My version of Spring Cleaning

I've tried for 10 years to Spring Clean and I have not accomplished it. So... I came up with a new method. Do all of those Spring Cleaning things, but stretch them out over the whole year. It's part of my Geek Week plan and so far it's been working really well.

Here's what I did-

• Made a list of things I want to keep clean, but never do (like under the bed)
• Decided how many times a year I want to clean that item (once for under the bed!)
• Group it with other like-minded chores and put in on my yearly cleaning rotation (watch out bed- here I come this month)
  

How I keep up-

• Each month I do one "yearly item"
• Sometimes I need lots of time and/or Ian's help, other times I can get it finished during the week.
• Cut myself some slack- I did not get the windows cleaned before Africa so they will have to wait until the next time they are on the schedule (October) because it's too hot outside now (Oh bummer!)

Here is what my schedule looks like-

• Jan- Garage (clean-out, organize, purge, sell or donate)
• Feb- Kitchen + (deep clean kitchen, fridge, oven, sink, microwave, toaster oven and dishwasher)
• Mar- Steam Clean Floors (I hire this done- easy month!)
• Apr- Windows inside and out
• May- Clean fan light covers, under beds, clean out closets and storage system
• Jun- Clean cupboards (kitchen and bathrooms)
• Jul- Kitchen + again (see Feb)
• Aug- Upper kitchen (all that stuff sitting out for display!) pull out fridge and oven
• Sept- Home Improvement Projects
  
• Oct- Windows inside and out
• Nov- Kitchen +
• Dec- It's Christmas- let's bake, hang out and celebrate!

Things I'm thinking of changing

• I want to add "detail both cars" but don't know where- the schedule is full!
• I might swap Mar and Apr to make sure it doesn't get too hot outside before the windows are washed
• No outside items at all....

That's the plan, and so for it's been really good for my mental health! I don't feel like my house is a pit and it's getting cleaned a lot more than it used to. What do you do for Spring Cleaning? Any new ideas for me?

Good Deal Gal Circus Ticket Giveaway!

The Good Deal Gal is giving away 4 tickets to the the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus! Check out her post at Good Deal Gal Circus Ticket Giveaway. Even if you don't win she has a way to get pretty reasonable tickets (4 for $44). Watch out lions here we come.........

New Favorite Snack

OK, I have to tell you. My new fav snack is HOMEMADE microwave popcorn. Some of you have probably been doing this for some time, but I'm just getting on the bandwagon. Anyway, a little internet research turned up a splendid recipe. If you don't want to follow the link this is what I do:

1/4 cup popcorn (yeah the old fashioned kind that's unpopped at the store! I bought a bag for $1.82)

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (already have that)

brown paper bag (like a sack lunch bag, bought 100 for $1.92)

salt (salt and more salt- I like salt!)

Put popcorn in bag, add salt (I added more than I thought I should, it takes a lot!), add oil and shake it really well (you can sing Everybody Dance Now and boogie if you'd like). Double fold the bag and really make the creases- otherwise you end up with popcorn everywhere. Put the bag on it's side in the microwave and start on high. I pop my bag for 1 min 30 sec but each microwave is different! Don't leave it in too long- burnt popcorn smells AWFUL. After it's finished let it sit for awhile and then enjoy (careful of the steam). It's like air popped popcorn without the clunky air popper! Quantity is a little less than a full bag of regular microwave popcorn, but more than a mini-bag.

Bottom line- I spent $4 and have enough popcorn to make about 50-75 bags. And it's seriously yummy popcorn people. Go try it, let me know what you think!

I'm going to....

A little background before I finish this sentence. I picked Macie up from school yesterday and then we headed to Target. I got the girls ring pops at the check-out and they were enjoying them in the car on the way home. They were pretending to be baby detectives (don't ask how that works) and Amelia was "fighting" a bad guy (Macie) and said, "I'm going to suck your face off." HA HA HAAA HAAA HAAA!!!!!

Africa- Day 5

WARNING: I will be referring to our trip as a trip to Epiphany. Just know that Epiphany is in northern Africa. I will not be using our friends full names, just J, R, K, and G or the Gs for the family. I will turn on comment moderation for several months just to make sure we don't accidentally say something that we shouldn't say! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will approve them before they show on the site. If you have any questions about our trip that I can't answer publicly just let me know. We are happy to share details, just not in a way that could jeopardize our friend's new life in Epiphany. Thanks for understanding!

