New Year, With a Difference

So this morning I managed to sleep through my alarm.  Both of them.  And my husband trying to wake me up.  I'm blaming the rainy weather.

Trying to get back into some sort of schedule after two weeks of almost no schedule is really hard.

Yesterday I also took the time to sync up all the calendars in the house.  I look at the month  ahead and discover just exactly how busy I am.  Every day.  For a woman who is suppose to be a "work from home mom", I seem to be never home anymore.   Karate practice, basketball practice, basketball game, doctor's appointments, teaching at the school...  Pretty much, each one of those things takes up one day, and the entire day's schedule must revolve around just that one event.

The upside is that since I'm a writer, I can pretty much write anywhere.  I don't need a computer to do it, I can use a pencil and paper, and then add it into any document later on, when I get home.  This is especially awesome since where the kids have basketball and karate has no wi-fi.  Strange in this day and age, I know.  At the doctor's office I can get wi-fi, but even the guest accounts need passwords and pins and stuff like that.  So, I drop back to a small notebook in which to jot ideas and use my microcassette recorder in the car.

Yeah, remember microcassette recorders?  For those of you too young to remember, it's what we used before we had tablets and phones that could double as a voice recorder.  Mine was really advanced, and could be set to record only when someone was speaking.  That was to save tape space and batteries.  I set mine on voice activation when I'm in the car, which means it runs all the time between the kids and radio.  But I still do manage to get some ideas onto it.  I also set it up to record when I'm in the shower.  Why do I always get my best ideas in the shower?  I don't know.  Once I remember planning out an entire series of novels when I was rinsing dye out of my hair.  I pretty much even had the first couple of chapters outlined out.  It was awesome.  I didn't have a recorder going at the time, so I lost it all.  Taught me a lesson, let me tell you.

At any rate, I'm trying to schedule better, and I'm planning on trying to get more stuff out of the way on Saturdays and Sundays.  I still need to get my dinners planned out for the coming months.   Soon it will be time to hit the cupboards and freezer to do just that.  We'll see how all this goes.

I wish you all luck in the new year for a imperfectly perfect year.  Or at least the next couple of days.

;-)  

New Schedules Are Not for Christmas

Starting a new routine right around Christmas time is probably not the best idea in the world.

It's almost impossible to try to work, while preparing for a major holiday.  There have been so many other things pulling at me, and taking up my time.  Fun, joyful things that I would so much rather be doing.

It's important to take this time to be building memories with the family, instead of being tied to my computer, or a piece of paper and pencil.  

This year, I had a hard time trying to find the Christmas spirit.  It's been really warm and raining a lot, which is kind of odd for this area.  I kind of feel like if stuff is falling out of the sky this time of year, it should be white, and turning the world into a winter wonderland, not a gray, soggy mess.  I'm sure we'll get snow sometime soon.  And then I'll be freaking out, trying keep the driveway shoveled, and the house warm.  

I long for some sunshine, though.  

The kids enjoyed Christmas, and they are continuing to enjoy their presents, and getting to see family.  And isn't family what the season is really all about?  Getting to see those loved ones we don't get to see on a regular basis.  That's where the real joy is.  When I'm with my family, we spend a lot of time laughing, which makes everything better.  

I long for a routine, though.  Changes in routines are upsetting to me.  I don't deal well with being thrown curve balls, and just about everything around the holidays are curve balls.  I'm a planner.  I like to plan stuff out.  If it's not on my calendar or schedule, I feel it shouldn't be happening.  I don't like last minute things.  I try to plan stuff out far in advance, so I have time to wrap my brain around it, find the best way to fit things in, and plan around appointments and things like that.  It's the way I am.  

I don't necessarily like being that way.  And I know that life always throws us unexpected things.  It's the imperfect part of my world, and I have to adjust to it.  I'm going to keep trying.  Maybe, at some point down the road, I'll figure out a way to handle all the little things that life throws at me.  What's the old expression?  "If you want God to laugh at you, tell Him your plans."  It's all just part of living in the imperfect world.  

Until next time, keep it perfectly imperfect.

