Well Begun is Half Done

As the new year approaches, the hub and I always start thinking about dreams and goals for said new year.  I'm not a big "New Year's Resolution" proponent... I mean let's face it, we're all setting ourselves up for failure here.  A bunch of random I'm-gonna-start-this and I'm-gonna-stop-this attempts, all to begin on January 1st?  BUT, I do love the idea of a fresh start.  I dig the newness of a new year and thinking about all the possibilities of the next 12 months.  It's fun to daydream about where we'll be this time next year.  And I think it's important to sit down together and develop goals we want to accomplish over the next year. 

 

We had fun getting out the Christmas decorations this season...  I told y'all a while back that we had tucked away 25 different goals, wishes, and dreams for 2010 in our little advent calendar.  So in the middle of decking the halls, we sat down and pulled out all of those old folded-up pieces of paper to see how well we did.  Um... out of 25, the count was 11 yes-we-did-it, 2 we've-made-progress-on-that, and 12 yeah-that-didn't-happen.  Not such a great score, Rogers!  It was fun though - some were of course kinda silly.  I mean hello, coming up with 25 items was tough.  But, we had a really good laugh. I had totally forgotten half of the ones we wrote. 

 

We haven't had our *official* sit down for 2011 goal planning yet, but we already know some of the major ones.  One of our biggest struggles in general is keeping the house straight.  Which is REALLY sad, seeing as it's just us two.  Plus two dogs.  Who shed.  Lord help us when we have little rugrats tearing the place up!  Our problem is that we don't have a good plan.  We have tried the scheduling chores thing but that never panned out.  We did have a cleaning lady coming every other week, but that got nixed from the budget as soon as we started our Total Money Makeover a couple of years ago.  I think part of our problem is that we don't have a really routine schedule.  Sure, we both work regular "9 to 5" jobs Monday through Friday, but we've always got other stuff going on, whether it's small group, dinners with friends, working out (ha!), or working late... any number of things can tie up our weeknights.  And then our weekends never ever look the same.  We're just all over the place.  Which is my excuse for always being behind on laundry.  I'm not home long enough to get it all done!  And the thing is, I'm a total homebody.  So when I have a whole weekend at home to do domestic stuff, I am thrilled!

 

Now I know what you're thinking... "does your husband help out around the house?"  I have to give a qualified *yes* to that.  Yes, he is very willing to help when I ask him.  When I ask him.  But he's not likely to pick up a cleaning task on a whim without my prodding.  Though I must say, once in a blue moon, he will surprise me and go on a steam-cleaning and vacuuming rampage.  Or he'll decide to clean our bathroom from top to bottom in hardcore fashion.  He thinks more in terms of big projects... and not so much in terms of daily "maintenance."  I don't fault him for this.  I mean let's face it - that's a man for you.  And God love him, but I'm most often the one left cleaning up the aftermath of the big project because he's gotten distracted and moved on to something else.  But obviously, I'm no Donna Reed either or we wouldn't be having this chat.  Part of our problem is having a big house with lots of room for mess.  But it's really just laziness and lack of a plan -what else can you attribute a less-than-tidy house to when it's only the two of you?!

 

SO... recognizing that our biggest problem is the day-to-day maintenance, I was very excited to stumble upon Stephanie O'Dea's Daily 7 recently.  I immediately emailed the post to the hub and was like, "this is what we need to do!!!"  I like things in steps.  Especially 7 steps - it's the perfect number.  Not too few, not too many.  Dave's baby steps have 7 steps.  Weeks are made up of 7 days.  Lucky number 7.  It works.  These are brilliant, totally manageable, and I already do some of them anyway...

