Organizing, Day 1-3

Recently, I ordered a book that has changed my life......for the last three days anyway. It's called Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider of simplemom.net:




It's full of great information on how to simplify, organize and just plain enjoy the simpler things in life while letting go of the stress our "stuff" causes us. Tuesday, I began tackling one room at a time using her clearly defined steps to declutter and make beautiful. She includes wonderful homemade recipes for all-purpose cleaner, furniture polish and much more.

Most of you know, I am a fairly uncluttered person, but it is amazing how much we have accrued since moving to our current home (we "accrued" two more kiddos as well :-)!). It feels good to get the motivation back for simpler days around here.

The family room was my first project, I then moved on to the living room and yesterday tackled the kitchen. I am happy to report every drawer, every cupboard, every nook and cranny has been thoroughly cleaned and organized. In fact, I was able to condense my armoire and china hutch into just the amoire, so the hutch can be sold in this spring's garage sale!

I love that Tsh has you take on one room at a time with such clear direction, it has helped to keep me from biting off more than I can chew. Her plan is for ten days, but our house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, school room, living room, family room and the dreaded basement will probably take twelve if I want to be thorough. When there are seven people living under one roof it makes for a lot of "stuff"!

Here are few shots of the kitchen yesterday after I unloaded all of the cupboards and pantry (sooo glad Randy was on shift!):

I finished at eleven last night, so there are no "after" pictures yet. My plan each day has basically been school with the kids in the morning, lunch, Addie down for a nap, kids to quiet time and I spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning the chosen room for the day. I break to make dinner, do dishes and take care of bedtime with kids (Randy has been on shift most nights this week, otherwise we work together on this)and pick up where I left off until the room is completed. The kids have been super helpful and have been excited about getting rid of things.....we'll see if that attitude remains when it's their room's turn!

Today (Day 4) is the laundry room and downstairs bathroom, so I should finish pretty early and get a jump start on the next room. The basement. The mother load of toys, I'm sure I will need a couple of days down there.

Tsh has written a lovely book I'm so glad I found. One small note though, Tsh has younger children (kindergarten and under), so if you're like me and have older kids (especially kids schooling at home) you'll need to come up with some creative ideas for scheduling your day beyond the toddler years, but she has lots of helpful tips that will get your creative juices flowing! Thanks for the great book Tsh!

And some more snow.

It was pure powder.....the snowman had to wait a few days before he came "together".

I told you I didn't really shovel off the whole driveway!

Sneaking a peek at the real worker:

Ryder helping out:

The thaw:

Living fully....even in the snow.

The 48 hour switch.

In 48 hours I went from this:

To this:

The kids had a blast playing outside in the white powder and I didn't really have to shuffle off the entire driveway....

More pictures to come!

My Mountains.

There are few things on earth more beautiful than the mountains. When you are away from them for a while, you forget there magnitude, their glory, their call to come explore. My brother-in-law, Aaron, has said he doesn't know what he would do if he didn't live near some mountains. "How would I know which way I was going if the mountains weren't there to guide me?"

I woke early the morning before we left and watched the sun rise above the mountains behind the home I was raised in. All of those years as a child, I don't think I ever noticed a sunrise. Of course, I was still sleeping. But us kids would get up as soon as the sun's rays pierced our bedroom windows.



We always headed to the mountains. In part to procrastinate the impending school work mom had for us, but mostly to explore and create. We carved trails hiking up that mountain, made gum trees and forged a lifelong bond with one another. We laughed, rarely argued (we saved that for inside), and let that fresh mountain air fill our lungs for as long as we could hold mom off.

The sunsets I remember. When their beauty was breathtaking (which was often), you could look out the front window and see dad just standing there. Taking it all in. Enjoying the amazing moment that was created for, what seemed like, just us.




In my heart, though, are those treasured, early morning moments spent playing outside. Digging massive caverns in the mountainside for our fortress. Fully equipped with bathroom and all. Dad may never know where all of his tools are, but one day, some great archeologist may find them and rejoice with his link to the past. History. That's what we made on those mornings.




I often tell people, I never lived in the city until I was married and moved away. The city is convenient in ways, with grocery stores and shopping centers only moments away. But mountain living runs through my veins and deep in my roots. I will forever treasure my time with them.



My precious memories are a mere glimpse at the beauty of what is to come beyond this life. Thank you, Lord, for the sneak peek.

San Diego 2011

Well, a trip was mapped out, planned out and ready to go. Paula and I were headed to San Diego to surprise mom for her birthday.

Enter dad and the doctor.

Enter major heart surgery.

Enter slight revision on planned trip.





Even with the change in plans, we had a great visit and thoroughly enjoyed our mini-vacation to the west coast. As always a beach trip was a must and silliness was a given. More than once, us kids overstayed our welcome in dad's hospital room with over-the-top laughter and crazy stories.....at least dad is now home with peace and quiet for the healing to continue!

Ryder funnies.

A couple of funny things Ryder has "shared" with us lately:

We were at Target the other day walking down the aisle where "womanly" items were located, and very full of people, when he shouted, "Look mom, bandaids! These are like the biggest bandaids ever!" Before I could stop him, "Look, the whole aisle is full of them!"

Let's just say he gave a good laugh to everyone else within ear shot and managed to slightly embarrass his mother....


Yesterday, he was frustrated about something and said, "This stinks! And I don't mean the smell, I mean the word!"

Randy and I were glad he was walking downstairs as he said it, so we could crack up! Thanks for the laughs Ryde, our resident funny man :-).

My little poser.

