Being Blunt

I currently feel like I am drowning in a sea of things I need to get done. I feel under appreciated and taken for granted. I do not feel the love...

I will survive.

My Baby Is What!?

Happy

5th Birthday!

Cutie Patootie!

You made "4" look adorable.

You bring so many giggles to our family. You keep us entertained with your antics.

I can't believe you still put your "bappy" in your mouth.

I love how you add an "okay" with a southern drawl to the end of EVERY question.

I love how you say "awesome" when you think something is great.

I love how you talk about your "boyfriend" like you are a teenager.

I love your hugs.

Have a great year being "5."

On To The Next Phase

I can not get my computer to upload photos...argh. So here is a pictureless post. Sorry.

I finished the clothing phase of being a better housewife. I can't believe it is the 24th of January and I am still keeping my new year's resolution!

I am ironing on Thursday. My ironing board is put away at all other times. I am not stressing out cause I have to iron at night OR right before we leave to go somewhere on the weekend. Why didn't I do this years ago?!

I organized all the clothes in the closets and drawers. I am responsible for all of those except for Manga Dork's. She will be hanging and putting away all her clothes and I will keep her in check with routine inspections. All sloppy or misplaced items will be pulled out.

I will be doing 2 loads of laundry daily. One in the am...one in the pm. Everything must be hung or folded and put away right from the dryer.

I cleaned my laundry room that had become the unofficial "junk room." It is SO empty and FABULOUS! I figured out what supplies I used for "clothing" and made sure I had everything I need...all excess stuff was pitched.

I am changing sheets every Monday...which counts as my AM load that day.

I can already feel the difference just this one "phase" has made on my life. My change in attitude has helped too.

Now what to do next?!

Hello.

Hello.

Do I hear snoring?!

WAKE UP!

I am going to be needing some advice on "FOOD" cause that is what phase I am attacking next!

Do you do meal planning? Weekly? Monthly?

To Text Or Not To Text

Manga Dork is officially ungrounded. She has been gounded for about 5 weeks due to some very scary midterms.



I handed her back her cell phone, computer privileges, and ability to do things with her friends. It was such a nice break from these things {for me}.



Things can not go back to the way they were. Too much freedom = teenager not taking care of her responsibilities. I need to make new rules. I don't want to be uberstrict or too lenient. This is my first teenager...I need suggestions!



What rules do you have for your teen regarding cell phones/teting?

Computer privileges?

Time with friends?

Changing Sheets

How often do you change your sheets? Do you have a certain routine?

I "Bear"ly Kept It A Secret

Yesterday I took my 3 kiddos to meet up with my SIL, niece, and nephew. We didn't tell them what we were doing. My kids thought we were going grocery shopping.

When I pulled into the movie theatre parking lot I said, "We're going to see Yogi Bear!" They were all excited...even the teen.

It wasn't a great movie. I suggest waiting for the rental. But we did giggle.

They had a great day off school...and I got some pretty solid "mommy of the year points."

Did you do something special for your kiddos yesterday!?

I Challenge Y.O.U.

I am doing something today to SURPRISE my kiddos. Just something little...but I think being SURPRISED triples the FUN!

I challenge YOU to do something to SURPRISE your kids TODAY! Show you love them by planning something special...big or small or tiny...they will LOVE that you thought of them and made the effort JUST FOR THEM!

Come back here tomorrow and we will share our FUN experiences.

Happy Monday!

It Would Be Alot Easier If We Lived In A Nudist Colony

My back started feeling SO much better yesterday around noon. So I managed to get all my ironing for the next week done! Here's how I set it up...

I put all the shirts in the order that he would wear them {left to right}. I seperated them from his others with one of his magnetic bracelets his patient made for him. It must have worked cause he removed the right shirt this morning!

Then on the back of our bedroom door I put all his pants on a waterfall hanger. The top pair is the next one to be worn. Must have understood that concept too cause he got the right ones! It felt so good last night to just sit down and watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills without worrying about ironing. Next week is the season finale?! How am I going to live without my weekly does of Beverly Hills?!

The next thing I wanted to work on is organizing our hanging clothes in each closet. Ours was ok, the littles' was a mess, and Manga Dork's was so bad she just kept wearing the same things over and over...a little too lazy to figure out what else is in there.

Dr. Hubby's was easy. Of course the ironed shirts are now on the top to the right.