 

The Daily 7 for a Highly Successful Household

 

#1 - Make Beds Right Away

#2 - Do One Complete Load of Laundry

#3 - Empty All Garbage Cans

#4 - Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty

#5 - Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same

#6 - Bathroom Wipe-Down

#7 - Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up

 

 

See Stephanie's descriptions of each step on her original post - it's a fun read.  Honestly, I think #2 is going to have the biggest impact for me personally.  If I did one load a day - that means washed, folded, and put away - I would stay on top of laundry and not have to spend an entire day at home doing load after load after load!  Plus our dryer is a bit slow, so a load for us takes longer than a normal load for most.  So I've already started to gradually add these tasks to each day - I'm not waiting for 2011.  Of course our schedules will sometimes prevent us from being able to get ALL 7 tasks done every single day, but I don't see why we can't make it work for the large part. 

 

So what do you all do?  How do you tackle the day-to-day cleaning and maintenance without losing your mind?  I'm not after a perfectly clean home here - we do live here after all with some very hairy dogs.  Let's be reasonable.  Once we get through our debt snowball, I am pretty certain we'll hire a cleaning lady again to do the heavy duty stuff.  But the need for these daily 7 will still be there, no doubt!  Especially with little ones running around... seriously.

Back to the grind!

I'm back! I had a wonderful staycation and feel rather refreshed about life in general. It's amazing what a good week at home can do. I knocked a lot off my to-do list, but I could still use another week or five. Who couldn't?! I've missed y'all and I'm finally getting back to catching up on blog reading. Back with more later...

A minute to breathe...

Let me take one, just one! Oh man this week has been crazy. The past few have been off the charts, but it's been especially kurraazay this week. I'm only hopping on for a sec to give a quick update. I promise I'll hop back on later with deets from last weekend's whirlwind of activities - we had a blast. I give Dinner A'Fare an A++ (more on that later).

But really quickly, just wanted to let y'all know it looks like we'll have a contract on the townhouse today. We've been going back and forth with one buyer that I briefly mentioned and I think we're finally at a point all parties are happy with. As in any case, it ain't over till it's over, but things are sure looking good. So keep those prayers coming! We should be closing at the end of next month, assuming all goes according to plan. And if so, 'ritas on me on July 31!

This whole thing has been a total emotional roller coaster for me this past week. I've been a complete basket case and not at all happy-go-bloggy (hence my absence till now). All this mess and a bad case of the baby blues as of late has had me in a total funk. I don't really know what an anxiety attack looks like, but I could almost see one coming on! I even took a mental health day on Tuesday to try and get it together. My house was a mess from us being out ALL weekend. Do you ever feel like everything around you is just caving in and you're gonna lose it? Yeah that was me. But fear not, dear readers... I'm doing much better. Still stressed somewhat, but much much better. And no matter how stressed I let myself get, I am *always* aware of the bigger picture and I know God won't throw anything at me that the two of us can't handle together. But sometimes you just gotta throw a hissy fit and let it out, right?! Hehehe....

OK ladies, I gotta get some hours in. I'll come back with more soon (including my before and after Lilly dress shots.... aren't you SO excited?!)...

Oh and P.S. - I did get in that other sample sale site I mentioned earlier - Top Secret. I'll send invites out to those I already have email addresses for. Just delete the email if you don't want in. Leave a comment with your email address if you want me to add you.

P.P.S. - one of my dearest girls is having surgery today. She is a surgery pro like me, but she was particularly nervous about this one, so please add a lil prayer for her while you're praying for the townhouse! ;-)

Over and out!

:: One year ago yesterday ::

(I'm a little behind!)

A peek in my "someday closet."

I told y'all earlier today about my productive weekend. I'm still so excited about all that I got done. So while going through all the junk that had accumulated in the nursery, I came across some fun stuff. First, my childhood bear, Lisa, who is NEVER to be thrown out! My dad got her for me in New York City when I was a baby. We've got pictures of me and Lisa together in my avacado green playpen. We go way back.

As you can see, she needs a little repair. Poor girl has been stitched up so many times!

I also came across both of my prom dresses and had a good laugh. Oh those were the days... This is my junior year prom dress. Made famous by Alotta Fagina in Austin Powers. (I totally wore it first though.)

And then here's my senior prom dress. Pretty killer, huh? Damn right, it is!

