Organize Your Laundry Room

Updated with video link.

Look what I found on Terry's Focused Distractions blog. I guess there are others out there who know the secret!

How To Use an Ironing Board

I feel like it’s my duty to educate the public on how to use an ironing board. Apparently, I’m the only person who ever lived, besides the person who designed the ironing board that knows how to use one. Who knows? Maybe the designer didn’t even know. If there are others out there who do know the secret, we should start a support group. Maybe we could lobby congress for money to raise public awareness on the improper use of ironing boards.

First I iron a shirt using the tapered end of the ironing board. See how the shirt doesn’t even begin to fit on this end? Clearly this end was not made for ironing shirts. Now let’s look at our next case.

In this example I am ironing a skirt using the tapered end of the ironing board. Do you see how the skirt naturally follows the shape of this end of the board? Good.


In this photo I am ironing a shirt using the square end of the ironing board. See how the shape of the shirt almost exactly matches the shape of the ironing board? This is the correct procedure and it makes a lot more sense doesn’t it? Old way, bad. New way, good.

Now I expect you all to run to your pile of wrinkled clothes and iron them all correctly. Use the right end of the board for the right job. No, it will not be any more pleasurable than ironing the wrong way but you will get your ironing done more quickly and that could possibly bring you a small amount of happiness. Not as much as teaching your husband and children to iron their own clothes but we take what we can get in this business.


While we’re speaking of ironing, let’s do a whole Organizing thing in the laundry room. This is my laundry stool. I didn’t want to raise my machines up any higher because I wanted to be able to fold clothes on top of them. Bending over the get the laundry out is difficult for a cripple like me so I sit on my little laundry stool when I’m transferring clothes to machines and baskets. This saves my back. The stool also comes in handy here at the laundry tub when you are a short person.



The sink organizer is a shower caddy that I hung off the side. It holds my stain fighting scrub brush and liquid laundry detergent, lotion and toothbrushes until my bathroom sink is hooked up never. It has drainage holes in the bottom so wet things can drain into the sink.

This brings us to the next item in the photo, the RuckZuck drying rack. I’ve had mine for at least five years and let me tell you, it is made to last! I took it out of my old house and re-installed it here. Notice the strategic placement over the laundry tub. I can scrub the clothes and hang them to drip dry without any mess. I bought the longest version and if I had room in my laundry room I would buy five more. I would never have to use the dryer again! At the moment, I hang up all my delicates and anything that has lycra in it as it deteriorates in the hot dryer. That includes all my workout clothes and various other items. Yes, I could use a cool dryer but I don’t. I prefer to hang them since they dry quickly and they don’t wrinkle.

How To Get Out Stains – Use liquid laundry detergent you store in a small squirt bottle and a vegetable scrubbing brush. Not the same one you use on your vegetables. Splurge on a new one please! Wet the stain, squirt on the detergent and get to work with the scrub brush. I love my new laundry tub since it has a scrub board that I use most of the time instead of the brush. The stain may come completely out and it may not. Let it sit until laundry day and wash. Check it before you dry it because you may need to stain treat it again. Most of the time though. The stain will be gone. This includes, blood, mustard, chocolate, you name it. Persistence has to scrub her clothes almost every single day because she is somewhat of a slob. Or maybe she’s just six. At least now her clothes aren’t ruined every time she has a mishap. Happy scrubbing!

If liquid laundry detergent doesn't work, such as on paint or ink, then Biz Boil (all the popular people are doing it) may be your last resort. Happy boiling!

Burning Instead of Beauty

My sister confessed to me tonight how weird she thinks I am getting. What does she mean, getting? And then she laughed about it. Like, “I'm joking but not really”. Like, “When I tell my friends about you they ask me if you belong to some kind of cult.” No I don’t, but I’m thinking of starting one. The Homeschooling, Don’t Wear Makeup, Don’t Watch TV, Don’t Own A Dishwasher, Don’t Wear Jewelry, Cult. Ok that last one isn’t really me. Yet. I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking, “How vain do I want to be?” I’m reading the scriptures (Isaiah 3:16-26) and I don’t like the fates of the women with their fine adornment. I used to think I would get an “enhancement” after I was done having kids. Not anymore. Sorry Stranger. I don’t want to be that vain. Weird? Yes. Vain? No.

I am vain enough to go to the gym every night and kill myself there. But don’t forget. I call it “Taking Care of My Body”. I only made it three times last week because Stranger came for a visit. This week I missed Monday for a baseball game (we go for the tasty low fat food) and I missed yesterday for cleaning out the garage. Doesn’t that sound fun!

