Cleaning day

Every day is cleaning day, it seems.  I am NOT a cleaning-type of person.  I'm much more of a lazy, goofing-off, stay in pj's till noon type of person.  But that feels yucky after a while, and the house gets gross.  Duh.  SO, here's my system I devised to make my own life easier when it comes to keeping the house decent.  I've been doing this for about a year now, and it works pretty well!

I break up my jobs into morning, afternoon, and night jobs.  Actually, they're more like deadlines.  And the quicker I get them done, the quicker I can move on to things I *want* to do, like...anything else. 

So here's my list - I keep it on the fridge: 

By 10 am:
Beds made...now this is easier because the kids make their own beds
Cat litter...scoop it.  I try to do this first thing because no one likes to get ready in the bathroom with a stinky cat box
Dishes away...from out of the dishwasher
Bathroom surfaces...tub, sink, toilet, and anything else that has gross stuff on it - in both bathrooms.  Just wipe it off and make it look clean.  I use diluted Mr. Clean w/Febreeze - the green kind.  Smells good. 
Laundry started...just one load

By 2 pm: 
Laundry put over...into the dryer.  Our dryer doesn't have a buzzer, and it's in the basement, so I always forget, which is why this has to be on the list
Floors vacuumed
Kitchen surfaces...table cleared off, counters cleared off, everything wiped, sink reasonably clean, floor decent
Job-o-the-day...whatever "big" job needs to be done the most.  Can include: mop kitchen & bathrooms, wash the slipcovers, wipe down walls (crayons, boogers, whatever), deep-clean the bathrooms, seriously clean the kitchen, do windows, ummm, you know, things like that

By 8 pm: that's the time the kids are in bed and I can relax!!!
Laundry put away
Cat litter ...we have two cats, so there's double the cat poop
Run dishwasher...and pray that no one feels like snacking on anything messy later on
Basket emptied...I have a basket in the kitchen that catches all kinds of crap clutter - what's in there right now?  Library book, a hammer, shopping bags, markers, coloring book, grocery store flyer, kids papers from school.  I admit I don't empty this every day.  But when it starts to overflow, I do.  I should get back to doing this every day. 

So that would be that.  My house is a lot better for it.  It's unusual (not impossible) for things to get so messy that it's just horrible.  It pretty much stays under control if I'm doing these little things every day.  It doesn't take up TOO much of my precious time.  ;)

OH, and I'm working on never having to scoop litter again.  No, I'm not making Abby do it (even though she wants to!  Go figure.)  Here's my experiment of the month....I'm about halfway (1 1/2 weeks) into the process...

Yes, that's right...you better believe it!  If this works, I swear, it will have been easier than potty training EITHER of the kids.   It's working great so far.  Just call me Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents.

Unfinished - er, uh, FINISHED business!

Hey - remember that project I was working on, that I never finished?  Here it is! 

Cabinet/sewing room redo

Menu plan

I sometimes play a game with myself...I see how little I can spend on groceries in a week and still fool Greg into thinking that I'm out there just buying whatever I want.  Tee hee!  But sometimes we just need to cut back, and this month is one of those times. 

I blame it on the snow.  Seriously!  Greg had to use the Explorer for like 2 weeks solid to go back and forth to work earlier this month - that's 500 miles a week, mind you - and that 14 year old gas-eating dinosaur is merciless.  Don't get me wrong - we love it...it's paid for, it's huge and intimidating to other drivers safe, it's super-comfortable, it's awesome in the snow, but terrible for the gas budget.  (EVEN at the rock-bottom price of $2.75 a gallon.  Why, they're practically giving it away.)

Groceries are usually the easiest place to cut back.  My goal is to cut the usual total in half (ambitious I know).  So here is my meal plan (dinner only) for the coming week:  

Tonight - pancakes (the kids LOVE that)
Sunday - soup & grilled cheese - it's just me & the kids anyway
Monday - black bean soup, rice, cornbread - the soup is a leftover; I made a double batch yesterday
Tuesday - pecan-crusted tilapia, steamed broccoli, bread (have the fish in the freezer already)
Wednesday - pot roast & veggies, bread (have the roast in the freezer already - are we seeing a trend here?)
Thursday - Potato soup w/bacon, bread (have potatoes already)
Friday - homemade pizza
Saturday - vegetable stew, crusty bread

I know, I'd never last a day on the South Beach Diet.  Good thing I don't care, huh?

