This weekend started our Advent calendar. I gathered 24 books and wrapped them... now, before you think me superbly organized, I should note that I received an email at work about a local bookstore that was having financial issues and needed people to stop and shop! Our small town really needs a bookstore - there aren't any within a hour's drive. However, we're also a community that has been hard hit by economic difficulties. After receiving the email, I ran down before picking up the kids and purchased the books. They were all used bargains, so it was a win-win on both sides.

It took me over an hour to wrap them all... eesh. But it was well worth it! The kids both love to read stories and are very excited by the idea that they each get to open a present every other day. Book number 23 was even one that Lala had heard at school, so she was able to "read" it to us with almost no prompting! She is going to be a voracious reader, I can tell.

With the tree, the advent presents and the stockings hung on the mantel it's looking pretty Christmasy. And that's probably all we'll get done during the week. On the weekends, we may get around to making some ornaments or cookies. Then again, we may not. We have what we need to do it (yay organization and planning ahead!), but I didn't purchase anything special or that won't be used if we don't use it.

After reading "The Secret to Staying Organized and Sane During the Busy Holiday Season", I've decided that most of those lovely ideas I've found on Pinterest, can stay on Pinterest. I'd rather enjoy our holiday time. 

Monday Meme

via The Blue Door

1) Are you still feasting on cold turkey, or any other leftovers, from your Thanksgiving meal? not really... there is some turkey in the freezer, waiting to be made into soup. Otherwise, we're done.

2) AAA says Thanksgiving is a big travel weekend. Did you venture far from home for your holiday dinner? nope! We stayed home and family came to us. Although, we did drive out the local airport on Saturday to have lunch with my brother - he flew a little plane down to meet us. The kids were beyond excited about seeing him and watching the all the little planes land and take off. The restaurant is less than 100 yards from the runway - I'm sure it was built before current FAA rules.

3) Is this weekend the official start of the Christmas season for you? Kind of. I think I may start playing some music... but I just don't have time to get down the tree from the attic. I did put out the Tomte pillows I bought at Ikea on Friday and I may put out the holiday Coo-koo clock this evening. We will be starting the advent calendar on Saturday!

4) Which couple would you rather hang out with — Fred and Wilma Flintstone or George and Jane Jetson? Fred and Wilma. I do like a good game of bowling.

5) Have you/would you ever get your teeth whitened? no. I have kids.. who can afford that? I did think about the gypsy thing of rinsing with bleach, but then I thought I'd probably swallow it and who can afford that?

6) Do you still have your high school class ring? I never actually got one. It was way too much money for me to work for in HS and my parents didn't think it was very practical. They bought me a mini-fridge for graduation. Sentimental they are not.

7) Here's $50. You must spend it all in one place. What are you going to do with it? search for a class ring? kidding - I would put it on my Amazon account.

8) Could your vehicle use a trip to the car wash right about now?  not really. November is the rainiest month, so it's been "washed" repeatedly for the last two weeks.

9) Did you hit the snooze button this morning? actually, no. I'm shocked too! But I started reading a really good book yesterday, so when I woke up early, I started reading more. Luckily, Monday's are my late arrival day.

Ten for Tuesday

Ten Things I'm Thankful For:

1. My kids. I know they drive me nuts on a regular basis, but every time I think of what I would be doing if they weren’t part of my life, I’m sad.
2. My house. Sure we’ve already out-grown it and at times I feel very cramped, but the fact remains that it’s ours. At least, it is as long as I pay the mortgage.
3. My health, current cold notwithstanding. I really don’t know what I would do if I was struck with some catastrophic illness or serious accident. I know it wouldn’t be good.
4. My job. Even the days that I hate it, I’m still glad I have one that it pays me enough to live, eat and have medical insurance. Plus, I get to work with some super awesome people.
5. My country. As I watch the nightly news, I am struck at how lucky I am to have been born in the US and how lucky my daughter is to have been born here as well. Despite our problems, I am still free to live my life without fear of violence in my own home.
6. Coffee. While I’m not really supposed to drink it, I really just can’t imagine my life without it.
7. Friends. They are what makes life fun!
8. Chocolate. Bless who ever invented it. Seriously.
9. A working washing machine and dryer, in my house. I didn’t always have that as child and I can tell you it makes such a difference in how you live your life and in how you view your life.
10. Technology. Good googly-moogely, I would just hate life without it. Honestly, I may dream of the simple homesteader life… but if it came without running water, heaters and internet, I would be gone in less than an hour.

