"some of my clothes need ironed"

That's what the husband told me tonight.

Want to know what I said?  "you get on that, honey."  I don't really care if you're wrinkled.  I'm just glad I have the energy to make sure the clothes are clean.

Heck, some days, I cheat, fluff up the kiddo's favorite socks in the dryer and call them clean. 

If you told me a year ago that my house would have a layer of dust on the furniture, no freshly-vacuumed lines in the carpet and a teetering pile of clean laundry piled up in the laundry basket, probably very unlikely to ever see a hanger, I would say "shut your mouth!"

But, you know what?

This working mommy is T.I.R.E.D.

And I sort of don't care. 

Bad, I know, but it is what it is. 

The house is picked up.  It's not a disaster, it's just not dusted, vacuumed and tidied on a daily basis like it used to be.  Laundry was done, folded and put away.  It's the put away part that kills me.

But, you know what?

My kiddo is happy, healthy and loves me even if I'm frantically searching every morning for one of his sets of favorite socks.  And even though I don't have a big dinner waiting every day or freshly baked cookies to snack on.

That all went out the window when I started working full time. 

There are just not enough hours in the day. 

And the husband is probably digging the fact that I don't fret over out of place pillows or something not sitting just so on the table.  He's been trying to get me to relax for years.  Guess we figured out what would make me just a little less particular...lack of sleep.

living with OCD, not me...

The title of my husband's blog, if he wrote one, would be about my OCD issues.

I am not OCD.

I am particular.  I do like order.  Organization and symmetry.  I also like clean, all the time. 

I know, it's just not possible, especially now that I am working full time.  When I was a stay-at-home mom I prided myself in my clean, organized house.  Nowadays, I'll take picked up.

I can't say that it doesn't bother me not having the house as tidy, dust-free and freshly-vacuumed as I'd like, but my husband also has a job to do and can't get to the cleaning like I would like. 

My husband does work from a home office though, which is nice, he can pick up and do chores through the course of the day.  But he just doesn't see the clutter, the mess that I see. Shoes scattered about the living room, work papers in various piles, an empty soda can from lunch sitting on the ottoman....those aren't "clutter" or "mess" to him.  It's not a mess until he can't find something or trips on something. 

We're so different when it comes to clutter. 

If I had my way, a lot of stuff would be donated, shredded or trashed.  My husband likes to hang onto things a bit more, even if we don't have a place for it.  Luckily, that's about his only fault..or my only fault, depending on which side of the clutter you are. 

As much as I try to keep my husband in order, it's just not rubbing off on him or his habits.  He's stubborn.  Good thing he has me, and my OCD to keep him contained. 

spring cleaning...

Our house has anxiously been awaiting the arrival of spring.  Warmer temperatures can't get here soon enough.  One day we think spring is just about here, we get all excited about shedding some heavier layers of clothing, then Mother Nature gets a good laugh at us and drops an inch or two of snow. 

So many wonderful and fun things come with our spring... soccer, warm temps, dreaming up planting and gardens.  Bad things come with spring, too, allergies being one thing and spring cleaning being the other.  Who has time for allergies or cleaning?  Not me.

I was just chatting with a friend about cleaning.  How we both dislike it.  If you know me well, you might be rubbing your eyes and making sure you're reading what I just said correctly... I don't like to clean!

A year ago today I would have said I loved cleaning.  I found great satisfaction in a squeaky clean house with every item in it's spot, the bottom of the hamper empty and freshly vacuumed lines in the carpet. 

Not any more.

These days, now that I'm working full time, I'll take a nicely picked up house.  Heck, some days I don't even care about that, but for the most part, I enjoy a tidy house.  I can sit and chill out much better after a day of work if there isn't a mess at my feet, in the sink or on the floor.  But some days, I just don't care.

My house isn't filthy.  It's just not spotless, like I used to think it needed to be.  Working 40 hour weeks has made me realize that there is more important things to be done with my family and cleaning comes when there is time. 

As some of my friends start their version of spring cleaning... emptying out the house to vacuum, mop and wipe down every square inch of their house, I'll be walking around picking up those big out of place items, running the vacuum quickly through the room and spraying a little Febreeze (which really isn't Febreeze, it's a homemade recipe, because I'm cheap frugal) in hopes that you'll love the smell and ignore the layer of dust I most likely forgot to wipe up.

