New Year Resolution

Every year brings with it the tradition to make some goals, to improve the mind, body and soul. Every year I make goals (a good long list of them) and every year I'm certain that will be the year I'll keep them.

This year I was a slacker and didn't make any, not because I didn't want to but because I felt I needed time to reflect on what I truly wanted out of THIS year, out of life, out of myself.

Of course it all started with BODY. I could sure stand to lose a good 25 lbs. Heaven knows I'm not in any kind of shape I was in years ago!!=) So I started writing a "plan" of what I expected of myself. The longer I wrote the more I started to realize, "hey, I really don't care enough about losing weight to make it a goal" or at least to write it down and not accomplish it. That's not saying I'm going to completely ignore my body and not exercise. I just don't feel it's something I want to focus on.

After a few more days like this I finally came up with something I'm willing to put to paper and even started doing before realizing I wanted it to become my goal...

As most of you know Bruce and I are living with our in-laws. It's been pretty OK, all things considering. However because we do live in such a BIG house and other kids and families are over quite a bit, it doesn't exactly clean itself. How I've dealt with this so far is how I've dealt with it in the past which is to ignore the mess until it become so unbearable that it takes me a couple good days of cleaning before I'm OK with it again. Our room usually gets the biggest shaft... I tend to focus on the areas that are seen by others first before working on the areas I only get to see. After this last little cleaning excursion I realized I hate living that way. I don't like washing my clothes and leaving them in the basket until they are dirty again. I don't like coming to bed at night and making it before I jump in it rather than enjoying it be made during the day.

So I came up with a system.

(When I get a new calendar for this year I plan on writing it under my "list of things to do". I like buying the really BIG calendars that have nice big squares to write things in. I usually get them at Wal-Mart, I've been thinking this year I might try printing one out though. Well see.)

OK... Here's my TO DO LIST:

Monday:

Bathrooms (I absolutely hate this chore But I realized I hate it so much because when I go to do it, it's so bad that it grosses me out. My solution, do them once a week! This is no easy feat people we have three full bathrooms in this house!!)

Tuesday:

Clean, dust and vacuum the three down stairs living spaces. Mom is usually good about doing the front room, so most of the time I don't have to worry about that room which is nice.

Wednesday:

Kitchen!! Steaming the floors, cleaning out the fridge and keeping the pantry organized and cleaned!! Sometimes things get left opened and well, we've been having some bug issues. Ewww is all I have to say.

I leave the kitchen for Wednesday because my mother in-law is usually gone at the temple until around noon which means I can clean and get rid of things without her around... it sounds bad but really I am doing her and everyone else a favor.=)

Thursday:

Upstairs. Our room, bonus room, landing and Savanah's room get a good vacuum and clean. Enough said. I mean the only real mess I should ever be cleaning is the bonus room because that is the room the kids tend to attack. If I can stick to this our rooms should already be fairly clean.

Friday:

Laundry... spend the morning washing and PUTTING AWAY!!=)

Saturday:

Car or any other odds and ends that need to be attended to. Mainly I'm thinking a day off would be nice.

Bruce and I have also talked a lot about (and have put into action) trying to clean after ourselves in the moment. For an example when we change... putting the clothes back into the dresser or dirty clothes hamper. When Savanah is done eating, cleaning her tray right away. Cleaning up her toys before we leave to do something even if they will undoubtedly be take out again. Taking a few mins and tiding up so that when my cleaning days come the mess isn't so huge. It's been working great so far and is FAR less stressful this way.

Wow, I'm not going to lie I feel a little embarrassed that it's taken me this long to finally want to change how we are living and to even admit that we are that unorganized. Well, what can ya do? I guess if I want to see the glass half full in this situation we are in, it would be that Bruce and I are finally being forced to learn how to get our ducks in a row, And that's really not such a bad thing.=)

-Sabrina

DIY Fabric invites

About 3-4 months ago I found this tutorial while surfing the web... here and here and instantly feel in love with these fabric invitations. So as Savanah's birthday has been quickly approaching I decided that now would be the perfect time to try them out.

I went to target and got a box of 50 white card stock paper with envelopes. It cost me 9.00, worth it to me since it was already precut. I used some scrap-booking paper for the second layer. I found some flower fabric at Joanns on sale for 3.00 a yard plus I found an additional 20% off coupon on line (I only needed 1/2 a yard for 15 invites). I think the hardest part was figuring out what colors I wanted and the style.

I think they turned out how I expected and I love the homemade feeling they give. It even turned out to be cheaper than printing some invitations out from the computer. Once I sat down and started making them it maybe took me 2 hours to do 15 invitations.

Most of them weren't perfect, but I think that's what makes them so fun for Savanah's birthday.=)

Here are some of my pictures although the links are better.

I used some canvas material my mother in-law had for the back. Although you could also use the same material as the one you cut out for the image in the front (this is what the link did). I liked the organic feel the canvas gave them. Here are your three layers cut out ready to sew together.

This is what it looks like sewn together.

Front and back.

And the finished product with the flower in front. In the link they sewed the flower on the front. I tried it on three and just didn't like how it looked so I ended up hot glue gunning the rest. I liked it much better in the end.

These really were so simple and a lot of fun to make!! I can't believe Savanah's almost 1!!! Where is the time going?!

Sabrina

Eat, Sleep, Play...repeat.

Savanah's 11th month

Wow I'm still trying to wrap my head around it being 2011 let alone that you are 11 months.

Some of your favorite things:

- Walking. While you are not fully walking on your own you LOVE holding on to things to get to places and have even become more daring in the last couple of weeks by letting go and trying to walk on your own.

- Playing. You LOVE to play on your own and with other "babies" as you call them. =) In other words any child who happens to be over and will give you the time of day. You love to explore everything you can get your hands on and even the things you can't get your hands on. You recently discovered Grandmas cupboards and broke some of her dishes.=/ So the other day we invested in some child locks!! You get very frustrated that you can no longer get into them.

-Growing. You seemed to have grown over night! I can't believe how much you are changing! You are looking more and more like daddy everyday. You weigh around 20lbs. You are in 12-18 month clothes. Your shoe size is 2-3. You have 5 teeth. You like to eat anything we give you. Your most favorite animal is your doggy. You will hold him by the ears for hours, talking to him, loving him and playing with him. It's pretty dang cute. You can say dad (and know who he is), Mom, doggy, froggy, baby, done (even though, I'm sure you don't quite know what it means yet). You still aren't sleeping through the night, you wake up a lot and hardly take naps. We put you down around 6:30-7pm and you get up anywhere from 5-8am.

You can now clime the stairs and it freaks me out. Because I work early in the mornings daddy gets to play with you most of the morning while I sleep. You LOVE this and have got right on board with this new crazy routine.

You have such a sweet disposition. You really are quite a happy little girl if your not sick, getting teeth or tired. We love you so much and can't wait to celebrate your first birthday next month!!=)

Happy 11th month my baby girl!

Love and kisses, Mom.

11th Month pictures.
These were taken in the area I throw papers. It's actually a pretty fun place for pictures. Also you see this wagon in these? I found that in the trash on my route one week!! Can you believe that?? I'm in love with it. I'll have to post my other trash finds later.=)

Some of Savanah's favorite toys.