6:30am.  Day 2 of searching for Elsa's shoes.  SUCCESS!  

When people find out that I wake up super early, they usually can't understand it.  First, I am a morning person, so that just messes everyone up, but that's not why I get up early. Heck, even though I'm a morning person, I'd rather be getting up at 9:00 every day.  Yet, I get up no later than 6:15 every weekday morning.   I don't do it because I'm overly ambitious or a work-aholic.  I do it to get my life together.  It's a coping mechanism so that I don't get overwhelmed and consumed by the shear amount of things that need to be done during the day.

A lot of people were complaining on how their mornings always feel so crazy trying to get the kids off to school.  It prompted me to write about our morning routine.  The thing is, without me getting up early, the morning routine would not go as well.   When Husband stays home, he views the mornings as a crazy chaotic mad rush.  What he doesn't know is that it's actually a very well choreographed, frenzied dance that runs so smoothly because I wake up early.  

If any of you knew my kids and my house, you would know that my kids are light sleepers and my  house is tiny.  This limits the work I can actually do first thing in the morning.  I don't get up and do dishes unless I want kids up at 6am, which I definitely do not.  I can't go work out in the basement where my treadmill is because if Sunshine does get up early, she yells for me and I don't want her waking up Monster to have two kids up early.  So, what exactly is it that I DO with my early morning time?  Well, I find Elsa's shoes, of course.

Each morning, I make a list of things to accomplish during the day.  It's a very specific list.  I have learned that if I'm not extremely specific, I'm less likely to accomplish the tasks because they seem too large.  Therefore, I have a crazy long, but very detailed list.  I need lists because these clear the clutter from my brain and help me focus.  Once it's down on paper, because, yes, I use paper and not an electronic device, I can "forget" about it and make room in my head for other things (not sure yet if that's good or bad, but it's working for now).  I try not to put things on my list that I know are out of reach or too broad.  For example, I no longer write "laundry" on my list.  Instead, I write, "wash darks".  That is much more attainable than 1700 loads of laundry piled up waiting for me.  I have to take each day step by step or I can't breathe.  I don't write down the crazy stuff that I must do 100 times a day like "take out recycling" or "wash dishes", though I do have to write down when I have to take the recycling up to actually be recycled or to take the bread machine back down the basement after it's cleaned.  

Every so often, I have something on my list that doesn't get done.  It's rare, but it happens.  When it does happen, I move it over to the next day's tasks.  However, sometimes there's just something on the list the bugs me so much that I can' t focus until it's done.  That was Elsa's shoe.  A while back, Sunshine went through her toys and decided to get rid of some.  One of the things she was ready to part with was an Elsa doll.  The problem was, we couldn't find Elsa's one shoe.  After about an hour of searching, Sunshine just gave up.  I knew it would bug me, so it went on my list for the next day.  The next day I searched.  No shoe.  How could there be no shoe?  The next morning, bright and early, as I'm once again writing "find Elsa's shoe" on my list, I couldn't take it.  I cleaned the entire play room.  Top to bottom, perfectly cleaned.  While most people are still sound asleep, I was frantically cleaning to find the Elsa shoe.  Not only did I find the shoe, but the playroom was also cleaned and perfectly organized by 6:30 in the morning.  And, I still had about an hour before the kids got up.  

I can't tell you how much I wish that I had a bigger house or that my kids were better sleepers so that I could get more done in the mornings.  I would be unstoppable.  The moment my kids get up, all my motivation is sucked away.  Like they somehow suck all the energy out of me just by waking up.  From the moment the kids wake up to the moment I go to bed, I'm exhausted.  But that morning time, that time when I'm the only person up in the house, I'm ready to tackle anything....including Elsa's damn shoe.

I belong to this site called Survey Monkey.   I only really do it to kill time when I want to just veg out and not really think.  This morning I got a survey called 28 Useful Household Hacks.  I had to rate how useful or not useful I thought these "new ideas" were.  I must spend way too much time on Pinterest and I must try way too many of these things, because I had already heard of and tried most of them, with the majority of them not working.   It got me thinking about something I tell my kids, "You can't take short cuts with your work".  Yet why is it that we are all constantly looking for short cuts?  I have tried tip after tip after "proven tricks" and they rarely ever work.  I'm not saying all of them don't, but the majority are just a waste of time and you end up having to redo things.  Here's an example....use a piece of bread to pick up shards of glass.  Great idea.  However, by the time I get out bread, run it along wherever the glass has broken, I could have already swept and vacuumed, which, honestly, I'd do after wiping everything down with bread.  Only place this would have time and be really helpful would be if you break a glass in the sink where you can't really sweep or vacuum.  

