My Favorite Homemaking Apps

When I last blogged here, two years ago, I had no idea what an app was. Of course, I had heard people talking about apps in relation to i-whatevers, and I kind of looked down my nose at all the Apple devices because I thought they were too expensive. They're still too expensive, but one day my husband brought home an iPod touch
 . . . and I was hooked. He bought me one shortly thereafter, and I quickly learned what apps were and began using them myself.

It didn't take me long to begin looking for apps to help the homemaker with scheduling and housework. I discovered two apps that I love and use: Home Routines and Cozi . . .


Home Routines - This app easily integrates lists from such home-organizing structures as FlyLady, Organized Home, Totally Together Journal, and Brain on Paper. I use it to keep my FlyLady zones in order and running smoothly. You can follow daily and weekly routines, give yourself a daily focus, add to-do lists for today, this week, and later, and review your day to see how much you got done. This will show you how silly I can be, but I really love to see all those items with stars by them before I go to bed, and I love seeing how many tasks I got done that day. Crazy, I know, but apparently giving myself stars works for me! At $3.99, it's cheaper than when I bought it earlier this year, and I feel it's well worth the price!

 

Cozi - A free online calendar and app with a shared calendar, to-do lists, shopping list, and family journal. This one is great for busy families! I haven't used the app extensively, but I do like the shared calendar, which makes scheduling easy for each member of the family. The family journal is nice too. The online calendar, journal, etc., are accessible by your entire family, so each person can check to see what's coming up and schedule accordingly. And the Cozi app is free. Nice!


Have you discovered any apps that are great for homemakers? Feel free to share them in the comments or via email!


Disclosure: With the exception of the iPod touch*, I have not been compensated by anyone affiliated with either of these apps or any company or system mentioned in this post. These are my own opinions and suggestions only!

*The link to the iPod touch is an affiliate link through Amazon.com, which allows me to earn an advertising fee when someone orders an item through a link listed on my blog.

The Time Zone Thing

A couple of you mentioned in the comments on this week's post on getting FlyLady's emails that they never arrived at the right time for your time zone. Have you checked the time zone feature on your Yahoo account? You can set your time zone for the area where you live - anywhere in the world - and I think that your emails will be delivered according to your time zone once you set it to the correct one.

First, go to your Yahoo home page. On your Account Information page, the Member Information section has an area with your time zone in it. If it is not set to the correct time zone, click on Edit and use the drop-down menu to choose your correct time zone. For example, mine is -8, which means it is 8 hours behind GMT - Pacific Time. Every time zone in the world is available, so everyone should be able to set the correct zone.

Once you set the correct time zone, you should get FlyLady's emails at the correct time for where you live. I won't guarantee it, but it works for me!

Hate All Those Emails?

Baby Sitting at Desk Using Computer
I don't know how many times I've heard it: "I tried FlyLady, but I hated all those emails cluttering up my inbox!" I am here to help! Here are several solutions to the too-many-emails problem.

• Make a folder in your e-mail program. It's easy. I don't know all the instructions for every email program out there, but I use one of the more common ones, Outlook Express. To make a folder in Outlook Express, open your mail program, go to the Tools menu at the top of your screen, scroll down to Message Rules, and click on Mail. Follow the instructions for setting up a new folder. I set mine to have any messages with the word "FLYLADY" in the subject to go directly to a folder I named FlyLady (I'm very creative like that!). I also made a folder for Testimonials, so that my reminders and the testimonials are in separate folders. If you need help understanding your email program's instructions, just click on Help at the top of the program and search for information on making new folders and/or message rules. You can also search the internet for your email program.

• Delete the messages as they come in. If you don't want to bother with making a folder, you can simply delete the messages as they come in. This kind of defeats the purpose of getting the emails to start with, but there is no rule that says you have to read every single email that comes into your Inbox! If you're deleting the messages, you're at least seeing the titles, and those will be little reminders themselves.

• Set your FlyLady subscription to Web Only. I do this when I'm going to be gone for a few days or just when I get overwhelmed. To set your email to Web Only, go to the home page for FlyLady Mentors. At the top of the page is your username and email address. Beside those is a link to Edit Membership. After clicking that link, scroll down to Step 2: Message delivery. Click Web Only, click Save at the bottom of the page, and you're done. You are still subscribed, but you aren't getting any emails in your Inbox. You'll have to go to the email group home page and click on Messages to read them, but you're not bothered with an overflowing Inbox.

