Today's List

1. Keep the basics going (laundry, dishes, trash)
2. Finish cleaning living room (kid clutter, dust, vacuum)
3. Pack living room
4. Work on desk (sort, pack, clean)
5. Clean up driveway and side yard
6. Put gray table in garage
7. Set up extra wooden table in garage
8. Take all garage sale stuff outside onto driveway
9. Start sorting
10. Go to bank and get cash
11. Buy garage sale signs (5)
12. Put signs out tonight after dark

Did I mention that I am having a $1 Garage Sale tomorrow-Sunday?

Here's the plan: Friday everything is $1 (like Dollar Tree), Saturday everything is $.50, and Sunday I am putting a sign out that says FREE- Take It!!
Monday morning I am putting everything out on the curb and Tuesday is trash day. I can't wait to get rid of all of that junk!

Did I mention that we would be done painting a few days ago? Ha ha ha ha ha What was I thinking?? Painting is a NEVER ENDING project, you see. Especially when you have to go back for more paint and Lowe's doesn't get the paint matched exactly and so when you paint the wall and think it is going to match the color that is already on the wall, when it dries you find out that it is a slight shade lighter.
Oh well, who cares? My solution to this problem: come home, take Nyquil, and go to bed at 9 pm.
This morning I feel rested and ready to deal with mismatching paint.

Beauty in the Common Things: working together, having a great marriage that will withstand extreme stress, happy children, washing machines
Listen In: garage door opening
Supper Plans: not sure yet
Today I Plan To: work through my To Do list, while taking care of little ones. You know, the norm.
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine on the grass

Beauty in the Common Things: husbands who take kids to school for you
Good Things: It is supposed to get to 78 degrees here today, Michelle had a healthy baby boy, my children are all recovered from the flu, I am also recovered from the flu, Jesus loves me, and my husband is off work all week!!
Listen In: Me telling my 5 year old son that if he didn't want to brush his teeth everyday he should have been born in Africa. ??? Intelligent conversations like these happen often when I am around. (Hopefully no one from Africa is reading this and getting offended. No offense intended, it just popped out of my mouth.)
Supper Plans: roasted chicken, baked potatoes, green beans
Today I Plan To: help dh paint new house (We will FINALLY be finished painting today. I repainted my kitchen and my bedroom and that slowed us down quite a bit.)
View From the Kitchen Window: sunshine

Congrats to Mrs. Happy!!

I just got the wonderful news that my great friend, Mrs. Happy, will be having a baby BOY in late July/early August!! She and her hubby have 2 sweet little girls, so there is much excitement around their house right now. There's nothing like a little boy to shake things up in life! ; )

We just got back from the pediatrician. Dd13 and Ds9 have the flu, type b. I woke up last night feeling like I had been hit by a mack truck. I am assuming I have the same thing.
I am getting ready to call dh and ask him to take 1/2 day of vacation to come home and take care of me. I just need to sleep.
Have a great weekend and I will hopefully be back Monday.

It is rainy and dreary here today. I have been to the paint store to get more stain for the wood trim in the new house. Yesterday I accidentally bought 2 gallons of the wrong color stain so this morning I took it back. They didn't have the color I need so this afternoon at 2 they will have it and I have to go back and pick it up.

Then I need to run to Lowe's and order our floor tile, bath tile, linoleum for kids' bathrooms, and Formica for cabinet tops. I am also thinking of ordering some glass tiles for behind the oven/stove area.

I have 3 kids down with this flu or virus that we have been passing around. Dd13 is beginning to improve, ds9 woke up with a fever this morning, and ds5 had a fever yesterday when I picked him up from Pre-K. Yuck! So far I just have allergy symptoms...itchy, watery eyes and nose, scratchy throat, sneezing. No fever. I feel pretty good, considering. Dh has also managed to stay healthy.

