Cleaning and Scrubbing and Trash "Oh My"

This is in tune to Dorothy's famous line..."lions and tigers and bears oh my." Yep, that's what I did today, day 3 of the Deployment! Funny saying that it is day 3, wow, it is Wednesday already? And I am a happy girl today, I got 2 phone calls from the Major today :) I am all smiles here, just hearing his voice made my day!

I decided that this Deployment I am keeping busy, very busy at the Cottage. I plan to reorganize everything in the house, everything in closets and cabinets, etc. I am even labeling things such as; drawers that tape, scissors, gift bags, ribbon and birthday decorations are in. That way there is no guessing from anyone in my household where anything is!

Not only do I plan on being organized, I also plan on being very very frugal! Yep, you heard me right, FRUGAL! We are doing Financial Peace and I must say that you, yes you, should google it and check it out! So go, go right now and check it out! Then come back to my Blog!

So, some people call being frugal cheap, others call it thrifty, some may call it stupid, others may call it canny, but here is what I call it: SMART! I plan on saving saving saving where ever I can. I am looking at any and all new ideas that I can adapt for our household that will save us on time, energy and money, yet be very efficient, good and a great deal! The first place to put a cap on saving is the grocery store. Yep, and I have been doing this for quit awhile, but I think that I can do a lot better than I am already doing. Three words coupons, sale papers and store cards(I could even add two more:freezer and stock-pile), if you are not using all three of these then you are not saving the most that you can be saving at the grocery store! Next is thermostat setting. If you do not have a digital thermostat, go and buy one now! This reduces your electric bill. Also, set your thermostat and leave it do not change it! Did you know that changing it when you are gone and then changing it again can actually increase your bill! Now lets talk about lights...if you are leaving lights on when you are not in a room, that's not good, turn them off, conserve electricity and save on your power bill! Open the blinds in your house when you first get up in the mornings and use the natural light that God provided for us...the sun! It's Christmas time and we have up the tree and lights outside, yes the power bill will go up, but you can minimize how much buy using a timer and only allowing your lights to be on for a few hours a night rather than all night. Who wants a high power bill? Not me, so timers it is!

With all of this being said I feel that I was very productive today in my cleaning and scrubbing. I cleaned that kids' bedrooms, their bathrooms, the fridge/freezer, and a huge upstairs closet! I did a lot of labeling and reorganizing and threw away a lot of stuff! I had 2 huge bags full of trash! Yikes!

So now I am off to helping the Princess with English 2 and then off to the Bookworm's wrestling match, and then it's off to Church and Choir!

Tomorrow is another day with more cleaning and more things to organize and yes, label!

Blessings-

Deployment, It's Begun

Deployment, if you're a Military Spouse that's the one word that you don't like to hear, but unfortunately, it's quit the norm these days. For our family, yesterday was "D" Day, in other words, Deployment Day. We all four new it was coming, but nothing can ever prepare you for that last hug, kiss, good-bye and wave. Nothing, no matter how many times you've done it before.

We've had a very good past week. We went on a small family vacation, celebrated Thanksgiving, put up the Christmas tree and lights, and spent alot of time just hanging out as a family acting goofy together! It's been great family time together.

So now, we start our ticker for the count down to the end of the Major's Deployment. He called a few hours ago to let me know that he had made it. I praise God for his safe arrival there. I miss him already, as do the Princess and the Bookworm. Night time is the time of day that I hate, when everyone is in bed and it's quiet, I don't like it, it's the only time that I feel lonely so I stay up and watch TV or read or get on the computer. We had rain last night, it was nice to hear the rain coming down, I love the rain.

What else do I not like? Thinking to myself, wow it feels really cold in the house....walk to the thermostat and realize that the air is on! Turn I heat is what I do and put on a jacket!

So on with my day. Today I plan to finish our Jesse Tree for Advent so that we can begin tonight, if you do not do this in your family I want to encourage you to do so. Here is a link that you may find helpful: http://www.aholyexperience.com/ .

Blessings

2 Weeks and Counting

We're gearing up and getting ready in our house, if you're a Military Spouse you know what I mean, Deployment. This daunting one word has been hanging over our house for around 4 months and the time for it to appear and take it's affect starts soon, too soon. If you've been through a Deployment you know what I mean, it seems as if the things that need to be done and the things that you would like to do before your Spouse leaves is all of a sudden getting down to last straw or down to the wire! YIKES...where did the days go!

Lists have been made for me by the Major for bills, etc. Wills and Powers of Attorneys have been done, major things around the house that needed to be done are done with a few last appointments getting done this week.

Time together as a family during these last few days are priceless, you as a Spouse want to spend your every waken hour with your Spouse before he leaves while your two teens try not to talk or mention the word Deployment because they began to fill their eyes with tears. You find yourself eating at all of the Spouse's favortie Restaurants because you know that all he'll be eating for the next months will be the Dining Facility where he'll be deployed at. You suddenly find yourself liking to wash clothes because you know that you want be washing his for awhile and when you make the bed in the morning you realize that his side want be untucked for much longer. You sit by him whenever you can and hold his hand whenever possible because you know that in a few days you'll long to touch him, and you want to remember his touch for as long as you can. You look at the coffee pot when you are putting up the dishes out of the dishwasher and think that there will not be a lot of coffee making going on because unlike your spouse you don't have to have coffee in order to survive your day, but you also know that you'll miss that little bit of coffee that he leaves in the pot every morning just for you so that you can have a cup. You begin to think of all the things that he'll miss while he's away and you automatically begin to add them up and start charging up the video camera.

You've been down this road before and you remember what you've learned through the last Deployments: You've learned to be more independent, you've learned to have more grace, you've lost anxiety and gained patience, you've grown a much closer and special relationship with your children, you've gone through something that not everyone gets to experience, you've gained more self-esteem and you're not afraid or ashamed to ask for help if you know you can't do it on your own.

Deployment, who knew that one little word could be so big and mean so much.