What's for Dinner?

Google "meal planning" and you will get 34 million hits. 34 million! To me, this is the height of organization. I mean, your house can be uncluttered, order holiday stuff in July and make it on time to all your appointments. However, if you can do all that and know exactly what you are going to eat, have it be something healthy and have all the ingredients on hand... wow. Just wow.

I actually read one site describing their meal planning site, including keeping an updated spreadsheet listing everything in the pantry. That boggles my mind.

With everything we have to do as a family - working, gymnastics, classes and community events - meal planning falls to the wayside. (Forget about running a spreadsheet to track pantry items.) This also means that I'm having to leave work early to stop by the store or taking the kids with me to the store (horrifying!) or putting together a meal consisting of mac and cheese with canned peas. It's got a vegetable, right? Either way, it is not the wonderful, relaxing and healthy meal I envision making every afternoon.

Unclutterer has printable to help fully plan out your week's meals - including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. That might be a bit more than I need. Our breakfasts consist of cereal during the week, but planning out lunches too might mean I actually remember to take one to school!

This week, I tried to plan out meals for the week. It was going to be especially busy with a huge community event, school conferences and cleaning up from Halloween all on the to do list. This was my plan...

• Monday - Chicken breasts with salad.Burritos from the freezer. Something was going...
• Tuesday - Mac-n-cheese with hotdogs We had the dinner that was planned for Wednesday, because I was going to be gone at work and this babysitter could reasonably handle cooking.
• Wednesday - spaghetti and meatballs Again, working at night and we had a community event fundraiser at a local pizza joint, so they ate pizza. Really, I see it as a win - dinner and charity.
• Thursday - Pork chops and green beans I had planned on being home to cook dinner, until I found out that I had a meeting @ church. Instead we had the mac-n-cheese with hotdogs.
• Friday - Goulash. It's possible that I could actually make this meal! Then again, we might have another community event to attend. 

 While I didn't end up cooking anything when I was supposed to, but I'm not sure I'd call it a total failure. I did not have to stop at the store to pick anything up any time this week and while not haute cuisine, every meal did have something from the protein and vegetable category, as well as whole grains. (except the pizza) In fact, I think I'd call it a win. The whole point of being organized is to carry less stress. Even though it was a super busy week and I barely saw my children, I wasn't stressed out wondering what I could scrounge up up for them to eat.

Did I mention our new kitten? He is making our life very interesting.



Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween

Halloween happened.  Costumes had been purchased far enough in advance that I was able to take advantage of sales (saving $$ because of all that advance planning!) and I managed to convince both kids to accept ones that could be used again for dress up playing.  So, I don't feel so bad about the night.

It poured rain. Poor kids. November is the rainiest month and forecasters had predicted at least 4 inches of rain that night. Flood watches, etc. Add to that the fact that it had been raining every day for the last few weeks and you come up with a soggy mess. Even our pumpkins did not fair well. We had the usual lake at the end of the driveway and everything dripped or squished.

We made it about a block down the street before it started really coming down. The second to last house we visited handed both kids a couple of handfuls of candy because "no one was coming around". Their buckets were nearly full after that, so this sopping mom decided it was time to head home. They didn't even complain that much... that's how wet and cold it was.

This year, I noticed that both kids were more than comfortable with knocking on the doors and saying "trick-or-treat". No more hanging on to Mom's hand or shyly staring at the candy passers. It made me realize that the days of not wanting Mom to cramp their style are coming sooner than I think. I'm partly excited about that and a lot scared!

