Listen In: little boys fixing their breakfast
Supper Plans: not sure yet...maybe gyros
Today I Plan To... go to Target (bday shopping), go to Office Depot (buy boxes to store out of season clothes and school uniforms- I know, Leslie, I should not be buying boxes when I can get them free at Wal Mart, but you are not here to have that adventure with me at 1 am), continue working on my What Goes Where plan
View From the Kitchen Window: a soggy yard and a gray sky
My weekend alone (sort of) went well. Baby and I spent a lot of time lying in bed watching movies and nursing. He has quite an appetite. I am embarrassed to admit that I watched 7 movies at home and 1 movie at the drive in theater. I don't think I have ever watched that many movies in such a short amount of time. It was fun though! We watched The Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, The Queen, Marie Antoinette, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Dreamgirls, Freedom Writers, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. My 2 favorites were Freedom Writers and The Holiday. I think I could buy both of those movies and watch them over and over.
The most exciting thing that happened to me this past weekend was an answered prayer. It is such a simple answer from God. Friday night when everyone left, I looked around at my house and was completely overwhelmed. My house doesn't just get dirty or cluttered, it gets disgusting. It happens so often, too. It will be clean one moment and then a couple of hours later it looks like a house that has not been cleaned in weeks. The floors get nasty, it looks like a stuff bomb went off in every room, the dishes are piled up...and this happens every couple of days.
All of this is very humiliating for me to admit.
So anyway, I looked around at our mess and just gave up. I asked God to give me a revelation and to tell me what the problem is. I asked him to tell me why our house can't stay clean and why it gets SO bad in such a short time and why it gets to the point of overwhelming so often.
Okay, so I prayed and then I went and vegged out on movies and forgot about it. Well, the next morning I was making Journal Jars for our kindergarten teachers. I then proceeded to go to www.organizedhome.com and just look around. I came upon an article on clutter and that led me to an article on storage. That's when God said, "This is your answer."
Such a simple answer, but life-changing at the same time. Our home didn't have a storage plan. In other words, everything didn't have a home. There wasn't a place for everything. So we just shuffled things from one surface to the next or we put things in a different place every time we cleaned. So, I went through the house and planned a home for everything. Now I am working on rearranging our stuff so it is all where it belongs. And I am tossing lots of unused and unwanted things as well.
I am not overwhelmed any longer. The house is still a mess, but it is slowly getting better because I am slowly rearranging our storage areas so they work for our family and our home.
God is so sweet to care about our storage problem! He truly does care about every detail of our lives. It makes me feel secure and protected to know that He takes care of every detail, if I only ask Him and then let Him.
6 comments:
What a great post! I had a similar frustration several months ago. I don't have seven children, so I often feel bad for saying it (An in-home daycare contributes to the mess, though)...I would get so overwhelmed, I would just shut down. I didn't want to cook because the kitchen was messy. I didn't want to clean the kitchen because I knew I was about to mess it up by cooking. I didn't want to get out a game to play with Addyson...or scrapbook...or paint...or anything, because I didn't want to add to the mess AND I didn't want to clear a spot just to mess it up again.
Okay...this comment is getting really long...the point is...God provided me with a very similar solution. Over the past few months, we have been getting rid of a LOT. I have a completely different view of my house now. We don't need 200 movies! We don't need 50 outfits each. Addyson doesn't need a bedroom and a playroom full of toys (actually, we've really limited her toy stash now). We just don't need it all.
Even though we're far from finished, our house is getting much simpler, which in turn makes it much easier to keep clean and tidy. Life is much calmer and happier now.
Julie, I can so relate to your problem - if you look at it as a problem! When Jody and I married we "instantly" shared parenting for three girls, ages 6, 8 and 9; two months later I was pregnant. Needless to say by the time our son was born we were still adjusting to our blended family which is a feat in itself! We didn't have a lot of room so, of course the we had was a constant mess. Not only did we not have enough room for everything to "have a place" I had a new baby and three girls who had a "lot" of trouble adjusting to our family dynamics! I decided then that my family was so much more important than whether or not my house was clean and always ready for inspection. I spent a lot of time holding my new baby and loving all of my children and trying to work together so that we were not separate beings in the same house but a real family. When I see a young mother whose house or car or yard may not look "magazine cover" perfect - I just know that mother is spending time loving her children!
God is good and does show us how to be good stewards of the things we have and shows us what our priorities are and from what I have learned about you - from your blog - you certainly know where your family fits in your priority list! Give yourself credit and a "pat on the back" once in awhile. When your children are grown, they won't remember the "clutter" as clearly as they will remember their "mommy time"!
annb
hi ya you -well you may have to go to walmart soon anyway to get me boxes - mr chad is going to texas on the 7th for a job interview -i will let you know - dont count off for spelling on this one or grammer -i am sleepy
Did you make it into target without being pelted? I thought about you this morning and wondered...
I finally read that whole thing! It pretty much said what you told me :o)
I got the fridge all filled and life is sort of back to normal. Church was really good tonight, the guest speaker had spunk and we both enjoyed him a lot!
btw... the crock pot meatloaf was really good. You should try it!
okay enough for now, i'll call you tomorrow.
love-me
I love the movies The Holiday & Freedom Writers. I'm glad you watched them - and that you found a solution to the "where does it go?" problem. I'm off to look at that site - well, I will look at it in a bit.
Hi Julie
Came over from ANnie to look at the new blog - very nice - and saw this post. So glad you can see a way out of all the overwhelm.
If you need help, just shout.
Marcia
http://organisingtips.blogspot.com
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