Fantastic picture of our feet

The sylish picture above was taken by Kristen Purcell of La Vie Photography. She does incredible work and is great to work with! www.laviephotography.net.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Real Women book review

Loved this book. It makes me want to go to Seguin and take the tour. It's by Janice Windle Woods, decendant of the 3 main characters she writes about. It starts with Euphemia Texas Ashby as a young girl. About 23 pages in I was cryng in the lunchroom at work. Euphema's sister, Sarah, over the course of her life buried 8 kds. Wow. Euphemia, Phemie, ends up marrying the youngest of the Rowdy King Boys, famous in Texas history.

The next part follows Georgia Lawshe Woods. Legend has it that her grandmother was Ndian, back in the day when Indians were drove off their land. Her family goes to Missouri (don't have the book in front of my so I'm working off my memory). There, she meets Dr. Peter Woods and falls in love. Their dream is to move to Texas. On the way, cue anther scene that had me crying. Colonel-doctor Peter fights in the civil war and then stays in Austin after the war is lost to work on treaties. Georgia and her family are treated horribly by the Yankee troops who come totown and there is a murder.

Third woman s BettievMoss King, Euphemia's daugher-in-law. She lives through the end of the1800s, WWI and WWII. Her story broke my heart because se watched so many around her die. I wonder how loney she was.

I highly recommend this book. Te front age looks like a romance novel, so I was hesitant, but it was great. As the author herself says, it's really a Western. Highest praise I can give is that I was googling all the characters while reading and I will be going to Seguin and San Antonio to walk in their steps as much as I can.

PS - typing on the iPad so forgive any typos :)

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Flylady challenge day #13

My sink is shiney
I got up this morning and showered and dressed to the shoes
Put a load of laundry in the washer
Ran errands
Wrapped presents

And the good news is that today is picking up one of Kelly's zone missions and today it's pampering myself!  Could not have timed that better.

In other great news, the featherduster came in and it's awesome.  Absolutely love it.  And it only took 6 days to arrive!  I'm so impressed by it that I ordered a rubba scrubba.  Looking very forward to getting that in. 

I've noticed that I need to be paying more attention to my before bed routine.  I didn't do it last night and it didn't set me behind this morning because it was the weekend, but it was frustrating trying to round up clothes for Elayna while trying to get out the door.  Lizzie needs to realize that tomorrow will come (along with work) whether she does the before bed routine or not.  Doing the routine just makes it easier on us.

Have a couple good quotes that are on my inspiration/funny page in my control journal:

I cannot be head of the universe - the job is already taken.  This is to help me let go of wanting to control everything.

-and-

To truly live a happy life, you have to let go of what could have happened in the past.  So so so so true.  I definitely need to stop with the what ifs and realize that what I have is pretty darn good and I'm exactly where and who I'm supposed to be.

Happy Sunday to all!  Go do something to treat yourself nicely :)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Flylady challenge day no #

I decided I need to work on the habits I've already starte on and haven't progressed to the next day.

I got up this morning and made the bed
I showered and dressed to my shoes
I put a load of laundry to wash
I made breakfast and ate it
I got dinner into the crockpot
I packed my lunch
Did a 5 minute room rescue (living room)
Did a 2 minute hot spot rescue (kitchen counter)
My sink was shiney when I went to work

After work we went down to Galveston.  So I was really glad to have dinner ready and waiting when we got home!

After dinner I gave Elayna a bath and got her ready for bed
Moved the clothes to the drier
Took off my makeup and swished and swiped my bathroom
Finished washing the dinner dishes
Put the clean dishes up and shined my sink
Put up the clean clothes
Going to go to bed and read as a treat to myself

Still need to work on the 15 minute decluttering/missions we're sent every day.  But the 5 minute room rescue and the 2 minute hot spot cleaning I did this morning made a huge difference.  Made a believer out of me!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Flylady challenge day #12

I won't say I've been an epic failure, but I have fallen off the fly wagon.  I knew I would somewhat this weekend because it was my work Christmas party and between breakfast with Santa early on Saturday and then setting up for the party and then going to the party and then staying down in Galveston Saturday night I knew I wouldn't be able to stay up with my routines.

