Catching Up

Well, I must say that I have not updated my blog in quite some time. Life at home and work both have been extremely hectic as of late. I don't even know where to jump in from, but I guess I have to pick a spot and jump!

Well, there is nothing major that has happened since I last blogged. Hubby is still wanting to homeschool the kids this fall. It is not really financially feasible as we both need to work and MIL is not supportive of homeschooling and would not watch the boys during the school day.

We are keeping our eyes out for options though. I did find a job opening recently that is for night shift (11p-7:30a) that pays well enough that Hubby would only need to work a minimal number of hours, which in turn, would allow for us to homeschool the kids and not be reliant on MIL to watch the kids at all. It would work out beautifully!

For right now though, I'm still working my daytime job at the store and just trying to make ends meet. It's super stressful at the store right now because all of the direct store management are on power trips. And they are all tripping each other. Which is kind of amusing until one of them falls on you. Nothing like taking one for the team, ya know?

I am keeping my eye out for other jobs though. I met with the insurance rep for our company and after reviewing the policy, I would be working simply for the insurance. Not my idea of a good time. I mean, seriously? I would take home something like 20 dollars every two weeks. Maybe. Which leaves the whole question if I'm only taking home 40 dollars a month, how does that work exactly? I think the people who write these insurance policies may need to take another look at what the average employee is paid. I think that insurance needs the overhaul - not the healthcare system as a whole. Just imagine if the insurance companies operated with more of the ideal of a Health Savings Account…you put money in, it rolls over, you swipe your card for medical expenses only and voila, you aren't paying exuberant amounts of money for something that you are not likely to use the full benefit of. Crazy concept, but it just might work. So, anyhow, that's my thought on that topic. There is more to it related to politics but I'm not going to jump into that topic, just yet.

I have ended up taking this whole week off of work unexpectedly, as I was hospitalized on Monday after what the doctors thought might have been a stroke. When the tests came back negative for that, they began doing other tests. All came up fine. I have a (mostly) clean bill of health. I am overweight and need to lose weight, there are some fatty deposits on my liver which will go away when I lose the pounds. I have a cyst in my nasal passage but that isn't anything to worry about and I have some nodules on my thyroid glands that look like they could develop into tumors (or something like that) and I will want to get that checked out, but for time being, the doctor said not to even worry about that.

So, anyhow, after a CT and CTA (cat scan and then a cat scan with contrast - which I cannot tolerate), a ton of bloodwork, an MRI, an ultrasound, and a lumbar puncture (yeeee-ouch!) they couldn't figure out what was causing the symptoms. So after a night in the hospital, they sent me home. On the way home, I developed an insanely fierce migraine headache - most likely related to the lumbar puncture I was sure. I went home, took pain meds and slept for most of the next twenty hours.

Woke up Wednesday in tons of pain and with dizziness and blurred vision again. Hubby called the nurse line and they told him to call an ambulance. I told him no. We would take our own vehicle, thankyouverymuch. So eventually we did. Got in to the hospital and they started an IV and more pain meds. Diagnosed it as a migraine. (Well duh! The question is why?! From the lumbar puncture? I was supposed to be back at work on Wednesday from the doctor's original plan - but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to manage even being at work the following day!) Doctor said no work for an additional two days to give the spinal fluid time to build back up and for me to get a bit more rest.

I got home and was reading on BlogFrog about headaches and migraines and then I decided to do a little bit of research myself - I typed in migraine with my original symptoms and came up with something that sounded so much like what I was experiencing initially, that I wonder if maybe that wasn't it. It's something called a hemiplegic migraine. You can google it, that's what I did. Well, rather, I googled the symptoms and came up with it as a possible answer, you can google the term and come up with the definition. That seems fair enough. But anyhow, after another round of severe pain early on in the evening, I am doing much better.

Also, something else occurred to me tonight. Do you remember how I mentioned before that I was struggling with some things? Well, it became apparent tonight, that I'm not struggling with those issues as much anymore. It's not even a struggle. A struggle is when you have to make a conscientious decision to resist whatever it is, and its not even happening on a conscious level. It's all happening without me even thinking about it. And that is a very good thing indeed.

