Cleaning the bathrooms with a "Swish and Swipe"

Each Monday I will submit a post for my weekly goals.  I love seeing laid out in front of me what I am wanting to accomplish each week.  At the beginning of each week I always list my home blessing routine as my first item.  This is a list of items I do each week to keep my home in tip top shape.  The catch is that I only spend about 10 minutes per task.  I do one or two in the morning before work and same in the afternoon.  I usually have my house spic and span by Wednesday morning and never have to spend hours upon hours cleaning on Saturdays.  My WBH is as follows:

• Sweep / Mop
• Bathmats (just throw in washer)
• Change / Wash sheets
• Clean Scooby's bowls
• Clean Microwave
• Dust 
• Vacuum

A couple of the things you will may notice are missing are taking out the trash and the bathrooms.  The trash is very easy, Caleb and Brad both do that for me.  I am so spoiled by my boys.  Caleb has had chores since he was about 4 years old and one of them has always been to take out the trash bags from the bathroom / bedroom trash cans.  These are the little 4 gallon trash cans so they don't hold much and are easy for him to grab and throw in  our large trash can.  Brad will keep the large trash can empty for us, and I couldn't be more grateful for this.  It wasn't always like this in our house though, but that is for another post.  

Now, to my actual reasoning for my blog post.  The bathrooms..... they are a bit different.  I actually clean these on a daily basis.  Before you get too alarmed, it only takes me 2 minutes per bathroom (we have 3 bathrooms) to do this.  So in 6 minutes each day I have sparkling bathrooms that never smell or ever have to be harshly scrubbed on hands and knees.  You can always come into my house and have a clean toilet to rest your tush on and I enjoy the feeling of knowing that my family has a clean and sanitary place to "go".  But how do I do this?  I do what the Flylady calls "Swish and Swipe".  

What I do is, after my shower, I will take some cleaner  (one that can be used on glass / mirrors) and spray down the sink / vanity, mirror and toilet.  Next I squirt a little toilet cleaner in the toilet bowl and then take shower cleaner and spray down the shower.  I grab a wash rag and wipe the sink, mirror and toilet.  Next I take my toilet brush and swish it around to clean the inside bowl.  After wards I will turn on my shower and wash out all of the shower cleaner.  I will go and do this to Brad and Caleb's bathroom not too long after mine.  I keep these three cleaners, plus rags in each bathroom so I am not running around the house looking for each cleaner.  If I have to go chase down cleaning products, I will probably never get it done.  Another life changing thing for me was that I had the shower heads that can detach and be held on with a hose installed in each bathroom.  This allows me to spray the entire shower and tubs clean after they have been soaped up.  

Doing my daily swish and swipe gives me the gift of not having to worry about how clean my bathroom is plus, I don't have to scrub the tubs or tile, nor do I get that black crud that forms under the lip of the toilet bowl.  I am always able to check the toilet paper rolls while in the bathrooms so I don't run out of toilet paper and grab any clothes or towels that may have been left to take to the laundry room.  I enjoy knowing that in 6 minutes I can breathe a sigh of relief in having a sparkly bathroom and that feeling is un-measurable.   

May 29th Goals

Here we are at the beginning of the week.  What does that mean here at 523? It means it's time to set some weekly goals.  Are you ready? I am.....sort of.

Actually being that it is not Monday, it is actually Tuesday, I have already jumped ahead on my goals and got some good ones completed.  Below is what I am talking about.

For starters, we are going to be taking a trip soon and I am trying desperately to get ready for it.  The hubs, Caleb and I are going with the in-laws to California.  I'm so excited because I have never been!!  The in-laws are wanting to take Caleb on a Disney vacation before he get too big for Disney, and since we took him to Disney World when he was 5, they decided to take him to Disneyland.  I would like to say that Caleb is looking forward to the trip, but we haven't even told him yet.  :)  Brad wants to wait to tell him until the morning that we leave.  I'm not sure Caleb will care too much that morning, being that we are leaving the house at 4:00 in the morning for our flight.  But I will let Brad decide when and where to tell Caleb.  I was the one who determined how we told him when we went to Florida two years ago, so I think it is Brad's turn now.