People who want ideas of shortcuts, here's the best one....do what works for you.  That's it.  Plain and simple.  How I do things and what makes life easier for me may not work for the next person.  Of course there are some tips and tricks out there are super helpful and interesting, but they don't save time.  Honestly, they don't.  What it boils down to is taking the time to do things right in the first place.  My father used to say, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right."  Then he used to added, "Don't do the job half assed".  It wasn't until I grew up and moved out on my own that I finally got this.  My thought was, "Half assed is better than nothing". That's true...until you then have a pile of of stuff that you only sort of finished.  I'm trying to teach my kids the value of doing things right the first time.  That means changing my behaviors as well.  As adults, we gauge our time, energy, etc.  We also know that we will eventually get to whatever it is we need to do.  Kids model our behavior though.  When I toss my shoes in the middle of the hallway because I don't want to take the time to put them next to the door, they see it and then they do it.  There is at argument that they are children and should do what they are told instead of what we do.  True enough, but actions speak much louder than words.  

Sometimes in life, there are no shortcuts.  For me, cleaning is one of them.  I can pin a billion "household hacks to make cleaning easier", but none of them will work as well as a good old fashioned deep cleaning.  Or, I can hire a live in maid.  Oh, wait, that's just in my dreams...

I came across this pin this morning all about organizing your laundry room.  Now, I don't have a laundry room.  I have a basement.  A cramped basement that contains barely enough room to get clothes out of the washer without hitting the furnace and it's near impossible to get clothes out of the dryer without running into the hot water heater.  I decide to click on the link though because I'm extremely good at organizing and making ideas work for my space.  Well, not this.  Martha Stewart obviously has delusions that we are all as rich as she is.  

The very first great idea on here is to keep linens organized into neat stacks.  Let me tell you, if I leave any laundry out in the open in my "laundry room" for more than a day or two it gets dirty again.  With all the dust from my furnace (and I just had it cleaned, thank you), there is a constant layer of dust over everything down there.  Plus, why are we organizing linens in our laundry room.  Even in my tiny house, I have a linen closet.   Second idea on there wasn't bad.  In fact, if I had any room at all, I'd totally do this.  Instead of a cutesy little towel bar mounted under a shelf though, my husband rocks and fashioned a huge bar  that is attached to open wall studs.  It's not pretty , but it works just as well.  Next is adjustable shelving for a laundry wall that can be used for just about anything.  Sure, let me just take out my furnace, I don't really need that anyway.  And then I can store the surfboard, I mean ironing board, right next to it for easy access.  Yeah, I'll get right on that.  Next on the list is a stain chart.  Not a bad idea.  However, it's recommended to laminate it.  How many of you out there who are not teachers just have access to a laminator?  That's what I thought.  How about this.  Save a stain chart to Pinterest and then check it out.  May be a tad more work since it's not right in front of you, but with smart phones, ipads, kindles, laptops, the chart if mobile if saved on the internet.  Here's one I really love next, perfect towel folding using a cutting board.  Now, if you have time to use a cutting board to fold your towels,  you have too much time on your hands or you're just anal retentive.  The tight space laundry ideas and adjustable laundry closet are cute, but again, if your laundry room is in your cramped basement in a closet with a furnace and water heater, these ideas just aren't practical.   The last idea is one that I just laugh at.  Bags.  Use bags to carry your laundry instead of baskets.  Do you know how many bags I have in my house?  Too many to count.  I have a bag for this, a bag for that, a bag for another thing.  Are they easier to carry, definitely.  If I had to go to a laundromat, I'd like this idea.  For walking clothes up and down stairs, give me a laundry basket.  My kids can help put laundry away out of a laundry basket.  My kids can not help out of a bag.  When they reach into a bag, they unfold my folded stuff.  That then makes twice the work for me, and I definitely don't have time to do twice the work.  

