Getting Organized

I just finished reading Sidetracked Home Executives (from Pigpen to Paradise) by Pam Young & Peggy Jones. It was a quick and easy read. It seemed slightly dated but still had lots of good & helpful information. My house is not the worse but it is not totally clean either. I work hard at organization but often get behind. This book suggests a 3 x 5 card system. Each chore is written on 1 card and filed by frequency. I'm still mentally digesting all the info and deciding on how I will use it. Mostly I would love to make time for special projects like sewing and photo books. I will keep you posted on how I do.

Sidetracked Home Executives

Update: SIDETRACKED! That pretty much sums it up. It was funnny. I finished reading this book while we were at a campground. I wrote out ALL the cards. I tried to think of every house cleaning task. I also made the dividers and filed the cards as suggested in the book. As soon as I was done... I started reading the second book, Get Your Act Together, A 7-day get-organized program for the overworked, overbooked, and overwhelmed. When I read that they had changed their program, I just about cried. I had just finished making a bazzion chore cards. I put down the second book and I thought I would stick with the first book. When we got home we did chore cards for about 3 days. Haley liked the cards. I liked being able to hand a card to a kid, but refiling those cards was overwhelming. I put them aside... and went back to yelling... I may revisit the cards (the yelling is not effective). I think I would rather just have the chore cards in a stack and go through them all then start over at the beginning again. In the mean time, my house is semi-clean.

Work-files?

     I have read about work-boxes here and there but I never thought we would use them. I write out a week's worth of work in a planner and then we check it off as we do it. If something doesn't get done then I circle it and put an arrow to the next day... or I cross it off if we never get around to it. The non-negotiable stuff is at the top of the list and the more expendable stuff is at the bottom.

     I love a good list. My oldest daughter, Haley, is a lot like me. She loves a list. She also loves a stack. She will get out all of her books for the day and stack them to the left of her. When she finishes with something then she stacks it to the right. When she finishes the last thing on her list she shuts the book and says "Done!"
     My second daughter, Macy, does not care about lists. She won't look at it. When she finished something she would play until I stopped her. I would say "What is next on the list?" and she would say "I don't know." It was right next to her. This lead to frustration (on my part) and lots of wasted time (on her part). I started praying for some more visual solution for her.
    I decided I would relook at those work-boxes. I never bought the work-box e-book. I read some blogs about it but it seemed to take up too much space. I thought I may try magazine holders. I ordered 12 magazine holders in primary colors from amazon. I put all the day's work in these with numbers attached with velcro.

In some of the file boxes I put fun things like "do jumping jacks" or "march around the room." I bought a small tri-fold board at wal-mart. I decorated it with stickers and put velcro spots on it. I also gave her a snack tag and lunch tag. She can use the snack tag anytime after math and she can use the lunch tag anytime after 11:30am.

What a difference the work-files have made. She loves them. After several weeks she told me I should blog about them. She will say "I'm on number 5!"

We still have occasional bumps in the road but things go alot smoother than before we used work-files.

Crazy Train to a new floor

A few days before Easter, I took a ride on the crazy train... and my husband rode with me.

   My kitchen floor has been bothering me for some time. We remodelled the kitchen in 2002. I love everything we did. It is big country kitchen and has a huge island that we spend loads of time at. The floor we put in was a distressed eastern white pine wide plank floor. The manufacturer suggested a tung oil finish. This finish did not hold up to the constant use. We refinished the tung oil several times but we would just wear right through the finish again in no time. The parts of the floor that were bare wood would get stained and dirty. I couldn't get them clean. This would make me discouraged but then I would be mad at myself for not being content. (Here you see my little dog Molly after her latest haircut... sitting on the worn out floor).

We are in the midst of the most ambitious remodelling project we have ever done. We raised the roof  over part of the house. My husband has been working very hard on this project and I didn't want to add to his stress but last Tuesday I just had a melt down about the state of the kitchen floor. I told him I would love to sand it down and put polyurethane on it. Surprisingly, he said "Sure, let's do it." And that is when we jumped onto the crazy train.

Oh, the mess we made! Even with a bags to collect the sawdust on our sanders... we made a huge mess. We moved everything off the counters into the dining room. The fridge went into the dining room. The coffee pot into the bathroom. We moved the range and dishwasher into the mudroom. The pantry items were on top of the piano. The desk was on the church pew. Add to that 2 homeschooling girls, 2 dogs, and some laundry. It was like chaos. I was so happy!  

I love to sand. Jeff and I had done our bedroom floor in 2006 and I was the sanding queen then. I jumped right back into that role. It was very fulfilling too. I haven't been able to contribute to the Huge project but I can contribute to this one. It was like grinding away all my frustration (literally).

My biggest fear was that we would make it too smooth. I did not want a perfectly smooth pristine floor. That would not match our house or our lives (we have worked hard at distressing that floor over the last 10 years). Fortunately, we left plenty of sanding marks and dents (it a good thing we don't do this for a living). Choosing the stain was quite the chore. With several test spots on the floor behind the stove and several phone calls to our trusted friends in CO (with pictures) we settled on "golden oak".

Today I'm going to start moving things back in. How exciting! It is like having a whole new kitchen. I'm very thankful. I glad that God gave me a husband that will indulge his wife craziness. I was thinking maybe God uses some discontent to spur us on to get stuff done. Hmmm, What do you think?

Changes

I am right where I should be. No change is necessary.

