If you missed this morning’s assignment, you can find it here.
It was a pretty typical morning here: Bible, blogging, morning routine, running, radio interview, and homeschooling. I took a quick shower and then Kaitlynn and I headed out for a fun afternoon “date” together.
And then I came home and cleaned light fixtures and ceiling fans:
The girls’ room {and the are we done yet look?!}
I couldn’t reach the living room ceiling fan… so Jesse and I devised a way to pull it off without a ladder. I got on his shoulders, he stood on a chair, and then I could reach it. Of course, I was freaking out that I was going to fall the whole time and he was having a grand time laughing at me. But I was mostly just being my crazy self and playing it up so he could get a kick out of me (though I really did think I was going to fall a few times!)
{By the way, I wouldn’t recommend trying this at home, but it produced a lot of laughter and provided a fun memory! :)}
Lookie who lost her second tooth today?!
And for my “assigned” 15-minutes of relaxation, Jesse and I are having an at-home movie date tonight once the children are in bed. I’m excited to set the to-do list aside and just kick back and enjoy a relaxing evening!
I hope you had a great day today! Thanks for joining me in all these projects this week. Be sure to come back on Monday morning for your next assignment!
How did you do on Assignment #10? I’d love to have you share your progress and success with us so we can be inspired. Either post a link to your blog post below or leave a comment with your update.
Toni says
LOL! I got a kick out of the pic of you on Jesse’s shoulders ON A CHAIR. Oh Crystal, that reminds me of the time my husband and I were painting the stairwell to our upstairs. It had this wall that faced you as you decscended the stairs (passing under it as you got down to the last 4 steps or so.) There was just no easy way to paint that wall and the side walls of the stairwell. So we devised (rigged, concocted, you get the picture) a scaffold (of, uh hem, sorts) out of stacked books and an upside down coffee table, with our 8 foot ladder then placed on the pseudo flat surface we’d created on the steps. Dh was holding the ladder steady (as it rested on the upside down coffee table on the stacked books on the steps…in the house that Jack built. Sorry, couldn’t resist.) I was soooo sure I was going to fall off that contraption, but I’m happy to say I survived. Glad you did too. 😀
Blessings,
Toni
p.s. the challenges and your decluttering have totally inspired me. I overhauled the laundry rooom yesterday and I’m in the kitchen today. We have a large home so it’s going to take some time to declutter and deep clean the whole thing but I’m on it. 😉
Donna says
Crystal- Can the 2 of you come to my house next? I have a few fans that I can’t reach and you 2 seem to do so well!
So funny!
My whole family is asking what I’m laughing at right now!
Jessica says
That is hilarious, how you cleaned the fan! Haha
May I recommend an ingenius little invention (for next time)? A fan blade duster. They have long handles to easily reach the fan blades and are so easy to use. You can get one for about $12-14 at Lowe’s. 😉 No ladder or balancing acts required. hehe
Lana says
I was glad I was not at our vacation house when this was assigned because we do have ceiling fans over there and way up on a cathedral ceiling. We don’t have any ceiling fans at home and hubby was working at home so he took all the light fixtures down and put them back up for me. 🙂 They all look so clean and the lights are so much brighter. I would have had a heart attack if I had tried to do any cleaning the way you did it!!
Amanda says
Love the pic of you on his shoulders. That is a great family moment to remember…cute!
Dawn - One Faithful Mom says
Okay, so being a Southern girl born and bred, I must just say, “GIRL!! You gonna fall and break your neck!!” Seriously though, that is awesome. What a great example you are to your children.
Well, maybe not in safety practices, but certainly in how you and Jesse relate to each other and know how to have FUN!! I love that!!
Kayla says
I’m enjoying this series…it’s coming at the perfect time– our adoption home study is in a week!! I vote you do this in May too!
Laurie G says
Well I guess I found my one reason to be glad we don’t have ceiling lights or fixtures (older home). We have lamps only, so I clean them off and out with the room cleanings each week. We have no ceiling fans either.
It seems like that might be a bonus based on Crystal’s acrobatics. My hubby SO could not lift me onto his shoulders! 🙂
Meredith says
I’m handing this job over to my husband, but I’ll make sure it’s done by Monday! Can’t wait to see what’s in store next week!
Danielle B says
Great pictures! I enjoy your quirky faces! 🙂
We had a pretty good day. I worked hard at getting the children involved with the actual cleaning, instead of just trying to sneak it in when they were busy with other things. I was surprised at how quickly and happily we blew through cleaning when I had that mindset.
I got them excited for the tasks all morning while we went through our morning routine. Then when we finished everything I opened the laptop, read the update from last night (they loved the pictures of Silas!), and then read the assignment for today. I cannot believe how enthusiastically they helped clean once they knew the task!
We were able to clean all the light fixtures, clean out the linen closet and a few other various things off my list. I’m almost completely caught up except for vacuuming out the van and car. Hopefully I can actually get that done this weekend.
cristina says
First of all,great job on cleaning your light fixtures! and Bravo! for all the support Jesse gave you(both moral and physical lol). 🙂
And second,what in the world is up with this crazy wind here in AZ? we had to stay indoors today,it was too windy for the kids to be out and a step away from getting a cold(we’re Romanian,our definition of spring wind=excuse for catching a cold),but i took advantage of it and managed to clean up(almost) my living room. we were up bright and early,had breakfast and coffee,did some homeschooling(my son is 3 so we keep it more fun than educational around here),run some errands and then i got cleaning. what was intended to be a simple “oh i’ll just vacuum and pick up here and there”(as i did my light fixtures not too long ago),turned out to be a full cleanup of the couches,walls,windows,baseboards,light switches and sofa covers. and on top of that,i actually made my first curtain! yeey!(it looks a bit pathetic and its not on an actual curtain rod,but i needed to cover my front window as my dear angels keep breaking the blinds and i dont want some creep watching inside my house while my hubby is not home-he’s a truck driver). i took an older blanket that we dont use anymore but that still looks decent,pinned it above the blinds,cut it in half,tied it on the sides with pretty bows and voila! beauty in 10 minutes. 🙂 i’m very proud of myself although tomorrow im washing carpets the same way another reader that had a guest post here did:by hand with a brush. wish me luck! 🙂
Charity says
Oh gosh! I could’ve never sat on my husband shoulders and been up that high. Yikes. I’m so afraid of heights that I’m scared to climb stairs in someone’s two story home!!! You’re my hero! So brave!
