Home – Page 16 – Letters from Home

Weekend Recap

We went out for breakfast one morning and discovered that we were wearing rainbow colors. Wow, that photo looks awkward. We really were enjoying being together.

Here are a few things we did together this weekend:

We planted our garden.

We delivered 200 fliers for a neighborhood social activity.

We placed flags in our neighborhood for Memorial Day.

We enjoyed homemade cookies one night when Daniel had his friends over for a movie.

I threw a birthday party for Mark but sadly only one boy that we invited was able to attend. Timothy joined the party to make things less lonely for Mark. It turned out to be a good time. I think it’s another reminder to me that I am not good at “friend” birthday parties. I will be keeping only family parties from now on. Let’s see if I can keep that resolution…

We enjoyed a neighborhood social activity where we walked among three homes where the families hosted refreshments. We met several new people and visited with many friends. The boys rode scooters and bikes.

We had a scooter repair shop on Saturday in the garage.

We attended church, 3 of us sang in the choir, and Richard was a substitute teacher in Timothy’s class.

We had fun meals, including a very colorful salad bar one night and fajitas from the grill the next night.

Mark and I made pretzels for family night. Speaking of family night, we decided to gather out beneath the trees. Things were going fine, but then Sparky lost a fight with a cat that wandered into our yard. He limped, bleeding back to the house and cowered in corners the rest of the evening. We gathered again under the trees and the neighbors’ sprinkler system came on, soaking those who were relaxing in the hammocks. Ha! That was the end of family night.

Hammocks

Come, summer!

We’re sheltered by a mantle of cool, rustling leaves, enjoying companionship of birds, breeze-tempered sunshine, and good books. It’s a Sunday afternoon reverie with Richard that I’m hoping to create again tomorrow on Memorial Day.

This yard is a perfect spot to relax.

Kitchen Day

To really keep a home clean, I need a schedule of jobs to follow. I know there are fancy systems and motivational email lists to which people subscribe that can help, but I like my simple list of daily jobs and weekly jobs.

Here are a few of my daily cleaning guidelines. If I do these things, I don’t feel like things are out of control.

Make the bed as soon as I get up. Remind the kids to do the same.
Clean up the kitchen after each meal. Kids put dishes directly in the dishwasher after meals.
Keep the formal living room clean. This is the only room that most people see when they come to the door.
Take out the kitchen trash each night. It’s icky to wake up to a house that smells like a dump. Amen.

These are just guidelines. If there are dishes in the sink as I run out the door to do something, I don’t beat myself up. If all I do before I run out the door in the morning is make my bed, wow, what a difference that makes when I come home. Simple habits can be powerful helps to us.

To maintain our home, I follow a weekly schedule. I try to involve the kids. If I miss deep cleaning a room one week, it’s no big deal. Next week will come around soon enough. This is just a framework.

Monday: laundry, mudroom
Tuesday: living areas (dust, vacuum, clean glass) and bathrooms (deep clean, mop)
Wednesday: kitchen deep cleaning (mop, clean crevices and appliances)
Thursday: shopping (I actually shop two days a week, but this is often the big Costco day.)
Friday: bedrooms and sheets (The kids clean, dust, and vacuum their bedrooms. I change and wash the sheets.)
Saturday: craft room, garage, incidentals

I do laundry on other days, too, and we’ll clean bathrooms, vacuum, and clean other areas multiple times a week. However, having this framework, I can be sure that things aren’t neglected for long.

I LOVE a clean, uncluttered house, but it’s not the most important thing. I err on the side of clutter in certain corners of the house because I like to read more than I need a clear desk; I like to write more than I need a vacuumed car. I LOVE working with my family on the house. Industrious kids are an ideal for me.

Life is about choices, but a simple framework can help make a clean home possible along with all of the other things that we do. Of course, this phase of life that I am in allows for this kind of framework. When I have been sick for weeks and weeks at a time, and when the kids were young, my cleaning guidelines were a lot different! When I was home schooling, thorough cleaning only happened on Saturdays. However, simple cleaning habits have been helpful to me in whatever phase of life I am in.

Hearing people’s routines is fascinating to me. Do you have a secret to a clean home? Do you make your bed every day? If so, do you agree that it makes a huge difference? What jobs do you enlist your kids to help with around the house? Yes, I am allowing comments today. I am truly curious to learn how people manage their lives.

Party tonight

I’m preparing for a dinner party for 12 adults today. I haven’t finished the table yet, but things will get crazy later and I may forget to take another picture. My sister Susan provided the lanterns and Long tablecloth. I have leftover bird nests from a Young Women activity filled with chocolate eggs and get-to-know-you questions for the guests to discuss over dinner.

The kids are helping tonight and will play background piano music, photograph the event, and the little boys will serve dessert in their suits. Mark has permission to change IMMEDIATELY after dessert. Richard is preparing some of our meal in his smoker. (I always want to type that he is smoking chicken, but that sounds like something else.) His smoked chicken is so good.

The theme for the evening is “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and the guests don’t know who is invited. Our church is holding these parties in 7 or 8 members’ homes tonight. Only the hosts know who is coming. It’s a great chance to get to know people.

I finished hanging frames for a gallery wall, but I may not get all the frames filled today. All well.

Our basement flooded last night and our fence is still down in the backyard. Other than that, we’re looking good for company!

My Day

It was another long-list Monday.

One thing on my list was to deep clean the mudroom while doing laundry.