Happy Spring!

monday starts a new routine...

I admit, I've been spoiled.  Since my little bug has been around, I've either worked from a home office, was a stay-at-home-mom or worked a 2nd or 3rd shift schedule.  Mornings were easy here.  No getting myself and the little bug up and out the door.  The husband never packed his lunch for work, so I never had to help him beyond turning on the coffee pot. 

Monday, that all changes.  Monday I will start a full-time job.  And I'm lucky that I won't have to be in until 9am, so I still get to drop my bug off at school and then be on my way.  But it's going to mean getting both of us up and ready and out the door slightly before 8am.  Can we do it?

A new schedule is going to be put into effect.  I'm pretty good at packing lunches on the fly but packing mine and GQ's; I think maybe packing the night prior is going to be necessary.  Clothes will need to be ready and waiting and one little person is going to have to shower at night, every night.  Two people showering in the AM might make bathroom time a bit hairy. 

We shall see how things go our first week.  I'm sure we'll learn things, we'll tweak things, but we'll be OK.  Lots of people do it everyday with more than one child. 

I got this.

Thank goodness the husband works from home...otherwise I could guarantee morning chaos!

we've come so far...

It's hard to believe that one year ago 15 months ago we were literally shoving GQ into his classroom and running the other direction.  He cried almost every morning before school, he didn't want to leave us.

Fast forward to 2013, Ohio, and now I barely see him until dinner.  School drop-offs are a breeze.  He hates to be late and is out of the car with a quick kiss and "I love you!"  Afternoon bus rides home are social time and then he gives us about 30 minutes of chat and snack, then he's off, running with his friends until dinner.

I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to know he loves school, where he's living and his friends.  His best friends.  They are one goofy bunch of boys, but they're a good little bunch.

What a difference a little growth, maturity, good friends and being closer to family makes!

you wash your face with what...

Oil.

Yes, I wash my face with oil.  Strange, I know.  I thought the same thing when I first read about the oil-cleansing method, but now I'm a believer.

What is the oil-cleansing method, you ask?

It's literally washing your face with oil.  At the end of every day, I slather my face in oil, steam it with a hot wash rag, wipe it off and then put a layer of coconut oil on before heading to bed.  I think my husband thinks I'm a little weird, but I can see a big difference in my skin just in the two weeks I've been using this method.

This website has a detailed explanation of why it works, but basically oil dissolves oil.  Castor oil, which is an important ingredient, has cleansing and healing properties.  Massaged into your skin, it helps dissolve the dirt and oils that clog your pores and give you irritated skin, black heads, etc.

Castor oil is a thicker oil and needs to be thinned, so I use sunflower seed oil to do that.  You can use any vegetable oil though...whatever your preference.  Below is a guide that shows mixture ratios to help customize to your skin.  My skin is a little bit combo and a little bit dry, depending on the season, so I use 25% castor and 75% sunflower seed.

• oily: 30% castor 70% other oil
• balanced: 20% castor 80% other oil
• dry: 10% castor 90% other oil

Too much castor oil can be drying, so you'll probably have to experiment with mixture initially until you find what is right for your skin tone.  I have a 3 oz bottle that I mix in and use, that way if I need to make adjustments, I'm not wasting a lot of oils trying to get my perfect blend.

Once you have your blend, you're ready to cleanse:

1. Gently shake your oil mixture and pour about a quarter size onto palm.
2. Rub hands together to warm the oil, then massage onto face.  I generally massage about a minute, concentrating on that T-zone area.
3. Wet a wash rag with hot water.  Not so hot to scald but enough to steam your face.
4. Squeeze excess water from rag and place over face to allow it to steam.  Let the wet rag steam your face until it cool. 
5. Gently wipe away the oil from your face.
6. Repeat step 3
7. Repeat step 4
8. Now, use a clean rag to gently wipe the remaining oil from your face.
9. If your face feels like you need some moisturizer, apply a light layer.  I use coconut oil on mine.

In the time I've been using this method my skin has gotten softer, cleaner and my pores are so clean.  Make-up goes on so much more easily, because I now have a nice, clean base.  I have larger pores in the T-zone and they are almost invisible because they're clean.  I'm in love with this method!  

