Thursday, July 30, 2009

speed update

Going like the clappers. Thinking longing thoughts of sitting at the computer to tell you all about it but am too busy living it at the moment!

All are tossing off the end of head colds.

Anna has a tooth.

Christopher has all his teeth (at last) and can say "strawberry" and is a force of nature.

Billy has discovered a love of jigsaw puzzles and is even more tender hearted these days for some reason. Still totally in love with the idea of being a diary farmer.

Erin now does the breakfast dishes and is insanely proud of that fact.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Home Organisation Tips

This is a snippit from this weeks Old Schoolhouse newsletter. Worth signing up to if you aren't already.


The Familyman
Todd Wilson, Familyman Ministries


Having me talk about decluttering a house is like having . . . Ruth Beechick talk about the reasons why you should send your kids to public school. It goes against my slob nature. But because I just hate leaving my "familyman space" blank, here are a few tips I shared in the Spring issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine:

So here it is: The Familyman's Guide to Home Organization.

1. If you haven't worn it since high school, throw it out.
2. If an undergarment has more than 6 holes in it, throw it out . . . unless it's your husband's, which is good for up to 20 holes.
3. If you pick it up and don't know what it is, toss it.
4. Do not purchase or accept a game or craft with the word "pieces" on it.
5. To help in the organization process, consider giving up your children for adoption.
6. Flypaper strategically hung around the house works like hangers for those hard-to-store items.
7. The space under the bed is meant to conceal things. In fact, if you place one concrete block under the foot of each leg on a king-sized bed, it increases that space by 60 cubic feet, virtually eliminating all bedroom clutter.
8. By frosting the door of a shower stall, it can double as a food pantry.
9. Forget those 25 10-gallon plastic containers, which will end up empty in about six days anyway . . . instead get one big 250-gallon plastic container.
10. By placing TWO concrete blocks under the foot of each leg on a king-sized bed, you can store most of the contents of your garage, including a riding lawnmower and industrial-strength snow blower.

And above all . . .

Be Real,

Monday, July 27, 2009

I'm back

After a fortnight of full on cleaning, sorting, organising, dusting, scrubbing, laundry, shelving, unpacking, rearranging AND my Mum coming to stay for the past week to help....

it still ain't all done.

Nobody told head colds, coughs, teething, tummy troubles, behaviour issues, meal times, bath times, bedtime routines, LIFE, that I was taking a break to get organised and regroup. So it all kept happening and rather than retreating into my comfort zone, the soft, mailable, world of words, I went hard core and kept on living it. It can be a temptation to research life instead of living it. To fill my life with online friends, blogs, forums and web pages instead of tending to my OWN home and my OWN family.

It is always good to get perspective.

The work hasn't stopped. I am keeping on going until it is all done, and blogging will have to just move down the priority list. So I will only blog on days with T in them! Starting.......Tomorrow ;)

For a moment, I am stopping to do a happy dance. Feel free to join me!

Amidst the head colds, coughs, teething, tummy troubles, behaviour issues, meal times, bath times, bedtime routines, and LIFE my book shelves are full and organised. Books that haven't seen the light of day (or a good shelf at least) for almost a decade are now on my lovely new shelves. If the kids want to know what a catfish looks like, I just reach over to the "c" encyclopedia and SHOW them. If I want to know what herbs work well for tummy troubles, I just go to my family health shelf and check it out. I know it is terribly old fashioned of my in this age of Google, but I LOVE it.

I have also started to set up a craft corner with my sewing stuff and now I have found my cottons, I may even start up the sewing machine one of these days!

My mother has found the end of the laundry pile, an achievement worth celebrating mid winter believe me!

I am STARTING to feel moved in. And it has only taken a year or so!

I can't wait until it is DONE.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

techno-fast

I, the avid list, schedule and timetable maker, am going to quit talking about it for a fortnight or so and do it!

Going on the offensive on the chaos currently invading my house.

