Progress

Here is my linen closet, before and after the great purge of 2012. I kinda feel like I am airing all my dirty laundry here, although everything shoved in there was clean. Ha! Speaking of laundry, I also believe I am basically all caught up with mine. And I cleaned out our dressers and the closet in the playroom.

We have now given three bags of coats, and four bags of linens away, plus other misc items. My mom and sister both asked if it feels good to get everything in order. I compared it to the dentist. It feels good to have your teeth cleaned, and it is not so bad once your there, but you still don't look forward to your next visit. That is how I feel about cleaning.

Spring Cleaning

I guess all the sunshine we are having has motivated me to do some spring cleaning. Or maybe it is that my house is long overdue for a good purge. I started on our bedroom closet. I ended up giving away three bags full of my clothes, and two of Dalan's. And I have not even touched the shoes yet. I am guessing I will end up giving away most of my shoes since my feet grew at least a half of a size during my pregnancy. And yes, I realize that Quinn is over 20 months old. See what I mean by needing a good purge.

Next on the list: our dressers, the linen closet, and the closet in the playroom

 

The Great Couch Clean-up

Our couches have taken a beating over the last year. Feeding any newborn baby can be messy, but throw in a feeding tube and a baby with severe reflux and equals MESSY, MESSIER, and MESSIEST!

Ali found a simple cleaning solution of rubbing alcohol, sponges, and a soft bristle brush on Pinterest for cleaning microfiber couches, and yesterday we gave it a whirl.

It took about an hour to do both couches, and left the house stinking of rubbing alcohol. We had to escape to my mom's for the evening and let the house air out.

The verdict- couches are cleaner, but still stained. The cleaning solution was just that a cleaner, not a stain remover. The couches look nice and clean, but still stained. What can you do? We have a kid and a dog. We live in our living room and life is messy.

Thanks Ali and Dalan for all your hard work!

A Two-Part Post

Part I: A rant about cleaning.

Tonight, I am making my third attempt to get all caught up on laundry around here. It seems impossible for the following reasons,

1. I am not a great housekeeper to begin with.
2. I have a baby.
3. I have a baby who still spits up/spills formula from her tube.
4. Laundry is literally never done. Even if I get all "caught" up tonight, which let's be honest, is unlikely. I still have to wash the clothes Dalan and I are wearing now. So, I am technically not caught up.

It makes me think of an article I once read about the satisfaction men and women get from traditional gender-specific chores. Men, in general, have a much higher rating of satisfaction than women because their (and remember we are talking traditional here) chores end and you can see the fruits of their labor. For example, if they fix a leaky sink, the sink is fixed, and that chore is done and crossed off the list. And they feel good about it. On the other hand, if a woman gets the floors all mopped, the kids and the dog are just going to track dirt and spill food all over the clean floor that afternoon. Her chores are never done, and thus, the lower satisfaction.

During the school year, Dalan and I both try to do our fair share of the chores. We are both working, so it only makes sense to split up the household tasks as well. However, in the summer I try to do way more than my half since I have less outside responsibilities. It brings me little to no satisfaction. Last week, I had the house perfectly clean...and now certain rooms are slowly looking disastrous again. I can never seem to keep up, and I am greatly dissatisfied about it!

Part II: Quinn news.

1. She decided that sleeping in her crib was for suckers again for the last two nights. Last night was comical. She was overly tired and slap happy. She was giggling at everything, and refused to sleep. We actually had a good time playing in her room, and if she wasn't already hooked up to her feeding pump, I would have just brought her downstairs and played. I really have no problem with her being up as long as she is happy. Finally, at quarter to 11, I got her to sleep by patting her and shushing her in her crib, because she had gotten fussy.. She then needed this repeated every hour basically. Luckily tonight, she went right to sleep. I think the two hours in the pool helped wear her out. Let's hope she sleeps through the night.

2. She stood up on her own on three separate occasions today. We have been trying to get her to stand solo forever, and she just learned to squat and go to a crawling position any time we tried. Today, she decided it was cool. This evening at my mom's, she just let go of me and stood, and stood, and stood, like it was no big deal.

3. Quinn likes to take a part out of her Dr. Brown's bottles, and play with it, while we are tube feeding her. If she pulls it out of her mouth against her gums, it makes a squeaking sound. When she does it, I say squeak. She now understands what to do if you tell her to make it squeak. I told her to show Dalan today. She took the part, smiled, looked to make sure he was watching, put it her mouth, and pulled it out so it squeaked. She is a smart girl!

