Two Kid Schoolhouse
A lovely dream Nov. 16, 2006
Last night I had a very vivid and beautiful dream: my kitchen counters were all completely clear of clutter! All the food was put in the pantry, the mail was cleared up, my stack of receipts had been entered into Quicken and filed. Assorted toys and tools were in their proper places too! My kitchen was so beautiful!
Imagine my surprise this morning to walk in to... reality!
Think I'll go and start making that dream come true right now!
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The Imperfect Homeschooler's Thanksgiving Nov. 15, 2006
Living a cliche Nov. 4, 2006
Today we attacked the sock pile. It had been growing and growing on the guestroom bed for a few weeks as we haven't taken the time to sort them when the laundry is done. (Notice the use of the vague "few." How many weeks?) Apparently everyone has too many pairs of socks because no one has gone sockless during this time. Maybe that's the problem - we have so many socks we don't treat them with the care they deserve. Buying them 12 pairs at a time at Costco may have something to do with that, eh?
We finally went through and matched up socks. But the mismatched pile is still huge! I don't want to count them! And the eternal question remains: what happens to those socks?
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My messy little secret Oct. 16, 2006
In my kitchen there is a little built-in desk. On it is an assortment of stuff, from notebooks with the kids' medical records, to a box of miscellaneous papers, a pump bottle of hand cream... etc.
Yesterday we had our fellowship group from church over for lunch, and as usual we had our cleaning spree the day before. We are a messy family, and we always have things to pick up and put away.
As one of the women walked into the kitchen to put down the food she'd brought, she glanced at my little desk and said "wow, your desk is so nice and neat. Mine is such a mess all the time, stuff piled up... it's kind of embarrassing..."
So I let her in on my secret.
In my bedroom is a large, sturdy white shopping bag. Written on the bag in black Sharpie are the words "This is not garbage or recycling." Inside the (full) bag are all the things that had been cluttering the top of my little kitchen desk.
Tonight or tomorrow I'll go through the bag and put things in their proper places. (That might mean the garbage can for some.) Then I'll fold up my bag and stash it away till the next time my desk is out of control, and company is coming....
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Sarah Edwards Oct. 8, 2006
Finally started reading Marriage to a Difficult Man: the Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Samuel Edwards. It was a Christmas gift last year but it takes me a whle to get around to new books sometimes...
I'm not very far into it yet but it's very interesting. Sarah had the gift of hospitality in a big way. She almost always had a house full of guests, it seems. And she possessed the art and skill of making a home:
Because Sarah spent no time on gossip, she had the extra time that other women leak away (a minute to place a pewter candlestick where it would be reflected in a mirror, time to make rose petals into a potpourri that would scatter fragrance through a sheet chest). She communicated this art of keeping house to her daughters so that they, too, left visitors with an impression of a house with distinctive character.
Sounds like a nice legacy for her girls. Hm, wonder what lessons on homemaking my daughter will take away from me...
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Impersonal houses Aug. 10, 2006
On another message board I read occasionally, I came across a discussion over the advantages and disadvantages of a kids' playroom in a house. Overwhelmingly the posts were pro-playroom, mainly for the reason of keeping kids' toys out of the main areas of the house, including the family room. Only one poster seemed to think that a family room was an appropriate place for kids' toys. Everyone else seemed to think they are best kept out of sight, at least most of the time.
Now I don't think it looks great to have piles of legos all over the floor all the time. But the tone of that discussion seemed to be that it's best or even necessary to keep all kids' toys invisible from the rest of the house, or at least areas that guests might see.
We have toys in our main living area, which is also our main entertaining area. When people come over the legos and other toys are put away, meaning, in bins against the wall, or in the bookcase, or taken to another room downstairs (a daylight basement and future family room). When kids are part of the company, they will often play downstairs. Sometimes I banish them to the downstairs when I am having "adult" company (like the ladies mentioned in my earlier post). But the kids don't always like being down there, particularly when there are no other kids to play with, so the toys come back upstairs, eventually.
Most of my friends (most of whom homeschool) have their homes the same way. We don't hide the fact that children live in our houses. We don't mind people seeing that kids play (and what they play with).
But lately I've been meeting more people whose houses are very impersonal. No evidence of kids at all. Visiting kids are sent off to the playroom, not to be seen or heard from again till it's time to go home. Most of the time, there are no books visible either! Everything is tastefully decorated but it doesn't look as though anyone actually lives there. Kind of like a model home.
One of my favorite things to do at a gathering where I don't know a lot of people is browse the bookshelves. But in these impersonal houses there are no bookshelves to browse. There are no kids' toys to check out. It's harder to get to know people if you can't figure out how they live, what they like, what (or if?) they read.
