Monday & Tuesday - Week 3

I completely skipped Monday's assignment to clean out your silverware drawer.  However, I did manage to get rid of this giant metal tub that we had won at the school's auction a couple years ago. We have never used it, I donated it for the school's auction this year. Glad to be rid of that.  I also went through my sock drawer and pitched all my socks that had holes in them. There were really a lot of these, I guess I haven't done this in a while.

Even thought I didn't do my assignment I did do a whole lot of work for actual work though, so that was good. I also planted blueberry bushes.  Mmmmm.
I also got my week's goals:

1. Do 3 piano lessons with the boys.
2. Go to the gym 2 times.
3. Clean out my dresser drawers.
4. Change the furnace filters.
5. Finish bathroom project.

Tuesday was better in that I did manage to get the stove, cooktop and microwave cleaned. They weren't too bad and it didn't take very long. I also vacuumed the whole upstairs.  I didn't manage to throw anything out. My plan is that as soon as I post this I grab the old laundry basket I keep out for Goodwill and start in on finding at least 14 things to purge to count for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tub Results -- Amazing!

So I tried the bleach-soaked cotton balls on the boys' disgusting shower.  Keep in mind, this picture is after I had already tried scrubbing it with Comet:

Before

 I left it sit for 4 hours while I did my morning work and when I pulled the cotton balls off it looked like this:

After

 Okay, it still is 100% perfectly shiny but it passes my standards for boys' bathrooms and we are definitely going to emphasize scrubbing out the shower to their list of bathroom cleaning duties.

On a side note, if you try this, be sure to ventilate the area REALLY, REALLY well. It was super strong fumes. I had the window open and the fan on. I generally try to avoid harsh cleaners and hopefully by keeping up on it better we can avoid having to do this in the future.

End of Week 2 - 4 weeks to a more organized home

Boy was this a crazy week. Simon made it to school exactly once, and we finally had to break out the inhaler because his cough started getting wheezy.  He puked about 4 times from coughing so much including at swimming lessons last night. Yup, we're those people. Pool had to be evacuated. The swimming folks were pretty awesome about the whole thing really.

Anyway, I did manage to finish all my assignments with the exception of  cleaning out the dresser drawers.  It's on my "To Do" list for this weekend.

My goal list for Friday was especially satisfying:

1. Take Simon to the doctor.
2. Write & mail cub scout check.
3. Take checks to scout store.
4. Figure out camp fees for scouts.
5. Update 111 roster and email slackers.
6. Organize desk and bookshelf.
7. Make mouth guard appointment for Ike. (I tried but the lady organizing these was out of the office.)
8. Sign kids up for lego robotics summer camps (It seems ridiculously early to be doing this but these fill up fast and I really needed particular weeks. Ike is going to Lego robot camp while Simon goes to scout camp and vice versa.)
9. Wipe light switch covers.
10. Dust ceiling fans & light fixtures.

I even managed to clean out 7 empty binders from my home desk and my office at work as my 7 items for Thursday.

 

 How did I do on my goals? Pretty darn badly. Having a sick kid home really makes it difficult to do any extra stuff.

1. Go to the gym twice. (Fail! - I am going this morning at 10 though. Simon being home sick really put a wrench in the gym.)
2. Paint the bathroom door. (Doing this today! I did get the door off the hinges and prepped.)
3. Unpack from the weekend away.
4. Do 3 piano lessons with the kids and practice 3 times. (Fail! We did 1 lesson.  Hoping to do one today though.)
5. Plant blueberry bushes - weather permitting. (It's been absolutely pouring.) (Also a fail, but it rained all week so ...)

In an unrelated note, I am trying an experiment in the boys' bathroom. I had them start cleaning their own bathroom about a year ago and they do a decent job. However, the boys and I neglected the shower and since I don't go in there, I didn't notice until just recently how gross it was. There is mold on the caulking around the shower door. I tried cometing the entire shower, and it really cleaned up everything but the mold on the caulking. I read off Pinterest where you can put cotton balls soaked in bleach on the caulking and leave it overnight. It supposed will come clean.  I just did that. BOY does that bleach smell strong. OPEN the window and turn on the fan!!! Yikes.  I'll post the before and after results, tomorrow. Letting it sit all day today.
 

Week 2 Wednesday

One of the assignments for the day was to wipe down all the door handles. Simon, who was home sick again, helped me with this and we were done in about 5 minutes.  I some how missed the assignment about cleaning out your drawers so I am going to add that to the list for Friday. 
I got rid of a pair of shoes of Simon's because when he went to put them on, I realized they had a giant hole near the toe. Nice. I hope he hasn't been wearing them to school. I also helped Simon tidy his desk which meant recycling a bunch of used paper and cardboard.  So yesterday was more of a "throwing away" day rather than a Goodwill day but that needs to happen too.

