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Thursday, March 31, 2011

21 Day Challenge - Day 2 Computer Desk and Day 3 Tupperware Cabinet


Day 2 of A bowl full of lemon's 21 Day Challenge is the Computer Desk.

The challenge only requires you to clear off and give your desk a good clean, but seeing as though I don't have a computer desk at the moment (I'm currently using my 1 year old son's chest of drawers to house my computer :) ), I thought I'd take a step further and go through the contents which would be stored in/on my computer desk if I actually had 1 :)

Here's the before pic's of my desk:



oops I didn't realise how gross my screen looked...I forgot to wipe that over...lol

And here's the after pic of the desk:


I must remember to wipe that screen :)

Here's the pile of "stuff" that I decided to go through that would be housed in/on the desk if I had one:


That big folder is the start of my House Hold Binder.

The Pooh Bear folder is all things babies, medical things, parenting things, breastfeeding things etc.

The other folders at that point in time weren't really much at all


All that paper was sorted through.

Rubbish in the bin, Recycling in Recycle bin, and the rest was put into correct folders.

The Pooh bear one is still all things babies/kids

The tiger one (I love tigers :) ) I decided to make it a recipe folder

and the blue one at the moment stores all good reading material about saving money, cleaning, organising etc.

And the sleeve is of scrap paper which I would've otherwise thrown out but I'm trying to recycle as much as I can, so now that's usually where I scribble down recipes.

I've put them all in the bigger folder for now to keep them neat.

This is my House Hold Binder, I find I usually call it my Home Management Guide. Probably because I first got the idea from Heather over at Want What You Have (such a great Blog I cannot recommend it enough), and her binder is called her Home Management Guide or HMG. I think that sounds cool :)

It's still in the making and I can't wait to get it all pretty and functioning :)

And this is what I'm left with out of that scary pile :)

Day 3 is the Tupperware Cabinet.

This was fun :)

A LOT of things went. :)

Here's how it looks:


Here's the stuff I'm very happily waving goodbye to :)
I'm very happy with the results with this challenge. I've tried to clean out this many times but end up getting fed up and putting EVERYTHING back...

Not this time:)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

21 Day Challenge - Day 1 Junk Drawer

I'm Following A Bowl Full of Lemon's 21 Day Challenge. There's a new challenge each day for 21 days.

Day 1 is the junk drawer. Here's my before pic:


Wow! I couldn't believe the junk that was in this drawer... actually, yes i can... I've got a few drawers like that...

                                       

I made a few piles.
  • Rubbish
  • Recycle
  • To be filed
  • To be put away
I started with the cards. I keep all cards which I stick into a little scrap book. I have a bit to catch up on, so at the moment, they're in a box til I get the time to catch up.

Rubbish -  in the bin

Recycling - In recycle bin

To be filed - was filed

To be put away - was put away. Apart from my daughters naming day photo frame which I've yet to get engraved.

And I'm left with this much nicer sight :)

Coming Back from Crazyness - Kitchen and Boys Bedroom

Last week I posted pictures about my boys disaster zone AKA their bedroom. I got a chance to go through it on Friday while Miss 4 and Mr 2 were at school. Here's the end result :)







I've still got to go through the stuff on top of the wardrobes. Most of it is Miss 4's from when she shared the room with Mr 2. I'm so happy with the end result. I'ts such an airy room, I just wish they'd keep it like that.. :)

As you know my husband and kids caught a cold and our bub had a pretty rough night with it Saturday night. Poor little man. He's on the mend now which is great :)

Here's the Disaster zone AKA Kitchen Sunday morning:





After a bit of TLC:



Ahh much better :)

And my dirty washing dumping area (usually we have the basket there to put dirty stuff in through out the day but not yesterday)

From this:

To this:


My very first Blog Award :)

