Christmas MIRACLES & a R.A.C.K. Update

first of all... merry Christmas Eve!!!!  i haven't blogged in awhile, and one of the things i pride myself on is being real... so here's a REAL look at:

 

GONSER CHRISTMAS 2012

 

 

this is the first year for RACK... Random Acts of Christmas Kindness...  we started like mad men!!  we were going 100 mph!  then... school programs... and baking... and SICKNESS... and empty wallets... GOT US. 

 

this first year was totally an experiment.  we have a small stack of RACK's we still need to do, and WE WILL!  even if we're RACK'ing in January!  and we learned some things along the way.  we decided on some things we'll do differently next year, but we will DEFINITELY do it again! 

 

i will do a  more complete update to let you know other RACK's we did and ones we still need to do... 

 

CHRISTMAS MIRACLES...  this Christmas has been... sort of... Magical... i can't put my finger on it... it's not like one BIG thing... it's a bunch of little things... one of which i'll share now...

 

our family has an "idealistic" life... but most people don't know the truly broken road both mike and i had to travel to get where we are today.  we literally had to strap on hip waders and crawl out of holes... no joke!  some of the adversity, i'm sure we'll share some day... but some is too difficult to even talk about...  but, it's because of what we've overcome that we can truly appreciate what we have today!! 

 

it's difficult for me to share my intimate faith with God sometimes... i know... i SHOULD shout it from the roof tops, but sometimes, i'm just afraid i'll sound like a lunatic.  but here goes!  in december 2011, i was cleaning my craft room, which is a daunting task!!  and clear as day, God told me "you don't have to worry about money anymore."  wow... ok... i totally thought i was either:  a)  insane  or b)  making it up myself.   soooo... i just ignored it.  throughout the year, when financial worries would arise, i'd hear this quiet "i told you, you don't have to worry..."   so, i'd try to relax... and SURE ENOUGH... EVERY FINANCIAL "CRISIS" WAS HANDLED!!!!  2012 was AMAZING!  mike got a new job... then went back to his previous employer, only to a NEW position and a raise... and within two months, he'd been promoted again with ANOTHER raise!  i got a fantastic bonus... we started a small business at home with unbelievable success... 2012 was a BLESSED YEAR! 

 

we took our children + 3 of their friends to florida for thanksgiving and had an amazing time... when we got back, we were ready to BLESS others like we'd never done before!  and we did!  maybe TOO good.... last week... looking at my checking account... i was stressing... i get like that... and there was that voice "don't worry..."  but it was hard... we'd been RACK'ing and blessing people... providing gifts, trees, food, beds... to people around our community... and friday, december 21st, i felt like i needed someone to RACK ME!!!!  i wasn't happy with the gift i'd gotten mike... we still had 3 gift cards to buy... ugh... a bill to pay... i couldn't see how we would accomplish all this...

 

i trudged in to work... jumped on the on-line bank site... and nearly had a HEART ATTACK!!!  there... overnight, our account had DOUBLED!!!  i couldn't understand... i was in shock.... i quickly clicked to see WHY!  there it was... a deposit from mike's work... WHY???  payday was last week?  and then i knew... God told me "when you don't see a way, I do... I told you NOT to worry".  i seriously didn't know what to do... humbled by God's goodness and faithfulness... even when i... in my human blindness... don't see a way... God has a plan!  i called mike... even he didn't know he'd gotten a Christmas bonus! 

 

i'm sharing this story to offer hope... mike is always reminding me, i can't save everyone... and he's right... i can't...  but Jesus can!  and if you need some hope in your life... Jesus is the way!  i swear... He'll bring a PEACE to your life you've never known before! 

 

the first "real" tree we've had!  so beautiful!

 

brady's crafty work!!

 

waaaayyy too many gifts.... i struggle with this... but mike and i agree... we don't spoil the kids TOO much.... there are no ipads under here!  maybe a comb or two...???

 

 

 

 

 

no Christmas is complete without a handmade ornament!!  britt made us this!