Facts and Opinions

FACT: Quinn is scheduled to have surgery next Friday to have a g tube placed in her belly. Her oral feeding and weight gain is still lacking, so we need a more long term solution. It is considered an outpatient surgery with an overnight stay.

OPINION: My feelings are mixed. Everything I have read and heard that are after an NG tube (her feeding tube in her nose), a g tube is a walk in the park. However, I am not convinced yet. Also, I have some PTSD type issues about admitting Quinn into the hospital, and getting "stuck." Now, that we have Quinn home, I want to keep her here, and not risk it for anything. Also, the surgery "should" help with her feeding, and "should" help with her weight gain, but not guarantees. I would feel better if I knew for sure this was a going to make things better. The whole thing stresses me out.

FACT: Dalan is still feeling yucky. He had an ultrasound two weeks ago, and they did not see gallstones, however, his doctor is not ruling a problem with his gallbladder out yet, and he goes in for more testing at the end of the month.

OPINION: I feel bad for him. Who wants to feel sick all the time? The thought of Quinn having surgery, and then Dalan having surgery is a bit overwhelming.

FACT: I have not really done anything fun or left the house for anything other than the hospital, errands, and work in over ten months, with a handful of exceptions. (Two plays and a few family get togethers.)

OPINION: It sucks. I have gone stir crazy. I can't wait for the end of the cold and flu season, and getting to rejoin the living again. I am grateful Quinn has stayed so healthy although, so it does make it worth it. I am just ready for it to end.

FACT: My house is a disgusting mess.

OPINION: I am tired all the time. I get off work, eat dinner, play with Quinn, put Quinn to bed, wash bottles and dishes, get bottles ready for the next day, straighten up, shower, and I am done. I have no energy to keep up with anything beyond very basic housecleaning. My house is now driving me crazy, and adding to my feelings of being overwhelmed.

Doings

What have we been doing?

Him: working, taking care of the baby, taking care of the dog, taking care of the house, snuggling with the baby, sometimes sleeping, and always snacking.

Me: taking care of the baby, kind of cleaning the house, watching The Price is Right, pumping, sometimes sleeping, cuddling with the dog and baby, enjoying a Diet Coke or two, and obviously not drying my hair.


Her: riding in her backpack, swinging in her swing, eating, crying, smiling, cooing, playing on her mat, listening to books, sometimes eating, sometimes sleeping, and wearing the latest baby fashions.

Nursery preview

Slowly, but surely I am getting the nursery put together. I got all of the vinyls up this afternoon. Here's some of them....

Funny dog

Piper's new favorite place to lounge is a laundry basket full of clean clothes that is on our love seat waiting to be put away. When Dalan got home from the hospital yesterday she hopped out of it to greet him. I missed it, because I was busy being ticketed for my general disregard of speed limits. However, today we both got to watch as she jumped over the arm of the couch* and into the basket. So much for my poor old dog that had arthritis so bad two months ago she could not even walk up the stairs. Piper feeling spry and nimble again is worth a basket of hairy clothes!





*She could not just hop onto the other side and then into the basket, because there is a bin of Quinn's clothes on the other side.....anyone want to come help me clean the house before I go back to work/Quinn comes home????? I am in need of some obvious help. Of course, I have an erratic schedule full of pumping and hospital going, so you will be on your own for much of the cleaning, so by help, I mean do it for me.

The normal life

I went to back to work this week. The break was nice. The kids were magically good the first day back from break, like first day of the school year good. They were quiet, hard working, and attentive. Today, some of the magic wore off. They remembered that they could be a little loud, a little lazy, and a little off task, and I would still like them. Hopefully, the stay just like they were today. They say some funny things when they are like they were today, and they don't drive me crazy. It is a good mix. Teaching perfect children is easy, but rarely fun.

Dalan and I managed to not take any of the Christmas stuff down over my beak. He did it yesterday. Told you he was a bad ass. The house is almost back to normal. It feels good, although I do miss the merriment of the holidays.

The house is only almost back to normal, because we have a dishes situation. I admittedly poured way too much soap in the dishwasher on Sunday night. Dalan has rerun the dishwasher twice to get rid of the "cow pie" size of chunks of soap left behind. His words, not mine. Told you he was a bad ass. I am going to have to rinse the remaining soap off by hand tonight, and load all the new dishes.