15 Minutes

So.... I'm trying something new (as always).

Over the past couple of months I have come to, once again, truly fall in love with Writing.  Of course, as with any relationship, we have our ups and downs.  There are days we go without speaking to each other.  There are times where we aggravate each other to no end.  I sometimes want to kick Writing out of my life forever.

I actually thought I had.  I thought I had kicked Writing to the curb, after many years in school, and doing almost nothing but writing.  (A Bachelors in History requires a LOT of writing.)

Now I'm having to come at it from a completely different angle.  When I was in school, I didn't have kids, and I was single.  It was so much easier then.

Now I have kids, a husband, a house, and everything that entails, which is a LOT.  A lot of responsibility, a lot fitting things in.

So, now that I have taken upon this new career as a ghostwriter, I'm trying to fit something new and different into my already hectic schedule.  It hasn't been working so great.  I hadn't been able to find the balance needed to accomplish everything, until I read this really great article.  And now, I'm actually trying it.

At first, I thought "Oh cripes.  What am I going to write about in my blog for 15 mins?"  Well, since I'm trying a new schedule, I can certainly write about that, right?  Yeah.  

I'll admit it, I was going to start yesterday.

That didn't go quite as I had planned it, but what does these days?

I slept through my alarm, woke up late, had to get the kids ready for school with barely enough coffee in me to get my eyes open.  So, the whole "get up, get dressed, and write for 15 minutes" was SERIOUSLY not going to happen.

My breakfast was nonexistent. I know I was busy doing something when I should have been eating breakfast, but I can't remember what it was.

And then, instead of spending a day toiling away in front of a computer screen, I spent the at my kids' school, helping out at the Christmas party, which was a lot of fun, but really productive, writing-wise.

And then the nap monster attacked me when got home.  And then household chores took over once I woke up.

But you know what?  I'm not beating myself up over it.  I figured all I could do is try again.

So here I am, on a Saturday morning, when I could be sleeping in.  Instead I'm trying to get myself on a productive schedule.  We'll see how it works.

If I can spend 15 minutes every morning writing in this here blog, though, I think I'll be making a good start.

Will the schedule listed in the above article work for me?  Who knows?  But I'm willing to try, and work with it until it is perfect for me and my family.

Until tomorrow, keep it imperfectly perfect!

The Year Challenge

School has been out for over a month now, and it has been HECTIC.

This year, the end of the school year means one thing:  The One Year Challenge

The challenge was thrown down by one of my friends, and because I can't seem to say no to a challenge, this is what I'm doing for the rest of the year.  My house is on the verge of becoming painfully cluttered and disorganized.  Really disorganized.  I have one year to get it cleaned up and straightened up and stuff gone that I don't need anymore.  Thank goodness there is enough to do that I can keep switching off jobs, and I won't get bored. 

There are bookshelves to go through, clothes to be sorted, painting to be done, floor tile to be replaced, furniture to be re-done, furniture to be thrown out and replaced...... Well, you get the picture.  And all of these things need to be sandwiched in between gardening, canning, dental appointments, visits from family, and the kids' summer activities.  Plus, planning for the new school year, which starts in just over a month. 

Yes, it's less fun than a vacation.  

However, I think I will find it MUCH more satisfactory.  If I went on vacation now, I wouldn't be able to relax, because I would keep thinking about the horror that is my house.  We're planning on going on vacation next year.  This year, we're concentrating on getting our house cleaned out and organized in one year.  

So far, we have managed to blow through sorting out the kids' clothing (a HUGE job), and a small section of my clothing (an even bigger job!).   I organized my canning supplies already, so that was a big job out of the way, and by organizing those supplies, I was able to organize my pantry a little more.  Or at least find space for most some of my empty jars. But I swear these things multiply at night, when no one is looking.

I have a list of things that need to be done.  It's an ever-growing list.  It's probably never going to end.  I'll just keep adding things as they come up.  I've actually started to hum a little song to myself whenever I add things to it:

The more it grows (tiddly pom) the more it goes (tiddly pom) the more it goes (tiddly pom) on growing.  

