It's been a reasonably successful day, so far.

The girls and I started off this morning doing our monthly Salvation Army trip.

Didn't find too much, honestly.

A couple pairs of shorts for Rayce.

A few t shirts.

Then we made a stop at the PAL center.

I had to drop off a friends Easter props that I used for my weekend photoshoots.

So we stayed for an hour and played.

Then we hit WalMart for a few random things like dog food and egg noodles.

I bought myself a face cleansing kit that's a lot like ProActive.

I hope it works.

I'm sick of being stuck in this place, with my skin, with huge zits like a 15 year old and fine lines and wrinkles like a 45 year old. 

C'mon, mother nature.

Cut me some slack.

I'm hoping this stuff helps.

While I was at WallyWorld I found the bikes my friend Amy had been telling me about.

Mom and I are going to go back at some point to get bikes for the kids for Easter :o)

I'll just get them each a tiny basket, and hang their baskets from their new bikes.

I'm terribly excited!

As soon as we were about to leave WM, said friend called and told me she had found some lunch containers on sale, just like the ones I have been eyeing, with the freezer pack built right in.

It just so happened that there were FIVE of them left.

What are the chances?

So she grabbed them for me and then I swung by Weggies to meet her and pick them up and pay her back.

They even came with little sporks and knives that have a little compartment in the lid!
Thank you Amy!!!

It's already after 4pm but I'm feeling like it's been a fairly productive day.

Now, to get to cleaning this pigstye :-/


~*~*~*~*~*~

It took a looong time but I got the downstairs *mostly* picked up.
The kids were so very uncooperative.
I ended up setting the timer for 10 minutes and throwing away whatever wasn't picked up from the sweep pile at the end.
The kids lost about half of their colored pencils and a handful of play-doh toys, among other things.
I'm just OVER being the only one who cleans up.
My kids are still young.
6, 4, and 3.
But there's NO reason they can't help pick up.
If I say to them "Mama's trying to clean up. Rayce, clear off the dining room table. Charlize, pick up all the toys that are on the floor in the living room and put them in the toybox. Liliya, pick up all the shoes and put them in the shoe bin.", they should be able to do those things.
It's not like I'm asking them to wash the laundry or mop the floor or scrub the outside of the second floor windows, ya know?
Maybe next time they'll take me a little more seriously.
I'm just really, really, really over it.
Completely.
They need to learn to pick up.
In addition to losing what was left on the floor after ten minutes, they also lost the Wii for the rest of the week.
I'm gonna start being a real hard-a$$ about this.
They need to learn to be responsible.
Really.
Not just cuz they'll get an allowance if they clean up.
But because being responsible is the right thing to do, they need to do what they can to help the family function at its best.
So they're gonna start losing their stuff if they don't take care of it.

I've got serious amounts of laundry to do tomorrow.
I was feeling caught up.
But now I haven't done any laundry in days and I'm terribly behind again.
And I forgot the borax, again, even though I walked right past it at WalMart.
*sigh*

And bedrooms to clean in between loads of laundry.

I've recruited Drew to help me get the backyard in shape, for the weekend after this coming weekend.
We've GOT to get some grass growing this year.
Not having grass in the backyard drives me NUTS!

Anyway, must sleep.

>.<
    ZzzzZzzzzzzzzZZZzzZzzZZZZzZZ