Dh's boss has been here all week from California. He has been working late all week. Last night he got home after 10 and the 2 nights before that he was home after 9. I am ready for him to be home at a normal time again! 5:30 is his norm.

Papa (Dad) was supposed to go home today because he has a wedding to be in tomorrow night, but the roads in OKC are icy so he has to stay here another night. And he can't even come over and visit with us because the kids are sick! He will have to spend another night out in the camper by himself. This house project is almost over and he will get to go home and stay home. I'm sure he and Mom will both be glad to see the end of this project. It has been 7 months so far. By the time we are completely finished I think it will be an 8-month project. He hasn't been here the whole time, but he has done quite a bit of traveling back and forth. Lately, he has been here all week and then he goes home for the weekends and is back on Monday morning.

That's about it for an update.

Have a great Thursday!

Reality vs. Plans

What I am actually doing today: taking care of sick dd13 and ds5, cleaning up dd2' s messes, being physically drained, wishing it was naptime, planning an outing to Chick fil A drive thru for lunch, and watching Baby take HIS FIRST STEPS!!!!

Wasn't it just yesterday that he looked like this??

Beauty in the Common Things: birdsong in the morning
Listen In: my printer printing out calendar pages for March
Supper Plans: pizza
Today I Plan To: school with dd13, take care of sick ds5, shuttle boys back and forth to school, attempt (again) to shop for jeans, prepare tax return
View From the Kitchen Window: frost

Beauty in the Common Things: the right color on the wall
Listen In: Andy Griffith
Supper Plans: not sure yet...I think Pizza Potatoes (Fix It and Forget It)
Today I Plan To: school with dd13, laundry, vacuum, return jeans to Beall's, shop for new jeans at JCPenney, give 30-day notice to landlords, buy new air filter and new ink cartidge

Look what happened at our house tonight!

Ds 5 started feeling a bit better after taking ibuprofen. He started jumping around, then he fell and hit his head on the corner of the piano bench. The picture above is what resulted. We went to the ER, then decided to come back home and evaluate it more before seeing a doctor.
On Dr. Sears' website (www.askdrsears.com) he says that if the cut is gaping open 3/16" you need to get it stitched closed. I measured ds5's cut and it is 2/16". The advice given was to use either steri-strips or skin super glue. We cut his hair and tried to use steri-strips, but that didn't work, so we used skin super glue. We held the wound together and glued it shut. It worked! The bleeding has stopped. We have given him ibuprofen and he is feeling lots better.

Dr. Sears says there are two reasons to go ahead with stitches: 1) to stop bleeding, 2) for cosmetic reasons. He says if the cut is in a spot that will not be seen, you can try to avoid stitches by trying to close the wound at home.

I really like Dr. Sears! I have read most of his books and I agree with a lot of what he advises. I am glad I looked at his website instead of taking my baby to the ER. I think they would have gone ahead and stitched it up if we had gone inside. But I think we made the best decision for ds5.

This morning I awoke to a houseful of puny children. 6 out of 7 children have some mysterious illness that mimics the flu. I guess it could be the real flu, but it resolves itself in 3-4 days, whereas the true flu takes a couple of weeks to get over, in our experience.

The first symptom is itchy, watery eyes (which, unfortunately, I have this morning)

Then an itchy throat

Then burning, hurting eyes- the eyeball and eye socket

Followed by high fever, lethargy, and body aches. Oh yes, and stomach aches that present themselves in a variety of ways. I will spare you those lovely details.

Yesterday Baby was the only healthy child. Last night he awakened with a fever and lots of crying. This morning B is the healthy one (although he is very cranky and precocious) and all of the other children are feeling the effects of this illness.

Daddy is out at the new house with Papa. Papa is painting the new cabinets (which are beautiful!) and Daddy is painting the interior of the house with a nifty spray gun thingy that his friend let him borrow.

