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I’ve had this really bad vacuum cleaner for the past few years. The Eureka “True Clean.” Yeah, right. It did a barely acceptable job until recently. In total we probably used the thing for a year. Because we had hardwood floors for a couple of the past few years and had no use for a vacuum during that time. It finally started smelling funny like it was burning up or something when we tried to use. I looked that up online and found a lot of people were having that same issue with it. So, apparently we had bought a lemon. So, off to vacuum shopping once again. This time, I read reviews. I’m a big fan of reading reviews but a few years ago, I was a lot lazier about doing it. So, after pouring over customer reviews and Good Housekeeping reviews, I finally noticed the “Shark Navigator.” There was the lightweight NV100 that had a coupon for $25 off at Costco or there was the Shark Navigator NV22L regular sized vacuum on rollback at Walmart. I went on the Shark website and chatted with a customer service rep about it. They told me that the larger one would have better suction and a larger collection cup. So, I decided I’d get the one at Walmart, even though I tend to prefer to buy stuff from Costco. I told hubby about it and he said we could go at night to get it, but for some reason I thought that would be too late and I should try to get it right away. I called Walmart and found out that it just went on rollback that day and that there was only 1 left in stock. So, I got the kids in the car and headed off to get it. I felt like God really had a hand in that. Making sure there was one left for me. When we got home, I put it together easily. I had to wait for hubby to come home to try it out because baby L would have freaked out at a loud vacuum noise without someone to hold her. Ishka tried first to see if you could get the old Eureka fixed and failed. It runs but it smells horrible still. He did run the Eureka over the living room carpet and it did it’s usual job. Then, I tried the Shark and vacuumed the living room. It was amazing all the stuff that was collected in the dirt cup AFTER Ishka had vacuumed it with the “True Clean.” I’ll never make the mistake of not looking at reviews again. The Shark Navigator is the BEST vacuum I’ve ever used. It picks up dirt better than any other vacuum I’ve used and it is the quietest vacuum I’ve ever come across. Hubby didn’t even have to hold L because she wasn’t scared by it the way she was with the Eureka. I LOVE my new vacuum. And though I can’t say anything about longevity, the reviews lead me to believe it’ll last me a while and I have my warranties. One to Avoid One to Buy
Cleaning and organizing has never come easily to me. I’ve always been kind of lazy in this area ever since I was little. My room was always a disaster area and I didn’t really care. After God saved me, he has slowly been working in me and changing me. This has been something he’s convicted me on many times but not until more recently have I been able to really go after the laziness monster and get on with keeping my home with sureness that I will continue on with it and not give up when things overwhelm me. I’ve always been an all or nothing personality when it comes to cleaning and organizing. I think, I’ll just take a day and do everything but that just isn’t possible since I have little kids. And really, it wouldn’t even be possible if I didn’t have them. I just don’t realize how big of a task that would be sometimes. I have finally come to my senses in recent time and I know that I have do what I can when I can. I finally see that homemaking is my job and that I’ve always had a good work ethic at a job, so I am hoping eventually, it will fully transfer to home where the only ones I need to please are God, my family and, the highly occasional visitor. If people came to visit all the time, I’m sure I would have a nice clean house but it is all about being motivated. God has been motivating me now though and I feel like I will get this all under control. There’s one other thing that has brought motivation to me, lately. It’s that my kids are growing older and I want to be a good example for them. I’m ashamed when I let things go in front of them now and I also want them to develop good habits. Right now, there’s a lot of clutter that I’m still working on getting rid of but I have made lots of progress and have begun developing habits for every day things like dishes, laundry, sweeping, making beds, etc. I also have been using a cleaning checklist that I’m liking pretty well. I may eventually develop something myself but for now, I just don’t have time and appreciate the simplicity of the program “Motivated Moms.” http://www.motivatedmoms.com/products.html Motivated Moms works great for me now because it has most of the things I need to do written out in checklist format. It makes it easy for me to keep my head on straight and know what I have to do next instead of just guessing at it and being random and possibly missing many of the things that need my attention. An organized and clean home really has a calmness and peace to it.
Example of Motivated Moms…
Recently, we bought spreadable butter at the store. Hubby really likes that and doesn’t like to leave his butter out on the counter. I don’t like the ingredients in the store bought spreadable butter and thought there must be an alternative. I thought it should be easy enough for me to make my own. And sure, I know the main ingredients are oil and butter, but I didn’t want to go guessing on the amounts. So, I looked up the following recipe. It’s easy to make and my family likes it. I used olive oil. And of course, it’d be easy to add stuff to the butter spread if you wanted, ex. garlic or salt. And, I actually didn’t follow the directions on the recipe totally. I used softened butter and dumped all the oil in and mixed it really well with a fork.
