The fact that I had to google the term “Oil Rig Guy” to remember Michael Sarver’s name, says a lot.  While he seemed like a perfectly adorable loving husband, father, and oil rig man, he was no great singer.

How he made it into the top 10 to begin with, I will never know.  I was always highly distracted with the Elvis-like way that he would lift one side of his lip and then shake his head back and forth like a mad rooster.  Thanks, I’ll pass.

Don’t get me started on his dancing, watching him waddle about the stage in an attempt at rhythm was amusing and painful at the same time.  He had a bigger case of secretary’s ass than me – and I’m a real secretary.  How can you be an oil rig man and even be shaped like that? For some reason, I thought they should be buff.  None of this really matters, but if we are talking about a whole package deal, he wasn’t it.  Oil rig man – yes, singer? um, no.

While I do wish the best for him and his family, I will forever remain thankful that he won’t be on stage for next week’s episode of…………(big Ryan Seacrest pause)………American Idol!

This past Christmas my wife’s  grandparents had to shop for a new T.V. because the old one had died. They did research on the internet and spoke to salesmen about the best brands and what features they needed. Finally I was asked to help them decide what T.V. would be right for them and help them pick it out.

I have a pretty good understanding of the newer technologies and products that are on the market, it is a hobby of mine. While speaking to them about what they wanted and needed in their new television it became very clear to me they spent way too much time talking to salesmen at the stores about what they had to have. Unfortunately I think my efforts to correct any lies they were told by these con artists fell on confused and deaf ears.

I spoke to them right before Black Friday which is a great day to make major purchases like a television due to the deals given on that holiest of shopping days. My Intention was to help them buy a T.V. that was a good price without spending extra on all the things the salesmen told them were “must haves “. What happened is they got confused because I disagreed with most of the recommendations they had gotten from the store and didn’t buy anything on Black Friday.

A week later they decided to go with the advice of the “professional” Salesman and got a T.V. that was too small(still don’t get that one), about $300 more than the one I had picked for them, and had all the features they will never use. To top off this experience they asked me to come over and hook it all up for them, all the while telling me about how it was too small, cost a lot more than they thought it should, and asking what the 1080p did. One funny yet sad thing did make me feel a little better while I was hooking up the LCD television they bought, a commercial for the exact same T.V. they purchased came on from a competitor for $200 less than they paid. Maybe next time they will trust family over a total stranger.

With our over booked schedules, who has the time to spend an entire day Spring cleaning? With jobs or WAHM businesses and family responsibilities, breaking this task into daily jobs over the course of a week is much simpler.

Ready to Spring Clean the kitchen this week? Me either, but we can do this together! Let’s go!

Monday – Tackle the ceiling, walls, tops of cabinets and fridge.

Look at the ceiling and walls. Are they just dusty or grimy? Assess, don’t obsess. If there are only a couple spots here and there that need to be scrubbed, they are only dusty. We can always spot clean. Using your favorite duster, dust the ceiling and walls. If there are spots, clean them. There, doesn’t the kitchen look brighter already?

Now, get the step stool and pull all decorations off the tops of the cabinets, if you have that in your kitchen. If not skip that step, but do the same for any shelves you may have and top of the fridge. Run a sink of hot soapy water and put them in to soak as you dust up there. Dust how ever you’d like. If the tops of the cabinets and fridge need cleaning, go ahead and do that now.

Wash the items that needed cleaning from the tops of the cabinets, shelves and or fridge, and dry them. Now is the time to redecorate, if you’d like to. Putting everything back up is your last task for the day!

Wow, doesn’t the kitchen look better already? Now take a break and treat yourself to a job well done!

Tuesday – Clean the top cabinets inside and out, and the windows.

Do one bank of cabinets at a time. Take the dishes out and sort through them, if needed. Wash each shelf and repaper if you’d like. Then put the dishes back into the cleaned cabinet. Wash the outside of the cabinets well.

Now it’s time to wash the curtains or clean the blinds. Make sure to wash the window inside and out while you do this.

Remember to reward yourself for all your hard work!

Wednesday – Let’s get to the nitty gritty today, clean the stove and fridge.

Ick, this can be the nastiest job, but it’s hump day, we are half way through our week, we are motivated by how nice our kitchen is looking and we can do this thing!

First spray oven cleaner or turn your stove to self clean, how ever you clean the oven is fine. While the cleaner is working, or the stove is doing it’s own job, it’s time to look at the fridge.

I know this can seem overwhelming. But if I did it with teen boys in the house, anyone can do it!    Go from the top shelf down and pull everything off of it. Throw away what needs to be thrown out and wash the shelf. I find plain water is good for this task. If things need to be wiped off, do that before putting them neatly back on the shelf. Go through the whole fridge and the shelves on the door this way. Break it into smaller sizes and the chore doesn’t seem so bad. There, look at your shiny fridge! BEAUTIFUL! Do the same for your freezer. This is much easier.