So I actually did awesome on my 5-7 specific goals "To do" list.  
1. Catch up on laundry. Done

2.  Take bathroom door off hinges & prep for painting.
The bathroom door is done. It was actually kind of a nice home repair teaching moment with Simon. He helped me take the door off the hinges and then he actually used the screwdriver and removed the hinges from the door himself.  I showed him how to take off the door handle and we sanded the parts were the paint had been flaking off.  Also, both boys thought it was hilarious to pee with in the bathroom that didn't have a door on it. 

3. Get Flaco's nails trimmed.  -- Half done?!?

This didn't really go so well, but I give myself an E for effort. We took Flaco to Petco, but after it took 3 different employees to try to hold him down to trim his nails, they finally gave up and refunded me $10 of my $15 dollars. They were only able to get the back ones done.  They recommended I get some sedatives from my vet. Oye, Flaco. (He also has note in his "file" that he is not welcome to get his nails done at Petco.)

4. Sort out cub scout bank account. Done!

5. Clean up the laundry room.

Wow, the laundry room was gross.  I tidied everything up, wiped everything down, and got out the swiffer and slid it under the dryer.  Here was the results!

I also wanted to show off my super cool shelf of laundry detergent. I make my own detergent and store it all in bottles ready to go. My husband made me this shelf that fits right above the door and out of the way. I love it!  Plus all those bottles have been used at least 3 times now, and will continue to be used for many more years to come.

MOH - Week 2 Days 1 & 2

I pretty much did Monday on Sunday since I knew we'd be spending most of the day getting Simon's kidney checked out up at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland. We'd never been to Doernbecher's before, his nephrologist had previously worked out of Legacy Emanuel and it was actually a very nice hospital. Everything went really smoothly -- Simon especially like carrying his urine sample around from the lab area to the doctor's office.  The checkup itself went okay, his kidney function test was good however his blood pressure is high. He has to go on a low-sodium diet for 6 weeks and then we are going to recheck his blood pressure.  I've spent the last day reading labels and trying to figure out what is okay - and what is not okay. I'm going to have to send snacks in for his classroom and his Tuesday/Thursday after school care because they both serve Goldfish crackers like 99% of the time.

As I've been reading it seems like 140mg per serving is number to watch. Less than that is deemed "low sodium" so that is what I am aiming for in all his food.  It is lucky that he really likes fruit (0 sodium!) Too bad they already plowed through the 2lbs of strawberries I got at the grocery store yesterday.

Anyhoo, on Monday I did clean out a big bin we had of toys and pitched all the McDonald's happy meal toys and anything that was broken.  This made a pretty sizeable bag, really. I am counting that for today's clean out as well.

I vacuumed the living room and front room and did do all the baseboards except for the 3 bathrooms, the boys' bedroom, and the office. We just painted the new office so it didn't need to be done. I am off to do the bathrooms right now. Maybe I can talk Ike into doing his own room. Boy were the baseboards gross by the way, much worse than I expected.

In the couches and getting a jump on Week 2!

So on Friday morning I vacuumed out the couches. GROSS!  The big couch must've been done more recently, because it wasn't nearly this bad.  I said to the boys, "Who has been stuffing dirty tissues down in the couch cushions?" Simon said to me, "Who has been dropping their hairbands down in the couch cushions?"  Touche', Simon, touche'.  I was actually getting low on those.

Since we were going out of town for the weekend, I counted the many, many bottles that I chucked out from under the bathroom sink on Thursday as my 7 items to get rid of for Friday.

We got back today, the kids are due back from Grandma's in a couple hours so I am trying to get a jump start on my week.  My syllabi are DONE and I am ready for the first day of class, not quite the whole first week yet but hopefully soon.  I vacuumed out both the vehicles so my Monday assignment is done as well.

Here are me week 2 Goals:

1. Go to the gym twice.
2. Paint the bathroom door.
3. Unpack from the weekend away.
4. Do 3 piano lessons with the kids and practice 3 times.
5. Plant blueberry bushes - weather permitting. (It's been absolutely pouring.)

I am now off to put away some clothes and start prepping for my classes this week. This evening, I'm going to hopefully get the gang to start in on the baseboards.

MOH day 4

Day 4
Ha ha, I just realized it's not 40 days to a more organized home it's 4 weeks. LOL - that cracks me up. Lent just sneaks in everywhere, doesn't it. :)

Anyway, yesterday I cleaned the bathroom but it definitely took more than 15 minutes, although I did try to be quick, it was probably more like 20.

I moved and vacuumed under the couches and under Simon's bed (GROSS).  I realized that I couldn't move our bed because it is really, really, really, really heavy BUT I found this weird super flat attachment to my vacuum that I have never used before and it worked like a champ.  I've only had the vacuum for 8 years.

I see that today you are to vacuum out your couches. I wish I had just done that yesterday when I was vacuuming UNDER my couches. But I will do that today.