Needless to say, my marriage is doing extremely well too. Hubby and I had a pretty soul-bearing talk today, in which I made some confessions to him about negative things I have felt or thought and he forgave me. It was a really difficult thing to admit and to be held accountable for, but it was so very important and necessary.

I think that even with all the stressful things we have going on in our lives at the moment, that we are closer now than we have been a short while. We have periods of ups and downs. And as I was commenting to a friend of mine, our downs aren't quite as low as they once were, and if I look back on it, I can see how far our downs have come up. I hope that makes sense to all of you. It made sense to her - but then again, she knows how low our downs were and how not as low they are now.

A while back, I had a Lia Sophia party and my order came in today. I was so excited! I was able to get a lot of things that I really wanted for really cheap. One of the things I wanted to get was a jewelry set for Punky Pie. She loves jewelry so much. So I had decided on this necklace, ring and earring set for her. The only thing is that she doesn't have pierced ears. But she liked these earrings so I think maybe she might be willing to get her ears pierced now. Anyhow, this jewelry set was supposed to be for her birthday (May 2) but when Hubby saw the jewelry today, he got really excited about it and we discussed giving her the set for Easter instead. And then when the kids came home from Grandma's house, he looked at the jewelry boxes that Punky was eying and looked at me and so I agreed. So Hubby gave Punky her ring and I showed her the necklace and earrings. We decided that she could wear her ring before Easter if she wanted to, but her necklace had to wait until Easter morning. Anyhow, I couldn't help but take a picture of our matching rings. I love how it looks too!



But I think it is time to wrap up this post as it is getting pretty lengthy and I want to get back to normal blogging again. So, for now, I bid you a great evening! I'm sorry for the absence but I'm back now! :)

Once again, I am feeling very conflicted. There is a lot of conflicting emotions and turmoil going on inside me right now and I just want to run away. I want to run off and start fresh. I'm threatened and I feel scared. I'm not even sure what to do.

I'm trying hard not to internalize these issues. I'm trying hard not to keep them, but I am recognizing that it's what I'm feeling like doing. I'm trying to put on a brave face for those in my life. I don't want them to know the fear that I'm feeling. I don't even want Hubby to know it. I want to be strong and to take care of things. I want to fix the things that are wrong.

But I can't. Or at least, I can't do it alone. I need to talk to Hubby, to turn to him for support and help. And to do it without blaming him.

I'm angry as well. Anger is a choice and it's a secondary emotion to the other things that I'm feeling - threatened, scared, etc. But yes, I am choosing to be angry. Maybe even hostile. I haven't decided if I am going to go that far just yet. But I'm getting there.

I feel like a choice that we want to make, for our family, is being condemned. I feel as though I have been...persecuted isn't quite the right word, but it's in the same category. Maybe it is the term that I'm looking for. I don't know. And I don't know who I can trust anymore. There were many people that I thought I could trust and that I want to trust and I don't know. I don't know who I can and cannot trust right now.

I love my kids, I love my Hubby, I want to do the best things for all of us. Right now, though, not only do I not know what that is, but I also do not know how to do it. Every choice I make or think about making, conflicts with what I want or need to happen. I am just so completely confused.

Facebook Fan Page

If you would like to join, you can become a fan of Organizing Amid Chaos on Facebook by clicking on this link to go to the page and then by selecting the option to become a fan under the picture.

Oh - the link might be helpful too!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Organizing-Amid-Chaos/10150104028160431

If you become a fan, come back here and leave me a comment, telling me who you are! :) Looking forward to it!

Time For Me Thursday

Today I did a couple of things that were for "me" that I'd really like to share with you all, after all, that's what Time For Me Thursday is all about right?

First off, if you have been following along, you will know that I have a number of house projects all going on at the same time and amazingly to me my house (*not including my bedroom, bathroom or closet) looks great! Sure, it could use some minor picking up - as could probably anyone's house with many small kids running around, but for the most part, it is looking pretty darned spiffy right now. Including the playroom - even though I still need to do a major toy sort and such in there. And the laundry / laundry room and basement have been coming along quite well also! It's awesome!

