Cleaning & organizing my home

I've been married for a little over 12 years now so I've done my fair share of cleaning houses over the years. I go through seasons of feeling like I'm on top of my game and then other times, I'm under a pile of laundry somewhere, buried alive!
I'm not a messy person but I'm also not an OCD cleaner. I fall somewhere in the middle, I like a clean house but sometimes life gets a little crazy and it's hard to keep up. I'm trying to find the balance between not taking care of my house every second of the day so I can spend time with my kids but also not living in complete chaos and mess. Part of this is just realizing that with 4 kids, my house isn't going to look ready for the front cover of Better Homes and Gardens or Country Living at any given time during the day. My house is meant for memories to be made in,a place to be loved in and a place they can call home. Although I don't want their memories to be of the time we were featured on the show "Hoarders."
A great website that has helped me get a handle on my house is . She has more of an organized system of cleaning, you are in a specific area of the house during the week and also you are working on organizing and decluttering. I LOVE decluttering, in fact, I think I get a little high off of throwing away toys from McDonalds, papers, worn out clothes, junk, you name it, I like to get rid of it. Sometimes I think I go a little overboard though and I get rid of something and then maybe a month later I think, darn, I wish I still had that.
So if you are looking for a clean, more organized, less cluttered and chaotic home, than look no further than the Flylady!

A time of refreshing

I love my life and I am so thankful that Mr.A has a great job that allows me to stay home. I am pretty content to do my housework, run errands and cook dinner for everyone. Somedays though the laundry, cleaning and just the routine of it all makes you feel a little blah, maybe a bit unimportant. Really I don't have to dress up to go to work, I can stay in my pajamas if I want. No one gives me a at on the back for folding the sheets just right, I don't get a yearly review from my boss telling me what a great job I'm doing. I don't get a raise. I'm not complaining, really I'm not, just stating that sometimes staying at home leaves you wondering who you really are or if what you are doing is really that important. You see yourself as the "mom" and not really all the other things you are, like a girl who has friends, wears cute clothes and has a life outside of laundry and dishes. This past weekend I was blessed with a chance to get away to Minneapolis and spend time with some great friends. Not only did I get away for 2 whole days, I was able to go shopping for me, not the kids, not Mr.A, not the house, ME! I didn't buy anyone anything, I had some shirts in my cart at TJMaxx for the girls but I put them back and spent that $30 on a fabulous coat for myself.
Thursday night before I left, I really wasn't that excited to leave. Not sure what I was thinking, must've been one of those nights where you are really tired and not thinking clearly. I really didn't want to leave my family. I left on Friday and I'm so glad I did. I hopped in that van and away we went, 3 hours in a vehicle of talking, laughing and just being girls!
We arrived at the hotel and met our last compadre for the weekend. We enjoyed a great word and teaching from Priscilla Shirer .   It was just what I needed, thank you Sparkle Conference!  The rest of the weekend was just evenings of eating out without having to cut up children's food, eating warm food, eating at restaurants that were not kid friendly, enjoying conversation and not having to take someone to the potty every five minutes   Shopping for myself, only me, just me, did I  mention me yet?    Going into stores that I liked and that didn't carry children's clothes, trying on 40 shirts and not having to leave because kids are crying and tired..  Having laughs with friends, staying up late and talking, feeling like you were 17 again and didn't have to wake up early to get everyone ready for the day, make other people breakfast, pack backpacks and  find missing shoes. 
I can honestly say I didn't miss my family a whole lot and that's ok.  I was able to get away, relax, enjoy my time and come home REFRESHED!  I was glad to be home, glad to see my children and husband, glad to be back HOME.   I was living in  the moment this weekend and I haven't done that for a long time.  I was able to spend some time doing the things I liked and I wanted to do.  I think everyone could use that from time to time.  I know Mr.A was glad to have me home but he was also glad to send me off this weekend to just be me, Ange.  I don't want you to think I don't love being a mom and a wife, I do but I also don't want to lose myself and be only a mom and a wife.  I haven't been away like this for 2 years and the last time I went, I was 11 weeks pregnant.  Not a great time, even my friends would agree with me!   So ladies, make sure you take time to refresh your spirit and yourself.  Not everyone can go away for a weekend but even a night out, or day out, just some you time, it makes us all better moms, wives, friends and women. 

REFRESH:

1. To revive with or as if with rest, food, or drink; give new vigor or spirit to.

2. To give new freshness or brightness to; restore.

3. To make cool, clean, or moist; freshen up.

4. To renew by stimulation

5. To fill up again; replenish

Living Room Redecorating Part 2

After moving stuff around in my living room the other day, I left it with the big couch against the wall facing towards the fireplace. I really loved the white dresser in the living room but the arrangement of the furniture wasn't doing anything for me.
Last night Mr.A and I moved some stuff around and now, I really like it. Here it is.....

Oops, I forgot to move the basket of dog toys and the cable, oh well, just keeping it real.    I am hoping to get a different couch and replace the love seat with two chairs.   Mr.A found a couch for me so now I need to find a slipcover. 

Meal Plan Sept. 24th - Oct. 7th

I am posting this a day early but here is my meal plan for the next two weeks.

1.   Spaghetti and Meatballs (didn't use it last meal plan, had an extra night of leftovers!)
2.   Hamburgers on the grill with  french fries and green beans
3.   Small Group Night - I'm bringing Mexi-Chicken Casserole
4.   New Recipe I'm trying  from A Year of Slow Cooking:  Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken
5.   Italian Bow Tie Pasta with garlic bread and corn
6.   leftovers night
7.    Loaded Baked Potato Soup from Mommy's Kitchen
8.    Ham Balls with baked potatoes and broccoli
9.    Night out
10.  Chili with corn bread
11.  Chicken Planks (fingers) and for me Chicken Wings in Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce and  french fries
12.  Beef Roast in the crockpot, baked potatoes and peas
13.  Leftovers

Ham Balls

I first tried ham balls when I did a dinner exchange with some friends. I was not very excited to receive ham balls as a meal, I thought they sounded disgusting. Well let me tell you, they are wonderful! They remind me of bacon a little bit. So, don't let the name gross you out! You will need to grind the ham yourself at home in a meat grinder or if you have a great meat department in your grocery store like I do, they might grind it for you for free! It's much easier if they do it so I would ask them first.
**This recipe makes quite a bit, so you can easily get 3 to 4 meals out of one batch.**

Ham Balls:
2 1/2 lbs ground ham
1 lb ground pork
2 lbs ground beef
3 eggs
2 c. milk
3 c. graham cracker crumbs


Sauce:
2 Cans tomato soup (make one can "zesty tomato" if you can.)
2 tsp. dry mustard
3/4 c. Vinegar (recommend apple cider)
2 1/2 c. brown sugar


Mix the first six ingredients for Ham Balls together. Shape into about 1 inch balls and place in greased 9x13 pan. Mix together the sauce mixture and pour over the Ham Balls. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for one hour.
**I usually place about 18 hamballs in a 9x13 pan at a time. You can either freeze them uncooked with the sauce covering them or you could also cook them half way through and freeze them.**