Mission Statement vs. Motto

In "A House United" page 75, Nicholeen Peck shares the Peck Family Mission Statement which is repeated daily.  It goes as follows:

We the Peck family, will love support and be united with one another.
We are dedicated to building an atmosphere of trust, faith, and learning in our home.
We spread love and happiness to others.
We know that we are children of God and endeavor to return to His presence as an eternal family.
We have patience and wisdom in our relationships.
Heavenly Father guides and loves each of us so that we can fulfill our life's missions.

I think our family could do a mission statement, but I don't see us repeating it daily.  Once a week should do, probably on Sundays, since it seems so formal.

In "The Parenting Breakthrough", Merrilee Boyack shares their family mottos, which are like mini mission statements.  On page 128 are her family's mottos:

Boyacks are early.
Boyacks don't bail.
Boyacks live the Scout Law
Boyacks follow the prophet
Boyacks decorate like nuts for the holidays--especially Christmas!

I think little mottos like these would jive more with my crew.  And then we could verbally chant them out to the kids as the situation permits.  I.e. - 25 mintues till church starts and I want to leave in 10, not 25, and I'd shout out to any slow pokes that aren't ready with their shoes on yet "Wrides are EARLY!!  Let's go, Wrides!"

I also do like this list of rules / "guidelines" by the Duggars.  I'm not sure if it's too long for us to use, but I do like most all of their rules.  We shall implement those too.

The Kirby Vacuum

Over a year ago I was dreaming of buying a new vacuum for myself for Christmas, cause our 8+ year old Dyson was falling apart.  But, I decided to wait a little longer, hoping to find a good deal on a new Dyson on the classifieds, then in January the Kirby Demo guy knocked on our door.  I didn't know it was Kirby at first, it was a girl offering a carpet shampooing demo and they'd do a room for free, and our carpets were looking bad so I said yes please.  When a guy returned with the Kirby box, I kinda winced cause our last Kirby demo from years ago resulted in our first "fight", cause I was siding with the Kirby man that we needed this vacuum and NOW and I abandoned my poor husband to fend for himself in the "no way are we paying $2000+ for your vacuum, dude" camp.  So, this time around, I wanted to be polite, but hoped I could just let him do his demo then send him on his way.  As he started he said he'd really like/needed to have my husband come.  (Doh!)  Corey was in his office trying to get work done so it was not good timing...

Peeking in his office - "Hey sweetheart?"
Corey - "Yes my love?"
me - "Um, a Kirby guy is here (shrink) and wants you to come...(shrink again)..." 

...which was followed by a "tsk-tsk" look about like this:

He did the demo, I of course sided with Corey in the "No way, dude" camp, and we told him we didn't want to waste his time and he didn't have to shampoo our carpet, but he did anyway, which was nice of him, then went on his way. 

So after this demo, I realized once again that the Kirby is what we need.  So, off to the classifieds again, this time to see what the going rate for a Kirby was.

When the money in the bank and the posting of a great price on a Kirby were in harmony, I headed out to take a look at a Kirby in Layton.  I came home with a Kirby in the van, very excited to get all the dirt out of it's deep hiding place in the carpet.  Coming up on a year later and I am still very happy with my Kirby purchase and will not ever use any other brand of vacuum. 

I've bought these generic vacuum bags on Amazon for a lot cheaper than the Kirby ones - they fit and work fine on my Ultimate G model as far as I can tell, although a Kirby Rep would tell you to only use Kirby brand name.  

I still keep my Dyson downstairs for when I want a quick surface clean or to use the hose vacuum down there, and when I use it I just can't believe the difference I can feel in the suction.  I can totally tell when I vacuum with the Dyson that it is a surface cleaner, that's it.  Doesn't loose suction, but that suction is about at a 2 compared to the Kirby's 10.  It does not clean up the dirt that gets in the carpet from the 10 sets of shoes we have running around this place.  Corey thinks the Kirby vacuum is so ugly, it reminds him of old people (Dyson did win out the Kirby on "the coolness factor") but it works so great, carpets really feel and look clean - that's all I care about.

Measuring Cups & Spoons Organization

Saw this on pinterest, I think it is brilliant, on my list of to-do's

each cup with it's own hook - will they always find there way there?  I've got places for everything, the hurdle we can't seem to clear is people putting everything in it's place.  sigh.

