Nesting

37 weeks today!

I. CAN'T. WAIT. TO. HAVE. THIS. BABY!!!!!

I get to a stage in my pregnancies where I am just DONE!

It happens earlier and earlier each one. 

With my first it didn't really happen, I went into labor 2 days before his due date it as all good

My second I was on modified bed rest so I was done about 3 weeks before his due date and he came a week early! Thank you son

This pregnancy I have been DONE for about 5 weeks! Chasing 2 toddlers will do that to you. Of course I can't have him that early, I love my midwife and birth center and I have to be 37 weeks to deliver there. 

SO

Today is the day! I am in the safe zone and I want him OUT! I am tempted to "run" sprints, take flights of stairs 2 at a time, have spicy food for every meal, have * you know what* every evening, 

Pinterest

Basically all the things that could bring on labor! 

However I have this list. The Nesting List that needs to be done. Let me indulge you on the insanity I want done!

• Vacuum/clean out my SUV
• Install infant car-seat and put snap-n-go in the trunk 
• Pack my bag and baby's bag for the Birth Center
• Buy more diapers 
• Wash remaining baby clothes
• Send emails to my friend Andrea for the Care Calendar ( SO excited about not cooking!)
• Arrange for my 2 hours of house cleaning (Baby shower gift)
• Hang picture collage over my couch 
• Make a clothespin chandler from Young House Love
• Make Goodwill, Kid to Kid, Half Price Books and Clothes Mentor drop offs

So I understand that a few of those items I have NOTHING to do with the baby! But I want to bring him home to a cute house and I am sick of bare walls and boring fixtures! So I am off to the Dollar Tree and Home Depot to get the supplies! 

What do/did you want done when nest?

31 Days of Clean: the Reboot

I am joining Sarah Mae's June Challenge to 30 days of clean the Reboot!

And I need a reboot BADLY!

My whole house isn't out of control after all I did day I was more of a Martha type.
However I have about three areas of my home that are a

DISASTER!!! 

If my font would go bigger I'd make it so. 

Now I am going to show you my three areas

Area 1. The breakfast nook

Our nook is literally that a nook. 

A table for 4 would NEVER fit in this space

So it is our catch all area. Here is my desk. Notice all the clear space on top!

NOT!!! 

Yes this is piles of paper that I need to keep 

but haven't found (made time to find) a system that works for me

This is the other side of the 'nook', notice several things that don't belong?

Let me name them; bassinet, magazine rack leaning on the wall vs hanging on the wall, chair cushion, multiple bags not on hooks. Need I say more!

Area 2. My hall closet/hubs closet

So this is the catch all closet,

 in a sec you will see my bedroom closet which will explain why my dear hubs has to have his clothes here and not in our bedroom closet. 

Area 3. My bedroom closet

OK, you know I love you because I am showing you the messiest areas of my house.
No judgement!
So yes it is TINY! Thats what happens when you live in a 2bed/1bath house build in the 60's
very few closets that are SMALL. What's a girl to do?

And because one picture isn't enough to show you the disaster here are 2 more

Yes, yes I know it's bad, but that's what this month is for!

Well now that I have purged my mess out for the whole world so see, keep checking back this month for updated in the Cleaning!

     

3 Ways Planning Helps with Homemaking

 Planing!

This touches every aspect of the homemaking. Activities, dinners and grocery shopping. Here are a few ways I handle each of these:

Activities:

This category isn’t too big in our home yet; with two toddlers there aren’t many activities going on for them. But I am a VERY social person and so at the beginning of the month I get all my event calendars together, MOPS, Building Blocks, Bible Study and play dates and block those times off. I am big on doing two big things on the same day. So if two events fall on the same day I pick one, sometimes that decision is hard but the repercussions of me over-extending myself and doing to much is harder on me and my family. 

Dinner/ Grocery Shopping

I like to plan my weekly meals on Sunday evening.  I like to add new meals in from time to time. Who wants to eat the same thing for every meal. Variety is the spice of life after all! When I do my planning I include at least 3 breakfast, 3 lunches, 2 snacks and 3 dinners. So that means there will be repeats of at least 2 different meals. Just incase you are wondering what we are eating this week here it is

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats

Eggs {scrambled, fried or omelets}

Waffles

Lunch

Tuna Salad

Chicken Salad

Chef salad

Lettuce Wraps

Dinner:

Taco Soup {out of the freezer}

Spaghetti

Breakfast for dinner

Snacks

Hummus and bell pepper

Nuts and fruit

Toast with nut butter and banana

So nothing that is rocket science. I’m not gourmet chef but my family likes it!  

