I miss it

I have not been blogging and I miss it so much!  So briefly here’s what’s been going on around here.

 

One day I looked after a little boy, same age as Matty.  They played the piano together; it was so cute!

 

Matty learned to climb the stairs!  He’s fast!

 

I created a new 3 day/week homeschool schedule.  I’m kinda excited about it.  We will start on Monday.  I’ll try to write more about it soon.

		ACSI Math Gr. 2	Building A Life Gr. 3	Human Body Gr. 2-3	God’s Wonderful Works Gr. 2	Books Read
Week 1		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.		Do 4 pages.
Week 2		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 3		Do 6 pages.		Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 4		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages		Do 4 pages.
Week 5		Do 6 pages.	Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.
Week 6		Do 6 pages.		Do 4 pages.	Do 4 pages.

 

I have talked in the past about purchasing and teaching through the Tapestry of Grace program of study.  I have decided that it is not a fit for us.  Too involved.  So instead what I am doing is taking their book lists as a jumping off point.  I order as many of the books from the library from the list as I can find.  I’ll order 10 or 20 at a time.  As they come in we spend some time looking at them together at the table.  I even ordered from the lists for the high school students.  Right now we are reading about ancient Egypt.  The kids are having fun with the information!

 

Jason got a raise!  I’m so proud of him for working so hard and sticking with this company, even when things were really tough this winter.  The guys (and gals) that he works with are decent people and they get along pretty good.  He likes the work.  He’s working in the shop at the oil field safety company that he was doing fire watch for the last year and a half. 

 

Oh and because of the raise, we’ve also decided to keep the bus!  I didn’t realize how attached I was to my bus until we re-discussed the sale.  I love my bus!  It is perfect for what I want and need.

 

The garden is mostly in.  Just onions and cucumbers left to put in the dirt.  We were planting bean plants (Jason started them in the house.) the other day.  We had to hurry at the end because a storm was blowing in fast!  We were cleaning up the trays and pots just as it started coming down hard.  I can’t wait to see what this year’s garden produces!!

 

I took this picture of my favorite beverage:

 

Just a couple other quick things:

• the 2 big girls went to the store by themselves!  They did so great!
• shingles are on sale this week and pay day is this week!!!!

 

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

It didn’t work.

 

Ok, so the plan was to wash the dishes at the table.  That turned out to be way too much hassle.  So instead, I used the basins to carry the dishes to the kitchen where I washed the dishes. 

Kristyn was put in charge of the baby instead of doing the dishes.  Marrissa still cleared the table – put the “middle stuff” away, helped scrape, sprayed and washed the table and swept the floor.  Marrissa is almost 6.  Cora did the little kids’ bath.

 

For the last 2 nights this has worked fairly well.  Matthias is often tired after supper, but a bath and one on one contact will often keep him happy enough for me to finish the dishes.  This is working well.  I plan to keep it up.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Kitchen Brainstorming

 

As I was writing that last post, I was lamenting to a friend in Yahoo Instant Messenger about my kitchen.  She started brainstorming temporary fixes.  Here’s some that we came up with:

• could you have all the kids in the kitchen and the ones who are old enough have a job... so you are working together?
• or maybe if you do the just 15 min thing... once you start you won't wanna stop... but if you do, you can; that way you could check on kids and get more exercise on the stairs!
• u could try not finishing a meal without cleaning kitchen after
• you could budget for paper plates during hard days
• using your camping basins and washing dishes at the table.
• buy disposable cookers for your big cooks too

So I’ve tried having them all in the kitchen.  I end up tripping on the kids and we are all frustrated!

 

I am currently running up and down the stairs to deal with issues as they arrive while I’m working in the kitchen.  It’s not working.

 

There is too much else going on after meals – after breakfast is everyone getting dressed; after lunch is nap time, after supper is bath and bed.  That’s why clean up gets kinda shoved to the side and we get behind in the kitchen.

 

We’ve done paper plates in the past.  And will probably do them in the future again at some point.  The disposable liners or pans for the big cooks is something to think about too.

 

I’m going to try the camping basins and washing the dishes at the table; this eliminates Marrissa dawdling over clearing the table, eliminates the dishes not getting washed after each meal, and eliminates the mess piling up in the kitchen.

 

We’ll see how it goes.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

The Kitchen

My kitchen is often a topic I write about on this blog.  I don’t like my kitchen and I don’t make any bones about it.  I’ve done a few things to make the best of it until we can reno the main floor for the kitchen.

 

I was thinking about all the houses we’ve lived in, where the kitchens were, the state of my life when we lived there, and the state I kept our house in when living in those homes.

 

When we were first married we lived in a basement suite.  I was in school and pregnant with our first baby.  I did not keep up on things very well there.  I was very sick with Kristyn’s pregnancy.  I was learning to be a wife.

 

The next house we lived in was also small; it was unfinished and constantly in renovations (much like our current home).  Our first two babies lived there with us.  I never did dishes and I never did laundry.  I rarely cooked meals.  From there we moved to a farm where Jason worked.  We lived in a trailer there.  The kitchen was bright and in the middle of the home.  I kept up on things there pretty well, in the  kitchen; other rooms were not so great.  Our third baby, came and went in that trailer.  I cleaned to keep my sanity there I think.

