*F* is for finished

I inherited a terrible gene from my mother. And I do completely blame it on her. Whenever I start a project I become completely consumed with it until it is done. It really is bad. Have the kids eaten? Don't know. Did they go to school today? Can't remember. O.K. it is not quite that bad, but close. I am not one to drag out something after I have started.

Ever since Chasey came into this world I have been less than on the ball when it comes with keeping my scrapbooks and photo albums updated. I would even say that the ball has been nowhere near me. Keeping up with 4 kiddos and building a house, then moving into it and all the fun stuff that goes along with that have kept me occupied. In the back of my mind for the past several months I have heard the subtle whisperings that I need to get on top of it or it will get to the point where I give up and don't try anymore. Well the past couple of weeks I decided that now is the time.

Pictures, paper and glue have been flying. Every minute that I could spare I was hard at work getting updated. After quite a few late nights and many a trip to Costco to pick up pictures I am caught up. Now sure, if there was a scrapbook police they would haul me in and say that my scrapbooks are definitely not scrapbooks. More like pictures stuck to a page with a few bits of colored paper and hand written words. Highly unimaginative. That is true.

And while the scrapbook police have me I'm sure that the Photoshop police would want a word or two because gasp....most of the pictures I had printed were straight out of the camera. A horrifying thought don't ya think? I have come to the realization that for me I would rather have less than impressive scrapbooks that are updated with the memories written down than a pile of pictures that are just waiting for me to find enough time to enhance them and turn them into beautiful works of art. Albums that we can enjoy looking at right now. I know what my limitations are, at least in this area and what I can keep up with right now.

And part of knowing what my limitations are is also realizing that at this time in my life, maybe spending huge amounts of time creating beautiful scrapbooks is not what I want to be doing. Part of this organizing class that I have been taking talks about time management, immersing yourself in the particular season of your life and yes limiting what extracurricular activities you take on (for me that would be crafts). I can't possibly do multiple different crafts and not get overwhelmed. We have also talked about the concept of yes and no. When you say yes to something you are automatically saying no to something else. So I need to be careful what I say yes and no to. This is something I have been thinking about a lot this past week. I know I must have a creative outlet, so what do I want to spend my free time doing? Scrapbooking? Cross Stitching? Making books? I need to be careful and limit my hobbies.

So yes I am updated. I am satisfied at how they look and the time I put into them. It feels so good to get that done.

One of those days with Chasey

This kid can't get any busier. Today was an especially busy day. This morning during my run on the treadmill I think I got off more times than I actually was on. He normally just roams around while I sweat, but today he had a particular desire to command my complete, undivided attention. Pushing buttons he wasn't suppose to, getting too close to the treadmill, throwing stuff onto the treadmill. Exercise was not what I got today.



Upstairs it got even worse. He is a climber and today his entire goal was to climb, and that he did. Every time I turned my back he was climbing onto my counters, onto my table and onto my desk in search of anything and everything he wasn't suppose to have.

I made cupcakes today and he was bound and determined to eat them. I think he managed to eat 4 while I was not looking. I finally ended putting up all of the chairs onto the table. I have already turned over our bar stools to keep him from climbing, but today he started knocking them over in an attempt to get them upright again. I am about to go Japanese style and ban all chairs from the house.



I went into my bathroom for a few minutes and when I came back this is what I found. Chasey eating another cupcake with icing on my counter. I'm tired.

I found these pictures of Chase on my mom's website. I had totally forgotten about these. I think I am going to cry.

Where have you been all my life?

My mom's stake is currently holding an 8 week organization course taught by this woman. I have been going and it has been very good. The other day I was perusing her site and I read a section on commercial microfiber mops and how they would change how you mop forever.

My current moping routine is wait until I can't stand the dirt anymore, pull out my rinky dink Swiffer, and try to stretch the disposable pads until breaking point. I have always been annoyed that I have to keep buying them, they never work for more than 10 strokes and they are so small. It takes me forever, and along with cleaning bathrooms it is my least favorite job.

