A fluffy, slightly disgruntled Patches G. Pig after a bath last night. Curled up in towels on my bed, soothing his frazzled nerves with a delicious salad!
Leslie and I made the front page! BOTH 'front' pages! Holy cow! You can read the accompanying newspaper story here (where you can see a picture of my hands and Leslie's profile, heh).
A million thanks to Leslie for taking the initiative when she saw that the Southtown Star was looking for super shoppers, because this was a really fun experience. We had a great time going around with Joe (the photographer), snagging and sharing deals.
I hope everyone is enjoying a happy, healthy, safe Thanksgiving holiday with their loved ones today!
Trying to decide which Universal Studios theme park would appeal most to my kids, at ages 3 and 5, was kind of difficult for our Florida trip. We knew we only had time for one of them, and both of them had things that would appeal to kids as well as to adults. Both would also hold some challenges for adults who like to go on all the rides but who have kids who aren't quite tall and/or brave enough to accompany them. In the end, we decided on Universal's Islands of Adventure park, mainly because we knew both our kids would be interested in the superhero section in a big way. (And when we found out that The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was at the same park, well, it was really a no-brainer; come on. HARRY POTTER?!)
Yes, the superhero area was a big hit, but the place we started the day was equally popular, for kids AND adults: the Dr. Seuss area. It was just incredibly charming, with quite a few rides based on some of his most popular books (a dark-ride type Cat In The Hat attraction that takes you through the whole story, a One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish flying-style water ride, a Sneetch tram, and the most delightful carousel I may have ever seen, for instance). The parks down there do not slouch on theming, that's for sure. Everything is decked out to the letter of the place, including the workers in each area; they have specialized outfits and everything. Even the restaurants get into it, it's great. Utterly charming and a great way to visit your old childhood memories, as well as make new ones with your children.
Oksana and OJ by the Green Eggs And Ham stand.
Our group (sans me, the photographer) by the Sneetch tram entrance. Note the worker in the delightful Seussian conductor's outfit, complete with a "star upon thars".
The "Car-o-Seuss-el" may have been my favorite there, even though I didn't ride it (because I wanted to take pictures). All the different critters are Seussian creations, and they all do something special for the rider. Even the bench that Oksana and Aunt Ali are on above had a horn Oksana could honk, and the inside layers would come bulging out when she pushed down on the honking button. Some of the creatures had cowbells the riders could clang; Drake could raise and lower his creature's head; OJ could turn his creature's head from side to side. Little touches, but they really made the ride special and extra charming.
The story of the Sneetches is one of my favorites.
And later, when we ate our Dippin' Dots inside Circus McGurkus, the Sneetch train would snake in and out of the building, transporting riders through the delightful circus tent. And we would wave and holler at them "What up, Sneetches?!" It never got old. (And by "we", I mean "my husband and I", naturally.)
Last week we had a family reunion with my dad's cousins. We all met in Orlando, Florida to spend a few days visiting and having fun. The first night of the reunion we gathered for a large dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse and Saloon. Pictured above are three generations of Nommensens and their descendents.
So Leslie took up my invitation yesterday and asked to see my kids' room. The trouble there was that I promised to post it after 9pm last night... and my kids were already in bed. Going in and turning on lights to take pictures and video wasn't exactly an option! Today was crazy-busy and I'm just now getting to the pictures and the posting, but I promise that this is how the room looked when they went to bed last night. I am pleased to say that they are STILL cleaning up their toys every night before bed - we've turned it into part of the routine and it just hasn't been a problem. Yesterday some of Oksana's toys ALMOST went in the garbage (yeah I'm THAT mom) because she wouldn't come away from the computer and clean up when I asked her to... some things actually went into a garbage bag before she rescued them and put them away, so I'm hoping that's all it will take for them to know I am serious and that won't be a problem again.
As I've mentioned before, it's a small room, and with two of them AND all their toys (since we don't have a separate play area either) in there, organizing it has always been a challenge. The key was finally finding the right combination of kid-friendly storage bins to hold the STUFF. And also building an extra shelf on the wall (we already had one, but needed two). And, finally, GETTING RID OF STUFF. We still have a LOT of toys; probably too many - but I got rid of excess, of stuff they have grown too old for, of stuff that I decided was dumb, of stuff that we just didn't have room for. If you're afraid you're going to purge a favorite that you didn't KNOW was a favorite - bag the stuff up and put it somewhere unobtrusive (a closet, the basement, the garage) for a week or two. If the kids don't miss the items during that time, they're probably never going to notice the stuff is gone. And off to Goodwill it goes!
