You know what is super annoying to me? When I go to put trash into the trash can and the bag is falling down and I notice people have just been tossing things on top of it. You know who else this annoys? My boys whose job it is to take out the trash. The crazy thing is that the reason it is falling down is their fault. I have told them time and time again when putting in the bag, if they put the bag in with the seams going to the sides of the can, it stretches and stays secure. If they put the bag with seams to the front and back, for whatever reason the bag just doesn't stay secure. Every time I tell them this they roll their eyes and huff, but yet they don't seem to get it, it hasn't fully sunk in. Thus the bag keeps falling down from time to time.

I keep asking my husband "someday they will get it right?" Lamenting to my other mommy friends, praying to God "please let my children become capable adults." You know the cries that most parents at one point or another have cried. lol. And then I see them show me that they are learning. They might put in the trash bag wrong from time to time, they might leave their clothes all over the bathroom floor after getting dressed, they might just walk off not wiping down the counters after doing dishes from time to time. 

BUT there are days where they see the trash needs taken out and do it without asking. There are days when I come home from running errands they all rallied together and cleaned the main parts of the house(happened once but man it was awesome.) There are days when they girls are told to pick up their room and they clean it so good and without any fighting. 

There is hope!!! They are learning!!! And they just might become capable adults yet. :)

The Home Experience

I truly like my mother in law. I know not many women can say that, but my mother in law has some great qualities, for the most part, she gives her opinion on something we are doing and if she knows I don't like it, she keeps her mouth quiet; she gives her support, even if she doesn't necessarily agree; and she never has tried to get between me and John, not once. She always tells me that she learned from the best because she had a great mother in law.

Anyway I say this all to share something that I found funny. My mother in law keeps her house really nice. Always has since I have known her. Clothes are always washed, folded and put right away, floors vacuumed, beds made, etc. You could go to her house anyday, at anytime of the day and it will be nice.

My house on the other hand is not like that, EVER. If you pop in, you will see a very "lived in house." My house isn't filthy, nasty, etc., but laundry is always needing washed, folded and put away, clutter, toys down, etc. Don't expect a clean house at this Schimek's house.

So for Mother's Day my mother-in-law bought me this book:

When I opened it I wondered what this book would be about, so I started reading it. Right away I could tell that it was a good thing I wasn't one to offended to easily. If most women got a book from their mother in law about keeping a better house, they would be insulted and start getting huffy. I on the other hand just laughed and thought "if she wanted to help me with keeping a cleaner house, she should have stuffed a maid in the bag instead of this book." I know my mother in law meant no nasty things by giving me this book. And it is acutally a good read.

 I have to say it is a good book so far and it has encouraged me to try to be a better housekeeper. One of the chapters talks about having an "also" attitude. The chapter is about how often our attitude is "I have had a long day, I deserve to rest," or "it is not my job to do that, I am not going to do it" and how we should replace it with an attitude of "also" meaning, I am going to wash the dishes and sweep the floor ALSO, I am going to fold the clothes, and put them away ALSO. Of going a step further than we normally do.

It talks about how a home should be a place of rest and peace, which is true, but often with clutter and unclean rooms surrounding us, we don't feel that our house is our place of refuge. Now I do agree for the most part. I would like my house to be cleaner, but it really isnt' the top thing on my list.

So I am going to finish the book and try to implimate some of the tips, but lets face it, my house will probably never be a show house, that you could pop into at any hour and not find stuff out of place. And I am ok with that!!

5 down, thousands to go

My boys are EXTREMELY hard on their jeans. We are lucky if they can make a pair of jeans last over a month without getting holes in them. So after taking the 3 youngest kids to the doctor and getting a diagnosis of colds for each one(I knew it but with our trip this weekend I had to know for sure), I went to Walmart and got some vics vapor rub and orange juice for the kids and 1/4 a yard of about 5 different fabrics and some interfacing, I came home to tackle the growing pile of holey jeans.

Now I had the look of patches, they look so dorky to me when they are placed over the top. But with the amount of money it cost for jeans for 3 boys, I thought it was worth it to have them look a little dorky. But when starting I decided to leave the hole showing by putting the patch inside the jeans.

So now I have 5 pairs of jeans done so far, 2 that I just can't patch because the legs are too small to fit over my sewing machine arm, and more to do. There are probably some more in the wash to be patched also. But hey I have 5 pairs that are patched and the boys will be warmer.

Now I think I am going to pick up the living room a bit, work on Ryan's quilt(only 2 more rows before I can add the border on and have the front done) and then go get the boys from school. I enjoy these kind of days where I get to use my creative side. My house might suffer, but mommy is alittle less stressed. I mean that is all that really matters.

Why do I even bother?

