I was reading through some old threads last night trying to gather some info on earning some extra income. The virtual call centers seems to be popular right now. Does anyone do this successfully? How much money can one expect to make working part time (evenings)? Do all of them require credit checks? (that might be a problem for me :( ) Also, I'd appreciate any other suggestions for extra income :bigear:

I love it! Although I tend to be partial to short hair since mine is SUPER short ;) It's so easy to take care of, fun to try different colors too!!!! Short hair girls club...wooo!!!! :tongue_smilie:

Sounds heavenly :001_wub: In our room, we have two cribs, a changing table (blankets, shoes, etc for the babies), a small dresser (for the babies clothes), our queen bed, a side table, and in our closet we have our dresser. Our room is small too! We only have one shelf in our closet (standard high shelf) and the chance of us installing more is slim to none due to finances and dh's work schedule. I was thinking of getting baskets from the dollar tree and using them as well as some of the hanging cubby things you can attach to the closet bar. I'm also purging our clothes stash and refuse to hang on to anything that I don't wear regularly. Lisamarie- Love your closet makeover :) Angela- :lol:

I've been trying to simplify things around here (story of my life :glare: ) I've been thinking of getting rid of our dressers to free up some space and also eliminate a few eye sores (a few of our dressers are functional but not pretty and who knows when I'll have the time to restore them). So does anyone else have a sans dresser clothes organization system?

:iagree: I also think this is relative to the person/family. Some families can have a ton of stuff, but it's managed and maintained. I simply cannot handle a bunch of stuff. Ironically, I tend to get bored with simplicity and yet I crave it. Go figure :glare:

Amen!! This is so true. Regardless of how much I get rid of, I still have to maintain a "home" not just a house :) I think I just need to start with baby steps....eliminate all the extras and learn how to keep the basics clean and orderly. There are some things I won't give up though. I love my pictures...(I was finally able to get them from MIL's house). I am looking forward to framing them and putting them up on my walls :)

Hey, we don't want any trouble here....move along.....no need to bring the big "L" word into the conversation :lol::lol:

You're my new hero ;) Did you cut down on clothes, linens, dishes, toys? What do you think made the biggest impact? :bigear:

I also want to toss all of our towels and buy only white towels :) I am craving uniformity! If I could just come up with a laundry system that worked for ME, I would be content as a bug in rug :)

I think I finally figured it out. I simply don't have the time to properly care for everything in my house and THAT'S why I can't get everything cleaned/organized ;) Although I've purged quite a bit in the last year or so, I think it's time to get a little more serious and a little more drastic in my minimizing. Since laundry is my #1 nemesis, I think I'll start there. I'm going to purge my clothes and go down to only a small wardrobe (a mom uniform?) One of the problems I have is my fluctuating weight :glare: But, I guess that's what yoga pants are for? I'll keep a few nicer things but that's it. I need and crave simplicity! I'm also going to do the same with the kids clothes...but I do admit, I like a variety of clothes for the babies. There are just far too many adorable clothes for them to wear :tongue_smilie: As far as "stuff", it's all going. I don't have time. I just can't keep nice things because I don't have the time to protect and clean them. It's literally hard enough for me to keep my floors clean! It's hard for me to keep my couch clean! I spend any spare time I have cleaning and it's never enough :( I know there are moms who can have a normal amount of "stuff" and keep it together, but I just don't think I'm one of them.....and I think I'm finally ok with that :)

Thanks everyone. Dh walked out of the room at one point because he just didn't want to listen to sil. The reason I can't take the pics is because sil wants to find them all (they are scattered throughout the house and now that they have moved in, I can't just go into mil's rooms looking for them because their stuff is there too) I told sil I wanted to get the so we could scan them and also make a poster board with pics of mil and the kids for the funeral services. Sil told me she already had that idea :glare: and was planning on doing it but she'll "let me" do it if I want. So basically I'm now waiting for sil to release the pics. dh's sister (nice sil) told me she'd help me get them if sil takes much longer. It's all just lame. I realize it's not about me...it's just been a very long road with mil that I thought was going to come to an end but sil is picking up where mil left off and there doesn't seem to be that peace in sight that we were all hoping for once she passed. (hopefully that makes sense)

