{Looks a LOT Better!}

I haven't posted a homemaking tip I've learned in while!! I'm so so sorry!! Please forgive me!

Today I will be showing you how to get rid of those annoying tea stains on tea cups and mugs! I thought it was a lost cause until I was shown this.  All you need is two things.  That's right two.  I'm I'm willing to bet they're in your home right now.

Water
Salt

THAT'S IT!

You get your mug get it damp with a tiny bit of water inside {just a tiny!!} pour in your salt.  Rub it around inside.  Watch as your hands and the salt get icky colored.  Rinse it out and repeat if there is still a little bit left inside. 

That's all you do!!  SO easy!

Now go my little pretties and clean your cups or mugs!

{Working on 'The List'}

So Princess is at my in-laws today and therefore that means today I'm going to work on 'The List.' I have some big things to get moved and I can't get done with Princess here she'll get under foot and I need the space in the car to get a dresser and a cabinet from my parents.

'The List' is the list that I put up yesterday.

Doing today
Later or if I get the rest of the list done

1. Get the dresser
2. Get the storage cabinet
3. Pack away 12m. and up
4. Fill the dresser
5. Fill the cabinet
6. Throw away empty boxes and trash
7. Rearrange master bedroom
8. Orgnaize master
9. Finish Princess' room
10. Pack hospital bags
11. Get crib in the nursery
12. Set up the crib
13. Wash ALL bedding
14. Get more baby/kid hangers
15. Rearrange changing table
16. Move Princess' dresser into her closet
17. Find a home for bottles
18. Sanitize bottles and pacifiers
19. Move bassinet into master
20. Set up a spot in master for baby chaning stuff
21. Figure out what to put baby stuff in for master
22. Wash all baby stuff
23. Find the D batteries

{BEDA #11}

As a warning I'm going to be all over the place here.  I'm not sure where I want to go with it.

Lately, I've felt this need to reestablish my home as a comfortable happy place to be in.  Along with  myself and my role as a mother and a homemaker.  I want to be what I know I can be and should be.  I stumble a lot in this.  In fact to be honest I fall flat on my face and roll around in the muck of it.  I wonder,  is the reason I feel this way because I'm pregnant and nesting? Too tired to do these things?

I want Hubs to come home from work and be happy to be there and feel relaxed. Not bogged down with the mess.  We wanted me to stay at home to take care of it.  It's my job  To make it loved.  I need to honestly go through everything in my home and get things done.  Organized, purged, and put away.  I don't have the attention span to do it on my own I usually do this really well if I have a friend to talk to during the process.  I often wonder why that is hmm. Anyway, needless to say I need to get my act together.

God has been putting little things for me.  To help me to realize this.  To help motivate me to be who He wants me to be.  Who I am supposed to be.  My role as a Proverbs 31 wife.

It's no secret to anyone in my life I hate doing the dishes.   I usually just leave them for Hubs to do.  Who, as the man I know and love, puts it off for as long as he can.  Most times they will sit there for a week {if not more depending on what our week looked like and how tired we are.}  Well, today I was nesting. And nesting HARD!  So as a little gift for my Hubs I did the dishes for him.

Today I challenged myself to get everything to be really nice by the time he got home from work. {Let's just say it didn't go according to plan.}  I actually got all the laundry caught up and put away {I also HATE putting clothes away}, organized the office area a little bit, vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed, organized the towels from thinnest to thickest, fought with Princess all afternoon trying to get her to take a nap, I got to take a little rest, with hang out with our neighbors, visited with a friend for an hour this afternoon, and a few other things I can't remember {too tired to lol.}

I've started to do different things different days. For example:

Sunday: Relax
Monday: Laundry {wash, fold, and put away}
Tuesday: Kitchen {wipe down counters, clean out fridge and microwave, sweep and mop}
Wednesday: Bedrooms and Dusting
Thursday: Bathroom {toilet, tub, sink and counter, sweep and mop, mirrors}
Friday: Laundry {wash, fold, put away}
Saturday: Living Room

{vacuum, sweep and mop, trash as needed}

It's getting really late so I'm going to sign off. See you tomorrow!

{BEDA #8}

So the original plan I had for today I've decided on not doing.  Instead I decided to do an update on my 'Homemaking Binder' that is no longer a binder... it is now 4 and a half binders...LOL!  I got a little obsessive on organizing it.

I have one for my blog, one for our family, one for faith, one for cleaning, and the big one is turning into my what I haven't organized fully yet and is also housing my inspiration pages until I find another binder.

I think I went slightly mental with them this morning.. because yes I did it all this morning.  I'm also having a little problem with the printer being out of ink because I even wrote out a few pages because I wanted them in the binders.  And as I said before I personally hate my own handwriting.

However, I will be patient for everything I want for them.

 Faith

Family

Cleaning

Blog

Misc.

