The Dishwasher that Didn't

We came home from China to a clean house and meals that I didn't have to cook.

Yay!

We also came home to a dishwasher filled with "clean" dishes. At least, they were supposed to be clean. The dishwasher TOLD me they were clean.

Only they weren't. And after a little bit of finagling and extra runs, we came to the conclusion that although we were home from China, our dishwasher had moved on.

And by move on, I really mean our dishwasher decided to stop washing.

I guess he couldn't handle the pressure and extra dishes another kid would bring to the house. If only he would have waited to meet Zak face-to-face. I'm sure he would have stuck it out.

But he didn't. He checked out. We had no choice but to banish him to the garage, away from the house. FOREVER.

And while I want to be sad for him, I'm really not.

The replacement dishwasher has since been purchased and installed. He purrs like a dishwasher on a summer evening. He cleans. He washes. He has made me realize that while our old dishwasher did the job... he really didn't.

He made me scrub the dishes before loading them into his cleaning jowels. He may have cleaned them, but he  never washed them.

Now that Mr. Clean has arrived, I don't have to scrub the dishes anymore. In fact, I can pretty much avoid rinsing altogether if I wanted to (old habits die hard).

Good riddance old machine. You checked out. You've been replaced. And I have a dishwasher that actually does what it is supposed to do.

Who knew?!

The List

How do you motivate your kids to work? To complete and learn basic house-hold tasks?

I've tried chore charts before. The problem (for me). They take thought, planning and follow-through to be effective.

Last summer we used one. I printed charts off at the beginning of every week. We were pretty consistent through most of the summer. They worked, but this summer they sounded like too much work.

So I did nothing, and my kids did very little extra work around the house (with our trip to China this summer I didn't push in this training department anyway).

But now we are home and its time to get busy!

Earlier this week a friend commented that she makes a list of jobs for her kids to complete every morning. As a listy-type of person this appealed to me. Compared to chore charts, lists are low maintenance and non-committal. If a day is extra busy, we drop the list. No problemo.

So far, so good. I make a list each morning. They complete it by lunch time. If they need extra motivation, there are no fun extracurriculars until the list is complete (or no snack/dessert item at lunch).

In an effort to keep "the list" fun, I'm trying to come up with a variety of jobs. The same-old-same-old will get old fast. Some jobs that have appeared so far are washing the door window, sweeping the front porch, emptying wastebaskets, working on math flashcards, writing and coloring activities, reading.

As sad as this sounds.. I am running out of jobs.

The list won't work without jobs.

So, what are so jobs your kids are responsible for completing? I need ideas.

Our list will thank you.

Our kids may not.

Progress

Adoption is hard.

Kory and I have both had some pretty low lows, but in the midst of it all, we do see progress. It seems when I have my breakdowns, Kory is hanging tough and vice versa. Today has been a tough one for Kory.

Wed. morning was hard. She is so sad. Almost constantly crying out for ma. But, that afternoon and again this morning she would actually have some moments of calm. Progress.

We took her swimming. Some friends from our travel group had some cups and she spent a lot of time playing with those. Dumping water, stacking them. It was a good morning.

She took a good nap, but after her nap was very sad again. Lots of crying. Waking up is always hard. It is like the reminder of her circumstances comes rushing in making it hard for her to forget.

Your prayers and comments mean so much to us. Every one of you. We are so thankful. They offer hope.

And God has blessed us with an AMAZING travel group. We feel so supported.

Please pray for them too. Like I said before, adoption is hard.

Pray for Jim and Emily and Noah. And Scott and Melissa and Amelia.

I have had some progress one on one with Suhn as well. She is letting me hold her more and has let me feed her and hold her bottle for her. She is still very much a Daddy's girl at this point, but I'll take what I can get.

She really is a beautiful little girl and is very smart. You can see it in her eyes. She knows what is going on which is part of what makes this so hard.

Tomorrow we head to Guangzhou. Praise the Lord! We are so ready to get out of this town and this hotel (our cell as we like to call it).

So I don't completely depress you (We do have good moments, and we can feel your prayers like you can feel the wall of humidity when you walk outside our hotel!), here are a couple of random tidbits from China:

People ride the motorcycles, motorized bikes, vespas, etc on the sidewalk. And there are lots of them! It makes every walk an adventure!

We have visited a Chinese Wal-mart (which is an actual Wal-mart!). We have seen piles of meat including chicken feet and other unidentified objects. We have seen little boys pee in a garbage can in the store and pee on the floor. It is quite an experience and makes me very thankful that the American version of potty training is as thorough as it is.

The other day as we were walking to Wal-mart we say a group of Chinese people sitting outside a TV store. They were watching the display in the window. Quite Humourous.

That's all I got. We are hanging in there. Keep the prayers coming.

Attempts at Craftiness with Decoupage

Over the last several weeks, my crafty side has decided to peek out. On a small, decoupaging level at least.