So with that in mind, I have some prep work to do.  I want the house to be very clean, so detail dusting will be in order.  Along with heavy vacuuming and mopping.  I am going to do heavy cleaning this week so the day before we leave, I can just do a very quick clean and call it good.  I have already done this, since I was off work yesterday.  Caleb went to his grandparents to stay the night and I had the entire day to myself to do some very detailed dusting, mopping and vacuuming.

My detail cleaning is just my weekly home blessing routine, but instead of feather dusting and quick mopping and vacuuming, I go the extra mile and really get good scrubbing done.  If I didn't have a full day to myself to do this, then I would choose a task and complete one each day until I am done.

I love going on vacation but I love even more when I come home and my house is huggably happy and clean.  I know, I have issues.  But I can't help it.  I like to come home from vacation all rested and relaxed and there is no way you can be relaxed if you come home to a mess.  And that is what prep work is for.

I will be doing my regular weekly home blessing routine, but I will be doing this the day before we leave.

WBH:
Sweep / Mop
Wash bathmats
Change / wash sheets
Feather dust
Clean dog bowls
Clean microwave
Take out all trash

Now this kind of cleaning is not a detailed clean, it is do it all as fast as humanly possible so you can get it over with.  I only spend about 10-15 minutes or even less on each task.  I can complete this in an hour, it's that quick.

There isn't going to be any room for zone cleaning or organizing this week since I will be vacation prepping.  But it will all resume very, very soon afterwards.  I am excited to go on vacation, but when I get back I have a fun project that I am itching to start in my master bedroom.  So, moving on...

On the Flylady website is the weekly pamper mission and it is to create a steam room in your bathroom.  It says to go into your bathroom and close the door.  Then turn on the shower with the hot water, but DON'T get into the shower.  Just strip down and then stay in the bathroom while it steams up from the hot water.  This is like your own personal "steam room" in the comforts of your own home.  Stay in there and "steam" for 15 minutes or more if you can, and then when finished slather yourself in lotion or body cream.  I'm kinda excited for this mission.  Although, I am going to take it a step (or three) further and when I'm done steaming, I will turn the water to shower temp and give myself a good sugar scrub.  I am then going to proceed with my self tanning lotion to get my skin "vacay ready".

My health goals are still keeping the sugar consumption low (although I don't want to talk about yesterday's food choices). I have been wanting to step up my workouts more this week.  So I am striving for 5 days a week for 30 minutes.

I am dying to get my car and purse cleaned out, both, this week.  I usually do one during one week and the next one the following week.  But this weekend we took Caleb to different outings and my purse got overloaded with a bunch of junk that Caleb found and trash from his fruit snacks and such.  My car was also used in the transportation of everyone to these multiple events so it's in need of a good cleaning out as well.  Speaking of outings, we went to the Science Museum and I some how convinced my mom and grandmother to try out the bed of nails.  You can see the photo in my Instagram account here.  I also tried it out, and I have to say, it was a very odd feeling to lay on an actual bed of nails.  But it was still fun.

So that's all I have to do, not that I could really fit much more in the week.  I am working some overtime this week at work so I'm really going to be strapped for time.  But I have a plan and all I have to do is stick to it as best I can.  I don't expect it to all be done perfectly but if I can get a good lick at the tasks I want to complete, then I will call it a success.

Let me know how you prep for vacation.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below for me.

Until next time, take care.

-Kim

May 22nd Goals

Yay for Monday!! Am I right? No? Well, ok, I agree....Mondays aren't the absolute best days in the world, but like I said last week, "you have to get thru Monday in order to get to Friday".  So here we go with making this Monday productive.

So last Friday night I came down with a nasty cold.  Except for swim lessons on Saturday, I was in bed the entire weekend.  So needless to say, my house was in shambles from losing my routines for two and a half days.  I did not do any laundry, make beds or even have Caleb pickup his toys each night.  I only swished one bathroom and that was out of sheer habit.  I was already half way done swishing my bathroom before I even realized what I was doing and I couldn't stop half way, so it got done.