So yesterday suck*d big monkey butts!! We got the call around 1pm from sil (the narcissistic one). She told us she thought mil was gone and to hurry down to say goodbye. It was awful :( Poor dh, although mil was narcissistic and treated us like carp most of the time, it was still his mom and it was hard to see her body so lifeless. There was drama with sil but I won't go into it. The bottom line is that I was hoping to have closure once mil passed. I was hoping that FINALLY, dh and I could reclaim some things and spend some time in her house sort of "healing". I found a ton of pics that MIL took of my kiddos when they were babies....also pics from my baby shower with dd17. Those are pics I had NEVER seen before. Mil took tons of pics, would make two copies but then would keep both. I would ask for negatives, but she wouldn't give them to me. I wanted to take all of those pics but SIL won't let me touch them until SHE goes through them. It's like she's taking over where mil left off....and she's NOT EVEN HER DAUGHTER (she's her dil like me). One last thing. MIL's sisters have been there the last few months helping sil and bil care for mil. They think the sun rises and sets around sil because she moved in to care for her mil. They think we should have done the same thing. So now, they think that sil has the right to whatever she wants in mil's house because she has "been there" for mil. The thing is, I've been in this family for 20 years. I was there when MIL had her breakdown and tried to kill herself. DH and I stayed with her and made sure she was taken care of. DH and I moved in next door to her when she had cancer the first time so I could care for her and take her to her radiation treatments. I would go over several times a week when she had a bad infection several years ago and needed medication pumped into her IV. The list goes on and on.........and yet, none of that matters now. I just don't get it. Anyway, thanks for listening....and I suppose when all is said and done, all that matters is that mil is at peace now.

He does a TON of charity work for childhood cancer too! He seems like a great guy.....so sad :(

My dh had this same idea when dd17 was a toddler. I think it's genius! But then my mom was right! This is how she cleaned our floors growing up. We didn't own a mop...just a bucket and scrub brush and a bar of Fels Naptha soap! :bigear: I hope she does! And thank you to everyone who responded! I always feel bad for not multi-quoting every single reply but I do take to heart everyone's suggestions :)

Are you all sick of me yet? ;):D (seriously, I feel bad for starting so many threads...but I need your help :001_smile: ) We have all vinyl/parquet/linoleum throughout our living areas in our house. I sweep every.single.day. I spot mop with a wet/soapy rag and my foot as I'm multi tasking. Aside from the typical cereal etc that the babies drop, there just tends to be a lot of DIRT! I bought a new mop today and I hope it works better than my Libman. Do you have any tips for keeping floors clean? Swiffer doesn't do jack for my floors. My dogs furry paws do a better job at cleaning up the excess dirt!!!

:grouphug: I'm so sorry, Amy. I have been thinking about and praying for you (especially today). Not that it helps much but please know you have lots of mamas here who are holding you up in prayer. :grouphug::grouphug:

Anyone hear from Amy G? :bigear:

Thanks again, everyone :) Dd and I went over again last night. (Dh asked us to go). Sil told me she hasn't asked for any help (cue the violins) up until now. They will most likely be discontinuing mil's nurse starting Weds night ...so sil said she will need some help during the day while bil is at work. She then tells me that mil's sister offered to come over and help on Thurs...so it's just Friday she would need my help...during the day. She then says "I know you have court for dfd on Friday but we all have to make compromises" :glare: When I came home and told dh this,he was LIVID. He said "They're living rent free in MY mom's house...they moved out of their apt without even checking with mil's landlord to make sure it was ok they moved in!" DH's sister (nice sil) has offered to pay for a nurse to stay with MIL when none of us are able but (narcissistic sil) says she only wants to use her at night because she thinks it should be family that is there as much as possible....OK, fine...but she CHOSE to move in with mil. None of us asked her to do that. She has been giving all of us the guilt trip on how family should always come first even if the family is toxic.....:glare: She has spun this whole web of her own rules that apply to everyone but her! DH told his sister that we need to use the nurse now because I can't be there on Friday and if sil needs extra help,then a hired nurse makes most sense. Oh and get this: She tried to tell my dd last night (in front of me!) that she doesn't expect her to come and care for MIL...since she's just a little girl (she's 17) BUT ....just a month ago, sil told ME that if dd was her dd, she would MAKE her come because she teaches her kids "family values"....:001_huh: Drama Drama! Again, this is all just venting so feel free to ignore me :lol: DH is in contact with his dad (who is the one paying the rent where MIL is (they're separated) ) and he has offered to pay for a nurse as well for mil. I can't imagine it will be long now anyway....her breathing is slowing way down and becoming more labored :( Plus she hasn't had water/food for at least 5 days now :(