Suhn's adoption has been the inspiration for this new venture. The two projects I've completed center around her and her names, both her English one and her Chinese one.

It all started when I discovered that her Chinese name came from a Chinese saying. Translated into English the saying goes, "A fall of seasonal snow gives a promise of a fruitful year." Our agency was able to send me the Chinese version and I turned it into my own little art project. I want to introduce elements of China into our home. I figured this was a good place to start.


The main cost came in the form of the picture frame. Most of the paper came from old Real Simple magazines, with a few sheets of scrapbook paper thrown in. Add in a bottle of decoupage glue for $6 and this is what I came up with:



My next project involved Suhn's English name. All of our kids have their names on the walls of their bedrooms. The boys have wooden letters painted in yellow. Mya, the firstborn, has small canvas letters from Pottery Barn.

I wanted to do something fun without spending a lot of money so I decided to put my trusty bottle of decoupage glue to work. I purchased four 8 X 10 canvas squares from Hobby Lobby along with sheets of scrapbook paper. I blew up and printed off Suhn's name in a font I liked in MS word and went to work.

I am excited about the final project (look too close or you will see numerous mistakes from an amateur crafter).

I'm even more excited about the price. I spent less than $12.


How about you? If you've experienced the fun of decoupage what have you created? I still have some left and would love more ideas!

On a Mission

It all started when I cleaned out the laundry room.

Then a garage sale was planned.

Now I'm on a mission to purge the house of junk!

Every time I look into my clutter-free-everything-in-its-place-with-very-little-useless-junk-sitting-around-taking-up-space laundry room, I get inspired.

Inspired to dive into the next room, fill garbage bags with trash and transfer items to my growing try-to-sell pile.

Its exhilarating! It makes me feel light and airy as items leave their shelves and find new homes far, far away.

It makes Kory a little nervous and causes him to hide his stuff, but I will not be stopped!

I will not let myself be held hostage by the growing stuff in my closets any longer. Its time to throw off the shackles of junk clinging to our house and purge like there is no tomorrow.

Watch out kids, your rooms are coming up and everything is up for grabs!

This momma is on a mission, so look out house, here I come!

The Right Way?

Is there a right way to load toilet paper?

I always thought so.

The right way to load toilet paper is with the roll facing out. Its easier to pull. Right?

I am learning that sometimes there can be more than one right way.

Isn't that shocking?!?

If you load your toilet paper with the roll facing the wall it can help prevent huge amounts of toilet paper from ending up in the toilet. If you have newly potty-trained children, like I do, this can be an issue.

Note: This will not prevent your preschoolers from emptying a roll of toilet paper for the "fun" of it. I'm not sure if there is a solution to that problem. :)

Isn't that a fun little tip! I learned it at FamilyLife's Weekend to Remember. You just never know what little jewels you will glean from a marriage conference!

So, how do you load your toilet paper rolls?

A Christmas Tour

Do you ever try to get a glimpse of the inside of people's homes as you drive past their houses at night?

Me neither, but today if you hop on over to BooMama's blog, you will get an inside look at numerous homes! What fun!!

Before you go, take a moment to enjoy a holiday tour of this home. Don't worry, the commentary is free.

We will begin our tour in the "family room," the most used room in the house.
To get a true feel for the room, take a moment to imagine a fire in the fireplace, a Christmas movie on the TV, and small children in their soft fleece PJS. Then add in a toy-strewn floor, a struggle for seat position and the consistent requesting of snacks and you will have an accurate picture of what a night in this room looks like.

If you turn your attention to the other side of the room, you will notice a nativity scene. Look even closer and you will find that baby Jesus is missing.

Inspired by a radio program discussing John 3:16 ("For God so Loved the World, He gave His only begotten Son...") your host decided to wrap baby Jesus. He will be the first gift opened by the family on Christmas morning to commemorate the BEST gift ever given.

In the hopes of creating an idyllic moment, the man of the house will open the present as the children gather round.

Now, please turn your attention to the bookshelf above the nativity. There you will see the wise men slowly making there way to the manger scene. If our host remembers to move them, they will reach their destination on Christmas day.

As we exit the family room, you may have noticed the stockings on the mantel were conspicuously missing. Due to an unfortunate accident involving a stocking hanger, the head of a young boy and the pulling of a stocking all hanging objects were swiftly removed from the mantel to the stairway. Thankfully there were no long term repercussions from the accident.

Moving on, you will find a "hand-me-down" set of carolers from our host's mother.

Rich in history, these festive carolers have been stored in the same box for over 25 years, fooling little girls who would like to believe their mommy actually held on to her Crayola Playtime Office all these years.

Please exit the home for our final stop of the tour.

Notice the unique placement of the bunched-up icicle lights that don't look like icicle's on the home.