• Get the Daily Digest version. Do the same thing you did above to set the messages to Web Only, but click on Daily Digest instead of Web Only. All your emails from FlyLady will be consolidated into one single email per day.

• Read the reminders online. You don't have to get the reminders by email at all; FlyLady has each day's reminders on her website. Go to the home page and scroll down to the section titled Today we are in Zone . . . There are three links here: The Current FLY Zone, Sneak Peek for the Week, and [Today]'s Email Reminders. You can see at a glance what any day's zone, mission, or email reminders are. All without one email in your inbox!
  

The bottom line is this: if you think you'd like to try FlyLady, don't let the volume of email stop you. Use one of these solutions and try it for a few weeks. See how it works for you. Then if you find it still doesn't work for you, you'll at least know you gave it a good try.

Master Bedroom Zone

The master bedroom is one of my love/hate zones, because our bedroom is also my husband's office. He's a pastor who works from home; our church doesn't even have its own building, much less an office! Since we live in a three-bedroom home, our bedroom became half office/half bedroom. It's a big room, thankfully.

On Monday, I heard my husband upstairs doing something, and when I went to investigate, I found him cleaning up his office! I told him that was great, because this week was the master bedroom zone with FlyLady. He actually likes FlyLady, because she keeps me in line better than anything or anyone else ever has! LOL So together we've worked on the master bedroom all week. You can see in my sidebar the list of jobs I wanted to do in there, and they're almost all done. I also have Kelly's missions listed, which were easy accomplish this week, because nothing was terribly out of place.

My favorite thing I've done this week is wash all of our bedding, comforter and pillow shams included. I dried the comforter and shams in the dryer until they were almost dry, then hung them on the balcony rail in the sunshine to finish drying. They smell SO good now! I put the pillows in the dryer on air dry with a damp washcloth with a touch of fabric softener on it, tumbled them for 20 minutes, and now they smell fresh too. I just put everything back on the bed, and it smells fresh and clean in there. Nothing smells better than clean!

Does anyone else reading here follow FlyLady's zones? What did you do in your master bedroom this week? Better yet, what did you do anywhere in your house to be a blessing to your family? Any amount of cleaning or beautifying blesses your family, and that blesses you too!

90 Things I Can Do in 15 Minutes

For several days I wrote down things that I accomplished in 15 minutes or less, and then I added other things to them that I knew I could do within 15 minutes. I was trying to get to 100, but when I had to start wracking my brain to find more, I decided my list was long enough. So here you have it . . . 90 things to do in 15 minutes. Please add your own!

1. Shine my sink
2. Sweep and damp mop my kitchen floor
3. Read a chapter (or more) in the Bible
4. Read a chapter in a book
5. Mix up a cake or brownie recipe
6. Make my bed and pick up the clutter in my bedroom
7. Swish and swipe my bathroom
8. Clean my bath tub
9. Clean the shower surround on my bath tub
10. Clean out the fridge
11. Clean out the freezer
12. Write a pantry or freezer inventory
13. Make a menu
14. Make a grocery list
15. Dust all the furniture in my house with a Swiffer Duster
16. Vacuum my entire house – just the middles
17. Declutter one cabinet
18. Declutter a bookshelf, maybe more
19. Clear my desk
20. Declutter a file cabinet
21. Start or reboot a load of laundry
22. Fold and put away a load of laundry
23. Iron three of my husband’s dress shirts
24. Iron three of my blouses and/or skirts
25. Water my plants
26. Write a blog post
27. Write a card to someone and address it
28. Make an appointment for the doctor, hairdresser, and/or dentist
29. Clean the windows in a room
30. Clean my guest bath
31. Vacuum the living room furniture
32. Take a bubble bath
33. Manicure my nails
34. Pluck my chin hairs (!)
35. Pluck my eyebrows
36. Call my son
37. Put my feet up
38. Clear out my e-mail inbox
39. Clean the baseboards in a room
40. Clean the light fixture in the dining room
41. Sweep the front or back porch
42. Sweep the carport
43. Make a card to send to someone
44. Pin a pattern to fabric to cut out
45. Cut out a pattern
46. Sew something small or a few seams of something bigger
47. Chat with a friend on instant messenger
48. Sew on a button
49. Hem a skirt or pair of pants
50. Cross stitch
51. Have a healthy snack
52. Grill a cheese sandwich
53. Make a smoothie
54. Cuddle with my husband
55. Talk with my child
56. Unload the dishwasher
57. Load the dishwasher
58. Wipe down my kitchen counters
59. Wipe my cabinet doors
60. Wipe down my fridge and stove
61. Wash the trash can
62. Empty the trash from each room
63. Organize our DVDs
64. Organize photos
65. Rub somebody’s back
66. Clean a set of mini blinds
67. Take a walk
68. Clear out my pen & pencil cup
69. Clear out my mail holder
70. Wash my face and brush my teeth
71. Put a meal in the crockpot for dinner
72. Wash and chop vegetables for supper
73. Start some bread in the bread machine
74. Wipe down the washer and dryer
75. Wash a sink of dishes
76. Reorganize my dresser drawers
77. Declutter my night stands
78. Wipe down canisters and small appliances
79. Clean all the mirrors in the house
80. File papers
81. Clean out the car and wipe the dash
82. Clean a ceiling fan or box fan
83. Clean or change the heating and/or air-conditioning filter
84. Clean the lampshades on all the lamps
85. Clean one wall, maybe more
86. Reorganize under the kitchen or bathroom sink
87. Mop a bathroom floor
88. Change the sheets on my bed
89. Wipe window sills
90. Call a friend to chat