And nobody knows (tiddly pom) how long it grows (tiddly pom) how long it grows (tiddly pom) there's no knowing.

I'm looking forward to this process, actually.  A lot of people deem it necessary to try to find a schedule, and stick to it.  My life is constrained enough.  I need the freedom to be able to jump from one project to another, and not feel like I'm doing it in the wrong order.  Some days I'm ready for dealing with clothing.  Some days I want to work in my kitchen.  Some days I want to paint.  Some days I want to be a handyman and do repair work.  As long as I get one thing done a day that needs to be done, I'm okay with that.  It might make things kind of chaotic, but I'm okay with that too.  My life is chaotic.  It probably always will be.  But that's what makes it perfectly imperfect.

Cart For My Canning

Over the last few months, I have acquired a new hobby that is taking up a huge amount of space in my tiny little kitchen.  It's a worthwhile hobby, which is leading to other new hobbies for me.  The best part about these hobbies is that they will (hopefully) be saving my family money, in a lot of different ways.

The original new hobby is canning.  Yep.  I'm a canner and I'm not ashamed of it.  I'm slowly emptying out my chest freezer and canning everything in there that I am able to.  Money saving benefit of this is:  as I empty out my freezer, I won't need such a big, electricity hog, and will be able to invest in a smaller one.  My ultimate goal is to only need it to store milk, baked goods, and flat frozen freezer meals.  It's coming along.  However, I digress.  

The canning equipment is space consuming.  Canning pots (I have a water bath canner and a pressure canner) are BIG.  Really BIG.  They take up a lot of space, and that is space that is better used for food that has been canned, or dry ingredients, or just about anything else.  And then there are the towels, the funnels, the lid lifters, the lids and rings themselves, the jar lifters, the pectin, canning salt, citric acid...... The list is really endless.  And it took over my pantry space quite rapidly.  

Since I have been challenged by one of my friends to get my house cleaned up and organized before the end of the year, I figured this was a good place to start.  I had been on a hunt for a decent cart that can support a lot of weight (that pressure canner is heavy), and store a lot of stuff.  And it had to fit into an area that is about 30in x 25 in.  It had to be under $100.  It had to be sturdy and long lasting.  It had to look decent.  

TALLY HO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The hunt is on!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a couple of months of searching, something appeared at Overstock.com. (No, this is NOT a paid advertisement for them.  I'm not getting anything from them for mentioning them.  This just happened to be where we found the cart.)  Now, Overstock is not my usual go-to place for shopping (thrift stores are really more in my price range), but my mom pointed me in the direction of a really cool cart that just about met all my requirements.  

On Friday, it arrived (three days sooner than originally expected.  Awesome job Overstock!), and was put together.  

 It came with a handle, but I really didn't need it so we didn't put it on.  If there comes a time when I do need it, we still have it tucked away, and will be able to use it.  But it's just perfect handle-less.  

I also had that set of three clear plastic drawers tucked away in a closet, and had used them for some sort of craft supply, but I cleaned it out and am putting it to MUCH better use.   

The three drawers store my funnels, lid lifters, jar lifters, pectins of varying sorts, lid tightener, cheese cloth and jelly bag.  I'm probably going to replace the drawer pulls to something a little cuter, because that's how I roll.  

I also found two small crates when I was cleaning out, These crates are perfect for sorting my rings and plastic lids.  

I can now organize them according to size (wide mouth and regular) which will also speed up the process a little bit.  It was a troublesome having all the rings and lids in one box, and forever trying to sort through them.  Also, the crates aren't enclosed, so if the rings are still damp from being washed, they will be less inclined to rust, because the air flow is better.  Labels for these two crates are coming, and when the arrive and are attached, I will be showing them off.

I already had my lids (also known as "flats") sorted into plastic CD boxes I got from our local dollar store.  I sort them according to "Used" or "New".  The "used" lids are not used for canning, but kept on hand in case some sort of weird crafting bug strikes me, or I want a lid on a jar, but don't want to seal it.  I can use one of the used lids for that.  

