OK, here we go, in no order of importance whatsoever:
- do you patch/mend your children's clothing, remake those pants into shorts, or toss them?
- when you clean your toilets, do you prefer a brush, or do you get down and dirty with a cleaning rag?
- do you make a special effort to look different on days you know you'll be in public places (errand running, work, Church, Bible study group etc) than you do on days you know you'll be at home?
- how many days do you honestly turn on a media device to keep your kids occupied so you can have longer than 5 minutes to get something done?
- how many times do you honestly get to have alone time with your spouse/significant other?
- when your kids do something you just told them not to do, and they get hurt, do you get more exasperated than sympathetic?
- how often do you sweep your hard floors and/or vacuum your carpets - honestly?
- do you prefer to do laundry daily, or in one fell swoop weekly/bi-weekly?
- when do you start assigning regular jobs to your kids beyond the picking up/putting away of toys/shoes/books?
- how do you fight off the exasperation that sometimes creeps up regarding your husband and his habits regarding to child-rearing and housekeeping? I'm thinking along the lines of those days that everything works together for you to be uber-productive in cleaning, cooking etc, and he comes home and leaves a trail from the door to the dinner table to the bedroom and back...
- what is your all-time favorite go-to snack (not the one you buy, or make, but could consume in a perfect world wherein health and money are no issue!)
- what are the songs/ditties/rhymes you teach your kids, and does your spouse think you're crazy for knowing these?
I think that's it for today...these are just the thoughts that have been swirling in my head today...as I was cleaning my toilet with a brush and realizing that we never once had a toilet brush growing up - we used a dedicated set of cleaning rags/towels, a broom (no dust-buster), a sponge mop (no swiffer dry or wet), a vacuum cleaner, and every few weeks, Mom would break out the "big guns" of furniture polish for wooden furniture as opposed to a damp cloth...and I realized that I was cleaning my toilet like 4 times each week because I had a ring and convinced myself that I must not have cleaned it after all...
Anyway, I'm just curious how many people out there like me would rather get down and dirty with hands and knees type scrubbing, versus using the latest and greatest whizz-bang "convenience" tool that marketing and advertising would have us believe we need...
And the snack thing, well, I'm just curious what people choose to eat...I myself prefer salty, savory snacks over sweets any day, and would much rather sit down with a giant tub of homemade sour cream and onion dip (the kind where you dump the envelope of Lipton's brand onion soup mix into an 8 oz tub of sour cream - the full fat kind!) and a bag of Lay's brand potato chips than a tub of chocolate any day...
4 comments:
1. I use iron-on patches on good jean when the knees wear out, but usually I just toss stuff.
2. Mr. O cleans the toilets and he uses a brush.
3. I TOTALLY make an extra effort to look nicer when I know other people will see me.
4. I probably use a media device to keep my kids occupied about 4 times a week.
5. Alone time with my Mr.? Well the kids go to bed at 8 so after that it's just us. And we go out to eat alone (or with the baby) on Fridays.
6. Exasperated
7. I sweep/vacuum daily. Huge dog, no choice. Probably should twice a day!
8. Laundry on the weekends unless I need something earlier than that.
9. around 4
10. I say "Babe, could PLEASE not leave your shoes right there." And then the next day, I say it again. About every 10th day I yell it. :)
11. Haagen Dasz ice cream!
12. I can't think of any right now, but I know I drive them all crazy when I randomly break out in song.
1. all of the above.....I have patched, remade, repurposed, and tossed. And no, I refuse to mend my husband's dozens of pairs of shredded caving coveralls. But I would consent to eating marshmallows cooked over their charring remains if he were ever to burn them.
2. Don't judge me. I love, love, love those disposable toilet scrubber things that come complete with the cleaner inside. Simple Green and a hot, wet rag are for the outside of it, and that wasteful scrubber magic thing is for the inside. I no longer hate cleaning toilets.
3. Yep. Well, most of the time. I try to wear "real clothes" like jeans or slacks and I actually put mascara on. (If I'm at home all day and think I might want to pass out for 20 minutes, I don't bother with mascara. And everyone knows that elastic wasted pants are much more comfortable if you have to play trains on the floor with your three year old.)
4. Maybe 4-5 days a week? We watch Boz, Veggie Tales, Mighty Machines, and sometimes Cars. He and Boz are bonding right now during "rest time" so I can have some sanity time.