Although slightly dysfunctional, these lights will certainly make a statement in the annual neighborhood Christmas light contest.

This concludes your tour. We hope you enjoyed it. Comments are always appreciated. Donation will be taken at the door.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cleaning the Bathroom

Company is coming, of the overnight variety.
I kinda need to clean the bathroom. You know so they aren't completely repulsed by the way we live and never return.
Cleaning the bathroom...
Hmmmm...
What else could I do?
I could...
read a few blogs, take some Christmas cards out to the mail box, tell a 3 year old he can't have another snack right now, argue with him for an additional 5 minutes (whose the mom here?), pick up the bedrooms (I'm not a complete slacker!), write a blog on cleaning the bathroom, read a few more blogs, schedule a hair cut, stare aimlessly out the window at the pretty snow falling...
switch the laundry, apply stain remover to the lip gloss colored bedspread, rescue a crying baby, put the same baby to bed, get a snack for the boys, discuss my eye color with a three year old, ignore a whining child, check the laundry to see how much time is left...
Then again, I could go upstairs and clean the bathroom.
Or maybe...

Pumpkins, Gourds and Leaves Oh My!

I mentioned in my last post that I love decorating my house with pumpkins, gourds and leaves (oh my). Then I thought, why not show you where the aforementioned pumpkins, gourds and leaves garnish my home in the fall.

So, I snapped a few pictures of my autumn decorations to share with you. But that is not all, oh no that is not all.

I am curious, how do you decorate for fall?

I know this has been done on other places around the Internet, but I don't think it has been done in my little corner of the world wide web. So, I am setting up Mr. Linky at the end of this post so that you can share your fall decorations with all of us. Don't be shy, we really want to see!

I decorated our mantel this year. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I love how it turned out. The green squash on the far left (hard to see, I know) is my favorite fall decoration. I heart it so much!
Christmastime is not the only time to decorate the banisters! If you watch the sales, you can get leave garlands 50% off at Hobby Lobby which makes them a very inexpensive (and fun) way to add a little autumn to your home.
Every home needs a pumpkin or two on their doorstep. The arrangement on mine is not really an arrangement, but it works.
Nothing says welcome like a leaf wreath (say that 5 times fast), or something like that...
Every autumn, we take a trip to my cousin's pumpkin farm. My kids love it. They will grab pumpkins and gourds by the handfuls and pile them in our van. It takes strapping them back in their car seats to stop the madness and cut them off. Then I get to sort out the pumpkins I really want to take home from the ones that little hands grabbed for the sheer pleasure of it.

Regardless, we come home with plenty of little pumpkins and gourds to spread throughout our house. I love it!
Now its your turn. Post a few pictures of your favorite fall decorations - then paste a link to your post into Mr. Linky below. I promise, we really want to see!

I Give Up!

Sometimes it feels like I am in the midst of a losing battle. Okay a lot of times I feel that way.

For example...

• I pick up toys, they come back.
• I put away piles of paper, the paper comes back in larger more overwhelming stacks.
• I empty (or almost empty my e-mail inbox), the e-mails flood in.
• I do laundry, the laundry baskets fill up.
• I clean the kitchen, people eat and mess it up.
  

I GIVE UP. I SURRENDER. CLUTTER AND DISORGANIZATION TAKE THE HOUSE. I GIVE UP, I REPEAT, I GIVE UP.
I was sharing my woes with my husband last night and he had a thought...

He thought, instead of giving up, I should...

• Be thankful for the toys on the floor because they are a product of the healthy, happy children who play with them.
• Be thankful for the stacks of paper because they are the result of a working household and paid bills.
• Be thankful for the flood of e-mails because they represent people who value my opinion.
• Be thankful for the endless laundry and dirty kitchen because they are proof that we have clothes to wear and food to eat.

Yeah, okay, so maybe he's right.
Maybe I need to be thankful (Galatians 6:9 comes to mind as well) instead of hiding in my closet hoping that when I come out the laundry and e-mails and toys and piles will have magically taken care of themselves.
But a girl can still hope can't she...
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

The Big Reveal

Remember 2.5 months ago when I said I was participating in this?

You saw the before here, now it is time for the after!

I know you have been eagerly anticipating... wondering how my little project turned out. I am sure you were more excited for this moment than the season premier of the Office last night

Speaking of The Office, I was so relieved that Jim and Pam finally had their moment. I loved the smiley rain-soaked Jim that returned to the Office for the final weigh-in (I was a little nervous it wouldn't happen).

What was up with the Toby ending - weird, random and not that funny.

One more Office observation. I love HR Holly in all her dorkiness. She seems to have the weirdness of Michael (which can be lovable) without the over-the-top, clueless inappropriateness. I'm sure the writers will have some fun with those two characters!

Yay, The Office is back!

But I digress; for all of you who are completely lost at this point, please keep reading, smile, nod and leave a comment. They make me happy.

