Cleaning Carpets without chemicals...

In my effort to declutter and simplifying the house, my car is always one item that is forever in need of decluttering and simplifying. I will admit that my car typically looks like a pigsty. I would do before and after pictures but I am too embarressed to be reminded of what it looks like. Earlier this week something started stinking...bad. Yesterday morning I pulled the car up to the house and started decluttering. I picked out all of the trash - yes, even the trash under the seats - took all of the shoes, toys, jackets, blankets, sippy cups and bottles into the house. I found what was stinking. One of the kids had dropped their sippy cups and the milk rotten and expanded in the cup causing it to come out and go all over the carpet.

So I vacuumed and then got out the carpet scrubber. The carpet is my very best friend since I hate having carpet. Luckily, we only have it in 2 rooms but it is in the 2 most unfortunate rooms - the living room and the kids bedroom. As much as I love the carpet scrubber, I hate the chemicals that are used to clean the carpet so instead I use vinegar. While it may stink while it is wet, it leaves the carpets feeling soft and smelling fresh. And most importantly, I don't have to worry about the kids being in the house while I'm cleaning carpets or while it is drying.

Oh yeah...and mom now has new rules for her car!!

Exercise is hard work...

Before I found out I was pregnant, I had finally found the strength inside me that I needed to put in the dedication and time to losing weight. Before I had Em, I ran 5-6 times a week 4-5 miles each time. I could pretty much eat anything I wanted...and being a lover of food, I did. However, being told for years I would never have children, I never took the time to learn about pregnancy and what I could do and what I couldn't do. So when I got pregnant and people told me I couldn't run, I stopped running...my calories didn't change and 60 pounds later was at a place I did not want to be again. See, I was a chubby kid and teenager and struggled with weight my entire life and running gave me the self-confidence I needed to be happy with myself physically.

When I was pregnant with our second baby, I was already overweight and just continued the bad habits of no exercise and not eating entirely healthy.

With this baby, I had started walking before I knew I was pregnant and am resolved to keep it up throughout my pregnancy. I'm avoiding foods high in carbohydrates (potatoes, white rice, sweets) and have cut out almost all junk food with the occasional treat because really...what good is dieting if you don't treat yourself once in awhile!

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise a person can do and the benefits of exercise in pregnancy are wonderful for me, the baby, and my pregnancy as well as my recovery after the baby is born.

The other plus is that the kids love to go for walks. If it's a day that Shane isn't home to keep the kids while I walk, Em wants to walk with me and Connor likes to be in the stroller. Those walks are more leisurely but still good. When it's just me or just Connor and me, I walk at a healthy pace. Today apparently, Connor thought exercise was hard work...

There is not a lot of crafting going on in our household. We've been spending a lot of time outside playing in the play yard, taking walks through the field collecting leaves, rocks and flowers, and in the garden watching how our garden grows (and taking samplings of the fresh fruit and vegetables that it is beginning to provide us with).

The other thing I've been busy doing is decluttering and simplifying the house. We know at some point (hopefully beginning in the spring), we will be building a new house on our property, but until then, we need to make more room in our little 2 bedroom house for the new baby. So I've been spending a lot of time cleaning and organizing and lots and lots of trips to Goodwill.

Life Sure Moves Fast...

I often think about writing an update and then life starts moving forward again. It's amazing how fast everything happens. The garden has been plants and is already showing us love from the produce it is providing us with.
Emily finished her first year of school and in a month and a half will start up again.
I finally had some time to sew and stock the etsy shop with some Ready To Ship trainers. Now if I could just get other stuff besides trainers stocked!!  :)

Some fun pictures of the things the kids have been doing this summer...

The kids have loved all the rain lately...as Em puts it..."Time to play in the Goo!"

The other exciting...and shocking... news in our family is that baby number 3 will be joining us in January 2011.  Shocking since we weren't really planning on having more but sometimes God knows differently than we do. We do feel truly blessed.

Lisa