Also, only almost back to normal, because Ali came over and cleaned the closet out in our bedroom. The girl loves to organize, and I love to take advantage of that fact. It is a win-win situation really. However, now I have a beautifully clean closet, but a monster pile of clothes to take somewhere to donate. But, it is cold and getting dark when I get home from work and I have not gotten around to it yet.

Domestication

Dalan is sick. Boo! So sick, that he elected to stay home and watch the Utah game on Saturday instead of going to the game. Poor guy is SICK. However, that left an unexpected six free hours in my day. I had a very busy day planned.

In the morning, I went to the toy/school supply drive Hilary's church had organized and hosted for the students at my school. Oh my gosh, talk about generous. I left feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for all the things that were brought for the kids and their families. Way to go, Hilary! I don't think I can say thank you enough! In the afternoon, I had planned on going to the game, and in the evening, I went out to celebrate Erin's 31st birthday, After all, 31 is the new 21!

So, I found myself with some time on my hands. I certainly could have done some laundry or cleaned out the spare bedroom. Or sat on the couch blogging, spying, and organizing my Farmville. Instead I decided to make some banana/walnut muffins with the overly ripe bananas I had on my counter. I would have made some bread, but I don't own a pan for baking bread. I actually don't own a muffin tin either, but they sell cupcake/muffin liners with foil attached so you can just make them on a cookie sheet. Works quite nicely. After, I had those in the oven I decided to make Dalan a spice cake. He loves two kinds of cakes- rainbow chip and spice. Rainbow chip is his favorite, and I had the mix, but no frosting. So, he got spice instead. I actually had fun doing all the baking, and it made my house smell like fall. Turned out to be quite a yummy afternoon.

A "method" to my madness

I love the Method* brand non-toxic cleaners. I use them for most of my cleaning needs, and I have been replacing any cleaning product that runs out with the Method equivalent. I especially love their "naked" line of products....no toxins, no dyes, no perfumes. Perfect. However, some of the products don't come "naked" but that it ok too, because sometimes I like the wonderful and natural aromas that their products possess. My house never smells "clean" anymore, in the sense that it does not smell like bleach or other chemicals, but it does smell like grapefruit, almonds, and mint. Much nicer if you ask me.

I have been wanting Method's Omop since we got the new floors. The Omop is similar to a Swiffer, but is more environmentally friendly. However, I have not been able to find a store that carries it. Target carries the replacement fluids, but not the actual mop. The Method website has the Omop, but charged $13.00 in shipping. And I am cheap. So, I have waited and waited. Finally, Amazon has started carrying the starter kit, and had free shipping. It was the most exciting part of my day ordering that darn mop. I will have to review it once it arrives, and I start to use it. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is not a big disappointment, although I doubt it, because I seriously love all the other Method products.

*I am endorsing Method brand products with no financial compensation from the company. This is just me sharing my love of a good product. HOWEVER, if Method would like to pay me to advertise their product or send me some kick backs, I have absolutely no reservations about doing so. Just throwing that out there.

Presenting.....The Bathroom

Before picture

Before picture

Before picture

During construction picture

During construction picture

Tiling

Almost there!

All done!

Here it is....

The sink is huge! Here is Piper hanging out in it!

Fireplace fun!

The insurance company is replacing all of our floors downstairs due to the leak....yes! We will be picking out new floors sometime in the near future. Dalan and I decided to do some additional renovations downstairs while the house is torn apart. First, the fireplace surround, and then the downstairs bathroom.

This weekend we decided to start things off with a small project and replace the tiles around our fireplace. They previously were a ceramic tile in a mauve/rose color that we did not really like, and looked quite outdated. We decided to replace them with a natural stone in a neutral tone.

We found the tiles that we liked, and got to work. We ran into some problems immediately. The tiles around the sides of the fireplace were not true 4 x 4's, although that is even what they are labeled at the hardware store. They are in fact 4.25 x 4.25, and Lowe's and Home Depot do not sell any of the natural looking stones in that size......grrrrr! So after accidentally buying the wrong size, we ended up finding some at tile discount store in Draper that we really liked in the right size for only 50 cents a piece. Getting the tiles cut correctly for the floor was a bit of a pain, and after two additional trips to Lowe's, we finally had everything all lined up and ready to put down on the floor. I love the result. It looks so much better, and I cannot wait to get the new floor.

The mauve tiles...last Christmas....I forgot to take "before" pictures.

Bye, bye old tiles!

Dalan surveying the damage!

Just concrete!

