the Life of Olena

So I am avid follower of the blog A Bowl Full of Lemons , and I love it. I have been dying to get my home as organized as hers so I finally tackled a few projects over the weekend. I have to admit there is nothing better than opening the door to such a clean and organized space, it brings such peace to the day :) Hall/Linen closet. I made sure I had 2 sets of sheets and pillow cases for each bed. Everything else, went to goodwill this morning. They all now perfectly fit in the big tote on the top. Before, every time you pulled something out an avalanche of linens would fall on your head. And often this was fixed by just shoving everything back up there. Make up and Meds are in the mesh baskets that pull right out of the frames so that I can look through it easily. The large tall tote holds stuff like shampoo, toothpaste, extra vitamins, and lotions. Lower shelf, as you can see it towels and wash clothes. I got the box from the grocery store and it holds my hand towels perfectly so...

She doesn't have many hanging clothes, so what few items she has are in my closet. Instead we use this space for toys. One, this avoids the extra space that a toy box requires, and of course it allows for a much more organized space. It also make it easier for me to go through all of the toys quickly every few weeks to rid the collection of any broken and/or unnecessary aquired junk!! thankfully I found time to clean her carpet and I have to say I am very impressed with myself. It turned out beautiful. I scrubbed all of the spots (marker, muddy foot prints - kids and dogs - and only God knows what else) with a baking soda paste, and then I used the carpet cleaning machine with a little bit of softner (for smell) and a little bit of soap! Looks great huh?! organization for the DVDs and other media. She is working hard huh? After I finally opened the door and let her after a full day of forbidding her entrance. She came in laid on the bed, covered up and said "aahh, it is grea...

A few advantages to this - 1. my floors get cleaned 2. the puppy gets his excerise 3. both are fully entertained for at least an hour!!

I am worn out and beat to the bone tonight but I do have lots to share and talk about so stay tuned this week and I will update as soon as I can. Enjoy a few pics.

Today we finally had some beautiful weather. It was in the mid 70s, a bit too cold to swim so since she was driving me crazy to put her suit on and play in the water, we decided to have some fun in the mud! Not sure what this is....Kung Fu Mud fighting I think :) She was thinking about what she wanted to do next. This is her look of satisfaction. water+dirt=one extremely happy 6 year old. I love the butt!

This was my solution to a daughter who was insisting all day that we needed to find a way to make a tree fort. A kid table set, a flat sheet and about 6 binder clips and you can build anything! She loved it, and at least it was out of my way unlike the usual big fort built right in the middle of my living room.

It has been so unseasonably cold, this is what us Michiganders have had to resort to...long johns and our bathing suits :) LOL. I told her it was still too cold to swim so she came out of her room with "just the right solution!" and those were her exact words. On a side note, my daughter has the strangest fashion sense.

Not too much to chime in about these days. The gloomies have been here for about the past week. Everyone is sick of cold weather and snow, Michigan is very unseasonably cold and we just want to be outside and have the windows open. We started a herb garden in the house a few weeks back and they were looking great. We had lots of little sprouts and decided to put them on the porch one sunny afternoon. Well, I forgot about them. The next morning when walking outside at 6am in the morning to go to work...there they sat...frozen as a popsicle. Darn it! I tried spraying them with water but they just wilted and never came back. I still had lots of seeds left so I spent some time over the weekend replanting everything. I have been doing a lot of soul searching these last few weeks. I have a strong urge for a makeover...not a physical one - though I could use it...but a spiritual one. I have been trying to view things in my life through different color lenses. Re-evaluating everything I do and...

Before. After! and I have to say I LOVE IT. now the room is even more fabulous because it is so well lite, bright, and refreshing.

I am way to tired for much more than pictures tonight. It was a bit of a better day and it was the first beautiful day of the year so we took advantage of it, cut school short and spent a few hours at the park. Then we hit Target to use a gift certificate for some new summer clothes and some shopping at the fruit market. My patience was even a bit more under control today - but it helped that Olena was as sweet as peach pie. On the way home she asked if she could ride her bicycle when we got home. I told her it was in the shed and that after I carried the groceries in I would go out and get it for her. She so sweetly replied, "that is nice of you mommy, I will be sure to use my patience and let you get your chores done before helping me." My heart swelled and I was gently reminded once again just how blessed I truly am.

This is what it looked like after only wiping it out. This weekend I plan to tackle those stains with a brillo pad. But for as bad as it was, this is amazing. Spray with water, sprinkle baking soda, spray with water again and leave overnight. In the morning I scraped it with a spacula and wiped it down with rag I forgot to take the before picture but here you can still see the nasty it is!