Because I was down and out I didn't make Caleb pickup his toys before bed, like usual, and him and the hubs were left un-attended on Sunday together and again not made to pickup before bed.  That really made for a messy 523.  So Legos, Transformers and Power Ranger toys were strewn about the house.  It is a minefield for your bare feet right now.  So this afternoon, being that Caleb will not have any homework, we will be working on picking up all of the field mines toys and getting them put back in their home

After all is picked up, I will begin my home blessing.

You can read about that here.  But its just a few items I do as quickly as possible to keep my home in tip top shape.

• Sweep / Mop
• Dust
• Vacuum
• Change / Wash Sheets
• Wash Bath Mats
• Clean Scooby's bowls
• Clean microwave

I spend 10-15 minutes tops on each item.  Things like the bath mats, microwave and our dog (Scooby's ) bowls only take mere seconds to do so I do all of those in one swoop.  

 I will not do all of this today, in fact I will only be doing the sheets, sweep / mop and washing the bath mats today and then tomorrow morning and afternoon I will finish the rest up.  

Zones for this week are in the Master Bed and Bathroom.  I will be doing a detailed dusting in those two rooms along with washing the comforter.  We keep the bed and bath clutter free so there is never much that has to be done other than cleaning the comforters and a good detail dusting.  I will do the comforter on Saturday (it takes about 4 hours to wash and dry our king size comforter) but the dusting will be done on Tuesday.  

My health goals this week include upping my workout to 5 days for 30 minutes.  I have done today's already and feeling good about tomorrows.  

This week's Flylady's pamper mission is to relax with some music.  I think I will be listening to some smooth jazz while I take a long bubble bath this Sunday.  

I would like plan something fun for Caleb and I to do this weekend.  It's the hubs weekend to work so we like to go and do fun stuff that dad doesn't like to do on those weekends.  But it has to be budget friendly because we are so very close to our savings goal for our travel trailer.  

That's about all I think I can fit into my weekly plan for now.  I didn't do so great last week, we had some family illnesses and I had my niece over for the majority of the week and I had spent a lot of time running her back and forth to the hospital to visit her mom and dad.  I didn't get any zone work done on my home and I lacked greatly on the laundry as well.  So I am ready to kick it up a notch or two this week and get my home back in order.  

What about you? What are your plans for the week? Let me know in the comment section below.

Until next week, take care.

-Kim

ABH Modern Renaissance Inspired using Wet N Wild Floral Value Pallet

Hi Everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful day!!  I am so excited to share my post with you today, so let's hop to it!

I was scrolling thru Pintrest the other day and found a very unique eyeshadow look using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance pallet and I felt inspired to recreate the look using a Wet N Wild pallet that I had recently picked up.

So here is the original look that I found, and you can see it on my Pintrest board here.

And below is what I created.  Please know that this is not a dupe for ABH Modern Renaissance pallet, just a look inspired by the original look.

For this look the supplies you will need are:

• Wet N Wild Floral Value pallet
• Maybelline The Nudes pallet
• Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink
• Nyx single shadow in I have a headache (or your own matte brow bone highlight)
• Setting spray
• Mascara 
• Lashes (if you prefer)
• Eyeshadow shields (unless you want to wait to do your foundation after your shadows)
• Lipstick Maybelline Superstay 24H color in Infinite Petal
• Foundation, bronzer, highlight, contour, powder all of your choice 

