31 days: varying levels of progress

It was another one of those weeks, and I'm not sure why.  Part of it was that my baby wasn't sleeping very well at night, and I was pretty tired during the days.  I'll admit that I skimped a bit on some of the challenges, but not because I couldn't or didn't want to do them -- just because they weren't things that I felt needed to be done in my house.

I'd love to steam clean my carpets, but 1) I'm in a rental, 2) I'd have to rent a steam cleaner, which isn't in the budget, and 3) it's incredibly frustrating to get your carpets super-clean and then have a cat throw up on them.  That's no reason to not EVER steam clean your carpets -- but since I won't be living here forever, I'm not bothering with that right now.

I was supposed to clean and organize shelves in my bedrooms, but that's mostly been done recently as we rearranged our house in preparation for the baby.  And most of the shelves are my husband's -- but even so, they were largely taken care of in that same house rearrangement.  I did, however, finally take care of my dresser.  WOW, that was a bigger project than it should have been!  My dresser is my messy area, and I hate that because it's such a beautiful piece of furniture.  But it's where I let my stuff pile up.  It had gotten to a point where I couldn't even see the surface... and it was disgustingly dusty.  So I tackled that one day and feel amazing about it.  I am kicking myself for not taking before/after pictures; it would have been so satisfying.

I did not take the challenge to clean/organize bedroom closets.  The only one that hasn't been done recently is our master closet, and it is in need of a cleanse/purge/organize... but that will get done as I switch out my winter/summer/maternity/non-maternity clothing, which is imminent.  I always enjoy that task as the seasons change.  (Does that really come as a surprise by now?)

My favorite day was clean/organize bathroom cabinet/closet/drawers day.  (I've noticed a pattern: I love days when I'm supposed to throw things out.  It's so exhilarating!)  Sarah Mae specifically told me to throw away old/expired/unused medicines and cosmetics... which I needed.  I have a hard time throwing out things that I like and might actually use but don't really need.  This is probably because I'm cheap.  But as a result, I keep around things like hair products that I used to use when I wore a different style, lotions that aren't my favorite, medications that have expired (some since 2001 *cough*), and makeup that I don't consider "my color" anymore.  But she said to toss it, so I did!  Here are some pictures of the process (again wishing I had "before" pictures):

This is what I threw away -- and there is a LOT more than it looks like here.  I tossed an entire grocery bag's worth!

Under the sink in the utility room.  I now have a basket for oral remedies, a basket for topical meds/relief, a basket for suncare, and a few other areas (rags, knee/ankle wraps, everyday-use cleaners, and Rx).

One of my two guest bathroom cabinets -- so much SPACE!

Under the guest bathroom sink -- WHAT am I going to do with all that empty space?!

So that was a super-fun project.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting all my cabinets organized and opening up all that shelf/drawer space.  As it so happens, there is a place for everything.  And most of the time, when we shove things into the deep nooks of our homes, we're just delaying the inevitable necessity of figuring out where they should really live (9 times out of 10, in my experience, that would be the trash!).

I must admit, I've gotten lax about the Mary challenges.  I know they're important, but I just couldn't take the time to focus on that, a Martha challenge (some of which are quite time-intensive, as you can tell!), my day-to-day house upkeep, AND a baby.  I do plan to do each of the Mary challenges in depth, but for now, I've just skimmed them so that the general idea is in my mind.  I thought about just doing the Mary challenges first, but I feel SO much better about my house, even just on Day 21, that I'm glad I started with the hard work.  It will also give me something to contemplate when I do fulfill the Mary challenges later this summer.

too close to home

This week, a small city less than three hours from my house suffered the deadliest tornado in the 60-year history of tornado tracking.  Today, a town about 90 minutes away was hit and suffered serious damage.  Although I do not have friends or family living in either of these towns, I do have friends and family all over Missouri and in the path of these storms.