But getting that stuff to that point with Hubby was not the things that I did for *me* today. What I did for me also benefited my kids. After Punky got done with preschool today, I took her out to McDonalds for an ice cream cone. I have these coupons for free items from McDonalds (from Valentine's Day) and I just thought that she could use a little bit of a treat. She'd had a good day at school and I just wanted to share that special time with her. (Plus, it gave me a chance to get out and about for a little bit!)

The second thing was really the same as the first thing, only a different child. I took NattyNu out for an ice cream this evening after supper. I had to run to the pharmacy to pick up JoNo's breathing treatment solution boxes (one for home, one for school) and I stopped by my mother-in-law's house on the way over there. But anyhow, before I left the house, NattyNu asked if he could go with me, because he wanted to get some ice cream too since Punky had her ice cream still when we got home from preschool so it wasn't a secret that she got some this afternoon. I had told him earlier in the day that he could get an ice cream after supper so this was a good time to go get one for him.

So anyhow, NattyNu was with me when I got the prescription and then we headed towards the McDonalds by our house. When we got to our usual turn to go home, I didn't get into the turn lane since I was going to McDonalds and not directly home. Apparently NattyNu had forgotten about the ice cream (but let me assure you, had I tried to go home, he would most definitely have remembered!) and he asked me what I was doing. I told him we were going to go get ice cream and he was excited about it all over again.

The whole time we were gone (probably about an hour or so) we had a wonderful chance to talk and for him to just let everything out - things that are going on at school both good and bad. And it was a chance for me to just listen and be there with him and for him. I think that lately I have been very high-stress and haven't given him this much needed time. But the truth is, I need it too. I need this time to connect with my kids and I am actually very grateful that I got some alone time with these two kids today. I had alone time with JoNo yesterday (at the hospital, but once he was starting to do better, we had time to talk and spend together, etc. too)

While we were out, I picked up a cone for JoNo as well. But when we got home, he was already asleep for the night, so I handed the cone to Hubby instead. He LOVES soft serve ice cream! But he really really dislikes cones. So he at the top half of the ice cream and I ate the cone half. It was kind of funny and reminds me of the anecdote about the old couple sharing a meal at a fast food place. That story is kinda gross but it's really sweet too (in a way).

I still have not had a chance to really talk to Hubby about the issues I mentioned earlier today, but I plan to do that as soon as I finish typing this up. Then we will be heading back downstairs for some more fun and exciting time with laundry! Wooo Hooo! Yee haw! (Okay, I did not really just say that!) :)

Pulling Away

As I was driving today to drop Punky off at preschool (after her changing three times to get the "right" outfit for school today) I was thinking to myself about all of the stressful things going on in my life right now. Although, really it's the stressful things that are going on in all of our lives right now, but the way I was thinking about it, was the selfish "in my life" way.

And then something hit me. When things get stressful, I withdraw from Hubby, from the kids even, from everybody. I try to figure out how to fix it and make it better. And if I am going to be completely honest, I would have to say that I even withdraw from God. I don't pass my burdens off. I take them, I keep them, I internalize them and I try to solve them. Granted, there are some things that I can solve but I don't need to keep the problems and internalize them. I should be coming to God and to Hubby with these issues (even though Hubby already knows what the issues are) and discuss these problems in my life and in my family's life with both of them.

But I don't. My first initial reaction is to, as I said, keep it. I own it. And then when things end up negatively, I am upset for not having help in one aspect or another. It's a very confusing place to be in and I'm sure from Hubby's perspective, it's even more confusing!

I think I do this because of the way I learned to do things growing up. I learned VERY early on in life to depend on no one but myself. I was the only one that I could depend on and if I couldn't depend on myself, then there was no one else that I could depend on either. And while I do see some validity in that thought process even still, I know that there is more error to it than anything else. You know why? Because I am human. There, I said it. I am only human. I make mistakes, I fail, I don't follow through. And there are times when I am undependable - even to myself. The only person that I can really and truly depend on 100% of the time is God. Need to keep that one in perspective, for sure.