I’ve been so lazy the last couple weeks that I’m not even running after I lift weights. I’m sitting my butt on a recumbent bike (bikes for lazy people) so I can read while I work out. Well. I’m pretending to work out. I’m barely breaking a sweat but it counts doesn’t it? I spent 40 minutes tonight pushing my feet around in tiny circles. That has to count!

Dang. I know it doesn’t count. I’ll do better next time. I actually ran my goal of three miles two weeks ago so I need to try that again. I’ve decided that I need to stop telling people how much I work out. I’m thinking I’m cool but they’re thinking, “How sad that this woman is wasting so much of her time only to look like that! I think I should tell her to get a life.” People who work out every night but are still 40 pounds overweight are so not cool. Just sad. And weird.

I'm So Confused

I was surprised by this, this morning. I have never heard of anyone storing their drinking glasses by their fridge before. This is something I did in my last house and every single person looking for a glass was completely stumped by it. Glasses are supposed to go by the sink aren’t they? Well, not when you have an ice/water dispenser in your fridge. By the fridge is where we use them so by the fridge is where we store them.

I have another strange idea that I’m considering; labeling my kitchen drawers. It would be nice for the kids (I like to move things around and confuse everyone) and for visitors and heck, even for my tired brain sometimes. I found these . What do you think? Would you want to know exactly where the glasses were at my house, without asking?

It's Not a Blog, It's a Journal

Millie asked, “How have you conquered your bad time-wasting habits (if any)?”

I will admit that I used to be a TV enthusiast. I gave that up 8 years ago and we don’t have any television in our home. Recently I have also given up videos. I used to rent 2 or more every month. I don't rent them at all anymore. TV, movies, and lawn care are about the three biggest time wasters that I see on a daily basis.

Some might call blogging a waste of time but I can justify it by calling it a journal. I have written things about my kids that I wouldn't otherwise have written and I have taken photos that I wouldn't otherwise have taken.

I can pretty much justify everything I do. It’s easy! Try it! When I knit and sew and quilt then I am creating family heirlooms. When I workout I am taking care of my body. When I read I am educating myself as a home-schooling Mother. When I organize Organizing clubs, I am getting more organized in the process. I just want to say organize one more time.

My biggest problem now is that I’m doing all these “great” things when I should be spending more time doing things with my kids. Being with them all day every day isn’t enough. Nothing I do will ever be enough I suppose. That’s just the way it works with kids. You give and give and give and it is never enough. And then there is the guilt. There will always be enough of that.

I love Back-To-School

Not for the shopping and not because I get to send my brats off for someone else to deal with every day. We’re home-schoolers remember? And we have the hair cuts and rubber boots to prove it!

I love the fact that we can go to a movie matinee and get the entire theatre to ourselves. We celebrated Back-To-School by going to Zoom on Wednesday. Ok. The theatre wasn’t entirely empty. At the last minute a crowd of obnoxious Mothers and Toddlers stormed the place. I thought they would be distracting but it turned out that we had our very own laugh track. The Moms not the kids. Instead of laughing at the movie, we laughed at them. Apparently those Mothers weren’t there for their kids. I think they went home and blogged about what a hysterically funny movie they saw that day. I’m suspecting that each of them own every single Disney movie ever released. Again, the Moms. They probably cried over Lion King.

I love that all of your annoying children are in school so I don’t have to listen to my own annoying children asking, “Can I play with friends today?” Actually they will still be asking it but now I can reply, “No. All your friends are in school,” instead of being forced to make up a reason why they never get to have any fun. It’s a good thing we home school cause these kids are slow learners. How many years have we been home schooling now? 8? When are they finally going to figure out that other kids really do go to school? It’s not just an evil fairy tale concocted by their Mother to keep them from playing with friends.

I love that I get my children all to myself. Sure they are annoying brats but they are my annoying brats and I love ‘em. I can spend the day forcing them, whips cracking, to clean the house. Or I can spend the day sweetly reading to them on the couch while they bring me ice water to wet my parched lips. Nothing makes me happier than spending the afternoon reading with the darlings. When we head home from the library each week with our maximum allotment of books, I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about reading each and every one of those books with my children. I have learned to ignore the “Can you stand up while you read this one so you don’t fall asleep again?” pleadings. Well. They’re easy to ignore when you’re snoring.