It’s no longer covered in dust, lint, clutter, and grime. I love spring cleaning.

Our Week

These frames are at Michaels in the dollar bins. These are Easter time pictures of each of the kids when they were about two years old. They were all such little sweeties.

I still have so many blank walls in the house. It’s daunting for me to decorate because I don’t put something on the wall unless it is meaningful to me, and that’s a tall order. I’ve been working on a few photo projects to cover some of these empty spaces in the house. I found this collage frame and filled it with photos of Richard and me for our bedroom.

As you can see, it’s still not on the wall. I have so many ideas, but perfectionism gets in the way.

Look at this picture I found:

Tres chic, I know. The baby’s hat! The scarf! The distinguished young man!

In other news, Richard had a birthday.

I made him good things to eat. What did he ask for? Lentil soup, steak, and lemon bars. Steaks are for the weekend. The Young Men were short on rides to the mountains for a night sledding expedition, so that’s what he did on his birthday. He went night sledding with the neighborhood teenage boys.

Paige took her first sick day since going to public school this week. She’s working on an art project with this selfie. She’s feeling better today.

Daniel is working the microphones for the school play. He goes to school at 6:45 a.m. and comes home for dinner, then back again for the performance. He likes working on the stage crew. He got his first taste of it when Paige was dancing in Arizona:

He’s a lot taller now.

I am going to begin teaching violin lessons next week. You have no idea how I agonized over my inability, then my lack of time, and finally my monthly rate. All of my creative energy this week went into that decision and then I took to my bed for a day in exhaustion and with an upset stomach. I’m such a Victorian that I should carry around smelling salts. Despite my turmoil, I believe it will help me to be teaching again.

We bought some chairs

After a year and a half of deliberation, one night we decided to buy 6 bar stools to go around the island.

We paid our boys and a friend to build them for us. It was the smartest decision ever.

Stymied

Can’t… come… up… with… content. Sorry, family and friends. I have nothing palatable to write this week. I’ve been trying to write a thoughtful post for days, but I feel stymied.

Is it because I have been reading Tolstoy and feel my lack more deeply than usual?

Is it because I am trying to wrap my head around the new year?

Is it because I am so busy trying to get physical things in order at the house that I can’t write?

Is it because what I feel like writing about is too personal?

Is it because my internet has been wonky this week? (If wonky isn’t a word, it should be. It describes our internet service perfectly.)

It’s all of those things and probably more.

Here are some photos of what I have been doing this week. Hey, my life is boring, but it’s mine and I love it.

IMG_20140116_145814 — One day I went through all of the boys’ clothing and placed size labels on each hand-me-down. Apparently I do NOT need any more size 8 pants for boys. I feel defeated by clothing. Daniel’s current rate of growth means he wears something for only a few weeks and then it’s too short. Keeping him in adequate Sunday pants is too much for me, apparently.

IMG_20140116_145925 — Our current filing system just wasn’t working for us, (stashed beneath our bed on a box top which we would slide out when necessary) so this week I fixed that.

IMG_20140116_150041 — This may seem trivial, but I have gained a testimony of labeled photos, having worked on two significant family history projects this year. I labeled our photos this week and felt old doing it. Where have my babies gone?

IMG_20140116_150136 — I updated the photos on the refrigerator and put smiles on my children’s faces by doing it. I now have all of the new family members represented on the refrigerator and some highlights from 2013 to cheer us. I love my photo-laden refrigerator. It keeps me company.

IMG_20140116_150111 — I decorated the mantel and shelves in my kitchen. Oh, the clean, fresh start that January gives to us! I love how uncluttered things feel at this moment. Of course I loved every Christmas card and decoration that we had on these spaces a month ago, but the change is good.

IMG_20140116_150216 — Have I ever posted a picture of my food storage room? It’s one of my favorite corners of the house. Having food is comforting and it takes work. I shop often so I can keep these shelves full. This week I bought oodles of cereal, sugar, and crackers. I have one can of Spam, but I can’t bring myself to serve it. I bought it in 2008.

IMG_20140116_150444 — I went to IKEA with my sisters and mom the other day and bought some textiles. This is Mark’s new rug. I like it so much.

IMG_20140116_150508 — I have been working on the 2013 scrapbook. I’m terribly proud of it.

IMG_20140116_150522 — I had forgotten that we went to San Francisco. How does someone forget San Francisco? It’s good to revisit those memories. That was a good day.

Well, I feel better for the sharing. Not sure if you’ll benefit from any of this, but it was good therapy for me.

Our Christmas Village

Tonight after doing some snow shoveling I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Snow was falling and the icing on the houses and trees made my neighborhood look like a little Christmas village on someone’s mantel. I took pictures so Richard could see what he is missing in Phoenix where it’s 65 degrees today. One neighbor caught me taking photos and I was a little embarrassed. All well. It’s best that he learns my odd ways.

The neighbors have really done a beautiful job with their Christmas lights this year.

I love how this house has icicles along with beautiful white lights everywhere.

Our house doesn’t have Christmas lights yet, but it has a little Charlie Brown tree. In fact, I shall name our house the Charlie Brown House of the cul-de-sac. One of these days we’ll get those lights up. But that’s just on the outside. On the inside, we are NOT a Charlie Brown house.

We have a Christmas tree upstairs and two downstairs. Our candy dishes are brimming, Christmas music is playing, nativities are on every shelf in the family room, and red berries and ornaments are everywhere!!