Working and What-not

While there are blizzards in the east and tornadoes in the south, there hasn't been much of anything here in our neck of the U.S.  Which scares me about what our summer is going to be like?!

A little over two months ago, I got a job.  It's a part-time position at the library.  I work at a nearby branch of the county system.  When I went looking for a job, I needed something that wasn't retail (hello holidays), food-related (no thank you), and only part-time with hours that would work around our family schedule.  So the library is perfect for all of those things.  I'm discovering it is highly desirable part-time work, so I was very fortunate to get a position.

So why now?  Well, seven years of graduate school took its toll on our finances.  So now it's pay-back time!  In order to not live in a rented townhouse forever, we want to do all that we can to quickly shed student debt and save for a family home (one we like, hopefully).  If I think about how old we are to be dealing with this, it makes me cry - seriously.  But that's the price you pay, and you pay it up front.

Between Ryan's job, my job, school, housework, errands, activities, church, church callings, church activities, etc., it takes a bit of planning to accomplish anything.  So that's how I spend my days - planning.  I'm planning menus, paying bills, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.  I enjoy having the time to do these things, as I know many moms working full-time don't have this luxury.  More on that later.  Lots of plans in store!        

Just about a week ago, my sweet mother-in-law flew home after a week-long visit.  It was a mixed bag of a visit - between work, sickness, household chores, necessary clothes shopping, and a few outings, we stayed busy.  I'm sure she was glad to get back to a quiet household after our craziness here.

However, the day she left, Rose came down with a cold.  Can I just say, Rose and cold medicine do not agree?  This past week, she has been hell-bent on destroying the house and harassing everyone in the process.  It has been a week for the records.  It was like the cold medicine turned her into the crazy (this is a nice word for what I really want to call her) toddler she used to be, except without the physical limitations of a one-year-old body.  In short, there was running across the kitchen counter with an open gallon of milk, climbing to the top closet shelf to pull every board game off creating one giant pile of plastic game pieces, cards, and dice.  There was dumping every bucket of toys out in the basement and then spreading it everywhere into a fine mixture of chaos (all in minutes).  T.P-ing the basement with snot-covered toilet paper, refusing to wear any clothes (and I mean ANY clothes), eating half a bag of marshmallows after pulling them off the top shelf of the pantry, along with several other items.  Painting her own fingernails, all of them with multiple colors.  Getting into everyone's stuff - stuff she usually left alone.  ETC.  You see what I mean.  And then there was the screaming, hollering, and crying (mostly by Rose, but some by me).

Anyhoo - she's on the mend, without the help of anymore devil-juice (cold medicine).

Today has been filled with the typical Monday stuff - cleaning, laundry, more cleaning, planning menus, cooking, baking, etc.  Oh, and some fort-making by Rose.  I'm loving the sunshine: living room in the morning, kitchen in the afternoon.            

The Storage Room Part 1

This is very embarrassing, but I promised my sister that I was going to do this: pictures of my storage room as of this morning.  This room stores all of our tools, bikes, holiday stuff, extra clothes, camping stuff, food storage, craft/sewing stuff, outdoor toys, deep freezer, moving boxes, folding chairs and tables - basically all that used to be stored in our garage and attic of our old house (and anything I can't find a good place for in the rest of the house).  

To be fair, I haven't spent any time cleaning or organizing this room in a couple of months.  Our Christmas stuff is still piled up to be put away properly.  

Now why am I baring my unorganized soul here?  Well, this room makes me stressed out and even thinking about it makes me want to cry, and not in a good way.  I'm overwhelmed by it.  But I think that by getting it cleaned and orderly, I may be inspired to renew some projects.  So this blog will make me accountable for its progress.  It's already better since I took these pictures.  But here they are:

My work corner - the first thing you see when you come in the room 

Turning slightly to the right, my craft/office/sewing shelf, 

a corner of moving boxes and the camping shelf.

A little further to the right, the toy storage shelves, bins of I don't know what, and the last shelf has photos book, electronic/computer stuff, and files.

Turning all the way to the right, the back wall is lined with holiday boxes and extra clothes.  

Then the bikes, wagon, camping cots, etc.

And back to where we started - the door and deep freezer, covered in stuff.  

You can see the basement through the door.

So there you go.  I have a lot of work to do.  Seeing as how my mother-in-law is coming tomorrow, I may not be able to spend much more time in there for a little while, but I'll post my progress.  And, I don't plan on spending much if any money on this.  I'm not trying to turn this into a storage room from "Real Simple" magazine or anything - I don't plan on spending hundreds of dollars on color-coordinated boxes and fancy shelves.  This will be quite the challenge.

Better than nothing

This past week, I drove to Illinois to spend some time with my friends.  It reminded me how much I miss them and how much I miss our weekly chats.  I have found that reading/writing a blog post does one of a couple of things for me: 

-keeps me updated with friends/family that I don't see often

-inspires me to improve my life/home/self

-makes me feel guilty for one reason or another

-helps others reconnect with my family

I have not blogged lately because:

-I have been doing a crappy job keeping up with friends/family lately

-I feel that if I don't have something great to share, I don't share anything at all

-I'm lazy

-I'm too busy

Is it possible to be busy and lazy at the same time?  I think so, because I am.

A few pics from our trip to TX for New Year

Remember that funk I said I was in, months ago?  Well I'm still in it, but I am determined to get out.  I don't have a plan yet, but I'm going to start somewhere.  I'll let you know how it goes!  Something is better than nothing.