Somewhere That's Green

Lila was very messy this morning with her coffee cake, so I taught her how to use the dust buster.  Ever since, she's been dust busting the whole house.  Best decision ever.

Now if we could just address the problem of peas blending in with my dining room rug, we'd be in business.

Stupid Things That Rachel Does

I had this great idea today that while the kids were playing in our family room I would clean the stairs.  You know, sweep, mop, etc.  I grabbed the dustpan and broom and then remembered that my Swiffer is this size (obviously I don't clean the floors very often).  So I went ahead and pulled out one of those Swiffer dry cloths to just use with my hand, but not wanting to use the mopping pad with my hand, I pulled out the next best thing: Pledge.  I use Pledge on my wooden dining room table; why shouldn't I use it on my wooden stairs?



Sweeping: done. Swiffering: done.  Pledge: done.  I stand back and smile at my handiwork.  "I am so amazing," I think to myself.  Then I walk down the stairs in socks and almost die.  Apparently treating your floors like a gleaming dining room tabletop is a bad idea.  I have since spent the rest of the evening trying to dirty my stairs in an attempt to make them less slippery.  I am also now wearing shoes.

Being Glamorous

As you all know, I lead a very glamorous life.  And as all glamorous housewives are wont to do, I decided yesterday to figure out why my vacuum was not sucking as it should.



This lead to an hour of sticking a wire coat hanger into the tubey thing and pulling all this junk out that was clogging the vacuum.

The best part was that when I was done, the reward was that I got to vacuum.

The Last 20 Hours

The last 20 hours have been directly from hell.  The kids are suffering from Grammie withdrawal (Grammie and Grampie visited over the weekend), two out of three kids are sick, and somehow "No!" has become about 70% of the girls' vocabulary.

Assuming that I too will be sick in the near future, I was determined to get all of our clean laundry put away...something that never happens.  We seriously live out of the dryer.  Johnny got mad at Little Guy the other day for barfing all over him, and I said, "Why do you care?" Barf is pretty standard around here after all.  Johnny responded, "This is my last clean pair of pants!" Anyway, after an hour of trying to get Little Guy to take a nap this morning, he finally fell asleep.  At this point the girls were both screaming, so I gave in and put on a movie...on continuous play.



I actually got three full laundry baskets of clothes put away AND put Little Sister's sheets in the wash...something I can't remember doing in the recent past. I think we'll go to Chik-fil-A to celebrate.

Helping With Laundry

The girls have trouble understanding that when I'm folding laundry, they are not supposed to unfold it and throw the clothes around the room.  So to distract them, I let them wear some of Daddy's shirts.

 

Cinderelly Cinderelly

The girls kept trying to take the Swiffer away from me while I was cleaning yesterday, and I thought to myself, "I wish I had kid sized cleaning supplies."  Then I looked at the Swiffer and realized that I could take it apart and hook the handle much lower on the shaft.  Voila! Baby Swiffer!



Every time they see it lying on the floor, they pick it up and sweep for a few minutes.  I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier.  Now to figure out how to shorten the vacuum.

Peekaboo

I finally did it! I ordered a mini chandelier for above my kitchen sink.  That's not really very interesting to write about, though...and I didn't take a picture of myself ordering it.  So here's a video of Lila playing Peekaboo. 

Where Are You Christmas?

Santa has gone back to the North Pole in the Hutson household.



My goal today was to put away all of my Christmas decorations.  I think I got everything, but it's kind of like when you find an Easter egg two weeks after the hunt...who knows what will still be up come March.



I'm dreading marching the tree to the door and the needly green trail that will be left behind.

Meh...I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.  Johnny has National Guard so that really limits my abilities.  I want to deep clean my bathrooms, but Lila likes to lick all the shampoo bottles when she's in there, so an extended amount of bathroom time doesn't seem like a good idea.  I think my goal will be to find a new light for above our kitchen sink.  That Chili's light has GOT to go. 

Lila's Secret Stash

I realized this morning that I lost my phone and that it was dead, so there was no hope of finding it by calling it.  Lila was the last person to have it, so I started looking around at her level in all of her favorite places.  I lifted up the bottom of the couch and found my phone...



...plus four books, two hangers, one shoe, one Christmas card, one church bulletin, four linky things, one monkey, one Dumbo toy, two coasters, one hat, and Lila's one legged bunny man. Oh and one sock.

I decided that this counts as cleaning today. This weekend's goal is to finish painting Lila's new room (not including trim) and to start putting away all of our Christmas stuff.

Didn't Realize It's Already January 10

After two trips to the Sherwin Williams store in the rain, we chose the perfect color for Lila's room: Antiguan Sky by Benjamin Moore.  But since we're a family with a professional painter, I had to make Sherwin Williams match it with their paint.

Lila first helped me out by reading books to herself.



And then when books got old, she ate her lunch in the hallway while I painted.  I thought that it was a good idea at the time, but now I have cornbread muffin crumbs all over the upstairs.

I successfully got the room rolled, we have fabric for curtains picked out, and I only got a little bit of paint on the carpet and ceiling.

After all the work in her new room, Lila needed a little treat this afternoon, so I took her to Land of Paws to look at the puppies that are for sale.  She flipped out.  She absolutely loves puppies and couldn't stop laughing and drooling and jumping.  Jooooohnny....we want a puuuuuuuuppy!!! (As long as it doesn't poop, pee, drool, shred, or ever have to go to the vet.)