I remember how the country reacted when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.  Husband and I participated in my company's giving program, which generously matched employee donations.  And then our involvement consisted of hearing about the disaster on the news.  It was sad, sure -- tragic.  But it was hardly close to home.  We didn't know anyone who was affected, and we didn't live in fear of hurricanes.

This week's disasters have shaken me much more.  The landscapes shown on the news are familiar.  Sedalia is the home of our state fair, and Joplin housed the volleyball state tournaments I competed in for several years.  And today, I holed up in my basement with my family and baby, waiting for more storms to pass over right here.

As scary as it is to be in the midst of a natural disaster, I think it's good to experience once in a while.  It heightens your sense of compassion, your empathy for those who do suffer in the wake of the havoc.  And for me, it made me grateful for my safety.  Today, I came out unscathed while scores of others in my home state lost family, homes, possessions, and more.  There is no guarantee that I will always be spared a loss, but every avoidance is a victory and a blessing.

31 days: refinement of character

One of the Mary challenges last week involved thinking about a time when God refined my character through trials.  I could probably think of a lot of instances, but the most recent helpful one I have is my pregnancy.

I didn't have a super-hard or super-easy pregnancy.  I know plenty of women who have a more difficult time than I did, especially in the first trimester.  I constantly felt sick, but it was not as debilitating as it certainly could have been -- and I was blessed to be able to work part-time and/or from home during that time of morning sickness.  It was the third trimester that was the most difficult (and longest) for me.  I had constant, painful heartburn, and after about 34 weeks, I experienced relentless hip and leg pain due to the weight and position of the baby.  When I got up in the night, I could barely hobble.  Husband was gone on business anywhere from 2-5 days each week, but on nights that he was home, he spent a lot of time helping me with massage and relaxation techniques.

Although I was getting miserable, I was in no hurry to have my baby.  I had gone through Bradley classes and was prepared to wait for my baby to trigger labor -- there was no way I was going to induce unless I had to.  And HOW I got asked about that!  I had never told anyone my actual "due date," but people everywhere knew approximately (early/mid-December) when I expected to have my baby in my arms, and many of them expected that I would be taking matters into my own hands.  But Husband and I just continued to pray for Eric's health and healthy delivery, and we waited.

At one point, my mother made the comment that I was the most patient pregnant woman she'd ever known, and I was taken aback.  I'm not patient by nature.  And I didn't think of my pregnancy that way.  I was just trying to do what was best for my baby, and I was trying hard not to complain about my discomfort because 1) it didn't do any good and 2) I was practicing the methods taught in my Bradley classes to relax and manage pain.

I was almost 43 weeks pregnant when Husband and I made the decision, based on several baby health/safety factors presented to us by our midwife, to be induced.

And so, after 29 years, I finally developed the Fruit of the Spirit that largely eluded me most of my life.  I'm not always patient; there are still plenty of times when I am in a hurry or loathe the necessity of waiting.  But when it counts, I find the stores hidden in my heart, planted there when I was waiting so long for my beautiful baby boy.

product review: suave dry shampoo

When my sister was pregnant with her first baby, her hormones changed in a way that allowed her to skip washing her hair every other day.

I was super-jealous.  I was also pregnant... but I had none of that kind of luck.

But one week, during my pregnancy, I was preparing my couponing and came across a great deal on Tresemme dry shampoo and thought I'd give it a try.  I was starting to wonder how much time I could really afford to spend on my hair once I had a newborn -- and, unfortunately, every time I wash my hair, I at least have to blow dry it to avoid it constantly getting in my face and driving me crazy.  That's a lot of time when your time is so limited.

(Have I mentioned that I wish I had a different hair type and/or style?  I like the way my hair looks with my current cut, but it's kind of high-maintenance.)

So I tried the Tresemme Fresh Start products and was ridiculously disappointed.  I actually had to wash my hair around 6:00 the evening that I used the products -- that is how dirty the shampoo made my hair feel.  Hey Tresemme, that's not the point of a dry shampoo!!