Day5 held one of my favorite activities: we went to the local public hospital and held newborn, orphaned babies. One of the workers on the team does this every Wednesday and R has not been able to join her because she's taking care of her own little ones. So, since the boys were home and the timing was right R, T and I went to the hospital in the morning. There were 8 newborns that needed our care, 6 boys and 2 girls. On the way to the hospital I was drilling T with lots of questions about the babies. Why are they orphaned? What happens to them? Well, here's what T told me. The babies are orphaned because they were abandoned at birth or removed from the mother. If an unwed mother comes into the hospital and births a baby, they take the baby away and send the mother home. The mother can only get her child back if she marries the babies father and comes back to the hospital before the baby is sent to the orphanage. Another common reason for babies being orphaned is that his/her mother is a prostitute and abandons the child at birth.

Children are not adopted in this culture and no one from outside the country is allowed to adopt either. So, once an orphan, always an orphan. R and I knew we'd get attached if we held any of the babies for too long so we became the bottle brigade. Several other women were in volunteering that day and it was nice to have such a large group loving these babies. After we'd fed the babies their bottles, the other ladies would bathe them, put on a fresh diaper and new clothes. When it's up to the nurses to care for the babies they get their bottles propped up in the bassinet, one diaper change a day and might or might not get held at all. They are under-staffed for sure and these little ones get the left overs.

As I fed each little one I prayed for him/her. I prayed that even though they would grow up Muslim they would have dreams and visions of Christ. R prayed that they would not find peace in Islam, but seek another way. Each little one brought tears to my eyes as I thought about the situation they were headed for. BUT I know how big my God is and how much He loves each and every one of us.

Remember how I said I didn't want to get attached- well that didn't work out :) A sweet little boy named Achal kept making his way back into my arms. I'd fed him his bottle and he was very alert and awake. He was fascinated by what was going on around him. He had dark eyes and enough hair that they parted it and combed it to the side after his bath! The head volunteer, a nun, took him from one of the med students that was there looking at the babies and gave him to me and said, "He's happiest with you, very content in your arms." So we snuggled, for about 15 minutes. I sang Jesus Loves Me and he smiled, I prayed for him and he smiled, I rocked him and he fell asleep on my chest. I could tell it was time to go, so I laid him in his bassinet, gave him a kiss and cried (of course!)

On the one hand I felt helpless, nothing I could do to change his life. BUT, on the other hand I have a very powerful tool- prayer. So, I've added Achal to my daily prayers. In my inability to do anything I'm forced to turn to God and ask Him to protect him, love him, and show him who Jesus is. Honestly, I'd rather be able to DO something. Support him financially, adopt him even, something. But, I can't and in that I have to rely totally on God. How many times do I not rely on God because I can DO something about it on my own?

Well, we headed home in the pouring rain, which felt right because it matched my mood. After lunch, we headed up to a small town in the mountains for a little R&R at a nice hotel. We almost didn't make it though because of the rain. We hit a bad spot in the road were the rain had washed debris onto the road and people could not pass. A short wait and some heavy equipment fixed the problem and we were on our way.

Water on the road and the equipment fixing it. If they hadn't fixed the road we would have headed home, this was the ONLY way to our hotel.



The higher we climbed the thicker the fog became. By the time we arrived at the hotel it was so foggy you could hardly see the road. When we checked into the hotel it was very quiet- only 2 other families there. It honestly made me think of The Shining!

Checking in at the hotel. You must present a passport in order to stay. Plus, a breakfast and dinner buffet are included in the price!



The hotel was very nice and comparable to a hotel in America with one difference- the beds. A room that sleeps 3 is actually 2 twin beds pushed together and a couch that converts to a twin bed. Works for us! After dinner the kids went to bed in J & R's room and we played Canasta and ate lots of junk! You'll have to wait for the Day 6 and 7 update to see if our view improved!

Ummm, where are the mountains? "View" from our balcony.

Africa- Day 4

WARNING: I will be referring to our trip as a trip to Epiphany. Just know that Epiphany is in northern Africa. I will not be using our friends full names, just J, R, K, and G or the Gs for the family. I will turn on comment moderation for several months just to make sure we don't accidentally say something that we shouldn't say! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will approve them before they show on the site. If you have any questions about our trip that I can't answer publicly just let me know. We are happy to share details, just not in a way that could jeopardize our friend's new life in Epiphany. Thanks for understanding!