I mean, the midriff bearing lattice was so ahead of its time...

So you can really appreciate the effect, here's my mid-section alla 13 years ago...

I wish I had a better picture to show so you could fully take in those candy apple red acrylic nails!

Also buried back in my someday closet was my wedding dress. I still have yet to get the darn thing cleaned and preserved - how horrible is that?! Do I still have a chance of getting the stains out? It's been - eek - over 5 years! Did anyone else wait a long time to do this and still have success? It's been on the to-do list for years...

Anyway, so here is the FINISHED product - a newly restored someday closet! I can actually see the floor now, along with all my fun treasures!

Obviously I'm not looking to don my prom or wedding gowns again someday, but here is the bulk of my "someday" items...

Sweet little girl Lilly dresses. I got them all at Costco for stupid prices. Not all at once though. I'd get one here... two there... then I sorta just went nuts. They're timeless, so I'm not worried about whether or not *I* ever get to use them.

And then... yes... my maternity wardrobe. What started as a clearance piece here and there, turned into... an unhealthy obsession! No worries - I'm fully cognizant of my mental shortcomings.

Isn't it a fun closet? So colorful and happy! And CLEAN!!!!!!!!!

Happy Green Beer Day!

This is one "holiday" that pretty much gets overlooked by me... I even totally forgot to wear any green today! (And I've already been pinched once.) Thanks to tax season, I've never really been able to celebrate it. Not that I really care - I'm not huge on going out and drinking, which really, what else is this holiday for but to down ridiculous amounts of green beer? And I don't even like beer. But have one for me if you're feeling lucky today!

So our Dawgs - this is NUTS - won the SEC basketball championship this weekend that I mentioned earlier. I don't follow college basketball at all (we're a football school), but I know enough to know that we suck at it. So winning the championship is insane! A true worst-to-first Cinderella story. Pretty cool. Go Dawgs!

Well this weekend I stayed in - as I promised myself I'd do - and I got SO much done! I was one domestic diva. I was especially productive yesterday from the time I got up till the time I got in bed. I only sat down to eat. OK, and for a little while to blog yesterday... but I was eating at the same time! But listen to what all I got done!!! I completely pulled everything out of our pantry and reorganized it. I threw out four bags of trash - just from the pantry! It looks so amazing now. I love it. Then I went upstairs to my office and got that picked up. It had become a total disaster. Paper and ribbon scraps all over the floor... omg it was a mess. Bills and junk scattered - made myself sit down and go through all those and get them sorted or tossed out. And then I (finally!) completely cleaned out the "nursery" - which had become the full room version of a drunk drawer over time. We've always referred to that room as the nursery because we designed it as such when we (meaning the builders) built the house. So yeah, I was rockin' out to my ipod and tossin' stuff left and right. I came across some fun stuff that had been buried in all the rubble. I took a bunch of pics - I'll have to post those when I get home tonight.

And while doing all this, I was running laundry non-stop. I had 2+ weeks worth and it was bad. I'm still not quite done. A couple of more loads to go... But yeah, I got so much done and felt so good about it. I opened the door to the nursery before I left this a.m. and just sighed a happy sigh - it feels so good to see the floor in there!

Alright, back to work. Yoga tonight. Then I'll catch up with you all later!

New idea... A clothing swap!

OK so it only took one night's good sleep to realize hosting a party - any kind of party - in the middle of busy season was a BAD idea. And with my gpa's situation in the mix, it's just a doubly bad idea. No worries - it'll remain on my to-do list. I've been just itching to plan something though. I always like to be planning something - even if it's way off in the future by normal people's standards. I mean I started thinking about my 30th birthday party when I was like 27. Anyway, another idea I had been throwing around for a party was to have a clothing swap. I like to go through my closet every 6 months or so and get rid of stuff I'm not wearing anymore (or can't wear anymore). We just dumped off a huge load to Goodwill right before year-end. But I still have a nice stack of stuff I was planning to take to Plato's Closet. But instead, I've decided to host a clothing swap this Spring! And I am soooo excited about it!