• I first did my foundation and eyebrows so I had that all finished up.  I used the Nyx single eyeshadow in "I have a headache" for my brow bone highlight.  Its just a matte yellowish white color that I feel suits my skin tone.  But you can skip this part or use the lightest shade (labeled "Base") in the Wet N Wild pallet because it is also a matte color.  
• This was the time that I put on the shadow shields, because the Wet N Wild pallet has quite a bit of fallout from it.
• Next up I pulled out the Maybelline Nudes pallet and used the matte taupe color, second from the left on the top row, in my upper crease area.  I used this to be somewhat of a transition color so I didn't go from pink to pale yellow brow bone.  
• Then I went for the pink color in the Floral Value pallet and took a fluffy crease brush and swiped that thru my crease.  You really need to have a fluffy brush for this. You want that pink to be diffused quite a bit.  
• I went into the same pink color but with a flat shader brush and packed the color heavily on my outer V of my eye.  
• I got out my setting spray and you can use water if you don't have the spray.  I sprayed my flat shader brush (a clean one) and put it into that top left white shadow from the Nudes pallet.  It is very shimmery and looks beautiful and highly pigmented when its been wet down.  I put that on the first 2/3rds of my lid and then took my other flat brush from the pink and applied a little pink just on the border of the white.  You are wanting to make these two colors blend together and by packing them on each other will allow this to happen.  Sometimes it takes a couple applications of back and forth with pink and white to get them to blend a little better.  
• Afterward, I took the taupe color again and ran it under my lower lash line and then took the pink and put it right on top of that. 
• I used the white shimmery color to highlight my inner corner, threw on some black liquid liner, false lashes, some mascara and that was it for the eyes.
• I applied a pinkish colored blush very lightly to my cheeks to compliment the eyes.
• I used a (light hand application) mauve pink color on my lips to keep it toned down since I wanted the focus to be on the eyeshadows.

 And that's all folks!! It is done.  I loved how it turned out and I received so many compliments on the look. I love doing looks that are inspired by high end brands but using drugstore products.  Even though I adore my high end makeup collection, I am an even bigger sucker for the drugstore cosmetics.  If you have a high end look you would like me to re-create using drugstore products, let me know in the comment section below.  I love love love to recreate looks.

That's all I have for today, until next time, take care.

-Kim

May 15th Goals

Ouch, this Monday was hard to get up to.  We had a super busy, but fun weekend and we just weren't ready for it to be over with quite so soon.   My BFF and I went to a wine tasting on Saturday night while our boys cooked out.  It was so late when we left there, we were all a so tired the next morning.

But nevertheless, in order to make it to the weekend again, we must tackle Monday first.  So here we go with my weekly goals.

For my home:
Weekly Home Blessing these are just the few items I do as fast as humanly possible to keep my home in tip top shape

• trash
• sweep / mop
• vacuum
• dust
• change / wash sheets and bath mats
• clean microwave
• clean Scooby's bowls

I have a monster-ous mess in my kitchen right now.  Not dishes or food, but basically the supplies I had out for my mothers day dinner preparations that I was doing for my mom.  I made two batches of banana pudding, loaded potatoes and deviled eggs.  I still have storage containers everywhere and spices and seasonings on my counter.  I don't usually leave stuff like that out, but my potatoes were taking a lot longer to prepare than I had imagined so I had to grab them and leave in a hurry.  So I have some picking up to do today.  

This week's zone is the main bathroom / kid's bed and bath / extra room.  I am actually not sure what I want to work on in these areas.  I think I might vacuum out Caleb's closet and de-clutter his bathroom storage.

This week's pamper mission from Flylady is to clean out and take inventory of your lingerie drawer.  Being that Summer is upon us we have to be ready to wear those sleeveless and strapless summer clothing.  I will definitely be doing this because in June Victoria's Secret has their semi-annual sale and I usually try to hit it up when it comes around.  I know there are some items I need to replace in this drawer and now is the perfect time to make a list for what to buy. 

This is the week I clean out my car so that will be on my agenda.  I try to alternate a clean car and a clean purse each week.  I drive about 50 miles a day thru construction areas so after two weeks my car is so covered in dust that you can't tell it's even red.  

