Laundry soap update

Just an FYI for anyone who saw my previous post on homemade laundry soap--I am just now making another batch. That means that last batch of soap lasted us 5 months! And that is my family of 7 plus keeping my pal Naunee stocked up as well. Pretty darn good deal, if you ask me!

A productive day

I LOOOOOOVE days that we spend working together on cleaning our house or working outside. Yesterday we cleared out our flower beds in the backyard (which were previously totally over-run with aloe vera plants--don't worry, there's more out front.) and are getting them ready to plant some vegetables. I'm so excited! We are going to make some raised beds to plant more food, but haven't gotten to that yet. This blog has a GREAT tutorial on the subject. We also got a compost barrel from the city (they cost $5, which they add to your next utility bill and deliver to your house) and started to compost!! I know it will take a little while for that to become useful, but it feels so good to have done something towards our gardening goal.

Anyone have any suggestions on the garden or composting?

A new restaurant

(this is not a picture of our actual food, but you get the idea)
We went out to a new place for our date tonite. It's a Thai restaurant, and it was de-lish!!! Good prices, too. It's called Benjarong Thai Restaurant, and it's in a little strip mall off of Country Club almost to the freeway on the West side of the road. Their hours are Mon-Thurs 11 am - 9 pm; Fri 11 am - 9:30 pm; and Sat 12 pm - 9 pm. And guess what? They are closed on Sundays which really makes me happy to patronize them. And the back of the menu clearly says, "We serves Traditional Thai Food", so it's the real thing! :)
DH got the Pad Thai and wanna know what I got? Evil Jungle Princess. I mean, how can you go wrong with a dish named Evil Jungle Princess? Oh yeah, they were both fabulous--we split them both. You can specify how spicy you want your food--mild, medium or spicy. We got both medium and it was perfect.
So next time you need a good date place to go, head over there and give it a try.

Now, goodnight. I am going to bed to dream I am an evil jungle princess...

Chores, aka beat the two-year-old

Not beat as in abuse, but as in get clean faster than he can mess up. Which is difficult, let me tell you.

I have gone through many different chore methods trying to get the kids to do chores. Chore charts with stickers, chores rewarded with money and/or prizes (both clutter and more work for me), assigning individual jobs, you name it-we've probably tried it. None of these things worked long-term for us.

We have come across a system that has worked really well in our family for the last few months. It's no big deal but I just recently thought of doing things this way. On Saturdays (or whenever a chore needs to be done) we draw rooms out of a bowl. Everyone picks one except Dr. D. Little Miss gets mom or dad as a "helper" for her job, but everyone else gets their own. I have found that it is just better to have the jobs chosen this way so it seems more fair and it's a little "surprise" to see what you're gonna get. Here's the part that has really helped-- I have typed out what needs to be done for each room and I print off and tape that list up in the room. It is broken down into specific steps. The younger ones (8 yr. old and 5 yr. old) have to cross off each step as they do them, and I inspect each step. Otherwise they seem to forget where they are and what they are doing. And it's a good chart of accomplishment they can see.
The older girls hardly need the lists anymore, and things are getting done the way I want them to without nagging from me or complaining from them! It's wonderful! For example, I haven't had to clean the kids bathroom in months, because they get it done quickly and beautifully now. Well, I can't say I don't do anything in there, because I do deep scrub the bathtub and mop the floor. But the regular cleaning in there is not my job anymore! Wahoo!

What I want to do is use popsicle sticks and write each room on a stick and make a little drawstring bag to keep them in and draw them out of. I saw a similar idea on "Clean House". That will save me writing the jobs on paper each week.
To show an example, here is my list for the bathroom:

CLEAN BATHROOM

1. Tidy up

• pick up toys and put away
• dirty clothes in hamper
• hair stuff in drawer
• toothbrushes put away

2. Take rugs outside and shake them out.
3. Use cleaning wipe to clean counter and wipe out sink.
4. Use paper towel and Windex to clean mirror.
5. Use cleaning wipe to clean toilet.
6. Use cleaning wipe to clean around the tub.
7. Move the laundry basket and trash can and sweep.
8. Take out trash (put clean bag in can)
9. Put everything back in and make sure it looks great.
10. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done!!

Now, this may not be as thorough or whatever as some people like, but for me it looks and smells clean and I can come in and mop after they are done. I am so in love with this system and love my kids for being so helpful. And if we beat the two year old, we have a lovely clean house for at least a few minutes until he dumps something out that we just picked up. :) The kids just love that.

What kind of system do you use in YOUR house?

Facebook tag on my blog

A - Age: 33

B - Bed size: King baby, never again smaller than that

C - Chore you hate: cleaning my floors

D - Dad's Name: Paul

E - Essential start your day item: Smooch from DH

F - Favorite actor(s)/actress(es): hmmm. When I pick favorites it's based on movies I like alone, not personal integrity or anything. So, I like Jack Black, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Collin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Rupert Everett, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams... OK, I think there are lots of good ones out there.

G - Gold or Silver: both, but I mostly wear silver except my wedding ring.