 

I had great routines in place when we moved to Ontario; I kept them up as best I could while we lived with Jason’s parents (a few weeks).  From there we moved to a place a little bigger than our first basement suite.  It was a one room place.  I didn’t have a choice but to keep things tidy.  There was no room for anything; we had no furniture and most of  our stuff was in storage.  From there we moved to a duplex; I kept the main floor of that house in pretty good shape.  The kitchen was the middle of the home.  Marrissa was born while we lived there.

 

We moved from there back to Alberta and moved into a trailer.  We arrived with what would fit in the back of a pick up truck.  We didn’t collect a lot of things.  I had a system and I kept that system.  The kitchen was in the middle of the home and I got things going there very well.

 

Then we moved here.  It’s a shell basically.  The kitchen is in the basement.  The kitchen is almost always a mess.  The laundry is never caught up.  Every time I think I got something figured out, we do another reno and I have to find a new home for stuff.

 

To make the kitchen bearable for me, we installed my under the counter cd player.  The kids wrecked it.  We fixed the floor.  I still like that.  The curtains need to be washed.  I need to organize things better in there.  It’s so overwhelming.  I’m not using space to it’s best advantage and I HATE being in there.  I hate cooking there.

 

I assigned dish duty to Kristyn.  I think she hates being in there as much as I do.  The dishes are still never done, but we are doing better than we have in the past.  I spent an hour in there this morning and made a big dent in it again.  But there is so much still to do.

 

And my time spent in my kitchen is limited too.  Let me explain.  I’m downstairs while the children are UPstairs!  I try to get as much done while the baby is napping.  Most moms do I think.  Well, while I’m downstairs, those who are upstairs end up fighting, or playing loudly.  I can’t be running up and down the stairs to deal with issue after issue after issue.  I can’t keep them all busy in the kitchen with me!  I’m constantly tripping on them then.  I spent most of baby’s nap being the police.  And so the next time I choose to stay with the kids so that baby can sleep.  But then forget to go to the kitchen after he wakes up happy.

 

Even when I cook a meal do I rarely stay down there.  I try to do freezer cooking for supper.  And lunch is cold foods, so we just do that at the table and the counter we have upstairs.

 

I know I’m going to be in this kitchen for a while yet. 

 

Watch, just when I get it where I want it, we’ll do the reno upstairs.

 

It’s just a bad situation and I don’t know how to make it better.

 

So frustrated.

 

Ok, I think I’m done.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

My Kitchen

My kitchen is in the basement and it's a dungeon. I hate hate hate being in there.

We live in an old old church. Built 1935. The basement and addition was added in 1950. I think. Anyway, it's your basic basic church kitchen. I have two large sinks, a gas stove, huge cupboards with sliding doors and some without doors at all. It's all mismatch throw together. Did I mention I hate being down there?

We live on the main floor - tv, school room, office and library, dining room (yes, my kitchen is in the basement and the dining room on the main floor). Oh and the fridge is on the main floor too! So I run lots of stairs!

The tough thing is that because the kids are mostly upstairs it's hard to make meals and do clean up! I have to make everyone come down with me or deal with mess and or discipline issues while I'm out of the room and on another level! IT IS SUCH A PAIN.

Well, today dh went down (and I went with him) to cook some eggs. He seriously couldn't find a clean spot on the counter to put down the carton of eggs and the sausage. There wasn't a clean pot and the stove is a mess. He lost it and so did I.

We are in such a transition (he was off work since mid-January and he got a new job). Transition is so hard for me to begin with. And he's going back to work - mostly nights. And I'm newly pregnant. So that's two big changes in the last two weeks. Needless to say, I haven't been keeping up with anything.

Well, he went out for a smoke to settle down and I got the bigger girls helping me. We had the kitchen in shape in less than 20 minutes. He came back in and offered me a drinkable yogurt.

He said, "if you work at keeping this kitchen clean, I'll work at getting the kitchen in upstairs. In fact, I'll go talk to Mo right now and see what we need to do to get it done." (Mo is a cabinet maker!!!)

It's a HUGE job. Right now it is full of dh's tools; it's his work room and our front entrance. The walls are insulation (not even plasticked over) and then the outside world! lol. There is no electrical, no plumbing, no gas lines. There is no drywall. There is some outdoor structure that has to be done. It is a HUGE and expensive project.

I know that those two things - huge and expensive - are two reasons it kept getting moved lower and lower on the list. I was looking at 5 -10 years before I had a real kitchen.

So, he's gone to speak with Mo. I have to keep up my end of the bargain. I have to keep that kitchen that I do have in decent shape. I think I can do it.

My plan is to in the evening, put one of the older girls on bath / baby duty and I'll get the kitchen clean. If they'd rather trade, I can do the baths and the baby care and they can do the kitchen, but my main goal is to have the kitchen in shape every evening.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,