Spring cleaning #5 kitchen

Today we are going to wipe down the cabinets.  Just a simple rag dampened will do most of it.  If you have wood consider oiling it too.  Our cabinets look glorious after being wiped and oiled.  Of course check your manufacturers recommendations before doing anything :)

Spring Cleaning #4 The fridge

I hope you enjoyed your break yesterday :) 

Today we are going to clean out the fridge and wipe it all down.  Toss all that expired or UFO's in there.  Make a list of staples you need to replenish and add it to next weeks shopping list. Your fridge will thank you for the little TLC you show it today.

Don't forget to work just a bit maintaining the work you did in the laundry room and on those counters.  Fold and put away the load in the dryer and start a new load.  Put the junk mail and other odd's and ends where they belong and give a quick wipe to those lovely counters.

Spring Cleaning #3 Kitchen

We are going to stay in the kitchen today.  I hope you enjoyed your Sunday break :)  In all actuality I never got to that troublesome countertop yesterday.  I did finish it up this morning but still need to wipe down all the counters and polish them.  Which brings me to a little PSA (public service announcement) If you have a carbon monoxide detector plugged in your kitchen you will want to unplug it and remove it from the area if you are going to be spraying any aerosol cleaners.  If you don't it will go off and loudly :0

Today being Monday we are going to talk about Menu Planning.  It pertains to spring cleaning.  I feel we often get in a dinner rut and start making excuses for eating out or convenience meals that are not the least bit healthy.  I totally cheat in the menu planning arena and let someone else do it for me.  Menus4moms.com provides a weekly dinner menu for 5 nights with included shopping list!  What can be easier than that?  She also goes by the premise of preparing ahead.  For example you will often see 5lbs of ground beef on the list.  Out of this she will have planned hamburgers and then the rest made up into meatballs, divided and frozen for a later meal.  Another site is SavingDinner.com  this one is a paid service.  We did it for awhile but the menus4moms site was more our tastebud.  So today your challenge is to make up a at least a dinner menu for the rest of the work week. Lauren is ahead of the game on this one as she got so inspired by her clean laundry area attached to her kitchen that she posted a weekly menu on her whiteboard.     Post your menus in comments for all to get ideas.  Our weekly menu is on the menus4moms site.  Beef Burgandy simplified is whats for dinner tonight. 

Spring Cleaning #2 The kitchen

Let's spend a few days in the kitchen.  The old adage The Kitchen is the heart of the home holds true in our house.  My hubby likes to go to bed with a clean kitchen.  Usually he is the one who makes it happen.  But as of late I am trying to bless him by making sure it is cleaned up before I go to bed.  Today in the kitchen we are just going to clean off the counters.  We have a junk counter in ours which just gets piled with JUNK.  I would take a picture but I'm too embarrassed.  So my goal for today is to put all that is on that counter into an empty laundry basket, wipe down the counters, get hubby to granite polish them, and then put those items that belong on the counters back up.  Then I will take my basket of junk and sort, purge, and put away.  

Join me in the kitchen and give those counters a treat.  I will take pics once I am done and post the results.

Mrs W linked me to her laundry yesterday in comments feel free to link me to a photo of your accomplished counters. :)

Spring Cleaning #1 Laundry Room

I realize I have very little following here :) But I thought I would post my spring cleaning whims for the next week or so. I have no clue what has gotten into me. If you would like to join the insanity then follow along. I will post a little 1/2 hour job for the day to attempt cleaning up your home.
Today's area is the laundry room. For us here it is a busy room. The dog lives in here, and so does 7 people worth of laundry. The dirties actually live outside the laundry room in these
I picked them up at Costco awhile back. Darks go in one, lights the other. Towels and sheets got in the wicker basket shoved in the corner.
For organization in the laundry room I have cloth baskets for each kid arranged on the shelf/rack my husband built for me. It offers a place to toss all the folded clothes and hang up those items that need to be hung

Supplies go in the cabinets. I have a lot of cabinet space so the cabinet on the left also temporarily houses clothes that are too small for one child and waiting to be passed down to the next. Eventually they get transferred to buckets upstairs.

