Finally Mended

So I got this skirt for Maddie over 2 years ago. I only payed $ .50 for it but it needed some mending. I have been putting it off since. Now that it finally fits her I was so excited to HAVE to fix it to get all my points this week! Thanks for the challenge Mom!

Bonus Points Baby!!

I had a goal this month to keep all of our closets clean. I have done really good, especially in my closet, keeping all the clothes hung up and shoes put away! It may be cheap because I only have 3 closets +the pantry in my house but I think I deserve the bonus!

Weekly Challenge : Closets, again

I know I've made this a challenge before, but it has been several months and I guess it is something I struggle with. So, the challenge this week is a closet or two. It can be linen, pantry, coat, storage, bedroom ... whatever you need. I personally have several that need cleaning. Good luck.

Last Week of the Cycle!

5 Minute Challenges : Mom
Weekly : Kim
Tips : Charlotte

This is the last week of July's cycle! Everyone kick it into high gear. I have to say I was at Tami's house several times last week and it was spotless everytime I walked in. It was so nice. So, even though I'd gotten most my points last week, I spent about 3 hours yesterday just cleaning up. Now it is Monday morning, my house is already clean. On Mondays I leave Abe at a friend's house (I watch her son on Wed), so I am taking Tyler to baby lapsit and going shopping since I don't have to clean!! Hooray!

Keep track of your points here.

Andrea's Challenge (A Little Late!)

In my defense of this photo, my playroom was clean enough to sort my laundry in. Then I got really sick and the laundry sat there all week. The floor pillows are from the kids watching TV in there and are not really a part of the mess.

Junk Drawer

I have to sadly admit that my junk drawer took much longer than five minutes. Sadly, I also have another one that I haven't even touched yet. Anyway, I found some amazing finds in that drawer and thought I'd share some of my favorites. Amid about 30 pens, 50 tacs, batteries in every size, and a bottle of coconut cream a friend brought us from Mexico, I found:

My Harry Potter dolls. I'd totally forgotten about these and can't wait to play with them with Abe.

Randomly I found both of my positive pregnancy tests. The back, pink one was for Abe and the front purple one was for Tyler. What a great keepsake.

Motherly Question

Okay, I have a question for all you mothers who have breastfed. *that is the key for any male who might be reading this to stop* One of my girls is producing only half as much milk as the other. I'm not sure why or what the problem is. I've tried starting him on the wimpy side everytime. I've tried nursing him wimpy - good - wimpy in one sitting even. I've tried only nursing him from the wimpy side and then pumping the strong side. I've tried pumping the weak side only about an hour after he nurses. It isn't a huge deal, only it seems as though it makes my boobs loopsided. It is also annoying that the over productive side is constantly squirting milk. I go through 2-3 breast pads a day on the strong side and the weak side's breast pad is rarely even necessary. Anyway, just wondered if anyone else has had this problem or if anyone has suggestions.
Thanks.

Weekly Challenge

This is a pretty selfish one, but I am having a really hard time balancing the outside work with the inside work. If I do great with one, the other goes to pot. So, to give ourselves a little bit of a break, spend your weekly challenge time outside.

Some ideas:
weed the garden
plant some flowers
mow the lawn
sweep the driveway
spray/sweep porch for spiderwebs
Heck, if you want to count playing with your kids at the park, I'd give you the points.

5 minute cleans

I've meant to do this earlier, but it just hasn't happened...

Let me think, let me think ...

1) Bedroom dresser

2) Trunk of car

3) Junk drawer

4) Windows

5) Microwave

6) Find that smell in my front room- oh, wait, that one is just for me...

Weekly Assignments

Since I'm feeling all confident and stuff because I FINALLY got all my points this past week, I'm being proactive and posting next week's assignments.

5 minute: Charlotte
Weekly: Andrea
Tips: Brenda

Good luck. Keep track of points here.

Weekly Challenge

Oops I'm a little behind so I'll try to make this easy. Sanitize all of your door handles/stair railings/light switches. Good luck!

Tip of the Week

So, this is a old tip but something that I've just started taking advantage of. I'd always heard that Wal-Mart price matched, but never thought much more beyond that. Then I read an article on a blog about it and decided to give it a try. Ken loves to drink Tampico Juice and we buy a gallon a week. A local grocery store, Kroger, had it on sale 10 for $10 (we pay $1.87 a gallon at Wal-Mart) and so I went to stock up. Unfortunately they only had strawberry-kiwi flavor and we only like mango. So I took a deep breath and my ad to Wal-Mart. I put 5 gallons in my cart and .... drum roll .... it was a breeze. No problem. I saved $0.87 a gallon! We were so excited. Since then we have price matched several things at Wal-Mart, including when Target put corn on the cob on sale 10 / $10 and I went first thing Monday morning only to learn they sold out in less than an hour on Sunday. I bought over 50 ears at Wal-Mart (where they were $0.25) saving over $10. We parboiled it, cut it off the ear, and froze it and are now stocked up on corn. Sometimes the workers aren't sure how to do it and have to call a manager to help, but I've never had them give me any trouble at all. It saves time (you don't have to drive to a lot of different stores) and money.

Oh, just a note, they do not price match sales such as buy one get one free.

5 Minute Challenges

1. Spot Clean a Couch

2. Clean off Computer Desk

3. Wipe fronts of Cupboards

4. Straigten a Bookshelf

5. Send Brenda Pictures of Jewelry that you like or colors that you want.

Oh and Andrea just left for the week to the Oregon Coast so I am pretty sure she is not planning a challenge. So if Kim wants to step in and do it that would be good.

