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Archive for the ‘House/Home’ Category

Toy Hoarding

08 Aug

Kids don’t like to let go of toys.  We have a huge toy problem here due to some family members.  They don’t spend more than anyone else, but they deal in quantity…where someone else might buy 1 big toy that the kids really want for $25, these people will go to garage sales, dollar stores, and clearance racks so they can get more items (and generally a bunch of smaller things) for their money.  Not a bad trait, but it’s beginning to cause a major toy overgrowth problem.  They love the kids to a degree that even I can’t imagine at times and we see them only rarely.  I suspect there is a degree of guilt about the lack of time spent together and they’re trying to compensate.  There’s more to the story, but I’ll leave it at that.  I love them and don’t want to say anything that would hurt them, even unintentionally.

So back to the topic at hand…this toy problem is getting ridiculous.  We have a metric crap ton of toys, many that the kids don’t ever play with.  I try to make them choose one toy to go out every time another comes in but I find that the drama is often not worth it.  Unfortunately, I’m often fighting my husband as much as I am the kids.  I wouldn’t mind so much if they were good about cleaning up after themselves, but cleaning up is often an ordeal that ends in screaming, slammed doors, and tears.  Usually from me.  But there are toys everywhere. I even find them in my bed sometimes.  It is making me crazy and I need to get rid of some.

Clearly I need to take back control, and I’m working on that.  The kids are going to be strongly encouraged to choose 5 toys each to give to a child who needs them more than we do.  It’s a character lesson and a sanity saver all in one.  Right now, cleaning up comes with incentive.  For every 15 minutes you spend cleaning up, you get 5 minutes of time on the Wii.  Toys are not to leave a specific area.  And once my younger son starts school, I’ll be weeding the toy collection myself.  Throwing away the coloring books that are full of scribbles.  Sorting through the massive bins that hold the toy collection and donating what they don’t play with.  Tossing the random games we’ve never played or that have pieces missing.  Giving away the books that we never read or that I dislike.

My biggest fear is that they will become hoarders, like the people on those shows that are so popular right now.  Because their mindset is that every toy is precious, every gift is sacred.  And though I do like to instill that into them, that the things we have are special, that gifts are to be appreciated, it’s reached a point that I can no longer support and encourage.  Are they too young to watch an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive?  Because that’s what I’ve been doing all day and it has scared the crap out of me!  Can you tell I’m motivated?

 
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Posted in Family, House/Home, Parenting

 

Taking Dinner Back

08 Aug

God bless my husband.  He has been the head chef in the household for a very long time.  When he lost his job two years ago, I was pregnant and cooking was out of the question most nights.  Until then, we’d been going out to eat 3-4 nights a week so even before that I wasn’t doing a whole lot in the kitchen.  With the job loss came a need to save money and the dinners out were severely cut back.  He had ample free time and I was so nauseated most days that just looking at uncooked food could induce vomiting.  It just made sense for him to take over.

Then the baby came and I was nursing in the evenings.  And I was tired. And when I did cook, my oldest son complained about the things I chose to make.  And I had night classes.  And frankly, my husband is just better at making dinner.  He can pull out 4-5 seemingly random ingredients and make a delicious and healthy meal.  I’m definitely a plan-ahead meal-planning recipe follower.  Except I don’t plan ahead very effectively and I throw up my hands and give up.

No more.  Starting now, I’m taking dinner back.  I will take this chore off his plate (ha, pun intended!) and maybe I won’t have to do the dishes…

Last night was the first night I took over the dinner making and it was great to be in the kitchen again.  I started simply with oven fried pork chops, a favorite of mine that I’ve been thinking about for weeks.  I found this recipe a while back when we were getting boneless pork chops in our Angel Food boxes regularly.  We haven’t gotten any recently and I’d been craving them but the cost of pork chops kept me from making it.  Lowes Foods had them on sale this week, so I gave into my craving and bought some.

I did make a change to the recipe.  Instead of stuffing mix, I used Italian style bread crumbs.  We’ve had it both ways and I don’t think one is any better than the other…I just utilized what I had in the house.  I had gotten several boxes of Betty Crocker mashed potatoes for free with coupons a while back, so I put together some of those and threw some frozen mixed veggies (less than $1 a bag at Walmart) in the microwave and we were all set!

