I want to know why Bensen can practically sit on Jenavieve or run over her with his toy lawn mower and she doesn’t make a peep or giggles about it…but when Sean or I bump or disturb her in the slightest she sure lets us know about it. It truly amazes me. I don’t know if she thinks she has me that fooled, or what it is, but it’s starting to drive me crazy. I think it’s cute that her and her big brother get along so well! He loves her to pieces, sometimes literally. lol jk! It sure is precious though. I can’t believe some days that God chose to give me these two wonderful children! As crazy as I may go, as much as I want to cry, I have never felt so much love and joy!

21 Days, is that really all it takes to form a new habit? I can’t say that I really know for sure. But, after some of the research I have done, I have decided to try to put that theory to practice for getting things in my life the “way” i want them “to be”. I know it won’t even be close to perfect, but I know that I can give it my best, so that’s what I am going to do!

I started a few weeks ago with my morning “routine” so to say. I was very quick to get on the computer as soon as i got up and checked my facebook, etc…but over the past few weeks, I really have been working at not spending so much time on facebook, originally I said, ok no more than 30 minutes. Realistically I haven’t been that good, but my time has been cut back significantly. I really have been wanting to spend more time actually reading the Bible to my kids, so now the mornings have gone a little bit more like this. I get the kids out of bed, start to get breakfast ready for Bensen. As his breakfast is cooking, I tend to “clean” the kitchen. Wipe down and disinfect for the day. Do any left over dishes, etc from the night before. Then while he’s eating breakfast I’ve been reading the correlating Proverbs that goes with the day of the month to Benben and Jenavieve. We’ve been really enjoying that time together, and I know that the kids don’t understand yet, but I’m forming that habit of morning devotions now. It’s been really exciting! So I have this whole “list” you could say of new commitments and habits I want to form. So what I’ve been wanting to do and working on is developing a system of sorts that has a list of 10-15 things on it I am taking each one at a time and taking 21 days devoted to making sure it happens. Reminders everywhere and even if I “don’t feel like it” making sure it happens. Now that sounds easy in theory, but it’s not of course. So if I don’t do it even just one day, the 21 days start all over again. I feel like I am actually getting somewhere. and I’m not overloading myself either, I’m only focusing on one area at a time, adding in only another one after 2-3 weeks (at least that’s the plan). That means that in a years time I can take 21 days only one area in life at a time and change 17 things in that year. It’s worth a shot! We’ll see how it goes I guess, but I’ve been feeling quite motivated and for once not completely overwhelmed and feeling behind before I start.

The next step I’m working on is keeping a specific spot in each area of the house as clean as possible. I tend to let my dresser pile up, the sink/counter pile up and the end wall table in the living room stack a mile high. I’m going to make it my new 21 day commitment to keep those areas clutter free and clean at all times. I’m going to try to develop some other “system” to putting away things that I want to stack up on there. In other words, it is simple enough to put the dishes right next to the sink in the dishwasher, or wash them right away. And find a new place to throw my purse when I walk in the house. Why in the world I feel the need to stack everything in sight on my dresser I don’t know, but these are the major areas I want to work on for 21 days starting this week. We’ll see how I do. From there after they are “working” out for me, I’ll attempt another three areas of the house, perhaps the kids dressers, the steps and the coffee/end table! LOL
Anyway, I guess that’s all for now. Meanwhile I’ll be working out the “list” and figure out the priorities and see how this whole thing plays out for me! I also just got a new book from my neighbor called “The House That Cleans Itself” I’ve read a few tips from there in the past and I’m very excited to dive in and really work on it! Ok, tah for now!