I will be properly labeling the boxes later on.  These boxes are stackable, so when my supply of new lids gets out of control (and it will), I can have one box for wide mouth lids and one for regular lids.  

The top shelf is reserved for my "babies".  I actually took down all the large stock pots I use in canning and fit them into the large water bath canning pot on the right.  The lid rests on a pot on the second shelf.  Moving all my big pots to one location freed up space for my empty jars that are currently waiting to be filled with produce from the garden we are putting in (one of my other new hobbies, but that's a future post).  

I now have room under my pantry shelves for my 5 gallon buckets of bread flour and all purpose flour, which is great.  I also have an extra small bucket down there for empty bags or for berries when I get on a berry canning roll.  (It's easier to put unwashed and unprepped berries into the small bucket while prepping them for canning.  But more on that in a future post, when strawberries are ripe.)

So that's pretty much it.  It's a just another chapter in my perfectly imperfect life. I'm loving it, and it's coming along in an awesome way.

Files, Files Everywhere

For years, before I was married, I was a receptionist/secretary.  I also was a film librarian.  (Yes, it's a job.  Basically, I filed a LOT of x-ray, sonogram, mammogram and CT scan films.)  Most of my work experience has been filing.  Making files, filing work orders, bills, payments, x-rays, you name it.  I know my filing.

One of the greatest arguments between me and my husband was about the filing.  He didn't like the way I filed things, or the way I set the files up.  So, I told him to take care of it.  I stopped doing any of the filing.  Everything started to pile up.  At last check, we had THREE YEARS of unfiled papers laying around the house.  I was done.  

So, now that I'm taking control of the filing again, I decided I had to get the filing cabinet out of the guest room/man cave/playroom and into the living room, so I would have better access to it.  When I did that, I realized that an ugly black filing cabinet isn't really going to fit into the style of the living room.  

So now, the projected goal is to paint the file cabinet, and organize all the files in it.  I'm planning on painting it a high gloss white, which will help to lighten up the living room some.   

It's not pretty, but it's functional.  And I will be able to make do.  A fresh coat of paint, and some wonderful vinyl decals or labels from Sunhoney Studio  will certainly give it a great lift.  Maybe I'll even switch out the handles, if I can get them off the drawer front.  

I've got it all laid out in my mind.  It's just going to take a little time, and some cooperation from the weather.  Spray painting on a porch when it's raining outside don't really mix very well.  

I'm excited to show you the progress as it comes along.  Right now, I'm being impressed that I moved the full (overly full) filing cabinet from a very tight corner in the playroom to the living room, all by myself, without injury.  

Always keep moving forward, and when life tries to throw glitches at you, run right over those suckers!  

As Time Goes By....

I thought only a week had passed.  I didn't realize it has been much longer. 

 

See, this is what happens to me, and a lot of overscheduled people. It happens to all of us.  We live in this crazy world where we are continually being pulled in multiple directions at all times.  And no matter how carefully we schedule, if one little thing (or one big thing....)  goes wrong, everything seems to fall in on itself like a house of cards. 

Sometimes it doesn't need to be something going wrong.  Sometimes it's just saying "yes" to the right thing at the wrong time. 

Or a big old combination of all of the above.

On April 4, I accepted a challenge from a friend of mine to get my house cleaned up and organized.  I was excited and ready to roll with it.  I want my house clean.  I want all the extraneous stuff gone.  I was ready to move forward with it, and I was going to start documenting it here on my blog.  

Yeah.... This NEVER happens.

Guess what?  That draft is still sitting there, waiting to be finished.  Life, once again, got in the way.  Everything wound up getting in the way.  On top of everything else, two of my wisdom teeth that were in really bad shape were causing me so much pain, I couldn't concentrate on anything.  And I mean ANYTHING.  I already had an appointment scheduled to see my dentist, so I wasn't going to try for an earlier appointment. When I finally got to see him, it turned out that those two teeth had to be extracted that day.  So I wound up losing about 3 days of life, due to pain and pain medications.  I did some remarkable catching up on my sleep, and now my teeth are causing me a lot less pain.  Bonus!  

This is more like it.