It's Been Hard but Completely Worth it

I'm sorry that I've been pretty much not doing anything about homemaking; kind of.  I've been spending more time with Princess and Hubs lately. Trying to get as much time in before we have the baby.  I've even been neglecting our home which I am sorry for but I think it's been fun for Princess to play with me more than normal.  Also to play outside more with our neighbors while Hubs and I have been getting to spend with the adults while the kids play.


Cleaning house has been hard pregnant.  I've tried looking up different ways to do it while pregnant and having a toddler running around like a tornado destroying everything I clean up.  Sadly, I never was able to find much in the topic.  For those of you who need it I will give you what works for me.


I wake up in the morning around 7:30a if I have the energy to get up I go take a shower and get dressed. If I don't have the energy I pull out a book and read until 8a when Princess gets up.  It's a great time to work on a pregnancy journal, read books on pregnancy and/or baby care, or just read a book that you have been wanting to read.


After I get up I get Princess and I breakfast.  After breakfast I pull out my binder to see what I had planned for the day.  Sometimes I even pull it out during breakfast if I really wanted to know what's going on.  I check my emails on my phone while I read out my daily page, and cross out respond to emails while I look.  If I have appointments that morning or if my mom comes over that morning, I try to get all my dailies done by the time that the appointment comes around.


The past few days I've actually started redesigning my daily pages for my binder to fit me and my needs.  I hate having to write it all down and everything but it's going to be worth it.  I think I actually got it down finally.  I'll post my design once i get it finished and created.

What it looks like when I'm trying to plan out my days lol:

My dailies are things I do that are never changing.  My Daily Pages are like my day planner that I have everything for that day {meals for that day, To Do list for that day, ect.}.


My dailies {now called Daily Home Blessings} are:

• Vacuum
• Swish and Swipe {taken from FlyLady swish the toilet(s) and swipe the counters}
• Sweep and Swiffer
• 15 min. pick up
• respond to emails
• Write out tomorrows goals
• Prep Blog or Blog
• Write out tomorrows goals
• Get and sort the mail
• Dust
• Toy pick up
• Unload dishwasher
• One load of laundry

Those are the things I make myself do on a daily basis.  Even if I don't I will have Hubs help do it now that he's out of school.  I do most of the cleaning while Princess is sleeping so she's out of the way.  I do the toy pick up just before Princess goes to bed so she will start doing it on her own {hopefully}. Also, the load of laundry I do after I get her asleep for the night. 

Next, I have the reminder to drink my water.  Ten bubbles {I actually fail at this a lot lol} are my goal for the day.  Remember that a water bottle is two bubbles also because they are two servings per bottle.

Followed by my reminder for my vitamins.

Next is my To Do section.  This one scares me quite often. I usually use it as a this is what NEEDS to be done or also a more detailed list of my Daily Home Blessings i need done.  Like, laundry I put write down if I need to do bedding or towels if they need to be done.

Today I just have:

• Laundry {blankets: baby and master}
• Organize Master Bedroom

Nothing too big; I did a ton of the end of the month cleaning yesterday. 

However, I do also have a goals list if I get the To Do's finished to start in on but they don't need to be finished and are usually added to the next days To Do's if there isn't much to do that day {Ex. organize master bedroom on the To Do list.}  Most of the time I will also give them to Hubs if he saids that he's bored and I haven't yet made him an I'm Bored Jar yet.

The goals list is:

• Wipe down kitchen table and chairs
• Wipe down cabinets
• Declutter
• Fold and put away newborn clothes

Dinner section is just what we are going to have for dinner and what we need to get out.

Lastly, I have an Idea and Inspiration part.  If I read something that I think will inspire me for that day I will right it down or if I think of something that I think is interesting or come across something I will write it here.

Honestly, it's very very overwhelming to get it all done and I always ask for help.  I'm not afraid of using my friends if they ask to help.  I pull out the page and give people a chore.  Thankfully, Hubs already claimed the kitchen as his "domain" or else that will never get down at all {it also saves me a headache because if I do it I tend to do something wrong and he complains about it.. a lot.}  He also has to do the trash too.

I'm not perfect at all! I set high expectations for myself and I never meet them if I do I'm honestly shocked. It also means I got help that day lol.  Sometimes, I go a few days without doing anything.  Saturday I had a giant list, spring cleaning size list.  Did I do it? Nope.  Not at all. We spent the morning being lazy went to the part that afternoon and after the park went out for dinner, I passed out on the couch when we got home while Hubs played video games and Princess played with her toys.  I even look at my binder that day, but sometimes taking a break like that is needed.  I know I enjoyed the break and Princess loved getting out of the house. 

Don't be afraid of asking for help! Don't be afraid or ashamed of accepting help offered also!  It took me forever to get over my pride to do just that.

