charlotte for a game of "Left, Center, Right"

The First 15 Days of Elf on The Shelf

Ever since I was a child, there was an elf that always came to our house on Christmas Eve with Santa to help deliver toys. He would always get into mischief. This was WAY before Elf on The Shelf came to existence. We never knew what he looked like, or anything about him but he wrote poorly and always signed his name with Santa on the letters back to us. Sometimes he would put fingerprints on the wall with frosting, and sometimes he would fill dad's pewter cannon with gerbil seed and aim it at the gerbil cage.

When our daughter was born, the elf still showed up at our place with Santa pulling the same sort of mischievous things as he did when my brother and I were kids. Then, something happened...Elf on The Shelf came out in all the stores. My husband and I fought it thinking it undermined our elf, thinking it was a craze that we didn't want to buy into. But, then our daughter turned 5 and saw it. She wanted one and we thought about it but didn't get it. However, this year our daughter still wanted one. Ever since the beginning of November, all she wanted to talk about was her best friend and her elf Tickles.

We caved. We bought our daughter an Elf on The Shelf. Since this was our first year, we bought her on November 17th and we opened her on November 18th. We started her off that day because we 1. didn't know the "rule" about starting on Thanksgiving, and  2. didn't want to wait. I had been on Pinterest for weeks since we started talking about possibly buying the elf looking for fun things to do with it. So here is what I came up with:

Day 1: November 18th: Elf went through our Christmas dvds and blu-rays and got them out.

Day 2: November 19th: Fishing in the sink with goldfish crackers

 Day 3: November 20th: Charlotte decided to go Shopkins shopping

Day 4: November 21st: Getting her morning caffeine fix:

Day 5: November 22nd: Our daughter told Charlotte that she had to go somewhere up high because we were hosting Thanksgiving and there would be a lot of people there. Charlotte decided to go atop the shelf in the kitchen and sample some dog biscuits.

 Day 6: November 23rd: The Elf was caught eating Thin Mints and creating a wall and chair out of Jenga blocks.

Day 7: November 24th: The elf decided that she would sit in the Christmas tree that we put up today.

Day 8: November 25th: Today the tree fell down and Charlotte was still in it! She broke her leg and showed up with a cast. Since she fell, we had to pick her up. The rules state that if you touch the elf you need to apologize or sprinkle cinnamon near her so she can get her magic back or write her a note or even have the family sing Christmas carols. I apologized and I think she understood.

Day 9: November 26th: Today Charlotte thought it would be fun to feed the rubber duckies in the bathtub with some old bread

Day 10: November 27th: I think Charlotte thought that ELF brand makeup was made for Elves. She got into my makeup and took it into the spare bathroom to put it on.

Day 11: November 28th: Sleepover time!

Day 12: November 29th: Charlotte got ahold of the catalog we were looking at and decided to choose some things for herself!

Day 13: November 30th: The Elf decided to play the Rock Band drum kit and also thought it would be a great idea to fold our daughter's laundry for her. She left her a note all about it.

Day 14: December 1:  Charlotte decided to take a bath using a Barbie tub and some cotton balls

Day 15: December 2: Charlotte brought our daughter a snowman from the North Pole, unfortunately it melted in the tupperware dish before we woke up!

DIY Halloween Potion Bottles

I love Halloween! I have always decorated a little bit but two and a half years ago when we bought our house I was very excited for Halloween, I just didn't have a lot of decorations.
The first Halloween we had our house, we didn't decorate much because we had a kid and we took her trick-or-treating.
Last year, we didn't decorate for the same reason, however what happened was, our five year old decided she wanted to go downtown for trick-or-treating but afterward said she wanted to "sell candy," (pass out candy).
This year, we asked early what she wanted to do. She wanted to do the same as last year. So we planned to decorate the yard and have a projector.
I found DIY potion bottles on Pinterest and started my plan!

First, I collected bottles for about a month. After we used up our syrup, I rinsed out the bottle, after kiddo drank milk from a fast food restaurant, I cleaned that out, old pill bottles, etc.
After I collected them and cleaned them, I bought some paints. I purchased them at Menards, but finding craft acrylic paints is very easy. I got one brown and one silver. I also grabbed a can of chalkboard pain. I used the spray kind and found that next time, it might be better to use the paint on kind because it was messy and smelly. I grabbed my hot glue gun, some paint brushes, and some newspaper and went to work!

The first step in the actual creation of the bottles was to use the hot glue to label each bottle. Here you see "Eye Of Newt."

I spray painted the bottles with the chalkboard paint (although next time I think I will use the paint on kind, this was messy and smelled bad and I ended up going outside and putting on gloves to do the rest of them).

I used some brown paint and a small paint brush after the chalkboard paint was dry.This gave it the effect of an old bottle. I used a small bristled brush which worked okay, but definitely worked better after the paint had hardened on it and I dipped it in fresh paint so it streaked a bit. I also found later that a foam brush worked really well too.

I completed the bottles by painting the caps silver and brushing them a bit to look like the silver was old.

Here are some of my finished products. My husband thinks the "Eye of Newt" looks too much like a syrup bottle but I felt it looked cool still. The "Eyeballs" and "Mandrake Draught" are two of my favorites.

My absolute favorites though? The "Bat Toes" (a small medicine bottle) and "Unicorn Blood" (an old coffee creamer bottle). My husband's favorite? The "Unicorn Blood." I don't think these are fabulous, but definitely good for a DIY and adds something to our outdoor Halloween set up!

