Smelly Smelly Boys

Oh.My.Goodness...

I think something has died in my laundry room.  No, I'm being serious.  It has to be one of the nastiest smells ever.  You know what it is...teenage boy.  (who "kept forgetting" to bring home all his football workout clothes to get washed for about a month)  I should have been alerted to this when he asked to take a can of Lysol to school to fumigate his football locker.  I honestly don't know how the coaches deal with the smell.  All I know is that it's a good thing I'm not pregnant because I would have barfed all over the place.  Yuck!

I was wondering how I was going to get the stinch out of the clothes.  I knew this smell would not come out with regular clothes detergent even if I boosted it with OxyClean.  It was that bad...

...But then I remembered a beautiful little orange container I have in my laundry room.  It's called Dead Down Wind.  I bought it about 6 years ago for the boys to wash their clothes in before they go hunting, and it takes ALL the smell out.  I have used it before when Hop brought home stinky football clothes, and it worked great then, but this was a whole new level of stink, so I decided to put the DDW to the test.  You'll be happy to know it passed with flying colors!  All the nasty guy smell came out of the clothing...I can't say the same for the pads.  (I'm going to hit them with a different spray, and hopefully that will help.)  I really was shocked and very excited, and knew I needed to share this wonderful information with all moms with stinky boys in their house.  I have bought it at a local hunting/outdoor store, but you can also buy it online, or check their site for retailers near you.

The smell is now...dead down wind!  :)
Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

Someone May Get Slapped

My family has a horrible habit.  They are the messiest people God ever created.  Why are they so messy?  It makes me so sad, and for some reason, they are under the false assumption that my favorite thing to do is to clean-up after them.  The picky one had the audacity to tell me that I needed to do the cleaning-up since I don't do anything else all day, and it's not that big of a deal if the house is messy.  Excuse Me! Did you really just say that?   Oh, yeah, I forgot, I'm just a mom, so that means I have no life, or feelings, or aspirations.  Someone may get slapped.

The chore list.

I can't wait until my children have that Aha moment when they finally understand what goes on around here.  I don't like cleaning up the same things (or different things) all the time...I'm trying to teach them how to do it, but for some reason it's not clicking yet, even with the teenagers.  They are just as messy as they were as toddlers, and 5 verses 1 is not a fair fight.  I've even taped their chores on their mirrors & it still doesn't help.  These chores are just for their rooms, I really want them to pick-up their stuff they leave around the house, and unload their clean clothes baskets without me asking 1000 times.




This weekend I may see a glimmer of hope...Elizabeth leaves to go to NYC with my mother-in-law and all the granddaughters for 4 days, and all the boys are going hunting for the weekend.  Only 2 more days, 2 more days, 2 more days.  This will be my mantra until they leave.  I hope I can hang on until then.

Someone didn't read the chore list...

I wonder what makes some of us neat freaks and others not.  For those of you who are not...I just don't understand.  I want to put up the rules I thought up for my kitchen in different rooms of our home.  When things are at their cleanest, I'm at my happiest.  Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  :)  Well, I'm going to get some cleaning done so I can hopefully get a workout, and do some actual money making work today.  May the Lord make my hands swift and efficient as I work to clean this messy house today.


I would love to know if your families are the same as mine.  Neat Freaks Unite!  Please let me know I'm not the only one surrounded by messy people out here.

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley, the neat freak

No More Men in My Kitchen

I'm pretty good about sharing my kitchen with the fam, but I'm about to ban all men from it.  Hop & his very first best friend, Will, wanted to cook Red Fish Stew on Saturday, and me being the wonderfully nice mom I am (insert hysterical laugh here) allowed them access to my kitchen.  I figured since they are leaving in a year and a half for college, it was time for them to start learning to cook things on their own.

