"Look and see, for everyone is coming home!" Isaiah 60:4

Monday, May 7, 2012

Open House Saturday at KSU! and a Garden 2012 Update

We had a fun time as always when we went to Manhattan for Open House a couple weekends ago. First we stopped at a pancake feed in Seaton Hall for lunch.

Then we made our way across the Bosco Student Plaza to the Union to go to Varney's Bookstore. While we were there, the KSU Marching Band preformed outside on the Plaza. Duncan did his first Wabash!
I also bought some beautiful flowers from the KSU Horticulture Dept.
Lavender in the middle and Viola around the outside. A couple days after this a rabbit came and ate my violas :(
Eventually we made our way to Call Hall for the infamous ice cream. The kids and I entertained ourselves by taking pictures...




 ...while we were waiting for the line to move.




Enjoying our ice cream! YUM!




 I particularly like this pic!


We also stopped by the Bakery Science Club's bake sale and picked up cookies and tortillas (which were surprisingly authentic!) We used up 4 packages in a week and a half!

We also stopped by Doughboys for some dinner before we left town. As always, the pizza was great!


We had a good day but were incredibly tired the next day. Duncan decided he had to eat twice on the typically 2 hour trip home, so it actually took us somewhere close to 3.5 hours to get back to KC. We were all glad to be out of the car.
In other news, here's what the garden is doing so far this year. Not too much happening, especially since we're dragging our feet getting the veggie garden in. I had no time to plant anything from seed, so I've bought all our tomatoes and will be buying our peppers also. The front yard has had a few pretty blooms.
The blueberry bush is doing great! We're excited to have a few berries ripen this year!
 Here's our Knock-out Rose bush this year!

 This is the rose bush I bought for myself for Mother's Day last year. Truth be told, I'm a little disappointed in this bush. It's only produced two blooms...ever. One last year and this one. :(
 These are cone flowers! I'm excited for these since they were free. When last year's flowers died and dried up, I took the seeds and sprinkled them all over the surrounding area in the garden. This year I've got 5-8 new plants! I love to get flowers for free!

I'm excited to start tackling the assignments Money Saving Mom has on her 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home series. I'm praying my way through these next couple days, that I'll be able to make some good progress, but also trying to remember that any little success is still a success.




Saturday, May 5, 2012

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Day 3

FINALLY! I got this assignment done! I've been so busy these past few days. It's one of those seasons in life when you can't figure out where your day has gone. Today was particularly difficult and would have been near impossible to get through had it not been for a wonderful family friend, Melissa, and Dylan coming to my rescue.

Shawn woke up sick this morning. I had to get to the grocery store as it was Isabel's day to bring snack for her preschool class. I soon found out there was no way I would be able to get Shawn in the car and down the road without needing to clean up a huge mess. So I called Melissa and she came to take Isa to preschool, stopped by the grocery store and got Isabel's snack, and then came back to the house to help me juggle the boys. Dylan came home for the day and between the three of us we were able to take care of the kiddos. Thankfully around that time Shawn started feeling much better, so I was able to get a bunch done with Dylan home. Here's a run down of the day:

Day 3 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}
I didn't do this today for good reason. I didn't know how many times I would be thrown up on, so I figured there's no reason to ruin my "good" clothes!
::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea, refer to your list of weekly goals, and make a list of no more than 5-7 specific things you want to accomplish today.
I realize this picture is from 4/26 but that's how long I've been trying to get to this assignment. Don't judge!

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}
Got to the morning routine a little late today. Did a couple loads of laundry to make sure there was nothing gross lying around in the hampers. 
::Set the timer for 15 minutes and do a quick-clean of your bedroom: throw out any trash, put away items that are out of place, get rid of clutter, tidy up, vacuum, and make your bed.
I've gotten to this part of the assignment a couple times now. Here's the first 15 minute before and after.






 and then the second 15 minute session:





Yes, I realize there is still a MOUNTAIN of laundry there, but I am working on it!
::Clean out your freezer(s). If you need step-by-step help, read this guide on How to Clean Out Your Freezer.
FINALLY, it is done! I recruited Dyl to help me with this and together we were done with this project in about 45 minutes. First we got rid of all the things that needed to be thrown out and moved some things down to our deep freezer. We will be tackling that freezer a different day.


Horray for hubbies who clean! Isn't he awesome?!?!


 Yay for a clean freezer! We have more room for freezer cooking meals, so I've got some motivation to get some done.
::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.
 Here's what I got rid of a few days ago. The pillow is going to be donated to the crisis pregnancy center we're adopting from, the shoes are being thrown out and the magazines are being recycled. I also have a few other maternity clothes that are going in the donation pile, so I'm counting those also.

I know I've got some work to do, but I also know that if I am too hard on myself right now, I stress about things more than I need to. The season my family is in right now is quite hectic with 3 children 5 and under. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance things around the house and getting my feet steady on a schedule to help through the day. It seems once I do I'm always thrown a curve ball from somewhere, whether it be the baby or just other circumstances in life. Progress and baby steps in the right direction are what I need to focus on and not stress about making significant leaps and bounds all in one day. Thank you so much for your patience with me!