Category Archives: Housekeeping

Cochlear implant, Coffee, Housekeeping, Kids

Field trips, coffee, surgery…

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Well, I never did blog about those cookies, did I? Maybe next time. I have a lot on my mind this week.

I accompanied my son and his class on a field trip to an indoor aquarium. We rode a charter bus, and Luke discovered that the on-board restroom is not as glamorous as it sounds. The aquarium was located in a large shopping mall, and since our bus let us off at the wrong entrance, we were able to scurry past all the wonderful-looking shops on our way. Luke seemed to enjoy the aquarium. There were a lot of neat things to see – jellyfish, stingrays, turtles, etc – and Luke enjoyed it all, but he made a point to tell me that his favorite part of the day was spending it with me. My favorite was hanging out with him too, and that just melts my heart to hear it from him. Oh, but my second favorite part was finding a Tim Horton’s right there inside the mall! I had not had time to make coffee that morning, so that was the icing on the cake for me 🙂

That was Monday, and I can’t remember what’s happened since. Mostly soccer games, doing laundry, walking to the bus stop, and a little eating and sleeping in between. I’ve been feeling like I have to stay “caught up” because I’m going to be out of commission for a bit. Why, you ask? Because tomorrow I am having surgery to get my 2nd cochlear implant installed, that’s why! And this time I’m pretty sure it’s for real. The UTI that prevented me from having surgery last month is gone, and I had the lab test done last week to be sure. So today is a day of making sure the floors are clean and the laundry is caught up and then I’ll be packing for tomorrow.

Wish me luck, pray for me, send soft cookies, whatever! I’ll be back in due time.

Coffee, Housekeeping, Kids, Piper

The Calm

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I forget, is it the calm before the storm, or after? Or is it both? I think I’m in the middle. It’s Friday, and I do have shtuff to do, but I’m utterly spent. Natalie is in her pajamas, watching SpongeBob, Luke is at a friend’s house for the day, Piper is napping on the rug, and I am showered and shipping coffee. And blogging of course. Floors need sweeping, but they will just have to wait. Momma is resting her weary bones. Happy Friday to you all 🙂

Coffee, Domestic Engineer, Family, Food, Friends, Housekeeping, Piper, Writing

My Comfy Writing Spot

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Not sure what to write about, but I’m in my little comfy spot in the kitchen. In the corner next to the window, surrounded by shelves and with Piper puppy sleeping peacefully in her crate at my feet. And hot coffee at the ready, of course.

The exciting point of my day may be when the mail is delivered, but probably not. I already received what I was waiting for, which is the Spec-Tran approval I blogged about last night.

When I’m bored like this it’s nice to goof around on Facebook. A friend announced she found the best granola, so of course that sparked a lengthy comment thread. The food posts always do.

This has been a wonderfully uneventful week so far, which I much appreciate after last week. Last week was brutal. All the sickness and the cold. Kids home for the better part of the week, which I should love, but.. I was (am) feeling pretty fatigued. And throw a four-month old puppy into the mix? Just a little more than I can handle. And now hubby sounds like he is developing what we all had. That was inevitable, I suppose.

So when life has slowed down what do I do? I nap, first and foremost, but then when I feel mostly rested I clean. Dishes, laundry, floors, etc. It’s all never-ending. Meaning you are never “done” with laundry or dishes or cleaning floors. These are things that are constantly in progress.  Once I realized that fully, I stopped putting them on my to-do-list. It seemed silly to keep crossing them off only to put them back on again. So now my to-do list consists of more irregular things like paying bills and clipping my toenails.

I would really like to get back to writing that book. The process (which honestly hadn’t really begun) got halted when we all fell ill. And now I need to get back at it. To be honest, I feel extremely inadequate at this whole book-writing-thing. Am I even doing it right? I’m just writing, hoping it turns into something I can have published so that people can read it. But publishing, well that’s a road I have not traveled and have no clue how to find. Yet. Let’s write the book first. And this corner spot in my kitchen is the perfect place for it.  As long as Piper complies, I could make this a daily ritual. Sitting here, sipping my coffee, tapping away at the keys. That sounds like a Happy Place if you ask me.

Now, enough rambling for me. I will let you go. I have words to write!

Family, Holidailies 2014, Housekeeping, Piper

Forced relaxation

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I know, that’s sort of an oxymoron. Let me explain.

Within the past year of changes and adjustments, you could say I had grown a bit obsessive, perhaps even compulsive, about keeping our house clean and clutter-free. Which is nice, but is not without some underlying stress. Because when that order is disrupted in any way, Momma has been known to blow a gasket. So I had been working hard at not blowing gaskets, and it wasn’t really working all that well. Because the pressure is always still there, building and growing under the surface. Holding it all in proves to be very exhausting.

But now we have this puppy. This puppy that I wanted, and am determined to love the way she deserves to be loved. But this puppy is, as puppies typically are, a handful. Piper is actually rather laid back, probably more so than your typical puppy, but she still loves to chew and she is not yet potty trained. So she requires nearly constant attention. And that interferes with my previously established housekeeping routines. Which is hard for me to accept, but I have not once forgotten that having a puppy was something I chose. I signed up for this, and I am determined to make it work.

