5 tips for keeping organized!

I am the mother of two small children, one recently turned 3 and the other 7 months old. They make a lot of messes. It is the nature of the beast. They are also VERY time consuming! The best most adorable time consumers of my life!

But what that means is that there are lots of messes happening constantly and by the time one mess is cleaned up... another has happened! Any mom knows the drill! Silence means trouble, and while you are busy cleaning one mess another is being made!

So it is important for me (someone who is innately lazy) to keep things organized and clean in the EASIEST way I possibly can!

So I thought I would compile a small list of how I stay organized while not spending my entire day cleaning! This is obviously not everything I do and just a sampling of what helps me, but this might be the beginning of a series!

SO HERE WE GO!!

1. MAKE EVERY BED

The easiest thing in my house that makes the biggest difference in the over all appearance of our home is making the beds. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Nothing makes a room look more sloppy than your biggest piece of furniture (often times the focal point in the room) being an unmade mess. Making a bed takes practically zero time, depending on how ocd you are, and makes the biggest difference! It also goes hand in hand with other productive things. For example: I will feel less inclined to fold the laundry if I have to do it on an unmade bed. I challenge you to make every bed in your home every day for one week. That's it. I feel at the end of the week, most people will want to continue making their beds because of the difference you can already feel in your home.



2. DAILY TO DO LIST/ WEEKLY TO DO LIST

I am a massive list maker (isn't that obvious already?).  I can have all of these random lists going on in my head, or I can spend 5 minutes once a day and write things down. I try to spend a few quiet minutes every night, after the kids have gone to sleep, and think about the next day. I think about what things in the house need taken care of immediately, what things we have planned, and what I need to have on my radar. I then make a quick list in my iphone for the next day. It takes very little time and sets my day up to be on time for things, have a clean home (with little effort), and take care of the adult things that I have to do. In the same regard, I like to spend a few minutes on Sunday night and make a weekly to do list. The items on this list are more like goals than HAVE TOS. For example, my fridge needed cleaned out after all of the Easter cooking. It isn't something that has to be a major priority, but if I have the time and the kids are napping or keeping themselves entertained, then it's something I can look at and get done. I don't push myself to get EVERY SINGLE THING on the list done EVERY SINGLE DAY. I just use it as a guide so I don't feel over whelmed. Most of the things on my daily lists take less than 5 minutes for each item. Instead of crowding my head with things that need done, I write it down and get rid of it!

3. DO LAUNDRY EVERY DAY

I mentioned that I am innately lazy. SO why would I want to do laundry every single day. I don't really want to. What I want to do less is spend 6 hours on my Saturday doing all of the laundry from the entire week. When you have little children, there happens to be a TON of laundry. Also, it takes like 5 adult items to fill a load in the washing machine and 8 billion kids clothes. So if I have 3 loads of kids clothes... I will be folding tiny clothes FOREVER, which takes a surprising amount of time. So here is the solution that has worked best for us.  Every single day, I gather all of the dirty clothes in the house, wash and dry that load, and put it in the laundry basket. I don't fold it though, because who wants to fold laundry EVERY DAY?!  Definitely not me. ON the second day, I do another load of laundry all the way through. After, I fold that laundry and the laundry from the day before. So I am only folding laundry every other day. Keeping the laundry on this schedule insures that the laundry doesn't stack up, and it insures that I am not folding laundry every single day. Find a laundry pattern that works for you and stick with it.

4. DOWNSIZE!

This tip is something that takes a little time at the beginning but ends up being a big time saver on a daily basis. My example: I have a lot of kitchen tools. As someone who used to be a chef, I have 3 different types of food processors and blenders, a million cake tools, cooking tools, scales, and anything you could possibly imagine! Do I need or use all of it? No. Especially not anymore. So when we purchased this home, which is smaller than our last, we knew that not everything could stay. We went through and weeded out the multiples, choosing the best or most useful to stay, and tossed/ donated the extras. By reducing the amount of things that you have, you directly reduce the amount of time it takes to keep those things organized. Do I need 3 pairs of the same pants in a small closet?! No. Do I need to keep those 6 inch heels that my feet are now too spread (from having babies) to comfortably wear? No. Do the kids need to keep every single toy they have ever been gifted?! NOOOOOO. Seriously though, NO.