Irony of ironies, it wasn't until looking around my dirty house this morning as I was running late for work that I had an aha moment.  Ummmm, the whole flylady thing was invented EXACTLY because of days like this weekend.  Amazing.

So, I've been trying to not beat myself up about it tonight.  And to be kind to my family because it's not their fault.  I've struggled a bit, but I am working on it.

My sink is shiney
A load of laundry was washed, dried, and put up
We ate meatloaf for dinner instead of running to get something (a la last night)
The baby has had a bath and is getting ready for bed
We're having black bean soup for dinner tomorrow so I cooked up the bacon and onion to throw in the crockpot tomorrow morning
Clothes are laid out ready to go

So, all I can say is I'm working on it.  And now for my complaint about flylady.  I kinda think a new habit every day is pretty quick.  I feel like I haven't had a chance to really get down the habits of 5 minute room rescue and 15 minute cleaning/decluttering.  And now for the beauty of the flylady system, I give myself permission to not have to necessarily do a new habit a day. If I need to take an extra day or two to go on to the next habit, it's allowed!!!  So, I may not be doing a new one every day.

On a sad note, we got news tonight that my father-in-law isn't doing well.  That definitely puts things back in perspective.  It's just a mess, be nice to yourself and your family.  Nobody will remember the house being a work in progress, they will remember the love within it.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Flylady challenge day#11

My sink was shiney when I left for work this morning. Alas, Daniel left dirty dishes in it so it wasn't shiney when I got home.
I rew a load of laundry in the washer this morning. I gave myself a break by doing towels, easy to fold and put up.

Challenge of the day, create a page in the control journal for inspirational thoughts. I'm going to also add things that make me smile/laugh to it.

Daniel is cooking dinner, Elayna is asleep on my lap. So I haven't started anything I need to do tonight, but that's okay. Mi'll get it done.

And for the exciting news...to me, anyway, I purchased the flylady duster today!! I hate dusting. Mainly because it takes so much time to move everything lke hotos. And the swiffer things never work the way they say they do. So after wanting one for a long time and reading rave reviews, I decided to treat myself. This way I can surface clean and only deep dust with endust as needed.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Flylady challenge day #10

So today I woke up and thought it was Saturday.  Not the best way to start a Thursday!  Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who rolled over and asked me if I was getting up for work.  I usually get up about 5:30 (I have to leave at 7).  Today I got up at 6:09!!

So, I didn't really have time for all of my morning routine.  I did not throw a load on of laundry or do my 5 minute room rescue.  But my sink is shiney and we're having leftover chili for dinner.  And I don't even feel bad about the things I didn't get done.  Because my laundy is slowly getting under control.  We have clothes for tomorrow and I'll do a small load tomorrow so it doesn't matter.  I'm not stressing about being behind.  I'm going to jump in where I'm at with my evening routine and let go of perfectionism.

Challenge today is 15 minutes doing something.  Today the challenge is picking up trash.  To be honest, I don't think I have enough trash lying around to use up the whole 15 minutes, so I'll probably end up using part of it as a room rescue. 

Lizzie really got mean with me today.  And I had to sit back and really tell myself that the things she was telling me weren't true.  And for every negative she said I came back with a positive.  And then I realized, it wasn't Lizzie really telling me these things.  She was just repeating things she's heard others say.  Well, that sealed it for me.  I don't need to listen to those mean things other people say.  Now, is it easy to tune out the negative thoughts?  Hell NO.  But I need to.  It doesn't do anybody around me, including myself, any good to listen to these things.  Will it improve the situation?  First, I don't think the situation necessarily needs to be improved.  Second, if it does need to be improved, you can believe that me being sullen and resentful, jealous and unhappy about it aren't going to improve it!  Yes, I know this is incredibly vague, but this is the internet and I'd rather not get too specific :)

Anyway...I have to say the flylady thing is working.  Before, I would have figured I already didn't get what I needed to get done in the morning done, why do anything tonight.  I also would have really let the vague thing mentioned above get me down, now every time it creeps into my mind I stop and ask myself why it's really bothering me.  And I ask myself if I really believe the bad things Lizzie's repeating or if I should just tell other people to shut up.  Truly a step in the right direction.

