So I love Mondays. I didn't used to, but lately, they are one of my favorite days. I work weekends now, and I really like my job at the hospital taking pictures of the newborns, but now, Mondays seem like sort of a break. I think the real reason I like Monday so much is that it is my most structured day of the week.

Starting about last March, my sister and I decided to clean our houses together. My husband was on the verge of hiring a cleaning service, but I really didn't want to spend our money that way. He agreed to pay me the amount the service had quoted if I promised to keep the house to his standards (and that is a topic for another post.) I am not a very organized person and I knew I had to get some sort of a routine going. I don't remember how we (Val and I)thought of the brilliant idea to work together, but now we call it Team Cleaning. As soon as the kids are off to school Monday morning we start at her house or mine. At our own house we clean all the bathrooms and do all the moping, at our sisters house we do all the vacuuming and dusting. We somehow manage to get both houses sparkling before lunch. Between houses we do a Maverick run for sodas and return any stray library books to the library across the street.

We have also started a bonus chore. We alternate weeks choosing a household job that we are really itching to tackle that is not part of our normal schedule. Today I chose "clean out, wipe down and organize under our kitchen sinks." We do the bonus chore any time before the next week, but I think it works best for me to do it Monday during the baby's nap.

We are often tired after cleaning day so we have started throwing a recipe in the crock-pot before we start. Today I made a Hobo Stew that was so, so easy and all my boys (except my carb-a-tarian) loved it.

We don't do extra activities or have friends over after school on Monday. It is just family night. My kids really like to play board and card games, and it is the one night of the week we have dessert.

My Mondays are very domestic and family oriented, just like me.

This is a good new website I just stumbled across http://organizedhome.com

Hobo Stew

2 C. Barbecue Sauce (we love Jack Daniel's Original #7 Recipe)

4 polish sausages

1 lb Italian style frozen meatballs

2 c. frozen corn

1 c. chopped onion

1c. sliced mushrooms

6 diced potatoes

1 c. baby carrots

Simmer in the Crock Pot for 8 hours on low.

This is not the real stew I made, my camera battery finally died, but you get the idea.