However, in a perfect world, things would have gotten done, regardless.  Is this a perfect world?  Nope.  This is an imperfect world.  Dinner still needed to made.  Dishes still needed to be done, along with laundry.  Children still needed to be taken care of.  The house needed to be cleaned.  Basically, everything that I usually do still needed to be done.  Deadlines needed to met.  And I was two weeks behind on pretty much everything, or so it seemed, just because of two teeth.

So now I'm rushing to catch up.  Trying to get caught up on laundry, switching out clothes for the season, getting plants ready to be put into our plot at the community garden.  One day this week

, I have a contractor coming to take a look at our bathroom (which is needing some SERIOUS work done on it) and help us figure out which way we need to go.  Once the demolition on that starts, and the rebuilding of our bathroom, I know that my work is going to increase a lot.

I just can't seem to get back into a rhythm that works for me at this moment, so I'm plugging along, doing things as I see them.  And trying to figure out how to schedule everything, without completely exhausting myself.  

And it might just be me, but this seems to happen a lot.  In my world, anyway.  As soon as I get a good schedule going, and it's working for me, and I'm getting a little bit of free time, something comes along and clogs up the works.  

I'm learning though that taking things one baby step at a time, I'll get everything done.  I need concentrate on one task at a time, and not worry about the other 12 million things on my To Do list.  

Do you build time for problems and possible issues into your schedule?  And if so, how do you do it?  Let me know!

Spring Break? What Spring Break?

Ahhhh, spring break... a time for a quick family getaway, or a fun filled week getting ready for Easter.  Time to relax and have fun.
Right? 
Seriously? 
The only thing different different about Spring  Break for me is the kids are home from school. 
The time around major holidays are not a time when my husband can easily take off from work, so it is pretty much status quo around here.  The only real difference is Frick and Frack will be helping me get the work done.  I hope.

My goal for spring break this year is to work in the morning, and have time in the afternoon for something fun.  So far, we haven't quite made it.  But we're working on it. 

Today I'm having Frick and Frack go through their bookshelf and get rid of all the magazines that are in bad shape, separate out any books that are too young for them, and basically tidying up that area. 

MUCH more neat and tidy... Now, to get rid of the trash.

I need for them to help me make some room for the pegboard I'm going to be hanging in there for their backpacks, so we aren't tripping over them at the front door anymore.  

They just don't stay on the pegs.  Plus, the pegs are falling out.

This is soooo much better!  And out of my way!

I'm really happy with the way it has turned out.  One side is red, for Frick, and one side is blue, for Frack.  I have a friend who makes vinyl wall decals and sells them on Etsy in her shop, Sunhoney Studio.  She will be receiving a custom order from me for two sets with the kids' names, one for where their backpacks hang, and then one for where their coats/seasonal jackets will hang. I can't wait to see order them and see them!  (Shhhh..... if the boys are still into Minecraft around Christmas time, I'm also going to be ordering some wall decals in a Minecraft theme for them. But don't tell!) 

Tomorrow I will be taking Frick and Frack to the library to drop a bunch of stuff off for the summer program.  They needed a bunch of stuff (tee shirts, fake flowers, embroidery floss....) that I happen to no longer need, so I'm more than willing to donate supplies and stuff to that cause.  (Just wait until I really clean out my craft closet and go through all my beads and stuff.  They are going to have much more than they know what to do with.  Just saying.)  

All in all, we're planning on having a productive spring break.  Some fun, some work.  We're on a time limit for our house, and plan to put it on the market in 3 years, so we have a LOT of work to do before we can do that, so everyday has to be a concentrated effort on one or two projects of home improvement.  It might not always be a perfect way to live for some people, but it's perfect for us.  

Stay perfectly you!

Organization? What's That?

Today I was asked what my five favorite organization tips are.
(Insert blank stare.)
My only thought was "Five?  I don't even have ONE!"
And then the real fun started. 
I make Rosaries and bags for my church every year for the First Communion class.  It's something I enjoy doing, and feel honored that they ask me to do it.  And you would think that I would know to make extras, for last minute kids that join the class, or move into the area, or whatever.  But I never do. (Trust me..... this is leading to a point)
This year, when the end of year extras came in, I literally had to dig through  mounds of beads and findings and tools and papers (well, you get the point)  to find my rosary making supplies. 