Now let’s go back to that stove. It’s time to wipe the cleaner out of the oven if you used it, or wipe the top off. If your stove is self cleaning, wait until it’s cool enough to touch if the top needs to be cleaned.

Today’s work is done! Isn’t your kitchen amazing? Don’t you feel excited about how nice it looks? You GO GIRL! Take a break and enjoy the rest of your day!

Thursday – Conquer the counter tops and bottom cabinets.

We are winding down to the end of our week. Today and tomorrow are a piece of cake compared to yesterday.

Let’s start with the counter tops. Wipe down any small appliances stored on the counter and canisters before you begin. Then move everything to one side of a piece of counter and spray really well with your favorite all purpose cleaner. Wipe the counter completely and rinse. Replace the items that go there. Work around one way. I work left to right, because my kitchen flows that way. You work as you feel comfortable. Make sure you aren’t back tracking, causing yourself more work, though. There, isn’t that nice?

Now it’s time to deal with the bottom cabinets. Do the same to them as you did the top cabinets. Do one bank of cabinets at a time, taking the dishes out and sorting through them as needed. Throwing away, or putting in the donation pile as you decide. Wash each shelf and repaper it. Then put everything back nice and neat.

The only thing left to do for today is to wash the outside of the cabinets. This would be a good time to include the outside of the dishwasher too, if you have one.

That is all for today! Doesn’t this just make your week? Your kitchen is getting clean and you don’t have to hurt for the rest of the week because you did too much stepping and stooping all in one day!

Friday – Shine the floors!

Today is it! Your last day of Spring Cleaning for your kitchen! All you need to do is sweep (or vacuum) and mop your floors! Make sure you take time to clean the baseboards too. It helps make the place much nicer when you keep the baseboards clean.

There you go; Spring cleaning your kitchen in one week isn’t too hard on your schedule, your body or time!

For tips on how to overcome kitchen Cabin Fever you can surf over to Family Foodies.

About the Author:
Cee Tindall, a self proclaimed ‘Domestic Engineer’, has much knowledge and wisdom to offer from her experience of remaining married for over 28 years, raising two sons and homeschooling her teen daughter. She is thrilled about starting her blogging journey as an intern for Family Foodies.

Here are 25 simple habits you can start on today for easy, affordable ways to live a healthier life.  Can you imagine how great we’d all look and feel if we added just a few healthy habits each month?   We’d all be toned and slim in no time.

Drink more water. Easy, right? Just get in the habit of carrying around a water bottle with you everywhere you go.

Have a fruit or veggie shortly before you eat a meal. An apple or a few baby carrots will take the edge off and add to the daily count of eating the right amount of fruits and veggies.

Climb stairs. This is my mother’s favorite way to stay healthy. She says this is the trick behind living a healthy life. Take a load of laundry up the stairs, walk down the stairs. Take the stairs at a parking garage, at the mall, where ever you can find ‘em. Go up and down the stairs until you remember what you were looking for if you are having a ‘moment.’

Walk everyday. I believe my mother thinks you should climb stairs everyday, but for the rest of us, walk as often as you can. Park at the end of the lot and walk to the mall, the grocery store, to school.

Laugh everyday. Serious people aren’t very fun to be around, and laughing is good for your entire body.

Fidget. Don’t just sit still (unless you are meditating or praying), but fidget. Wiggle your foot, wiggle in your chair. Burns off calories. Pace the halls if you are trying to figure out what to write about.

Get out of your comfort zone. Take a new class, learn a new instrument, do a cartwheel in the front yard. It’s good for your brain and heart to take up new activities.  Recently I took a jewelry class with one of the meanest instructors I’ve ever encountered. But it was still fun, even if I was one of the slowest students in the class.

Stop drinking soft drinks. Man, this is a hard one. At least limit your soda intake to one a week. Diet soda is unhealthy, so don’t think you can sneak in diet sodas as a substitute.

Eat one meat-free meal a week. It’s great for your heart and easier on the budget.

Avoid toxic people. Sometimes this is impossible to do, but if you are out for your daily walk, wave, then speed up and keep on going.

Limit your alcohol intake to the weekends. My former boss shed 12 pounds by drinking a moderate amount of alcohol only on the weekend.

Exercise during commercials. You can do stretches, ab crunches, yoga or even lift light weights during TV commercials. And then you’ll realize how long commercials really last.

Eat a handful of nuts. The healthy ones: almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, or cashews. Easy does it.

Sneak extra chopped up veggies into the main course. Onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms, celery, peas, or frozen veggie mixes can be stirred into many dishes without your kids, spouse, or significant someone really noticing.

Drink a smoothie. There are so many healthy recipes and kids generally love to run the blender.

Take a short nap during the day. When Oprah features shows on women who don’t look their age, many said that taking a nap and getting enough sleep were vital to staying younger looking.

Switch to whole grain breads. My kids do not like whole grain, so this doesn’t work for us.

