Update.

Wow, I haven't posted for over a week! I am actually doing a great job sticking with my goals, I'm just not doing so hot at regularly writing about them, I guess. {eeesh.}

I CANNOT believe I have cooked dinner every night for a week. As long as I keep it simple, and plan ahead, it's easy peasy! What was I so worried about?

So far, we have had Kyle's parents over twice, and we've had some new neighbors over as well. We REALLY loved getting to know them better, and I have to say, in keeping with my new revelation that less truly is more, it was so nice to just have an intimate conversation at the table. Normally, we tend to invite two or three couples over at a time in an effort to make things lively, BUT, I am finding that I prefer the one on one stuff SO much more!

With multiple couples, it's fun and feels party-ish, but I don't feel like I come away from the experience actually knowing anyone better or on a deeper level. With less guests, it's very much about the "quality" aspect of our interaction. Love, love this.

It has also been a wonderful blessing to spend more time with Kyle's parents. We decided to make a weekly date of dinner and family home evening every Monday night, and we are LOVING it. Kort so looks forward to their arrival and is always sad when they have to go. He also gets disappointed when "We aren't having ANYBODY over tonight? Not ANYBODY?!!"

I need to be taking more pictures. I have been doing a good job of CREATING nice table arrangements, but again, not so diligent in capturing this on film. Pictured, is a simple table setting I put together for the week. Kort loves it. He gets to blow the candle out each night when the meal is finished. Tonight the hubs even sang happy birthday and told Kort to make a wish, you know, just to keep it interesting.;

Tennyson likes it too! {and then he gets distracted by something else...like fingers...ha ha!}

Monday - How did we do?

I think I can write Monday off as a success. I had a HUGE break from what I would call routine {a.k.a. staying home all day everyday, puttering around, and slowly accomplishing the house-wifey tasks laid out before me}and went shopping with the hubs. Kort has outgrown or torn through all of his jeans {a--gain} and yesterday, after we rushed into church and settled down in our seats, I noticed {to my horror} that his only surviving pair of church pants...are a solid 3 inches too short all of the sudden. Yeah, he looked awesome.

So, today was a shopping day. {And yes, it takes both of us because I am running out to our gigantic van to nurse Tentens half of the time and SOMEBODY needs to be able to stay with the cart and/or finish the purchase while I haul my cookies to the mother ship.} 

And shopping took F.O.R.E.V.E.R!

So, just out of curiosity, did all of y'all with seven year old boys in the fam go out and but your kids a TON of denim for Christmas this year? Cause, um, pretty sure we couldn't find ANY! We did, however, find two handsome church outfits, and a bunch of things that I needed {okay, and probably also did NOT "need"} for Tennyson, so at least we are good to go in that department.

Since shopping took SUPER long, we got home just in time for me to sprint over to the school, give Kort's teacher her belated Christmas gift {not my fault, they canceled school for a snow day on the day that I had planned to get it to her} sprint back home, fold laundry for ONE hour, {goodbye power of ten.. right out the window with you today...} vacuum the living room, and just as I started tidying up our messy kitchen, Kyle's parents arrived. They come over for dinner and f.h.e. every Monday night, and we love it so much!

I don't have time to get pictures up tonight, so I will wait and share more about f.h.e. tomorrow.

After a great dinner {Goodwood take-out}and family home evening {gratitude}.
I took a nice, slow, 20 minutes and cleaned the kitchen thoroughly tonight after we got the kids in bed.
Then I put the rest of the clean clothes {which I had stashed in my bedroom to get the living room tidied up for the inlaws}away, showered, blow dried my hair so that I have stacked the odds in my favor tomorrow, and here we are!

Shiny sink? Check.
Power of Ten? {yes, times 8 thanks to all that laundry}
Ready for the day? Check. {...and the hubs was like "Whoa!" ha ha! He hasn't seen me up and dressed first thing since before Christmas break! Yikes!}
Cook a meal? Well, sort of... I HOSTED one, does that count?{See? I told you that cooking is hard for me!}

How did you make out?

End of day ten.

Today was uneventful...

