Homemaking Meme

Aprons – Y/N? I throw one on when I'm making spaghetti sauce or chili and it's doing that lava thing. I've ruined a couple of shirts -- I learn the hard way.

Baking – Favorite thing to bake: Cookies of course! I make a mean chocolate chip.

Clothesline – Y/N? Nah.

Donuts – Have you ever made them? Nope. Krispy Kreme is not far away and they make the best doughnuts in the world.

Every day – One homemaking thing you do every day: Dishes, laundry, pick up toys and junk at the end of the day.

Freezer – Do you have a separate deep freeze? Yep - out in the garage. I like it for frozen pizza and those huge buckets of ice cream. They don't fit in our fridge freezer. I also keep ground beef and frozen veggies in it.

Garbage Disposal – Y/N? You bet. Ours can chew through cantaloupe rinds like they're nothing. I use it daily.

Handbook – What is your favorite homemaking resource - I check out books from the library a lot. I've probably had the entire section checked out at one point or another (not all at the same time!).

Ironing – Love it or hate it? Hate it. I pretty much only do it for special occassions. I don't actually hate the act of ironing, but I hate having to set up the board and worrying about the kids knocking it over or pulling the iron on themselves, etc. We don't have a convenient spot to just keep it up all the time.

Junk drawer – Y/N? Where is it? In the kitchen, but it is organized. It is more of a catch-all drawer for screws, pins, paper, tape, etc. Plus we have a drawer for manuals and papers.

Kitchen: Design & Decorating? Hand-me-down floral/fruity wallpaper in red, blue and green (my parents lived in this house before us). I've added roosters to the mix.

Love – What is your favorite part of homemaking? Just being able to stay home with the kids. Not having to be gone all day and then come home and try to cram togetherness into 2-3 hours.

Mop – Y/N? No. I don't really care for mops. I vacuum almost daily. I also use the original Swiffer dry cloths to get up dust and crumbs. I do the washing the old-fashioned way -- on my hands and knees.

Nylons – Wash by hand or in the washing machine? I hardly wear hose any more, now that I'm not a Mary Kay lady anymore - ha! Our church is casual too, so I'm always in pants (or jeans!) or I wear tights occassionally.

Oven – Do you use the window or open the oven to check? Hmmm. Both, I guess. I look through the window for glancing in, but if I need a really GOOD look, I'll open it up and pull out the rack.

Pizza – What do you put on yours? Well, my favorites are double mushrooms or supreme. But since I'm a good submissive wife (grinning), we usually get "meat" - either sausage or pepperoni or both.

Quiet – What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? Hop on the good 'ole computer. (Wish I could say that I open my Bible - but that would be lying.)

Recipe card box – Y/N? I have one that my Mom filled with "her" recipes. I also have a couple of cookbooks and a pile of recipes that I printed off the internet.

Style of house – One story - 3 bedrooms. I don't know what style it would be called.

Tablecloths and napkins – Y/N? No tablecloth unless it's Christmas. Paper napkins or paper towels daily and in large quantities.

Under the kitchen sink – Organized or toxic wasteland? Toxic wasteland. I still have cleaning supplies that my Mom left here - 7 years ago.

Vacuum – How many times per week? Parts of the house are vacuumed daily. My vacuum is out so often, I pretend that it's just part of the decor.

Wash – How many loads of laundry do you do per week? A load or two a day. On the weekends I get off track and don't get it done and by Monday the pile is huge again.... sigh.

X’s – Do you keep a daily list of things to do that you cross off? Usually only when I'm running a lot of errands with a lot of stops. I do like lists - so I have a big master list of every thing that needs to be done in the house.

Yard – Y/N? Who does what? Bobby (and Chris) do the mowing on the riding mower. If any weeds need pulled, it's up to me. You can tell by looking at our yard that we do low maintenance. Neither of us are yard people - Bobby has joked about cementing it all in and painting it green.

Zzz’s – What is your last homemaking task for the day before going to bed? Packing lunches, wiping the countertops, packing the dishwasher.

Join in if you feel inspired. :)

Blogger's Block

I don't know what's going on with me... I feel bored and boring. I have the winter doldrums.

The Christmas toys have already kind of lost their new-ness.

We went to Target again (the day before the kids went back to school/MDO) and I picked up some cheap-o dress up stuff from the dollar section. Chris got a pirate outfit. He was thrilled with it. When his teacher asked him on Tuesday what he got for Christmas or what his favorite present was or whatever, he told her all about the pirate costume, not the super cool electric guitar, or the guns, or the Leapster that I told my parents Chris would just die for. Nope. None of those things are even in his conciousness now. Just a cheap costume that has already ripped completely up the side and been repaired with duct tape.

While we there, Emily spotted these beauties. I'm not a huge fan of these types of shoes, but if you can't wear sparkly mary janes at (almost) 2 years old, when can you wear them?

I finally cashed in the gift certificate for the "spa experience" that Bobby sweetly gave to me last Valentine's Day. That's a whole blog unto itself. It was a nice and semi-relaxing hour and a half. I'll give details soon.

One more item to report.... Our Christmas tree still stands. Shameful.

Fortunately, as Sara showed everyone, we'll have plenty of time indoors to get nice and organized and "de-treed".

Last but not least, this was one of my Christmas presents. A fountain punch bowl. Needless to say, it's been a great source of entertainment and awe for my bored kids this January. I say, we must be living the high life if we've got our own fountain in our home!

Christmas Picture Montage

Here's a glimpse of some of our Christmas holiday this year.

We had a really great Christmas this year. My Mom and Pop were here with us which we all loved. The whole family (both sides - 16 total!) gathered here on Christmas day for the feasting and gift chaos. And now we're still in the post-holiday stupor of laziness and clutter. How's that for short and sweet?

Chris must have been really good this year. Besides the huge can of TinkerToys, he got a Leapster LMax, 5 (we have foam "bullets" all over our house!) guns, and an electric guitar!!

Emily's big hits were her Little People doll house, tea set and plastic food and a baby doll. Strangely, I don't have any pics of her with any of it.

Most of the time I get caught up in the fun and only remember to grab the camera after all of the action has taken place.

Final shot: Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without lots and lots of CHOCOLATE!

Edited to add: You know the whole "Bobby and Jenny are downplaying Santa with our kids" thing that I mentioned below? Well, Emily loves Santa.

"Sa-ta, sa-ta, sa-ta..." Every time we see anyone that even resembles him.

So, Santa is alive and well in the our household. No worries.