I'm convinced this is exactly what my skin needed.  I've never had acne, but my skin was break-out prone, even in adult years.  Annoying.  This method seems to be the answer for my skin.  

My face has a more even tone.  It's soft, and it looks and feels healthy.  I'm sure I'll get the occasional breakout, but the skin on my face has really calmed down and seems to love me and I'm loving it.

warning: shameless bragging ahead...

My super-duper little student has scored nothing but 100% or better (bonus words) since he's begun taking spelling tests at school in first grade.  Now into second grade the streak continues.  

I'm amazed every Monday when we sit down to go over the set of words for the week and he is spelling them without issue.  Even the bonus words.  

I was and still am a good speller.  I know it's not always easy for everybody and with the reliance spell check functions in all our computer programs it's become easier to not be a good speller.  I'm reminded everyday at work how important spelling really is as I enter patient ailments into a computer for the entire emergency department physicians and nurses to see.  How embarrassing it would be to misspell diarrhea!  I sometimes wish I had spell check because words we don't often use are easy to forget how to spell or you spell them correctly but question yourself.  

Anyway...I'm relieved and so proud of my little guy being the speller he is.  His daddy, once a spelling bee finalist, is probably prouder than me.  Who knows, maybe one day he'll follow in his dad's footsteps and be on a stage spelling words we've never heard to an audience of people.  

put the treadle to the metal...

After having plans in my head to recover my couch throw pillows for the past almost year, I finally did it.  This has been a long work in progress.

The idea popped up almost a year ago.

I borrowed my mom's sewing machine back in October.

Bought the material back in November.

Sewed three pillows on three sides about three weeks ago.

Finally shoved the inserts in and sewed shut today, December 19th.

I now love my new pillows!  I don't want anybody to sit on my couch and mess them up.  I'm guessing the husband won't consider using the floor or the side chair to lay in.  The pillows will be on the floor in no time flat.

This was my first time in a long time sewing.  Pillows are pretty basic, but by the last pillow, the larger, checked pillow, I learned to make and envelope back and forget about blind stitching the stuffed pillow closed.

By the way, after many years of not sewing, using my mom's machine was super-easy!  She has a Brother LX2500.  So easy to use and to thread, including the bobbin.  When I buy myself a machine, this will be the one.  Nothing fancy, but just the right amount of options to not confuse me.  That's my kind of machine.

Supplies for my pillow covers were less than $60 for five pillows.  I have material and some stuffing left, in case I don't want to use one of my inserts, so making these pillows was very economical.  I priced a throw pillow here and there and they range from $24 - $60 per pillow...so I got a deal!

say cheese...

Every year I try to get GQ's pictures taken.  Most of the time I've taken him for professional portraits, but this year, I thought I'd try my hand at it.  I love (LOVE) candid shots and I have a pretty fancy DSLR camera (which I'm only certain how to work about 10% of it) so, why not try them myself.  We had a beautiful fall November weekend, mild temperatures and sun...perfect for pictures!

My little bug is quite the little stinker, getting a smile that doesn't look too contrived is next to impossible.  Reason #1 why I love candid photo shoots, no posing (well, maybe a little) but just having fun and snapping pictures.  I got about 20 good pictures that I loved, too hard to narrow down which to put on our holiday card.  About 75% of the shots don't capture a smile.  At least not a traditional smile, just my ornery bug being himself...full of life and love and fun!  Those are my favorite kinds of smiles.

Hope you enjoy a few of my shots:

trash to treasure...

So it wasn't really trash, but it definitely needed some TLC.  I took our TV console that we paid a lot of money for and gave it a new life.  The console got a bit dinged, along w/some of our other pieces, in our move, and they weren't good dings that gave it character, so I fixed them.

Our family room can be a bit on the dark side, so I added some lightness with this piece.  This is probably the biggest piece I've given new life to.  I'm learning new things each time I take on a project.  I'm learning tricks to make the process quicker and easier and I'm learning that imperfection makes it perfection for what I had in mind.

This piece was originally an espresso color.  The doors had the colored pattern on them, which I liked and decided to keep, the rest was going to be changed.  I sanded, primed, painted two coats, roughed up the edges and then waxed.  Easy-peasy!

I'm now in love again with my TV console.  And I'm finding lots of reasons to not buy new furniture when there is so much you can do with paint!