Mom's Visit

This weekend, my mom was in town. We had a hectic weekend of showing her the town's best eats, finishing the nursery and reorganizing my house. It was awesome to have her in town!

my Oklahoma friends threw me and Bryan a monster themed shower

The baby shower was so much fun, and our little baby now has lots of cute clothes, socks, shoes, books, towels, bath stuff and blankets. Mom was super helpful with taking off the tags and organizing the clothes by size in his dresser.

We spent Saturday shopping in Tulsa for stuff for the baby. We got some frames, some bins for diapers, fabric for the curtains (my mom is making our curtains), decals that we later used for the wall art, a new rug (softer and more fitting), and some adorable clothes from the sale rack at Baby Gap.

The finished nursery is all due to my mom. Bryan and I were slowly moving through the coats of paint and slowly putting everything away. My mom is a hurricane of get-it-done. And she did! Check out the (almost) finished product:

In addition to everything with the baby, Mom reorganized our garage (way more space!), our kitchen and our living room. Everything makes more sense. She also did all of our laundry, scrubbed the kitchen, the fridge, the bathroom and swept all our floors. I couldn't have asked for a more helpful mom! She's amazing!

I am so lucky that she was able to visit and that she loves me enough to sleep on the couch and clean my house. Lord knows, I need that kind of love. I love my Mom, and I'm so excited to share this chapter of our lives with her.

My Standards v. My Mom's Standards: Cleaning

Every woman must someday leave the home of her mother and build her own home. As a lady lives on her own, she'll start to develop her own cleaning habits. I, having lived on my own for five years now, feel that I have gained enough insight into my own living style that I can properly compare my cleaning standards to my Mom (who I love and admire). I have no idea how she kept the house so clean over the years with THREE daughters.

Changing the bedsheets
Mom: Every Saturday morning
Me: Every other week (I'm embarrassed.)

Vacuuming the House
Mom: Every other day
Me: I aim for weekly, but often find myself going longer in between vacuums

Doing the Dishes
Mom: What seems like hourly
Me: Thankfully, I've recruited Bryan to this task. Whew.

Washing the Laundry (and folding and delivering it!)
Mom: Daily
Me: When I have no more clean clothes that are cute enough to wear

Clearing the Kitchen Counter of Clutter
Mom: Daily
Me: Daily (finally! something rubbed off on me!)

I know I'm young, but when my Mom was my age, she had two kids already and a giant home to clean, cook for and care over. I'm thankful to have no kids, a place just right and a husband who pitches in with the laundry, the trash and the dishes. It seems I have a lot to learn from my mom. Hopefully, her skills are something that will appear in me within the next few years. I sure could use a little bit of a cleaner home.

Closet Therapy

It's pretty common for women to get pleasure out of shopping for new clothes. I'm right there with all the other women. I love new clothes, and I love the process of picking pieces, buying them and ripping off the tags.

But, hold the bus, I've come to love something even more: purging my closet. Purging means going through everything in the closet and deciding what you wear a lot, what you love and what hasn't been out of the house in six months. If it's still in good condition, it goes to Goodwill. If it's old or ugly, it gets trashed.

Yesterday, I purged. And my half of the closet looks wonderful. What's best about a purge is you can tell what you're missing from your wardrobe. For instance, I have four pairs of jeans that I just love. So I'm good on denim. But, I have only one pair of trousers. Not good. I also have several short sleeve work shirts, and only one long sleeve, button up shirt. Now, when we hit the stores today, I'll be best prepared to buy things that I need, not just what I crave.