Spring Cleaning and Fixing the Place Up

I have been having some OCD about getting this house and yard back in shape.  With the arrival of spring it is time to begin "the cleaning and fixing of the homestead".  The spring is when we get some money from tax returns so that is another reason why we can and are doing these things.  Our window screens have been in bad shape for a while partly because of the desert sun fading them but also because Cayden occasionally gets a hankering to cut things and the screens seem like a fun thing to cut.  For a very long time we have had holes in the screens and even pieces flapping in the wind.  That was first on the fix it list.  Second we needed a new head for the vaccuum.  I love my central vac so much but it does take a beating and the power head for the carpet was about to lose its wheels and the belt on it was getting really really loose.  I can not live without a vacuum so that was a necessity.  I had to buy another coat rack because one of my darlings broke off one of the hooks and we were short holding all the coats.  Did you know you could by a coat rack on Amazon?  Well you can and I did.  It has more hooks on it then the other one did and there are some lower ones for hats and gloves and for smaller people.  In the spring the boys get the wonderful privilege of pulling weeds and having that added to their weekly chore list.  In the spring the weeds are atrocious and they grow well, like weeds.  On Monday this past week we did a clean up of the back yard and sprayed and pulled the weeds and Connor mowed down our weed patch of a lawn.  By we I mean the boys because I was busy making dinner for a friend.  I have been piling things that we don't need anymore into a box and a basket in the office to put on the yard sale website but I haven't posted for awhile because it does become a hassle to try and connect with the people who want to buy the stuff.  I got some stackable plastic drawers and put them in my office.  Each kid has their own drawer where I put school papers, report cards, birthday cards and scrapbook pages.  I really mean to put that stuff all into their scrapbooks but until I get around to it there is a nice place to store it all.  I bought one of those over the door shoe holders and put it on the backside of the door to the kitchen pantry.  That has become the new home of all the water bottles in the house and it is lovely! I also bought a small basket for my hairdryer, curling iron and straightener because I don't want to have to put them under the counter every day but I don't want them left out with their cords all over the place either.  Storage basket on counter = problem solved.  Another thing I got was a plastic bin to put my flip flops in standing up.  They were all just stacked on top of each other in the closet and I really would like it to look a little neater.  I have seen most of these ideas on pinterest but who cares as long as I can OCD my way to cleanliness.  As far as the boys and their messes-a few months ago after much frustration and fussing and cajoling I decided to lock up the Jack and Jill bathroom and make the 3 boys share the smaller bathroom.  The J &;J bathroom was a huge dirty smelly horrible mess ALL THE TIME!  There are constantly towels on the floor, toothpaste on the counters and all over the sink and don't even get me started about the toilet!  I would go in there in the mornings and just get so frustrated about the slovenly state of that bathroom.  Another epiphany came to me an that was to just lock it up and not let anyone use it.  I spent about 45 minutes cleaning it one morning after the kids all went to school and then I locked it up. I tell you what, that has really helped me not be such a crazy woman because that bathroom is always clean.  Now the other bathroom that all 3 have to share is not a sparkling clean room all the time but it is a 3rd of the size of the other and they each only have one drawer of their own to keep their bathroom stuff in.  Even when it is super dirty I can clean it in 15 minutes as opposed to 45.  I was having the boys wipe it down after each use but that didn't last long.  Connor was not very pleased about having to share the bathroom but that's just too bad because mom's sanity is worth much more than he getting his own bathroom.  I have been helping Cayden keep his room cleaner by showing him a better way to put his laundry in his drawers.  We stack it vertical and not on top of each other so he can see exactly what he has and it all fits much nicer that way.  This sweet child will not leave for school unless his room is clean and his bed is made-well his half anyway.  We can't do much about Caleb's crap other than take it away so we just pile it on the bed and tell Cayden not to worry about.  That is like telling a fish that he doesn't need to be in the water to breathe!  Most days Cayden just deals with it but there are a few-like this past Wednesday where he had just had it with the slobbiness and he was seriously having a meltdown at 6am when he was supposed to be getting ready for tutoring.  I also have been wanting to get more food storage and only buy what we are really eating.  I have hominy and refried beans from 10 years ago that just sits there unused.  We eat lots of black beans, tomatoes, cream soups and lots of canned fruit but the canned green beans and peas just sit there.  We like mandarin oranges and fruit cocktail and also jarred or canned pasta sauce.  The canned chicken and canned tuna is good too but the chicken is pretty pricey when I can bottle it myself.  I have done that twice now and it has worked out lovely but the pressure cooker scares me and it takes a really long time to do it.  I wait until the chicken is on really cheap like $1.39 a pound and then get a bunch and do it then. I do use canned corn sometimes but I really prefer frozen veggies better  We have the canned stuff though just in case the freezer goes out but I won't be buying the stuff that we don't eat because it will probably just go to waste.   If anyones need a case of hominy or a case of refried beans from 2005 just let me know!  We did get part of a beef for our freezer all packaged up nicely into 1 lb packages and 3lb roasts so that is good on the meat front.  If the end comes we do have quite a bit of food but there is ton in the freezers so the next big purchase might need to be a generator to keep everything frozen.
Don has replaced 2 doorknobs and changed out the kitchen faucet twice.  He has also fixed a plumbing problem out in the ward repeatedly over and over again.  The landscaper when he put in the sprinkler system made a funny angel out of some pipe that decided it was done being held in that wonky position so it started to leak.  Once we found where the leak was and Don uncovered it the leak became a faucet and we had to turn the water off to the house for a few hours.  He got it fixed that night but then it has popped loose a few more times requiring immediate assistance,  Don gets to play in the mud, the dark and the cold until we have running water again.  One of the times Caleb was home and he got roped into mucking it up too!

The curling iron basket.

The flip flop basket.

Sometimes my only sanity-I can wash my hands and feel the scent of the islands wafting  up my nose. Causnig me at the same time-peace and serenity from a factory made artificial smell and also disappointment that I am not there actually smelling the Coconut cove in person. 

Oh well I must be content with scented soaps and lotions, plastic bins and buckets and new hardware around the home as the simple things in my life.