How I Conquered the Mail Pile

I don't like piles.

It is very hard not to have piles when the mailman brings you mail every single day.
This is how I have solved our mail and paper problem

When I get the mail I figure, most of the time, it falls into these categories:

• bills
• coupons
• something that goes on the calendar
• magazines

If it is not one of these things it's probably trash.

Here is what my mail center looks like:

Coupons go in the pencil box.

Invitations on the calendar or write the info down and toss it. Calendar/corkboard above, $9.74 Walmart, and it is magnetic too.

Magazines in their bin.

The notebook is just for when I need to write something down it's in a handy spot.

I keep all my bills in the binder. It has dividers and I put all my water bills together, electric bills....etc. for one year. At the end of that year....well, when we do our taxes.... we put our tax information in the pocket and write the year on the side and put it up on a shelf. This is my 3rd year of the binder system and it helps me so much. Things like the packet of information that tells about your auto insurance policy....goes with your car insurance bills. In addition to keeping my bills in the binder it also has a divider for these things:

• car maintenance paperwork
• medical receipts
• voter registraiton cards...pocket
• receipts from charitable donations...pocket

Sometimes you might get something in the mail that needs to be dealt with at a later time. For example, we got a letter from Reliant Energy offering a special. They are not our electric company, but Chris wanted to call them, so I put that letter in the front pocket.

We do not have a file cabinet now. Only the yearly binders.

Now here are the rules:
If you get the mail you are agreeing that you have the time right then to sort the mail and put it where it goes. If you do not, then don't get the mail. I assure you the process takes about 5-7 minutes.

I recommend doing a pre-sort on your way back in the house. Before you even get inside you should have two separate piles in your hands. One pile has things that you know, without even opening, that are trash (recycling). Some should be shredded and if you have a shredder then you should shred them right then. Shredders make me nervous. I have these nifty shredder scissors that my grandmother gave us. If you don't have either then tear it up and put half in the trash and half in recycling.

Your next step is to get all the things you know you need to keep down to the bare minimum. Take everything out of the envelopes and get rid of the envelope and any extras inside. Cut the coupons down to size or sort your val-pak. Then you put the bills/receipts/pertinent info behind its divider and coupons in the box and put your invites on the calendar or the fridge.

Done....no pile of mail.....aaahhhh.

Praise the Lord....we made it!

This morning was loooooooooooooooong.

It started off with me getting up at 5am for boot camp. Little man woke up hungry at 5:15 and made me late. I tried putting him back to bed, but he needed more snuggling so I plopped him in bed with his Daddy....turned out that didn't take and he was up playing when I got home.

Shower.

Girl's up.

Dressed and fed Riley and put him back to bed.

Gave Mckenzee a bath and got her ready. We were out the door by 9 for our doctor's appointments at 9:20 and 9:40.

We rode in style in our new ride.

Check ups (3yr and 9 mo.) and flu shots (which they were out of) Kenzee got the mist. The appointments went well. Mckenzee is such a big girl now. I made her wear a mask there. Riley got one shot in his leg and got his finger pricked. He did awesome. We got to see our favorite nurse...who only subs every now and then since she had a baby. Miss her.

It was 10:45 when we got out of there.

Sanitized us and got us in the car.

Had to feed Riley in the car. That's always fun...wondering who is gonna pull up next to you and take a peek at your boobs all the while his 3 year old sister is running a muck in the car turning everything on and off and doing acrobatics over the seats.

"Momma, I need go tee-tee."

Great.

"Okay, baby, wait just a minute until I get done feeding Riley."

Put Riley in his carseat and come around to put Mckenzee in hers.

"Wait Momma, I need go tee-tee."

Oh yeah...that.

So I take off her pants and panties and tell her we are gonna pee in the parking lot. I have her put her little feet on the running board and hold on to her while she hangs her booty off the side and she pees. Wipe her, dress her, and lock her down. Did you think I was gonna get Riley out of his car seat and go back in the Swine Flu infested doctor's office...try and hold him while I paper the seat for her, make her not touch stuff, wash her hands after she touched stuff, and get us all out of there and re-sanitize everyone for good measure? Think again. I'll take the parking lot, yes I will. We did get a little tee tee on her socks, but that was no big deal. This was my first 'parking lot pee' you see...I'm not a pro like Daddy. He just holds her up where ever and that works for them. Redneck you say? Maybe a little.

On to Chick-fil-a.

Got our order and headed to Babies R Us. I know it isn't the ideal time for me to go get baby gifts off of two registries including a large item, but since I drive a Suburban and we were right there I sucked it up.

