Man That Works? Monday

I love the fact that our home has plenty of storage space. I remember the day we moved in and I thought to myself, "There is absolutely NO way I will fill up all of these closets!" Of course, this is a fairly large home compared to our home in Lincoln. As a matter of fact, I had to buy a mini pantry for our home in Lincoln just to have a place for canned goods, etc. So, as you can imagine, any cupboard space would be well-appreciated.
I know it's hard to believe, but the day came (almost 3 years later) that I managed to fill up every part of every closet.
With this in mind, I had Bill delve into a "simple" task for me (I have to use the word "simple" loosely when it comes to Bill and projects).
He made this little cart for me to simply slide under our bed for extra storage. It's just a piece of plywood (scrap from our garage) to which he attached 4 casters. This has been a space-saver and it was literally less than $10 to make. I'd like to have another one for our bedroom and one for the kids' room too.
And, again, my heart goes pitter patter. It's the simple things.

He'll Always Take Care of Me

I love having a little boy. Luke is my confidant, helper, friend, cuddler and can make me laugh in an instant. Every stage of a child's life is magnificent in its own way, but for me, I really enjoyed Luke being 3. He says the cutest things and is unbelievably witty.
When Bill's not around, he is THE man of the house, and he takes that job very seriously. Friday morning, we were cuddling in bed after Bill had left for work. I love my cuddle times with Luke. At one point, he turned my face towards him, put his hand on my back and whispered, "Mommy, I'll always take care of you."
At that moment, Luke could have had whatever he wanted.
Oh, you want ice cream for breakfast, honey? Sure!
How many movies would you like to watch today? You choose!
I melted. I crumbled. I was putty in his hands. And for that moment, I believed him. I still believe him. I must be doing something right if he wants to always take care of me.
I'm sure his future wife will LOVE me. "Oh, honey, I'll be late for supper. Mom needs me." Yep, she will adore me.
I'm sure I'll have to remind him one day of his words, but for now, I am loving every minute.

Blah Blah Blah

Warning: What you are about to read may contain meaningless conversation merely to inform you of the goings on of an average mom, wife and zookeeper. This Blah Blah Blah session may cause drowsiness.

You know the weeks go by fast when you reread your last posting and think that it was just yesterday that you wrote it. And, now that The Bach.elor is over for one more mere week (why do I love that show?), I can fully focus on the task at hand...this post.

Last week, my brother was home from Boston. It was nice to have him home, but I'm sure he was ready to go back after a week of his "former" life. It has to be weird for him; two completely different worlds. One where you are a self-sufficient career man and the other where mom and dad still insist on paying for your supper.
We enjoyed two Christmases with him in which we all received our first round of "Boston gear" (of course, being Yankee fans, we were so appreciative).
I also had Mom, Dad and Trav visit on Wednesday. They spent the day and we all relaxed.
One of the perks of being Travis' sister is the benefits I receive from his job. Yes, I receive benefits from his job. See, he is a manager at Amer.ican Eag.le in Cambridge, MA. Two times last week I got to go shopping using his discount (how can one pass up skinny jeans for $15?...now if I can just get the nerve to wear them. It's something about them being called "skinny" jeans. I think I may feel more comfortable if they were called "you-don't-have-to-be-skinny-necessarily" jeans.

On another note...I'm enjoying new pajamas tonight. I love new pajamas. I wonder how long it will take Bill to notice that I have new ones...probably long enough that when he asks me, "When did you get those?" I can honestly say,
"I've had these for a LONG time" and it would be 100% truthful.

I have many "Man that works? Monday" posts to share with you, but I haven't been able to take pictures. Plus, it seems that Monday is a really hard time for me to blog. I've cleaned more closets, invented a storage solution and been spending time in the kitchen gathering supplies for healthy snacks. But don't you fret; I will enlighten you with all of my wisdom soon. It just may not be on Monday.

I have a dear friend who told me that her and her husband tried the "ten minute ticker" and loved it, but her husband kept calling it the "ten minute teaser". I just rolled with laughter and now, that's what Bill and I call it. I hope Bill doesn't feel like the word teaser is leading him on though; it's hard to crush the man's dreams.

I will I will I will

I WILL be submitting a blog tonight...only one question-before or after The Bach.elor?

From the "What it's Worth Department"

I have a friend who is a mother of two and works full time. She is considering quitting her job to stay home and was quizzing me about my daily activities. She was curious whether my full-time job as a mom, wife, do-it-all, fix-it-all, know-it-all (and yes, of course I do) got boring, mundane or monotonous. I told her that I would keep track of what I did for one day and report back to her. I had never actually done this, but it proved to be worth while. Not only does my friend get a glimpse into the life of this stay-at-home mom, but Bill gets to see what I ACTUALLY do during the day and I get the chance to look over my list and say to myself, "Yes, I was productive today", even if I did watch an old rerun of "18. and Count.ing" and "Lit.tle Miss Per.fect" (what can I say? I love reality TV).
So, the following was my day on Tuesday. Some days aren't this busy, other days are busier. So, for all of you curious of a day in the life of me, get some hot tea, a blanket and keep on reading...