Winter Wreath

I'm trying to finish taking down the last of the Christmas decorations today.  I took down the door Christmas Wreath on Saturday and then Melodie helped me make this winter wreath.  Turned out pretty good I think!

 

A wreath from the DI, spray paint, hot glue, some snipped off branches from a pretty tree outside, few pinecones, and a few left over Christmas decorations.  We might add a few silver ornaments.  Melodie also painted a little bird ornament to look like the golden crowned kinglet, which we learned over Christmas spends it's winters here in the Rocky Mountains, and it lives in pine trees, so seemed a good and appropriate bird to use.  (Aren't we just so knowledgeable!)

We learned that from a book about President Packer's art hobby.  We don't really know birds, but boy he sure does!  His artwork is inspiring to me, I need and want to create.

Tips for Homemakers

Started reading this book.  She says "If you are in need of immediate help, skip to the appendix" which I am and so I did.  Two tips that have been very helpful:

#1) Force yourself to smile.  It is hard to talk rude or be unpleasant to your children if you are smiling, so force yourself to smile when you talk to them.
#2) Cut up produce.  For kids that are constantly hungry and wanting food, nothing is easier than simply cutting up fruit or vegetables and serving it on a plate.

Job Jar

This Job Jar idea looks brilliant.

I almost had my act together in summer time around the last week of vacation.  Then school started, that was in August, and I don't have a game plan that's working.  I think this might save me.

Here is the list of chores from the original post at Madsens Memories:

Clean out van
Clean out pantry
Pull weeds in back yard for 10 minutes
Pull weeds in front yard for 10 minutes
Rub dad’s feet for 10 minutes and do, ‘this little piggy’ to him.
Clean a sibling’s room
Wipe down kitchen bathroom toilet
Clean a bathroom mirror while singing any song.
Clean out silverware drawer
Wipe down outside of fridge and have a treat afterwards.
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Vacuum garage floor mats
Scrub upstairs bathtub
Give mom and dad a hug and say, “I will never leave my stuff out again.”
Wipe down walls by garage door
Wipe down garage door inside and out
Empty all garbage’s
Write a letter to someone who has done a service for you and tell them thank you.
Dust the plant in the kitchen bathroom
Fold 10 pairs of socks
Rub dad’s head for 10 minutes while telling him how thankful you are for him working so hard.
Rub mom’s head for 10 minutes while telling her how thankful you are she sweeps 200 times a day.
Sweep front porch and ride your bike around the block.
Watch Hailey for 10 minutes
Clean out junk drawer
Dust living room
Clean front glass door
You are free but this is a WARNING!
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Tell all of your siblings 3 things you love about them.
Write 50 times “I will not leave my things out.”
Do 25 jumping jacks while singing, “I am a cleaning machine.”
Run around the house for 1 minute and see how many things you can pick up and put away.
Clean off the dining room table with glass cleaner.
Draw a picture of you picking up things and your mom and dad smiling BIG!
Make up a song about a clean house and perform it in front of your family.
Make your bed blindfolded.
Clean out a heater vent.
Do research on the computer about how to clean with baking soda.
While hopping on one foot, wipe the kitchen counters off.
Choose 2 items of yours to donate to Goodwill.
Vacuum the office.
Scrub an air vent with a toothbrush.
Hand wash 3 dishes
Scrub your toilet while singing, ‘whistle while you work’.
Pick up backyard, do a flip on the trampoline and beg your mother for forgiveness.
Sweep back patio
Design a machine on paper that cleans the whole house and gets you ready for the day.
Water the trees in the front yard.
Tell us the story, ‘The Little Red Hen.”
Organize mom and dad’s shoes.
Vacuum one set of stairs

Boy's Clothes Closet

I spent a couple of hours cleaning the boys closet yesterday (while listening to Rush Limbaugh to ease my somewhat political nerves!)  I was very happy with the new organization and containing method -

I labeled these bins for "Scout Stuff", "Ties" and "Belts".  They used to have just the boys first name initial so they could put whatever they wanted in them, but they haven't been used very effectively, so I repossessed ownership of them.

 So now I just need to vacuum it out and wash Lily's artwork off of the walls.