Tackle It Tuesday--Where's my dining room?

I awoke this morning to a most ugly sight--we've been home from the States for the better part of a week, and it seems like everything we took with us somehow ended up on our dining room floor, the table, and the school shelf. Pictures? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!

But after a good two hours of picking up, putting away, scrubbing, sweeping, wet-mopping, and rearranging of extraneous "stuff" that makes its home in our dining room (hey, with 7 people in a 900-square-foot apartment, rooms have to multitask!), I now have my dining room back!

Awesome! OOOH, and the high chair even has its own corner now...and we have a little something new--a time-out seat! Double-awesome!

Tackle-It-Tuesday: The Home Management Binder

This Tackle actually started a while ago. In fact, I blogged about it two weeks ago. I'm a chronic organizer, but a hopeless noodle when it comes to actually implementing the greatest of plans. I get a wonderful master schedule planned out, and get tired of looking at the starkness of it all. I've gone through probably a dozen Day Planners, and while some of them seem to 'stick' better than others, I just get tired of seeing the boredom all on paper. So I made it my own. Inspired by prayzgod's blog Keeping the Home and her amazing Home Management Binder, I set out to create one for myself, one that I'd not only be proud to call my own, but one that would reflect my own personal tastes instead of the sterile, bland blahness (is that a word?) of other planners I've had.

First things first, I chose a binder I could live with. I didn't go with an incredibly large one, and I wanted one that would be decent to look at as well as sturdy...but I didn't want all those pointy edges that had poked me and gotten me annoyed in the past. So I found a plain, black, snap-front faux-leather three-ring binder hanging around the house, and I claimed it! Pete had used it as his leader's book while he was stationed at Fort Stewart and it still had a fair amount of (eww!) Iraqi sand in it, so it took a good scrubbing to get it nice and shiny, but it works great! The inside cover is perfect for postage stamps, half-size index cards for writing quick phone notes on, my mini-collection of post-it flags, and a magazine for devotional reading. Wanna see? Right now I've got Gospel Advocate's August issue in there, and I'm saving it for the plane trip we'll be taking this weekend. Here's the inside cover:

Adjacent to that is my title page. I decided that I really needed to go all-out on my dividers, to make them "mine". I settled on doing scrapbook-style pages that made me smile when I looked at them and reminded me of WHY I am striving toward organization. Life meets art:

Behind my title page, I have several printouts that I enjoy reading on a daily basis. These serve to keep me grounded. One was copied from Keeping the Home, her "Woman's Rules to Live By", and the other is a handout from church with 20 suggestions for raising your kids for Christ. I also have a copy of the thirteen virtues Benjamin Franklin developed for himself at age 20. Excellent list--it's blogworthy in and of itself, so you may read of that here at a later date!

Next is my calendar/schedule section--here's the cover page. The picture I used to make this layout/cover sheet reminds me so well why it is important to keep our days ordered--so we don't end up run down and worn out. It's also important to schedule time to just rest in the arms of our Heavenly Father...as Dani is resting in the arms of her earthly Daddy. The verses at the bottom edges of the picture are Ecclesiastes 3:1 ("To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.") and 1 Corinthians 14:40 ("Let all things be done decently and in order.")

In my calendar section, the first couple of pages are the planning calendars. I got both of these from donnayoung.org; she's got a wealth of printouts there for the organizationally-challenged among us, and even for those who are addicted to this stuff! On one side is an 18-month calendar so I can see everything at a glance; the facing page is our school calendar, with August 2007 through July 2008 allon one page! I use the blocks to plan our intentional off-days and to record actual school days. I put the kids' first initials on each day that they have school, so I keep all that attendance stuff limited to one page. Works wonders for this ADD-challenged brain!

Behind this is twelve months of month-on-a-page calendars--the standard stuff--all (like all of my other pages) encased in protective sleeves to make this a jelly-proof (but not quite Jamie-proof) planner!

In that same section, I've got my basic weekly cleaning schedule. There's another copy of this on the refrigerator door--Pete is UBER proud that I've done this, and he's thrilled that he's now able to look and see what needs to be done on any given day and determine whether we've had a successful day schedule-wise. I'm loving all the color! OOH, look, variety!

I still don't have my master daily plan finalized yet; I'm tweeking it as we go along with this first week of school to be sure I have enough time allotted for each activity or too much on another. Sorry, I'm not up for showing works in progress! LOL

The next section is for meals. I foudn it a bit odd that while I was browsing through my stash of pictures to make a scrapbook-style cover page for this section, I wasn't able to find any pictures of Morgan stuffing her face like her brother and sisters, but oh well...Jamie more than made up for the deficit!

