In Which I Have a Revelation

You know, there are 8 years between Little Bit and Baby Bee. And I knew from the get-go that I would NOT be saving hand-me-downs for Bee from Little Bit's closet. Please! Eight years is too long. Too much to store. It would be too out of style or old or with dry rotted elastic or whatever by the time Bee got to fitting it.

(There is one exception and that's clothes that my mom sewed. We keep those.)

But this morning I realized that I have kept nearly every single homeschool item we have ever owned. Why? Things I used with Sweetheart that I am not using with Little Bit--and who knows if I will use them with Bee--but I am keeping them because....because....why? I MIGHT want to use them? They MIGHT be a good fit for Bee when she gets into 6th grade? Do you know how far away that is?

The girls dressed up for Go Western day at co-op recently.

Just as I don't have the space to store 8 years of clothes, I certainly do not need to be keeping 8+ years of homeschool curriculum!

• But you will just have to re-buy it. What a waste of money!
• But you will regret it one day!
• What if it goes out of print and you can't find a copy anymore?
• Books don't take up THAT much room.

The thing is, S and I were reliving our first year of marriage last night with the girls at supper. We lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment. S said, "I would give anything to go back to that kind of simplicity!" Now I know he didn't mean get rid of the children. :) I remember when we moved in before the wedding. S moved everything he owned from his bedroom at home and started staying at the apartment. I was living at Mom and Dad's house but moved all my worldly possessions over one afternoon. 

It in no way filled up that apartment. Even when we added the wedding gifts! 

Bee was the only girl at library story time a while back. She doesn't mind. She plays great with boys!

I remember getting up on Saturday morning and cleaning--I mean really scrubbing--every inch of that apartment. It took less than an hour. 

Maybe we are just being nostalgic. But then I see pictures of this certain house online. I was going to post a link and in searching I happened upon a whole website devoted to complaining about this family. So....maybe there are some issues involved there and that's why their house looks so perfect. 

OK I love my family. Not trying to be some other family. But goodness. I had a friend recently put her house on the market and it sold. All this happened within about a month. From her first talking about doing it to selling it. We might could do that within six months IF we suspended all schooling and life for those 6 months. 

We aren't exactly in prime shape around here. And I have excuses reasons! 

1. We had a baby. We still haven't recovered.
2. We started going somewhere on spring break every year where I used to stay home and clean closets and paint, etc.
3. My dad was in the hospital all summer so NOTHING happened at our house. Which means it's been well over a year since I did any really good cleaning out around here. 

But I think it's OK to start cleaning off those homeschool shelves. We don't have a homeschool room anymore anyway. We just store things on those shelves. Why am I storing so many things we won't need for 8+ more years?

When Mama says, "No, you cannot have that today, but let me take a picture of it in case I decide to get it another day." And you are not happy with her response.

Tell me it's OK to get rid of homeschool stuff. Someone? Anyone? 

And if anyone gets high off of decluttering, you're invited over, OK?

Checklists and Accountability

I've never had the girls turn work in, so to speak, in our homeschool. For the most part, we've sat around the table together doing the work and I knew how they were doing. As Sweetheart has gained more independence, being in 8th grade and all, I'm less on top of her day.

As a result, even though I have them hilite what they have finished in their planners, I'm still not keeping tabs of her work well enough. So yesterday I went and bought one of these:

This is the "in box". Instead of putting things back on the shelf or in a binder, work I need to look at will go in here.

In addition, I made a checklist for my 8th grader so she could systematically go down the line and make sure she has turned everything in. Also, to give accountability for things that need to be done, but cannot be turned in.

This form may need some tweaking, but we're going to start using it today. I put funny pictures and captions on the back of each form and had way too much fun doing it. Hey, we don't have TV, OK?

And I was only kidding about the extra chores if she didn't do a subject up there on the form. We'll see how carefully she's reading!

The only other thing I would like to do as far as organization goes probably won't happen. I long for those rainbow drawers I see at Mardel all the time. They can be had cheaper elsewhere.

I wouldn't use them as workboxes really. I just love the thought of having each subject in it's own drawer instead of jumbled up and falling over on the shelves.

But reality says Baby Bee would also love those drawers so they probably won't happen right now. If we had a closet I could lock up top that would be perfect but we don't.

Our night 'o homework seemed to have an impact because little girls got with it yesterday in school and actually finished early! Well, OK, mama's throat hurt so we couldn't do some of the things that required me reading out loud. But today I have throat spray so no excuses!

Here's to a really organized Wednesday!

Early Monday Morning

S has been very helpful and supportive with my homeschool concerns lately. He's home enough now to see for himself the problems I have with keeping Sweetheart on task and on schedule and not distracted and not losing things, etc. When he had his mowing business he was gone a lot. I'm thankful that preaching-as-a-second-job allows him to be home so much more. He's very helpful!

It always surprises me when I give one of the girls a direction and they are whining or begging for some other thing and he cuts in with, "Go do it!" to the girl. Ah. So nice and refreshing to cut all that jabber and just have them go obey.

I know I could/should cut them off every time and have them obey like that, but honestly it is very tiring to always be the one giving directions. I think that's one thing about homeschooling that's exhausting---the directing all the time. To be the one constantly re-directing, checking on, getting on to, encouraging, instructing, keeping on task....

