Back To Binder Basics

"Most of all, someone has taken the trouble to make things nice. To fluff up the pillows, fill a vase with flowers, put down freshly laundered throw rugs,or set a pot of potpourri to simmer. These little grace notes of sight and scent do more to make a home feel gracious and expansive than all the expensive furniture in the world."

I read this quote on Copperswife last June, and it has stuck with me! (you can read it here) Sadly, it just stuck in my mind, and I didn't implement it. 2011 has been "The Year of the Sloth" around here, and my home has suffered the most. I have spent the year working very hard at not working! My 2011 goals are left 90% unmet. That is insane....it should be the other way around. Well, this year I am turning it around! My Home Management Binder is pulled back out, reworked a bit to fit my current schedules, and within a short couple of months, my home will back to ship shape!!!

I even made that quote my front page.

I started today, right where the book says to begin....I didn't get my entire house in order BEFORE I started...I just dove right in as if I had been following it all along. I used a daily sheet and crossed off my tasks as they were finished.

A little bit of deep cleaning was added. A couple of kitchen cupboards were cleaned out, but my scheduled focus cleaning will start after the New Year.

It is one of main goals for 2012...to get my house back in order!

Speaking of order, I LOVE that feeling when all the Christmas stuff comes down and things get put back into place. I always change a few things in the process....I am itching for some new placemats for the kitchen table. These look just a tad "Old Lady". I will look for just the perfect ones in the next couple of shopping trips.

The tree came down today and Sassy supervised from her spot on the couch.

Cammy found Zachary's Merry-Go-Round amusing!!! She climbed in and out of it, batting at the sides as it went around! She is fully recovered from her bout with the tummy bug.

She is growing by leaps and bounds and LOVES Kyle. She will curl up with him and purr herself to sleep. She does not do that with most people.The grand kids are here for the week. Such sweeties, and I enjoy every minute with them! It is close to bed time, so I am off to tuck them in. I will be back with more on my 2012 Goals, and I am sure some TJ and Emerson pictures!!

All Geared Up

Sweetheart leaves for work at 7 am tomorrow (Monday) morning. I am all ready to start my week. I loved my old routines. My house was always in order and I had more free time! In preparation, I got all my cleaning supplies cleaned out and organized. I store them in the laundry room, so I went ahead and cleaned and organized the whole room. (The milk jugs have homemade laundry soap in them, in case you were wondering)Lots of old empty bottles and containers, plus items that found their way in there that did not belong.

Another job I got a jump start on was cleaning my plants. I keep fake plants above my kitchen soffets. Zachary threw a cat toy, which landed up there. When I looked up I could not believe the dust on those plants!
It is so easy...I usually do these in the summer so I can take them outside with the hose, but they could not wait that long! I used the kitchen sink and the sprayer. They came clean with no real effort. So much better. I should be embarrassed....but I'm not. ;) Without my schedules in place I NEVER even look up there! I have my daily sheet filled out for tomorrow. Some call it a PODA (Parade Of Daily Activity). I just call it a Daily Sheet. I take my daily schedules from my binder and fill out the next days list of chores. Some days, everything on the schedule for that specific day does not need to be done. For example, if the dining room wasn't used, it may only get dusted and vacuumed once a week instead of the 3 times a week it is on the schedule. If it does, it goes on the daily sheet.Any phone calls, appointments, or errands also go on there. I list at least one job per child for the day too.
My monthly cleaning schedule is much more detailed. The first week of the month focuses on the front of the mail level of the house. This includes the dining room, entryway and studio. I go through that list and divide up several of those jobs throughout the week.

Such jobs as wiping down switch plates, vacuuming behind and under furniture, and washing windows, find their way onto the daily sheet. It is spread over the week, with some days not getting any deep cleaning added to them, and everything gets done. For example, I added some of those jobs onto tomorrows list since I will be working in those rooms anyway. On Tuesday and Thursday, other than general pick up, those rooms are not on my list, so I will not add any focus cleaning to those days. If I do things right, I should easily be done with my cleaning in 1-4 hours per day, depending on the day. It averages out to be 2-3 total, and that includes the deep cleaning jobs and the regular routines, like making beds, swiping down bathrooms, etc. You can see my complete Home Management Binder by clicking on the link on my sidebar.

