Bite Sized Morsels

I helped lead my Sunday School class this last week.  When I do that, I get to choose what we talk about.  So, I usually try to pick something that really speaks to me.

Normally, I go poke around the Proverbs 31 Ministries site and pick one, but this time, someone had posted one on Facebook that I really connected with.

It was called An Uncluttered Woman, by Gwen Smith.

To really paraphrase here, it talked about simplifying life.  It talked about facing the 10 bazillion things we need to do each day and being left dizzy and sick.  She referenced Matthew 6:33 about seeking God and the devotion closed with this prayer:

Dear God, Thanks for reminding me that I can always come to You and trade in my exhaustion for Your rejuvenation. Please bring order to my day and establish my priorities according to Your will. Teach me what it means to live a Spirit-led life and show me how to become an uncluttered woman.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.

Trading my exhaustion for rejuvenation sounds fantastic!!!

However, I still have a tendency to twirl around every which way and see all the needs to be done.  I get overwhelmed, both mentally and physically. 

So, what do I do?  Nothing.  

I sit and watch NCIS reruns and think to myself, I will just tackle it all....later.  When later does come everything is worse than it was before.  I get overwhelmed and depressed and give up again.

It is a vicious cycle.

The "uncluttered" part of the devotion reminded me of the decluttering that we had to do before we sold our houses.  Boy, oh boy, was that a pain in the butt.  We packed up at least half of what we owned and put stuff away or threw it away.  The counters were clear.  The toys and books were put away out of site.  Dishes and pots and pans were not allowed to stack up in the kitchen, because you never knew when that call for a last minute showing would come.  We always had to be prepared, or at the very least "almost" prepared.  

The kids came to dread the words "show ready".  But, you know what?  It was also sort of wonderful. The house looked great.  It felt great.  Cleaning hardly took anytime, because it never got really out of control and super messy.

We learned to do silly things like:

Make our bed as soon as we got out of them.

Load the dishwasher right away.

Fill the sink with soapy water and just wash those pots/pans, even if there were only 2 - instead of 20.  
Not let the kids have free reign when playing with any and all of their toys.

Wipe those spatters on the bathroom mirrors.

Don't let the toothpaste get hard and crusty in the sink.


We were able to tackle the little things before they became big things.....and it made things easier.

We talked about the beauty of decluttering and simplifying in my Sunday School class and the fact that even though we all know how great it can be, it just still seems so overwhelming.  One of the ladies spoke up and reminded us of the story of how to eat an elephant.  One bite at a time.

I can handle that, I think.

But, then I start looking around my house (that has gotten completely out of control since my thyroid surgery.)  I mean MY room is an actual mess.  That hasn't happened in this house since we moved in.  But, once again, it has become the place to put the stuff that nobody knows where it goes.

I felt like I was standing in the middle of my life whirling and twirling and seeing all the stuff that needed to be done.  Dirty windows.  Lesson planning.  Mopping the floor (but first scraping the sticky goo off).  Curriculum choices.  Dirty light switches.  Organizing school cupboards.  The blue tape that has been on my wall, marking studs so I can hang some of my family heirlooms.  It has been stuck there since....hmmmm......probably February. (I am sort of funny about not wanting to make too many holes in my walls when hanging pictures - so I try to be really sure before I commit to hanging things!) Then, I started thinking about not reading my Bible everyday anymore.  I thought about not eating right and gaining all my weight that I lost last year back.

Once I started looking around, I saw thing after thing after thing that I should be doing and decided that one bite at a time might be too much.So, I have decided that instead of taking on my world one bite at a time, I am going to do something else.

You know when you take your kids out to DQ for ice cream and they get a cone.  Pretty soon, there ice cream is just dripping and melting down the sides, so you swoop in and grab the cone and take the quick lick and swipe around the edges and hand it back to them to finish quickly?

I am going to do that.  Take things one lick at a time.  Swooping in, taking care of the immediate melting mess and move on.  LOL

So, I decided that I was going to start Monday.

And, I did.

I decided to start by cleaning off the chair in my bedroom....and the pile of clothes that had magically appeared there.

You see, when we got back from our road trip at the middle of July, I never unpacked my suitcase.  I just plopped it on my chair and when necessary, I dug stuff out of it.  Then, when I washed clothes and didn't feel like putting my stuff away right away, they were just added to the suitcase on my chair.  Sometimes when I took my clothes off, I would toss them there too and not into the dirty clothes - so then I wasn't sure what was dirty and what was clean.  Then, I went to visit a friend and she gave me some hand me down clothes - for me.  Yay!  Onto the chair/pile they went and what didn't fit there went onto the floor nearby - so the shadow from the pile on the chair didn't scare me in the middle of the night.

