Let's Give it a Whirl

After much encouragement from a friend, I have decided to put myself out there and blog. I have chosen to blog for two reasons (1) to keep a sort of journal of my life to recall all the funny often forgotten day to day moments that I take for granted with the kids (2) make these things available to share with family and friends who live far away so they feel connected with me and my family.

I don’t intend to offend anyone, and I try to be an open minded and loving person. However, I do tend to be opinionated and am trying hard to resolve that attitude. I am trying to identify the line between opinionated and passionate.

Gosh, so what to write about?! Today was fairly uneventful as it seemed like any other ordinary Thursday. I have been doing some spring-cleaning this week, realizing that with my need for organization a different type of decorating style may be in order. I am going to go with a more minimalist style I think. I can’t stand seeing stuff out and clutter seriously causes me anxiety. I certainly am not in a financial position right now to go crazy and redecorate, but I can start my getting rid of the clutter. I made a pretty hefty donation to Goodwill today of crap I just didn’t need or had in excess. We are a family of four, do we really need 5 sets of sheets each? The bed can only “wear” one set at a time! So down to only 2 per bed and my linen cabinet is ready to hide other things now. I also got a new shower curtain for the kids bathroom. It has been the same “fishy bathroom” for 8 years! I couldn’t stand looking at those fish anymore. I got rid of all the accessories, stored their goodies in the medicine cabinet and got a 9.99 Map shower curtain from target. Totally made a difference and they love it! They’ve been playing explorers all afternoon! Sometimes little things can change a whole atmosphere.

I am trying to find a Zen like minimalist style that is family/kid friendly. White couches are not going to work here! I’ve had my eye on a few IKEA pieces, which will hopefully pop up on Craigslist one day. ☺

I was able to successfully organize both the kids rooms and living room this week and I think they are old enough to understand how putting things in the right spots allows them to be more efficient. They have more time to play with a certain toy when it’s in the right little labeled basket, versus searching through a giant mess of toys. They are 6 and 8 and fully capable of reading the labels. It’s worked out pretty well…it could be because I have started bribing them too! I started that 2 weeks ago and neither one has had a time out since then, and their rooms have been picked up every evening! The bribe is if their rooms are clean after dinner they get to go to the “reward box” (a box of cheap 99 cent toys…but hey it works!) I think it just goes to show that positive reinforcement, and positive interactions work so much better than negative ones. My son, Josh (8) missed one night of pick up and was so upset to see his little sister get something and he didn’t do to his own actions that it motivated him to change.

I am reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and talked to the kids today about people being more important than things. This is something I’ve always believed but I think can get lost when a mom is nagging their kids about not touching the walls, hanging up their towels, making messes in general. I explained to them today that when I get upset about those things it’s not because the things are more important than them. Not that I care about the cleanliness of objects more than them. It’s about them not understanding the time it takes to RE clean things. Although I’m sure this concept was lost on my 6 year old, I saw a total light bulb go off over Josh’s head. I certainly want them to always know that their happiness is more important than “stuff”. I remember growing up when I was about 9 my parents bought a brand new lovely house, but had no real furniture to go inside. Once they had enough, they went all out and decked the entire downstairs. My dad was insistent about the proper way to sit on the couch….to excess (sorry dad, it’s true!). Don’t rest your feet on it like this, don’t sit cross leg on it, lay down on it without your feet on it, don’t flop on it, etc….For years I was nervous about my butt on that couch and he eventually gave it to my mother in law where it turned into porch furniture! He’ll probably die when he reads that! After all my anxiety and worry about behavior on the couch, the stupid piece of furniture was smoked on, laid on, and peed on by cats! Ha! I never want my kids to feel that way. We lay on the couch, we flop on it, we put our feet on the coffee table and it feels like home. Sure, our furniture has seen better days, but a juice box stain magically hidden by a carefully placed throw pillow is so much more fun than the stress involved in enforcing too many rules! One day, I will have perfect pristine couches, when my kids are grown and I will miss the flopping, and the sand in the cushions. My couches have a little bit of character and I think I’m ok with that.

Well, that’s the blog for today….We’ll see what happens tomorrow