Picking My Priorities: The Delicate Balance of Motherhood

I've been trying extra, extra hard to stay on top of my house work and get ahead before the new homeschool year starts. The hard part is staying balanced and not letting it overtake the time with my kids. I did make a schedule for myself that worked incredibly well a few years back but at times I kicked against it. I know that sounds odd but that's the little kid in me. When I follow the schedule, the house stays looking great. Well, I finally decided to woman up and try it again and the house is looking amazing. Even laundry piles shrinking. Boy, taking care of a big family is a lot of work but soooo worth it. I'm determined to not do any cleaning except for dinner cleanup after 5pm.  Mama has to have her breaks too. Sometimes I'm tempted to work on something but my grandmother (mother of nine) reminds me to not burn myself out. She's so right. I just need to enjoy my evenings. :D

I thought tonight I'd be helping out someone who's daughter got lice from a play center. (Totally keeping this anonymous.)  She called me up and asked for help, offered to pay, hearing that I knew how to get rid of it fast. I said no to the pay and just wanted to pay it forward. Awhile back my kids had gotten lice from other kids and I had poured money into trying to get rid of it. An angel lady just came to my rescue who gets rid of them for a living. She would accept no pay and totally wiped out the problem. Believe me, these places charge a lot. I learned from her and have had some opportunities to pay it forward and help others. What a blessing she was!  Turns out they can't come till tomorrow so I missed my session at the gym with my trainer. Well, Charles took 8 kids with him and I had the house alone for 3 hours. While he was GETTING HIS BUTT KICKED (haha) I didn't even know what to do with all the quiet! We were supposed to train together at the gym but since I wasn't there, he was the focus. Basically he came back and just collapsed in a chair. Haha!  He said, "Baby, she kicked my butt. She's your kind of trainer." I can't wait to get back to the gym for sure. ;)

P.S. If you see all my pics at the bottom of my posts that means I blogged from my phone rather than on computer. Blogger app needs to fix it and make options. ;)

How to Restore Deleted Files on Your Computer

Do you ever neglect to do something that you know is SO important but figure nothing bad will ever happen?  That is so me.  My two older sons school on the computer through Switched On Schoolhouse.  Every single time they are done homeschooling it asked me if I would like to back their work up onto a disk.  I always just back it up onto the computer because I wouldn't know where the blank CD's were.  I knew I just needed to do it one day.

Well, the other day when the laptop pooped out on me I did a scan to delete any viruses.  Guess what got deleted?  Chaz's SOS and work!  Aghhhhhh!  I was so excited to have 3 computers again to work on and this had to happen. I spent the entire day yesterday trying to figure out what happened and see if it can be fixed.  I cried not knowing what I was gonna do.  Sure, I could reinstall the program but I had not created backup disks.  Oh my.  I literally spent the entire day searching for deleted files using a program.  Most cost money and even with the scans I did I wasn't finding anything.  I finally had to quit so I could get everyone ready for church but I was soooooo vexed.  I tried to be a good mood when I got there but I was just sooo sad.  

Once we got home I decided to try and do a system restore for 3 days ago rather than 2 days ago that I tried before.  I told Charles I would stay up all night if I had to till it was fixed.  Around 12:30am the system restore was finished so I tried to pull up Chaz's homeschool and WOW, it worked!!!!  I checked and even his backup was there on the computer so I immediately backed it up onto disk like I should have looong ago.  Then I started the process up uploading all my pictures onto Picasa online just in case something like this happens again and stuff is lost.  Wow, lesson learned!

Since I got the black laptop fixed, which meant all 3 computer were working again for homeschool, do you think anything else went wrong? Of course.  The next morning the power cord on my silver laptop broke.  We are back down to two working computers.  Phooey.


If system restore doesn't work there is a program you can use that find things you did not mean to delete and can't be found.  Here is the video of how to do it and what program you can use.

http://www.recovering-deleted-files.net/

Living a Life Without Clutter

We have a new tire on our car again so now we're not stuck!  By tomorrow we should have our van's tire replaced. Whew! Just in time for church and my kids going to school on Friday.  I don't mind being stuck in my lovely home so much.  Just simple errands and missing out on church is what bugs me the most.  I love my home and enjoy it just as much as when we first moved in but getting out is nice too.  :D

Oh my gosh. This is such a funny cartoon.