I'm alive! YEAH! That cold/flu/infection/whatever it was knocked me out pretty good but I am back in the land of the living and don't plan on getting that sick ever again. OK, so on to Day 4 in Africa.

We went to the grocery store (I think it was this day or maybe the day before....) I would liken it to a cross between Fry's Marketplace and Super Wal-Mart. You can shop for furniture and food. A few of the biggest differences from our shopping experiences: the eggs are not refrigerated- WHAT?!?!? You get your produce weighed and tagged with a price before you leave that area so the cashier just scans it, no weighing at the check-out. Prices were pretty similar from what I remember, but it's low on convenience foods.

Amelia and G enjoyed a tea party. Amelia brought a cute little 2 person tea set to have a tea party with G. G knew just what to do with the tea set and the girls enjoyed their "party."

Time for a tea party!


K trying to figure out what the girls are doing in there.



G feeding Amelia!



Day 4 afternoon we went to a city near Epiphany to see ruins. It was a little rainy and chilly, but the sites were breathtaking. Lots of tour buses at the larger sites.

An ampitheater- think Collesium but smaller. Gladiator type activities happened here including the killing of the first Christian martyrs in this area. According to J, 2 women were held here and then killed for sport. Legend has it that one woman was pregnant, they allowed her to birth the baby, nurse it once and then had her killed. I'd like to beleive that the baby was taken in by Christians and raised to tell others about Christ- that's the happy ending anyway. It's very humbling to stand were people stood 2000 years ago and died for their faith in Jesus Christ.


The Longs at the ampitheater.




An old altar set-up inside the "basement" of the ampitheater.



Friends enjoying each other!



A picture from some Roman ruins by the sea. Does anyone know what kind of tree that is? I've only seen it in Epiphany and in Rocky Point. They are beautiful. Anyone? Anyone?



Hey- has anyone seen my big toe?



An old Roman Forum. Can't you picture everyone (well really just men) sitting around talking and solving the world's problems! It's beautiful with the sea in the background.



HA- this picture makes me smile!




An old "city." I likened it to townhomes! The 4 stones in the middle of the picture are from the catupults that were used to detroy this area. They are about the size of basketballs for reference.



Coffins of babies burned in the fire and sacrificed to false gods, Agog and Magog centuries ago.



An underground, "secret" church. I was blown away by how small it was.




Roman Bath house ruins- the engineering and construction is very cool.



Our final adventure for the day was a trip to the US War Memorial. This was set up to honor all US soldiers killed in Northern Africa during WWII. I am not good at history at all and didn't even know the war had been fought on this soil. The memorial included a detailed outline of what happened and when. Basically Ephiphany was a huge supply site: ammo, equipment and people. It was controlled by the Axis until the Allies fought to take them over in order to cut off their supply chain. We all know how the war ended so I won't detail that part! This was definitely beautiful and sorrowful at the same time. Thanks to all the veterans who've given so much for us.

Africa- Day 3

WARNING: I will be referring to our trip as a trip to Epiphany. Just know that Epiphany is in northern Africa. I will not be using our friends full names, just J, R, K, and G or the Gs for the family. I will turn on comment moderation for several months just to make sure we don't accidentally say something that we shouldn't say! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will approve them before they show on the site. If you have any questions about our trip that I can't answer publicly just let me know. We are happy to share details, just not in a way that could jeopardize our friend's new life in Epiphany. Thanks for understanding!

Day 3 was my 33rd birthday! It started with us waking up and Ian asking me if I'd like to spend every birthday on another continent. I'm adventurous, but I'm not sure I'm THAT adventurous :) Well, they all made me feel very special with cards, gifts and a cake! Ian made breakfast, his now famous hot dog omelets, and we enjoyed more coffee (big surprise).

We spent time in the kitchen having a dance party to Ian's i-Pod. K and G LOVED it! Amelia always enjoys a good dance party herself. A video of this would have been better, but we were too busy enjoying ourselves to think of that!



Then R took me to a nearby Sheraton and we both had a "relaxation" massage. It was very relaxing and felt great. Thanks R! It was very comparable to a spa massage at home and they even served us tea afterward which I thought was nice touch.

