Cleaning Day

I don't know about you, but I love cleaning day. For me, it used to be Fridays. Recently I have made the shift to Wednesdays. William and I both look forward to working hard together, cleansing and beautifying our home! We took a little break at midday today, and took our lunch to the park. First we walked our usual 40 minute lap around the Lagoon, then we picnicked and had a swing. :) Then we came home to finish the cleaning!

Today we cleaned the front entryway, the bathrooms, the floors, the dusting, the kitchen, and a big tidy and clean in both the children's bedrooms. Nothing more wonderful than looking around and seeing and smelling the freshness around you!

Welcome to the boys' adventure play and retreat area :) :

This is William's permanent set-up. Barn, tractors, farmers, animals = little boy bliss.

Cheeky helper.

Reading station.

Will sleeps on the lower bunk and Elijah on the top. Will always wants his blue playsilk hanging above his bed!

And Welcome to my princess' dreamland and personal art gallery:

Raggedy Ann and Andy are here to greet you at the door!

Her favourite pieces of art work adorn her walls. Her beautiful patchwork quilt was a gift from her Grandad last Christmas.

Double layers of books... :)

Whenever I do a full clean of our home I always cut fresh flowers to put in my favourite vase. You've no idea how *dead* the flowers were in this very vase this morning...... ahem. Let's just say it was time to replace them with some fresh ones. ;)

I love blessing my children by making their bedrooms shine from time to time. Keeping them tidy is the children's responsibility, but every now and then each room needs a Mama's touch, right?

The after-school reunion is sweet, each and every day.

What is your favourite household chore? Do you have a specific cleaning day or do you spread the cleaning out through the week? I'd love to hear from you.

What can I say?

Well, what can I say tonight? It's been a BIG day!!!!

I woke up this morning feeling a bit overwhelmed and frustrated but decided to tackle my frustrations head-on. You may remember I have quoted Heather on this before, but she once wrote "It's not the things we do that make us tired, it's the things we don't do." I love that!! It's incredibly true for me.

So today I:

* Prayed. A lot. :)

* Cleaned the bathroom and toilet

* Changed the sheets on all 4 beds

* Washed, hung and folded 3 loads of laundry

* Mowed the lawns (usually Stu's job, but he has a broken toe......)

* Cleaned out the chicken coop (VERY overdue and quite disgusting, also usually Stu's job)

* Vacuumed the floors

* Mopped the floors for the first time in......... um, awhile ;)

* Swept the patio

* Tidied the backyard of toys etc.

* Cooked dinner

And you know, looked after 3 children all day, who thankfully were very co-operative, helpful and independent for most of the day. I talked to them. Cuddled them. Bathed them. Made a few snacks here and there. Directed their activity. Answered phone calls. Gave William his milk. Had a friend over this afternoon - our little ones played and we all were besotted with their new puppy!! We get to puppy-sit him for a week in October.

A good day. I am physically exhausted but not as tired mentally as I have been this week. So much has been crossed off the household to-do list and we have a nice weekend ahead of us. Hope yours is too!! :)

Good Wives

I have lately enjoyed re-reading Little Women and Good Wives (the sequel) by Louisa May Alcott. I just love this passage, which deals with oldest daughter Meg's adjustment to young motherhood and housekeeping. She has twins and has worn herself to a frazzle:

"She was. . . in that unreasonable frame of mind which the best of mothers occasionally experience when domestic cares oppress them, want of exercise robs them of cheerfulness, and too much devotion to that idol of American women, -the teapot,- makes them feel as if they were all nerve and no muscle."

Mmmmhmmm.

Mother advises her:

". . .Do more housework. You need the exercise. . .Go out more; keep cheerful as well as busy,-for you are the sunshine-maker of the family, and if you get dismal there is no fair weather."

How true. What a responsibility and a challenge at times for me- being the 'sunshine-maker'. But SO true. I have found over the years that the mother's mood truly does set the tone for the whole house.

Fortunately,

"Meg recovered her spirits, and composed her nerves, by plenty of wholesome exercise, a little pleasure, and much confidential conversation with her sensible husband. . .Home grew home-like again, and everyone found the little house a cheerful place, full of happiness, content, and family love."

Cleaning Day

"As much as I converse

with sages and heroes, 

they have very little of my love and admiration.

I long for rural and domestic scenes, 

for the warbling of birds

and the prattling of my children."

JOHN ADAMS

Letter to his wife,

March 16, 1777

Don't you love this?  It sums up how I feel today.  Homey and happy.

Friday is housework day here in my home.  I have, over the years, fiddled about with various ways of keeping the housework up-to-date, and finally have settled on the "do it all in one day" approach.  Friday is the day.  I prioritise it as such, and the children know it and assist me (with a little coercion....... er, encouragement, at times. :))  Today is pupil-free, so Saraya is joining the fun with us!  We are washing and drying, getting all the laundry up to date.  Beds get stripped and fresh sheets laid on, the floors vacuumed and mopped, the bathroom and toilet scrubbed.  The dusting is done to a fashion.  It is not yet midday and we are nearly done!  Much playing has been done on the side, too.  Little bits of paper and toys seem to be floating about the house, so I've sent the children after their own messes through the morning.  

Friday night dinner is always simple- either leftovers or sandwiches/ wraps with salad.

We tend to eat earlier than usual, and this gets the children to bed early.  

And the best bit?  Friday night is "date night" for Stuart and I.  A tidy, clean and yummy-smelling house, minimal dishes, clean sheets, kids in bed early for the night, a movie, chocolate for certain.....  well, I love Fridays!!

