Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Ugh, well blogging every day was a bust, wasn't it? Let's see if I can catch you up on the last 2.5 weeks.....

I'm still loving my new job, and don't ever want to leave.

Andrew started midterms this past week, which means the school year is already half over (how did that happen?)

I have found new inspiration in my weight loss journey. I found out this last week that husband and I are going to Jamaica in April!!! YAY! I'm so excited, but still would like to drop a few pounds before we go. So, here goes the next big push. I'm still riding my bike, but I need to start changing things up, so I'm going to go back to my work out dvds once in a while too.

This past week, I tried a new dish every night of the week for dinner. Something I've never made my family before. We did a curried turkey stirfry, southwest chicken scaloppini, green chile egg and potato bake, spinach and turkey enchiladas, graham crusted tilapia, and a nacho chicken bake. The family loved everything but the fish. Apparently breading them with crumbled graham crackers instead of bread crumbs was a little too sweet. But hey, if I only got thumbs down on one of them, I can't complain. All the meals were healthy and diabetic friendly.

Family Home Evening is still a weekly occurance, which is such a nice change. This month, the focus is on family history and temple work.

I'm still working on my house as well. I've been doing really well, organizing and purging, but still have a long way to go. The next challenge is to purge and organize your coat closets. I did the back door (most used) yesterday, and I'll be working on the front one today. It's not going to be pretty because that front closet seems to be a dumping ground for all things that don't have a proper home.

So, that's my story. See you all tomorrow!!

And Mom & Dad Can Hardly Wait......

......for school to start again. (C'mon parents -- I know you're all singing with me).

Man, this Christmas break seemed to last a really, REALLY long time. But today is the day that everything starts getting back to normal. The kids are back in school, Drew is back to seminary. Order and routine are going to be restored.

Not that I don't love being around my kids. I adore it. In fact, there are days I wish I was still a stay-at-home mom. But I honestly think that the kids get a little tired of eachother . Too much time together in closed quarters isn't always good for them. They need their space.

Organizing is still going strong, if not slowly here at the House of Mayhem. My Monday challenge is the food pantry. I'll be pulling EVERYTHING out, wiping things down and tossing all the outdated food. Good thing I already have tonight's FHE lesson ready.
For tonights lesson we are going to discuss family trees and where our family came from. Hopefully we aren't at the hospital. Hubby's sick as a dog. I think he may have pneumonia. UGH!!

Mulligan!!!

Dang it! I missed posting yesterday! How pathetic is that.

However, I DID get my dressers in my room finished yesterday and today I will be working on my closet and all the boys rooms too. I sort of turned it into a weekend project, and I already have a big garbage bag full of clothes that are ready to go to Goodwill. Hmm......maybe this is the answer to my laundry quandry.

AND....I've already got everything I need together for Monday's FHE lesson. For January I am focussing on Family History and geneology. So Monday's lesson is going to focus on where our family comes from. I've printed off some simple family trees and world maps for the boys to work on. And I'm thinking of making dinner and dessert that night with traditional fares from France and/or Ireland (two countries that our families are from).

The new job is still awesome, and I'm really looking forward to the kids going back to school on Monday. Holidays are great, but they really need to get back into their routines.

Is it Wrong to Punch the Cable Guy??

Hello again, my faithful reader(s?). Are you impressed that I am still keeping up with this every day blogging? Me too.

So my first "full" week of work is almost over. I've really enjoyed it. It's nice when you get paid to do what you enjoy and what you are good at.

I came home and did my organizing challenge today, which was to clean and organize under the kitchen sink. I swear if the kids tell me that the dish rack doesn't fit after this, I will hit them in the head with a frying pan.

Hubs and I didn't make it to the movies or dinner tonight. We spent 2 hours on the phone with the new TV/Phone company that we are switching to. Ugh, some people have no brains in their heads, I swear. It literally took us 120 minutes to get everything sorted with them. So, it looks like our date night will have to wait.

Tomorrows organizing challenge is to organize your bedroom dresser. This one is pretty extensive and it may actually take me the whole weekend, because after I'm done mine, I plan on doing ALL the kids too. Here's how it's gonna go down:

1. Empty the ENTIRE contents of your dresser onto your bed.

2. Get 3 boxes (keep, toss, donate) and start separating. Try them on if you have to.

3. Okay, now neatly fold all of the clothes and put them back in an organized fashion.

4. While you are at it, you can clear the clutter on the top of your dresser too... in the same fashion as the clothing sort. Remove everything, give it a good cleaning, and toss what you don't need on there.

Yup, me again

Grrr......this is my second attempt at this post because apparently Blogger ate my first one. So here we go again.

I'm a little suprised at myself. I've actually done a blog post for 4 days in a row. Maybe I can stick with this thing. LOL!

Anyway, since I didn't have to do today's organizing challenge, I decided to do one of my own. I cleaned up and organized the files on my computer. Man do I have a lot of favorites, files, and billions of pictures. And I did 15 minutes on the Gazelle today.

Tomorrow's challenge is to clean and organize under the kitchen sink. Who's with me? Anyone....anyone? Don't all jump up at once.

My mom is taking the kids overnight tomorrow, so maybe hubs and I will do dinner and a movie. For Christmas this year, I gave hubby 12 envelopes as one of his presents. In each envelope was a date idea for that corresponding month. January started out easy with dinner and a movie.

Anyway off to bed. Work tomorrow.

Tupperware Tuesday

So today's organization challenge was to organize the Tupperware drawer. I was actually so happy to do this one, because my tupperware drawer was INSANE! I got rid of so much unmatch, cracked and missing pieces.

Back to work today, which was awesome. I really love this job. I just wish it wasn't going to only be for a year. Kids are still off school for the rest of this week, but I'm ready for them to get back to their routines. They have had a bit too much time together. The bickering, boredome, fighting and late nights are starting to drive everyone nuts.

Tomorrow's organizing challenge is the linen closet, which I already did....so yay for a free day. Guess I'll figure out something else to work on tomorrow......maybe my computer files.

New Year, New Me

OK, so with the new year now here, I have decided that I am going to make a few changes in my life. I am really hoping that this little blog of mine can be a way for me to stay accountable to myself and a place to chart my progress with things. I think it will be nice to have something tangible for me to look back on and see what I am accomplishing.

For starters, I'm going to try to post something here every day. Even if it is just something small. I'm also going to try to be more diligent in having family prayer, FHE, and personal and family scripture study. I am going to continue my journey of health and weight loss and hopefully this will be the year that I reach my goal weight. That means that I hope to lose 53 pounds by the end of 2012.

Finally, I am going to try really hard to get my self, my home and my family more organized. I've already begun this by starting a 21 day challenge which I started on the first day of the year. Each day I am going to do at least 1 thing to organize my life. Yesterday was the junk drawer in the kitchen (the one under the calendar....I have more than one junk drawer which tells you why I really DO need to get organized). And today I completely cleaned off my computer desk. It is now nicely organized and free of clutter. All the files and paperwork on my desk have been neatly sorted and filed. Please feel free to join me on this journey. I would love to hear about your progress. Tomorrow I am taking on the Tupperware cupboard in the kitchen.

Tonight, for Family Home Evening, we are going to have a lesson on setting personal and family goals (a good one for the first FHE of the year I think).

Back to work tomorrow and hopefully things around here get back to normal -- or whatever passes for normal here at the House of Mayhem.

Happy New Year

Should old acquaintance be forgot?

And never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot?

And days of auld lang syne?

Happy New Year to my friends of both yesterday and today.

I love you all.