The Lazy Organizer's Club

Thanks for attending our second meeting of The Lazy Organizer's Club! It’s fun to talk with women who are as interested in getting organized as I am. Do you like my sign to advertise for the club at Church? Yes, that is a giant paper clip! My dear friend Amy was so sweet to make it for me. (I don't scrapbook.) Even though “I’ve never helped her do a single thing in my entire life!” Apparently I’m lazy and SELFISH! Oh well, she loves me anyway.

Your homework for last time was to clean off the front of your fridge and gather up those piles that are accumulating on your kitchen counters. All of that clutter is going to get thrown away or organized into your new Lazy Paper Manager. For those of you waiting for the Apple Cobbler recipe, you can find it here. Victor says the picture looks disgusting but it tastes good!

Your homework for this month is to make your very own Lazy Organizing Kit. You have many options to choose from or make them all! Bring your Kit to show everyone at our September meeting. For any internet readers who want to play along, take a photo of yours and post a link here.


Here is my Traveling Organizer that includes the following list which is all included in this bag. I found my bag at Dillards 6 years ago for about $25. It’s large enough to hold everything I need but it didn’t have a shoulder strap. As soon as I was sufficiently annoyed by this, I came home and stole one off of a messenger bag and sewed it to my Traveling Organizer. I keep it by the back door. I can grab it as I’m walking out the door if I need to shower at the gym and it’s a big time saver to have all the essentials packed and ready to go when we travel. It also supplies me with back ups when I need them. One day my blow dryer broke so I grabbed the dryer out of my travel bag. The only thing I use that’s not in my bag is my hair straightener. I think $100 is a little too much to spend on a second straightener! If you use up anything from your bag make sure you add it to your shopping list or re-fill it as soon as you get home and start unpacking.

The Organized Traveler (Sorry about the commentary, I couldn’t help myself!)
1. Comb/Brush – for your unruliness
2. Hair clip/Elastic for your controlling-ness
3. Blow dryer/Extension cord for your dampness
4. Shampoo/Conditioner for your nappy-ness
5. Gel/Hair Spray for your stiffness
6. Bobby Pins for your secure-ness
7. Blush/Eye shadow for your beauty-ness
8. Lip Stick for your kissy-ness
9. Mascara for your flirty-ness
10. Foundation for your blemish-ness
11. Facial Cleanser/Lotion for your wrinkle-ness
12. Body Lotion for your scaly-ness
13. Deodorant/Body Spray for your stinky-ness
14. Tooth paste/Tooth brush/Dental floss for your anti-toothless-ness
15. Soap/Wet wipes for your grubbiness
16. Nail clippers/Nail file for your pointed-ness
17. Tweezers/Razor for your furry-ness
18. Earrings for your Highness
19. $20 cash/change for your stranded-ness
20. Sewing Kit/Safety pins for your button-less-ness
21. Facial Tissue for your snotty-ness
22. Feminine products/Spare skivvies let’s not talk about this one
23. Medical tape/Ace bandage for your wounded-ness
24. Cotton Balls/swabs for your waxy-ness
25. Band aids for your clumsiness
26. Baggies for your cleanliness
27. Cough drops for your sickness
28. Advil/Tylenol for your achy-ness
29. Claritin D for your sneezy-ness
30. Other medications dependant-ness
31. Power Bar for your hungriness
32. Scrubber w/liquid laundry soap for your sloppiness
33. 2 plastic shopping bags for your filthiness
34. Pocket knife for your trimness
35. Pen for your poetic-ness
36. Umbrella for your sprinkle-ness
37. Lighter for your I’m-cold-and-lost-in-the-wilderness

Here are some more kit ideas. Of course my Organizing Bags work wonderfully for these kits but you can also use a Zip-lock baggie or any other type of bag that will do the job. Add any of the above items along with these additional suggestions. I’m sure you’ll have many more ideas so please share!

The Organized Baby – Make a Lazy Organizer Bag to keep in the diaper bag or in the car for your baby. It might include baby Tylenol, wet wipes, baby powder, diaper rash ointment, a pacifier, a thermometer, etc.

The Organized Student – Make another one for the students in your life. Add band aids, safety pins, a comb, a hair elastic, tissues, cough drops, wet wipes, emergency phone numbers, spare change etc.

The Organized Swimmer – include shampoo, conditioner, comb, sunscreen, lotion, etc.

The Organized Purse – use this list.

The Organized Gym Bag – pretty much the same but you definitely need the body spray in this one!

The Organized Car- napkins, plastic utensils, carsick medicine, water bottle, sunscreen, pocket knife, etc.

