September--School

The plan with school supplies is "a place for everything and everything in its place."


These quart-size mason jars are just decorative enough for me in addition to being transparent, inexpensive, available in a variety of sizes and ... dangerous. Nothing motivates you to put things away like the potential for broken glass. Right now they hold staples, dry erase markers and eraser, chalk, colored pencils, community crayons, and more.



Colored electrical tape--available in a multipack at Staples or singly at Home Depot-- has been a life saver for keeping straight which readers are for which grade level. It also makes it immediately obvious which books are out of place.



The book-tape colors match the syllabi from Mother of Divine Grace , and I've had the homemade lesson plans bound to match too. This year I created a document full of information that the kids needed to memorize but is usually found buried in the syllabus--heights of rivers, state postal abbreviations, Latin prayers, history dates, etc--and added that to the front of their daily lesson plan book. If you look at it closely, you can see my other favorite 3M product, durable colored dividers which work like Post-its. We use these or the more flimsy flags for bookmarks in almost everything.






Here is a view of our bookshelves. Aren't they lovely? They are holding about a third of what they used to (and the basement is a nightmare because of it), and each square has a designation: mine, 5th grade, reference books, Vision readers, board books, etc. Up on top are the glass jars and flash cards in recipe boxes. Each child keeps a pencil and a personally owned crayon set in a color specific pencil box from Staples in their square, and I have one too!






These colored magazine holders keep us from destroying or losing the thin, soft-covered syllabi or other flimsier books, like music. These sturdy ones came from the Container Store. And if you avoid grading, like I am now, could this Peterboro Basket be the spot to keep your work for you? It is for me!

August--Survival Hooks

Moving into a new house is like being born...again. It is painful and messy, but also it's a chance to recreate yourself.

3M Command hooks ,brought to you by those same guys who invented masking tape, are a wonder to me. You can get fancy ones for $15 a pop or a value pack of 10 little guys for about $10. So far, I have used or plan to use them to hang:

• chore cards
• bath towels
• kids' clothes
• baseball caps
• snow suits/bathing suits
• dress up clothes

I've also used their velcro picture strips to apply temporary and lightweight decor, like phonogram cards on posterboard, to the dining room walls. My 2 reminders to self: 1. get the big hooks for towels 2. put them low enough for small people to reach

I also want to give Bill his props--he labeled bike parking spaces in the garage with duct tape and put up nails for our helmets and roller blades (my brother John used dowels which work better but are more of a committment). The change is amazing! We are considering hooks--real ones--in there for bikes between riders, the grass seeder, the bike trailer, the bike pump.... We are also considering real metal bike racks for the 10+ bikes in there.

This looks small and low key, but it made the difference between sanity and insanity for me.

Clocks, Colors and Hooks--A Year of Organization

When I am out running errands with all of the kids hanging off of me like grapes, people often ask, "How do you do it?"

My pat response, as I reach over to catch James as he finds something dangerous to interest him, is "prayer."

Which, of course, is the basic truth. I would never survive one day in the life I've chosen without massive gifts of grace, and my day is full of prayer. Prayers in this context: "You painted your brother with butter? Have mercy!" or "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who let the cat out?" or "Ay, Dios mio!" (which, incidentally, is probably not really a prayer....sigh) Before meals, I bow my head and thank God for the food He provides. I teach the kids the prayers of the Church. And I kneel by the bed next to Bill at bedtime to pray for my children and godchildren, for my marriage, for my family and friends. Honestly, I feel like I don't pray enough.

But back to my commissary questioners. The answer they are probably more interested in is one they can see. If they looked in my house, what secret weapons against chaos and insanity would they find? Since I'm devoting this year to getting our house in order, I'm keeping my notes here.

Clocks: Our most lived-in rooms have clocks in them. They are mostly analog because I have trouble reading them, which makes them a nice reminder of the things in life that I don't do well. But they are really there to help us maintain an order and rhythm to our day. It is sort of sick that my 3 year old says, "It's 7 o'clock, Mommy!" instead of "Good Morning", but we both know that 7 is the time when my private self has prepared herself to be "Mommy." And if she didn't take a shower and read her Bible instead of sleeping in, well, Mrs. Private-Self knew 7 was coming. At any given hour everyone in our family knows what activity is expected and what will come next, and I find that brings a level of peace into our home.

Colors: Truthfully, my favorite color is blue, but I love the colorful chaos here which could only be described as "colorish." I use color coding as often as possible. For example, each child has his own color towel. Then, when it's time to play the "who left his towel on the floor" game, I don't have to start a fingerpointing contest an octopus would lose.

Laundry boxes, water cups, school books and sock markings are some of the places where I use color to sort with a quick glance.

