40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge SURPRISE!

#40bagsin40days

I found out something surprising about myself, and it's only Day 1.

I read about this challenge yesterday and I was inspired. Click on the link above to go and see the full blog posts from White House Black Shutters. As lent approaches, or for most it is already here, there will be Facebook posts flooded with sacrificial fasting. Some give up sugar, or soda, or fast food. Some give up spending, or cable, or internet. While I'm not Catholic, and therefore lent doesn't mean the same to me as others, I do like to participate in it. Fasting is a part of my personal walk with God and from time to time I will fast different things. In January this past year, I fasted FB and found out some things about myself in the process. Another blog post for another time, I'm sure. 

I read about this challenge yesterday and felt inspired to spend 2 hours cleaning out the toy room. I printed out the worksheet on the blog page last night and my first attempt was written in pen. BIG MISTAKE!! I went through, expecting each room to take a day, until I focused yesterday on one room. I realized I would need maybe two or more days to go through and purge the truck load of toys we currently have. I reprinted the worksheet and then filled it out in pencil. Lesson learned.

 As I was going through toys yesterday, I realized how much the kids had. I became disgusted with myself for buying them so much. How can I talk about living on less, when I have filled their toy room with things? What was my reasoning? Why would I do this? Then I realized something about myself, that surprised me as to why we had this crazy ridiculous amount of toys. It struck me so fully that I had to stop cleaning. 

When we were going through fertility treatments to have a second baby, I refused the get rid of things. Baby toys, rattles and the like became sacred to me, a thousand tiny idols that I wanted near me just in case. "If I throw them out or sell them, it means I'm giving up. It means I am not trusting." This became my battle cry. Not trust in Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding, but let me pile our toy room with stuff, line our shelves with stuffies and Barbies and trucks, so that God will know I'm serious about another kid. As if some how this meant I was more serious than the daily prayers I sent up, or the tears I cried, or the thoughts I focused on or the bible verses I memorized. This, TOYS, made me serious about my miracle. Do I fault those who buy clothes or bassinets in great hopes of a baby? Of course not. I bought a white bassinet when we were going through treatments and 3 years later, I laid my son down in it on his first night home. I sobbed the "ugly cry" as I laid him down, knowing that I had bought this in anticipation of this moment. It was a miracle come full circle. But toys? Buying three drum sets to prove I was serious? Obviously God needed three, because one wouldn't cut it. I just had to buy every single Little People play set Target and Toys R Us had, because this proved I was worthy of child. I need that extra xylophone or cooking set, because good mothers had them. "I'm a good mom God, please grant me a child!" Halfway through cleaning, when this realization came upon me, I had to laugh at myself. 

Look I get it, I truly do. When you are reeling from your second miscarriage, when the doctor tells you there is nothing more he can do, when you don't have the money to adopt, clinging to something like a third drum set or a stuffed toy that says Baby on it, is what we do. Those of us who suffer this way, cling to anything that may bring us luck or favor. We want a baby so badly, that it doesn't seem strange at the time. That is until you are cleaning out your toy room and the realization of what you did without knowing it comes. 

Then you laugh. 

Because it is funny.

Because it is ridiculous and you know it.

Because you have come out on the other side stronger. 

I will always carry with me the remembrance of my desperation in those days. I will always be empathetic to those struggling with infertility. There is no wrong way to go through the journey, there is only your way. You do what you have to, you survive how you need to, so if that means three drum sets, 14 stuffies with the word Baby on them, and plethora of assorted baby rattles, then so be. I needed those things to get through to the next day, the next ultrasound, the next doctor's visit, the next blood work. Now though, as with all fasting, comes an awakening. I need to get them out, to purge them and to trust God with other things. This is how we grow spiritually when we fast. 

It's strange to think that I would be here, be in this position to actually laugh at my own silliness. I now look at the trash bags of things with new eyes. I understand myself better because of this first day of lent. It is surprising to me, that a challenge such as this, would help me to understand a part of myself I thought I had fully understood. I see a level, a layer to myself that I didn't know had existed before. It's kinda funny to think that going through a toy room would bring this level of awareness to the fore front, but it has. 

And I praise God for that. 

Mama Jelly

 **** I am not laughing at, or downplaying anyone going through this now. If you are in throws of infertility, let me say, I applaud your strength, I can sympathize with your struggles and I fully offer my door to stay open if you ever want to talk. 1 in 7 couples in the US will go through this heartbreaking journey, just know, that you aren't going through it alone. 

Oragnization in the mist of paper confetti

Today I have a helper who is eager to learn all about organization. Okay, the truth is, if I get out my computer, Little B gets out his and then signs for me to "sit". He likes to work alongside mommy, but working is hard, so a snack is always needed.