Does that tire you out too?

Maybe that's just parenting.

It's easier to ignore them and just think, "I don't hear any sounds of violence coming from their room so things must be good." It's easier--but not better.

So he said he would get Sweetheart up at 6 every morning so she can have time to get ready and get her physical therapy done. Her stretches and exercises take 45 minutes twice a day--a real time sucker! This morning Bee happened to call for me at 6:15 and that was the first any of us knew it was morning. Thankfully, I got her up and she got going. In fact, she's in the living room getting Bee dressed now. So nice for her to have time to get her stuff done AND be helpful!

Mondays are choir days for us. Choir is about 30-45 minutes away. We have to pack school work, choir stuff, lunches, toys for Bee, and stuff for me to do. It's an endeavor let me tell you. And then when we get home there is more school work to do.

Which is why I love Tuesdays. Tuesdays we stay home. ***big smile***

But first I must make it through today where I set the timer for every single thing Sweetheart does to keep her on track, assign homework for what is not finished, keep after her to pick up after herself following any activity, while also teaching a 4th grader and managing a 1 year old.

A one year old who scratched me on Sunday morning. I said, "Why on earth did you do that?" and she said, "I a tiger."

Then when we got to church she ran 15-20 laps around the auditorium. We were hoping that would tire her out for during church but ha ha. Needless to say, I made use of the cry room on Sunday and there was crying. And I wasn't even trying to make her sit! I was letting her play! Some days it just isn't happening. She was in such a fine mood. After church she walked across the big field by our church and then when she got back to the car she was hanging from the door handles saying, "I a ooh-aah!" (monkey). Oh it was quite a morning. I should have known after I took this picture Sunday morning before church:

One day THIS one will be my 8th grader.

And you know what? I can't wait.

 Because I love every single one....

 ...of these girls....

...so stinkin' much!

Even early on a Monday morning.

Raising Up Hackers (Part 6)

The Dilemma

We've had a lot of problems lately with a certain student's time management skills. Ahem. Adding physical therapy twice a day hasn't helped the problem either. I should cut her some slack because she does have 45 minutes of exercises to do twice a day, but honestly one should be done before school and one before bed. That really shouldn't affect the school day in theory.

This particular student 'o mine really got my set of genes. She struggles with organization and I don't just mean "where's my book?" although that's a major problem on a daily basis. She struggles with "should I do this first? or this? Oh look! something shiny!!!" The last two weekends she's done hours of school on Saturday because she failed to finish so much during the week.

I've been trying to get her to see that small decisions all day long affect tomorrow. Yes, you can stop and play with Bee for a few minutes. Yes, you can play baseball after lunch. Yes, everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. These little choices mean you aren't going to finish today....and you'll be doing school on Saturday. I'm not sure the lesson has sunk in just yet.

And we've even dropped science for the time being and she still isn't getting finished! The other day I went over her lesson plans with her and said at the end, "So, go do math right now." Then I set the timer. It was 9 minutes until she actually started the lesson. Finding a pencil, sharpening pencil, gathering notebook, computer, cord, book, getting a drink, going to the bathroom. Good. Ness. Sake.

Sweetheart really does enjoy science experiments.

So how can I add in time to pursue her own interests? Her own interests right now seem to be stopping to watch Curious George with the baby. Until she gets herself more organized and her time management skills in check, how will she ever have time for interest-led learning? How will she ever have time to become a hacker??

I really didn't have an answer to this question until I found that link on the 20% project. (A little history here.)The idea that is forming in my head involves having both of them spend a portion of their day (at least 3-4 times a week) on learning something of their choosing. I will most likely set a time limit at first--like maybe 30 minutes a day. As they catch on to this, I hope to increase that time until they are spending quite a bit of time every week learning on their own.

Since we've never really done things like this, I can't just let it go and see what happens. All extra time I could carve out for them would get eaten up by playing and finding pencils. At first, we will have to be very purposeful about it. Perhaps it will flow more naturally later.

I also think I would like them to document their learning. In my mind, a smash-book type journal would be great. But I'll let them decide. The best thing I could do is set an example for them. I'm currently trying to learn about essential oils, so if they saw me making a smash-book on essential oils, that would be good. A lot of my research and learning I do on my ipad while sitting in the living room and so they really aren't even aware I'm doing anything other than looking at my ipad. A journal would show them that I am learning too. And they also will need to report to the family (maybe at the end of the month?) on what they have learned. Accountability.

So that's my plan. The dilemma stands. Time management and organization must be a part of our lives for this to work. But I will not wait until those skills are attained to begin. We will learn both and work on both simultaneously. And hopefully, this will turn into something they love and motivate them to get through that math work so they can do this each day.

Also I need a name for this time besides "20% project." Ideas?

Have You Seen That e-card....

...that says,

"From a procrastination standpoint, today has been wildly successful."

Yep. That would feel like my Friday. Only I'm truly not procrastinating school....its just that there were so many other pressing things first.

Like, we needed toiletries.

And groceries.

And to get the van washed.

And Sweetheart had a mandate from her Daddy about the state of her room by the end of today.

And then while I was trying to get Bee to sleep for nap time, Little Bit did this:

And when she wakes up, she has to work on an ornament for the Tourette's Association of Texas Christmas tree. I need to mail it tomorrow.