[I should give credit to Tresemme: once I contacted the company, I got a full refund check.  That's always nice.  However, it did not fix the fact that I still had no dry shampoo option.  I know there are plenty of salon brands, but I just don't spend that kind of money on my hair.]

Well, after I had my baby, miracle of miracles, my own hormones rebalanced in a way that allowed me to skip washing my hair every day.  YAY!!  For the first few months, this saved me... and then the Missouri humidity started creeping in with the spring.

It was around that time that I found out Suave had an option.  Suave?!  Really??  That's so... discount.  But, faced with a summer full of wasting time dealing with my hair every single day, I figured I'd give it a try.  Target had it on sale, and I had coupons, so I got two cans (it's an aerosol) for under $4.

The week I bought the Suave dry shampoo, I had washed my hair on Tuesday morning and was therefore planning to wash it again on Thursday morning.  On Wednesday night, I thought I'd try out the shampoo, just for kicks.  I was first struck by the smell: heavily citrus, which I later recognized as grapefruit -- and it probably wasn't as strong as I thought; I'm just not a huge grapefruit-fragrance fan.  I followed the bottle directions and rubbed the spray into my roots... and was then struck by how AMAZING my hair looked and felt!  Even more amazing was the fact that, the next morning, I brushed my hair and felt like I could have skipped washing again.  (I didn't.  I don't trust anything to make me feel okay about going three days without washing my hair.  I know it too well for that!)

I've used the dry shampoo several more times now, mostly on my bangs and on the top of my head, where my hair parts.  In higher humidity, I'll admit, it doesn't hold quite as well -- but for the most part, I am super-impressed with this product.  And for the price, it absolutely cannot be beat.

I still do wash my hair every day/day and a half for the most part... but it's great to have this as a backup or when I'm not going anywhere but want my hair to feel fresher when I'm just hanging around the house. 

This is not a paid review!  I just like to inform people about products I love.  The companies should be grateful for the free advertising!

31 days: blessings of a rough week

I was super-excited about last week's Martha challenges because... well, I am a Monica, and having someone tell me to reorganize all my kitchen hidey-holes was just that thrilling.  The first day, I flung open my cabinets and started looking around them to decide what to clean out and reorder.

Hmmm.

I like my kitchen, but it has a certain appearance of disorder because of the height and depth of some of the cabinets.  Not everything fits together like I'd prefer.  My pie tins are on a different side of the oven from my cookie sheets.  The tall maple syrup bottle has to stand next to my Sam's-sized Bisquick, while my blueberry syrup nestles behind my stack of skillets.

This sets my teeth on edge, but I know where everything is.  (And Husband knows, too, for the most part!)  It's been that way for almost a year and a half now.  So as I surveyed my seeming lack of organization, I knew that, if I set to redoing everything, I would end up with the contents of my cabinets strewn across the counters... and then put back pretty much where they are now.  And that, my friends, seemed a colossal waste of time.

So instead of tackling a kitchen reorganization with relish (like I'm normally prone to do a couple of times a year), I just looked.  I moved a few things that had gotten out of place, and I tossed or used up a few pantry items that were perched precariously on their shelves.

And then I finished my Martha challenges for the week!  My upstairs windows are sparkling, and my kitchen floors are swept.  My wonderful husband has volunteered to finish the floors since I am dreadfully unskilled with a mop.

Last week was a good week for me to quasi-ignore three challenges because my baby was growing some teeth and needed a lot of attention.  And my husband was gone for four days.  It was definitely more of a "keep my head above water" week.

This week, I began with a vehement refusal to accept the challenge to wash my living room walls and dust the ceilings.  And I felt good about that, too. :)  I've been spending time on the Mary challenges and working to personalize the planner page that my sister blogged about last week; that fits with a lot of the Mary challenges and is something I've wanted to do to help myself for some time now.

