Today's favorite things

• Friends- I spent some time with Kaitlyn today which is always refreshing and fun. I think she and I have more in common right now than anyone else I know.
• Linen Spray- I love the linen spray I have right now. I looked for a link to it online, but couldn't find one. I spray it on our sheets a few times a week when I'm making the bed. It is from Cato's and it smells just like my favorite Givenchy perfume. Best part-It's only $3.99. I think the scent is called sweet seduction.
• Strawberries- MMMMM! I have been eating them at home a lot lately, and then today Kaitlyn and I got this chocolate cake for dessert that was nestled in vanilla creme sauce with strawberries...... Nuff said.

Puttering around

So I apologize ahead of time for the formatting (or lack thereof). I can't get blogger to do wat I want him to do....


I am a big fan of what my mom would call, "puttering around". Today I picked up Chanel from the vet (she got spayed), ran a few errands, bought cold medicine & a new thermometer at Walgreens, and made home-made biscuits from scratch.

I pack Clay's lunch every day, and for breakfast I usually send him a Jimmy Dean Sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. If I send him that then it saves money b/c he isn't running to McDonalds every morning. Well I took my home-made biscuits and filled them with turkey sausage, egg, & cheese. Healthier & cheaper! And oh so domestic:)

Household Notebook Segment #2
Next Step: Morning Routine and Evening Routine

My Morning Routine: (Things I need to do every morning)
Let the dogs outside to go to the bathroom.

Make the bed.

Quiet time: Devotional & Prayer

Shower and get dressed.

Check my calendar.

Empty the dishwasher.

Start a load of laundry if needed.

My Evening Routine: (Things I need to do every evening.)

Start the dishwasher.

Shine my sink!

Make tomorrows schedule.

Lay out tomorrows clothes for me & hubby.

Pack my school bag if I have school the next day.

Brush my teeth and take my vitamins.

Let girls outside. (Last thing I do before bedtime.)

Here are the forms I use for my morning and evening routines. I got them from online and then edited them to put in my own monogram (G), printed out one of each, put my routines in pencil (in case I need to add or delete things), and put them in a plastic sheet protector in my notebook (because I don't need to write on them very often). My notebook is just a 3-ring binder with clear pockets on the front and back.

Documents: Evening Routine Document Morning Routine Document

So when I first started this whole thing my house was a huge mess. So the first week I did things a little differently than I do now. I decided which room was most important to me. For me it was our bedroom- having it clean makes me feel relaxed and literally helps me sleep easier. Week #1 I picked a different room every day and cleaned it top to bottom. The trick is that once a room is clean, I have to keep it clean. So after this week, I'll go on to the next step.

Day 1-bedroom
Day 2- Hallway, Sports room, Office
Day 3- Bathroom
Day 4- Living Room
Day 5- Front Porch & Front Yard
Day 6- Dining Room & Kitchen
Day 7- Catch up on what wasn't done.

Household Notebook Beginnings

Week one of school is over. Nursing research seems pretty boring, but not too difficult. I was so happy to see my friend Kaitlyn again! My sociology class is another story..... It is a freshman level class so it should be cake, however there is a 3-5 pg. paper due weekly in addition to two major projects. It is going to take a lot of time.

I spent a lot of time at the vet's office this week. Chanel went in for her last round of puppy shots and her rabies shot, so she is sore whenever I pick her up. Bella went in for a dr. visit because she has been losing her hair, especially on her chest and her temples. We went in for a follow-up today to get blood work done because the vet thought it was a thyroid problem. They took the blood out of her neck, so she caouldn't wear a collar today because that was sore too. The bloodwork came back negative, and the vet thinks her alopecia is just a hereditary thing, and that I shouldn't worry about it. So all is well with them for now:)

So my household notebook has been the topic of conversation between me and my blog friends as well as my school friends lately. Well the first thing I did was to make lists of all the rooms in my house, and then all the things that I need to clean in each room weekly. Bear in mind that I have an extremely small house, so this was easier for me than it would be for a lot of people. The lists would really be different for every home. The daily things will be put into routine lists later, and the other things will be put into weekly routines later. For now, just make the lists.

My house: living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, "office", bedroom, sports room, bathroom.
The "office" isn't really a room. It's more of a cubby-hole sort of thing. It collects enough clutter to get it's own list though.

Here are my lists.
Living Room:
*Clear items that don't belong daily.
*Vacuum 2x per week.
*Dust weekly.
*Clean mirrors weekly.
*Clean glass door weekly.
*Clean or organize something extra 1x per week.

Dining Room:
* Clear items that don't belong daily.
*Clean dining room table daily.
*Clean Bella and Chanel's cages daily.
*Vacuum weekly.
*Dust weekly.
*Clean or organize something extra 1x per week.

Kitchen:
* Clear away items that don't belong daily.
*Shine my sink daily.
*Clean counters and stovetop daily.
* Wash dishes daily.
*Empty trash daily or as needed. (This is Hubby's only chore.)
*Clean microwave 1x per week.
*Clean out refrigerator 1x per week. (Throw out leftovers, wipe off shelves and drawers)
*Sweep 1x per week.
*Mop 1x per week.
* Clean dogs dish 1x per week.
*Clean glass door 1x per week.
*Water plants 1x per week.
*Clean or organize something extra 1x per week. (Ex- today I cleaned the front of my refrigerator and I organized the "Tool Drawer" of my buffet.)

Hallway:
*Clear away items that don't belong daily.
*Vacuum 1x per week.
*Organize hall closet 1x per week. (This may seem weird, but it really does need to be done this often in my house.)

