Diary of a Clean Freak...

Last year, Handsome sold his extra truck, his first love, and we went from this:

(can you say U-G-L-Y?)

(Wow...what a difference, really!)

To this:

While these beautiful double ovens are "self-cleaning" - I don't really trust that feature of my ovens, and we had put off cleaning them long enough.

Several months ago I received my box of Shaklee products in the mail. Now I am sure my parents are having a little giggle and an "I told you so" right now, because when I was growing up, the only products we used were Shaklee products. I will admit that I never appreciated them, until I received that box.

These products are AH-MA-Zing! And the best part is they are non-toxic! Who wants to clean their oven, where they cook food, with some toxic, smelly spray? NOT ME!

Handsome suggested this morning that *we* need to get these ovens cleaned up to keep them looking new. So I pulled out my Shaklee Scour Off...and here are the results...

You can see this breaking down the grime, grease and burn...see that nasty brownness? That means it is WORKING! You literally put this stuff on, let it sit 5-10 minutes and wipe off...it is that EASY (easier than Easy Off and NO SMELL)...

And here is the end result... look how shiny! And it only took me 30 minutes total...

Good As New!!!

And what did Handsome do? Did he help? Uh, no...this is where he was....

(he is sick and not feeling well)

On another note, you may have noticed my perfectly polished nail in that picture before...what kind of crazy person gets a manicure and then cleans their oven?

THIS crazy girl here did!

I rarely get a manicure with color - I paint them myself - because they chip the very next day and that totally annoys me!

My new love...gel manicure. They *bake* the color onto your nail and it does not chip! Proof...here is a shot of my nails AFTER I finished cleaning my oven.

Gel manicure = clean freak's best friend!

(don't mind my pinky...it is hiding - I broke it this summer and it now naturally curls under my other fingers...gross!)

Now I wanna know...who's cooking?

(not me!)

Laundry Room

I am still doing the organizing challenge from A Bowl of Lemons, but falling behind...again. Probably because I spent an entire day re-doing my laundry room.

We woke up on New Year's Eve morning to a broken washing machine (as we were trying to head out of town) and what should have been as simple as drying the jeans from the washer, turned into tearing apart the washing machine...thereby flooding the floor with however many gallons of water that was still sitting in there! Needless to say, my floor was SUPER clean!

Apparently there is a switch that turns the washer on and off, and prevents it from draining when broken, that is triggered by the lid of the washing machine. NOTE: DO NOT slam the lid to the washing machine, because it will break the switch and then you have a problem...and a cussing husband! LOL

I moved everything in here away from the walls to paint the baseboards because all the water stripped off the paint...so I did the shelves, the stripes and the door mouldings too. Ha, I told you, once I get started...

All organized and featuring my vinyl from Shelley over at House of Smith's/Wonderfully Wordy. In hindsight, maybe I should have gotten one that said,

"Don't slam the lid to the washer!"

LOL

That basket has all our winter gloves, hats and scarves...easily accessible as we come in and out.

Found this perfect rug at Marshall's...just wish it were bigger!

And, yes, I decorated my laundry room - it is the first room I see everyday when I come in from the garage, so I wanted it to look nice. I also thought it might motivate me to spend more time in there doing laundry...I was WRONG!

Organizing...Getting Caught Up on the Challenge

BUSY weekend...I worked on getting caught up on the 21 Day Organizing Challenge going on over at A Bowl Full of Lemons (abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com) and am caught up. That is a great feeling, but not as great as having these "trouble" areas of my home organized, purged and clean!

So, while I hesitate to post these pictures, I must...so don't judge! While I may look perfect on the outside (ha ha), the truth has been hiding in my cupboards, pantry and linen closet. I was thinking yesterday - you know how when you are moving you want to get "settled" so you just put stuff away and it doesn't always have rhyme or reason (or organization)? And then you think, "I will organize that later"? Well, we have been in our house for 6 years in March (yikes)...and later has apparently arrived!

Here we go...

DRESSER DRAWERS:

Yep they were a mess! I have too much stuff (I got rid 0f a lot)...and when Handsome gets angry because he folds my clothes and I don't put them away, sometimes I just shove them in a drawer (oops!).

PANTRY:

Like I said...don't judge (even though that blue stool is just thrown in the bottom here...hehehe. I can't believe how much old, expired, food I found - stuff we will never eat. Into the trash it went.

I still need to paint the inside of this pantry and line the shelves (which I can't do until I paint)...but is is sparkly clean and super organized. I found some cool little black and white baskets at the Dollar Tree and then, of course, still have my Tupperwares from eons ago (but still so handy!).

A little side-note...I think I created a monster in Princess. She was using the label maker to do all the labels for the Tupperware containers and then disappeared into her room. She called me in later and, low and behold, she had labeled all her bins in her closet (which she had earlier organized herself). LOL...she LOVES that label maker!

