Managing Toys

After several years of trial and error, I have finally found a system for toys that works for me.  It is unrealistic for our family to clean up and sort all of the toys every day.  We have to be able to do a quick pick up and be out the door or off to bed.  We keep all of our toys upstairs but inevitably there are a few (or a lot) that get brought downstairs every day.  For this reason, I purchased these mesh hampers.  You can find them at Ross for as little as 5 dollars.  I keep one in my closet under my stairs and another one upstairs in Adam's closet.  I could put one in each one of my kid's closet but I think they would get REALLY full before we would get around to emptying them out. 

     At the end of the day, as I straighten up my downstairs, I pull out the mesh hamper and put all of the toys that have been left downstairs inside.  I do the same thing upstairs.  I try to have the kids put their toys away in the right places at the end of the day but for those crazy nights the toys get thrown into the hamper. 

     Ideally, each Saturday we would spend time as a family sorting out the toys and putting them in the right places.  This can be tricky because the toys are all mixed together and they belong in three different rooms.  You could waste a lot of time walking back and forth between rooms.  

       I take the hamper and dump it out in each room.  Anything that doesn't belong in that room gets thrown back into the hamper and then what is left on the floor is sorted and put away.   I then carry the hamper into the next room and we repeat the process. 

     I have tried many different storage or organizational systems for storing toys and these are my favorite.  For the two little ones, the bins are open and it is easy for the kids to see what goes where.  Audrey and Rachel have outgrown this system and now have baskets on the shelf full of their barbies and littlest petshops etc.  I also use the stack able sterilite or rubbermaid bins for things like legos and blocks.  They even have big ones for dress ups or stuffed animals.  They are stackable but are sold separately so that you can buy as many as you need.  The middle part slides out easily so that the kids can remove the bin while they play and then return it easily to it's place. 



     Figuring out how to manage the toys in my home has really helped me to keep my house clean and avoid stress!  I remember a friend of mine once saying to me while my kids were really little, "It is important to have clearly defined 'adult space' and 'kid space'."  I whole heartedly agree with this.  

What works for you? 

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Where is Super Nanny when I need her?

You know those women that walk around the grocery store like robots, dutifully pushing the grocery cart with their eyes straight forward while their bratty children scream and fight with one another?   Well, that's me, nice to meet you!

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The Albatross Around My Neck

Creepy isn't he . . .

"Laundry is the Albatross around my neck!" I said yesterday to James.  He looked at me as if I were crazy!  "Where in the world does that saying come from?"  he asked.  We often wonder that about common phrases that we use regularly.  I looked this one up and this is what I discovered.

From Wikepedia: 

The word 'albatross' is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).



In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered an omen of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). To punish him, his companions induce him to wear the dead albatross around his neck indefinitely (until they all die from the curse, as it happens). Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried (as penance).


The symbolism used in the Coleridge poem is its highlight. For example:


Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks


Had I from old and young !


Instead of the cross, the Albatross


About my neck was hung.


     It may seem silly but it is true.  Laundry very well feels like my burden to be carried.  I find it interesting that in this poem, the man shoots the albatross in the first place and brings this burden upon himself.  I can relate as I do the same when I neglect the laundry day after day until it all but swallows me whole.  I don't know why but it drags me down and keeps me from doing a lot of the other things that I need to do. 

     This week, I have conquered the laundry.  I got it all washed, folded, and PUT AWAY last Thursday out of sheer will to get it out of my life!  I have been doing two small loads every day since and have been keeping it at bay.  This enabled me to pick up on a whim and go to the ranch on Friday and Saturday.  It has cleared away the cobwebs and I am able to see some of the other things that I need to get done more clearly.

 Here is to staying on top of it! 

May the curse pass from me this day forward!!

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A Feather in Her Hair

Audrey wants a feather in her hair.

"Everything that's cool is inappropriate," she said through her tears.  There I was, in the middle of my bathroom floor, frozen.  "Everyone else has one . . . all of my friends."  "What is the big deal?"  "I don't understand why you won't let me?"  "I feel like what I feel doesn't even matter to you."  "What about what I want?"  I was beginning to feel dizzy.  I couldn't just let this one slide, or bribe her with a treat, or distract her with something she might like just as much.  This one was real and she wasn't backing down.  She wasn't being disrespectful, but she was unrelenting.  The questions just kept streaming in and I didn't know the answers.  "There are lots of cute tops and they are too bare, or cute shorts but they are too short." "I just feel like you want me to look like you want me to look."  And there it was.  Right from her lips to the bottom of my sunken heart.  Deep breath, and here we go. 
     The truth is, baby girl, you and I are not always going to see eye to eye.  I am going to tell you things that you don't want to hear.  You are going to get frustrated and even angry.  You are going to think that I am trying to ruin your life.  I am not always going to know what to say, and I am not going to cave in just because you cry, even though it kills me to see you hurting, even if it is a silly little thing.  I know for you it's not silly.  I am going to try to teach you what I believe is right, and then you are going to grow up and make your own choices.  I will have done my part.  I cannot always promise that I will be right, but I can promise that I will do my best.  And hopefully one day, your character will be the feather in your hair.  I love you. 


  For the record, I did not say that the feather was inappropriate.  I merely felt that it is a trend and I don't like the way it looks. 


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Cici on Steroids

        Cici has roid rage. 

It has been a rough couple of days. 

    

 I have been in a bit of a quandary.  You see, I sit down and look at my life and ask myself, "what do I need to do differently to make my life run more smoothly?"  I come up with all kinds of answers and all kinds of ideas about how to "fix" my life.  I get all excited about the changes I am going to make and feel like "this time" I am finally going to do it.  I am going to "get it all together."  Then BAM, Claire gets bronchitis with a side of an asthma flair up,  soar throat soup, and an ear infection for dessert.  (or something like that).

What follows is ugly, I'm afraid to admit.  I get all kinds of m.a.d.  I just start to feel as though the cards are stacked against me.  There is always some flaw in my plan that I didn't see, some variable that I did not account for.   Then I feel defeated. 

This is usually when I throw out the plan.  I live my life day by day and do whatever it is that I do.  This is a very reactive approach to life.  It often leads me right back to where I started.

You can see the conundrum.  

My focus word for this year is "intentional."  It is the opposite of reactive. 

 I am still trying to figure out how to have a plan while not getting to bent out of shape when I can't stick to the plan.   I'll let you know how it goes . . .

. . .  in the meantime, my two year old is on steroids - wish me luck! 

 



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