I would like to say a very big thankyou for my lovely Blog Awards, to Peta at Great Googa Moogas and Sam at My endless to do's.
By accepting this award, I have to pass it on to 15 other Lovely Blogs that deserve this award. 
The Blogs that I am giving this award to are as follows:
  1. Want What You Have
  2. Stretching the One Income Dollar
  3. Simple Living
  4. Penniless Parenting
  5. The Radical Homemaker
  6. Cleaning out the Clutter
  7. Cranky Mum
  8. My Chaotic Home
  9. Happy Family Healthy Family
  10. A Slob Comes Clean
  11. A Little Order
  12. 3 under 4 and more
  13. Delightful Organization
  14. Domesblissity
  15. Everything has another use
Now I have to tell u seven things about me that u may not know. Here goes:

  1. When I was growing up I wanted to be a vet.
  2. I'm a thinker and it drives me insane lol...I'm always thinking, planning etc. It's good in a lot of ways, but not when my mind is buzzing at 2am :)
  3. I was married at 19 years old to my best friend and soul mate <3
  4. I have a dog and 2 cats (trying to get hubby to let me get a bunny or guinea pig "for the kids" but he aint budging lol)
  5. My Favourite Car is a Hummer... If u can call that a car...
  6. I love mangoes :)
  7. I want to learn everything there is to know about parenting, cooking, cleaning, frugality, being environmentally friendly...etc.. This is all new to me and I'm really excited to learn about it :) 

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A quick update

I haven't updated in a few days, I've been meaning to, but unfortunately my hubby and kids have all caught a cold... Bub isn't handling it to well the poor thing. He's dealing with that plus his incoming tooth :( Hopefully they'll get better soon... and not pass it on to me lol :)

I've been keeping up with my daily must do's, and on Friday I also started A Bowl Full Of Lemons 21 Day Challenge http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/ I completed Day 1's task and was all set for day 2, but unfortunately I didn't get around to it. My poor bub needed his mummy :) I have started on Day 2's task and I'm about half way thru it. I will post about that tomorrow once the husband has gone to work. I find it easier to blog when he's not around lol... I think cause he often comes in and chats to me and I forget what I'm up to :)

Well I'm off, wanna spend some time with hubby, might watch a movie :) Toodles xx

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

One Less Debt :)

We paid out 1 of our credit cards today, we couldnt be happier :) We're waiting for the payment to go thru and once that has happened we are cancelling it! We only ever used that card for interest free puchases for things we needed and wanted to keep it for just in casers, such as if the fridge goes etc, but the way we look at it, if we have it we'll use it if we don't have it we won't. If the worst does happen, there's always ebay lol. On to credit card number 2 :) YIPPEE lol


Well We didn't have to go anywhere today, thankfully, so spent the day at home. I spent most of the day with my kids. I love watching them play. I love their imaginations. They fascinate me. They're so free, happy, and full of love! I'm so thankful we made the decision for me to stay home, my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner :)


Here's my list for today:


  • made beds
  • unloaded/reloaded dishwasher
  • load of washing
  • hung washing out
  • brought it in
  • folded 2 loads of washing (I naughtily left yesterdays lol)
  • put away 2 loads of washing
  • swished and swiped bathroom
  • quick vac with hand held
  • mopped bathroom floors
  • replaced Miss 4's quilt on bed, that was still drying last night
  • cooked lunch and dinner
  • filled up big outside rubbish bin with cr*p that was on the driveway (old melamine bed, 2x highchairs (highchair bases to be in next bin pick up) and general rubbish)
  • paid of c/c WOOHOOOOO :D
  • ate 2 english toffee cones ahem, plz ignore that one lol
  • general tidy
  • cleaned kitchen, not big clean, more a tidy up
I think that is all :) I'm very pleased with todays progress esp. since most my time was with the kiddies :)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The other parts of Tuesday :)