5. Hah. Is this question to be answered during awake moments or asleep ones? Because of our unique situation, we don't get to go out on dates more than a very few times each year. But on the rare occasion that our nightowl of a son goes to bed early (on time) and my can't-stay-awake-past-8 husband can actually remain conscious after 8, we try to have a date night inside every couple of weeks. This is one area I wish could change. I was always that kid volunteering to watch another person's kids, and I had hoped that would happen to me. Alas, it's not working out like I'd hoped. But it has happened two times, so that's nice.
6. I've not been a mama long enough to automatically get exasperated before my sympathetic part gets activated. But I'm sure it's coming.
7. Kork, don't croak. But I vacuum our one carpeted area when it looks crappy - so maybe a few times each week. But the rest of the floors? They could use my attention a lot more than they get. It's not unusual for dust bunnies to hop out from under my bed and ask to be swept up. I need improvement here big time.
8. Laundry takes forever to do with our tiny stackable set, so I usually have loads going each day. And since I don't have a laundry room and very little out-of-sight storage for dirty laundry, it just works best to do a load when there is enough clothing to make a full load.
9. Grasshopper has helped me with laundry, running little errands (put this hangar on Mama's bed kind of thing), and unloading the dishwasher since before he was 2. Since we've done it that way, we haven't formally assigned things. It's just become his way of hanging out with me. It will be a sad day when he discovers it's not as fun as we make it out to be.
10. chocolate. long baths alone. reading a fictional book. sleeping. a glass of wine. And other times I don't fight off the exasperation and end up making him feel so much shame by letting him know that I'm upset. Neither method is really healthy.
11. Gelato. I am happy to try, review, and keep any gelato maker on my public blog that anyone wants to send me. Please send along a personal trainer with the machine. ;)
12. Steve Green's Hide 'Em in Your Heart songs, Sunday school songs like Zaccheus, stuff from the Music Machine. Later when our little guy is older, I've got a binder full of things he will learn related to classical education (songs about prepositions and planets and everything in between).
I really enjoy reading the posts from you gals that have kids at home..brings back wonderful memories..LOL...so anywho, I will answer but remember, we are empty nesters at our house..
1. I did when the kids were small, in fact I made a lot of their clothes myself or my Mom did..now..I toss!
2. Hubby cleans the bathrooms, has since we married in 2004..
3.yes, always..I've seen the footage of ladies who dont on What Not to Wear..the world doesnt deserve that from me..LOL
4. I've done that with grandbabies..my 2 yr old and 3 yr old grandsons loves CARS and Thomas the Train, so granny likes to watch with them
5. we are alone all the time and let me tell you, it's worth all you have to get through to get to that point!
6.I was always exasperated first..then felt bad later
7. during tax season, hopefully every couple of weeks..otherwise, weekly is all we have time for
8. laundry is done when I dont have any clean bras and hubby is out of underwear! LOL we should do it more often, just not high on the list when you dont have kids home
9. as soon as they understand! both of my boys helped around the house as soon as they were old enough to do a good job..now they both clean, cook and do laundry..their wives love them!
10. daily..hubby likes to think the dining room table is his office space..
11. frito scoops and cheese dip..so bad, but yet so good!
12. I need a refresher in this area..grandma has forgotten the ones from way back and now need to learn them again for the grandkids!
1. It depends on the extent of the damage and the article of clothing. Some I mend, some are relegated to the "outside clothes" drawer, some are pitched.
2.Brush for the inside. Rag for the outside.
3.Yes. At home I'm a pj's & sweats girl. When I go out I try to look nice (Husband couldn't care less about make up, hair do's, or clothes).
4. Every day. Without a media device of some sort I'd never get anything done. But they don't stay on all day like they used to.
5. Rarely. Technically, we're alone most weekday mornings while the kids are in school, but mostly we just sleep. No, really...sleep.
6. Exasperated. Every time. I'm missing the sympathy gene.
7. Carpets- weekly. hard floors- (I'm embarrassed to admit) rarely. I hate to do floors.
8. I have to do laundry on a near daily basis. We only use towels once so they have to be washed at the very least every other day.
9. I haven't really. I should but right now I just assign tasks as needed.
10. I don't fight it off. I fight with him. Not a good idea, but that's usually how it works.
11. Apples and little oranges.
12. My kids can all sing "We will rock you" by Queen. Does that count?
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