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!

My precious one-year old

I remember the early morning that you were born. Your daddy and I had gone to the hospital the night before and I was ready. I was ready to meet you. We didn't find out if you were a boy or a girl at our 20 week ultrasound, but I felt that you were a girl from day one. We relaxed in the delivery room, listening to music, laughing with the nurses (your dad always likes to poke fun with the hospital staff). We wanted to have you on the 29th of December so that you could share birthdays with your Nana, who turned 80 the day you were born. Everyone was excited.

My labor was easy with you and when Dr. Mahoney said, "Hi, Katelyn!" I cried. I knew it. My heart was filled with joy. Not only had God blessed me with a beautiful little baby girl, but He trusted me to be your mommy.
We were love-struck. Luke even loved you. When he saw you, he said, "Hi, Katelyn. My name is Luke. I'm your big brother and I'm going to teach you everything I know."
I can't believe that you are one, Katelyn. You and your brother are the joys of our lives. You fit into this family so perfectly. I can't imagine what my life would be like without you. It's hard to not smile when you smile at me with your beautifully blue eyes.
Happy birthday, baby.

Update

As promised, here is my update. Nothing too exciting, but enough info. to keep all three of my blog stalkers satisfied.

I didn't get Christmas cards sent this year. I thought and thought and thought about when/what I should do about it. I figure that some may enjoy getting something after the new year, right? As most of you know, I'm not a procrastinator, but this year I have been dreading my Christmas letter and I can't pin point exactly why. My first excuse was that I lost all of the addresses that were saved in my laptop (a true statement). It has been nice to gather addresses again as I've received others' cards.

Katelyn has been doing so many fun things lately. It's amazing how in just a day's time she grows and does new things. I can hardly believe that she's going to be one next week. So, when do I stop calling her a baby and start calling her a toddler? She's walking all over the place and she talks, talks, talks. We hear a lot of "Dada, Mama, Papa, Bye, Hi, Uh-oh, entle (gentle-where do you think she's heard that?), and tonight, she did say grandma (which my mom was very pleased about beings that Luke took forever to muster out "grandma". He often called her "Shishem". We think he was trying to say Williamson. Who knows. And, I can gleefully say, all she got for Christmas was her 2 front teeth".... along with a few other things, of course.

Luke and I have been having fun with our advent calendar. We've made snow globes, a gingerbread house, peppermint playdough, have taken a ham to the city mission, delivered cookies to our neighbors and sipped hot cocoa while driving around looking at Christmas lights. It will be weird to get back into preschool in January. I have to start thinking about my lesson planning so we can make an easy transition.

We've joined the Columbus Y and love it. They have Y care for the kids, which allows me to workout. I only go 2 days a week and sometimes on Saturday to open swim. I wish it could be more, but it's hard when we have to go to Columbus to use the facility. I try to work out 2 hours while I'm there. I still need to lose about 15-20 more pounds until I feel satisfied. Ugh.

Bill is busy which equals him being gone... a lot. The school is in need of a morning bus driver and until they find one, Bill is the go-to man. He leaves the house at 6:30 a.m. and doesn't get home until 6:30p.m. (he coaches basketball after school). You just have to love living in a small community...he's a one man band most times.

Maybe I haven't felt up to writing my Christmas letter because I usually say all that I want to say through blogging. It's way more convenient and way cheaper. Oh, lahdee dah...maybe it will end up being a Valentine's Day letter. That would be a new one, wouldn't it? Wouldn't you be excited to get a family letter after the holidays? Why does it all have to stop after Christmas (can you tell I'm trying to justify my laziness? Nice.)

Have a Merry Christmas, all. Remember why we celebrate Christmas. I often think of the Herdmens in the book "The Best Chris-tmas Pageant Ever"; Christ has never been about beauty and elegance. He was ordinary, common and yet, a wonderful Savior.

Man That Works? Monday

Now introducing...
Da da da da da da daaaa!!! (Trumpets)
The CLEAN SWEEP! Have you ever been able to catch the show on TLC? I love this show. Something about it gives me warm fuzzies. Maybe it's the idea that it forces people to ditch things (usually odd things like the first tooth they ever lost...ewww).
I am by no means a pack rat. I'm quite opposite, actually, so organizing and sorting makes me feel complete. "It completes me" (Thank you for that oh-so-wonderful line Jerry McGui.re). So, PK (pre-kids) when we were DINKS (double income no kids), Bill and I started having a clean sweep of our own. We'd always do it over Christmas break, beings that we were both off of school, and we still do it to this day. We start in one room and take everything in that room and put it in the middle of the floor. Then, piece by piece we sort it all into piles of keep, donate or ditch. You would not believe the number of things we have gotten rid of over the years. And, every year, I feel like I can breathe once again and officially am decluttered. L-O-V-E it.
Now, of course, we don't go into as much detail because obviously with kids, we have more things. But, we still do the general concept. Even if it's just one closet, do it. Take it all out and dump it into a pile on the floor. Force yourself to go through it. You will be greatly rewarded (unless, of course, you're just not as weird as I am).

FYI-I fully intend to get you a full update on the happenings around here tomorrow (without pictures...we are in need of a new camera battery). I'm sure you all won't be able to sleep tonight because of the anticipation, right?

Man That Works? Monday...only it's Tuesday

Now introducing to you the Curry family 10-MINUTE TICKER! I absolutely cannot have a peaceful good-night's sleep unless my house is free of toys on the ground, dishes in the sink and piles on the counter. Just the idea of going to sleep with a messy house gives me the creeps (maybe I do need therapy). So, when we were first married, Bill introduced me to the 10-minute ticker. I loved the idea so much that we use it nearly every night so that this momma can get the rest that is so desperately needed.
After the kids are fast asleep, Bill and I set the kitchen timer for 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes, we get as much picking up done as we possibly can during that time. I mean, we seriously bust it out (I wore a pedometer once during our 10 minute ticker and I burned 100 calories...now that's what I'm talking about). The 10 minute ticker is not intended for deep cleaning such as vacuuming and scrubbing toilets (unless it's minor vacuuming like sweeping the kitchen floor). It's strictly for picking up. We both work hard for 10 minutes and whatever is not done by the time the buzzer goes off just doesn't get done until the next day. Let me tell you, it is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. You'd be surprised what you can get done in just 10 minutes! Let me know how the beauty of the ticker works for you!

Our Daily Advent

I love the idea of creating traditions that my family will grow to love. Ones that they will look forward to each year. This Christmas time is no different. I'm constantly thinking of what I can do to make Christmas special and unique for our family. So, when I went to Fam.ily Christ.ian in search of an advent calendar, I was thrilled when I found this...

As you open up the calendar, there is a mini book for each day of December.

The books can be pulled out by an attached string and can be used as an ornament on your tree. I'm too picky about what goes on my tree, however, so the mini books stay in the calendar.

This following picture is a bit fuzzy, but each book contains a short story. December 1st starts with the creation of the world and December 24th is the birth of Jesus. So far, we have covered creation, the fall of Adam and Eve, Noah's ark and yesterday, the book included the words to "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".

And, as a true blogger and mom, I have copied a fantastic idea from a friend. I use the advent calendar not only for the story, but I also slip a piece of paper behind the book. Written on that piece of paper is a Christmas project for Luke and me to complete on that particular day.

Luke gets so excited to see what our project for the day is. So far we've: Watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", made gingerbread cookies, decorated the gingerbread cookies and made a Santa door hanger.

I LOVE making memories.