Hop started skinning & dicing the Red fish & Will started chopping the onion and making the roux.  I had to talk them both through the process, thankfully they caught on pretty fast.  In the picture to the left, Will (on the right) has started cooking the roux, and Hop (on the left) was dicing the fish.  I was proud of Will, he said the roux smelled like his Granna's Jambalaya.  I told him that he was so smart because when you make Jambalaya, you make a roux.  I think he was proud of himself.  Sweet Will!

Here is the finished product.  We decided to half the recipe because there were:  the two of them, Henry had one of his best buds, Josh, over that day, and then me.  It was just enough to feed the 5 of us.  There was about 1 serving left in the bowl.  It all went smoothly, but I have one HUGE complaint...those boys did not clean up my kitchen.  I don't mind you cooking, but you better clean up after yourself.  It's funny, I remember my mom saying the same thing to us growing up.

I pointed out several times what needed to be washed by hand & what needed to be rinsed and loaded into the dishwasher.  The trash from cooking needed to go into the garbage can & that garbage taken outside; counter tops needed to be washed off; and clean dishes they cooked with should have been put away.  Did any of this happen?  No it did not, and that leads to a very frustrated, very unhappy mommy.  I don't mind you using my kitchen, but you better leave it like you found it...and for some reason no one ever does.   So, I'm thinking about posting what I expect if you use my kitchen.

Momma's Rules for the Kitchen

1.  Yes, your momma lives here, but she does not like cleaning up your mess when you cook,
      CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF
2.  If you are unsure about what you are doing, ask questions first before you do anything.
3.  Have a wonderful time cooking.  Any other questions can be answered by reading rule #1.

Since football is over for the year, I think the big boys are going to plan a fun night that includes cooking in my kitchen & hanging outside around our fire pit.  I guess I better get the rules posted by Wednesday.  I'll choose to look the other way as they make a mess in my kitchen & I'll help them clean up after it's over...maybe.  ;)

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

Confessions & Lists

I need some of my productivity back from Wednesday.  Today is Homecoming.
 
Have I cooked for tonight?  No. 
Have I set-up the tables & all the stuff for the after party games for tonight?  That's a nope. 
Checked to see if rooms are clean?  Nuh-uh. 
Wrapped the last few cheerleader gifts.  No on that one too. 

So why am I sitting here, typing at my computer when I have so much to do?  The answer, no idea.  I think it's because it's therapeutic for me to confess this.  I really just want to sit at my computer, listen to Pandora Radio & eat peanut butter M&Ms.  But, I'm not.  When I'm done confessing here, I will: unload the dishwasher; do a sweep of the house to make sure it's in some semblance of order; help Elizabeth get packed for her Jr. High retreat this weekend at church; move chairs & set-up tables for the after party tonight; cook; get corsages, balloons, money from the bank; drop off all the stuff for Hopper's after homecoming party at his friend Joe's house; cook for Harry's after party; take a shower...ok wow, I had more to do than was on my original list.  Where is that list because you know I'm going to add all this stuff on there.  :)

Harry has requested breakfast for the after party & shaving cream.  It should prove to be a super fun night!  (we plan on throwing the shaving cream, not eating it.)  I'll post pictures and the recipes I use.  Harry wants me to make Sausage & Grits casserole, Hash brown casserole,chocolate milk, Sunny Delight, and anything else with tons of sugar.  They'll be wound-up for sure!  The good thing is that hopefully we'll have extra to eat tomorrow morning.

Well, gotta go & get busy...have lots to do & times a'wastin.

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley

Days like today...

I'm taking a little break right now, but know I LOVE days like today!  I have been super ultra productive & it's not even 9am yet.  Yea for mom!!!  I know others don't get excited about:  laundry getting washed & dried; dishwashers getting unloaded & reloaded; stripping beds; hanging up clothes; cleaning out closets; wrapping presents; getting dinner prepared; and working out (well others in my house may care about this one...) but this is just some of what I've accomplished this morning.  See the smile on my face!

