Deep Cleaning

So my son and husband left yesterday for a men's retreat in Yosemite.  It is strange in a couple of ways.  First, the fact that my son is actually an adult male that can go on a men's retreat.  Second, that fact that there are no men in the house.  It is not that there are always a male here, but while they may have been out at during the day working or such, they were here at night.

Anyway, with everyone gone, I decided that I should do some cleaning.  I started on my kitchen and cleaned half of my wood cabinets, wiped down counters and backsplash, washed dishes, rearranged things on the walls, and inside some of the cabinets.  I put some caulking stuff in the casement window that I don't open to help with air leaks.  There is so much more that I want to do in there. The problem is I don't have a direction.

So here is a list of things I want to do in there:

• Inventory pantry items
• Clean out all the drawers
• Clean cabinets out and get rid of excess items
• Clean the carpet
• Clean the other half of the cabinets on the outside
• Clean the oven
• Clean the stovetop
• Clean all the windows and window sills
• Put up new items on the walls

For bigger projects:

• Put in new flooring (which would include a hallway, laundry, and bathroom too)
• Paint walls
• Put up new curtains
• Replace windows
• Re-do counter tops
• Refinish cabinets and drawers
• Get a new dishwasher

Each room in my house is the same way.  Having an older home has such charm, but there is so much that needs to be done.  I know just owning a home there are things to be done, but having lived here for 16 years and some of these projects were things we were going to do a year or two after moving in.  Well, I'm really ready to start now.

Tomorrow is church and then in the afternoon I will tackle more of my kitchen.  I plan on wiping down the rest of the cabinets, cleaning the stove and oven, and rearranging what is out on the counters.  It seems like every horizontal surface tends to gather stuff.  The only way to keep this from happening is to get out of the habit of saying I'll put something away later.  I need to just put things away when they come into the house.  If it doesn't have a place then I need to make one or not keep it at all.

My goal is to clean the carpets sometime this next week.  And then start on the office/dining room area.  Wonder if I will actually be able to do it.

Growing Up

Life just seems to be happening before my eyes.  Our son turned 18 on the 3rd.  He will always be our baby boy, but wow, he is 18!!  When we brought him home from the hospital he weighed 4 pounds and 2 ounces and I never could even dream of a time when he would be a legal adult, but it has happened.  Our daughter will be 20 next month and officially out of the teen years.  Where did the time fly?

I am so very lucky to have my family.  I praise God for them, even if I have had some heartache concerning them.  My life would not be where it is today without them.  I thank God for bringing my husband and then my children into my life.

I attend a Bible Study on Friday mornings and we just started the book of Ephesians.  All we talked about today was the first chapter.  For two hours we talked and could of talked more.  God has given us so much already, we just need to take the time to realize it and to allow Him to work through us.  He is so powerful and could do it all, but He wants us to feel that power too.  What a powerful message that first chapter has. 

I am growing up in my relationship with my heavenly father.  I know he wants the best for us and has promised that to us.  What a way to see everyday, as a gift and a promise.  A promise that we have been redeemed and that what we see here on earth is only a glimpse of His glory.

Where does the time go?

So another month seems to have just flown by.  Last month was filled with the regular daily activities, a trip to Stanford for my husband's health, and buying a new to us car.

Daily activities seem to change daily, but there are so many things that are just routine.  I do not even think about them, just do them.  Straightening up messes, cooking meals, and the never ending pile of dishes that I think breed when I'm not looking.  I can wash every dish that I can find in the house and within 30 minutes there is a glass or spoon or plate or all 3 in the sink again waiting for my next round of dishwashing.  An amazing fact of life.

Our Stanford trip was eventful in that we now know what is going on with hubby and what they want to do to help him.  He has always been a person who snores, but it has gotten worse and put that with his asthma, he is a walking miracle.  Apparently the part of his anatomy where air goes in and out is about the size of a drinking straw.  Put that with the genetic fact of him having a small jaw, throat, and all the structures around that area, the doctor wants to perform 2 different surgeries.  They are major surgeries that I won't go into detail about, but the recovery period of the first is 6 months to a year.  And that is the "easy" surgery.  The second one involves the breaking of bones and adding titanium to lengthen out his jaws.  The recovery period of that one is at least a year.  Not at all what we were expecting.  We pray that the surgeries do what the doctors say and he can breath again and not be at such a high risk of heart attack or stroke.

The new to us car was totally unexpected.  We have been putting money aside for a couple of years to replace our 1997 Plymouth Voyager.  Well, our son was driving our 2004 Prius when it overheated.  This car has been a money pit for us since we got it.  We repaired it again, to the tune of another $500, and then decided we needed to start looking to replace the newer car.  So we went out after hubby got off work and looked at a couple of places.  I was not expecting to buy anything, but we came home with a 2007 Lexus RX 350.  We got it for $12,000 off their asking price and paid cash with the money we have been saving.  It is a type of car I never ever considered owning, much less paying cash for it.  Makes me so very thankful for following Dave Ramsey and his teaching for financial peace. 

I bought Dave Ramey's book in the fall of 2007.  We started following it in October 2007.  We are now out of all consumer debt and have 4 months worth of expenses saved in an emergeny fund.  We are saving for retirement, helping our daughter with college, and paying off our house as fast as we can.  We still have a ways to go with the house, but we're making progress.

I need to be better about posting on my blog.  I also need to get back to clearing out my house of clutter.  I have a bag in my room ready to go and a few things stacked, but also ready to go out the door. 

Today I will plan my week and start the ball rolling again on the simplifying road again.  There are going to be changes in the plan, there always are, but moving forward is always a good thing.