I’ve been walking around full of anxiety since we brought her home on Sunday, afraid of what would happen if she pooped in the house. Do you know she pooped in the hallway this morning and the house did not come crashing down? In fact, my vision of feces smeared all over the walls and floors – and who knows what else – did not become a reality. Everything was okay. If she poops, she poops. Clean it up and move on.

See, each new day gets a smidge better, for two reasons. One, she is learning what is acceptable here in her new home. Two, I am becoming more comfortable with imperfection. That’s a big one for me, because I thought I WAS comfortable with imperfection, but what I’ve seen of myself these past few days is that it was all a lie. It was only true on the surface. Deep down I still craved perfection, and was deeply unnerved when I didn’t have it.

That deep unnerving, that inner irritation, the precursor to every blown gasket, is slow torture, and it does no one any good. It makes for a miserable me, and then I end up taking it out on my family. They don’t deserve the miserable me. The tense, wound up, nagging woman has to go. I want my house  to be a peaceful place  to come home to. This new adjustment, this life with a new puppy, is forcing me to be okay with a little imperfection. Thanks to Piper, I think we’re headed in the right direction.

Family, Housekeeping, Kids, Movies

Movie night for the win

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I had a crazy busy day, and now the house is a disaster. Well, a disaster in the same way last week’s thunderstorm was a hurricane. There are still traces from last night’s dinner in the kitchen, floors have attracted various debris from the weather outside, and laundry is, well, always in progress. But I was home alone with the kids tonight, and I didn’t want to spend it cleaning. I wanted to spend it with them. So I did. We snacked and talked and then we snuggled up on the couch and watched Toy Story 2, right up to the very end. I can’t remember the last time we’ve all watched a movie from start to finish with no interruptions, and with no electronics stealing our attention. It was beautiful.

And now they are in bed, well past each of their bedtimes, and I sit. Writing and reading. Not cleaning the house out of some neurotic obsession. I think that’s a good sign, right? That I’m not TOO obsessive? That I can draw a line somewhere, and be realistic about what matters and what doesn’t? After all, (paraphrased from the best movie quote of the night) “I can’t stop [them] from growing up, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

God speaks, Housekeeping, Motherhood

Hospitableness

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One thing I am learning (albeit slowly and perhaps reluctantly) is that when God wants to get a message to me, He will use repetition. So when I come across the same message two days in a row, I start to take it to heart.

Yesterday at church our pastor talked a lot about hospitality and making others feel welcome. He gave a great example, reading the Bible story of Levi, the tax collector. Levi was so excited to meet Jesus that he immediately left his post and followed him. Then, he threw a party to gather all of his fellow tax collectors so they could meet Jesus too.

I was touched by this story, because lately I’ve been feeling a stirring in my heart and wishing I was more like this. More open and inviting, more courageous when it comes to sharing with others how amazing it is to know and interact with my Lord (not to be selfish, He can be yours too, of course).

And then we went home and got tangled up in the crazy busyness of life. Again. But God, being so gracious, brought me back to this lesson first thing this morning. As I sat down to drink my coffee and read my daily Scriptures, I caught the subject of my daily Upper Room Devotional email: “Welcome a Stranger”.

Sometimes these sorts of things are pure coincidence, or maybe just a case of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, but I like to think of them as reminders from God.

I am certainly not the most hospitable person you know. It is not my gifting. However, in the past 12 months I have found myself thrust into a new life. I never thought I could enjoy staying at home, but I am embracing it. So far this new role has included housecleaning, cooking, keeping track of kids and their schoolwork, and scheduling. I believe all of it is important, and am determined to give it my 100% effort. And I suppose if God is trying to tell me we can add some hospitality to the mix, I’m all ears (pun intended).

Cochlear implant, Deafness, Housekeeping

Productive days and support groups

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Occasionally I have days where I feel like I totally kicked ass. Yesterday was one of those. At 10:51 *AM* I was Skyping my mom to brag about all the stuff I had already accomplished: read my daily Scripture, wrote the meal plan and grocery list for the week, cleaned toilets, bathroom sinks and mirrors, walked for ten minutes on the treadmill, updated my Cozi calendar with the kids’ school calendar, and I showered.

So when my husband dropped my daughter off after noon (half days all week, to ease the kindergartners into school, I suppose), I was ready. Of course, we only had an hour or so to relax because the rest of the day was a blur. I had a follow up appointment with my neuro-ophthalmologist in the afternoon, then we picked up our son from Grandpa’s house, then came home to quickly eat dinner, then Mike and the kids dropped me off at my HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America) meeting while they went grocery shopping.

