Cleaning My Home Sweet Home

 Today was our first day back from Florida with our feet really on the ground. So, we decided to drive back down to the airport after a deep sleep (we got in at 3AM Saturday) and ship A off to California. We are all sad to see him go and are shuffling along towards normal but feeling very strange without him here to shuffle too. In his absence I have decided to CLEAN!

On my way back from the airport I bought a new vaccuum cleaner and then I hit the house like a brace of foxes with their tails tied to torches! I got both full baths done and started the master bedroom. Bedrooms always take longer to spring clean just because of all the linens that need washing. On our bed we have not only the dust ruffle and regular assortment of pillows and sheets but also a pillowtop and double pillows which I always think it smart to wash too. Shezam! Things are smelling fresher...windows have been opened, rubber gloves have been squeaked into and little boys have been pressed into service.

I took pictures for posterity. After I finish a room, as a reward I get to freeze the moment in a photo. These pictures are the most lasting evidence that any cleaning happened. Good thing I am not too attached to results. Have you heard about what it is like to clean a house with kids in it? So true. At least for my house and my kids. Today, I am processing Florida and making spring come by scrubbing and not worrying too much about how long the floor stays free of pee or the sink without spots. 

Florida was divine, as it will be. All sunshine and palm trees and shells on shells on the white, powdery sand. We met new friends, hung out with old and even had a little time with family which is the pinnacle of perfection. 

Am chewing on the things I learned from this trip. 

Lots of little things, and some larger things:

• Winter recovery trips should be to one cabin/cottage AT the beach, no hopping and driving about.
• Paprika is a great spice and deserves more of the limelight.
• So does lime! Its good for so much more than avocados and ice water.
• Nib is not really ready to go on airboat rides to see wild alligators.
• The older two kid are really getting to the point where they have opinions and want input into vacation choices.
• Having a washer is a must in a vacation house.
• Florida has SOOOO much stuff to see! We must go back.

In between thinking fondly of Florida, sorting our shells we brought home, dumping sand out of swimsuits and cleaning madly....I boxed off some time for a walk outdoors with my bevy of scrubbers and shell gatherers.

 

We trotted around the block in only our sweaters, mind you! And admired the melting snow, the empty sidewalks and the feeling of fresh, moist air on our cheeks. And then we found it. The first flower of the spring! Just around the corner from our house there were snowdrops actually out of the ground, blinking whitely at the world. We had a little jumping up and down celebration and then promptly ran back home to make the Very Last Tiny Snowman Of Winter with the remains of the snow in the backyard (our house faces south so the back always holds the snow). 

Spring is slowly creeping along and starting to look like its on its way and my man has promised he'll bring us all some more sunshine when he comes home from California. Power on! Tomorrow I tackle the upstairs floors and take my first big load to Goodwill.

February Floridian Dreams

We have sifted on into February, all the snow finally coming in poofy piles and heaps, our snow shovels dusted off and being all loved and hefted every day. We now have a little banks on either side of our driveway and this morning when I shoveled I was having a little trouble stacking more snow some places. Its kind of cozy to have so much white stuff outside and the boys sure have been logging sledding hours in the backyard.

My hens are hiding in the coop and sometimes making it out in the yard for a tiny peck and forage in the snow in the afternoon but mostly they are sitting indoors, fluffed up, snuggling together and doing little more than looking outside through the door for variety. I have to say that I can relate. Its the time of year for reading, circling things in seed catalogs and baking....but not much else. I went out this morning and shoveled until I had cleared the whole front walk and then part of the driveway and I felt all woozy and dizzy by lunchtime. My body is not used to vigorous exercise + multiple cups of coffee. Whew! Back to the books and the research and my paint brushes.....with maybe a few more detours for movement in between.

We were hoping to go to Arizona this year for a little mid-winter pep. Some of our friends from the homeschool world moved to the Pheonix area and a little desert visit sounded like just the thing in the dregs of winter. Unfortunately, I am not super adept at internet ticket price nabbing. I totally missed the amazing tickets that saw when I first shopped the idea out. So, the whole idea of a desert tour has gone by the wayside for this year. $399 per person was just a little out of our range. We did however manage to flex a little and snap up some seats heading to Florida in March for a week. We'll stay in some little out of the way corner and recharge, scavange shells, drive out to The Keys, see alligators and manatee and hopefully drop in on our numerous friends and family in The Sunshine State. Being flexible is good and being in Florida in sludgy March sounds great. I have been perusing Pinterest for great ideas for one or two key daytrips while we are there. So many pictures of sunshine, palm trees and surf have to be warming me somehow, right?

Now, I'm off to research "best way to weatherproof doors,"  "crockpot dinners" and other important things like, "what do meercats eat." Ah, internets....you are so good to us. We here at Homeschool Central and HomeStead United are forever in your debt. What would we do without you on a chilly winter day when bundling up in snowpants and damp knit gloves seems like way too much work?

Home From Florida

Just back home again after a week in sometimes sunny, sometimes torrentially rainy, Florida. Great to get away, wonderful to be with family and inspiring to experience beauty in new little ways. Nothing in this world quite like tent camping in the rain to make you ultra-grateful for your own dry bed. :)

Not a whole lot of anything happening around here today except for laundry and schedule resuming and extra naps when we can grab them; time to share a few select pix from our little family rendezvous in The Sunshine State.

And a grand time was had by all! 

Next stop...Laundry Room! See ya'll on the flip side.