Cynthia says
What a great week! I had a lit of fun reading through all the post and comments. Iwas not able to participate yhis week since I was working on another cchallenge(having a baby!) H opefully I ‘ll be able to join next week at least to the 15 min part of the challenge
Charity says
Congratulations!!!! 😀
Erin @ My Mommy World says
What a funny story! I actually found a brush a few years ago that is specially designed to fit around the blades of the fan to clean them. It has made this chore so much easier 🙂
My daughter just lost her first tooth a few weeks ago and it was so exciting for her.
Vieve says
Dear Crystal,
Someone has to say it. I hope you have a good attorney for when you fall! 😉
Super cute picture of the missing tooth! Cutie!
Julie in IN says
Do you own a ladder? I remember those “don’t own a ladder” days!
Suzanne says
I read a tip to use an old pillow case to clean ceiling fan blades. As you pull the case off of each blade it catches all of the dust so that it doesn’t fall all over the place. I then just throw it in the laundry and it is nice and clean when it comes out for the next season of ceiling fan cleaning.
MaryAnne @ Parenting and Money says
That’s a neat trick.
Toni says
Wow, love that. Thanks for sharing.
Melissa says
You know what my favorite way is to clean light fixtures? THE DISHWASHER! It’s great! Just unscrew the glass, stick it in the dishwasher w/o the heat turned on and dry them right away when they are done. In the meantime, you can whip out the vacuum cleaner with extension hose to attack the dusty fan blades and it takes half the time!
Lynn says
What a great idea! I think I will use the dishwasher next time!!
Brandy says
Oh my gosh! That is hilarious! I am having a rather crazy night, so the fixtures will have to be put off until tomorrow. Oh well!
Kelly Logan says
You have really pretty light fixtures =) Great pic of you and hubby =)
Camille says
Scary but funny picture cleaning the ceiling fan. This is why I purchased the long-handled duster thingy, but your way looked a lot more fun!
Katie H says
My husband surprised me by coming home at lunchtime with a babysitter and kidnapping me on a date. So that was my “15 minutes” of relaxation.
Danielle B says
Awesome. 🙂
robyn says
Ok, so who took the pic??? Im guessing your oldest daughter did?? 🙂 Anyways, looks like you did great and had fun!!
Stephanie says
That picture is hilarious! Today is the first time I was thankful that we don’t have much overhead lighting in our home. It only took about 5 minutes with a static duster to clean the lights in the bathrooms, hallway, kitchen and dining room. 🙂
Angie D says
Fun!! I still have dirty lights, but we are have “family dance night” so lights can wait! Have fun with your movie; glad you will be in the basement tonight!
Shelly says
I got really carried away with the cleaning it all started with just the light fixtures then I decided I needed to dust a vacuum as I went along. Which turned into moving all the furniture in our family room and doing a very good spring cleaning job. I did not get around to anything fun as I ran out of time today but my house is looking better each day.
At our house I have stacked a chair on a table to reach up in our skylights to clean before. This is something I would not recommend also. Looks like you had fun though.
Sheila says
Great job! I took most of the day off. The last couple of weeks have been very stressful. So I took a mental health day. I went to garage sales while everyone was in school, took an hour & a half nap while my preschooler rested, and had leftovers for dinner. I’ll get back into productive homemaker mode tomorrow. 🙂
Audrey says
Thats quite the photo shoot! Thanks for the laugh!
Victoria @Snail Pace Transformations says
Love the pics! Wish my fixture cleaning was as fun! But it sure was memorable! My middle child will never forget it. I made a silly mistake that could have been very costly (involving broken glass every where). But I was so touched when my son’s first words were “wow mom God protected you on that one!”. Makes me know he is heading in the right direction.
Kimber says
What a sweet comment! Those are the ‘payday’ moments. :o)
Danielle B says
I’ve enjoyed your comments across the week. 🙂
Stephanie says
Do you do a radio interview EVERY DAY? ha ha 🙂 Is it the same station?
Love how you cleaned your ceiling fan. My friend has her husband lift her up in the bucket of his tractor to do her outdoor windows. It’s the funniest sight!
Nony (A Slob Comes Clean) says
Oh my word, I’m nervous just thinking about you on his shoulders and him on a chair!!!
Good job on the light fixtures! One of my big excuses for putting it off is that the dust grosses me out so much I have to wear a mask, goggles and headscarf!
amy@twobgardening says
My lights need a little love, I just don’t feel like giving any. Who took the pic of you on Jesse’s shoulders? Priceless 🙂
Lyndsay says
The light fixtures are gross- much more than I can do in one night, which is why it’s made it’s way on to the weekend list 🙁 BUT great movie night with the husband, we’ve been focusing on spending more time together, so I consider today a success 🙂
Nice to see you had some fun with your cleaning 😉