In this section, I've got a master shopping list and weekly menu planner (both from donnayoung.org) and a few recipes I've printed off from hither and yon. I'm eventually going to add some more stuff to this section, but it's another work in progress.

After the meal section comes the title page I really love. It doesn't have much behind it, just a few generic address/phone number sheets and a business card holder, but the cover sheet....I'm loving it. I almost didn't want to use it for a planner--it is just really scrapbook-y!

Then comes the final section--the one for my homeschool planning forms. Inside this, I've transplanted the schedule and dividers for nine weeks from my Sonlight Instructor Guide. I really didn't need to add much more, except I did...I added a sheet for the non-Sonlight subjects. I managed to keep lesson plans for both kids on one sheet. Very much better than the binder full of sheets I got tired of looking at in years past. The cover sheet was FUN to do too. I've been looking for something to use that silly picture of Pete in jammies and pink Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars for eons, and now I've got it! I also used little snips of the bookmarks that Sonlight sent with our books this year.

Overall, I'm really satisfied with how things turned out, and I'm excited to keep adding to it...that's a first for me! Surprisingly, the master grocery list worked really well. I thought it would be a hindrance having a big binder along with me instead of a little sheet of paper, but it was just something to get "used to" instead of a true problem. No biggie. I just need to get a wet erase marker that works. Right now I only have blue!

I really benefitted from all the information I found in the Home Management Binder University. It was great, and was excellent in training my thoughts as well as my organizational skills. This was a GREAT Tackle!

Tackle It Tuesday--Emotional Decluttering, Scheduling

My task for this Tuesday is twofold--I'm decluttering my heart, and "ordering my day". It's not just about the housework today.

I doubt but maybe a rare handful of people in cyberspace will understand this decluttering project of mine, but it just needs to be done. I have no idea whether the person I have in mind will read this or not; I have no way of knowing, actually, but since there is no other feasible way to do this without endangering my family, I'm doing it here in the offchance that she has stumbled upon my little corner of the 'net and is reading my ramblings. I've had a HARD time struggling with this for nearly two and a half years, and I've been trying desperately to reach a point where I could just let this go. It's time. I want my heart free of this; the weight of it is just too much to bear anymore, and it's done little more than remain a daily reminder of Satan's power. I don't want that reminder anymore. So, LG, you know who you are. You know why I'm saying this. And you know why it has been so hard for me to reach this point. I forgive you. I'm sorry I had any part in any of your pain, and I hope you either have or eventually will release that and me in forgiveness. I have nothing but pain left in my heart, but I pray daily that God will turn that pain to love. I want the best for you and your boys, and I hope and pray with all my heart that one day this very fractured and toxic relationship can be made perfect in Heaven. I plan on being there, I only hope bitter and selfish traps set by Satan don't keep you from meeting me there and reconciling in God's presence. It's very difficult for me to say this, but I do still love you.

**long, cleansing breath**

It's amazing how absolutely freeing that was.

**one more cleansing breath, and a second cup of coffee**

Moving on to more practical matters, I'm going to be spending the remainder of my day getting organized for school. I'm mostly ready in the curriculum/lesson plan department, with the exception of the biology and grammar books I'm STILL waiting on (I'm getting too many opportunities to practice that patience I've never prayed for...), but my scheduling and household management leaves a lot to be desired. I think I'm going to be 'enrolling' myself in Home Management Binder University over at Keeping the Home, and dedicating some concentrated time into getting myself together. I tried Teri Maxwell's Managers of Their Homes, but it was just SOOO overwhelming that I couldn't ever get it all arranged. I'd love to be able to use a schedule like she has, because it's simply amazing--but I get completely bogged down in all those little squares, and it's just too much for me. I need something simpler! Lessee.....goals......objectives......

• Pete wants a copy of our daily "plan" on the refrigerator so he can see what has and hasn't been accomplished--makes him feel a bit more connected to us and it really appeals to his "duty roster" nature!
• The girls need something they can feel organized with like the rest of us. Might help for them to grasp days of the week and a daily routine as well.
• Jon and Kelsey need to be able to see what is expected of them and when.
• I need some form of accountability, and I do tend to work well when I can see what I've got ahead of me so I don't get distracted in fifty different directions at once.
• We need continuity--a plan that shows us all what needs to get done so we actually accomplish things in a priority that serves our family without leaving all the necessities undone. We're all FAR too quick to jump ship on housekeeping chores when there's the possibility of doing something spontaneous.
• Lists are good. I may detest them, but hey, lists ARE good.

