I know blogging twice in one day is very unlike me but after I blogged about the Fresh Market I hoped over to my old (as in had a long time) friend Kelly’s blog and she reminded me of something I heard today.
John McCain picked a woman running mate. That means, no matter who wins this election a minority will be in the White House. It’s history in the making!
We have a new grocery store in town, Fresh Market. I went to check it out last night and I was quite impressed. The store sells fresh regionally grown produce and meat. They also sell fresh baked bread and a very limited selection of processed food. The processed food they sell is organic. It was a bit pricier than Kroger (my usual choice for food shopping) but I’ll return for produce and meat I’m sure. And, I hate to admit it but I still cook with a lot of processed foods for convince so I’ll still need to do a lot of my shopping at Kroger.
Outside of the food they carry the store gives you a fresh cup of coffee and gives every child a bakery cookie for free with every visit. It’s worth the trip to just look around and enjoy a cup of coffee! Little Belle didn’t complain about her cookie either!
Before becoming a mom I prided myself in my neat and clean home. Even with a house pet my home was always ready for company with a quick vacuuming of the rugs. I don’t particularly like to clean but I LOVE to have things clean. For a while I had someone who I paid to-do major cleaning every two weeks and I could just keep up the everyday stuff. It was great. Life was in order. My house was tidy.
And even, for the first 10 months of Little Belle’s life I keep a pretty clean home. I had a cleaning schedule and did some major cleaning every day. It never pilled up and was most often very clean.
Now I’m lucky to keep the toys picked up, the clothes clean, the dishes put away and the floor sweep. My bathrooms don’t get deep cleaned as often as they should and lets don’t even mention dusting. I’m embarrassed to report I can’t even remember the last time my house was dusted. I try. I really do, but I always seem to fall behind. My current cleaning schedule is A) clean when it’s so filthy you can’t stand anymore B) clean furiously an hour before company is coming over.
It’s very hard to clean with a toddler because as soon as it’s put away it’s out again. And, just as soon as I start a major project she has a melt down and I have to stop in the middle. Honestly, I’m trying to come to terms with the mess. I keep reminding myself that Little Belle won’t be little forever and my house will be clean again. When it’s messy it drives me crazy but when it’s clean again I’m sure I’ll long for the days of a toddler mess. Life is just that way, isn’t it?
Since I’ve proven to be a slack blogger lately I thought I would write a quick update. We’ve all been busy bees in this household! I’m working part-time again, teaching a weight loss/fitness program at my church and helping with children’s choir. And, let me not forget my full time job, being a mom and homemaker! Little Belle has started preschool two mornings a week and is having fun! My dear husband is good, working both day and night at the church. 
Life is good!
I’ve grown a few vegetables this summer for the first time since I was a child and my family had a garden. I’ve grown eggplant, bell peppers and tomatoes. My tomato plants have done great! I’ve had tons of big red tomatoes and my dear husband and I have enjoyed them a lot. When I first started seeing tomatoes I noticed a few small black worms attached to the plants. My mama told me to mix dish detergent and water and spray the plants with the mixture. I did and no more bugs all summer until last week when I began to see ants. The little creatures were eating away at my tomatoes and the detergent mixture only seemed to entice the ants more. So, I went on a mission to find out how to get rid of the little pests. I didn’t want to use pesticides since having organic veggies is one of the main reasons I wanted to grow my own. I did a little research and discovered that ants don’t like cinnamon. I’ve placed cinnamon sticks at the roots of all the plants and sprinkled ground cinnamon over all the plants. Almost instantly the ants were gone. I will continue to sprinkle with cinnamon as needed because it appears little ants run away at the smell and/or taste of cinnamon.
Before putting Little Belle to bed tonight I read one of her favorite books, The Five Little Ducks. Quite honestly, this book has always bothered me. It’s a simple story about a mama and her five little ducklings who wander away. She starts with five, then only four come back, they leave again, then only three come back and this goes on until she’s left with no little ducklings. When none of the ducklings come back she goes to find them and eventually they all come home with their mama. The part that bothers me is that she doesn’t go looking for them until none of the little ducklings come back.
As an only child and a mama of only one child I don’t know a lot about loving multiple children but I think I’ve observed enough mamas to know that you do. I think the mama duck should be disturbed when the first little duckling is missing. And, yes I know it makes the book flow and it is just story, but I want her to go find her first little ducking when he/she goes missing. So, from now on I will tell the story my way! Mama duck will go find each of her ducklings as they go missing because she loves them all sooo much!
Do you have a chore you just hate? I do! It’s unloading the dishwasher! My mama made me start doing this when I was young. And, I’ve recently found out it was because she hated to-do it too! Now that I’m home more I cook (or at least prepare) two or three meals a day, six days a week. That’s a lot of dishes and a lot of times to unload. It’s a never ending chore and has to be done 1-2 times a day here. Watch out Little Belle, this will be your first chore too. Now, I am thankful I have a dishwasher because the one thing I hate more than unloading the dishwasher is hand washing dishes.
