House Cleaning Tips for New Mothers

Since I was on the go all day today and I am so tired, my fingers are snoring, I thought I would share a little smile with you today.

SECRET TIP 1: DOOR LOCKS
If a room clearly can't be whipped into shape in 30 days, much less 30 minutes, employ the Locked Door Method of cleaning. Tell anyone who tries to go in the room that you accidentally locked the door and can't find the key. Of course, the locksmith can't possibly come until tomorrow. CAUTION: It is not advisable to use this tip for the bathroom.
Time: 2 seconds


SECRET TIP 2: DUCT TAPE
No home should be without an ample supply. Not only is it handy for plumbing repairs, but it's a great way to hem drapes, tablecloths, clothes, just about anything. No muss, no fuss.
Time: 2-3 minutes


SECRET TIP 3: OVENS
If you think ovens are just for baking, think again. Ovens represent at least 9 cubic feet of hidden storage space, which means they're a great place to shove dirty dishes, dirty clothes, or just about anything you want to get out of sight when company's coming.
Time: 2 minutes


SECRET TIP 4: CLOTHES DRYERS
Like Secret Tip 3, except bigger. CAUTION: Avoid hiding flammable objects here.
Time: 2.5 minutes


SECRET TIP 5: WASHING MACHINES & FREEZERS
Like Secret Tip 4, except even bigger.
Time: 3 minutes


SECRET TIP 6: DUST RUFFLES
No bed should be without one. Devotees of Martha Stewart believe dust ruffles exist to keep dust out from under a bed or to help coordinate the colorful look of a bedroom. The rest of us know a dust ruffle's highest and best use is to hide whatever you've managed to shove under the bed. (Refer to Secret Tips 3, 4, 5.)
Time: 4 minutes

Lighter Side - Cleaning Tips
copyright Joan McCartney

SECRET TIP 7: DUSTING
The 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House method says: Never dust under what you can dust around.
Time: 3 minutes


SECRET TIP 8: DISHES
Don't use them. Use plastic or paper plates and you won't have to.
Time: 1 minute


SECRET TIP 9: CLOTHES WASHING (EEWWW)
This secret tip is brought to you by an inventive teenager. When this teen's mother went on a housekeeping strike for a month, the teen discovered you can extend the life of your underwear by two ...if you turn it wrong side out and, yes, rerun it. CAUTION: This tip is recommended only for teens and those who don't care if they get in a car wreck.
Time: 3 seconds


SECRET TIP 10: IRONING
If an article of clothing doesn't require a full press and your hair does, a curling iron is the answer. In between curling your hair, use the hot wand to iron minor wrinkles out of your clothes. Yes, it really does work, or so I'm told, by other disciples of the 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House philosophy.
Time: 5 minutes (including curling your hair)


SECRET TIP 11: VACUUMING
Stick to the middle of the room, which is the only place people look. Don't bother vacuuming under furniture. It takes way too long and no one looks there anyway.
Time: 5 minutes, entire house; 2 minutes, living room only


SECRET TIP 12: LIGHTING
The key here is low, low, and lower. It's not only romantic, but bad lighting can hide a multitude of dirt.
Time: 10 seconds


SECRET TIP 13: BED MAKING
Get an old-fashioned waterbed. No one can tell if those things are made up or not, saving you, oh, hundreds of seconds over the course of a lifetime.
Time: 0


SECRET TIP 14: SHOWERS, TOILETS, AND SINKS
Forget one and two. Concentrate on three.
Time: 1 minute


SECRET TIP 15:
If you already knew at least 10 of these tips, don't even think about inviting a Martha Stewart type to your home.

sick but here

I am feeling yucky and extra pg right now so forgive the quick post. I ran out of my nausea medication and let me tell you it answered any questions I have about whether or not I still need it!

Since I was asked, I thought I would share, I do have weird random cravings sometimes. I have had the typical pickle cravings. I also had VERY strong cravings for cabbage rolls and Tim Horton's Breakfast sandwiches. I get cravings for chocolate quite often. I even craved Chips and Dip and I never crave that type of thing.