5. DUST ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK

Shiny things look nicer. Our brains are wired that way. Once I started dusting the house a few times a week, I found that I wanted to keep that habit up. Just for the simple fact of when I walk around my house my brain goes "Oh. So shiny!" and it likes that.

Woman, where have you been??

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted.

Our lives have been so insanely crazy and fun and wonderful and just straight busy.

Let's get down to the stats!

- I think my last post was Oct/Nov of 2014. During this time, we went on a whirlwind vacation to Costa Rica. And it was every bit a dream vacation. We did everything we could have ever wanted to do, and spent way too much money fulfilling life long dreams. I'm talking about things like: riding horses through the rainforest. Riding a water slide through the dense jungle. Zip lining hundreds of feet in the air. Swimming on private beaches. Couples massages and days at the spa. I better stop before you hate me. Anyway... circling back now. We knew after this trip that I would be getting back some cervical cancer screening results and that we were very much wanting to try to conceive sometime soon. After getting the all clear from my specialist, we started trying for baby #2!

- December 15th 2014, we found out that I was expecting our new family member! It was an amazing time and we were completely excited.

- I had some pregnancy related scares that ended up being just fine, but were very stressful for the time being.

- My husband was working out of town a lot and I was busy during the week growing our tiny baby and our toddler.

- Enter in potty training said toddler.

-Growing our big spring and summer garden.

- Being massively pregnant in the dead heat of a desert summer.

-We started house hunting when I was about 24 weeks pregnant. We looked into building and buying and we toured so many things! We toured everything lots of lots and lots of homes. And on the 10th (yes 10th) home tour (not including the number of lots) we found the one that just felt like us. It is a small(ish) home with lots of sweetness and a big back yard. We closed on the house on Friday August 14th at noon. Which turned out to be not a second too late because I had the baby on August 17th at 38 weeks and 4 days.

-Having the most beautiful baby and birth, which was a surprise gender! This baby was a little boy who weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. He was born with a full head of hair and was just beyond gorgeous. We arrived at the hospital at about 6 ish on the 16th, and he was born at 1:58 am on the 17th. We left the same day at about 10 pm. It was a really amazing day.

 - When the babe was 10 days old, we moved from our rental home into our new home. I should mention that during the first two weeks of our babies life, my husband stayed home with us. He spent most of his day taking care of us and splitting his time over at the new house. Which was luckily only about 10 minutes away. He got everything ready for us to move in with out it being a struggle for me or for our new baby.

- We lost our dear sweet dog Lily, who passed away pretty unexpectantly that November. She was 7.5 years old and an American Bulldog. She had tumors in the year before that were massive, but successfully removed. She had been healthy and happy ever since. In the weeks before she passed, she because pretty sick. We took her to our favorite vet, and we all thought that she possibly had viral pneumonia. We put her on anti-biotics and after a few days, she seemed completely back to her normal self. Then about ten days later, she stopped eating and drinking, or really having the desire to do anything. Towards the end of that night, we knew that she wasn't going to make it to the next morning for us to take her to the vets office. We heard her about 4 am and at 6 am she was gone. We burried her in the back yard under a beautiful tree with a soft blanket and some of her favorite toys.

-Our daughter was devestated by the loss of Lily and said (very frequently) who will be my best friend now. So a little before we were ready, but for the sake of our little ones, we welcomed a new canine family member. His name is Bear and he is a German Shepherd. He is a full time job. And a half. I train him almost everyday and he is so incredibly smart. He is also frustrating, exhausting, and completely a puppy.

I think (?) that covers most of the big stuff. There were a million other things in the middle that could have made this blog post a book, but I won't bore you with the details. Instead I hope that I am now back to write again!

