How a Messy Mom Cleans: The Goal

My friends and family are laughing right now. “Katie can’t write about cleaning! That’s ridiculous!”

It’s true, my house is generally a mess. And under that mess there are crumbs. And dirt. And dust bunnies. Let’s put it this way…I will never win an award for having a clean house.

Sometimes, my house gets messy (I prefer “messy” to “dirty.” “Messy” sounds so much better.) enough that I get totally overwhelmed and don’t even know where to start cleaning it.

Through the last five years, however, I’ve developed a system that helps me get going when the going (cleaning) gets rough.

But before I divulge my secrets, I have to ask one question. Do you strive to have a perfectly clean house all of the time? If so, just stop reading. This is NOT the blog post for you.

Now, for the rest of you, let’s discuss our goal when cleaning.

Our goal is NOT to have every room in the house sparkling at the same time. Our goal is NOT to have every fingerprint wiped off of every surface. Our goal is NOT that all of the laundry is clean, folded and ironed every night before we go to bed.

Our goal is not perfection.

Our goal is FUNCTION! Function, people!

Our goal is that our houses are clean and tidy enough that the family can function. Our goal is that everyone can find clean clothes to wear in the morning, that we have a place to prepare food and to eat it, that the kids have a place to play and that we can find the bills before they’re due.

Function – not perfection!

Are you with me? (or against me?)

If you’re with me, follow along on Facebook so you can see the next post in this series, where I tell ya’ll how to get started when cleaning is overwhelming.

Spring Colors

The HomeShed is going to have a lot of these fun, springy colors at our spring sale (April 26-28th) and these pictures show how to use them in your home. The key? Pair your bright colors with lots of simple neutrals. (We’ll have some of those for you, too.) Shop by the room.

(Ballard Designs)

(Holly Mathis Interiors)

Living Room

(Southern Living)

Happy Roost

Eclectic Bedroom design by San Francisco Interior Designer Story & Space - Interior Design and Color Guidance

(Houzz)

Frame within a frame - after

(Craftynest.com)

Five Favorite Parenting Books

5. Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice For Your Baby's First Year (KINDLE edition) (Baby:411)

A friend gave this to me before I had my first son, and I read the whole thing while nursing him. I continued to use it as a reference as time went on because it had great information and a very easy-to-use format.

4. The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer and The Happiest Toddler on the Block: How to Eliminate Tantrums and Raise a Patient, Respectful and Cooperative One- to Four-Year-Old: Revised Edition

I love Dr. Karp. I read Happiest Baby in the wee hours of the night on my Kindle, when Isaac was a newborn. I followed the ideas for sleep and soothing that Dr. Karp suggested, and Isaac was a sweet, content baby. I read Happiest Toddler when Adam was 2 or 3 to help deal with the temper tantrums. The book gave several practical suggestions for dealing with the troublesome toddler years. Both books helped me understand my child’s needs and how to meet those needs in a way that worked for all of us.

3. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

Neither of my boys were great sleepers. I tried some other sleeping books that were not helpful, but this one was. Dr. Weissbluth outlines what the sleep needs are for each age and the best way to achieve them. This book is not short, and the information can be kind of hard to find, but if you are desperate enough for sleep, you WILL read it and it WILL work!

2. Love and Logic Magic For Early Childhood

I just read this book recently after posting on Facebook that I was having trouble with my 4 year old. After reading only a few pages, I was able to try some of the strategies with success! It is fairly short and has been a big help for us.

1.NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

This is my all-time favorite for parents and teachers, no matter what age your child is. It changed my teaching and guides my parenting daily. Each chapter focuses on a common parenting practice, and then uses scientific research to show a DIFFERENT and BETTER way to do things. My favorite chapter is first: The Inverse Power of Praise, but there are also chapters on racism, teaching your baby to talk, teen rebellion, and other important topics.

What are your favorite parenting books? Please share them here or on Facebook.

(The Amazon links here are affiliate links.)

Bargain Storage Ottoman

***Updated to edit this post! This ottoman has NOT stood up to daily use over the past two months! Half of the buttons are gone and one of the hinges is broken. I emailed Coaster - no response. I called Coaster and they told me to contact Amazon. Argh! I guess there's a reason it was so cheap! I'm headed to Amazon to write a negative review, now. Don't know what else to do, as I couldn't find a way to contact Amazon about my dissatisfaction.***

My friends know that I get on a kick where I’m just absolutely positive that such-and-such piece of furniture or change to my house will just make it perfect and end all my troubles forever.
Usually, the way this plays out is that I do some online shopping, decide it’s all too expensive to buy sight-unseen, and forget about it until the next “this-will-solve-all-my-problems” obsession comes along.
But this time was different. This time, I actually bought it. And this time, I really DO think it will solve all my problems.
Well, almost all of them.

I ordered the Coaster Storage Ottoman with Tufted Accents from Amazon, and it is such a multi-purpose, smart furniture choice. I’m stoked.
1. It gives us a place to put up our feet when we stay up watching Netflix after our boys are in bed.
2. It has a TON of room to store all those tiny toys we’re constantly stepping on.
3. It is the right height (and length) to use at the dining table when we have a big family dinner.
4. It’s beautiful and adds some visual weight to that side of the living room.

