Monday, August 30, 2010

A poem to keep the cleaning funk at bay...

I emailed this to my hubby a little bit ago...someone has to know my misery. And plus the fact that I have cleaned all day and actually have dinner planned too has got to have him thinking something is desperately wrong. And that thought might just get him to leave work on time...

*****************************************************
i have been a cleaning, cleaning, cleaning machine!
but this very tired girl is losing her steam.

the girls have helped me shoo the dust,
and boy was that job a dirty must.

i have moved furniture to vacuum each room,
it would look clean to my camera, even on zoom.

jade has missed her afternoon nap...oh the wrath.
i am hoping they'll settle for a relaxing bubble bath.

after that it is an early dinner time,
hope for them to be down by seven and a dime!
*******************************************************
And just while I typed this the girls managed to find "interesting" things in the guest room closet to dismantle and spread all over the house. Lord have mercy.

I'd love to know what you do to keep cleaning fun. How much do you involve your kids in it? And it what ways?

If you are the kind that moves your furniture every time you vacuum, I don't want to know about it. ;)

But if you have a maid, please do tell. How often? How much? I won't judge!

And then wave your magic wand so that line item will somehow fit into our budget. The one that just got overhauled due to a little thing called private school tuition.

But she does look adorable in her uniform...pictures soon, I promise!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Kindergarten letters

Lily starts kindergarten next week. I am excited. Not really feeling blue at all.

I am sure that is partly due to it only being two days a week. And partly because I am so excited about her school and teachers and classmates, etc.

We received a precious letter from her teacher last week. Knowing that she is praying for us as we start this new endeavor is definitely comforting.

Here is Lily's response letter:

Hopefully her teacher isn't baffled by Lily's love for 3 legged earless cats.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

How you can tell it's HOT, even in Texas...

*The forecast looks like this:

Today
Aug 11

Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny

103°

Thu
Aug 12

Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny

105°

Fri
Aug 13

Mostly Sunny
Mostly Sunny

102°


Aug 14

Sunny
Sunny

101°

Oops, call that the "pastcast"; I started this last week.

*Pool water feels more like bath water. Not refreshing.

*The lifeguards don't whistle at your kids for running...burnt feet are more of a liability.

*Your pet goes to the door and then just decides to hold it.

*Crayons sitting on a table in the playroom actually melt.

*You consider rearranging your playroom furniture so the kid's table is nowhere near a sunny window.

*Your girls wear their sunglasses inside just in case.*Your children notice shriveled up worms on the side walk. What a terrible way to go.

*The mosquitos head north.

*You actually buy and let your children consume "slow melt popsicles" hoping that whatever chemical gives them that property is not carcinogenic.

*You consider "gothic" as a summer decorating style. Blackout curtains and lights off mean cooler temps.

*When your children ask about a summer vacation, you mutter something about hasn't keeping the house under 80 degrees been enough? It cost as much as a vacation would.

*You risk blowing up the family car at the gas pump. Turn the engine off? Um, that would mean NO A/C. Oops.

*Your car is unusually cleaner because the kids are actually taking their things back inside for fear of them melting.

*The gummy vitamins that accidentally got left in the car turn to this...



*You are thankful these yummy treats seem unaffected by the heat.


Now if you could just figure out how to get yourself to the North Pole to enjoy them.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The neighborhood trash is becoming my treasure...

One thing I love about the city we live in is their Bulk Trash pick up. Every other week you have the opportunity to haul out your junk for collection. Having lived in cities where you were responsible for hauling your bulky items to a dump and then paying to leave them there, I really have come to appreciate free curbside service.

Granted that the neighborhoods can look kind of "trashy" during those weeks until it has all been picked up, but in general it keeps the neighborhood free of eyesores. You know...the kind that come about when your neighbor thinks that their broken washing machine looks fine on the side of their house, or worse...on their front porch.

This is Texas...we do have our share. Ahem.

There are poor people that scavenge the hood during these weeks looking for items of value they can resell. I am fine with that. At least they are working!

And then there are people like myself that don't purposefully drive street by street looking for finds, but when passing by something interesting have to stop and take a peek. I am sure I would have died if my mother had stopped and picked something off of someone's curb. Either my girls are used to it, or they just aren't old enough to care yet.

I have found lawn furniture, shelving, and a child's outdoor play slide all just by driving by my neighbor's trash.

Sometimes Jerry is on board and sometimes, well, he is just not. Like the time I picked up this discarded gate.

I love it! I love the color, the painted hardware, the age on it...I think the possibilities are endless. Jerry is just not so sure. Or maybe he is just scared that whatever use I find for it will become a "honey-do" for him. My current idea for it is to cut it down and use it as a screen to hide our outside A/C unit at the edge of our patio. We'll see.

One thing that I have surely learned is that if you see something interesting, you better stop right then and get it...or it will be gone! I once drove by a chest of drawers in excellent condition. I was already envisioning them painted in pink for our girls as I drove home to tell Jerry and get his truck. When we returned, they had already become someone else's treasure.

So when I headed out early this morning and saw this on one of my neighbors' bulk piles, I stopped immediately!


Isn't it cute? Yes, I realize that the seat has been replaced with some kind of funky board. But who cares? No one will know once I get a seat cushion for it...which are all on sale for the end of the season right now.

Our rocker has been lonely on our front porch, and I think this is the perfect freebie to paint and fix up to give it a companion.


And this time, Jerry agrees!

I've already started painting it...will post the after pictures soon.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Ingenuity of the Male in the House

I noticed something strange on my kitchen counter this weekend...


What in the world?

Need a closer look?


I guess the human male in our house got tired of butter getting wasted.

It was a while back when the feline male of the house broke my nearly indestructible Fiesta covered butter dish.

And ever since then this long lanky thing has been creeping up on the counter to get a lick of the pure joy that I always leave on the counter.


Which has resulted in many, many tossed sticks of butter.

Great solution, honey!

***hint, hint...maybe we need to pick up a new butter dish?***

Related Posts with Thumbnails