I was expressing to my mom of my frustrations of only having two computers for schooling the kids.  They have book work and online work so it's been tough sharing it between four kids, a blogging mommy, and a daddy who loves computers too.  Some days I'm not able to get on the computer till way later which is fine, but I have to check for reviews and adjustments sometimes.  Regardless, their homeschool comes absolutely first.  Well, my mom took one of our older laptops home with her to do some work on it.  It's a good laptop but just had some problems and would constantly disconnect from the internet.  I eventually gave up on it and put it away.  She fixed it up so now we'll have 3 working computers.  Yeehaw!  Thank yewwww!

My sister that just came back from South Africa for 6 years, her family is being stationed here in the states.  I'm glad that now she isn't so far and we can visit.  They are a super cute family and a joy to be around.  Jodee was the one that taught me how to declutter fast and if it wasn't for her I'd still be pulling my hair out right now.  I spent a couple of days with her at her house they were staying at temporarily.  It's pretty much emptied out because it's being sold.  Well, I loved it!  I love the feeling of just a quick and easy cleanup every day an so when I went back to my home after staying there, I went right to work.  I'm super grateful and have truly woken up each day with peace knowing I have more time for my kids and husband now that I've ever had before.  Now, I've had so many friends ask me how I did it so I'll just put it here.  I know this is so simple for some but all the other ways I tried just wasn't working. :D

1. Empty out one room completely as if you are moving except for major furniture you know is staying.  I moved everything into the living room.  

2. Get a bag or box labeled "Giveaway" and "Throwaway".  Then I put back what was obvious of what was going back into the room and I would put it back immediately.  As I was filling up the room with my favorites and for sure staying, I knew quickly when to stop because I loved how nice it looked.  I didn't want to reclutter it because the room looked so beautiful without all that stuff!  It made it sooo easy to throw all the rest out.

3.  At the end of the day take a break and go donate the stuff.  If you want to do a yard sale make sure to take the stuff OUT of the house completely.  I put everything onto our back patio.  

4.  Each day I did one room and I did not stop for 8 days.  I made sure each room was completely and totally done with all the messes cleaned up from it before starting the next room.  We ate very, very simple that week because I didn't need to be making bigger messes that would make me feel discouraged.  

5.  If you blog, blog your successes!  After my whole house was finished, since I didn't want to do a yard sale but my friend did, she came and picked up all the stuff off my patio.  

I hope this helps, my friends!  :D  I so wish I had known to declutter like this waaaaay long ago.  I did our household clothes as a whole separate project with washing everything and laying them all out to see what we'd keep.  I gave each boy a bin and only let the toys in there that fit.  They are getting older so they really wanted their own bins of their belongs rather than all mixed in like when they were little. They each have their names on their bins.  The girls were easier so they share one bin and only the toys that fit in there stay.  They each kept only 2 stuffed animals.  :)  If you do go shopping for a new clothing item, make sure to go home and throw that many out so the clutter doesn't build back up again.  :D

Clearing the Clutter Clears the Mind

Today is day 7 of decluttering our house.  I'm super excited about the progress of everything.  However, the rooms that aren't done are in disarray because I'm hyper focusing on only one room at a time.  If I spent my time worrying about the rooms the kids are bringing their toys into, I wouldn't get anything done.  So far I have decluttered the boys room, the girls room, my room, my closet, and the garage.  Today will be the kitchen.  My camera is being sent out for repair so please forgive all the low quality pictures.

After my 20 week ultrasound yesterday, when I got back home I got straight to work finishing my room project.  I finished around 11pm last night and collapsed into bed happily.  Literally, when I removed everything from the entire room I only put back what I wanted.  Whoaaaa, the results were amazing.  My vacuum decided to break so my mom lent me one so I can finish my projects.  My room now looks like it did when we first moved in.  

