Mama's Toy Store

I have a toy store in my basement.  Really.  Last week I went bonkers and scooped up every last toy we have and cleared out a conveniently stored shelf in the basement and created a store.  Laine may get new toys to play with whenever he wants, but he may only have one bin at a time.  No rotation, no schedule, no fuss.  I am a fan, Laine thinks it is a special treat to go down in the basement to shop for "new" toys, and, bonus, we aren't stepping on so many toys.

Result after a week: Laine is playing so much more, BUT not really with toys.  He is finding things in his environment to play with.  Today it was string and a bowl of uncracked pecans.  He was making people out of the pecans.  I have always been a big believer in simple toys, but I didn't realize that even an overabundance of simple toys (even wooden ones...gasp...even WOODEN BLOCKS) could overstimulate a child.  I am not going to say that we are eating rainbows and pooping butterflies (thanks Horton), but things are just a little freer.

We still have the toys, and on rainy days it is pretty nifty to be able to say let's go find a new toy to play with, so all in all it was a win.

Girls Only...

I am so excited about the new homemade shout I whipped up two days ago.  If you have ever talked laundry with me, you know that I am just bad at stains.  I can never get them out even if I remember to try.  Enter Jillee, writer of One Good Thing.  I love this lady...she spends time reading about how to make things like shampoo or deodorant so I don't have to.  She has a recipe for "Shout" that is changing my life.  Not only does it work, it leaves no trace of the stain and doesn't distress the fabric (like scrubbing fruitlessly with a toothbrush).  Not that I am a lunatic, I haven't bathed my children in it, but now that I think about it...no...well, Annabel's head does always smell blonde.  Ok, so I think this mix is awesome.

Clever segue to new laundry routine.

(Sounds of subsiding laughter...boy, that Andrea, she is a wit)

Ok!  The big idea.  The system that makes my laundry piles disappear.  The genie in the washer.

Not happen' ladies (I assume all curious men are now gone).  Laundry is laundry is laundry, and in this house there is a lot of laundry.  Three kids, two sets of cloth diapers, cloth tissues, cloth wipes, cloth paper towels (made the break over two years ago...not nearly as hard as you would think) adds up to about 12 loads a week, but I did find a way to make it less overwhelming.

Picture this: You dump a washer full of unsorted laundry into the washer.  Process in your preferred way. Put the dried clothes into a basket and walk to the kitchen napkin/washrag/towel drawer then fold the clothes and put them away into that drawer with out piling up in-between.  This has changed my life.  Truly.  I have a hamper or bag and a day for each type of laundry.  Linens in one, kids clothes in another, and another for adult clothes (come on...Luke and my clothes...as if I have any of those that fit).  When I am done with that type of laundry, I quit (or do diapers which I also put on a schedule...thanks Jenn).  So. Much. Better.

I don't keep up.  I pretty much never get it all put away, but at least I sometimes feel like I have finished something.  That is worth a lot in my world.

My Laundry Week:

Sunday: Nothing
Monday: Linens and diapers
Tuesday: Kids
Wednesday: Linens and diapers
Thursday: Adults
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Diapers and ironing

There it is!  I do two or three loads per day.  I still start the first load the night before and let it soak.  Then I chase it for the rest of the day.  Leave a comment if you have a laundry routine that works for you.  Mom, you could leave a comment and then come see if your idea works.

Systems

I have a friend who was a rocket scientist before she went to nursing school to be a nursing engineer.  Suffice it to say, when she talked about why things did or did not work, I considered her an expert witness.  One of the frustrations she had with hospital nursing was the lack of systems.

She explained that systems are put in place in a working environment to make it flow.  She then launched into lots of details and examples which I agreed with.  Totally.

I never forgot about those systems.  I think that as a SAHM, my workplace is every bit as complex as it was as an RN.  Not as many drugs but just as much poop.  Possibly more trauma.  With one child I could definitely input enough energy to keep up with the house without applying many systems.  With two, it was harder, but we moved twice, so I kinda gave myself (lots) of grace.  With three.  Well, let's just say I have been pondering those systems.

