Project Simplify Day 1: Organizing Papers

So even though the project doesn't technically start until today, I tried to get a head start yesterday just be cause I was home... Uugh.  I don't think we are off to a good start, but I do have an idea of how to start.

I did get some good ideas:

Organize our schedule.  I went out a bought a new yearly calendar that hangs from the fridge and fits in the front of the pockets when it needs to travel.  It needs to hang on the fridge so the whole family can reach it to add important information.  My oldest is responsible for giving us notice of the days he wants to eat school breakfast (or lunch) and Dad-Dad works random hours on random days.  I have plenty of late meetings and doctors appointments too.  When we keep a calendar, we do very well with scheduling time.

You can also see our new way of organizing our artists' work.  I've placed page protectors on clip magnets for the boys to put their art in.  When they want to switch out the art, they can do it without adding more to the fridge.  It forces them to make the decisions.  I also like that I can take a page protector off the fridge and put it right into their binders!  I have a binder for each of them.. the youngest only has artwork, but the older has school work and Honor Roll certificates, report cards, and his school pictures.  It forced us to pare down the amount of paper in the wicker basket on the fridge, which is now empty! :-)

Organize new papers coming in.  I bought a  13-pocket portfolio for $13 for the counter and shredder to leave in the garage for those junk mail items with sensitive information like account numbers, pre-approval notices, those checks that credit cards send, etc.  I am very good about dumping junk mail, but I don't want to throw some of these things right into our curbside bin. Now I can ditch the junk outside without compromising security.  For the portfolio, each month is labeled with the month and when a new paper comes in (field trip, class party, car registration, etc.) it gets put into the correct pocket and written on the calendar.  This was called a "tickler file" and I saw it at Simple Mom. Even my green bowl is neat and decluttered!  This is where I keep spare keys, my sun glasses, things to mail, etc.  The white divider to the right of the bowl came from Staples too and holds my meal planner, restaurant coupons, gift cards, and coupon organizer.

So now I have a bit of a system, NO MAIL ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER, and a calendar hanging on the fridge where it should be. :-)  So maybe I didn't organize the playroom yet, but I have gotten a start on controlling our lives.

Project Simplify: BEFORE Pictures

In interest of full-disclosure, I decided to take pictures of our entire house to show BEFORE Project Simplify.  Now that I've actually taken a good look at the pictures, I feel numb at the amount of work needed.  Some of the pictures remind me of the show Hoarders!  I'm not happy about that at all.

I am pleased that I have an accurate view of our mess though.  I see room for improvement.  I also see areas that are working, which makes me feel good.  I know we can do this!! :-)

The images are here:

Full Disclosure: BEFORE

Gearing Up for Project Simplify March 2012!

So even though I'm still sick and Ry has had pink-eye (cleared up, going back to school tomorrow) I am very excited about this weekend!  His weekend begins Project Simplify, a four-week clean-up and organization project from Simple Mom.  

Every week I (and the family) will work on one cluttered place in order to make it work better and feel more relaxing... Who wouldn't want that?

The schedule:

§                      Week of March 5: Kids’ stuff 

This will be the playroom.  It's not really that bad as far as everything having a place, it's just super packed full of toys with little room to play.  This means all the toys are brought out into the living room, which then becomes a huge mess.  With the baby coming, we really have to start working on keeping the tiny Legos out of reach and trippy, slippy cars out of the walkway.  I'm especially worried about the "purge" part of the clean-up... What kid WANTS to get rid of a toy?

§                      Week of March 12: Kitchen and/or pantry

This will be the office closet used for food storage.  Again, it's not like there isn't enough room, I just haven't been able to get to it since O's birthday when most of the toys got moved in.  It's also a good time to take inventory and start stocking up again.  It's almost embarrassing how long it's been since I really went grocery shopping... Though I am proud of how long we have been able to eat off of our food stores! :-)

§                      Week of March 19: Closets, countertops, and drawers

Most definitely MY CLOTHES.  I am truly embarrassed at the mess of my clothing in the corner of my room.  Here I do have to say I just don't have enough storage space.  Since pulling out my maternity clothes at the beginning of the month, I have yet to put anything non-maternity in the Salvation Army pile OR in the closet... bad, right? :-(  I do anticipate needing some shelves or another dresser, but I'm not to keen on the idea of buying one.  I'll have to keep this in mind as the weeks progress.

