Wife, Then Mama

That is how I feel at 7:45 am when I got up at 6 am.  I was actually pretending  to yawn, but then it turned into a real yawn so I took another picture. Despite the fact that I was asleep by 10 o'clock last night, I still was exhausted when I woke up at 6.  I was pleasantly surprised by how nice my house looked when I woke up. My morning routine went REALLY, REALLY fast, because I kind of cheated.  I didn't have to unload the dishwasher because it wasn't full until after lunch.  I didn't start the laundry because I had diapers in the laundry, and then I waited until I cleaned the bathroom to start my new load because I didn't want dirty toilet rags sitting around for very long.  And I didn't quick clean the bathrooms, because my afternoon deep clean was the bathrooms and that seemed a bit redundant.  So I finished up pretty quick. In the afternoon I was supposed to deep clean all the bathrooms, but since the cats were locked in the kid...

Today was the first day of my challenge.  And I think I did a decent job actually. Honestly I almost failed before I even started when my alarm went off at 6 am.  We had not gone to bed until after midnight, and I am someone that LOVES her sleep.  But I thought that would be pathetic to admit on my blog, so I rolled my lazy butt out of bed and made Michael breakfast and lunch. Admittedly it wasn't a great breakfast (eggs and a brownie) but he had bought brownies with the intentions of eating one for breakfast so I figured he would be pretty annoyed with me if I didn't give him one.  I was so on top of things that I even got Michael's clothes together before he got out of the shower. Then I managed to do everything on my list except start laundry, because I thought I had done all the laundry yesterday in an effort to wash my new diaper enough times to have the inserts be absorbent tonight.  Later I realized that I could wash all my winter clothes, so I star...

In case you have not figured it out, I like to start each month with a giveaway!  Luckily I have had lots of super awesome sponsors lately that have given me amazing items to give away. To start off October, we are giving away a Hotsling!  I promise to have a non-baby related giveaway soon, but I just love baby stuff, so I love reviewing it!  As with most of my giveaways I was given a free product in exchange for my honest review.   Let me begin by saying that although I just now GOT a Hotsling, they are actually the beginning of my baby-wearing obsession.  Way back when (probably around 2007/2008) my friend Melissa  showed me the Hotslings website.  Before I saw them, the only baby-wearing experience I really had was my mom and dad's old metal frame backpack carrier that I would sometimes carry my sister in to go get the mail (I was only nine or ten, but it was only probably 100 feet down the driveway).  I had also seen people use the d...

This is my schedule for the 31 Day challenge , in which I will be practicing my BEST housewifery skills!  This is a weekday schedule, my weekends will probably be a couple hours later, and instead of deep cleaning I will be meal planning, helping Michael outside, or being lazy. 6:00 - Wake-up and Early AM Routine (just so you know this is 1.5 to 2.5 hours earlier than I normally get up) make Michael breakfast make Michael lunch throw back the blankets unload dishwasher start laundry read Bible 7:00 - Get ready (I don't ever get ready.  I tend to wear yoga pants unless I am actually out of the house...) shower dressed hair make-up 7:45 - AM Routine make beds breakfast dishes kids ready (ironically I do get the girls ready everyday) wipe bathrooms (just a quick  swish and swipe ) switch laundry pick up upstairs 12:15 -  Early PM routine lunch dishes sweep fold/put away laundry pick up downstairs vacuum deep clean - dust, v...

Yesterday I was reading The 50s Housewife Experiment on Jen But Never Jenn  and thought I should replicate it.  Then today I was glancing at Facebook (I am supposed to be avoiding it, but failing miserably) and saw Mama Gab  talking about  Nesting Place's 31 Day Challenge .  I also realized that my blogging has been a pretty big failure lately .  My house has also been a disaster more often then it should be seeing as how I am home all day, everyday with two well-behaved little girls. So everything kind of came together at once and I am going to do the challenge!  For 31 days I will do my darnedest to follow the following rules: keep to a housekeeping schedule NOT waste time on the computer or smartphone when I should be cleaning or playing with the girls not harass my husband about his computer gaming time get ready everyday (Lori if you are reading this, maybe I won't be in my pajamas when you drop Hadlee off in the morning!) Although I hav...

It seems like I don't really blog anymore.  I mean I still post, but mostly just reviews.  Which isn't really what I wanted my blog to be. I started blogging because I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings with people, then I realized that I could probably profit from blogging, which would be awesome.  So I started contacting companies with products I wanted to review, and was overwhelmed by the positive responses.  All of the sudden I was getting awesome products to try in the mail, and even better, being able give "presents" to my blog readers. I am NOT complaining.  But it takes more time to do a really good review (finding links, taking pictures, creating giveaways) then it does to just post my thoughts and feelings of the day.  So instead of lots of personal posts I just do the reviews that I am obligated to do, and spend lots of time on one or two posts.  I don't know if that is what my readers prefer.  I do know that I have a lot mor...

I love flash cards.  I know some people don't really like them, but I think they are one of the most affordable products available to teach children. Educational Toys Planet   gave me Alphabet Flash Cards to review.  Educational Toys Planet is an awesome website, that allows you to easily sort products by age, gender, price and category.  They have a gift finder, which lets you search all of them at one time.  A wish list and gift registry are available, and they ship free if you order over $75 of product.  Although I didn't order from their website, the shipping was very quick, and testimonials from customers also rave of the quick shipping times. The flash cards themselves were Alphabet Flash Cards from School Zone .  They are quality flash cards.  They have good color and are sturdy cardboard.  They are made of nice smooth cardboard, not the cheaper rough kind. Each card has a picture on one side and a letter on the other sid...