This Where the Nonsense Turns to Makesense

..A large family working to perfect our sweet skills: Loving others, making an impact, parenting on purpose, living simply, and embracing sarcasm.

Monday, August 12, 2013

On Organizing The Nonsense

Since switching jobs, I've spent some time in my house attempting organize. Futile I tell you.We have a foreign exchange student living with us now. His name is Ted. Well, clearly that isn't his real name because he is from China, and people from China just aren't named Ted. I would say this sounds like a generalization, but I think we can agree on this point.

We can also agree that having an eighth person, and now a ninth person, sleeping under our roof means we have a lot of mouths to feed, a lot of dishes to wash and dry and put away, and just a lot of bodies to fit on my couch. When we sit to pray before bed, I am reminded that we need another chair. Right there. See me pointing? I want it to sit just beside my fireplace and instantly become my most favorite place in the house.

Our ninth person will come and go. She is named My Melanie and she just moved here from Washington. She lives up the road where she rents a room. It's just close enough that I get my hug fix and have her at my dinner table.

My husband and I share a calendar app. It's helped us stay in touch through events and to-do lists. Is that sad? Maybe, but it's sad and organized. The app is called Cozi. We each have it. It's free. When I add things to my calendar, it shows up on his. Plus, each of our kids has a different colored dot. We can keep up with our schedule without wasting face time talking about it. Plus I can schedule him to receive reminders when I need him to remember something. No more skipped braces appointments. No more double booking dinner with his friends and a birthday party for the kids. I like almost everything about it.

Everything in my house needs to have a purpose or it needs to go. I can't seem to fill enough trash bags. It's just all nonsense. It needs to have a place or it needs to have a new home. I just don't want it anymore.

There are however somethings I WANT to bring into my house. I would like a small, but tall, dining room table for my music room. I would like a few more chairs for around my dinner table. A butcher block for my kitchen. Please see above for chair information. And I would like to finish painting my house. The paint I have. The stamina? Not sure on that one.

Ok. In keeping with my goals of organizing, I should get off my computer. It's time to make dinner. But I will end on a note of organizing my dinner. I made a menu in the first time since we dared call this weather summer. I always make a grocery list, but this time I paired it with a menu and used items from my pantry. I was organized. It's worth it. My stress is tinier. When weird things are thrown my way, I am not functioning in chaos, so that little loop doesn't send me spinning.

ON TO THE NEXT! I am making this for dinner. And I already cooked my chicken; I made a double batch the other night at dinner time. One time cooking and messing.

Happy first day of school. Here's to an organized fall. Here's to mud in your eye.

1 comment:

Ben said...

I'm pretty sure I've met 10 guys from China who were named, Ted...or Teddy...or T-Bone.