Moving forward, my plan is to purge the bins when they get full - but I'm going to have the kids purge them. Stuff is limited to the size of the bin in which it belongs - if, for instance, their dress-up bin overflows, it's time for them to decide which items they want to give away. If they HAVE to keep it all, then they can designate a second dress-up bin, BUT that will mean some of their other toys have to go. That's my plan, anyway.
And now, a photo tour!
The view from the doorway:
To the right is the shelving unit holding all of the larger stuffed animals. Directly across from the doorway is the dresser; clothing inside, books and games on top. Across and to the left is their bunk bed. Directly to the left, almost invisible from this angle, is one of the Sterilite-drawer towers I put together.
Next to the door:
The stuffed animal shelving unit and the other Sterilite-drawer tower. Every drawer is labelled; every toy category gets its own drawer, and every item they own has a place. This has proved crucial in keeping the room clean.
The dresser:
Clothes and pull-ups inside. Books and games on top. Oksana's dollhouse on the floor. It is an awkward place for it; it works for now but I have to move it every time I want to get a pair of pants for her. I'm hoping to find a better place for it once we move the kitchen out of their room.
The bed:
Their bunk bed is from IKEA. I love it; they love it. It's not as tall as a traditional bunk bed and I feel safe having them use it. Oksana's mattress is on the floor so we don't have to worry about her falling out of bed. Having a bunk bed is a HUGE space saver in the room; I really love it.
The kitchen:
Big, awkward, but it's a really nice set and they and their friends play with it all the time so it stays. I'm going to move it downstairs soon. It's one of the most awkward elements to their room right now. It's double-sided so I can't even push it against the wall.
The closet:
Drake's stuff on top, Oksana's on the bottom. Shoes on the floor. Shelves below each hanging rod so each kid has a place to store long toys (like foam swords) and their multitudes of bags and boxes.
The last wall:
A small toy chest that came with the house, and we still use it; a hanging IKEA dragon that holds small stuffed animals (beanies and the like); our reading chair; the other Sterilite-drawer tower. Two more bookshelves high up on the wall.
And... looking out the door from inside the room.
That's Pepper. Pardon her glowing eyes; I'm not a very good photographer (yet, anyway). My dogs follow me from room to room, expectantly, all day, every day. That's why you see them in so many of my pictures.
A video tour, if you'd rather watch that instead. I struggle taking pictures of our rooms because they aren't very big and I don't have a wide angle lens or a fisheye lens or whatever lens people use to get a good view of rooms. I always feel like the pictures just look really awkward. Which is why I always do video too. But I don't plan out my videos so my narration is, well, awkward (lol). Don't miss the part where my mom calls me in the middle of filming, that was great. I'm such a pro.
I'm in a hurry because I'm going to be late for TOPS, so I didn't proofread this at all, so if you see anything that doesn't seem right or sound right or isn't spelled right, be a doll and let me know? Or just ignore it politely, whatever you prefer! Thanks!
Today is my last official day of full-time cleaning before I start work tomorrow. And by 'start work', I mean 'actively spend a large portion of the day focusing on writing and Heritage Makers at home in an attempt to make money'.
Upstairs is looking pretty good. Downstairs is in deep peril of not being finished. The laundry/craft room, for instance, hasn't been touched at all. Cleaning out the downstairs closet left A LOT of messy boxes all over the (formerly fairly clean) bar area and family room, and I'm still sorting through the debris. I'd LIKE to have those areas completed by the end of the day, but I've also made peace with it if they're not, because I built time into my work schedule for both maintenance cleaning AND 15 minutes of continued decluttering every day for the areas I didn't finish. It's a small time slot, sure, but as I know from formerly following flylady (don't you love alliteration? I do!), 15 minutes a day can add up to real results sooner than you'd think.
So that's my plan. Is there an area of my house you'd like to see? Either to see what kind of progress I've made or to see if I accomplished my goal downstairs? Ask in the comments today and I will check in at 9pm CST... whichever area has the most votes will be photographed and posted tonight.
As a reminder, 'areas' of my house are:
dining room
kitchen
hallway/pantry
upstairs bathroom
kids' room
master bedroom
stairway
bar area
family room
downstairs closet
downstairs bathroom
laundry/craft room
garage
I suggest you don't ask about the laundry/craft room again simply because you'll get the exact same pictures I posted last time. Seriously, it doesn't look different AT ALL. (Also, I won't be touching my garage until after the laundry/craft room, but since I don't think I've posted pictures of it, if you want to see it, that's your call.)