So, since obviously every single other ideas out there is for people with real laundry rooms, I'm going to give everyone some ideas for people without real laundry rooms, because you know what?  I'm super efficient with laundry (when Husband brings up the clean, folded laundry baskets).  Tip #1, Shout Color Catchers.  I'm not talking the ones with OxyBoost, those are a waste of money.  Just the regular old Color Catchers.  Seems like a weird first tip, right?  Nope.  These things are magic.  Really.  I say that because my first real tip is to keep kid laundry together to make getting it put back away after washing easier.  Each child has a hamper.  I do a load of Monster clothes.  I do a load of Sunshine clothes.  All their clothes get washed on the same cycle, in the same temperature, hence the Color Catchers.  When the clothes come out of the dryer, I toss them in a laundry basket.  No sorting.  All of them go in the same person's room.  I really can't tell you how much time this saves.  I used to sort it all and do everyone's laundry together, but the sorting and putting away took three times as long.   To go along with this tip, do kids clothes when the hamper gets full.  When the hamper is full, you have a large load.  If the hamper gets too full, then you have to divide the clothes up, which makes more work for you.

Tip #2.   If the idea of washing all clothes in the same temperature and whatnot bothers you, then go ahead and sort.  I do this for mine and Husband's clothes.  The tip comes for when I fold.  One half of the basket is his side and one half is my side.  Now, out of everyone I have ever talked to about laundry, other than my mom, I'm the only one who does this.  By doing this one simple step, I save a ton of time putting clothes away.  I'm not opening and shutting drawers in to different dressers.  Not only do I organize them while folding them, in the basket, but I layer them in the basket by top middle and bottom drawer clothes.  Hanging clothes all go on the very top, only folded in half so that if, for some reason Husband has to put  clothes away, he knows those particular things get hung up.  If it's been weeks since I've done laundry (which has happened once or twice) I get His and Her laundry baskets.  No, they don't say His and Her.  When I fold clothes, I put all of mine in one basket and all of his in another.  This doesn't happen often though....at least not recently.  

Tip #3:  OxyClean.  I had one person say to me once, "I knew  you kept your kids clothes in good condition, but these [hand me downs] were amazing.  There wasn't a single stain on them."  That's because of OxyClean.  I am crazy when it comes to stains on my kids clothes.  I will do whatever it takes to get them out.  There has been very little I can't save.  When I fail, I call in reinforcements, aka, my mom.  Between the two of us, I think over the past 15 years we've only not be able to salvage 2 or 3 items.  And by salvage, I mean make them acceptable for us, who are crazy weird about stains.    For really bad stains, I soak the item in OxyClean and hot water.  If you keep heating the water, over the next day or two, you keep reactivating whatever is in OxyClean to get those stains out.  

Tip #4 follows right on the heels of stain fighting.  Stain spray stuff.  Honestly, I don't think it truly matters what kind you use.  Everyone has a favorite.  I LOVE Dreft spray, but it' the most expensive, too.  Whatever stain stick/spray you like, keep it close to where you're actually taking your clothes off.  I have a spray in the bathroom cupboard as well as in the "laundry room".  This way,you don't have to take the article of clothing that you want to treat into the laundry room, just spray it, rub it and toss it in the hamper.  All those sprays say to let the stuff sit on there anyway, so letting it sit in the hamper with all the other dirty clothes works just as well as letting it sit in your laundry room.

Tip #5:  Color Catcher /fabric softener sheet bag.  What?  Yes, a bag.  Instead of throwing all those sheets out, keep them in a little bag, or, better yet, use immediately (which I never do but should) to clean your lint trap.  By using the sheet, you can get more of the lint off than by just using your hand.    And that takes us right into tip #6.  No matter how small your area is, keep a trash can right next to your dryer.  That way, the lint from the trap goes right into the trash and not all over the place while you are carrying it to the trash can.  

And finally, my last tip.  Tip #7:  No matter what kind of laundry area you have, keep it clutter free.  The less you have in your laundry area, the easier laundry is.  There are times I get lazy and throw Husband's work pants on top of the dryer.  Or there are times I leave laundry baskets full of clean clothes to be folded next to the dryer.  This just makes more work for yourself and makes laundry take longer.  Now, since my laundry room is in my basement, I don't have the problem of having it in my "mud room" (ha!  My whole house is my mud room!) and tossing stuff on top of the washer and dryer when I come in.  The more cluttered your laundry area is, the more likely you are to procrastinate getting the laundry done.  Keep your area tidy.  Laundry rooms are for laundry, not random paperwork.  

