Housewife Know Thyself

Mission: Towels has brought a new level of understanding into my life. Five towels on five hooks, rotated once a week. Sublimely simplistic. A second set of towels waits in the wings to be rotated...stop right there. Here's were reality sets in again. Waiting to be rotated turns into waiting to be washed which turns into using up valuable storage space which leads to the Post Office creating a new zip code for my laundry room. Why have 10 towels when 5 will do? With just 5, I am forced to wash them. Into the wash they go, then right back on the hooks. Same with sheets. If I remove my one set of sheets in the morning, I have to have them back on the bed before night. (An extra set of replacement sheets and towels can go into long-term storage.) I know myself well enough that I will not sleep on a bed without sheets. Just won't do it--even if that means waiting up half the night for the sheets to dry if I forget! So, for linens, this system should work for me. This is part of knowing my weaknesses and building workable solutions. I hate doing laundry, but I love having clean clothes, sheets, and towels. This lead me to rethink all of our clothing as well. Beanie has outgrown all of her summer clothes. This is great for Lemony, but not great for the budget. What if I got her 7 basic shirts, 5 shorts, and 2 skirts for the warmer months? I can keep track of that much--it is just the mountain of shirts that only go with one pair of pants, etc, etc, that culminate in the new zip code. Not to mention that even with all the clothes my kids have, they never have anything to wear--its all on the floor in the laundry room. The Boy has just a few favorites that he wears anyway--why waste the storage on clothing he doesn't wear? This is going to take some more thought... In my mind, I envision 3 neatly dressed children each with matching polo shirts and crisp, clean jean shorts. Red for Monday, blue for Tuesday, green for Wednesday... In reality, they would revolt. But, it is a pleasant, freshly scented dream.

Lessons from Wayne's World

I've been feeling drained over the last few weeks. Random episodes of fatigue just roll over me. I wasn't sure if I was sick, depressed or what. Yesterday, I had had enough. I got up and started doing again. It was...difficult. Today, it is a bit easier. I am hoping tomorrow will show that I am on the mend again. Perhaps Wayne Campbell holds the answer to this mysterious illness: "I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turned out I was just really bored." Actually, my problem is an impending move. Sorting and packing up 5 years worth of stuff and memories is much more difficult than I ever imagined. For the first time in our almost 17 years of married life, I feel like J and I have made a real home. Our babies have grown up in this house. They've learned to roller skate and ride bikes, made forts and friends, and asked the Lord to be their Savior here. There are the pencil marks on the wall showing how much the kids have grown. Each dent in the floor and smear on the door tells a story. I know every inch of this house--mostly thanks to the numerous paint changes each room has endured. We've laughed, cried, and rearranged (furniture and lives) here. Now I am entering the unknown. Big changes are in store, and I am rebelling by dragging my feet and sitting in my comfy chair. But I do feel like I am on the cusp of something amazing. A year of grace and promise. But where? In a strange city with my beloved or home without him? Only God knows. For now that has to be enough. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

'The Path of Life"

I sent the kids outside to revel in this heatwave--42 degrees! Wahoo! They are out there loving every minute of the warmth. Yes, I am serious. This is WARM, comparitively speaking. I heard The Boy tell his sister that he needed to go inside for supplies before they started on the "Path of Life" game. I was curious (and a bit fearful) as to the supplies needed for this game and about the game itself. Turns out the supplies were just cups of water for thirsty kids (whew!). The game was aptly named the "Path of Life." He had set up two paths--a broad path and a narrow path for the kids' scooters. (I think you know where this is going. I did...and I loved it!) The broad path would cause the scooters to crash, but the narrow path led to victory. I thank God for this little boy!