The Organized Picnic - here

Have fun and Get Organized!

Organize Your Sibling Rivalry

I have a wise older sister. She’s short but she’s wise and she is the mastermind behind *Organize Your Sibling Rivalry. Well, I don’t think it has ever had an official name but I thought, with its importance in our lives, it needed its very own important sounding title. The concept of OYSR is that each child has his or her very own Week.

Let’s say it is your Week. You are the lucky winner of “You get to answer the phone!” In addition, you will receive the fabulous prize, “It’s your turn to sit in the front seat!” But that’s not all! You will also receive the following prizes.

You get to retrieve the baby from her naps!·
You get to unlock the van doors!·
You and you alone, will get to pour Mom’s water!·
You get to choose the video we rent!·
You get to push the shopping cart!·
If someone has a runny nose, you will get to wipe it! (That just slipped out. I don't think we've actually ever had a fight about who gets to wipe someone's nose but I wouldn’t be surprised if we did since the kids will fight about anything!)·
If there is a bug to squish, you will be the squish-er!·
You are the treat chooser!·
The food cutter!·
The timer setter!·
The this-er!·
The that-er!

There is really no end to the loot that you will be receiving for this extraordinary Week of your life but that still isn’t all! If, when your Week is over, it wasn't enough to bring life-long happiness to your tiny child-sized heart; you will also receive another special Week just like it in seven more days! That’s right! Every 14 days, for a Week, you will resume your rightful place as the center of the universe!

*Official Contest Rules
1. This contest is open to any children receiving food, shelter and life from the judges. Contestants who mope around the house refusing to answer the door or the telephone are excluded from this contest.
2. The prize is not redeemable for cash or pizza and must be accepted as awarded.
3. Decisions of the contest judge (Mom) are final – no substitutions will be available.
4. By claiming the prize, the winner authorizes the use of any funny or embarrassing stories and/or photographs of the winner for use in any manner or distribution which the judge deems appropriate.
5. If the winner cries, whines, throws fits or in any other way make the Judge’s life miserable when it is not their week then they may be subject to forfeiture of any and all future prize awards.

Now if that can’t cure sibling rivalry I don’t know what can but I only have two contestants of qualifying age. I don’t know how OYSR works with larger numbers who will have to wait longer between weeks. If you have twelve children then you are on your own!

Works for me!

Stop Credit Offers

When I was at Sam’s Club the other day I was given a receipt with a credit offer on it. It surprisingly had a phone number to call to have my name removed from these types of lists. I don’t know how much junk mail this will prevent. I’m wishing all of it! If you want to have your name removed as well, call 1-888-567-8688.

Organize Your Blogs

I know most of you already use a feed reader. For those of you who don’t, go to bloglines to get signed up and start subscribing. You can see at a glance which of your favorite blogs has published since your last visit. Just don’t forget your lazy organizer!

Organize Your School Shopping

This may be a little late for all but the most pitiful procrastinators (that would be me!) but I wanted to see how organized you all are. This is what my sister does.

Before they even begin their shopping, she goes through her kid’s closets with them. They try everything on for her. They get rid of anything that doesn’t fit or they don’t wear and then she makes a list of what they need to complete their wardrobe for the year. She takes her list shopping with them so they don’t come home with 3 more pairs of camo pants when they already have 4 in their closet. They don’t have to discover later that they now own 5 black tank tops. They have everything they need, they saved time and they saved money. Voila! Organized back to school!

I’ve never been back-to-school shopping with my kids. Since we home school I figured we didn’t need to. This year I decided we might be missing out on some splendid sales so I went. I was a miserable failure. For all the reasons that I have never been before. I just couldn’t focus with all those crowds and long lines. Nothing looked good. I didn’t know there were so many ugly clothes out there. Who is buying all this cheap-looking (in more ways than one), hideous stuff?

Persistence and I finally decided to give up and look at jewelry. I came home with a killer of a deal on a pair of gold earrings. I think next year we will go back to skipping the back-to-school sales. But good luck to the rest of you!

Is This Boy Funny?

Or is it just me? I mean. In an 8 year old sort of way. I realize I'm his Mother but I have almost no sense of humor so if I think something’s funny, it must be funny.

Is it ok to beg for comments if it's not for yourself? Please, please, please, go leave him a comment. He would be so deliriously happy! And me too since you would be encouraging a blogging addiction. I want to get them started young!

Organize Your Quilts

Are you
A. Lazy – you don’t want to fold up your quilts every time you use them. And
B. Organized – you don’t want your quilts to look like a mess every time you use them.