Dressed? Check.
Scriptures? Check.
3 Powers of ten? Check. Check. Check.
Broken Window? Ooops.

I took off in the middle of the day and went and spent the night at my parent's place in Cedar Hills, so I never got around to the broken Window of the day. That's okay though... I left my hubs with a shiny sink, and a very messy basement (that he was hard at work finishing - yay!) and my kiddos had a BLAST with their aunts, uncles, and grandparents - so it was worth it.

This coming week, we're switching gears. I'm going to continue on with the little goal-foundation I have built for myself, but am not going to be adding any new goals. On a week where I am hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner in my home for 38 people...it seems like adding any additional expectations for myself would be along the lines of abusive...and nuts.

So, on Monday focus will shift to traditions, cookery, and my personal favorite, DECORATING - yay! (on a teensy tiny budget! Double yay!)

Stay Tuned.

End of day nine.

I was such a slug today!
I'm not quite sure what happened.
I got off to a good enough start...

Dressed? Check.
(Even a shower, and a blow dry, and full make up thankyouverrrymuch.)

Scriptures? ...ooops, I'll read those before bed.

Then I even juiced FRESH juice in my (Jack Lalane) juicer. (Sorry scriptures, it was between you and a geriatric juice enthusiast's super sweet infomercial appliance...the latter won. Better luck next time.) Carrots, apples, beets, lemons, and oranges baby! We call it "Super Juice" in order to get Kort excited about it, and so far, it's working. He drank a solid 12 ounces of it before he left for school.

I pretty much felt like super MOM after that great start! Then, I sort of hit a wall. Baby bits didn't sleep well at all last night, therefore, neither did I. So, when Tentens went down for his late-morning nap, I decided to join him. I slept for about an hour and 15 before he woke up. I felt much better, but I also still felt totally lazy.

So, I read VERANDA, ate my weight in leftover mini candy bars from our Halloween haul, and watched "The Talk" (which I find to be eternally disappointing BTW/IMHO, but I seem to watch it every day anyway since nothing else is on...)

I tried to talk myself into doing something productive (on several occasions) but... meh.

By four o clock, I figured enough was enough! I was going to get motivated! ...Then I saw that Oprah was coming on, so I grabbed another handful of Butterfingers and Milky Way Minis, sat down on the couch, and watched the entire show while Kort painted wooden craft animal things at the (now clean) dining room table and occasionally yelled "Mo---m! They just said 'sexy' again!" (It was a makeover show...and he basically thinks that "sexy" is  swear word because I do not, under ANY circumstances want my child using the word "sexy'" at school. EVER! I'm pretty sure I would die of embarrassment. Not that I haven't dealt with worse...)

After Oprah, I realized that the day was gone. I hadn't planned anything for dinner (shocker!) so I put Tennyson down for a nap and left him with dad while Kort and I went to the library. We picked up Burger King on the way home since that was the only dinner I was equipped to provide tonight.

I DID, however, manage to get a broken window repaired after dinner. The project I decided to tackle was the fridge. I set the timer for 15 minutes, and was totally able to get her done in that time frame.  I am so, so happy with the results. Why don't I do this more often? Seriously.

Broken Window BEFORE:

Broken Window AFTER:

{I thought that hanging Kort's masterpiece featuring an Egyptian Spinx was an especially nice touch.It makes me smile every time I look at it.}

After that, I was on a roll! It's what I like to call "the Rally" - which basically includes a timer (power of ten) and the soundtrack from Mama Mia (yay ABBA!) turned up full blast while I run like a nutter all over the house singing "Lay all your love on meeeeeeeeeeee!" at the top of my lungs and put that hot mess back together again. Oh, how I love the rally. 20 minutes later, the dishes were done, my sink was shiny, and the house was tidy and vacuumed! The power of ten is the perfect tool for me because I always feel like I can spare ten minutes, and ten minutes always manages to kick my house's booty back into shape. Love. It.

Favorite parts of today?