It was not fun, and cut into the the time that could have been spent actually making the darn things.  Everything was scattered throughout my living room, hither and yon in quite a disturbing manner.
After 4 hours of searching, I finally found all the supplies I am going to need, and figured out what I am going to need to order.   I also found one of my old jewelry making cases that will be perfect for storing just those supplies in.  

It's large enough to hold everything, but small enough to be portable.  (Rosaries are great for working on while I am waiting at doctors offices, watching th kids at  Tae Kwon Do, and places like that.)   

  It has a box for tools, one for black beads, one for white beads,











two for other supplies,

and some space left over in the bag for the bagged Rosaries.

 As long as I keep my act together,  I shouldn't have any problem keeping these things in their case, nice and neat, and most importantly,  knowing where they are when I need them.  (See, I told you I would get back to the organization part of this...)

So now, when someone asks me what my five favorite organization tips are, I can tell them about this one, and be satisfied.  One bit of organizing is better than a blank look, after all.

Fast Forward: Where I Want to Be in a Year

Now that 2015 has settled somewhat comfortably around me, it's time for me to figure out where I want to be in a year. 
I'm hoping for better health, once my painful dental problems are cleared up.  (Side piece of advice, kids take care of your teeth.... dentists are your friends, and so is dental floss.)  I'm hoping for less pain, everytime I breathe in.  I'm hoping for no more teeth falling out... You get the picture. 

I'm working towards finishing many works in progress for my house:  the crocheted t shirt yarn rug for my kids room, walls repaired and painted,  bathrooms repaired,  and clutter out of the house.  There are so many projects I've got my fingers into right now, and the number is growing (as always), and I spend most of my time just trying to keep up.  

In a year, I'm hoping that things might be on more of an even keel.  Yes, I know that life will always be chaotic because of my husband's work schedule, my schedule, and the children's schedules.  I'm hopeful, but I'm always realistic.  I'm just hoping that we won't be lurching from one crises to the next, always feeling like the rug is being pulled out from underneath us.

I'm hoping that the garden I put in this spring will be fruitful, and I will be able to put up a lot of veggies for my family, reducing our food bill.   I'm hoping that the weather this spring and summer creates an optimum growing season for all the fruits and berries in the area, so I can make a lot of yummy treats for my children and husband.  I want to spend my summer canning all the fruits and veggies I can so that we will have enough next winter.  

I will sort peacefully through my recipes and get them organized, into binders and folders.  

Basically, in a year, I want to be more organized, on a better financial path, and healthier than I am now.  

Funny, though.... I think that's what I wanted last year, too.

St. Patrick's Day: Wearin' of the Brown?

It's St Patrick's Day.  A day of celebration, green beer, corned beef and cabbage.  Wearing green.  Partying hard, right?
Well, not so much.
See, I was born and raised Catholic, and weirdos that we are, we look at St Patrick's Day a tiny bit differently.  St. Patrick's Day is actually Feast Day.  The Feast Day of Saint Patrick, which is actually not his birthday, but the day he died, and is considered a day of solemnity and holy obligation in his honor.
So, while the rest of the country celebrates with parties, wearing a lot of green, and chasing leprechauns, we spend it quietly, and saying some extra prayers.
Tonight we'll eschew corned beef and cabbage, because corned beef is fairly expensive, and my kids don't really like cooked cabbage.  (I'm sure they will grow into liking it, just like me, but I'm not going to force it.)  We'll probably have pizza for dinner, because that is our treat when my husband works late.
So we spend a quiet day, concentrating on the spirituality of the day, instead of the partying.  It's another peaceful day here (well, as peaceful as it can be), and it is lovely.  Spring is in the air, and we are all feeling so very blessed.

Have a blessed Saint Podraig's Day.