 

 

Yesterday I sat down 4 times to write a blog post about organization and my quest to have a better organized home by the end of 2013. Each time I sat down, inevitably one or the other child would need something. At one point, I was doing the chores list I printed out. I was going along, checking off things and feeling accomplished. I was one proud peacock, until I turned the corner and saw that both kids had found the one confetti stick from New Year's Celebration at the Children's museum. For whatever reason I had put one of the confetti sticks, still full, into the diaper bag and carried it home. I'll stop here and mention that it never fails, my diaper bag is a variable "Mary Poppins" carpet bag. I promise, sometimes I pull out lamps and mirrors from the very bottom...... maybe even a potted plant or two.

 

I digress. One of the kids, the youngest dirtiest one, found this stick and was shaking it. A few pieces of tissue paper confetti came out. This prompted the other one, the larger less dirty one, to grab the stick and shake it hard. There was a loud POP and BAM! Confetti everywhere. Both kids thought this was a perfect way to spend a few minutes and proceeded to throw the confetti around. I, however, looked on my carefully thought out chores list for "clean up confetti", sadly it was on there. I think the original author is missing out on not cleaning up confetti. It wasn't until last night, when I, at 2:30am finally crawled into bed, found more confetti on my side of the bed. Apparently the stairs were not enough to contain this awesomeness, and one of the kids felt the need to stuff our covers with it. It was like a party happened in our bed and I was the last to arrive. Sigh.....

 

Anyway, what's the point of today's post? Organization? Oh yes, that's right. I was on my favorite site PINTEREST!!!! Pinterest oh how I heart thee.

 

I'm on Pinterest in preparation for my organizational trip this year. I stumbled across a few "Home Management" binders with free printables and great ideas. I started thinking "why yes, I do believe I can put together a home Management Binder". I came across a really great article on Money Saving Mama. she has several free printables to add to a home binder. I say, go check it all out and use what will work for you. Today, I'll walk you through my first few pages.

 

I mainly used this one site for the majority of my binder. This women makes organizational skills look effortless. I wonder if I should hire her to make me organized and therefore I will make it look easy? Hummmmm something to think about.

 

Anyway, the blog is called Organizing Homelife and she sure does. Here is the link to the beginning of her 31 Days of Home Management where she has all her printables for her binder. They all rock!!! Check out the link Here.

 

 

So to start, here is where I am at.

I used an old school binder from college way back when I went in 1778. It's the first binder ever made! LOL

 

 

So here I should mention that I am....... um thrifty? Okay, I'll admit it, I'm cheep. I didn't want to print out 365 pages of "daily chores" and "daily Plan of attacks" so I did what we do in homeschool. I made wipe offs the cheep way.

1 sheet of printed on paper

1 page protector

1 dry erase marker

 

TA-DA

(Jazz hands? Yes, I think it's warranted)

 

 I guess Little B either found the dry erase marker, or he has a plan of attack he wants known.

 

I printed out the "Plan of Attack" sheets from HERE in this LINK. I like these because it gives me a quick snippet of what the day will bring, what times things occur etc. Even having a place for me to plan out Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I know, I'm creative with my waffles and Leftovers.

 

These I covered in those page protectors and then, at the end of the week I just wipe it off and start over.

 

Money Saving Mom has a ton of Printables to choose from to make up what some Home Management binders may lack for you. While I mainly used one, I added some pages from here as well.

 

 

I am currently using her own cleaning list until I can come up with some of my own add ons. For now, she has a great stepping off point.

 

 

So there you have it, the start to my Home Management Binder. Tomorrow I'll show how I do my calendar, manage my blog ideas, and manage my ever growing to-do list.

 

Mama Jelly

 

 

 

 

 



A New Year, New Look

As the new year rolls in I find myself surrounded by all sorts of posts from family and friends. Some are stating that they will "finally" lose that weight they have kept on for forever. Some are stating they want a better 2013, since 2012 was too hard on them. Some are looking forward to snuggling close tiny new babies. Some are refusing to make a New Year's Resolution and are stating the fact, loudly. I like reading these for it puts into perspective my own flaws and bad points of character. My willingness to let things distract me, to persuade me to live "in the moment" with no real goal set in mind. While I pride myself on my ability to love my family,  I do not posses the qualities such as an organized home........ or homeschool..... or life, for that matter. I am more a "fly by the seat of my pants" girl than a well laid out plain mom. I wish I was better at being more thoughtful and driven to achieve certain goals. Every New Year starts out similar: I write down my goals on a lined piece of paper at about 11:00pm. I number them in importance and organize them by tasks. I pray over them and promise myself that I will accomplish these goals. Then comes New Year's Day and I wind up in my PJ's at 2pm, writing on a blog about how I'm going to change it up.

