This past weekend one of my good friends got married. We took the boys to the reception and had a great time. It was held at the Botanical Gardens in Fayetteville. The weather was perfect!

          

           

I am not. But, when I actually put it into practice, I've got some fairly useful knowledge about stuff around the house.  I don't think I've ever done a post like this so I'm just gonna share some of my household tips with you. Take them, leave them, tell other people I'm a dork, whatever you want to do, but here goes.

1. Leave a small bucket of cleaning supplies in each room, so you don't have to carry items around the house. You can just walk yourself in there, spend 5 minutes cleaning, and walk out. No looking for supplies and carting them around from room to room. In the kitchen I leave spray cleaner, vinegar, baking soda, and mopping stuff. Under the sink. In each bathroom there's a roll of paper towels, toilet bowl cleaner, spray cleaner, and my bleach mixture (see below). Clean the countertops, mirror, toilet wipedown, quick scrub and boom, you're done. 

2. Vinegar and baking soda, it kills gnats in the sink drain, and also can unclog a mildly clogged drain. It makes this cool bubbly foamy reaction that kids enjoy. 

3. Bleach mixture. If you have boys, of any age who stand and pee, you should make this up. Keep an old spray cleaner bottle, put 1/2 cup (less if you're afraid of harsh chemicals) bleach in the bottom and fill up the rest of the way with water. Squirt around the bottom of the toilet 1 or 2x a day. That weird pee smell from all the misfiring, gone. Also, it's a good quick wipe for the toilet seat and the front of the bowl if you've got little ones potty training. They love to touch the toilet in all kinds of places the rest of us avoid whenever possible. It's also fantastic to spray on the shower curtain every other day or so to keep mildew from being all nasty and stuff. 

4. Make your own laundry soap. Sure, you have to dedicate a little time to the process, but honestly, it's so worth it. My own budget is stretched so thin, and with all these growing boys I'd really rather spend those extra dollars on another loaf of bread or other grocery items. I have a wonderful no-grate recipe that I have been using since last fall. I bought all my supplies  totaling around $12-15.  In October. Of last year.

5. Assign chores to the kids. And don't pay them for it. It's just household duties, that they have to learn. Also, one thing Steven and I can really argue about is dish-washing and who is doing more or less of it. (Also, gay marriage, but I have no tips for that one!) Settle the argument and assign the dishes to the 9 and 12 year old. Problem solved. One of them.

6. Learn that it's okay to be that lady with the messy house every so often. It may make people who are judgmental uncomfortable, but it will make the rest of us feel good about ourselves and our own houses. And remember, people who drop in unannounced, get what they deserve. 

7. Eat leftovers. When I meal plan, I include the leftovers as meals. Walmart has these plastic containers with the lids ATTACHED (genius idea, by the way). I put individual servings of the meat/starch/veggies in those and freeze them. Microwave meals for work the next day, done. 

8. When making your grocery list, put the items in the order you will find them as you walk through the store. You know your store, your Walmart or your Kroger or whatever. For example, when entering my Kroger first thing on the right is produce, then bread, then meat, and so on. I know the path I walk through the store and I make my list accordingly. You're more likely to USE your list that way and less likely to buy extra stuff. I don't know if that's true or not but it works for me. Leave your grabby shoppers at home, for me that means Steven. When I bring the kids, I keep gum or fruit snacks in my purse to let them snack on while we shop. Also, eat first and make sure they're not hungry either.

9. Buy in bulk, but not everything. If you shop at a Sam's club or a Costco or a mega place like that, bring your calculator and be prepared to do some math. (I know, UGH, right?!) Certain things you could buy a zillion of and you know you won't be sorry, like toilet paper, baby wipes, diapers, etc. Some things at those stores though, are not a better deal. Think about what the cost is per serving. A bigger package doesn't always mean a better deal. Also, some things aren't a good idea in bulk. For us, for example, cereal. We change up the cereal we buy every week, based on sales and also on just what we want.  We don't need 3 boxes of honey bunches of oats with almonds because by the time we got to the end of that supply, we'd hate it. I don't buy that huge can of peanut butter also because I can't get the pb out of the bottom of that can without getting it all over my hand and arm. Also we made fun of it forever the one time I did. I just can't take it seriously anymore.

10. If you use those little pumps of handsoap in the bathroom and kitchen, buy that big bottle of soap and refill them. It's still cheaper than getting them when they go on sale for $1. I use that sale item to buy the bottles when mine are broken or not usable anymore, then I just refill them all with Dial. Or the walmart brand GoLD SOAP or whatever funny name they call it. 

11. I don't have an eleven. Also Steven wants to reset the modem because his laptop is running slow. That's all I've got for now. 

