Welcome!

Welcome to the Open House "A Comfortable Home"!! I'm Ms. Suzy and I'll be your most hospitable host!

First, let me tell you about me! I'm a twenty-four year old stay-at-home mom. I have two young children and have been with my husband for almost 5 years. When he and I were first together, I knew very little about taking care of a home. I would clean our bathroom about every 2 months. And our kitchen floor? Well I honestly can say I only mopped it 3 times in our first year together. Gross, I know. But this is a very real problem for many woman. Housekeeping is not something that comes naturally for everyone!

After having our first child(almost 3 years ago!) I set out to find a way to keep our house looking like a comforatable home. I knew that since I was not returning to work, I was becoming a housewife. And in my mind I pictured all of the great housewives from beloved tv shows like "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It To Beaver". I wanted to be those women!! Heck, even "Roseanne's" house was cleaner than mine! Unfortunantly, they were television actors and that form of perfectionism is not totally achievable. But I was determined to try.

So far so good. My home is always clean. As close to spotless as I can get it. Laundry is always caught up and put in the right drawers, dishes stay washed and in their cupboards. There's always food in the fridge and meals planned. Very seldom do we have takeout, and when we do it's as a treat, not because it's the only option there is. And, my husband leaves for work everyday with a homemade lunch in hand. I do all of this on my own. Very seldom do I get any help. Occasionally, my husband will do a load of laundry or will sweep the kitchen floor, but that his a very seldom thing. In fact this past weekend he actually asked me where I kept the broom!

I know some of you are probably thinking that I'm crazy and I should make him help and what kind of woman am I for promoting this way of thinking. But I think the majority of you are going to applaud this website and find it a very informative and fun place to be.

This Open House is going to be set up in 3 posts. This one being the first. This is just my way of saying HELLO and giving you my background and vision. The next post will be the outline of what I'm going to do here. And the final post will be where all of the fun is at! There will be snacks and a contest going on during the Open House.

So, read on and add me to your blogrolls! This is going to be great for us all. I get the satisfaction of helping others who, like me, feel discouraged and helpless when it comes to taking care of their homes. And you get some great tips and lots of fun! Plus, the community this site will hopefully build is going to be good for us all!

Ready to sweep away all of your cobwebs,
Ms. Suzy

Information

Here is our schedule of events every week. Monday through Friday there will be posts and each day is designated to one type of post. All posts will include labels, thanks to the Blogger Beta, and you can easily read archived posts by label if you miss some things and want to catch up. Or if you are interested in certain information and want to easily go back and read it all again. Most weeks I will not post on Saturday or Sunday. But when I do, they will be of random things, so those days will not be listed below.

Alright, onto the Daily Events!

Monday: Weekend Recovery! This is our day to catch up on all the things that fell behind over the weekend. Whether things didn't get done because we were out and about or because husbands and children who are not normally home during the day are around and the house tends to get messier. Monday is our day to take care of these messes! I will give you a list of chores to run through and include a rundown of my own weekend's events.

Tuesday: Fun Ideas! Every Tuesday I will post a craft or organization project for you to try in your own home!

Wednesday: Meal Planning! That's right, this is our day to plan meals for the upcoming weekend and week. I plan my meals from Friday-Thursday. A recipe will be included to get you started on this task. We will also make our grocery lists on this day!

Thursday: Shopping Day! Dont get too excited. I'm not sending you out to buy new shoes! This is your grocery shopping day. Also, your day to run any other errands that you may have. Such as going to Walmart(or your favorite discount store) for all of those staples that costs more money at your regular grocery store. Or for hitting the post office or bank. I also plan to add an offer of some sort to save us money on every Thursday's entry.

Friday: Cleaning the Nitty Gritty! Friday is the day to get our houses glowing! Just in time for the weekend so we can all relax and enjoy a clean home with our families. I will list a run down of chores and include a cleaning tip.

Beyond all of this, on the sidebar this is the list of Daily Chores. These are the things you must do everyday to keep your home comfortable. I know this seems like a lot, but believe me. Once you get going it really becomes so simple. And if you have a lot of things to get rid of. Check out the sidebar for ways to do that. There are sites listed under Knick Knacks.

Getting excited for the party,
Ms. Suzy

It's Party Time!

This is the Open House event I've been building up to! First of all, WELCOME! I have been planning this project for awhile now and I am so excited it is up and running.

A huge thanks to Daisy Mae for making me such a great home! She's such a fun designer and is so sweet you could just eat her up!

So, lets get this party started! Let me show you to the snack table first!

I have made up a delicious Hot Crab and Jalapeno Dip for a spicy treat. If you're more in the mood for something sweet, how about you try some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip? And to drink...oh honey let me pour you a nice Dirty Vodka Martini! Oh! You prefer something, not so hard? How about some Champagne Punch?

Alright, now that we've gotten the refreshments out of the way let me tell you about the first ever "Comfortable Home Contest!" I am going to be choosing a guest blogger! Your blog entry will be posted on a Tuesday and you can write about whatever you want concerning your home. Whether you have an amazing recipe to try, a great craft idea, a cleaning tip or even a HORROR story!! The floor is yours! (Just wipe it up when you're done!)

I'll be selecting the "winner" of the contest through comments. So make sure every time you visit you leave a comment, and then you MUST go to the person's blog who commented before you and leave them a comment. (Please make sure to tell that person that you came from Ms. Suzy's). How I'll select the winning is not going to be disclosed. I could make it the 25th commenter, it could be the most frequent commenter. It could even be the the most origional commenter. Who knows! So, keep on your toes and keep those comments coming!

ALSO! You DO get brownie points if you tell all of your blogging friends about my new site via a web post during the Open House. If they come here and leave comments telling ME that YOU sent them...well hey, that's sure an easy way to get on my good side!

Needless to say, if you do win this contest you'll get listed under Neighbors on the sidebar.


Speaking of neighbors, if you want listed on this blog. I suggest you start sending me emails. Email me ideas and stories and recipes!! For every one that I choose to include in one of my posts, not only will that person get credit for the idea...but they will also be added to the sidebar. Cool huh? If this site ends up being as popular as I forsee it becoming, could you imagine the traffic you'd get!?

So, I leave you to your partying! I will pop in from time to time to say hello. I truly hope you'll enjoy this site. And keep coming back. The Open House will last through the weekend, Monday, the regular posting will begin. I will email the winner of the contest and their post will be put up on the following Tuesday after it's submitted.

Everyone have a ball!! I am so excited you're here!

Cheers!
Ms. Suzy