This is Me and My Home . . .

What Do You Do All Day?

A man came home from work and found his four children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The baby's diaper was sagging to her knees.

The doors of his wife's mini-van were open, as was the front door to the house, and the garage door. There was no sign of the pet rabbit.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess: A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the family room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the room was strewn with toys, and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over Hot Wheels, books, and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed, in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?" She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"

"Yes," was his incredulous reply. She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

___________________________________________________
Funny story that Carolyn sent me. I've heard it before, but it hits home better now than a few years ago. Luckily for me, my husband is very well aware of how much goes into running a household of children (that's why he goes to work every day!) and is extremely grateful. He would never ask what in the world I did all day. This story, though, encapsulates my life if I did dare to let it go for a couple of hours, let alone all day. I am consistently amazed at how fast a room can go from tidy to utterly chaotic in a nano-second. I don't think I'll ever be accustomed to how long it takes to actually get out the door, and get everyone buckled, all in one piece. It takes us two hours to get ready for church in the morning - and that's with planning the night before (Saturday is a special day).

Our littlest is nick-named "Destructo" as she does stuff and gets into things none of the others ever even tried. There is literally a trail throughout the house of where she's been. We are very grateful though that she has graduated from being fascinated with lifting the toilet lid to now climbing up on the toilet (and then the sink). It's another set of troubles, but at least not as disgusting. This picture is from a couple of months ago. She has a routine of opening every single drawer she can and throwing out all the contents in whichever room she happens to be in. I'm begining to think that there is wisdom in the saying "there is no point in cleaning your house until the children are grown". :-)

Look Out Martha - Check Out These Handy Tips

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

Expanding Frosting
OK - store-bought frosting is disgusting with nasty ingredients, but a clever trick none-the-less: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat fewer sugar/calories per serving.

Reheating Refrigerated Bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them ina microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper Weeds-Away
Start by putting in your plants. Work your normal nutrients into your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds WILL get through some gardening plastics. They will NOT get throughwet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken pieces of glass, the fibers catch ones you can't see!

No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it. To keep them from eating all of your bird seed, add red pepper flakes to the seed. The birds aren't bothered by it, but the squirrels hate it!

Easier Thank You's
When you throw a bridal/baby shower, buy a pack of Thank You cards for the guest of honor. During the party, pass out the envelopes and have everyone put their address on one. When the bride/new mother gets ready to write out the thank you notes, they're all addressed!

New Bike
If you purchase a new bike for your child, place his/her picture inside the handle bar before placing the grips on. If the bike is ever stolen and later recovered, you can remove the grip and there is your proof who actually owns the bike.

Flexible Vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum hose. It can be bent or flattened to get into those narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. The same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place the pin in seam of slacks and voila! static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient (such as peanut butter) and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glovebox of your car. When the windows fog up, rub with the eraser! It works better than a cloth!

Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner that you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Good-bye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass and fill it with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid and mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home" & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so (especially if it rains) but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Sand Gone
I've been using this one for years. I always have a giant bottle of baby powder with my beach stuff. Take baby powder to the beach. When you're ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder. The sand will slide right off your skin.

Modbe Party

I hosted a Modbe boutique today. That was a lot of fun, especially alongside my jewelry. I had quite the houseful all throughout the day and into the night. Just took a 1-hour gymnastics break. My living room still looks like a store and will for the next couple of days. People keep wanting to stop by and shop! It's always fun! Check out the website http://modbeclothing.com. Let me know if you want me to add an order for you!
I'm having wireless issues with my computer so I can't post all the pictures I was planning right now. It keeps timing out and is very annoying. Hubby is out of town all week, Sun - Fri, so I'll just have to deal and post later!

Catching Up

Sista #2 called to find out what's going on as I have been MIA. With the baby being sick and house guests, there has not been any blogging time. Here's to SPT (or SPW) and there's even a bonnet in it:

I meant it when I said it's nearly impossible to get everyone to cooperate at the same time.

Happy Easter

This is at the Annual Easter Egg Hunt that my ward hosts for our community. This year, despite the cloudy cool temperature, it was extremely well attended. We invited some neighbors and had cousins sleep over, so we walked down to the church with 9 children in tow. That will grap one's attention seeing all those kids walking down a street holding Easter baskets.
The kids had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed all their loot.

All dressed up and ready for Easter! The girls all wore pink and white.

Getting everyone to cooperate at the exact same time while rushing to get to church on time is an extremely difficult task.

I think we should just focus on the individuals for a while.

You wouldn't know it, but this little babe has been so sick! She's had a high temperature for 4 days (this is day 2). You can see it a little in her eyes. Poor baby! Poor parents who haven't slept in 4 days. Took her to the doctor yesterday and he didn't know what it could be, but is treating her with antibiotics. It almost appears as if she has a sinus infection now, which will hopefully go away soon. Her fever came back this afternoon, and if it comes back again tomorrow, she'll need to go back to the doctor. The best part . . . always looking for the bright side . . . is that she has been so cuddly!

The Future Looks Bright

My sister used to have long, chestnut hair, but donated it to Locks of Love, and it has grown back so hideously! It must be love if Adam can see through the mess and still find attraction towards her.
This photo was taken today after conference on a beautiful spring walk in my neighborhood.

p.s. Today is April 1

One Year Older and Wiser Too

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!

We had fun making a bunny cake (pineapple carrot cake) for Ashlyn's first birthday. She has never had sweets before and didn't know what to think of it at first. She even burst into tears when we gave her a piece and tried to get her to eat it. She eventually came around, but never did make a big mess.

She's such a doll baby and took 5 steps today. Pretty soon she'll be running all over the place. It's sad, but at the same time it will be nice to get her up off the floor. Now that the weather is warmer and gorgeous, her favorite thing is to be outside. All her pants are ruined from her crawling around outside, but it is worth it to see her joy in discovering this new part of life.