Tales From the Minivan

SIXTY SEVEN PAIR of underwear!  shhhh!  Yes I’m embarrassed to say this is me!  I have been doing so well with keeping up with the laundry lately, that I was beginning to notice, everyone’s dresser drawers were overflowing!

I decided it was time to start getting rid of the clothing that we’ve accumulated over the years and keep the stuff that the kids actually are wearing.  There’s no sense holding onto something “just in case” .  Your dresser is prime real estate in your home and if your undies drawer is overflowing with uncomfortable unmentionables it’s time to clean up that hot property!  So clean up and out I did!

First I emptied the entire drawer and divided into stuff I like and wear often and  stuff that only gets worn when the laundry gets low.  The pile started to grow and grow.  I honestly have no idea how it all fit in there or how I ever found anything in the morning.  In the end, I counted 67 pair of panties!  I held onto 20 of my most comfortable pairs of knickers.

Next was the bras… THIRTY TWO! Again I’m embarrased to say that more than half of them were nursing bras, and some of them were over 12 years old, as I know I bought them when I was nursing Mackenzie!

Ladies do yourself a favour, ditch the ill fitting ginch!

So now that I have all of these drawers out of my dresser drawers what can I do with them? I’m not going to donate them, yuck!  So any ideas for them, or should I accept defeat and let them live their resting days at the landfill?  Does anyone really want to see me wiping down my walls with my Joe Boxers?

Unknowingly it seems I just bought the “Gadget of the Year” according to UK’s Stuff Magazine.  I must say it’s pretty cool and I’m hoping it will keep my life a little more organized with all of the changes this fall.

So I’m sure you’re wondering what this little gadget is?  Well it’s an iPhone 3G!

I must say thus far, this thing is great!  It’s so much more than a phone.  I am amazed at all of the things it can do.  Andrew has had an iPod Touch for almost a year now, so I’ve been getting the feel for some of the features of the iPhone/Touch.  The big difference between the two, is that obviously the iPhone has an onboard phone (the Touch doesn’t) and the iPhone has web browsing capability via a data package or through Wi-Fi (touch only has Wi-Fi browsing).

The thing though that’s got me hooked is all of the great applications!  The Apps Store on iTunes lists them all there.  Most have a minimal fee of .99 cents some are a little more pricy, but MANY of them are FREE!   I’m too frugal to spend money on them , but I’ve downloaded a few of the free ones and they are a lot of fun.  Since we’ve been spending a lot of time in the van and sometimes getting to the school early, I added a few fun Apps for Ciaran to play.  One that he really likes a lot is called  Jirbo Match.  It’s a cute Memory Matching game with bright kid friendly charaters.  He started playing right away and got really excited when ever he made a match when the colouful star circles lit up the screen!

I must admit I liked playing it too!   Another App that Mackenzie and I like trying out was one called “Midomi Mobile”

So this App is great for when you got this tune stuck in your head, but you just can’t remember the lyrics or the name of the song.  or when perhaps when you’re in your car and a song comes on that you like but you’re unsure of the name or artist.  What the App will do is record a snippet of either you singing or humming the song, or record the song that’s playing on the radio and search  a database of tens of thousands of songs to find a match.  At first it didn’t really match anything that we knew, but as soon as we started singing ABBA it was bang on!

So that’s about all that’s new here.  I’ll update soon with pics from Andrew’s sister’s wedding  last weekend.  Sorry moms…I’ve been busy with my new toy, I mean Gadget!

where I should have just stayed in bed!  The day started off with me waking up 30 minutes late to radio static!  I even went to bed at a somewhat decent hour, but Finn aka-Mr Terror must have been playing with the dial on my clock radio.  I’ve been meaning to get a new one for a while now.  This one is over 15 years old and was free, I won it at a work golf tournament, I think it’s served it’s usefulness (most times) and can retire happily in Ciaran’s room!  More about a new clock radio later.

Miraculously, I managed to still get the kids to school on time! I got back home did a little work, and the house got quiet for a few minutes.  Quiet in this house is not a good sign.  I walked into the kitchen and literally got stuck to the kitchen floor.  From one end to the other Finn had managed to empty an entire bottle of pancake syrup all over the kitchen.  In some ways this wasn’t so bad as I’ve been putting off mopping for a few days now so this forced my hand to do it.