Cheap and easy, but delicious!  Two of the three kids loved it, so that was a win as far as I’m concerned.  Best of all, I satisfied my craving without blowing the budget and feeling guilty.  The entire meal cost less than $8 and fed all 5 of us, so I feel pretty good about splurging on the pork chops.  And I feel good about taking back dinner.  There will still be days when I ask my husband to take over and work his magic, but the kitchen is mine again.  Now if I could just get someone to clean it up and wash all of those dishes…

 
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Posted in Family, Food/Recipes, House/Home, Money/Finances

 

Murphy Bites. Hard.

03 Aug

Yesterday was one of those days…where everything that can go wrong does.  It started normally enough.  My husband had showings in the morning so I hung out with the little kids.  It was a very typical morning, except for the fact that I had a Benadryl hangover and “hanging out” consisted of me dozing on the couch while they played (OK, watched TV) in the living room.  Yeah, not the best situation but we all survived it.

I had a meeting that afternoon for some SocialSanford business, so once I’d managed to emerge from my stupor I had lunch and went over to Kelly‘s house.  Because I am nice, I took my husband’s car so he’d have the van (and the carseats) if he wanted to go somewhere.  He warned me that it was “missing” a lot while I was on my way out the door and I assumed it wasn’t a big deal.  Wrong!  The whole way there I’m terrified that this car is going to just lay down and die on me in the middle of Horner Boulevard and I’m going to die an ugly death when a semi runs me over.  (Anxious much?  I really need to be medicated.)  I was shaking and a nervous wreck by the time the drive was over and decided that I was NOT driving home in that thing.  I ended up having him come get me and I followed him to Autozone so they could hook the car up to the thingy and figure out why the “CHECK ENGINE” light has been on for months.  The news was not good (and I totally don’t understand exactly what the thingy said was wrong) and it looks like we will soon be a 1-car family.  In times past, this wouldn’t have been a big deal.  But between my classes, his work as a realtor, and me getting a job, 2 cars are pretty much a necessity.  UGH.

After we got home, I walked in the house to find it filled with smoke.  ”What’s on fire?!?!?!” I screamed.  I remember little else…I do know that my dear husband had put a whole chicken on to boil before he came to get me.  And apparently all the water boiled off while he was gone.  And then the stuff on the bottom of the pan started burning.  We probably arrived home just in time to avert disaster.  As it was, all that was ruined was our dinner (and dinner for the next several nights as well…you know how I like to stretch those chickens) and maybe the pot, but we’re trying to salvage that.  This, of course, led to us having to eat out because the only thing we could make quick was sandwiches and we’ve served far too many of those lately.  Eating out was not in the budget, but I’ll deal with that.  A house fire wasn’t in the budget either, and would have cost a whole lot more than a restaurant dinner.  And lest you think we decided to eat out without checking the chicken for edibility first, I want to reassure you that I did taste the chicken.  I am still trying to get the ashtray taste out of my mouth.

Then while we were eating, I got a very sudden, very intense pain in my right side.  Those who know my history probably see where this is going…kidney stone.  We ate quickly and came home so I could get some relief.  I knew that I had only one pain pill left and I wanted to avoid using it if possible.  I tried the bathtub, I tried the heating pad, I tried curling up in the fetal position and crying.  None of these helped, so I caved and took the good stuff.  An hour later it still hadn’t kicked in and I was ready to tell my husband to take me to the ER so I could get a nice morphine drip and some IV fluids to help push the stone out naturally.  I was sitting in the bathroom floor, nauseated by the pain, sweating, and shaking, when I decided to just pray.  I didn’t know what else to do at that point.  Clearly the drugs weren’t going to work.  The prescription was 5 years old and I figured it was just no longer effective.  The tub and heating pad weren’t working.  And we can’t afford the ER unless it’s a matter of life and death.  At that point, praying seemed like the only option.  So I prayed.  And suddenly the pain went from being a 9+ to being <1.  In a matter of seconds, I was no longer in pain.  I’ve had a lot of kidney stones, and it has never ever stopped hurting like that.  Usually there’s a gradual decrease in the pain, or it passes into the bladder and the pain changes…even with drugs, it doesn’t suddenly stop.  I know there are people who think it’s a coincidence, but I absolutely believe God answered my prayer in that moment.