Our spring garden is going in this weekend and it is going to be completely massive. It's kind of ridiculous, but I have always liked a challenge and lots of hard work. I hope that this can be a place where I show and talk about our home renos, projects, gardening, baking/cooking, and life in general. Thank you for sticking in there during this blog post and during the extensive break from almost all things computer.

Costa Rica/ The bet

Dear husband and I just got back from probably the world's best vacation. A week in Costa Rica. It was amazing and we were totally blissed out! I want to do like 8 million posts about it, but for now...


I want to talk about THE BET.

People know *because of me* that Hy and I were going on this fantastic vacation because 3 years ago we made a bet. And that is where their knowledge ends. Which is exactly how I thought I wanted it.

Because the truth isn't pretty.

It is embarrassing.

And kind of sad.

And I was really depressed at the time.

But now that I am on the other side and the bet has been fulfilled and happiness reins supreme...

Let's talk about the bet.

FLASH BACK 7.5 YEARS AGO

Hy and I are newlyweds! We are so happy and in love and we decide that our love for each other could and should be put into growing our family. So we start trying. You know TRYING.

FLASH FORWARD 4 YEARS FROM THEN (3 YEARS IN THE PAST FROM NOW)

*are you keeping up?

We heartbreakingly STILL were not pregnant. This was a very depressing thing for us as a couple, and for me personally as a woman who wanted to be a mother. I gained a LOT of weight. I will repeat that by saying I gained a LOT of weight.

I started to have even more health issues besides our struggle with infertility. There were a few frightening occasions where I was blacking out and falling.

After a particularly frightening episode where I blacked out on the toilet, slammed my head against a metal dog food bowl, and woke up on the floor with no idea where I was; I had a complete reality check.

We started working with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE's for my infertile friends in the know) and we knew that the weight I had gained was playing a major role in my health issues. And possibly my fertility.

A week after the black out, when I was still so sore I could barely walk (the reason for the black out was pain from a major uterine cyst rupture) I logged on to weight watchers at 2 in the morning. Not even really thinking clearly and possibly heavily medicated; I joined.

The next night Hy and I sat down for a really frank talk. I wont share everything that we talked about, but I will say that we talked about our lives. The effect infertility was having on our life, the frightening way the black outs were effecting both of us ( I say both because he was the one having to carry me to the car so we could go to the emergency room, or pick my naked self off of the floor terrified) , and the potential of us living a life with out biological children.

I shared my deep desire to get the weight off in the hopes that we would find more infertility success and that I could stop feeling so negatively about myself and my life.

He was completely supportive and we talked about weight goals. I shared with him the number that I thought would be a good fit for my body type and height, and he agreed to work together on our goals.

He jokingly said "Tell you what, you get to that goal and I will take you on a trip any where in the world. Your choice." And before he could take it back, I said "DEAL" and made him shake on it.

After a few ups and downs, losing 40 pounds, getting pregnant (FINALLY AND YAY!), gaining 30, and having a baby; I fully committed myself to my health.

I had several reasons why I decided to commit myself so fully and not one of them had to do with the trip bet.

About 20 pounds away from the goal, we realized that this was actually going to happen and we started trying to pick a place to go on vacation!

Not only did I reach my goal, but I passed it almost  20 pounds ago! *I gained 9 lbs back on vacation and I lovingly earned every single OUNCE!!

So that is the story of the bet. Normally I don't really support betting, but in this case when I bet on myself, it was the best decision ever!!

The difference is dirt

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how I had just put in our winter garden and sown all of the seeds! The last time we planted seeds it took around 3-4 weeks for us to notice any little green sprouts. The seeds then were not all that different than the seeds we planted for fall/winter. We had planted spinach and radishes for both of those seasons.

The difference has been entirely the ground. Learning from our summer season, we took much more care in preparing the soil for the seeds. Extra tilling and weeding, followed by extra sessions of fertilizing the ground. Being in the desert, we know that the ground is just depleted of so many vitamins and minerals that veggies thrive on! So we made sure to really give it the old college try.