Wordless Wednesday - Hanging out with Princess Magpie

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For more Wordless Wednesday go check out 5 minutes for mom and 7 Clown Circus!

What's a Mommy of Girls to do???

Princess Belle is super skinny. She always has been but lately, I have been having troubles getting her to eat enough . She actually looked at me yesterday and said she wanted to eat less food in her diet!!!! She keeps talking about wanting to keep being skinny.

We had a long talk about that one. We talked about how she was a growing girl and she needs to eat enough of the right foods to grow and about how it is being a good person more important than being the right body shape. How people come in all shapes and sizes and that is okay. And how being too skinny is not healthy and if you are too skinny you won't get all the lovely girl curves that grown up girls get.

I swear I have been so careful not to discuss diet with her, not to call her skinny, not to discuss my weight concerns with her, to talk about health not weight and it isn't enough. She has such distorted views on weight and being skinny. I just don't know where to go with this.

Organizing a Nursery

I love organizing. I have been having fun planning the nursery which will be home for Princess Magpie and the new baby too. Here are some ideas I have seen which I really like:

• The closet in that room is small and has no doors. Since I am going to have a family closet, I am going to use it in a different way. It is just big enough that I plan on putting the change table in there. I will put pics on the walls and store the diapers and wipes on the shelf above the table.
• I am going to see if I can find a crib skirt to hide the area underneath the crib and use this area for additional storage. Here I can store baby items while not in use or plastic storage bins of all shapes and sizes containing hooded towels and wash cloths, baby bibs, extra pacifiers, extra bottles, clothes, etc.
  
• I am going to put an armchair to cuddle the babyies in. Hopefully one big enough to hold both babies if I can.
• I am going to print off Winnie the Pooh and baby pics I like on photo paper and frame them to put on the wall. This is an inexpensive way add pics to decorate the room.
  
• I am going to use stencils to create a border in the room. I would also like to create a name plate for their room.
• I am going to come up with a pretty idea for a curtain that will also block out a lot of light.
  
• I would like to buy letters to put both babies names on the wall above their beds.
  

Sunday Smiles

There are certain things that never fail to make me smile. Certain things that happen in every day life that give me a little thrill of happiness or at least a secret little smile in my soul.

• Whenever Prince Charming or I use the phrase, "My Girls". There were so many years that there was simply Princess Belle. She was my only girl and I wanted so badly to give her a sister, to have more children. Now I have my girls and whenever I use that phrase I am reminded just how lucky I am.
• When Prince Charming speaks about me using the phrase, "My Wife". For so many years I was alone. I never even met Prince Charming until I was 28 years old. I had resigned myself to the fact that as much as I wanted to be married and have a family, I was going to be alone for the rest of my life. Then along came Prince Charming and swept me off my feet, married me, making me his wife and I am so proud to be able to called "His Wife".
• When my girls call me, "Mommy." Again, I have wanted to be a mommy to three children since I was a little little girl. I remember playing at being a mommy in my room. When my girls call me "Mommy," I am reminded again just how lucky I am to be their mom, to be the person who kisses their booboos, to give them hugs when they cry, to be the reason their eyes light up when they walk into a room, to have my dreams finally coming true.
• When I feel my baby move inside me. When I feel my baby move, it feels like a secret conversation between s/he and I as if my baby is giving me a poke and saying, "Hi, I am here, mommy." and I find myself talking to my baby, holding conversations with him/her. It may look silly to everyone else, but I cherish those moments with my baby.
  

woohoo

My baby girl just said "mom" for the first time. She was playing on the floor, making a mess as usual, and she bumped her head and started crying and she was looking at me and saying, "Mom . . . Mom . . . Mom . . . Mom". I got my camera phone and I even got it recorded! Now I was ranked after bottle, dad, and ball but I don't care. She finally said, "Mom"!

Saturday PhotoHunt - Utensils

Saturday Photohunt this week was Utensils. When I thought of this theme the first thing I thought of was the pic I like to call "Pot of Adorable Soup". So I shared two from that set of pics. Then, I found an old one of Princess Belle when she was about 2 1/2 years old using utensils to eat her lunch. Look how curly her hair was!