 

 

 

 

 

some of our decorations.......

brady checking out our tree!



dropped off the face of the earth???

i can honestly say, the last... three weeks have been a blur.......

and the farthest thing from my mind has been furniture....

front and center has been....

our beloved dog Skylar :)

i think it's safe to say "the skylar saga" started way back in september.  sometimes i find long drawn out explanations just as exhausting to write as i'm sure they are to read... so here's what happened...

-  sept 24... find out sky is preggers.  mixed joy.  totally not planned, but i love me some puppies!

-  end of october... sky's belly really isn't getting bigger... now we're getting worried...

-  november 2... find out sky lost all her babies :(  AND ate a dime

-  a few days later... sky poops out the dime :)

-  around november 14th, our family is getting ready to leave for florida.  we REALLY need a vacation!  sky really doesn't want to eat.  she LOOKS depressed.... 

-  november 19... sky is with gpa john... doesnt want to eat.  i call the vet from florida and gpa takes her in.  the vet thinks sky is fine other than she's very sad we are gone and she misses her pal rudy: 

they are BEST BUDS!

 

 



-  november 24... we get home from florida.  sky goes NUTS when she sees us!!  talk about a happy puppy!  buuuut.... she still doesn't want to eat.

-  november 25... i sit on the kitchen floor, spoon feeding skylar vanilla pudding... the ONLY thing she'll eat, and i'm basically forcing her to...

-  november 26... i call the vet.  she gets us in right away that morning.  she notes that skylar doesn't look well... she's lethargic and appears dehydrated.  strange considering she was drinking TWO giant dishes of water a day...   the vet does blood work.  sky's kidneys are failing. 

WHAT?!?!  my ONE year old dogs kidneys are FAILING!?!?  the vet comes up with three reasons:
             1.  born with bad kidneys (will mean heaven for sky)
             2.  Addison's (a condition that will require life long treatment)
             3.  leptospirosis (a curable bacterial infection)

clearly, we were hoping for #3... or even #2.

so... the vet pumps sky full of fluid because she's dehydrated and we head home to wait......

that "hunch back" is the fluid.  yuck.

 

 

sky was supposed to be on "bed rest"... which wasn't too difficult... she was pretty lethargic still...

 

"resting" at mommy's work

 

ALL THAT HAPPENED ON A MONDAY....

 

Tuesday and Wednesday that week, sky was great!!!! by Thursday....

 

SHE CRASHED.... mike and i talked it over at lunch... we had an appointment with the vet at 5:00... we'd learned from test results she didn't have Addison's...  we were prepared to say goodbye to our girl that night...

 

i let the kids know...  they all said tearful goodbyes.

 

mike brought sky and met me at the vets.

 

i had some pop tarts in my purse that i'd forgotten to eat for breakfast...  i offered them to sky.  i figured if she was heading to heaven, she should go out with a bang!   she loved the pop tarts!

 

IN BURSTS THE VET!!!!!

 

"IT'S LEPTO" she screamed!  Lepto... the totally curable bacteria!!! 

 

BUT DON'T GET TOO EXCITED..........  sky's case was VERY BAD... Purdue University suggested we try to save her given her age... but the kidney damage may be too far.........

 

TREATMENT STARTED....

sky spent all day Friday getting an IV fluid treatment.....

 

and we haven't been able to keep her off the trampoline since!!! 

 

that was almost two weeks ago.....  tomorrow we'll go and get the final blood work done!  Purdue says she survived because she's so young and otherwise healthy...

 

but we all know it's because of prayer.

 

sky is back at it!  terrorizing the neighbors and hanging out with her "boyfriends"  :)  it's pretty cute actually! 

 

so there you have it.... i'm still here... and now that this is BEHIND us... i'm ready to get back at it!!!! 

 

oh... of course i need to add some random "isn't my dog the cutest ever" pictures!!!

 

she's always loved sleeping on pillows!  not so cute now at 56 lbs!

loooong tongue!

terrorizing my flowers!

that mean dog in the mirror NEVER leaves her alone ;)

she STILL gets up to the table!  geesh!