I was so frustrated because no matter how much I cleaned, it just felt sooo cluttered in my room. I never had anywhere to put my laundry.  Well, duh, it was because I had too much.  My closets were so crammed with shoes and clothing that there just was nowhere to put anything.  Between Charles and I we donated about 4 xlarge black bags of clothing.  That black long table you see in the picture is where I would have dumped all the excess clothing.  It's nice to see it cleared.

My closet was completely cleared out and between Charles and I we got rid of about 15 pairs of shoes.  I had already gone through my shoes before and gotten rid of another 20 pairs.  This time I really had to think about it to get rid of more. In reality, I only wear so many and have my favorite. Why am I holding on to the shoes that I might wear someday? 

My side of the closet was so crammed that I would have to shove just one more shirt and find a tiny miracle place to fit it.  Now, with my dresses on the left and shirts on the right, I have tons of space.  That doesn't mean I can go shopping.  :D  If I buy anything I want to take one item out. That way it doesn't slowly fill up.

My daily project that I didn't get to blog about the other day was the garage.  We cleared out all the clutter in the garage in one day. Thankfully, my husband helped me with this one.  The wall you see we had boxes and old computers lining all across it.  On the other side I had bags of kid clothes.  While my husband hauled all the heavy stuff to the garbage, I was going through the clothes and donating lots of it. Now, there are no boxes in the garage and the only thing we have is two shelves to hold auto stuff.  It's so cleared out that the kids have been riding their tricycles and scooters in there since it has so much space.  I would really like to get some carpet that I can roll out during the day and roll back up at night so we can pull our vehicles in.

So, that's been my busy life the past 6 days!  I just have to keep working till I'm completely done.  I still have the kitchen, living room, bathrooms (under counters), and backyard and then we'll be done.  That's when I'll jump for joy.  The experience has been so freeing.  Emptying out the entire room and only putting back what I want in it is hard work but actually makes it so simple to know what to let go of.

By the way, I still have a contest going on over HERE if you have a little girl.  :D

How I Cleared Out Clutter to Make Room for Fun

Today is day 5 of completely decluttering my house.  It has been so tiring because I'm working about 12 hours a day on it. Usually from 10am to 10pm.  I won't let myself stop at all except to take care of kids needs and get right back to work.  The results have been amazing!  Each day I declutter one room completely.  The boys room took two days.  

You would think that it shouldn't take anyone that long to declutter but I just didn't know how much stuff I had.  Usually it's tucked away somewhere.  The problem is it gets dragged out all over after we've already cleaned and it's like we were working in an exhausting circle.  Why not just get rid of the excess?

So yesterday was Ivy and Ashley's room to declutter.  Once again the girls and I removed every item out of their room as if we were gonna move.  I moved the furniture over to sweep, mop, and wipe down the walls.  Once the floor was clean I put the basics in their room like the dollhouse, kitchen, and bed.  Then we worked from there to decide what goes back in.  We didn't need sooo many extra blankets and pillows so we only kept 2 blankets and 2 pillows.  I let them each pick ONE stuffed animal.  They kept about four dolls total and one stroller and one kid shopping cart.  Then I put all the play dishes in the dishwasher to clean them really good. Basically, we got rid of about 2 extra large black bag fulls of excess stuff in there.  They still have a small box of toys left but its the only stuff they were really playing with so they are really happy.  Mommy's happy too.

I know it seems like stuff like that shouldn't take all day but it really is a lot of work emptying out an entire room and then going through each tiny little thing.  I had a Keep Bin, Donate Bin, and Put Away Bin all next to me while I worked.  Plus, sanitizing each room takes time.  I'm staying extremely focused and I'm not stopping all this week till each room is done.  I want my life to be about God and my family.  Not about "Mommy is cleaning all day again".  If you saw our patio right now of all the stuff we got rid of, it's shocking.  We had to make a small pathway for our dog to go through so he can go out the yard.  Yet, I'm so proud every time I look out the window and see everything that used to be in my house is going bye-bye.

Today is my room and I'm a major clothes hoarder.  I love clothes.  That has to change so I'm going in with my goggles and snorkel.  If I'm not back by tomorrow to blog, call for help.

