Five Question Friday (1/28) and various ramblings

Just a quick post before I get back to organizing. (I have to clean up the mess in the foyer that I made while organizing my desk yesterday.)

- I am working on organizing my desk area. Yea! Thanks to my BFF, I had an idea about getting a desktop file box to replace the overflowing box of papers, so that is what I worked on yesterday. Not a huge (visual) improvement, but a step in the right direction. (I will hopefully be posting pictures later this week of that before and after, yea!)

-My BFF and I are trying to encourage each other to declutter/organize one area per month, since we happened to be working on our office areas at the same time (again, I was inspired by her efforts)--so that will be extra encouragement and accountability in my organizing journey.

-Some movie non-recommendations: 3 Days of the Condor and State of Grace both sucked. You're welcome.


Now onto 5QF.....

1. If you had $1,000 to donate to a charity, which would you choose?
My old favorite charity is Native American Rights Fund, but since L has had health problems I really have two choices: American Partnership For Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) and Phoenix Children's Hospital (PCH). While APFED raises funds for awareness and research, PCH saved L's life. So if I had $1000 to donate, I think I'd give it to PCH.

2. Snow days: Do you welcome them happily or are they a pain in your butt?
Haha all you snowdwellers, I live in Phoenix. Snow days are not a part of my life! {Don't hate, you don't have to deal with our summers.} But we have our share of cabin fever--we just got over another batch of illness--so I can tell you that I think an occasional break from the everyday routine is nice (and if you have snow, it's fun to throw snowballs or make a snowman), more than one starts to be a pain.

3. What talent did you wish you had and why?
I like to dance, love it actually, and I have a pretty good sense of rhythm. However, I am totally inflexible and slightly uncoordinated--so I wish I were a better dancer.

4. Are you a news, politics or celebrity gossip junkie?
I used to be a politics junkie. Love me some Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow. But with kids and no time and the state of the world, I can't handle the negativity. So now I bury my head in the sand. Oh and I HATE celebrity gossip. I used to follow it back in my younger days, I subscribed to Us and Entertainment Weekly. But now I think all that stuff is so toxic. AND I don't give a rat's behind about Britney, Lindsay, and Paris. Sheesh!

5. What is your favorite "cocktail"? (Are you a beer person, a kiddie cocktail junkie, or perhaps your more the "Cosmo" kind?! Anything flies...doesn't hafta be alcoholic!)
I don't drink alcohol. Not because I'm high and mighty, I just don't like the taste. (Which is too bad cuz some days I'd really like to end with a cocktail! LOL) I do enjoy an occasional Shirley Temple, but honestly if I'm at a happy hour or cocktail party (and I never am), I'm just gonna ask for a Coke. I've been taking care of kids all day, I need the caffeine!

Join the Q&A fun over at Mama M's.

Organizing Challenge, Weeks 3 & 4

For Week 3, Brenda gave us a printout to brainstorm all our tasks: daily, weekly, yearly etc. Ugh, I am nowhere on this list. Seriously, my page is blank except under weekly I've written "one bathroom" and "sort toys" (that means a real clean-up of the living room, where the toys go back into the armoire). I dream big, my friends! Yes, I have a long way to go, I will probably have to steal someone else's list. I'm creative like that. ;-)

For this week (Week 4), Brenda has challenged us to look at our work like pieces of a pie and prioritize. I think this is an excellent idea and certainly it goes along with my desire to improve my time-management. What's important and how should I divide up my time?

As an aside, I read this post at Amy's Finer Things, which is a nice post in and of itself (here's a totally-together mom admitting she struggles with time-management too, hallelujah), but what I noticed were some of the comments. Like from "Frenchy" who basically says "I hang out with my family, make dinner, and the rest I don't care about." Wow! Or "Gwen" says she keeps her eyes on the important stuff--time with God, with the kids, with her husband--and the rest falls into place. Bravo! Now clearly I've learned that I can't fly by the seat of my pants and expect everything to fall into place, if that works for you, that's awesome. But I'm hoping that examining my time and labeling my priorities will put me in the right direction.

Progress Report

Not making much progress. I'm even having trouble conquering my Bare Minimum. But I do like having that guide for what I'm supposed to be doing, and if I could just have a normal week, there might be some hope, but it's just been one thing after the other. (I know: excuses, excuses.) My one organizing bright point last week was that after I folded the kids' clean laundry, I went through each kid's basket {this is a post for another day, each kid has a laundry basket of clean clothes--it's my system and it works} and cleared out the stuff that shouldn't be there (such as out-of-season) so those are back to good working order. Also, I am way (like years) behind on cleaning the kids' humidifiers (one in each kid's room), because I have a pathological fear of bleach {another post for another day}... anyway, we were at a baby store the other day and they had a display of humidifiers and there were these bottles of humidifier cleaner. Brilliant! I thought the $7 (yes, way more than the cost of a jug of bleach) was worth it if it means I actually Get The Job Done. So I bought the overpriced cleaner and washed L's humidifier. Yea me! Then it turns out his humidifier isn't working and he'll need a new one anyway. Oh well. Next up: T's humidifier. And I wrote "humidifiers" on the calendar a month from now, so it should be a monthly date to stay on top of it.