When you wear nothing but denim skirts and vneck tshirts it is REALLY easy to organize...lol. I really need a makeover.

Wild Child and Cutie wear the same size MOST of the year, and I keep their clothes to one side of the closet. But from January to shorts wearing weather they are in two different sizes...mostly because of pant length. This is Wild Child's side of the closet. We have {left to right} matched outfits, shirts only, jeans.

This is Cutie's side. We have {left to right} matched outfits, dresses, lifejackets, tutus. Her side looks a little fuller cause more of Wild Child's clothes were in the laundry due to going to school every day.

And this took F.O.R.E.V.E.R.! Manga Dork's closet {right to left} vests, tshirts, long sleeve button up shirts, sweaters...open the other side...

{right to left} sweatshirts, skirts, dresses, jeans, shorts and capris. She was SO excited to have everything matched and ready to be worn. Her useable wardrobe has at the very least TRIPLED! I am so glad not to be seeing her wear the same 3 sweatshirts and a couple tshirts OVER AND OVER.

Continueing with the "Clothing" theme I am going to tackle my laundry room next. I can't wait to get it set up to make laundry time easier...

Do you have a laundry room?

Where is it in your home?

Does it ever end up being the place where you stash junk you don't know where to put?

Not that I would do anything like that....just askin. ;)

Ironing Out The Kinks

For the last few days this is where my butt has been. For some reason my lower back muscles have decided to go on strike. I am tired of sitting around surrounded by too much stuff to do. I am going to attempt to do my ironing. I have a feeling my butt will end up right back in that massaging recliner though!

Here's what I came up with to make ironing a little more tolerable...

I chose Thursdays for my ironing day. Why Thursday? Because it is already the day I do not make any appts. or plans for during the day. I have TOPS at 6 pm. Cutie does not have preschool. It is my favorite tv night {Vampire Diaries & Beverly Hills Housewives}. I did not want to choose Monday for several reasons, but especially because Monday is usually a dreaded day already!

I gathered up my supplies. I purchased extra shirt hangers, a hanger that will hold 6 items, a new ironing board cover, and ironing spray. I already had my iron and Twilight cup for adding more water.

I have had this cover for 5 years. That is not dirt. It is dark lint stuck in layers and layers of dried ironing spray starch. The water swirly stains are from me knocking the iron over when it is not on and water leaking out of it. Because I leave the ironing board out all the time, it becomes a "catch-all" for things that need to be put away. I plan to only bring it out for ironing day once a week.

I removed the old cover and now it is fresh and clean and bright. There isn't much creative design in the ironing board cover options. I found a few pretty ones on etsy.com, but I wasn't willing to throw away $45.

It even has a little pocket on one side. I got tickled at the warning not to put your iron in there. I am sure that is for the blond housewives who think it is a great place for their hot iron while hanging up each piece. lol

So why not dry cleaning? We live in the COUNTRY country. The little town with Dr. Hubby's office doesn't even have a dry cleaner. I was so jealous to read about Chanda's cheap prison-ran dry cleaners. What a great idea!

I am sure I will never LOVE ironing, but I think this plans makes it a little more manageable.

Time to tackle another housewife chore...

Taking A Snow Day

How cute is that furry little face?! Toby always looks like he was hit in the face with a snowball when he comes in from taking a pee-pee.

I am still not 100% and can't sit for very long.

They messed up on the bumper of my car so it will be another week before it comes home!

We have 4 maybe 5 inches of snow! No school!

We Briefly Interrupt This Blog...

OMG...I am in so much pain right now. I have multiple muscle spasms in my lower back. I can not seem to get comfortable. Ouch! So really the last thing I want to do is IRON! lol. Stay tuned...tomorrow will bring my ironing post!

And some great news...

MY ESCALADE IS FINALLY COMING HOME TONIGHT!

"Inspired" By My Kitchen Counter

My kitchen counter caused me to lose it yesterday.

Well, it was kinda like "the straw that broke the camel's back."

I started getting everyone ready at 10am. We were going to the mall to return/exchange a few Christmas items. I begged Manga Dork out of bed, laid out clothes for the 2 littles to put on, took my shower and got dressed, woke Dr. Hubby, ironed Dr. Hubby's shirt, woke Dr. Hubby, fixed 2 littles' hair, woke Dr. Hubby, prepared the returns, woke Dr. Hubby....I think you see the pattern.

