Yeeee-ouch!

I had to work this morning at seven, which meant that I had to be up around five-thirty so that I could be out the door shortly after six-thirty. I went to work and spent the next four hours doing nearly nothing. It was the SLOWEST four hour shift I have ever worked in my life! I forgot to look at the credit card sales, but the cash sales for those four hours (plus an hour prior to that) totaled a whopping $97.00! Woo hoo. (Major sarcasm there!) The most excitement of my day was when a customer's car wouldn't start and he bought jumper cables from us and my assistant manager told me to go jump the guy's car. Seriously. The highlight of my day at work.

But doing nothing all day at work, following an early morning, which followed a late night had me wiped out by noon (add to that the fact that all I had eaten was a doughnut...not the greatest option, but hey, it was free breakfast!) But anyhow, after stopping off at a friend's house to drop off her candle order (she wasn't home though) and then getting home myself, I was spent and ready for a nap. Spent some time with the family, talked to the friend who was not at home and made some plans for later this week and then I went and laid down for a nap. A nap that ended up lasting four hours!!! I couldn't believe that I had slept that long! Thankfully, the kids had taken naps as well so Hubby had some fun time to himself.

After napping, I had to go out to Wal*Mart to get something for dinner (frozen pizza, anyone?) and on the way to head out the door, I somehow managed to slip down the stairs. In the process of slipping down the stairs, I twisted my ankle, my knee and hurt my wrist, but the worst of the deal was that I think I broke my toe. The toe next to my little toe. You can feel the two bones of that toe and the part where they should be connected, um, isn't. I can't bend the toe or put pressure on the outside of my foot or on my toes. Not too bad overall, though. I think I'd rather have a broken toe than something more major. Plus my foot is now an awesome swollen rainbow of colors. That part actually is kinda cool. Honestly.

Hubby and I have been working on knocking out laundry this weekend. Big time. I don't know how we ended up getting so far behind on laundry, but we did. So we've been plugging away at it. Hubby and the kids also approached me today about some MAJOR room rearrangements. Those plans are still in the planning stages and won't take effect until my mom moves out to her own place.

My mom has been living with us off and on for roughly the last two months. She rented this one apartment beginning November first, but the stairs to get up to the unit are so narrow and there are so many other stair-related obstacles to get things up to the apartment, that it was another couple of weeks until she actually moved up there. And once she had moved up there, most of her stuff was STILL in garage because her place was so small and her possessions so big and so many.

But then, that apartment had a fire. And so she moved back in. She should find out tomorrow if she will get a new apartment that she has looked at recently. I'm hoping she will get it though! Hubby and I have decided to give her our guest bed and have her take my younger brother's old bunkbeds to the new place as well. He's sixteen and a bit old for bunk beds, but I can set up the bed in such a way that it will essentially be like a loft bed and he can put his dresser underneath the bed. The rooms in this new place are small and this will allow him to have a little bit more room. My mom isn't sure about the idea just yet, but I think when she sees it, she will agree that it's the best option for his room.

So the plan for tonight is to work on laundry and get some of that taken care of, folded, hung up and put away...nice and neat. I like that idea. And tomorrow, the kids go back to school, Hubby goes back to work and I have the day off from work. So, my mom, Girlie, Boy C and I will be working on getting things done around the house. Laundry, bathrooms and kitchen for sure. All of those rooms could use a serious deep clean!

Oh yeah, and I wore my pedometer today...with a super slow day at work, a long long nap and a few hours spent in front of a computer (lots of time that I could have/would have/should have spent walking) I still managed to get about 5,100 steps in today. My real goal is to hit 10,000 everyday. But I kind of needed a baseline to know where I currently am, so this gives me an idea. Tomorrow...5,500 will be the lowest accepted number. I may have to learn how to blog and walk at the same time but I will get them in! Actually, if I had the computer at a height where I could stand, that would work out really well....hmmmm...something to think about. But not tonight!

Last Christmas celebration of the season...

Today was our last Christmas celebration with the family. It was pleasant and Hubby and I got a chance to play cards with his grandpa. The two of them love to play Cribbage and whenever they get together, that Crib board is usually out. They asked me to join in and play along with them and I agreed to it. I almost won but in the end, Grandpa won. It was a lot of fun!