The rest of the morning went well, Finn really seems to be getting into a routine and went down for his nap right on schedule, however he’s been napping a lot longer than he used to and I have to wake him most days to go pick up Liam at 1:45.  We picked Liam up and he wanted to stay and play with my friend Joanne’s daughter so she watched him for the next hour while the two ‘lil redheads came with me.  It never fails when I’m in a hurry this is when I constantly get stopped by the sweet little old ladies that adore the two ‘lil redheads and have to tell me all about how their cousin twice removed had a redhead and they thought they were going to have one…well you get my drift.  Normally I always love to chat, but I was in a rush.  I got through my list and even had 15 minutes to spare, so I thought I would go into the electronic section of the grocery store as I saw they had a clock radio with an iPod docking station on sale this week.  I found it right away and went straight to the cash to pay for it.  Well it seems that there was only one customer service rep working, and he was busy with the self-serve digital photo machines.  I waited almost 10 minutes and was never acknowledged!  I then asked him if I could purchase it over in the Self-Serve Check outs (I love those things!).  NOPE!  Had to be rung in there!  Well, another 5 minutes pass and I realize I can’t wait any longer and leave it on the counter as I had to get to the school to get both Liam and Kenz.  Better go make sure CBC is programmed in for the morning, I guess I won’t be listening to my iPod just yet!

We get home and I’m excited as I had a nicely seasoned Prime Rib Roast ready to go into the oven for it’s initial 15 minutes of searing at 450 F.  A little something that I wasn’t aware of, I guess those glass casseroles don’t do so well at high temperatures.  The roast seared beautifully, but here’s where things started going downhill.  I wanted to put a little broth in the casserole and a few vidalia onions for flavor.  I poured about 3 cups of room temperature broth into the casserole, then added the onions. The next thing I know (and sorry Sarah for screaming in your ear on the phone), I hear this snapping and popping noise!  The entire 9 X 13 casserole dish shattered into a zillion pieces!!!

Yup this was just one of “Those Days”!  Off to scrub the floors again!

Here’s some shots of my stupidity:

After spending most of the last two days in the van, we decided to take it easy and check out the resorts pool and take a drive around the area to get our bearings.  As usual the pool was way too cold for me, I loike it well over 80, and this one was not even close to that.  I tried to do a little catch up reading and brought my book by Peter Walsh- “It’s All Too Much” about clutter control.  I think I’m going to jump back into the Clutter Control Bootcamp once school goes back in.

Mackenzie has been enjoying a renewed love of swimming and I think it’s due to her latest fad of “mermaids”. She’s been drawing them, reading about them and looking for movies about them.  I’m wondering if it has to do with the new Little Mermaid movie that’s coming out next week?

The Pool are at Sciota Village at Big Valley was really nice.  The pool was crystal clear, and there was a small jacuzzi and lots of lounge chairs.  Finn wasn’t overly happy with the temperature of the pool either so mainly played on the chairs and eventually found a volleyball to play with.

It seems that Liam has lost a lot of his confidence in his swimming abilities.  When we were in Florida in May, he was doing great!  Today all he did was complain and whine for water wings.  Ciaran on the other hand, was very confident yet still a little cautious, which for him is a good thing he was always the daredevil fearless one.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to enroll them both in swimming lessons this fall as their activity.  Soccer was a bust, so hopefully swimming will be better.

I know I probably need my head examined, but I just booked airfare for the 6 of us and my mom to fly to Orlando 5 days from now!

Why so last minute you ask?  Well, it’s been a really hectic school year for Mackenzie, she’s really had a hard time this year with one of her teachers and really needs a break.  We’re at the point where we may move her to another school because of this conflict, it’s really affecting the overall mood of our house.  My mom really wanted to have some time away too, she’s been missing the kids lately, so I thought what a great Mother’s Day gift! With the long weekend falling next week the kids will only miss 3 days of school so no biggie!

The funny thing is, I’m 75% packed!  When I put away some of the summer clothes last fall, I took out some of the things that Andrew and I wear and the kids wear and packed them in our suitcases!  Just need to throw in our swimsuits and underwear and we should be all set!

I personally prefer to travel more last minute, not only can you save money, but save the over analyzing and stressing over the trip.  The one things I want to accomplish before we go and getting the rest of the house organized, thank goodness for the Clutter Control Club! It has really helped me put things into perspective. For so long I would start one area of the house but never get it completed, then start another only to go back to the first area that was completely destroyed again.  I now have a task that I can complete and love seeing the before and after pics to show what I’ve accomplished!  Check out the CCC Smilebox Gallery for some motivation!

Well I better get busy, I’m off to www.disboards.com to get some tips from the fanatics over there!  Only 6 sleeps to go!

Make a Smilebox postcard

So you just saw my (not so small) dirty little secret!  I’m not sure just how things can get this out of control in the house, but it happens WAY TOO OFTEN!!  The first step they say is admitting you have a problem.  My problem, I hate cleaning, but I hate even more having a mess!  This is not a good combination, because as soon as I see the mess I want to tackle I get frustrated and overwhelmed.  I start the job, but it never gets completed the way I want it to.  Yes, I will admit I have a few distractions in the house (well four of them ) and that doesn’t help, but it doesn’t take long for things to get out of control like that. This needs to stop, I need to start good habits of taking 5 minutes after a meal rather than dealing with the crisis that ensues when I “leave it for later”.  Upbeat music really helps me, and I tackled the kitchen mess to one of my all time favourites, Bob Marley’s- Legend.  This music is truly timeless and I never get sick of these songs, even the kids love them!

