A tired day

So I have missed two days in a row on my Have a Clean House in 31 days challenge, but I have an excuse...sort of. Gabe's brother and his wife along with their two sweet boys came for a visit yesterday. I spent the majority of the day tidying things up and getting beds made all the while chatting on the phone with my sister. Our company arrived for supper, then boys to bed, a short visit, and then off to bed. An early morning (their boys wake at 6 AM, wayyy to early for this mamma who's babes rise at 9 AM.) After breakfast, they were on their way. A super short visit, but I am left feeling exhausted. I had a rough night with Mr E. and then a early morning. So, I did what seemed like the best idea for a tired, cranky momma. I stayed in my pajamas, made a big pot of coffee, and spent the day outside just resting my body on the ground as the boys played. We made 'er through the day, but my head will not stop pounding. A few pictures from our day.


Little E has discovered the well worn path through the trees between us and our neighbor's house. We have this sweet old couple that live behind us that always have cookies for our boys. Whenever we go for a walk, A always asks at some point to stop at their house for a cookie. This year, A spends a lot of time outside on his own, and we have learned that he pops over often for a cookie, and then comes back to our yard. Now E tries to make his way over their on his own.

I know A may look angry in the next picture, but trust me, he isn't. This is his dinosaur pose and his dinosaur face. We get a dinosaur boy in our house many times a day.

I had been telling A about how tomorrow is Mother's Day and how it is a day to show our mom how much we love the them. I found some dandelions in our yard (yay) and as soon as A saw them, he ran and picked two and told me he had some beautiful flowers for me for mother's day.


And whatever big brother does...

Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there!

31 Days To A Clean House Day 4

Today's challenge. The oven and the microwave.
The microwave: easy peasy. I almost never use it, so it was pretty much good to go.
The oven - not-so-much. It was gross. Like, I had a fire in there a couple of months ago and threw baking soda on it and left it like that. The worst part is, I have a self-clean oven. I just always forget to put it on when I am leaving the house and I really don't like using it when we are in the house.

Bad, hey? I used the self clean TWICE and still had to put in a lot of elbow grease. It is not even near to being 100% clean, but it is good enough for now. I wasn't home most of the day. I went into our nearest city and spent the day drinking coffee with a friend while our kids played happily in the park. Gabe's brother is coming for a visit tomorrow, so I am looking forward to the company.

As for the Mary Challenge, can our company that is coming tomorrow count as my inviting a friend over? I hope so. We just had friends over this weekend and let them "put their feet up".

I asked Gabe what made him feel most loved and he gave me a really long description, but he basically meant that the things I do already make him feel loved. He loves that I always have supper cooked for him, keep the house somewhat tidy, and care for our children. I love that man.

31 Days To A Clean House Days 3 (and part of Day 2)

If I am going to be completely honest, I did not enjoy my Martha Challenge at all today. It was cleaning the tops and fronts of all of my cupboards, the top of my fridge, and cleaning the fronts of all of the appliances. Ugg. I was up on the phone with my sister last night, having a really good, deep conversation. I really miss my sister, and I enjoyed talking to her SO MUCH last night! I love you, Laura, one of my only two readers. Hi, Crystal! (my other reader)

Anyways, the tops of my cupboards were disgusting. Seriously. Like never-been-cleaned-since-or-cupboards-were-installed-two-years-ago disgusting.
I actually had to use my fingernail to write those words in the dust because it was not just dust, it was a greasy dust. Ughh. I scrubbed and scrubbed and finally got them nice and clean. It took me a looooonnnggg time.

Then there is the top of my fridge. My fridge is tall, so I don`t see all of the stuff I have "hidden" up there. Stickers, coupons, pictures, random papers...



Here is my shiny clean kitchen. I didn't scub my cupboards as well as I should have. I wiped them all down, but I was kind of spent already. They are clean, just not perfectly clean.


Yes, my son picks his own clothes and no, it is not warm enough to be wearing shorts. He wanted to be in every picture.

