Home from China

Patrick is headed home. I'm on my way to the airport to pick him up in less than a half an hour.

He did not enjoy Chinese food while abroad, as noted by the picture that awaited me in my inbox from his arrival in Detroit.

This is working.

In an attempt to keep some order around this place and seriously not gross myself out on a regular basis, I have made myself a chore chart. Basically because I'm bad at cleaning house and always put it off for far too long and then feel so overwhelmed by the thought of all I have to clean that I spiral out of control into a big puddle on the ground or want to lay in the fetal position in the midst of my cleaning products.

And I have 2 cats. Which means the cat hair can be ridiculous. Especially when it's hot outside.

So here is what I did: I gave myself just a couple things to do each day and if I stick to it, the house can be clean by Saturday morning and I will not have spent 3+ hours at a time scrubbing away. I broke it down into mangable things that can be done in fifteen minutes to a half an hour.

Sunday: Clean out fridge, make a menu plan for the week, laundry
Monday: Put laundry away, grocery shop if necessary
Tuesday: Dust
Wednesday: Clean kitchen countertops, mop kitchen floor, wipe down appliances
Thursday: Vacuum
Friday: Mop bathroom floors, wipe off countertops and cabinets, clean toilets
Saturday: Mirrors/glass and shower

Daily: Make the bed, dishes in the dishwasher, put away clutter

Here is the thing: I know in reality I will not do this every week. However, if it has been a while since I've cleaned, I tend to get overwhelmed with all there is to do and not do anything. Now instead of doing that, when I get really really grossed out by how messy the house is, I just do the thing on the list for that day and I start to feel better. I feel like I can slowly work my way out. It's a start.

This week, though, I'm going for it. And now that I've blogged about it, I feel a little more accountability to get it done. Even if no one reads my boring post about cleaning house, at least I've put it in writing, which makes it a little more official.

No pictures and lots of randomness

So I am finally coming out from under the rock I have been under for the past three weeks. School is officially back in session, the honeymoon is wearing off and the routine has now been reestablished. I no longer feel like I have been hit by a ton of bricks by 6:30 every night. Maybe just a couple hundred pounds of bricks? But certainly not a whole ton anymore. Thus, I am able to think about, and maybe even re-begin, posting on this blog. Posting, maybe. Pictures? Sorry. It will be a couple more weeks before I have myself THAT together again. Baby steps, people.

Here are a lot of random things in a list format because my life has been a series of lists lately. To-Do Lists, To-Grade Lists, To-Clean Lists....you know, the usual.

1. Patrick is in China. Yes, you heard me correctly. He up and left me for 10 whole days to go BACK to other side of the world. He is required for his Masters degree program to complete an international business trip with the group. The options were Europe in May or China in September. You better believe I threatened his life about going to Europe without me, so being the smart guy he is, he chose China.

2. I am taking the opportunity while he is gone to cook every single dish that he doesn't like to eat. Last night I made chicken pot pie, which is my absolute favorite thing to make, and ate approximately all of it. I will try to post my recipe sometime this week. It's amazing, people. Patrick is crazy for not liking it. Crazy.

3. I also took the liberty to go to Target tonight and walk around for as long as I wanted without having to be anywhere. I bought this dress and a bottle of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails top coat.

4. I watched The 19th Wife on Lifetime, which was FASCINATING and reminded me of Big Love. The thing is though, I turned it on like a half an hour late into it and I really did not understand what was going on with Queenie and Jordan. I mean, were they in love or just friends? She told her husband he was her only love but then she told Jordan she loved him. And then she told Jordan she loved him RIGHT IN FRONT OF her husband? Help! I am still confused and it was on over an hour ago.

5. God has done this really awesome thing and I am now leading a Bible Study for four college Young Life leaders here in Salem. It has definitely taken me way out of my comfort zone but I think it's going to grow me (and hopefully them too!) in a lot of ways. By out of my comfort zone, I mean that they are really cool and I am really nerdy. I am hoping that this does not hinder our friendships because soon they will find out that I'm really nerdy and I hope they will still let me lead their study and bask in their coolness from week to week. We are going to use the book Gospel Tranformations to guide our study. It's going to be great!

We got new furniture!

We got new furniture! We've never had new furniture. Everything in our house has been given to us. We are very, very blessed to know generous people who like to give away things like furniture to people like us.

However, we got a red hot smokin' deal. We were so excited! Even the cats were excited.

And still are.

Ok, this one is just random but proof as to why I get nothing done around here.

Come stay at our house, y'all! We have lots of good places to rest your bones now.

Australia pictures are up!

For those of you who are interested in looking at all of our Australia pictures, you can now view them at this link.

With the risk of sounding like the crazy uncle who makes you watch slideshows of his family vacation while you doze in the corner with the lights out, I will say that we would LOVE for you to see our pictures! Please help yourselves.

And if you have any spare change laying around, we are starting our "Please Send Us Back To Australia Because It Was The Greatest Trip Of Our Lives" fund. Accepting all major credit cards. Commencing immediately. Please and thank you.

Happy School Year!

It's here! Tomorrow is the First Day of School. Annnnndddddd, I'M STILL NOT NERVOUS. Does this mean I'm officially NOT a new teacher anymore?

I LOVE this time of year.

I LOVE the fall.

I LOVE getting back into a routine.



I also LOVED Labor Day weekend. Here is a short list of what we did:

1. Watched football.
2. Slept in.
3. Rocked babies.
4. Grilled out.
5. Sat by the campfire.
6. Woke up in the mountains.
7. Made applesauce.
8. Cozied up on our NEW couch.