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Simple Ways to Keep Household Chores Organized
I am not a clean freak. A clean bathroom is such a good feeling. Dumping the dirty water in the utility sink after washing the kitchen floors makes me smile. Crawling into bed at night with newly washed sheets is heavenly. But getting it all done. Such. A. Pain! Enter the power of Google Calendar (my preferred family-calendar). I use their simple Task interface to list the necessities. Then my must-dos are integrated with the family calendar as well as my weekly meal plan and it is all simple and easy to stay organized. Some things are done every 10 days, some things once a month and then some things even…
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A simple compliment and my heart smiles
Have you ever thought about how far a compliment can take someone? A couple of weeks ago my parents were visiting when one of them made the simple but genuine statement, “Leanne, your house is always so clean.”, and the other was quick to agree. Now let’s take a step back. From my perspective, my house is not clean. There are four boys (five including hubs). Weekends and evenings involve soccer, homework, Legos, Hot Wheels, running, jumping, playing. Although all of us are involved in one shape or form in keeping the house tidy (to the extent it can be) I am the cleaner. and cleaning is just not my thing. I love a clean…
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A Moment Out of the Norm: Dog Show
A moment out of the norm. “Grinda” is a rescued pup. She is a hoot! She is a Welsh Corgi Pembroke. She has short legs and long ears. She also has our hearts and pride of ownership streaming all around her. Yesterday was her moment to shine. Well, we all take that idea differently… the car for example shining moment would be a wax job. The house’s shine would be a spring cleaning. The shining moment for our dog Grinda: an entry in a dog show. No kidding!Mrs. Becky Kissinger, teacher at Christian High School in Grand Rapids, MI, led an interim class on the subject of ‘dogs’. The class…
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Small Business Saturday: November 24, 2012
I am really intrigued by this idea of “Small Business Saturday”. The premise is the Saturday after Thanksgiving you go to your local family-owned, small business stores to do your Christmas Shopping.I got this ‘chain email from my mother-in-law a couple weeks ago. Usually I immediately hit delete on chains. I get over 100 emails a day so the delete key is my friend. But this one caught my eye and hits right along the Small Business Saturday concept: As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the expense…
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Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style Part Two – The Checklist
Sometimes a blog inspires new ideas and last week’s Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style brought up the idea of a checklist that might help others. Much of the same information but in a shorter format without personal details. Think of it as a guide and then add your own ideas too! Share your experiences with others too by commenting! 1 – Caring For Senior Family Member While Long Distance: print a copy of this list and put in your glove box. One never plans for an emergency long distance road trip. However, when called to go, arrive armed with a design for success. 2…
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Caring for Your Parents from a Long Distance – Military Style
Praying for Grandpa and Grandma as they travelOne thing that military families know about is long distance communications! We also face long separations from family and find ourselves frequently traveling a long ways to be with family. Sometimes that makes us better at helping others from a long distance too! We know the phone does not always give a clear perspective of what is going on at the other end. So when the phone rang two weeks ago with an almost distraught family member on the other end we knew there was more to come … We have a large extended family but as the military piece of it we…
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Home Maintenance equals Money in the Bank
It is Military Saves week! A subject that is dear to my heart as Americans (including military-families) find themselves in more and more financial trouble. Sometimes saving money can be found in the simple things. Today’s blog post on saving money is about what you can do in the day-to-day. There is value in maintaining your home. Take the time — and I know we are all so very busy — to take care of our ‘stuff’ and you will find more money in the budget for other important things. If we maintain our electronics (invest in a can of compressed air for the computer as an example), vehicles (are…
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Cleaning your glass-range & inside your microwave (no elbow grease required)
…Don’t Judge…I have to admit. I do not enjoy cleaning. I LOVE a clean house… but the actual process of cleaning?! BLECK! However, this year’s goal has been to get my house organized and for me part of that includes getting into a regular routine of straightening, maintenance and yes… cleaning. So before I show you the before pictures of my range and microwave remember I’m trying, one foot in front of the other. 🙂 Before cleaning my glass-top range.Yucky, yucky grease and burnt on yuckiness.Before cleaning the inside of my microwave.Tomato splatters everywhere.Easy Baking Soda Scrub and Vinegar Wash Start off with a hot-soapy bucket or bowl of water,and add three dish towels…
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Behold the power…
… of a clean wall. As I mentioned in my post about personal goals for 2012 one of those is to get this house organized! (Personal Goals) It actually leaves me giddy with excitement to open up the calendar each day to see what needs to be done as I travel along the journey of 365 days to decluttering and organizing. Crazy, I know. But today I ‘decluttered the top of my cabinets’ (which my cabinets don’t have a top – they meet at the kitchen ceiling so I cleaned the top of my frig instead.) It was an easy two-minute job. Hmmm… I got looking around for something else to help…
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Small Business Saturday
I am really intrigued by this idea of “Small Business Saturday”. The premise is the Saturday after Thanksgiving you go to your local family-owned, small business stores to do your Christmas Shopping. I got this ‘chain email from my mother-in-law a couple weeks ago. Usually I immediately hit delete on chains. Sorry, I get about 50 emails a day – and that is just personal. But this one caught my eye and hits right along the Small Business Saturday concept: As the holidays approach, the giant Asian factories are kicking into high gear to provide Americans with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods — merchandise that has been produced at the…