I got up at 7am and headed off with Miss 4 in toe, to go to my antenatal appt. All went well and they are changing my date to the 3rd Sept... I personally am keeping it as 7th Sept cause that's what I'm used too lol...The 3rd is good though cause that way if I do end up going over due, it's a few less days I will have to wait :)
After antenatal I went to pathology to get some blood taken, then off to the shops for some long awaited maccas brekky, where some nice old man was so kind to buy my daughter a maccas ice cream while we were waiting in line... It was not at all expected, I told him I appreciate it but he really doesn't have to but he insisted lol. He was such a nice old man. You rarely see that these days... and it wasn't the type of freaky man trying to buy a little girl ice cream, he was genuinely giving :)
Then we went off for some shopping where we bought the new baby some clothes and a cute blanket. Off to groceries and other bits and pieces... Didn't end up going to my friends house but that's ok, we're catching up on Thursday :) can't wait! She's pregnant too, and is also having a little girl :) we're 4 weeks apart (If I go 4 weeks early like I did with my youngest, then we might even have them at the same time :) ). We were also pregnant at the same time with our 2y/o boys. We were due the same day, and they ended up being 12 days apart... I was induced 9  days early for fluid loss, and my friend was a few days over due. So we're really excited to have our boys at the same time, and now to have our girls at the same time :)
Anyways, We headed off home, gave the kids a snack, dressed the boys and brushed teeth/hair.
  • made beds
  • swished and swiped bathroom
  • stripped Miss 4's bed
  • washed her sheets
  • chucked sheets in dryer
  • emptied dryer
  • remade bed
  • tidied kitchen
  • tidied loungeroom
  • made yummmmmyyyyy roast dinner....mmmm mmmm :)
  • 2 loads in dish washer
  • put clothes away
  • tidied boys room
I think that's all for today. I've been a bit disappointed cause the past few days I've only really been able to do the bare basics... I know we've been rush rush but I want to fit more into my day... I want to get more done around the house... ahh well I'll get their one day... I hope :D

A Mum's job is SERIOUSLY never done...



My son is soo considerate... He sure likes giving me plenty of work.... lol

All those clothes were sorted and boxed into sizes...

ummm...

not anymore...

There were brand new toys and shoes which are now some how out of their packaging and scattered all over the room...



And as for this Aristocats DVD...



...say no more...

lol


Before my lovely son left me that suprise in the bedroom I was trying to tackle this

This is it a little bit later...

I haven't completely finished the kitchen ( although it surprisingly (for me) is tidyer now then that pic which was taken before dinner and I've since tidied again)

Tomorrow I want to give the kitchen a good clean...

I say want because there are 3 kids in my house all under 4.5....

I'll say no more lol

Monday, March 21, 2011

Monday...What a busy day :)

Went to Dr's this morning and he gave me a referral for an ultra sound, I rang up and got an appt for 11.30 today :), then headed straight to my mum's to pick up my little girl (she went to Tassie with my parents for the weekend) we've been missing her like crazy :) headed home to get the boys out of bed, fed, dressed etc (hubby didnt finish work til 4am poor thing). Went back to mum's to pick her up, she was coming to my ultrasound with me. Went to the ultrasound. I got in straight away n our baby was there happy and healthy on the screen :) She measured a few days smaller with an EDD of 10th Sept. I've got my first antenatal appt tomorrow so I'll see what date they give me.

She was so cute on the screen, so calm with delicate movements unlike my other 3 who were thrashing and bashing inside me lol. I think we got a thumb sucker on our hands, she had her hand up at her face, it looked like she was rubbing her eye, then sucked the thumb on her other hand then went on to hold her foot :) all real slow and gentle :) how ever she did move quite a lot lol.

I'll be 16 wks on wed, or saturday going by u/s dates and I knew it was probably too early to tell the sex but I asked the tech if she could take a peek even tho I knew it's prob too early, she had a look n goes "it's too early to give a definate answer, but let's just say there's no dangley bits or obvious boy parts." well that pretty much confirmed it for me lol. I know there's still a chance dangley bits may appear in the next few weeks until my next scan, but for now she's a girl :) :) lol. We're sooo happy, my husband is OVER the moon, he wanted a lil girl (we both were happy either way but were wishing team pink :) :) )

So after the u/s mum came back to mine for a bit and we had a chat. I dropped her back off at her house, and headed back home.