1. The fact that I could just walk right out the door and go to the library on a five o clock whim BECAUSE I HAD GOTTEN READY THAT MORNING AT SIX!! {I'm pretty sure that getting dressed first thing is my most favorite goal...and I'm pretty sure that my neighbors, Kort's friends, and the UPS man are with me on this one.}

2. A clean fridge! The hubs has officially been threatened with his life. If he breaks my window...I break his nose. Okay, not so much. He loves the new look and says it made a huge difference in the kitchen and he won't be putting anything up there anymore. Marital crisis averted.

How was your today?

Is your sink shiny?

Did you get dressed?

Did you eat your weight in mini candy bars 

and watch crap-t.v. all the live long day?

End of day eight.

Up and dressed for the day? Check.
Hair and makeup? Hair-yes, Makeup-no.
Scriptures? Check.
Sink shiny? Check.
Broken Window repaired? Check (Dining Room Table - yikes!)

Monday was really hectic for me, so Family Home Evening didn't happen. I am hoping that from here on out, I will be "on it" every Monday (or let's be reasonable - MOST Mondays). But, in the event that I let a Monday slip by, I am not going to let that stop me from having such an important event at least once a week. That is why tonight (Wednesday) ended up being family night. It went so great! I took Julie's idea of having a lesson on prayer and then painting prayer rocks for our activity and it was a total hit! (Thanks Julie) I highly recommend it for anyone who's looking for a good one!

I found a great lesson plan on prayer here, the lesson title was "Are you saying or praying?" I thought that was cute. It also included a link to a GREAT story titled "The Lord Sent Me a Shepherd." I also found a fun "Prayer Rock" poem online. I changed it a little bit because I can't stand when things don't rhyme AND have a rhythmic syllable count, so here is my version:

I’m your little prayer rock and this is what I’ll do
Just put me on your pillow until the day is through.
At night, turn back the covers, and climb into your bed
And whack! Your little prayer rock will hit you on the head.
Then you will remember, now that the day is through,
To kneel and say your prayers as you’re supposed to do.
When your prayers are finished, just drop me on the floor.
And there I’ll stay all through the night to give you help once more.
When you get up next morning, Ouch! I’ll stub your toe,
So you can remember to pray before you go.
Put me back upon your pillow when your bed is made
And your little prayer rock will continue in your aid
Because your Heavenly Father cares and loves you so.
He wants you to remember to talk to him, you know.

Kort had an amazing time, and while taking his tub later that night he asked "Mom, can we having family home evening EVERY night?" That just melted me. I was so happy that he loved it. It sounds silly, but this really is very new to me and it is so fulfilling. There is a different feeling in our home and I feel like our relationships are deepening and growing stronger with every sit-down dinner and well-planned family activity we have. It's pretty amazing, and my heart is full. I love being a mom. Especially a mom who does "cool stuff" with her kids. (Yay!)  

{After Kort painted his rock, he painted this picture of a Spinx - I loved it.}

End of day six.

"Broken Window" BEFORE:

and "Broken Window" AFTER:

Kay, in my defense, my landing is ugly anyway (even clean) but at least when it's clean it looks like we just haven't gotten around to THAT part of our renovation...instead of looking like we are just slobs!

I am so excited to tackle one of these each day! I should also say that I committed a bit of a FlyLady no-no. She says that you will be tempted to just go nuts and start cleaning out closets like crazy, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T because then you will burn out. Well...

I sort of cleaned the entire landing, half of the coat closet, and all of my REALLY overstuffed dresser. But they weren't "Broken Windows" per se...they were just WAY overdue for a good cleaning. And I'm not burned out so much as I am ecstatic, so, crisis averted. HOWEVER, I fully intend to make up for the overdoing it today by UNDERdoing it tomorrow. I have a standing lunch date with a bestie who just had TRIPLETS! So, I will spend the better part of tomorrow eating pizza, visiting with one of my favorite people on earth, and loving on FOUR babies!

How did you do today?
Any Broken Windows repaired?
Is your sink shiny?

End of day five.

I woke up really sick!
I was going to help one of my good friends with a party later that night, so I went into denial mode, assuring myself that I would feel better by that evening...and got in the shower...and blow-dried my hair...and got dressed...and then crashed into bed feeling like I was pretty much going to die.