And so, (how many times do you think I can start a sentence with "and"?), in all of that, I managed to read 2 chapters to Sweetheart for her read-aloud and Little Bit did Explode the Code and Math. Oh, and we ate lunch and I changed 2 diapers.

School is clearly pretty low down on the list today.

Which stresses me out, but really....us having toilet paper and food to eat are really, really important.

What remains to be seen is the age old question:

Will Mama make them do school on the weekend?

or

Will Mama just roll it all over to next week?

Tune in next week to find out!!

(Even I don't know the answer yet!)

My Most Devoted Reader

Good ol' Anonymous Spam. He assures me I am a most excellent writer and always has a kind word to say about my blog, plus a little happy link for me to visit.

I just spend 15 minutes deleting spam comments from this blog.

You other commenters really need to step up your game. Why don't you give me helpful web tips like him? :) Never have I had such a devoted reader.

In other news, I spent over an hour throwing away 2 1/2 bags of trash out of Sweetheart's room yesterday. It's ok--she asked me to! Actually, she bargained for me to! (She knows how to bargain with me pretty well. She knows all my weak spots. Mama will do just about anything for foot rubs, or to have my hair brushed, etc. Yesterday she REALLY wanted help on her room b/c she gave me the full spa treatment.)

I love you Sweetheart--even if you have 50 socks on your bedroom floor.

Anyway, in the course of sweeping out from under all her furniture, and behind everything and just generally getting everything off the floor--I found 50 socks. FIFTY SOCKS folks. And she was still wearing some yesterday! Today we are going to attack the closet and drawers. Time to get rid of what doesn't fit and pass along or throw away toys. Sniff. Sniff.

I've been in no hurry on the toys because once you grow up, you don't ever get to go back. She's been telling me she doesn't want them all and I keep saying, "they aren't taking up any room in your closet, just leave them on the shelf in case you want to play with them one day." But after seeing the state of her room yesterday, I've decided it's time to seriously pare down what's in her room. If you don't own much, you can't junk the room up. Right? Right?

And I must resist the urge to keep everything for Bee later. There is far too big of a gap in ages to store clothes or toys for her for later. Maybe a few sentimental items that all the girls have loved and played with. But really--I've got to let go of some things. EVEN IF they are "perfectly good." (That was my mom's voice there in quotes. She can't throw anything away. Must. Fight. Genetics.)

Baby Bee--conqueror of the homeschool cabinet.

In other news, Bee learned to open the homeschool cabinet yesterday so that is now sporting a child lock. Far too much money invested in homeschool curriculum to risk that. I don't lock everything up, just the one kitchen cabinet that has a gas connection inside it. I don't mind telling her "no." But boy if she ripped up our homeschool stuff while I was out of the room--I might have what they call a coniption. So that's another inconvient addition to our school day. I would really, really, really like to have a homeschool room again. One with a bunch of built-in would be nice. And a play area on the other side for Bee. So if you know of anyone giving a house away--give me a holler!

OK--let the vague, general compliments about my blogging style begin!

Maybe If We Move Out, Then Back In?

I've talked about this a little, but our house really isn't working for me right now.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm THANKFUL for our home. And really, I LIKE our home. But our family has changed a lot and our house is not keeping up.

In 2006 when we bought this house, we had a newly turned 7 year old who attended private school at our (then) church. We also had a 2 1/2 year old who went to day care a few hours a day at the same school and I worked part-time at that church as the secretary. S worked where he does now, plus was the youth minster part-time.

So when we moved in this house, we set it up for a working family with 2 kiddos who went to school and day care.

Flash forward to 2013:  We have three children, all of whom stay home 24/7 and homeschool. A mama who stays home 24/7 and teaches them and keeps house, and a Daddy who still works 2 jobs. Only now he's preaching instead of youth ministering. Which means he's home far more than he was then.

And of course you may know, dear readers, that I'm a bit of a re-arranger. I keep trying to find better ways for things to work in our ever-changing situations. Let me give you an example.

1. We got rid of TV service several years ago.
2. We only kept the TV for the Wii and movies on the VCR/DVD player.
3. So all those electronics are in the front room where S has his office and we keep our bookshelves.
4. We no longer have a homeschool room since we found out about Bee.
5. So now I use the TV armoire/cabinet for our homeschool cabinet. It's my answer to not having a room. Everything is in one place!
6. Now when we need to make more room in the front room for S to have an actual office to work on sermons, we don't have any more space.
7. Of course the TV et all should go in the TV cabinet.
8. But then where would our homeschool stuff go?

What I really need is just one more little extra room. Or a big one. Whichever.

Hold that. I actually do have one little extra room.

It used to be my sewing room. Then, just earlier this year, I put the homeschool cabinet in there, but that's in the living room now. Right now this little room has a lot of junk. Shelves we can't fit in Little Bit's room anymore because Bee's crib is in there now. Some of the shelves have things on them, some don't. And also my antique sewing machine cabinet, which I have always had a place for since we got married, is sitting out there.

I guess basically that room is furniture storage right now.

Do we have too much stuff? Well, yes. I truly think 95% of Americans have too much stuff. S built the shelves. His Daddy built one of them. The sewing machine was my grandmother's. It's not just junk I want to kick to the curb.