New Job, New Goals

Unfortunately, I was laid off from my job effective September 15th. I was given two weeks notice, so I had time to see how to file for unemployment and look for work. My husband and I had just discussed about a week or so before I got the news; how perfect it would be for our lifestyle for me to work part time at a local job when our child was in school so I could take care of the house more and be there for her. Child care, although not quite as expensive as if she were not in school was about $80 a week and gas to and from work for just myself was between $120-$200 a month depending on how much gas costs, if I could find flex fuel when it was time to fuel up and if we went anywhere special on the weekend. My job didn't really make me much money and my boss gave me a hard time about things in addition to my not having much time to do housework or exercise because I was either tired or just didn't want to before or after work. Fortunately, on my last week of work, I had two job interviews and was offered both jobs on the spot. I decided to take one of them working for not much money, but part time and with a boss who seemed to understand my family needs coming first. So, I start a new job on Wednesday but before that, I have a couple days to get things in order at home and start our new routine, which I am extremely excited about!

Goal 1: Eat better! 
Isn't this everyone's goal? I am a picky eater. I blame it on my parents for letting me eat what I wanted as a kid and fixing everyone different meals every night and not having a lot of lean meats, fruits and veggies in the house to offer.
I started this weekend (well, a little). My husband went to Sam's Club yesterday and brought me home a Ninja Auto-IQ Kitchen System since my smoothie maker broke last weekend and I wanted a new one so I could try having smoothies. So far, we have made smoothies 3 times, made salsa and made (unhealthy) ice cream flurries. I went to the store and purchased frozen and fresh fruit, some kale and spinach and other various fresh veggies to both eat and pop in a smoothie. I have also been pinning smoothie recipes on Pinterest!
Tonight we had a grilled chicken (on the George Foreman Grill) caesar salad with some whole grain veggie pasta for dinner.
I feel like I am on my way already!

Goal 2: Exercise at least 3 days a week! 
Many of us struggle with exercise. We either don't want to get up early or don't feel like it after work. I am one of those people. Although I don't mind getting up early, and actually like to work out in the morning, I have a hard time with it because I need to shower after I exercise and that can be a struggle trying to get up early enough to do that plus get the kiddo up to take her to school.
Fortunately for me, my new job will allow me to take the kid to school at the start of school (instead of having to get her to morning program before school and try to make it to work half an hour away by 8:00am). So, if I still get up at the same time I always did, I can work out and then get the kiddo up and get her starting to get ready and still have time to shower and get myself ready on time. We also tend to neglect walking the dog, I plan to change this, which would be better for both of us.

Goal 3: Clean the house!
I know, this seems like a strange goal, but really, I am a bit of a pack rat and it is very hard for me to get cleaning done on the weekends when my husband always wants to go somewhere since it is the only time we get to have family time. It is also hard for me to do much when I get home from work because first we have to eat, then I clean up and load the dishwasher and make sure lunch for my husband is ready to go and get the kiddo to clean up and by the time that is all done, it is snack time then time for bed almost!
So this goal is really going to be a challenge, even working part time, I will not have much time extra to clean, but I need to get down to it and really work at it. We haven't even unpacked everything from moving in 2 years ago, and I don't get time to "deep clean" things a lot. We also have a full shed, a messy office and a disorganized kitchen! My husband says we have "too much stuff," I say we just need to have better organization!

So here's to my goals!

Homemade Slurpees and Movie Theater Popcorn

We decided to have a family movie night last night, something we haven't done in a long time! To start off our night, we went shopping for some supplies, then chose some movies at the local video store.

Our goal was to make homemade Slurpees. I chose a couple recipes online to try and got the ice cream maker out and the smoothie maker too.

For our first recipe I tried using the ice cream maker, club soda and cherry Kool-aid. I followed the Kool-aid directions using the club soda instead of water and I also added a little ice.

I used the ice cream maker for about 30 minutes and then put the liquid in cups and froze it.

This recipe didn't turn out right. As it turns out I should have had the barrel of the ice cream maker in the freezer for a few hours at least first, but this was a last minute plan. It was not very tasty either.

The next recipe I tried was 1c club soda, 2.5 cups ice, 1/2 c sugar and the amount of cherry Kool-aid that makes 2 qts. of Kool-aid. I put these things in the smoothie maker and blended until the ice was crushed. I poured the liquid into cups and put it in the freezer. This recipe looked more promising, it was already the consistency of Slush Puppies. 

About 45 minutes to an hour later, the consistency was still the same. We decided not to drink these but to try again the next day, although our daughter did try hers. 

We also tried a new recipe for popcorn. We wanted that "movie theater" taste but without the popcorn getting soggy from butter. My husband was in charge of the popcorn. We chose the white kernels we bought at an apple orchard back in my hometown last Halloween. We melted butter and scraped off the top of the fat the first thirty seconds of microwaving. To add that yummy flavor, we decided to try putting coconut oil in the pan instead of vegetable or canola oil. We topped off the popcorn with the butter we had made and some popcorn seasoning that we purchased since we couldn't find Flavocal (the seasoning that my husband researched that was supposed to make the popcorn taste like the movie theaters make). 

The popcorn was delicious! Our snacks were made complete with a few sweet treats as well! 

Overall, success with movie night, but not so much success in Slurpees. We will try another recipe again!