I also chucked out some old make up and fingernail polish from possibly when I was in graduate school.  Way more than 7 items so I rocked that today.

Assessing my weekly goals:

1. Catch up on my Weight Watchers etools stuff.  --not done but hopefully today
2. Prep 2 weeks of lectures of math 213. -- got 1 week done!
3. Prep 111 internet class for first day.
4. Chapter 1 of  Math 105 curriculum development. Finished 2 chapters!
5. Do 3 piano lessons with the boys and practice yourself. Got 2 done, 1 today!!
6. Paint the downstairs bathroom door. - nope, and not going to happen.
7. Take the camper cushions to the upholsterer.

Planning ahead:
I looked ahead to next week's assignments. It's the first week of spring term and generally speaking first weeks are exceptionally busy. Also Simon has his kidney checkups in Portland for a big chunk of the day on Monday so I am going to work ahead this weekend.
I saw that I needed to clean out the vehicles so I cleaned out the truck yesterday. The car just needs to be vacuumed so I will do that this weekend.  I also see that Tuesday, my loooong day at work is the day assigned to be wiping down the baseboards. I think I'll get all 4 of the fam. together on Sunday afternoon and do a floorboard wiping party. We have a big house and maybe we can at least get the downstairs done on Sunday.  The rest of them can be done Tuesday evening and the rest of the week looks manageable.

MOH - Week 1 Day 3

Day 3 had you tidy your bedroom and clean out the freezer. Well, our bedroom wasn't too bad but the boys' bedroom was what you would expect 7 days in to a school vacation - pretty much ready for health inspectors to shut it down so I helped them clean their room instead.  They *can* clean their own room but once it hits a certain level it's pretty hard for them to get going. 

I did clean out the freezer, it wasn't too bad and I did find a bunch of food that I didn't realize I still had in there. Simon was excited because I found a popsicle down in the frozen vegetable drawer.

I have decided to make a modification to the "get rid of 7 things a day" plan. The trouble is, once I start cleaning out something, like kids' clothes or books, I don't stop at 7. So I am now doing 35 items a week.  That being said, I did manage to get rid of some old coloring books (boys declared themselves officially too old for coloring books) and we sold a couple of old Rubbermaid shelves on Craigslist.

Today's assignment is to clean under the beds. I haven't moved our bed since we bought it August 2012 so that should be pretty gross. I'll take pictures.

Money Saving Mom's 40 Days -- Days 1 & 2

I have decided to try to do the Money Saving Mom's 40 Days to a More Organized Home. Since it's only day 3 and I am having a little trouble with keeping going, I decided to blog about it also!

Day 1 had you come up with a morning routine. I pretty much already had this down but added in the load of laundry. Laundry is a considerable task around our house and I hate getting so far behind that I have 6 loads to do on Saturday morning.  My plan was to get 1 load in the washer and dryer each morning and fold it after work to just keep the giant piles down.  So here is my routine:

1. Get up, shower.
2. Have coffee, read work email.
3. Start a load of laundry.
4. Make lunches.
5. Eat breakfast with the kids.
6. Finish up any homework, practice spelling words and math facts.
7. Put load of laundry into the dryer.
8. Get dressed for work.
9. Walk the kids to school.
10. Go to work.

I did tidy the living room and vacuum it, for my 15 minute power clean of the living areas. I also got together a big bag of the kids' outgrown clothes to take to the consignment shop. WAY more than 7 items.

Day 2 had you make a list of goals 5-7 for this week.

1. Catch up on my Weight Watchers etools stuff.
2. Prep 2 weeks of lectures of math 213.
3. Prep 111 internet class for first day.
4. Chapter 1 of  Math 105 curriculum development.
5. Do 3 piano lessons with the boys and practice yourself.
6. Paint the downstairs bathroom door.
7. Take the camper cushions to the upholsterer.

Yesterday I worked about an hour each on 213 and 105.  We have done a piano lesson and will do another this morning and I made an appointment with the upholsterer for Thursday morning so I am making good progress.  I went through the kids' books and picked out about 15 that were really beginning readers or too young for the boys. I also took a bag to Goodwill that I had packed up last week and donated our old outside light fixtures to Restore. I had actually power cleaned the refrigerator just last week so a quick tidy and that was done.  We actually keep our kitchen counter tops cleaned off pretty much all the time. But there is a small one next to the refrigerator that piles up with papers. I did go through all those.

In a completely unrelated side note, the boys are I are reading The Borrowers together. It started off REALLY slowly and I wasn't sure we were even going to like it. However, I am glad to say we stuck with it and it is starting to pick up.  Ike is reading Henry and Beezus and Simon is reading Danny and the Dinosaur.  I think neither of the boys is really challenged by either book. They can both go several pages before they come across a word they don't know, but it's spring break so oh well.