Weekly Assignments

Here are the weekly assignments:

5 Minutes: Brenda
Challenge: Tami
Tips: Andrea (although it seems as though she stepped in and did it for Charlotte just last week, so if she doesn't want to this week we'll skip her and I'll do it, just let me know)

Good luck to everyone this week. I know I'm getting all my points for sure!!!! This girl needs her some jewelry!

Keep track of your points on this post.

Craft Area = BONUS points!

So Brenda, can I distribute my bonus points and make up for missed points other weeks to still get the jewelry? I can beg again, seriously. My company finally left this morning and hopefully I can get back to a normal life. Oh wait, there is that Primary activity in less than 2 weeks that was kindly dropped into my lap by the old primary president with NO preparations already made for it....sigh.

Notice all the water on the side?? Hooray for food storage.

It isn't *AS* bad

So, I think this was a great idea Andrea. My nightstand isn't *AS* bad as it had been before, so I guess that is a step in the right direction. You can see from my labels though what is occupying my time and making things a mess! Is it okay to place blame on a 7 week old child?? I guess I'm a kindred mother at heart after all :-)

Two Thumbs Up

I didn't touch ONE single thing in this closet before I took the picture. So there you go. I'd give myself a 90%.

Just a Check-up

I am feeling really good about this week. If I straighten my bathroom drawers tomorrow, I'm looking at a perfect score! I was motivated half by Brenda's bribe and half by the fact that we're expecting company this weekend. I've not only been happier and more relaxed with such a clean house, I've been able to do lots of fun family stuff and complete some of those long-needed projects. One of those projects was cleaning out the computer desk, and I was reminded of my vow to never let it get "that bad".

Luckily, I am not alone in this claim. If I remember correctly, each one of us has, at one point or another, claimed that we would do this or that challenge and then keep it tidy.

SO.....

I want the following people to please take a picture of the following areas and post it ASAP. We need to check up on you and make sure you are keeping your promises!

Charlotte- Kids' playroom
Brenda- Laundry room
Kim- Nightstand
Tami- Kids' closet
LeAnn- Computer desk

Ok, no cheating, I really want to see how you guys are doing! I'm so excited!

5 Minutes

Here are the challenges for this week
1. Sweep porch or patio
2. Straighten bathroom drawers / cupboards (keep them from being a challenge again!)
3. Mop one area besides kitchen (bathroom, stairs, etc)
4. Vacuum under cushions of couch
5. Clean top of fridge

Weekly Challenge- Craft Area

Is it really my turn again? Time flies. Anyway, I am making the challenge something from my monthly to-do list: the craft area (in my case that would be the study). Don't have a whole room? Organize your supplies. I find a disorganized craft room/supplies is one of the big stumbling blocks to actually doing the crafty things I want to do. I clean mine out every few months, but it eventually becomes the catch all of everything I don't know where to put and becomes a pile of junk again. Anyway, good luck (I know I'll need it!)

2nd week of cycle assignments

Here are the assignments this week. Keep track of points on this post. I am going to try to get that scripture reading done so I can have a perfect score this week!

5 Minutes: Kim

Weekly: Charlotte

Tips: Tami

Grossest Garage Ever

Cleaning out our garage shouldn't have been hard since we did it a couple months ago. But in the last week a terrible smell had developed in there and it had grown to "Don't open that door!" status. In fact it had reached gag when I had to go in there status. So Friday we finally cleaned it out. After emptying everything out, we discovered the source. Some animal had gotten into the garage while the door was open and pooped in there. 3 times. Luckily it was dried out and easy to pick up and get rid of.

But the smell was still there! As I was cleaning the last area up, I noticed the smell was greatest right by the freezer. It was coming from behind the freezer. A quick inspection revealed the culprit: a week ago Matthew had left the freezer door slightly ajar and the meat in there (remember our cow we bought?) had defrosted. It was still pretty cold, so it wasn't ruined. I shut the door and everything refroze. What I didn't realize at the time was that the defrost tray on the bottom of the freezer had filled with meat juice. It has gone rancid and I can't figure out how to get it off to clean. I pulled out as much liquid as I could with paper towels and added some diluted bleach to the tray, but the smell was only slightly reduced. I am trying to convince Peter to replace the whole thing as it is 10 yrs old, runs hot on the outside, freezes only barely and is hard to shut tight. Until something happens, we have to live with the nasty smell.

Back & Begging for Mercy!

I worked SO hard this week. I was totally motivated by Brenda's incentive and sure I was going to earn it. My first week back on with points and everything and I was rearing to go. Keep in mind I had my mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, and 2 young nephews at my house, I also had a 5 week old who decided he didn't want to poop no matter how miserable it made him and who is also still getting up a couple times a night. I also had preparation to do for my first week as the new Primary President of our ward. Needless to say, there was a lot going on. Now that I've made my excuses, I missed 12 points. I missed making my bed and reading my scriptures one day. So totally disappointing. So, that being said, I'm begging for mercy from my dearest sister. I want that jewelry and I really believe I did my best. To prove my love for you and your abilities, I wore the necklace that you made me to Tyler's blessing today (look at my family blog for a pic). I beg of you. Take mercy on me.
Daily Points: 3 x 10 = 30 + 4 + 4 = 38
5 min challenges = 5 + 5 = 10 = 48
Bathrooms = 5 = 53
Mop = 5 = 58
Laundry = 5 = 63
Weekly Challenge = 30 = 93 out of 105 possible.