Making the Most of Milwaukee

I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads my blog knows me in real life. Or at the very least, is friends with me on facebook. So, you all know that we moved from a little 1 1/2 story cape cod in Cudahy to a much larger home on Milwaukee's south side. The plan to move came about rather suddenly. Justin and I hadn't really been seriously looking, but when I happened to see this house on realtor.com, I fell in love. And so did Justin after I showed him. On one hand the process of seeing the house, putting an offer on it, waiting for the financing, and closing seemed to take forever. And on the other, it seemed like a whirlwind. It's been exactly six weeks since we closed, and sometimes it still feels surreal that we got it. I felt a little weird the very first time I walked down the stairs from our bedroom, but every subsequent time felt a little more like home. Now it feels totally like home. And it looks like home too - mess and all. This past Sunday we had our offici...

My house is almost always in some state of mess. Even if the main floor is clean and tidy, the laundry is probably piled up. Or the kids' rooms look like a tornado blew through. Yesterday morning, my friend Amy shared an article of things clean people do regularly to keep their houses looking awesome. I could make all sorts of excuses why my house doesn't stay in tip-top shape, the main one being that I have 4 little kids, but it's time to put my big girl pants on, and admit that I'm a slob and I need some serious self-discipline. I edited and added to the list to make it fit me and my family better, and here it is: 1. Make beds every morning  * Make own bed  * Teach kids to make their beds 2. Practice the one-minute rule throughout the day  * If something can be done in one minute or less, take care of it right away 3. Put things away after use  * A place for everything and everything in its place 4. Put shoes and coats away immediately after walking ...

December is always such a busy month, but I'd be lying if I didn't kind of like the hustle and bustle. I mean, don't get me wrong: I really dislike when Christmas becomes more about commercialism and materialism than about celebrating the birth of Jesus and spending time with loved ones. I've done almost no shopping so far for anyone, including our kids. I suppose I should get on it soon, huh. And by "on it," I mean "on Amazon" of course. ;0) One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is baking (and let's face it, eating) Christmas cookies. Every year several moms and their kids make and decorate Christmas cookies for our annual church Christmas party. Other years we all spread out in the church basement with our already baked cookies for the children to joyfully (and messily) decorate loads of cookies and treats for the party. Well, this year there were a bunch of sick kids so the event got cancelled. So I did what every sensible m...