So, I DID get dressed (which, technically, I wouldn't have expected myself to do since I wasn't feeling well, but hey, denial can be a powerful motivator...) I did NOT, however, do any cleaning. (That would have just been neurotically nuts and such.)

I spent the entire day in bed.
The trusty hubs even took care of babybits, only bringing him in when he needed to nurse every few hours. (I am so lucky. I won the husband lottery for sure.) I was SO SICK. Totally floored me. No fun. 

Okay, I'll admit that I DID keep my sink shiny though...
Couldn't help it.
I'm an addict I tell ya.
Love me a shiny sink.

This wasn't my ideal way to end out the first week, but all in all, I have to say, I am amazed at the changes in me AND in my household in just 5 short days! I cannot believe the difference it makes in my life when I just get up and get going every morning. Wow.

By the middle of the week, I was so enthusiastic about my progress that I wanted to add more and more and more goals that would help me be more and more and mo' better...but I KNOW that baby steps is the way to go. No burn out for me. Slow and steady wins the race. Slow and steady... (Yes, I have to keep telling myself that...again and again and again and again.)

We're going to take it easy for the weekend, then back to business bright and early on Monday! Can't wait to see you and find out how you're doing!

End of day four.

How did I do?

Um...

Did I get ready first thing?

Nope.

Did I get ready eventually?

Yep.

Did I get "all the way" ready?

Nope. The makeup didn't happen, but I did comb my hair and get dressed "head to shoes."

(In my defense, I got no sleep last night and woke up nauseous and exhausted with a sore throat to top all off.)

Was I pleasant and lovely to be around?

Not so much.

Did I let my 7 year old (who came in and woke me up at 5:30 a.m.) take an entire bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos into his room and eat as many as he wanted as long as he promised to leave me alone and let me sleep while the baby sleeps?

Why, yes. Yes I did.

When the hubs made the grave mistake of questioning the parental wisdom of that decision, (the one which I am now calling Dorito-Gate-two-thousand-and-ten) did I scream something along the lines of :

"I'd like to see YOU get 3 to 6 hours of broken up sleep for 3 stinkin' months straight and then wake up with a sore throat and feeling like you're going to throw up and NOT choose to 'pick your battles' with your seven year old at five freaking thirty a.m.!" ?

Um, yeah. That would be me. (I'm not proud of it.)

Then, before the hubs could say a word, did I flip the switch on the vacuum cleaner and angry-vacuum the entire house?

Sure did.

Let's just say it was a rough day, but it got better. (Poor hubs! It must be terrifying to live in crazyville round the clock.)

For those of you who are worried, we made up right after the angry vacuuming. He was sorry for being insensitive, I was sorry for being nuttier than a squirrel turd, and we were over it.

On a completely different note:

My sink is very shiny! The Fly Lady was right... It DID feel like a big, warm hug first thing in the morning. (AFTER DoritoGate2010, that is.) It is such a small simple step, but it sets off such a fantastic chain reaction. (Like Jen said in the comments - Clean sink, clean counter, clean floors.... it just goes on and on like the most delightful little puddle ripple you've ever encountered!) It's like crack. Crack AND magic! Now, I want it shiny all. the. time. I don't let any dishes stay in there and mess it up. Not when it has the potential to look so darn pretty all the time! I even like it. Every time I wipe it out, I like it. I even smile, and then I spritz it with bleach when I'm done because I love the smell of bleach, and it feels sorta like I'm treating my sink to a luxury spritz of something from a Nordstrom cosmetics counter...

Moving on... (I'm not going to pretend that that didn't get a little weird there at the end.)

Now I'm going to sleep.

Pray for me.

Pray for sleep.

(I don't mean to be greedy or anything, but more than 4 hours would be nice... I'm just puttin' it out there.)

End of day three.

How did we do?

This morning went so much better!

Up at 7:00 (Oooo, I sure like me some 7:00)

Kort got up at 7:00 too.

We turned on some reruns of America's Funniest Videos, snuggled in my bed, and Kort asked if Tennyson could watch too.  This is what happened next.

