Saturday, April 28, 2012

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.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

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?

Sunday, April 1, 2012

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.