Oh no! They are the wrong size!

Almost done! This is the best pictures of the colors!

All done, just waiting for the rest of the new floors!

The little pump who didn't...grrrrr!

Sometime over the weekend, I subconsciously thought that the floor (a wood laminate) in our hallway felt strange on my bare feet...maybe like it was a little warped or something, but it was more of a passing thought that I left float out of my head as quickly as it came. Then this morning I was laying on our couch facing toward the hall/kitchen while talking to Dalan and I noticed that the floor looked a little warped. Dalan came over and stood and it, and it felt squishy. Not good. We stood on another section, and there was clearly water under the floor boards. Really not good.

We then opened the doors to where the furnace, water heater, and air conditioner are located, and Dalan saw immediately that the pump that takes condensation and water from the air conditioner was not working, and had been leaking for who knows how long. GRRRRRR! We got the pump replaced and the water from that space cleaned up quickly.

Old, leaky pump! The cause of our problems...

The new pump!

Next, Dalan started taking up the floor boards to see how far the water had gotten. It turned into an all day project, and was not an easy task. Molding had to come off, and some of the boards did not easily unsnap from their neighbors. Dalan got all the hall up, with one broken board. I was feeling ok about this because we have some extra in our stoarge room. Also the floor boards in the hall were installed running north to south, rather than east to west like the living room and kitchen, and we were excited at the idea of getting to put them in the right way.

Dalan, as the hallway project begins

One board up....little did we know how many more to go!

Off with the molding!

The hall is almost done....

Finally, Dalan pulled up the one board in the kitchen that we thought may have water under it too. Unfortunately, it turns out several of the boards have water under them. Dalan got through a good part of the kitchen, and we hope now we are at the point where only two more boards have water under them. Now, I am a little worried that we won't have enough boards in storage to replace broken/warped boards. Not good. I looked online, and apparently the company that made our flooring went out of business in 2001, so there is not a lot of hope in finding exact replacements. Really not good. I am annoyed. We want to replace all the flooring upstairs in the future, but like our flooring downstairs. I don't want to blow our flooring budget on the flooring I actually like!

On to the kitchen....little do we really know how much more work is to be done!

Chunk of missing floor....grrrr!

I am just hoping Dalan can get the job done over the next few days, and it is easy and inexpensive. Wish us luck!

Awesome!

First of all, as you all know, we booked our hotel and flight for our honeymoon yesterday. I did this using the computer and a credit card, therefore taking my wallet out of my purse and having it near me on the couch with the computer. After I finished up all my reservations, I ran to the grocery store. We had not been shopping for some time, so I had a cart full of items. I get in line and go to pull my wallet out. No wallet. I call Ali since she has our spare key. No answer. I call my mama, and she kindly volunteers to meet me at the store and pay for my groceries. Nothing quite like being nearly 30 years old (15 days and counting) and waiting at the grocery store for your mom to come pay your bill. Awesome!

Second of all, I was driving to work this morning on the freeway when I moved my left foot. It some how bumped up against the lever for the trunk, and popped the trunk open. Wow! Who knew that was even possible. So I had to pull over, and take care of the business of closing my very open trunk on the freeway in the middle of morning traffic. Awesome!

Finally, came home tonight after going to an awards ceremony for my students and visiting with the in-laws to find that garbage mouth had struck again. Piper used her super dog powers to knock over the entire garbage can and spread trash from the kitchen to her bed in the living room. Awesome!

Garbage Mouth

Garbage in the hall.

Garbage in the kitchen. AWESOME!

A day in the yard

Dalan and I bought a wide variety of flowers today to plant in our front garden, and around the little tree in our yard. It was the perfect day for planting, and now the yard looks so cute. Dalan did most of the work, because we only own one shovel, and because I don't really like to get dirty. He is a good husband. We brought Piper out with us, and she watched/chased birds the whole time. The dog is totally full-on obsessed now with the idea of catching and killing birds. She was tied up to the little tree, so she did not get very far, well except the time she chased a bird, got caught up on her leash, rolled about seven times in the parking lot, slipped out of her collar, and then stopped. I was nervous we were never going to see her again after that move, but hey, it all worked out. I am so glad it is spring and we now have some May flowers!

Dalan working hard in the yard.

Piper on the hunt for things to eat...birds, plants, whatever.

Piper waiting and watching for birds.

Flowers!

More flowers!

Flowers around the small tree.

Dalan was tired after all his hard work.

So was Piper!