Chanda - Handyman Girl

There are some really nice benefits to renting. One especially, is not having to be in charge of repairs. But, every once in a while I think about when we own and have to figure it out ourselves. Can we do it? So sometimes before calling the landlord I really try to do it on my own. No real risk - its already broke and if I can't fix it then I can still call the landlord. My garbage disposal is somewhat of a mystery - all I know is I can dump most junk down and turn the switch. Presto, its all gone. But the last few days my disposal has been jammed up. I love the internet, you can find information on lots of handyman repair things. So after a bit of research and trying this and that I finally got my disposal running again.(plus a bit of prayer- that's really the key to it all.) Yeah! And I understand a disposal just a tiny bit more and when we own and the garbage disposal goes haywire, I won't be so stressed out. Chanda's Confidence level - up!!:)

Dishes

So I am waiting for the day that I can be like my parents and others who say, "ok kid, get the dishes done" and then walk away and know when they come back later that everthing will be all done. For the time being my kitchen cleanness has something to be desired on a daily basis. But my goal this year and most of the summer has been to get my kids more skillfull in kitchen duty. We (I mostly) figure out assignments and then each of the kids and David and I have a kitchen job to do for the month. Example - this month, Joshua rinses dishes, Aimee fills the dishwasher, Jacob and David(together) clear table and Jacob sets table, and I whatever my assignment is basically means I get the rest. And then the next month we switch to a new job. So it really works well to have the same job for a month, it gives everyone a chance to get good at it and there's no confusion on who's job is who's and who doesn't want what. The key to a successful kitchen is David though. What would I do without him. As long as he is involved the jobs get done pretty smoothly, if not quite often I'm left hounding the kids or doing it myself. So back to my beginning. Mostly I can't wait for my kids to do it on their own, but a big part of me would like to keep it this way always, because one of the things I want our family to do is work together. What better way than this.