But anyhow, I just came to this realization today and I thought that I would share it with you. And now I am curious - do you do this too? If so, why? How does that work out for you and your husband or family? I suggest that you make a commitment to change that. Learn to change your initial reaction. I think we usually are able to recognize our initial reactions once we realize what they are. And realization and recognition are the first steps to changing a behavior.

I need to take some time today to sit down with Hubby and really discuss all of this. And to apologize to him for pulling away from him and let him know that I will be working on it in the future. And I think I also need to work on how I approach Hubby with these kinds of issues as well. Because I don't think I do such a great job a lot of the time. Which is also probably a contributing factor into not turning to him with tough issues. I have a lot to work on already and I haven't even talked to him yet. Wish me luck! And good luck to you too!

Abstract Concepts

My nine year old understands a number of abstract concepts. There was one this morning that he didn't understand and it's hard to write about but I feel it is necessary to do so at the same time. Not sure why, but I feel like it's important for me to just get it written down.

This morning upon waking up, NattyNu told me that he wanted money for the book fair at school today. That today was the last day to buy books at the book fair. And he really wanted a new book. I explained to him that I didn't know about the bookfair and that I don't have any money until next Thursday when I get paid. He had also been at his grandma's house earlier this week and could have asked her to buy him the book. She is the one that buys most of his books, because while we have money for our basic needs, with Hubby's recent job loss, even taking care of our basic needs has been put into jeopardy. But I did not tell him that part. I just said that I didn't have money for books right now.

He was understandably upset. He said that he doesn't understand why there even is such a thing as money. That whoever invented money just wanted to make people die. Because if you don't have money, then you can't have a place to live and that if you don't have a place to live, well, then you die. That was his reasoning. And it broke my heart.

But what I said to him was that we have money for that stuff. We have money to take care of the things that we NEED. We just don't have money right now for extras. That he doesn't need to worry about not having the things we need, because we had money for that stuff and we will continue to have money for that stuff in the future as well. Just not extra money for extra things this week.

I am concerned that NattyNu is stressing out over this. I mean, I think it's important for kids to realize that just because they want something doesn't mean that they will get it. But I also wonder where the concern for basic needs is coming from. I have a feeling, based on experience, that a certain family member is saying things to him that a kid shouldn't have to worry about. And my heart is very conflicted about that. Because to avoid this situation, I would have to keep him away from this person, which means that I would not be able to work, which would mean that we wouldn't be able to pay our bills and take care of our basic needs, you know? Yet, if I work and continue to have NattyNu around this family member, then he will continue to hear these negative things that he doesn't need to hear about, or focus on. So, there is much conflict within my heart right now.

There is also another issue in regards to work for me and school for the kids. With JoNo's health recently, I don't know that he is really getting much out of his public school education. And with my working during the school hours, it would be very difficult for me to homeschool him full-time. At the same time, it's difficult for me to work evenings because that is also when JoNo's health issues tend to flare up the most, and same thing with overnights. I'm afraid that with the amount of work that I have had to miss due to his health, that I will end up putting my job in jeopardy. My boss says that my job status is just fine but I do know that one of the assistant managers is very grumbly about me missing days when JoNo is really bad.

So, I have a lot of stuff to try to sort through and figure out in regards to all of that. I'm finding it very hard to balance being a mom to a chronically ill child, a special needs child and two other children, plus a wife, a homemaker, and an employee. Plus my mom expects me to be ready and available to help her on a moment's notice. It does not work well at all. I have gotten better about telling her no, that I cannot do this or that, to the point that I am saying no more than I am saying yes - and I am only saying yes when I actually can and it doesn't hurt my family.

Another thing that I am feeling challenged and stretched in regards to is the housework. I am trying very hard to get things done around the house and to keep the house up, but I feel right now like I am fighting a losing battle - against my family. And I'm exhausted. I'm overwhelmed. And I'm crabby and hormonal as well. I want to go back to bed for another hour or so and let Hubby be up and in charge of the work and the kids, but at the same time, I'm sure that would actually produce the exact opposite effect in the long run.

