A Weekend Unplanned

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  We had blessed nothingness on our calendar (except for a chiropractor appointment and church commitments).  That meant lots of room for angst in my mind over days with nothing planned.  Matt and I slogged our way through Friday with low grade fevers, **impossible to swallow, insanely painful sore throat** yuckiness, busy work days and collapsed on the couch after getting the boys to bed.  I was so grateful that nothing was planned.  For once, this type a, need to have everything scheduled girl appreciated the lack of planning and open-endedness of three days off with all of our family home!

We did the basics….laundry, farmer’s market veggie shopping, LEGO building, room sorting/purging {the one MUST do was to locate a lost library book of Alex’s–happy to report, Fred and Ted Go Camping was FOUND!!!!}, painting, cooking, back care, swinging on the swingset, lots of alfresco dining, CAMPING!!! & classic movie watching, Sunday School teaching….and amazingly feel rested, healthier and didn’t have to deal with lots of traffic.  Can’t beat that!

Time and space and maybe…{SCARY!}….GROWING UP!?!?…..has helped me let go of my grasp on the perfectly planned, chalk-full schedule.  To see the value of time spent together, letting go of the need to program and craft a perfect get away.  This week I plan on posting some thoughts from Lauren Winner’s new book Still.  There is so much to unpack from this book–my poor husband had to suffer from me continuously reading quotes to him over the last two days as I devoured it.  It truly is THAT good.  Despite working in the classroom, battling a nasty bug that has left me only wanting to sleep, and with two boys needing our attention, I couldn’t put it down.  It even won out over mindless TV!  Miracles of miracles.  This quote from Saul Bellow that she shared hit me as I was thinking about our schedule, or lack thereof, this weekend.

Look how cute he is….gotta love Nobel Prize Winners!

Isn’t he WISE, though?!?!  ”They labor because rest terrifies them.”  Did you catch that?  ”They labor because rest terrifies them.”  I’m trying to sit with that truth.  That rest terrifies.  That sloth isn’t about lying around doing NOTHING, necessarily, but rather it truly is a “busy condition”.

I don’t have the answers.  I will always struggle with a deep need for control.  But, I’m choosing to keep it “simple” this weekend.  A first step at “resting”–stepping into the “terror” of rest, if you will.  To allow for time in the sun, sprinklers being directed at me by our 19 month old, no-cook meals {this girl attempting vegan, gluten free eating had baguette, brie and dry salami–and pears!!–for dinner}.  More to follow about Lauren Winner and her new book.  For today, though, lots to chew on thanks to Saul Bellow.  Tough truth, but a good one.

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend…

off to find flags to photograph for my step-mother-in-law!

Campout

{I know…two posts in one day….and the second on a Sunday night of a three day weekend….bad blogger protocol.  Oh, well.  Can’t win ‘em all.}

Cush Camping!  My wonderful husband acquiesced to our eldest’s non-stop requests to sleep out in the tent that we’d used for decoration for his 5th Birthday Party last weekend (pictures HERE).  We had a wonderful time celebrating with tents, binoculars, s’mores, trail mix, bug juice and family & friends.  It was so great.  But, the outdoors overnight had to be done.  Not the night PRIOR to the party (fearing no sleep), not the night OF the party (Matt was preaching the next day, on Alex’s actual birthday) and then the week unfolded.  So tonight, no work or school in sight, Matt’s and my sore throats subsiding a bit, became camping out night.

And the perfect opportunity to FINALLY test out our outdoor movie screen {thanks, IKEA!…bought this to shade our deck at camp and Matt repurposed it as a screen at our house here} and introduce Alex to Star Wars!

No outdoor, camping movie night is complete without popcorn and if you haven’t heard me rave about or directly experience due to my prodding, the mighty WHIRYPOP, then you just haven’t truly LIVED.  {if you are going to buy it, be prepared that it will come with “real theater” kernels….don’t be taken in by that…go for real, white kernals…you won’t regret it}.

A little beverage accompaniment….and you’re SET!

Sally made sure to get in the middle of the action, but has yet to enter the tent {and surprisingly, Drew won’t either….he and Sally are thick as thieves}.