Back to the Before and After...

In July I set two goals for myself. They were to

1. Paint the bathroom vanity and
2. Paint a few sea creatures on the walls for added bathroom fun.

Guess what? I completed my goals (granted I finished goal #2 last night so I would be able to say I finished my goals in a truthful, honest-type way, but hey that was the point of this little blog party - accountability).

Here are the lovely before pictures:

And here, drum roll please, are the afters:

I have to say, I am pleased with the final project. What do you think?

I'm asking - What's YOUR Secret?

Laundry - the never ending "to do".

I have to say I'm not a big fan. And, honestly, I am not a very detailed laundry-doer. In fact...

I never sort my clothes.

I do laundry the following way. The kid's clothes make one load. Mine and Kory's clothes make up load two. Baby clothes are load three (because I still use Dreft for him). And towels and rags make up load four.

I guess that is a kind of sorting! :)

And then stains come along. Sometimes I use Zout, other times I opt for Prewash. And every once in awhile I use Shout. The better the piece of clothing, the more intentional I am at trying to remove the stain.

That brings me to my point (were you wondering if there was one). I want to know your best kept laundry and stain removing secrets. I know you have them because you all are so much better at this laundry thing than me.

And, you are in luck because I am going to share my big stain-fighting secret with you (although after reading about how I do laundry you may not put much stock in it, but I'm telling you it works!)

I discovered this little gem one Sunday morning when the boys were younger than they are now. The kids were ready for church. Kory and I were in process.

I went downstairs to check on everyone, after hearing a nerve-racking length of silence, and discovered that ball-point pens had been found and used on they boy's brand new church clothes.

Of course I reacted like the proper, church-going, Proverbs 31 woman that I am and once I got done crying and yelling at the children called my mom.

She directed me to call the Queen of Stains - Gail. Who shared the following tip with me that I am now going to share with you (you lucky internets you).

With a little elbow-grease, hairspray gets ball-point pen ink out of clothes.

All you need to do is spray the stained area with the hairspray of your choice. Dab the stain with a rag (do not rub, dab) and repeat. Initially the stain seems to get darker, but then it starts to fade.

I can't tell you how domestic and Proverbs 31 I feel with this kind of knowledge. And that is why I am asking for more!

What is your favorite laundry/stain-fighting secret?

Late to the Party

So, Boo Mama decided to host a little Before and After Bloggy Extravaganza about a month ago. The idea being to share a list of goals (or one goal) of home improvements and then be held accountable by actually sharing those goals on the world wide web (making the possibility of meeting said goals even greater).

I decided to participate. I know I am late, but better late than never right?

About a year ago we "redid" the kid's bathroom (new wall paint, shower curtain, rugs, towels, etc.). We basically gave it a face lift to make it more fun. There are two projects I would like to complete to finish up the room.

They are my goals for the extravaganza:

1. Paint the bathroom vanity (I am thinking bright blue).

2. Paint a few sea creatures on the walls for added bathroom fun. I will be attempting these myself, but if I get into trouble, I will call on my talented artistic sister to come and rescue me! If you don't have one of these (an artistic sister that is) you really should get one - she is incredibly handy to have around. :)

So here is the before pictures of the bathroom vanity:

And a better shot of the bathroom just for kicks!

The goal is to have these projects completed by the beginning of August. Wish me luck. And stay tuned for the stunning reveal!

Life in a Disaster Area

My kitchen feels out-of-control tonight. The counter is cluttered by an empty pizza box, plastic wrap from a dry cleaned coat, an Operation Christmas Child shoebox, a warm 2-liter bottle of Squirt, papers, dishes and a myriad of other odds and ends. The sink is filled with highchair trays (still holding this morning's uneaten waffles), plates, cups, spoons, and forks (dishes, dishes, dishes galore!). Let me say it again, my kitchen is out-of-control.

In fact, let's not just limit ourselves to the kitchen, my entire house feels like one huge cluttered home - random toys in every room. As far as the eye can see, things that are not put away. "Go to your home" I yell, but nothing listens. My daughter looks at me and wonders who in the world her mom is talking to.

Life feels unsettled when my home is like this, especially the kitchen. When my kitchen is out-of-control, my life sometimes feels out-of-control. If that one room in the house (a control-center of sorts) is cleaned and every other room in the house is a disaster area, life still seems somehow manageable. But if the kitchen blows up - look out, Momma could go at anytime!

I remember growing up the best gift we could give my mom was a clean kitchen - I'm starting to understand. I would love it if my three-year old suddenly learned how to clean the kitchen and would periodically surprise me. What a glorious day that will be!

I suppose I should probably get up from this computer, walk in to that disaster area of a kitchen and get to work putting things (my life included?) back in order...

Yeah right, distraction sounds much better!

"Kory I'm coming - start the movie!"