Time to go read. I've got a "class" to take! Hmm, I wonder if all of this is going to actually FIT in my 3-ring binder?

Hmm, while I'm at it, maybe I'll go ahead and write the Scriptures of the Day on our dry-erase board (since Pete forgot today in his haste to get to work way too early). What are they, you ask?

So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Let all things be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40

Tackle It Tuesday--School Disaster Area

In three weeks (providing the last of that stack of books I'm waiting on EVER arrives), we will be on day two of our new school year. Yes, it's a little bit later than when public school starts, but there's that whole matter of MAIL...it takes a lifetime and a half to get books delivered, it would seem. But then again, we are also going to be on a five-day school week schedule, and starting off with a short week would be a little bit of a pain, so waiting an extra four days really won't be too big a deal...especially considering that our school year will be roughly four weeks shorter than the public school year. No biggie. But as far as biggies go, the school clutter problem is IT. Every year I make these grandiose plans to get our supplies and books organized, and this year I am actually DOING it! Yippee!!!!!

The choice to use Sonlight this year, combining both kids' history and literature studies was probably the sanest decision I've made, because it's forcing me to be organized. In fact, that enormous Instructor Guide that came along with all those books was organizational insurance! I just look up the week and the day, and I've got the day's assignments. Easy peasy, and PERFECT for a wanna-do-it-all-in-no-particular-0rder ADD brain like mine! Problem is, it's a bittersweet blessing in that the literature-based study I've always wanted to use brought with it....well, a whole shelf full of new books!

No, Jon, there IS no such thing as too many books, I don't care HOW many times you fuss at me.

I don't know how many times we've been laughed at for having what amounts to a small library in our house. The bookshelf in the bathroom gets giggles every time someone new sees it. The fact that we abandoned bedroom furniture in favor of a floor-t0-ceiling bookshelf and filing cabinet were cause for concern to my mother when she visited a few months ago. Yes, I'm a die-hard book nut. I can't get rid of them. I read them in the bathtub and in bed. I read all the time. And now I've got yet another reason to get this book-clutter monster under control...Danica. She doesn't respect the sanctity of the "school shelf". Neither does Jamie, to be honest. She rather enjoys sitting amongst a stack of books for an hour or so before roughly piling them back onto the shelf she THINKS they came from. It was time to tackle it.

I'll spare cyberspace from the visual horrors that my family experienced in the thick of this organizational nightmare. We had stacks of books lining every wall in the dining room and hallway. Stacks of school supplies littered every horizontal surface. Pete simply diverted his eyes when he came home from work and asked in a longing way if we were EVER going to use the dining room table to eat on again. So I did it. Yesterday I finally got that brand-new Dry-Erase board hung (how many years have I been wanting one?) and it was just the push I needed to get the books and supplies put up for GOOD. Today, I hole-punched the last of my lesson plan forms and got them placed in their binders, I divided my Sonlight Instructor Guide into quarters and placed the first nine weeks' lesson plans, history and literature study guides, and notes into individual binders, and I got those school supplies wrangled up, sorted out, and put away into the kids' personalized drawers. The books? Check it out....

Oh, and notice that look of total shock on Jamie's face...that's the look that says "Mom, what does 'organized' mean????"

On top of the bookcase are all the books we'll be using every day--the Core books for Sonlight and Morgan's few preschool books that I don't want her to have all-the-time access to. The second shelf houses our history 'spines' (Joy Hakim's 'History of US') and assorted read-aloud books for the younger gals, plus the bucket 'o' colored pencils that doesn't fit anywhere else. The second shelf is home to the Dr. Seuss, Disney, and homeschool reference books in addition to the box of "extras" where I keep our packages of pencils, crayons, and index cards that aren't needed just yet. The bottom shelf is for bigger books like dictionaries, Bible reference books, and taller books that are too big to put on the other shelves (phooey on John Saxon for making his math books HUGE!). The stacking drawers next to the shelf are labeled for each child. They'll keep their individual folders, workbooks, and supplies in there. Believe it or not, even a two-year-old can understand that she has her OWN drawer and that she needs to leave everyone else's alone. Amazing how territorial little ones can be! Last but not least is the plastic bin on top of the stacked drawers for the puzzles and craft items that are for "just with Mom" times, and the CD rack on the other side of the shelf is perfect for the girls' little items that they use every day.

Ahh...a sense of order.....it may just be a little bit, but it feels great to know where everything goes!

Oh, and this is how you entertain three rambunctious little ones long enough to get this done...