Neuro-op visit went well. They tested my eyes again, and found that my right eye is a little worse, but my left eye is a little better. I guess that means I’m even. They used the word “stable” which is much better than “going blind”, so I’ll take it. I don’t know why going blind scares me so much. I know people who are blind, some from birth, and they are otherwise healthy and happy. It certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would only be the end of my world, if I let it be. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. IF we get to it. At this point I guess it doesn’t look like I’m headed there anytime soon. Thank you, Jesus 🙂

The HLAA meeting was wonderful. It’s the start of a new fiscal year for them (the local chapter, at least), so they kicked it off with an “open mic” night. I was excited to go, because I went to the last meeting in June, and to a dinner with the group in July, and already I feel like we are family. Last night was our opportunity to share our hearing loss stories with each other. It was refreshing to hear about other’s journeys, and was nice to be able to share mine as well. It’s amazing how different we all are, in general and in how we came to be deaf or hard of hearing, and yet we have a common understanding and can easily relate to one another. The group ranges in age and background. Some are lipreaders, some know ASL, some have hearing aids, and some have cochlear implants (some even have both!). Some have been deaf since birth, yet some, like me, have only been deaf a short time. Yet when I say being deaf sometimes makes me feel isolated, they all nod their heads in agreement. Because they have been there too.

All in all, it was a good day. Today I was reminded of where I have been, what I have come through, and the amazing gifts I have been given. Hallelujah.

Housekeeping

Obnoxiously Obsessive

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I love alliteration, don’t you?

So. In my quest to find meaning and purpose in my new daily life as a homemaker, I seem to have become a tad obsessive about keeping the house clean. And not in the way you may be imagining. If you are picturing me in my sweatpants, scrubbing and swishing surfaces (more alliteration, hehe) every spare minute of the day, you would be off the mark. But probably only slightly. Probably.

I clean up after myself (9 times out of 10, I would say). I wash my face on a very consistent basis. I remind the kids continually to put their toys and dirty clothes away before moving on to the next activity. I keep my flowers watered daily. I fold our clothes and put them away. I wipe down the table and counters. But here’s the kicker: I cannot comfortably go to bed at night if there are dirty dishes in the sink. Sometimes I try, but I usually end up getting back out of bed to get it done. I even wash the coffee pot so I can refill it and set the timer to brew the next morning (this small task is crucial to my morning mood).

I recently downloaded an app on my Kindle – Motivated Moms – that creates a daily to-do list. You can customize it as needed (as far as the free version will allow), but I have found that the list provided is pretty useful for me. It even reminds me to read Scripture each day, which I was doing anyway, but it’s nice to be able to check the box 🙂 There are other items on there I don’t usually track, like changing out the hand towels, or cleaning out my purse. I think the daily bathroom sink wiping is the best one. Super easy, and very motivating. I hadn’t really realized how yucky it gets with all four of us spitting into it each day. It always feels better to have it cleaned, and I’m using up the baby wipes we still had leftover from when Natalie was in diapers (years ago!).

There are other tasks that are not daily, but yet still should be done on a regular basis, like dusting, cleaning windows, and mopping. Those first two rarely cross my mind, but mopping I do almost weekly. And this is where the obsession takes on a whole new level. I hate sweeping and mopping. Two reasons: The first being that it hurts my back and exhausts me. The second reason is that I am completely disgusted by our brooms. They are filthy. I know I am not alone here. If you have a standard broom and dustpan, yours is filthy too. Unless you clean it, which I highly doubt.

I can deal with the back pain and exhaustion, but the filth needs to be dealt with. I recently learned about the magic of microfiber at a Norwex home party. This stuff is incredibly effective, easy to use, easy to clean, and horribly expensive. I will likely buy something small from the catalog, but I can’t bear to spring $100 on the mop system I was drooling over. So, in my quest for domestic perfection, efficiency, and frugality, I did some research. I found e-cloth, which is pretty darn identical in almost all aspects. The biggest difference is that it is almost half the cost. I’ll buy that. As soon as the next payday rolls around.

So now we wait. Using up the last of the disposable Swiffer mop pads in the meantime. Ugh. It’s almost all I can think about lately. It’s pathetic, really. I say obnoxiously obsessive, but I fear it’s becoming the other way around. Obsessively obnoxious. Oh, oh, okay, but the floors will be so clean and shiny! (See what I did there? 😉 )

Either I am going nuts, or… nah, I got nuthin’. Nuts it is!

Housekeeping, Kids
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Somehow I went from having no worries about tomorrow, to worrying about today. Argh. Sometimes I drive myself crazy.

I really want to teach my kids good habits, like being polite and cleaning up after themselves. But in order to do that, I need to 1) Be consistent and 2) Remember I’m the one in charge. I think my son knows that I enjoy having him home and that I want to give him good things, and he sometimes uses that to his advantage. And my daughter is just young and strong-willed.

So tomorrow we are starting a new day, with a new resolve to be consistent with my expectations and remember that I have the final say. No snacking on junk unless we have eaten a good, healthy meal. No “screen” time until our latest mess is cleaned up. And maybe others, but we’ll start small so we can focus on making those things habit.

What do you think? Any suggestions? Do your kids struggle with manners or keeping their rooms and other play areas tidy? I am all ears, so if you have any tips or suggestions on this subject, please share!