I’m going to graciously bow out and let this be “BOY’S NIGHT”….so gracious of me….to sleep in my own bed with a warm cup of tea and be the pancake flipper in the morning!  So grateful for a techie husband who can engineer this night on a practical level and also on the bonding dad level.

We’ll see if they last all night….

And some popcorn updates, Circa January 2009 & May 2012!

Going Green

I had the chance to share a talk with the moms at my MOPS groups today.  Thought I’d repost it here in case any of you are interested in making some small, simple changes or thinking more about how to “green” you home and life.  Keep in mind, I AM NO EXPERT.  Far far far from it.  Just on the road….

“Going Green”.  Two simple words that scream simplicity and a calm, easy life.  And yet, in my experience, “going green” isn’t something that just happens.  It’s never a task that can be conquered or attained.  Like our faith, it is a process.  It is all about being purposeful.  Being thoughtful and making some hard decisions.

Something changed for me when we had our first son, Alex, almost five years ago.  We lived ½ a mile from the Chevron Refinery in Point Richmond,CA.  On Martin Luther King Day in January of 2007, around 5:18am, we witnessed a huge fire spewing out of the stacks after being woken by sirens.  I was 5 months pregnant.  We lived in a 100 year old Victorian house, and we were being asked to “shelter in place”.  We were supposed to be safest if we remained at home, with our drafty windows and doors, hoping the fumes would not reach us.  As flames shot over 100 feet in the air, we looked at each other, packed up a few things, grabbed our dog and drove over to my in law’s house.  Finally, our concerns about air quality, fumes and pollution led us to put our “boy in utero” as the priority over everything we were being told to do.

Around that time, we were told about a website that talked about air quality.  You could type in your place of residence and the website would inform you about what percentage of the state had BETTER air quality than you did.  And Point Richmond….how did it fair?  Well, 95% of Californians lived in areas with better air quality than us.  NINETY-FIVE percent.  It was funny just a year after that, we moved to the North Bay, to Occidental, where only FIVE percent had better air quality.

After Alex was born, certain things started clicking with me….we’d have our house cleaned and I would get asthmatic upon entering the home again…..smelled good, but what was going on? And worse yet, my new infant was CRAWLING on the floor, licking the tables, etc.  INGESTING all of these perfume-hidden chemicals.

So, sad to say, a lot of what has motivated to start “going green” was having a child.  Maybe fear for his health, for mine.  It was more of a ME issue.  I kind of approached this in a backward way.

As a Christian, I began to see another piece to this puzzle of the environment and our connection to it.  Something shifted in me…when I looked at the reality of God pouring himself into creation, seeing the beginning of creation as an act of love.  God’s way of expressing who he is.  This change for me involved seeing that we are called into a loving relationship with creation because creation is a revelation of who God is.  This shift has given me a more lasting motivation to “go green”, based on LOVE not just fear.

Practically speaking, something else began to creep up.  I was determined, pre-children, to own nothing that was plastic and made annoying, constant, off-key musical noise.  As a teacher, and a pastor’s wife, we were literally showered with stuff when our first was born.  Our 1800 square foot house began to feel small.  I began thinking about STUFF.  We lived in a 1903 Victorian (yes, the one that was ½ a mile from the refinery!) and I started to get these weird thoughts….who USED to live there?  What was life like 100 years earlier??  Were they bogged down by plastic, screaming toys?  Concerned over getting the perfect gift for every family member and friend for each holiday?  Worried about getting the kids to bed and the house cleaned so  they could collapse on the couch and catch their favorite line-up of reality TV shows??

Let’s take a minute to think about this all, looking at the 1800s vs. today.  Compare 1812 vs. 2012.  Transportation was dependent on horses vs. gas guzzling cars.

Cooking, if left to Caroline Ingalls, was over a wood burning stove vs. today’s quickly pushed microwave buttons and food on demand.

Communication was accomplished by painstakingly handwritten letters vs. cell phones and text messages.  Entertainment consisted of cards, games, evening fiddle playing vs. distracted television viewing with a lap top prominently added to the mix.

What was the end result of these changes?  What does this “stuff”, the developments of the 20^th Century GIVE to us?  And conversely, what has it taken from us?

With this in mind, we decided that one thing we could do is rein what  we allowed into our home.  We tried a 75% rule.  We decided to put away/give away/”hide”, 75% of Alex’s things.  We read a book, Simplicity Parenting, in which the authors share a theory that by taking away 75% of your children’s things, you free kids up for more creativity AND start to open up the family to more of what was true in the 1800s—-more time together, less reliance on toys that had one function.  We started to see the advantage of having less and what it afforded our family, benefits to us AND the environment.

In one of the books I was reading recently, Go Green, Save Green, the author, Nancy Sleeth shared, it’s “not about making do with less, it’s about doing MORE with less.  It’s about spending more time with family, friends, and God and less time taking care of things.  Acknowledging that it all belongs to God and learning to be better stewards of his blessings.”

If we are attempting to love our neighbor as ourselves, then it HAS to tie into the world and the earth too.  The more we use resources up, the less available they are for our neighbor.  And for so many of our neighbors, especially those who live in the 2/3’s world, life just doesn’t offer the astronomical amount of choices and opportunities that we are presented with.  If we truly thought about, better yet, acted out loving our neighbor AS OURSELVES, we might make some big changes.

I know these aspects—-neighbor, stuff and God’s love for creation may seem disconnected, but for me, they were the pieces that started fitting together, motivating me to make change in my own life.

The obstacles can seem steep.

Making these changes can COST MORE.

Making these changes means a CHANGE IN ROUTINE & CHANGE IN BUYING HABITS.

Making these changes means RE-EDUCATION.

However, there are places to start.  Gathered from lots of blog reading, book skimming and friend gleaning, here are some of the places we can think about making some small, first step, changes.

• Buying whole foods (on a budget) & Eat Locally (farmer’s market!)
• Add soy in place of meat (GMO free soy)
• Making your kitchen paperless (paper towels are way over rated once you have given them up!)
• CFC light bulbs are simple, but make a big impact
• Switch to non-toxic cleaners
• Downsize and rotate your children’s toys
• Switch to gentle eco-friendly hair & skin care
• Start a Garden
• Make a compost bin (great place for food & lawn clippings)
• Turn down the temperature on the water heater
• Turn thermostat up 3 degrees in summer and down 3 degrees in winter
• Turn off lights when leaving a room
• Do laundry in cold water
• Activate “sleep” mode on your home office equipment
• Close curtains during the night in the winter and during the day in the summer
• Only do full loads of laundry and dishes (plus, do them at “off” times)
• Laundry on the line is extra time, but kind of nice…a little tricky in winter, but worth a try!
• Get a stainless steel water bottle and never buy a plastic one again:  water is heavy to ship, the plastic is made with oil and frankly, the kids have FUN picking out a fun bottle!
• Backyard chickens are awesome and not nearly the amount of work they seem to be (That tip came from my dear friend, Chad Rodgers….wish I could claim that I had chickens or had ambitions to make it happen.  At this point, I’m enjoying eggs from the farmer’s market or neighbors.  You seriously can’t beat that gorgeous orange yolk!  And yes, we are currently egg-eating vegans!)
• Organic fair trade coffee and tea  (Trader Joes or Equal Exchange!)
• Give your kids the full recycling bin to play with instead of buying them toys—they have more fun and they’ll be more creative.  Better yet, have them help you create the recycling bins in the first place….buy fun, bright-colored bins, paint sections on the side with chalkboard paint and let the kids label them
• Buy cds online and rent dvds (no more amassing gargantuan collections!)
• Read a book about how people live in the 2/3s world and you’ll be encouraged to make some changes!
• Plastic/canvas reusable grocery bags
• Go paperless on credit card and bank statements

Each of us, each of our families, has its own journey in this process.  The key is to start.  For our family, this process has become a chance to ask ourselves some questions prior to making purchases or decisions.  To slow down and think about how our decision will affect our neighbors and also how it will bring us closer to God, an opportunity to embrace and love his creation instead of being paralyzed by fear.

Resources:

I shared some books, websites, blogs and recipes with the moms at my MOPS group as well.  You can find all of these listed in PDF form here.

Additionally, we made cleaner for our bathrooms or kitchens for our “craft” today.  I’m posting the PDF for the labels here in case you want to make your own or share with friends.

“You EXPIRE me!”

We have a “problem”. I’ve mentioned it here before…..but I assume many of you can relate. Whether with your own kids, or yourself. The issue of boxes. Of “keepsakes”. Of “treasures”. Of “creations”.

I am a sorter, purger and hope to be (in another life, perhaps??), a minimalist. And so my eldest’s obsession with art, creating and, dare I say it, “HOARDING” these keepsakes/treasures/creations can, at points, drive me batty.

I hoped for children with creativity, imagination and chutzpah. But some days, when the doodles, sculptures and mayhem start crowding me in on all sides, I go a little crazy. It’s like the little boxes are going to overtake me. Maybe one day, I’ll walk into Alex’s or Drew’s room and I won’t be able to find them.

No matter the day. No matter the time. No matter the to do list. If there’s a box in sight, then we are at risk for child #1 finding it and getting to work. Exhibit A:

One IKEA shelving purchase…..one Woodsie home and 2 race tracks….CHECK!

Despite my desire for cleanliness, for only keeping the necessary, I have a child with a wonderful memory who is always wondering where such and such creation disappeared to. I cringe. Bite my bottom lip and think to myself, “Uh, oh. City of Sunnyvale Recycling is enjoying that masterpiece as we speak.” Within reason, though, I’m trying to let go of my need for perfect order and control, and let my boys be boys. Let them get dirty in the mud and dirt out back. Let the boxes take shape into race tracks, drive in movie theater cars, castles, forts and pirate treasure boxes. And let go.

My friend, Sarah, sent me a link to this amazing video. And frankly, if any of us are still feeling the pull of not having so much disorder and creativity around us, for the mess and disorder it makes, then this video should cure us all.

Happy Saturday and Happy Creating!

(sadly for me, I’m spending time organizing receipts and working on budgeting, while Alex is make pirate patches, pirate hats, a hook arm, a treasure chest and accompanying map….ah, to be 4….)

p.s. My students and I had the gift of the talented Elisa Kleven joining us on Friday. She shared her books, her inspiration, stories of her childhood and how imagination and creating saved her. It was the cherry on top for me. The reminder that these messes and “disorder” might actually be birthing a career and love. For Elisa, it became a future of artistry and writing. I loved watching my kids in awe of her talents and accomplishments….one even commented, “You EXPIRE me!” We came to the conclusion that Elisa INSPIRED him. But, man, it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a funny word transposition. And the best part was stealing her to my house for a few hours with my boys. Alex had a blast drawing with Elisa and chatting. Drew spent the time screaming, crying and throwing things. Patience, though. No doubt, Drew will come around too….and begin his own efforts to EXPIRE—–I mean INSPIRE—-me!

Who Knew I’d Be Organizing Vegenaise?!?

Yes, who knew?!?  I NEVER in my wildest dreams imagined I’d ever buy Vegenaise.  Ewww….just the name gives me the willies.  I have received many Vegetarian cookbooks over the years, kindly, with plastered smile, accepted them, shelved them, and moved on.  And yet, here we are…approaching 2 months of a vegan, gluten free and sugar free diet.  I seriously have NO clue how this happened.  I mean, I have a clue.  There has been a lot of chopping, preparing, menu planning, internet scouring for recipes.  But I never would have thought we, the meat loving, cheese hoarding, ice cream ingesting Goughs would embark on this “adventure”.

So today, 6 months after my original pantry organization, Drew and I set about straightening things up a bit today, following Tsh’s lead at Simple Mom.

Drew also took this opportunity to empty and reorganize his kitchen too and move things around….

We took some quick photos of the pantry before….

Tried to find a spot, higher up, for the breakable, temptations that have become no match for our 17 month old climber and adventurer….

(and also purged over 1/2 of our cookbooks since September’s organization!)

After getting the labeller up and running (you might recall it was out of tape last fall…this time, batteries were dead after an Alex artistic frenzy a few weeks ago), we began labelling, pulling things out of packaging and filling up Ball canning jars and categorizing.

We have begun buying many more items in bulk, vs. packaged/processed items, so instead of one pint-sized jar for lentils….I now have 6 QUART size jars!  Proud of those lentils!

Not sure what Drew was secretly trying to say, but he sought out his Moving Truck and left it prominently on the canned goods shelf…

Even though this week’s challenge was to also encompass the fridge, I have gotten in the habit of cleaning and organizing it once every other week when doing our weekly menus and meal planning.  Weekly or bi-weekly cleaning is MUCH easier than every six month cleaning.  Now, if only I could apply that lesson to every other area of our home….

I’ll leave you with Drew’s theme song today.  Maybe it’ll be the “ear candy” you need to choose a project and jump in.  And I can send over the Hot Wheels “Move It” truck if you need some assistance!

Rivalry

The boys  I had a meltdown last night that resulted in some frantic texting to calm myself.  Desperately reaching out and connecting in order to slow myself down and maybe hold myself back.

I am an only child, so my sole competition for my parent’s full attention was…..well, NO ONE.  I wouldn’t say I was coddled or catered to, but I never doubted my parent’s love and affection and commitment.

So now, as a parent to two children, I often question and wonder if I do enough to love them both.  To nurture them both.  To attend to their current, varying developmental needs appropriately.  I wonder if I can/should give them more space, less guidance, less boundaries—–or MORE?!?  With boys, too, coming from a string of only children that are all females, I’m still trying to figure out that “boy balance”.  The physicality of their interactions, affections and play is overwhelming some days.

In the classroom, as well as in our home, I crave quiet, calm, organized and focused moments of play and creativity.  Innately it has always meant productivity, control and success when those qualities permeate my classrooms or our home.  I would venture to say that those qualities of quiet, calm organization and focus equate to success for much of our culture.  I value team work, collaboration, and conversation in my own life and work, but often fear the “out of control” vibe it can lead to or give off to others.  In the classroom, as in our home, when the volume and mess mount, I want to PUT A LID ON IT.  To control it.  To end it.  To snap my fingers and create a spa-like tranquility.

I start to wonder if the volume and raised voices are equal to rivalry.  And if so, is that rivalry productive?  Character building?  I watch the boys fight over toys.  Raise their voices (or babbling) louder and louder, pulling our pantlegs, crying out for our full, undivided attention.  And I often wonder if they feel like the other one, their brother, gets more of us.  More of our love.  More of our attention.  More of our devotion.  More of our bragging.  And last night, after my eldest pulled a sibling stunt that I know is normal (yet seems SO out of line for this only child), I lost it.  And my anger and his anger clashed.  And he made it really clear that he believed I loved the youngest better.  That “the baby” was cuter.  That he, himself, was growing up and just not as “GOOD”.

oh, sigh.

We talked it out.  (even though I know reasoning and talking isn’t the most productive plan with almost five year olds)  But….it was a good conversation.  We talked about family.  The gift of it.  The need for dependence and reliance on it.  The special bond that it is.  The gift that his brother will be to him always and forever.  I told him that his brother would be the ONLY one to fully get how crazy and frustrating his parents were.

And then, I relied on the buoying of feverishly texting with my step-mother-in-law while breathing heavily as the eldest cleaned his torn apart room and brushed his teeth.  Then talked with my husband after his return from work.  And emailed a friend.  And for me, I realized for the umpteenth time that parenting and community and friendship and family is often riddled with rivalry.  And rivalry is often very hidden.  Very silent.  A slow cancer that eats away at our insides, behind the “perfect veneer” we try to portray to even our closest companions.

Rivalry can push us to be better.  To do better.  But, I have to cling to the fact that it is not the best way to get those desired results.  Clinging to “wanting the other’s best”.  Holding fast to loving those in our daily lives, even sacrificially.  Commiting to putting ourselves second vs. competing for our own needs.  To me, those pursuits have to be our drive and undertaking, not rivalry.

WOOOOWEEEE, that’s hard in practical terms.  For me, it involves lots of pep talks, opportunities to re-center and re-orient myself when I get off course, chances to wildly text my embarrassing parenting mishaps in honesty, knowing that each decision to do so is taking a step back from rivalry.  And a step towards community and a deeper love.