(never mind me and my "no make-up" Saturday look)  she's my love baby for sure!!!  <3 <3 <3

 





RACK'ing Days 1-6... plus some EXTRA Random'ness :)

RACK'ing
okay!!  here we go!!  if you missed the blog where i explained RACK'ing... you might want to read it!  but in a nutshell, RACK= Random Acts of Christmas Kindness
our family has one to do everyday until Christmas.
i found some RACK ideas on-line and made some up myself.
here's what we've done in the first SIX days!!! 

DAY 1-  leave a treat for our mail carrier

whew!  we started our first day with a very simple one!  randomly i swear!  i had just done some baking for a cookie exchange so the timing was God given!  we put some treats in a container and left them with a RACK note in our mailbox! 

 

 

  DAY 2-  donate hats and gloves to our elementary school

one thing our "bigs"... lexi and brady, have learned is in our little community of Jimtown, all is not "equal"...  Jimtown has a considerable amount of "poverty".  lexi and brady are extremely sensitive children and are both saddened by this.  this was a great task for us.  first, we cleaned out our own stash of winter wear.  i'm ashamed to admit we found enough Hats, Scarves, and Gloves/Mittens that we don't use, to fill an entire kitchen garbage bag!!  those were our first donation.  then mike went to walmart and bought 10 little girl hats & gloves.  10 little boy hats & gloves, 10 big girl hats & gloves, and 10 big boy hats & gloves.... that was our second donation.

 

 

 

DAY 3-  pay on someones lay-away

this was a great one!!  sireana went to our local walmart with $50 in hand.  at the customer service desk, she quietly whispered to the walmart employee "my family is doing random acts of christmas kindness and i would like to pay off someones lay-away.  can i do that?"  the cashiers first reaction was a stunned face.  then she said "yeah!".  sireana explained she had $50 and she'd like to pay someones off entirely... the cashier found one for $35, but sireana said she'd like to use the entire $50.  the cashier looked further and found one for $50.27.  PERFECT!  sireana paid it off and left a RACK card for the person!  they will go in expecting to make a payment, only to find it's paid in full!  :) 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 4-  deliver a tree to a stranger.
here's brady looking for the perfect tree.  we did deliver one... to the wrong house!!  we received a request for a Christmas tree via our craigslist ad...  and they gave us their address... which we could NOT find!!!  so we left it on what we THOUGHT was their porch and sent them an email.  thankfully, they were able to go get it!  we were close... right across the street!!! 



 

 

DAY 5-  Send Christmas cards to Military Men & Women
brady's note melted my heart :)   we all wrote personal notes in the cards... and we sent them to an organization in Maryland that i found on-line

DAY 6- Hand out gift cards to random people...
 

 our assignment was to hand out gift cards to random strangers.... so armed with $60, we headed to our local Walmart.  we chose 12 gift cards and loaded them up with $5 each.  then we headed out into the store.  we decided to hit different departments and randomly pick people.  the first couple of people looked slightly stunned.  all we did was walk up to them, hand them a card and RACK slip and say "we are doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness.  Here's a $5 gift card".  A young lady in the baby department was very thankful :)  .  a young family in the shoe department definitely won the "appreciative award"!  the look on their faces was priceless!  we did have one guy say no to brady :(  i'm not sure i understand that... but oh well...  we tried to give to a variety of people:  an older couple, a mom struggling with a crying child in the toy isle, a young family, single men, single moms, single women... young and old... all ethnicity's... IT WAS AWESOME!!!

 

would we do it again??  ABSOLUTELY!!!  only next time... with more money!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXTRA RANDOMness....

 

 

a friend of ours seemed to need some holiday cheer, so we delivered crafts for her to make (she LOVES crafts!!) and some goodies to enjoy!

 

and....

 

we "adopted" a family of five from CAPS and bought them presents...

 

Sireana delivered 2 big bags of groceries to a family in need...

 

Brady & Lexi bought toys for two little boys in Mishawaka...

 

Sireana gave a Pack-N-Play to a single mom with no bed for her 10 month old...

 

My dad Jim gave firewood to a family who desperately need to stay warm....

 

My dad Jim is cleaning up the yard of a man who's in a wheelchair after an auto accident...

 

We gave two packs of Goodnights to a little boy with a congenital bladder condition...

