Admiring My Work

(Disclaimer: my comma key randomly stopped working so no commas in this post...please don't think I'm an idiot)

Well lookee here...two posts in one week!

Maybe I can get back into this blogging thing again after all. Don't hold your breath.

This year I've been working on being a better housewife even while I'm working. I've made excellent progress. I've had some major setbacks in this department due to not being capable of managing my own stress. Overall I've made improvements though.

I've done all my dishes every night this week so far. I did a MAJOR spring cleaning project last week on my spring break which helps me stay on track. I'm hoping to keep a tidy home even when crazy busy and tired.

I've also been improving in my school work. I have all my papers graded for tomorrow and it's only 9:14 pm. Woohoo!

So...I've been perusing old posts of mine. I'm pretty wordy aren't I? Oh well...that's just me.

I'm not really sure what the purpose of this post was...I'm just babbling on about laziness and writing like usual. Two topics never far from my mind.

3 Simple Laundry Tips

For some reason I always end up ruining my "cool" clothes. I'm not very stylish. Every time I buy something that approaches being stylish, I ruin it. Well, "ruin" is a relative term...especially since the advent of blogging and Pinterest.

So, I decided I was not going to end up trashing the few "cool" clothes I had just because I had "ruined" them somehow. I hopped on the Internet and decided there had to be a way to rescue my poor articles of clothing. Here's what I found. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

Laundry Disaster #1: Shrinking a brand-new shirt.

I'm sure most women have shrunken at least one article of clothing in their day. My mother is queen of shrinkage. Once she shrunk my favorite wool sweater. Conveniently, it fit her afterwards. In this particular case, I accidentally washed this brand-new shirt in hot water. It was so little afterwards, I wanted to cry. I was determined not to give up. Here's what I decided to do:

1. Put on shrunken shirt while still wet. Tug on it to make it stretch to fit a little better.
2. Hang up shrunken shirt on a plastic hanger.
3. Match up the bottom of the shirt and LOTS of clothespins to the bottom. This will weight the shirt down, resulting in stretching.
4. Let air dry.

This really worked for me. I've since worn this shirt several times. I've also found that this shirt tends to shrink whenever it gets wet, so I've used this method again to ensure it stretches back to the correct size.

Laundry Disaster #2: Grease stains.

I usually wear aprons when I cook, but every once in a while I'll be in a hurry and won't wear one. It always seems to be when I'm browning ground beef. Last summer, I "ruined" one of my favorite shirts when grease spattered up from some ground beef I was cooking up. I hadn't been able to wear the shirt all summer and was about to throw it out this spring, when I decided to try to rescue it one last time. I found some ideas on Pinterest, but didn't really like the methods. So, I branched out and found some ideas on an ancient, slightly tacky bulletin board type website. Even though it's not the most attractive website, it had some AWESOME ideas. I decided to try Dawn Power Dissolve dishwashing spray (you can find this in the dish soap aisle at Wal-Mart).

1. Spray grease spots with Dawn Power Dissolve.
2. Throw sprayed article of clothing in washer and wash on normal cycle with regular detergent.
3. While wet, check to see if you missed any grease spots. If you have, spray again and re-wash.
4. Air dry.

This worked the first time! I didn't even know this spray existed. A word of caution: I tried using it on my non-stick electric skillet. Bad idea. It took off some of the non-stick finish. I've also tried using some of my husband hand goop that he uses to clean his hands after working on the car. I spilled some homemade ice-cream on the same shrunken shirt, and the hand goop took it right out. It did say it was safe for laundry stains, so make sure you find a hand goop that is laundry-safe.

Laundry Disaster #3: Whites accidentally turned pink.

I recently bought an expensive camisole that sucks in your stomach. It works really well (and also prevents natural breathing). What I like most about it is how high the neckline is. So many camisoles are too low for my tastes. Somehow, a pair of my husband's pajama pants bled onto this camisole and turned it a pale pink. This happened in the laundry basket somehow before I even threw it in the wash. I wouldn't care normally, but I do want this camisole to show sometimes when the neckline of my overshirt is too low. I wasn't really keen on bleaching it, because that weakens the fabric. After an Internet search, I found out that Rit (you, know the dye company) makes a little color remover product (can't remember where this info came from). I think it's meant for accidentally dyed clothing or for preparing another article of clothing for dyeing. I found this product in the laundry section of Wal-Mart right by the other Rit color dyes. Basically, all you have to do is follow the instructions on the back of the box. It didn't work perfectly, but it is a little better. I think it will still be wearable in public (under something else). I would show you a before/after picture, but this all happened before my new camera became such a wonderful part of my life. You can't really tell a difference in the pictures, so I thought it would be pointless to post them.