Then this idea is for you. Hang them! And I don’t mean hanging them neatly folded on a quilt rack. I mean taking two seconds to pick up a quilt and throw it over a hook on a peg-board that you made out of a cupboard door that came from an old house that your parents tore down. I just had to throw in that tiny little fact that I can be very handy sometimes. I think I might just give myself an award.

Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn

I have had every intention of writing about my new Gospel of Child Rearing but it hasn’t happened and I think I know why.

1. I’m not a writer
2. Anything I write that may be wise, clever, or funny is wholly accidental
3. I could never do the book justice
4. Just go read the book for yourself

This book is amazing. It will contradict everything you ever thought you knew about raising children. In the past three days my patience has doubled (wait a minute that might not be saying much) and I find my self reasoning (or trying to!) with my children instead of ordering them about. Coincidentally I also stopped eating sugar, again, three days ago. Yet…the book. It’s insightful. It’s enlightening. It’s…just read it already. In fact, read all of his books. I am. .

I’ll leave you with my favorite idea from the book. “…if they do something we don’t like, we’ll make them suffer in order to change their behavior. The only remaining question is how we’ll make them suffer: by causing physical pain through hitting or by causing emotional pain through enforced isolation. And both are based on getting kids to focus on the consequences of their action to themselves, which is, of course, very different from raising children to think about how their actions will effect other people.”

“When we punish, in other words, we lead children to ask, “What do they (the grown-ups with the power) want me to do, and what will happen to me if I don’t do it?” Notice that this is a mirror image of the question evoked in a home or classroom in which children are promised a reward for being good: “What do they want me to do, and what will I get for doing it?” Both questions are entirely about self-interest. And both are completely different from what we’d like kids to ask themselves – for example, “What kind of person do I want to be?”

What kind of person do you want your child to be?

How To Hug A Baby

I think this is the cutest thing I have ever seen! So not stupid. Thanks for forwarding it, Robbins Roost In Alaska!

Love,
She Who Despises People Forwarding Stupid E-mails

P.S. How many blogs do you think I will publish tonight?

Bugs Are Us

The crickets here are loud. If they set up camp right outside one of the windows then they are really loud. Just now as I was blogging I got blown away by a REALLY LOUD CRICKET. This cricket was either on Ecstasy or he had his own Bose stereo system. After several stanzas I realized something. This cricket wasn’t on drugs. It was on my sewing machine, two feet from my head!!! If Persistence was awake, we would so have another pet right now. Though I'm not sure if we would really be able to find it since we can't even find the cat in our garage. (That's a whole other blog.)

I was trying to explain the extent of our bug invasion to Stranger last night. He didn’t get it. He thought I was joking. I wasn’t joking.

This is a blog I wrote a few weeks ago but didn’t post.
Tuesday July 25, 2006

Life is full of choices

When it’s 85 degrees in your house
Do you
A. Keep your windows closed in the evening and die from heat exhaustion?
Or
B. Open the windows, giving access to 16,000 models of flying insects that can and will fly right through your window screens?

If you choose to open your windows and live
Do you
A. Sit around the house in the dark?
Or
B. Turn the crack cocaine of the bug world on (the light bulb, it’s a dazzling and deadly trip) and entertain yourself by developing a mathematical equation for the seemingly random flights of your insect infestation? (With your mouth closed of course.)

If you’ve already tucked yourself in bed when you discover that your water bottle is near empty
Do You
A. Walk 10 steps to the nearest sink to fill it?
Or
B. Declare yourself more tired than thirsty and stay in bed?

If you decided you must drink or perish and you open the bottle only to find a dead bug floating in the water
Do You
A. Run screaming from the room and call 911? (This ones for you Daring.)
Or
B. Dump the bug down the drain and re-fill your water bottle?

If your water bottle is full the next night but again you’re too tired to lift your head off the pillow so you go back to sleep and wait till morning to get a drink only to find TWO earwigs nestled in the straw doing who knows what to each other
Do you
A. Say a silent prayer that you skipped that midnight refresher and then throw away the straw? Or
B. Yell to Persistence that you’ve found her some new friends.

When you go to take a bath and the tub is full of bugs
Do you
A. Turn on the sprayer and wash them down the drain while hopping in place squealing, "Eww, eww, eww"?
Or
B. Let them take a bath with you and enjoy the company.

Need I say more?

Biz Boil Again!

What is the deal with the biz boil? Seriously! Can’t you people keep your clothes clean? I have another one for all you Biz Boil freaks out there.

