Changing the way I keep my home

So I attempted to create another page for my blog that will allow me to be honest about the way things have been in the house, and share what is changing in my life and in my heart regarding the way I keep my home.  I also wanted share from time to time projects, and ideas that I find or create in order to bless my home.  I couldn't figure out how to create a new page that I could continually post on so I guess I will just continue with my posts as I did before.

The truth is I am not a good housekeeper, I never have been, and I have my list of excuses as to why, emotional baggage, and old scars from growing up and doing alot of the housework and others people housework for them so when I grew up I didn't want to do it anymore.  Ridiculous right, but that has been my mentality.

There have been some recent changes and discoveries in my life that are helping me make some changes, and God is changing my heart as well. One of the websites that has changed the way things are done in this house is www.flylady.net   I signed up for her emails, and read the baby steps.  I have only been following along for maybe 2 or 3 weeks but there is a huge difference in the house and in me.  Even her Pamper Mission tips are awesome and they are teaching me to take care of me along the way.  Her philosophies about perfection (see my post about how i feel about perfection here)  and ways of cleaning speak to my personality.  I guess in some ways I am still bouncing around but with a purpose!

Another discovery that changed my life was this blog http://proverbsfamily.blogspot.com/  The writer behind this blog did a surrender series that you can search for on the site.  This was one God used to bust my heart big time http://proverbsfamily.blogspot.com/2013/07/does-anyone-appreciate-you.html
One of my biggest sources of frustration was feeling unappreciated and a huge source of anger was feeling like I had no help and that I did it all for nothing.  Seeing it from a biblical perspective changed my way of looking at what I felt I had a right to. 

Anyway over the next few weeks I will be posting updates and revealing the changes that are being made but here is the clutter and chaos that have ruled the Toomey house (we have lived in this one for a year)

These are various views of our great room....AKA our living room...it very large and filled with lots of lets say "treasures"

These are pictures of our kitchen and the island or bar area in it......

Laundry area/pantry/guest bathroom area

The office....i know i know its bad....but I now have a plan!!!! I am so excited and can't wait to share updates!!!!  Stay tuned......................................

made my own Dove Body wash

from a bar of Dove soap!!!!!!



I did some research and I sort of followed the recipe part found here http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Dove-Soap-Body-Wash/step2/The-Recipe-for-Homemade-Dove-Body-Wash/

I let my handsome prince (who needs a hair cut) grate the soap into the pot with two cups of our tap water.  (he loves grating soap now that we have made the homemade laundry detergent)

So what I did was grate a 4 oz bar of the Dove sensitive soap into 2 cups of tap water and I boiled it for 30 minutes on the stove until all the shreds were melted.   Then I let is sit overnight, and honestly it had thickened way before i went to bed, but i wanted to be sure it was set so I did let it set overnight. 

It was really thick so I added 3 tablespoons more of water and mixed it with my beaters (like you would a cake mix)

I loved the consistency, and spooned our mix back into my empty 24 oz bottle of Dove soap that I had bought from the store.  Spooning it into the original bottle was tedious but I did not have another container on hand to store it in the would be easy to use in the shower. 

I did not have an exact measurement but I estimate that I got 18 oz of body wash from a 4 oz bar of soap.  And I bought two bars of Dove soap for 3.27 and I only used one for this recipe.  So basically I got 18 oz of Dove body wash for 1.64.  Works for me.  I could have gotten an even better deal if I had a Dove coupon, but I did not, so I look forward to getting an even better price next time!!!!!!

The recent laundry detergent and body wash making idea came from wanting to see if we as a family could cut our expenses even more for the things I feel we still need to buy in the event that my employment ends, or our hours are reduced because fall and winter are fast approaching.  There was a little drama at work this week and my boss said and did some things that almost caused me to leave the job.  Things have smoothed over now, but my boss is nice one day and not the next.  The highlight of my work week though was a 27.00 tip from a customer just for renting him a Uhaul and helping him save some money...So i am treating the family to dinner tonight!