I'm not sure how to keep going on at this point, but I'm also not sure that I can take a break and get some relief either. I will tell you later how it goes...

Social Spark

I signed up for a program called Social Spark. It is a program that allows bloggers to earn income by writing posts for different topics and products. The site is really easy to navigate through and the sign up process was simple. You simply fill out some information, grab a code, put it into your html layout so that you can prove that your blog does indeed belong to you and then you are good to go. It does take awhile to get your blog approved, but in the end, I hope it will be worth it. There were a number of different posting opportunities when I signed up (and there still are!) but I have not really perused them yet.

It appears that this is also a place to meet and get to know other bloggers. You can have "friends" on here and there is a mailbox system as well. I would think of it as something like a social networking site for bloggers. I haven't gone through and looked at other bloggers' profiles yet, but I will eventually.

I plan on doing maybe one sponsored post per week or so. I don't want the blog to be all about sponsored posts (nor does Social Spark) because I want to share my journey to organizing my home and my life with all of you and maybe, just maybe, to help you with your organizing as well.

If you'd like to sign up for Social Spark and see what it's all about, you can do that here. In the meantime though, stick around for regular posts!

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of IZEA the parent company of Social Spark. All opinions, experiences and endorsements given were my own. Although it is a sponsored post, I would not write it unless I was going to be completely honest about it.

Asthma and other related health news

I am trying not to feel frustrated with my son's health issues. I just feel so bad for him! The son I'm referring to is JoNo. He started school at the end of August. Since then, I am quite certain that he has missed probably 30%-40% of his schooling due to illness.

Every single time someone in our family got even a slight cold, JoNo would end up with severe breathing issues that would last for 24-48 hours. Sometimes we would end up in the emergency room, sometimes we were able to get him through the night without a breathing treatment. And it almost always would turn into croup.

Well, after our latest round of "croup" a week and a half ago (roughly), JoNo again became very sick and croupy. I made him a doctor's appointment today and we went in to discuss these issues with the doctor as well as to get JoNo checked out.

JoNo was having difficulty breathing even at the office (at 10am!) and the doctor said that he was really wheezy when he listened to him. He also had mattery eyes, red ears and throat. Oh and a fever too. After checking him over, Dr. W concluded that JoNo has RSV - respiratory syncytial virus.

Some info from the CDC's RSV homepage:
"Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a respiratory virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages. Most otherwise healthy people recover from RSV infection in 1 to 2 weeks. However, infection can be severe in some people, such as certain infants, young children, and older adults. In fact, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia in children under 1 year of age in the United States. In addition, RSV is more often being recognized as an important cause of respiratory illness in older adults."

And likely this has been going on for awhile and he has been misdiagnosed by the ER doctors when we have needed to take him in for breathing treatments. How frustrating is that!

We also found out that JoNo has what is called mild intermittent asthma. It's pretty much breathing difficulties brought on by colds, viruses, and that sort of thing. Which explains why he would end up getting "croup" every time one of us got sick. It's his body's reaction to illness.

So, now we have a prescription (with refills) for an MDI (metered dose inhaler), a steroid to help reduce the asthmatic flare-ups and Dr. W also recommended that we keep honey readily available for JoNo as well because of the phenolic compounds in the honey being a very inexpensive, readily available cough suppressant. It helps coat the throat which also can lead to decreased coughing fits. And JoNo gets such severe coughing fits that he cannot catch his breath.

I did a little research about all of this when I got home and this is what I have found out about the phenolic compounds from the www.livestrong.com/ website. (I am also copy and pasting the information below.)

"Phenolic compounds, or phenols, are substances that plants, such as fruits and vegetables, require for growth and reproduction. According to Dr. Ray Sahelian, M.D., phenols may help protect the body against diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. Phenols also hold antioxidant properties, so various processed foods now contain them for added nutritional value. Incorporating phenolic compounds into your diet may increase wellness and strengthen your immune system."