Another cleaning job I took care of was my blog list. I subscribed to 198 blogs and had over 1000 unread posts. I really only read about 75 blogs, so I pushed the unsubscribe button on those I never visit anyway. Most of those unread posts went away. I caught up on the others and can now enjoy my daily blog reading again. I always had my morning coffee while I read blogs. Well over the last 2 years, I have coffee with Sweetheart and read blogs as I can, leaving NO time to comment. I feel guilty about that...like I visited your home and said nothing. I should be able to do much more commenting now that I am getting my schedules back in place!

Say a prayer if you think of us....Sweetheart has a long drive to work and we are getting some snow overnight....3 inches or more. It will be a long day here without him and he will be missed so very much, but we are SO thankful for this blessing!

I leave you with a pic of Sassy. She lost her toy under the stove, the poor thing!

No worries...we got it out for her. Life is good for Sassy as long as her food bowl is full and her milk rings are available!

I'll be back soon to share how it all went!

Returning To Normal

I created my Home Management Binder years ago...it started out a "Control Journal", but I didn't like that name AT all. It has been a wonderful tool in organizing my cleaning schedules and daily routines. It worked for me...I didn't work for it. Two years ago, Sweetheart got laid off and his business actually closed it's doors. There has been little, or nothing in the way of work ever since. God has provided for us in ways I can not even begin to share here. Just know He has performed miracles here! Anyway, in that 2 years, my schedules have been put to the side. Things get done regularly, but not always by me. Sweetheart is a clean-freak-neat-nick-OCD ....well you get the idea. He likes to clean. Problem is, he doesn't really know how. He is great at picking up and making things appear clean...in reality they are not. I would do the deep cleaning, but things were not on a schedule. Having Sweetheart here most days is like a never-ending weekend. I could never make it all work. Once or twice a week he would go to his mom's, but I usually took those days to relax and sew. Now...2 years later, Sweetheart is going back to work.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

What a blessing...those words are an understatement. Though I will miss him SO much, my schedules can work for me once again and I find myself almost giddy at the thought of "returning to normal". Homeschool, though affected in the beginning, has moved along quite well in the last 2 years with Daddy home. Little will change, though we may be a bit more laid back. Dad liked everything "timed"....and he preferred the kids do school at a table. Zach use to work in every room of the house, which was fine with me. Today was testing so he stayed at the table.

He was pretty confident he had done well.

Sassy will miss Sweetheart as much as we will. He is the one who gives her treats! I found this pic of her this morning....remember when she looked like this???

That little 1 pound 7 ounce sweetie with the cut off whiskers? She sure grew up.....

....and OUT! Maybe she will thin out now that "Daddy" is not here all the time!

I am so thankful for the last 2 years and even though it has been difficult, I would not trade them for anything. Having all that time with my husband was a gift. That is how I look at it! I am excited for him in this new job as he creates a new future for himself and for me and the kids. He is an amazing provider!!!

Ok, on to some quilty-sewing news. I joined a PIF on facebook. It was a 5 person PIF and I signed up with Christina. She sent me a beautiful hand-made tea wallet.Inside she had filled it with some wonderful teas and a scripture print from her online store, For His Glory Photography.
Go take a look at her prints. They are GORGEOUS!! You can find them by clinking on the above link.

Christina signed up on my PIF so I made her this....I chose the Wagon Wheel design because she and her family moved out west this summer. They traveled by RV and made a real memory of the trip.