I have my blog post almost all ready for this week.  I am doing a tutorial on a look that I found on Pintrest.  The original look was done with the Anastasia Modern Renaissance pallet, but I recreated it using a small Wet N Wild pallet along with the Maybelline Nudes pallet.  I wore it on Saturday night and Sunday and received so many compliments on it.  I even had a man say how nice it looked.  LOL

My health goals have been to limit the sugar and sweets to two days a per week and I have been doing pretty good there.  I have been working out more than usual this past few weeks so that is another goal to keep at it.  I still like having a couple days of plant based foods as breakfast and lunch.  I don't want to add any new health goals just yet because I have been really trying to fit my workouts in more regularly and I am still focusing on that for now.  

For last week my goals weren't too strenuous because I spent Monday at the hospital with my baby sister while she had her second baby girl.  I kept up with them all quite well so I gave myself a much needed pat on the back. LOL

What does your week look like? Let me know in the comments below.  Until next time, take care.

-Kim

Every love story is beautiful, but ours is the funniest

I kind of wondered if that title might get any one's attention.  Just like most people who are in good relationships, I love the hubby and my "love story".  However.....ours wasn't exactly "Romeo and Juliet" style nor was it "love at first sight".  Ours was much different....

Get a drink and a snack because this will take a little while...

First off Brad and I have been married for 14 years and together for 19.  I always joke about how it took him 5 years to decide that I was good enough to marry.  But in reality, we started dating (officially) when I was 16 years old, so I didn't expect him to "put a ring on it" for a while.

Now, for the "officially" part.  We actually met when I was 15.  He was a Senior in HS and I was a Freshman.  I never knew who he was, until a girl I played softball with told me about some guy named "Tiny" who wanted to meet me.  She never pointed him out to me nor did I even know his actual name, so I was in a complete loss as to him.  She said that he was going to come to our game that afternoon and she would introduce me when the game was over with.  So of course, I was a nervous wreck, knowing that a Senior was coming to a game to watch me play.  The game came and went, and the entire time I was looking around waiting to see if he'd come to talk to my teammate at anytime so I could get a glimpse of him.  But.......he never came to the game.  I was so worked up over that for the entire game, just so he could be a "no show".

I already did not like a person I had never seen, or talked too at that moment.

So I never heard anymore about "Tiny" until after the school year had got out.  My friend from softball asked me and some other girls to go to a party at her BFs house and that was where I finally met the notorious "Tiny".  Of course, it was still no match made in heaven.  Nope, not even close.  I didn't care too much for him before because he never showed to the game but this time he only said "hi" and went back to his buddies at the party.  When we were leaving the party, I was picked up from behind and abruptly thrown in the swimming pool, by none other than "Tiny".  My suede boots and were completely ruined and I had a time getting my wet jeans off of me.  I had decided that I would join the convent of nuns before ever coming close to dating him.

Let's skip to one year later at the end of my Sophomore year.  I had long forgot about Tiny, in fact I spent a good portion of my Sophomore chasing after another guy, named Dustin, in my class.  It never worked out though, he was most certainly not interested in me.  But that's ok because we became really good friends during the year and that was how I met another guy I dated for a little while.  I fell hard for the "friend" of Dustin's but he broke my heart and then I was a mess after that breakup.  My friends took me out, during my despair, and later we ended up hanging out with a bunch of other people.  Of course it was my luck that during my moments of anguish that Tiny would show up where we were all at.  At least there was no pool to be tossed in.

He had heard about my breakup (we live in a very small town) and just came over and talked to me.  He was a friend and a person to talk to and he was after nothing else.  That was what I had needed at that time.  So after a month of us hanging out, it obviously led into more than friends status and we realized that we actually had a connection of some kind.  I began to learn more about him and in that time.  I finally found out what his name was and oddly enough I found out that his brother was my good friend Dustin.  Nope, I never knew Dustin had a brother and before all of this I never cared to know if Tiny had any family.  So it was a little shocking to know that I was crushing hard on Tiny's little brother, but its true however embarrassing it might have been still is.

And that was how it all began.  I'm still a little sore over my suede boots, but "Tiny" has more than made up for it.

I hope you enjoyed, yet another, glimpse into our lives here at 523.  It is so true that every love story is beautiful and I am sure that just like me, yours is wonderful too!!  If you have funny stories to share about how you and your special other got together or your life together, let me know in the comment section below.  I will write more on Brad and my relationship in another post, because if you thought our meeting was funny, you will be sure to love how bad our wedding was.