 

Lexi RACK'd her great grandma by stopping on the spur of the moment to give her a hug :) ...

 

 

 

********************************************************************

things we want to do differently next year...

 

next year, we probably won't "adopt" a family...

 

place our craigslist ad alittle earlier and try to help more people...

 

instead of one person coming up with all 24 RACK ideas, everyone contribute four ideas...

 

 

confessions of a self-diagnosed A.D.D. mom

i made a liberating and life changing decision today!!  but i think i'll start from the beginning...

in 1999, i started noticing i did weird things like ... counting EVERYTHING... i had an obsession with symmetry, even numbers, and numbers divisible by five.  yeah... even typing it, i'm thinking WOW!  crazy lady!  i did these things, but pretty much kept it under control. 

i dont know if it was the hormones or what, but after i had brady, these little obsessions of mine got worse.  by 2001, i was having panic attacks if my world wasn't even, symmetrical, organized...  and Lord help me if i was going somewhere that might be crowded... that tripped a whole separate level of anxiety!  my family was being affected, so i went and talked to my doctor. 

he decided i have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder... OCD.  solution- a low dose of paxil, an anti-anxiety med and i went to a psychologist that specialized in OCD behavior modification.  he was awesome!!  after nearly a year, i was doing great!!

faaaaasst forward.  2011.  i'm STILL taking paxil.  and after several failed attempts of not using it... i came to the realization, i just need to take it.  i don't have the issues with OCD anymore... just think back to the picture of my laundry room!!!  clearly, i'm NOT concerned with obsessive organization!!  i'm cured!!!

so then i got to thinking about my other "quirks"... and after all i've learned about Attention Deficit Disorder from dealing with brady, i started to realize... I HAVE A.D.D. (and... perhaps hypochondria?!?!) 

2012... i talk over this "epiphany" of mine with the doctor.  i've had the same doctor for 12 years.  inside his head he was probably thinking "DUH!!!"  but he was really nice... and agreed, i probably do.  being the responsible doctor he is, he insisted before prescribing any A.D.D. meds, i needed to go have the A.D.D. test done...

yeah... so i called, and that test was $600 for brady, but for an adult, it's $900!!!!!  um... pass.  my first reaction was that i bawled.  i really thought if i started taking some medicine, i could focus and be a better person.  i was really really upset when i couldn't do it!

i think that was about two months ago.

i was walking into my office yesterday... i had spent my lunch cuddling with sky (because i thought she was going to heaven) and making a project for ReInVintaged...  as i walked in, i thought to myself "wow laurie... you have ALOT going on right now!"

1.  job #1 that pays the bills
2. job #2 that i love and does NOT pay the bills
3. kids- a real lot of em
4. hubby- completely amazing and keeping me sane
5. pets- one tragically ill
6. house- in a constant state of chaos
7. 24 days of RACK- organizing it, doing it...
8. running around collecting things for the Pay It Forward a our church
9. adopted family from CAPS
10. co-ordinating the craigslist RACK projects
11. cookie exchange on saturday

wow... thats just a lot going on right now.......

which brings me to today!!!!!  i realized some things:

1.  because of my A.D.D. (self diagnosed of course!!) i start ALOT of projects

2.  God has brought an amazing person into my life who helps keep me focused and FINISHING things!!  ah hem... michael!!

3.  God has also brought people into my life who pick up some of my projects and finish them... sireana, mom, dad, michael...  because of them, ALOT OF STUFF GETS DONE!

and i got to thinking... if i didn't have A.D.D. would i get as much done??  would i still be me?? 

now don't get me wrong, i'm not one of these "tom cruise types"... i totally think God wants us to use medicine when appropriate.  but i'm also not the pill pushing type.  i don't think EVERY problem can be solved with a pill. 

so i decided.... my life changing and LIBERATING decision... I WILL ACCEPT MYSELF JUST AS GOD MADE ME!!!  i function just fine!  i get my job done at work.  i get everything (mostly!) done at home~ with the help God sent!!!  why would i want to change??  i'm going to see my PERSONALITY as God's Gift to me... not something i should be ashamed of or change! 

so... honey... this is it... you'll have to continue to remind me to finish projects.  you will mostly likely have to continue putting things away that i simply put down... in the wrong spot!  you'll have to listen to all my "save the world" plans and occasionally help out with one!   but mostly, just love me the way i am!!  i do!!