Here is the back...you all know how I love the back of a quilt as much as the front.All my PIF's will have the same backing fabric to tie them together. Yeah....it was a large piece I bought and then decided against. It works for a back!
I still have 4 more to go. The 2nd one is in the hoop and the 3rd is almost ready to go there. It still has a few more leaves to add on.I may just start blogging a little more now that I will be back in "normal"...Sweetheart use to always read my blog from work and he would know how the day went before he ever saw us sometimes! His hours will be long, so I may have to take lots of pics and post them so he knows what is happening!

Oh, one more thing...we had the grandkids last week. TJ had no school Mon-Wed. so they were here Friday night and then went with Daddy on Saturday morning til Tuesday afternoon. We got them overnight again and then they went back to Mom on Wednesday. It was an unexpected blessing and we sure enjoyed them! They seem to be adjusting well. I know they sure adore their Daddy. When he walks in they go crazy over him!!! He's crazy for them too!

Ok, I think that is all for now. I'll be back soon to let you all know how normal feels!

A Fun Kind Of Busy

It has been a busy couple of days here. Miss Sassafras has been keeping the fly population to a zero here in our home! She gets worn out easily and must rest often.....she is now an even 10.0 pounds. My mother says her head is too small for her body. I say she is fluffy and has lots of hair!

Thursday my mom and I took Zach birthday shopping and look what we found at WalMart..... A GRANDSON!!!

As we were leaving the store, there he was with his Mommy, Daddy, and sister. Of course he HAD to come home with us. I did not even know he was in town. It was a nice surprise! He is playing Zach's Nintendo DS and new game....a birthday gift from Grandma, Aunt Debbie, and Aunt Robin combined.

Friday it was Emerson's turn at Grandma's. TJ went to see Toy Story 3 with his parents, and Em stayed with Grandma. She loved my new rocking chairs. I got 2 for 10 bucks at a garage sale. Well, I tried, but my mom beat me to them and then gave them to me!!! They are like new and very comfy. I sit out on my porch in the mornings with my coffee and Bible. Quite the spot now!

Today we had more company. I looked outside and this is what I saw along my front curb....There were TEN boys, all playing football in the yard....Kyle and Zach are in there somewhere. The tallest and the shortest of the crowd!!! This is only a portion of them. The others are out of camera shot.I had my hand quilting group today, but all the ladies were either out of town or busy today. Instead I made Zach's birthday dinner for tomorrow.....he requested Homemade Lasagna.Funny, all my boys request a home cooked dinner and homemade birthday cake, but Charlotte and I both request dinner out and Charlotte always wants an ice cream cake. I made Zach a chocolate cake, and while mixing it up, I splattered batter all over!! It hit my automatic soap dispenser on the counter.This is IMPOSSIBLE to clean. Every time you try to clean it off soap comes pouring out. You can see the mess running down the front of it. It is driving me nuts!!! As I am typing this, it is coming to me that there is an on/off switch on the back!!! DUH!!!!!

I also worked in my binder this afternoon.

I made a new Master Schedule and included quilting time for myself. If I don't, these Christmas quilts will never get done! I am so anal about a schedule that if I don't have one, I accomplish very little. My kids thrive on a schedule also! Zach asked for his own copy! :pThe little kids also got new chore charts.Monday morning they both will start a week of VBS. Kyle will head to work and Sweetheart will be with his mom (say a prayer for her....she is having outpatient surgery). I WILL BE HOME ALONE FOR 3 HOURS!!!!!! I have planned and re-planned those few hours over and over again!

I was going to tell you all something else....oh yeah! Funny story. My mom got a facebook page. She is a riot, let me tell you! I put this pic on for her profile....she can change it to a more current one on her own. So....an old friend of hers left a comment on the picture something like this,

"You look nice in this picture. How old are you? lol"

My mom was a bit upset.....she said, "Why does she think I am 101????? AND she used L's and an O instead of the numbers!"

I tried so hard not to laugh. I explained what lol meant....she still does not quite get it! So if you are a friend of my mom's on facebook, don't lol her....she will think you are calling her old!!!!

Here's another funny.....