Loads and Loads of Laundry and Thankfulness

I'm up and at 'em and filled with joy! Some people call it coffee, but whatevs. 

Let's talk about household chores. Back when I was a young bride and only had a couple of kids, I believed that my precious babies didn't need to lift a finger. EVERYTHING was Momma's job. Uh, yeah. That's changed. I put these little rascals to work now. Probably not as much as I should, but it's a huge improvement compared to "the old me". I used to stay up all night cleaning and doing laundry and other household chores. Nope. Not anymore. This house will be a bigger mess than a trunkful of coat hangers and I just flip the lights off and hit it the next day. Or the next. But you get my drift. Because if I didn't, I would go insane. Literally insane. When my house is messy, it makes me want to turn into the Hulk. There is just too many people up in this casa for it to stay spotless all the time. I put up a good fight, but nobody likes Hitler Momma who yells at all the kids 24/7. And besides, the kids don't even understand German. ::sigh:: Kids. Yes, I still make them clean their junk up. That ain't my job, yo! I would pick my living room up over and over and over and over again and then it hit me. Hey! These kids are able-bodied and full of energy. "Y'all cleanin' y'all's junk up! We don't have a maid!" Ask my kids how many times a day I say that. Maybe I should just get it as a tattoo on my bicep and when they wanna trash my house, I raise my sleeve and flex. Then they flinch and shutter in fear and scamper off with an arm full of toys because Mom means business. No, no, to the tattoo. But wouldn't that be a cool scenario? 

Caleb has been on me forever to make the kids do stuff, but I wanted to be the good mom who does everything for my kids. Yeah, letting your kids be lazy little slobs isn't going to make them better people. My husband works runs his tail in the ground working for his family. Sleeping a few hours here and there. Staying gone for days. He works hard. And I'm thankful for that. No, he doesn't come home and wash dishes and do laundry. That's my job. A woman's job. I don't get out there and change his truck tires. We have an understanding and it works for us. I've always called him a caveman. He sorta is, but he's my caveman. 

Of course, I still do all the dishes and laundry, but I make them go put theirs away. Why wasn't I doing that years ago?? Geeze, Louise! It's fabulous! We call it "taking loads". Ya know, because their daddy is a truck driver. I'll have all the laundry folded and on hangers, call them in and hand one kid socks, one kid undies. They "take that load" and come back for their hanging clothes. I still probably make it too easy on them because I group all of their clothes up. T-shirts, button ups, shorts, jeans, etc. because if I didn't, they'd just hang everything up right in the middle, and wait for it, I'd go insane. That stresses me out just thinking about a jumbled up closet. It's actually easier on everybody. They pick a shirt and some bottoms and they know where everything is. No digging through the whole closet and screaming you're out of shorts. Isn't it amazing how much more clothes you have when all the laundry is put away? I'm always like, time to buy the kids new clothes, they have NOTHING hanging in their closet. ::does laundry:: "Oh, y'all good. Look at all them clothes!" 

Now back to the good stuff. I read on my friend's blog (Western Homestead dot blogspot dot com) about glittering branches for fall and winter decorations. You could do it anytime of the year, but it looks so beautiful this time of year. I had been wanting to make a Thankful Tree and then I saw her tutorial, so why not glitter the branches of the Thankful Tree?! I followed her tutorial for the glittering and found a Mason jar and put the sticks in it. The kids and I tried to gather acorns while we were out in the back forty getting sticks, but they were all gone! Good job, squirrels! Store that food for the winter! But leave me a little, alright?! I let y'all live on my land, rent free! Help a sister out! So there's 4 acorns in the jar. I'll get more later, but I had a baby on my hip (shocker) and was getting tired of toting her around. After I put the sticks in the jar, I tied a few pieces of ribbon, lace and fabric strips around the neck of the jar. Voila! Beautiful, free decorations! 

Pay no attention to that dust, it came with the house...3 1/2 years ago... 

Then I cut some leaf shapes out of paper and people wrote what they're thankful for and we clipped them onto the branches with clothes pins. How cute is that?! 

Isn't it sweet to hear kids talk about what they're thankful for?

Y'all go check out my friend's blog and make your own Thankful Tree! After all, don't you have so much to thank God for?

❤️ Jennifer