Pinterest Help!

I'm trying really hard to hang out where the cool kids are and get into Pinterest.  Honestly, I love it.  Mostly.

Here's what I don't love...maybe I'm doing something wrong and you can help me figure it out...

You know on your "home" screen?  What comes up when you go to Pinterest.com?  Well, I love how it shows what I've recently pinned, what the people I'm following have recently pinned, etc.

What I don't love?  It drives me crazy that I have someone named Maryanne Rizzo's pins all over the place.  I don't want to see her 121 pool pins, or her architecture pins, or her...you get the picture.  I can not seem to make them disappear.  I do not want to be following her.  I have tried clicking on follow and then "declicking" it, just to try and get rid of her stuff, but alas, I can not.  Does she work for Pinterest?  Am I just stuck forever?  Is there something obvious I'm missing?  My "home screen" is at least 50% her stuff, and I'm really not loving it.

Help!

Not So Delicious?

Do you use Delicious?  I do.  I love it.  I love it so much, I have almost 4000 links bookmarked.  That's a lot of links.  A ridiculous amount of links, really.  Yes, a lot of those I could do without.  I'd estimate 20% are links I no longer want, but that still leaves a whole lot of links I do want.  Thousands even.

Now, Delicious is acting up.  Sometimes when I want to bookmark something, nothing works and I just, can't.  Sometimes when I want to access my links, nothing works and I just, can't.  Not fun.

Do you use Delicious?  Noticed any problems?  Do you use a different system to organize/save links that appeal to you on the internet.  Almost all of my links are recipe related, a few have to do with crafts or kid's parties.  I've thought about using Pinterest, but honestly I'm an uber-newbie with it and I can't quite figure everything out.  For example, I really want to be able to use my toolbar to pin items, but can't figure out how to make that happen.  Also, when I try to pin things to my board, it takes forever.  It says it's pinning, but that's it.  Nothing else ever happens and it never does get pinned.  I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, but honestly, I don't want to!   Ultimately, that may be my best shot, but right now, I'm truly missing my right-click and done Delicious.

Any advice/sympathies/suggestions anyone?

PS  I hate the new Facebook too.  *sigh*

Edited:  Okay, I figured out how to put a "Pin It" link on my toolbar.  (I never even have my toolbar up, but beggars won't be choosers.)  However, everytime I try to pin something, it says "Yikes! Something went wrong but we're working on it..."  Anyone else experience that?  Is it something I did/am doing?  Thanks!  

Monday

We had a lovely weekend.  I really needed this weekend.

Rebekah came home.  It was so nice having her here.  I remember I looked over at her Friday night and thought how right it seemed to have her home.  I know she needs to be at school, I hope she wants to be at school, but for the weekend, it was wonderful having her here. 

Saturday was our community's Market Days.  They close down a main street and people rent booths to sell their wares.  We love going.  It's a big treat every year.  Julianna's been saving her money since June because there's a woman who comes and sells American Girl doll clothes.  Her things are truly well constructed, priced reasonably, and adorable to boot.  Julianna really enjoyed the luxury of being able to pick out a few outfits, her money definitely went further there than it would have if she had bought things through American Girl.  One of Rebekah's previous teachers had a booth selling incredibly nice hand-knit items.  I was able to get Rebekah a great wool hat and Julianna an adorable felted wool purse.  Score!  I love buying hand-made, unique items and even better to know the person selling them.  We also discovered a new taco truck, Mojo Tago.  It's hard to describe how delicious this was, but it was absolutely awesome!  We tried the carne asade and carnitas tacos and they truly were heaven on a plate.  I can not wait to have them again.  The carnitas were so unusual, he had a roasted pineapple concoction on them.  If you know of any similar recipes I'd love to have them.  It was really unusual and delicious.

Saturday afternoon Julianna went to a cheerleading clinic, Jacob and Mark went to a Cub Scout Shoot-a-Ree (basically you shoot anything and everything--BB guns, tomahawks, balloons, archery, you name it), and Rebekah, Lily and I hung out together.  Then, Saturday night I fixed a yummy (if I do say so myself dinner) and, after bedtime, Rebekah and I watched Bridesmaids together (I have to say, while it was funny in parts, neither one of us really understood what the big deal about this movie was.  We both could have done without the bridal shop scene) while Mark worked on his super-big-out-of-town job meeting he has coming up.  Sunday, we enjoyed an early Rosh Hashanah dinner of brisket, noodle pudding, challah, apples and honey before heading to an apple orchard to pick apples then down to OU to return Rebekah.  It was a great weekend.

This week, things get back to normal.  Well, sort of normal.  Julianna's home sick today, not horrible, just a bad sore throat and not feeling good ickiness, it started Saturday night so hopefully it will run it's course soon.  Tomorrow's piano, Wednesday Mark's on a business trip, Friday night Julianna cheers at our hometown football game, Saturday Mark's going to the OSU game with Jason and Saturday night we're all headed to see You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.  Sounds like a lovely week to me, hope yours is good too.