 

 

It was sort of awesome. AND with Kort babysitting his little bro, I was dressed and ready with make up and hair done by 7:20. I made breakfast(eggs), cleaned up the kitchen, and got Kort out the door. My back has been k.i.l.l.i.n.g. lately, so a the hubs took me out for the day. Chiropractor, Costco, and even a little Olive Garden (woo-hoo!). I haven't seen the light of day for weeks! (And let's be honest... I didn't really see the light of day today either - it was overcast, and FREEZING! Boo, Utah...)

When we got home, I put away the haul from Costco, helped Kort clean his room, and even managed to start dinner by 4:00. (Chicken drumsticks that I pan fry and then leave in the oven to slow bake for 2 hours, and asparagus - sauteed right before we eat.) One thing I loved about starting dinner at 4:00, was that it enabled me to clean up after myself and have a clean kitchen to start with at 6:00 when it was actually time to get dinner on the table. This is why crock pots are also awesome, and why I need about 30 more crock pot recipes that actually taste good! (Right now I have about four.)

My favorite parts of today?

1. Not having to take my make up and do it in the car, because, when it came time to head out, I WAS ALREADY READY!

2. Listening to my delicious 7 year old and a hilarious neighbor boy rake and jump into piles of leaves in our backyard. This doesn't directly have anything to do with my goals... but I sure love being his mom. (Wait, maybe that has EVERYTHING to do with my goals - huh?)

3. Coming home from a day of running errands to find a reasonably clean home waiting for me. (Oh, and there was also the little 30 minute cat nap I squeezed in before Kort got home from school. I sort of loved that too.)

How did you do?

End of day two.

Today got off to a rough start. Tennyson woke up at 5:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. Um, five a.m. is sort of a deal breaker for me, so when I got him back to sleep at 6:00, I went back to bed too and slept until almost 8:00. By then, Tennyson needed to eat again and Kort needed to get out the door to school. I got up, resisted the (really powerful) urge to throw on my bathrobe, and got dressed. (bebe sweatsuit) Got Kort off to school, got the breakfast dishes rinsed, got Tennyson down for his morning nap, and was finally able to take 5 minutes and do my make-up. 

The discovery? It is so. much. harder. to get up and ready for the day if I don’t do it right off. Life really has a tendency to get in the way. I was tired and moody. So then, while tidying up the dining room, a craft drawer jammed, so naturally, I reached in, pushed down the gift bags that were jamming it, and started pushing the drawer closed. It was really stuck…so I pushed harder. Then it suddenly gave way and I CRUSHED my hand in the drawer. C.r.u.s.h.e.d. I tell you, crushed! 

Then, Tennyson woke up hungry, so I picked him up and started nursing him. I tried to turn on the t.v. so I could watch a morning news show while I nursed, and the TV box had reset and it was all messed up. Then Tennyson filled his pants. And it turned out to be a total blowout. And poop got all over my clothes. (SO glad I’d made the effort to get dressed.)

I looked at the hubs and smiled (A really creepy fake smile). Then, in the sweetest voice I could muster (so as not to scare the baby) I said “Eff today!” (I’m not proud of it.)

But worry not. I rallied.

My most favorite parts of today?

1. Getting all of the laundry done and put away. (I usually let clean laundry piles sit all over my living room for a minimum of 3 days before I get around to putting it all away. Not today! I had it folded, hung, and put away in everyone’s closets within an hour. Yay!

2. I made a goal to have Tennyson start sleeping in his crib (instead of his swing) on a regular basis and I stuck to it! (Even though his naps are shorter and I get less time to myself because he’s not used to it yet and wakes up sooner.) I’m proud of myself for putting “the big picture” and what’s best for my little man ahead of my current desire to have extra “me” time. I usually give up and go for short term gains, but today, I didn’t. And it feels good.

3. Taking a late afternoon nap and waking up to find that the hubs had fed Kort and gotten him into the tub (best hubs ever!) and ALSO that my house was clean! I only did ONE 15 minute power clean session (because all the rest of my time went to laundry) and it still made a huge impact! Clean kitchen and vacuumed floors? I’ll take it!