Persistence who is, oh so responsible with her nail polish, got distracted while polishing with some friends a couple weeks ago and got some on her shirt. And the table. And the couch. I tried my best not to act perturbed with her but I suspect my lack of enthusiasm for blue splashes of color on her clothing and the upholstery shined through.

I scrubbed but the polish didn’t budge. I gave up. Until two weeks later when I remembered the Biz Boil! The kids thought cooking clothing on the stove was a fun family activity. I didn’t think trying to keep them from getting scalded to death was an activity or fun.

After several hours of the Biz Boil I pulled the shirt out, disappointedly, with the same blue nail polish all over the front. That’s when I took a scraper to it and (magically!) scrapped all the paint off. Yes folks. The Biz Boil pulls through again. Thanks again to Stranger for finding it for us.

Now how to fit the couch in the pot.

Teach Your Kids To Organize Themselves

How To Talk So Kids Can Learn by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

I love this book! I happen to be a self-help book junkie, especially books about parenting, learning and education for my kids. You know when you read something and you think, “That is a great idea, I should really do that with my kids!” And then you don’t think another thing about it. Or you think about it but you never manage to accomplish it?

This book had so many great ideas in it and I found myself using them without any effort. Lovely got her jammies tonight after I asked her to and I said, “You did it! You got your jammies all by yourself!” Instead of, “Good girl! Now keep doing what other people want you to because your little self-esteem depends upon it. If you don’t then you will be a bad girl and no one will ever love you.” Or something like that.

Driving home tonight after playing tennis with Victor he said, “Well, we need to go get me a treat.”

“Why?”

“Because I played tennis so well.” (Just so you know, I do NOT buy my kids treats for rewards. Other people in the family do but not me!)

“You already have your reward. You’re a good tennis player.”

“Well you never told me that tonight.” “Well?” He says.

“Well, I noticed you got most of your serves in. You only double faulted a couple times. I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Yes. I am a good server. I practice my serves every week at my lesson.”

That is one of the points of the book. Instead of judging what people do (you are a good server) you describe it (you got your serves in). Then the person can evaluate and praise themselves. They find their reward within instead of looking for it elsewhere. I like that.

We spent the entire day looking for a library book that the kids lost. Finally I told the kids I was tired of constantly looking for books and I wondered if we could figure out a way to keep better track of them. They said they were tired of it too.

I sat them down with a paper and pencil and had them give me some ideas for solutions. Here’s what they came up with:

1. Don’t get anymore books
2. Put them away when you’re done
3. don’t take them anywhere else but the living room
4. don’t get them wet (this after the baby put a book in the sink and the kids ran the faucet over it.)
5. ask before you read them
6. don’t color on them (Persistence is so appalled when she see books that are scribbled on. It doesn’t occur to her that a baby did it. She figures other 6 year olds are gleefully scribbling all over their books!)
7. they have to be checked out
8. you have to read one book a day or more (I’m not sure what this had to do with our topic but as long as we’re making up rules about books Victor thought he’d throw this one in!)
9. only get books from one library (having more than one library system makes it confusing)
10. only get one book at a time
11. don’t take them out of the car (we already have this rule)
12. use book checks (like a checkbook)

We settled on # 2 put them away when you’re done, #7 they have to be checked out, and #10 only get one book at a time. We made a check-out form on the computer and printed it out. The just have to write down the name of the book and they can’t get another book until it’s marked returned. The kids have been checking books in and out all night.

I’m pretty sure this whole system will only last for three more seconds but I’m hoping the kids will learn 2 things from the experience; how to problem solve and look for solutions and that they have the power (agency) to act more responsibly and they’ll be happier for it. (They can spend the day playing with friends instead of looking for library books.) And maybe they will just plain get into the habit of putting their books back on the shelf when they’re done. Sometimes it just comes down to that. Good habits.

Procrastination List

Ok Heather, here is what I’m procrastinating. It’s all about finishing my house but I’m happy to say I haven’t gotten it done because I’m too busy having fun with my kids!

1. Bricking the fireplace
2. Bricking the floor in the sun room
3. Staining all the doors, too many to count
4. Cleaning out the garage
5. Designing the kitchen island and ordering it
6. Building my closets
7. Getting the drinking fountain fixed
8. Getting the driveway and sidewalks poured

These aren’t easy little tasks so you can see why I’ve been putting them off. Plus, have I ever mentioned that I’m lazy?