Laura- this is for you. Just in case you are feeling bad because you haven't started- my kitchen may look like this picture above, but this is what my laundry room looks like.

This does not include the dirty pile behind me or the clean load of towels on my couch waiting to be folded. Plus their is a load in the washer and in the drier. I love laundry. *please note sarcasm*

I never elaborated on my yesterday's Mary Challenge. On how I can give live to my home, my husband, and my children. My sister and I spoke on this a lot last night. I have been really struggling a lot lately with all of the "stuff" we have, when there are so many people who have nothing. I have been in a state where I feel guilty for buying anything for myself or my home, anything that isn't a necessity. I still feel like I am struggling with this. Like my sister said to me, "At the end of the day, you still need to wear a bra. If your old bra's are worn out and the wires are poking you, it will make you cranky with your husband and kids. Go buy a new bra." In a way, I have been trying to make myself suffer to "earn God's grace". Not cool. We can't earn in. All our righteousness are like filthy rags. So - to give life I am continuing to learn to die daily. Stop living in the flesh. Stop trying to do it on my own.

My March challenge today is to ask the people in my house in what I do in caring for the home that makes them feel loved. I asked A. He said I cook him eggs. I asked Gabe, and he says he needs some time to think about it....

31 Days To A Clean House Days 1 and 2

I started the "Home Makers Challenge" yesterday. Day 1's challenges were pretty easy. Make a mission statement about why you want a clean house. (Mary) and (Martha) look over all of the Martha challenges to get all the supplies you need. My mission statement is: I want a clean house so I can worry less and spend more time focusing on the things in life that are truly important.
I place a tidy house often as more important then spending time with my kids. "Mom, will you come play a game with me?" "Not right now, I have to wash the dishes." On the other hand, you need to clean. Your house would be disgusting if you didn't. Then there are the days that my house looks like a hurricane went through it, and I just don't feel like picking it up (and those are always the days that someone unexpectedly drops in) Ughh. I need to find a happy medium.

Day 2: My Martha challenge was to clean out my fridge and freezer. My fridge wasn't terrible. My mom taught me to always do a wipe down before you put the new groceries in. There wast just a few crevices that needed a good scrubbing.




My freezer on the other hand, was gross. I don't use it all that much. We have a small freezer (and now a giant freezer that was just given to us for free!) in our garage where we store all of our meat. I don't think I have cleaned in at all in the past two years. Gross, hey?



Look at all the nastiness in there. It was gross.

My Mary challenge is to figure out ways I can bring life to my home, my husband, and my children. This is a huge challenge, and tonight I think I will blog more about this, because it seriously needs it's own post. Whew!

I haven't blogged for a couple of days. We have had Gabe home, and it has been really nice. We spent the entire weekend with good friends, and we feel really blessed to have such an amazing family to call our friends. Gabe and I have never had another couple where he likes the man and I like the woman so much. Usually one of us is good friends with one of people, and their spouse is more like an acquaintance to the other one of us. Make sense?

Mr A is teaching his little brother all kinds of things. Their newest thing they do together is A will tell E to praise Jesus, and this is what they do. Such sweet little monkeys.

Talking about eBooks...

There is another eBook I have been wanting to get my hands on. 31 Days to Clean: Have a Martha House the Mary Way. I love the description they give it on facebook.

"The heart of our homes is not in the ability to keep it perfect at all costs; the heart of a home is love. We live in a thing, a non-eternal structure that needs to be maintained. The thing is worthless without the life we bring to it and through it. This book is about bringing life to the mundane in order to love well."

Each day, you get:

• The Mary Challenge -Something you do that encourages/engages your heart
• The Martha Challenge – Specific cleaning tasks

Sounds pretty great, hey? I have been wanting this book for a while, however, we are on a super tight budget. I am a fan of this book on facebook, and they just announced that today only, if you tweet about this book or blog about it, you will get a free copy! Yay for me! So I am blogging about it, and I am sure you will hear a lot more when I get a copy!