Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Spring is in the air

Just a reminder to anyone lucky enough to have a Rita's water ice close by...

Tomorrow is the first day of spring but more importantly it's free Rita's water ice day! Of course it's supposed to be the coldest day of the week, but the deMontaigne's will be there, freezing our butts off, getting our free water ice. And the fun thing is, we don't really like Rita's that much. We much prefer the italian water ice we can get year round at the pizza place down the street (and it's a closer walk). But free is free and we can't pass that up!


That's Ella getting all excited at the thought of free water ice. She's been bugging me to go to Rita's for weeks now. One day of warm weather and all of sudden she wants to get her swimming pool out and go to Rita's. The picture is right before going to church on Sunday all dressed up in the outfit that Matt picked out for her. I thought it was so cute I had to find an excuse to post it!

OK, now I need some input. It's almost Spring - so that gets me thinking about Spring cleaning! In theory I think it's a good idea. I imagine my house sparkling clean, smelling fresh with all the windows open and the stale air of winter being swept away by a spring breeze. The open window part is the most realistic thing. Sparkling clean, not so much. I have a hard enough time keeping up with regular straightening and laundry and cooking to think about deep cleaning. But it's something I've always wanted to do - and to do within a short period of time, not over a month or so.
So my questions are:

Do you spring clean?

When? How? What does is consist of? How long to do give yourself to do spring cleaning (a long day, a week?)? If you don't have time to really do a deep spring cleaning, what are some of the essential things you do do?

My problem probably lies in organizing and straightening - those two things seem to be my downfall and take up most of my time. I feel like most of my time is spent cleaning up the tornado left by my kids from mealtime and playtime. Now I have been getting Ella to help put her dishes away and help clean up toys, but it still doesn't change the fact that after I get everything put away I don't have time or energy to clean other than dusting or vacuuming (and not as often as I'd like either).

So share some secrets, tips, favorite cleaning product... whatever!

I'm thinking of asking some of my organizationally-gifted friends to maybe spend a day helping me go through some problem areas in the house. If I'm brave I'll post some before and after pictures. If you are one of those people blessed with organizational skills, please feel free to offer your services!!! In return I'm happy to cook you dinner, babysit your kids - whatever it takes!

3 comments:

Renee said...

that's so funny that you wrote about spring cleaning, because as i was flipping through some of my old southern living magazines, i found this article on spring cleaning, and a list of all the good things to do! i was going to post it on my blog, so check it out, but until then, i promise i'll come over and help you organize! i love organizing. i also don't mind cleaning either, since it's always different at someone else's house!

ella looked adorable at church... cute outfit!

Crafty P said...

okay, we do the same thing for rita's free italian ice day. don't really like it, but go there on the first day of spring. ha!

cleaning advice? don't do that much anymore, but I haven't bought windex in years b/c I use a vinegar and water solutiong that works just as well and is cheaper. I also use vinegar as a natural fabric softener in my washing machine.
I use baking soda to clean my tub- just sprinkle it on, wet my scrubby brush thingy and go to work scouring the dirt away.
Oh and one last tip- I use these facial cloths to clean my face at night and when I'm through, I use it to wipe out the sink, around the faucet and stuff like that. double duty!

i accept your offer to cook, watch my kids and whatever else. Can you be here next week and stay for awhile???? I'll have some fresh babies to hold and squeeze!!!

Erin said...

BA HA HA HA HA!!! Spring cleaning? i think i've heard the term before. Have i ever actually done it? No way, Hosea. The only time something gets "spring cleaned" in my house is if i'm moving. No help here...

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