Then it was lunchtime so I fed the tribe and went on to do my daily "must do's"




  • 2 loads of washing
  • loaded/unloaded dryer (about to go chuck the other load in)
  • made all beds, although I was late with making mine, very late, but I'm not feeling bad cause I didn't give my self a deadline, like it had to be done in the morning, I'm happy AS LONG as it gets done lol...
  • did not cook dinner, had left over soup
  • unloaded/loaded dishwasher
  • (can't remember if i did a quick vac... I dont think I did....oops lol)
  • folded a load of washing
  • swished and swiped bathroom
  • emptied recycling
  • emptied rubbish bins
  • emptied compost bin
  • installed other baby seat in car, my daughters one I accidently left in my husbands car
  • brought in mail
  • procrastinated

I can't remember if/what else I did lol... I did go back down mum's she watched my kids while I went off to get the u/s results, then I went to the shops to get some medicine, then back to  mums :) we stayed there for a bit, chilled out. The kids run a muck and had a ball with there cousin :) I had a long needed can of coke...I love my coke....lol that doesn't sound too good at all...I think I'll rephrase that...I love my COCA COLA...lol oh yeh in between all that my brother and his fiance came up for a visit. I went back home had dinner washed the kids put them to bed, and now I'm relaxing a bit :)

Overall a very chaotic day lol


Here's a pic of our lil princess :)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

I'm loving this rainy weekend :)

The past couple of days have been nice and rainy :) usually I hate rainy weather cause I love the sunny summer weather,  I LOVE the beach. But with this pregnancy I just couldn't handle the heat throughout summer, so I'm more than welcoming this nice change :)

Like yesterday, we didn't really get up to anything. We stayed home and had a quiet one. Hubby got home a lot earlier than expected (I thought I wouldn't be seeing him til at least 5am lol) but he came home at 1.40am... I was rather shocked lol... He had a good night which was great to hear.

We got up about 8.30am, earlier then yesterday but still later then we'd like... but hey, this weather is snuggle up in bed weather... :D We did the usual brekky, dress, teeth, hair etc with the boys (our daughter will be home tomorrow we can't wait). Let them have play time then we got dressed teeth etc.

So today we:

  • made the beds
  • swished and swiped the bathroom
  • rounded up all the dirty washing (hubbys pile was a load on its own.. he has so many partly warns but then leaves them on the floor which end up in the wash lol)
  • put a load of washing on
  • emptied the dryer/put new load in dryer (since Monday last week we haven't had a washing line cause we excavated our back yard and haven't quite finished so haven't been able to install one. I'm using a mixture of the dryer and drying racks for now until hubby can put some line up in the garage)
  • folded 2 loads of washing
  • unloaded and reloaded dishwasher - twice
  • quick vac with hand held
  • tidied half the main bedroom (other half is mainly paper work needing to be sorted and filed)
  • had dinner in the slow cooker  (meat n veg) :)
  • and finally, FINALLY finished off some craft I've been wanting to do for literally yrs lol

    Hubby put on another movie while the boys had their nap but we both ended up falling asleep aswell
Here's our dinner which my brother thought was dog food while he sat there eating his Domino's pizza lol. He turned me off my food after eating the slice of pizza, I wanted pizza sooo bad. But I had my dinner and it was sooo yummy I went back for round 2 lol :)

Here's my craft I did today:

I bought these pots about 3 years ago. They were plain white and quite plain looking. I wanted to add a kind of sandy look to them, cause as u know I love the beach and we're aiming for a beachy feel to our house. So I painted them up and popped them on my over toilet storage thingy. Here they are :)

I also bought these boxes a few yrs ago, with intentions of painting them up and maybe attatching a shell to the inside of the boxes in a 3D kind of affect.. Haven't quite got that far yet but here they are before I painted them

And after, painted in a wash  :)

I'm pretty happy with the end result. I've been procrastinating for years and finally I've made a start :) Please excuse my pregnant belly down the bottom...its starting to get in the way lol