How and How Often do you clean your humidifiers?

Also, on Sunday T woke up sick (she vomited twice) so I spent all morning in the living room with the kids (to keep an eye on her), mostly zoning out in the recliner. By lunchtime, I knew I had to get some stuff done and I did an interesting thing: I asked myself, what's the highest priority? First, it was give T a bath (duh, she'd been puking). Later it was make the grocery list, then run the dishwasher, etc. When I had a pocket of time to do a chore, I asked what's the priority. And it worked! Despite a "wasted" morning, I ended up having a pretty darn productive day (gave 2 baths, did laundry and dishes, even played a game with L, and of course spot cleaned the carpet). Not sure that's how I want to handle every day (I'd prefer some sort of plan, I think?), but it's a tool in my arsenal, right?

Week Ahead

I want to keep up with my Bare Minimum daily list. I want to work on last week's brainstorming chore list and this week's prioritizing assigment. And I want to continue reading the Tell Your Time e-book. My project for this week (if I can make the time) is to finally write Christmas thank you notes. (Hello, it's almost February!)

How are you doing on your organizing or other New Years Resolutions?

To read more about the One Year to a More Organized Life challenge and to participate yourself, go here.

Just stopping by

This has been an insane week. On paper, we had speech on Monday, I had a pap smear on Tuesday, today I took L to the gastroenterologist and then we all went to the mall in the afternoon--not awful, right? But I am exhausted/dog-tired/pooped! Oh and it doesn't help that L woke up at 5am yesterday and today and didn't go back to sleep. Meanwhile, from you know not being home, I'm behind on basics such as laundry and dishes.

So tomorrow I hope to accomplish relaxing and housework and hanging out with T (who has spent tuesday and wednesday mornings with a babysitter, my mom) and getting to the store and blogging a progress report for Week 3 of the organizing challenge (sneak preview: not much progress).

Okay, hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with more....

Organizing Challenge, Week 2

As I mentioned yesterday, Week 2's assignment is to write out the bare minimum that I should be accomplishing every day. Well, there's a ton of stuff I have to do every day, like feed and clothe the kids, clean up from one meal to the next, brush my teeth, but I'm not going to list the things I already do by necessity or habit. Instead, my list is stuff that should get done every day, but I'm currently challenged to either remember or follow through. I'd like to add more things (like 10 minutes of de-cluttering or 30 minutes to work on a project) but I'm not there yet. Hopefully I can add those later as I get better organized. For now, here's my Do Or Die list:

-1 load of laundry. This has been my "system" for a year or so. I've tried other systems, like Mondays=dark load, Fridays=whites, but that didn't work; so everyday I try to throw in a load--it's not a perfect system, my husband still has to remind me when he gets low on socks or boxers. And sometimes (like this week), I go a few days without a load and things pile up and it's hard to get caught up {thank you, mom, for throwing in a load while you were babysitting today}. So this makes the list.

-go thru the mail. Ugh, mail drives me crazy! I can pretty easily take the bills out and put them in their folder; I put the magazines to the bathroom; and the junky junk goes in recycling; but then there's the other CRAP. We get tons of EOBs from insurance (Explanation of Benefits), and I do like to open that, throw out the extra page and envelope, then add it to its pile--but they aren't urgent. Then there are credit card offers and stuff with personal info that need to be shredded. It's that crap that, if I don't take the time, gets piled. Right now I have two piles worth of this junk to sort through. So my daily Do Or Die will include going through the mail till there is no pile--everything sorted. And hopefully little by little going through the backlog.

-run the dishwasher. I used to have a good system going. Do a load of regular dishes one day and a load of kid dishes the next (bottles, sippy cups, pitchers, plates and bowls). That was when L drank bottles and we'd run out in 48 hours. Then we switched to cups and we had enough for more than 48 hours and my parents moved in and we had to do regular dishes more often and so it was all a little more haphazard. We survived, but now I'd like to get back to the old alternating system--so we never run out of silverware or sippy cups (actually what we run out of in the kid load are plates and pitchers). {{Why do I wash regular and kid dishes separately? It started off because L was allergic to everything and I didn't (still don't) want food getting on his bottles/cups. But we also have an express cycle on our dishwasher for pre-rinsed glass and plastic--so that works great for the kid load. Two different cycles=two different loads.}} So for my daily Do or Die, I will run a load every day, alternating between regular and kids.