Why I Love Being Organized

 

I have a "love, but lazy" relationship with organization. On the one hand, I love seeing everything neatly organized, all in their places of place, looking like something out of a magazine. I am endless fascinated by the process or placing things in order and how people do it. Now, you may be saying to yourself one of two things - either "wow! Is this chick boring or what?! She reads organization books for fun?" or if you know in real life "wow! Is this chick full of crap or what?! I should post a photo of the piles on her desk!" (which I am famous for, FWIW)  OR you may be saying "wow! A kindred soul!"

 

The secret I hold in my heart of hearts is that the reason I find in all so fascinating is two part. One, I have NO idea how to be organized. None. Have a plan? That you repeat? But what about things that have to be done immediately? What about something that catches your eye that you forgot to finish yesterday? Because something else caught your eye... How do you organize a kitchen so that space is usable for what you need to do? Or a linen closet? Or a child's room? And for Pete's sake, how do you all get your kids to put everything back into it's appropriate labeled box? This is something that I cannot seem to figure out and I am envious of those who do seem to have it figured out.

The second reason is anxiety. If something is out of whack, missing or not working on time, my mind goes a little running to the worst possible outcome. Can't find an important piece of paper? Homelessness. Can't find my car keys? Fired, never to be gainfully employed again. If it sounds crazy, it's because it is! However, if the keys are where they should be and paperwork is filed, life continues on at a happy little clip. Is that what everyone wants? A happy little clip?

To me, the organization of my house reflects my life. The more smooth it appears in the arrangement of things, the more smooth it is in the arrangement of activities and relationships. As I go along in this process, I'm learning a lot about myself and about life. Who knew the mysteries of life could be found in an organized spice rack.

 

 



The Dreaded Plauge



Now that fall has really arrived, you know it's going to happen... like the dreaded plague sweeping through Europe, some icky virus will sweep through the schools, after school activities or work. Mowing everyone in your family down, like a blade of grass in July.  Of course, we've just finished our first round. The Cuddler got it first, then Lala and finally to me. Guess who took 48 hours to fully recover?

When you are huddled on the couch, or cleaning up after a sick child, you do not want to be thinking about what is for dinner or whether you've got some more medication in the cabinet. Luckily, this summer I snagged some medical bargains for yours truly and was prepared for my own demise.

Today, I also found this article on I'm an Organization Junkie, all about preparing the family for cold and flu season. Although, I currently have almost everything on the list, there are a couple items missing and it's not all organized in one area. The last thing I will want to be doing with a sick child crying in bed, is searching the house for the last place I remember putting the thermometer.

There's also a couple of things a single parent should add to their list organizing for the ickies.

1. Back up person. When you get that dreaded guess who just vomited in class call from your child's teacher, it is always at the most inopportune time. I'm pretty sure it's an incontrovertible law of the universe. They will also fall ill the of the day you most need to be at work. Having a back up person can save your life or possibly your job. You may never need this person - I have only ever had to use mine once in four years - but knowing that option is available just makes your life a little less stressful. Pick someone who is a stay at home and offer to bring them dinner when picking the child up... who can resist a stress free dinner?
2. Always have peanut butter, jelly and bread in your house. Even a four year old can make themselves a PB&J sammy (and think they are pretty darn cool for doing so), thus saving super sick mom from having to make a dinner. One somewhat crappy dinner is not going to kill them. And it is probably healthier that the Ha**y Meal I bought last Sunday.
3. Be germ phobic. Lead kids by example and wash your hands constantly for longer than you think is necessary. Exaggerate holding up your elbow to cover coughs and really, really enjoy those healthy foods. Back in the dinosaur days, someone told me that if you want someone to copy what you do, you have to perform that action twice as much as you want the copier to do. Exaggerate what you do and your little germ factory children will follow that example enough to keep you healthy. And maybe them.



48 Days to Organization

I have been busy getting organized. Really, I have.

The first weekend, I tackled my junk cupboard. Some people have junk drawers (which I also have), but I have a junk cupboard. It's the junk cupboard, because my plan for several years has been to take it down. Remove it from my kitchen. However, this is a task I find extremely daunting for some reason. Otherwise, it would be gone after seven years, right? But having that space empty proved to be too tempting... for the stuff that didn't really have a permanent home, that needed to be put out of the reach of children, and that I didn't have time to put back into the far reaches of some other storage place.

