My new cleaning system

First off... this looks much more complicated than it really is! My SIL learned this from a lady's mother in her ward and she finished hers and showed it to me. IT. IS. AWESOME. I feel so organized. I think my house is cleaner for just having finished this little project! :)

The whole idea is you assign each day specific areas of your home and on those days, you just do surface cleaning. For me.. that's basically putting stuff in their place OR those cleaning things you do FRANTICALLY before someone is making a surprise visit :)

Then, you pick 2 days of the week to do your deep cleaning. I chose days where my weekly duties were lighter than the rest. That is where this little sheet below comes in. I split my home areas up into 6 different areas equally. Then I proceeded to list every single thing that would need to be done if I were moving out. Pretty much things I never clean until I have to move. Embarrassing I know. :) This was the hardest part.


Then, I took each of those duties, from each of the 6 sections, and evenly divided those into 8 parts. (in the picture, you can see there are enough for each Wed/Sat a month) So this ensures that at least every 6 months you are cleaning those pesky baseboards (that in my house don't get cleaned until I move - except for the bathroom. Those get cleaned every time I clean the bathroom! Yuck..)


I put them in a fun cheap little Target photo book. January and July are paired together, same with February and August, etc. I just move these little cards below into their places when that month comes around.


Below is Tuesday. Kind of a normal day without any deep cleaning but I also added cleaning out the fridge as a weekly duty so nothing gets left/lost in there for too long. :)


I originally had Wed/ Sat as my deep cleaning days but since it actually worked out better for me, I moved it to Thurs/Sat. I make sure I put all the deep cleaning duties that Clint needs to help with on Saturdays. After I finish my deep cleaning duties for that week, I take that card and move it to the back (in the same slot - there are 3 cards behind it that you can't see)


I love love love this!! And I don't feel stressed out about it. Who cares if I don't get my deep cleaning done for this week. I'll do it again in 6 months and that's a ton better than not doing it at all!! :) It's personal for me and my house which I also love. Whenever we move someday, I'll probably do it again since the rooms/spaces will be different. Start to finish, it was quite a bit of work but now I feel like when my home gets too out of control to clean all at once, I feel like this offers a good start to getting me back on track. Especially if I lose my steam/go on vacation. :)

Progress

We're really bad at refinishing furniture. This project is taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. Buy oh boy am I falling in love with it! We've learned so much too. We thought we would save money by buying flat paint in our color choices and then finishing with a top coat of satin polyurethane. Stupid stupid STUPID. If we had just paid a little bit more for satin finish paint, we'd be DONE right now! But it's going to look awesome!! All that is left is to polyurethane the shelves and drawers and then find hardware for the drawers and hinges for the door on the front. Our poor kitchen has been our makeshift garage for the last 3 weeks. I want my kitchen back! Sorry for the blurry cell phone picture!

Here's the before.

ALSO, I'm trying to get Clint to help me make these side dressers/nightstands for our bedroom next. He's kind of burnt out on painting too.
But I love them too much!!

CHUCK.

I have hopes that one day I'll turn this blog into the actually happenings of our family on a regular basis but until then, I'm gonna keep posting things I passionately feel need to be shared with my blog world. (And represent how little time I spend cleaning my house/being a good housewife) :)

CHUCK.

We LOVE Chuck in this house. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Maybe 2 days before Darbi came home from the hospital, Clint and I would spend any extra time (that was not spent at work, school, or the hospital) watching Season 1 & 2 of Chuck. I think I have myself a grown-up-lady-crush on Zachary Levi. He is the perfect mix of sexy nerd and when you get that man in a suit - he is perfectly Geek Chic. Which ironically is exactly what I consider Clint to be! Lucky me.. I married my very own "Chuck".
Look at that adorable Daddy my kid has. :)

Anyway. I found this on the internet a couple weeks ago. CHUCK can SING?!?! I love the tone of his voice.. So sweet.

And then I found this gem... and melted. Holy smokes. He's adorable!

Oh geez.. :)

Why my kid is so awesome!

Clint had to put Darbi to bed while I was at Zumba. She is honestly the best kid when it comes to bedtime. Not that I have any other kids to compare her to but she's an angel! Normally, our routine is pj's, milk, she says "nigh-nigh" to Clint, I carry her upstairs, hand her the 2 "blankies" she loves, she snuggles on my shoulder for a few minutes, gives me a kiss, and I lay her down. She says "nigh-nigh, buh-bye, uh-ya (i love you)" and I walk out. Easy-peasy. It's really quite adorable.