Then home to get showered and ready for birthday dinner. A, another worker there, agreed to watch the kids for us so we could out on a double date- just the adults! Before we left I opened my cards (mom and dad your musical card was huge hit with the kids) and enjoyed the cake they had made. The kids had a great time decorating it and eating it!




Helping me blow out my candles.



Heading off to dinner.



J and R took us to a Lebanese place that was really good. We all ate off of each other's plates and enjoyed a wide variety of food. Then home to bed for us. Amelia gave A a run for her money- as she does every new babysitter, but everyone was sound asleep when we got home. A perfect 33rd birthday :)

Now that's sweet

As I recover from the flu, I've been a little absent today. At one point I was sitting down and Amelia came in with her chapstick. She always puts some on, then puts some on Emery. Well, I asked her not to do that because we are doing our best to not all catch the flu! The next time they happened my way Emery was holding Amelia's fake plastic lipstick from a beauty set. Emery was happily "applying" lipstick to herself while her sister applied chapstick to herself. I asked Amelia if Emery had found the fake lipstick. "Nope," she said, "I went and got it for her so she could have fun too!" I'm thankful for girls that like each other :)

Rounding up at the pump

I have a burning question that I need answered. Hope you all can help me. As I sit in line at Costco waiting to fill up my car I've noticed that about 80% of people continue to pump gas after the automatic shut-off has activated. I also notice they look at the pump while doing this. So, I'm guessing that they are rounding up their total to an even number? I get that this made sense when you paid with cash, but Costco is credit card ONLY. Why are people doing this? Habit? Getting as much gas as possible? They like being rule breakers (it says not to top off- bad for the earth you know)? HELP- anyone? I'd like to see this mystery solved :)

Proverbs Challenge

A friend told me about his Proverbs reading the other day and I thought it was a great idea. He reads a chapter of Proverbs each day based on the day of the month. Since there are 31 chapters it works out really well. I LOVE Proverbs. It's chock full of insight and wisdom. I've heard people say it's really good advice for young people and people new in their faith. I must be young and new in my faith because it speaks to me EVERY TIME I read it :) So I'm challenging myself to read Proverbs everyday for the whole summer (starting May 1 because it already feels like summer!). Wanna join me?

Africa- Day 2

WARNING: I will be referring to our trip as a trip to Epiphany. Just know that Epiphany is in northern Africa. I will not be using our friends full names, just J, R, K, and G or the Gs for the family. I will turn on comment moderation for several months just to make sure we don't accidentally say something that we shouldn't say! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will approve them before they show on the site. If you have any questions about our trip that I can't answer publicly just let me know. We are happy to share details, just not in a way that could jeopardize our friend's new life in Epiphany. Thanks for understanding!


So, after a really good nights sleep we rolled out of bed around 8 or 8:30 and started our first full day in Epiphany. The boys headed downtown on the train system to try and find a transformer to convert 220 power to 110. We needed this to make R's new espresso machine work without starting on fire :) J warned us that he might not find anything or if he did it might not work. Well, the boys did find a transformer for about $14. R and I plugged in the espresso maker, after a short tutorial on how to use it, and hoped for the best. The espresso machine did not behave like mine at home and soon we smelled smoke and burning electronics. We unplugged everything as fast as we could because it would be sad to see the new espresso machine meltdown on day one. Thankfully their neighbor across the wall as a more reliable transformer that we were able to borrow and we brewed drinks for all four us. YUMMY!

The working Espresso Maker!



The local, smoking transformer that did not work. I asked J if he could get return it and get his money back- he just laughed :)



J and R enjoying their lattes!



J, G, and Amelia



J, G, and Amelia making funny faces. I'm not sure G knew what that meant :)



After G's nap we headed to a great city park that is a short drive from the G's house. They have a park just around the corner but it is covered in weeds and full of broken glass- not exactly kid friendly. This park was great, but it was Amelia's first major adventure outside in public. Her blond hair definitely drew attention and she soon had 2 or 3 young girls following her around touching her hair and kissing her cheeks. R had warned us that this would happen and Amelia did really well for awhile and then got a little freaked out by the whole thing and spent some time hanging out with us.

A and R at the park. Even with the hat on her hair drew a lot of attention.



We saw the "recycle rat" up close and the kids were scolded by a city park worker because they touched the rat :) We are pretty sure "recycle rat" is not the official name of the city's recycling campaign mascot, but we think it has a nice ring to it and it stuck. We even saw the recycle rat in other cities we visited!

