Household Chores

Household chores are a pain and something I probably dislike doing the most. As I mentioned before, I think I've got this dishes problem down. That's still going good. But the rest.....LAUNDRY (the worst!), vaccuuming, cleaning kitchen floor, cleaning bathrooms, keeping bedrooms picked up, dusting, and just in general keeping things organized so the house doesn't look cluttered, I can't stand doing this stuff! If I had the money, I would seriously hire a maid to come in twice a week. A girl can dream, right?



I decided that the only way all this stuff was going to even get close to getting done, I would have to have some help. This just isn't going to happen all on my own! So, my best option for help at this point is the kids. With them being ages 5, 3, and 1, this is a bit challenging, but with a little creativity, doable.



Here are some things I've had them help with:



1. Dishes - They all love helping with this in some way, shape, or form. My one year old loves to hand the clean dishes to me out of the dishwasher. My three year old likes to do the same as well as put away the silverware and other utinsels. My five year old likes to do the silverware too and he also likes to put the dishes I handwash in the sink into the drying rack and organize that. They all like to help load the dirty dishes after I rinse them. Doing dishes is really a team effort and I love that they all like to help!



2. The Dreaded Laundry - My problem with laundry isn't actually putting the stuff into the washer and moving it to the dryer, it's folding and putting away - ugh!! So, the other day I was sitting on the floor with two big baskets of clean, unfolded laundry. I asked my oldest if he wanted to help and he said sure. Trying to quickly decide the best job for him (since he's not the best folder, unless it's washclothes or kitchen towels), I went to their closets and grabbed a bunch of hangers. He took the kids' clothes, put them on hangers, separated them into piles on the couch, then took his little stool and hung them in the closets - LOVED IT! My three year old folded some washclothes and put those away in the drawer in the kitchen and my one year old "handed" me stuff out of the baskets to fold (it was really more like throwing them at me, but hey...). When the baskets were empty, I'd throw the clothes I hadn't folded yet back in and she kept going! This job for the youngest was key to keep her out of the piles of carefully folded laundry!



3. Dusting - I've discovered my oldest has a love for dusting! Just give him some of those disinfecting wipes, point him towards the bookcase in the living room and let him go to town. He even takes the stuff off the shelves, wipes those items off, wipes the shelves and puts the stuff back. How cool is that? The only downfall is that the pictures and other items from the shelves always gets rearranged to his liking. A small price to pay, I figure.



4. Vaccuuming - Also recently realized that my oldest likes to vaccuum. Who knew? He really, really wanted to do it on his own a few weeks ago and did a fairly decent job. Must keep nurturing this love of vaccuuming.



5. Bathroom - How come nobody wants to help clean in here?? Gross, gross, gross.



I feel like I've made a little progess with the household chores, but there's always room for improvement. Now I maybe need to explore some cleaning products to help make my life easier...like those things you put in the shower and it sprays cleaner around your shower so you don't have to clean. Sounds almost too good to be true. Would love to hear if anybody has ever tried one!!

Things I Need To Do

List #1 - For myself:

In no particular order...

1. Go to the Oprah Show with my mom and shake Oprah's hand. (Before her show ends in 2011!)

2. Travel the world - first on the list Greece and Italy.

3. Live in an awesome condo with a view of the Puget Sound in downtown Seattle - once the kids are all grown and on their own.

4. Take photography classes and be awesome at it!

5. Go whale watching.

List #2 - For the kiddos:

Again, in no particular order...

1. Start scrapbooks for each of them to keep all their drawings, school papers and projects organized. They're still young, so if I start now I might have a chance at keeping up!

2. Show them as much of the world as I can! Let them know that the world is so much bigger than the place we live.

3. Start reading stories to my oldest at night (like a chapter book, something he'll look forward to hearing each night).

4. Get more financially stable so I can someday help all my kids out with college. I would have loved not starting my adult life so in debt.

Wish me luck on all of this!

My Weakness

I have worked really hard to be a healthy eater - and have been fairly successfull. My willpower is pretty strong once I've made up my mind to do something. BUT, I have a weakness. Sweets. Particularly chocolate or baked goods. I am especially in love with Special K bars at the moment! While I was browsing some of my favorite sites this evening, I came across these amazingly beautiful cupcakes from Crumbs Bakery in NYC. Have you ever seen anything like this?

You can see the full review of these treats at What I Wore. (Though this is not a typical entry for this blogger, usually about fashion, hence the name What I Wore.)

I'm guessing my favorite would be the Cappuccino or Raspberry Swirl...but they really all sounded so good. Okay, back to the high fiber, low fat diet. Blah.

