Obsessed with Martha Stewart

Is Martha Forgetful?

This morning I found myself wondering if Martha is forgetful after I had a dumb-blonde {btw, I'm not a blonde} moment. My husband took our two-year-old lab mix, Kaya, for a walk and to pick up breakfast at McDonald's {Martha, please forgive me}. 

I was on the computer doing my usual morning routine - check and reply to emails, respond to comments, check Etsy shop, read new posts and articles in Google Reader. I heard our two puppies, Dubbya and Max, playing in the kitchen and forgot that Kaya was on a walk with my husband. I thought that she was in there playing with them and started to yell out her name to come to me. I was being lazy and didn't want to get up from the computer, but I wanted her to come into the craft/computer room, so I could make sure she wasn't being too rambunctious. 

Somehow she got a gash next to one of her nipples on Sunday and she had to get three staples put in to close it up at the veterinarian's office. They gave me a lovely plastic cone to put on her and told me to keep her away from the puppies. Well, the puppies haven't messed with the area and Kaya is a good girl and leaves it alone, because I told her to a couple times the first day. I don't put the cone on her unless it's nighttime, because she really doesn't mess with the area {and she hates the thing - she just stands and whines with it on - it's pitiful}; however, I want to keep her in my line of vision just in case. So anyways, back to the story, I was yelling for her and telling her she better get her butt in the computer room immediately or I was going to "cone her" and then I realized that she wasn't even at home. 

I told this story to my husband when he got back from the walk and McDonald's, and he said, "That needs to go on the blog." 

I said, "It has nothing to do with Martha."

He said, "I don't care. It needs to go on the blog."

So, here it is, on the blog.

Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook

As many of you know, I received Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook for Valentine's Day. Since my wedding back in October, my husband and I have been trying to get our house clean and organized. There is still one room in the house that is a complete mess, but most of the other rooms are finally organized. I'm the type of person who would love to have a clean home, especially since I work from home. But it's soooo hard to keep your home clean when you have one dog and two puppies - it's almost impossible. I'm not trying to whine, just trying to be realistic. 

My husband and I are trying to figure out a way that we can keep our house clean and not spend our entire weekend cleaning which makes us both grouchy. The only way we can see this happening is by cleaning more during the week. I went through Martha's cleaning lists - daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal, and spring cleaning and have devised a plan. We have a page and a half cleaning list to get through this week, so we're cleaning for 30 to 60 minutes after dinner each night. Also, I've been trying to do one or two tasks during the day. Yesterday, I scrubbed the grout in our kitchen to check it off the list and reduce my stress - it worked.

I'll let you know how much we get done before this weekend and how much time we have to spend on Saturday and Sunday finishing up our list.

Need to Clean

I really want to keep my home as clean as Martha would (I wish I could afford to have a cleaning service) but I just can't seem to catch up. Our adopted dog turned out to be pregnant and had 7 puppies the day before our wedding and we have been playing catch up ever since the wedding. Right now, our house is a wreck and it's making me a little crazy. Plus I've only written about one-third of our thank you notes and really want to send them out by the end of this weekend. Martha would definitely be disappointed. I wonder how she makes it work.

To make matters worse, our basement flooded yesterday and ruined a lot of personal items. Plus, I went to the doctor on Wednesday as a follow up after being hospitalized for 5 days the week of our wedding and was told that my energy level won't return to normal for 4 to 6 weeks. The doctor informed me that I need to rest and take it easy which is incredibly frustrating when you have a to do list with hundreds of items. I'm the type of person that likes to work really hard and when I feel sick I get really bummed out. Okay, I'm going to stop whining now, because my husband will be home in 30 minutes with pizza from Pizza Hut {I don't even want to know what Martha would say about that} and a movie for our date night. My goal is to get two more cupcake recipes completed by the end of the weekend!

Tip of the Day - Monthly Cleaning Checklist

I've already discussed the daily and weekly cleaning checklists. Today, let's discuss the montly cleaning checklist according to Martha Stewart.

Bathrooms: What's grout? Who wipes the insides of their medicine cabinets?

Bedrooms: Hmmmm....I don't think we had these things.

Closets: Who dusts their storage bins?

Kitchen: Where would I find the ventilation hood filters?

Living Room: Didn't have a fireplace or fireplace screen.

Utility Spaces: Didn't have this either.

Throughout House: Nope.

I guess I'm not very good at keeping a clean house. I think I need the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook.

Tip of the Day - Weekly Cleaning Checklist

Yesterday, the tip of the day revolved around a daily cleaning checklist. Today, I'm posting about a weekly cleaning checklist. You'll have to click on the link to get the full list, because they're too many things for me to list here. Let's see how I add up:

Bathrooms: I did NONE of these things on a weekly basis when we lived in Brooklyn. I did try to do them every other week.

Bedrooms: I did NONE of these things on a weekly basis either.

Dining Room: What dining room? We lived in Brooklyn.

Entryways, Stairs, and Hallways: No, I did not do these things to our one entryway/hallway area on a weekly basis. It's sad to say, but I only did this when we had visitors.

Home Office: Uh, it would have been nice to have a home office. Instead, we placed our desks in the living room.

Kitchen: I really suck at this. I did a few of these things on a weekly basis. Does draining pasta count as flushing the drain with boiling water?

Library: Again, I wish.

Living Room: Nope, didn't do these things on a weekly basis. I was a therapist working with teenagers for at least eight hours a day (usually nine or ten) with a one hour commute each way while trying to plan a wedding and keep up with my blog. Give me a break.

Throughout the House: Ha. Is this a joke?

Well, as you can see, I didn't rate too well on the this weekly cleaning list. New goal: try to stick to this weekly cleaning list (because Martha says it's important) when we move to Blacksburg.

Tip of the Day - 6 Things to Do Every Day

Martha Stewart has a list of 6 Things to Do Every Day as far as cleaning. They are to make the bed, manage clutter, sort the mail, clean as you cook, wipe up spills while they're fresh, and sweep the kitchen floor. Yikes, I definitely don't make the bed and sweep the kitchen floor every day. I always sort the mail, wipe up spills, and try to clean as I cook. The bedroom does look much nicer if the bed is made. It's one of my moms biggest pet peeves - she always makes her bed first thing in the morning. 

How do you measure up?

Tip of the Day - Organization

Image from Martha Stewart

I really liked Martha Stewart's organization tip of the day yesterday, and I think you should check it out. It details how to make a curtain divider if you live in a small space. It's actually pretty cute.

Tip of the Day - Organization

Get organized with Martha's organization themed clip art that can be downloaded and printed from your home computer.

Image from Martha Stewart

Tip of the Day - Birthday Chart

I thought that a birthday chart to keep track of your friends' and family members' birthdays was a perfect fit for today's tip of the day, since yesterday was my birthday. I hope you find this organization tool helpful.

Tip of the Day - Printable Planners

Martha Stewart has a lot of printable planners on her website, including a back-to-school planner. Get organized with this wide variety of planners .