Thursday, August 23, 2012

Organization

Those who know me from my coming and goings at the schools in our town would say that I am an organized person.  Those who know me on a personal basis as well and have been to my home know that I WANT to be organized, but normally I get in the way of actually BEING organized.  Not to mention that there are 6 other people in my house (more if you count various "adopted" children who seem to always be here, lol!) who make it even more difficult to be organized!

As the mom, my room becomes the dumping ground for things that no one knows what to do with.  The garage is another big dumping ground in our house for sure.  Here is what happens when I ask one of my kids to take something to the garage:

Me: "Take this thing (box/tool/do-dad/thingamagig) to the garage- but put it somewhere out of the way, like one of the many shelves lining the walls."
Kid: "Ok, sure!" (well, normally they first say "Do I have to?" or "Why can't so and so do it?" or my favorite ", "You want me to do it now?" (no, I want you to do it next Thursday, I am just telling you now so you can clear your schedule!)
Me: "Thanks!"
They take the "thing" to the garage, open the door, throw it in, slam the door and go back to their tv/computer/xbox or other electronic distraction.  Then the next time I go to the garage to get something I can barely walk from the door to the fridge and I can almost NEVER get to the other side of the garage easily!  This frustrates me to no end because I am always the one who cleans up the garage and then it get messed up pretty quickly.

But I digress (as usual...).  Pinterest has got to be one of my favorite things recently.  It is very easy for me to spend way too much time "pinning" ideas/recipes/pictures/etc but I have actually DONE some of the things I have seen!  I am in LOVE with the way I organized my drawers now thanks to seeing a "Pin" a friend posted and actually making it happen!  Here is what my drawers look like right now, a couple of weeks after I first started this method.
This makes me very happy!
Small steps...but I am making progress!












Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Trying to settle into a routine

Today is the kids 4th day back at school and I am trying to settle into a routine.  Easier said then done when I am not feeling well and did not sleep well last night!  I will head up to the gym in a little bit to see if that helps.  Heck, even if it does not I am no worse off than I am now, right!  My "to do" list is a mile long...what else is new, right?!  I need to get the house back in shape now that the kids are at school all day and not around to mess it up again so quickly!

I did not sleep well last night at all and that could have been in part because of the weird dreams I had!  For starters I dreamnt that I was roller skating around Grand Central Station (or something like it, I have never actually been there that I remember at least!  I might have been when I went to New York in Junior High School on a photography trip).  Then I was a passenger in our full size van and the driver, an old woman who I have no recolection of who she was, drove the van into the deep end of the pool...and then I pulled the van out with one hand and turned it on its side to get the water out...WHAT?!?!  Weird stuff!  No wonder I am still exhausted!

Anyway, blogging more is one of my desires on that mile long "to do" list, so I can check that off for today.  Here is hoping that is not the only thing I can cross off the list before Back to School night at the high school tonight!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Back to School gift for teachers


Well, it is that time again (at least it was a couple of days ago, but I am behind as usual!)...back to school has arrived!  Is it me or does it seem to come earlier every year!  I made a cute  little gift for some of my kids teachers.  Of course chocolate is essential for any teacher, right?!?!  And then I took an R.S.V.P. pen (well, 2 actually) and inserted a slip of paper I had printed and cut to size that read "Please return to: Mrs. Humpreville Mill Creek 6th Grade" (it was printed on 3 lines and as you turn the pen you can read the whole thing.  Then I added a Tupperware Orange peeler because they are very handy to have.  The last and my favorite teacher gift is the Shout Wipe.  These little babies come in REALLY handy and the bonus is that they fit right in the teachers ID badge so it is always handy for those coffee spills at work...or any other of the millian ways a 6th grade teacher can get messy during the school day!  This will be presented to the teacher along with some Clorox Wipes for the class room and a card giving the teacher my contact information so that if they need a volunteer in the classroom (or a substitute teacher for that matter, lol) they will know who to contact!  If I remember I may include some of my "Thank You" notes I have bought over the years since they also make great teacher gifts (since our district encourages teachers to write thank you notes to parents/kids for any gifts they receive).