It’s that time of the month…no, not that time. π It is time for my ‘Keeping it Real‘ post. If you are new to my blog, one of my goals with this blog is to keep things real. It is so easy to make things look all perfect on a blog and I don’t want that on my blog. Here, I try to keep things real, not fake and magazine glossy.
Last month, I told you I was going to try to take some before pictures for these posts. I’m still working to remember to take those pictures because I think I would rather not remember the before and during. The after is so much prettier. I did remember one time and I also got one cute shot to share with you.
In the last month, we have had a few American Girl Doll posts(American Girl Craft: Valentine Mailboxes). My sweet girls really wanted to help. Snowflake, who is now 11, really likes ‘styling’ her dolls. She set up a styling studio and was the official stylist for all of my American Girl Doll photography this month. Ohh La La!
This is Snowflake styling the dolls for the Free American Girl Doll Patterns: Girl Scout Uniform post. Pumpkin was getting all of the pets ready and clean in her new pet bath set. They had fun, the dolls looked great and I loved the help!
Not too bad, but still a bit messy. Creative genius at work people, creative genius…haha! Not really, just trying to make my mess seem better. I got a new lens for my camera…this was my first day using it.
Here is what the kitchen table looked like while I was getting the shot for the Giveaway! American Girl Chef Set. You can see I still had the winter centerpiece on the table. Once again, not anything too bad, just showing you the reality.
This is what you saw in that blog post.
My kitchen table is white, which makes it a great place to take lots of pictures. Things stand out really well on the white. You would never know all that other stuff was on the table, would you?
Last month, I also wrote about how I was really frustrated with my girls staying up late all the time and being tired and cranky. Keeping it Real ~ January 2013 They are still up late. However, they are not as cranky as I have been implementing the separating them idea and it seems to be working. I think the only way I will be able to totally eliminate them staying up late is to separate their rooms. I don’t want to do that at this point. Maybe in a year or two, but for now, I really would like them to share a room.
I also told you about my struggle feeling like I need to be superwoman last month. How sometimes, no all the time, it is hard to juggle all of the commitments I have along with trying to take care of cleaning and such things. I still struggle with trying to do it all and be it all. I think I probably will always struggle with it and trying to let go. I have found one thing that is working for me.
For a few years, we had been using Fly Lady’s ideas and schedule for cleaning the house. For whatever reason, it just wasn’t working for us anymore. No one was doing any cleaning except for a one hour house clean together as a family on Saturdays. That was hit or miss depending on our schedule. It was also becoming a torture session for the whole family. I knew I needed to figure something else out.
I happened upon another blog, Clean Mama. She has a blog and an Etsy shop with all kinds of printables to help you be organized and on track. She also recently released an e-book. Click here to visit Clean Mama – Clean Mama Printables. It was just $10 and after looking around her site, I decided to get the book and see if it might help. It has thus far.
Her system is similar to Fly Lady in that it breaks things down into small daily tasks but she handles the whole deep cleaning of the house differently. So far, this is working really nicely for us. I have read most of the book. It is an easy read. I have implemented the daily tasks and the weekly cleaning. Her idea is that daily you clean the counters, touch up any floors that need a quick sweep or vacuum, clean up a small bit of clutter, and do one load of laundry. I was already doing one load of laundry a day so that was easy to implement! I took one week at a time to add the others in. I love it! I don’t love the doing it part, but I love that my bathrooms and kitchen are clean! I love that the kitchen floor doesn’t crunch as you walk through…lovely!
For me, I have realized it is kind of like exercising. Most mornings, I would rather hit the snooze than get up and exercise. I do get up and exercise because I LOVE how I feel when I do. I love that I feel fit and strong. I love that it keeps me a healthy weight and how that feels. I don’t love the actual getting up to do it. For me, cleaning is the same way. I don’t look forward to it and I don’t love the actual doing it, but I love the result of it. I am trying to keep that in mind on days I would rather not take the 15 to 30 minutes to do what needs to be done.
