Works for Me Wednesday - Cleaning away a grounding

Every Wednesday I go here to read a blog carnival called "Works for Me Wednesday" during which a bunch of bloggers log in and write down tips that keep their lives working! Everything from stopping temper tantrums to cooking tips! I have found many new ideas over there for many aspects of my life! I suggest you check it out.

I usually join when I think I have something to say.

This week my tip is: Use cleaning as a form of punishment! Yep, you heard me! I will ground my kids for a weekend, then when they whine and cry and tell me all the wonderful things they are missing out on by being grounded (usually "but my webkinz will die if I can't feed them!!!"), I let them work off a day of their grounding by giving me 2 hours of service. I get mean too! They have scrubbed dust off baseboards, swept and mopped kitchen floors, cleaned out closets, etc. Plus this is on top of their regular chores like putting away their own laundry and emptying the dishwasher! Working off groundings works for me!!!

Update

Ultrasound and blood tests confirm it is crohn's related. My doctor is talking to the gastroenterologist tomorrow to discuss the next steps. Sigh...

Something is wrong...

I don't know what yet. But I have an emergency ultrasound booked for tomorrow. I am crossing my fingers it is nothing serious, but living with crohn's means you can't take anything at face value. Excruciating Cramps + mid cycle bleeding = something not right. Especially when you are on birth control.

I am trying to distract myself by reading other blogs, surfing the internet, watching "Hoarder's" etc.

How do you distract yourself from stress? Do you have any links you to share with me to help distract me? :)

Checking in with my resolutions!

Well, I managed to go to the gym on Wednesday, worked out with my wii on Friday, and went and played in the snow today! So far so good! I am definitely trying to eat less and better. I really need to lose a couple of pounds!

As for the cleaning... The tree came down yesterday and I rearranged the living room and vaccuumed under all the furniture and I have been keeping up on laundry pretty well, so hopefully my hubby is noticing the efforts! In the meantime, I have not been as good at keeping up on the dishes. I have been baking a lot lately and it seems to dirty a lot of dishes! In my attempts to keep the junk out of the house I have been baking a lot from scratch. Bread, buns, stuffed breadsticks for lunches, etc! It is a lot cheaper than buying bread products and healthier because there isn't any preservatives to give them a longer shelf life.

I am still working on the job situation. I applied for a bunch more the other day. Hopefully I will get some interviews and get something good! I just want something that makes me happy, where I enjoy going to work everyday, and that will be the type of job that stays at work. Where I am not bringing my stress home with me. Know what I mean?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2010 is here!!! It sure seems like it was just yesterday when we were all panicking about Y2K. The last 10 years has certainly flown by!

I made a couple of resolutions:

1. Lose 30-40 lbs by this time next year. That works out to be only 3-4 lbs a month. Very do-able!
2. Be a better housekeeper.
3. Get a job I love that will take me through until we are ready to start trying to conceive #3. (about 2-3 years away)
4. Be more patient with my kids.
5. Save enough money to finally go on my honeymoon.
6. Either sell or get a long term renter for my townhouse.

We started working on number 2 already. Today my kids were told to clean their rooms. They told me when they were "done" and I had to go up to inspect. All they had done was clean a bare spot on the floor. So I spent most of my day helping the kids sort and purge in their rooms and it is amazing how nice my daughter's room looks! My son's still has about an hour's worth of work left in it tomorrow. I need to get the house to a manageable level of cleanliness so that it isn't such a big chore to clean it! It is amazing how much 4 people can accumulate in six months! That's about the last time I did a good deep purge, cleaning out cupboards and reorganizing. I had to make room for wedding stuff!

I think the Christmas stuff will hang out for a few more days then it will all get packed away too so that I can rearrange the living room again and hang up my new pictures!

What are your resolutions? Do you ever manage to keep to them? I don't really, and they tend to be the same every year, but for at least 4 weeks I do really well!!!