It's like a big giant rearranging puzzle THAT I CAN'T FIGURE OUT!!!

So either I need a different house, a room added on to this one, or a new idea.

I'm going to go to bed and pray for a new idea. There HAS to be a way to make this house work for us!

My brain hurts.
**************************************************

OK I'm back. I've been walking around the house in the dark trying to figure this out. Everyone is asleep and I'm the creeper who keeps popping into their doorways to stare at the furniture and see where I can put a bookshelf. I've got it figured out except one little bookshelf.

Seriously, can we just move out and then back in? Where is Ty Pennington when you need him?

The Strategy Was a Success

Well, today was the day I was determined to be ultra-productive!

And, if you remember, I had a little strategy planned to get a certain child moving in the mornings.

I'm sharing this not to shame my daughter, but to offer encouragement to any other mamas who might have a child like mine. The kind where organization is an issue. The kind who need training. I get her. I AM her. It was a mystery to me how my sister kept her half of the room so clean and mine always looked like a bomb went off. A real mystery.

Our brains just don't work the same way as other people's brains do. But that isn't an excuse! It's just a reason. I firmly believe that I can train my daughter and help her to figure out more organized ways of being before she leaves this home. I don't want her to struggle with this her whole life.

And I might feel guilty and like I'm a real parenting failure....except I also gave birth to S's mini-me. Our other daughter keeps her room practically perfect with no prompting. She will never need to be  taught how to be organized--she was born that way.

But for us more creative types--organization can be a mystery. And I? I have unlocked the keys to the universe for my daughter.

I sat up last night and typed up a little sheet with 2 columns:

Place & Activity

I listed, for example, "BATHROOM" and then in the 2nd column, all the things that one should get done while in the bathroom including "take your dirty clothes and wet towels with you when you leave." Then, I listed all the things one should accomplish in their bedroom BEFORE they come to breakfast.

After her shower, I looked into the bathroom and saw this: (cue angels singing)

No puddles of water on the floor. No dirty clothes or towel. No stuff all over the cabinet. Shower curtain closed. Shampoo bottles not laying in the middle of the floor. (Seriously.) That bathroom was left company-ready!!!

And when she came be-bopping to the breakfast table, dressed, hair fixed....I peeked into her room:

Bed made. NOTHING on the floor. Desk ready for school. Oh my word y'all!

Here is the most amazing part: That girl was ready in about 30 minutes and we started school at 9:00am. There was no back-tracking. She did everything that needed to be done in one area before moving on to another area. She was so proud too. I know I always felt relieved when someone helped me be organized. I felt lost on how to get started until someone showed me. I get her.

I don't know if it was a one-hit wonder or the start of something grand, but that little list made a WORLD of difference at our house today.

Just a little help ordering her motions was all she needed. A little logical thinking that would have never occurred to her on it's own.

Thankful and happy tonight!

Tomorrow I'll share about how our plan to be super productive panned out...

In Which Crunch Time Hits At Our House

Eleven days people! Eleven days until school starts at the House Revised!!!

And, may I say, there is nothing like The Not Back to School Blog Hop to get you going on your homeschool space. Knowing I have to take pictures this weekend has gotten me motivated to finish the organizing. Bee cooperated today and is taking a nice long afternoon nap.

I also totally bribed convinced the older children to do chores by offering the day off of math lessons in exchange for some organizing around here. I can't be ready for school until the house is ready, you know? I suppose that's not the case if you send your children to school. Those moms wait until school starts and then go crazy cleaning out their kids' rooms. Homeschool moms like to do that before school starts.

All that nesting I did in the spring is paying off, too as the house isn't really THAT bad.

I'm awaiting the arrival of Sweetheart's back ordered Instructor's Guide and then I can get her school all planned.

I declare next week to be PLANNING WEEK at this house.

Which means this week is ORGANIZING WEEK.

Also, Sweetheart's birthday is 3 days after our school year starts. So, we are celebrating the weekend before. She's getting a very exciting birthday surprise that weekend, which will cause her to be away from the house. While she's gone, Little Bit and I are going to surprise her with a makeover for her desk! I can't wait!!

Above is a really random picture of Sweetheart's desk. It's an old metal desk that belonged to my parents. It's sturdy. It used to be that greenish color that makes you think of the desks in the astronaut's offices at NASA during Project Mercury. Well, that's what it made me think of anyway. So several years ago I drug it outside and sprayed it with grey primer, intending to paint it black for our "home office" we had at the time. And....it's still grey.

Also Sweetheart's chair is painted all crazy from when they painted their chairs for the art table we had a few years ago.

Needless to say, a girl who is about to be 13 needs a more grown-up space in which to work. And heaven sakes...things just need to MATCH somewhat in her room! I can't believe I have to wait another week to do this project! I can't wait to surprise her.

And lastly, I need to archive our work from last year. This might consist of putting everything in chronological order and stacking it neatly. Or, it might consist of shoving everything in a crate and sticking it on top of the homeschool cabinet.

 I'll let you know which one wins.

Let's Just Call It Progress Anyway, OK?

Little Bit does NOT like the mess I've made. She told me so. "I don't like it when things are everywhere."

Neither do I dear, but it has to get worse before it gets better.