I wanted to leave at noon. The mall is a little over an hour drive and everything closes at 6pm on Sunday.

He waited til 12:15pm to get up. I lost it.

"LOOK AT THIS HOUSE. I CLEANED ALL DAY YESTERDAY. I WAS SO TIRED LAST NIGHT AND LOOK AROUND. IT DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE I DID ANYTHING. THIS KITCHEN COUNTER IS A DISASTER. NO ONE WILL THROW AWAY THEIR TRASH. THEY JUST SIT IT ON THE COUNTER EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A 30 GALLON TRASH BAG RIGHT BELOW WHERE THEY SAT IT. IT IS SO HARD TO LIVE LIKE THIS. IT IS SO STRESSFUL. I FEEL LIKE I REALLY TRY AND IT IS POINTLESS. I AM CALLED GROUCHY AND HATEFUL BECAUSE I "NAG" ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS HOUSE DOING STUFF. I AM BUTTING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK WALL. and so on and so forth....

He went to get ready and I made lunch. We went to town, returned the stuff, bought some other stuff, grocery shopped, and I juggled Burger King in the car for dinner so we could make it home in time for bedtimes on a school night.

This is an example of why I am on a mission to be a better housewife. But I have a warning for the other 4 people living in our home...IT'S GONNA GET UGLY. I have some retraining to do.

Happy Monday!
Tomorrow I will share how I have changed my bad attitude toward ironing!

The Best

I absolutely love Betsey Johnson. I love her playful use of colors and patterns. I love the "Cute Factor" of everything she designs. I own several handbags and bracelets...and one keychain. I would never fit into any of her clothes...maybe one day. {I even considered naming Cutie "Betsey"}

While Christmas shopping with my mom I saw a bracelet at Macys. I fell in love. If Betsey made a bracelet especially for me...this would be it...

I love that little camera. This bracelet is part of a line called, "Life is Short...Capture Every Moment." I walked away and thought "well, that is definitely going on my Christmas list." When I got home I tried to find a pic on the internet....none to be found. It was sold out every where I looked. Bummer.

At my mom's house my Lil Sis handed me a box with the tag "To: My Sister From: Your Sister." I was excited. She always gives me the coolest gifts. BUT...I never dreamed that this bracelet was inside! I cried. She is just the best sister...ever. {Shoot...now I am crying typing this.}

She had went through alot to get it. Two bracelets left...one in FL and one in NYC. It really meant alot to me for her to put so much effort in getting this.

I miss you Lil Sis. I wish we lived closer. Thank you again for being so awesome. I love you.

{Ok...now I am going to have to go get a tissue...lol}

Hmmm....I wonder if Betsey makes ironing board covers?

I Just Want You To Know

I just finished reading my first book in 2011! I am going to take a HUGE risk and confess something. Are you sitting down? Ok...here goes...

I like Kate Gosselin.

I have watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 off and on since the beginning. I thought she was a real witch in the beginning. I thought "Wow, she must have a little bag in her pocket containing Jon's manhood." She just seemed bossy.

Then as I watched more and more I started thinking about how hard it would be to take care of 8 children. All those clothes, shoes, feedings, diapers, potty training, etc. AND to do it in front of a camera! I would be a hot mess. If I was taped with just the 3 I have now...I would be great material for every late night comedian. I can see the Hot Topics for every talk show..."Scrappy Girl's youngest eats Fudge Round for breakfast...again." Stop the insanity!

I think Kate could have been a little less condescending to Jon, BUT can you imagine trying to keep a routine with JON GOSSELIN as your partner. He was like a concrete block tied to her leg while she tried to parent.

I admire that Kate openly admits her faults...even that weird short hairdo she used to rock! You know something is "off" when you are one of the top Halloween costumes!

I don't agree with all of what Kate says or does. I also worry about how the kids are being affected by all the cameras. I think Jon is a douschebag that got tired of being saddled with all those kids. I wish he would openly apologize to Christian Audiblahblahblah for single handedly ruining the Ed Hardy tshirt.

This book was a pretty good read. It didn't really tell me anything I hadn't already heard. The letters are sweet at first, but I got bored with them and skipped the last 6.

What are your feelings about Kate?

Meet My Nemesis

I loved hearing about your most dreaded chores. Let me introduce you to mine...

