Week in Review--1/7/11

Before I get on to Five Question Friday, I thought I'd share a few tidbits.



In my quest to get organized and cleaned up, today I:



-Printed out this January cleaning calendar from Clean Mama.



-Bought the e-book: Tell Your Time ($7 with code CLEANSLATE), recommended by Simple Organized Living--because time manangement is a huge problem of mine.



And I actually cleaned... because the exterminator was coming over to do our annual indoor treatment. Eek. I finally sorted all the little itty bitty toys that have been on the floor since before Christmas and were added to on Christmas {the place looked worse than ever!} and got them in all their various baskets and into the cabinet. Awesome! I left plenty of odds and ends, but it looks So Much Better. Then I wiped down my master bathroom, which was in half-decent shape because I cleaned it at the beginning of Nevember {I told you I'm a mess!}. Sadly, my bedroom was beyond the reach of a short cleanup time. Embarassing. I like to tell myself the exterminator has seen worse.



Meanwhile, we've been watching a French movie this week, Tell No One. It was weird and complex, one of those films that reveal just a little bit at a time so you spend much of it confused (and even annoyed--I almost gave up on it after the first night), but ultimately it all made sense and it was pretty good. Not great, but interesting and kind of romatic. Kind of.




Okay, on to this week's Q & A, some unusual questions so I thought I'd join in with Mama M. Here goes:



1. What is your current favorite book, and why?
I'm not sure I understand the "current" part of this question, do they mean of the books I'm currently reading or the book I would tell people (currently) is my favorite book ever? If it's the latter, my favorite book {that everyone must read} is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Awesome! If it's the best of what I'm reading right now, I'll say Memoirs of a Geisha, because I'm further along in it than the other novels I'm reading {more on those in a future post} and though I'm not sure yet about the plot (aren't geishas prostitutes?!), the writing is very good.



2. Do you go to the dentist regularly?

I am embarassed to say it's been YEARS since I've seen a dentist. I won't tell you how many years, let's just say more than five. {Hangs head in shame.} I blame the IBS as well as our lack of dental insurance.


3. What is your worst memory from High School?
I've said before that I hated high school, so let's see if I can choose one moment. Oh here's a good one. I was skinny in high school and had no boobs (not that I've got much more up top these days, I was not blessed by the boob fairy). One day in Geometry (I was a freshman, these annoying boys were sophomores), we got a test back. One boy saw my good score and said "let's give her {meaning me} a medal" and the other boy replied, "yes, and a chest to put it on." Yeah, good memories! (That's just off the top of my head, I can't say for sure it's the worst memory.)

4. What do you hope to be remembered for in your life?
I wish that I would make the history books or be a published author one day, but it's not looking like that's in the plan, so it will just be friends and family who remember me and I hope they say I was a good person, that I was kind, and I hope my kids have good memories of our times together, that they'll say I was a good mom.

5. Are you superstitious or do you have any superstitions?

Funny, this reminds me of when I was a kid and I was watching something, like beauty pageants or award shows, and I was rooting for someone, I'd cross my fingers--and then I went through a phase where I thought it was better to un-cross everything so I'd sit there with my fingers all fanned out rooting for Miss Tennessee to make the finals or for Janet Jackson to win best album. Funny to think back to that, now I hate beauty pageants with a (feminist) vengeance and I'm lucky if I catch the Oscars.



So am I superstitious these days? I guess a little, because I don't like to "jinx" myself (not that I actually believe in jinxing or tempting fate but I can't help it) by saying, for example, "my kids haven't been sick in 2 months" for fear they will promptly get sick. I like to keep an umbrella in my purse because, Murphy's Law, it will rain the one day I forget it. And so forth. Not really susperstitious in the black cat/broken mirror kind of way.

Or just now, I thought of putting as my facebook status that "I'm having a good day," but I can't because then surely the day would take a turn for the worse. So I won't post that--I can, however, wait till the end of the day and declare "it was a good day." So there you go.

For more Question fun, go here. Have a great weekend!!!