So there you have it.  All my wisdom about how to really make laundry more simple.  I don't think that it has anything to do with the size of your laundry room or if you have everything all shiny and sparkly.  It has to do with being efficient.  Efficiency is something I pride myself in.  I just don't have time to do things the hard way.

I've said it hundreds of times, I am always looking for something to make my day to day easier.  Things that will save me time and get my household running even more efficiently.  Recently, I came across this pin.  I got excited since the title is "20 Things to Make Life as a Mom Easier".    It's a good read.  Good tips.  Problem?  I must already be the most efficient mom on the planet.   Out of 20 things, I do all but 2 of them.  And, one of the things I don't do (use a hand vac) is only because we have no place to charge one.  I would love one though....I actually just used my mom's yesterday.  Other than that one that I can't do due to lack of outlets, I don't keep up on my pictures as well as I used to.  I'm trying though.  I'm caught up at this exact moment.  As for the rest of it, I may not do things exactly like the article says, but pretty darned close, and even, just maybe, more efficiently.   It was kind of disappointing.   I feel like I can be so much more efficient if I had ideas.  

It was nice to read the article and see all the things that I currently do.  I especially liked #10, "Keep extras in vehicle".  Maybe it's because I was a teacher, or maybe it's because my father told me I should always have extra gloves, socks and a sweatshirt in my trunk, but I've been doing this for years, even before kids.  I have to say, if you have kids and you don't do this, you need to.  Here are two examples of why.  Yesterday, I went to visit my mom with Sunshine while Monster was in school.  We decided to go out for lunch at First Watch.  Sunshine got pancakes....with syrup.  By the end of the meal, there was not a spot on her that wasn't sticky.   Luckily, I had a change of clothes in the car.  Got her all washed up in the bathroom and she left the restaurant in clean, non syrupy clothes!   Second example is from a cookout we went to last summer.  There was a water balloon fight.  One of the dads thought it would be fun to get the moms.  Monster had a great time soaking me, while he got soaked in the process.  No problem there, I had spare clothes for both of us in the car.    We were dry and happy the rest of the time.  Need a bandaid?  I have it in the car.  Scissors?  Car.  Napkins?   Car.  Soap?  Car.  Heck, I even have tampons in the car if anyone needs them.  Since I spend so much time driving, my vehicles have always been like a little house on wheels.

People who know me well, know I'm really kind of crazy when it comes to organization.  You should see our closets.  They are organized by color and style of clothing.  Yes, it's that bad.  There is probably no surprise when I tell you that I have been doing #12, "Organize Storage", for years as well.  It suggests color coded bins and clear bins.  Anyone shocked that my Christmas decorations are in green and red bins and my autumn decorations are in an orange and black bin?  Teaching stuff  was all stored in bins that looked the same (I'm down to just one bin now!)  Clothes for Monster to grow into are in blue bins while Sunshine's are in red.  Not only that, but everything is perfectly labeled so there is no mistake.  Speaking of labeling, not only do I label boxes, but I also keep a running list of items in the attic.  Our attic entrance is through Sunshine's closet, so we don't go up there unless we absolutely have to.  This is why I keep a list attached to the entrance in her closet.    Makes it so much easier to know what's up there vs. down the basement.

The article has good ideas, but of course I think they're good since I do them.  Really though, for me, it seems  like common sense.  I always have bags for Goodwill, bags for friends of clothes that no longer fit my children, bags of books to donate to the library, etc.  Just makes sense in my mind.  I am constantly purging my house of unused, unwanted items.   I always have a plan for the day, even if I don't stick to it (because I believe in the ability to stay flexible).  I have laundry days.  I don't have hygiene days, per say, but I do something like it.    We have recycling bins in the garage.  We reuse towels.  I rotate everything in my world (which reminds me my little car needs a tire rotation...must put that in the weekend plan).  I just started bleaching some of my wash clothes.  We use them at meal time instead of paper napkins and they get kind of grungy.    I hate bleach, but once a month, a little bleach on them brightens up the whole meal time.   

If you are looking for some ideas on how to save some time, read the article.   If you are already crazy like me, you probably do these things, but it's so nice to see you're actually doing things to save time!

