Stuff

It happens to me the last week of every year. I begin to feel closed in and smothered by "stuff" and feel an overwhelming urge to pare down, organize, and label. The decor which added such a feeling of cozy warmth just a month ago now hems me in, and begs to be put back to rest in storage. I have no issues with returning seasonal decor to storage, but organization is a huge stretch for me. It is not my talent--at all. I don't like to be wasteful, and so paring down is difficult for me. I always seem to come up with ideas for why or how something could become useful at some point. The problem with this line of thinking, is that the opportunity for a given object's use may not come along for a loooooong time. I am also not the best organizer. Few things aggravate me more than complete disorder and disarray; however, coming up with a plan to avoid this is difficult for me. My husband, who is masterful in this area, gave me a tip:

"If it is not FUNCTIONAL or FABULOUS, it has to go."

Also, I have an unusual task this year, in that I am trying to disassemble our school room. I need to find a way to fit six years' worth of books, kits, and supplies into 1/2 of the nursery closet and book shelves throughout the house. It's been such a treat having a room set aside for all of our school books and supplies, and I feel rather sad to give it up. However, it is time--time to make room for more beds for more little people! So far, I have about 1/4 of it moved and in place.

Has anyone else noticed how organizational projects turn into a series of rabbit trails? In bringing up school supplies to the nursery closet, the nursery had to be totally cleaned out and organized. The baby books that were in the closet had to move to the changing table shelf, so the blankets on the changing table shelf needed to be pared down and either boxed up or put in the sale pile. This brings me to another topic--the high mountain and sea of boxes which is the sale pile. We've been saving all our left-over items from October's adoption fund-raising sale for our planned fund-raising sale in May. I am so thankful for all this "junk" which will hopefully become someone else's treasure come May...which will bring us one step closer to bringing home that wonderful child of ours who is waiting out there--somewhere....but WOW. We have some serious STUFF around here. As I read this, I am chuckling to myself. Indeed even talking about organization has become a rabbit trail of it's own. sigh. Well anyway, I'm REALLY looking forward to sending May's left-overs away!

Here is what I struggle with. I do not want to be ruled by stuff. Stuff takes up my very most valuable resource--time. It takes energy to maintain whatever I allow to clutter up this space of ours. It takes time away from my family which could be used much more resourcefully. Things have to be cleaned. Things have to be maintained. Things have to be organized. Things have to be put away. It is lots of fun to have toys for my children to play with, for example. However, if there are certain toys that are constantly underfoot and I am constantly nagging at little people to pick up, then I am allowing things to rule me. I'm allowing things to dictate my mood and I'm even at times allowing things to affect my dearest relationships. Wow that sounds ugly. Wow that is truth. For the most part, the boys have been trained well in this area, and pick-up well according to their ages. So one of two things needs to occur: an adjustment of my attitude or the said stuff has to go good-bye. If I go into my bedroom to retire for the night, and cannot feel peaceful because there's a stack of junk all over the dresser and the closet is stuffed with I-don't-even-know-what, it has to go. Most of the things that clutter my life I don't even care to have, but just haven't taken the time to remove. (Probably because too much time has been taken up trying to move it out of my way!)

Being a middle-class family living in the USA, we are one of the very richest 10% in the entire world. Interesting how the enemy can use either lack of stuff or over-abundance of stuff to steal peace.

My Men-Folk at Work

My guys were hard at work over the weekend, pulling out a tree stump to create a new garden spot.







What a bunch of studs.

Perfect Saturday

My idea of a perfect Saturday...doesn't happen real often...but then "perfect" would become "ordinary", right? We were blessed with such a one a few weeks ago.

Confessions

I love homes, which in the summer time, are clean, fresh, neat and orderly. Having gone through the ritual of a spring cleaning, the windows are sparkling and furniture is polished. Unnecessary clutter has been disposed of, and surfaces are dust-free. Windows are open, and the fresh breezes of the season waft through the rooms. Seasonal decor is in place--crisp linens and vases of flowers tucked in various locations. The home is preserved in such a way throughout the summer months, as any resident children spend their hours outdoors, and toys lay still on shelving and in closets.

MY HOME IS NOT ONE OF THESE HOMES....except for the part about residents spending their hours outdoors. We live in the yard as much as possible, soaking up any bits of sun we're blessed to receive that day. We run, we walk, we play in the hose or kiddie pool. Resident children may or may not be clothed. We play with the dogs, birdwatch, bugwatch, garden and play in the dirt. We read, we sing, we practice violin outside on a rock. We run inside to grab a drink or some food....or when Mommy frantically notices the time and realized something needs to be done about supper. Dirt and grass clippings track in the house, and stay there for a disturbingly long time. It is difficult to see through the windows when the sun shines. When was the last time the bathroom was cleaned? I think there is a toilet somewhere in there underneath the mounds of swim trunks and dirt-encrusted clothing from yesterday (Sure...it was only from yesterday.) We do pause to clean up a hairball with a paper towel if the need arises. The rest of the cleaning supplies are....somewhere. Today I wiped the dust bunnies off the vacuum and went crazy. Morning sickness and first trimester fatigue beginning to wane, now is the time. As I was working away on the long-neglected stairs, Spunky leaned in and yelled above the din of the vacuum, "Do we have friends comin' up?" This of course, was his way of asking, "Do we have company coming over?" Of course. Why else would Mom be cleaning?! I had to laugh. It's all too true. So please, friends, stop by often. It's the only way anything will "get done" around here. And please be so kind as to not mention the sweat on my brow from my cleaning frenzy.

That's all for this edition of Confessions. Eaglet is yelling, "Mommy! I can't get out of the school room!" Seriously.

Christmas 2007

We had a great Christmas! Here are a couple shots of the boys with their gifts. They loved their fleece "sleep tubes" from their grandparents...they have barely set them down for two days. Bobcat was very surprised by his sparring gear, and Eaglet delighted by his tow truck. He had accidentally ripped the paper as he pulled his package out from under the tree...and went CRAZY when he saw the word "Tonka". It was quite a sight to see him open the rest of it. Spunky Cub's gift did not come in the mail in time--so we went with a spur-of-the-moment replacement wooden pizza. He thinks it's cool, but it certainly didn't get the reaction that his hockey set would've. Oh well...Christmas is not about the presents anyway. We'll save it for his birthday coming up in a few weeks (Shh! Don't tell!)

Belated Thanksgiving Post

I just visited a blog of a friend who has been diligently posting an "advent picture of the day" the entire month of December. Alas, here I am, posting my Thanksgiving pictures.