Her bedtime is 8 and we're pretty good about keeping to it. But tonight I was kind of rushing to get to Zumba so I left Clint to hurry and get her to bed around 8:15. Of course, when Mama is gone, she gets a later bedtime. :) Clint gave her some milk, she drank about half of it and started playing quietly with some of her toys. So Clint asked her "Darbi, are you ready for bed?" She ignored him. So, of course, he let her play. Then.. about 15 minutes later (around 8:45), she stops playing, runs upstairs to her room and stops in the middle. She says "bups (whoops) blankie!", turns around and runs into our room and grabs her 2 favorite blankets, and runs back into her room and tries to climb into her crib! Crazy right?! Meantime, Clint is just following her around not saying anything!

She is SO AWESOME! She wouldn't even give Clint a hug or kiss before he laid her down. All things considered, she is the smartest kid!! Just so I remember.. these are some of the things she is saying (and the special way she pronounces them..) She says so much more but I just love how she says these things..

Hi lo - Hello
Bups - Whoops
Paca - Grandpa
Gigi- Grandma
Moe - More
Ow seye - Outside
Bickey - Mickey Mouse
Wish - Fish
By - Bite
Sa wish - Sandwich
Ry - Fry
Gok - Gonk (ouch)
TB - TV (I'm kind of ashamed of this one :) If Mickey isn't on the tv, she says "uh-oh, TB, uh-oh!"
Uh ya - I love you
I cuh wah - I color!
I jumpi - I'm jumping!

ZUMBA!!!

Last year, I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred everyday and I lost 10 pounds in a month. A 28 minute workout that kicked my butt and I actually looked forward to it everyday because it was SO easy at the same time! Crazy right? Well.. then Darbi got RSV and we went into survival mode. I got off track. I gained it all back throughout the rest of the year plus a little even though I tried to get back in my old routine.

So this year, I said, I'm really gonna lose weight.. for reals! REALLY this time. Right?? I didn't have a plan. I lost nothing. Big surprise, I know. But then my sis-in-law told me about Zumba. I was super awkward the first time and I felt stupid but I learned that you don't look stupid even if you feel stupid! Does that make sense?? Who cares what I look like?! Everyone is doing the same thing and feeling great doing it! I'm SO in love with Zumba!! I go twice a week, and when I can squeeze it in (thanks to my Grandma's help!) I go 3 times a week. Maybe this sounds weird but I actually feel more confident because of it. And anytime I hear fun dance music on the radio I just want to move and dance! It's so good because now I dance all around the house while I'm cleaning and stuff. Kind of embarrassing but I don't care!! At least I'm burning calories. I've lost a little weight but I'm definitely on track to lose a ton more! And I don't care if it's just a fad and I'm jumping on the bandwagon. It's working and it's totally worth it.

And I want everyone to come with me! It's seriously SO FUN!!! It doesn't feel like a workout. I go every Tuesday and Thursday night from 8:30-9:30. Let me know if you want to go! The first time is free and YOU. WILL. LOVE. IT.

Have you ever wondered??

Clint found this today and showed it to just before we went to bed tonight... I was laughing SO. HARD. I had to share... since I'm wide awake now!

If you click on the comic strip, it animates in a new window. Which makes it SO much funnier!!

What's for dinner?

Lately I've been trying to recipes for dinner to get me excited about cooking. Against all that Clint and other family members will say, I can cook. I just don't like to. Also, my Grandma Hillman laughs at me because anytime she makes anything, I ask her which box it came out of. :) She hates that! Then she yells at me and gives me all her yummy made-from-scratch recipes. But
I hate doing all the prep and I especially hate cleaning up. Which is odd because once I'm in the mood to clean, you can't stop me. I'll clean and organize everything in sight. Also odd, once I get everything ready, and I'm in the middle of cooking, I don't mind it at all. I think because the end is in sight and that means a full tummy with super yummy food. I just have to keep that in mind when it comes around to dinnertime and I need to be a better meal planner. Anyway.. here are a few things we've tried lately..

Pasta with Bacon and Mushrooms
This one is a Pioneer Woman recipe. It was pretty good.. My mistake was to mix the sauce with the entire 1 lb. bag of angel hair pasta. Don't do that. It will just taste like pasta. Either I skipped that part of the recipe or maybe I really can't cook! It was ok. Clint and I really liked it but we might leave the bacon out next time.. If we make it again.

