organize now challenge: week 2

This week for the Organize Now Challenge, the focus was on sorting out the kitchen cabinets.

The assignment was to get rid of stuff we don't use, clear out broken tools and dishes, and toss the clutter. Jennifer Ford Berry, author of Organize Now, suggests keeping only a few of your favourite coffee mugs, ditching the mismatched plastic containers and giving the boot to appliances that are only collecting dust.

I was feeling a bit like an organizing smarty-pants because I had my dishes, glasses and silverware right between the sink and dishwasher, and my pots, cooking utensils and spices are all located near the stove where I do most of the cooking. (Even better? NO JUNK DRAWER.)

That's where the smarty-pants-ness ends, though. I have the opposite problem that most people face in a kitchen. I have SO.SO.SO MUCH COUNTERSPACE, and way too many cupboards. My downfall is letting the counters get piled up, "flat surface syndrome", if you will. Even before the challenge began, I have been vigilant about keeping my countertops in order. I feel so much more relaxed in my kitchen when I'm not surrounded by piles. The only appliances on the counter are my toaster oven, my Senseo coffee maker, and the microwave. The microwave and I are not pals, but I keep it around to heat up my Hotsy-Coldsy bags.  I have an enormous stainless steel bowl for making bread and pizza dough, and that lives on top of the toaster oven because I use it three or four times a week.

To keep my kitchen tools and pans contained to only a few cupboards, I store some of my home-canned jars of food in more than half of the cupboards. I find that we eat more home-canned foods when they are within arm's reach, rather than taking a trip to the basement every time we need some pickles or applesauce. When I'm running low on home-canned goodness upstairs, I get a box, grab a little bit of everything, and restock the kitchen cupboards.

I do have a handful of photos to document my efforts, but I'm having trouble getting Flickr and Instagram and Blogger to play nicely together, so I'm just going to hit the publish button and figure it out later. Some days are just like that, you know? I'll also post links to Jennifer's blog and the blogs of the other ladies who are participating.

the gift of silver

I left my house the other night without children. WITHOUT CHILDREN. If I'm being honest with me, I say I am getting really bad about doing things for me; or, if I'm feeling like a pity party, I tell myself it's a season, and they will  soon go away and I can go to the movies any time I please.

Which will likely be thrice weekly, supposing there's anything interesting playing.

So I went to see Les Miserables with a friend. I had extra napkins, I was ready. Because really, when you are going to see a musical where everybody dies, you need to be prepared. I was ready for The Epic Crying.

I was not ready for The Epic Cry to begin when the bishop gave Valjean the candlesticks. 

I should back up. Not everybody has read the novel by Victor Hugo (you really should), nor has everyone seen the musical, even though every professional, semi-professional, amateur, and high school theatre group in the nation has performed it in the last 15 years. 

Here's a little summary: Valjean was in prison for 19 years, 5 of those for stealing bread to feed his sister's dying child, and 14 more for trying to escape. He gets paroled, and wanders around trying without success to find work, because nobody will hire a dangerous! man! A bishop shows Valjean kindness, offers him food and a place to sleep, and Valjean repays him by stealing most of the silver on the premises. Naturally, Valjean is caught by the local gendarmes, and is brought back to the bishop's residence. The police tell the bishop that they have recovered his stolen silver, and that Valjean will return to prison, despite his claims that the bishop gave him the silver. Without missing a beat, the bishop tells Valjean that he left in such a rush he must have forgotten the silver candlesticks, how terrible that he forgot the best silver of the collection. The police are terribly confused, but go about their business, and leave Valjean with the bishop.

Valjean stole the silver. His guilt is not debatable. And yet the bishop corroborated Valjean's story.

Hugo used the character of the bishop to speak the voice of God to Valjean. Hugo got God right. I know I have done some serious silver stealing in my time, not actual silver stealing, of course. I have spoken and behaved in ways that have caused other people grief and hurt, sometimes by accident, sometimes not so accidentally. Sometimes it happens by accident, but the result makes my inner mean girl grin a bit. It's a really horrible thing to live with, knowing exactly what it feels like to be on the receiving end and at the same time being the person who is handing it out.

I have been given the candlesticks, and not just once. I can see clearly so.many.times. when I have screwed up royally and have been shown beautiful, undeserved mercy. In the same moment, I see so many more times when I have been utterly merciless and it fills me with horrified embarrassment. I don't understand why I choose unkindness and unforgiveness and mercilessness when I know how it makes me feel to do that, but even more importantly, how it feels to be treated that way. It's dreadful.