Monday, Monday

My thoughts are completely scattered lately, so I decided to just go with it.  Here, in no particular order, is what's floating around in there:

• We get our new dishwasher today.  *Squee!*  I'm very excited.  Our dishwasher isn't that old, and it cost a pretty penny, but we've had several problems with it and it appears the mother board is going again, so we decided to bite the bullet and replace it,  (Smart!) with the same dishwasher (not so smart??).  The thing is, I love my dishwasher, I really do, and the brand has an excellent reputation and history so I decided to go for it, hope that turns out to be a good decision.  It's been on order for a couple of weeks, and our old one has been continuing to go downhill in that time period, so I'm excited the day is finally here.  Last week when the old one flooded the kitchen and the basement was fun!
• Mark's flying out of town next week to try and close a really big job.  We both need it to go well.  He's also working on a couple of other big jobs.  Somewhere along the line, my attitude has gone the way of the economy and I'm always pessimistic, always waiting for the "catch", the bottom to drop out.  Whether he gets these jobs or not, I truly need to figure out how to get a handle on that and try to get back some of my inner Pollyanna.  I don't like who I am when I'm always expecting things to go wrong.  I need to find a way to change that.
• Have you ever "opened mouth, inserted foot"?  Unfortunately, this weekend, I got a real mouthful.  We ran into a wonderful woman, she used to be a librarian at our local library and wonderful is not a strong enough adjective to describe her.  She engaged the kids, she got to know the kids, she cared about the kids.  I remember when Rebekah was little and Ella Enchanted appeared at our library for the first time, she set aside a copy for Rebekah because she knew she would love that book.  Miss D was from a different time at our library, a time when there was a team of librarians there that was truly special and caring and involved.  I run into her from time to time and I was thrilled to see her Saturday.  (Sadly, she works at a different library now, a very lucky library!)  Anyway, we ran into her, we said hello; then, and I have no idea why I did this, I asked how her husband was.  The last time I had seen her, about a year ago, I had known her husband was ill, with something theoretically someone could die from, but not something you would really expect someone to die from.  Especially not someone young and healthy and in the prime of their life.  Well, you know what's coming, he has passed away.  I felt awful to ask something so thoughtlessly that brought up pain for her.  If I had just stopped and thought about it, I wouldn't have asked, too risky.  I stayed there and directed the conversation in other ways and we chatted for a bit, but still...   Moral of the story, if you don't know, don't ask.
• We joined our local community center in May.  We went ahead and got a family membership, which in hindsight, was probably a mistake.  I've been trying to figure out a way to get the kids more active, so I thought we'd take advantage of our membership and swim two nights a week.  Julianna has dance Monday and Wednesdays, so Tuesdays and Thursdays it is!  Well...not so fast.  Apparently our rec center closes the pool to members Tuesday and Thursday evenings to hold swim lessons.  *sigh*  Sometimes you really can't win.

Well, that's a snapshot into what's going on in my world.  I'm off to do laundry, play with children, and do the myriad of other things that takes up my days yet leaves me feeling like I don't really "do" anything all day. Have a good week!

Update

Thanks to some wonderful advice left in a comment, this weekend Mark took the bottom off the front of the fridge and the cover off the back of the fridge and vacuumed, vacuumed, vacuumed.  It worked! 

Honestly, I was skeptical that it could make much difference, but our fridge is noticeably quieter and much, much colder.  The ice cream is hard as a rock!

Thank you so much Time In a Bottle, your tip worked beautifully.  Hopefully our fridge has years more life in it.

Now, if only the dishwasher we ordered would come in, the old one is getting worse by the hour!  It doesn't bother me though, it's kind of affirming that yes, we did need a new one.  :)

Stupid Question? WWYD

So, I'm working on this whole Totally Together, organize my life, learn a cleaning schedule, transform my home so it's clean all the time, thing.  The first day went well, yay!  However, I've encountered a stumbling block...

In Stephanie's schedule there are certain tasks you're supposed to do every week, mopping, vacuuming and dusting amongst them.  Therein lies my problem.  We have an extremely small house, with way too much stuff in it.  That's a given.  That's also not going to change.  It takes forever to dust because you have to move stuff all around to do it.  Not proud of that, but there it is.  I recognize there's room for improvement, but I also know we're never exactly going to perfect the minimalistic look around here, we looovvveee us some stuff.  Important stuff, knick knacks the kids have made, books, toys, etc.  So, long story short, my question is do I really need to dust every room of my house every week?  I'm afraid that could be a deal breaker.  With working full-time, plus having my kids involved in activities, plus taking time to be a family, plus taking time to spend with my hubby, plus finding time to keep my sanity, not to mention needing to find some time for activity, I'm not seeing having time to dust every room every week.  I do recognize it's probably one of those things that the more you do it, the easier it is, but still...not able to visualize it happening.