Until next time, take care.

-Kim

May 8th Goals

Well, this week is starting off on a late foot.  I was at the hospital all day yesterday with my sister.  She finally had her baby girl.  I am tired from just sitting at the hospital waiting.  LOL  So my goal post is being done on Tuesday instead of Monday for the week.

I have my usual WBH routine.  You can click on the link and it will take you to what my weekly home blessing looks like in more detail.  But it is just my weekly cleaning list that I do to keep my home in tip top shape.

I think I am going to skip the zone cleaning this week because of yesterday's late day at the hospital and then today Caleb has a dentist appointment and we won't be home until some time after 6 pm.  I am pretty caught up on it all anyways, so I'm not concerned with being behind or losing time on anything.  That's what I love about the Flylady system, as long as you do your routines each day and stick to the plan you can have "off days" or even for me its almost an "off week" and still have your home in order and looking wonderful.  I'm basically going to get the key areas of my home done and the rest of the time I am going to take a break.

This week's pamper mission is to schedule a day to eat lunch or hang out with a friend.  I have already got that one planned out.  My friends Crystal and Jessica and I are going to visit a winery this coming Saturday night while the boys hang out back home.  I am looking forward to this and can't wait until Saturday.  We have been wanting to do this for a couple months now but none of our schedules have been able to match up until this weekend.  It couldn't have come at a better time.  I am needing some "girl chat" time.   With Brad working as much as he has, it has just been Caleb and I and really there is only so much Lego Ninjago I can talk about until my face turns blue and I blow up.  So I'm excited to have a Lego free night with the girls.  :)

Blogging goals this week are kind of up in the air.  I have an empties post I want to do and another makeup tutorial but I have to get the photos done before anything can be posted.  I am working hard on it so hopefully it will come together.  I am excited to show you how I like to wear blue eyeliner and blue mascara, being that I am a gal in my upper 30s.  I think it can be done so effortlessly and look very chic without looking juvenile.

So that's all I am doing for the week.  How does your week look?  Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, take care.


-Kim

Mommy and Me

Today's post is just some random ramblings of the time that Caleb and I spent together recently.

We went to see a marionette puppet show in Dallas over the weekend.  It was Jack and the Beanstalk.  I had never seen such a show before.  It was spectacular!!  Caleb laughed the entire way thru it.  After wards they let all of us go behind the scenes and see where the puppeteers sit while in action. They had told us about how the puppets were all hand carved by their own artists and performers and how heavy they were, etc.

Caleb is showing off his very own marionette puppet :)

We always have Sunday dinner at the MILs house, while there we found some birds that had been thrown out of the nest by the high winds we had.  We found a safe place for them where the buzzards wouldn't get them, until mommy and daddy got back with their food.  Caleb's not really liking the birds, they flop around too much for him and that is why he is forcing a smile.  LOL  But these birds were so unbelievably cute!!

Another day we went to Chuck E. Cheese and had some pizza loading fun playing games and then after wards we stopped for some birthday cake ice cream.  

These events were not all in one weekend they were over a few weekends throughout the month of April.  The hubs always works one day during the weekend so Caleb and I have our own day together to do fun "mommy and me" things.  Dad is not a fan of pizza or shows so we usually use that time to indulge in our favorite foods and activities during those times and save the other stuff that he likes for the time we have with him.  Basically, Caleb gets the best of both worlds.  :)  

This weekend Caleb starts back at swimming so we will be at the Natatorium for the next few weeks and we like to go grab lunch at Panera Bread (another place that dad doesn't like) and then hang out at the mall.  This weekend Caleb wants to go to our local "Going Bonkers" to play in their play area for a little bit.  I like it because there are other kids he can play with and it allows me to sit and read while he gets his energy out.   Then that night we will be chilling with Dad on the couch and have a family movie night.  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  How about you? What do you and your kiddos like to do?

