OrgJunkie’s Dining Room Organization Round-Up

So, I finally finished and am writing the promised follow-up post!  I told you that I was participating in Org Junkie’s Monthly Organizing Round-Up and cleaning up my dining area of the kitchen.  (click here to see my previous post on the subject) Since my 5-year-old, Kate, is a budding artist like her daddy all of her art supplies and drawings wind up on our kitchen table and floor, as well as the window seat behind it.  After a while, it all starts to mushroom and take over the room as you can see in this before pic…  The piles of crayons, and pictures and more pictures, and cards, and table cloth for when we paint, and flipflops (the windowseat is by the back door), and everything else just seemed to always collect here.  And even when it’s organized, it’s still just not very pretty to look at.  In fact, my husband complains about it frequently.

I decided that not only did all the mess need to be contained better, but it also needed to move out of my kitchen completely.  The ‘formal dining room’ in our house is right off of the kitchen and we’ve turned it into a playroom - perfect spot for all of Kate’s art supplies.  But before I could move everything, I had to clean out a space on the tall table (away from siblings’ hands) to move everything.  (Don’t you love when one project requires a second and third project to happen first to be able to make the first one happen???  Blah.)

Finally, I got the table ready and then moved all the ’stuff’ to the table.  Then, I cleaned up the rest of the ‘outdoor stuff’ that sits on the windowseat and found a big bin to hide it all in.  So, all the flipflops, sunscreen, bug spray, water guns, and sidewalk chalk are now out of sight!  And look how clean my windowseat looks now!!

Of course, by the time I got all of that done, I was exhausted and the kiddos were screaming for my attention (quite literally, I’m afraid.  Yes, I tend to be a tad “focused” when it comes to organizing projects! )  So, I stopped for the day and decided to come back to the art supply/artwork mess another day.  I think that’s actually a key - knowing when it’s okay to stop and come back to a project another day and not feeling like it all HAS to be finished immediately.  Especially when you have three little ones under foot.  :)

So, a few days later, I decided to tackle all her art stuff.  Luckily, I had already put some amount of organizing mojo into this area of our lives and had containers already in use.  So, all it took was a little re-thinking of how everything was working and what would make it even better.

She now has 3 magazine holders that are specifically designated for 3 different kinds of things.  One for workbooks, one for sketchbooks and CURRENT artwork (I’ll have to write another post about what I do with all her artwork that accumulates at such a FAST pace), and one for stationary (my daughter LOVES to write cards to people).  She has an art kit box (thank you, Tiffany, for that birthday present!) that houses all of her stamps, markers, map pencils, glue sticks, and scissors in neat little organized trays.  Then she has a stack of art projects like beading, mosaics, and stamping that require adult supervision. And the last box next to the bookcase is full of all her painting supplies, including smock and table cloth.  All of the crayons and coloring books moved to another section of the playroom in a three-drawer rolling cart where the youngest two could also access them.

When I was done, I called her over to the table and explained the system to her. (Lucky for me, she takes after her parents and actually enjoys systems!) She got it almost immediately and then called her daddy in to show him and explain each section to him.  Best way to learn is to teach it to someone else, right?

So, now, I just owe a huge debt of gratitude to Laura over at OrgJunkie for encouraging all of us to tackle this project.  And I’m SO in for the rest of the year, so keep your eyes tuned for my next project!  What’s YOUR next project?

My Dishes Saga Continued

Just figured I’d update you on my dishes saga since I bored you with the original story.

I went to Target yesterday with intent of buying my dishes – you know, the ones that I wanted, not the ones that KATE wanted… I get there only to discover they’ve cleared out the Global Bazaar section and are bringing in patio furniture and Easter stuff in that section of the store now. Great. So, don’t panic, just go look where all the other plates are. Do they still have the ones that I want?

No. Of course not. So, I go home dejected. Again.

Shawn mentions the possibility of buying them online. Hope reborn! I go online and… sadly, they are ‘not available’ anymore and the serving dishes that match are on clearance. Boo. Sad again.

Since most of my ‘dishes money’ is cash, I decided to widen the search to ALL dinnerware Target and otherwise. After much searching on many sites including IKEA, Linens-n-things, other major department stores, etc and still not finding the ‘right’ ones that called my name, I went to Walmart.com expecting NOTHING of course. It IS Walmart after all. What kind of good quality, trendy dishes are going to be at Walmart?

These!!!

I can’t wait to go to Walmart and check them out in person. And maybe even BRING THEM HOME!

Don’t worry. I won’t take Kate with me this time!

My Dishes Saga

For my birthday, back in January, my parents gave me a large bill of currency and gave me the strict instruction to use it on myself.  Not my children.  Not the bills.  (What does this say about me that they felt the need to give this instruction?  Never mind - I think I know.  I think we ALL know.)

The funny thing is that I had just been thinking the day before about how tired I was of my everyday dinnerware and how I’d LOVE to replace it if I had the money.  I’ve had my same plates, bowls and teacups since Shawn and I got married in 1995 (you do the math) and even when I got them, they weren’t what I would have called my ‘perfect’ set of dishes.  Don’t get me wrong - they were beautiful and they were great quality Mikasa plates, but what I really would have gotten if given the opportunity would have been handmade pottery.  That’s just my own personal style.