24 Days of RACK- Gonser Style

so, i promised you i would blog about our RACK project... so here we go!!

last night, we put together our Advent "Calendar" that will be used for the RACK project!  here it is:

i am a HORRIBLE photographer!!!

we need to go alittle higher... we hung it inbetween the great room and kitchen... it's a little too low :)

 

 

SO, HOW'S IT WORK??  good question!!! 

 

we have 24 numbered envelopes.

 

each night at dinner, we will open the envelope for TOMORROW.  this way if we need to do/prepare/buy something for the RACK, we have a day to do it.  so for example, tomorrow on nov 30, we will open the envelope for dec.1. 

 

we had a list of about 18 things to put in the envelopes.  we printed them out and placed a RACK in each evelope along with the "you've been RACK'd" card i got off the internet.  if the RACK required materials, i tried to put that in the envelope too.  for example, one day, we're supposed to find a filty car and put a gift card to the car wash on their windshield... so in that envelope, i put a gift card to the car wash. 

 

we only had 18 things on our list, so we wrote a craigslist add to see who we could help!  we had a huge response!!  over 30 people wrote to us!!  we stated in our ad that we'd be helping ONE family/person... after reading thru all of them.... which was a little sad... we were able to find SEVEN we could realistically help!!!  what an AWESOME FEELING!!!  brady and lexi were even so touched, they threw their own money in to buy presents for 2 little boys!!!  our children are so giving!  

as we open the envelopes each day, we will share on FB what we're up to!!  i'll try like crazy to get some pictures!!  and i'll try to blog our RACKing as well!!!

ok... so... BE BLESSED.... and... BLESS OTHERS TODAY!!!

a Christmas Experiment

this year, our family is RACK'ing people for Christmas!
RACK= Random Acts of Christmas Kindness!!!!  i originally got the idea from pinterest during the summer.... here's the link http://tsjphotography.com/blog/random-acts-of-christmas-kindness-summary/  from pinterest.

i intend to thoroughly blog and FB the entire experience.  but right now, i'm just going to talk about ONE of our RACK ideas.

Craigslist.  by now, everyone should know my extreme obsession with "the craigslist".  at some point, my family may need to step in ;)    anyway... while our family was compiling our list of "random acts of Christmas kindness", my daughter sireana suggested placing a craigs list ad.  hm... craigslist... you have my attention!!! 

so i did.  here's my ad:

our family is celebrating the 24 days leading up to Christmas by doing one Random Act of Christmas Kindness each day.
do you need alittle random kindness? maybe you desperately need an oil change and can't afford it... maybe you don't have a Christmas Tree... maybe you need haircuts for all your kids...
maybe you know someone else who could use some Christmas cheer...
if so, please email us and tell us:

1. about you & your family
2. what is that you need
3. town you live in

our family will read all the emails together tonight and choose ONE.
emails will be accepted through 5 pm today- November 28th.
(please note, we have already "adopted" a family... so we aren't looking for a shopping list and all your family members wants)

i placed my ad at 9:06 a.m.  as of 12:51, i have ELEVEN emails!!!  i'd like to make a few comments about this process:

1.  WE ARE TRUSTING GOD TO HELP US MAKE WISE DECISIONS
2.  WE ARE NOT JUDGING ANY OF THE E-MAILS OR DECIDING IF PEOPLE ARE "DESERVING"
3.  WE WILL HELP AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE REALISTICALLY CAN

my ad was pretty clear that we've already "adopted" a family... but many of the emails basically want Christmas gifts.  I get that.  For several years, I couldn't buy my kids their gifts, and if not for my parents, I would be the one writing a plea for help!!! 

but a few of the emails are EXACTLY what we were looking for!!!!  and this is sorta where I AM ACTUALLY GOING TO ASK FOR HELP!!!  i think my friend Nicki has one thing figured out about life... YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!!  and right now, i'm counting on NETWORKING!!!  i'm quite certain i will be placing other requests... but right now, i'm looking for two VOLUNTEERS!!!!  i stress the word VOLUNTEER!!!  ;)

1.  A PHOTOGRAPHER

2.  A HAIR STYLIST

if you are interested in donating your services, i'll get with you!!!!  and if you AREN'T one of those, but are interested in getting in on the RACK ACTION, let me know!!!!! 