Did you try anything new this week.  I hope you all have a great start to the new week that is coming!

Friday 5

so I have decided to link up on http://www.northcarolinacharm.com/

and do a Friday 5...I found this linky party on  http://fitnessblondie.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-rhymes-with-hug-me-hey-hey-hey.html  who i discovered during a Sunday blog hop a couple months ago hosted by http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/


So here are the things I am decidely loving this fine Friday.....

One that is is after 3PM and I am off work...woohooo....

Two....that over the past couple of weeks I have been able to transform  a room in the house from this

to this  

I have been following the FLYLADY at http://www.flylady.net/  thanks to an outside view from a follower I was able to realize I was still bouncing around making no progress in anything I was trying to do....so I have almost completely organized one small part of the house...it is definitely decluttered now at least. (((( (and my sink has been shiny for almost two weeks now))))) This room had alot of detail work that needed to be done I will post about the whole transformation later this week.

Three is this awesome smelling stuff

I discovered it on our Rhode Island trip when we stayed with Aunti P at the Providence Marriot....this is the stuff the hotel gives out every day when room service comes....I love the smell.  It really is truly an energizing smell.....It retails at Bath and Body Works for 13.00 and doesn't appear to be included in the usual sales, so I have not sprung for a bottle yet, but believe me it's going on my gift list for the hubs for Christmas or Birthday ideas for me....because I love it!!!  I have 3 to 4 of the trial sized bottles from the hotel since Aunti P said she was stocked from previous trips!!!!!

Four is the smell of this homemade laundry detergent I had the kids help me make today at work (I am slowly learning to manage my time better through time blocking which i discovered at http://justagirlandherblog.com/

it is just really working for me when I use it)  Anyway we had some down time and we took out all the ingredients and made it on the picnic table

 

this is part of the batch...it smells soooo great i can't wait to use it but i still have a little store bought liquid left to use up first....here is the recipe I followed http://exploringdomesticity.blogspot.com/search/label/Homemade

although I omitted the Oxi Clean

And last but not least number five:

I am completely crushing on this picture taken of my son during our trip when we celebrated his birthday  in Rhode Island....I am not the best photographer, but I really think this picture of him properly cropped will look great on the wall and I will have taken it myself.

what to do with Gift bags after your childs birthday party

Alot of times when you have a childs birthday party friends/family go the extra mile to buy special birthday bags or cards with special characters on them that your child really likes.  I know alot of people reuse the bags to give gifts at other parties or toss them out, but here is an alternative idea that I had after my daughters 2nd birthday last year.......

For Christmas this past year (her birthday was in November) I purchased large frame from the thrift store (i paid like 4 bucks for it) and i cleaned it up.....we cut out my daughters favorite characters from the gift bags, and i cut a piece of wrapping paper to fit the backing of the frame.  Then we took the characters we cut out and layed them out in the frame of wrapping paper...My son also picked the Minnie Mouse ribbon from a craft store and you can see it running up the sides of the frame.  We put in a couple family pictures and a sweet saying from my scrapbooking supplies and Viola!......My daughter also got some princess stickers for her birthday that I let my son and one of his friends space around the pictures so that would really get used.  This project ended up being a Christmas gift to my daughter from her brother.  It was perfect.  I used the 3M command strips to hang them.  I bought the ones that hold up to 16 pds....and for my area, they are cheaper to purchase at Michaels with one of their 40 percent off coupons...then they are at Walmart.  My daughter got a handmade one of a kind special piece of art that she will treasure for years to come!

some camping pics

I didn't really get to take that many....or at least not all of the ones I wanted.  I wanted to take some on the boat rides we took, but I had forgotten my camera and it's a bigger one and i didn't want it to get wet if we did not know what we were doing, I do not own a smart phone or a cell phone that you can take pictures.....just a really basic free one that you can just talk on (can you imagine that...lol)

So the first night it was just me and the kids, and they were so anxious to do camping type activities, but I didn't really know for sure how to start a camp fire, it was too late to ride bikes, and at first I was unsure if I would be able to set up the fishing poles.  We cooked Spam over the camp fire.....It was a pathetic camp fire but it got the job done.

