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!