Spring Cleaning: A Time of Renewal, Rebirth, and Hope

I always used to chuckled when people would mention "spring cleaning".  I never did spring cleaning.  Maybe once or twice when the boys were babies, but never really since then.

This last year, I really started to take a look at my life.  My house, my family, our finances.... And I was disgusted.  We were existing, but not living.  We were struggling.

Cooking in our tiny kitchen was nothing short of a nightmare.  Storage in our kitchen was nonexistant.  Our dining room was turning into a catch-all room, as was our living room.  The living room was also my work area for my business.  And it was out of control.

Over the next month or so, I'm going to be concentrating on my "Kicking Butt Campaign".  I am eliminating things I don't want or need.  I'm going to utilize the great ideas I have given to other people,  and using them myself to regain control of my house.  I will reuse what I can, and get rid of the rest.  I'm going to make my house a home, to the best of my ability.  

The way I'm doing this is quite simple.  I take one small section of one room, figure out what I want it to look like, and then do my level best to make it look that way.  If I have to move furniture, I do it.  If I have to scrub down the wall, I do it.  Some of the stuff that won't get used gets thrown out.  I discovered that my public library is needing some supplies for their summer kids program, so I'm working hard on sorting out the supplies they will need, and packaging them up.  Some stuff is being donated to my children's school.  

Summer Library Program Donations

School Donations

I figure there is always going to be someone who will need some of my stuff more than I will.  So my spring cleaning regime this year is going to be several months long, and with a lot of stuff leaving my house, going to people and places that can really use it, into a yard sale box, for when we hold a yard sale this spring, OR into the trash, because no one in their right mind would ever want it.

How are YOU tackling spring cleaning this year?

 

Utility Bills and Saving

I have a dream that we move out of our subdivision, and onto a lovely piece of land, use solar and wind power, and have a well instead of city water.

Until that magical day comes, we will scrimp and save and try to manage our bills as best we can.

One way we manager our ever-growing water bill is to put a bucket in our shower.

It's not pretty, but it is HIGHLY functional.

Try this sometime:  Take a large plastic tub that's empty and put it in your shower.  Turn your shower on, and wait until it is up to the proper temperature for you.  Now, look in the tub.  What do you see?  Water that YOU have paid for, literally going down the drain.

Now, I don't recommend keeping a 20 gallon storage tote in your shower.  However, a three gallon bucket is very do-able in most cases.  It's three gallons of water we have paid for, and will use.

I will use it to flush a toilet, water plants (especially if there is no soap in it), throw it into the washing machine, wash a car, mop a floor, the possibilities are endless, really.  *** Keep in mind, this is considered "greywater" and should NOT be used in cooking or drinking, ONLY for cleaning, flushing toilets, anything where it will not be consumed!***  By saving at least three gallons of water per shower we save 9 gallons per day.  It is a tiny savings.  Minuscule, actually.  But every minuscule change leads to slightly bigger changes.  It is the bigger changes that we strive for.  Working for those changes in an imperfectly perfect way.

Sunday, Week Lunch Prep, and Bento on the Cheap

Sundays, while normally thought of as a day of rest, is far from it in our house.  Laundry is getting done, bread is being baked, and different parts of lunches for school are being prepared for the coming week.

When I bake bread, I, of course, use a bread machine.  I like homemade bread, but I really don't like kneading bread dough.  I prefer to use my secondhand bread maker (what a STEAL at $5 at a rummage sale), and free up some time to take care of other things.

This school year brought some changes for my children - a brand new school, new schedule, new friends.  All these changes were very positive, and I thought it would be a great time for new lunch boxes.  I've been in love with the idea of bento boxes for their lunches for a long time, so I looked into them.  I love the idea that it reduces the number of sandwich bags bought and thrown away, and the little separate cups, keeping food divided.

Hmmmm......

Then I realized that we were short on money that month, so no new lunch boxes, bento or otherwise.  The boys' lunch boxes from last year were in perfectly good shape (mostly), and I live by the motto of "waste not, want not", so I sat down and thought about what the kids would want for lunch, and what I had in my kitchen that I could use.

