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.