Saturday, March 19, 2011

Pretty happy with today but missing my Girl

My Mum, Dad and my sister have taken my daughter and nephew to Tassie for the weekend. They left very early this morning so my lil girl had a sleep over at nanny's last night. They fly in late tomorrow night so will be staying at nanny's again and we won't see her til Monday. I'm a bit upset cause I have never let her be away from me this long and this far before, but I know she's safe and having a good time which makes me happy :)


So today was a pretty lazy day, hubby got some extra work from my brother so off he went, and I stayed with our 2 boys. It was a rainy day so I naughtily slept in til 9.20 am eeek lol. I'm not really a morning person and the past few weeks I've been trying to change that and get up early but today I slipped up lol. I felt terrible, but I guess I needed it. Usually on a day like this not much would get done and honestly my boys probably would've stayed in pj's, but as I'm trying to change our ways, I got them straight up, gave them both their brekky, dressed them, brushed teeth, hair etc then let them watch telly while I went off to do my daily "must do's" :)


  •  made all the beds
  • swished and swiped the bathroom
  • unloaded and loaded the dishwasher (with help from Mr 2.5 :) )
  • put a load of washing on
  • unloaded the dryer
  • folded up washing
  • put all washing away inc the day befores
  • quick vac under kids table
  • quick straighten up of the boys room, kitchen and loungeroom
I'm really pleased with the progress. Usually I'd run around like a chook with no head trying to clean everything at once, but that never worked and I'd always give up. I decided to give baby steps a go and it is definately working :) :)

Hubby came home around lunch time, we ate lunch then watched movies and played blocks with the boys until it was time for him to head off. Such a nice relaxing day but still got my "must do's" done :D YIPPEE

Hubby made my day the other day when he came home and said I did really well with the house and that he can notice such an improvement :) It was so good to hear that cause my hubby is a really great guy and understands I've had a rough trot recently with morning sickness, and some other things (I'll probably post more about them later). So he never really says anything about the house being a mess, he'd try and help out the best he can. He's gone for a night out with his mates tonight as a farewell to a mate who will be over seas for a yr. He deserves it, he works so hard, so I hope he has a good time :)

Starting Fresh

My Hubby and I welcomed our 3rd bub, a little boy in Jan of last yr (2010). We decided I would take as long as possible off work, not only to spend as much time as possible with our 3 children, but to try and gain control of our finances, home, family etc etc.

Having worked pretty much Full Time for the last 6 yrs, I was finding it hard to adjust to the SAHM role (as much as I was enjoying it) and this is where I stumbled across the world of blogging and found tonnes of information perfect for a mum of a crazy household... perfect for me lol :)

I had all intentions of returing to work outside the home, but after following many blogs, most of which were written by SAHM's, I started wondering if it was at all possible for me to become a SAHM... Could we afford it? Would I be able to cope? Is this the right decision for the family...?? So many questions were running thru my head, and as it turned out, with some adjustments we can afford it, it's VERY tight but we're getting by :) I'm happy to say I am coping, a lot better then I thought and YES it is definately the right decision for our family :). I resigned in Feb 2011.

The one thing that stands out with our decision for me to stay home is the happiness within the family. I even notice it in my young children (not so much the baby cause he's still so little) but the older 2 hated me going to work and they were always so rushed...I'd go to work in the am, hubby started in the pm so he'd drop the kids off at nanny's (my mum), I'd pick them up around 4ish, take them home cook dinner...no wait usually order take away (tsk tsk lol), eat dinner, baths, bed... There wasnt much time to spend with them and if there was, I was so tired and grumpy. The house was a mess, the washing was overflowing, every one was grumpy, mummy and daddy were tired...

Things are soo much different now and honestly I have absolutely NO idea how we coped and i don't wanna go back there for a long while lol :)

This blog is to help me on my journey to regain order in our lives. Our finances, the house, our family, all need a lot of work and even though we've seen major improvements since I've been home, there's still a looooooooooong way to go :) Baby step by baby step I hope to have an organised house, perfect happy kids and not as much debt.... well no debt will be nice lol