UPDATE!....and confession

Here is my update of my army crawl in cleaning.  Since that post I have been really good, if I do say so myself.  I had my sink clean every night and dishes done every day.  It was amazing.  I was so proud of myself!  One night a week ago I even finished filling the dishwasher after dinner(which wasn't full in the morning...that is an odd thing at my house!) and ran it.  It was amazing because the next day I woke up with a stomach bug and didn't do any dishes.  The next day when I was feeling better I had 1 load of dishes to do, instead of the back log of 2 days.  It was so liberating.  I could be sick?!  What?!  You mean if I keep up on it and then miss a day, it isn't overwhelming?  Wake up Handel, I am singing your tune.  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Heck, I even got Zaia in on the whole thing. 

But here is my confession.  Friday I didn't do dishes.  We went grocery shopping and I just didn't do them.  But I was liberated right?  One day of undone dishes would not break me.  Saturday I would do them and it would be fine.  However, Saturday fell on the weekend this week.  You see weekends and I have this bond, this sisterhood if you will.  We don't work.  Nope.  No working on weekends.  Many times I have told myself that I would clean bedrooms or tackle the laundry monster or just do a load of dishes, but me and the weekend...we have a truce.  We just don't work.  Soooooo this morning I woke up to this....

CAUTION: The following is true and unadulterated.  View at your own risk.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I know.  I am so ashamed.  It is horrible.  I am so humiliated!  So I rolled up my sleeves and I dug in.  And after a little bit you know what happened?  I FOUND MY SINK!!  YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!



But alas, one load of dishes didn't work this miracle.  This is what I had left:

So currently, while the other load is washing away in my full and happy dishwasher (which is unarguably the BEST invention ever), this is what my sink looks like.

So, have you been crawling?  Have you had some missteps?  Leave me a comment and let me know if you have.  And click on an ad.  And the leukemia and lymphoma banner.  :)

Where has compassion gone?

I was irritated today.  I just wanted to jump out of my car and yell "HAVE SOME RESPECT!!!"

Background.....Last week there was a local tragedy.  There was a car accident that killed 2 teenagers.  There has been alot of outpouring of sympathies.  I have seen a few different Facebook groups and quite a few people have changed their profile picture to their high schools mascot pictures.  Very nice and I am sure the family has appreciated prayers from people that don't even know them, but are saddened by the tragic happenings.

However.....Today I was on my way home from running a few errands.  I noticed a couple of police cars blocking traffic and wondered what was going on.  Then I saw the funeral procession for one of the teens.  I was driving the opposite way, but proceeded to pull over.  That's what you do, right?  Well apparantly not too many do it because cars were flying past me.  There were two other cars who pulled over behind me.  Is it too much to ask for some respect?  I was really disapointed in those other people.  I am positive that everyone who saw the processional knew who it was for.  Afterall this is a small town and people are in the know.  I realize that it was long, as all funeral processions for young people are, but was it more important for you to get where you were going 5 minutes faster?

Things like this really make me boil because there was a time when people would have stopped!  People might have even gotten out of their car and bowed their heads as the cars past by.  It illustrates to me just how far down the compassion ladder we have fallen.

I pray for the families of the two teenagers.  I pray for their friends.  I pray for their school.  I pray for their town.  I pray for the rest of us that we can all find compassion again.

Cute kid

Zaia:  Mama?  Is Taylor Swift a real person?  I mean, really a real person?
Me:  Yes.  She is real.
Zaia:  I want to meet her.  Can we go meet her?

What do you say to that?  So I being the amazing mom that I am went looking for Taylor Swift's tour dates and such.  She is on the schedule to play somewhere in Chicago in August, but nothing more has been released.  And to be honest, it is doubtful that we would go.  But since I am talking about how cute I think she is, here is some more all Zaia pictures.  I believe they truly capture who she is.  :)



Note the all important accessories



Thursday, Thursday, Thursday!

Happy Thursday blogger friends!  I don't have anything super intense to discuss yet, but I thought I would pop on in to say hi. 

We went to Wisconsin this weekend with my husbands family.  We had a great time just sitting around.  Seriously.  That is what I did.  The boys (FIL, BIL1, BIL2, Husband and Son) all went ice fishing while us girls (MIL, SIL1, SIL2, Daughters, Neice and I) stayed "home."  It was maaaahvelous.  We knitted/crocheted, napped and just hung.  We did go out and play on the ice.  Yes, the ice.  The house we rented was across the street from a lake and we went out there and played on the ice.  SILs (who are in 1000x better shape than I) took turns pulling little girls on the sleds.  So fun.