The contents of our homeschool cabinet, ladies and gentlemen. In the first room you see when you walk in our house. The room with no door, mind you.

But I cleaned out that sewing room!

In progress...

And fit that homeschool cabinet in there!

All my sewing stuff and scrapbook stuff fit into that curtained closet on the right. 

Otherwise known as: Things I Will Get to in Another 6 or 10 Years

I'm pretty proud of that big move, but now I have to re-organize the inside of the cabinet and it's making me twitch a bit. Now that we use Sonlight, our organizational needs have changed. And I also need to get rid of a lot of stuff!

I'll be listing things for sale this week. HOPING to make some cash and clear some space. Some things I'll want to hang onto for Baby Bee but honestly...it will be at least 5 years before she uses any of it. You can't just keep everything for that long. 

Which brings me to thinking about curriculum. Pretty sure I've nailed down all my choices for the year so I'll be blogging about those soon. 

But first I need to whimper a bit. Wander around some. And then finally get this finished. 

In that order. 

Fitting

**I told you I'd share our 4th of July journal pages today, but I didn't get any pictures made. Here is what we did. 


I've said it before: floor plan matters more than square footage. I still believe that. This house we live in is small compared to today's new houses, but much bigger than many houses in this world. Still, we know that a family of 5 once lived here and fit all their belongings.

Of course, they eventually moved.

So, adding Baby Bee did squish us up a bit more. I know she's just a tiny baby, but even tiny babies have to have a place to live. I know that large families fit WAY more kids into their square footage than I am dealing with. Our girls have been allowed to keep more personal belongings than large family kids are allowed to keep--simply because they could.

Bee sleeps in our room right now and I'm pretty proud of figuring out a way to fit all that.

Bee's bed beside ours. The dresser is used as a changing table.

We'll keep her in there with us until that doesn't work anymore. Then she'll move in with Little Bit. (That would be in our old homeschool room. It's the bigger room.)

This is now Little Bit's bedroom. 

When that happens, Little Bit will need to get rid of some things. And some furniture will have to go out of her room.

But the bedrooms are not the problem.

Our front room (the first homeschool room we ever had...and former playroom)

now houses books. I like to call it the "library" like we are so rich we have a library. Also the pet birds are in there, a chair, and the armoire that holds our homeschool stuff.

There isn't room for a table in there anymore so it really isn't a "homeschool room". In fact, it's not good for much of anything except storing things. Besides the chair, there isn't any way to "use" that room.

And then there is the sewing room.

Wow. Things sure were neat then. See the curtained closet to the right?

I also made a bill paying nook in that room. There's the curtained closet again.

Well. I'm thinking. Still thinking. 

See, S needs a place to sit and study. 

The old study area I made for S. Baby Bee sleeps here now. :)

We need our homeschool stuff closer to the dining room. So I'm thinking (and this is just still in the thinking stage...) of moving that armoire to the sewing room. Which would mean all the sewing stuff has to go in the curtained closet. And a LOT of junk has to go. Then...there would be room in the library for a desk or table for S. 

Hmm. This is not about my rearranging problem (Hello. My name is Brenda and I'm a chronic re-arranger.) This is about making our house work for us. This is what we have. There HAS to be a way to make it work! 

And if it doesn't work, well...at least I will have cleaned out a lot of junk in the process, right? 

Everything Is In Pencil

Every Monday I have my weekly doctor visit and every Monday I come home and realize that I can, indeed, go ahead and plan my week.

Dear Cervix, 


Please go ahead and feel free to change. Really. It's time.


Love, 
Me

I keep writing everything in pencil (figuratively). Well, I'll see you on Tuesday if I don't have the baby before then. Yes, we'll be there on Friday if I'm not in labor. Let's just say I haven't missed an appointment or scheduled event yet.

I have many, many things on my to do list. In fact, I'm not really sure how much school I'll squeeze in this week. This is our last week of school no matter what as that's what I promised the girls. We'll finish up the rest of the year after Mama has a maternity leave. Not sure how long I'll take off and I'm not going to put a date on it--but there will be time this summer to wrap up the year, I know. So...I feel good knowing that no matter what we get done this week, these ARE the last 5 days of school for now. Happy sigh.

I have created a laundry system that is going to work rather nicely, I think. It involves 5 laundry baskets. Yes, five. S and I have one, Little Bit has her own, and Sweetheart has her own. I need to go buy one for towels, rags, napkins, etc. and one small one for baby. Each girl does her own laundry from start to finish when her basket is full. That's a load. I do our laundry and we'll all help get the towels done. I'll cut baby a break this summer and do hers too. Sweetheart's basket is always the first one full because of a method I like to call "cleaning-my-room-by-throwing-everything-in-the-dirty-clothes." She'll soon figure out she's doing twice the work of the rest of us, right?

I've also got to find a place for the girls to hang up their towels. Now that it's getting hot and they are bathing every day, they are going through too many towels. Towels need to be used more than once but I kid you not, there is no place in their bathroom to hang a hook. I think we'll make it the back of their bedroom doors. They both have a 3M hook there that will probably work. I may need to sew loops on the towels to help. Then, we will significantly cut back on laundry.

Bigger family really does = more organization. It's needed!

I mentioned that our dishwasher broke. Well, our awesome home warranty (that I'm so glad we got) is going to replace it. Should be sometime this week. In the meantime, I have to hand-wash the dishes in the sink and all the ones that were loaded in the dishwasher when it decided to die. I think I will have to do that in stages as standing sideways at the sink is not top of the list of my favorite activities right now.

So...I'm just going to plan to go on about my business and do all these things that need doing. Hopefully in the midst of all this, my cervix will decide to cooperate, right?

Since I've Got Nothing Better To Do...

I'm kind of planning for next year. I mean, I DO have important things to do like:

*wait for the dishwasher repair guy to call.
*wait for the kitchen floor to dry. (I mopped!)
*get the girls going on school work.
*supervise them doing their laundry.
*catch the checkbook up to date.
*sit on the couch and wish I was in labor.

But other than those things, I totally am planning for next year.

So...this year was our first year with Sonlight. We like it. We love it. We want some more of it. Sweetheart will be in 7th grade next year and doing Core F.  This year we used a binder system. Really, I did it just like this. 

Only...I don't know if we really like the binders. I like the archive binder, and the binder to keep the Sonlight stuff in...I just don't like the binder for Sweetheart. There's a lot of flipping and it seems full and it's falling apart. It's OK....but.....

Hmm. So, for next year I'm thinking of this. I will buy colored folders. The kind with brads and pockets. Each subject will have it's own color. And a nifty label on the front. These will be stored in a magazine holder on Sweetheart's desk.

Every weekend I will make the necessary copies for the week. Her math pages, her Language Arts pages, maps from Sonlight, etc. Then on Mondays we will have a morning meeting and distribute the copies. I will help/teach her where to put each copy. (In the proper folder.) Like this, though not necessarily with those kind of folders:

picture source

Then, when it's time for a particular subject, she pulls that folder out, does the work, and returns the folder to the magazine holder. It seems so simple and neat. And separate. Like you are really accomplishing something.

Of course, some subject don't have copies. That's OK. Her spelling folder can just contain notebook paper in the brads. Every subject will have a folder even if it's just used every now and then.

Her weekly assignment sheet will probably go on a clipboard. We've been using clipboards for the last month or so and they are working well.

Most of Sweetheart's work is done at her desk in her room. That's why this system seems workable to me.

Veteran Sonlight users...can you think of any potential problems with this system? Am I forgetting something? She has a locker next to her desk where her books are kept. (Theoretically.)

It's the cutest little thing.

Oh! And I'd kind of like these.

This: 

And these:

to keep her supplies up off her desk. Don't really want to put huge holes in the wall though. We'll see. That would give her more room to work and keep her more organized, I think.

That's my plan for 7th grade Sweetheart next year. What a change from our homeschool room with whole shelves of construction paper!! Sniff. They are growing up too fast! But surprisingly, I have rather enjoyed not having a homeschool room. I never would have thought that!

OK--anyone have any feedback on my plan? What have you learned that might help me?

What's the Opposite of Minimalist?

We live in a smaller home than we used to. We brought Sweetheart and Little Bit home from the hospital to our old home. The bigger one. I was happy when we down-sized. Really, I was.

But....now that we are adding a new, teeny-tiny person to our family, well.....

WE'RE BEING OVERRUN WITH STUFF!

I was very determined to keep it simple. My registry was short and sweet (I thought). There were only 30 something items on my registry and a lot of those were little things like baby shampoo and powder and diaper ointment and bibs. Little stuff. Really...I wasn't extravagant.

But then I had a baby shower. Cool! Things we needed! And then the ladies at church also threw me a baby shower. OK. We go to a really small church. Like, 30-40 people! I wasn't expecting many gifts from the church shower. Well.

My living room is FULL of baby items today. I feel so blessed! Seriously, all our big items were given to us and we won't be having to spend money on those things. VERY blessed!!

Now.

What do I DO with all of it???

See, at our old house, I had a little kitchen cabinet by the back door that was separate from all the other kitchen cabinets. That was the "baby cabinet." Now I have sippy cups and baby bowls sitting on my counter and no idea where to put them. I had places for all the baby items at our old house. Here? I have no plan.

Our dining room table fits 4 little chairs around it just perfectly. now we have to add a chair for the high chair to sit in.

Gotta clean out the trunk of the car to fit the stroller.

Gotta squeeze the kidlets in the car in order for a car sear to fit in there.

Gotta find a place to hang or set a diaper bag.

Where will I put the boppy? The bouncy chair? Our living room is tight.

OK. I know not all of that is NECESSARY. I read the minimalist parent lists and I know from experience that I am not going to operate on THAT sparse of a list. But really, I know space is tight and I was trying to keep it simple.

Looking at my living room right now, you'd never know it.

So...now it becomes even MORE IMPORTANT to declutter and keep mess out of this house. Keeping things picked up and put away is vital now. I need to be thinking: Little House on the Prairie simple. (But with A/C)

I know some of you are laughing at me. ONLY 3 kids and she's freaking out about fitting everyone? Puhleeze. What an amateur.

It's true. But hopefully by the end of today I will have found a new home for all this stuff.

And then I'll go spend those gift cards we got. Hee hee.