-get dressed. Thank you, Catie, for reminding me to put this on the list. I get dressed nearly every day, because I leave the house at least 6 days per week (barring illness or other change in routine), but I tend to wait till it's time to go somehwere before I get out of my pajamas. Even though I don't plan to dress up all pretty first thing in the morning (I like to be comfy around my house), I can at least upgrade from pjs to sweats.

-make my bed. This has been a goal for the last year and I've made a lot of progress, but I'm still only doing it about 75% of the time. So it goes on the list to remind me. I never used to care or bother; every few nights Hubby and I would straighten the sheets before going to bed. But what I like about making it in the morning is my bedroom looks instantly nicer and it makes a good surface for folding laundry or whatever.

Brenda also provided us a list for specific days of the week. For Sunday, I've written down "meal plan and grocery list"--that usually gets done by necessity, but it's good to have the reminder. And for Monday, I've written "clean out food from fridge" because Tuesday is trash day and that's a good time to throw out rotting leftovers. I couldn't think of any other day-specific tasks.

That's my start. Like I said, I'd love to add more to the list, to build on my success (if I have any!) so I'll keep you posted. To join the organizing fun, head to Unsolicited Advice.

Oh, the Productivity!

I had a great weekend. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were each good days (shocking--a three-peat!). Well today (Sunday) was a bit on the busy side for my taste, but the upside is I get to blog about how productive I was. ;-) Today I....



-made a double batch of gluten-free pancakes (to eat and freeze)

-(with Hubby's help) got a whole chicken and vegetables cooking in the crockpot

-loaded the dishwasher

{lunch}

-the whole family went to Sam's Club to look at furniture

-gave T a bath

{put T down for her nap}

-planned the week's meals and wrote a grocery list

-shower

{church}

{dinner}

-gave L a bath

-changed L's sheets

-changed T's sheets


My mom was kind enough to load bottles and sippy cups into the dishwasher while she was babysitting (and unloaded the clean as well). Yea, that saved me a chore. (It looks like she may have scrubbed my sink too. I should probably be insulted, but I'll just be grateful instead.) I know it's not an earth-shattering list, but that was a very productive day for me.

This post will be linked to Tackle It Tuesday at 5 Minutes For Mom.

Speaking of being productive, Brenda from Unsolicited Advice has posted the assignment for Week 2 of One Year to a {more} Organized Life. We are to come up with the Bare Minimum tasks we want to do on a daily basis. Eek, I'm gonna have to think hard about that one (and possibly "cheat" by reading other bloggers first). I'll have that post up as soon as I have (the beginnings of) an answer. ;-)

S0 tell me, what are your daily must-do tasks?!

What I'm Reading--January Booking It

If you've been here before, you know I like to post about what I'm reading. This year, I'll be joining Life As Mom for Booking It. As in all things, my reading is inconsistent, sometimes I read 4 books in a month, sometimes I don't read for 6 months at a time. Thus, I don't have a specific goal in mind for the year--12 books would be great, but maybe it will be five or 20. In this post, I'll tell you what I'm currently reading and some titles I have "on deck" and I'll keep you posted on my progress and review what I've read. Here's to a year full of good books and reading enjoyment!

Reading now:

I pulled a novel off my upstairs bookshelf recently: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. My sister gave me the book a few years ago as a gift, she'd read it and liked it, but I'm just now getting around to it. I read it when I'm upstairs, often when the kids are bathing (don't called Child Protective Services, I'm right next to them). So far I'm enjoying the writing style, we'll see how long I can handle the plot.

My husband bought us the Nook (e-reader) for Christmas. Woohoo! Hopefully this will provide another avenue for fitting reading into my schedule. It came preloaded with Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which I've never read, if you can believe it. In my defense, I read a biography of Alcott in middle school and since much of Little Women is autobiographical, I feel like I know the story... anyway, I've only started the second chapter, but so far I'm enjoying it.

I am also reading A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie. This is the book I'm primarily focused on right now, as I'm reading it along with my BFF (like our own little long-distance book club)--so far the dead guy was much-hated and there are a variety of suspects. It's a Miss Marple mystery (my mom recommended Miss Marple) but she's yet to show up on the scene. Last year I read a Poirot mystery by Christie and was surprised how many clues I hadn't put together.

Coming up, I hope:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies {The first e-book I downloaded to the Nook (free!)--as a die-hard Austen fan, I couldn't resist.}

Roofwalker by Susan Power {This has been on my shelf for years, time to give it a try.}

Great Expectations {Hubby bought me several classics last year including this one.}

The Known World by Edward P. Jones {Another novel that's been on my shelves for years and looks intriguing.}

And I'm still in the middle of volume two of this biography of Eleanor Roosevelt.

For more book lists, head to Life As Mom.

What are you reading this year? And what's your favorite book ever?

PS These are not affiliate links.

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!!!