So I’ve been doing so research because now that we’ve got warmer weather approaching it seem as though are house has been breeding grounds for little crab spiders. And not to embarrass anyone here, but the standing deal in our house is, I deal with insects and my hubby deal with rodents! (Ahhh I HATE Rodents! AHH Getting chills just writing this!) Anyway, so I’ve been doing some research here on what to do about these “little” problems. Sean has been a little irritated with me that I won’t allow him to spray for these spiders that he hates so deeply. So I have recently decided to do some research on natural ways to deal with this dilemma. Some have actually worked, some I’m waiting to find out!
Spiders Top 3 Natural Deterrents:
1) Vinegar and Peppermint Essential Oil
2) Baking Soda
3) Eucalyptus leaves

Ants:
1) Vinegar and Peppermint Essential Oil
2) Bay Leaves
3) Dried Sage and Cinnamon

I read that ground cloves and cucumber peels also helps to deter ants, spiders, moths, mites, beetles and house flies too? Dunno because I haven’t had them all and haven’t tried it yet, but I think I’m going to!

Boric acid is also effective in actually killing silverfish, earwigs, stink bugs and various other insects too. I actually got a tip on using Borax (which I’ve been using to make home cleaners anyway) by itself sprinkled in by/behind the trashcan, refrigerator and dishwasher to stop insects from coming to those common problem areas. We deal with centipedes pretty badly in the winter too, so I am hoping that the borax will help with them. Along with spraying down the basement with the vinegar/peppermint mix. I know people probably come to my house and think that it stinks awful cause of all the vinegar I use. I try to cover it up and evaporate it with other things, I don’t know if I’m successful because I don’t even know if I can smell it anymore. But I can tell you, I swear it is a miracle product! lol I also read a few things about using Olive Oil as a deterrent, but I have no idea for what or how it works.

Anyway, so that’s about it!

Spraying down the basement again and hoping to get a lot of the dust and dampness taken care of too. Should help! We’ll see!
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that mice are supposed to hate peppermint and cinnamon too. Again I don’t know how true that is because honestly I just want those suckers dead on contact! Alright I’m done for tonight, I really need to get to bed.

I can’t believe that it’s already almost 5pm! Where has this day gone? It’s so beautiful though, we really enjoyed a lot of fun playing outside today with the neighbors.

Anyway, Miss Jenavieve is growing up fast, and she is so ridiculously smart! I’m not saying that in a bragging way about my daughter at all, (I don’t think she’s anything special from other 4 month olds out there) but she has definitely got some things figured out at 4 months that I am sure took Bensen much longer to realize. Today for instance, she was inside in her exersaucer while Bensen and I were outside. I could hear her and could peak in a see her, and for no reason (other than she was done playing) decided to start crying. I left her go for a little while because just like Bensen when he was 3 months old, refuse to just pick up a crying baby just because they are crying. She was starting to get pretty upset and I could tell (or so I thought) there was something actually bothering her or wrong. So I came inside, she stopped crying completely for a second, looked at me, smiled a big smile with almost a giggle to it, then…get this…started up crying almost a totally fake crying scream! I couldn’t believe it was that blatant! I know that babies learn early how to manipulate and cry to get what they want, not because they are trying to be bad, they just learn cause and effect really early. I just want her to learn Mommy will take care of your needs make sure that you are dry and full, but just because you are “done with a toy” doesn’t mean I’m going to entertain your every whim! Anyway, so that’s exactly what my daughter did to me today. I’m also starting to have a little issue all of the sudden where she will cry for quite a while at night. Not because she is hungry or anything is wrong, and she doesn’t even necessarily want to be held (even if she did, I don’t just hold her anymore) she just cries. Weirdness! She is so different from Bensen, I love to watch her observe things and play with things now too. She loves her little toys and rattle dollies. Watching Bensen makes her giggle so sweetly too. Anyway, there was my brag on her ;0)

I guess it’s just another reminder of how hard it is to be consistent and to work at training up your children! Even when they are screaming crying babies about it! I always laugh at Sean whenever he asks, “Why are they being such babies about it?” Which reminds me often as to why I have to be such a baby about my own issues? lol Prayerfully we will have a better night for baby Jena, I pray these little crying fits aren’t because of some kind of pattern she’s learned. Early on I would hold her all night because she wouldn’t sleep unless she was being held. At newborn ages, it takes awhile to get used to just being alive, I have no problems with that. But she started really sleeping through the night awhile ago. She would go to be around 9:30 maybe wake up once or twice, fuss a minute or two, sometimes I would give her her binky and not get up to eat again until 5:30am or so. But it seems like the past 2 weeks or so she’s been waking up earlier and earlier and crying longer and longer!