In this vein, I’m attacking our pantry cupboards today.  Yes, some of you may remember my attempts at this last fall.  And those attempts were fairly successful, but like anything in life, especially relationships, maintenance is necessary.  Tending.  Pruning.  Purging.  Assessing.  They are all needed.  And since the grand reorganization, we have also done some significant changes to our diet and eating.  In turn, the systems and foods put in place in September, might not be the same we need today.  So in honor of Project Simplify’s (at simplemom.net) focus this week on the pantry and fridge, Drew and I are attacking a pantry re-assessment today while Alex is at school.  Anyone who has been around my 17 month old knows that “helping” with organizing is a VERY lofty goal (some may call it insane).

But, we’ll give it a shot.  Results to come soon.  And please remember sharing this all is not to encourage rivalry….rather, to create a sense of control in one small area of my life that doesn’t involve loud people under the age of 10!

Mittens….take ‘em or leave ‘em?!?

I wanted to take a little time to reflect on the daily Advent activities we did this year.  As I mentioned last month, I tried something new, putting activities in our Advent Mittens instead of trinkets.  And while I loved it, there were days that I found it to be too much.  Even though I had attempted to look at our calendar ahead of time and predict which days could handle certain activities, sometimes, it just didn’t turn out as planned.  Luckily, dear eldest can’t read yet, so I could easily modify things.  I realized that even though some things SOUND good {going to get ice cream, seeing a living nativity, going to Zoo Lights, making a gingerbread house….the list goes on and on…..}, well, sometimes, staying low key, at home, and adhering to our normal schedule is the best choice.

Wait, Wait, Wait….Walk….

Just over a week ago, we had one of many hilarious moments with our munchkin…the older one.  We were out for an afternoon walk, and it was rainy and blustery.

Alex started talking about blind people.  And how hard that must be.  He was quiet for awhile.

Suddenly he inserted, “But, God is so nice to blind people.  Isn’t it nice that God helps blind people?”

We were waiting at a major intersection and upon further inquiry, we suddenly realized what he meant—–”God” was talking.  God was kind enough to tell blind folks when to cross the street, when it was safe.

“WAIT….WAIT…..WAIT….OK, it is safe to cross Mathilda….”

So yes, God lives in those speakers at intersections in case you were wondering.

And, as Matt commented, Alex was right.  God does talk to us.  To keep us safe.  And the hard thing is that he often says, “Wait.”

And then some more, “Wait.”

Not sure about you, but I don’t like to hear “wait” as my command.  Even if deep down I know God is saying it to protect me, to keep me from getting hit by things I can’t see.  To “force” me to look at the path ahead and not proceed.  To stay put.

Sometimes that means watching the leaves turn.  And we all know that that process is like watching a pot of water come to a boil.  It’s often slow and painstaking and seemingly never-ending.  But before you know it, it is suddenly brilliant red and quickly releasing from the limb, falling to the ground.  The timing unfolded in its perfection.  And me??  I had my eyes closed.  Blinking.  Missing the moment.  So worried about the command to “wait” that I missed “go, release, let go….”

I love this season.  Post Halloween, entering into a time of Thanksgiving and gratitude.  Yummy meals around a table, without the presents and wrapping paper littering the family room, new toys beeping and singing.  Just tryptophan-enducing goodness.  But right on Thanksgiving’s heals comes the season of waiting, Advent.  The time of anticipation, expectation of celebration of Emmanuel, God with Us.

Our church is doing a weekly study of a book by Pamela C. Hawkins called Simply Wait.  An opportunity to look at this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a new way.  Not a race to get through department stores, snatching up deals or stressing over parties and white elephant gifts or addressing and getting out Christmas cards.  An alternative.  A chance to “cultivate stillness”.  To wait.  To be quiet.

I can’t wait {ha ha….ahhhhh, waiting….} to begin this time of reflection in a few weeks.  Over the next few days, I am planning to share a few ideas for celebrating this season of stillness and anticipation, especially with children.  I prepared a few things to share about Advent with my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group and would love to pass them on here as well.

Intentionality is crucial, and yet often slips through my fingertips as survival becomes my focus.  Urgent often trumping important.  Here’s to hoping, though, that the intention of waiting, not just blindly walking, will yield some fruit with our family this year.  I am not expecting we’ll be able to have long, deep conversations over dinner.  I am just in hopes we can form traditions and patterns that hold meaning  and maybe even memories for the boys as they start to look at this season ahead.