It was also time to clean out my plastic dish storage cupboard.  SCORE!  I found several square boxes with matching lids, and several of the tiny plastic cups with lids, which were initially bought for sorting beads.  In my picnic supply drawer, I found multitudinous plastic spoons, forks and knives (we save them from whenever we eat out). I figured that as time went on, I could round supplies out as I found pieces on sale, or at rummage sales.

Gathering up my supplies, I started putting them together to try to figure out how to make all this work.

Lunch boxes and supplies

Lunch box one with containers

Lunch box two with containers

Lunch box two with containers

Lunch box one is just a rectangular thermal bag, no extra pockets or anything like that.  Lunch box two is a two compartment thermal bag. The top larger compartment holds the sandwich box, and the lower smaller compartment holds the two smaller dishes for snack or a side dish.

A month or two after school started I scored, once again.  This time I managed to find two thermos jars at our local dollar store.  And I was also blessed that a friend of the family who was cleaning out their house, found two more thermos jars, so now I was up to four.  A thermos provides a nice change from the usual sandwich, apple sauce or fruit cup, and crunchy snack (chips, crackers, etc).  I can heat up leftovers, or make some soup for the kids to take to school, without having to worry about them needing access to a microwave.

So there it is.  I know that in traditional bento boxes, the food is decorated to look like cartoon characters, or in attractive ways.  My children are not into "cute" food.  They like food that is filling.  Sandwiches are generally cheese and meat, with a little bit of mayonnaise.  The smaller cups will hold applesauce or chopped fruit.  The larger round cups hold granola, chips, or crackers of some sort.  I generally also include a fruit juice drink in a pouch, whatever brand I happen to get on sale.  At some point, I will be juicing fruits, and sending them in small bottles.

The point is, all of this means less waste, and fewer things to buy.  It might not be totally "perfect" but it works.  It gives my children inexpensive, healthy lunches and I'm able to to spend money on the food that they are eating, instead of the packaging.

In future posts, I will discuss the actual food I give to my kids, including the homemade bread I make to create yummy sandwiches.

Stay perfectly you!

Let's start at the very beginning...

A very good place to start.....

Hi.  Welcome.  Come on in.  Sit down.   Just push those books off that chair, and have a seat.  Would you like some coffee?  I have a pot.  It should still be warm.  Maybe.  Ummmm... How about tea?  I could make you some tea..... If I can find it.

Yeah.  My life is far from organized.  Or perfect.  I live in a small house.  If you took about 200 square feet off, it would probably qualify as a "Tiny House".  But that's okay.  Less room for stuff, or so I've been told.

I'm in a time of change right now.  I am an artist that dabbled in a lot of different art forms.  Jewelry, painting silk scarves, painting wall paintings, collages, note cards.... I had quite the little business going.  But then.... it stopped earning money.  And it stopped being fun.  And it was time for me to get out.  So, now I sit here, with my living room looking like a craft store blew up all over it, and wonder how my life came to this point.

And I realize one important thing:  I did it to myself.  I was so in love with the idea of having the "perfect everything" that I went crazy trying to make my business into a complete one-woman show.  I would look on various social medias, and get depressed.

Why?  Because my life wasn't like what I was seeing.  It wasn't picture perfect all the time.  In fact, it was no where near perfect.  I got so caught up in the race to have a perfectly clean house, a perfect business, the perfect clothes, the perfect attitude, perfect children, and perfect meals that I forgot something.  I can't do it all, and I can't do it alone.

When I teach art to the kids at school, I try to reinforce one major idea:  No human being is perfect.  There is only one perfect being in the Universe, and that is God.  And we are NOT God.

Of course, did I listen to it as I preached it?  Nope.  But I am now!

So, come with me on this journey.  It's a journey to realize just how perfect I am (oh, and you are by the way!) without all the trappings of social media.  Let's make our lives perfect for us, and stop comparing ourselves to standards we can't possibly achieve.

We will cover cooking (pictures of a messy kitchen included), crafts (paint spills and all), DIY projects (sawdust and drywall dust EVERYWHERE), cleaning and organizing (because we do some of that), and generally living within our means, and learning to be happy with it.