Also, this helps me a ton!  

I love music and it helps me to feel in the mood to do the housework.

Which looking at the picture of my iPod on my Inspiration Binder brings me to the motto of the week!!

"There will be so many times you feel like you've failed but in the eyes, heart, and mind of your child you are super mom." ~Stephanie Precourt

I print out the picture of the motto of the week and put the weeks in the front of my Inspiration Binder. So when I go for my Homemaking Binder I have to pick up and move the inspiration binder off of it and I read it. So far, these have been helping me a lot.  I know that I haven't been doing them for very long but it still helps me and I can only hope it helps you too.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup all-purpose

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  Refrigerate for an hour.  Roll into balls and flatten with a fork in a criss-cross pattern.  Bake at 375 F for 10 mins. or when beginning to brown.

Homemaking Binder Post #2

Hey everyone!


My binder is a 3 inch one because I'm a pack rat lol. I finally figured out a page out of all the ones I had for the daily at a glace page. Finally! This is the one I absolutely love. She made a new one on her blog but I just don't like it as much.


I also put in the following:
Stain Cheat Sheet
I use her blog ideas page
This post is awesome for the child ID page here is the quick template for that
I also used some of her tips that can be used for something other than a hurricane
2012 calender
Ongoing Problems

This is the cover of mine I just used what I think is pretty and fits for us.  Since there are going to be four of us we thought we should have something to represent Little Bean and also I'm so obsessed with owls.  We're even doing an owl theme in the nursery! So excited to get that project going.

The back I love too lol.

Inside pocket has put lease contract, envelopes, receipts, and a recipe I need to put back away lol. 

In my pouch I keep all the pens I seem to keep finding all around the apartment, two pairs of scissors, permanent markers, an envelope with stamps in it, freezer tape, pencils, a ton of hair ties, random keys until I find where they go.

This is the updated sheet from the one I loved but I don't like it as much so I'm using it until I'm out of them.

For the problems that need to be fixed.

The calender I linked above.

                             

My monthly goals and projects. Looking for the link to those. I'll post it when I find it.

That's it on the binder for now! 

Recipe comes from not know what I wanted to make for dinner last night so we made it up as we went along.

4 thin sliced, boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

6 chopped baby carrots

mushrooms, chopped

corn

peas

broccoli

garlic

Preheat your oven to 350f.  Spray your pan with cooking spray and place your chicken in the bottom. Put in all your vegetables and mushrooms in the dish. Pour cream of soups over top and mix up. bake for an hour and a half or until chciken is throughly cooked. (still learning everything) 

My Personal Challenge

18 weeks yay! Now I just have to wait for 11 more days to find out what we're having.. I don't do well waiting.  I actually have no idea what to blog about today. I usually can come up with a little bit of things but today I have nothing.  My brain has decided to take a vacation.


~~


Hey, I just had an idea! I have a very important resource for a homemaker that I started a few months ago.  I actually picked it back up yesterday. The thing I'm talking about is the Homemaking Binder. I love this thing. I have no idea why I left it alone... oh wait... I do..  I had it all written on notebook paper. It wasn't appealing at all. At least in my opinion. I hate my handwriting. So it didn't help that EVERYTHING was handwritten instead of just what I needed to do for the day.


Why did I pick it pack up? Because I managed to get the printer running again all by myself. {See Mr. I.T. Hubby Man I can learn from watching you!} Also, because I've been failing horribly in the homemaking part of my life. {Oops sorry sweetheart!}


 So I went onto google and searched under homemaking binder and just collected everything I could find printout wise that I wanted. After printing them out I reorganized my binder and asked Hubby to take me shopping tonight to get some more printer paper (I am now all out of the handful I did have) along with more sheet protesters and pens. So finally, I'm starting to get very happy with how it looks. This morning Hubs found me actually filling out the sheets on the bathroom floor when he got out of the shower.  He was very confused as to why I was until I reminded him that we had company sleeping on the couch and I didn't want to wake them up this early in the moring. (I love you Jack! Lol see look I did write about you!)


How did I get the idea to do this as a post? As I was looking for more things to put in my binder; I came across Motherhood on a Dime's post 30-Day Challenge: Home Management Binder.  She too was inspired by Flylady to make a 'Control Journal.' I love the Flylady but it just didn't keep my interest for long sadly. And this lady I found didn't use hers when she first started either and then picked it up again to work on it again. She then created the 30-day challenge to make her binder.  So I started thinking that I need to challenge myself and set myself a challenge involving my own binder.


Challenge: 'finish' and use my binder everyday in May. (At least the rest of May)


That seems like something I can do. For me personally I need to set a date to go to and if I make it I change the date to a later one. If I get to June then I will challenge myself to use it for that whole month. I really really hope to do this.