We were even able to make smores with it. 

The next day...daddy came, he fixed the problem I had with the fishing poles, and my son caught a turtle.

he caught it on the fishing pole, but this pic was snapped after Pop Pop Mike (who we don't get to see enough) took it off the hook.

Mr. B let us use his camper (we usually use it once a year it's his happy birthday present to my son)  and the tent is what our close family friend slept in....she could have stayed in the camper but she wanted an authentic as possible camping experience.

Over all it was a long but a good week.  Unless daddy can go the whole time from now on we will stick to just a weekend deal I think. 

Busy Busy week......

I will share some pics later.....right now I desperately need a shower, but I have been busy lately and not updated.  Well I went camping for an official whole week...and we packed alot into that week....it ended up feeling really long....and I am tired and dirty now.

It was just me and the kids camping the first night....it was pathetic....we struggled camping on our own....i tried to rig up fishing lines and it only lasted for half an hour because turns out i made a slight mistake that my husband corrected the next day....My son caught a fish and a turtle though, that was interesting.  My nephew who is 22 and lives in Florida came to visit so we spent a day with him and his dad...and we all went to a monday night baseball game.  It was $2.00 night at the ball field for admission hot dogs and soda...so even after we payed for 7 of us to get in and bought ice cream and dinner we still only spent what we normally would have spent for just the 4 of us to go. 

It rained alot too this week while we were gone, but we still got in some boat and bike rides, ate tons of smores and ice cream (no stepping on the scale for me this week i can only imagine the results....but i am aware of my poor food choices)  We had one night with a bad thunderstorm and my son got a little scared.  We also got the family dog spayed for just 20.00 this week.  I went through our local department of ag for a certificate and discovered a wonderful new vets office.  My husband camped with us two nights....A close family friend stayed 3 nights, and it was just me and the kids 2 nights.  Last night since it was raining we visited a bowling alley near the camp ground and that was alot of fun.  We also squeezed in a visit with my grandmother and my Uncle.

 Let me just say I am happy to be home.  It was a busy action packed week that has left me in need of a nap :)  I am off to clean up now.....Even though I had to pack and unpack everything it wasn't soo bad this time, i learned to do a little at a time so it did  not feel so overwhelming.  So that was my progress for the week.  I suppose tomorrow it's back to normal domestic things......What did you do this week?

My first Flying Lesson

from http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/shine-sink/

This one is for you Shelley :)  I actually have two kitchen sinks....I started with the small one only......

I know gross right.......but in an effort to take given advice I am trying to focus on one thing at a time, and stop bouncing around because that is why I never get anything done. (hubs has said this for years)  Anyway This weeks project still has been mainly focused on the laundry room/pantry guest bathroom area.  Who knew it could take so long to organize and clean an area........I don't know if I will even finish it this week.  But in my defense I worked 10 hours today.....It was a long day.  Anyway while I was doing a little more work on this weeks project....i looked up the flylady's website and I signed up for her email feed, and I am took my first "flying" lesson....in SHINY SINK 101

I followed her instructions that you can find on the link above.  I did not have comet or ajax...so I did use baking soda....and I aso dont have windex so I used my vinegar spray that I would clean windows with.....and here is the finished results

The sink itself looks great right!!!! (Ignore the junk around it....I have not gotten to cleaning that yet....Hopefully I can work on that when we get back from camping.)..I hope to get the present part of the house I am working on done tomorrow night maybe...but I do have to get ready for our camping too..(how many hours are there in a day)...Anyway......that's it.....for today.....One day and one step at a time.  If I can overcome these years of chaos we have created...I know you can to....much thanks to the Fly Lady for her site!!!!!  And to my awesome followers and their comments!!!!