If you've never taken a personality test you need to!  I'm an I/D.  Which means a few things:  1.  I know who I am.  (get it? ID...cue the groans)  2.  I'm task oriented, sometimes to a fault.  I've been known to add things to my to do list after I've completed them just so I can cross them back off the list.  Yes, it's sick and somewhat sad, but oh so true.  But my family thinks that most days I sit around my house watching tv & eating cookies. so I have to have something for them to see that I've actually done something.

This Friday is homecoming, and I'm getting everything ready to host a group of sweet freshmen for their first after homecoming party.  We're going to eat which is always a must, play games & just have some good clean fun.  I'll post some pictures Saturday, it should be a hoot. 

Hop played in his last JV game ever last night & the team went undefeated this year.  His class has only lost a handful of games since they started playing football.  It's really incredible.  I hope we can continue the undefeated streak next year when they are seniors.  Where has the time gone?

Well, have to get busy on the second part of my list...my goal is to be done by 12, so I can get some errands outside the house done.  I'll let you know how it goes...

y'all be blessed beyond measure!
~ashley

Just rub some dirt on it

Baseball season is here.  This year is going to be so easy compared to years past.  I only have 2 playing instead of all 4.  It was a little crazy when they all played, but Hop has chosen lacrosse, and he can drive himself & Elizabeth is dancing, so that eases things up a bit.

With a new season here, that means for almost every family, the trying on of cleats, pants, belts etc.  I am excited to say that the only thing we needed was new pants for Harry, the picky one.  How we managed this feat I will never know, but so far, so good.  Poor Henry will never get anything new because of 2 older brothers.  It's life...

So, earlier this week Hop needed to go to Academy sports for some lacrosse balls.  'Fine,' I said.  I didn't have to drive him so it's a little hard for me to complain when he wants to do something for himself.  Harry had been bugging me about his pants, so I told him to go with Hop to the store to get some.  (I had forgotten that Harry likes to get the most expensive things on any rack.  Needless to say I was hoping he would use good judgement & not buy the $50 pair of baseball pants.)  I am happy to note that he did come home with an appropriate pair of baseball pants.  (big sigh of relief here!)  But, there's always a but isn't there?  But, this morning he came down with said pants and said:  "Um, mom, last night at practice I slid and I slid so hard I had a 1/2 inch of dirt caught up under my belt.  Don't worry I vacuumed it off the floor, but could you wash my pants?"

I looked at the pants & FTL (for the love) it looked like he a wallowed around in the mud.  Really, I'm not kidding.  The entire side of one of the legs, the fanny, and the entire front was red.  And not the surface kind of red, but the ground in kind.  Brand new white pants were not white any more.  Why are baseball pants white?  I mean, shouldn't we get some that don't show dirt? I told him to put them in the laundry room because I was going to have to do some serious work to get the stains out. 

We've been playing baseball 11 years.  Never once in those 11 years have I been able to bleach, oxyclean, or detergent the stains completely away.  It's frustrating.  I would like to have fresh looking pants for the 1st game, but have never been able to pull it off.  Until today...

...I remembered a book I have somewhere in this house titled 'How to clean almost anything', so I start hunting it down.  I couldn't find it, but then I remembered I have a wonderful thing called the world wide web!  How our parents survived without it, I'll never know.  Anyway, I went to Google & typed in what I needed to know & you know what I found out?  Murphy's Oil Soap.  Yep, MOS.  I'm thinking there is no way that it's going to get out the stains, but at this point, I had nothing to lose, so while the pants were dry I coated the spots with the stuff.  I let is sit for 15 minutes & then started rinsing it out with hot water.  The mud was coming off!  OH MY GOODNESS, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was great!  So, I decided to repeat the process, and even more came out.  I'm now on my 3 time & for this step I started scrubbing the spots before I left them to sit.  The stains were disappearing before my eyes.  I'll have to let you know later if the stains come completely out, but so far so good.

I just wanted to pass this onto everyone since it's time for America's game to commence.  As Aunt Bethany says in Christmas Vacation:  "Play Ball!"

Y'all be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley