scavenger hunt sunday! (err...monday)

A mom's life waits for no pictures.

This woman visited my blog, so I went to visit her blog. She follows this woman, so I went to visit her, too. She had lovely pictures on her blog, that were connected to this woman who heads up a Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

A scavenger hunt in pictures?? Oooh. Just the right thing to continue distracting me from what I should be doing (things like wrapping and mailing books that I sold on Amazon, and should've been mailed long, long ago. Oops.)

I couldn't find my camera, though. So I borrowed. I tried to take a picture...and then my 2yo peed in the hallway.

He is no longer the subject of the first scavenger hunt item. (He wouldn't hold still anyway.)

Take two.

1. Facial Feature


Beautiful boy. When he's asleep, he holds still perfectly. And I love that you can see the sheen of his fur by his ear.














2. Shadow

I love the shadows that the sun makes on curtains. I had to wait a while for the sun to come back out, and I'm still not sure it captured it the way I wanted it to, but you get the idea.















3. Spicy

A-1 Sauce. Conveniently located next to the Hot Sauce. Spicy, indeed.


















4. Gold

Apparently it's hard to capture a flash in a sequin (hence the fuzziness of the rest of the picture).
















5. Fabric

Denim fabric is just so cool. This one is in the process of being packed up, due to children getting older and growing bigger and all those things they do without permission.

Fun! I linked up with Ashley!

29 days, week 1(ish)

Tada!!! I have completed three days of the 29 Day Organizational Challenge! I have arrived at the first link-up day, February 10. It officially started on February 1st, of course, but I started late when I discovered it on the 8th.

I made a list of all the areas in my bedroom that needed work. I broke them down into sections. I had 21 sections. I only had 19 days. So I lumped 3 easier sections together, and voila! 19 sections!

Now, at the end of 3 days, I have actually completed FOUR sections! Aren't I amazing?! I'm certainly shocking myself! And it's AWESOME. Not because my room is looking slightly more awesome (which it is), but because I'm sticking to it. I'm getting 'er done.

I don't know when I've been able to say that recently.

And, ahem,

all with some brand new preggy hormones

wiping.

me.

out.

Yeeeah, boy!

That's right.

Sholes kiddo #5 is on the way!)

So, just by doing slightly more than I needed to each day, I was able to cut an entire day out of the schedule. This does not mean, however, that I will take a day off. Because I have a feeling that when I get around to the section that is in my original post's picture, I will need that extra day.

Now, for the last three days, I've been in the same area of the room, so each picture sorta leads into the next. Here goes. The very first before picture...

This is the spot right behind the door of the bedroom. Please ignore the paint job on the door...it's had an identity crisis for quite some time (having gone through several different occupants). Hopefully when this project is done, we might be able to think of a color scheme. Y'know, because then we'll be able to get to the walls.

 And here is after! With my very willing helper ("toolbelt" included). I think his smile says it all.

Here was the before of day 2. The actual schedule section for this day was just that stack of stuff to the right of the baker's rack...

After! No more stack! Annnnd...I started on the baker's rack, too. That blue bin on the floor will eventually be gone, but as much of this stuff is hubby's, I simply made a neat bin of his paperwork for him to go through at another time. For now, I can get into my closet. Score!

That last after picture also served as the before picture to this one. I regret that I didn't realize I didn't take an actual picture of the mess to the left of the baker's rack, so that you can tell the difference now. But, rest assured, it was a tall pile of hubby's clothes, small exercise equipment, and cassette tapes. No more! (Yes, our air conditioner is still in the window. Yes, we still run it on fan every night. But my coffee isn't usually sitting on the baker's rack.)

Bonus: day 3 was simply to do the baker's rack; day 4 was to be the left of the baker's rack, which is where I have now gained my day-ahead-ness.

The thing I love most about this so far is that I have really, truly done this. In any time past, I simply would've said, "but what will I do with the 2 year old?" This time...I just brought him with me. He played in the room (there's no limit of stuff to get into there), he played in the hall, he went in and out of the playroom. And for three days in a row, he was willing to go with me. No complaints. And poor little sick 5 year old was able to have some chill time downstairs on the couch watching tv in silence. The first day he actually fell asleep. (That's rare.) So blessings all around.

And would you believe - for all of this - yesterday hubby had the nerve to chide me, about his dresser drawer becoming more full???? The top drawer of our dresser is where all his "stuff" goes. The little stuff - pictures of kids, pictures from kids, Star Wars figures, dice, yo-yos, playing cards, spare wallet, etc. And when I come across that kind of stuff, that's the only real place for it, for now. And he gave me grief about filling up his drawer! He hadn't even once mentioned the cleanliness that had shown up. Not that that's why I'm doing this, the praise, but gosh, it's so obvious!!!

He was kidding.

Good thing.

Next on the calendar are the three easy pieces put together: our bookshelf headboard (which pretty much has things that will stay but need to be organized), under the bed (which will require a broom), and my side of the bed (which I kinda picked up really quick the other day, as it involved all of emptying my trash can and bringing a glass downstairs).

Maybe I'll even move on a little further after that... Aren't I brazen.

PS, Laura, I have to let you know, that although I haven't taken any purge pictures (now I know you like them!), I almost took a picture of what I swept out from under my baker's rack - one dustpan full of nothing but FEATHERS. From hubby's pillow. :)

If you're interested in joining the challenge,

click HERE.

It's never too late to start!

Plus, she's got some sweeeeeet prizes;

go check 'em out!

Although, as hubby reminded me,

my prize will be a clean room.

He's right...and it's for him I'm doing this anyway.

it's a little late for "back to school"...

So my little girl goes back to school tomorrow. I swear, it's harder than her first first day.

Weird timing, you say? Yes. Yes, it is. I homeschooled her for the first half of the year. And I knew - KNEW - more than anything that it was the right thing to do. I didn't have anything against the school system or school itself. I just knew that she could do better at home - learn more, learn better, learn better things, etc. And the whole first half of the year, September till now, it's felt like the right thing to do.

But I haven't been able to concentrate on teaching. No one tells you that having two kids in school and the others at home will mess you up, homeschooling-wise. Our schedule is not ours. We can't do as we wish. We can't plan what we want. It all revolves around someone else's schedule.

And what if one of those schooling children maybe (maybe) really should be in school? What if that's what they need? Then you'll never have that "make our schedule what we want it" scenario.

Then you have home stuff. That is, Stuff. Stuff comes up. Children act out. Teenagers emerge. Teenagers with baggage. And you become so consumed with them and their issues and their next move that you border on depression (again) and can barely manage to run your own house, let alone someone else's entire education.

So back she goes. I will miss her. So much. (sniff) Having your kids around you so much for such a long while, it suddenly seems like 8 hours is FAR too long to be without them.

I love liking my kids. I just have to trust that this is the best move for all of us.

For now.

29 day organizational challenge

Hello, there! It's been a long time since I've blogged. I just haven't had the urge...and I feel like I haven't had the time. I once said I desperately wanted to write a busy-mom blog...but didn't have time because I'm a busy mom! - and a friend said that that was what qualified me to write one. Yay. I'm qualified!

However...I'm a busy mom. Life is full, and it's hard, and it can drag you down and suck you into itself and lie and say that all there is is busy-ness. But I've learned that when I feel dragged down and drowning in life, it pays to make that effort to h.a.u.l. yourself up and peek over the edge at all the rest of life that's still. going. on. I'm even typing this with a toddler on my lap. Because...you know...that's my life.

So here I go. Consider this my virtual pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps.

(In my case, they're very cool, very worn, very comfy cowgirl boots

that I will someday own,

and someday wear,

on my someday cowgirl legs.)

I stumbled across this page, Ready. Set. Simplify., through the Facebook page of a friend from college. Sounds right up my alley, right? I'm attracted to anything regarding organizing and simplifying. (Probably because I wish to be so, and get a thrill from attempting it, but feel too busy to get there.)

She, in turn, is linking up with Org Junkie's 29 Day Organizational Challenge. Clearly, it's February 6th; I'm starting late. And - truth - I'm fighting about a million thoughts of "why will this work now? you've tried challenges before, and something always comes up to distract you and it doesn't get done. why keep trying something new? why not just try to keep up with the schedule you already have that you haven't perfected yet??"

Wow. I'm mean.