How did you do? Did you hit your goals?

End of day one.

How did we do?

Tennyson got up bright and early at 6:00 am. I nursed him (which is only taking 10 minutes now because he is such a fast eater. Yay!) and immediately got dressed. (wide-leg jeans, navy/white striped shirt, long gray sweater, red earrings, and pointy red flats...which I am actually only wearing out of the house... if I even leave the house.  While home, I wear comfy shoes.)

I pulled my hair into a messy bun with bangs and "fringe" framing my face. Then I put make up on. This took 10 minutes total (hair and make up.) Then Tennyson and I talked and giggled and had a diaper change, and then he pooped in his brand new diaper, so we had another diaper change, tidied up the bedroom, and finally ventured out into the kitchen.


Since Kort wasn't up distracting me yet (he is sooo cute... and soooo high maintenance), I managed to unload the entire dishwasher, wash the dishes that were left in the sink from last night, and clear off the dining room table in 15 minutes - all before 7:00! (Wow!) Kestral made a great comment saying that "An object in motion stays in motion" and BOY is that applicable here... I had SUCH a Brady Bunch/Leave it to Beaver Morning!

So get this: Kort bursts in on the scene right at 7:00. (Thank you Daylight Savings Time). We usually wake him up to get ready for school at 7:30, so he had half an hour to kill. The first thing he said was: "Wow mom, you look pretty!" (Ha ha! Told you it was a rare occurrence around here!) Since he was up early, he asked if he could play with the Perler Beads we were playing with on Sunday night. I said sure. Then I wiped the kitchen clean while he worked on a new little project and even ironed it together before we had to start breakfast. My home just felt so happy and most importantly c.a.l.m! I loved it. 

Once Kort was off to school, I set my timer for 15 minutes to do the second quarter of my cleaning goal. (Baby steps, right?) I was shocked at how much I got done on this set! 

Here is the rundown:
Cleared dining room table
Rinsed/loaded breakfast dishes
vacuumed:
Living Room
Hallway
Tennyson's Room
Kort's Room
Master Bedroom

Then, Tennyson had the worst morning ever! He is usually so, so happy, but he was tired and fussy, and basically inconsolable. I'm wondering if his little bottom teeth aren't getting ready to make an appearance. (Kort's cut through right at 4 months, so with Tentens coming up on three...this may be the case.) Anyway, it was so sad! I spent the next hour and a half trying to sooth him to sleep, so we just snuggled and took it easy. Finally, around noon, he crashed. Since I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night, I went to sleep too! I slept until 1:30 and woke up feeling so great!

When Kort got home from school, he invited a friend over and it was so nice not to have to dash into my room to put something decent on! The boys played with Perler Beads (which I would iron together as they finished each project.)
 
The hubs got home at 5:00 and we made tacos in the kitchen together.  I love him. Man, do I love him. 

Another 15 minutes cleaning up after dinner, and my kitchen looks great! (That takes me up to 45 of my 60 minutes) I think what I love the most about doing these 15 minute increments is that it reminds me of how possible this is. It would be discouraging if my kitchen took an hour to clean... but 15 minutes? Hey! I've got 15 minutes. (Barely, but I've got it.)


For my last 15 minutes, I wiped down our main bathroom. I didn't totally scour or do the floors, but the mirror and sink are shiny and the toilet is totally clean. 


The hubs is playing checkers with Kort to finish off our family night, and Tentens is sleeping in his swing. I'm going to go get my boys in bed, post communal global, and watch some t.v. with the hubs to wind down the night.

How did your day go!?

Did you try jewelry? Getting dressed?

Did you have a cleaning goal?

How did you do on your goal variations?

What did you find most rewarding?

My 2 most favorite things about today?

1. Not having to dash into my room to get dressed when Kort's friend came to play.
2. Tidying up and vacuuming my bedroom! I usually put ALL other house cleaning chores ahead of my bedroom (yes, even though Oprah, Nate, Martha, and every self-helper on the planet say not to!) because those sections of the house are seen by others. I can't believe how many times I smiled when walking into my bedroom today. It was like a happy little present, just for me.