My Monday Brain

*This new schedule of school-in-the-afternoons is really working for me. I go back to bed after S leaves. I feel guilty about that so I actually googled "how much sleep do you need in your 3rd trimester?" this morning. Yes, I was looking for justification.

*We have (miraculously) kept the house from looking like a complete Hoarders episode. I mean, it needs some work, but it hasn't been AWFUL. I say "we" because without the girls' help, I fear I would end up on A&E. (Is that the right channel?)

*If you arrive to your prenatal massage 5 minutes late AND the lady has to leave the room for a few minutes to get pillows for you in the middle of the massage.....the massage will still be over exactly at the next hour. Which means you did, indeed, NOT get a 60 minute massage. Sigh. She talked too much also. But I was still thankful for it!

*S bought me a new chair for the beach. It's a lounger with a footrest. It's actually patio furniture but it worked so nicely at the beach. It will work nicely when I am not pregnant too, but instead nursing a baby at the beach. It was SO NICE to be back at the beach!! And apparently several thousand people agreed with us yesterday. Crowded!

*Keeping up with a 12 year old is a full-time job. Wanting someone to be responsible and independent in many areas is hard work for the parents!

*We own too many books.

*I don't want to go grocery shopping anymore.

*The kitchen needs a lot of work. Why must the bottom cabinets be so...low? (While my belly is so...big?)

*I have so many things I want to get done. My brain is going 90 miles an hour all the time.

*My motivation does not match my brain.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Wanna Know Why I Didn't Post Yesterday?

Because I was very near comatose. I was so exhausted after 2 nights of waking up at 3am for the day that I fell asleep last night the minute we walked in the door from church. I literally walked to the bedroom, changed clothes, and crawled in bed. It was 8:30pm. So sad. I was so tired I actually felt kind of sick.

But, after 9 hours of sleep---I am a new woman!

Good thing too because this house is falling down around my ears. It's picked up. At least we've kept up with that end. But we have NO groceries, precious few clean clothes, and it's getting old. Today: must actually switch the laundry and get it all the way clean and dry and delivered and must procure food for my family. You know, the basics?

But I have another reason I am glad I slept. Sweetheart and I have a shopping date today. Girlfriend has outgrown just about everything but specifically she needs dresses to wear to church. I've been looking up size charts for various stores and she's all over the place. Best I can tell, it's going to be a toss up between sizes 14-18 in the girls' department and sizes 0-1 in the juniors department. There's really no way to know until we try stuff on.

My main concern is finding dresses that are an appropriate length. Can I get an Amen? Sigh. My other concern is not spending an arm and a leg. The plan is to start at Goodwill and work our way up (Wal-Mart,  Old Navy, Kohl's...). We'll see what we can find for cheap and then move on if we have to.

Oh yeah, and we have some school to do too. But I think food and clothing is more important today.

Signed,

Still not adjusted to Daylight Savings Time

Redeeming Alexander's Day

You know that one, right? The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad kind? Mine started off like that.

BUT...I was determined that the morning need not set the tone for the whole rest of the day.

I didn't sleep last night. No reason---just because I woke wide awake at 3:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up and ate some cereal. I could have washed the dishes or balanced the checkbook or any number of things at that hour I was so awake. But I chose to go back to bed. I finally, finally drifted off to sleep a few minutes before husband's alarm went off. Sigh.

I weighed all the courses of action I could take. Get up and make his coffee and breakfast and lunch like usual? (He was getting up an hour earlier than he usually does ON TOP of losing that hour of sleep this weekend). Or lay here and try to get back to sleep? Hmm. He's getting up early. He can make the coffee and grab some toast. I think he has enough cash in his wallet for lunch.

I guess you know what I chose. But it was 7:00 before I went back to sleep. And then I woke up at 8:30. (which, really, is 7:30--you know?) Great start to the day. The girls got up before me and were playing on the Wii. The kitchen was a mess and I didn't know what we had for breakfast.

(On a side note, we cleaned house this weekend, but the kitchen didn't seem to make the cut.)

So I sent them to get dressed and I took a shower. Now it was 9:30. I'll make pancakes. Shoot. No baking powder. I have a tiny bit of "just add water" mix they can have and I'll find something else. Not enough. Oh look! Just enough Bisquick! Add milk. Add eggs. Huh? Oh man. Little bugs in the mix. I hate those little things. Wonder what else they are in?

So, I had to pay for breakfast while we ran our errands. Not what we needed to do. But I'm still determined to make this day good.

Errands are run. We have lunch and supper for today and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. Picked up medicine for S. Back home. It's 11:15. There is still time for this day to turn around.

After lunch we will do school. We will START with Bible. There hasn't been enough Bible around here lately. Then we will clean the kitchen. And update that checkbook. And do some chores around the house. I will have the girls sweep off the back porch and tidy up before Daddy gets home. We will watch a show together tonight and maybe eat popcorn.

Just because the morning started off poorly doesn't mean the day is going to go downhill. I mean, sometimes it does. But today is NOT one of those days.

Because I say so.


And this picture makes me happy. Little Bit, nearly 2 years ago, helping Daddy in his wood shop. See all her Handy Manny tools in her tool belt. Cutie. 

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I know. We ALL get 24 hours. It's how you choose to spend them, right?

But the thing is, we don't always get to choose.

First of all, you can subtract sleeping (or laying in bed trying to sleep). That leaves me 15 or so hours.