So yesterday was undeniably bad.  It ended on a more positive note, but the car is still in bad shape and my house still smells like an ashtray.  I’ll take that considering what could have been.  And today…well, today has been pretty good.  I have lots of good stuff going on and I’m really excited about some things that are coming up.  I can’t say any more than that right now, but I’m feeling very positive about a lot of stuff that’s happening.  Sometimes we need those bad days to remind us how good the not-bad days really are!

 
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Posted in Faith/Religion, Health, House/Home, Kidney Stones, Me Stuff, Money/Finances

 

Hermits No More

01 Jan

We’ve moved so much in the 8 (almost 9!) years of our marriage that we’ve never settled down and made a really serious effort to make friends.  Last year that all changed and I am now blessed with some of the best and most encouraging friends I’ve ever had.  (And yes, I’m getting all misty-eyed because 2009 was an awesome year for new friendships!)  It is a wonderful feeling to know that I can call on any of them to help me out in a pinch, or just cry happy tears together, or squeal over new movies like teenagers, or any one of a million things I’ve been missing for a long time.

But I’ll be brutally honest…my house was very neglected because when you’ve spent such a long time without friends or family who come over or visit often, it’s hard to make the effort to keep it neat.  It’s easier to just throw up your hands and say “Well, nobody see it but us, anyway!” and simply allow it to get worse and worse.  It wasn’t at hoarder level yet but it was definitely something I would have been embarrassed by if anyone had just dropped by and expected to hang out!

All that changed when my mom decided to come visit for Christmas.  After finals were over I started straightening and cleaning like a madwoman and while my house still isn’t perfect (my office is full of *stuff* that needs to be gone through and/or gotten rid of and my bedroom is a wreck and I would die if anyone went in there right now) but it’s presentable.  Which made me decide I needed to host a gathering.  And I decided this on Christmas Day.  And decided to have it today…which gave me exactly one week to prepare.

I was a little bit (um, make that a LOT) stressed, but it went off very well.  There were 30 people (kids and adults) in my house this evening, playing, eating, talking, laughing…and it was fun.  There were definitely moments where I felt overwhelmed by it, but those aforementioned friends helped me hold it together.  They brought food, they made me laugh, they held my baby while I was trying to deal with other things, and they even cleaned my kitchen and made sure all of the toys got picked up before they left.  It was a great way to start 2010, and it’s made me realize that with a house that’s being regularly maintained I can do stuff like this.

I don’t like resolutions because I don’t stick to them, but I’m making it a goal to invite someone over at least once a week.  Whether it’s a playdate, a movie night, dinner, or whatever I can come up with…because tonight made me happy and it reminded me of how blessed I am to have this home and these friends.  Plus it will keep me motivated to make sure my house is neat and maintained.  It’s a win-win!

 
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Posted in Family, House/Home, Me Stuff

 

Wishful Wednesday — Formica

04 Nov

Now that we’re (probably) going to be able to keep our house, I’m looking around at all of the things I don’t like and wishing I could afford to fix them.  I had big plans to repaint the living room right before my husband got laid off and we’ haven’t done that due to lack of funds, so I’d like to do that, along with some various other painting and decorating projects.

But I think if I could afford it, the first thing I’d change is my kitchen countertops.  They were a DIY project done by the previous owner and I despise them.  It’s tile and the grout is absolutely disgusting because it’s impossible to keep clean.  Plus the colors are red white and blue which are not colors I would have ever chosen.  Yuck, yuck, yuck.

In my dream kitchen I’d have high end custom cabinets, granite countertops, top of the line appliances, and every convenience known to man.  In reality, I can deal with the very very old kitchen we have if only I never had to clean that damn grout again.  Formica may be cheap, but it doesn’t have grout lines that have to be scrubbed with a toothbrush regularly and never look clean anyway.  Someday…

 
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Posted in House/Home, Wishful Wednesday

 
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