Sweater Envy

Today was probably the first really, really cold day since last winter. A little bit of snow even fell last night (which I'm not too happy about). I was absolutely freezing at work today and kept cranking up the thermostat degree by degree, but alas, I was still cold! That got me thinking about my woredrobe. My woredrobe consists of many more short sleeved/spring time types of shirts than it does sweaters and warm weather gear. I've just never liked winter nor the clothes that must go along with it. Sweaters always seem bulky and boxy and just make me look big. Not flattering. Not excited about wearing them. So, I went on a search to find a sweater that I might just like and found this:


This sweater hugs the body a bit, showing that you DO have a waist and are not a box. I love the draping around the neckline - makes it much more interesting! Paired with some dark jeans, brown flat boots, hobo bag and gold jewelry, I think I'd feel pretty awesome! I must get these!

Get on those walking shoes already!

Over the last year and a half I have really stepped up my eating habits, forcing myself to be very conscious of what I eat, why I'm eating, and how my body feels after eating. The results have been great - lost 25lbs and I just feel better; not so slugglish, lumpy and gross anymore. Now I feel more energetic and positive overall. I really wanted to do this A) for myself, because of a family history of heart disease and high cholesterol and B) to set a good example for my kids and be around as long as possible for them.

But, this little voice inside my head has been nagging me to START EXERCISING!! Changing my diet was the easy part for me. Exercising is the difficult part.

Get up off the couch and put my tennis shoes on? What?! I'm watching Grey's Anatomy!

I'm a lounger and once I get comfy it's almost impossible to get me up (unless there is a child crying somewhere, I'm not neglectful)! About 3 weeks ago I finally decided this is it. I will conquer you Exercise and I will win!! I was doing great. Walked every night on the treadmill for 30 min (while watching TV so it's really not that bad...), taking 1 night off a week to rest. But, now it's been 2 nights off in a row. Yes, yes, not a big deal most will say, but do you realize how quickly 2 days off turns into 1 week, which turns into never? Well, it goes fast. SO, this is just a little reminder to myself to get my walking shoes on tonight and get going! Remember how great you feel after excercising? Ok, now don't forget! No more excuses!

Now speaking of walking shoes, do these Reebok Easy Tone shoes really tone your legs and butt faster?

I'm kind of curious to find out, but I don't know anybody that has them...

Dream Job

Sitting at work day dreaming of what my dream job would be - something I seem to do quite often.... Here's what I've been thinking of lately:

- Professional makeup artist in LA or NYC (if I didn't have my lovely little children to come home to every night!)

- Photographer for a travel magazine. HELLO sweet vacations!!

- Stylist to the rich and famous.

- Jewelry designer. How fun would that be using your creativity to design beautiful things everyday?

- Real Estate agent, just not here where I live. Somewhere with a little more pizzaz than where I'm at.

Reviewing my list here, I would conclude that I'm looking for a little more excitement than I find here at my office/desk job!

Turning the big 3-0....

So, it finally crept up on me. Turning 30. Five years ago it seemed so far away, but such a fool was I! It came fast - incredibly fast. Now that I'm here, the good news is I don't feel "old" like I thought I would. In the whole scheme of things it's still pretty young, but it just sounds a little old. When I was 22, someone who was 30 seemed to be light years beyond me in age! Now that I look back, was I really that bad in math to not realize that I was only 8 years away from it myself?! Oh, the wisdom I've gained in such a short time!

This past summer it really hit me that my 20's were coming to an end....oh, and I started noticing some lines on my forehead, yikes! Apparently I raise my eyebrows a lot, who knew? Well, all those years of eyebrow-raising at people had taken a toll on my nearly 30 year old skin so I felt the need to take action. I don't want to be that old looking mom with the young kids - not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just that I'm not old yet (whatever the true definition of old is!). I turned to Mary Kay. A fellow preschool mom sells the stuff and I loaded up. Face wash, Anti-aging lotion, day solution lotion, night solution, night time eye cream and a replenishing serum, which was said to be "botox in a bottle". Here's some of what I got:

Only time will tell if this stuff actually works. But, in the meantime, I can take solice in the fact that I didn't just sit around and not do anything about it. I'm not trying to sound vain and hate on people with wrinkles, I just find it important to take care of myself and this was an area I was neglecting, perhaps in a little bit of denial about. But, I do have to say that all this face pampering feels really, really nice. And if for only that reason, I think it's totally worth it. I love finding small ways to pamper myself!

Now, aside from the physical changes of getting older, my mom pointed out some things to look forward to. Her philosophy is that a person spends their 20's trying to find themselves and by the time you hit 30, you are pretty comfortable with the person you've become. After thinking about that, I do believe that is true. I feel like I've spent so much of my life feeling uncomfortable and unsure of myself and wanting to fit in and not stand out like a sore thumb. For example, in the past year I've started taking some fashion risks and found that I LOVE trying new/different/stylish things - and the best part is, I don't care what other people think. And the even better part of it is that I've received so many compliments on my outifts or accessories than I ever did when I was just trying to be like everyone else! So, now I'm kind of looking forward to more positive changes in my 30's. What are some positive changes you've noticed about getting older? I'm getting excited about all the wonderful things to come!