H - Height: 4'11"

I - Instruments you play(ed): flute, piccolo, piano, and one day cello (yes, I have goals ;)

J - Job: Very full time mom, some babysitting, some substitute work at Scrapbook.com warehouse, want to acquire some flute students

K - Kid(s): yes, almost 6 of them!

L - Living arrangements: Ummm, kind of a sore spot so I won't go into it right now.

M - Mom's name: Jane

N - Nicknames: Salsa Mama, Salzarita

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: when I was little and had adenoids out

P - Pet peeves: a few--one is seeing people spit onto the sidewalk or something--gross!

Q - Quotes you like: There are many! My brain is too sluggish right now to think of any in particular. Stayed up too late reading Midnight Sun.

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 2 older half brothers, 1 older half sister

T - Time you wake up: Well, right now I wake up all night long because it's hard to sleep. I GET up at 6:30 a.m.

U - Umbrella: What for?

V - Vegetable you dislike: brussel sprouts, but I'm willing to try them again. It's been a while. And beets. Yuck!

W - Ways you run late: Last minute diaper changes, not starting to get ready early enough, not getting clothes out or finding shoes ahead of time, forgetting to pack the diaper bag...

X - X-rays you've had: several

Y - Yummy food you make: everything, of course! hahaha At family gatherings I'm famous for my spinach salad or ramen salad. At this point in my life most things come out pretty good. I said MOST. heehee

z- Zodiac: Taurus

Modest Swimsuit?? What's that?

I just heard about a shop called Lime Ricki that sells modest swimsuits!! And guess what, they are adorable! This blog has a give away going on for one of these suits, but I just wanted to spread the word that these suits are out there. It's so hard to find modest clothing these days, we need to share this info! So spread the word, and if you DO enter the giveaway contest, be sure to say I sent you because then I get another entry, too. :)

Biker Babe!!

Check out that smile!!! Our very own Little Miss started riding a big girl bike a couple of weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. It was on a Sunday, and she just picked up a little bike that my mom had found a while back. There were no training wheels or anything, and she just started riding it all by herself! This is the first time we haven't had to do any running behind holding the seat--kwim? Which is great because neither of us were too keen on the idea of running behind a bike at the moment. I would have gotten out of it, what with my preggo belly and all. But DH was glad not to have to do it either. With lots of encouragement, she got on her own bike (which we removed the training wheels from, of course) and took off down the street on it as well. She is a pro now, and LOVES riding it everyday. Which is great, because in this gorgeous weather we are having I make them play outside as much as possible every day. Fun fun!
This is her riding down the street to join the posse of kids that were out riding bikes. I love our street--especially when the kids are all out playing together. They are such great kids!

Flower arranging

I was noticing the other day that I have several fake plants throughout my house. For some reason, I never realized before that they all...well...have something in common. For example, I had a plant on my T.V. armoire-ivy. I have a plant on top of my fabulous new black cabinet aka "Command Central"-ivy. I have a large topiary by my front door-ivy. I have a smaller topiary in my bathroom-ivy. I have a plant on top of the bookshelves in the living room-ivy. See what I mean??? I mean, I like ivy and all, but come on?! How come I never noticed that before? Funny. Anyway, I decided I wanted some variety and chose the top of the T.V. to start with. I had a little extra money from some side jobs (like 20 bucks, maybe less) and it just so happened that all flowers were on sale 50% off at Michael's a couple weeks ago.
I was inspired by my friend Karli's flowers. She did a great job and made a lovely arrangement for her entry table. Anyway, I love fallish colors and even though Spring is upon us that is what I wanted. I got a container at Goodwill on their half-price day that needed some work but it was the shape I wanted. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was white and had a shabby-chic look to it. Not bad at all, just not what I was going for. So I painted it brown and then dry brushed black over it to highlight the raised areas. It looks great! And only cost $1! In real life the white doesn't show through like in the picture. Weird.


Then I got some floral foam at the dollar store, again only paid $1 for that.
I then picked out some flowers that I liked and hoped for the best. The total for the flowers was $17.46, and OK--I added some ivy. I needed a little more filler and as previously mentioned, had an abundance of ivy at my disposal.
I think it came out pretty good! Not like I'd go pay $50 for it somewhere, but I really do like it and LOVE the variety it offers. I've broken out of my ivy rut! Huzzah! :) Just wanted to share.

Blog giveaway

You should go check out this blog and see their cute baby stuff! The fabrics are divine and I'm a sucker for custom made items. They are having a shopping cart cover giveaway. Go take a look!

I won! I won!! I Won!!!!

OK peoples, I have some exciting and wonderful news to share. You know that photography workshop I posted about a little while ago, here? Well, guess who won the free class???? GUESS???? If you guessed me, you are right!!! I just can't believe it. I am in happy shock. VERY happy. I just had to post my happiness because it's the first blog give-away that I have ever won. And if I could pick just one to win, this would be it. It's a $395 class! And I get to go!! Please excuse my gushing, I just can't get over it. :)
Hopefully my photog. skills will improve just in time to take great pictures of our new baby, due to arrive a few weeks after the class. This gives me something to look forward to besides just being hugely preggo by the beginning of May. Anyway, thanks so much to Holly for giving away this opportunity. I can't wait!!!