New Organizing Project

Catie from Newby at Home directed me to this exciting challenge for the new year: the One Year to a {more} Organized Life project, created by Brenda of Unsolicited Advice. If you've been here before, you know that I'm always talking about what a mess I am and how I'm trying to get organized and in fact just yesterday I put out a plea for help with time management strategies. If you're new here {welcome!}, I'll tell you that since my second child was born (my daughter, T, born in Sept '08), I've been a disorganized mess. Well, actually I've been a mess all my life, but after T was born I suddenly realized how much the mess (the clutter, the bathrooms that need cleaning, the lack of schedule) was in my way! But then I also didn't have the time to do anything about it. So I declared 2009 the Year to Get Organized--but working in such small time increments, I realized it will take more like a decade. Anyway, I'm slowly making progress, very s l o w l y, but still have a long way to go. I finally have the motivation to get the *crap* out of my house, but I need the time and direction and I hope this OYOL challenge will help with the direction and motivation.

Okay, so this week's assignment is to find our purpose. Like I said, I've made some progress, I'm not losing things as much, I've put some good systems in place, but on a daily basis I am surrounded by clutter and clueless how best to use my time--should I be playing with my kids or going through the piles in my closet? Should I clean the powder room or the master bathroom? And there's so much to do that I get overwhelmed and play on the internet.

Brenda recommends we dig deep for a substantial purpose/reason to keep us going in the challenge. I assume that's so when we hit that inevitable "why bother?" moment, we have a statement of purpose to remind us that life isn't going to get better till we get organized. So while I have a lot of practical reasons to get organized (so I can find my stuff when I need it), the *purpose* behind the effort is this: the clutter is keeping me from living the life I want. I want a life that includes less stuff, a house that I can invite people into, a clean shower that wouldn't frighten the health department. I want to be a happy mom who plays with her kids and a balanced mom who reads (and maybe puts together photo albums). I want my husband to be less frustrated and I want my kids to have happy memories of childhood. And so on....

Obviously the bonus is that I can blog about my progress! To see some of my past successes, click on the organizing tab in my sidebar. Also, Organizing Junkie is planning 52 Weeks of Organizing so every Friday we can share our organizing successes in the comments or by linking up. {Nothing like seeing other people's Before and After pictures to keep me motivated and excited to declutter!} So stayed tuned, hopefully I'll have lots of successes (and no doubt some failures/hiccups along the way) to share in '11.

Do you want to get more organized in this new year? Visit Brenda to check it out!

New Adventure--Homemade Lasagna

I'm excited to be participating for the first time in Alicia's Homemaking Try New Adventures Thursday link-up. I tried something new last weekend (New Years Day to be specific)--homemade lasagna! In case you didn't know, I hate to cook, I mean really hate, like washing-the-dishes hate. {Don't even get me started on the irony of me ending up as a housewife.} But I do it anyway, so I'm mostly drawn to quick and easy non-recipes. Therefore, it was a big step to make lasagna by myself.

Back in the day, we would eat Stouffer's frozen lasagna. Easy and yummy. But then they changed it or something and it became less yummy, plus we'd eaten it too often and we were just DONE. And we never really replaced it with anything. I have a baked penne recipe I like to make and I've made manicotti a few times, but it's been a long time since we had lasagna.

Meanwhile, my BFF has made homemade lasagna for a long time, but she also makes her spaghetti sauce from scratch, so clearly she's way ahead of me. But I was talking to her recently and she was saying how easy it is. So I asked for her recipe and she says she does it the way it says on the box of noodles (plus she doesn't even make her own sauce for it!).

I was thinking of taking the plunge, but of course L can't eat wheat. So do I make lasagna with gluten-free noodles?! First, we had to check the store (we shop at Sunflower, it's like Whole Foods but better). Hubby did the shopping and came home with what he found: no boil rice pasta lasagna noodles. But the recipe on its box was for Southwestern something lasagna--not helpful. So I found this recipe off the Barilla website, and got to work!

Basically it was super easy--I don't know what I was afraid of. I browned ground beef {I used ground beef instead of sausage in hopes the kids would like it} and added it to a jar of marinara sauce and then used extra sauce to coat the bottom of my pan, then layered noodles, cheese mixture, meat mixture and so on. It didn't take long because I didn't have to boil the noodles (I timed it, it took me 35 minutes to get it ready for the oven). That is not a picture of my creation. I took a picture, but couldn't wait to upload it, cuz that might take a while. This photo is from Barilla.