Swishin' and Swipin'

July's habit is swishing and swiping the bathroom each day. I don't have too much trouble with this one, because I've been doing it for quite a while. At least with my sink and toilet. I had two little boys, who are now teenagers, so I caught on to this one pretty quick! ;) I spray down my sink and vanity top with Formula 409 and wipe them with a paper towel. Same for the outside of the toilet - seat, rim, behind the seat, and the bottom down next to the floor. When the boys were little, I'd also wipe the floor around the edge of the toilet. I don't swish my toilet every day, but I do watch out for it to need a swish between its weekly cleanings. This little routine keeps the bathroom at least presentable every day.

My biggest problem has always been how to keep my tub clean. I love a shiny tub! I have done the once-a-week scrub, but I didn't like it when I wanted a bubble bath and my tub looked gunky, i.e. not shiny. I've tried spraying it with Formula 409 every day and then wiping it out, but to me that was a major production for my morning routine. So I finally decided to try what FlyLady recommends: take a few seconds while you're in the shower to give the tub a quick swipe.

I've been doing this for a week or so, and it is keeping my tub shiny, which I love. I had an extra bath puff, so every morning I put just a drop of body wash on that extra puff, bend over, and go over the inside of the tub quickly. The water from the shower rinses the soap away as I go, so it doesn't get slippery under my feet. I don't even think the soap is doing all that much; I think it's the mesh of the puff scrubbing off the soap scum.

Now, I still have some problems with mildew in the shower. For that, I'm just going to keep doing the weekly/bi-weekly scrubbing of the shower surround. I've tried cleaning part of the wall each day, but that actually made the problem worse, because the wall was getting more water on it with my cleaning it so often than it was by the shower running. If I got really ambitious, I would take my bath towel and wipe down the shower walls after my shower, but I haven't reached that stage of dedication yet. Have you? Is there anyone out there who dries their shower walls every morning?

We also have glass shower doors. When they are clean and clear, just using a squeegee each day does the trick to keep them clean. But with my sidetracked self, I will forget to squeegee the shower door for days and days, then it's clouded up with water stains and soap scum again, and I'm back where I started. I'm to the point where I'm going to have to do a major cleaning of the shower doors, and then make sure I squeegee them every day. I don't see a way around that one! What do you do for your shower doors or curtains?

So let's talk swishin' and swipin'! What's your "swish-and-swipe" routine? If you don't have one, why not try it for a week (there's a week and a half left in July) and let us know how it goes. It's a great feeling to walk into a clean, shiny bathroom - when you haven't even slaved over it!

Thursday and Fridays Missions

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so I'll sum up yesterday and today in this one post. I will admit freely that I have had trouble with motivation the past two days; I just plain old haven't wanted to work. I'm plenty interested in playing, though, and what that constitutes for me is reading or being online. I'm always having to step back into reality and make myself realize what needs to be done, then force myself to get up and do it.

