It’s another month! Time to pause and reflect and rejoice. #1 – Dual enrollment paperwork isn’t that bad. My oldest son will begin the dual enrollment program at the local community college, which means I had to enroll him in the school district. I wasn’t sure what they’d want to see for his high school work or what they’d want for paperwork, but was pleasantly surprised. He is enrolled, and we have to continue the appropriate bureaucracy through the high … Read More
A decluttered kitchen is one of the first projects to undertake when minimizing and simplifying your home life. If you’ve ever wondered how to organize your life, you’ve probably thought of your cluttered kitchen. A decluttered kitchen helps with an organized, prepared life. So let’s take a look at the steps to achieving the goal of a decluttered kitchen. Step One: Take Stock What’s in your pantry right now? Half-used bits and pieces of specialty ingredients just waiting until they … Read More
Lean In – not only is it a bestselling book title (no, I haven’t read it), it is a cultural catch phrase. To lean in is to not give up when things get hard, but push through, knowing good things don’t happen on the easy path. Or, at least, that’s the definition of the phrase we can all get behind. On one hand, it is a phrase that reminds us that we shouldn’t disengage, give up, or pull back when … Read More
The end of the school year is here. The pencils are worn and tired, the workbooks ready for a break. Sunshine beckons and we are ready for more carefree days. Summer is a time of rest, rejuvenation, and reset. As the days lengthen and the lists lighten, there is a bit more time for the kids to join me in the kitchen. My three year-old climbs up onto a stool next to me, eager to help. “Tan I help you?” … Read More
Does personality change? Even if you take the best personality type, even if you believed it at the time, later it might seem wrong. What gives? “I don’t have a personality,” some say. Or, “I used to be a feeling type but now I’m not.” I’ve even had people tell me they used to be extroverts but are now introverts. There’s one thing I know all Myers-Briggs sources say: Your basic personality type does not change. But that’s not people’s … Read More
We’re smack in the middle of our “verdure” term, which is aptly named. The world outside is greening up and though we are all ready to wind up this school year, we are pushing through for strong growth ourselves in this “growing season.” One more week after this week of lessons for us, then a testing week, and then on to summer and school planning. #1 – As Christians, we can be more than resilient or robust – we can … Read More
We might want life to be like a box of chocolates, but in reality, it’s a lot more like laundry. Follow me here, because I promise I’m not trying to depress you. In fact, a great source of our frustration, despondency, and fussiness about our life at home is due to unrealistic expectations – false ideas about what it’s “supposed” to be like. We usually think about goals, tasks, and success in terms of accomplishments – things that are done … Read More
Another month in the books. March was not quite a whirlwind – more like a, well, march. We could maybe call it a trudge. We kept on keeping on, refusing to give in to the temptation to scrap the entire plan, eat chocolate, and forget about everything. So, maybe I learned a little lesson in perseverance. I guess. #1 – Spring was hiding underneath the snow. We had late snow and lots of it this year, with it still coming … Read More
You know I’m a fan of index cards. They are light without being flimsy. They are the perfect size. I always have a stack in multiple places in the house and we use them for school, for brain dumps, and, yes, for getting organized. Index cards are a cheap and handy thing to have on hand as you learn how to organize your life. An index card organization system predates blogs and word processors. It’s a thing, and it works … Read More
Lunch is the mid-day reset. No plan survives contact with the enemy. -Helmuth van Moltke The perfect plan- set out in the morning, in the early hours before the house wakes up and the day rolls away from the station- never unfolds quite as I’d hoped. The lessons aren’t finished as early as I’d have liked, the house is a bigger mess. The phone calls I intended to make still linger in my mind and the laundry sits, complaining quietly … Read More