It's "show us your..." day over at Saucy Dwellings, and today it's saucy storage solutions! How coincidental; I've just been working on storage solutions for my home myself. I don't know if these exactly qualify as 'saucy' but this is what I posted in the comments on their blog:
Storage and organization is a HUGE issue for me, I'm terrible at it. I'm in the process of trying to give my home an organizational overhaul right now, actually. We're a family of four in a small 2-bedroom ranch house, AND I'm a packrat (*cough* slight hoarder *cough*) so I really need creative storage solutions. Here's a few things I've come up with so far.
I like things that have dual purposes, so that's what I'm really trying to look for when I pick storage containers.
My bedroom: This is my bedside table. It's an old school desk I had when I was a kid; you can still see remnants of the Pac-Man and Flintstones stickers I used to 'decorate' it long ago! I repurposed it to be a nightstand / jewelery / dressing table. My jewelery box and a few larger accessories are perfect for displaying on top...
... and all those little boxes and large pieces fit perfectly inside, yet I still have enough room to peer in and find what I'm looking for. Though I may get some dividers in the future (I just set this up two days ago, heh.)
Kids' Bedroom: Stuffed animals are the bane of my existence, I swear! but the kids are really attached to them. This old shelving unit (that previously housed a big stereo system and CD's for us) ended up being perfect for the critters, which previously lived in my children's beds. Which meant my kids were sleeping ON animals all the time, and it was really immensely difficult to change the sheets. I also went out last weekend and bought a bunch of those plastic Sterilite stackable drawers at Target, because we were overrun with toys. There's another 'unit' just like this on the other side of the room. They're colorful and sturdy, perfect for kid-stuff storage. They're also a pretty good size, and only $8 a piece! I used my labelmaker, labeled each drawer with a category of toy... and so far, the kids have been REALLY good about keeping their room picked up (they are 3 and 5). I've also found that they are PLAYING with their toys a lot more, and they seem to have a lot more fun when they can find the toys they want. They've thanked me no less than ten times in the past week for doing this. I guess cleaning really IS a good thing! LOL As a bonus, I get to store stuff on top of these 'units' that I don't want my kids playing with quite yet.
Our Dining Room / Entryway: Unfortunately our front door comes right into the dining room. No foyer, no mudroom, nowhere convenient to put hooks or coatracks or anything. Enter my grandmother's cedar chest.
Not only is it nice and deep and perfect for holding all our winter gear, it also provides extra seating for the room AND it's the perfect place for the kids to sit and put on boots / shoes.
It actually has some really gorgeous copper 'buckles' but they are currently being stored in my closet because I don't believe they'd outlast my kids and dogs, heh.
And so that's it. I'm still doing some major overhauling of the house, things are looking good, and I've been trying to work up to a post about all the work I've been doing. Unfortunately I'm also on a tight (self-imposed) schedule so I haven't exactly made the time to sit here and update in a while. (But expect more house posts in the near future!)
ALSO-also, we just got a new camera and I'm still trying to figure out how to take good pictures with it. And the self-imposed tight schedule hasn't afforded me a whole lot of time to read up on it OR play around with it.
Tonight is Oksana's preschool 'winterfest' program; you know, the thing all preschoolers do around the holidays (or not, this year, since they wanted to be PC I guess) where they get together and sing cute songs and all we parents go and ooh and aah at our little stars and starlets? Yeah, that. Wish me luck that I will have mastered the camera enough to get some decent pictures tonight!
Me: chops onions for dinner. Oksana: "Mommy are you making dinner? Let me see! Let me see!"* drags chair in from the dining room so she can stand by the counter; climbs up to put her face right by the onions. Me: "Honey, back up a bit. These onions are going to make you cry." Oksana: "what? what you say?" Me: "I said, the onions will make you cry. They do that." Oksana: incredulously: "onions? Make you cry?" Oksana rubs her eyes. "No they won't!" Me: "Yes, baby, they do. Well, they make your eyes water anyway." Oksana rubs her eyes again, at the same time shaking her head 'no' like I'm totally making this up in some elaborate plot to get her out from underfoot. "They have a chemical in them that is released into the air when you chop them, and it irritates your eyes and makes you cry." Oksana shakes her head and rubs her eyes again. I can see from the side that they're getting pretty red. Oksana: "uh uh! They DO NOT!"** Me: "OK baby. Whatever you say."