The difference was almost immediate. I had little green sprouts in my lettuce row starting at 4 days post planting. 4 DAYS.

No kidding, this was after 4 days.

2 Weeks after that! The fall/winter garden continues to thrive and I am so excited to see what happens next!

I've been busy!

I do have a winter garden update post in the works, but in the meantime I am have been SO busy! My darling husband and I have a big trip coming up in the next few weeks and our planning has been going full force!

We are going away for 6-7 days and not many people know where we are going! So it might come off as a bit of a surprise, but this trip has been in the works for a few months now! Also traveling internationally can be pretty labor intensive on the planning front. I will do a whole post on in when we get back!

In the meantime, I have been spending loads of time with our little beauty exploring our tiny new/old town.


This little café was my favorite place to be in high school, and now that I have a little family to brunch with I still love it! It's the main street café and I am madly in love with their Cranberry and Turkey sandwich. It's totally calling me right now as I speak...

It's not my favorite place for coffee... it's not really anything special. But their sandwiches, hot chocolate, and environment is my favorite in town.

 All of the little stores next to it are adorable too. The little yoga studio, the quilting place, and the tiny little art gallery!

Small town loving!!

A quick break

Today I am taking a quick break from gardening. Partially because I had to spray insecticide last night because we are having some issues with powdery mildew on some of the squash plants. That needs to sit and then I need to try to lob off some of the infected areas with out putting the plants into distress.

But also because I have way too much going on today. Laundry, dishes, scrubbing my house, loving on my toddler, and going up to take a turn watching my dad because he had surgery Friday.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about other peoples feelings and how they have been affecting me. I was so used to being anonymous in the city and being able to run anywhere looking like a total disaster. My self confidence was okay, because I didn't know any of these people and they didn't know me.

Flash forward to 6 months ago when we moved home. I knew that it was going to be immediately different. I can't go anywhere in this town with out recognizing a few people. The grocery store, the hair salon, getting fuel, the library, the list goes on and on.

What I didn't count on was losing this much weight and being in great physical health. So now I have other people staring. I don't say these things to be stuck up or anything like that. I mention it because it makes me incredibly uncomfortable. Mentally I am still a fat chick just trying to blend in and not try to make my presence known.

So after a few grocery trips with people staring at me a lot and wondering if I had that morning's spinach in my teeth and feeling totally self conscious; I decided to make a change.

My goal for the next little while is this:

To give a little bit less of a crap every day. To NOT care why people are staring and assume it's because they like my new hair color or my super cute t-shirt. To NOT care if some girl has a poo face on and NOT assume it's meant for me.

Life will be so much less exhausting every day! And I want to teach our little one that her self confidence and self worth is not determined by other people's opinions. It is made up of how SHE feels and how SHE thinks and is not up to any one else to determine. Besides the gentle and loving influence of myself and her daddy as we raise her.

So in the effort of caring a little bit less today...

The latest happenings...

So a week or two ago, I made a batch of pickles. I know practically nothing about pickles or the art of pickling. So essentially I googled and used the first recipe that I had everything for. Little did I know, I was making sweet pickles... which my husband hates! And considering I don't eat pickles, and only make them for sheer entertainment, well that wouldn't do!!

So yesterday, I tossed out all of the sweet pickles and started over! This time I really looked into recipes the night before and bought the remainder of the things I needed at the grocery store! Way to plan ahead me!

Lots of things were picked from our garden and ready to get pickled! Also... I bought the living plant dill and replanted it in the herb section of our garden. It's really late in the season, but I thought it couldn't hurt considering it was just going to sit in my fridge and die anyway!

In the middle jar is garlic, purple peppers, jalapenos, and habaneros. All from our little back yard garden! So proud!

Hy tasted the mixture last night and said that they had amazing flavor. We are both excited to see how they taste in a week or so when they have really sat and pickled!

It might seem silly, but Im learning that pickling like any other culinary experience, can be an art form! Every pickle brine has it's own character and does magical things over time! I'm really excited to use these on some Cuban sandwiches!