I'm going out today to do this week's shopping.  We shall see how I do! 

The best soup I've ever made...

And I've made a lot of soup.

Tonight I wanted to use up some leftover ham.  We hardly EVER have ham (why, I don't know), but our twice-delayed Christmas dinner left us with a whole bunch left over.   Hubby had the day off - yay! - and it's snowing like crazy out there, so I thought ham soup of some kind would be good.  I could live on soup & bread every day of my life and not get tired of it.  Mr. H, on the other hand, likes his "meat."  Any old dinner with some big chunk of meat - or ground beef  - seems to make it an "official" dinner for him.  No bread, no side dish, no salad necessary; just a hunk of meat.  SO, all that to say, I kinda always worry every time I serve soup for dinner, that he's not going to be all that crazy about it.

SO...tonight at dinner, which I thought was just dee-lish...ham & potato soup with sweet potato muffins...Mr. H hardly said a word.  He just ate, and ate...and I sat there and had a little inner convo with myself...he doesn't like it.  But what's not to like?  There's ham...oh darn it, he's still going to be hungry.  I should have made a casserole.  Wow, though, this is good!  But he hasn't said anything...I'm not going to fish for a compliment...I'll just file this in the "don't make again" pile...I wonder if he's annoyed that we're having soup...I should have left the muffins in a little longer...darn it!  But this is really good, YUM, way to go Rachel, you are the queen of soup..."

Please can I get a witness...tell me I'm not the only one to have these ridiculous thoughts at the dinner table...

So anyway, all of the sudden at the end of dinner, Mr. H looks up, and matter-of-factly says, "I think this is the best soup you've ever made."

Wooo-hooooooo!!!  I told him there was more; he said he was stuffed.  SCORE! 


I have to admit, it was totally yummy.  It's debatable as to whether it was the "best ever," but it's up there.  It took about 45 min start to finish...here is the recipe: (keeping in mind that I hardly ever measure anything; just eyeball it and use whatever I want.)

3.5 cups diced potatoes
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup cooked diced ham
3 1/4 cups water
2 t chicken boullion granules
1/2 t salt
1 tsp pepper
5 T butter
5 T flour
2 C milk

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham & water in a big pot.  Bring to a boil, then cook on med. for about 15-20 min.  Stir in the boullion, salt & pepper.
2. In smaller saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour until thick and smooth.  Slowly stir in the milk, make sure all the lumps are out.  Cook on low-med for about 5 min. until thick.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the soup pot, heat through. 

Sweet Potato Muffins - a keeper as well
This recipe makes 24, though, so either "half" it or make sure your peeps are hungry.  I didn't read that far before I made it, so I'm banking on them all being very hungry.

1 1/4 C sugar
1 1/4 C canned sweet potatoes (I just used one of those big cans)
1/2 C butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
1 C milk
1/2 C raisins (I used craisins - oh so yummy)
1/4 C walnuts (I had pecans - again, yummy)
cinnamon & sugar mix for the tops

1. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.  Preheat oven to 400. 
2. Beat sugar, butter & sweet potatoes until smooth.  Add eggs and blend well.
3. Sift flour, bak powder, spices & salt.  Add to sweet potato mixture, alternating with the milk, stirring to blend.  "Do not overmix."  (Every time I read this, it's inevitable that I overmix.  I can't help myself.  Oh well.  They still turn out well.)
4. Fold in raisins & nuts.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, sprinkle tops with cinn & sug mixture.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes until done.  Or if you have a dinosaur of an oven like me, you can leave 'em in there for 40 or so...

IF anyone tries this, do let me know!  (Obviously I'm just fishing for people to leave comments on my blog....NOT the gambling site again though, I don't want to hear from you...)

Even hairstylists get the blues

*Sigh.*

What to do.  I really miss my perks of working in a salon - namely, the free haircuts by stylists I already know are good, the $5 color/highlights, free waxing, etc.  I always scorned people like this, but now I'm one of them...I'm renewing my license pretty much for the discounted products at the beauty supply.  It's like a Sam's Club membership sort of.  Maybe I'll use my license to actually work again...