§                      Week of March 26: Choose your own adventure

Oh, for sure the garage!  What a mess... We have enough sporting equipment to open our own Sports Authority!  With Dad-Dad's reffing, coaching, and playing AND Ry's playing baseball and soccer we have so much stuff in the garage.  Thankfully the gardening things are all in the backyard shed (neat and organized thank you) so we don't have to worry about pesticides and * eek* dirt!  LOL We have to get at least one bike up on hooks along with some of the bigger sports bags... I'm sure buying shelves will be on the to-do list.  I've already started pricing them.  I just wish Closetmaid still made the free-standing shelf for over the washer and dryer!  Dad has them in his garage, and i am NOT a fan of the flimsy hook-to-your-washer kind that replaced it...

I really am looking forward to this challenge and plan on posting before and after pictures.  Wish me luck!!!

The Flu Finally Hit Us...

So far this year we have been very fortunate to not get sick.  We rarely get very sick, but no one wants to get sick at all, so it's a bit of a bummer.  I felt in coming on Saturday night and by Sunday I had the sniffles, sneezing, and watery eyes so typical of a cold.  I also had the aches and pains of the flu...

I hoped the boys would miss it completely, but no luck... Ry was sent home from school today with a watery/gunky eye.  Poor guy.  I hate seeing the kids sick.  He seems to be doing alright, playing and eating just fine, but school wants him to stay out for another day and asked for a doctor's note.  So, off to Kaiser we go.  His appointment is at 7:15.  That's what I really love about Kaiser: I can call after I get off work and have a pediatrics appointment for the same evening.  See if another doctor can offer the same service! :-)

So I found this amazing resources at Melissa Fallis Test Kitchen and just had to try it...

The idea of prepping meals once and having food for a week is something I've tried to do in the past, but the simplicity of this particular plan won me over.  As an added bonus, each recipe was something my family and I would eat. (i.e. no shrimp, mushrooms, or other icky stuff)  She starts with the shopping list, naming easily available fresh produce and the common pantry staples I already have on hand (well, except instant tapioca but I'm willing to overlook that one).  Next comes the prep directions, which I admittedly stuck to even though I should have been more than capable of figuring out how to cut up my ingredients. :-)  I am definitely not a measuring cup/spoon kind of person so I found the units of "two carrots" and "half the bell pepper" refreshing.

So after about $75 and just over an hour of chopping and bagging I had eight ready to freeze meals!   Amazing, right?  I have two teriyaki chicken dinners, two vegetable beef soup dinners, two BBQ chicken dinners, and two beef stew/ goulash dinners that require little more than tearing open a bag in the morning and heating in the crockpot.  Tonight will be teriyaki chicken with pineapple and rice... it's already in the crockpot and I can't wait to get home and taste it.  This may just give me enough motivation to stock the freezer before this baby comes, although I do really like eating out some times. :-)

Not My Ideal Four-Day Weekend

So this four-day weekend was sounding like a lot of fun.  We agreed to take one of the cousins for the four days because Aunty was taking a couple of the kiddos to a soccer tourny.  I was a bit miffed to find out that Uncle was not only not working this weekend but also going along for the vacation.  I think if anyone deserves a vacation, it's him but...

Anyway, M is very close in age to Ry so I knew they would have fun.  I was just NOT expecting all the fighting! :-(  They have been bickering for three days straight and tomorrow will be the same I'm sure.  They fight over who will be player one, who can jump the highest, who gives better noogies?  Really guys?  Can't you just go play something else?