Yesterday's mission was to clean the kitchen faucet with all-purpose cleaner and a toothbrush, which didn't take long at all. Since that was a short mission, I filled in my 15 minutes of cleaning time with what I consider piddly things: cleaning the clock (which was coated with dust and grease that I couldn't see till I took the clock off the wall) and cleaning out my potato and onion bin. Now the potato part was fine, but the bottom area, where I keep garlic and onions, was full of the papery garlic skins and lots of dried up garlic bulbs! So I cleaned all those out, sealing them in a ziplock bag so they wouldn't smell up the trash. Speaking of the trash, my daughter washed the trash can for me, so I didn't have to do that. I also cleaned the top of the vent hood over my stove.

Today's mission was to wipe down the cabinet fronts. Guess how long it took. I was shocked. It took a whole FOUR minutes! Just spray and wipe. Done.

Decluttering for the past two days consisted of the two cabinets I use for baking supplies. I got rid of some out-of-date supplies, then rearranged the shelves - done. Today I cleared out my revolving utensil holder. It was crammed full of things that I hardly ever use mixed in with things I use every day. Rarely-used things found new homes, the caddy is in the dishwasher, and the frequently-used utensils are laying on the counter waiting to get their home back. Today's decluttering was done in the extra time from my cleaning.

So that's the past two days. The things I didn't get done in the kitchen will be done during next month's Zone 2. I will start with the yet undone things, then move back into the other monthly things. It's not perfect, but it's much better than it was! I hope your week was a productive one too!

Wednesday's Mission and Zone Work

It's hot here today! Actually, it's only about 68 degrees or so right now, but the sun is shining brightly and we don't have air conditioning, so when I get busy in the house and forget the heat, before I know it, I'm sweaty and hot. Thankfully I'm finished with the greater portion of my housework for the day, so I can do the less physically-active things I have planned later this afternoon.

Kelly's mission for today was to clean all those small countertop appliances. I set my timer for 15 minutes and cleaned my bread maker, electric kettle, coffee maker, stand mixer, and can opener. I also wiped down my tin canisters holding tea and artificial sweetener, and my Tupperware canisters holding brown sugar, flour, and sugar. I spent an extra 15-minute session wiping the outside of my deep freezer and microwave and the top of my fridge (it was nasty up there, but I'm short so I don't see the top of the fridge very often - out of sight, out of mind!) just because I wanted to get them done today and had no reason not to. I want to be efficient in my use of time, not lazy!

I reset my timer for 15 minutes of decluttering and dug into my corner cabinet. This cabinet has a set of those lazy Susan (I cringe!) rotating shelves in it, which are very handy if you remember that you can actually turn the shelves and you don't have to become a contortionist in order to retrieve something from the back of the shelf! It also helps if you don't put a lot of things on the floor of the cabinet, because it's so hard to reach around said shelves to the back. Yep, I had stuff crammed into every possible space in that cabinet! In addition, my older son, who has been away at college for almost a year now, spilled sugar in this cabinet sometime before he left. I have cringed every time I've opened this cabinet, and I open it daily, knowing I needed to get the sugar cleaned up that he missed when he cleaned it up. So I set to work and pulled out all the stuff in there - extra drink pitchers, extra baking pans, the blender, the accessories for the stand mixer and food processor, the revolving cake stand; not to mention the measuring cups that I use every day - they're just handy to have right there where I bake and cook, as this cabinet is just to the left of my stove. I sprayed down the shelves with Formula 409, then took a damp cloth and wiped them clean. Who's the wise guy who designed the grooves into the bottom of those shelves? I'd like to talk to him. After wiping the shelves, I wiped under the bottom one on each side as I could reach. I couldn't figure out how to get the shelves out of the cabinet, or I would have taken them out to get the bottom wiped out really well. Oh, I also vacuumed out the loose sugar, so that's gone, even if the bottom didn't get wiped down completely. Just as I was replacing the last few things my timer beeped, and I was done.

Last item for today: iron the valances and re-hang them. I was hoping they wouldn't need ironing, but they do. I'm off to the ironing board! Have a productive day!

Tuesday's Mission Accomplished

It took me a while today, but I got my planned work in the Zone done. I had an unexpected doctor's appointment this morning, so I had to put off my work till this afternoon. We eat our biggest meal at mid-day, so as soon as that was done, I got to work. I spent 15 minutes washing the windows in the kitchen and taking down the valances from my windows. I will wash those first thing in the morning and put them back up as soon as they're dry. We have a laundry-sharing situation with our downstairs neighbors, so I won't have use of the laundry again till tomorrow morning.

