It's been a long time since I wrote anything ...

I just realized that I started this with good intentions but failed miserably! 

I am starting off 2015 with renewed vigor to document our lives better so that my friends, family, and later my children, remember what they have been doing!!

WOW how time flies.

Julia will be two - Tomorrow. Yes it is well past over due for me to update the blog. Promise I will do it this week. I am a poor chronicler of our lives.

May- Creating a Bedroom Sanctuary

It starts off with a habit of the month- Return clothing to where it belongs every day- OMG- How hard is that- did the writer of this book have 3 kids? that will be impossible for me to do- but I will try.

Ok- Next it breaks the month into weeks- so I am starting with week 1-
the book says this week's organizational activities will take from 1.5 to 2.5 hours.
It has a list of questions that I am supposed to answer and reflect on:
1. As a child I liked my room and had my own room. I did not have to share it.
2. I had control over the decor of my bedrooms as a kid. I was allowed decorating freedom and it changed all the time.
3. I do like my current bedroom, I like the color, the size, location, and layout.
4. What I don't like about my room is that it turns into the living room to watch tv for the whole family- we pile up in my bed and watch tv together
5. this could be remedied if I just said no and made everyone do this activity in the living room
6. this room is not filled with things from the past. there are no pictures of family or kids. I have attempted to keep it clutter free, but it is mostly odd papers and dvd's that pile up and around.
7. I do share this room, with my husband. I am not a space hog and it is not mostly my things in the room. We made it a clean slate when we recently purchased our new bedroom furniture
8. This question did not apply to me.
9. The bedroom is not frilly and girly. I tried to pick out bed linens and drapes that were nice but also had some masacuilinity to them. I thnk Joey likes them and is comfortable with them.

Advised to make a plan: make a list of all improvements and changes you'd like to make
Really I just want to declutter and find a home for all the things that land in my room. I think that I need doors to my closet since the old ones broke, and I need to take down wash and rehang the drapes. the closet is a disaster and my master bath needs to be painted. All of this can be accomplished in a month.

Asked if Clothes have taken over the room: no- just a section of the closet that are trouble areas. asked specific questions:
1. I dont have a chair in my room, so it is not covered with clothes
2. I do pile my dirty clothes on the floor, even though I have a hamper.
3. My dresser drawers (general closet area) is chaotic.
4. There is nothing really in my closet except some random computer components, some old scrapbooking stuff and clothes. It is not a general storage closet.
5. I have things smashed together in the closet.
6. I already have uniform wooden hangers
7. there is a huge space between the shelf and the ceiling in my closet.
8. I do have multiple wardrobes due to changing weight
9. The closet floor is shoe graveyard

Ok well that was it for this week and It took less than an hour. BUT I am inspired to go through the room with a trash bag and to get in my closet and weed through some of the clothes I don't need anymore.

Organization

This is a constant battle of mine. I was not raised by an organized person. In fact I have lived with clutter my whole life, and honestly don't remember my mother ever not being a pack rat.

I don't consider my self a pack rat- I do purge and throw away things, but I am terrible about putting things away and making sure that everything has a home. I am not setting a positive example for the kids- and so, I am making a positive effort to change.

I have been following this flylady thing - kind of half heatedly for a few years. I found this book- "One Year to an Organized Life" and I bought it. It has a different major task each month- the topics include: January (Kitchen), February (Bedroom), March (Business of Life), April (Bathrooms), May (hidden areas - garage, laundry room, guest room), June (traveling), July (crafts), August (moving), September (Back to School), October (Common Rooms), November (entertaining), and December (holidays)

Because I just don't have the "Hidden Areas" discussed in the book- I am changing May- to be the Master Bedroom. And I decided after that I will do June- Business of LIfe, and July will be Back to School and August will be Common Rooms. October can be Bathrooms and then November and December can be on track with the book.

wish me luck!