This morning I got to stay in my bedroom until 11 and Dad-Dad took over... Did I mention that he has been gone all weekend?  Friday was a baseball game where he was keeping score and didn't get home until 6:30.  Saturday was supposed to be a 10 AM referee job and a 2PM referee job that also extended into a 6PM referee job.  He saw nothing wrong with just letting me know "there was a change of plans."  Aaargh.  Not cool.  You would rather tell me  "too bad" than tell someone you don't know that you can't stay for a third game?  Really?  Thanks.  I ended up bringing all three boys to the 6 PM game for something to do, but of course had to referee their fighting in the cold instead of watching the game.  I guess I got my point across though, since I did get to stay in hiding until 11 this morning, which means he cancelled his 10 AM game for today.

Of course, instead of just taking the 2PM game he told me about, Dad-dad just posted to FB that he has a 2Pm AND a 4PM game today... What?!!!  Thanks again. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of you letting me find out through FB.

Fast forward to now, the TV has been off of almost an hour because the two big boys couldn't stop fighting over controllers and which way to go and... whatever.  Ry has fallen asleep in his room and M is playing with little O.  They keep wandering in and trying to turn on the TV but have gotten turned away three times.  I like the new arrangement.  it's quieter and I needed the break.  If only it weren't so cold outside.  I can't get anyone to agree to going to the park... I'm afraid for tomorrow. :-(

Another one of those days...

Here is another day when I'm at work, thinking about what I'm paid to do, and I am so incredibly immersed in my job that home doesn't cross my mind but for a few seconds at a time.  The guilt is piling up today.

When it started raining, my thought was, "Oh, I should turn off the sprinklers for a few days."
When I went to lunch, "I wonder what Dad-Dad and O are eating for lunch.  Suppose they went with Papa?"
When my coworkers started talking about names for the baby (John Paul, Benedict, etc.) I just wanted them to stop...

I know it's good for my to be absorbed in my work when I am here.  My dad is always talking about how much easier work is when you tell yourself that you like it.  I do enjoy a challenge.  I just feel so guilty when home rarely crosses my mind.

I think abut how it would be if I did think about home all day, and I know I would be miserable wanting to go home.  I just have a hard time some times feeling so disconnected.  Shouldn't I, as a mother, be thinking about my kids all day?  Shouldn't I be home with them, doing homework packets and making PB&J sandwiches in cute shapes?  That's what a significant number of my friends do while their husbands go to work all day...

Am I being selfish by leaving the house in the morning and staying out all day?  Am I neglecting my kids?  Just the  thought of that makes me want to cry.

My answer always seems to be the same: I'm doing what's best for our family, not someone else's family.  My work provides us a mortgage payment, medical coverage, good vacation time, and the ability to increase pay at regular intervals.  As far as I can tell, it's an ideal job for someone in my position... I love that Dad-Dad can stay home with the boys and be involved in play dates and soccer.  I know a lot of Ry's friends won't see their dads all day, and that makes me feel good that he can be a role model for those kids as well.  I see my boys and know they are happy and healthy and doing well.  I guess what I keep asking myself is, "Could I do such a good job staying home with them?"  Then when I answer honestly, I have to ask myself, "What's wrong with me that I can't?  Why can't I be that parent and do just as good a job?"  My saving answer is that I could.  I have to tell myself that with practice and time I could be that parent...  But that answer is irrelevant.

I know I didn't set out to be the parent who works outside of the home the most.  I know I didn't set out to be the primary earner.  I'm just very thankful that I can be that parent.  Not just because my work allows me to grow and learn, but because my family benefits from what I do.  I think that's why I also love that Dad-Dad has so many opportunities to cover events and do his writing jobs.  I know he hated the desk work and "inflation," so this is is a way for him to get to do those things that make him happy.

So now, after such a long deliberation and a few tears, I'm back to thinking that I'm doing the right thing... I just know it will come back around again, hopefully not too soon.