I also cleaned out the bank of drawers to the left of my sink. This is three small drawers and two big pots-and-pans drawers, in which I keep my mixing bowls, colanders, and Tupperware and storage bowls and lids. Kelly's mission for today was to clear out the plastic containers; that's part of the reason I chose these particular drawers.

Each job took 15 minutes, for a total of 30 minutes of cleaning today. Every little bit helps!

Monday's Mission: Complete

I completed Kelly's mission for today in a little over 15 minutes. I wiped down all my counters with Vim cleaner and rinsed them well, and while I had things pulled away from the back of the counters, I went ahead and sprayed my subway-tile backsplash with Windex and wiped them clean with a paper towel.

For my decluttering today, I focused on the cabinet under my sink. I hate under-sink cabinets! To me, they always seem dirty and I'm almost afraid to stick my hand in, sure that there's some kind of creepy-crawly under there. I had been stuffing things under there, various cleaners and rags, dishwashing supplies, trash bags - all willy-nilly with no order to it. I even had an old frying pan down there! I pulled everything out, wiped down the floor of the cabinet with Formula 409 (my favorite all-purpose cleaner) and wiped it out good. Then I put back only the cleaners and trash bags. I do have several different cleaners, but I use them all for one thing or another. Now everything is in order . . . but I still don't want to stick my hand under there! ;) This cabinet took less than 15 minutes.

Under-sink cabinet before . . .

Under-sink cabinet after

Home Blessing Hour

I'm reopening this blog after more than a year! I just didn't have the motivation to blog to this one and my everyday blog, ByGrace, so I dropped this one until I felt that urge to write about homemaking again. That urge has hit. My home has gotten into somewhat of a mess again, although not nearly as bad as before FlyLady, and I felt the need to get back into the groove again, using FlyLady's system. It worked for me before, and I have no doubt it will again.

Having said that, today I began with my morning routine and my weekly Home Blessing Hour. I'm a bit rusty at the HBH, not having done it consistently for quite a while, but I did get quite a bit done:

• Cleaned our ensuite tub, sink, toilet, and mirror
• Mopped ensuite and main bath floors
• Picked up weekend clutter in our bedroom and put away some clothes
  
• Dusted all the furniture in the house with my Swiffer Duster
• Straightened my sewing area
• Picked up weekend clutter from the dining room and living room
• Swept and mopped kitchen, front entry, and back hall
• Watered plants on the back porch
• Swept front porch
  

I went over by an extra ten minutes because I didn't want to stop with just sweeping the downstairs floors; I wanted to get them mopped too. I'm still amazed at how much work can be accomplished in a short amount of time when I stay focused on the work at hand.

Now I'm ready to do my Zone work for the day: Kelly's mission of cleaning the counters. I also plan to declutter cabinets for 15 minutes. That will be a grand total of about two hours of housework for the day, outside of the normal cooking and cleaning up that is part of everyday life. Then I'll be finished with housework, having done a reasonable amount and made our home neat and ready for the week ahead. I hope your day is productive as well!

Wednesday: Anti-Procrastination Day UPDATED

Mrs. Wilt's Anti-Procrastination Challenge really got me warmed up to the idea of working on those things that just keep getting put off! I decided to follow FlyLady's lead and make every Wednesday my Anti-Procrastination Day. Each week I'll post what I've done that I had been putting off.

Today I plan to work on writing a letter. This letter has been on my heart since the beginning of the year. An acquaintance of ours was killed in a car accident right before Christmas. She was the mother of seven children, the oldest of which is near the same age as my daughter. This young lady is also just a year or two younger than I was when my own mother passed away. So I have been thinking about writing her a letter of encouragement, but I kept thinking "what do I have to offer?" Then I read a devotional by Elisabeth Elliott which discussed leaving footprints for others, and one way to do that is by our writings. The Lord spoke to my heart that day and helped me realize that, although my young friend is hurting right now and may not even want to hear from anyone, someday she's going to need that footprint on the path to step into. She may even need it now. I still have qualms about writing this letter, but I'm going to do it. That's my challenge for this week, and I'll update this entry after my letter is written, along with any other things that I find to do today that I've been putting off.

Leave me a comment if you do something today that you've been putting off. I'd love to hear from you!