I am meditating on Micah 6:8 this year:

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Intentional mercy. Intentional forgiveness. Intentional kindness. Intentionally training myself upward.

organize now challenge. post the first.

Confession: I'm not a super organized person. (that snickering you hear is the laughter of every person who has met me in real life.)

Confession: Most of my disorganization has to do with some not-charming experiences I have, umm, experienced, and no, I'm not going to talk about that here.

Confession: The rest of my disorganization comes from apathy and laziness and the whole I'd-rather-be-spending-my-time-on-something-else. And let me tell you, that last item is powerful. 

BUT. I'm a grown-up, and I am actually in possession of Big Girl Pants, so I'm going to put them on. I'm participating in the 12 week Organize Now Challenge with local author and organized life expert Jennifer Ford Berry and also Spring Cleaning 365. 

Because WHY DO ANYTHING IN MODERATION. (famous last words)

I'm not actually blogging about Spring Cleaning 365, I just wanted to mention it because if you're a crappy housekeeper with undiagnosed attention issues, and a bipolar relationship to cleaning (meaning you either never clean, or you ARE CLEANING ALL THE THINGS!!!! until you are passed out and crippled), this could be just the thing for you. Each task has been manageable except for my manic CLEANING ALL THE THINGS!!!, but I am getting better about doing the one assignment and backing away slowly.

I *am* officially blogging about the 12 week Organize Now Challenge. This week I'm working on my schedule. As I mentioned, I'm not really organized, so starting with planning my schedule makes a lot of sense.

Here are some of the weekly goals I found to be really useful:

1. Buy one planner and use it for everything. 

now my planner looks like me.
well, supposing i had green button eyes.

I spent some time looking at planners at Target. There were a ton that had a monthly calendar page, and then a 2 page spread for each week, plus an address book, plus stickers, plus who knows what else. That is just too much information and cross-referencing for my little brain. I need simpler. Maybe someday when I'm an official Organized Grown-Up I will be able to handle writing things down in 2 places, and possibly leap over tall buildings in a single bound, but for now, that's just more than I want to manage.

I am thrilled with what I found. There is a two-page monthly calendar, one for each month, and the rest of the book is a notebook. That's it. In the past I have tried to keep a calendar and a notebook (I really love these little guys... the 3 1/2" x 5" ones with graph paper), and it never worked. I need my lists and I need my calendar. I can keep a list going for the grocery store, for the library, business orders, and I can also (hopefully) stop standing up our dentist.

2. Plan the month with the whole family.

This was a pretty easy task. The Mister works a non-conventional job with non-conventional hours, so pretty much all of the errand-running falls to me. I penciled in our weekly trip to the library, church on Saturday night, grocery store (if needed), homeschool group dates until the end of the year, dentist appointments, birthdays, the big group camping trip, Lego club, camp...everything I could think of.

here's january. and yes, i did see les mis last wednesday.

3. Use a page of the planner for long-term to-do lists.

The last page of the planner? It's the long-term list.  Things like EMPTY THE GARAGE SO I CAN PARK THERE NEXT WINTER. Nothing major. Heh.

In the "Once A Year" section, Jennifer recommends choosing a planner that you really love the look and feel of, that fits your style, so that you actually use it. I really like the size of my planner, and what is on the inside, but the outside was sort of blah, and since I make pretty useful things for other people, I decided to pretty up this useful item for me. 

the valley inn, for every occasion

Here is a list of the other four bloggers participating in the Organize Now Challenge. And here is my disclosure: I have received a copy of Organize Now in exchange for sharing my experience with the Organize Now Challenge. All views and opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

let's try this again. maybe.

it's been about a year, and i've been mostly quiet.

sometimes that happens.

sometimes it has to happen.

i could say that 2012 offered an endless stream of hassle.

it's true.

but it was full of learning about myself, about my people.

it was full of learning about the people around me, that 

opinions are formed about you (me) independent of 

fact and truth.

i learned that my child would do better if he was able to do better.

i learned that behaviours are often unrelated to attitudes.

i learned that sometimes the things that hold you (me) back are 

held firmly in place by the rubble of things that happened long ago.

sorting through piles of destruction is hard work.

i learned open hearth cooking, and how to bake in a brick oven.

whilst wearing proper underpinnings for a woman in the 1850's.

including a corset.

i learned that making pretty, useful things for people is 

terrifically satisfying.

i love sitting in my work space, sewing away,

while my people do their schoolwork.

i learned that the unorthodox sometimes is the best fit.

also in the very satisfying category:

drinking a guinness after setting up our enormous

10-person tent, after driving 5 hours, after packing for a camping trip,

ALONE (plus the short people).

i learned that i can do all the things.

well, many of the things.

there is always more to master.

in five minutes, a sample

Mama, will Henry get his own Christmas tree?
Probably not.