Riley was asleep by the time we parked at BRU so I just sat for a bit while Kenz and I ate our food. I looked in the bag to get my sandwich and I saw what looked like a nugget box in there. I thought oh no they got my order wrong, but wait....there was a yellow sticker on the box that said free samples. BONUS! Inside was a mini-breakfast burrito. Thanks Chick-fil-a! My sandwich was there too.

Got our the stroller and my kiddos. Little man was still sleeping so I carried him in and Kenz pushed the stroller. We went to the registry machine. It's a touch screen, which I like, but it seemed like all the letter were just one off from where my fingers were touching them and I kept having to backspace...plus there were some tiny fingers creeping up to touch the screen too.

Riley woke up and I put him in his stroller.

Mckenzee got my print out. I look through it page by page, chose my item and we were off.

Well, when I got to the 'larger than Mckenzee' item I realized that I needed a buggy. I never think I need a buggy when I go in the store. It always seems to dawn on me a little late. I don't want to go all the way back to the front and I spy two buggies not far from me. When I get to them I can see they are working buggies...one is full of items that need to be stocked and the other has one of those zapper things connected to a little computer and a roll of receipt tape. I see no worker nearby so I combine the two buggies and take one for myself.

At this point, Mckenzee is pushing Riley in the stroller and I am pushing the buggy. I remember I need another registry....back to the computer and repeat. I, of course, can't find what I want on the list and in the mean time find several things that I need myself, all the while directing my 3 year old where to push her baby brother behind me. She was awesome and we were in there for over an hour. We went back and forth over that store and finally got everything we needed, only to remember one more thing we needed after we were already in line at the check out. Riley did lick one thing while we were there. It was a swing that he managed to reach out and pull over to the stroller while I was looking for something.

Finally it was our turn and the girl rang up all of our items and I open my wallet and find no debit card. Crap, I left it in the car after using it at Chick-fil-a. I am not going out there. I pull out my credit card that I keep for emergencies and tell the girl I can use this, but I have to activate it. Thankfully, that did not take long and the person who came up behind me while I was punching numbers on the phone was patient.

We made it to the car, with assistance from BRU boy. I attached Riley's new car seat mirror to the seat and he loved it and locked them down. I also put Little Mermaid in and decided that the dvd player that is to be used for long car rides will also be use for long mornings.

Both kiddos were zonked by the time we got home. I let the dog out front and loved on her and got the mail, where I found a letter from a collection agency for my outstanding balance to Blockbuster of $10.81. Dang it. Gotta pay that. :)

Put the dog up, got back in the car and drove to Maimee's. Maimee sat in the car until the kids woke up while I painted her guest bedroom. We played with the kids for awhile and talked. Then, we loaded back up and went home. I got Mckenzee ready for her outing with Maimee and PawPaw to the Circus and sent her off.

Made dinner.

Played with Riley.

Talked to hubs.

Fed, changed, and pajama'd Riley.

Chris put him to bed.

I'm so tired...too tired to go back and re-read this. Hope it's all there.



p.s. one of the things I bought at Babies R Us was a potty for the car.

Mckenzee turns 3! August 29th

I cannot believe my baby girl is three. Part of me really wishes she wasn't. That part of me wants to rewind and go back to when she was 1 and do it all over again. Notice I didn't say I want to go back to when she was a newborn. She is so much fun, so sweet and so sassy. She knows what she wants. She is so smart and such a big girl. I am always impressed with the way she loves on her brother. She has been so sweet to him always. She doesn't want him to be sad or be left out. She is quite the fit thrower and oh so stubborn. She loves to be snuggled at night and gives sweet kisses and hugs. She loves to play outside and watch "moobies" on the couch with her pillow. She is very good at puzzles and enjoys painting, drawing and coloring and learning her letters and sounds. Most of her days are spent in her panties and sometimes shoes. She takes care of her babies and feeds her Macy puppy and builds block towers. She tells me she loves me all day long. I love to fix her hair and read her books and tell her stories and hug her as much as I can. I love my girl so much!

On her birthday we started the day with a special present from Mommy and Daddy...her Cinderella gown to wear at her party. Then she had "cancakes" by request, made by Daddy. She ate Chick-fil-a for lunch and played with us and then got her hair rolled up and watched Cinderella the movie. Later she got all dolled up with an up-do and make-up and awaited the arrival of her guests.
Mckenzee had a dress up party with her 4 little girlfriends. We had pizza and sugar cookie cake and ice cream. We danced and painted and played outside. She got lots of fun presents. She got her first bicycle and is learning to ride it. I wish I had gotten a group shot of the girlies together. They had fun playing and dancing. Oh, it's good to be 3!

Alright you bums....

Laci is the Winner!

She's the only one that let me know how she's been saving the world!!! Way to go Laci! I'll get you your prize soon!

Last Chance to Enter

drawing tonight