Until next time, take care!!

-Kim

My Home Blessing Routine

It's no surprise to anyone about my love for the FlyLady System.  I have and will continue to rave about how much it has helped me to transform my life.  Each week on Mondays I post my weekly goals and the very first entry on each post is to do my weekly home blessing.  I wanted to tell you what this is and exactly what this consist of for our home and how it differs from Flylady's.

Flylady's Weekly Home Blessing consist of  7 items that you are challenged to spend 10 minutes on each item and then stop.  This is typically done on Mondays.

• Vacuum
• Dust
• Quick Mop
• Polish Doors / Mirrors
• Throw out magazines / papers / catalogs
• Change Sheets
• Empty Trash

The reasoning for this part of the system is to get the main parts of our home blessed (cleaned).  You don't spend thirty minutes dusting nick nacks or hand scrubbing floors.  You go as simply as fast as possible and stop after the timer goes off.  In the beginning it is hard to get these items done in the 10 minute time frame and that mostly is because we are trying to do it "perfectly" and that can cause us some distress.  It took me years to get passed this feeling.  I still experience it sometimes, even years after doing my WHB like this, so I will look around my house and see how nice it looks and that feeling just fades away.

Now, my WHB is a bit different.  My list is as follows:

• Sweep / Mop
• Bathmats
• Change Sheets
• Dust
• Vacuum
• Scooby's Bowls
• Microwave

First thing is that I have a few different items on my list.  You don't see the magazines because I don't keep things like that at home so I have nothing the throw out.  Next up you don't see the trash cans and that's not because we don't empty them, its because my boys take care of that for me.  Caleb will gather all of the trash bags in the bathrooms and bedrooms and throw them in the large trash in the kitchen and then Brad takes it all out to the street for pickup.  I am so lucky to have my best boys!! :) Next up I don't have doors and mirrors to polish either.  We have windows on the exterior doors to our house but those get cleaned during my zone work and my mirrors are all in the bathroom where I clean them each day during my swish and swipe (that's for another post).  What I do have are to clean the bathmats and that is just throwing them in the washer and then the drier.  I do this because I like to keep them nice and white.  I also have Scooby's bowls and wiping the inside of the microwave.  These both take mere seconds to do.  I wills spray the inside of the microwave and leave it while I take the dog bowls and wash them and dry them and then take the drying rag and wipe the cleaner from the microwave.  I do these two things because I hate having a dirty microwave and when a pet peeve can be taken care of in less than 30 seconds, then why not? And Scooby's bowls are because one time per week he gets coconut oil drizzled on his food to keep his skin and coat healthy and shiny but it can leave a little film inside the bowl.  Plus when his bowls are clean it makes me feel better knowing that he's eating and drinking out of clean dishes too, which I feel is important for my dog.  

Now for the timing.  I don't do this all in one day or one hour (actually it might get done in an hour combined, I have never timed it).  I am a work outside of the home mom and it is hard to find that complete hour in one evening.  So I will break it up and do different items on different days.  The sheets get done Monday morning when we all make our beds and they, along with the bathmats, will be put in the washer and set to a delayed time so they will be just finishing up washing when I get home.  I do my sweeping and mopping in the afternoons usually while Caleb is doing his homework at the kitchen table on Mondays (I like to get this done first because I am not a fan of sweeping and mopping, you know the saying "eat frog first").  On Tuesdays I will dust in the morning before work and vacuum when I get home.  Tuesday's are the days that Scooby gets his bath and he is rewarded with his coconut oil dinner afterwards.  This makes it ready for me to clean on Wednesday morning along with wiping out the microwave all while waiting on my coffee to brew.   Each task on my WBH will always take less than 15 minutes to do.  Actually most of them only take about 5-10 minutes each.  So I am sure that I keep within my 1 hour combined.