How to Declutter a Room FAST

I've felt like I've disappeared off of computer land these last few days because of being so incredibly busy.  Last Saturday I decided it was time to stop playing around with the idea and do some real decluttering.  I'm tired of doing it little bit by little bit.  So I made a pact to do one room a day until it's done.  Yeah, I know that's a huge one to make but I just don't want to mess around with it anymore.

On Saturday I took my sister's advice and emptied out the boys room completely, as if we were moving.  I had the kids help me and we just unloaded everything into the living room.  HOLY COW they had a lot of stuff. I never, ever would have guessed they had that much stuff till it literally filled our entire living and dining room.  I also took apart the boys bunk bed since it was never that sturdy.  I threw out the full mattress and put a queen in their temporarily till we can get 2 sets of single mattress bunk beds.

We threw out all old toys and kept the best of costumes they had.  My sister said you empty out the room completely and then only put back what you want.  That advice absolutely worked for me because you start to see how you have to make some really careful decisions to keep it looking nice.  We cleared out that black shelf they had and saved the bottom half for all of Caleb's toys.  Actually, what you see in the picture is what he has now.  We put the books on the top this time so Caleb can't just pull them all out.  We also threw out all old blankets and just kept the new ones they got for Christmas.  Their room is soooooo easy to keep clean now.

This project took me about 8 hours on Saturday and then 4 hours in between church service the next day to finish up.  We were so proud and the boys were really, really happy.  After church on Sunday night I went to the hospital to visit a friend.  After being there for about an hour I decided to just spend the night there and hang out with her through the next morning.  I finally left around 10:30am on Monday morning because I knew that I needed to start another project that day.  It was garage day and we were gonna spend all day cleaning it out and getting rid of a lot.  I have had a lot of favors asked of me in the last 2 weeks but I've had to just be really choosy about them in order to keep certain commitments I've made to get my house back in order.  For the most part I've just ignored my phone because it's rang off the hook.  Sometimes you just gotta do whatever it takes to get the job done and not be distracted.  However, seeing my friend in the hospital was a necessity and I don't regret that of course.  :)

It has truly been an exhausting past two weeks but I am really excited about some changes we've made in our family for the year 2012!  That's another post for a different day.  Happy New Year!!!!

How to Get Rid of Head Lice Fast

Okay, this has been my first experience with this nightmare. Some don't feel like it's a big deal but it was for me because it kept us out of church for 3 weeks and we actually battled it for 4 weeks.  IF ONLY I knew what I know now it would've been dealt with WAAAAY faster.  So a professional came out to my house and showed me exactly how it's done.  At this point it had already been 3 weeks and I felt like I wasn't getting very far.  Also, I was taking the more expensive route.  Isn't there a better way?  The idea of washing every single clothing and bedding item in my house seemed so daunting.  Especially with this size family and all that comes with it.  So, to save you the headache, I would love to share what I learned from this wonderful angel that came to my house.  

Originally, I kept buying those lice kits and they are expensive.  There is nothing wrong with those and it's great to use to kill the bugs already hatched and crawling around.  However, you HAVE to get the eggs. Every single one of them and you can only do that with a lice comb.

$4 Amazon or at
Sally's Beauty Supply

I first bought this comb for only $4 and although it does get the eggs out, your kids won't like you very much since it pulls out some hair.  It does work though and is cheaper.  Do NOT use the combs that come in the lice kits.  They are completely worthless.

$11 Amazon

Instead I ordered this comb from Amazon for $11 and it's much more friendly to kids but not to the bugs.  You will definitely get any and all eggs out with this comb.

Wash your child's hair and then condition really good.  Don't rinse the conditioner out because this is gonna help get the eggs out when combing through.  The picture of the girl shows her hair dry but when I'm doing it, it's wet with conditioner on it.

