Dishes and Cleaning

Orginally written last year on my other blog but still very true!

I like doing dishes. Odd, I know, but I do. I can't stand laundry. But I love doing dishes and I just realized why. I was standing at my kitchen sink today, doing the dishes; looking out the window at the beautiful view (read: the wall of my neighbor's house ten feet away) and listening to the water running and just thinking. There's something about scrubbing something clean and letting my thoughts all tumble out. It's very calming and cleansing to me. I scrub the dishes clean and my thoughts just flow and I feel like I'm talking to an old friend and just letting everything out. Okay, that sounds psycho. But it's something that I do and I'm weird!

I've realized that in order for me to be a nice person, I have to have a clean house. I literally function better emotionally and mentally when my house is clean. And I am a bit obsessive about the whole cleaning thing. Well, decluttering thing. I have to do it early in the morning, otherwise my whole day goes to pot and nothing else get done. I am a creature of routine or I am nothing. So when it comes to my obsessive decluttering regimen it means that all the clutter that comes with a family has to be neatly put away. The bedrooms have to be free of clothes and toys and beds have to be made. My kitchen counters have to be cleared of junk. Floors aren't allowed any clutter or junk. There are a few places that I store the miscellaneous junk of life, but said junk is behind closed doors in a relatively neat pile. I guess in the chaos of my life when there is so much that I have no control of, having a clean, clutter-free house is my way to maintain sanity, and some control of my universe. Plus, even though I don't always enjoy cleaning, it sure is nice to do the work and see the finished result. And the affects of the result (clean house=sane me) are me being a nice, sane person!

My Home Tour

Here is my updated home tour. I put the pics in a slideshow (thanks for the great idea Steff!) Sadly, the pictures of my kitchen, nursery, and Mckay's room are on my other computer which is currently inoperable. And since we are temporarily living in a fully furnished house that is not our own, I posted pictures of my house in Texas. I absolutely loved that house! Hopefully, in the not so far future, we will have another house for me to decorate.

If you would like to add the Bloggityville Home Tour button to your blog so that others can participate, let me know and I can send you the code.

Bloggityville Home Tour

Having just returned from the St. George home show I thought it would be fun to do a virtual home tour here in bloggityville. So, take some pictures of your home, post them on your blog, and invite everyone over for a personal tour! The above picture is a button that I will place in my sidebar. When you click on it you'll be brought to this post explaining the Home Tour and a place for you to leave the link for your own home tour. Remember to link directly to your home tour post specifically, not just your blog. This is my first time trying this so we'll see how it goes. I filled out the first spot so you can see how it works. Get it? Have some fun!

Fun with photos

I've been practicing editing in photoshop. Here are some of the results.

Happy Birthday Steff!

Steff and me a long time ago

I remembered all day that it was your birthday. I just forgot to call you! I'm so sorry! This post is dedicated to you.

Reasons why my sister is the best:

• She is my best friend. I can tell her anything and everything.



• She has always been there for me.



• She is super talented at so many things (decorating, music, writing, cooking, scrapbooking, crafting, and on and on and on).



• She has always stuck up for me (it's nice when your little sister does that!)



• She's the biggest goofball I know and always makes me laugh.



• She is wise beyond her years and gives excellent advice (you should write a book or something Steff).



• She is a wonderful wife and mom.



• She's determined.



• She's a great dancer.



• She has a great sense of humor (on top of being a goofball).



• She is very organized.



• She loves to help others.



• She's smart.



• She's brave.



• She is beautiful.

I love you Steff! I hope your birthday was great! You are a beautiful example to me.