In case you're wondering, yes... those are insta-bibs in the corner. Not that anyone has actually worn a bib in over a year and half.  Suffice it to say that the cupboard hadn't been organized in a long time.

I pulled everything out, tossed what I didn't need. I gave away the bibs and the kids place mats. Returned the lawn fertilizer, paint and lighter fluid to the garage and basically got ride of everything wasn't needed in the kitchen. It was night time by the time I finished - between feed kids, refereeing fights and laundry, it took all day.



And that is why I'm working so hard to get organized. All day for two shelves? Crazy!

Meanwhile, I've been trying to work through piles of paper, mountains of laundry and the explosion of toys before the holiday season arrives to bring in all new stuff. So far, I've given away two garbage bags full of clothing and plan to drop off another four today. I wish I could be organized enough to sell everything online, but at this point, I just need to get rid of it. Plus, there is a little good feeling in knowing that those unwanted items are going to help someone else.

Next on the list is the 'toy-splosion'. I feel a little sick about posting photos of the kids rooms online... but I've seen other kid rooms, so I know that I'm not the only one who runs to shut doors when company comes over unannounced.

66 Days to an Organized Life

For a long time, we’ve been told that in order for a behavior change to become a habit, one must do it consistently for at least 21 days. This morning, whilst perusing my reader, I came across The Nester doing some kind of “31 Days to Change” thingy. Yes, I can use “whilst” in a sentence, but have no idea what one would a series of blog posts on a particular subject other than “thingy”.  

It started me thinking. School has been in session for a month now. I should be in the swing of things and so should my children. Instead, we’re all exhausted, running late, loosing papers, forgetting the Kindergarten homework and crabby!

This is not how I want to live. This not how I want my children to live. I thought, “I need 31 days to Change something!” So I started looking online about changing our routine. The first thing that popped up was that if you really want to change a habit, you have to make the change for a minimum of 66 days. 21 will not cut it, and 31 is still too short. A month is nice to lead up to an event, but if you really want to make a life altering change, it has to be 66 days.

Oh. I guess I need to work on that.

So, I’m off to start working towards 66 Days to an Organized life. The thing is get some organization going on the kitchen. If your kitchen is imploding/exploding, does anything else in the house feel right? The laundry room door can be shut, and I can shove toys beneath the couch… but piles in the kitchen are just an anxiety attack in waiting.

The storage situation is just wonky. Maybe I have too much? Not utilizing some of the spaces well? This weekend, the goal is do something will all of my dishes. I still have some sitting in a box in my bedroom from back when the new pantry was being built! It needs to go somewhere! Maybe the somewhere is Goodwill… but somewhere besides the bedroom. The other goal is hang the family photos I had taken last year.

Below is my entry closet re-do. I actually did it just before school started. My plan was to take the door off and leave it open, but it’s actually working out for the door to hold my shoes that I’ve decided to leave it on. Now, I just need to get the kids into using it on a regular basis. It is however, my inspiration that I can actually get something organized and functional.

I am "that parent"

We're now into week four of school and slowly settling into a routine. So far, I've managed to loose Lala's name button for school twice and forget homework once. I've also spent a lot of time writing carefully crafted email to her teacher... I'm really trying not to be a helicopter parent, but there is a lot going on that I just can't see or control.  Things like, why do I keep getting these notices that we owe lunch money? Lala isn't eating school lunch, is she? She's five, so she's not really understanding my questioning. She doesn't get the concept of hot lunch vs. cold lunch. A week later, I'm finally told that she's eating breakfast at school.

Ok, after eating a very early breakfast and getting to school a couple of hours later, it's like a snack for her... I'm cool with it. Until I hear things like "I had chocolate milk every day!" or "We had tri*x yogurt!". Does this sound like a healthy breakfast? Says the parent whose children know the MacDonald's menu by heart.

So, I start looking at the website, calling around and end up chatting with the head of the school lunch program all about how to prevent my child from drinking chocolate milk and eating tri*yogurt for breakfast. Because apparently, I am that parent.

