Making My Home A Haven: Clean

Today's assignment was to clean.

But since I did more cleaning than tidying yesterday, I decided to do a little tidying today.

On my list for today:
-care for my childcare kids
-vacuum and sweep
-water plants
-do a couple of small tidying projects
-rake front walkway
-clean out closet/piles in bedroom

I fixed baked oatmeal with cranberries for breakfast. Yum! This can be mixed in only a few minutes then I baked it while I showered and dressed.

Before the kids arrived, I did some general cleanup around the house, including vacuuming and sweeping, disinfecting doorknobs, etc. with Clorox wipes(I am not usually OC with germs but since we've had some sickness here, I wanted to take precautions!), watering the plants and raked the walkway.

I find myself to be very occupied during the time that my childcare kids are here. Once both of them arrive, I pretty much play with and supervise them exclusively while they are awake.

My morning with the kids consisted of reading, playing and supervising. One of the boys is now being potty-trained so that requires flexibility and consistency on my part to make sure that he is making trips to the bathroom every little while.

The boys were very restless this morning so I bundled them up and loaded them in the wagon. We walked to the park and stopped at the ball field. I closed the gates to the field and let them run to their heart's content. They loved it and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until they both figured out how to open the gates and make a run for it. So I loaded them back into the wagon and we went home for lunch.

After lunch, they watched their favorite TV show-Super Why! and then I put them down for their naps. I quickly checked my email and then went to the kitchen to clean up the lunch mess and emptied and filled the dishwasher. I had forgotten to start dinner earlier, so I went ahead and soaked a couple of cups of pinto beans for bean burritos. I usually make this in the crock pot but since I hadn't planned ahead, I had to improvise. I also took a package of tortillas out of the freezer to thaw.

For my tidying projects, I put away a suitcase filled with a bunch of toys I was switching out. This all went into the shed along with some empty boxes that may come in handy for Christmas. I spent a few minutes in the shed putting the toys into the proper tote and stacking the suitcases.

After I came back in, I remembered that I needed to also put my canner and canning supplies away so I made another trip out to the shed. Having these things put away makes some extra space in the house!

Next I cleaned off my dryer which seems to be a catch-all. I took everything off and wiped it down then sorted and decided what needed to stay. I have to store some things on the dryer for the time-being; it's just hard keeping it neat and orderly looking! I swapped out some baskets from another area and I think it looks much nicer now!
Before:

After:


After this was done, I spent a few minutes straightening a few more shelves in my laundry room/pantry.

The boys were still sleeping soundly and since Andy was home again today(although feeling a whole lot better!)and could listen for the boys, I ran outside to do some raking. In about 15 minutes time, I had about half of the front yard raked.

Evidently, the fresh air did the boys good this morning since they both took really good naps with one sleeping over 3 hours! I finally woke him up and gave them both a snack. After snack, they played with stamps at the table until one left. I read stories to the other one until his mommy came a little later.

I had planned to work on my closet while the beans were cooking but we ended up working on some other things instead. Andy has signed up with a new part-time business venture and his first show is this Saturday. We set up a table and figured out a basic layout of the products so we'll be ready! I assisted with the table cloth and making a pleasing arrangement.:-)

After this, the beans were cooked. I scooped some out into a bowl and mashed them with some salt, garlic powder and cumin. I served the beans with tortillas, cheese, sour cream and salsa. I'd brought some leftover taco shells and meat home from Monday night's leadership meeting so I served them alongside the burritos. Obviously, Andy's appetite was back that he could appreciate Mexican food! He was excited about the "combo" meal.:-)

After dinner cleanup, I worked on blogging a bit then watched a little of NCIS. Around 9:30 it was time for bed!

Thanks to Monica for hosting this week's Making Your Home A Haven!