So this isn't a very exciting 31 Days post, but it's an update.  It reminds me and my handful of readers that I'm still in this!  I'm not going to give up the challenge... but it's nice that I can consider some of them Already Complete!

sleep update

If I had to guess what one question new parents are asked most often, it would be "How is s/he sleeping?"  And since I still get asked that on a regular basis, I thought I would answer it here, especially since it has been such a saga.

Today is the 48th night since we Ferberized our baby.  Most nights, he is up to nurse twice -- once around 1 a.m., once around 4:30 a.m.  We put him to bed between 7:30 and 8:00, and he usually gets up around 7:15.  Those of you without children are thinking, That's still not much uninterrupted sleep!  And you're right.  But when I think about what it used to be, I feel like I've won the lottery.

Perhaps most encouraging is that, two weeks ago, Eric started waking in the morning without crying.  I hear him babbling over the baby monitor, and I have plenty of time to dress, wash my face, and use the bathroom before going into his room.  He greets me with smiles and joyful kicks.  This tells me that is he waking well-rested.

Just as encouraging is the bedtime routine.  These nights, after the last nursing, it has gotten harder to put him down, simply because I don't want to.  I rock him and sing, and he often sings along with me or just looks up at me and touches my face.  He is still smiling as I carry him over to his crib.  He giggles as I kiss his irresistibly chubby cheeks.  And he is almost always asleep within 5 minutes, after squirming around to get comfortable, playing with his sleep sack-covered toes, and sucking on his fist.

Wait... perhaps even more encouraging is that we were able to travel with him last weekend.  My sister-in-law graduated from college (yay, Connie!!), and we went to St. Louis.  He did not love the 4.5-hour car ride (who does?), but he did far better than expected.  And after we lay him down at 8:00 that night, he did not wake until 1:15 a.m.  His day and night schedules stayed absolutely intact.  When we came home, he had a couple of rough nights... and then his first tooth appeared, so I'm blaming that!  Tonight, I gave him some infant Tylenol, and I'm hoping that helps bring his night sleep back to normal, poor kid.

There are, of course, bumps in this road of sleep training.  Not every night is as predictable as I've described.  Once in a while (usually when Husband is out of town; I think baby feels the hole in our home), Eric still cries for 30-45 minutes at night.  But mostly, if he wakes outside of his schedule, he cries for a minute or less (not really waking), or he cries for 5-10 minutes and then seems to realize there is nothing to cry about and goes back to deep sleep.  On those occasions, I often watch him from the video monitor.  Contrary to what advocates against the Ferber method say, he does not cry himself to sleep.  He cries, then quiets, sucking on his fingers or playing with his feet.  And then he falls back to sleep, peacefully and without tears.

Of all the things we will teach our baby, this first thing has been so invaluable.  A well-rested family is a happy family, and we are certainly a testament to that.

[picture completely irrelevant to blog post]

31 days: continuing the kitchen

Day 3: dust tops of refrigerator and cabinets.  Clean and shine outsides of drawers and cabinets.
Day 4: clean oven and microwave, inside and out.
Day 5: clean kitchen blinds; wash window.

This week is killing me!!  Today is Thursday (Day 4, technically), and I'm trying to cram three days into this one!  (Actually, a little more than three days.  After all that awesome fridge cleaning, I actually had not done the freezer from Day 2.  It only took about 20 minutes this morning, but still -- time is precious with a short-naps baby.)

Why?  Well, these cakes took up a lot of my time Monday and Tuesday:

And yesterday afternoon/evening was Hannah's party, so that was shot (but super-fun!!).  Tomorrow, I may (or may not) be leaving to go out of town for my sister-in-law's college graduation.  So whatever I want to get done for this week will be TODAY!  Unfortunately, Eric had a rough night, and therefore so did I.  Lying on the couch and writing feels amazing.