So today if you want to follow along on my little spring cleaning trip spruce up your laundry room.
Dig behind the washer and dryer for strays (oh my I had a lot of socks that had gone over.)
Wipe down the outside of the washer and dryer.
Put away all the clothes that are piling up.
When you have done all this start a load of towels. They are easy and quick to fold :)

Sick Day

With everyone needing the restroom and or a reclining position we cancelled school for today. But we did squeeze in a little science as our caterpillars hatched into butterflies today. We will resume school tomorrow as everyone is on the mend.

Good News from the Surgeon

Awhile back I detected a lump. Yeah one of those "lumps". My gyn checked it out couldn't find it. She told me to come in again the next time it flared up. I did (seems to cycle with my cycle). She was able to palpate it and sent me for a mammogram and ultra sound. Those both came back normal but just to be safe she referred me off to the general surgeon. He and I agreed for a wait and see approach. I go back in 3 months sooner if it flares. It seems to be fibrous cystic tissue that flares due to hormones. So good news today. Next doctors appointment will be Avery's orthopedic in June to see where her MHE is.

Good Friday

Rabbit Trails Anyone?

A fellow homeschool mom shared her rabbit trail story earlier and is sponsoring an event.

Our rabbit trail happened in Core 3 with my girls.  We came across an early governor of one of the fine states.  He shared our last name (even spelled right)  so we were off on  bunny trail trying to see if we were related some how.  My girls loved it because school stopped :)  Turns out he wasn't related directly but we sure did have fun reading some family history.

Better day

Yesterday we made great headway in getting caught back up in all subjects.  We are not "behind" as really you can't be behind if you homeschool :).  We are however behind my original calendar that I did last July.  But ya know life happens, spontaneous trips to Paris happen, 2 weeks on the road with 1 week of recovery happen.  And that is the joy of homeschooling.  The ability to take our time, enjoy life and each other without being tied to any school district schedule.  I have set a goal for myself.... I am not to order the girls next Core until we are in week 34 of the current core.  Theoretically that is 9 weeks away.  It will give me time to really cement which aspects of the curriculum I want to use and which ones I want to change.  I will fill you in on what we choose over the next few weeks.

School Work the good and the bad news

Somewhere along the road my kids pulled a school strike on me.  When it occurred I can't quite pin down.  But one by one they have all hit the wall.  So instead of starting week 26 we are completing all incomplete assignments.  The bad news is it means we will be schooling most likely through June.  The good news is we are actually getting a lot done.  Good news is Neil has finished K math, is reading rather well, and is catching up in LA.  The Bad news is I have to keep my eye on him as he ping pongs around doing stuff he knows he shouldn't be doing.  Good news is Avery is cute, bad news is I found a stash of math sheets and bible pages stuffed in her desk UNDONE!  Hello she is 4, where did she learn this trick?  Good news is Ian has caught up in some subjects but his 4 week long experiment is in jeopardy of being neglected too many days in a row (thats the bad news) Good news is Hannah is mostly caught up in her math bad news LA is tragically behind (mostly my fault)  Good news is Claire has caught up in Bible, History, Critical Thinking and Science.  Bad news Math is horrifically behind but we are trudging through it slooooooooooowly!

Work in progress

I am a work in progress.  Last night however while driving to pick up Claire from Awana I was blaring KLOVE.  I love driving by myself (for short distances) so I can crank the music and just belt out the lyrics and let the tears roll.  Last night a new song was played.  It was ALWAYS by Building 429.  I tried to find a video of it but was only successful in finding an "about" video.  I was given a word and was working on a post in my head.  I need more quiet time to hash out what HE wants me to write.  So it is a work in progress.

On the other side of a work in progress is my heart.  My heart still grieves for the loss my sister in love and her husband have experienced.  My heart overflows with love for my husband.  My heart shines with pride as my children bless me, it clouds with frustration when they drive me nuts.  I am a work in progress.  My heart is a work in progress.  May God use me in my uncompleteness........