A very blurry picture of Little Bit and her friend, who wore matching shirts to the skate party last week. Not planned. 

Then there are all the have-to-do things necessary for life like cooking, eating, laundry, etc.

You have to pay bills.
You have to pick up the house. A lot.

Factor in that I am spent by the afternoon/evening and probably am not going to be very productive and...well...I don't have enough hours.

Sweetheart passing out Valentines.

Homeschooling really takes up time. Add in doctor's appointments (every 2 weeks now) and dentist appointments, and errands.

No wonder I'm still working on those stupid quilts!! And I think "working on" is a stretch.

But I really do have a long list of things I want/need to get done before baby comes. I have 3 months, if I make it to term, which I usually do. I'm starting to feel the crunch and wishing I had done more when my stomach was smaller.

More Valentine distribution. 

So I pray. I pray for a dresser for Little Bit. I pray that I'll be able to finish fixing up the girls' rooms for little to no money. (Currently? Mod Podging a puzzle to frame for Little Bit's room. Already had the puzzle, the Mod Podge, and the frame. Score!) I pray for strength and energy and the ability to prioritize.

I want more time. But we must keep going in school. Dropping school is not an option. Trying to figure out how I can school and sew at the same time. I'm sure it can be done.

What always gets left out in your day? That thing you want to have time for but never seem to?

Ninety-five Days

Or 13 weeks and 4 days.
Or 3 months.
However you want to look at it.....time is ticking!!!

I have many, many things I want to get done before the baby gets here. I KNOW. You don't have to talk me down this time. It will be fine if I don't get everything done. I know. I know.

BUT.

We went and got some frozen yogurt last week to celebrate keeping up with our daily Bible reading in the month of January.

I would feel really a whole lot better if my kitchen were organized. It has an organizational system, mind you. It's just that with all the help I have (gladly) received in the kitchen lately, things have been put away rather haphazardly. It just needs to be re-organized. Probably wouldn't take more than an hour to do.

And I would like to finish our room. Just little things like hanging some stuff on the walls, and getting some curtains up and well...clearing up the piles on the floor. That last one has to be done or there won't be room for the baby bed or dresser/changing table.

Which reminds me, I have to get a new dresser for Little Bit so baby can have hers.

Little Bit finally finished her plastic canvas project for our Keepers club!

But all of these plans are on hold until my parent's wedding anniversary reception is over. THEN, it will be GO! GET READY FOR BABY time.

And I have a few things to do for the reception like finish scanning pictures and get them all printed and put them on display boards (which I need to buy). And find something to wear. And get the present ready.

Sigh. Ten more days until that little event.

Carrie, I think I just decided. I don't have time for Physics!

But right now I'm off to start doing our taxes. Taxes trump kitchen re-organization. And baby prep. And definitely Physics.

It's good to get all that talked through. Thanks for listening.

Home

Yesterday we did school from 9-11:30 and were VERY productive. Then, from 11:30-3:30 we made no fewer than SEVEN stops around town (well, several towns actually) before we landed back at home. At which time I started printing inserts for the invitations and counting out envelopes and stamps. Then I may have fallen asleep on the floor only to have a friend come over to pick up a crib we were giving away (it didn't fit in our space). She totally caught me napping. Then I cooked supper and sister came over to get half the invites to address last night and then we ate supper and we ran out the door to church.

Because I thought the day had been kind of boring up until then, I decided it would be a good idea to lock the car keys in the trunk of the car after church.

SIGH.

Today, we are HOME. And I don't want to run any errands. I have enough to do here to occupy me for 3 straight days! And I am very thankful to just be here. I can assure you school will not start on time. We are all still in our pajamas and the girls are playing. I still need to stuff some envelopes and get everything out to the mailbox before school starts anyway.

There are a lot of should do's on my list today like laundry and finding the kitchen sink and school and things like that. Those will get done. But there are also some want to do's on my list and they are calling my name.

We worked in the girls' rooms Monday evening and haven't touched them since. Completely half-done and a terrible mess. I would like to work in their rooms today. I would like to start seam-ripping ribbon off of their curtains so I can re-decorate the curtains for their "new" rooms. If I have 100 things to do, taking the ribbon off of those curtains comes in #99 in importance. Maybe that's why it appeals to me.

I guess I'll share some before pics of the girls' rooms:

Sweetheart's desk area and part of her bed. And always stuff on the floor. 

Little Bit's museum of too much stuff!

While we spent several days in November organizing and labeling everything in Sweetheart's room, it occurred to me that her arrangement wasn't very organized. Now she has zones--the desk is actually beside the locker and bookshelf, etc. But oh there is much more to be done.

And Little Bit's room has to start transforming into a room for 2. I cleaned out the closet the other day and it's all good now. We got rid of her desk and a lot of toys and now I have to figure out where to put the rest of her furniture. She probably has a year before her roommate will move in, so we can worry about getting rid of more furniture later.

And I've decided to call off that mini-vacation I wanted to go on before baby gets here. We are just too busy right now and I think I will be tired of all that walking, etc. I will probably feel better going in the fall with a 5 or 6 month old in tow. I may regret that. Not sure yet.

I'm off to be productive and enjoy my house and all the improvements which will surely happen around here today!