Let's catch up

It has been a spring semester for sure!
Jillian is about to finish her first year at Sacred Heart. I was worried about how she was going to do- since she was one of the "Older" kids in the class. She has done so well. She is in the class with 2 other kids that she knew before school started- Ann Marie and Travis- and as luck would have it they were all at the same table, all year long. Jillian can read a few words, which I find amazing because Carson could not read in pre-K. She has been doing dance all year - and now it is getting close to recital time. I am nervous for her. I remember my first dance recital- very scary for a 5 year old. She also followed in her brother's footsteps in the fall (soccer) and spring (t Ball). She had a great hit Wednesday night and even fielded the ball. Joey was a great fill in coach.

My son flirted with a girl! It was so sweet and he denied every moment of it. Carson was playing bat boy during Jillian's team's game, and a little girl walked up and said "Hey Carson" in that way that little girls do when they think a boy is cute. When her team was done batting he went and "instigated" some soccer rivalry between the two of them. She was a cutie also- AND I think she is a 3rd grader. (Trouble later). This was the first real flirtatious exchange I had ever seen between him and a classmate. He of course turned red when we talked to him about it. It was sweet. He has big plans this weekend that involve being upside down in the gravitron at school- good for me that I did not see one at the carnival- I don't want to go to the ER, bad for him to have his plans thwarted unexpectedly.

Julia is just as stubborn as her Dad. She is walking everywhere but at home for her family. Nana says she takes 3-4 steps regularly. NOT FAIR. I don't want my baby to grow up too fast, but I would love her to take a few steps for me. She is changing and growing every day. We can say Dada, Mama, KiKi (cat), uh o (when she throws things off her tray) and tickl, tickl (mostly to the cat since that is the only thing smaller than her she can tickle!). We have made the transition to all sippy cups! I am thankful, and she has started sleeping all night again. I don't know what was up a few weeks ago, but it was horrible.

Joey- BUSY that is all I can say and I can't wait for him to slow down. He went back to school this semester, and he is still trying to build his own painting company. Thankfully, the paint work has been somewhat steady, and the school work has not overwhelmed him too much. He has played music almost every weekend since before Christmas. I hope that in the next few months things will slow down, and after last weekend, I think he realizes what he is missing out on with the family on the weekends. He is playing with a new country band though - and I don't see this slowing down. They opened for Sammy Kershaw in Feb, Crossin Dixon in March, and they tried out to open for Blake Shelton this month (they should know if they won the gig in the next few days. It would be April 25 if they did!) and in May they will open for Randy Travis. That is all pretty cool for a band that just started rehearsing together in Feb. I am proud of him. He works so hard at everything...

I am worn out! I have been looking for a weekend to run away- and as you can tell- it is not happening for a while. I just want a day by the pool. I can't wait for the Racquet Club to open. Memorial Day here I come. Well - I have Rock N Roux stuff to do and actual work- I was reading friends blogs and realized that I had not posted in a LONG while. Consider yourself updated.

Monday night football

Fall is in the air and hopefully the points will be on the board. I love football. We have season tickets to USM and the Saints- that is how much we love it- it consumes our weekends. I feel like this whole season has been a wash. I never really had a great time at any USM games and I have been to 2 Saints games so far. Tonight is a home Monday night football game. I have making up to do and I can't wait.

So for all the members of Saints Nation out there- Can I get a WHO DAT?

Geux Saints!

Up up and away... this is one of my favorite pictures taken during our trip to the Natchez Hot Air Balloon races. It is the view from the parking lot of our hotel. There were so many balloons. It was just cool enough to feel like fall at 7 am. The kids were amazed- and loved it.

Julia was all smiles and was happy to be out and about in the cool morning. She is always happy in the mornings. I don't know where she gets that - Joey and I are not morning people!



Probably not the best picture of Jillian- But she was pointing and was really excited about the balloons that seemed to be so close you could almost jump in the air and touch them.