But I deserve it!  This morning, I did the aforementioned freezer cleaning, took care of some dishes and other miscellaneous cleaning up, cleaned the top/sides of the refrigerator (gross), and finished dusting half of my cabinets.  Baby was kind enough to sit in his toddler chair and watch me do that for a while.  I think I could finish the rest of the cabinets while he naps, but right now, I'm just going to take care of me a little bit.

********

Fast-forward several hours, and I have finished Days 2-4!  Well, I'm going to run the self-clean on the oven sometime next week when it's nice out and I can open up the house, but since that takes no effort on my part, I'm counting it.  I had a Major Microwave Mishap last week that created a massive mess in the microwave and on the stovetop, so I had already done a deep clean under the burners.  That made the Day 4 stuff go more quickly.

And I only have one small window in the kitchen, so I'll knock that out tomorrow morning.  Did a quick vacuum of the house and folded a couple loads of laundry.  The hard part is not letting the rest of the day-to-day chores pile up!

Mary challenges later...

31 days: refrigerator cleaning *sigh*

I'm not going to post every day; that would get tedious for all of us.  But I'll write when I have time and there are good results to share.

Right now, I'm sitting on my couch cuddling with my little boy.  He's looking outside as I'm writing, and I love it that he's content to just be with me sometimes!  So I'll take this opportunity to tell you about Day 2.  (Day 2 was yesterday... but my priority this week has been a fabulous, two-tier, brightly colored 1st birthday cake for my niece.  That had to be baked, decorated, and cleaned up after, so I finished up Day 2 today, and I'll tackle Day 3 and Day 4 tomorrow.)

Hannah is turning 1!

Day 2: Created to Give Life
Mary challenge: think about what you can do to bring life to your home, family, and friends
Tthis is actually something I've started considering lately.  My home is where I spend about 85% of my time, so why shouldn't it be a place with life?  There are a couple of things I've decided to change.  In the past, I've used the TV a LOT for background noise.  Whenever I was home alone, I had the TV on.  It kept me company and kept me from hearing the little noises that can give you the creeps.  Recently, however, I decided to play music instead of switching on the TV.  It's been so nice!  This avoids the abrupt volume changes between program and commercial, so it's a much more peaceful background noise.  And when I actually sit down to watch TV on purpose, it's far more enjoyable.

Lighting candles is another way I give my home life.  Stuart and I decided last winter to light candles whenever we were together.  He thought they were actually giving off heat and thus helping our utilities bill a bit; I just liked the warm glow and the fragrance of fire.  Now, whenever I feel like something is just a little off in my home, or when I'm sitting down for an extended period of time, I try to remember to light a candle.

Martha challenge: clean out and scrub down the refrigerator and freezer
Really, Sarah Mae?  REALLY??  I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate cleaning out the fridge.  I never understand why it's so gross.  It's not like I just stick food in there willy-nilly; I religiously use my plastic containers or baggies and am really quite neat about how I go about it.  But somehow, I end up with crumbs, goo, and all that other ickiness that I'm sure (I hope!) you all experience.  Cleaning the fridge is a chore I always do just before a shower.  I want to get all the gross off of me.

But that was today's challenge!  I didn't throw out much (I am pretty good about not letting stuff accumulate in the fridge), but there were a few things that went in the garbage.  Mostly, this was a clean/organize mission.  Here are some before/after pics:

Main fridge area - before

During - yay, it sparkles!

After - all organized and CLEAN!

Fridge door - during

Fridge door - after

There is a scene in a Friends episode, as Monica and Chandler are opening their wedding gifts, where they are trying to decide what to do with an ugly punch bowl that can't be returned.  (He suggests returning it to the street, from the balcony; she laughs and says they'll just find a place for it.)  A man on a mission, Chandler gets up and goes over to a cabinet that he thinks would be just fine.  In typical Monica fashion, she says, "That's where we keep the canned goods!  Have you completely forgotten everything you learned at orientation?"