In my continual journey to try to organize my life, I came across an idea on Pinterest that sparked my idea for corkboard in my cupboards.  Well, the Pinterest idea and a friend of mine.  My friend has pictures hung up in her cabinets of friends and family.  I have always thought this is an awesome concept, but never got around to doing anything like it.  After seeing something similar on Pinterest, I remembered I had two cork pieces left from a project we did years ago.  One afternoon, I finally got around to hanging them.   They will eventually have more stuff, I'm sure.  For right now though, only important info.  All the emergency contact information is in snack cabinet for Monster or a babysitter.  Medicine information is in the cabinet that contains the medicines (and, as a side note, did you know you shouldn't store medications in the bathroom because of the humidity from the shower? I just read that).  My plan is to get at least two more squares for the pantry door as well.  

Also in my search for organization, I'm always looking for something to make my van not a disaster zone. I don't even really keep much in the van anymore.  I'm old school when it comes to kids in the car.  I believe they should be able to drive to Target without watching a DVD.  However, I remember when I was younger, I used to take coloring books and books to read.  Those are things my kids have in the car.  For Christmas, Nana got each of the kids this awesome Color Wonder travel set.   LOVE it!  It is completely perfect for the travel.  Since my kids are readers, they also enjoy books in the van.  I have tried a basket in the middle, I have a tried a basket for each of them.  Those kept the van neat, but the biggest problems were the kids having to step over the baskets getting in and out and Sunshine not being able to reach anything.  I have seen some awesome Pinterest ideas, but most involved sewing, which I just don't do, and the other involved baskets, which I just explained, don't work.  While making the paper holders for the kids, I came up with this idea.  I really wasn't sure it would work, but using all recycled materials, it really didn't matter.  

This is attempt two at making yogurt drops for the kids.  First attempt went smoothly until taking them to the downstairs freeze.  The wind blew the door shut on me and the tray of drops fell on the floor.  Attempt two was a success!  The kids loved them, and frankly, so did I!

This week's failed recipe?  Crockpot Italian Chicken.  Honestly, I didn't think it was all that bad.  Not great, but not bad.  Husband and the kids, however, didn't like it at all.  Sunshine chose to go to bed instead of eating it. One more food pin I can delete.  

I have been working on several other projects this week, also.  They are in the process of being finished, so stay tuned!

Starting next week, for the first time in 6 years, I will have kid free time during the week.  I have all these huge ideas of what I plan on accomplishing.  I have these crazy plans of getting my house in much better order.  Honestly, it's not bad now, but there are some things that just can't find homes.  I plan on finding them homes.  I plan on refinishing my hardwood floors.  A couple of months ago, I tried this product called Restore-A-Floor on half of my downstairs hardwood flooring.  It wasn't a miracle restorer, but it worked nicely.  Gave the floor back it's shine.   Due to children and lack of room to move furniture, I never finished the other half of the floors.  So that's on the list.  I plan on baking.  I love to bake, but lack the time.  I plan on exercising.  I may not run since my race will be over in 3 more weeks, but I plan on doing yoga regularly now.  I plan on finally painting my bathroom baseboards (that technically the contractor should have done 5 years ago).  I plan on having more fun activities planned for the kids.  Well, not planned, prepared is a better word.  I'm constantly planning them, but we get into it and then I don't have one or two things we need.  I completely plan on being better prepared for that!  I plan on making some cute little homework/paperwork boxes for the kids, OK, really for Husband, to keep the kids' school work separate from all the other paperwork floating around the house.  I plan on reading.  I plan on finishing projects I've started but found I can't complete with the kids around.  Sunshine's tutu is a great example.  I started it 4 months ago, but every time I pull it out to work on, Sunshine plays with all the tulle and then I spend the next session of tutu making trying to reorganize it to cut.  I plan on walking Puppy.  Since the kids are learning how to ride bikes, Puppy hasn't gone for decent walk.  

I have a lot of projects that I do with the kids, but I've also been doing projects for the kids.  I'm all about organization.  Lately, the kids' paper has been getting out of control.  I saw this on Pinterest, but there were no directions, just an idea.  

