What happened to April?

I had such big plans.  Plans of cleaning and organizing and making my house look and feel decluttered.  I think I got exactly 4 kitchen cupboards reorganized and cleaned, the fridge (not sure when the smoothie was spilled in it but I had been ignoring it for awhile) and the laundry room.  That's it.  That's all I accomplished with my spring cleaning goal.
Here is what I did instead:
     Comforted my son when he got the stomach bug, took time off work to take him to the doctor b/c of a persistant stomachache for several months.  Tried to catch up on sleep when he was better.
     Comforted my daughter 4 days later when she got the same stomach bug except worse and she wasn't able to make it to the bathroom the first time.  Did laundry, did more laundry.  Cleaned carpets with Resolve in the wee hours of the night.  Woke up every hour to hold bucket for her.  Shampooed same carpets b/c Resolve was not enough.  Oh and learned that after you wash vomit soaked blankets, you should clean your washer.  Really you should.  Before doing any more regular laundry.  Please do this, it will save you a lot of grief and a very high water bill.*
     Cleaned house for son's birthday party/sleepover.  Make birthday cake.  Freak out when my husband calls me day of party to say he is heading home from work sick.  Entertained 7 eight year old boys,  fed family, check on husband, presents/cake - try to take pictures and video for my sequestered husband, get 6 boys to bed, check in husband, debate whether sleeping in the same bed with him is a good idea (turns out it wasn't) but the couch doesn't sound too thrilling.  Boys wake up at 6, make breakfast, entertain boys.  Take nap after everyone finally leaves.  Have Easter Egg hunt with friends the next day.
     Recuperate from party and sickness.  Come down with sickness myself 4 days later. 
     Celebrate Easter.
     Now we are at the last week and honestly, all I can do is catch up and try to get back into my regular routine.  Got my house cleaned this morning.  Got to exercise.   Am feeling pretty good.  But my house is not spring cleaned and it isn't going to be for now.  I just have to let that goal go. 
And that's okay.  It's good to be flexible and it's good to not beat yourself up when your plans don't work the way you think they should.  Sometimes life gets in the way. 
And honestly, the day after I came down with the bug, I still was feeling lousy and I rested all day.  Guilt free.  I took a nap, read a book, watched tv in the middle of the day.  Guilt free.  Did I mention it was guilt free?  Because it is really hard as a mom to stop sometimes.  There is always something that needs to be done.  Always a meal to be cooked and a bathroom to be cleaned and laundry to fold.  Always.  Sometimes we need to let it all go and just have a day for ourselves. 
*cleaning your washer: Fill tub with water on hottest setting, pour some vinegar in.  I eyeballed it but probably a couple of cups.  I also poured in baking soda, probably half a small box.  Let agitate then sit for an hour.  Finish wash cycle.  If yours is really bad (and mine was!) do the same process again but with bleach instead of vinegar.
My clothes had honsestly not been feeling like they were getting clean for awhile and this has definitely helped wtih that.  I am going to be doing this on a more regular basis for sure.  And I finally convinced my hubby that vinegar really does make things smell better!

Feeling convicted and a little Etsy pondering

Last week after I wrote my goal for April of spring cleaning, I started panicking a little at the thought of it.  I already feel a little overwhelmed with my normal list of activities that I do, so adding this big project started scaring me.  But then I started thinking about how much time in the day I waste.  It is really easy for me to get on the computer and spend my day away.  Some of that time is legitimate: researching things, buying gifts, looking up recipes, paying bills...but some is pure waste: checking facebook, checking email, rechecking email, looking at blogs.  All of that is fun, but it definitely takes me away from other stuff I could and should be doing.  I am really praying about this and hoping I can walk away from the computer more and accomplish the things I really want to this month!
So today, was my first real day to start my spring cleaning and I did waste more time than I should have on the computer this morning.  But I was determined to do better in the afternoon.  I ended up getting 4 cupboards cleaned and rearranged in my kitchen.  It really isn't enough to get me to the finish line at the end of the week but I was also making dinner, making muffins for breakfast, sweeping, taking care of dogs...you get the idea, general life stuff.  I will keep you posted on how it goes.
The other thing I have been considering is selling some stuff on Etsy.  I have been feeling a little stressed about money lately and I have been trying to think of things I could do to help pay for our Disneyland trip, to cover swim lessons, and extras for school and stuff like that without actually working more hours. 
At the same time, I just finished crocheting 2 baby blankets for friends at church and I made them in a whirlwind b/c their due dates were coming.  I worked on them every night for several weeks.  Now that I am finished with them, I am feeling a little lost at night.  I love relaxing in front of the tv at the end of the day but I am finding more and more than I want to multitask whether it is the crocheting, or blogging, or cutting coupons.  It has been really hard to just sit. 
My friend Kelleigh just posted something about her Etsy shop selling cash envelopes and she has sold 50 in the past 2 months!  That is amazing and they are super cute too.  I am not good at that sort of stuff but I can make a pretty good baby blanket.  So I am thinking and praying about making them and selling them.  I don't have quite the reach that Kelleigh does when it comes to selling stuff, as I just don't know that many people but it wouldn't hurt to try.  I will keep you guys posted on that as well.