Update: I wrote the letter. In my eyes, it was a pathetic attempt at offering comfort to someone who is hurting, but I know that God wanted me to write it. I hope I never have to write another one like it again!

"15 Minutes" Rules!

I know I've said this before. But every time I seriously put it to the test, I am amazed all over again. "15 Minutes" rules!

I think the reason it works so well for me is that I dread big jobs, therefore I put off doing them. For example, my Sunday school teaching materials have flannelgraph pieces that I have to cut apart for each series of lessons. I'm starting a new series this Sunday, so it was time to cut out the pieces again. Instead of just jumping in, I planned for a 15-minute cutting session this afternoon. I ended up doing two of them, about 30 minutes apart. I found that I can cut two double pages of flannelgraph shapes in 15 minutes. When I finished, I picked up the scrap pieces and threw them away, put the cut pieces on top of those not done yet, and put them on my credenza, ready for me to continue tomorrow (but I actually think I'll do one more session tonight!). The pressure to get ALL the pieces cut out in one day is not there, when you're just going to work for 15 minutes. Obviously this won't work if you put off starting! When the pressure is not there, the dread of the job isn't there either.

So, having said all that, here is what I accomplished today, mostly in 15-minute chunks of time:

Cleaned out fridge, wiped shelves - 15 minutes
Unloaded dishwasher, loaded breakfast dishes
Mopped laundry room, entry, and kitchen floors (more than 15 minutes, but they were too dirty to put off to later)
Washed mats - probably less than 15 minutes all together! Yay for modern appliances!
Washed two loads of clothes - same as mats
Decluttered walk-in closet - 15 minutes (began this yesterday w/15 minutes, did more today, still have bits and pieces of things to do, mainly purging unneeded clothes)
Scrubbed bathtub, cleaned light fixture, light switch, and vanity cabinet doors, spot-cleaned door frame - 15 minutes - yes, all that in just 15 minutes, and I haven't even been faithfully keeping up with those jobs!
Decluttered sewing basket - 15 minutes
Made a menu and grocery list - 15 minutes
Worked on my Home Management Binder - 15 minutes
Cut flannelgraph pieces - 15 minutes, twice
Played piano - 15 minutes, three separate times today - I practiced the piano for 45 minutes today without taking a big chunk of time out of my day
Blogged - 15 minutes - this is my second session of blogging; the other is on my other blog.
Ironed 3 shirts and 3 pairs of pants - two 15-minute sessions while my husband had a meeting

This way of working may not be sensible to everyone, but it sure helps me a lot. My husband doesn't understand it; he likes to tackle a big job and get it all done. I just dread it till it absolutely has to be done. Also, if you're doing something like a craft, it doesn't make sense to spend only 15 minutes on it. For those things, I like to still have a specific amount of time, then stop and put it away, say 30 minutes to an hour, so that I feel like I've worked on it, but not overwhelmed myself with it or neglected something else.

What I loved about today's work was that I got so many different things done. I didn't get tired of doing one thing; there was always something else to do, a change coming in a few minutes. Plus, I just have a lot of things to do this week, so it helps to spend a little time each day on each of them.

I'll stop rambling now. I feel like I've really used my time well today, and that makes for a good night's sleep.

Did You Get 15 Minutes In?

I did! We were in and out of the house all day, but I managed to squeeze in 15 minutes of decluttering. I worked on the bookshelves in the school area. I have two there, about 6 feet tall, maybe 2.5 feet wide. They are full and overflowing with books! I got one bookcase cleared out and the books rearranged on it. Tomorrow (or maybe even later tonight!) I'll do the other one. It might take more than one session though, because some of the things I took off the other one . . . and put on the one that is still left! LOL I'm hopeless!

I hope you had a great holiday. Tomorrow is back to business and into the fall routine!

Tossing Around the Routine

My dear, sweet husband wants to toss around our routine today. He wants to eat supper at lunch time, then go play Putt Putt for the afternoon! So today I'm having to think backwards a bit. It's only 10:45, but I'm about to go and begin supper preparations.