Anyways, I had just seen the coolest sets of dishes at Target in their Global Bazaar section and had been drooling over them when the large bill made it’s way into my hands.  Divine Providence. Continue reading…

Go Get Some Pants, Please…

I’m trying to make my 3 year old little boy a little more self-sufficient. And since he’s REFUSING to potty train right now (very frustrating), I’ve decided that he can learn how to get himself dressed at least. I seem to remember Kate being able to do that quite well by this age and I’m starting to wonder how much of it was because she was a girl and how much of it was because she was the first child…

So, one morning (when we were already running a little late - what else is new?) I told Ethan to go in his room and get out an outfit to wear for the day. He came back with a shirt and shorts (that didn’t match by the way) in his hands. I told him that it was still too cold outside for shorts and could he please take the shorts back to his room and get pants instead. I thought that this was a reasonable request… One that a 3 year old could easily handle… I was wrong.

I got distracted doing other things, brushing teeth with Karis, changing diapers, etc… About 10 minutes later I made it to his room to check on the pants-getting-efforts. What I saw when I walked in the room made me hit the roof! I was all ready to gripe the boy out when I figured I should take a deep breath. And that’s when I decided that instead of losing my cool, I should run and grab the camera…

Ethan had not only completely unloaded his top drawer of short sleeved shirts and shorts, and not only the middle drawer of long sleeve shirts and pant, but also the bottom drawer of clothes that don’t fit anymore. The pile of clothes on the floor was almost as big as him!

After a quick discussion about how to find clothes WITHOUT dumping them ALL on the ground, we grabbed some pants to go with his shirt and got out the door before those clothes could suck me in…

The Things Kids Say

Heard at the dinner table…

Kate to Ethan: “Don’t you even think about it, bro… I can see your wheels turning!” as she points to his head.

Ethan, covering his forehead with his hands: “Don’t look at my circles!”

Heard at a friend’s house during a thunderstorm…

Pippi to her daddy downstairs after a loud thunder clap and bright lightening: “Daddy, I’m afraid of the lightening!”

Jeff: “You don’t have to be afraid. You know that God is in control.”

Pippi: “And so is Kate!”

We laughed so hard at the timing of that last comment - “God is in control, and so is Kate.” Of course, there are lots of times that Kate thinks that, but that’s another story…

Leonard Sweet’s Impressions of Our Citywide Art Contest

Most of you that know me personally probably know why I’ve been strangely silent the last couple of months. Right now, my husband and I are busy administrating a citywide art contest for high school students called Culture Shapers. This is our eighth year to run this visual arts contest, and it’s keeping us SUPER busy, as usual. But this week is the 8th Annual Visual Arts Awards Ceremony (on my birthday, no less), so life should start to settle down a little next week. Hallelujah!

All of that to say, we recently got to enjoy a visit from Leonard Sweet - one of our favorite authors and speakers and just all-around great guy. And after he got to see some of the artwork set up for a judging day and heard more about the contest, he recorded some of his comments and impressions about Culture Shapers.

» Click here to listen.

Leonard is a well-known thinker and author, and his insightful podcast, called “Napkin Scribbles”, contains mini-sketches about God and life.

Merry Christmas!

Here’s hoping you have a wonderful Christmas season with loved ones… you know, kids, family, friends, fudge, pie, turkey and dressing - ALL the things you love!!!

It’s Too Quiet… Again

If you’re an avid reader of my blog (aren’t you all? ) then you’ve read my previous post entitled, “It’s Too Quiet…” about my oldest two kiddos’ fun in their bathroom. If that were a movie, then this would be the sequel…

I was sitting in my living room on the couch with my oldest, Kate, just enjoying catching up on emails and skimming through my favorite blogs when it suddenly hit me… I had been smelling something quite strong for the last few minutes. I stopped emailing mid-sentence, looked at Kate and said, “What’s that smell?” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what I was smelling and it caused me to immediately throw my laptop on the side table next to the couch and jump up to run into MY bathroom to investigate further. Continue reading…

Come and See!!

Today we were outside playing the in the back yard because it’s FINALLY dipped below 80 degrees here in Houston! Finally, fall weather!! But, I digress…

We were having a blast sliding on the slides, playing pirates, feeding the dog sticks (yes, she was actually eating them - weird, huh?), and pretending to fish. After a while, Kate wandered over to the deck to sit on the porch swing. She came running back over to me saying, “Mommy! Come and see!! There’s ants on the swing! Come and see!!!” Continue reading…

“Do You Hear My Heart?”

My kids have a play doctor set with the play stethoscope, thermometer, syringe and the rest. Since Kate went to the doctor for an ear infection a few days ago, it’s all been out again. They’ve been having a great time taking turns putting on the stethoscope and then listening to each other’s chests.

This morning, Kate took to putting the stethoscope on Ethan’s ears, then putting it up to her chest and saying, “Do you hear my heart?” Then they would trade and Ethan would say, “Do you hear my heart?” It really was too cute to see them going back and forth.

But, then Kate added the next level. She asked Ethan, “Do you hear my heart? Do you hear God??”

I did a double take and asked, “What did you just say?”

She did a little sheepish grin and then said, “I asked him if he heard my heart.”

“No, the other part, sweetie.”

“Oh,” giggle, “I asked him if he heard God. You know cuz he’s in my heart.”

Oh, be still MY beating heart. If only we ‘grown-ups’ could get the simplicity of a child’s ability to understand the God inside of us all.

I think the next time I’m going through something difficult where I’m really needing to hear God, I may just have to get out the play stethoscope and put it to my own chest. “Hello, God? Are you there? Can you hear me now? Cuz I really want to hear YOU.” Maybe if I actually listen, I’ll be able to hear my heart and thusly, His.