I know there are many different remedies for all of these "disasters." These are just some of the ones that worked for me. Feel free to comment with more laundry tips and tricks!

Changing Perspectives

I currently have a lot of faulty perspectives in my life. I tend to imagine situations that don't/won't exist. I tend to think my house is too messy to ever get cleaned. I tend to think I need to watch as much TV as I can possibly cram into the few hours of free time I have in the evening. I tend to think leaving a restaurant without being stuffed is a waste of money. I tend to think everyone is laughing at how ridiculous I am/look.

All of these things detract from true happiness. Whenever God gives me the strength to rise above these perspectives, I experience glimpses of what life could really be like. So why don't I banish these perspectives from my life? Why do I allow them to dictate my happiness?

I've really been doing some soul-searching lately. I KNOW I would be happier knitting the evening away than frittering the evening away on Facebook. I KNOW I would be happier spending a significant amount of time reading my Bible than reading annoying articles by stay-at-home moms about how hard their lives are. I KNOW I would be happier living in a clean, organized home than living in a pigsty. I KNOW God wants me to rise above my laziness and faulty perspectives. I just need to get up and get moving. Like I said yesterday, it's the getting up and moving that stinks.

So, I'm going to finish this post. I'm going to start a load of laundry. I'm going to wash dishes while listening to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. I'm going to grade papers while watching reality TV on Netflix. I'm going to knit for a little bit before bed (if there's any time left over). I'm going to enjoy my evening. I'm not going to invent imaginary impossible situations. I'm going to think of this list whenever I'm tempted to waste time on Facebook.

Source: Uploaded by user via Melissa on Pinterest

I'm going to live life the way it's meant to be lived.

Getting off the Couch and Other Nearly Insurmountable Tasks

My spring break is over. It was glorious. This morning I woke up multiple times wanting to throw up before my alarm went off . No, I'm neither sick nor pregnant (I always have to clarify that). I've just been dreading going to work lately. It's not that I work in a miserable environment. In fact, it's a pretty good environment. I just keep conjuring up these impossible situations in my head. Once I got in my classroom and started chatting with my students, I was completely calm and remembered why I enjoyed teaching. It's the getting up and moving part that stinks.

My parents left on Sunday afternoon after my husband left for work. When they left, I ate a bunch of leftovers and watched a chick-flick. I didn't try too hard to clean up my messes. Monday I woke up in a foul mood. I didn't really want to go fishing as my husband and I had previously planned. I just wanted to mope around on Facebook looking at other people's "glamorous" lives while I was stuck in crummy Pennsylvania. My husband's messes were added to my messes. I just kept telling myself that my life was miserable. Once we got on the pond and I started catching fish left and right I remembered why I love being outside so much and why I am so happy with my current life. It's the getting up and moving part that stinks.

My apartment is now really, really, really, really, really messy. It's Hoarder's quality. It's a perfect reflection of my heart and mind right now. Messy. My husband is miserable in this state, and I'm miserable in this state. Once I get up and start cleaning, I know I will be happier. Once the house is clean, I will have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment sweep over me. It's the getting up and moving part that stinks.

Here goes.

                                                                                  Source: citygirlchichome.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Spring Break.....ahhhhhhh

I'm so relaxed right now. I'm on spring break! Since January 4, I have had two days off of work not counting weekends. I'm sure many people have had even fewer days off of work than that. But, I had 23 middle-schoolers to deal with who also had only 2 days off since January 4. I was fast-approaching  extreme burn-out. I was waking up nauseated every morning  (no, I'm not pregnant) dreading the day to come.

Today I plan to get my house back into some semblance of order before my family arrives. When I'm stressed/depressed my house falls into shambles. I'm currently sitting on clean clothes I folded on Sunday and never put away. I hate it when that happens.

Even though I had a rough few weeks, God really blessed me yesterday. He sent the principal to take over my dreaded lunch duty and caused a family to cancel their parent/teacher conference with me (which was the main reason I was miserable every morning). Lamentations 3:22-26 (ESV) pretty well sums it up:  

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
   “therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.

Saturday Mornings