This always made me laugh because it sounds like me.  Sure enough, every time we have moved into a new place (or I've gotten the mad urge to re-organize), I have given Husband a kitchen orientation after I've finished unpacking my domain.  More than once, I have quoted Monica as he's asked me where to find strainers, travel mugs, or the pizza cutter.  Do I mind this?  No, not usually.  (After 6 months, though, knowing which drawer the spatulas go in would be advisable...)

However, I know that the fridge door is a place to play Tetris with condiments, salad dressings, and the other miscellaneous that ends up there.  Before today, nothing has ever had a specific place in that door... and it's always driven me nuts.  So today, after completely emptying and sanitizing all the shelves, I made some executive decisions about What Goes Where -- and I LABELED MY FRIDGE DOOR SECTIONS.

I know it seems like a silly thing, but now it will be much easier to see what kind of salad dressing we have.  And quickly grab all the ingredients I typically use for a marinade.  And pull out all the condiments for burgers.  Plus, Husband won't have to ask where things go, and when helpful guests are visiting, they can put things away without worrying that they're doing it wrong.

It's the little things.  Things like a sparkling-clean fridge, clearly labeled shelves, and a birthday cake that is done and cleaned up after.  These are the things that make me smile.  Maybe that makes me a little odd, or a little obsessive-compulsive... but it's also what makes me me!  Happy cleaning!!

P.S. Yes, I know you're dying to see pictures of this amazing birthday cake.  You'll have to wait -- the birthday girl hasn't seen it yet.  In the meantime... here's my little helper:

31 days: why clean?

I am starting Sarah Mae's "31 Days to Clean" program today.  Joyful Mothering has a revised schedule for the challenge, including only weekdays and having "weekends off."  I'd imagine it might be "weekend catch-up" for me!  This schedule works well for me because of the possibility of being out of town to visit in-laws and also because, during the weeks that my husband is away, I might need those weekends to catch up on the Martha challenges that were a struggle to finish while taking care of a baby 24 hours a day on my own.

So, since I'm following this revised schedule, today is day 1: "Why Clean?"  Today's Mary challenge (if the Mary/Martha challenge aspect doesn't make sense, read my previous post) is to identify your specific reasons for wanting a clean home.  Here goes:

1. I feel amazing when my home is clean.  I've always loved the feeling I get just before a party I'm hosting begins.  Everything is in its place, the carpets are vacuumed, candles are lit, and there is some kind of enticing aroma coming from the kitchen.  My home invites me to enjoy it, along with my guests.
2. I want my husband to have a place of refuge.  Since he does a lot of work from our home office, I want the rest of the house to feel like a haven for him.  That home office is his day job, his mess, his battleground... but I want the rest of the house, which is his "coming home at the end of the day" place, to be warm and inviting.
3. I enjoy spending uninhibited time with my baby.  When there are things to be done, I always feel that pull.  If I can keep on top of the cleaning, I can better focus on playing with my son instead of feeling like I need to be playing catch-up.
4. I want to be an impromptu hostess.  When friends are in the neighborhood, even if it's just my parents, I'd like them to be able to stop by without feeling like I need to rush around to make the house presentable.  I would much rather spend those few moments making tea or lighting some candles.
5. I work better in a clean house.  This week, I am working on a cake for my niece's first birthday.  This morning, when I began making the first batch of icing, I was reminded of how good I feel about fun kitchen projects when I have a clean space to work.  It's like having a fresh canvas.  And I messed it up but good today!  I had five cakes, two batches of icing, four decorating tips, and three piping bags strewn across the counters... but that was okay because it was the only mess in the kitchen.

So I suppose my mission statement would go something like this:  "For the sake of my peace and sanity, and for the love of my husband, I will strive to maintain a warm and inviting home.  In order for my family to come first, I must stay ahead of the clutter and mess that distracts me from the more important things.  To serve the Lord and others, I will make my home available to friends, family, and acquaintances who might need to visit or rest.  My clean home will facilitate my hobbies and happiness and those of my household."