So there you have it. That was the sum product of my morning. Exciting and informative huh? You want to know something interesting? Hubby and I both had asthma as children and now as adults, we have mild intermittent asthma ourselves, but didn't know the actual term for it. We also had no clue about all of this additional information that we found out today.

And can I just say, (if it isn't already apparent) that I just love our pediatrician? We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful, devoted, caring, loving and Christian doctor for our kids! He has been such an important part of our parenting. He encourages us as parents, and he honestly treats the whole family, not all by medicine. He is a valuable part of our support system and we have a wonderful relationship with him. I am thankful that he is a part of our lives!

Tackle It Tuesday

Well, my tackle for today was nothing super fun or exciting. Well, for me it kind of was, but for most other folks, it would probably be pretty ho-hum. But you get the privilege of hearing about it anyhow.

Today...(drumroll please) Hubby and I worked in the kids' playroom. We are roughly halfway done with the initial sorting and purging process. Maybe more than that really. Maybe as much as 75% done. I didn't figure that we would get it all done today, but if we had really tried to, I think we could have. But we weren't breaking our necks to get it done. We were just plugging away at it. I've had a migraine and muscle tension in my neck all day so the fact that I was even contributing to the cause was a miracle in itself.

The other big tackle that I worked on today was laundry. I didn't get it started until later in the day, but even still...I got five loads washed, three loads dried and folded. One is still in the dryer and that fifth load is still in the washer. I'll get much more of that done tomorrow. I'll just have to start on it earlier.

Some other tackles for today included paying some bills and working in the kitchen. I still have a ton of dishes left to put away (I left them out to air-dry today after washing them) but I got (as far as I know and have found) almost every dish in the house clean. That is a major accomplishment for me! So YAY!

And tonight, unlike most of our Tuesday kid-free nights, we have a child home. Because he is sick. With croup. Again. I thought kids weren't supposed to get croup after age 3, or at least rarely after that until age 6? He's 6 now and has had croup three times in 2010. THREE times! It's getting to the point that I am almost tempted about putting him in a bubble and just keeping him by my side 100% of the time. Every minor illness turns into a major one for him. It's hard - on him, on me, on Hubby, on JoNo's schoolwork, on daycare (aka mother-in-law), on my work. It's just plain hard, but I don't know what to do for him exactly. It's not as if I can keep him entirely secluded from all outside colds or illnesses. We have four kids - three of them are in school. I work in retail. We collectively come into contact with thousands of people every single day. I don't know what to do about this. Well, I do know what to do about this, but I just cannot do anything just yet. Or maybe I can. We might have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. If we do, I may talk to our doctor and get his input on my idea. I'll let you know what my idea is and what his response is to it, if we do go in to see him tomorrow.

But it is late and I am tired and JoNo is actually sleeping right now, so I am going to call it a night. Have a great night folks! (Or day, depending on when you are reading this.)

The Great Laundry Sort

We have a lot of clothes. That is an understatement, by the way. We have way too many clothes. When we can go months without needing to wash clothes (provided that all the clothes were clean to start - usually doesn't even come close to happening) you know that it's time to start a major purge session.

The hard part for me is knowing what is a reasonable amount of clothing. I was discussing this with Katie the other day and it's hard. The limits she suggested (which are pretty major considering where we are coming from!) seem really unattainable, although I know that they are good limits. I don't think I'm ready to quite go there just yet, but I'm willing to get much closer to her limit than what I currently have.

So, to start: I am going to have all of my work shirts (four polos with embroidery on them, six polos without embroidery, my zip-up hoodie and my windjacket) and my work pants (khakis or slacks - I try not to wear tan khakis to work as they are trashed by the end of the day usually) all together in the front of my closet. I plan to have seven pairs of pants explicitly set aside for work.

Then there are the nice t-shirts I have. Ones that can be considered casual or dress casual. I want to keep seven of these. I'd actually like to keep about fourteen of them, but I'm really pushing myself on this.

I have a few really nice shirts. Ones that I could wear to job interviews, etc. They are definitely more of a business attire. I like to wear these paired up with other things when we are going out. I really dress them down and by doing this, they end up being very versatile pieces. I'd like to keep seven of these.

