My Own Corners...

My little angel baby had a very sleepy day.  So I had lots of time to get many of the thing done that I've been itching to do: laundry folded and put away, sweeping under the bed, tidying this and that.  As things came together I started to notice my own little corners, modest as they are. (Here are the corners that started it all).  I always feel best when the house is clean and organized. That may seem funny to those closest since it seems that my house so rarely is... but I do love a good, clean house.  I was able to get a lot done while I was pregnant (at least up until the last month). A lot of STUFF went out, and a lot of organizing got done.  Now that my little guy is here, much is getting neglected again.  At least I was able to give us a good foundation for the chaos that comes with a babe!  Over the years, months, and even days, I've gathered together a small arsenal of tools that help me keep (or get) my home cozy and neat and spic and span! Here are some of my trade secrets...

We always pin our socks together before we throw them in the wash.  Otherwise, it's a truly hopeless sock situation for all.

I have a personal rule: Do what you hate first. So when I have to tackle the kitchen, I wash the pots and put them away before tackling anything else. Boy do I hate washing pots. And I hate putting them away, trying to stack and fit them in my little kitchen cabinets. Oy.  I just hate washing anything big: pots, baking sheets, stuff like that. If I don't do it first, it just sits there looming. If I do it first, then the night work is so much more pleasant. 

A rule for Mama's sanity: At the end of the night, no toys allowed in the living room. Please bring them in during the day and play! But at bedtime, they have to go home. To make this successful, I need to remember to call attention to it at least an hour before bedtime. Otherwise I get a lot of whining and not a lot of helping.

Plan the week's menu and the week's grocery shopping. I find that when I do this, there is so much less stress. It's not a hard and fast plan because sometimes things come up. The weekend usually stays pretty loose. But during the week, it's so much easier to know what's happening and what I need to get together and prep. I plan the week by first checking out the kids' hot lunch choices (so they don't have chicken for lunch, chicken for dinner, etc.), checking out what I have in the house, and figuring out what I need to get at the store.  It's amazing how hard it is to come up with a meal idea at 3:00 on a Tuesday with a little baby on your lap. So much easier to do the thinking in advance.

I have a small drawer set aside for Nate's snug items. When he's getting a little big for something, I put it in that drawer. That way they don't get mixed into the other larger drawers. If he doesn't wear it again, it stays put, and when the drawer fills up, out they go. For the older kids, it's a laundry basket tucked in the closets.

Make the bed within 20 minutes of waking up.

So as I was cleaning up and enjoying a very peaceful afternoon, I snapped some of my own little humble corners....

 Top of the dresser... Mimi gave me that little glass "Mother" poem in the pink plastic frame for Christmas. She bought it at her school Christmas fair, and I LOVE it!  The painting on the left was done by Mimi this summer at a children's art studio in town.  The right was a gift from a family at church. That lovely box was a Christmas present from my mom. What did she tuck away inside it?...

 Lots and Lots of BUBBLES!!!!

Going down the stairs you'll see some painted Maxwell pumpkins. Also a painting of the Seine that I found at a consignment store, signed and numbered: Score! The front door has the kids' school schedules, calenders, and notices held up with magnets. Our bedroom door has more M&M art :)

 A bookcase downstairs is also a nook for Blythe!

 THIS is one reason why I must at least try to keep up appearances, for when we have a special guest drop by unannounced, like Miss Ashlee, who came calling on Lady Mimi today to play Pollies :)

The boys had their own plans :)