Thursday Thoughts

We had a rough day home schooling today. The Boy is usually a whiz at math, but double digit division has just baked his nugget. He is so freaked out that he is getting the simple components (like 14-8=6) wrong. This tested my limited patience today. This is where grace comes in, both from my son who didn't hold my frustration against me, and the Lord who gave me an idea to help him. Turns out, that all of the numbers in straggly rows and columns confused him. I printed up the same equations in Excel in a graph pattern so that each digit had its own box. Much better results!

My Dr. Bronners soap and coconut oil arrived today. I did a test patch with the coconut oil on my hand--wow! Major improvement over regular lotion!

A Tale of Ten Towels

I found this both ironic and amusing, so I decided to share it.

Backstory: In my search for simplicity, I took on my towel situation. Most of my towels looked like victims of a Jaws attack:All of the towels were of an era, much worse for the wear. So, I got to thinking that if each of us had 2 towels each, I could keep up with them a lot better. I put up a hook in the bathroom for each one of us, and made the family promise that they wouldn't leave these towels on the floor or feed them to Sonny. (So far, so good! I think the fam likes having clean towels. Who knew?) The idea was that each set of 5 towels would get rotated and washed at the same time, and that there would always be a clean set ready to go. Here they are, warm and fluffy from the dryer, folded on my freshly made bed:

And, then, there's a reality check. Called my linen closet...or "Proof that simplicity isn't easy in the early days." No room for my fresh towels. Enjoy:

Tuesday Twitterings: More on simplicity

Ugh. Is Tueday the new Monday? Feels like it.

So, in the spirit of simplicity, I went shopping. Ah, the joys of retail therapy! Completely guilt free this time! Thanks to Amazon's handy-dandy textbook trade-in, I got some serious gift cards that I used today on soap. Yes, soap. Castile soap in peppermint, tea tree, and almond scent. Plus some big vats of coconut oil and olive oil cleanser, facial soap, and moisturizer. I might smell like a cross between a pizza and a Copacabana cocktail, but I'm hoping it all makes our lives easier and our skin healthier. I was intrigued by Tsh Oxenreider's shampoo-free pledge on her blog, and I'm going to give that a go too. Jason says he will try it. Can't wait for that! LOL!

I think it has been a year since I went commercial laundry detergent-free, and I think our clothes are cleaner than before that switch. I actually use about 1 TBSP of a commercial liquid detergent--for some reason, the homemade mixtures need just a touch of the premade stuff. The upside is that I buy the liquid maybe every 4-6mo, and the borax and washing soda about that often as well. Very cost effective! The only thing I miss is the heavier scent of commercial detergents. I know I can add essential oils to the homemade mix, but I just haven't been brave enough to do it. I was reading that I can use the Castile soaps in the laundry, so maybe that will do the trick.

Monday Musings: Search for Simplicity

My last entry was 2/28/11. Since then, I have made my bed every day except two! It appears that this is a novelty that is not going to wear off. I do love getting into a freshly made bed. I even enjoy the moments in the morning when I make the bed--I get such satisfaction from such a small chore! Again, I am amazed that I have spent so much of my life wrestling with covers and frustration and poor sleep when with just a few minutes, I can tuck and smooth my way to a restful night. Another perk is in the moments when Jason is just about to drift off when he whispers, "This is the best bedroom we've ever had." He's said it more than once--I think he means it.

I have transformed our bedroom too many times to count--this one has been painted over 3 times in 5 years, but I've never stripped it of things that don't make sense or taken pains to keep it orderly. This room is clean--bordering on sparse. Jason can get up to answer a page in the middle of the night and not have to risk a broken toe. There are no piles of clean laundry blocking the closets. The stuff that is in this room is either useful or beautiful. (Thanks Tsh Oxenreider!) I really, really, really like this simplicity stuff!

Today I am ready to start tackling other rooms with a vengeance. I put all of this on pause while I finished a class, but rather than taking a break and doing nothing, I'm going to dive in. This week, my goals are to complete our family mission statement, declutter the bathroom, and begin work on the dining room/school room.

I'm toying with the idea of homemade soap...