I had great plans for today. I knew I would be dealing with some puniness, but I planned to get laundry finished up, floors vacuumed and swept, and trashcans emptied. But Baby has other plans for his mommy. Those plans include holding him constantly, alternating between rocking him in the rocking chair and walking around the room while holding him. I don’t mind, though. He is getting so big and active that I rarely get to just sit and hold him. The housework can wait a while. Maybe when Baby takes his nap I can get some things done.

I hope you all have a super Saturday and a sensational Sunday! (I couldn’t resist)

Dealing with stress God's way

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

"If I had $100 I would helpe peple pay hospitle billes. And food for peple that are weeke. And toys for childer. That have no toys."
~my 7-year old son, B

Making Our Home A Haven~Tackling the Laundry and Menu Plan Monday

Crystal, at Biblical Womanhood, has issued a challenge to tackle our laundry today. I desperately need this challenge! I, like Crystal, find it very easy to run the laundry through the washer and dryer. Then I pile it in baskets or on the couch, thinking I will fold it later. Later passes me by and the laundry stays on the couch. This happens several days in a row and we have a huge mountain of laundry that takes up the entire couch. We have to fish our clean laundry out of the pile and we also have to sit on the floor. It's a problem!

I am going to work on tackling our laundry today, even though it is already 2:19 pm and I have to pick up boys from school in an hour. I can still tackle it, right? My goal is to get all of the clean laundry folded and put away. There is a load in the washer and a load in the dryer that I want to finish up, too. And, last, but not least, I want to gather up all the dirty laundry and sort it all into baskets/hampers.

This past week was a crazy hectic week! My dad was down here working on the house and my in-laws were here working on the house as well. Lots of progress was made. One day we had people working on the wood floors, me painting, kids running around outside, Baby in the pack-n-play watching me paint, someone installing the garage door, the plumbers installing the aerobic septic system, and the people from the electric company putting in the permanent electricity to the house. I think my father-in-law was also working on electrical stuff in the house that day. It was CRAZY!! But fun!

Laundry just didn't make it high on the priority list last week. Today it is going to be very high on my priority list.

Monday:Cheeseburger Pie, green beans, fruit cocktail
Tuesday:Baked Penne Pasta, Spinach Salad, Garlic Cheese Toast
Wednesday: Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder, Spinach Salad, Cornbread
Thursday: kids' dinner party with mom and dad= heart-shaped pizzas, heart-shaped brownies with caramel and pecans, some kind of special drink; Mom and Dad's romantic dinner after the kids go to bed= T-bone steaks, baked potatoes, sauteed asparagus, Happy Valentine's Dessert Trifle
: )
Friday: Tuna Pasta, orange slices
Saturday: leftovers

Friday I chose to go to Mardel and then to eat with my sweet hubby. We had fun and it was a relaxing morning and afternoon. Dh works about 40 minutes from home and Mardel is an hour from home, so I was gone from about 10:30 until 3:00. Then it was time to pick up the boys from school.

Before I left, I emptied and filled the dishwasher and started a load of clothes in the washer. It wasn’t much, but it helped. When I got home, I had a mess to face, but it was okay. My husband really encouraged me to not worry about the mess right now. He says the same thing Annie says- Just do the basics right now and survive until we get into the new house. He is pretty laid back about the condition of our home. After a few days, the mess gets to me, but he is very relaxed about it.

Saturday I painted the new house all day. Ds9 went with me and really helped me a lot. We had fun together! Dh brought the other kids out a couple of times and I fed the baby and then he took them back home so I could get back to painting. I enjoyed seeing the rooms take on a "personality". Going from white sheetrocked walls to a warm, rich color made a huge difference. It is beginning to look like home!

Today I have been painting again. I have had Baby Girl and Baby in the pack-n-play with toys while I paint the kitchen. We came back into town to pick up ds5 from pre-k and now we are home for a few minutes eating lunch. We are going to spend as much time out there as Baby can handle. I really want to get those walls painted! Dh wants the painting completed before the wood floor gets installed. My dad is on his way down here to do the floors right now as I type so I had better hurry up and paint!