Really God, I'm fine. My activities are fine.

No, Really. I don't want to change.

Ugg! I don't want to change stuff around. I like where I am. I'm comfortable doing my "thing".

AHHHHHHH. NOOOOOO. (stomping feet & waving fists). NOOOOOOO WAAAAYYY

really Lord? Are you really telling me to change my stuff around????

If you are telling me to change then confirm that to me in some way.

o.k. I'll take one small half step in that direction but I'm terrified.

alright... I survived that step... I'll take the next small step but if I'm not on the right track... STOP ME NOW

Yes Lord. I know you are with me. I will go.

Hey God, You are so funny... really funny... this was your plan? I'm starting to see the bigger picture. Good thing you are Large and In Charge.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Author: Betty MacDonald
1st published in 1947
Approx. reading level: 3rd-6th

Mommy Mel says: "This is a fun book. Charming Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a favorite of all the children in town. The moms call her for advice and she gives them a cure like The Won't-Pick-Up-Toys Cure or The Answer-Backer Cure. This book is great for kids with a sense of humor (and hopefully they will be cured of something too). note: We won't be using The Radish Cure at our house."

8 yr. old Macy says: "This book is very funny. The Fighter-Quarrellers Cure is my favorite because they say "that's my skirt", "no, it's mine", "tis not", "tis too". Poor Herbert tried to drink water out of the hose. The grossest part is the "Radish Cure"... Eeeeewwww!

*this is part of Sonlight's Core B

Loving My Bubble

     So, do you know those high drama reality shows? They drive me CRAZY. I can't even watch the commercials. I literally hold my hands in front of my eyes when a commercial for that kind of stuff comes on. (Jeff says "Things that make your head explode for 1000, Alex"). My family and I enjoy watching TV but we never watch live TV anymore. We DVR the things we are interested in and watch everything pre-recorded. This has been a huge blessing for us. Not only can we pause to take care of the unexpected but we can fast forward through those crazy commercials. It makes me sad to imagine that people really think that high drama stuff is entertaining or normal...
     I go to a bible study on Mondays with 17 other ladies. These ladies vary in age, church denomination, and talents but they all love God. When we pray... we are all focused on the same thing at the same time. We encourage each other, laugh together, cry together, and sharpen each other (Prov 27:17). None of them are plastic. None of them are perfect. We all have our problems. They are the polar opposites of those high drama shows. There is no vying for social dominance. I love these ladies. I was thinking that the people on the TV shows were not normal. Crazy... until...
     A friend of mine was relating her problems within a certain organization. She has been having problems for some time but remained in the organization because she wanted to be a good influence on the kids that come. She wanted to show the love of Jesus to the other leaders. She relates how the problems are growing and different leaders are trying to push their own agendas. She says there are different cliques and arguing (it's getting ugly). She is praying about whether she should stay within this organization or step out.
     Then it hit me. I live in a bubble. I have a strong Christian network around me that loves and supports me. I felt guilty for a minute. I felt like maybe I'm too comfortable and I should be reaching out of my bubble more often... but perhaps this is my bubble season. Perhaps God has placed me in the bubble for this season of my life to strengthen me for the next season. Or perhaps the bubble season is because being a mom is hard and I need all the support I can get. I'll ponder all that some more... But it makes me all the more THANKFUL for the rare group of godly women which God has placed around me. Loving the bubble

March Madness

     
     Here in Central NY, March Madness usually brings to mind NCAA Basketball and the SU Orangemen. I do not follow basketball (I know, crazy - right). March Madness to me this year has been the weather... Oh, it is not making me mad... it has been fantastic. CNY's temperatures have been 30 degrees above normal. Today we reach a record high of  80! So where does the madness come in? Well, every time I go outside I get this overwhelming urge to plant stuff. Shouldn't we all be planting tomatoes? I got out my trusty Square Foot Garden book (I'm a big fan of the square foot garden) where I had written in all the dates to plant. The average last frost for CNY is May 14th. My little notes say to start tomatoes inside on April 2 and transplant them outside on May 14th... but the weather just makes me want to plant, plant, plant... It's Madness. March Madness.
       What are all your garden plans?

*note: I am not complaining in the least... in fact, I'm enjoying the weather immensely! It just seems unreal especially since my family and I were skiing in a snow storm on March 9th

Follow My Leader

Book Review: Follow My Leader
Author: James B. Garfield
1st published in 1957
Approximate reading level: 4th-8th

Mommy Mel says "This was an enjoyable book to read aloud. Jimmy was blinded by a fire cracker thrown by his friend Mike. He must learn to cope with his blindness. The breakthrough for Jimmy is when he has the opportunity to get a guide dog. Great lessons in overcoming and forgiveness. My girls enjoyed this book but it would be a very appealing book for boys."

8 yr. old Macy says "I learned alot about Braille. It was funny when Jimmy thought the walls should wear perfume so he could smell them before he ran into them. It seems that walking with a guide dog is so much better than walking with a cane. I think I could forgive Mike too but it would be hard."

                                                                 buy it from Amazon

About Us

We are a Christian homeschooling family living in Upstate NY. Haley is in 6th grade. She loves horses, cooking, sewing, sports, and especially books. She reads quickly and will bring home huge stacks of books from the library. Macy is in 2nd grade. She loves all things miniature (including miniature horses). Macy's reading skills exploded before she went to Kindergarten. One of the biggest blessings of homeschooling is reading all the lovely books.