The Long Family with the Recycle Rat!



After the park we headed to a place called Tam Tam for dinner. You know it's a nice place because they had toilet paper in the bathrooms! We all had our fill of good food and then enjoyed very yummy gelato / ice cream for dessert. K and Amelia could not keep their eyes open on the way home and slowly melted into sleep in the backseat.


A perfect ending to Day 2!

Africa- Day 1

OK, I'm finally getting to blogging about our trip to Africa! Some days will be lots of pics, some days will be lots of text. Hope you enjoy it.

WARNING: I will be referring to our trip as a trip to Epiphany. Just know that Epiphany is in northern Africa. I will not be using our friends full names, just J, R, K, and G or the Gs for the family. I will turn on comment moderation for several months just to make sure we don't accidentally say something that we shouldn't say! Please feel free to leave comments, but I will approve them before they show on the site. If you have any questions about our trip that I can't answer publicly just let me know. We are happy to share details, just not in a way that could jeopardize our friend's new life in Epiphany. Thanks for understanding!

Our trip started early on Friday 4/17. Ian's dad dropped us off at the airport with 6 large crates, 3 carry on suitcases and 3 backpacks. As we rolled our carts into the airport we heard "Oh no, Oh no" as we walked by the baggage screening guys. I guess they thought we wouldn't know the rules- HA. All crates were between 48 and 50.5 lbs. That's what you get when you have 2 engineers packing! And they were locked with TSA approved locks. Smooth sailing from that point on. As you can see Amelia did a great job sleeping from Chicago to Paris. Ian and I did not. We did get "rest" but only 1 hour of shut-eye. This did not follow Ian's sleep plan that he had outlined on a 3x5 card in his pocket- man I love him!



Our trip through the Charles De Gaulle Airport was ridiculous. We had 1hr 40min in Paris. We got off of the plane onto a mobile staircase in the pouring rain, ran to a bus and took the bus all the way around the whole airport. We then went through a minor screening area were I almost took a ladies head off (I was tired- oops) and got back on another bus. This bus took us all the way back around the whole airport until we got to our concourse. We had 15 min to go to the bathroom, get food and go through screening at the gate. We then boarded ANOTHER bus and went to ANOTHER mobile staircase in the pouring rain and boarded our plane. Which I'm pretty sure was parked next to our original plane that we took from Chicago. Oh well, it was good exercise after sitting for 9 hours. Our flight to Epiphany was uneventful.



We arrived on time and gathered our 6 crates, 3 suitcases (which had been checked by this point due to cabin space) and looked for the stroller we were bringing our friends. This had also been checked due to space (good thing we didn't actually need it!) We couldn't find the stroller and I was getting a little panicky. So I asked an official looking guy if he'd seen it. He said no, then looked on the floor- it was right there next to the baggage conveyor belt. Again- can you say "tired?"

We breezed through customs- which I was really nervous about because of the large amount of luggage we had. J had coached us on how to get through customs so we had a 3x5 card for that too! We put the least interesting pieces of luggage on top and the most "fun" ones on the bottom. The guy asked if we had anything to declare, Ian said "no" and we walked right through. They never even opened the 6 crates- WHAT????

Then we rounded a corner and saw the G family. It was great. Amelia was super excited and we had a great time hugging everyone and saying HI. R is pregnant and looks adorable. I love pregnant bellies!

The boys had to take a taxi home because we couldn't fit everyone and all of the bags in the car. J&R left us some welcome presents (which were all very yummy by the way) and welcomed us Ephiphany style. Easlema (has le ma) means "Hello" in Arabic and it was nice to see a pic of Emery since she was at home with her auntie and uncle.





We ended the day with a bedtime story. Amelia was going to sleep in our room the first night, but she and K were so excited to have a "sleepover" that we moved her bed and she slept there. She went right to bed and did really well getting up once that night to go to the bathroom and then sleep with us for awhile.



Ian and J went to a Hamam that night for Ian's first cultural experience. From what I understand the Hamam is similar to a Roman bath. It's a mixture of a spa, sauna, hot bath, chiropractor, masseus, exfoliating treatment and a beating. At least that's what I gathered from Ian :) He liked it and slept like a baby that night. R and I spent the time catching up and hanging out. Then we cracked open the crates and she was able to see what everyone had blessed them with.

More to come later- please remember my request about comments. Thanks!