Clean house!

For once, my house is somewhat clean. My kitchen counter is still covered in canning stuff and some dishes, and seeing as how my expensive vacuum is getting fixed (grr) the floors have not been vacuumed, but at least things have been picked up and the kitchen floor has been mopped! I figured out a great way to get my kids to do their chores. Hopefully each week will be just as good.

So here's what I did:

For a long time now I have had a chore list of the generic chores: kitchen, bathrooms, tv room, front room then we rotate each week so that the kids wouldn't  have the same chore but every four weeks. This just wasn't working out, my kids could care less that their chores needed to be done everyday. So I decided to mix things up and just have then pick chores.

I sat down and wrote out on strips of paper different chores like kitchen floor, kitchen chairs, front room, tv room, upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom, closet, walls, Windows etc. I figured this would be easier on them than to try and tackle the whole job at once.

Friday is early out day from school for them, so Friday is perfect, since our Saturdays are pretty busy. They did very well today, I was impressed. I don't know if they liked the idea of having a random chore or not knowing what they would get or just doing something different, but they liked it.

I had them pick one and complete it and then I checked it and then they drew a second one and completed it and then I checked it. I still felt like I was having to show them each little thing that needed to be done, but that's where my explanations came in handy.

I also sat down with a notebook and wrote out each thing that needed to be done with each chore. That way they know and I don't have to tell them all the time. I am very excited about this new method and think it will work good. I also told them if they come tell me they are bored or don't know what to do, then they can pick a chore from the jar. Maybe they can start entertaining themselves more on their own. We will see. ;)

So much for blogging more often. It has seriously been crazy the last couple months. I have been sewing as much as possible and canning up a storm. I honestly don't know how much I have canned (I need to start keeping track better), but I have done grape juice, peaches, pears, salsa, tomatoes, grape jelly, raspberry jelly, apricot jelly, apple sauce, pickles, pickeled beets, and still have apples and tomatoes left to sauce and salsa. My house is a disaster and I have been overly exhausted. But this is all worth every minute in the end.

Among all of the canning and other things I am doing, I have trained for 5ks and a half triathalon that is this Saturday!  I have one of the best people training with me, that is so patient with me when it comes to not wanting to do anything and complaining about how much I hurt. She is so gung-ho about this whole thing tho. She will go some days to the gym or swimming, twice in the same day! She is a great example to me, and one of the most spiritual people I know. We have had many great gospel discussions, but more than anything we have each other to enjoy some adult time with, without kids or worries of having to be at home cooking and cleaning. We still worry about that stuff, but we can get out of normal routine and enjoy just being.

September 13, she and I participated in a 5k run. This was my first ever 5k. We trained pretty hard for this one and had so much fun. It was a prehistoric theme and we ran at night in and out of the dinosaur park here in Ogden. We did most of our training on the track at the high school, which was nice, but once we decided to start running down on the river parkway, we just fell in love with running there and will probably never go back to the track again!

I finished my first race at about 40. Not bad at all for my very first time!! I loved it, it was so much fun. I did have to walk at one point, going around the D loop on the way back. It was pretty steep and my legs just couldn't take it. It was a great run though and that just ballooned into what we are doing now. I never thought I would love running so much!

 

My dear friend Ashlynn and I after the race.

 

My Famiy.

 

 

My family and especially my husband have been so supportive of me through all of this. Two weeks after this race, we ran again at our Stake 5k. It was fun running just through the neighborhoods where we live. I finished that race in 34:35. Much better than the first one, but I also had some more time to train.

 

Now our new thing is this half tri that we are training for. It is this Saturday at Weber Sate University. It is being hosted and paid for by the North Ogden Council, which takes in 10 Stakes in our area. They are pushing lots of sports in our area in the church, which I think is great. So they are now doing Pickleball, whish is so much fun and a great sport for all ages. It's basically life size table tennis. They are also doing this half tri. We were so excited to try this as a first for both of us. We can take our time and just enjoy the experience. The tri consists of 300 meter swim (6 laps), bike 3 laps around campus (aprox. 5.7 miles), and one lap running (approx. 1.7 miles).

 

I have been in the pool training for a few weeks now and I love swimming. I have a hard time putting my face in the water, but I am good a side stroke. I am almost as fast as Ashlynn who does a freestyle. It is definitely a full body workout! It amazes me every time I go, just how out of breath you get from swimming. I have done the stationery bike at the gym and have done the 6 miles and then went right into running and did 2 miles, but putting all three together back to back will be interesting. I am very excited to say that I have accomplished this though. Can't wait till it's done. I will definitely continue to swim! I love the water and it is a great workout! So until next time...keep on running.