The bad news is the rice pasta was gross. Nasty! I couldn't eat it (I just ate the beef and cheese, but not the pasta) and the kids didn't like it. Hubby was a trooper and said it was good and ate it up. We decided next time to just use regular wheat noodles (and par-boil them) since L didn't like it anyway. (Also next time: sausage, yum.) I also thought it was heavy on the cheese so I might tone that down next time. But there will be a next time--really it was easier than the baked penne and manicotti I usually make.

So that was my lasagna-making adventure. Sorry there's no picture--I took one but if I waited till I uploaded it, well it might be June. For more adventures, go here.

WFMW--What's not working--time management

As I mentioned yesterday, I stink at time management. I need some sort of manual or how-to guide to my life! I would like to play with my kids, have some time to myself, exercise, blog, clean, organize--how do I fit it all in, with my sanity intact? Please share with me your best time management tips, be it general or specific--I need all the help I can get! {Also, if you have a blog post that's relevant, or if you write an organizing-time-managing-type blog, by all means, let me know in the comments!}

((A few months back, I actually shared a time management tip. Can you believe it? It's something that sometimes works for me, when I actually think to do it: setting a time to get the big stuff done.))

So, help me out--what's your best time management tip(s)?!

For more tips (or requests for tips), check out We Are THAT Family.

Resolutions 2011

Okay, so new year, new you. Yeah, not so much. I have no resolutions this year other than to keep working on everything I was trying to work on last year. Because I still have a long way to go. First, I'll review last year's goals:

-Thank you notes. I started off okay, but got behind at Easter. That's right, this month I will be writing lumped-together notes thanking people for all the gifts they gave us for Easter, L's birthday, T's bday, my bday, Hubby's bday and Christmas. And Halloween and our anniversary if you sent anything for those. Eek! But that will give me a clean slate for 2011. My plan for improving in 2011 includes me writing on my new calendar "deal w/ thanx" two weeks after gift-receiving holidays/birthdays in the year ahead. Fingers crossed.

-Be more friendly. Oy this could be a post in itself--I seem to have lost all my local friends in 2010. Sigh. But I was friendlier with strangers and acquaintances. And in recent weeks, I've given my mommy "business" card {like a business card but my job title is "L's mom" and it has my contact info} to 4, count 'em 4, moms. I'm hoping at least one of these will be new friends for me and the kids. This is way out of my comfort zone to put myself out there like this, so yea me, we'll see if anything comes of it.

-Go to church. This was really tough and we just weren't great about it. We'd have a good stretch but then not go for several weeks and then kind of gave up altoghether. But then my parents moved to town in November and we're Back In Action. ;-) My parents watch T while Hubby, L and I go to church (well, sometimes L stays home too, I don't care at this point). This new system should work to keep us attending church weekly. Yea!

-Make the bed. I lapsed on this one, but recently got back in the habit when my parents moved in (peer pressure). It's worth it for me to try to keep up with this one in the new year.

So obviously, I've got plenty of progress left to make on the above goals. I talked a little about my blogging goals yesterday, mostly to just follow through when I have post ideas, but I'd also like to comment more on other blogs, not just because it's often reciprocated but just for the golden rule of it--I know how much I like comments, I want to know if people have visited here, so as long as I'm there, I should leave a note.



On weight/appearance/healthy lifestyle (again this could be its own post)--always a challenge. I've gone back and forth the past few months about whether or not I care about these extra 10 pounds I'm carrying around and whether or not to try to do something about them. Where I usually come down is I need to try to be healthier--make better food choices (quality and quantity) and move more--and the weight will follow. Of course the last month, between Thanksgiving and New Year's, was a fiesta of bad food choices and I still haven't figured out way to fit in exercise--so it's a vague, ongoing goal.