Years ago, when Wes was in the Air Force and we didn't have any children, Wes was working what we called "mids," the 3:00-11:00 p.m. shift. Each day, I would make our supper at lunchtime, then he'd take either leftovers or a sandwich to work with him, and I'd eat the same at home. Surprisingly, we liked this schedule. He liked it because he got a good meal before he left for work (I wouldn't have sent him to work on just a sandwich!), and I liked it because the major work of the day, in relation to cooking, was done. After he went to work, I could do my own thing, just stopping to get a sandwich when I got hungry. I've also read that it's better to eat lightly in the evenings - breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper - and we did feel better not eating a heavy meal in the evening. There have been several times over the years since then that we've had our big meal in the middle of the day, but only on days when the schedule called for it. I've thought several times lately about changing our supper meal to midday; I think I'll mention it to Wes and see if he wants to relive old times! ;)

Kitchen - Day 4

Day 4 turned out to be a dud. I didn't do anything in there in the way of cleaning, except to keep up with it during meal prep. I bought groceries today and got some fresh veggies and fruit. I bought fresh English peas today for the first time in my life! So I spent part of the afternoon shelling them and cutting green beans to blanch and freeze. I didn't buy large amounts, but I didn't want them to go bad before we could eat them. I'm gradually adding a little here and there to my freezer. I can't add too much, because all we have is a small freezer on top of the fridge - and that's all apartment sized! We hope to buy a small freezer soon, so that I can bake and freeze and also freeze some summer produce. I also got cherries, strawberries, and blueberries today. I went ahead and fixed two batches of meatballs this afternoon and froze one for later. So I didn't do nothing; I just didn't do what I had planned to do! I'll do the things I had planned for today tomorrow.

Kitchen - Day 3

I have been way unmotivated today. I don't know why. It could be the rain, I guess, but I get used to that in the winter and go on about my days. Anyway, I didn't get anything much done till mid-afternoon. That's when I went into the kitchen and started cleaning the refrigerator. It wasn't bad, but I took everything out, washed all the shelves and the two bins, wiped down all the interior surfaces, and put it all back in - minus the things that needed to come out, that is. I also cleaned the freezer. I am amazed at how good it looks!

After supper I washed the countertops with a bleach cleaner. I messed up on the first one. I drizzled the cleaner on the counter, then came back with the scrubber sponge. Now I have drizzle marks on my counter where the bleach worked extra good while I was getting the sponge! I can't get them off! Well, I learned from that and put the cleaner on the sponge for the other two counters. So don't drizzle bleach cleaner on your counter and let it set for even two seconds!

I didn't go to the grocery store today. Why? For no other reason than I didn't want to. I don't use that reason real often, but I pulled it out today. I never want to go grocery shopping! I will go first thing tomorrow morning.

I'll probably mop my kitchen floor tomorrow and do some decluttering and rearranging in my utility closet on Friday. Over the several months of use, it's gotten cluttered again, to the point that I have to stand back from the shelf and reach for whatever food I want. I need to work on the kitchen cabinets a bit too. I keep forgetting about them. There's always something to keep a person busy; you just have to go looking for it sometimes.

Kitchen - Day 2

Since Beth and I went shopping today, I didn't get a lot done in the kitchen, and I didn't get it done this morning. Life happened at our house this morning, the kind of life that happens when you know you need to get out the door - nothing major, just those little inconveniences that keep you learning patience. I had planned to work in the kitchen a little before we left, but it just didn't happen.

When we got home, I decided to do what I could while supper cooked. I managed to get the cabinet fronts wiped down with spray cleaner and a rag. It's not much, but it's a baby step toward the whole kitchen being cleaned! Every little bit counts!

Tomorrow I plan to do my grocery shopping, clean out the fridge and wipe down the inside, and clean at least the counter on the bar. I noticed today that I could tell where I cleaned around the edge of the sink yesterday. My counters are a beigey-off-white color, and it's hard to tell when they need a real cleaning, unless it's a tea stain or something dark like that. When I cleaned the edge of the sink yesterday, it left that area a brighter beige than the rest of the counter - like when a guy gets a haircut after a tan?! LOL So at least that counter needs to be cleaned tomorrow. Keep in mind that these are my plans; I'll give it a good effort, but won't fret if they don't get completely done.

I really have to put some time into studying and preparing Sunday school and mid-week lesson plans tomorrow. This is something that I've found hard to do. These are quiet activities, but they take some mental effort to do well, and then some physical effort to cut out craft pieces, gather and prepare visual aids, and bring together all the components of the lessons and activities into one cohesive class session. I also have, at the most, 4 students in any one session. Smaller classes take more work, I think, because you have to plan games around a small group while most games are for large groups. In a small group, you're also more likely to have a wide age range, and I do: I have children from grade 2 through grade 6. The class content has to hold the interest of the 6th grader while being simple enough for the 2nd grader, and be exciting for everyone. So it takes time and planning just as it does with a large class.