Me: I think I'm gonna sell you to the gypsies.
Isaac: NO! Sell Elijah! 
Me: He's not even here! (He's at his grandma's house right now)
Isaac: Okay, sell Thomas then.
Me: How much should I ask for him?
Isaac: How about 50 bucks?
Me: 50 bucks? That's the worth of your brother?
Isaac: Okay okay, 9 bucks.
Me: 9?! It's going down considerably.
Isaac: Don't worry, 9 is more than 8 AND 7. 
Me: Well, you're right about that. 

Thomas found out he's getting glasses yesterday. 
Me: When I was a kid I always wanted glasses!
Thomas: So, basically, I'm living your childhood dream?
Me: I guess so, in a way.
Thomas: I'll try not to rub it in.

Several years ago, I was working at the Women's Shelter as an Advocate, and I was due any day with my 3rd baby.  A new intern/volunteer had started and it was my job to train her. We spent the next couple of weeks getting to know each other probably a little bit TOO well.  Since then, we've worked together officially, and have become pretty wonderful friends. Her name is Elizabeth and she's getting married in two weeks. I got the privilege to be invited to her bachelorette party last weekend. I was the oldest person there, AND the designated driver, but I still had a TON of fun. This is Elizabeth and myself:

The whole group:

We started with a lingerie shower, and then went on to a Piano Bar/Club.  So fun.

At the bar, this one guy, well, he kept buying her drinks and having them sent over. He bought her 4 shots. I think her fiancee might consider that he's got some competition. I made the imposter let me take his picture with her.

Then, it was Father's Day. I snuck this picture of Steven during church. He hated it. I didn't.

His grumpiness about pictures continued throughout the day, especially when I made him take a picture with all the boys. Could he look any grumpier? ha.

Oliver was blowing bubbles. FYI, he's not very good at it yet. He poured most of the bubbles out accidentally and never quite successfully blew any bubbles. He did, however, have fun and I guess that's the whole point.

In other news, our air conditioner is out. The guy we rent from is supposedly having it fixed. However, I haven't heard anything in DAYS. Thank goodness we have a small window unit and a friend is letting us borrow one of theirs too. It's hot here.

Later, Peeps.

Just because we're missing a couple kids doesn't mean we have to stay away from the park!

I guess if you've gotta potty train, it's not too bad when the trainee is this cute.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?sns=fb&v=veNJBosc6EA&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DveNJBosc6EA%26sns%3Dfb

I'm sure you've all heard the news, Xanga may shut down in July if they don't raise like 60 big ones. I'd enjoy a nicer fresher format with all my xanga pals in tow, but I'm not interested in paying tons of money to make that happen at this point in my life. Just in case we get disconnected in a month or so, here's my other blog. I get practically zero traffic over there but I'll be around!

http://makingitcomplicated.wordpress.com/

If you want to connect in another way like facebook or something just message me and we'll see if we can work that out.

I have like a zillion years of stuff here on xanga, some is really a waste of time and some is really great. I dread keeping all of it and I shudder to think about losing some of it. Argh. That's me pirate saying of the day.

Today is my boys' last day of school for this year. I find myself with mixed emotions. I'll be really glad to only have to get myself around in the mornings to leave for work, and not 5 cranky boys who can't find shoes/socks/clean underwear/the favorite shirt, etc.

The sad part? I LOVE the teachers we've had this year. Thomas's teacher last year just picked apart every single thing he did. He was making all A's in class but getting behavior marks for "acting silly" and talking a lot. He is a talker, that's true. He also has a tendency to find something to do if he gets bored, even if it's not a cool thing to do. (In that way he's alot like our border collie, ha!)  This year, his teacher has been able to "harness" Thomas' intelligence or something and he's had no bad behavior marks all year. I think the classroom environment has been one of learning in an organic way and had room for Thomas to move ahead in areas that he was already ahead in and resulted in less boredom for him in the classroom. It's been totally awesome. Elijah's teacher, well I think she loves him. I don't think that, I know it because she told me so. When he broke his arm she checked in with me on how he was doing several times and when he went back to school after that with his cast she let me know throughout the day how he was doing. It's been a relief to send him off to school because of her.  Alex, well he changes classes and has lots of teachers but all the ones he had this year were really good.  When you've had a year with teachers this good, it makes it hard to go up from here next year. Know what I'm saying?? What are the odds we'll have all great teachers next year too??

That's not where the anxiety comes in to play, however. I'm scarred, you see. One of my children, I'll not tell you which one. On the last day of school his kindergarten year, had to be picked up. That's right, on the one day of the year where all good behavior expectations are practically nil, I got a call from the school to come pick up my child and take him home for something he did. It leaves me a little terrified of the last day of school. Like they've held it in all year, and been SO GOOD and you think you're home free. Alas, it's not always true. I always feel anxious until they've been picked up on that last day. What did he do that was so bad, you ask? He mooned the entire cafeteria at lunch.

I'll rest easy after school is over today.