I absolutely positively "hate, hate, hate...LOATHE ENTIRELY" ironing. Anyone know what movie the quote is from?

Dr. Hubby has to have a nice shirt and dress pants EVERY work day. He also has to have 2 button up shirts for the weekend. And I am very embarrassed to admit...I even go over the front of his weekend jeans. I iron once daily...usually the last thing I do before plopping my big ol' butt on the couch every night.

Anyhoo. I am one of those "start with the biggest thing first" kind of girls. So I thought I would work on all things related to my weekly ironing.

Should I do it daily or do it all at once?
What would make it more enjoyable...and dare I even say...fun?
What day or time of day should I do it?
What supplies do I need?
Can I hire someone to do it for me so I can sit and watch reruns of Beverly Hills Housewives? heehee

Do you iron?
What works for you?

To peek at Toby the Shih Tzu's incredibly cute new hairdo go HERE!

Every Monumental Life Change Should Include...

a super cute hot pink binder with rainbow tabbed dividers! Oh, and when I get through with it...there.will.be.glitter.

See, I told you I was serious. I am going to get so organized I make Martha Stewart jealous. No...wait...not Martha. I will strive even further...I will make BREE VANDECAMP turn green with envy. And with that hair she will look like a Christmas elf. haha For those of you who are "Housewives Challenged." Bree Vandecamp is from Desperate Housewives. She has REALLY red hair and is beautiful...and she is like Martha Stewart...except with sex appeal AND a love of guns. Let's just say that if Dr. Hubby had a "TOP 5 FICTIONAL CHARACTERS I WOULD LIKE TO..." she would be numbers 1 through 4. Who would 5 be? Anyone Angelina has portrayed, of course. Isn't she mandatory on all those lists? It's the lips...

Anyhoo.

I would like to know...

What household chore gives you the hardest time? You know the one...the one you would LOVE for little fairies to complete while you are fighting with your kids through the grocery aisle! {scrappygirlsdailylife.blogspot.com for evidence of the above statement}.

Happy Tuesday!

It's Gonna Be Alot of Work

I love a new beginning. A chance to wipe the slate clean and create something...better. When I started to daydream about what I wanted to focus on in 2011 it came to me pretty quickly. It stayed on my mind as I went about my daily life. It became clear how necessary it was when the holiday chaos had me living by the seat of my pants. It also helped when Dr. Hubby's crazy aunt went completely NUTS and bashed me all over facebook for no reason. And when I say "bashed" I mean she attacked me on all kinds of levels...wife, mother, daughterinlaw, homemaker, family member, and even my weight. It was ugly. I never responded and she has come out of it looking like a complete looney toon....which apparently she is.


Anyhoo. The word I have chose for 2011 is....

housewife

I know what you are thinking. How much more obsessed with the Real Housewives can she get? No, this does not mean that I am going to be auditioning for Real Housewives of my undisclosed state...although that would be REALLY cool. I need to focus on being a housewife...a homemaker.

You see, I remember being in school and everyone asking what you want to be when you grow up. I remember being in high school and feeling that if you weren't going to college to be something extremely fabulous you were headed down the wrong road.

"You aren't going to college?"
"Then what are you going to do with your life?"
"You are going to do something really important and huge in your life. You need college."

So I went to college. I have an associate degree in Office Technology with a specialty in medical.

Being a SAHM with a hubby that is a doctor REALLY distorts my perception of what I am doing with my life.

"Hi honey, how was your day?"
"Well, this guy had some symptoms and I discovered this rare condition and sent him to the hospital for a simple surgery that saved his life. How was your day?"
"Well, I did 2 loads of laundry that are still in need of being folded and reorganized the pantry so we can actually see the food we have."

Can you see how I might feel a little lacking?!

How about when you are filling out paperwork and they ask for your profession?! You say housewife...and they leave it BLANK.

All these things bug me. I feel very unimportant. Well, this year I have decided that I am going to find and embrace the importance of being a housewife. All things HOUSEWIFE! There are so many areas I plan to improve. I haven't been taking this job seriously...and it's time to make some changes.

I hope you all enjoy reading about my journey.

Bring on 2011!

What are your plans for the new year?

From Our Little Family

Happy New Year!

I have a new project I want to work on in the next year. It is something that I need to improve on and change my attitude about...