Catch 22

The treadmill is on turbo speed. Not really, but some days, it just feels that way. Especially when I manage to breathe and take things one moment at a time….and then something creeps in. It makes my heart beat faster. Forces me to my list making default. The magazines I just can’t keep up on….(notice each magazine has two copies…I am TWO months behind)

The counters to organize…..(THERE’S the remote, and wayward marshmallow stick, and camping supplies, replacement appliance manuals, Sally’s allergy medication, and on and on…)

The dishes to put away….

The cleaning that would only take a few moments….(gross—-dried retried beans)

The pumpkin seeds to be roasted….(obviously not a priority, but the growing fly colony??? Gross!!!!!)

The laundry to be put away….

Floors to be vacuumed…

Shelves and surfaces to be dealt with…

(on that shelf alone….confiscated from Alex chocolate bear cookies, knitting I started in May…2010, three vases of dead lavender Alex put in our room to help it smell relaxing, a bunch of paint chips and a heart stamp cutter for an upcoming craft project, a roll of toilet paper packed for our recent Yosemite trip, 2 necklaces that need to be restrung and fixed, a glass of water from 2 weeks ago, some of Alex’s art projects, Drew’s yet to be worked on baby book/journal)

Books to be read….including one which is to be a fall book group with my far flung reader friends…SORRY, ladies. My name is really Slacker.

A piece of artwork to be reattached…

And these are just a few of the obvious things—-places I spotted on a recent trip around the house. There are plenty of bigger projects, some pretty important, like assembling documents to have on file in order to substitute with the local school district, that have deadlines. And yet… And yet…. And yet…. Many I don’t attempt, start or even allow myself to contemplate. When did I become “this” person?

I am coming to think that it is a choice. A choice to momentarily let go. To sit and zone out on Pinterest. Or watching Project Runway. Or just rubbing my tired eyes while nursing a glass of water…or miraculously, wine.

And sometimes it feels like a Catch 22. I can make list after list after list and have days where I cross everything off, run 10 errands at 100 mph and all the things pictured above seem to slowly, but surely happen again. The ever blessed cycle. The circle of life. The reality of being human and living with littles. Life is organic, always growing, shifting, adapting, changing and moving. And while my head is spinning with to dos that seem crucial {HELLO!!!! Christmas is mere weeks away….}, sometimes waiting and purposely NOT attacking the to do list might be the best response.

Why do we beat ourselves up over these things, or better yet, hide them from others?? Don’t we ALL have these loose ends? Why don’t I soothe myself instead, with the things I DID get done? Drew’s first birthday party, a big photography card job, getting my TB test, creating and hanging fun Halloween decorations, making it to the pumpkin patch, doing the laundry (even if it didn’t get put away!), making meals for my family. Listing all of that doesn’t push away what still waits, though. The reminder that you need so many more positives to replace the negatives.

So, let’s start the weekend off with some positive self talk. When the sweet “kid”/checker in Trader Joes asked me all sorts of energetic questions about my “upcoming, relaxing weekend”, I snorted inside, died a little death and laughed. Ahhhhhh, the sweet. The young. The innocent. Weekend? Well, it just looks different. Not bad or worse, just different. Lazy Sunday afternoons, spent reading said magazines, while drinking hand squeezed lemonade? Gone. In its place is amazing insanity. Exhaustion after chasing the boys. Then evenings for which I’m too tired to tackle the to dos.

And for now, as hard as it is to let things go, I. Am. OK. With. It.

Hopefully we can ALL extend grace to ourselves and each other….and flip our perspective!

“Grace must find expression in life, or it is not grace.”. —Karl Barth

The Project, Take Two….

My organizing, purging, and cleaning bug has been in full effect this week. Something took over after the pantry project and I couldn’t stop until I’d combed every cupboard and cranny in the kitchen.

This drawer, in particular, was keeping me awake at night….seriously….what was IN there?? Closer look???

Then there is the other various cabinets and drawers…

Those corner hexagonal corner cabinets are TRICKY! (at least that’s my excuse)

BBQ tools, anyone?

Here are the same tools, laid out so we can clearly see we have TWO of each implement.

Can’t see the baking supplies, pans, muffin tins, cooling racks, you say? Here’s the same view with the lovely harsh glare of the the flash!

