Mar 20 2020

Good Day!

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Karin

Yesterday was a really good day! After getting up and moving I spring cleaned the oven/stove, microwave, and fridge. It’s amazing how much grease and grim builds up over time. I do keep things pretty clean but things really do need a deep clean every once in a while. What’s the difference between a routine clean and a deep clean? I look at it as taking a few steps farther into your cleaning routine. For the microwave not only do you wipe the inside clean but also the outside especially the underneath side. That’s where the grease from the stove likes to hide. I didn’t need to clean the vent this time but normally I would clean the vent too when I spring clean.

The oven wasn’t too hard because I had already cleaned the inside a couple of weeks ago. My husband, however, baked an apple pie in there this week and didn’t get it sealed all the way so there was a mess on the bottom. I just made sure to turn the self clean on the night before and was able to wipe it out the next morning. I did take the extra time to scrub the glass top and back where the dials are. Grease likes to settle onto that.

The last thing I did was clean the fridge. This is my absolute dreaded chore! I hate cleaning the fridge. I definitely don’t do it as often as I should. Last year when my husband and I went to Japan my mother-in-law watched our kids for us. To my surprise, and a little embarrassment, when we got back she had cleaned my fridge for me. I was super grateful but also pretty embarrassed that she had to see the yuckiness that was my fridge. So while I was cleaning it yesterday I was thinking of her and how it would be nice for her to do it again. I took out all the shelves and wiped both the inside and outside down. I also pulled the fridge away from the wall and cleaned the back(yuck!). So glad it’s all done. It took me about 3 hours to clean the fridge, oven/stove, and microwave.

It was such a nice day that I finally convinced my kids to turn off the screens and go outside. My daughter rode her bike around and my son and I played some basketball horse. It was really nice to get outside! To my dismay this morning when I opened the blinds it was snowing. So probably not going to get to go outside today. I think I may take a day off of cleaning today and maybe settle down to read a book. Who am I kidding the new game of animal crossing is coming out I’ll be the first to play it!

Mar 18 2020

Extended Spring Break!

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Karin

With the craziness that is happening lately I thought it would be good to keep track of what we are doing to keep busy. My kids school got cancelled yesterday for the COVID-19 pandemic. So far the plans for reopening are March 30th but who knows if we will actually send kids back by then. My mom who lives in Oregon told me their schools have planned to stay closed until April 28th! I choose to believe it’s an extended spring break for us in hopes that school will start up again by the end of the month.

This is what I’ve started to keep us busy. My kid’s first day without school was yesterday. I had them clean their bathroom and pick up their rooms. I spent the day scrubbing and oiling cabinets. That’s right we started spring cleaning a little early this year! I figured each day they are home we could do a little spring clean up and hopefully our home will be sparkling in time for them to get back to school. My kids aren’t excited about this little endeavor of mine but I figured it would be good for them to spend a couple hours cleaning instead of playing video games. Plus this will teach them to appreciate their home and maybe take better care of it. Who am I kidding they probably view it as slave labor.

Yesterday while doing the cabinets my back and wrist started hurting. I find that when I start a project I often overdue it and end up hurting myself because I don’t stop until it’s done. So today I enlisted the help from two of my three kids. We did something a little less intense. We cleaned all the doors in the house. It doesn’t seem like a lot but when you have 29 doors in the house it can be when you have to do it by yourself. Having my two helpers really made a difference.

The worse doors to clean were the doors to the outside. Go figure I mean that is where our homes meet the world right!? The interior doors were better and took less time to clean. To clean the doors all I used was a wash rag, bucket with hot water and some dish soap, and a magic eraser. The wash rag and soapy water help to get the dirt and grime off and the magic eraser is for the finger smudges and black marks. It takes a little elbow grease but we were able to accomplish the task in a little over an hour. It would have taken me twice as long by myself. Once we were done all the doors look amazing!

Mar 28 2016

Spring Break 2016

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Karin

We got a late start on our spring break because of the opera Corey and I were in. We left on Tuesday and traveled 14 hours by car to Grandma and Grandpa Tiffany’s home. We spent Wednesday just hanging around with grandma and grandpa. We went to the movie “Zootopia”. Grandpa spoils the kids by getting them their own popcorn treat pack. We wanted to go to the coast for a day but the weather was saying that Thursday was going to be rainy. So we saved it until Friday.

Thursday was another day relaxing with grandma and grandpa. We visisted great grandma Eve. She has dementia and doesn’t remember who we are but it was nice to sit with her for a while and visit. She still sounds like the grandma I know and grew up with she just doesn’t always make sense. She kept singing in my ear “God Bless America” that’s the only words she remembered of the song but it reminds me of how much she still loves this country. When we first came in her eyes lit up. I wish I was closer and could visit her more. She will be turning 91 this year. I helped my mom and dad plant some seeds in their garden. I can’t believe they can start planting already. We still have a good month before we even try to plant anything. We went to the park to let the kids run off some energy. Preston got in trouble for scaring off some greese that someone was feeding. That night we had our Easter dinner since we would be travelling on Easter.

On Friday we left for the Oregon Coast. We traveled through a small portion of California and a little of the redwood forest to get there. It is a really pretty drive. The weather was great a little windy on the coast but it’s not normal if the wind doesn’t blow. We spent the day visiting azalea park and Harris Beach. My dad and I (mostly my dad) build a sand castle and my mom got attacked by a wave while sitting on a log. After the beach we headed to the harbor and bought ice cream cones. Corey had to visit a fish shop and by some fresh clams and crabs. We took those back to grandma and grandpa’s and ate them later.

I always have so much fun when I visit my parents. The problem is the trip is always too short. We left on Saturday and stayed the night in a hotel. Then finished the drive on Sunday. It was a whirlwind of a trip but I was becoming homesick and really needed some time with mom and dad so it was well worth it. Already looking forward to a trip back in August.