When mom and dad were here in early December, the kids couldn't wait to decorate the tree with them. As they waited anxiously for Paula and mom to finesse the tree with ribbon and lights, Ashlynn spent her time choreographing where each child's "place" was to be once the decorating began. Needless to say, it brought mom a great deal of entertainment to listen in on Ashlynn's directing and I, ofcourse, was at the ready with my camera....director's orders.






*Ashlynn's hair and wardrobe courtesy of Ashlynn. The pearls are courtesy Auntie Lisa!*

It wasn't all bad, part II.

Around 7:30am, Addie popped her head up and asked to "go downstairs and get vitamins and eat breakfast". After an inspection of the towel and not seeing anything "out of the ordinary", I took her to the kitchen and made her a piece of toast she ate with gusto. When Randy wasn't home by nine (usually he's home by 8:15am or so), I knew for sure there had been a fire. The other kids seemed to be doing awesome and the weather forecast was for seventy degrees as a high that day (this is January in the midwest, unbelievable!). Randy did finally make it home and after sharing the story of the house fire, went upstairs and crawled into bed to recoup a bit.

Deep breath. Randy was home safe and all the kids were well. Thank you Jesus!

By mid-morning I had recruited the kids to help rake the rest of leaves from our yard and "man" the bottom of the ladder while cleaned out the gutters (something Randy was going to do, but with his great need for sleep, I filled in). We worked steadily as the sun continued to warm us and just after lunch we finished the entire yard. The kids spent the rest of that beautiful day playing and running through the yard. Randy finally woke and finished the back gutters that I couldn't reach, we grilled burgers and had a relaxing evening.

Friday, New Year's Eve, 6am. Ashlynn is at my bedside looking very pale.

Uh-oh.

She spent all morning on the couch trying desperately not to give in to the feeling in her stomach, but mom made a big mistake. I just needed to make a quick bank deposit, you know, the one I should have made the day before, when Randy was home, when all of the kids didn't have to pile into the car and go.

When no one was sick.

Ashlynn reluctantly got in and I gave her a bowl, towel and strict instructions to use them if necessary. Once I turned on the car I was reminded I also needed gas. Really bad. Let's just say the bumps and smells and turns made good on why I gave the instructions and the above items became absolutely necessary. We returned home as quickly as possible and I apologized profusely all the way.

Time out.

Usually, if I apologize to Ashlynn like crazy, she is all over me, "don't worry mom, it's totally ok. Stop saying sorry everything is fine, it's no problem!" The girl didn't utter one such word to me in the car.

I am the worst mom ever. And the girl must really feel lousy.

The rest of her day was spent on the couch looking very green and willing herself to never use the bowl again. She also wished daddy wasn't at work so she had someone to cuddle her full-time since I was up and down taking care of the other kids too. By 10:30pm, I tucked her into the make-shift palette on my side of the bed and climbed into bed myself, who needed to see the ball drop anyway?

3am, New Year's Day. I woke to terrible pain in my stomach. No, no, no, not me. Reasoning it must have been the brownies I ate way too much of the night before, I tried to go back to sleep. After two hours and finally moving to the bathroom floor, I prayed and asked (*begged*) Jesus to just let it out and relieve my pain.

He answered.


To be continued......

It wasn't all bad.

2011. We made it.

The last week of 2010 was quite eventful in our home. Not exactly the eventful most are looking for, but it really wasn't all bad.

Last Tuesday morning Gage came running into our room saying he felt like throwing up. Quickly, I moved him downstairs and let him rest on the couch where he spent the rest of the day not eating and making good on his statement from the early morning hours.

Lovely. Just lovely.

By mid-morning Ryder lay on the ground apparently writhing in pain while complaining he was not feeling good. Enter child number two who received his own pail and a spot on the towel covered sofa.

More of the loveliness.

The best part of the day was that Randy was home. He was so attentive to the boys and held down the fort while I made a mad run to Whole Foods grabbing Recharge, real ginger ale, saltine crackers and electrolyte water.

That evening Gage was almost back to normal and able to hold down a few saltine crackers, Ryde was not fairing as well and we even tried to get him into the doctor's office. The poor boy has a very hard time recovering once he has started down the slippery slope of GI issues. The doc, who had already left for the day, recommended we take him to the ER and we opted instead to let him "ride" it out through the night and prayed sleep would get his tummy under control.

Thankfully he pulled through.

Fast forward to Thursday morning, 4am. I woke to what seemed like the sound of twenty fire engines blaring down the street. Hearing siren after siren, I realized there must have been a house or building fire somewhere close by and Randy was on shift. At the exact same time I heard a coughing sound coming from the girls room. I knew it was Addie. Uh-oh. In my still, slightly, sleepy state I started praying for Randy and all the guys who would be at the fire, praying they would be protected and safe. All I wanted to do was drift back to sleep, but I knew I heard that coughing and with what the boys had been up to on Tuesday, I knew I needed to get up and check on it.

How I love my sleep.

The continuing sound of sirens would not let me return to dreamland so I went to check on the girls. Upon opening the door I knew immediately what the restless little girl on the bed was doing. Let's just say the smell gave it away. Knowing I would need to get the sheets off, I moved Ashlynn into Gage's bed and put Addie on a towel I laid on the floor in my bedroom. After pulling the sheets from the girls' bed and cleaning what I could, I went back to my room and moved Addie to my side of the bed and set her up on the floor (I had just washed my sheets). She lay on the floor so sweetly and I prayed we would both be able to get back to sleep and all would be better in the morning......

.....to be continued.......