The Lazy Organizers Club

I held my first session of The Lazy Organizers Club tonight. There were 8 of us that got together and talked organizing. We’re going to do some organizing projects together in the future and generally motivate each other to keep at this tireless, thankless job of Housewife and Mother. It’s got to be done so we might as well have fun!

The best part was, we got to eat Apple Cobbler because I didn’t ruin it. I actually remembered to use the apples this time. It’s always good to have apples in your apple cobbler.

Sometimes You Shouldn’t Tell the Truth

Even when it's the truth. And you want to tell it. And you're not lying because it's true. Can I stop saying that now?

Be careful what you say in front of your children. Stranger and I are very critical about how other people handle their children. Or don't. Handle them. We are so justified. We’re talking: A 5 year old eating in a restaurant who decides she doesn't want sauce on her spaghetti so she grabs a handful, holds it up in the air and squeezes all the sauce off. With her hands. (What am I talking about? You can't squeeze spaghetti with a fork! and by the way, the Mother didn't seem to have a problem with this.) Other kids, who sit at their own table at a restaurant, dump all their drinks in the middle of the table, add their food and then play in it. My children were so sickend that they couldn't even sit by them. (Yes the mother saw exactly what they were doing!) Children who whine and throw a fit if they don’t get their way or their Mother doesn’t buy them their OWN candy when everyone else is sharing. Do you see how difficult it is NOT to comment about things like this in front of my kids? (When it's all true!!!) I guess we need to try harder to keep our mouths shut (Even when it's the truth.).

There are some children that Victor refuses to play with or get along with. Now I realize I can directly trace this behavior back to something Stranger and I have said about each child. (All of it true!)

A new boy moved into our old neighborhood a while back and the kids were playing with him. I overheard them all playing together and later I said something terrible to my kids that I should have never said. “Is that boy five? He sounds more like a two year old.” Can you believe it! Ok, baby talk drives me crazy! Well sure enough. Victor never wanted to play with that boy again. Once I realized what I had done I had a talk with the kids about how some things are harder for some kids than others. (I found out later that the boy really did have a speech problem.) We all have our challenges and it doesn’t make us better or worse for it. We’re all trying and we need to be nice to everyone. Eventually Victor started playing with that boy again.

Today we were going somewhere with friends and a boy that Victor just cannot be nice to. I decided that Stranger and I were the sole cause of this and I had better start trying to fix this. Paying him to play with this boy wasn't working. Even for Victor who will do anything for money.

“You guys are going to be playing with Soanso today won’t that be fun?”

“No, Soanso is so rude and won’t share his toys and he throws a fit if he doesn’t get his way. (Ain't that the truth.) Can’t I just stay home?”

“Well, I remember he used to act like that but he’s a lot older now and I think he’s gotten really nice and fun to play with.” (Not so much the truth but more likely to foster warm feelings.)

A couple hours later: “Soanso is going to be there today, Mom?”

“Yes.”

“Cool! I can’t wait to play with him!”

Cool! He bought it!

Guess what? We didn’t have one single problem with them getting along. How does that make you feel? All your kid’s problems REALLY are your fault. (The truth hurts.) You just suspected it before but now it has all been confirmed.

I want to be one of those Mothers. You know the ones who have kids that grow up to say, “Our Mother was so kind. She never said a bad word about anyone.” (Even though she could have said quite a bit and it would have all been true.) I have a long way to go on that account but I just wanted you to know I’m working on it. And that's the truth.

I don't know if I already told you this but...

I haven’t posted a single thing about my workouts lately. Could that possibly mean I am bored with them? Yes. That’s exactly what that means. I did actually show some improvement in the last couple of weeks though. I’ve been running 2 miles for forever and I managed to force myself to run 2.5 miles the last three times. Are you so impressed? If I can bump it up to 3 miles I may actually feel like a runner again. Well. I’d have to be going faster than a walking pace to be a runner. It’s sad when you stop jogging to walk but you’re going the exact same speed. I think I’ll try for the 3 miles and then work on my speed.

The weights are going fine. I have super big muscles under thick layers of fat. I am one. big. girl. I have been able to raise my tricep press from 65 pounds to 75 pounds. Cool. I have also moved on from the toothpick squats to using a real 45 pound bar. Next week I may even try putting weight on it. Now I’m getting crazy!

I’m so annoyed with the annoying people at the gym. I always sign up for a machine, go do my weights and then come back and do cardio. Almost every single day, someone gets on my machine 5 minutes before I’m going to use it. I’m not nice enough to use a different machine or wait until they’re done. There is a system here people. Please us it! I almost had to take it outside one night with a woman who refused to get off. I waited five minutes (you only get 30 and someone was signed up after me) before I told her I had reserved the machine and she still would not get off! I might have had to pull her hair out but her husband showed up on the scene and she moved her little fanny with the attitude before I had to do it for her.