BUT. Elizabeth has a very specific reason for her 29 Day Challenge, and I admit, it intrigued me. And I'm stealing it. (I don't know her, but I don't think she'll mind.) It's her "Love by Decluttering" plan. Hubby and I don't have a great deal of extra funds at the moment (or ever), so Valentine's Day probably won't be a very big deal. (And it's on a Tuesday. Tricky.) But a great deal of stress for us is our bedroom. I think we both have this unspoken agreement that it doesn't need to be organized, because we're not in there except to sleep, and we know it'll get done...eventually. But it's cluttered. And not that big. And full of unnecessary furniture. And hard to walk around. And just not very restful. So when I read that Elizabeth was doing her bedroom as a gift to her hubby for February, I identified.

It's not entirely un-selfish. By the time I get to bed, it's imperative that I sleep immediately. There is no wind-down time, no relaxing, just sleep for functionality's sake. And I wake up in the morning and think, "ohmygosh, I have to do this all again." And I do. not. feel. rested. That's so wrong. And I think maybe if my surroundings weren't stressing me out, maybe I wouldn't dream about being stressed and busy and cluttered. (True story.)

click for bigger picture

So here's my first before picture. I'll probably take more. But this will give you your first shot at what I'll be up against. All while doing daily dishes, daily laundry, daily picking up, daily maintaining, daily showering, daily cooking, daily picking up couch blankets from the floor, daily pb&j and mac&cheese making, daily fighting with people to pick up their own stuff, daily telling people the floor is not a trash can, daily still-being-a-mom (who's-obviously-insane-for-taking on-something-else).

Well, supposedly "I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength..." I'm gonna need it.

radical parenting

I've noticed this wave lately of what I'm calling "radical parenting," at least among the people I know. Maybe they've always been this way, and I'm just the one catching up. I don't know. But the idea is very simple: the parents are the parents. The kids are the kids. The kids will be respectful and obey, or there will be consequences. And the kids will also learn how to live with much less of the stuff they think they can't live without.

A friend of mine from church has recently taken away all screen time during the work week. They may watch tv and play on the computer on the weekends.

Another friend of mine online doesn't have a microwave.

These are the only two concrete examples I can think of at the moment, but they form a theme. Kids do not REQUIRE screen time. An attitude of "I must have my chicken nuggets in 30 seconds or I'll explode" is simply unnecessary and untrue.

They're things that I've noticed are EXTREMELY scary at first, to think about, but then afterward...not really a big deal.

In our house, we also no longer have a microwave. Not actually because I was taking a giant stand against instant gratification, but that is a giant side-benefit. It was actually because 1) our microwave was starting to get old and the display unreadable and 2) because it looked hideous sitting up on top of my newly-acquired old farmhouse cabinet. (My microwave was BIG.) But when I used to think about getting rid of it, I'd always say, "oh, no. That's not for us. Maybe someday, but not yet. I have toddlers. They require chicken nuggets and hot dogs. And I have leftovers."

And can I tell you? It was honestly DAYS before my children noticed it was gone!!!!!! I'm not kidding. Because, it turns out, we don't have that many leftovers (hubby takes them with him to work the next day, and I only make enough for dinner and his lunch). And my kids were almost never in the kitchen while I made the chicken nuggets or hot dogs, so I would make them in the oven or on the stove and they'd never know it. I honestly think it was at some point where Miss 8yo said, "well, can you just warm them up in the microwave?" and I said, "no." She asked why, and I said, "because we don't have the microwave anymore." And she actually said, "yeah, we do -- wait, what?? Where'd the microwave go??"

And that was that. I explained the principle of cooking on the stove and in the oven, and although it wasn't received the same way a new puppy would be, they've gotten over it, and I've only heard a few comments since. (Miss 8yo's biggest grievance is that the ONLY way she likes eggs is from the microwave. Oh well.)

I haven't been as brave with the screen time. However, today I shortened their screen time from an hour a day to a half hour a day. I only got one complaint as I said it. (It might have been an inspired idea that I told them while they were lost in the tv. I did make them answer me, though. Oddly enough, the only one who answered me was the one ON the computer at the time. Weird.)

Now I'm moving on to an issue that has plagued me for months, and that is the issue of SNACKAGE.