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas
These were AWESOME. They came from a website my friend Amy found and she's tried a bunch of other recipes on this site and has had super luck with them. PLUS it's super low cal IF you follow the recipe. :) We just used green enchilada sauce from a can and I didn't add cilantro or scallions to the top. ALSO, I didn't have green chilies so I borrowed some jalapenos from my neighbor (thanks Stephanie!) and they were CAR-AZY good! And hot... from both ends. :( TMI. Remember, I'm watching out for you. :) I'm DEFINITELY making these again. Probably with chilies next time, as per Clint's request. ;)



Thai Chicken Pasta
This has become one of mine and Clint's ALL TIME FAVORITE meal. We try to make it at least once a week. It's SOOOO yummy. It calls for 1 tsp of Chili Garlic Sauce and we add quite a bit more. We like a little spice.. just not as much as the enchiladas with the jalapenos. :)
Also, ANYTHING from this website is good. Megan only posts 5 star recipes that she's tried and had success with and I LOVE IT. Thanks Megan!

Brushed and Baked BBQ Chicken Rolls
These sandwiches are to die for!! I took them to one of the girls I visit teach after she had her baby and she immediately texted me demanding the recipe. :)
Let me know if any of you try any of these and what you think! I hope you like them!!

Lucky Find!

Lookie what I found at the DI today!! I LOVE it!! It's a dresser but we are going to sand it down and paint it some kind of grey/white combination and use it as our entertainment center! I'm not sure how old it is but there is a Bassett Furniture brand burned onto the inside of one of the drawers. It's smells like old lady perfume and I won't be able to finish it until it warms up. It's going to be a little ugly/smelly in my living room for a while but I don't care! We might take out the two top drawers on each side and make them shelves so that our cable box/wii/dvd player can fit easily. If you open the white panel in the middle, there are 3 drawers behind it. Perfect for Clint's ugly wires that I find all over the house. Perfectly contained! Any advice on how to go about this? I've never done this before... any other thoughts on paint color/design?? I'm open to other ideas.

Darbi's Fan Club

While I was in AZ, I went to church with Paca & Gigi (darbi's words.. not mine :) in my old ward. I love that ward. I feel like I don't have to introduce myself when I go but there are always so many new people! Throughout our "family crisis" our blog was our means of communication with everyone who wanted to know the goings-on. I was too stressed out to talk to anyone on the phone, not to mention talking about the whole ordeal made my blood pressure sky rocket.. so this blog is my way of still keeping those interested in Darbi's progress updated! Anyway... On Sunday, I was attacked by Toni's little girl who reads this lil' blog more faithfully than probably anyone else!! Caitlin is Darbi's number one fan and I love it!! She is seriously the most adorable young woman! AND she offered to babysit next time I'm in town. CAITLIN - I'M SOLD. :) You got it sista! I think Darbi kinda likes you too. :)

Caitlin's older sister - Courtney

I love Darbi's smirk in the picture.

Kade's Last Day

Kade had to report back for Advanced Combat Training/Learn How to Fix an Airplane school... to make him awesome or something.. on the 4th so we went sledding on the 3rd. It was SO. DANG. COLD. We all lasted only 45 minutes but Darbi LOVED it. We bundled her up super tight and got some cute pictures out of it.

Kade & Kelsey

This was the best family picture we could get! Darbi was so distracted.

Look at that big smile on my kid's face!

Cold red nose. :(

New Year's Resolution

Yeah. And to blog more. :)

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

My baby turns 2 today! Things are so normal for us now and I'm loving it! In keeping with small traditions, we took Darbi to get a quick picture taken at The Picture People. Last year was the Kiddie Kandids nightmare. Studio photographers are quick and easy and that's what works for us when we're on vacation! She was kind of cooperative but mostly not. We got a few good shots and we only had to pay for the CD of pictures with the copyright release. I was SUPER happy about that! Today we went to dinner and taught her how to say "Happy Birthday!" which comes

out as "Happy Buh!" and "I'm two!" which comes out as just right!! She's such a little sponge right now. She tries to say anything I ask her to and remembers a lot of it! Best part about these pictures compared to last years... NO OXYGEN! I wanted a bow on her pretty little head but she rips them off so fast now. Most days she looks like a boy and sometimes even gets called one WHILE she's wearing pink. People are so dumb... Tomorrow we are having cake and opening presents and Monday is her birthday party in Utah with Clint and his family! Spoiled little girl gets a birthday weekend but I'm okay with that!

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