Organizational Tips

First of all, I am not nearly as organized as I could be or should be. But someone asked me to share some tips, so here goes.

1. Throw or give away everything you are not using. Be brutal. Sentimentality is a huge hinderance to a well-organized home. Can't part with Little Sally's paper turkey at Thanksgiving? Give it to Grandma and let her deal with it. Unless you're like me, then just trash it.

2. Keep things in logical, not traditional, places. For example, at one time I kept my children's clothes about 10 feet away from the washer and dryer. I was blessed with a house that allowed me to bath them, cloth them, and put their clothes in the laundry hamper right next to the washer/dryer all in a space of a few feet. It meant that I kept my kids clothes in the spare bedroom/office rather than in their rooms upstairs. So what? Think out of the box.

3. Books - If you have kids and books, you know it can be a pain to teach them to put the books back on the shelf correctly. I put my kids books in plastic dishpans so they can flip through them. It's easier for the kids to put the books away and it's easier for them to see their choices.

4. Have a place for everything. If something doesn't have a place, find it a place or get rid of it.

That's the extent of my organizational expertise. Hope it helps you. If you have any tips of your own that may benefit my poorly run home, feel free to educate me.

Wall Street Blues

Does anyone else just get totally nauseated looking at their 401K balance? Or is it just me? I am so glad I believe in God right now because I'd be totally worried about the financial situation if it wasn't for my belief that God will take care of me. And he will...retirement fund or not.

One Month Down....

Five more to go. Life as a fire-fighter cadet's wife is not easy. Especially since I do the bills. They pay these guys NOTHING. I had to just close Microsoft Money. There's just no way I can balance the budget. It's been a long time since my bugdet looked like this:

EXPENSES > INCOME

Sigh. I don't want to steal from the house fund. I really don't. At least we haven't had to run the A/C in two days. It's been so nice outside. Praise God for blessing us with cool weather.

I should quit complaining. It could be much, much worse. We could have NO money at all. It's a luxury to be able to choose between going without something and using money in savings to get it. I just need to quit doing the bills. If I don't look at the balance sheets, I can't get bummed, right?

Finally, a break

Justin is getting a bit of a break this week. He's off Wednesday and Friday. Yipee! We might see about going to the Dinoland Exhibit at Zilker Park. We were supposed to go last Friday, but Ike got it cancelled. We went to Zilker Park today and played on the playscape after Cub Scouts. We walked down by the water and Joanna slipped on the rocks and fell in. Not fun. But she whined about it much less than I expected. Ethan had the most fun, I think. He kicked and screamed in my arms all the way to the car. I wish I had pics to share, but alas, no camera.

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Park Day Pictures

We spent the morning having a "Park Day" with fellow homeschoolers in Hutto.

Here's Jordan on the jungle gym.

Joanna, wearing a frilly dress purchased yesterday at Goodwill for $4, collecting seeds.
Emma displaying the seed pod, now empty after Joanna's purge.
Lacy's mugging for the camera waiting for some other girls her age to arrive. One did eventually.
Jordan sharing grapes with Emmalise. His food detection radar was on high alert.

Unbelievable!

Our real estate agent just called and our buyers are closing today. They are preparing to have their utilies on Friday. We are going to be getting our closing papers FedEx-ed tomorrow. Then we sign and notarize and it's done. This has been insanely fast. Like less than 30 days. We are making $5K more than we anticipated on the sale of our house. I don't see how anyone could doubt that God wanted us to be here in Austin.

Keepers of the Home

Keepers of the Home is a great program for Christian girls with emphasis on crafts, nature, recreations, and home-making skills. It's sort of the Christian alternative to Girl Scouts. Lacy and Joanna went today and made their own personal bags to carry their keepers books and materials in. Then Lacy made a prayer journal and worked on memorizing scripture, while Joanna colored as neatly as she could in a new coloring book.

Joanna's comment: "Mommy, I don't think I want to go to Keeper's again because everybody was talking all at once instead of one at a time and it was too loud!"

Lacy's comment: "Mom, I can't believe that the one person I met was born in the same month of the same year and her favorite animal is horses, just like me!"

Mommy's comment: "When I figure out all the exits for these silly freeways, I'll be much happier, and possibly even on time."