"Office":
*Clear away items that don't belong daily.
*Vacuum 1x per week.
*Dust 1x per week.
*Clean mirrors 1x per week.
*Empty trash 1x per week.

Bedroom:
*Clear away items that don't belong daily.
*Make bed daily.
*Do laundry daily or as needed.
*Vacuum 2x per week.
*Pick up closet floor 2x per week.
*Change bedding 1x per week.
*Empty trash 1x per week.
*Water plants 1x per week.
*Clean or organize something extra 1x per week.

Sports Room:
*Clear away things that don't belong (My things) daily.
*Vacuum 1x per week.
*Empty trash 1x per week. (More need to be done than this, but this is Hubby's room, and I don't want to get into trouble for moving anything!)

Bathroom:
*Clean shower 1x per week.
*Sweep and mop floor 1x per week.
*Wash rugs 1x per week.
*Clean toilet 1x per week.
*Empty trash 1x per week.
*Clean mirrors 1x per week.
*Clean sink 1x per week or more if needed.

I messed up again......

Uggg! I just printed off my class schedule so I could make sure that I knew the room number for tomorrows class, and I realized that my other class (which I thought was on Thursdays) is actually on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My class schedule said TH, which I took to mean Thursday, and come to find out it actually means Tuesday and Thursday.

I'm so frustrated because even when I try and do good, I find myself failing. I made resolutions. I have tried to become organized, and keep my house cleaner, and then I feel like I get hit in the face.

I am so mad!

Last Week

So all I have time for right now is a re-cap of last week.

Clay had football practice one day, and a flag-football game the next. I missed his game because I was babysitting for the Aylors. Love that family. Mitzi is so cool, I really look up to her. Clay's team lost their game. They have lost all their games so far. The referee finally told them at half time that they were allowed to have 8 players on the field at a time, not just 7 like they had been playing for two weeks:) So funny...

OU lost the national championship, again..... but lets not talk about that.

Friday was a splendid day with my husband. He used a vacation day, and we had such a fun, sweet time together. We went shopping, and finally did all our Christmas returns. We went to lunch together, and shared a dessert. We went to baby stores and ooohed and ahhhed over all the sweet little pink things. I showed him my top 3 baby rooms from Storkland. The website doesn't do it justice. The store is AMAZING.

MY HOUSE!!!- Is pretty clean if I do say so myself:) Amazing huh. It may not be big, pretty, new, fancy, or everything I want it to be.... but I can at least keep it clean. This year I have vowed to respect myself, my husband, my home, and everything in it. If I care for the things in our home, then it will just naturally be clean. The household notebook/planner has really helped a lot too. People have e-mailed me asking about it, so I will post a blog about it in detail sometime this week.

Building my notebook

I spent a big chunk of my day today putting together a household notebook. I took inspiration from numerous websites, and took advantage of free printables that I found online, and I must say that it is coming together nicely. As soon as it is finished I will post pictures.



I woke up and made Clay lunch today. After he left for work, I had my quiet time. I read my daily devotional, a chapter from my current book (The Power of a Praying Wife), and prayed, prayed, prayed!!!



This weekend Clay and I re-arranged our bedroom, and today I made it spotless. I love that it feels relaxing as soon as you walk in the room. It looks so pretty that I WANT to keep it clean. The more I progress on the "becoming a better wife, cleaning my house, organizing my life, Proverbs 31/Titus 2 thing" the farther I want to go. My house is more "put-together" now than it has ever been, and I love it. I feel relaxed walking into a clean room!


My current problem is that Chanel loves eating my house plants. I can't leave them on the kitchen counter as they currently are. She has taken a special liking to a purple cow-bell ivy. I tried keeping this specific plant off the floor for a fw days, and then put is back down today, and sure enough, she ate it as soon as I took my eye off her. ARH!!! It was an outdoor plant that was only supposed to last for a year, but I loved it so much that I have brought her inside to try and keep her going till this summer. If only she survives Chanel....

Happy New Year!!!

2009 has come, and I am so excited! I am ready for change, and to embrace all I have! I am one of those people that make new year's resolutions. I usually don't keep them, but I figured if I publicly announce them then maybe I would be more likely to keep them.

1. Blog more often! I think it's fun to look back on old blogs, and remember what things were like at different times in my life, and blogging is a great way to do that.
2. Pay more attention to my outward appearance. I feel like I have kinda been in a rut, and not really taken care of myself. I want to make a point to spend more time on this area because if I look better then I am more confident.
3. Go to church more often! Clay and I have really failed in this area, and we both want to do better. Clay works on Saturdays pretty often, and it's hard to get up early on his only day off.
4. Use my gym membership. I have already paid for it, so why not use it??? My goal, for now anyway, is to go to the gym twice/week.
5. Cut down on the soda. I have let it get out of hand. I drink a LOT of soda, and have in turn gained weight because of it. 1 soda /day from now on.
6. Keep my house cleaner. I am not a good house keeper. Even when I was a kid, I couldn't keep my room clean. I promise to try and do better.
7. Wear my glasses. Should be common sense, but I rarely wear my glasses or contacts. I feel like my eyesight keeps getting worse, so I need to start wearing them. I'm not getting any younger, so I need to keep what eyesight I have.
8. Be wise with my finances. Previously Clay has been in charge of our finances, and things haven't gone so well. Starting in January, we are doing it together, and I am directing the show.
9. Be a better student. Nuff said.
10. Get better organized. this goes along with the clean house part kinda. but I mean in other ways too, like using my planner and the calender on my blackberry.