And of course there's all the other stuff I need to work on--play with my kids more, read more, be more patient, do more housework, get organized! There was a point last year when I had a list of 4 things on a note in my kitchen--what were they? I know one was to drink less Coke--I succeeded in that, I went from 3 cans to 2 per day {baby steps}. Another was "no groaning"--I have gotten a lot better on that score, though as with yelling, I have my weak moments. Work in progress. What were the other two?! I can't believe I can't remember--oh one was to make L drink his sips--that was a project from a long time ago, no longer relevant. I'll try to remember the last one and report back. Anyway, I'll finish with the general goal of better time management--a huge weakness of mine. If I could be more intentional with my time, then all of the above would fit in, right? Playing with the kids, cleaning, organizing, reading. So that's the big goal of 2011.

Example: this morning I had time. It was about 10:30 am. L was at school. I'd already done breakfast, checked all my usual blogs, and played with T. So now what? I had a ton of choices--sort mail, play online, clean--but there was no guide book, no one to tell me what to do. No wonder I get depressed, I'm floundering here. In the end, I started a load of laundry, spent a few minutes online, then called my BFF. Pretty good choices (though cleaning or organizing would have been better choices). It was only after all that plus lunch that I realized I really need to put the Christmas gifts away (they are in various piles in my foyer), but by then it was time to pick up L and do afternoon stuff. So yeah, time management is a big ol' Work In Progress. ;-)

There you have it, my resolution-related ramblings for the new year.

What are your resolutions for 2011? And do you have any suggestions to help with my goals?!

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to say a quick hello and Happy 2011. We had a wonderful Christmas, well mostly it was good, my husband had a little too much of my family. But we made it to mass on Christmas Eve for the first time in YEARS so that was super. L went with us (my sister babysat T). He does really well in church, I can't believe it, this kid who has boundless energy, perpetual motion, whom we often wonder if he has ADHD, is calm in church. Amazing. (So probably no on the ADHD, yea.) But he was a little extra fidgety at Christmas mass because we had to get there half an hour before it began in order to get a seat, so by the end he was surely bored. {A special thank you to the people behind us who engaged him in conversation while communion was lasting forever.}


I have in mind to do some sort of resolutions post--I'm still working on last year's goals so I'll do an update on those but I'll have to go through some old posts to even remember all the various things I was working on. {That speaks well of my progress, doesn't it?}

So is 2011 going to be the year my blog takes off? Haha, not even close. I've realized that as much as I LOVE comments and followers (keep 'em coming), I will never be a big blog. Because I would rather read blogs than write my own. {Is that horrible?} I started this blog to join the conversation and to have a place to say what I have to say, but when I don't have something to say or time to say it or the energy to write in my limited free time, then I'm not going to worry about it. That said, I do wish that more of those times when I do think of something to say, that I will follow through and write it. Whether or not people will see it or comment on it. Just as an outlet. Because that's the whole point really. Another goal is that when I do have free time and I've checked all my favorite blogs, that I will make content rather than just read others' content.

What will that content be, you ask? The same hodgepodge as ever--books, movies, life as a harried mom of 2, attempts to cook and organize. I enjoyed writing my memories in the two sessions of Mommy' Piggy Tales and I've thought of various other memories I'd like to chronicle on here for posterity (and perhaps a few laughs). I'd also like to comment on pop culture/current events--because I have all sorts of opinions on a wide variety of crazy topics and I've often thought "I should blog about that"--so again I need to work on that follow-through.

Wow, this actually turned into a decent sized post--once I decided to go make content. Thanks for reading, best wishes for a happy, healthy 2011!

Linky Love--Blog Edition--1/1/11

This week, Mandi suggested we link up some of our favorite blogs we discovered in 2010. Great idea! I found a bunch of new-to-me blogs this year. Here are the ones I like to check in on daily:



Oh Amanda {inspirational}



A Wife Loved Like the Church {friendly}



Alicia's Homemaking {motivational}



Stark.raving.mad.mommy {hilarious}



It's Come 2 This {real}



Merry With Children {down-to-earth}



And I subscribe via email to:



Simple Organized Living {organized}



Giving Up on Perfect {honest}



If you're not on this list, have no fear, either you're an old favorite (I discovered you before 2010) or I catch up with you on weekends.;-) For more Saturday Stumbles or to make your own list, go here.