I'll be back on the 27th and NOT BEFORE.

Te fact that I want to blog all about what I am going to do this fortnight rather than just do it is kinda the reason I am hitting the off switch and I am NOT going to blog/check e-mail, post on forums, research....

Not even a bit.

even if I am tempted

which I am

stopping now

going

back soon.

*sigh*

I miss my computer already.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Have a great weekend



And please stop by the Lockwood Family and keep them in your prayers. Samuel has whooping cough which explains his health issues. He is in hospital again.

Monday, July 06, 2009

update

Erin: has a new punk rocker hairstyle after being left unattended with paper dolls and my scissors. She astounds me by being such a mature and level headed girl, advanced beyond her years, then completely and totally being an almost-five-year-old out of the blue! I can see her thought process (or lack thereof) that led up to the experiment, mainly because I have VIVID memories of doing exactly the same thing. Watching her is so often de ja vous. My mini-me, Bubble Head the next generation! She went to an exercise class at the school last Wednesday and caught up with some friends who she hasn't seen since last year. Happy as a pig in mud she was!

Billy: Continues to grow at an amazing rate. He has shown an interest in learning how to read. I am hoping to get him started once the latest round of chaos dies down a bit.

Christopher: has a real vocab now! I bought an Ergo baby carrier which he can (just) fit in. He is now often on my back as we make tea. It is just easier all 'round that way!

Anna: is shuffling around on a blanket and looking like she wants to roll over. Also a big chatter box is my girl. The last couple of days have been all over the place in terms of routine but I have high hopes of us getting back on track soon.

The house: has new bookshelves! We are currently (still) reorganising to take full advantage of this development. We are also in the midst of fitting a new back door as the glass in the old one got busted up over the weekend. When we first started talking about renovating I expressed my reservations about the hectic nature of renovator living. "They" said "oh it will be different when it is YOUR place, it will be all exciting". I would like to find "Them" and beat the nasty, stinky, liars with a big stick. It isn't exciting, it is dusty. There is all kinds of dust, plaster dust, saw dust, dirty dust, an we got 'em all. There is also doors and heaters being fixed in the middle of winter, "open style" living areas that let all the DUST get into EVERYTHING including the kitchen that has no cupboard doors, holes everywhere letting in mice who prefer the warmth of my BATHROOM (nay, my BATH TOWEL) to the windy wilds. There is also sitting up and trying to stay awake while holding things for Beloved Builder and wondering if boredom or sleep deprivation will kill me first. I thought it'd all be fine because I do not shrink from hardship. The thought of "roughing" it appeals to me, even now. But the constantly shifting nature of living in an incomplete renovation means navigating normal life becomes about as challenging as navigating through the shifting sands of the SAHARA. Complete with DUST. Have I mentioned the DUST yet? I hate DUST. The Pollyanna part of my brain says "oh it could be worse, you have a HOUSE! You could be living in a cardboard box." The rest of my brain says "yeah, well, there'd be less dust. Now shurrup before I hit you with a big stick."

But even I have to admit that the things Beloved has built for us are beautiful and when we reflect on the finished product it will be a thing to behold.

The garden: is a swamp, a frozen swamp at the moment. We need to do something about the drainage on this place.


Jess





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Saturday, July 04, 2009

I cried laughing...

For those of you who don't know, my sense of humor can be a little - um - dark sometimes.


Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Friday, July 03, 2009

Where have I gone?

Beloved bought bookshelves on the weekend.

I am currently rearranging the whole house (yet again!) finding MORE plaster dust and rediscovering the pleasure that is the Dewy Decimal System as I SHELVE BOOKS! It is also raining almost non-stop, the "good" washing machine keeps needing me to clean out the sediment from the back because of our untreated creek water getting stirred up by all the rain, Christopher is cutting two eye teeth, Billy ate enough mud to make himself throw up and Erin did a little unauthorized hair styling with my kitchen scissors last Monday so blogging not making it to the top of the list at the moment!