A couple things you might not notice on my list are the bathroom sinks, toilets and showers.  I will cover this in another post, but for now you can just know that all three of the bathrooms get cleaned daily, including the toilets and showers.  It takes me 2 minutes per bathroom to complete and I never have to scrub the tub or toilets.  :)

This is how I complete my weekly home blessing routine.  I have heard many times from skeptics about the Flylady system not being for working moms and only tailoring to stay at home moms, but I am living, breathing, walking proof that it's not true.  Once you get it set to your life and circumstance then you will see just how well it can work out no matter what you are.  

I hope this gives you a little insight as to how I go about my home blessing per week.  If you have any questions, you can leave me a comment or send me an email.  If you have any tips or tricks you would like to share, I am all ears and ready to listen.

Until next time, take care.

-Kim

   

May 1st Goals

Yay for Monday!! As much as I hate to admit it, I do actually enjoy Mondays....to an extent of course.  I mean, its still Monday and that means 5 days away from the weekend and sleeping in, but for me Mondays are a chance to start my week over and off on a good foot.  I am one who likes to get my work and responsibilities done at the very beginning of the day, week, months, whatever, and that way I have to rest of the time to do whatever I want.  So Mondays for me are my jumping pad for taking off to a fun and productive week.  That's why I make my goals for the week on Mondays.  So here we go....

My Weekly Home Blessing:

• Change / Wash Sheets
• Sweep / Mop / Bathmats
• Clean Scooby's Bowls
• Clean Microwave
• Dust
• Trash 

This week I have got to clean my car.  I cleaned my purse last week and I will alternate purse and car every other week or so.  But it has been raining a ton here and I drive thru 25 miles of construction zone one way to work and the dirt from that drive makes my car a filthy mess.   Plus Caleb lost a Lego Ninjago mini fig helmet somewhere in the car and it might help to look for it when we go to clean out the car. :)  PS: That missing helmet has been a severe catastrophe in the eyes of little 6 year old Caleb.  He's so upset because his PaPaw bought him that set that came with that little figure and he spent a good part of yesterday in tears because his "Papaw spent his hard earned money to buy it for him and he lost the helmet".  I am still in shock that he stated this to me.  He's too grown up for being only 6.

I'm going to do a Flylady post this week.  I am excited to share with you all about how I do my weekly home blessings.  I have been a flybaby for 10 years now and I do feel I am pretty well versed on the system, but mostly how I made it work for me.  I have a severely born organized mother in law and while many years ago the in laws would have made sly remarks about my house keeping, that is definitely a thing in the past.  My MIL actually comments regularly on how organized and clean my home is.  ;)  

I have been working harder on my health lately, being that I will be turning 36 this year, I am no spring chicken.  I know that I have to make my health as well as my family's a priority so I am keeping up with kicking the sugar habit to only twice per week.  I do my best to keep this to the weekends.  

I am working on Caleb's playroom closet for this month.   I have most of my zone house work done so I have some major free time to alot to this project and my goodness does it need it.  I will have to take some before pics and show you.  I will NOT show my MIL, she would most certainly change her mind about calling my house organized.  LOL   I just cannot get a handle on this room.  I think it's because with my stuff, I have no problem donating things I don't use but for me to donate Caleb's things are a bit more harder.  And he is even worse at it than me.  But I am determined I will eventually succeed after consistent baby stepping.

The Flylady's monthly habit this month is "Moving in May" and I am excited to get back to doing some extra movement, in the form of cardio that is, to help my health journey kick up a notch.  I am certain I will want to stay around long enough to see my grandkids. 

This week's pamper mission from Flylady is to break out the fancy lotions and potions that you save for "special occasions" and actually use them.  I don't have any problems with this because I do this on a regular basis.  I adore getting to go to Bath and Bodyworks and find yummy scented pamper goodies for myself.  Saturday I went and restocked on the newly released bath bombs they have come out with and took myself ANOTHER bubble bath on Sunday.  If you don't already know, I haven't had a bubble bath since before Caleb was born.  I finally took one two Sundays ago and it was heavenly so I continued on with yesterday and loved it even more.  So basically this pamper mission is just allowing me to refill my scented potion collection. :)

I will talk to you all again, soon.  Until then, take care.

-Kim