Goals for Week 1 of the holidays...

Today we're all feeling heaps better, and launched ourselves into the day by getting busy!!
I was out mowing the lawn at 8:30am so that was a good start. :) I did get a call from the doctor's clinic today though, saying they had more of my tests back (didn't know they were waiting on any) and the doctor needs to discuss them with me. So I need to go in Wednesday. Hoping everything is ok.
I've been thinking about what else I want to achieve this week and thought I'd do one of my most favourite (and Stu's least favourite) things......... Writing a list. :)

Goals for this week.......

* Learn how to use the new camera and take lots and lots of photos for my blog! Yay!!!!
* Continue with our "sort and purge" on all rooms, especially the children's room and what will become Saraya's new room
* Clean the whole house from top to bottom
* Weed out 1 vegie patch
* Plant seeds in that patch when done
* Bake a batch of something
* Run errands in town tomorrow
* Grocery shopping later in the week
* Go to Lincraft to look at curtain fabric for Saraya's room
* Change the children's bedsheets
* Stu to put up the cot for William as he has outgrown the cradle (so sad! :() Pack the cradle away.
* Have friends Chloe and Declan for the day on the weekend to give their Mummy and Daddy a "grown-ups day" (our turn next month!)....... and do lots of fun things with them.....
* Post some important mail including letters to our sponsor children... I'm really overdue to do this
* Hopefully finish the room change-around to get Saraya into her new room by next week. And maybe put Will in with Elijah. I'm not sure whether to do this or leave the cot in our room....... anyone have opinions on this one? He's 4 months now and the boys will eventually share, but I'm not sure whether he's too young as yet....... My other babies were in with us much longer.

There might be other things to plan for this week. I'm sure there are, but I feel tired just thinking about the above ones. :)

Menu plan for the rest of this week:

Tuesday: Italian sausages and vegies

Wednesday: Salmon patties and salad

Thursday: Vegetable risotto and breadrolls

Friday: Tuna curry on rice

Saturday: Roast chicken with roast potatoes and broccoli......

plus a past dish of some sort. and dessert. Friends for tea! :)

Happy holidays fellow Queenslanders!!

(and thankyou for this idea Tamra :))

Finding the balance

My life is busy. Full of chores, opportunities, interests, things to do, places to go, people to see.

How do I find the balance?

This has been a constant question for me lately. Lately being over the last 6 and a half years, since I got married. But especially since having my number 3 baby. So many days just seem to slip by, and often the only real thoughts that go through my mind are to do with house chores- what I need to get done, and how to get those things done.

Pretty sad really.

When my Mum was up visiting recently, we were discussing this. I was feeling overwhelmed by the duties of running the house, and just feeling snowed under in general. And she said something to me which really impressed upon me. She said "Try not to be overwhelmed by ALL the things you need to get done. Concentrate on one things at a time, and feel satisfied with your efforts when you achieve something. When you are hanging the washing, try to enjoy the moment. Think about the fact that you are getting the washing hung.......... not that you also need to do the dishes, clean the floors, and cook dinner (whilst caring for the children!)." I have really been trying to do this, and it works!! As soon as I start to stress, and do the mental to-do list thing, I stop myself and just concentrate on the task at hand. One thing at a time. I feel less stressed, and am taking more time to complete each task and feeling the satisfaction of doing so.

We also talked about prioritising. It's something I find really difficult to do. As I move about my house, there are so many little things to be done that I can get constantly distracted from what I'm supposed to be doing......... and nothing ever gets completed. I hate that feeling!! You can end the day feeling like you've achieved nothing.

SO, I've been trying hard to prioritise, and also to commend myself on achieving little things.

I've worked out that:

Each day I need to prepare meals for my family, pack lunches, keep the dishes up to date, drive Saraya to and from school, keep the house generally tidy, and do one to two loads of laundry (wash, fold and put away). That is it!

They are the basics, and I can actually do these things each day and feel like I am achieving my basics list. Cleaning can happen once each week, as I find the time. Baking can happen once a week, particularly if I have a bit of a session in the kitchen and bake double-batches of things while I'm at it. Hooray for the freezer! Wrapping individual pieces of cake or slice in cling-wrap and freezing them makes packing lunch-boxes through the week easier. General tidying happens throughout each day. Watering the garden? While the children are playing outside. Cleaning out cupboards, sorting stuff........ all those kinds of things are good to plan for weekends when there's an extra set of adult hands around! Planning a big job like this probably means leftovers for tea too, so I try to think about this before starting something. These extra jobs are harder to plan for, but the opportunities always present themselves sometime and I just have to seize the moments! Since deciding on my basics list, I am less hard on myself since I don't feel I need to do every single thing every single day. Just the basics.

With this little guy still only 3 months old, I need to relax and spend time enjoying him. He is growing up incredibly fast, and I know that soon I'll be free to do more housework and gardening and other stuff I want to do on a regular basis. For now, I'm happy to keep things simple and as peaceful as is possible around here.

Small accomplishments

Today I got my floors done. Yippee!!!
Doesn't sound like much, but with a newborn in the house, and two other little ones keeping me very busy, it felt like quite an achievement. :)

Well, it was the first time they had been vaccumed and mopped in over a month. They look so shiny! Hooray for today! Thank-you God for William's big big sleep this afternoon, happy children, and a wonderful husband who comes home and plays with them while I keep mopping.

Post-Script............ We had Claire visit yesterday, and the all-important weighing..........
..................... William is now 10 POUNDS!!! Yes, he has put on 2 pounds in 2 and a half weeks!
Amazing what breastmilk can do. :)