I didn't get anywhere near cleaning bathrooms today, so that's supposedly going to be the plan for tomorrow.

Photo Round-Up

Unfortunately for some of you, I am working on organizing my digital photos.  Here are some of my favorites that I've found so far starting with the most recent.

Now that they've all graduated, I can post this picture.  I had my CCA seniors over to watch Hamlet at my tiny apartment in 2011.  We made cookies, watched a movie, looked at the glass etchings of naked women on my shower door, all things that good teachers do.

                           

For Halloween our Junior year, while Johnny and I went as a mob couple.  Our friends Lars and Andrew went as us.

                           

I love this picture of Johnny and me with our friend Stephen.  Stephen, I was cleaning out my desk today and found your copy of Boondock Saints.  I'm making it sound like I had no idea that it was there, but I knew all along and just never gave it back to you.  Sorry.  To make it up to you: Hey everyone, go check out Stephen's men's denim line!  We're super excited for him. 

Big family crew photo circa 2006?

Part of the Vogliardo clan came out to support me at a regatta my sophomore year of college.  So glad that they get to be part of Lila's life!

Look how cute and tiny Mitchell and Tess were!

I know this picture has resurfaced a few times, but one summer we decided to have a potluck.  We couldn't just have a regular potluck; we had to have a pirate themed one.  A pirate themed one where we had to cook hot dogs on a grill.  I believe Laura Ponath ended up having to go get lighter fuel from her dad...and I still think we were not able to start a fire.

I really like Jessie's hair in this picture...and her jacket. 

We always knew that Mitchell had problems from the very beginning.  The chain is a nice touch, though.

 Halloween senior year of high school.

Senior year Sweetheart after party.  I miss Nao.

 Even better than Richard's expression are the three pieces of crepe paper hanging on the wall behind him.  Jonas always went all out on decorations.

Easter egg hunting with cousins.  Lila can't wait for Melody's little one to arrive so they can do Easter egg hunts together.  Ben will probably still take all the money-filled eggs.

And finally, our church hiking trip in Moab, Utah.  An extremely fun trip.  I think my heels just recently healed.

I thought this was a fun little compilation of the last 10 years of my life.  If you have any photos of your own to share, please do.

Photo organizing is going well.  Tomorrow I am planning to start painting Lila's room, finish organizing my desk, and begin the hardcore bathroom cleaning.

I Don't Remember What Day We're On Anymore

Work began on Lila's big girl room today.  She is pretty excited.




And by work I mean that I dusted the baseboards.

We also got started on Lila's new quilt for her big girl bed by shopping at JoAnn's.  Forty-five minutes, forty-five cheerios, and one clementine later, we had all this cute fabric.  I don't know when I'm going to make said quilt because Lila tends to eat things like fabric, batting, and wrapping paper when I take her into the basement with me, but hopefully it will get done before we officially move her in when our first baby arrives.

Tomorrow, besides working on various sewing projects that aren't included in the 31 Days of Cleaning, I am going to focus on organizing photos on my computer and making sure that they are all backed up in various locations.  I am anticipating this taking a very long time.  Suggestions for how to organize?

Cleaning and Reading

The majority of today was spent getting ready to host book club, so I focused on cleaning the living room and dining room.  I think I got everything done that I said I would...except I didn't dust the crown molding because I don't really know how to go about doing that.

Lila was very good today, but this is how I finished my last few projects this afternoon.



For book club this month we read Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote.  The majority of us really enjoyed the novella but were very taken by the differences between the story and the movie.  There were a few things that we were confused about, but it's always nice to have wikipedia there to answer any questions.



Tomorrow I am going to focus on Lila's new bedroom.  We're moving her into the guest bedroom, so I want to wash the window, clean the curtains, organize the closet, clean the baseboards, and decide on a paint color.  I also want to go to JoAnn's and pick out fabric for her new quilt.

This is the inspiration for her room: Seafoamy Tiffany Blue and Ballet Slipper Pink

http://southernpiphi.tumblr.com/page/5

Back to the Grindstone

Johnny and I are back from our 24 hour vacation.  It was nice to remember that we actually enjoy each other's company and enjoy doing things together other than the dishes and cleaning the oven...which is coincidentally what we did tonight.



I also cleaned the microwave, and Johnny cleaned Lila's fan.  I laughed at breakfast this morning when he asked what my cleaning plans were for Monday.  I said, "Oh my dear, we do not take weekends off in the 31 Days of Cleaning Extravaganza."



I was very eager to get back with Lila after spending time away from her, and then I got her back and remembered that she requires a lot of work and attention.  Who knew?  So Johnny was a huge help with her today while I finished the front part of her teething cover and almost finished the sides.

 

We really value Sunday as a day of rest in the Hutson house, so I am planning to not do much more than finishing the side parts of the teething cover and replace some light bulbs...and maybe shower.  I don't do that enough.

Lila's First Sleepover!

Lila is having her very first sleepover tonight at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house.



She is almost as excited as Mommy is.

I was able to FINALLY get started on the teething cover for Lila's crib.  I was originally planning to quilt it, but since it's so small, I think I'll just sandwich it, bind it, and put some buttons to hold it together between the crib slats.

For tomorrow, I'm planning to dust Lila's fan, work more on the teething cover, clean the microwave, and organize the pantry.  Exciting.