Have a great week!

My Cute Kids and Hot Hubby

Our New House

9 months old!!

Facing Discouragement and Fatigue

I am faced with the issue of discouragement quite often. For example, when I get a room tidied up and then look behind me to find Baby Girl making a mess in that newly cleaned room. That discourages me. Or when I walk into my boys’ bedroom to find that I can’t walk into the room because of all the clothes (clean and dirty mixed together) and toys scattered on the floor. Those things discourage me.

Christian motherhood and wifehood is a very challenging job. The nitty gritty details of everyday life seem so insignificant, yet they are what make our house a home, what make these nine people a family. Doing the dishes, tying shoe laces for the thousandth time because this kid will not learn to tie them on his own, taking out the trash, making my bed, reading a Bible story at breakfast, making sure dh and I have time together- all of these things are my service to the Lord and to my family. I know that. And I love that. I love that my job is to shape little hearts for Jesus. My job is to help my husband and take care of him. I love this wonderful occupation God has called me to.

Knowing all of this, why am I so discouraged and disheartened this morning? I hate it when I feel this way. It just doesn’t make sense. Knowing what a wonderful life I have, what a wonderful husband I have, what great children I have, feeling discouraged and depressed makes no sense. But it is what it is and this is how I am feeling this morning.

I started feeling this way yesterday afternoon. Baby Girl was making messes every time I turned my back! I left her alone in the kitchen eating a pb and honey sandwich while I wrote a quick thank you note that I had forgotten to write from Christmas. In about 3 minutes time, she had taken the lid off the honey, crawled under the table, and poured it out onto the floor, where she was eagerly eating it…off...the…floor. Ewww! I promptly disciplined her for that and put her in bed while I cleaned up the mess. While I was cleaning up the mess, she got out of her bed, went into my bathroom, got my conditioner, went back to bed, and poured conditioner on the bed, under the covers. She then got out the baby wipes and attempted to clean it all up. She did a pretty good job actually, but that is beside the point.

At this point, Baby was screaming because he is cutting his top front teeth and he just doesn’t feel well. I attempted to give him ibuprofen, but he spit it out all over his outfit. He then got put in bed as well.

Another issue that is discouraging to me is the fact that we have a few mice in our house. Gross!! The last time we had a mouse problem was when we were first married and lived in Norman, OK, in a tiny cute house. I saw a mouse, put out a trap, got it, end of story. This time, they seem to be multiplying. We have traditional traps, glue traps, and 2 different kinds of poison (hidden away from the kids’ reach), yet we still are seeing mice. The boys think it si great, Mommy does NOT think it is great. I am disgusted by mice. I feel like I must not be doing a good enough job of keeping the house clean. I try to keep all food cleaned up, but with 7 children, two of them under the age of 3, food gets spilled on the floor, taken into the living room, etc. I feel like this is war and the little creatures (the mice, not the children) are winning!

Okay, there you have it. All of these things have led to my discouragement I am feeling this morning. Last night I just wanted to get out of ehre, so I went to the store to buy coffee, a few Valentine’s cards, and fill up dh’s truck with gas. I stayed gone for about an hour, and came home to a big mess. Dh is a great hubby and daddy, but he doesn’t exactly clean up too well. That’s okay; I love him despite this flaw (smile). This morning I am still dealing with the mess, plus I turned off my alarm and slept in for an hour and a half. No Bible time, no prayer time, no shower, the clothes I want to wear are in the dryer, you get the picture.

I am considering two options:

1. Ignore the mess and the things I need to do, get dressed, go to Mardel and spend my gift card from Christmas, and go eat lunch with dh (I only have 2 little ones all day today)
2. Stay home, start my day over from the beginning and follow my morning routine that I know works so well.

Option 1 sounds much more fun, but I will still face the mess when I get home.

What do you think I should do?