Mama, what is there to eat?
Have an apple.

Mama, Jack doesn't do it fair.
We all know this.

Mama, I can't get my pajamas arms sort outed.
I can help with that.

::whine::
(ignore)

Mama, I'm hungry.
Have an apple.

Mama, I want a glass of water.
How would you say that if you really wanted a glass of water?
Mama, please I may have a glass of water?
Thank you.

Mama, can Henry play your iPad?
Not right now.
Well, when, then?
I don't know, maybe later.

Mama, can I have a coffee?
Can is a question of ability. 'May I' is a question of permission. You *can* drink coffee, but you may not.

Mama, I'm still hungry.
Did you eat an apple?
No.
Perhaps you will eat an apple?

Mama, do I have to empty the dishwasher?
Yes.
But I don't wanna.
Do you want to eat dinner?
Yes.
But I don't wanna make dinner.
Fine.

Mama, there's nothing to do.
How about some math?
::whine face::
Read a book?
::same face::
Play outside?
::same face, more feigned pain::
Legos?
::whine face + whine noise::
Stare at the wall? Go to bed?
I'll go outside.
What a good idea.

Mama, is there anything to eat?
Yes. There is. May I suggest an apple?

autumn

The season changed, so I stopped by to say hello. Things are still ever so much as they always are, filled with people growing fatter then taller, out of their jeans and too big for their britches. There is schooling, canning, bread-making, pie baking, and lots of working. 

And let me not forget the very exciting things, like paying the (HUGE and TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATELY IRRESPONSIBLE) fine on my library card, and being allowed to, once again, borrow books from the library. The short people are ecstatic. So is the library.

***

I was knitting in church last night. I knit so I don't chew my fingernails to bloody stumps. Bloody stumps are so unattractive, and knitting is so very attractive, so I thought I had found a suitable alternative to the bloody stump situation. Alas, my knitting was deemed Quite Grievous by the preacher, so much, in fact, that he called me out in front of the congregation. "I'm glad I have your attention now," he boomed. "You had my attention all along," I retorted, "I just ran out of yarn."

Flip comment brought further pastoral consternation and giggles from the peanut gallery. Explanation of, and apology for the Theory of Bloody Stumpage to the preacher did nothing to redeem me. Alas.

***

Elliott has rewritten the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe". Highlights include this gem:

dis is crazy

here's Grandma's number

call her later

Kid has a future in songwriting. His other hit is the one-line-wonder I'm Not Going Home. We hear it more than most people hear Carly Rae and Gotye. Way more. 

***

In a really long and drawn out series of bad decisions, one of my children told me that my name should really be Ass Pamela, or better yet, Ass Aardvark. Because nothing makes soap taste worse than poorly-timed alliteration. At least, I imagine that nothing could make soap taste any worse than it tastes despite my negligible knowledge of soap tastes. The Mister tried it and said that pomegranate-orange goat's milk soap was not much of a punishment, but it has been nearly a week, and The Perp hasn't referred to me as an Ass Aardvark again, so maybe it was effective. We'll see.

***

Anything exciting in your neck of the woods?

update

Dear ones, The good news is that I have a new doctor, a TMD specialist, who understands why I am having migraines and is confident that he knows how to fix me and make my pain disappear. The bad news is that the poking, prodding, manipulating and maneuvering has given me the worst head pain I have had in my entire life. I am not a girl who cries very much for any reason, but for the past two days tears have been spilling down my cheeks because of the pain. On Monday I return to the doctor's office for two and a half more hours of testing, and I cannot have any pain meds for 12 hours before the test. I am terrified. I can usually see things pretty rationally, but I am freaking out. The thought of hurting more than I hurt right now is just too much. So please, if you are one who prays, pray for me. For peace, for relief, for patience with this process. If you aren't a pray-er, do your thing for me. I hear things seem darkest right before they are fixed, and if that's true, I anticipate something truly wonderful. I just need to make it from right now until then. Thanks.