OMG! I Just Felt the baby!!!

I have shared here that I am really stressed because I haven't heard the baby's heartbeat yet and I can't the baby on a U/S until August 12 and I am scared something will be wrong (paranoia due to previous mc) Anyway . . . . I JUST FELT THE BABY!!!! I am so excited. It was very definite, no mistaking it!

I am so happy. It was only one movement but it was a sign that there is definitely someone in there moving around and making his/her presence known. Now if the baby could just keep it up on a regular basis until August 12, I may survive this thing after all!

Exhausted

I am tired today. Princess Magpie got me up at the crack of not-quite-dawn and then I had stuff to do today, so my inspiration is limited. I am sitting here looking at my messy living room where Princess Magpie has scattered stuff from one end to the other and I would like to eventually gather up the energy to tidy up, but as of right now . . . I don't see it happening. Hopefully I will get more rest tomorrow and then I will be more inspired to post something that you might enjoy.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday - One Year Old

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For more Wordless Wednesday go check out 5 minutes for mom and 7 Clown Circus!

Princess Magpie is one year old today. She has been a wonderful addition to our family. I love how giggly and happy she is. She has a very sweet personality.

So for my (almost) Wordless Wednesday, here are some pics from each month of the last year.

Daddy's girl

The other day, I saw an interaction between Prince Charming and Princess Belle that broke my heart just a little.

As I have mentioned before, Princess Belle absolutely adores her father. When I asked her in the past what her favorite day would be she said that it would be cuddling with daddy in his armchair, watching a movie and eating popcorn. That was the best thing she could ever think of. And whenever she was outside playing, if Prince Charming mentioned watching a movie with her, she would drop what she was doing and who she was doing it with and come running in to spend the time with her daddy.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago.

She was outside with her little friend, Thomas. She had come in looking for a snack before going back out again. Prince Charming said, "It's up to you, you can have a cheese string if you like, or you can come inside and watch a movie with popcorn with daddy." She grabbed the cheese string and took off back outside.

Poor Prince Charming looked so sad. He said to me, "It was not so long ago that a movie and popcorn with me was the best thing she could think of. Now a cheese string and Thomas is all she needs." He sounded a little sad, like she was growing up and realizing that maybe daddy's lap was not the best place in whole world after all.

Pictures from April:

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I absolutely DID NOT wake Princess Magpie up early so that she would be napping when she was home with Prince Charming. I would never wake a sleeping baby. Nope, Not Me!

I certainly DID NOT consider telling the doctor I couldn't handle my (very real) headache so that maybe he would consider sending me to get checked and hopefully get an Ultrasound of baby. I am not a paranoid mommy who will not stop worrying about this pregnancy until I actually see or hear my baby. Nope, Not Me!

I DID NOT get impatient waiting for Prince Charming to do it and dragged a HUGE pile of laundry downstairs and then quietly pretend that my back wasn't killing me. Nope, Not Me!

I really DID NOT take Princess Magpie out for a birthday dinner and watch laughing while she demolished her first taste of jello. I did not smile at all the surrounding tables that were smiling and laughing as she completely ruined her little yellow outfit as she smeared red jello from her head to her toes. Nope, Not Me!

Princess Park Pics

Princess Magpie's birthday dinner

A few months ago, I came to the realization that it had been over a year since we had ordered takeout or went out to dinner and even the last few times we did it was from the same couple of places. So I made it my mission to include in our budget a treat with every payday. Most times it is simply to order a pizza or something but we have to try all the places in town that we havn't tried yet. It has been fun and we have discovered some great places. (some of which everyone else but us has already discovered. LOL)

So Princess Magpie's birthday is in a couple of days and we decided to go out last night to celebrate. It was a Saturday night and it felt like a good night to celebrate her birthday instead of a weeknight. We wanted to go out to dinner and we debated back and forth over all the places in town that we have never been.