Hooks: I've come to terms with the fact that no child hangs things well on a hanger or towel bar. So instead of fighting that fight, Bill has hung hooks all over the house for us. Hooks in the bathroom for bath towels and hand towels. On the fridge for keys and oven mitts. In the laundry room for coats or bathing suits. From chore card to rosaries, with a little imagination, hooks can bring order to most things in the house. I even think of my calendar as a kind of hook for all the things jumbled on the floor of my brain.

As I reorganize from space to space, I'm remembering the wise words of my coffee mug: Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication. So, out with the unnecessary and organize the rest!

September 16, 2009

I am thinking...

If I borrow this template from the Simple Woman's Daybook, I may be able to catch up our blog just a little bit

Outside my window...

With a mild interest I have been watching a scene unfold just past our back fence. Seven or 8 soldiers have laid fabric tape in the field behind our house in what is obviously a floor plan design and are talking earnestly together. Some have on flak jackets and some have rifles across their backs.


From my kitchen table, the view is clear. We can tell this is some sort of training exercise. Getting a different view as I drove past on the street behind ours, I admit that the 20 men in full body armor with rifles in their hands and preparing to raid an empty house did make my stomach drop.

I am thankful for...

Good friends. I miss mine a lot and the kids do too.

From the learning rooms...

I'm dedicating this year to oragnizing our house and September is the month to organize the school supplies and books, naturally. I'm quite pleased with my own cleverness.

From the kitchen...

Jodie Francis's Curried Shrimp and Jasmine Rice with Currents

Joseph liked it so much he stuffed the shrimp down the front of his overalls so he could have a snack while he played outside after dinner.

I am wearing...

A black t-shirt, denim skirt, and black slippahs

I am reading...

Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, The Resilience Factor, The Egg and I, and a book on how to identify trees

I am hearing...

A teething baby asserting his needs by pressing his face to the crack at the bottom of his door and wailing

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Wednesday night is Girl Scout night.

The Art of the Brick

by Lego artist Nathan Sawaya

What I did on my summer vacation

As much as I'm trying to deny it, summer is all but over. The temps here have been in the 70s for 2 weeks, school and extra-curriculars have started, and it's September! We're mostly but not completely moved in--still missing various electrical accessories, like the camera cord, but I've found a way to work around it. So here is a recap of what we've been up to:

JUNE:

Basketball Camp

The week after Maria's singing camp, Thomas and Anthony went to basketball camp which our friend Dan runs. The camp is absolutely fabulous. The boys came home with skills PLUS they knew the saint of the day and which college basketball teams do not practice detachment. It would have been worth the drive just for that, but the rest of us got extra time with my friend Maryan and some of her boys.

Anthony, Dan and Thomas on the last day

Me entertaining a car-full of kids while Maryan was shopping for prizes for camp. I couldn't believe the variety of balls I had in the van. That was very unusual and also very popular.

action shot of Thomas, the boys' friend John Paul, and an action shot of Anthony (in dark pants)

Mount Vernon

We said goodbye to Mt. Vernon with a long trip to the children's room in the museum. Thomas is showing how leading strings worked with Joseph modeling the typical outfit for any child up to age 6. These great dresses inspired the girls to be colonists for Halloween. We'll see. James loved this dollhouse built to look like George Washington's house. He spent quite a while carefully arranging the furniture, and then he proudly showed me how he had made it all fit into one of the upstairs bedrooms! His sisters quickly helped straighten it out.

JULY

Goodbye Tiger

Tiger officially changed his last name before the 4th of July weekend when our friends adopted him. Here's Cecilia saying "goodbye" and Jenni saying "hello."

Trip to Massachusetts

We went up to my sister Michele's house for the last time on the 4th of July weekend. She and her family took us to a fair and the Freedom Trail and fed us very well and taught us all sorts of fun racquet based sports.

The attraction of this picture is the background where you can see my smiling nephew Patrick and the swan part of the boat in the Boston Garden. Thomas is leading the Make Way For Ducklings with a big smile as opposed to the pic from 9 years ago where the twins were screaming.

to be continued.....

Rhinoplasty and other sewing projects

Tonight I'm sewing on Pooh Bear's nose. This is the second time that Anthony has asked me to fix Pooh's nose because Joseph has loved it...with his teeth. And this time he has had to wait 2 days because I am in the middle of helping Maria sew a dress. I feel like everyone has found something for me to mend or stitch. A Halloween costume. A hole in some pjs. A nose.

Poor old Pooh. He was a gift from Uncle John and Aunt Theresa back before Anthony knew who they were. He was one of several offerings from their suitcases, and he was the one who stuck. Of the soft friends in this house, he has been the best loved and most faithful.

I admit I feel bad shoving a needle in one side of his nose and out the other. It looks like it hurts, and a few times I've paused to stroke his old fur and give him a break. And I know a boy who will be just as relieved as Pooh and I when this project is done.