There is still more of her system that I need to learn and figure out, but I will get there. Right now, this is what I can handle and fit into my day. It is working in that the house is actually relatively clean. I try to get the cleaning done during our lunch break in our homeschool day. I used to do a little blog work then, so the drawback is that it seems to have made my nights a little longer. I need to work on cutting that down somehow and I need to work on taking care of myself by getting more sleep than I am. Sometimes, I wonder if my example of not getting enough sleep is rubbing off on the girls and that is why they stay up late…or maybe they just take after their parents and are night owls. Wish we didn’t have morning obligations, so we could just stay up later and sleep in later, too. Oh…well now I think I am rambling.
To sum it up, I’m still not Superwoman. Aren’t you shocked by that?! I’m working to try to balance that and be realistic about what I can and can’t accomplish in one day. I tend to take on way more than I should, then get stressed about it. In the end, it gets done, but I haven’t taken as good of care of myself or my house or kids as I need to and want to. It will be a continuous adjustment throughout my life. I have adjusted this month to add cleaning and some more time with my girls. I love getting some more time with my girls and I love my house being cleaner. This month it seems like a good trade off. I wonder what I will think next month?
I love real, girl:) Thanks!
Thanks, my sweet cousin! Any chance there is a race up this way coming up? It would be great to get to see you all.
Take care,
KC
Thanks for keeping it real, KC! π LOVE your blog & wanted to stop by to let you know that I nominated you for a Versatile Blogger Award!! You can check out the post where I nominated you, linking to your fabulous blog, at: https://chattingoverchocolate.blogspot.com/2013/02/receiving-and-bestowing-honor-of.html …Congrats!!
Looking forward to “partying” with you later tonight!
Brenda
ChattingOverChocolate.blogspot.com
Thank you, Brenda! I look forward to seeing you at the party tonight – I haven’t looked yet, so you might have already linked up.
Take care,
KC
I love your style! It’s always fun to catch a glimpse of what other people’s houses look like day to day. (=
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed getting to see a glimpse of our house.
Have a great weekend.
KC
Thanks for sharing and keeping it real. Love the American Girl Chef set–so cute. (Stopping by from TT&J Wrap Party.)
Thanks!
KC
Came across you on Tater Tots and Jello’s link up party and just wanted to tell you how much I love this post and how much I appreciate it when a blogger shares what I jokingly call “the non-Pinterest side” of their life. I try to do this to be it with project failures or messy rooms b/c I really believe that sometimes we all breathe a sigh of relief when we see a blogger that is just like us. Cheers!
Thank you! I appreciate your sweet comment…it helps me keep them coming to know people actually like my ‘real’ world.
Take care,
KC
Thanks for keeping it real… Love it! xoxo~ Ruthie
Thanks!
KC
I often have to remind myself that I can’t be super mom either. I tend to get overwhelmed easily so I know when I need to take a step back and relax.
I think I need to remind myself hourly that I can’t be super mom. I stink at letting things go. It is a work in progress, right?
Take care, Cheryl.
KC
The,SHE system is ace as well
I will have to check that out. Thanks for the tip.
KC
Love how you keep it real π I used to use Fly Lady, too… it worked for a long time and then it stopped… for whatever reason, I’ve found my own “thing” that works well, but I’m definitely going to check out the printables you mentioned.
I’d be thrilled if you’d link up at this week’s Off the Hook!
Thanks, Lauren! I’m glad you found something that works well for you. I hope to figure that out for myself soon.
Take care,
KC
Thanks for keeping it real:) I’m pregnant, just moved into our new house and I’m taking care of a 10 year old boy on top of the daily tasks I remind myself to do.. it’s hard sometimes to just sit back and remind myself I don’t need to do EVERYTHING! Even though I feel that way sometimes. So excited to follow your super cute blog!
Yeah, I can understand that feeling of needing to sit back and not try to do EVERYTHING! It sure can be hard. I hope you are able to put your feet up and take a break for a little bit today. That is what I am working on…
Take care,
KC
I love that you’re keeping it real! Found you via Clean & Scentsible’s Link Party. If you haven’t already, I’d love if you’d come join my How To Tuesday link party, too.
https://housewifehowtos.com/link-party-2/how-to-tuesday-link-party-10/
P.S. I have some cleaning routine printables you might like, too. π
Thanks!
KC