Give Away

Keep your eyes peels and check in the next week for my VERY FIRST giveaway!

I will explain more once I pick a date to start. 

I hope everyone remembers that SEMO Bloggers first meeting is coming up FAST!

SEMO Bloggers first meeting will be on Monday, July 11th at 6pm at Calix coffeebar on Broadway. Bring your laptop if you'd like, and a little cash-ola if you want to eat dinner. Calix will have soups and sandwiches available, and also delicious coffee :)

The purpose of this first meeting is to get to know each other a bit, take down each other's info i.e. Twitter accounts, websites, etc, and to discuss blogging goals.

If you have a friend who is an avid blog reader but doesn't yet have a blog themselves, bring em' along!  We'd love to meet them and also help them start their own blog if they're interested!

31 Days to Clean - Day 3

Day 3 - 10 Ways to Give Life to You Home

I don't want to give away everything in the book so I'm going to go off of the 10 things that Sarah Mae's sister in law Renee Behringer lists out for us and say how I'm going to give life to my home.

1. I'm NOT going to put anyone down for their short comings. I WILL encourage the good things they do no matter how small. I will also try my best to comfort those around me and help uplift those around me.

2. I WILL try my best to always offer "grace-filled and life-giving" words to Derek and Stratton.

3. I WILL try my best to not get angry but rather love and forgive when mistakes are made in my home.

4. I WILL decorate my home because it should be a place of beauty. "Beauty raises life above mere existence."

5. I WILL try my best to keep cleaning even after the challenge is over and I WILL try instill this into my son and husband because the messier my house is the higher my stress level will be.

6. I WILL face my downfalls (anger, fear, anxiety, depression). My home should reflect my mental/spiritual/emotional health. I'm going to look to the Lord to help me with my downfalls.

7. I WILL make time to get out of the house to make sure I stay rejuvenated.

8. I WILL plan fun things to do for my family when I can.

9. I WILL play music that is uplifting. Both when I clean and when I am in the car.

10. I WILL ask the Lord to help me to become aware of the areas in my house that cause myself and my family stress. I WILL also ask how I can bring life to these places.


Mary Challenge:
Ask my family what makes them feel the most loved when it comes to caring for our home.

Derek says he likes when I take care of the laundry and make the bed. It makes it nice to be able to go to bed and not worry about all the clutter around us before we got to bed. Also it is one less stress factor to wake up to something nice instead of a huge mess.

I like when my kitchen is clean. I think the kitchen is the heart of the house so I like to clean and keep my kitchen clean. I also think it makes your guests more comfortable when they eat over. It doesn't feel like they are eating dirty food.

I think if Stratton could tell what he likes the best about what I clean, it would be his bedroom. I would hate to have to sleep in a messy room and not be able to do anything about it. I think since he can sleep in a clean room it's relaxing for him.


Martha Challenge:
Dust tops of fridge, cabinets, shelves and also clean and shine the outsides of drawers and cabinets.

Two days down! I hope you all could see a little progress with my fridge. I know it's a little hard to tell. I will post pictures first thing tomorrow of my Martha Challenge for today. I hope everyone has a fun filled and relaxing weekend.

Friday Confessions

I confess it's actually really nice to get a compliment about cleaning when not asked by my husband.

I confess I begged my mom to bring me home hummus from St Louis the other day because I've been craving it for the last 3 months.

I confess I am going on a diet. Not like a lose weight diet but more like a stop eating so much crappy food diet. More fruit and veggies and not so much ice cream and cookies.

I confess I look forward to my Thursday afternoons because it's when us girls (my sister in law Steph, my grandmother in law Mona, Dotty- Mona's friend, Bonnie- Mona's friend, Payne and Stratton) go to eat el torrero. It's nice to have a girls night. I like getting to hang out with family.

I confess I would seriously be lost without my mom and dad. They do so much for Derek and I. I love that they live the next town over and I can see them whenever I want.

I confess I have been peeing like a race horse because I've been trying to drink at least 3 bottles of water every day. I hate going to the bathroom at work.

I confess as much as I loved going to Chicago. I could never live in a big city like that. Too many people. No thank you.

I confess I'm actually liking this 31 days to clean. I enjoy getting my house clean. I like even more that I only have to do one thing a day so I don't get overwhelmed with what I need to get done.

Day 2 Results

So I did my day 2 as soon as I got home from eating dinner with the girls yesterday. All in all it took me around an hour and a half to get the whole thing wiped down, bleached, dried off, and cleaned out. I took everything out and threw away anything that was bad. I also emptied boxes that were taking up a lot of space. The biggest thing was getting all the tea splatter and soda splatters off the inside of it. Here are the pictures to show you what I got done. It doesn't look like a whole lot but I really feel like the wiping down and bleaching made it a lot better to look at.

I started with the outside of our fridge. I took down all the pictures and papers fro the front of it and then wiped it down with windex and bleach wipes. Then I washed Stratton's magnets and threw away any papers that we didin't need on there any more. This pictures on the side I left because I love all of them up there and I didn't want to mess them all up. 

 Next I did the inside of the fridge. I started by taking everything out one shelf at a time. Then I used bleach wipes on the glass parts and then windex to make it shine. I cleaned out any food that was expired and organized it so it was easier to find everything. I took anything that was in a box and got it out of the box to make for more room. I took out each drawer and cleaned it with soapy water then dried it out. I even took the bottom fruit/veggie drawers out and cleaned under those too. I never realized how much stuff falls down under those.

 

The door to the fridge was next. I cleaned everything that was expired out, wiped down the drawers, and even took one of the drawers out to make more room for the taller bottles that were having to be laid on their side at the bottom of the door. I took Stratton's capri sun and put them in the bottom of the door too so they are easier for him to get to as well.

 I mostly organized my freezer because when I tried to wipe it down my cloth kept freezing and sticking to it. So,  I thought I took a picture of the inside of the freezer as an after but I didn't. Here is the before picture though.

 I promise it was more organized after I was done with it. There wasn't corn in the ice tray after I was done.

I cleaned and organized the door to the freezer like I did the fridge. I took them out and washed them in the sink with soapy water. Then I organized everything and threw anything that had bad freezer burn on it away. Including the bananas that I put in there hoping to make banana bread with.

So, there you have it. Day 2 of 31 Days to Clean down!
I even did three loads of laundry last night, folded them AND put them away. I have even been waking up earlier and getting ready for work BEFORE I'm supposed to be there too. My husband asked me who I was and what I had done with his wife this morning. That's an awesome compliment for me!