There's actually a ton of information online about planning and hosting a clothing swap. Have y'all ever been to one? You basically have everyone bring their old stuff that they want to get rid of, have some cocktails, set up shop and it's pretty much a free-for-all. Any leftover items will go to Goodwill or a women's shelter. I am *super* excited about this. I'm going to hold it in late April - after the tax season mess, and just in time for a good Spring cleaning! I already emailed some of my girlfriends to save the date - so it's officially on. If you've ever hosted one before, I'm open to advice. Several sites I've read said to set a minimum number of pieces that each girl needs to bring. I mean we don't want freeloaders here... I'm going to work on rounding up some clothing racks. If I can't find any second-hand ones, I saw that IKEA has rolling racks for like $14.95 - sweet! That involves a trip to IKEA though.. ugh. That will definitely have to be a lunch run one day because I refuse to set foot in that place on the weekends. It's a zoo. Anyway... I'm all pumped now that I have something to plan. If it goes really well, I think it's something I'll want to do a couple of times a year. Too fun! Yay - I'm so glad to have a party on the calendar to think about while crunching numbers...

In other news... our small group is meeting back up again tonight after an extended holiday hiatus. We're starting a new study that I think will be really good. The boys are reading this version. Should be interesting! And of course I took a peek at the boys' book to see what the heck they were saying about us girls - and inside they had a "warning" to women looking through the men's book. Funny there was no warning to men in the women's book.... hmm... because the men do well enough to read their own book - like they have the time or care to go snooping through ours! Hehehehe....

Closet clean-out!

Well my Paige maternity capris came in yesterday (though I didn't notice them on our front porch till this morning - the poor things must've been freezing!) and they are awesome! And Awesome with a capital *A* since I only paid a whopping $43 for them! I tried them on and they're perfect. Which for me, is so rare with jeans since I have SWBB syndrome (that's Small-Waist-Big-Booty syndrome, for you skinny minnies). They fit great and I have a little room to grow too when I get preggers. So after getting these jeans, I am suddenly inspired to clean out my closet and do a major overhaul on my wardrobe.

Now my closet stays pretty neat and organized for the most part, but just beyond the borders of my closet is a disaster of dirty clothes, unmatched socks, and clothes to be dry-cleaned. None of these piles ever seem to fully go away. (And I won't even go into the perfect storm that is the hub's closet.) Also, in our spare bedroom (which I'm hoping will be a nursery someday soon) is my "someday closet" - which is a total mess. All kinds of crap is thrown about in there. It's pretty much a junk closet right now and it's driving me NUTS. The junkiness is contaminating my cute someday pieces! And the room itself is empty but for some random crap on the floor. A bag started for Goodwill... more sweaters to be dry-cleaned... gifts we received for Christmas last year that haven't been put away/put to use (holy cow are we a little behind or what?!)... etc, etc. That room has kind of become the dumping ground, and I'm just over it. There's also a bathroom in there that the hub likes to sneak off to - so the room is a dumping ground in more ways than one. There are also bathroom fixtures we bought forever ago at the Pottery Barn outlet that are still sitting in their boxes on the floor by the tub. So there's a lot of help needed in this room! And for some reason, I'm suddenly inspired to get all of this done once and for all!

This weekend, I'm going to go through my closet - item by item - and pull out stuff for Goodwill and also stuff I think they might take at Plato's Closet. I have some Paper Denim & Cloth jeans that I wore all of one time before wondering why the heck I bought them (they didn't fit great). I'm sure they'll take those. Much of my other stuff I'm sure they'll think is too "old lady" for their teeny-bopper clientele, but maybe I'll find some stuff. There's just so much in my closet that I never even touch - it's time to give myself some tough love and part with it.

So I'm getting this out now so I can hold myself accountable! This is my major to-do for the weekend and I will take some before and after shots so you can appreciate the madness. We've also got to do the same overhaul with our basement, but that's a whole other, truly embarrassing issue. Baby steps...