I am seriously wondering why I even bother cleaning my house. It seems like whatever area I end up cleaning I find dirty within 10 minutes and if I start to make a dent in the laundry then I go into rooms and find a bunch more clothes. My house is seriously a mess right now, and I have washed dishes twice today, picked up the living room, kitchen, vacuumed the floor in the red room(cant do the rest of the house cause John is sleeping and it would wake him up), used a pumis bar on a toilet with this gray funky stuff in it(don't even want to know what it was, but know the boys have been "forgetting" to flush that toilet), folded some clothes and put away 2 baskets full, had the kids pick up their rooms, and picked up clothes in the bathroom. Yet there is stuff all over the living room again, I have a HUGE pile of laundry to fold and put away, there is more dishes to wash, 2 bathrooms to finish cleaning, the kids rooms are more by their standards than mine, floors to vacuum, etc. I feel like even though I have been busy for a couple hours doing stuff, it isn't even apparent when there are 5 kids in the house.

5 Things Only I Seem To Be Aware Of

There are certain things around the house that I seem to be the only one that is aware of. Now some of these things John knows and does, but mostly I am the only one that seems to be in the know on these items.

1.   Socks do not mate themselves. And if you hide them under your bed, then soon or later you will be out of socks to mate.  And if you only wear them for an hour and you want to take them off, you can put them in your shoes to wear later. You don't have to put new socks on each time. There are days we go through 3 pairs of socks for each child.

2. If you have dogs in a house, you can not put down food on the floor or coffee tables and expect the dogs to NOT eat it. THEY ARE DOGS!! I can't not tell you how many times I hear "hey, where is my cookie(bread, sandwich, etc.)?!"

3. Light switches can go both ways. They do not only have an on position, the other position works too. It wouldn't have both positions if it wasn't meant to be used. Often when we leave the house I come home to find that EVERY light in the house was left on.

4.  If you DO NOT put your clothes in the laundry, they WILL NOT get washed. I am not going to go through your room daily to look under every piece of furniture in your room to search for your favorite shirt to make sure it is washed.

5. Trash has a home and it is NOT  the nearest table, counter, or the floor. I swear there are days where I could go around my house with a big garbage sack and fill the hole thing up with trash found on the floor or tables that the kids could have picked up.             

Now these are just a few of the things that I have noticed that the kids do not seem to get. It is really irritating. And I have noticed that even when I have the house picked up while the kids are in school. When they get home, the house suddenly looks dirty again. It is super frustrating!



1st day of PVCA's school year

This morning was Alex's first day of school. He is in 1st grade this year. He was so excited to see all his friends. He didn't even kiss me goodbye or anything, just rushed off with his buddies. Of course I was threatening to sing happy birthday to one of his buddies. Lol. I love being the goofy mom who all the kids get a kick out of.

It was a little crazy this morning getting back into the routine of going to school again. And we almost walked out the door without Alex's lunch(going to have to get used to sending him lunch because this is our first year of that) I think that I will enjoy him going to school all day because it will make me prioritize my time better. I am already thinking of what I want to do before the boys(Alex and Ryan) need to be picked up from school. Last year the time that Alex was at school I often wasnt' even home, since he only went a half day. Praying I can be a good little housewife/mommy and get my house in order most days. Yes even the laundry which I often let overflow and then it overwhelms me. Well better stop blogging and get to the dishes. Unfortuantely they don't wash themselves.

Cleaning just isn't my passion!!

I am coming to find that it is true that you where you put your money is often your passion. So needless to say that I don't put alot of money into cleaning products. It is true, I will spend money on crafts, pictures, crafty items, but I don't like to spend alot of money on products that are just used to clean my house.

But today when I was trying to vacuum and I once again had to mess around with the vacuum hose because the screw is missing that holds a part of it up, and the piece that broke off the bottom keep refusing to stay in place, and it was ONCE AGAIN clogged up because it has no sucking power, John said that we were buying a new one.

So we went down and got one from Walmart and frankly it made me sick spending $50 on something that just sucks up dirt and hair. All the way home I kept thinking about returning it before John had a chance to open it and get it all together, but I resisted the urge. And I am glad I did. John vacuumed real quick and since it was one without a filter we were able to see everything it picked up. Man was that gross!! The canister was almost 3/4 full from dog hair and dirt that the other one just wasn't picking up anymore.

So although we spent $50 on something I would have prefered not to, I am so glad to have floors that are no longer full of dirt and hair!!

Clothes, Clothes Everywhere!!

I am beginning to believe that my laundry is multiplying it. I am going to have to stop leaving it unattended, cause every time I leave, it seems to have doubled in size. I do run the washer and dryer VERY often, so I am not sure what is happening. And not only that but it also seems like no matter how often I wash clothes we never can find underwear, pjs, or socks. I am beginning to thing that there is a monster living in my house that eats all underwear, pjs, and socks that it can find. And then when it is full it piles more clothes on the piles. That has to be the reason!

So this little problem got me to think about a solution and here is my brill ant idea. Someone needs to create a machine that finds ALL the dirty clothes around the house, washes them, folds them, and put them all away! That would be totally amazing! How much simpler would my day be! So all you inventors out there, this is your next project. Get to work and contact me when you have a working model!!