I have no idea why but I have completely lost all patience the last few days. Deep in the pit of my stomach there is this anxiety that is just eating away at me and the only thing it is good for is making me short fused. I don't have any particular stress going on and nothing to really worry about in my life but it is there, and I can't make it go away. Any tiny bit of arguing that my hubby gives me, just jabs at my side and makes me bite my tough to avoid speaking the very unGodly words I am thinking. I could share the long list of things that Olena is doing that is driving me out of mind this week, but for the sake of my good heart and fact that I am trying to draw in some kind of positive energy tonight, I will throw that list away. Something I will whine about is the fact that this little girl NEVER STOPS TALKING!!! I tried to vent to my mom yesterday in some hopes that she would understand and come up with some magic answer but instead, all I got where a few good l...

Olena has a big issue with getting her nails clipped. This has been a problem since bringing her home and though it has improved a bit in four years, it is still a 45 minute fight just to trim her fingers and toes. She has never been hurt - she just has a problem with it due to her sensory disorder - she is extremely over sensitive when it comes to her feet or hands. I am cutting her nails the other day.... O: do you have to cut the baby one too? M: Yes! O:NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO, not the baby one OK? M: I have to, it's really long O: NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO, its my dragon claw. M: I still have to cut it O: NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO, just leave it ok! Leave them all. I can do it. M: how? you don't know how to use the clippers. O: like this! (as she attempts to put her toes in her mouth and act like she biting the nails off) M: that's just wrong....not to mention disgusting. I need to cut them. Please give me your foot. O: (as nervous as be) just wait a minute.....**big sigh**....(gr...

I am completely suffering due to the time change. It is unbelievable how one hour can make such a drastic change in your schedule. Today I am totally dragging butt, and at this moment nothing sounds better than a nice nap. Jason is now on afternoons so for the last 2 weeks I have gotten into the habit of going to bed at 11:30. When he gets home we often sit up and talk but I am beginning to realize that I just can't keep the pace with only 5-6 hours of sleep. For the last 2 1/2 years I have been in bed and laying on my pillow by 10p the latest! worst part about the late nights is even though I go to bed later, my wake up call still comes in at 5am. sigh... Outside of being tired and falling terribly behind in my chores things are going pretty well. I have been sewing/making burp clothes and few other baby items to sell at a mom to mom sale and on line for a little extra money. That has been interesting. I am not much of a sewer. My mom....she is awesome. Me, not so much!...

If you have 2 minutes and haven't watched it already, check out this video about the Johnson Family. Here's thier blog site too: zerowastehome.blogspot.com I found it a bit inspiring - (oh and what I would do to live in such a white house...sigh...) LOL! I challenge each of you to try and at least make one change in your household - every bit helps!

My newest obsession - indoor pollution! I came across an article in one my magazines about indoor pollution so I started to research it and I was appalled. My biggest problem....4 big dogs, 2 cats, a messy husband and a 6 year old! They make this house a big stye , especially the dogs! and I can't stand the idea of my house smelling like a barn yard so I am continuously spraying air freshener, burning candles, there were plug ins everywhere and I can use a whole bottle of dollar store bleach spray in one day. I am smart enough to know that none of the stuff is necessarily good for me or my family but I never gave it much thought. I was to involved in the idea of a clean and good smelling house. Good grief, after learning everything I have over the last few weeks I think I may have actually been recreating Chernobyl within my home... ok not that bad but bad enough. We have done away with the chemicals, candles, said bye-bye to all the plug-ins (sorry SC Johnson!), and no more air f...

OMG , not even 24 hours I have 2 comments...that means that there are still people reading this blog and even checking it daily. Truthfully, it still amazes me people find anything I write interesting, but to all of you who do THANK YOU! I love the comments, they make me smile! and sometimes even cry (in a good way of course). I figured while I had a moment I would chime in on a few things that I thought of after I posted last night. Olena is back in gymnastics and was even invited into the advanced class :) she is my little jumping gymnast. In my own opinion, though she is very strong and is able to preform all of her "stunts" (not sure what you would call this?) she is lazy about it. Guess I am too tough, but after class on the drive home I always give her a hard time..."don't you think you could stretch your arms a bit taller and straighter on your landings? next time when you do your tumbling be sure to remember to point your toes?" :) I promise I am ...

OK, so my computer is fixed and has been working fine but I haven't had the strength to post. No I am not sick...at least not physical but mentally I guess you could say I have been under the weather. I was sitting here on the computer tonight and figured it was time to finally share some of those "thoughts out loud" I seem to advertise in my title but haven't dished out. I have been completely lost lately but slowly finding my way back. Back in January, Jason started a new job which of course is an amazing blessing, but he was training on a shift that totally did not work for our family. He had to be at work at 6a and I work in the office 6:30a-930a so that meant I had a 3 hour block were someone needed to stay with Olena . You would think that 3 hours would be no big deal but when all of your family and friends live at least 30 minutes from your home and work, it is a problem. After several trial and error situations we ended up having my MIL stay with us du...