Alright, I guess I am off to feed the fam…I’m happy it’s Friday night, I think we are going out to eat! Woot Woot!

We’ve been doing a semi-monthly Bible Study at my house on Managing Your Moods. This past weeks chapter was on Temper. When we first started talking about this, I thought this was the least of my “struggles” with moods and that I’m not out of control when it comes to temper. But after reading further and asking God to show me where how I can learn, I learned a lot! Too much. Let’s go back to my last two posts, (chuckling inside here) they were all about venting anger and frustrations. I seem to be doing that more and more. I get angry and think, I’m justified to be upset, “you” (whoever you are) aren’t doing it my way and you are just stupid because you aren’t doing it “right” or sensibly or BIBLICALLY for that matter! Oh yes, I go there in my head, and it’s really funny to me that I do because that’s something I strive so hard against and hate soooo badly is when people get all on their spiritual high horses about things and act like they got it all together and God is going to bless them beacuse they are doing “right in His eyes”. Ok, that was off topic, and YES God does bless us for practicing righteousness, but He gives us trials too. Anyway….this isn’t my point and I think I have a jumbled up mess in what I was trying to say….SO I’ll just say it.
I’m so guilty of a temper in my own selfish way! Truly and honestly, I do want to seek after God, and His ways and His blessings, but who do I think I am? We read Jonah 4:9 and God asked Jonah if it was right to be angry about the issue. And Jonah basically had a temper tantrum and said, YES it’s right to the point of death! Basically saying He God, back off, I can feel exactly how I want to feel, don’t tell me I shouldn’t be angry, I’m so angry I’ll just die! Pretty pathetic and pretty much me. I know i already shared Proverbs 29:11, but I also found Proverbs 18:2 that says, “A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart”. ouch for me! I always think for some reason I need to share what’s on my heart. I mean, it’s what is on my heart, so it’s real and should be shared with the world. Heck its why I even write on a blog or post facebook statuses LOL! Makes me wonder if I should even keep writing a blog, lol, not really, but in a way! So to those poor souls who actually read this, I am sorry. I would love to bless people and help them out with my writings, but that’s just not a gift God has given me thus far. SO, I write more for myself, as a journal and something to share with my kiddos later on in life. I’m really rambling off the point of my thoughts today. Well the point is, I really want to get into what Foolishness is. In God’s eyes. I don’t know that I take the word “fool” seriously enough. I’m not sure our culture takes that word seriously enough. No one wants to be called a fool, but sometimes I think that word carries deeper meaning than we give it. Like when Proverbs 29:11, or 18:2 or even 14:29 talks about it. Ok, more on that later. Baby crying and I must get going!

Ok, I’m going on a little venting rampage right now. I feel like total crap about my life and about who I am for God. I guess that’s how I should feel because I am worthless before God, but I KNOW the truth about who He has made me and WHAT He has done for me.
Its completely ridiculous and totally self indulging here to rant like I want to and am going to. But I am completely and utterly frustrated with me. I want one thing and I act completely differently. I hate how certain people make me feel, well I know they don’t make me feel that way, but the way that i respond to them. That’s not the point though. I don’t like who I am around them plain and simple. I want to grow and I feel like they keep me in it when I’m trying to get God to pull me out of it. I think thoughts that are absolutely horrific and sinful. I get self righteous and then just down right angry to tears, and it’s for sure not the be angry and sin not kinda anger, its just madness. I feel totally sick to my stomach and I just want to scream. I’ve been sitting here all afternoon thinking, should I call someone? My Mom? My friend? Even take Sean from work? Instead I’ve spent the past 10 minutes yelling at God for how I feel and now feel even worse, so I’m sure I’m writing this all to feel worse too. I don’t even know exactly what the issue is to “fix it”. I just know that I am hurt, frustrated and angry. Of course that’s get misconstrued by others as completely different emotions, which is turn gets me yet more hurt and more angry! Vicious little cycle I have going on here. Oh the immaturity of me really! The dirty rotten sinfulness that’s filling every part of me right now, and instead of cutting off the peptides that are filling my mind, I believe I am feeding them and I’m not sure why. And quite honestly when I feel like this, I’m not sure how to make them stop or if I want them to stop. I just want to have a reason to BE MAD. Ridiculous, this is NOT who I want to be…but it’s who I’m choosing right now!?!? WHAT?!?!?! Alright, I’m done for the moment. I think.