She's NOT crying. Not one little bit. :P
*This is a common occurrence in our home. Both kids like to help cook but Oksana is FASCINATED by it. I can't even make a sandwich without her dragging in a chair or stool from some other room of the house so she can watch and ask a million questions about the process. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this kid became a master chef.
The Photo Friday challenge today is 'seaside'. This is one of my favorite seaside photos. Just a couple of Chicago kids enjoying the beach in Pensacola, Florida on New Year's Day. It was chilly, choppy, and windy - and we were thrilled to be there.
This is the only picture I took as we were driving through South Beach in Miami. As a matter of fact, we were driving through and I made my husband turn the car around and go BACK so I could get this picture. Not because I'm a 12 year old boy or anything.
Yes, I AM also that person who inserts (heh heh heh) the following comments into as many conversations as possible: "liquor in the front, poker in the rear!" "rectum? It damn near killed 'em!"
I'm pretty sure the folks at the Pleasure Emporium share my sense of humor, as we drove down the side alley and I don't recall seeing ACTUAL parking in the rear. hmmm.
It probably goes without saying that the In The Butt blog is one of my favorite 'guilty pleasures'. Because everything IS funnier in the butt. My husband won't let me order the stickers yet though, so I haven't been able to deface public property. Yet.
(As a side, yet somewhat related, note - I have been chortling for days because Google Analytics has assured me that someone googled the phrase "dirty old mom" and found this blog. That's me all right!)
I've decided to hold myself accountable for cleaning up those roadblocks in my life, and to that end, I'm publishing before, during, and after photos as I work on it. Starting, as I mentioned yesterday, with decluttering my house.
I have been working room by room, and following a basic method as I work. First I do a general pick-up, make the room somewhat liveable. Then I work around the room and declutter, pulling out stuff that can be sold or given away or packed up or otherwise moved elsewhere. I'm trying to get rid of a lot of stuff. This is really hard for me. More on that later, I'm sure. I'm getting better though. Once everything is decluttered, I've been giving the room a thorough cleaning...something my house hasn't seen in far too long. Dusting, cleaning ceiling fans, windows, walls, mopping, vacuuming, peeling stickers off walls (hey, I have two toddlers; stickers are everywhere!), etc. This process takes a lot longer per room than I had initially imagined; even in the rooms that were in pretty good shape, it takes a long time. I thought I'd at least be working downstairs by now. But I digress.
So far, I've finished four rooms: the master bedroom, the kids' room, the upstairs bathroom, and the upstairs hallway. Sadly, I don't have any before pictures of those areas, though perhaps in the future I will provide some 'afters' just for references' sake. And to make sure they don't get messed up again.
Right now I am actively working in our dining room, which is full of piles of clutters (mainly clothes and papers) that I pulled out of the four rooms I tackled previously.
Without further ado, here is the dining room, from all four corners:
Before
After
Before, with a bonus shot of our dog Pepper.
After. Obviously not a lot of work was done on this side of the room.
Before (yes, this is the room people see when they come to our front door. The horror! I know!)
After. Again, not much work was done to this side of the house. Hey, anybody in need of a crib mattress?
You might be wondering "what the hell is THAT?" That, my friends, is a leprechaun. A life-size stuffed leprechaun with a terrifying rubber face. A leprechaun that was gifted to us this past St. Patrick's Day by my brother, who works for the Village I live in as, yes, a garbageman (amongst other things). Yes, this filthy, frightening leprechaun came from the garbage. And yes, he's sitting in my dining room and greeting people when they come to the front door. I'm not sure WHAT I'm going to do with him. I'm thinking about repurposing him for Halloween somehow, or possibly gifting him to my friends at the Raven's Grin Inn, if they have a use for him. But I remain undecided, as it is dreadfully difficult for me to give up THINGS, especially unique things that I MIGHT have a use for some day, especially if they will possibly fit into my Halloween display or my Not House On The Rock House. Therein lies my problem.
Before
After. This is where the bulk of the work happened yesterday, so naturally it's the darkest / worst photo of them all! At least you can see that the tower of stuff has shrunk drastically. I culled a lot of the pile that you can see in the 'before' photo; a lot of that was stuff that migrated out of the bedrooms. It is now in boxes for the garage sale. I just need to decide where to store those boxes!
Getting ready for the Easter Egg Hunt (Oksana's first ever, that she's been able to participate in, anyway! She was old enough last year but it was WAY too cold).