At one time, I had had thoughts of decluttering my closet and going through my wardrobe before I put those things away....which is why everything just sat there.

So, I decided to take it in bite sized morsels....or, my new way....a quick lick around the sides....and just put everything away.  I got out a stack of hangers and put them all away.  As I did this, I kept getting sidetracked by competing thoughts:

I should just go through my closet now.

Look at all these shoes.  I should go through those too.

Hmmm....what are in these bins?

Why do I still have so many sweatshirts here in Georgia?

Wow!  I need to vacuum.

I should rearrange my furniture and put the chair on the other side of the window.

I think you get the general idea, but I kept reminding myself not to get overwhelmed and really and truly just do one small portion of the work I had waiting for me.  So, I hung up all those clothes and put away the suitcase....and walked away.

It felt great.  Yes, I will still need to do all the things that I mentioned above - get rid of clothes and shoes.  But, it is okay that I didn't do it first.  I did manage to easily find 2 shirts that I wanted to give away to charity.  Yay me!  The other ones that will require more thought, or me actually trying stuff on to see if it fits/looks good are going to have to wait for another day.

That was my first attempt at really just giving myself permission to just do a little bit.  It is a foreign concept for me.  I am used to jumping in and getting stuff done and if you are around me when I am in the zone.....look out.  But, I haven't been in the zone for a long time.

But, really, I have had great success so far this week, reminding myself just to take a lick or bite (if I have time/energy) of whatever job is waiting for me.

Just washing pots and pans - and not having to wipe down every surface and clear off the island.  Or, just clearing off the island and wiping it down, but not loading/unloading the dishwasher.  Or, just tackling the pile of books and papers next to my chair....only next to my chair....not every single stray book or pile of papers that exists around here.

Yes, there are still a LOT of things around here that I need to get done, and even though I have 6 kids and there will just always be some sort of chaos surrounding me, things are getting done.  And, really, I will never have a spotless house, nor do I want one.

But, things are getting done.  Little by little.  It just makes me feel better.  Makes me feel like less of a loser.   Bite by bite.  Lick my lick.

Even if it is something stupid like putting my own clothes away.

Yay me, right?

Interested in an Interview Where the Subject is Me?

Yet another cool thing for me in 2015!

I was asked to be interviewed over at Homemaking Organized - Make Then Feel At Home.  She has lots of good ideas for keeping your home a peaceful and organized place.

My interview is mostly about what a "typical" day looks like for us....school-wise and homemaking-wise.

Check out my interview here.  I feel so.....official, or something.

Keeping It Real....and Perhaps a Little....TMI

This morning, I was standing at our copier making some copies for our school day.  As I waited for the printer to warm up, my eyes wandered to the areas that I could see from my printer.

I started an internal, silent rage.....at my children.

Uggg......

Kids book, bigger kid book, embroidery thread for bracelet making....

Kid book, Ziploc baggie with an unmade craft, plastic golf ball, empty cocoa container, empty plastic bag, and a....knife....

One croc....honestly....the other one was nowhere that I could see....nowhere!

Captain America shield, Guitar Hero guitar (we don't even have any video games), 2 socks....that don't match each other, a pair of broken headphones, 2 box/suitcase thingies....and, well, my shoes.

Body spray/spritzer, the rubbery part of swimming goggles, a Christmas coloring book, a piece of a baby toy and a very old package of baby wipes (seriously...not even sure where those came from....we have been out of diapers for about 2 years now!)


So, you get it, right?  I was silently seething.  I mean, how hard is it to put things back where they belong? Where did they get this idea that you don't need to put things back where they belong?

We finally have a house that has room for us....and our stuff....there are places for just about everything now. Really.

I had worked myself into a really good lather about it.....they were going to get a stern talking to when they got up.

But, then.....I looked at my dining room table.  Those are L-girls' flip flops....ON the table....but that isn't what I saw when I first looked.  I saw the white thingie in front......

Yes, my friends, this is probably a bit of a TMI situation.....but that is my bra neatly folded and left on the dining room table.

No, I hadn't been folding laundry.

I had taken it off last night when we got home from church and wanted that puppy off and soon as I walked in the door....so I did the old Flashdance move and took it off while still fully clothed.....but my room....waaaay down the hall.....seemed too far away.

So, I folded it up and put it there.....just for now....and there it was this morning......saving my children from one of mom's lectures.

I guess I know where they get it from.

Sigh.

Motivated Moms

This is a review for Motivated Moms.....specifically, Motivated Moms Ebooks.



If you are a mom, do you consider yourself "motivated"?

If you are anything like me, the answer is a resounding....

"Sometimes!"

I really am fantastically organized and motivated to get things done....sometimes.

I am a list maker, except when I am not. 

I love my lists!

But, they end up written on whatever I have laying around at the time.

They look like this.

and this....

And, if I don't keep close track of them, I lose them....or a helpful soul ends up throwing it away because it looks like garbage.....because they are usually written on the back side of something.

Remember the movie Jerry McGuire and the line Renee Zellweger says to Tom Cruise..."You had me at Hello"? 

Well, Motivated Moms had me at, "The system is designed to help you complete chores and tasks throughout the year so that you don’t spend your entire day doing housework."  (Italics emphasis from me   )

When I was selected for the review, I got to choose the format that I would prefer.  You know, like half-page or full page....with Bible readings or not.....color.....black and white.

I chose full page, black and white, with Bible readings.  Like this:

(See?  I still made a few of my own notes....plus, I apparently spilled something on this....but, it is still better than my lists, right?)

Here are a few of the other layout options:









I downloaded the full year to my computer, but I only printed a month at a time.  That works well for me because it didn't seem so daunting.  Plus, Rainman and I  sit down monthly and work on our budgets, so it was helpful to have this in case there were cleaning supplies, furnace filters, or something we would need during the upcoming month.

Did I like my Motivated Mom planner?

Definitely.

Did I follow it perfectly?

No, I did not.

Some of the tasks on the lists made me smile, like "Pamper yourself"....because you know we moms need approval/permission to do something nice for ourselves. 

Sometimes, they made me smile because it was so obvious that the things needed to be done, but I wouldn't have necessarily thought of until it was too late.

Things like:

Pull dead leaves off plants.  (something I don't usually do until there is a whole pile of crunchy leaves on the floor)

Replenish stock of toilet paper in bathrooms (something that doesn't happen until we are caught yelling for someone to bring us a roll....to be answered with....we are all out!)

Clean out vehicle (something that doesn't happen until the total embarrassment of the avalanche of falling papers, crayons, books, socks, shoes and jackets reaches epic proportions!)

Clean out purse/wallet (something that doesn't happen until between the kids and I, so much stuff has been shoved in that it won't close anymore!)

Clip the kids fingernails (something that now that I have so many kids usually doesn't happen until I spot their long, dirty, fingernails when we are out in public somewhere and they are pointing something out to strangers.)

The Motivated Moms Planner has the specific daily chores listed, but on the left side of the paper, there is also a list of basic daily chores that probably need to be done.....things that if they were actually done daily.....would alleviate a lot of stress in my life.

• Make beds
• Load/Run/Empty dishwasher
• Sweep Kitchen
• Wipe out kitchen sink
• Plan dinner
• Quiet time

Even though I didn't follow this life planner perfectly, the beauty of it is that it takes the thinking work out of planning.  Yes, I still had to add a few of my own personal things onto my lists, like paying sports fees, or work projects, but, for the most part....it did the "pre-thinking" for me.

I was really looking forward to having the Bible readings all picked out for me.  I had dreams of getting back in the habit of daily Bible time, quiet time, and prayer time. 

The unfortunate part for me was that I happened to join the Motivated Moms planner during the slightly "boring" Bible verse time.  You know, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.  I know it makes me sound like a bad Christian, and I know that God included these in the Bible for a really good reason.  I am just not "motivated" by most of these passages. 

But, what it did do for me was get my Bible in my hand.  So, I would read (or skim  ) the assigned reading and then flip somewhere else with the hope that I would get some new inspiration for the day. 

No matter what, it is better than what I was doing before.  Nothing.

There are a total of 16 choices for Motivated Moms ebook planners, as well as "app" choices.  I don't know....is "app" an actual word?  Could I just use it without the quotation marks? 



Even if you don't end up using one of their planners, the Motivated Moms website has a lot of good information.  Head over to the Additional Resources tab and you will see recommended readings (most are clutter/organization related with some financial planning thrown in too), homeschool products the creators like, baby,children and cloth diapering resources, and lots of miscellaneous stuff that doesn't fall into a neat category.

But, even if you aren't a natural list maker like me, give the Motivated Moms planners a try.  You can go take a look at sample pages from all the different formats.  There might be one that is just right for you.

You can try out one of Motivated Moms Planners for $8.  Or, if you are hi-tech, the apps for iPhone are $1.99 and the apps for Android are $7.99.

Take a look at how other people on the TOS Crew used their Motivated Moms planners.