I'm just never quite comfortable in one of these impersonal houses. I always feel a little like an intruder. I am always nervous about spilling anything, or messing something up. These houses always are "no shoes" houses too, it seems. Nothing wrong with asking people to take off their shoes, really. It does save the carpet and hardwood floors. Still, it's nice not to have to remember to wear nice socks. And I wonder about older people who are uncomfortable with their shoes off. My mother would never have dreamed of making people take off their shoes to come into her house! And in her later years, she would have been really bothered by someone who asked her to go barefoot. Her feet hurt without shoes on; she wore them from the minute she got up till she went to bed. She wiped her feet before coming in from outside, too.
I don't have any idea what my final point of all this is. Maybe I just want to justify my own messy ways?
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When cleaning up for company... Jul. 22, 2006
"just a little bit of blood" on the bathroom counter is still too much!
(We have someone with a bloody nose problem in our house. Nothing more sinister than that. Obviously we have a cleaning standards problem too...)
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New binder excitement Jul. 22, 2006
Every year when school supplies start showing up at Costco, I gaze longingly at the big binder. I really like that binder, but really have no need of it. I don't go to school, don't go anywhere really where I need to carry a big binder full of dividers, carriers, etc around...
Then I started reading about "household binders" and how useful they are. Since I operate out of a moving collection of file pockets and a large decorative "file box" with piles of stuff inside, and not very efficiently at that, I thought...hmmm... could it be that this year I need the binder?
So a few Costco trips back I saw the binder and finally bought it. It sat around for a while but last night I started figuring out some logical categories for all the file pockets and folders. So far I have...
Homeschool. Of course! This holds papers to be filed, articles and curriculum samples to read, copies of my notification letters, HSLDA stuff, etc.
Household. This will hold my daily/weekly chore checklist that I am still working on. I found one that looks very cool on donnayoung.org - it's a Word file so I can customize it to my needs. Also our home warranty contract, the diagram C drew of the water heater (with dimensions) for when we need a new one, copies of the information sheet we leave with babysitters...
Travel. Not much in this yet, just the kids' camp checklists and a reservation confirmation for C's and my getaway while the kids are in camp!
Food. Weekly menu planning, recipes to be filed...
Receipts. Once they are entered into Quicken, they will be filed or shredded.
Healthcare. Information on our health insurance, etc.
Bills and To Do.
Correspondence. Right now this just contains copies of letters we've received from the children we sponsor through Compassion International. When I answer them, I will move them to a separate folder where we keep all their letters!
I have a few more pockets to use for other things that come up. It's really been kind of fun, putting it together. But then, new things like this are always fun... for a while...
The binder also contains things I might not use - places for a calculator, pencils, etc. So I might have been able to go with a plain ol' white binder. I justify this because it will hold a lot of stuff, it's bright green so I can't lose it among other things, and it zips shut so nothing will fall out (assuming I take the time to zip it). Also because I just like it. All my life I have loved school supplies. I can still remember the excitement I felt when it was time for new pencils and notebooks. Aahh.... at $11.99 (I think), it's a cheap way to relive the past!
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Papers, Papers Everywhere... May. 10, 2006
...all needing to be filed. Coincidentally, I have two blog posts sitting in draft form, requiring further research and thought before I finish them.
Could there be a connection?
Right now we're trying to hammer into the kids' brains: work first, then play.
Hahahahaha.
Time to get to work now.
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New Frontiers In Hospitality Apr. 29, 2006
We had a new experience this week. Our church hosted a meeting of all the churches in our region - that includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. And we were asked to house a pastor and his wife from Alaska.
I'd never had a complete stranger stay in my house before. Last fall we had a housesitter when we were away for a month who we didn't know real well, but we knew her. And we were gone while she was here. But someone we'd never met? It felt so odd.
It wasn't that I was nervous about what they'd do. It was more what they'd think. Could I possibly get the bathroom clean enough? What would they think of the combination shower curtain/shower door in the bathroom? (Rigged up after one shower door was broken by J - the day before E was born - and never properly fixed because, hey, it's functional.) The closet... oh my, the closet.
Well, they came and went and it was lovely. Of course I have no idea if they sneered at the not-quite-clean enough bathroom. But they were gracious, and kind to the kids, and - much to E's delight - left behind a thank you note and a box of candy!
It was, of course, great for the kids to see this. They don't always do well around strangers. Neither do I!
Now the real test will be - could we ever be ready to be hospitable on a moment's notice? If someone was visiting unexpectedly, and needed a place to sleep, would I be able to say yes without freaking out? Can I keep that bathroom clean enough for visitors anytime?
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About Me |
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Musings of a slacker homeschool Mom
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