The house is not spotless.  But dinner is about to be warming on the stove.  We have clothes for tomorrow.  I'm going to spend 15 minutes throwing away trash and then do my evening routine and enjoy a new episode of Burn Notice.  Life is good today.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Flylady challenge day #9

My sink is shiney
I got up and made the bed
A load of laundry is drying
We had chili for dinner

Challenge today as a 5 minute room rescue is the morning. Unfortunately, I read it this afternoon...so I did it this evening. But I kinda don't get it. It seems similar to the 2 minute hotspot rescue. But I will keep doing it.

Still to do tonight:
Put up laundry
Take off makeup
Swish and swipe
2 minute hot spot

Today was kinda tough because we had errands to run after work. Makes me want to just sit on the couch. But the reality is that everything I have to do won't take more than 10 minutes. I can do 10 minues!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Flylady challenge day #8

My sink is shiney
I got out of bed and made it this morning
I did a load of laundry, dried it, and put it up
I wore the clothes I laid out last night
I spent 7 minutes cleaning my kitchen counters
Dinner is defrosting on the counter and meat for chili tomorrow is cooked to be thrown in the crock pot in the morning

And all with a sick baby!

Challenge today is to start the morning routine and evening routine sheets in my control journal.  Done!!

Is my house spotless?  no.  Company ready?  depends on the company.  But I've been able to relax today and focus on taking care of Elayna rather than stressing about what needs to be done around here.  So I think giant step in the right direction.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Flylady challenge day #7

My sink is shiney.
I did my morning routine.
There's a load of clothes in the drier.

Mission today was to lay out my clothes for tomorrow. I always ignored this because I wear a uniform to work and never felt the need on weekends. But Elayna's sick and we have a doctor appointment early tomorrow morning so I felt it was a sign. My clothes are laid out and ready to go.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Book review - The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen

Tess Gerritsen is most known (or at least I know her first) for the Rizzoli and Isles books that became the hit TNT series.  Yes, I've read the series and highly recommed it.  The Bone Garden is not part of this series, although Dr. Isles does make a brief cameo.

The story starts out in the present day with Julia, a newly divorced woman, finding a body buried in the garden of her new home.  The medical examiner determines that the unknown woman was murdered by a blow to the head over 150 years ago.  Julia goes on a quest to discover who the dead woman was and the rest of the book flashes back and forth between present time and 1830. 

The flash-backs revolve around Rose Connelly an Irish immigrant, Norris Marshall a poor medical student, and his friends Oliver Wendell Homes, Charles Lackaway, and Edward Kingston. 

I loved how a real-life person (Oliver Wendell Homes) was incorperated into the book.  The characters came to life for me and I had a hard time putting it down.  Several mysteries were throughout the book and all came together at the end.  I loved that the original mystery of the murdered woman didn't get solved until the very end.  And, I thought I had it all figured out and I was very very wrong.  Love that!

I would also like to say that a book like this makes me very very very glad that I live in this day and age of modern medicine. 

I don't want to say too much more about the plot because it's very twisty and turny and I don't want to reveal anything that the reader needs to learn on their own.  I will just say this book gets the highest marks from me, I was so attached to the characters that I felt like I lost friends when I turned the last page.  My only complaint is that I wish Tess had further elaborated what happened to everyone after the drama unfolded, but I also understand that the main point of the book is over, and there probably wasn't much else to say.

If you like mysteries and anything having to do with the mid 1800s, The Bone Garden is a must read!