6:00 a.m. Katelyn rises and shines. We cuddle under the blankets & give Eskimo kisses
6:30 Bill leaves to drive the bus route (ah, the life of a principal; glorious, huh?) Luke wakes up. The kids cuddle in bed and watch Blu.es Clu.es while I do my devotions (I try to get it in whenever I can!)
7:00 Pull off all sheets...it's Clean Sheet Day! Start a load of laundry
7:15 Make breakfast and unload the dishwasher (I HATE unloading the dishwasher. I'd rather clean a whole house than unload a dishwasher. Don't ask).
7:40 Everyone brushes teeth and gets dressed
8:00 Change laundry. Luke plays in his new batman costume while Katelyn dumps all of my books out of the basket under my night stand (a daily ritual).
8:10 Pick up a trail of toys, go through the mail and set aside bills that need to be paid
8:20 Get workout clothes on
8:30 I work out while Luke plays in the toy room and Katelyn pretends to be my personal trainer (have you ever tried to do jumping jacks while a 1 year old is holding on to your leg...it DOES add a certain element of difficulty).
9:00 Snacks for the kids. Pull the high chair into our room so Katelyn can watch TV with Luke while I hop in the shower and get ready for the day.
9:30 Get on shoes, hats, gloves, coats (doesn't it just irk you that it takes 20 extra minutes to get ready to go anywhere just because of the subzero temps???)
9:50 Chiropractic adjustment, and feeling much more aligned. All is right with the world.
10:15 Arrive home. Katelyn goes down for a late nap. I play catch with Luke (and yes, in the house).
10:40 Take all of the Christmas totes downstairs
11:00 Preschool with Luke. He insisted on wearing his batman costume during preschool. Too funny. Oh, and I had to call him Batman instead of Luke. Can you imagine, "Good golly gee, batman, it is Tuesday, January 5th!)
11:30 Luke and I pick up the toyroom and I put new sheets on the bed downstairs.
11:45 I check my e-mail/blogs/fb
12:00 Katelyn awakes and I prepare lunch
12:10 Serve lunch
12:12 Take a phone call regarding Premier
12:30 Clean up and enjoy a cup of coffee while the kids play
12:45 Dress the beds with fresh clean sheets
12:55 Play with the kids
1:45 Read books and settle down
2:00 Kids "down" for a nap. I use "down" loosely because this usually includes 15 minutes of Luke making Katelyn laugh and gleeful giggles coming from their room. I don't ever go in a stop it because it's too darn cute.
2:05 Time to work on Premier...make phone calls and send e-mails.
2:30 Watch a little T.L.C. and organize my sock drawer (I hardly ever watch TV without doing something else at the same time. That way I don't feel guilty about watching because I was actually a wee bit productive too). As a matter of fact, I organized all of my drawers and Bill's while the kids were down for a nap.
3:30 Read a couple of chapters in the book I'm currently reading and a few more chapters in the book of Acts.
4:00 Shut my eyes for a power nap.
4:20 Kids awake.
4:30 Prepare an early supper (spaghetti) so that we can go to Bill's basketball game at 6:00.
5:00 Eat, clean up, get ready to go.
6:15 We're out the door.

And so, this is all from the "What it's Worth Department". Is it hard work? You bet. Does it ever get boring? You bet. Do my kids ever drive me nuts? You bet (times 20) Is it worth it?

100%

Man That Works? Monday

Wouldn't you like to start 2010 being more organized? I know I would. The more people that occupy my household the more things I have. I hate clutter. I like clean lines and things put away. It can get overwhelming though, can't it? So, let's start with something easy. I started with my bathroom closet. I just got new towels (oh so soft) for Christmas, so I had a little bit of good old intrinsic motivation!
I got so tired of the kids' medicines, adult medicines and other bathroom supplies just sitting out in a big heap which made it hard to find anything. So, it was time to get to work.
First, I found some inexpensive wicker baskets at gord-mans (I think they were $4 each) and a cute hat box at Fac-tory Card Out-let (I love this store, by the way. Super cute stuff and they have all kinds of boxes like the one I bought for super cheap. This one was $3!).
The next step was to organize. I used a basket for toilet paper, one for the kids' medicine, one for adult medicine, one for bodily injuries and then I used the hat box to store all of our bathroom "extras" (tooth paste, q-tips, cotton balls, razors, etc.)
Finally, I stocked the shelves with the baskets and towels and here is the finished product (oh, and yes, it is not January 3, 2005):

I just love that I can pull out a basket that is specifically organized for what I need. What a time saver! All in all, this project only took me about 30 minutes. Let's get motivated, people!