It started last night as I was reading A Mother After God’s Own Heart. I was feeling very convicted about the time I am spending for Him with them. Yes I play with my kids everyday, I even read to them everyday, and I pray with Ben at almost every meal and every nap/bed time. But the time I am really spending for God with my kids, is far too lax. I found several places of research that say by the time a child is between 4 and 5 their characters of who they are are pretty much set and is more difficult to change. That doesn’t mean at 5 I’m going to give up. But I find myself as an adult having to “redo” all kinds of things in my life when really, I wonder how much was set by age 4 or 5. (I’m not blaming my parents in anyway shape or form here. We are all dirty rotten sinners.) I just have been thinking, we are almost half way to that point with Bensen. And I would so much rather work two times harder with him now, than have him have to work at it ten times harder as an adult. I think I talk myself into believing that Bensen, or Jenavieve for that matter, don’t really understand. I can’t sit and just read the Bible alone to them. Stories about God, sure all the time, but the actual Word of God? They’ll never understand! WHAT LIES!!!! I don’t think you could believe the amount of conviction I am under and the tears and prayers to God right now over this very issue. I read Proverbs 31 today, I’ve read it a million times, but today, for the first time ever…the verse “she does not eat the bread of idleness” hurt me in a very deep way. I spend far too much time on facebook or playing games. I make excuses like it’s “down time” for me, or there is nothing else I feel like doing, or I’ll get to work later, or Jena’s eating, i can’t get up anyway. My poor husband has been concerned about the time I spend on the computer for a while now, and I’ve been getting mad at him, thinking, how dare he tell me what is or isn’t too much time! He’s on there all day, albeit for work! But it is all day. I’m horrible!
In any case, I have decided to limit my time to no more than 30 min a day on facebook, and no more than that on games. There isn’t anything wrong with it, and I’m not trying to make it out to be anything here. Just for me, I’ve made it something it shouldn’t be. I want to truly spend more time for God with my kids. I want to structure my kids days a little better than I have been. I know I’m going to make a thousand and ten mistakes in raising these precious kids. But I feel like the least I can do is “protection” control right now. I am replaying the verse in Deuteronomy over and over in my head, “my words shall be on your hearts and you shall teach them diligently to your children”. I don’t want to be some type of wonder mom here, but if I’m not diligently teaching them God’s Word, than who is? This isn’t easy for me. This isn’t even something I picture myself doing. I don’t want to “be fake” with my kids about God. I don’t want to “do it” just because I know I should, but because it’s out of love for God and my children. I desperately want my kids to be excited for Christ, and I know that won’t just happen. It needs Him to pull them to Himself, and He put me in charge of being their guide. “A child left to himself will bring shame to his mother” Proverbs (?I forget already!?)
Anyway, that’s my little rant right now. I’ve got much to do and much prayer is needed. I’m worried to be honest, not of doing it, but of my own wicked heart. I’m worried that my kids are going to think “oh mom, here she goes again” and push them away instead of pushing them towards God and towards their Daddy’s and my hearts. It’s not easy. Anyone that does actually stumble on this and reads it, I ask you to just pray for us. And I will try to do the same for every Mom of God out there! It’s a battle for souls that’s for sure!