LINEN CLOSET:

This area wasn't too bad - I do try to keep it somewhat neat ("Sure," you are thinking as you look at the before picture). What you can't see is the towering stacks of decorative holiday towels that is shoved in the corner!

I will say that my hubs does most of the towel folding...and he does a great job. So I had him give me a quick lesson on his style, which looks prettier in the closet than the way I normally do it (the lazy man's way). Again...still needs a paint job, but it is clean and organized.

CUPBOARD ABOVE OVENS:

This cupboard is not on the Challenge list (yet?)...but it was driving me nuts trying to put stuff away up here because it was a mess...

This literally took me 5 minutes to organize and clean (with the help of a pan organizer I bought at Big Lots for $5) and so worth it!

So that's it for today....now I have to do today's challenge, which is the coat closet - oh yay! Another troublesome spot for me!

Just remember...one day at a time - one space at a time!

~alicia

Organizing Challenge - Day 1, 3 and 5

Sooo...I started out behind and am still behind (but only by 2 days as of today). But I managed to get Day 1: Junk Drawer, Day 3: Tupperware Cupboard and Day 5: Under the sink (eew)...Here are my before and after pix. Now I just have Day 2: Desktop and Day 4: Linen Closet and whatever tomorrow is (hopefully something easy)

Not to mention...I *STILL* have to take down Christmas and finish a Christmas project. Ugh...but my kitchen is getting organized. LOL Nevermind that the rest of my house is neglected...I have 3 clean, organized areas!

While each of these areas took me only 15-20 minutes each to empty, clean, organize...I tend to then move onto another cupboard or area, which takes me hours! It is kind of like that book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"...ha ha. But realistically, this just takes a few minutes and is inexpensive. I bought a bunch of crates and storage stuff at the Dollar Tree and Big Lots for cheap (no one will really see it anyway). I bought rolls of the shelf liner paper at the Dollar Tree for, uh, a dollar! I have to go get more so I can line all 12 of my kitchen drawers. My pantry is on my list...and I am sure it will be on the 21 day challenge...but I have to paint the inside of mine, so I am hoping to get a jump start on that this weekend - ha! (after I take down Christmas and put up Valentine's Day). DAY 1: JUNK DRAWERS: This is embarrassing and gladly no one every showed up and attempted to open these two drawers - they are at the far end of my kitchen and not easily accessible...although accessible enough for us to shove stuff in!

DAY 3: TUPPERWARE CUPBOARD

Hopefully this new system will help Princess not just shove lids wherever in the drawer (which I couldn't even open all the way) when she empties the dishwasher. And, I even freed up a drawer...what will I ever do with that?

DAY 5: UNDER THE SINK

Well, this is the *the* gross-est places in my kitchen, and I typically ignore it. But I got all my new Shaklee products this week (they are all natural, non-toxic for a clean, healthy home), so I felt compelled to throw out the old stuff and get this area cleaned up.

Check back tomorrow or the next day for more updates!

If you want to join in the fun, check out the link to A Bowl Full of Lemons...she has a ton of great ideas on her blog!

~alicia

21 Day Get Organized Challenge

As most of my friends know, I am pretty organized already...but I am joining a challenge to get organized in 21 days...I have my problem areas too! If you want to take the challenge with me, click on this link below:

Happy Organizing and Happy New Year!

~alicia

Dear Paige,

Today we sat down on the couch

And we began to dream

Of all the things you'd ask for

Your eyes began to gleam.

And then there came THE question,
The hardest of them all:
"Mommy, is Santa real,
or just some guy at the mall?"



You're still too young to ask me this;
At eight, you should still believe
In every whimsey, wish and want
Your wildest dreams conceive.
Your life should be a piggy bank
Of candy, fun and kisses,
The day will come when you will need
That bank of "come true wishes."



If faith had magic powers, Paige,
I'd break it's silly spell,
But if you'll crawl up on my lap
And listen very well...
I'll tell you by the gentle breeze
That whispers from above
That I believe in Santa Claus,
For Santa Claus is love.



I haven't seen old Santa, Paige,
I doubt I ever will.
For he is like the welcome wind
That dashes down the hill.
But somethings things you cannot see
Are felt with greater force,
And though I cannot catch the wind,
I track its daily course.



I haven't seen old Santa, Paige,
And yet I dare to say
That every time I see a child
Delight in Christmas day,
And every time I see a grin
Erase an old man's wrinkle,
The spark that glows within his eye
Must surely be Santa's twinkle.



When one bad year I didn't have
The cash for Christmas toys,
It was somehow devlievered and
Our home was filled with Christmas joy.
And if you want MY honest guess,
what put those presents there
Was indeed Santa Claus and nothing less.



When some fine day you have a child
In years, as they are not yet born,
You'll see them search a tinseled tree
And leave the wrappings torn;
And then you'll see their eyes light up
Like Christmas stars above
And you'll believe in Santa Claus,
For Santa Claus is LOVE.