Before & After for an UgLy bUffeT !!!

 

 

here's the story of the WINNER of ReInVintaged Designs'

 "ugly dresser" contest!!

i know she's actually a "buffet" but who are we to discriminate!

isn't she BEAUTIFUL NOW?!?! 

 

 

 

 

 

When she came to me, she looked like this!

her owner had found her at a garage sale... someone had considered refinishing her.  check out her fantastic Jacobean legs!!!  she screamed potential!!

 

her owners wanted her to be "red" and "black... ish" :)

my FAVORITE paint is Annie Sloan Chalk Paint so we went with

Graphite & Emperor's Silk

 

once again, i'm so not good at all the pics along the way... tho i did a little better this time!!

 1.  i knew i wanted little distressed "peeks" of the Emperor's Silk, so i hit all the "distressing areas"... like the corners, edges, and embellishments with E.S.  you can kinda see that in the pic above!

2.  i knew i wanted the doors and drawers to PoP with the Emperor's silk... so they got two coats.

3.  next, i got out my favorite sanding sponge block thingy!!  looks just like this one!!  my husband said to me last night as i was frantically looking for it "you mean that thing's not dead yet??"  not quite.... :)

 look at that Emperor's Silk peeking through!!!  love love love!!! and i LOVE the drawer embellishments after i went over them with the sanding thingy!! 

4.  i applied A.S. dark wax to everything... but especially paying attention to the drawer embellishments. 

 

 i clearly lack ANY photography skills!!  flash or no flash... they both look terrible! 

All Put Back Together!!!!

the ONLY problem with this piece is she doesn't get to stay in my house!

its a... DIME!!!

ok... so for those of you following along with the "skylar saga"... you know we were expecting 6 balls of furry love in a week.  baby daddy... unknown.

at first everything seemed to be going ok.  her ... boobs... got HUGE!!  her belly... sorta got a little bigger... sorta... not really... 

i kept reading oodles of info on prego dogs and what to expect and the different phases...
my father in law built this amazing whelping box for her to whelp in!  whelp... that's when a dog gives birth... yeah, i didn't know that either :)

something wasn't right though... we just knew... mike and i finally said it out loud a couple of days ago.  i knew we needed to go to the vet.

so this morning, i load sky in the van and head to work.  every day i go to McDonald's for my diet coke.  today i got sky a sausage biscuit.  she loved it.  she dropped a piece of biscuit in the cup holder.  i keep change in the cup holder.  i said "sky, DON'T eat the money!!"  what she heard was "waa waa waa blaa" as she scarfed down the biscuit crumbs.

we go into my office... we're there all of 12 minutes when i notice sky is awfully quiet.  that can't be good.  so i start investigating and BAM, she pooped.  thanks sky.  then she got a drink out of the water fountain... aka, toilet... and locked herself in the bathroom twice.  i love that dog.

off to the vet...  here's a break down:
1.  skylar is a BEAUTIFUL lab!  her head is proportionate to her body.  she's muscular not fat. 
2.  skylar has a WONDERFUL personality!  not hyper, skittish, or aggressive.
3.  skylar is NOT pregnant anymore :(  at some point she lost all her babies...
4.  skylar is SUPER healthy!!  there are no adverse affects from the miscarriage.
5.  skylar DID NOT listen to her mommy and she ATE A DIME!!!
6.  skylar will be eating peanut butter smeared on bread twice a day for the weekend in hopes of pushing out the dime.
7.  mommy and daddy will be looking through all of skylar's poop this weekend making sure the dime passes.  fun.

so there it is... no puppy love for the gonser's.  i'm sad.  we're all sad.  but when i needed it most, mike reminded me of this:

"i'm sorry... remember God gives us what he wants us to have!!!!!  i'm not sure if i made that up or what!!!!  Love you!!"

and mike is right.  God IS taking care of skylar!  and God's plan isn't always OUR plan.  He loves all his creations... even dogs... and He's keeping Sky safe.

so... that's it.  oh... one more thing...

if you've ever wondered what it looks like when a dog swallows a dime... this is it!!  oh, and if you've wondered what it's like to for the dime in the poop... let me know... i'll get you our address!!!!