Did you see this mini muffin tin hiding in there? Ended up giving this away to my friend’s garage sale. Cute, have used it a few times, but really….not worth the storage space for me. Would rather share the wealth.

This cabinet wasn’t too bad, but who needs THAT many kid plates, bowls, water bottles, and cups???

Too many utensils!!!!!!!!!!

So as I did with the first project, the pantry cabinet, I cleared everything out, sorted things into categories, purged duplicate and unnecessary items and cleaned out the empty drawers….

Ahhhhh….simplicity.

And then I began to put things back with the help of some drawer organizers I already had.

Found four wine bottle openers (we always forget one on trips and end up buying one). So….two will be repurposed, one in each glove compartment of our cars so we won’t have to buy a new one again!

Ended up using an empty drawer in our glass cabinet to store serving utentils, utilizing a cloth napkin to soften the blow. Poor spoons…no harsh, cold, wooden drawer for you!

And all the tupperware? Safely contained in that previously scary drawer, shown in the first picture of this post….

And a brief view of the kid drawer for now. I’m sure this will evolve and change and I plan to get rid of a few more items from this area (when Alex, my hoarder, isn’t looking).

Sadly, I forgot to take before pictures of the spice shelves and the freezer, my other two conquests. I guess I was rushing to finish during Drew’s nap. BUT, trust me, that spice shelf was NASTY, impossibly crowded and filled with expired and duplicate spices. I laughed to myself finding a jar that expired in 2007——-until I found one that expired in 2003! Yes, TWO THOUSAND THREE!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s the after of the shelves of spices and condiments and such….

{I am still coveting the magnetic spice containers from the Container Store…

….but I’m holding myself back. What we have will work for now. And what we already have is FREE. That is always better than spending money!}

Seeing that picture of the spice cabinet now, I’m kicking myself that I don’t have a before picture. Seriously….there was NO room in there and the lazy susan was so full of items it had a hard time spinning without wheezing out its last breath.

I moved and organized a few more items up above the stove, especially rarely used vinegars and spices.

I made quick labels with post its (as I mentioned earlier, the labeller tape ran out…yes, I know…BAD form). I also posted lists on the doors of what was actually in those “rarely used spices” containers. Hopefully it will keep me from buying Thyme again. I found THREE containers, two of which were unopened. Sinner!!!!!!

Sadly the other thing I found while working up there, above the stove, was this….

Sick, disgusting, sticky and gooey. The hood over the stove was GROSS.

Enter….Bar Keeper’s Friend.

This stuff seriously works some magic. The hood will need even more elbow grease (not MEAT GREASE!) than I already put in, but I had to call it quits for today.

Finally, I tackled the freezer. This post, from one of my favorite blogs, I Heart Organizing, was really inspiring for me. Especially as my husband frantically digs through the drawers for frozen baby food as said baby is trying to get to everything first. Ice cubes litter the area and peas typically are flying due to opened bags. There was no rhyme or reason to the freezer. Basically we just shoved things in and hoped for the best.

Again, didn’t get a before picture, but here’s the first run….

(think we have enough ice packs?????)

And then today, I hit up the local dollar store and got a few things to help corral things in the freezer, inspired by that previous post.

Sidenote: While checking out at the dollar store, the man in front of me was purchasing $292 worth of canned pineapple and fruit cocktail. And they were on special, 2 for a $1. Yes, that’s right, mathematicians….584 cans of fruit!!!!!!!! The checker was sweating and laughing as she rung up my $8 purchase.

So, here’s the redo with the baskets. Matt and I also ate a few items for lunch. Nothing like sorting to make you realize how much you already have on hand to eat.

These projects cost a whopping $8.66 for a few additional baskets to help tame the shelves and freezer and $1.49 to buy cumin at Trader Joes. Still want to grab nutmeg, but after learning about grating actual nutmeg nuts while in Italy ten years ago, I just haven’t had the heart to buy the ground stuff again. Anyone know where to buy the real deal??

So, for now, this organizing maven (haha) is going to take a little breather and hang with the chitlins who will no doubt mess with everything I just organized. Oh, well, we’re always evolving, eh? Here’s a link to all things organizing on my Pinterest page. Unfortunately, it just gets me thinking about what space to conquer next!