Scott and I started the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover at church last night.  I am excited about this.  He is not so much, but does have a good attitude about it.  (Which is all I ask!)  I will discuss this more later I am sure.  :)

Lastly, I have read Radical by David Platt.  AmAAAZing!!  (You must read that in a sing song voice.  If you didn't, go back and reread it.  I am waiting.....) Once again, more about that at a later date.  We are discussing it in our small group and I know not everyone has had a chance to read it yet.  You should read it.  Really.  YOU.  Yes, you should read it.  Here is a link to the "official" website. There is a video toward the bottom that "explains" it.  Good stuff.

Neglected...

I feel as if I have been neglecting my blog.  It has been a week since I last wrote which isn't super bad so I won't feel too guilty.  It's not like one person I know, who will remaine Scott-less...I mean nameless....:)

I have been cleaning this morning.  Ugh.  However, when I clean (and by "clean" I mean do dishes and laundry) I am in my own brain and come up with lots of different ideas.  Whether it is something to blog or just an amazing product that I could manufacture and produce to become a millionaire.  I bet if I had any "umpf" at all I could be an amazing businesswoman by now.  However...all the "umpf" I can muster just gets the dishes and laundry done.  And that isn't even daily!  :)

So anyway...One of my dishes thoughts today was about Fly Lady.  Have any of you heard of her or used it?  If not here she is.  I have attempted numerous times to Fly with the Fly Lady.  I even have a folder in my inbox dedicated to my Flymails.  I just can't stick with it.  It gets overwhelming for me.  Probably because I get distracted.  Like if they are just doing surface cleaning (pitching papers, putting items in their homes, etc) I get into deep clean.  Then instead of getting a room done, I have a corner of the room perfectly clean, but the other 3/4ths of the room is a disaster because I just moved this junk to that table!  Grrr. 

So I thought that maybe I should just take some of the info that I have learned from Fly Lady and instead of trying to Fly with her, I should just Army Crawl with myself.  Or with you...if you want and have this problem.  So today as of 11:00am Central Standard time, I have 2 clean kitchen sinks, a load of dishes running, and a load of laundry in the wash.  I also have taken 1 bag of garbage to the front door and put a new bag in the can.  (This is especially important.  I ALWAYS leave the garbage for my husband.  That's his job right? But I also keep putting garbage on top when there is no room and then it falls out and makes a mess on the floor then the dog gets into it and makes a bigger mess not to mention the gas that dog gets from eating garbage....See? Important.)  I have plans to pick up the living room as well.  But I think that is all I will plan to get accomplished.  That way I can do more, but if I don't I make myself feel guilty.  Oh I want to keep Fly Lady's sink thing in my Army Crawl.  I do believe it is helpful.

Happy New Year!

It is 2011.  That is amazing to me.  Amazing and scary.  This year, like every year, I will have a birthday.  However this year I will not just change one of my numbers, but both of them.

AHHHHHH!!!!

I will be 30 this year.  I don't believe it.  I can't.  I refuse to believe it.  I don't feel 30.  Frankly, I don't feel 29 either.  I feel....like a 25 year old with 4 years experience.  That's about right.  Certainly not almost 30.

Anyhoo...I totally got sidetracked there.  2011 is 5 days old and is not too shabby.  No one has died and no one has cancer.  YIPPEE!! Those are amazing milestones since the last 2 years have been full of those things.  As a matter of fact 2011 started out making one of my cousins a grandpa.  Yup.  My cousin's daughter had a sweet little boy on 1-1-11.  She missed having the first baby, but I do believe he was the second in their area.  So cool.

It has started to hit me that by the end of this year all of my babies will be in school.  I can't tell you what kind of emotions this throws at me.  I am excited because Zaia wants to go to school.  She is excited about everything about it.  Especially the part where she gets to ride the bus with Rhianna.  They were talking about it a month or so ago and started hugging each other and jumping around the living room chanting "Yea! Yea! Yea!"  It was super cute.  I am sad because they are all growing up.  Not only will my "baby" start kindergarten, but my "BABY" will start middle school!  That is alot for an emotional mom to handle.  Then I think about this....I have been a stay at home mom (for the most part) for ELEVEN YEARS.  That is right my friends.  For the past eleven years I have had at least one child home with me.  My entire adult life I have been a mom all day every day.  Starting this fall, I will sent all 3 of my children off to school and I will have 8 hours of no kids.   *insert jaw drop here*  What does one do with time to themselves?  Clean? Bah humbug. Craft? Now we are talking!!  Maybe this all kids in school may be a good thing....   ;)