 

love to all!!!

laurie

is that a LAUNDRY ROOM or a PARLOUR?!?!

i REALLY need something more mentally challenging to do during the day... because what happens is, i'm bored... so i start looking a furniture and decorating blogs... and i trip up on one like i did today and i'm sitting here BEATING MYSELF UP!!!
~ my house isn't big enough
~ i don't decorate enough
~ my laundry room isn't spotless
~ i don't make my own homemade laundry detergent and keep it in a pretty glass jar on a tray!!!!!

WHATEVER!!!  WHO DOES THAT?!?!  my cleaning lady said to me two weeks ago "it was nice to be able to walk into the laundry room and clean that bathroom"... she clearly lacks a FILTER!!!  but the point is... not only is my laundry room NOT SPOTLESS... you USUALLY CAN'T SEE THE FLOOR!!!  IT'S COVERED IN LAUNDRY!!!  IT A LAUNDRY ROOM!!!!  DUH!!!  heck, for at least two months, the toilet seat didn't have a lid!!  our dog thought we installed a drinking fountain for her!   

why am i telling you all of this... because that blog inspired me AND made me feel like i'm incompetent!!  i know that woman was just showing her lovely home... and some great ideas... but i want my readers to know i'm REAL!!!  i REALLY work 40 hours a week!!  i REALLY have 6 kids!!  i REALLY have 2 dogs!!  .... and a hubby... and puppies on the way... and a furniture business... and my kids activities.... blah blah blah!!  that is REAL!!!!!

i realized this morning, i've gained 8 lbs!!!  i seriously can't fit into 75% of my pants/jeans.... i beat myself up about that too!!!  but NO MORE!!!!  i'm back on track!!!  i've isolated the problem!!  i had a LOOONG talk with myself!!!   i can do this!!! 

okay... now... my husband is going to DIE!!!!!  and i want to warn you... the pictures involved are VERY GRAPHIC!!!  there's a chance you're going to need therapy after this!!!  brandie layne... if you are reading this... after the vomiting stops... you may want to book a flight to elkhart for an intervention on me!!!  and all my other "organization loving friends"... you're welcome to join in!!  brandie will need help!!  i will be inserting some pics of a "laundry room" i found on line... i will NOT reference where as i'm sure it's a lovely family...

 

 

 

what caught my eye is the LAMP!!  REALLY??  do you have lighting issues?  because if not... what the?!?!  a lamp in MY laundry room would be crushed in seven seconds!!  and how about the soap... on the tray... in the jar.... does she sedate her kids???  mine would have it knocked over... brady would bury army men in the powder... that's not going to work for us...

i just don't know what to say...

 

OKAY.... READY??????

 

i just texted one of my kids.... my instructions were:

"open the laundry room.  DON'T touch ANYTHING!!  send me a few pics"

 

what she expected to find was a pristine laundry room that i was about to brag on!!!  what she REALLY found was this:

 

NOW THAT IS REAL BABY!!! see the basket... heaped with junk... THAT is MY organization!!!  oh, and don't forget the pink drawers!!  that's where i keep "extra school supplies"!!  see the purex that i BOUGHT... in the plastic container!  oh yeah!!

we have a complete toilet seat!!  the towel is my "laundry sorting"... i think... please note, there ARE both HAND SOAP and TOOTH PASTE!!!!  we wash AND brush!!!

and finally... check out the sorting!!  that's ALL ME!!!!

 

 

HONEY... I'M SO SORRY I AIRED OUR DIRTY LAUNDRY!!!!!  BUT I HAD TO!!!  ladies... i hope you giggled alittle... i hope you feel good about yourself... and i hope you have an AMAZING WEDNESDAY!!!!

 

laurie