I just need to finish it. I have it mostly all set up or typed up when I ran out of paper. I just need to learn what sheets work best for me and my family. Mostly for me though, Hubs told me he doesn't want to mess anything up or even touch it (he even hates to touch my purse.)


It's pretty easy to make too! To make your own here is what you need:

• Binder
• Sheet protectors
• Labels (I just made my own using scotch tape and cut up paper)
• Page Divider (again I made my own using a sheet protector and the labels I made)
• pencil pouch

I then made categories for everything:

• In the front is my daily list for that day it includes: the date, today's goals, fitness plan for the day, reminds me to drink water and keeps track of how much I've had, to-dos for the day, appointments, a don't forget to spot, reminds me to take my vitamins, and the meal plan for the day
• Next is my ongoing problems page. It allows me to keep track of problems, the contact info for the person I need to call about the problems, and the resolution, and follow up info.
• I then have a 'Ways I can bless my Husband:' page. I write things that I think will bless my Hubs or show him the little ways I can show him I love him and respect him.
• then I have my monthly goal plans for whatever we want to do or get done for that month.
• Next is my schedules. I have an entire year calender, month by month calenders from my google calender printed out, and my page of daily prayers and Bible verses of the day for both as a wife and as a mother in a month format.
• After that I have my inspiration pages. I have poems, pictures, articles, and Bible verses that inspire me to be better and to better my home.
• Next up is my meal planning section.  I have my meal sheets, grocery lists (monthly and bi-monthly), freezer inventory, pantry inventory, favorite recipes, and recipes to try.
• Next is my cleaning.  My weekly cleaning schedule, my master household supplies list, laundry stain cheat sheet, and a detailed list of my weekly cleaning with check boxes to mark them as I finish them.
• Next up we have my 'Other' section that I haven't really organized yet. It has a travel packing checklist, camping checklist, patterns for my craft projects whenever I get my new sewing machine since my other two won't work
• Following that is my contacts. Emergency numbers with our home address, important contacts (family, doctors, ect.) my entire contact list
• baby planning: articles I liked and thought I needed to remember, size of the baby week-by-week for the Hubs (sweet potato right now), baby shower invite list for my friend, tips and facts for the second pregnancy, my hospital bag list, birth plan, bed rest ideas if I have to go onto bedrest again, funny things from my parenting magazines, Birthday Idea's for Princess, learning to swaddle (Princess hated it so just in case this one loves it), eating tips for nursing, things I want to buy, print outs my doctor gave us, ect.

That is all I have in my binder so far. Man that sounds like a lot but I'm one that has to do research and keep as much as I can I find important. 

Thank you for reading all this I know it seems like a lot but I will keep you updated on the progress I've made!

Crayon on the wall

Ugg, today Princess decided that it'd be fun to color on the wall as well as the back of the front door. Unfortunately, since we are renting I have no idea what kind of paint it is other than a pretty brown lol.

So in a mad search to figure out how to get rid of it I turned to the one site that has never failed me: Pinterest.

On there, I found a way using and iron, an old shirt, and a bowl of hot soapy water.  So I figured save myself some laundry pulled out my hair dryer that I bought yesterday to unfreeze my pipes on the air conditioning (why have I never owned one of these magical devices before?) So there I sat blow drying the crayon and wiped it off with a sponge and soapy water. The result? GOOD AS NEW!! I'm now in love with my new purple amazing device!

Tata for now!
Neuriel

Follow me on Pinterest!

Another new day

Hey guys! I hope everyone is going well.  Princess has a cold sadly. Having a sick two year old isn't fun.  But blessedly both my husband and I haven't got it yet.  Anyway I'm sitting here today trying to get myself motivated to clean. I got a lot of cleaning done yesterday but not as much as I wanted to.  So here I am blogging and listening to tips on homemaking and organizing on youtube and on about.com. I wasn't raised really to be a homemaker even though it's what I wanted to do when I was little and growing up. I was raised but my Grandparents but they're my Parents to me even before they adopted me. Anyway, my mom has worked as long as she can remember she says and when I was growing up she was a nurse so I never got the chance to learn the tricks of the trade.  So thankfully with the help of the internet I'm learning lol.  One tip I've learned is that I get more done and have more energy whenever I get dressed in the mornings (however today not so much oddly enough) and that I feel better about myself. I actually started a list of rooms and places to organize today so and started in on a chore chart so I guess today isn't that big of a waste lol. I'm also on my last load of laundry but I've been putting off folding it so I'm staring at a big pile of clean clothes in the living room.

We moved into our own apartment in September but I have yet to get the master room and Princess's room unpacked and organized and I'm kinda worried about Princess's room to be honest because we're going to get her into her toddler bed when I get her room together and I have no idea what I should take out of her room and what not. So anyway I'm going to sign off for now and try to get my rambling under control as well as the laundry lol.

See you next time!