Enter shoe caddy outfit idea, once a month cooking (OMAC), and now the great toy crackdown.  I really like going to the toy store.  I think toys are neat.  Toys have taken over my house and won't let me play.  I am starting to get really serious about toys.  I have been paring down the toys that my children have access to for a while now, but yesterday I went Spartan on them.  I seriously only left out the amount of toys that I can clean up in five minutes.  Five.  I cheated a little.  I put the blocks inside a full size sheet and let them play with them on the sheet.  Then when it is time to clean up, all they have to do put the blocks on the sheet and put the sheet in the box.  Thank you, Pintrest.  (Although, I did resist making the cool thing with the quilting and the drawstring)  I am going to get four boxes, label them 1-4 and put them in the "crevice."  On Friday (pastor's Saturday) I will pull out the box that corresponds with the week of the month and plop it on the floor.  Then it will be like having new toys on a day that mom and dad really want to crash!  When Saturday night rolls around...away go the toys and back to five minute land.  Kinda proud of this idea.  Hope it works!

I am not a neat person.  My mom tried.  I try.  I am not a neat person, but I am not a deluded person.  I know that I can't handle much, so I am reducing what I have to handle.  So says the woman with seven chickens, two goats, two garden plans, three kids, and a 5 K planned in May (yep, you read that right).  Sigh.  I am really trying.  Imagine if I weren't!

Here is the aftermath of my cleaning:

Clean up

Doing a little clean up.  Wanna join me?  I will post before and afters...post a link to yours in the comments!  Let's have a relaxing weekend, or at least be ready for that Big Game Party.  Oh, and if you want to be snippy about how messy my house is...pthhhbt!

Nursery...peaceful once more

3 kids, 5 days, 15 outfits

All those outfits...out of the tub and BAM! P-JAM!

Ran out of steam...here!  Hope you enjoyed our cleaning day.  Have a restful and relaxing weekend.

life is kinda like a box of packing popcorn

Perception

Reality

Elbow Grease

Good, Better, Fantastical

This week has been nice.  The kids are getting back into our routine.  I have punished the pavement heartily (ok, that's a stretch), and Luke, Laine and I are all out of underpants.  Bummer.

I have made three good decisions this week.

First, was to finish a pair of pants for Laine that I started four months ago.  I will post pictures soon...they are in the washing machine.  I lengthened this pattern into pants.  Harvested some tough fabric from thrifted pants, and used orange top stitching.  (Orange!)  They are elastic waist which is primo if your are trying to get your preschooler to use the potty by himself.  Buttons/snaps spell disaster.  Also, butts, tons, naps, pass, nuts, but(s) I digress.

I also prolonged starting Clockwork Prince until tomorrow night.  I don't know if you ever look at my book choices, but if you do, you will see that I consume fluffy YA (young adult) fiction.  Consume.  Thank goodness for library books.  My mom used to restrict my Nancy Drews to two per week because I wouldn't sleep until I was done.  Still true.  No school night reading for this preschool momma!

Fantastical discovery!

I have a really good friend who is good at laundry.  My mom is good at laundry.  I stink at laundry.  I can't get stains out, I put off ironing, I don't follow through with the folding and the putting away, and I lose socks.  Every morning I struggle royally with finding matching parts for everyone.  Getting all of us dressed was starting to resemble the running of the hyper and naked bulls (and that was just me).

SO...last Saturday, I stacked five outfits for the two older kids on the counter complete with undershirts, leggings, and socks.  After consulting both the calendar and the weather I stacked each of those outfits into a vertical shoe organizer.  This week I have skipped merrily into the kids' closet and pulled a complete, ironed, activity appropriate outfit out in less than ten seconds.  Revolutionary.

Yeah, I ran here...that's how I roll