I buy things like granola bars and Cheez-its and cheese crackers. A side issue may actually be that they're growing big enough now that one of these items - the current allowance - is no longer enough to satiate them during any particular snack time. (Miss 13yo especially. I recognize that. I'm trying to think about that separately and allow for it.) Another side issue is that my boys wake up very early in the morning, and are hungry immediately, but I'm busy making Hub's breakfast, and thus the rule is that I will feed them when I'm done with that. So, in the meantime, I've let them have one of said snacks.

So, in one day, one normal day (when Miss 13yo isn't home from school), there should be roughly maybe 7 snacks being eaten. (It's a rough estimate, allowing for whether or not Mr. 2yo has one of those snacks which he doesn't always, and the before-breakfast snacks.) So one would think that if I buy 20-something snacks in a grocery trip, they should last us several days. Right?

Clearly there's a pilferer among them. Because it's way too easy to reach into the snack drawer quietly when Mom's not in the kitchen. (This was an idea I came up with so I didn't have to constantly get up to get them a snack at the time. This idea may be revisited.) And we're going through so many snacks, it isn't funny. Nevermind the days when Miss 13yo is home. And hungry. And could probably eat something close to a meal at every sitting. (Those teenage appetites, even budding ones, can be scary. I'm so grateful every day that my boys aren't there yet. I'll need to figure out how to make more money by then.)

So I need a solution. I need ideas of snacks the kids can have that will actually fill them, and some way to keep them from just grabbing one whenever they feel like it, or whenever I'm not around.

I had one thought - ah ha! Buy snacks they don't like! Well...for about 1/32nd of a second it seemed like a good idea, but with further investigation, proves itself to be a bad idea. Because they won't eat them, and I'll have to listen to it. (Not to mention wasted food.)

But I think I have landed upon an acutally feasible idea. Buy foods that they like, that are good for them, and filling, but not necessarily the ones they'd go for FIRST. These would be foods like apples, bananas, raisins, etc. This way they are healthy, filling, and will be eaten ONLY if they are ACTUALLY hungry, and not just because they want the chocolate chips out of the chocolate chip granola bars.

Anyone tried this? Thoughts? I may try it. :)

Just another step in the radical parenting process. Another attempt at creating less.

stop

"You carry me. You lift me up. You raise me."

I've heard these words a thousand times and they seem very boring now. Empty and meaningless. Rote in the day to day. How do those words help me with the apple juice spilled in the very dark corner where it's hard to get to without unpacking the entire room that I should have cleaned before my son decided not to finish the juice he poured, leaving it for the two-year-old to knock over?!?!

God defines the words for me as I listen to the song again.*

You lift me up - from that which I'm having trouble treading
When I am weak - I'm failing
Your arms wrap around me - you comfort and console me, not encourage me to keep going
Your love carries me - you do the work for me
So I'm letting go - so I can stop struggling and trying and wriggling and beating my head against a wall and trying to continue finding the solution on my own, and just let myself

be carried,

settle,

be still,

rest,

stop

*song taken from "Lift Me Up" by The Afters.

grace and mercy

This grace, it's a funny thing.

It wasn't grace because I did something good. It wasn't grace because I was the bigger person and humbled myself to make the connection.

I came to the computer, gave Hubby his information, and then got lost in other words of grace. (That music doesn't play fair, by the way. It's mesmerizing.)

And so I sat, checking the clock from time to time...

"If I went up now, we'd have just enough time..."

But I don't. I don't go up to reconnect, to patch things up, to make ammends, to cut her slack. I let her sit upstairs. And I let me sit downstairs. (Any other time I might say I was hiding. This time I'm in plain view.)

I should've gone up. Things might've worked out. They might not've. I figured that would be the grace, that she decline my invitation, say she's more in the mood to read now, and we leave it good.

But no.

She comes down early, announces she's done, and that she's going to bed, because I'm on the computer, despite the deal that she'd get the computer when she's done.

I reiterate the deal, saying I'm only here waiting for her, she can have it... We discuss, she decides to go to bed anyway.

So.

Here I am. A quiet night. Facebook/Pinterest/Blogger at my beck and call.

But I wasn't the bigger person. I didn't take the first step.

Is this grace anyway, the getting of something we don't deserve?

Or is this mercy, the lack of getting something we do?