First Day of School

This summer, I had planned to do much more writing. Unfortunately for the writing, I also planned to not have the kids in daycare... you can see the conflict there, can't you.

I was a total soccer mom this summer. I put over 5000 miles on my car in three months! We did ballet, soccer (of course), swim lessons, hiking, camping, staying at the lake, BBQing. You name it, we did it.

The kids were not happy that it's come to an end. The cuddler begged to go to the gym with Mom (Mom really wanted to too!) and Lala was not happy to be at daycare - even though they've been going for the past week while I put my classroom together. You'd think a few weeks of careful preparation wouldn't result in such dismay. Of course, Mom was running around saying "First Day of School" and channeling Nemo all morning, so that may have had something to do with it.

The big news is that Lala is now in Kindergarten! Today was the meet and greet session with the other children and parents. Lala is going to be using her full first name as there is another girl with the shortened version - she's used to that. The slightly weird part was when we had to fill out the "getting to know you" page for the classroom book. It asked how many siblings did the child have. Normal question... Lala wanted to have a number of them all. Which is a large number... but she doesn't know all of the names off hand. She hasn't seen all of her brothers in over a year - one she's never seen at all. But how do you explain that or not have her put on the spot? And then I had to say to her, "are you ok with telling the other kids you are adopted?" Her reply was "what's adopted?" yeah, so we've apparently never really used that word...? What a quagmire. I decided just to write down the number she wanted and go with it. She's five and remembering the names of a large number of siblings would be hard for any kindergartner who was put on the spot. Right?

Last Day!

For the first time in several weeks, the kids woke up with excitement! Why? Because it's the last day of school and they no longer have to wake up and go to daycare. Yes. At the ripe old age of pre-schooler, my children have bought into "summer excitement".  Mostly they're just excited not to have to wake up, nor leave Momma. They are ready to sit around and relax. Because pre-school is so filled with stress...

Almost Done

Just a few more days until school is out! No more 50 hour work weeks! Sleeping past 6am!

I think the kids are feeling it too. (is it my attitude rubbing off?) Every morning, I'm greeted with "I don wahhhnnnnaaahh to go to school." I keep telling them that soon we will be heading out to the lake, but time is a little understood concept around our house. "Yesterday" describes the time frame of any event that happened in the passed, be it five minutes or two years ago.

Our summer looks pretty full. Swimming lessons, soccer for the cuddler and ballet for Lala. Add in morning school for Lala and all the various appointments and projects going on... we are in full kid summer. No laying around the pool for us.

Of course, there probably will only be three days when it would be warm enough to lay around a pool - if we could find one outdoors. The joys of living on the north coast.

credit

Catching My Breath

One month of school left! "Ready" for those summer days does not even cover how anticipated those days are.

• Sleeping in until the sun is up!
• Cooking dishes that take more than 15 minutes
• Going to the gym without guilt
• Ice cream/BBQ!
• Finishing all those nagging projects from the school year
• Starting new projects - like a job board for the kids; new curtains for the living room; building some sort of outdoor storage, gardening.
• Hiking/beach trips with the kids.
  

Maybe the weather will stay nice enough to do the local water park!  Or, I'm thinking about taking a short trip near my hometown area to experience some heat and sun. I cannot wait for days over 50 degrees!

Choosing A School

As a teacher, I feel pretty strongly about education in general. As a mother, well, let's just say I am more than a little concerned about the state of public education. And even more so as the registration for Kindergarten looms. I will admit to having a lot of concerns that stem from the fact that neither of my children had what you would call a healthy introduction into the world. Will that affect their learning? Social skills? Growth? Who knows? Statistically, they're already behind the eight ball and I want to make sure they have every advantage I can give them. Most parents do, right?