From left to right:
Boy B (age 6) , Cousin R (age 2) , Cousin E (age 5), Girlie (age 3), Boy A (age 8, nearly 9) holding Boy C (age 2) and then Cousin S (age 7)

We had a fabulous dinner and the kids opened gifts afterward. Boy A was incredibly gracious when he received a present that he had already gotten one of this year. He was super excited about opening gifts and then when he saw that it was the same thing he already had, he said, "Oh cool! Another one!" He then privately asked if we could exchange it. I was surprised at his gift-receipt etiquette. I shouldn't be, because we have talked with him about the proper way to handle certain situations but we haven't discussed this particular thing recently, yet he still displayed kindness and gratefulness for something he had wanted but had already received. I love it!

After everyone had gone home, Hubby, his parents and I all played Pitch. It was Hubby and his mom versus his dad and I. Father-in-law (FIL) and I were doing really well and then towards the end of the game, I missed a MAJOR play and ended up setting us and in the end, we lost the game. Totally my fault, but I distracted and played the wrong card. Oooops. Oh well! Like FIL said earlier in the game, "It's not like we have a lot of money on this game." Love that attitude! It's coming out more and more. He's really starting to get more laid back since he's cut down his hours at work. I really like the new attitude. I liked the old one too, but it was sometimes seriously unpredictable.

I had been starting to have signs of a cold earlier this week with severe sore throat and such. Then that started to subside, but the last two days I have been feeling supremely drained and exhausted. I have a touch of sinus symptoms, but I hope this is the last stage of my not feeling well.

And as for organizing...hmmmm...well, I did organize my candle storage today. I went to a candle party in December and tonight, Hubby's cousin sent her hubby home to grab my and a friend's candle orders. So when I got home, I had to be able to put it away, you know? So that is what I organized. My candle storage. As I sit here typing, I am enjoying the wonder aroma of Partylite's Tuscan Vineyard mini barrel jar (with shade). It's wonderful! I love Partylite and it's one candle that I don't have to worry about having lit with many small children and animals running around. Totally the safest candle out there!


Photo (shown in the Strawberry Rhubarb scent...which I also happened to get - LOL!) is taken from here and this Partylite consultant is actually a blogger as well! How cool is that!

And just a disclaimer here: I am not receiving any benefit or compensation from Partylite by mentioning their candle here, I am just talking about it because I want to.

Organizing fail

Today I really wanted to get some organizing at home done, but it just didn't happen. I got caught up in creating this blog and getting some organizing done as far as posting and getting things set up and ready to go, but in my house, sadly no organizing happened today.

That's okay though, for today. I had a busy day, following a late night. Slept in this morning (until 9 AM!) but stayed in bed until just after 10 AM, because I could hear the goings on in the rest of the house and Hubby had everything under control. So I stayed in bed. When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I showered, dressed and then spent time with each of my kiddos. Boy A shared some pictures that he had drawn and I took the time to really look at them and talk with him about the pictures, which I am embarrassed to admit that I don't always do. There are far too many times that he tries to share something with me and I brush it off because I have more "important" things to be doing at that exact moment. It's terrible. But today I didn't do it. Today I looked, I talked and I listened.

Boy B wasn't feeling very well, but he and I spent part of my time today snuggling up on the couch while he watched a movie. I love snuggling with my kiddos! It was a good day for a movie too! It was cold and blustery outside with snow still covering the ground following two recent winter storms that piggy-backed one on top of the other. Makes for cold and yucky weather. Not fun outdoors, but a good day for snuggling up for a movie.

Girlie and I made some beaded necklaces together with a new bead kit that I put together for her as a Christmas present. She loves using the beads and I love the fact that its helping her coordination. She's three and her fine motor dexterity could use a bit of practice to help her get a better grasp on writing more legibly. And no, I did not intend for the pun in the previous sentence (grasp on writing) but I guess it is there. If you got a chuckle out of it, you're welcome. If you missed it completely (like I did) then you're not alone. What can I say? I aim to please.

Boy C and I had fun with his new "game" of counting to three and exploding. Well, he doesn't explode, but he'll count to three and make a sound like an explosion with his mouth and throw his arms up in the air. This whole thing is, of course, followed by a great laugh. I love seeing the world as he sees it, especially since his world kept him so isolated while still being surrounded by the people that love him and care about him. His development has really come a long way in the last six months and it is just so much fun getting to see an actual personality come shining through!

