Spring Cleaning Week 1: Kitchen Results

Things went really well this week.  The kids helped me a lot and did a very good job!

Ta-da!  My clean kitchen, with Leah posing.

No more clutter!

Clean cupboards inside, outside and even above!

All the drawers were dumped, washed sorted and organized.  I threw away every lid that didn't have a container, and every container that didn't have a lid.

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It feels so good to have a clean kitchen.  I can't wait to get the whole house done!  It will take about a month... for the upstairs, anyway.  {The basement is a whole other world!  There won't be any "before" pictures of THAT!!}

We also managed to continue with the morning Bible time.  That is not always easy, since the kids are not really used to it yet.  Some days {like today} they were more interested in bothering each other than listening!  {Sigh} Satan is always at work!

"Spring Cleaning" - Week 1

I know that most people do their "spring cleaning" in early spring.  Since we homeschool, that would be rather difficult for us!  We turned in our portfolios last week, thrusting us into our summer schedule.  Our summer schedule is loose, but busy.  Every year I say we will do school all summer, but don't.  This year I want to try REEEALLLYYYY hard to keep somewhat of a schedule, and keep the kids busy doing things like... NOT watching TV!  From what I have heard, "normal" women take about a week to do their spring cleaning.  Some can do one room per day and have it done beautifully!  {Kudos to you!}  Not me.  Every summer I pour a lot of time, effort and energy into cleaning and organizing the house, top to bottom.  Cupboards, closets.... the basement... {YIKES!}  I even do this over Christmas break hoping that when summer hits I won't have the same terrible mess I had last year.  Except that when summer hits, I have a huge, terrible mess!  {It doesn't help that we have had and "adult" kid living in our basement for over a year!}

Today starts my "spring cleaning".  The goal is to do a little each day and still have time to be a "fun mom" for a while.  Each week through the end of June will have a "focus".  This week the focus will be the kitchen.  I will tell you the week's goals, then check in on Friday, if not before, and update you on my progress!

Monday: Clean out kitchen cupboards 

Tuesday:  Finish the cupboards

Wednesday:  Scrub cupboard fronts, woodwork, table pedestals and chair legs

Thursday:  Clean off the tops of the cupboards and the refrigerator

Friday:  Kitchen drawers

 Overall, messy kitchen.

 Clutter! 

More clutter!

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The other thing I really, REALLY, REEEALLLLLYYYYY need to work on, more important than any household task, is to have CONSISTENT  Bible time with my children.  Doing it here and there when there is trouble is just not good enough!  Today I got everyone up to have devotions {instead of get up to clean their rooms}.  Such a no-brainer... but I am such a Martha.   By the way, today I started the book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, by Joanna Weaver.  I have always been intrigued  by the title, but my Sweet Mama got it, thinking of me.  {She's 86 and can't remember a lot of things,  but I am so thankful she still remembers me!}  We had a good devotion time, using Keys for Kids.  It seems like a great  place to start.

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Time to get to work!  Check back on Friday!

Linking Up With Domestically Divine Tuesday   Homemaking LinkUp Wednesday

June 12-18

Well, this week we mainly did one thing.  Paint.  This is Corah & Mary & Leah's wall before.  We had never painted in the 11 years since our home was built.  I am not much of a DIY (do-it-yourself) but I actually did most of this.  It went a lot better, however, because Dallas was on vacation so he was home to help!  Corah helped with painting the furniture.

 Grafitti: "Joseph ZADER" ;-)

This was our growth chart.  I  copied it onto a long piece of rolled paper.

Monday we moved furniture and stuffed a lot of things in the closet.  The girls slept on their mattresses in the living room for 3 nights.

We painted the walls, the bed, and a bookshelf.

the  bookshelf

TA-DA!!!  The finished product!  Isn't it cute?!  I NEVER would have picked these colors, but the girls love it!  Notice, Leah is in the bottom bunk.  {That means Mom & Dad get their own room for the first time since.... I don't know, its been a while!;-)}  Oh, and I might add that it really looks like this, too.  I didn't have to shove stuff out of the view of the camera or anything! {And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property for sale down in Arizona...}  Ha-ha!

Let's see, what else did we do this week?  Dallas & the boys fished... a lot! {While the paint was drying, of course!}  We went to the drive-in movie Friday night, "The Green Lantern" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".  The kids had their last homeschool softball game with a picnic on Saturday.

{Ain't he cute!}