Next year, the cuddler will be old enough for Pre-K. There are limited Pre-K programs in my area. Most lean heavily on the "let's play a lot and hope to get something out of it" programming. He'll be attending the same one that Lala has attended this year. It's somewhat academic, but with a lot of flexibility based on the class mentality. This year, they focused on art because the kids loved it. The pictures they are drawing now are pretty advanced for four year olds.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough money to pay for Lala to continue at that school. Kindergarten is a full day program and four times the cost of this year. (also, the cost of Lala's program has doubled this year). She's off to a local public school. A public school that as always faces draconian cuts again. Her class will probably have over 25 students. I'm hoping that there will be at least one aid with the teacher who isn't constantly working with children in need of support, but it's unlikely. I'm hoping that she is assigned to a teacher who is able to keep her interested and focused, while supporting the student who don't speak English, who don't recognize letters, who can't yet count... and have a bladder the size of Texas, because no teacher actually gets a break  during the day as music, art and PE have already been cut.

I worry what will happen next year when the cuddler goes into the Kindergarten. He's a boy's boy. He doesn't sit. When he was first placed with me, I was told he may have developmental issues because he wouldn't sit up for them. I brought him home, set him down on the floor and watched him start crawling around. He didn't sit, because he wanted to explore. What is going to happen to him? In a crowded classroom (weren't designed for large groups of kids) with one teacher and a lot of high need kiddies.

Combine all that anxiety with the conversation I had with a teacher today about how there is NO science education at the elementary level any more because they're so focused on improving reading and math scores... I seriously have to wonder what the hell is going on with education today! And I'm part of it! It feels like someone (the gov't? the vastly weathly? uber-lords of the universe?) wants to be pushing kids with parents who care/have $$ into private schools and leave everyone else to fend for themselves/fight for survival. It's like a reality tv competition... only for the lives of kids. Scary no?

I've know I've written dozens of time about the hate/loath relationship I have with my kitchen. It's mostly original to when the house was built in 1956, with a few changes made here and there over the years. It's small, with little room to move around. I can't use the sink and have the dishwasher door open. The range sits in the middle of the room. The refrigerator feels enormous, but probably is a normal size - it hulks on the edge of the counter. There is little storage. Seriously, I could go on for days about how much I dislike the kitchen.

I do like the windows. I like the openness with the living room. Literally, I can stand in the front yard and see through the house to the back yard. In an area where it rains for 9 months solid during the year, light is important. It has good bones. Also, I love my new pantry. It still makes me smile.

For the last six years, I've been trying to decide what to do with this kitchen. Did I mention it's small? Yah... where to put appliances and still have counter space has been the biggest conundrum. Multiple designs have come and gone. I even tried to sit down with a kitchen designer at a local big box store, but they apparently couldn't be bother with selling anything. I've stalked HGTV, despite the incomparable slowness of their site, and when it came along Pinterest, Houzz, etc.

Then I found it!

traditional kitchen design by los angeles interior designer The Old Painted Cottage

 Is it not gorgeous? Light, bright, begging you whip out a loaf of bread. It's the configuration that hopefully will work in my own kitchen (I'm not sure I have that much space - for real). Now that I've found this perfect inspiration, everything else is falling into place. Picked a sink. Chose the flooring, decided what to do with the pass through. It's just all come together in the last two days! After six years of waffling.

Now, I'm just waiting for the contractor to call me back to get started. Yipee!

Spring Break

Last week we were on Spring Break :)  Here's a few highlights:

• our town once again has a place to purchase craft/sewing supplies beyond quilting! It's been so long since I haven't had to hire a babysitter and drive over an hour to shop that I haven't really done anything in a while... that may change soon!
• both children learned how to use the camera on my cell phone. I now have 10 billion photos of the couch and various arms or legs.
• I also have multiple kid games on my phone.
  
• I finished the pantry!!! I now have space to store the extra blankets in an actual linen closet (woot!) instead of Lala's room and see that I went a little overboard buying powdered sugar last Christmas when it was on sale. Also, I don't need pasta for a while.
  

• Two days later, the Cuddler nearly impaled himself when he pulled a bracket out and dropped a shelf on himself.
• Work is still crazy, but in a much more positive way.
• We were gifted with a new-to-us swing set during break and the weather was actually nice enough so the kids could use it! Everyone is so grateful!