Ok, so I thought I would just make a quick note post today about home cleaners I’ve been making. LOVE it! I honestly can’t believe how well some of them clean! I’ve gotten some really great results, and it’s great on the wallet and for the lungs! I found several great websites out there that have given me great tips on recipes for making my own homemade cleaners. Mostly I use vinegar, lemon juice, borax and essential oils. I cleaned out my entire refrigerator today and it took all the sticky greasy molding grossy stuff right off the shelves and in the crevasses. Anyway, I’m really loving making them and I’m happy with the benefits. I’ll probably post some of the tips and tricks I’ve learned later…but for now…I will leave this website as a resource for what I’ve been doing!
http://natural-healthy-home-cleaning-tips.com
Just thought I’d share!

Ok so I have a little more time to sit down and write, so.
I have found homemade cleaners to be awesome! Vinegar does have a smell to it, but I think I figured out the secret for masking it. I’m using 10 drops of pure lavender essential oils, and 2-3 drops of lemon essential oils and a little bit of the lemon peel. So far it’s worked great. I use that with 1/2 cup vinegar 2 tbsp of borax and 16 oz of heated distilled water. I started using distilled water only recently and it’s made a very big difference in streaking/residue!

I’m also loving using baking soda in my washing machine!!! It has literally removed stains without prewashing them or stains that I thought where pretty set in. Now I’ve only really used it on my baby clothes for diaper leak stains, but it’s worked awesome! I’ve also used a little vinegar in the washing machine already, I’m not crazy about the results, and really don’t know how to work getting the smell from the clothes? So I’m personally not a fan…BUT I did use it on a run that had stains of mold/mildew, and that my friend is the trick there! As far as that smell goes, once it was washed, I used several dryer sheets sprinkled with baking soda, and that was fine for that. I just don’t want my baby smelling vinegar fresh! lol (And again, just to mention, DO NOT USE VINEGAR WITH ANY BLEACH! THE COMBINATION IS TOXIC!)

Dishwashers: Oh the fun of hard water!!!! I seem to get dirty dishes out of the dishwasher than when I first put them in! NOW…I’m using Vinegar in the “jet dry” rinse area and I’m mixing a teaspoon or so of baking soda with my dishwasher soap and I’m getting much better results. I also used just vinegar to clean the dishwasher and that removed a lot of the build up and grossness inside of the dishwasher. Very pleased with results.

Bring those stainless steal sinks to an ultra shine! Ok, so if your sink gets gunked and funked like mine does, try this! I LOVED how it worked on my sink. Start by plugging your drain and pour in 1 1/2 cups on Lemon Juice and turn on the hot water and add in 3/4 cups of baking soda, you’ll get a few fizzes that will dissipate as the water continues to run. Fill the sink to the tippy top with the hot water and let it sit for at least one hour. Not only are you killing all kinds of nasty germs/bacteria in the sink, when you drain out the water you can use a SOS pad or some sorta of scratch free pad and the rest of the goop and gunk will wipe away, rinse out with hot water and clean with a tooth brush around the faucets and handles and you should be good to go with a shiny bright stainless sink! And the best part is, all natural!

How about those bathtubs?! We live in a really old house, so old of a bathtub that the sealant on the porcelain is virtually non existent, so this is my new bi-weekly cleaning (I do other wipes downs in between of the tub, but for the heavy duty work, here’s what I do)
Plug the tub, add 5 Cups of vinegar (I know I know), 2 cups of lemon juice and get that hot water pouring in. I add 1 cup of baking soda and use gloves and reach my hands in and swirl it all up. Fill the tub to just about that nasty ring that once in a while builds up. Leave the tub be while you wipe down floors, toilets or whatever else you want to get done (usually an hour or two) return and drain the water. Use baking soda on a moist paper towel to clean out the rest of the tub and wipe it all down with a final rinse. Cleaned and ready for the next load of kids to be bathed!

Something my mom used to do, and now I’m doing from time to time is, (especially when I’m using vinegar to do a thorough cleaning) I’m making a simmer on the stove for an air freshener! In a normal 1 qt pan, boiling some water, a few apple slices, some orange skins with a little squeeze of the juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice. (I find its great after feeding Ben lunch and he hasn’t eaten all his fruit) Just let is simmer for awhile. It fills the house with a wonderful scent. But be careful, when your hubby comes home and wants fresh apple pie or something! lol