Back to reality

My daughters and some members of their
dance team before their Outback Bowl performance

Hello everyone, sorry it's been so long since my last post. Christmas vacation ended, school started back along with dance runs, basketball and cub scouts.  Many people ask me "How do you keep up with everything?" So in this post I am going to try and show you a few things that have made our life easier.


First off for a busy schedule like ours a weekly plan is a must!! There are days I'm in class until late so that leaves my husband to run the kids. This requires something in writing that him or the kids can check and see what time each person needs to be where.

This large dry erase board is perfect.... The girls have dance the same times each week, cub scouts is the same way. I kept having to rewrite these things on here every month because they would get worn off. So I decided that I would write them on sticky notes and tape them to the board. This saves so much time and headache!.

Dates that don't occur the same every week such a basketball, cheer-leading or other appointments I just fill in as needed. Some people color code each person, but I find that very time consuming and unnecessary.












Now that we have everyone where they need to go, what about the house? I have struggled with the issue of trying to keep up with all the cooking, cleaning and laundry by myself. I have tried tons of chore lists, tried the charts where the children can earn money or prizes, even threatening to take everything away. Most of that seemed to last a day or two and then we were all frustrated and I was back to trying to doing it all myself. I spent my whole Christmas break cleaning and washing a mountain of clothes and bed linens, it was not a fun vacation! I decided since my last semester of college was going to be very hectic and I would be starting back into a full time job this summer, that something had to change. There has to be a way for everyone in the house to share the responsibilities so they didn't all fall on me. I scoured Pintrest for different ideas. I finally came across a blog that had ideas that I thought just might work! http://happymoneysaver.com/my-ultimate-happy-home-cleaning-routine-plus-free-printable-checklist/  After reading her struggles to come up with something that worked I realized I was not alone! The printable checklist she has can be downloaded and changed to fit what your family needs.
The following is a sample of what mine says. ( I didn't print mine out, I enjoy the feel of actually writing out the list!)

To keep me on task I have assigned a different room for each day. If I don't get that room done that day I don't panic and I just skip it and pick up with the day I am on.
Everyday chores include: wash a load of dishes, wipe down the counter tops and table, do a quick before bedtime pick up of the main living areas, wipe down bathroom sinks, one load of laundry, and take out trash if needed.
Monday: Kitchen and dining room:  clean sink, counters and stove, wipe out fridge and microwave,  sweep and mop the floor
Tuesday: living room: water plants, vacuum, sweep and mop
Wednesday: Bathrooms: wipe down sink, toilet and tub, sweep and mop
Thursday: Master bedroom- straighten up, dust sweep and mop
Friday: Basement family room: Pick-up, dust and vacuum
Saturday: Outside: clean porches, weed flower beds, and clean out car
For me to complete all the items for one day may take me 30 minutes at the most. If it does take you longer then 30 mins. then try to rearrange your schedule. No one wants to spend hours cleaning everyday! If you have extra time you can spend it cleaning out that junk drawer or the bottom of closet that you keep putting off.

Now on to the fun stuff!! What do my kids do? They have everyday chores they are required to do. They must make their beds before school, make sure their dirty clothes are in the laundry basket and pick up their rooms before bed. Is this perfect yet? No, but they are truly trying, I can tell a huge difference.  For the rest of the chores I have divided them up so they don't overwhelm and burn the kids out. (they have super busy schedules too) They each have a weekly chore that they do every night all week, this chore might take them 10 minutes at the most.  These chores rotate and they all have a week off every three weeks.  On Saturday they all are assigned one common area that they are responsible for deep cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, mopping etc.  These rooms also switch every week so they don't get bored. They are required to finish their assigned room and their bedrooms before they can go out with friends. Last week Stephen chose to do his on Friday, which was fine with me as long as it gets done.  Now to tackle the issue we have with mountains of laundry! I have assigned one day each week for them to do their own laundry. Wash, dry, fold and put away. I have even taught my 8 year old son to do his own laundry!  Here is the schedule that we follow: Sunday: my husband; Monday: Kaylee; Tuesday: Stephen; Wednesday: My day; Thursday: I wash towels, Friday: Brittany; Saturday: everyone strips their beds and I wash bed linens. I still have more laundry days then the rest, but one or two loads I can handle!  It is the best feeling in the world to be able to walk in my laundry area without having to climb over a mountain of clothes and bed linens!!

Stephen completing his weekly chore

Since beginning this schedule two weeks ago, I am a new person! I can come home from school and relax with my family, I have plenty of time to cook and do homework. I am not stressing over the condition of the house if someone stops by unexpectedly, and I'm not spending my whole weekend trying to catch up on the housework.


Thank you for visiting and hopefully you found something in this post that can make your hectic household a little happier! :)


Hope you'll visit again soon,
Christina

Food for Thought

I've been brainstorming topics for my next post. I have several in mind but I think they will have to wait. I have a few things I feel the need to share.