And now, the best part! The price! I mean, seriously? Amazing, right?

Here’s an affiliate link in case you want to go order one yourself, right now. :)

With my Amazon Prime membership, the ottoman shipped for free. I ordered it on Friday and it came on Monday! I was also VERY impressed with how well it was packaged.

There was some assembly required, but the directions and process were so easy. Even Isaac could have figured out how to screw the beautiful feet on.

The ottoman is sturdy and spacious enough for two of us to sit on (if we decide to pull it up to the table for dinner) and the lid has those fancy hinges that keep it from slamming shut on my sweet ~~monsters~~ boys.

Great price + great function + incredibly beautiful = no online buyer’s remorse for me!

Shared at Furniture Feature Friday

Getting Ready for the Big Storm

I started this post last week, when we were forecasted to have a big blizzard. The meteorologists talked about it for days, and then we got a dusting of snow. Today, we’re in another blizzard. This one was supposed to stay far south of us. It didn’t.

When “they” predict a big storm, we do what everyone else does…we make sure the fridge is stocked, take care of any other errands, and prepare to hunker down.

But the fact that we have 40,000 (and sometimes 60,000) turkeys in our care adds a whole ‘nother dimension to storm preparation.

How does Bartastic make sure his turkeys will be okay during a storm like this?

1. Check the generators. Our turkey barns have generators in case of a power outage, and they are tested automatically every week, because we just never know when disaster might strike. But those generators are significantly more important when a storm is coming! (By the way, our HOUSE does not have a generator…just the turkey barns. I could pause here and list all the ways that the turkeys live more comfortably than I do, but that is a blog post all by itself.)

2. Check LP levels. LP is short for liquified petroleum, which powers our generators. In a winter storm, LP trucks would have a hard time getting to us if we were to run out.

3. Prepare the machinery. The skid loader is in charge of clearing snow. Bart fueled it up so that he would be ready to clear our driveway, the driveways to the barns, and even our gravel road if need be. When we get a lot of snow, he uses the skid loader as his main method of transportation, and has even dug out the neighbors a time or two.

4. Check feed levels. Some farms mix their own feed on site, but ours comes from a feed mill that specializes in turkey feed and is located 20 miles away. Bart makes sure that our feed bins are as full as possible, in case the feed trucks are unable to make it to our place.

5. Make sure he has all supplies on hand. Bart always has extra parts for water lines and feed lines, and he also checks his supply of sanitation products.

If all goes well, the turkeys will never know that a blizzard raged around them while they were warm and toasty in the barns. They’ll go on with their comfy lives as if nothing has changed. Our goal is always to minimize stress on our birds so they will grow big and healthy, and that goal doesn’t change during a blizzard (whether we’re forewarned about the impending snow or not!)

A quick tip…

If you follow along on Facebook, you might already know that we are currently battling our first ear infection. Neither of my boys had ever had one until Isaac (almost 2) ended up with a double ear infection earlier this week.
I have to say…Thank God for antibiotics. I’ve written about antibiotics and turkeys before, but I can’t remember another time my kids have needed the wonder drugs. But seriously, they are amazing because I could not stand another night without sleep. It. was. terrible.(Oh, and I guess maybe the little guy was in some pain, too, although he couldn’t tell me because he doesn’t talk yet, but that’s another post for another day.)
I’m not a pro at administering antibiotics to my children. But I remembered a tip I saw somewhere (pinterest?) and decided to give it a try. Of course, my version isn’t nearly as pretty as the version I saw originally, but it gets the job done...

Since I’m still recovering from the sleep deprivation caused by those darn ears of Isaac’s, I was having trouble remembering whether he’d had the proper dose. So I made a quick grid on the bottle with a sharpie – 10 days, 2x a day – and I’ll know exactly when to stop, too (which is much harder than it sounds.) And don’t forget to attach your marker with a rubber band, so that the little stinker doesn’t get ahold of it and try to make a grid on the walls.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get the medicine into him without an Olympic level wrestling match…

New Use for an Old Door

I picked up this door a couple of months ago when I was out picking for The HomeShed, and I fully intended to sell it.

But…then, I moved the cabinet that had been in this corner to another part of the house. And all of the sudden, the corner was so empty and the room felt off balance.
And so, the door has found a new home, nestled in next to my beloved turquoise chairs.

Indulge me for a minute – let me tell you why I love this door so much…
- The dark wood and straight lines add some masculinity to the room. I love a good, frilly, shabby chic room, but let’s face it. I live with three boys. Our home will never truly reflect “us” if it’s too feminine. My knock-off pouf has the same effect – add a little masculinity to the feminine wing-backs.

- The hinges are so beautiful and detailed. Have you ever seen anything more lovely?

- The style reminds me of the door on my classroom my first year teaching (before all the antique doors had to be replaced with new, bullet-proof doors. And yes, this was pre-Newtown. School safety is not a new thing.)