One thing I’ve decided to do is to reward myself.   After watching the Kitchen Inspiration Slideshow it has really given me some motivation. I have hated these kitchen counters since we moved into our house almost 6 years ago.  They are an awful dark shade of dusty rose (just like the awful carpet on the entire second floor), I’ve decided I want to reward myself with a mini-kitchen makeover if I can maintain the kitchen until my birthday in June (the 23rd).  I want to replace the countertops and stain the cabinets and island a darker colour.   Wish me luck, and I’ll be sure to post photos, if I reach my goal!

I have been crisis cleaning! When you take a look at my Before & After Smileboxes you will see this crisis, that has been surrounding us.

I will admit, I have let the housework slip lately, but when everyone got sick last week, then I got sick everything went downhill from there. I had started to clear out the closets to put away all of the winter jackets, boots, hats and mitts, then everything got left then scattered all over the entry way! So I will swallow my pride and show you my mess! I even added a suiting song!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Tomorrow! You get to see the horrific Kitchen shots! It’s bad…really bad! Thank goodness for the Clutter Control Club, it arrived just in time for me!

Over the weekend, I tried out my brand new *Sparkle Kit*!  I have to say, what a difference it makes.  Having all of my supplies handy all in the same place was great.  I tend to get distracted a lot!  I’ll be in a room cleaning then realize that I’m missing a cleaning supply then  leave to go get it, then I’d get side-tracked and not get back to the task at hand.  My *Sparkle Kit* hopefully has cured this, and brightens my outlook on cleaning!

Let me know if you want your own label for your *Sparkle Kit* and I’ll email you one.  I have to send a big thanks to my DD Mackenzie, who helped me with it!

It was such a nice weekend to start Spring Cleaning, we had the windows open, I got to hang out laundry  and take a look at that blue sky!  Make sure to sign up for The Clutter Control Club so you don’t miss out on the fun!

Getting the kids involved in house cleaning has always been a bit of a challenge, so I stole an idea from another CPO’er (thanks Chel). You can hear more about this in an upcoming Family Night Podcast Chel uses one of their weekend mornings to do some tidying up, then plans a fun family activity for the afternoon once the chores are complete. Well we decided to give it a go and gave out simple chores to the boys, and had Mackenzie watch Finn while Andrew and I did some of the more involved tasks. It seems that the boys took the Cinderella aspect of this to heart that afternoon, and decided to raid Mackenzie’s dress-up clothes. Here’s a few shots of them in their gowns:

Liam as Snow White

Ciaran as Sailor Moon

A non-impressed Finn wearing an Ariel (Little Mermaid) Wig

Ciaran as Cinderella

Even though we didn’t really get a lot of actual cleaning accomplished we still had a fun morning and will probably do one Cinderella Saturday per month. I really like going to our local Market on Saturday mornings and picking up local produce (well as local as it can be this time of year) and an ethnic treat as there are many vendors from all over the world that sell tasty treats in the morning. I must get some photos the next time I’m there! Saint John’s City Market is truly a site to see. It’s actually Canada’s Oldest City Market established in 1876, so if you ever get the chance to visit the city you must check it out!

Since getting home from our trip to Maine we’ve been in Back to School mode! Trying to get everyone to bed at a decent hour again. Andrew even set the alarm and walked the Mackenzie and Liam to the bus stop 2 days before school even started to get everyone back into the routine.

Today was Mackenzie’s first day of Middle School, Grade 6 Where has the time gone? She is very excited about this year and has most of her good friends in her class. The other thing she’s excited about is that she already knows her teacher well, as she’s the same teacher she had for Grade 2!

Liam didn’t start today, they do a staggered start for the kids entering Kindergarten, so he’ll start tomorrow. We did do a “dry-run” today, when Andrew walking them to the bus stop and me following in the van to the school. Once we arrived I wanted to show Liam where his class would be, where his locker was located, and if his teacher wasn’t too busy introduce him to her. We got to look around his classroom for a few minutes. Ciaran was very excited that they had a sand table! Last week at his preschool orientation he kept going on and on about the sand table and how “his school” had sand!

After getting Mackenzie settled in I took Liam in for a very needed haircut. Here’s the before shots, we decided to let the boys hair grow all summer, but since he’s going to be the ring-bearer at a wedding this weekend, I thought they may appreciate that his hair was a teeny bit shorter. He’s the before shot:

Bedtime routines and going much smoother, although it was great to stay up late, it’s nice to have the evenings to ourselves again! The boys know now that after story time it’s time for bed and haven’t really put up a fuss, I was expecting it to be much harder.

So Back to School is bittersweet, it’s been so nice to have Andrew home this summer but he also went Back to Work this morning! Tomorrow is going to be very strange in the house and I think poor Ciaran will be lost without Liam for the next week until his preschool class starts up! Speaking of Ciaran, he is officially Potty Trained! I talk more about this in an upcoming Podcast on Potty Training and what worked for us!