Pushing Forty!

Whoever said, "Forty is the new thirty," LIED!

I know, I know...I can hear all my friends groaning at me right now because for the past 5-6 years, I have used the quote endlessly with all my friends who were turning forty. Whenever a friend would lament at edging ever closer to the big 4-0, I would whip out this quote - not quite understanding what they were complaining about.

Well, here I am, standing on that same edge - only two months from my own fortieth birthday; a day I swore for years I would be excited about. However, now I am not so sure.

I have always admired women in their forties, well maybe always is pushing it; since I was thirty anyway. These women seem so self-assured and confident, so calm about the calamities of life, so full of grace and wisdom and patience (something I was not born with and something I work very hard to have every day). I realized that these women, by age forty, had gotten to a point in their lives where they like themselves and don't care what others think; they have "arrived," they are mature and others look up to them. I could not wait to get there and be amongst these remarkable women.

Here I am...knocking at the door to be let in.

What I never thought about, all these years, was the physical aspect of forty. Backwards I know, but true. I have been so focused on the inward changes of this "coming of age" that I never looked or asked about what forty did to one's body. I am now finding out for myself! I've spent the last ten years working on the inside and I just assumed my body would follow, that it would take care of itself...and you know what they say about assuming...

Weight has never been a problem for me, except when it was working in the opposite direction; I have always been thin. To give you some idea, my goal at age sixteen was to weigh 100 pounds and not have to shop in the kids department at Sears or The Children's Place; I was so excited when they opened up the 5-7-9 shop in the mall...a size zero and I was in heaven! My other dream was to have a womanly figure and not be stick thin and flat as as board; that dream came true at nearly age 17.

When I had my first son, three weeks before turning 21, I was back into my size two jeans in two weeks. My mother was appalled and made the statement, "Just wait until your second one, then you can kiss that tiny waist good-bye." After my second son, I was able to get into a size four jean after three weeks. And so it progressed, until I had my fourth child at age 32...I was lucky to get into a size ten and was pushing twelve. My 18-year-old son continually reminds me I look "great for my age"...another euphemism for, "Damn, you are old!"

I noticed the morning I turned thirty...my body really didn't look the same as it had just hours before. I complained, I lamented, but I did nothing about it. I was going through a divorce at the time, thus a "divorce diet" which left me unnaturally thin for my height. But the hard body I had...well, it was gone. It was as if the "age fairy" came during the night and replaced it with a lesser model, one that required more work and effort to maintain (as if I don't have enough to do). Over the past several years, I have dieted and lost the extra pounds and inches, I have worked out to become firmer, I eat better to stay healthy but I notice now, it takes much longer to get noticeable, if any, results. And the results usually don't come without pain. And that "fairy"...she keeps showing up every year, and every year what she leaves me with is worse than the year before!

Back in September, I was training to run in the Duke City Marathon with some girlfriends, we were going to do the relay. I decided I'd better "step it up" to two runs a day. Day two, second run, I blow my knee out. No provocation, no indication, nothing...just done. I could barely even walk and stayed off it for months to allow it to heal. I was finally able to walk briskly three months later...too late to work off all the crap I'd indulged in over the holidays, but a starting point. Come to find out...I have a torn miniscus and now must go to physical therapy; something else I don't have time for, what with the mammogram, the cholesterol screening, the bone density test, etc. etc.!

I am noticing, the closer that I get to 40, that my thighs are not as firm as they once were and are encroaching on my kneecaps. I now understand why women wear pantyhose all the time; I am not quite there yet, but could be by June! I've also noticed the ever popular "bat wings" (as I call them), which immediately show up when I wave my arm...I won't be doing that in a short-sleeve or sleeveless top any time soon. And of course, those "curves" that I asked for...need to be put back where they belong. The gray hair that peppers my head (and now eyebrows) is a pleasant reminder that the days are flying by and, oh, now would be a good time to dye again. Probably the most annoying of changes is the one where I feel like an 80-year-0ld woman getting out of bed...thanks to my back. This back has been through a lot - carried four kids for years and now it is time for paybacks. I get up and stretch, creak and crack all the way to the shower and, though everyone tells me I should give them up, I know my three-inch heel shoe collection isn't helping with this issue at all.

I know I should be grateful that I have my health. Is that what we say now that we're forty? Is that the end-all-be-all statement for when we complain about anything having to do with our less than perfect physical bodies? What's a girl to do?

Well, this girl is going to get herself to the gym and get serious about making her outside match her inside and prove that forty really is the "new thirty." Hopefully I will be unrecognizable, and not from plastic surgery or Botox, in Scottsdale on my 40th birthday and that the surprise will be how fantastic I look and feel!

Only then will I be ready to become one of those remarkable women that I look up to. Although, truth be told, what I admire about them is that they are comfortable in their own skin and that their beauty is not just skin deep, that what lies beneath the surface somehow radiates from within.

~alicia