Around two years ago my sister and her boyfriend did an internship on a farm in Richmond and decided they wanted to start their own homestead on my parents property. Since the beginning of their journey my sister has really opened my eyes to what I have been eating and what I have been feeding my family. I knew big companies were producing GMO products like corn and soybean. I'd seen the commercials going back and forth on whether high fructose corn syrup was good for us or not, but I never gave it any mind. I sped through Wal-Mart grabbing the snack cakes, chips, pop tarts and pre-packaged meals and went on my way. We are a busy generation, who has time to cook from scratch, right?



My sister's table at her local farmer's market  lunaacres.blogspot.com

One summer evening my family and I sat down trying to hunt for something to watch on Netflix and my sister told us we really needed to watch Food Inc.  By the end of the documentary, not even my 8 year old wanted a McDonalds chicken nugget!  Over the next several weeks we watched more documentaries on the U.S. food system and began to become very unhappy about what they were allowing in our food. Not to mention the conditions that the animals produced for human consumption were being raised in.  We decided that it was time for a change.

Our haul from the Farmer's Market

The beginning of our journey took us to the Wytheville Farmer's Market. I'd never been to a farmer's market and always pictured it as a bunch of old people selling greens to some "health food hippies". Boy was I wrong!! There was a huge selection of fruits and vegetables, beef, chicken, pork, lamb, and all kinds of homemade goodies. The vendors at the market were super nice and have been come close friends of ours. They are more then willing to talk to you about their products and give wonderful advice. Can your meat man at Wal-Mart tell you where exactly your hamburger came from and what it ate?

The next place we discovered was the Dutch Pantry in Rural Retreat. They have a large selection of spices, cooking supplies, healthy snacks, canning supplies and the best lunch meat and cheese in the county.

Tomatoes in our garden

This past summer we decided to take our movement away from processed foods a step further and plant a garden. We ordered our seeds from a seed catalog that only sells heirloom non-GMO seeds. To our surprise it took off very well , we didn't use any fertilizers or insect repellents. Then the rains came!! Everyone I talked to had a poor year due to the excessive rain, so I didn't feel like such a green-thumb failure.  We did manage to get a few tomatoes, carrots, snow peas, beans, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, watermelons, cucumbers and three pumpkins.  Not too shabby for people who have never grew anything but weeds in a flower bed!

Some of the vegetables from our garden

My first attempt at homemade bread.

Over the short course of our long journey, I have been trying to make more things from scratch. Breads, snack foods and laundry detergent just to name a few. I have began following several blogs and posts on Facebook of others who are making the switch to being self sufficient. I have found many close friends who are trying this lifestyle also, and I have educated some on what is happening under our noses and on our dinner plates. imperfectlyhomemademom.blogspot.com

That brings me to the reason behind this post. I do have friends who think I'm crazy and turning into one of those health food nuts and don't see anything wrong with GMO products.  That is their opinion and I will respect that, but it's very far from the truth. Are we perfect and make everything from scratch? No.  Will you find convenience items and pre-packaged food still in my pantry? Sorry to say, but yes. We are however making progress and that is what counts.

Our progress everyday is one step closer to our goal: "A Healthier, Happier, Self-sufficient Family"

Start of a New Year

Happy New Year everyone, with a new year comes new and exciting adventures, like blogging.  I am 35, and have been married to my high school sweetheart Michael for going on 17 years in April.  We have three wonderful and busy children. So here is a little about my family.

Brittany before her sophomore homecoming dance

 Brittany just turned 16 this past year, she is a dancer at heart and has been dancing for 11 years and is on a national award winning competition dance team for 7 years now.

Kaylee trying on her new cheer outfit

Kaylee, 12 is my "wanna do it all" child. She has been dancing since she was 2, she has also been on competition dance team for 6 years, this past year she decided to try out for middle school cheerleading. She made the team which added more chaos to our already hectic schedule.

Stephen with the Power Team at his school

Stephen 8, is "Momma's boy" he enjoys playing basketball, baseball and soccer for our community rec league and he is also in the Cub Scouts.

Mike taking down some trees

 My wonderful husband Michael, works full time, cuts trees for firewood (our own use and to sale) and is a Co-pack leader for our son's cub scout den.

Just me

Now what do I do? Some people call me "super mom", I think of my self as just "doing the best I can for my family" Three years ago I decided I needed a career change. I have been working as a pre-school teacher for 15 years.  I went to work part-time at a local daycare and went back to college full time. Since that time I have received a certificate in health sciences, a certificate in phlebotomy and I will graduate in May with an Associate Degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant. Since leaving my full time job and taking classes full time our normal schedules have been turned upside down. Not only do the girls have dance 4 nights a week, cheer 2-3 nights a week, cub scouts once a week, rec sports 2-3 nights a week, I have to find time to work, keep up a household and study. It has been difficult some days and I seem stressed to the max but I know it will be worth it in the end.
 I almost for got part of our family, what rounds out a hectic household better then 2 cats and 2 dogs!

Bella the silly boxer stray



Toby a kitten from our rescue cat

Dusty our hyper border collie



Aria our stray rescue we took in pregnant












My direction for this blog right now is unclear, but something has been nudging me for several weeks to create it. Maybe my head is just too full and I need to let some of it out or maybe there is a bigger plan, only time will tell. For now I am going to share our families experiences, some recipes for healthy eating and just anything that pops in my head.

Thank you for stopping by and hope you decide to return.
Christina