So I decided to make a quick trip to the local janitorial supply store to pick one up. These are special mops, you can't just drive on down to the local Walmarts to get one. I figured that it can't be worse than what I am doing now so I might as well try. I opted for the large 24" size because I have a lot of hard surfaces on my main floor. They actually go up to 36".

Oh. My. Goodness. This mop is amazing. It took me no time at all to mop my floors. I was practically dancing behind my mop as I went. I would have been the perfect spokeswoman for this thing if I had only been wearing heels and lipstick. It held a ridiculous amount of water and the best part is that when you are done with it, you toss the pad in the wash and it is good for the next mopping. I am sold. This is the best money I have spent in a long time.

The after effects of spicy sausage

Last night I made beans and rice for dinner. Instead of regular old sausage I added some 'hot links' sausage. Once it got on the table I realized the sausage was indeed hot. A little too hot for my liking. Owen on the other hand thought it was great and wolfed down scads of it. Unfortunately his stomach had other opinions of this meal. About 10:30 last night the throwing up began. Out it all came. It took 4 incidents of throw up everywhere until he was done. Today he was a bit tired. Tired enough to fall asleep on the couch. I don't think I will make this meal for awhile. I have seen enough of it in all its forms.

Any excuse

It's that time of year again. Time when people vow to get organized and de-clutter. I didn't make that vow, but I love any excuse to go through my house and make DI happy. I don't tolerate clutter very well. Mess, yes....clutter, no. It makes me tense. I love closets with empty shelves and flat surfaces with nothing stacked on them. Give me a jam packed closet and a counter with papers stacked a mile high and I would have a dumpster filled in minutes.

Although this time around wasn't a huge purge, I did get rid of some choice stuff.

If this doesn't scream the 80's I don't know what does. Floral pattern, puffed sleeves, drop waist, bow on the hip and both shoulders. I loved it back then. My mom made this for me. Thanks mom, but it is time to go.



Years ago I made the decision that I would keep some of my dance dresses from high school and college so that my girls could play dress up in them. My mom had saved some of hers, one that I particularly remember was a gold sparkly thing and I thought it was great wearing it around the house. But since the girl thing never happened to me, it is time for them to go. I would be somewhat alarmed if any of my boys wanted to play dress up with these and I have no intention of putting them in our costume box next to the Star Wars capes. I don't want any drag queens running around the house, so I had best find them a new home. Interestingly enough all of these come from the same designer, Scott/Jessica McClintock. Sound familiar?



Now this is something I can't figure out why on earth I have kept for so long. It is the box that my ipod mini came in that I bought almost 4 years ago. There is no good reason why I still have the box, although I still use my archaic mini when I go running outside. I feel like I have a boom box sitting on my shoulder it is so outdated. Maybe it is time to upgrade.



This is the hardest thing I got rid of. The maps, trail guides etc. of all of the vacations Scott and I have taken in the past 5 years. I have scrap booked all the pix and these have just been sitting in a box. I took them out, stared at them, debated in my mind the reasons why I should keep them. I put them in the recycle pile only to pull them out and put them back in the box. Finally I asked myself "Are you ever going to look at these again?" Most likely not, and plus I can find it all online anyways. I put it back in the recycle pile, took a deep breathe and moved on.



Now which closet should I tackle next?

Ready to settle down

The holidays were nice, but I was glad to see them go. I am ready for some down time. Well, technically there really is no down time around here, but for lack of a better word I will call it down time. Time to stay inside, let the snow fly and the wind howl and check some things off my list.

This is what I want to accomplish on top of the standard stuff this week

Tackle the laundry.
Clean the bathrooms.
Make dentist appointments.
Buy Bennett new church pants.
Make final arrangements for our trip to Disneyland next month.
Find out about piano teachers in the area.
Register Owen for preschool next year.
Finish submitting papers to Highland City to appeal our driveway.

This is what I hope to accomplish while waiting for spring to come

Printing out all of my photos.
Get the boy's photo albums up to date.
Work on my scrapbook.
Make a few books. So many ideas so little time!

Now if I can just accomplish half of this I will be happy!