Make sure to separate hair into sections and start right at base pulling all the way out to the ends. Wipe comb each time onto a paper towel but always on a dry spot each time.  Keep folding paper towel to wipe on new sections. When it's used up, put in a zip lock bag and cut another piece of paper towel to use.  Don't just pull comb down with each section but also sideways and back up.  Eggs can be laid in all directions of the hair and this way you are sure to get it.  Once you finish a section, pin it out of the way to start on a different section.  Take special care to look around the crown of the head, surprisingly, this is where I've found the most each day I combed through.  When you are finished, make sure all used paper towels are sealed up in a ziplock bag before throwing away.  Also, rinse and put your comb in a ziplock bag and put in freezer overnight.  Repeat this procedure every day till you find not even one egg after you've combed through hair.  Even one egg missed will become a problem so it's good to really make sure.

The first night only I bought a spray for only $5 that kills bugs on the bed or any other non-washable item. After it dried I vacuumed the beds.  Each night before they go to bed I would throw all their bedding and pillows into the dryer for 20 minutes on high heat.  After they wake up I do it again.  The reason is throughout the day they they go to their bed sometimes to rest or just play and if they do have any bugs, it can get back on the bedding.  Then repeat that night drying the bedding on high heat before they lay on it.  It kills the bugs.  I also dried all of their stuffed animals they slept with at night.

Another tip is you can fill up a spray bottle of vinegar water.  It can help loosen up the eggs and also help to prevent lice being able to lay eggs on their head.  If you get a notice from the school that lice is going around, this is a good precaution.  You can spray on their hair each morning before sending them off to school.

Don't worry about washing every single item of clothing in your house.  Lice can't live without human blood for more than 2 or 3 days.  I only worried about washing things they would come in close contact with.

I've kept my kids out of church for obvious reasons of not passing it around and it's soooo not nice to send kids to school until they are totally clear.  I hope this helps and please leave me a comment any time if you have any questions!

Crazy Middle of the Night Pregnancy Cravings

Call me desperate but last night at 1am I hopped through one of the windows to get to the chicken pen.  I needed an egg to make brownies in the middle of the night.  LOL.  Then I got out my neat brownie pan my friend got me.  She didn't like it so she passed it along to me and I love it!

Have you used one of these to make perfect cut brownies?  First you back the brownies in the pan.

Then put the divider into the pan.....

Place on top of the rack, since pan has removable plate underneath it so when you push down, the plate lifts up.  

Remove divider....

Pull pan back up and take off of rack.  Perfect cut brownies!  Now all I need to do is just buy 2 more of these so I can make more at one time.

My husband is liking my big pregnancy appetite as he has been reaping from it.  I'm hungry almost on the hour so I have to be careful how much I eat.  I'm not kidding when I say I'm eating all the way up till 1am usually.  I will even get up in the middle of the night.  I don't want to hear about weight gain right now.  Ha!  I'll worry about it when it's a good time to.  My first pregnancy I gained the most at 31lbs. I better not break that record and go above it. That's when I'll panic.  McDonalds has been my favorite but I have been known to drive right back to have the burger made just right.

The odd thing about this pregnancy is that the MOMENT I'm hungry, I have instant nausea.  The only cure is eating something.  Is that a recipe for weight gain or what??!  Holy cow. Charles said he's gonna have to get a second income just for my appetite.  Whatever works.  :D

OH, don't forget about the newest contest out right now to win an Little Angels DVD giveaway!  Just click HERE to enter by leaving a comment on that page. 

How to Make Youtube Safer in Your Home

You can make Youtube safer in your home and it's really easy.  Thank goodness because it really is an open sewer and although we have an internet filter in our home, some things on Youtube can still get through.  These pictures are big so they will be too big to fit properly on my blog but I needed you to be able to see the words better.  Here is a how to:

Step 1:  Go to www.youtube.com and scroll down to the very bottom.  See where it says Safety mode: Off?  Click on "Off".

Step 2:
Right now it is off.  Just click on "On."

Step 3:
Once you click "On" make sure to also check "Lock Safety" so it's locked every time someone goes on Youtube.  Then Save.

This is what you'll see after you save. It is important to do again on a different browser if you have other ones on your computer.

Now if anyone tries to search "naked", "nude", "porn", or related searches, this is what they will see:

This is not 100% but at least it gives a good safety measure in your home!

NOTE:  This must be done on every computer and every browser.