In the end, we decided to try Boston Pizza. Prince Charming has always had a rule that if a place has pizza in the name, you should order pizza from them. But I have to tell you, Boston Pizza is a bit of misnomer, because when we looked at the menu we were amazed. It was HUGE! None of us ordered Pizza and we were amazed at the quanity and quality of food that we received. We decided to splurge and order whatever sounded good and not worry so much about price just this once. Prince Charming ordered lobster ravioli and I ordered a lobster wrap. Princess Belle was thrilled to be able to order her favorite chicken strips and fries and Princess Magpie had fries (which was such a large order that Prince Charming shared them with her.)

The food was fabulous. Our waiter, Jeremy was extremely informative, friendly and helpful. He was great in advising us on the menu when we had questions regarding our orders. After our meal we wanted to order some little dessert to give Princess Magpie and sing her Happy Birthday. Jeremy offered to split an adult sized brownie onto two plates (one for each Princess). We did that and truthfully we all ended up sharing the dessert. It was wonderful.

And what amazed us the most was the bill. It came to less than the last two times we ordered delivery and we ordered LOBSTER! It was such a fun, amazing, surprising experience that I had to come home and share it with you all.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Rocks

Saturday Photohunt this week was Rock(s). When I thought of this theme I remembered our trip to the beach 2 years ago. After the full day of swimming, we moved away from the sandy beaches to a rocky area to have a fire and roast some marshmallows. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Heatwave

1. It’s July. How has the weather been where you are? Warm and sunny (except for today it is warm and rainy)

2. What is the best way for you to beat the heat? Sitting in front of my fan and soaking up the heat or sitting on my step and visiting with my neighbours.

3. “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” Do you buy that? Yes, a humid heat that sticks to you and makes your clothes damp is so much worse than a warm, dry heat.

4. Do you like hot tubs or saunas? Yup, but not while I am pg.

5. What’s the hottest you’ve ever been? Probably when I was in a sauna. I LOVE saunas after a workout.

6. How many times do you hit the beach in the summer? I used to go a lot, but I haven't been in a couple of years now.

7. When you were a kid, what did you do in the summer? Spend all my time outside playing with my friends, never coming home unless I was hungry, it started to rain, or it was getting dark.

8. Surfing. Have you ever gotten on a surfboard? Body surf? I have never surfed anything but the internet.

9. What’s your favorite summer song? Hmm . . . I don't know. All I can think of is the beach boys.

The backwards way my mind works.

I love to cook. When I am trying to think of something new to cook, I often sit down with a few ingredients in my mind and surf my favorite web sites to find a recipe to suit the idea I have in my head. I figure if I came up with the idea, maybe someone else did too, and they probably invented one better than I did. I sit for the longest time, surfing for recipes. And there are a lot of times I end up giving up and working with the idea that I have in my head. I laugh to Prince Charming, "Why can't they publish the recipe I have in my head?"

I realize it is silly for me to think that someone else has already invented the recipe that I have in my head, but I find myself doing again and again.

Tonight I was looking for a mexican egg casserole type idea. I couldn't find one with the ingredients that I wanted to include, so I am inventing my own recipe. Good thing I like cooking, huh?

Princess Magpie's first time on a swing

Thursday Thirteen #85

Thirteen Things that Twisted Cinderella bought today at Costco Fresh mushrooms, I LOVE fresh mushrooms. Enough toilet paper to last for 6 months! Red peppers, I LOVE them. Fresh Strawberries. They have the best strawberries at a great cost. Hamburger patties. They have lean patties that taste amazing. Canned salmon. It cost less than tuna! Tylenol. Two gigantic bottles for $6! Canned Soup. I love to have soups for lunches and for cooking with. Princess Belle snacks. I have to keep snacks for her in the house and she loves the ones I got her. A textbook for Princess Belle for 1/2 of the cover price!! Popcorn. It is always great to have it in the house for family movie nights. Pasta. It never goes bad and it is good to have lots on hand. Cheese (brick, strings and cream cheese). I LOVE to buy cheeses at Costco, they have large amounts for great prices and my family loves all things cheese!.

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