For regular jeans, I'd like to have seven pairs. Same with slacks (not for work) and skirts (if I have that many. But if I don't, I won't be keeping ones that I don't like just to have them, I'll only keep the best of the best)

I forgot to mention dresses. I don't know that I have any dresses that I really feel fondly enough about to keep, but if I come across them, I want to keep no more than four dresses.

I'd like to have seven bras left over after the purge and I'm thinking about a month's worth of undies. I admit it, I have lots of undies. And only having a month's worth of undies left over is a HUGE amount that I will be getting rid of. And for socks, I'd really like to have a month's worth here as well.

There are probably a few more "occasional" pieces that I will keep as well, but what you have just read is my goal for my closet/dresser purge.

I will let you know when the purge is finished how close I came to these goal limits and also how much I got rid of (and into which category the items went).

Okay, it's in print, it's on my blog...it will become reality. Yeep!

Transformations...

I have been reading through lots of blogs from the 28-day challenge, and now I'm feeling motivated to do my kitchen. Which scares me. There are other areas in my house that need way more work than my kitchen does. Areas that aren't even functioning as they are intended and my kitchen, well, it does.

So, now I have a dilemma. Do the project that I feel motivated to do? Do the project that needs to be done the most? Focus on the project that needs the most work and satisfy myself with a little bit of work in the kitchen afterwards as a reward for doing the big jobs? Hmmm...gotta say that I like the last option the best. But another scary realization...working in my kitchen as a reward? *shudder* When did that happen? What is happening to me? :)

Okay, so for real, I need a game plan for this week because I'm hosting a party here next week and I have a limited amount of time to get a number of things done.

Tuesday's Big Project: begin the playroom clean, sort, organizing process. It's a HUGE project and will take all day long with Hubby's help. There is so much going on in this room right now and we need to get this room together before the party next week, as I have told friends that they can bring their short people with them.

Tuesday's Reward Project: take inventory of all food in the house (pantry, fridge, freezer and deep freeze), organize food storage cupboards

Wednesday's Big Project: continue on playroom clean, sort, organizing process but the main focus of this day will be: laundry (this includes washing, drying, folding, hanging, putting away AND sorting and purging as well. The purge piles will be: donate/freecycle, garage sale/kids' store/craigslist, and toss. I will also be sorting out some clothes that the older boys have outgrown that Boo will eventually grow into.

Wednesday's Reward Project: organize the corner cupboard (I only have one!)

Thursday's Big Project: don't have one scheduled for this day as I am working 7a-5p, have card night from 7:30p-10p and then will be working again 1a-7a

Thursday's Reward Project: not sure that I will have time for this one, but if I do, I think it will be to clean out the two junk drawers in our kitchen

Friday's Big Project: continue on the laundry and the playroom work (if not done yet) begin putting our bedroom together as it is supposed to be

Friday's Reward Project: pots/pans, cooking containers cupboard

Saturday's Big Project: continue on the other projects (playroom, laundry, our room) as needed

Saturday's Reward Project: all the drawers in the kitchen

Sunday's Big Project: continue on the other projects as needed plus the other cupboards in the kitchen

Sunday's Reward Project: counters, sink and fridge

Menu Plan Monday

This week's menu plan is going to be as simple as can be. We have a lot of leftovers to use up, so that will make up a large part of our week's menu.

Monday: leftover beef and rice
Tuesday: leftover chinese food
Wednesday: leftover pizza
Thursday: leftover chicken noodle
Friday: a beef pasta dish
Saturday: kids pick!
Sunday: beef brisket in the crockpot, mashed potatoes

Lysol Giveaway

By reading through some of the posts on other people's blogs (who also participated in the 28-day challenge) I came across this one. Kelli, at Feeding Four is hosting a giveaway for Lysol's new product, No Touch Hand Soap System. It's very cool! You should head on over to Kelli's blog to check it out too! Here is her post for the giveaway. But stick around and read. She has a very delightful way of writing that I enjoy. And if you are reading here, I'm guessing that you would also enjoy reading there!