I ran into someone from Church tonight. He and his wife just joined the gym in January but I don’t see him very often. We had a little conversation and then as I walked away I wondered if I had told him the exact same story that I told him the last time I talked to him. In fact, I have spoken to him about a total of 4 times and now I’m wondering if he has heard this story 4 times. I’m almost positive that he has. Luckily, I probably won’t see him for another month and by that time I’ll forget this whole thing and he’ll get to hear my story for the fifth time. Yay for him!

testing

Quick! What's Their Name?

Playdough Picker had Quick-what’s… on her blog so I thought I'd play.

Christopher Grey – I fought for 6 months to get Grey named after his father and I finally won. We saw Grey in a book when I remembered that I had always liked that name. I worked on a fishing boat in Alaska one summer. Out of the four guys on the boat, three of them were Patrick’s. The captain we called Patrick, his son we called Paddy and another guy who just happened to be named Patrick Grey, we called Grey. At the time I thought it was the coolest name and I wanted to use it for a future child of mine. Yay, I got my way all the way around with this one!

Lara Kathleen – Chris was so mad about having a son named after him that he insisted we name a daughter after me. Fine. I really didn’t care. Kathleen we got from his sister Kathy but we call ours Kate. Kate’s only wish is that we call her Katie but we never do so she consoles herself by naming her chicken, all her stuffed animals and all her imaginary friends, Katie. It’s gets a little confusing with so many Katie’s around here.

More about Kate – Originally we wanted to name her Rixt Anna. It’s my step-sister-in-law’s name. We just liked the name even though it is different. I’ve especially always liked Anna. Well, just before we named her we started talking about what her initials would be. R.A.G. Oh no! We couldn’t do that to her!!! Then we discovered we couldn’t name any child of ours with a vowel as a middle initial or it would make a word like beg, keg, leg, peg, pig, bag, hag, lag, sag, etc. We spent several minutes and many tears laughing about all the possibilities. Feel free to add more! I’m so happy we went with Kathleen since it’s a family name and I love it. Persistence is a Kate! Lara? Ok, that really is annoying after all.

Elisabeth Love – AKA, the nameless baby. Yes, that really is her middle name. You thought Love was a nickname didn’t you. I am still mad about Love’s name. I have always liked Love. I bought a music tape once by Lara Love. So when Love was due on Valentines Day, I had to name her Love, even though she came a week late on President’s Day. Chris wasn’t very happy about using Love but he let me get away with it. I think he’s still mad that we didn’t name all our kids color names, Violet, Plum, Sienna, Bronze, Ash, Ashley, etc. ANYWAY, we liked some names like Ellie, Ella, Elle, so we finally decided on Elisabeth two weeks after we came home from the Hospital. It’s a good thing my friend did the birth certificates so she let us take as long as we wanted which probably wasn’t REALLY such a good thing. Elisabeth has to have about 100 nicknames so you would think we could pick one. Oh no! Our baby Love is still pretty much nameless. No way am I going to have one of 1,000’s of other Ellie’s and Ella’s. When people ask me what her name is, I tell them it’s Elisabeth but I always call her Love. Weird. You don’t have to tell me. Everyone else already has but I think it’s Lovely.

The Hat That Will Bring Your Baby To Tears

Edited to fix a couple mistakes in the pattern. Is anyone going to try this and tell me how it turned out?

I made this adorable hat last week! I’m not saying I’m so fabulous for making it or anything because my knitting powers are purely accidental. If I stumble upon the right pattern, accidentally buy just the right yarn, remember how to count stitches and the "higher-knitting-power" is appeased, then I can come up with something fabulous. It’s only happened twice. What about the rest of my knitting projects? Well. I basically spend a lot of time turning sweaters into blankets. I wish I had the photos to prove it. Unraveling a sweater that you spent 47,000 hours knitting is really quite fun. The yarn gets all curly kinky ; totally worth all that knitting and counting and ignoring your children.

If you would like one of these sweet hats for your own offspring or to give to someone else then here is the pattern. Please use some natural fiber yarn like cotton, wool or silk. If you make this hat out of acrylic yuck, I will personally come to your house and burn it. The hat, not your house.

Sweet Heart Hat

I used yarn with a gauge of 5 stitches per inch and si