Start a garden. Even if you just plant tomatoes, green peppers and scallions,  or plant  a few plants in a windowbox, you’ll save a bundle. Have you priced green peppers at the grocery store lately? Nothing tastes better than a freshly picked tomato grown in gorgeous, rich, dark soil.

Take your vitamins. This is another reason my parents swear they are so healthy. They drink a smoothie almost daily and take their vitamins. They aren’t on any kind of prescription medicine either. And they also love to garden: planting, pulling weeds, pruning, turning the compost pile over, raking, and shoveling.

Drink tea. There’s so many good kinds out there now: green tea with pomegranite, chamomile, raspberry, vanilla chai.

Resolve not to eat food late at night. Drink a glass of water. If you are really, really hungry, then consider snacking on cottage cheese or eating a little bit of grilled chicken. Maybe just a few whole wheat crackers and a small slice of cheese. That’s it. We’ve all got to stop now. Late night calories pack on the pounds.

Exercise in the morning. One study shows that if you consistently exercise in the morning, you will stick with it.

Choose fresh food, then frozen, then food packaged in glass. Be cautious of canned goods. New studies show BPAs are found in canned goods, plus high levels of preservatives too. If you do use canned, opt for organic.

Go to Starbucks.  Sparingly.  And when you do, splurge.  You’ll feel delighted with a rare splurge and that’s always good.

Buy a Bowflex sitting in someone’s garage. These go for cheap, since so many people start off all gung-ho and then give up.  Start out the exercises slowly.

About the Author:  Erin Larkin-Rohrer is a Blog Intern at Moms Talk Network, where she has been racking her brain to come up with blog posts, and reading through dozens of  fascinating mom blogs each week. She has posted a follow-up link to this post about 25 simple ways to be happy.

By a show of hands, how many people are addicted to the “as seen on t.v.” stuff? Why is it that in today’s  society of cynicism and critical thinking people still believe what they see on television? I have officially given up all hope of stopping my wife from buying everything she sees in infomercials.

The most recent product was the Hair Off mitt, she had to have it. That is the one that uses sandpaper to grind the hair off of your body as some skin too, or as they say it “gently exfoliates as the hair magically disappears”. I bought it for her because she wanted it and knew she would keep talking about it till she tried it herself; we returned it the next day. She told me it hurt and all the hair on her leg was still on her leg, I was so shocked.

I have yet to see any product from these commercials actually do what it says(we have tried most of them). Luckily Wal Mart has an “as seen on tv” section so they can be easily returned after we try them. My wife knows they do not work and still has the need to buy everyone that comes out thinking “this is gonna be the one” and returns it the next day disappointed.

Is there some kind of hidden mind control in those commercials that only affect certain people in the population, enough people so the company makes a lot of money but not enough to arouse suspicion? Maybe that will be the next product they try to sell, for only $19.95 you can have your very own mind control device.

I remember when I was a kid, our local grocery store held a Pepsi contest where you entered your name and had a chance to win a Michael Jackson (their spokesperson at the time) t-shirt and a set of three cassette tapes.  The tapes were: Off the Wall, Thriller, and the recently released “Bad”…

I won! Yes I sure did, I was hot to trot in my neighborhood, thank you very  much.  Being a fat kid, the t-shirt was a bit tight, worse yet, it was the kind of shirt that had Michael Jackson’s face on it so on me it looked REALLY stretched out and almost had a 3D effect.  No matter, I wore it anyway and was proud to do so..it went nice with my red leather zip up jacket and one silver glove.

This is the kind of fond memories I try to conjur up each time I hear about Michael doing another crazy thing in public.

Recently he was spotted with one of his children and he had their whole head and face covered with a blue hospital cap type thing.  To me, that is way more humiliating and damaging to a child than the paparazzi taking pictures of the kid’s face.  I have lost all hope for Michael ever being normal again, but I really have to wonder how his kids will turn out with him for a father.  My guess is the same or possibly worse than Michael himself.

Ooh la la.  This is the thought I instantly had as my friend paraded through the aisle of the big city upscale bar near our hometown.  What was that she was carrying? A gorgeous deep red (looked big enough to hold diapers and wipes though – so I’m game!) handbag.

What I liked best about her handbag was how deep and wide it was, she could easily fit folders from work in there, her cosmetic bag, and a small man.  Not being a fan of small men, I would throw him out and use the room for a flask or perhaps one of my children.

The fabric of this purse was amazing, it had little embossed dots all over it and was obviously leather and of very fine quality.  My coworker purchased hers from Macy’s, on sale.  I am guessing she still paid a pretty penny but this bag is probably worth every cent -according to her, it IS.

The inside was just as nice as the outside, it was fully lined and had nice roomy holder/compartments but was not so compartmentalized as to be a burden, like many cheaper purses.  There is a fine line at suggesting a nice spot for your cell phone and keys and making the purse so rigid that it’s not open for ANY woman to use (face it, not everyone has a bunch of electronic gadgets that need a spot, etc.)

All in all, I was a fan, now I just have to see if I can find one on sale, at the consignment shop, or buy a knock off