And then I took time that I totally should have spent organizing something and played on Facebook for a bit. Biggest black hole of time that I have in my life but I really do enjoy it and I think that's important too. I just need to be sure not to get sucked in to it for so long. I think I should put a self-imposed half hour limit on it, twice daily. Ideally, I'd like to just have it be half an hour, but I need to make my limit attainable and I think that would do the trick. Half an hour in the morning, half an hour in the evening. Yes, I think that should work quite nicely!

Then Hubby and I left to go cash my first check from my new job and then to drop me off at work. I worked, Hubby picked me up, I came home, spent more time with the kiddos and Hubby, did my evening Facebook session, did the blog thing while I was doing that too, and soon, I'll be heading off to bed!

We have our last family Christmas tomorrow. So far, we've had Hubby's dad's side Christmas, our family Christmas and then Hubby's family Christmas. Tomorrow is Hubby's mom's side Christmas and then we are done. Although we still have presents to give to my mom and little younger brother.

I guess I can't call him my little brother now that he stands a good couple inches taller than me. But then again, I'm 5'4"...and most of our family and friends (who are at least of legal age to drive) are taller than me. I'm kind of used to it at this point. Just not used to calling him my younger brother. He's been my "little brother" for sixteen years. It's not my fault that he had a growth spurt this past fall. (Love you Bub!)

But I suppose...I should probably get off the computer now and head on up to bed. I don't want to miss out on organizing something in my house tomorrow before attending our last Christmas get-together. So without further ado, I bid thee goodnight!

Goal 1: Starting a Bible Reading Plan

My first weekly goal for this year is to start a Bible Reading Plan. There are many out there that have a person read through the Bible in one year. However, I would prefer to take a more in-depth approach to the Bible and so I am choosing to use the Bible reading plan out of my own personal Bible. Maybe all Bibles are like this, I don't know...but mine is broken up into stories. My goal is to read one story each day. I do not know how many stories my Bible has broken the Bible into, but that is how I plan to read the Bible.

January - Week One(ish)

1 - The Beginning ... (Genesis 1:1-2:3)
2 - Adam and Eve ... (Genesis 2:4-2:25)
3 - The Fall of Man ... (Genesis 3:1-3:24)
4 - Cain and Abel ... (Genesis 4:1-4:26)
5 - From Adam to Noah ... (Genesis 5:1-5:32)
6 - The Flood - Part 1 of 3 ... (Genesis 6:1-6:22)
7 - The Flood - Part 2 of 3 ... (Genesis 7:1-7:24)
8 - The Flood - Part 3 of 3 ... (Genesis 8:1-8:22)
9 - God's Covenant With Noah ... (Genesis 9:1-9:17)

That is the list of passages that I plan on reading for the first nine days in January. You all thought that I would just do one week's worth? Well, I might have, provided that the year began on a weekend or a Monday, but since the year is beginning on Friday, I figured I would do Friday, January 1 - Saturday, January 9 and then continue on from there beginning each week on Sunday.

New Year...New Goals

I'm not much of one for making resolutions, per se. I do, however, like to set goals to change my life, in general, for my own personal benefit and for my family's joint benefit.

I have many goals that I would like to accomplish this year, but I am not planning on starting to do all of them RIGHT NOW - instead I plan to set a new goal each week for an area of my life that I need to constantly work at to change. And I plan on setting a daily goal for a task (or a few of them!) that need to be completed that day. You know, to keep myself accountable like that.

So...here is a partial list of goals that I would like to accomplish this year. This list begins with the goals for January.

Goal 1:
Start a Bible reading plan. Done!
Goal 2:
Make a commitment to daily prayer.
Goal 3:
Make sure the dishes are washed every night before I go to bed.
Goal 4:
Clean the little bathroom every day when I get up.

So, here it goes. The beginning of my log about organizing amid the chaos that I lovingly call my life.

I have this idea...

and I wanted to create the blog for when I am ready for it. But the idea is to have a blog dedicated to organizing one's home and their life in general. I want to help myself in this aspect as well as help others. This all looks kind of plain and blah right now, but trust me...in time, it will look great! Join me soon as I prepare this myself and this blog for a complete make-over.