Household Management Notebook

I have become faced over the last several months at how unorganized my life is. I have my personal planner that helps me organize my schedule but trying to keep my husband's schedule and the schedule with his daughter in order has been difficult. That's why I was so excited by the challenge from Life As Mom to develop a household management notebook. After pouring through ideas on how people have done it and resources available to create my own, I have finally come up with my own household management notebook.

To highlight a few of the things that I am so excited about:

1) The to-do lists




I printed off the 52 Weeks of Organizing list from orgjunkie so that I can continue to get the rest of my house organized and less cluttered. I also printed off the daily docket from simplemom. This will be laminated so that I can save paper. I am also using the cleaning lists from moneysavingmom. This double-sided with the monthly/semi-annual list on the back and will be laminated so that I can re-use it. I also printed the preschooler chore chart from simplemom so that Quinn can do chores when she is with us. This will more than likely not be kept in the notebook, but on her bedroom door.

2) The calendar



I have to say that this is the part I am most excited about. I have told my husband for a couple of years that I am going to start a family calendar. If something is on the family calendar, it is set in stone. Now, I have finally done it!! There is a calendar for each month and there is an ink color for each type of event (black is family, green is Nathan & I, blue is Nathan, I am purple, & pink is Quinn). This will give order to our house and everything can be in one place and once it is on the calendar, it can't be changed.

3) Birthdays



With so many people in my family and some birthdays so close together, I can't always keep them straight. I printed the birthday organizer from yourway.net and included birthdays and anniversary for everyone in our family but cousins. That way, I can plan better and get cards or send a card to everyone for their birthdays.

4) Christmas (I tried to get a picture of this section posted, but it wouldn't upload right)

Christmas the last couple of years has been ridiculous. I wind up doing all the planning with very little time. I used the planning pages from organizedchristmas. I look forward to getting all my gift giving, parties, and baking planned so that I can relax and enjoy the reason for the season.

There are other dividers for phone numbers, emergency/medical information, and school.

Booking It in 2011 Reading list

I came across this on-line book club and have wanted to do more reading throughout the last couple of years. So, this seemed fun and I decided to try it. So, here is my reading list:

February 2011 - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
March 2011- Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas
April 2011 - Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (I'll also include Healthy Bread in 5 minutes a day since I own it).
May 2011 - Finding your purpose as a mom by Donna Otto
June 2011 - Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge
July 2011 - Dancing with my Father by Sally Clarkson
August 2010 - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
September 2010 - Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider
October 2010 -Not Your Mother's Casseroles by Faith Durand
November 2010 -The Reluctant Entertainer by Sandy Coughlin
December 2010 - Skin by Ted Dekker

I also hope to read Father Fiction by Donald Miller. I also have a box of books my brother's now ex-girlfriend loaned me, so I may also pull some things from that. I'm really excited about this and look forward to some accountability to get me reading again.

The legend of Colton Harris-Moore?

In recent months, I've been following the story of Colton Harris-Moore. Perhaps I've had increased interest because he grew up near where I currently live and work. However, I find that the level of support he has received from so-called fans is disturbing. Colton Harris-Moore is a criminal with federal charges who eluded law enforcement officers for 2 years during which he racked up quite the resume of criminal activity.

While I understand that some criminals gain popularity and fascination due to their notoriety, Robin Hood stands out as the most legendary. However, he stands apart from other criminals. Robin Hood stole from the rich to feed the poor due to wrong doing by Prince John. Prince John was over taxing the people to the point that they could not afford to live. So, in steps Robin Hood who steals from the rich, who were most likely not taxed as highly, so that the poor can support their families.

While I don't support vigilante justice, there is a difference between Robin Hood and Colton Harris-Moore. Robin Hood was responding to wrong that was being done in his culture whereas Colton Harris-Moore was not. Robin Hood was doing something noble (illegal but for a noble purpose) whereas Colton Harris-Moore did not. So, why is Colton Harris-Moore being celebrated a hero? What he did was selfish. He wasn't giving his "loot" to people who needed it. I'm sure he used it to get by for the last 2 years. Furthermore, by promoting a celebrity-like status (there is talk of making a movie based on his life), we are showing people that it is ok to be a criminal, that it's glamorous, and you aren't really living if you are "living on the wild side." What is that teaching our children? Why haven't we figured this out as a society and will it ever get through to people that this is perpetuating the problem?

Royal Family Kids Camp

I returned home from my 10th year serving at Royal Family Kids Camp in Bellingham, WA. I absolutely love this ministry. I love that kids who have had to grow up too fast are allowed to be kids for a week and experience true unconditional love. I also love the outpouring of support from the community. This year Mallard's Ice Cream and Boundary Bay Brewery gave at the very least a great deal on ice cream and root beer floats respectively for the root beer floats at the Carnival. People give what they can so that they can contribute to the happiness of a child's life that has not known a whole lot of happiness. Kids who have been neglected and abused get to see that there are people in the world who truly love them for who they are who may not have known them before that week.

Despite all the love I have for this, I hate sending my kids home. I hate sending my kids back to families that don't take care of them. Families that feed off of drama and chaos. Families that don't protect the weaker child to the point that a child who was so sweet and almost emotionless all week, never crying, is sobbing as she watches the video and is afraid to go home before someone who isn't her mom takes her home because her mom apparently couldn't be bothered to bring her to the church or pick her up from it. I hate sending my kids home. I don't understand how some people can break their kids like that. I wish more people would step up to fight for them and show them true love and how families should be. It makes me sad.

Decision

I watched "Julie and Julia" the other night and I'm feeling inspired. I want to quantify this for those that know me that I will not be cooking through a cookbook in a year (unless maybe it is the Serendipity cookbook but that's not going to happen). I love to cook but I have no desire to learn how to cook a live lobster. And even if I did, it would go to waste because I don't eat seafood nor can I stand the smell of it. What impressed me about the movie was how she found a creative outlet for herself in the midst of a job she found tedious and didn't like.


I've also spent time reading my sister's blog over the last several weeks and have been inspired by that as well. I enjoy the window into the lives of my sister, my brother-in-law, and my adorable, spirited nephew.

With those 2 things combined, I have decided to use my blog on a more regular basis to document my musings on life but also serve as a creative outlet. I don't know what shape it will take, but I'm excited to see where it goes. I can only imagine you will get a good dose of many things in my life - knitting, my attempt to start my own business out of my home (which will not be worked on for sometime), my journey into living frugally to name a few, and occassionally my love of (almost) all things psychological as well as share my adventures in being a step-mom. While I don't believe any of these things will become how I identify myself as I find my identity as a child of God, I have come to a realization that I need a creative outlet. I love knitting but have gotten out of it in recent months as I have not had time to do it. Since BSF is done for the summer, I have decided to use some of the time that would normally have been devoted to that to finish some projects including unpacking boxes that have been sitting in my bedroom for over a year and a half. So, I hope that you enjoy this journey with me. It should be interesting.

Christmas Dichotomies

I love Christmas time, but I hate the cold weather that accompanies it. I also love giving people gifts, but I hate promoting materialism and fighting crowds to buy things for people. I just wish that more people celebrated the actual reason for the Christmas season and not the perversion that it has become.

Fall

I love fall!! The colors are rich and beautiful! The temperature is crisp but not too cold!! Plus, you can do fun things like go to a pumpkin patch, carve pumpkins, and eat pumpkin pie.