Directions:
Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/simple-spreadable-butter-181739#ixzz1kCbxLFsR
I’m getting my themes from my friend, as I mentioned previously. Our school stuff is a lot simpler and less school-like, with my kids being much younger than hers. More like learning Saturday but then it wouldn’t have the same letter as Saturday and that just isn’t right. This week, I didn’t do much with workbooks as we were busy but, I have it set up to be easy to do a few workbook pages next week. I went over the posters with them this week and will try to do it more regularly. I have mentioned before that I hung up some posters in my living room with letters, numbers, shapes and colors. They really like those and I find them quite useful. The boys learned about man, woman, boy and girl this week. They know that they are boys and when they get big, they will be men. They talked about aunty L, aunty N, mommy, bunica(Romanian grandma) and grandma all being women, and about bunicu, grandpa and daddy being men. And of course little sister is a girl and when she gets big, she will be a woman. They also learned the body part, “chest.” I realized when I was giving them a bath that I had never taught them that, LOL. They watched the letter sounds video through “Brainy Baby” one day this week. It really is helping them get a grasp of letter sounds along with my help. They look at the letter sounds books they have now and have a much better grasp on things. Liana is getting stronger and stronger. She likes staying on her hands and rocking back and forth when there is music. She’s getting more talkative too. And that’s all for now. I’m thankful to God for many, many things, of course. But, I guess I’ll just focus on one thing at a time. My friend came up with the themes for each day of the week and I thought it was a great idea to know what to write about. Lots of times, there’s writer’s block. I need some organization. So, anyway… The one thing that I am most thankful for is God’s grace and mercy! If it wasn’t for Him, I’d be nothing. I’d be following the horrible path I was following. I’d be on the path headed straight for hell. Ephesians 2:8-9New American Standard Bible (NASB) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Romans 9:1616 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
Because he saved me; I’m a new person. I used to want to ship my kids off to public school the first chance I got, just like the majority. But, now I want them home with me and know that is the right thing to do. I used to hate the thought of being stuck at home, but now I’m grateful to be here and take care of my family. I used to be wavering on truth and willing to soak in any garbage that came my way. I’d watch TBN and was going to a Charismatic, Arminian church. At the end of 2007, I started to wonder about what was being taught and not being satisfied with it. I went online and found a message board where some Calvinists/sovereigntists spent their time. They explained that all through the Bible it shows that God is sovereign. He predestines, He has a beloved, He has His sheep, He is in total control. I was surprised I’d never seen this; even though, I’d read through much of the Bible. So, it was suggested that I should look for selective words like “elect” and “predestined.” Of course, I just happened to be starting Romans right then, of all the books… I started reading and all throughout, there were those key words and it all said that God is in control. God saves whom He wills to save and He also has “vessels of wrath” in accordance to His will. There was no question about it. The blindness had been lifted and I could now see the truth. Romans 9:19-2419 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel [l]for honorable use and another [m]for common use? 22 [n]What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. So, praise the Lord!
Some of the many verses that show He is Sovereign! And a link to some sermons explaining God’s sovereignty. http://www.gcaarchive.com/sovereigntyofgod.shtml
And just because I love it… E turned 3 in December and C turns 5 this month. We went out to eat this evening in order to celebrate. I started my boys on the kumon workbooks. They were very excited and are already getting better with coloring. The boys are also learning letter sounds and are improving with their sentences. For example, C now says things like, “This is mommy’s one.” And, ” Pizza has meatballs on it.” An example of E would be, “One C’s, one mine(s).” Sometimes he adds an s on mine and sometimes he remembers not to. For letter sounds, I’ve been using the video series “Brainy Baby.” They are also using that video to help with counting. They like helping with chores too. I’m trying to remember to let them help out some. They like cleaning the table and helping fold, sort and put away cloth diapers. L has started doing full baby push ups and recently hid in the closet (rolled in there.) Hubby was recently interviewed for a position where we live but got his rejection letter the other day. He was well qualified but I guess God didn’t want it to work out. He will continue applying for work in hopes of finding a place with a good church and/or Christian friends and a job that pays fairly for us to live on. Please pray for us.
The kids’ joint birthday dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant… |
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Ah, He’s got a hand in everything, but you know what I mean. So, I bought the vacuum with the protection plan for an extra $10. It comes with it’s own 5 year limited warranty, but the 1 year extended warranty provides for easy replacement and stuff. I couldn’t tell you all it does, but it was enough for me to toss in the extra $10.
She knows how to do high fives(sort of) and claps. She’s also doing an army/worm style crawl. I’m sure within the next few weeks she should be crawling. I am a bit surprised she hasn’t crawled yet but each baby is different. She’s also a wobbly sitter still – she can do it but loses her balance if something catches her eye and she goes for it. She’s doing good with solid foods too. Still in purees but starting to like them chunkier. She recently started with some homemade baby oatmeal and pears. She’s close to 8 months old now.
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