Thank you all :grouphug: She's at home and Sil and Bil have moved in with her so they are sort of "in charge" of her care right now. I'm going to speak directly to the nurse tonight even if SIL is in the room. She is picking at her clothes. As a matter of fact, SIL has to go and cover her up before visitors come in because she's essentially topless right now because she was trying to pull her nightgown off. I did google the dying process and have read so much about it. I think this has gone as good (so far) as could be expected. When my grandma was dying, she had the "death rattle" and it was so disturbing. She was also gasping a lot :( It was awful to watch. Mil's breaths are more controlled ...but she does have quite a bit of apnea ... SIL is just driving me nuts with her whole martyr act. Yes, she has been there for MIL and it's great they moved in with her...but it's not all out of selflessness....they are planning on staying there after MIL passes....they haven't asked the landlord yet but they've already moved their stuff in :001_huh:

Well....MIL took a turn for the worse last week and is basically in a coma. We were there almost all weekend long. Friday night she was still sort of communicating with us so we all said our goodbyes. It was actually very emotional. The grandkids all came in and said goodbye and gave her hugs and kisses.... It was sad but also a positive experience for them, I think. Ok, well, where MIL left off, SIL is picking up :mad: She (Sil) has told me at least 10 times this past weekend that the reason she called us all on Friday to come and see MIL is because she knew once they started the Attivan, MIL would not be able to really communicate. She continued to tell EVERYONE over the weekend how SHE has been there the most and has taken care of MIL this whole time. Extended family was there on Sat and they were asking me questions about MIL's current medical state...but SIL would butt in and say "ask me, I'm the one who's been here". Ok, fine...we get it....you guys moved in (partially because they were getting kicked out of their own apt!) to help MIL because you think that regardless of what MIL has done to you, she's still family.....but that doesn't mean that we are evil for having a different view!!!! Ok, so last night, dd and I went over to see mil (dh had been there in the morning) MIL now has a round the clock nurse that stays there. Dd and I walked into her room and SIL followed us in. I wanted to ask the nurse questions but I could tell SIL wanted to be the one to answer....grrrr I then was counting MIL's respirations (sp?) and noticed she was at 8 per min. The night before she was at 12. I also noticed they had taken her nasal canula out (oxygen). I asked SIL how mil's respirations were and she said "oh they're fine" . She said they took her off the oxygen because she didn't need it. :glare: SIL kept telling me "oh, she can breathe...she was just anxious so she THOUGHT she couldn't breathe".....bullcr*p! So now SIL is telling us that the nurses are saying to not go talk to MIL because it agitates her and then she gets upset and wants to try to get up. Ok, I understand this....however, family is EVERYTHING to my mil. She is literally on her death bed. It will be a few days if that as she's not on any IV and hasn't taken anything to drink or eat in several days. My other SIL has sort of given up on the whole thing (she's just done with her mom). DH is like "don't rock the boat..it's almost over"....and SIL's husband (who is MIL's other son) goes along with SIL because it's his wife. I have animosity towards my mil that I'm trying to let go but it almost seems like what SIL is doing right now is cruel. She is purposely keeping us away from MIL's bedside using the excuse that it agitates her :glare: maybe it does....but it shouldn't all be her call. Ok, sorry for the long vent..... Also, has anyone else experienced the dying process with a loved one? I think we're down to a matter of hours at this point (the nurses all have different opinions ranging from less than a week to up to 10 days). I don't think it will be that long at all. She's got so many of the symptoms of it being imminent. :(

:grouphug: still praying!!

I'm to the point where I don't care if they don't think it's cool. :lol: Thank you for this :grouphug: I think routine is going to be more workable than a strict schedule. We have a similar "kid" situation as yours....I need flexibility but ds8 needs to know what happens next or he's bouncing off the walls. Well, he'll do that anyway...but I'm sure a routine will help him to know what to expect next instead of me always trying to redirect him.

Me too :grouphug: still praying

I have white sheets and I use bleach so I don't have a problem with mold....plus I have my ceiling fan on so it dries it pretty quickly.

I'm in So Cal too...I did this last week but only because I was ready for bed and my sheets weren't dry :lol: I also have a pretty thin white quilt that was wet...but had been washed with Downey lavender scent...so it was like aromatherapy with air conditioning....sweet relief....til my restless leg kicked in...:glare: I think it's supposed to cool down a bit in the next few days...fingers crossed!!!