Enough of my rambling for tonight. I'm tired from all the running today, so I should go to bed and rest a bit. See you tomorrow!

Kitchen - Day 1

Today I got a lot accomplished in the kitchen in a short amount of time. I love it when that happens! The way that happens, I've learned, is by staying on top of those routines, mainly the morning and evening ones (evening is especially important in the kitchen, as it ensures that your kitchen is ready for the next day). The extra things I got done are cleaning the shelves and decorative items in the dining room, cleaning the microwave and microwave cart (after supper, since some potatoes boiled over in there), cleaning the stove, wiping the inside of the oven door, cleaning the stove knobs and drip pans (in the dishwasher), and cleaning the sink and faucet. The sink and faucet were basically clean, but I got under the handles on the faucet, and around the edge of the sink where it sits in the counter. That little area around the sink always gets stained, like tea gets spilled there, so I have to clean it with bleach cleaner every now and then.

Today was our son Andrew's birthday, so we fixed his requested meal - fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I added baked beans and toasted some leftover biscuits (I know, that's bad to serve the birthday boy leftovers, but we all like toasted biscuits!). For dessert, Andrew asked for brownies and ice cream. Beth made the brownies this afternoon, so they were still warm after supper - mmmmmmm! I had a very small sliver of brownie with about half a scoop of ice cream to celebrate. Hopefully I didn't do much damage with that small amount of really sweet dessert!

Tomorrow I'm taking Beth and a friend of hers shopping in the US. We'll go down about 10:00, go to Wal Mart and the mall - and maybe a thrift store, if we have time - and come home around mid-afternoon. I didn't get up early today, but I plan to tomorrow so that I can get a little work done before we leave. I stayed up late last night with Wes as he watched a movie - Captain and Commanders, I think it was - full of action and suspense with no cursing or women. We've watched this movie a couple of times before, but Wes loves it, so we watched it again when we saw it was on TV. Anyway, I stayed up late with him and we both slept in this morning. Monday is our day off, so I figured it's ok once a week. But we're whipping ourselves back into shape tomorrow! ;)

Evening Routines

I promised yesterday to tell you about my evening routine . . . or lack thereof. I don't like to go to bed. I do like to get up early and get the day started in a sensible way, not scrambling around, eating breakfast at 10:00, and realizing half the day is gone before we even get started good. One disadvantage that I have, as far as having a schedule, is that everything we do is based at home. My husband works at home, I am a stay-at-home wife and mother, and we homeschool. There is almost nothing that we have to be on time for! That probably sounds heavenly if your husband works an early-morning job, you have small children, or your children go to school! But when you don't have outside influences to keep you on somewhat of a schedule, you tend to just do things whenever, if you're a more laid-back family like we are.

So anyway, I like to get up early, but I don't have much outward motivation to do so. Therefore, I figure I can stay up as late as I want to, because I can sleep in if I need to . . . a vicious cycle. So what I've had to do is decide when I need to go to bed in order to get up fairly early. I like getting up around 6:00, because I can shower and dress, then have my devotions in a leisurely manner first thing in the morning. I've found that I don't have any trouble waking up at 6:00 if I go to bed around 10:30 or so. So that is my goal - in bed by 10:30. I think I've set this goal before, actually. See how fickle I am?

My "routine" for the evening has been to stay up till I'm dead tired, drag up the stairs, take off my clothes (of course dropping them where I stand), and drop in the bed. Most of the time I'm so tired by that point that I don't wash my face, I don't put anything away, I don't want to snuggle with my husband - just leave me alone and let me go to sleep! This is not good. We both need that time together at the end of the day. I've decided on an evening routine that I want to start around 9:30 to 10:00. Here are the components of my routine:

Turn off computer
Pick up living room
Check kitchen; make sure sink is empty and shining
Turn down bed covers
Put on jammies
Wash face & brush teeth
Snuggle with Wes

Wes is not a morning person, but he doesn't like to go to bed alone. Even if he's worn out, he'll stay up till I go to bed. I've found that, if I will begin preparing for bed, he will soon be in there with me, and we both get a better night's sleep. So it looks like I'm the one in charge of bedtime - POWER!!!! ;) It's taken me almost 22 years to realize this.