For Monster's room, I decided to make him a picture bulletin board.  He's got so many pictures and wants them all in his room.  I got all prepared, even called a friend who I know has made one of the ribbon bulletin boards, and then Monster changed it up.  he wanted to see the frame.  I got to then measure and cut instead of just pull and staple and glue.   Turned out cute though.

Tooth Fairy bag is done.   I would like to take credit, but I can only take credit for the idea, not the sewing.  I really was going to sew it, but my friend has a sewing machine and she's much faster at it.  I gave her my idea, the material Monster picked out, and she got it done in about 10 seconds.  His name is one the back.  He originally wanted it to say "Tooth Fairy" on the one side, but we couldn't find letters small enough.  He settled for a picture of the Tooth Fairy instead.

Sometimes I things just for me. I found a pin that suggested using hole reinforcements to do French tips.  Didn't get around to it until just recently.   I had my nails turquoise.  The tips were chipping so I decided to try the reinforcements.  The didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.   In fact, I did my right had free handed and I think it turned out better than the left with the reinforcements.  Practice makes perfect though, so I'll keep working at it.

Another tip that I've been using and doing daily is using baking soda as facial scrub.  It is leaving my skin super soft and almost flake free (I have very dry skin).  

I tried a pan cleaner thing I found on Pinterest.  It failed miserably.  Maybe my pan is too far gone, but this did not work at all for me.

With school starting back up in two week for Monster and 4 weeks for Sunshine, I'm hoping to get to more experiments.  We shall see.

This weekend, we finally got around to refinishing a desk that we had for Monster.   One of the local schools had closed and was just giving away all their desks.  The desks were old and not in the best condition, but I saw potential....and it was free.  We took the desk apart.  We scuffed the top with fine sand paper so paint would stick.  We used steel wool on the metal bottom part to remove the rust.  Then, we painted.  We used chalkboard paint for the top of the desk.   I was planning on doing this to a table we have when the kids get older, but this worked out even better.  The bottom, since it wasn't in the best shape, we used spray paint with primer added and a hammered finished to cover the imperfections of the desk.  Only problem we encountered was that we painted it outside and got a lot of dust stuck to the top, so it's very rough and doesn't clean up well.  I'm thinking of sanding it a bit and then adding a layer of magnetic paint.    Even with a rough top, it turned out pretty nicely.  

Because Monster got a "new" desk, Sunshine got the one Husband had built for Monster.  I asked her if she liked her new desk and she replied, "Not so much."  When I asked her why she told me, "I wish it were pink."  That's Sunshine.  I guess this weekends projects will include stenciling some pink and purple ballerinas on the white desk. 

Lately, uploading pictures has been killing me.  That's made me procrastinate posting some fun projects we've been doing.  

One project we worked on was painting like Michelangelo.  I got the idea here, but adapted it.  First, I recycled paper by using the backside of the zig zag track we made.    I taped it to the bottom of the coffee table.  I then rolled up the carpet, which was brilliant insight on my part considering there was paint and marker on the floor.  Before the kids began, we talked about Michelangelo and looked at pictures of the Sistine Chapel.   Monster came up with some theories on how the painted the ceiling.  When we were done talking and looking at pictures, I let the kids go to town.  Forseeing some issues, I divided the paper under the table with a red line, half for Monster and half for Sunshine.  They did awesome!  I was amazed that in such a small area, there was no fighting over anything.  A friend got Sunshine the Crayola Paint Brush Pens for her birthday and they were perfect for this project.  Only problem was there were only five colors, so we moved onto markers fairly quickly.  Kids didn't mind.  They had such a great time with this!

Another project we worked on were masks. Monster already had a mask that he had made at art class.  Sunshine wanted one, too.   I wasn't about to make one near as elaborate.  I came across a mask that was super simple to make.  I used the basic concept, but then tweaked it.  Even though it's not near as fancy as her brother's, Sunshine loves it!

Last project I worked on was one of my own.  I had seen this idea on Pinterest.  It took scrap book paper and "remade" clear, plastic drawers.  I liked it, but it was too complicated.  I want simple.  So, I simplified.  Here's the original pin.  

Here's mine.  Not quite as nice, but not too bad.  The smaller drawers didn't turn out like I hoped, but I do like the larger drawers.  Maybe when I get motivated, I'll come up with a simple idea to make the small drawers better.  Best part of it though is that the drawers are now perfectly organized and clean!