Another aspect of meal planning is freezing meals. I love love, LOVE to freeze food for later in the week or month.

Grocery Shopping.

First and foremost I “shop” around the house before I even make my list. For instance, I go pantry shopping {going to my own pantry to see what is already in the house} and freezer shopping {take a guess that means}. I try to make sure and use the things that already in the house to maximize our grocery budget. As I make my dinner menus I take note of the meals that are a hit and the one that hit a sour note. The winners’ get their ingredients get added to the grocery list. This makes it easy to know what to by. But if I don't do these things I end up buying doubles of things we have, and forgetting things we need! 

How does planning help you run your home?

Bargain shopping is my hearts desire!

I am so about bargains, free stuff, and nearly free stuff. There are so many ways, and avenues to help you find them. I feel that as a stay at home mom my way of helping is to maximize the most out of the finances my husbands has worked hard to make. I have several website that help me find those deals and bargains. Here are a few that I LOVE!

1. Hip2save
2. TotallyTarget
3. Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
4. Freebies4Mom

Some of the best places I have found savings are:

1. Kroger
2. Tom Thumb
3. Target
4. CVS

What I do to save a ton!

1. I check Hip2Save, she updates several time a day the deals at different stores
2. I have signed up for different stores email, especially clothing stores
3. Clip coupons, and have them organized! I keep a coupon binder (There a a TON of youtube videos on how to make one!)
4. CLEARANCE, CLEARANCE, CLEARANCE!!!
5. Double up on the coupons, (ex. Store coupon like Tom Thumb has coupons in the weekly ads,+ manufacture coupons you get in the Sunday ads, or online = double savings!)

This is just a few of the ways I save money. When it comes to clothing and household items, the clearance is where I go. Many of the blogs I follow boast thrift store shopping. I haven't gotten the hang of it myself. I tend to have great luck with store clearance bargains, especially places like Target, Kohls and Macy's. This is where signing up for store emails helps, they tell you when sales are and sometimes send you coupons.

Seeing as I love bargain shopping, I am always looking for better ways and more ways to save money. So please share what you do!

Nesting

Oh my I am becoming a organizing/cleaning freak! I have been buying shelves, bins and baskets. I have purged, shredded and thrown away so much. Vacuumed, scrubbed, wiped, and swept my who apartment. I have a new love, organization! There are so many ideas for being more organized. Some of my favorites are magi zine holders, notebooks and binders. In a earlier post I talked about this women's idea for list. Well I want to show mine

So I just for this 5 by 7 notebook with 100 pages,

something that will easily fit in my purse.

I put tabs throughout the notebook.

My labels are:

1. Misc.
2. Movies to see/Books to read
3. Websites to look up
4. Blogs to write
5. Gifts idea (for anyone I think of!)
6. Date night ideas
7. Family outing ideas
8. David's Info (have a tab for each child)
9. Robert's info ( have things like his clothing sizes so I know when I am out shopping)
10. ME!!!
11. Project to do

Having this list helps me a) not have small pieces of paper with info on them everywhere, and b) not have to remember where I put that small piece of paper. So on to more cleaning and organizing, wonder how long after David it will last!

Staying Organized

My mom has gotten me in to looking at all these different blogs. They have been giving me some great ideas for keeping my family organized when all members arrive! This blog she has me spending tons of time on is Pretty Organized Palace. The lady who does the blog is a mother of 6 and has really neat ways of organizing her life without losing her mind. I figure if she can organize a family of 8 I can do a family of 3. The neat idea she has that I really liked is about list making. She makes list for all kinds of things. Here is an excerpt from her blog about how and why she does list:

Confession of a Mother of 6:

I forget everything. I have to write which kid is on restriction, for what and for how long and post it to the fridge so that I can enforce it... if not, I wake up the next day and treat him/or her like the child of God I know they are and happily send them off to school. I didn't realize I did this until I announce to my son one day, "You're on restriction for 1 week as a consequence for your poor choice." To which he replied, "That's okay mom, you'll just forget." OOoooo, desperation leads to creativity! I was going to prove him wrong.

I make lists... and I used to forget where I put them until I got smart and started keeping them all in the same place.

I love this women's frankness about life and being a mother. She isn't trying to be supermom, or waste her energy on things that aren't worth it. Just wanted to share!