My Sweet Grandma: Knee Update!

This is a picture from our recent trip to Kansas of my sweet Grandma. She recently (on Monday) had a knee transplant and it really doing quite well (for being 80). I think the plan is to move her to a more local hospital on Saturday for more therapy and the attempt a move home.

She is an amazing worker, gardener, Grandmother, Christian woman, and cook! My life has been blessed beyond measure to know and to be grand-mothered by this sweet and giving person.

Would you please pray for a very quick recovery for her?

Here she is feeding Abigail in May on our trip!

I wish I could be out there to do what I can to help out, but I'm not. So, I'll do what I can, and for right now, that is pray!

Works for Me

I suppose I ought to participate in Works For Me Wednesday or another fun blog Theme day like that but to be honest, I don't have a lot of tips and I don't have a lot that works for me, until now. I think I have finally found a cleaning schedule that is do-able with my current life that keeps my home in a mild state of cleanliness. Here it is:


Daily Chores: Unload Dishwasher, Reload Dishwasher, Wipe Counters, Feed the Dog, Pick Up Toys, Water Plants, Run 1 load Laundry, Fold 1 load Laundry.

Each person has their own designated chores. Ok, so they are all mine (right now) except the Dog Feeding (Andrew) and toy pick up (Abigail - who does a remarkably good job). Andrew did do the dishwasher loading and unloading and it was a huge help! Thanks, honey!!

When Abigail gets a bit older I will start by adding folding clothes and towels to her chore list as well as helping to unload the dishwasher when she can be trusted not to drop and break things! She is currently a very joyful helper when we ask so I really smother on the praise and will hope that this continues! She also is our thrower-awayer. She will throw away anything you want her too! :)

Ok. Weekly Chores:

Monday: Kitchen Clean (Floors, Sink, Declutter - paper trash and bills, Clean out Dish drain).

Tuesday: Dust, Declutter, and Sweep Laundry and Mud Room. Dust and Declutter Living room.

Wednesday: Clean both bathrooms (mirror, sink, counter, floors toilet), take out all trash (our trash night is Wednesday).

Thursday: Mow and Clean out car. (Andrew already mowed some Wednesday, so my Thursday night duties will be quite light. Yeah yeah yeah!).

Friday: Bedroom Clean (Dust, Declutter). Vacuum all carpeted areas.

Saturday: Weed Eat (Andrew only).

There are still some modifications that need to be made. I then go on to have monthly chores, which I won't list all here, unless specifically requested. For example I have clean oven and microwave, clean out fridge (like sanitize and wipe shelves. I throw away food more often), vacuum out cars, etc.

I have some yearly chores too but they are just now taking shape. A few things that need done more often are moping the hardwood floors but that is so time consuming and I'm trying to be very realistic. I'm not going to have time to do that every single week, even though it needs it.

I realize that things probably need cleaned more often than this but I am the kind of person who has a hard time being motivated to do something if I can't get it all done. This is working very well for me since I seem to be able to do most everything in about an hour to and hour 1/2 each evening. That's usually all the free time I have! I also am not including gardening time, although my garden is in a very sorry weedy state right now. Oh well, at least things are growing!

That's all for now. Does anyone else have a cleaning system that is working?

P.S. I used to do Flylady - prebaby - but with baby, work, etc, it was just too much to clean my sink every night, and wipe down cabinets every week - even though they probably need it!

P.P.S. Baby #2 has been very active today and tonight. . . . like all day!

Warning: Whining Ahead

I realize that the majority of you reading this blog already know what I'm about to post. Kids, babies, children (your own anyway) are the most amazing blessing you will ever receive but at the same time can be the biggest challenge you will ever face as well.

Exhibit A:





Abigail simply cannot stand it if I'm in the kitchen. I have my own psychological theory about this (although I'm not a psychologist). I think that she is just starved for some mommy time and I usually make dinner right when I get home from work. It doesn't take me long and it isn't anything fancy but if she won't let me cook, what will we eat?! She's hungry too (believe me!).

I intentionally sit with her and feed her supper, and have lots of quality reading and play time after supper. I also give her a bath, read lots of books, rocking, and prayer time before bed but it's still not enough. Oh how I miss being with my baby girl (most of the time).

Our 4th Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. Andrew and I were able to slip away on Friday and see a movie together (thanks Anne!) and then on Saturday we had a wonderful day filled with a parade, picnic, and party at Andrew's sister's apartment. I headed home early from that due to Abigail's extreme tiredness! :) I got to see a few fireworks in my own neighborhood, so that was fine with me.

Here is a picture of our little fire cracker on the 4th.


I took this picture of her at the parade. She liked it for the most part, except for the loud sirens. The parade started out with a bang by having the fire trucks and ambulance have to leave and make an actual call. I think it was those initial sirens that scared her.

Happy 3rd!

Andrew has the day off today. Yeah! He is currently at the chiropractor's office getting worked on. I got the WHOLE yard mowed last night, dishes done, laundry started, bathrooms cleaned, so I'm ready to do a little R&R.

Here are a few sweet pictures from Sunday.

Beautiful dress from Aunt Jenny.

Absence

I did not really intend to be absent for so long. I guess I needed a break. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?!

Abigail and I are definitely on the mend. We just have slight coughs. I hope we're 100% by the 4th. I now wonder if perhaps my husband has picked up this little cold. However, when I asked him this morning after he sneezed if he was getting the cold he said, "we'll see". Argh! He's so weird and only saying that to annoy me. Enough said!

Tonight will be filled with much of the same. On my to-do list is weeding the garden, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, kitchen clean up. However, the thing I may really need to do is mow the grass. Andrew did it last time but I think it set him back in his back recovery so I'm going to try to do it this week.

And, I'll leave you with a few sweet pictures - cause I'm nice like that! :)

She looked so old sleeping like this. She loves sleeping with the pillow that Aunt Cindy got her (way before she was born). She's been using it like a body pillow and it is so cute!

Picture from Monday. She kept those sun glasses on for such a long time. Please ignore my car mess. It is on the long never-ending list of things that I need to clean.

Another Monday

It's Monday and . . . I miss my girl (and husband, of course).

I did, somehow, manage to pass my cold along to her. She woke up with dried snot (sorry!) all over her sweet face. Thankfully, my cold seems to have been pretty mild and I'm already feeling much better. I could have been all that stinkin vitamin C that I took, though. She slept through the night, so we'll see what this week holds. Andrew seems to be fine, except his back, of course, which is still painful. He did manage to mow this weekend, since I was out of commission!

Dewey has recovered, thankfully. If it's not one of us, it's another. Seriously! He was gobbling up his food last night, racing around the house, and managed to jump on our bed. I guess his pain went away or his passed whatever was ailing him. I'm glad I don't have to worry about more vet visits with him!

And to set your Monday off on a good foot, here is an adorable (in my opinion) video of my Question and Answer session with Abigail last Thursday on the way to the babysitters on what she did that morning with her Grandma and Grandpa. I have played the video several times for her and she always repeats the answers along with her video self and they are always the same. So cute!