Anyway, I am in a hair rut.  I feel like such a frumpalump.  As a hairstylist, you think I'd know exactly what to do, but when it comes to my own hair, I'm really just as bad (if not worse) than anyone else - no idea!!!  I'm pretty set on color - having tried almost everything in the spectrum, I know what I like in that area - but as far as cut, I am bored out of my mind and don't know what to do!  And who to go to???  It might actually kill me to pay to gamble on some stylist I have no idea about.  ACK!   For about 2 years now there has been a new salon in my neighborhood - walking distance - that I have been mocking since the day it opened.  I kid you not, it is called "Curl Up and Dye."  (This is Johnstown, people, and this is the kind of thing you see here.)  I always thought to myself, the day I would actually go to that place is the day I have completely given up.  How scary is it that I've been considering it?  Could it be a best-kept secret type of thing?  Am I just desperate?  I am seriously in need of a cut, it's soooo close to my house...probably reasonably priced (most private ones around here are)...I've seen the owner and she looks good - cool hair and all - but then what if I actually liked it, and someone asked me where I go?  I don't think I could ever admit to it! 

I'm back in the land of "looking for a hairdresser" and it's weird and I don't like it. 

God bless anyone who read this post.  You're a real trooper!

Show & Tell

I am so thankful to have kids who are happy with the "little" things.  This may change as they get older...as our mechanic says, the older they get, the more expensive the toys get...but maybe not.  Today was Nolan's day for show & tell at his preschool.  We didn't have to mortgage the house or sell Ian or anything, but the kids did get some really cool stuff this year.  And then Greg surprised us all with a Wii.  Way cool.  Even though I still think that video games have the power to, over time, turn normal, would-be intelligent people into slack-jawed non-thinking morons who can't even spell, I have to admit that the thing is soooooo much fun.  It really is!  Anyway, Nolan got a remote control car which is great fun, some new games & other stuff.  Do you know what he wanted to bring to show & tell?  A 25-cent glow-in-the-dark farm animal that was in his stocking.  He asked the teacher to turn the light off so he could show everyone how it glows.  How adorable is that???  One of his other faves is this dry-erase clock thing, where you can make it any time you want and write stuff on it - a $1 stocking stuffer.  Abby got some really cool stuff too...and her two favorite things are ankle socks with stars on them, and her dry-erase "learning to write cursive" thing - the two together didn't cost $2. I do realize that age 6 is a little young to be pushing cursive on my daughter, but honestly, the girl has had a burning desire to learn the "pretty writing" for months and months now. 

Their little "lap desks" were a big hit too!  So cute.  

Anyway, I could go on and on about this, speculating about whether they'll still be happy with the "simple" things in their teenage years...but who wants to think of their teenage years right now?  If I could freeze time with Abby at 6 and Nolan at 4, I would.  Except, maybe I'd fast-forward Nolan to the part where he starts eating dinner again.  But then I'd freeze time. 

Snow Days

We are celebrating the first day back to school with...a snowday.  Normally I'd be super-excited about this, but it's sort of like having a blizzard on a Saturday - what a waste!  I would rather have a snowday on a day that we really "needed" it.  Oh well, we're having fun anyway.  And the laziness continues....

Anyway, I'm terrible at keeping this blog updated.  My own MOTHER is constantly on the verge of un-bookmarking me because of all my old & un-updated posts.  ;)  (Really, though, she is.)  ha ha!  (No, really.)  Here are some pics to tide everyone over.  I think I did promise them.  But here's the thing: like an idiot, I didn't really get many good "Christmas Day" pics.  I just forgot?  We were having a nice time together and I just kind of forgot to take pics of it all!  We did get a few cute ones.  Oh, and then, Greg gave me a new digital camera, so then I was playing with that for the rest of the day...just taking pics of whatever, enjoying the megapixelage.  I went from 4 to 12.2 - happy day!!! 

So here's a little recap of December...it was a really fun month this year.

Our first "real" tree - I don't think we're going back to artificial again!

Abby got a haircut - at her own request!  I was kinda sad, but we all agree that it's really cute and fits her personality...and is SO much easier to brush.  I don't get accused of pulling her hair on purpose anymore!!!

Nolan's shiner - he had an unfortunate encounter with the coffee table one very snowy night....I was amazed that we didn't need to go to the ER (and very thankful) - he hit his head, and then 2 days later his whole eye turned black!  You can't see it too well here but he looked like a glam rocker for about a week.  Poor little guy.

Christmas morning - this was out in our yard.  I thought Greg did it; he thought I did it...someone just put it there!  Too funny.  

Christmas Day in new PJ's :)

playing in the snow with Daddy