Flylady challenge days #5 and #6

Yesterday's challenge was to write down all the negative thoughts that pop in my head and basically tell them to shut up!  Well, I didn't write them down, but everytime I start hearing the voices (yes, I just admitted I hear voices) telling me that I need to be cleaning and the house isn't perfect I have been telling them that I'm working on it.  The house is an on-going project and it's never going to be perfect and that is ok.

Today's challenge was to spend 2 minutes cleaning up a hot spot.  A hot spot is an area(s) of your house that if one thing gets piled there, it gets out of control with clutter.  Such as a dining room table or a kitchen counter.  I worked on our living room because everything gets piled out there.  It is far from perfect but it's better.  Living room before:





Living room after:





Okay, so the coffee table still needs some work, but I was able to get all the toys put up.  I also started working on the control journal and got good morning and evening routines started, started a list of things we need in our medicine cabinet (which is woefully lacking), and started a list of go-to meals.  I also got all my coupons organized (was several weeks behind).  Go the laundry in the basket put up and washed, dried, and put up another load.  All in all, today was pretty darn awesome.  And, on top of it all, I finished the book I was reading which I will be reviewing because it was AWESOME!!

I got out of bed and made it.  Showered and dressed (but skipped makeup and contacts to give skin/eyes a break).  My sink is still shining with no dirty dishes.  However, Lizzie did win out last night and we ordered pizza.  Ah, well, can't win them all!

Blogger pleading for help here.  Does anyone know how to select more than one picture at a time to upload? There's got to be a better way!  For instance, today I was pulling the pics right off the camera.  So I had to click on select picture, go to my computer, click on camera, click on cannon, click on DCIM, click on cannon 100, and then select a picture.  Repeat for every picture I uploaded.  I'm not the most patient person (yeah, everyone knows!), and this is very trying for me!!  HELP!!!!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Flylady challenge day #4

Hmmmm, today I got out of bed and made it.

I jumped in the shower and then got dressed to the shoes including makeup.

Started a load of laundry.

I packed my lunch while eating breakfast.

Left for work with my sink shining.

Got home from work tonight and have done nothing. okay, in all fairness Elayna is grumpy so we're having some cuddle time until Daniel gets home. And then i'll make dinner, and finish the laundry, and shine my sink and go to bed. Is my house clean? No. But it's getting a teeny tiny bit cleaner and I'm hanging in there.

First thought upon leaving work was Yay, it's Friday!! I get to go home and do nothing!! I had to gently remind myself that I do have a few things to do, but they won't take long at all and then I can watch Supernatural. Funny how bribery works, no matter what the age.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Well I feel sheepish...

I'v been left comments!!! I honestly just now playing around with the design of my blog saw them. So I apologize for not replying, I wasn't ignoring anyone, I'm just oblivious!!!

Julie, I was totally having flashbacks during th royal wedding, too! Funny that I was that calm because I'm never that calm!

Mark from Comcast, thank you for your comment. We no longer need a tech (7 months later...) but I appreciate you trying to make things better.

Jess, great idea. I will definitely start doing that. I have so many great books I've rad to comment on.

So, yay! You guys make me feel like a real blogger. Just wish I had seen the comments earlier... :)

Flylady challenge day #3

Day 3 with flylady. My sink is shiny and i dressed to the shoes. So far my morning routine consists of:

Getting out of bed
Make the bed
Shower
Get dressed to the shoes including makeup but not hair to let it somewhat airdry
Cook breakfast
While cooking, empty dishwasher and pack lunch

It's a start!

I would like to say peace ruled my house tonight, but alas, it did not. Emma was, well, 7. And then in the midst of her temper tantrum she lost a tooth. Yes, it was loose! But we had a good dinner, all the kids are bathed and ready for school tomorrow (Friday!), and my sink s shiny. It could be sooo much worse.

Day #4 tomorrow and I'm not sure yet what the day holds. Can't wait for the weekend. That will be my real test of staying on track.