What do you think?  Do you dust every room every week?  Is it reasonable to dust certain rooms weekly (living, dining, family?  honestly even that commitment overwhelms me a bit, but I'm willing to embrace it in the spirit of acknowledging something needs to change) and other rooms less often?  If so, how often?  Do you dust bedrooms weekly?  Bi-weekly?  Less often?  Do you vacuum all the rooms weekly?  What about mopping?  We have hardwood throughout our house with area rugs in most of the rooms, double the chores!  I don't see things like running a duster around the ceiling to snag cobwebs...do other homes not get cobwebs?

The rose-colored-glasses are starting to fade for me about the book.  *sigh*  For example, in the book there's only two references to deep cleaning the bathroom, "if needed".  Hello?  Even I, a person who avoids cleaning at all costs, manages to deep clean the bathroom more than twice a year.  How much more we won't talk about, but still.

Help!  I've feeling like a complete failure before I've even really gotten started.  Please share what works for you.  Do you have any lists/schedules/websites that help you stay organized and on top of things?  I'm really wanting to commit to keeping my house more tidy and clean, but I need help.

Oh?  If all of this leaves you shaking your head and wondering out loud about my cluelessness?  Just kidding, my house is totally clean, all the time, totally.  Just give me a few days notice before you drop in, k?

(Not) Totally Together...but Trying!

Totally Together Journal

New school years always seem more of a time for renewal than New Year's in January.  Truthfully, as long as I have kids in school, and most likely long after as I will be thoroughly programmed, Labor Day tends to feel like my New Year's. 

This year, with working more than I have in a long, long time, I knew it was going to be important to me to have my life as together as I can get it.  A couple of months ago, (yes, in the midst of our idyllic summer), I knew I was going to need help to get my life organized and I started researching different methods.  Flylady may be wonderful but honestly, she overwhelms me.  Plus, I don't want to wear my shoes in the house, so there's that.  (No, that isn't why I can't follow Flylady, reality is why I can't follow Flylady, but if you can, more power to you.)  There are a bunch of resources out there for people looking for schedules and organizing tips, a fact that was very comforting to me.  With the amount of advice books and planners out there, obviously I'm not the only one searching.

I settled on Stephanie O'Dea's Totally Together Journal.  I don't love everything about it, for one I wish it was more inclusive so I could have one planner instead of two.  Some of it seems aimed at families whose kids are much younger than mine.  The core though?  The nitty gritty?  I think it's going to help.  Today, I'm working on Stephanie's Daily 7--Make beds right away (always do that, Yay! I'm a step ahead!), One complete load of laundry (I've done 2! plus all the laundry's done now!!), Empty all garbage cans (the kids will do this when they empty garbage after dinner), Keep kitchen sink empty (always something I strive for, but it's nice to feel like I get points for it), Clean up after self/help children do same (this one I chafe at, it makes me feel like a 5 year old.  Still, it's easy to see the wisdom in it and I am trying), Bathroom wipe down (done!), Ten minute clean-up before bed (we've done this off and on in the past and it really does help, I'm definitely going to integrate it into our bedtime routine.) 

I've also sketched out a meal plan for the next 12 days, started working on dinner for us and the piano teacher (Chicken Meatballs with Sweet Peanut Sauce, seriously awesome, you should try it), made flourless peanut butter cookies (not my absolute favorite, but pretty good nonetheless), and watched little people.  My "me time" is scheduled, I'm getting my gray banished and my hair cut tonight. 

Over the next week I'll work on maintaining the "Daily 7" as part of my day, find some time to mop the hardwood, dust the living room and dining room, vacuum the house, clean the microwave, and spoon oil all my wooden cutting boards, spoons, etc.  I'll work on implementing at least some "me time" into every day as well as trying to figure out 30 minutes 3 or 4 times this week to do something--take a walk, ride my bike, go to the rec center, whatever.

It's not perfect, it's probably not nearly enough, when I look around my house I could literally hyperventilate when I see all that needs done.  I'm trying not to do that though.  I think it dooms me.  I'm trying to take things one step at a time, to trust the method, to do my best and to let that be good enough.  Will I get where I want to be?  Time will tell.  For today though, I do know it feels pretty darn good to feel in control and to have a plan.  It's a beginning.  I'll take it.

Same Time Next Year

The time came...
we took Rebekah back to school last week.
She claimed, repeatedly, that she was taking less stuff than last year...
pretty sure she was wrong.  ;)

We schlepped, we carried, we got everything in her room.
We walked around campus and lunched and shopped.

All too soon it was time to say good-bye.

I thought I would be okay, I thought it was going to be fine...
I was wrong.

When Julianna lost it, I did too.

I feel badly about that, the last thing I want to do is make things harder on Rebekah.

Honestly though?  I don't really feel too badly...because, I know, and she knows, how very lucky we are that we enjoy each others company so much, and enjoy such a good relationship, that it's hard when she leaves.  I'm happy for her and I know it's going to be fine...for both of us.

She's off doing good things and is right where she belongs, where I want her to be.

Though I'll have some rough moments, some crying jags and times when I miss her desperately, I also hold dear in my heart how very much I love her and how very thankful I am that she's my girl.