I am a huge believer that a relaxed atmosphere within a home leads to happy kids, happy wife, happy husband. While we have achieved that most ardently, we haven't quite grasped the task orientated life. You know, the one where the family lives, loves and prays with goals in mind and rejoices in the achievements of the family unit. Yeah..... we are not this family. It's funny really, since I homeschool and teach Sunday School,  that I could be as disorganized as I am. My family is always scrambling at the, last minute to get dressed for a play date, get a gift for a birthday party, or making sure we have all supplies for Sunday School. Even now, it's January 1st and I still have Christmas cards to mail out. **sigh** I can organize to a point but where I fall sort is my follow through. I get board and distracted and suddenly it's 2pm and the party is at 3 and we have nothing for the birthday kid. Or it's 9:15 and the play date is at 10am and we have just woken up.

Why am I confessing these weaknesses? Because the road to accountability starts with professing the things you are worst at. So here I am, New Years Day, still in PJ's typing out a blog post about getting organized this year while my printer prints out page after page for our family binder and homeschool workbooks. The only difference between this year and last is one simple thing. Instead of stating this to myself at home, quietly, I'm announcing it to the 5 people who subscribe but I'm sure haven't read the blog. A bit pessimistic but one of them is my mom. (Hi Mom!!! ::waves:: I'll call you today, I promise) I don't reach many people and that's okay, my voice is lost among the sea of better, bigger and more prepared blogs out there. One of my goals this year is to blog more. I feel it gives me an outlet to write things: my family, my thoughts, my failures (keep reading, I'm certain my failures will be funny, they usually are) and my weaknesses. Hummmmm I suppose I need an outlet for me, to speak what is on my mind and have no one read them. Yep, what a goal. (If you haven't noticed, I am a tad sarcastic. I like smiley faces and ........ and parentheses. Oh and the word "yep". Yep)

I suppose when a journey begins the most important part of that journey doesn't begin with the step itself, but in the picking up of the foot. So this is me, after a several month hiatus, picking up my foot to take a step forward into a year that promises to be glorious and amazing. But I am hesitant and scared. This year will also bring challenges that make me want to hide my head and pretend everything is just as wonderful as I proclaim it to be on my personal facebook page.

A recap of the last few months:

In August we got an official doctor's diagnoses on our little man. For months Big B and I  had noticed that Little B wouldn't respond to different sounds, like crashing of pots or loud fire trucks. He never startled, never go upset any loud noises, never turned his head. We began to wonder if it was us or something was wrong. After months of really wondering, we got the diagnosis that our Little B was deaf in one ear and HOH (hard of hearing) in the other. I would like to say that we took it all in stride and believed that everything we be okay. We did not. We denied it for a while and resolved to only tell a few people of the heartbreak of the diagnosis. I wish we could have said that we accepted it and started to work toward a brighter future for Little B. We did not. We were normal, average parents, we were  not super parents. We morned the loss of the child we dreamed him to be and prepared for the child God gave to us. We didn't smile and say "Thank you doctor" and run out and buy sign language books and join help centers for deaf children. No we acted as if the diagnosis didn't happen, that our son was perfectly fine and that he just needed to get a bit bigger, that somehow that would make him "grow out of it". By August, however, it was painfully obvious that he had a disability. I'll stop here and say that I have come to the realization that there are a few words I absolutely hate in the English language.

Here is a list;
Disability
Dumb
Special Needs
Stupid
Impaired


There are a few others, but they are so offensive, I won't write them. I never knew how strongly I would react to words spoken until Little B was diagnosed. Suddenly I feel like I am out to prove just how amazing he truly is. Once we did accept our diagnosis, things started falling into place. Little B will be fitted for a hearing aid here soon and will start attending a specialized school for the Deaf and hearing impaired. He is 18 months. He is amazing. While I'm scared for what the future holds, I am hopeful and excited to watch him learn and grow. I'm also excited to catalog this journey in our family blog and look back on December 31, 2013 and see how amazingly blessed we truly are.


We also started full time homeschooling. While, again, I'd like to say we have done well homeschooling, the truth is it's hard. Some weeks we didn't leave the house all week, we barely got dressed and don't even get me started on the state of my house cleaning. I became so overwhelmed and scared I was failing that I even filled out online the school paperwork. It wasn't until Miss A started American Heritage Girls that I meet other homeschool parents. We started going to PE with a COOP and started attending MNO with them. So now I feel I have an arsenal of moms who are "like me", who homeschool and get together and understand. Miss A is making friends and so am I. I never realized how isolating and hard homeschooling can be until now. Sure we socialize by going to the library and to playgroups, but when your little one is 18 months and your oldest one is 6, where do you fit in? Not in a traditional moms group where most of the kids are 3 and under. We are finally feeling like we are getting into a grove and we like it. Our homeschooling is becoming easier and less forced. Miss A is reading and enjoying school and I, for the first time, am enjoying just teaching and not trying to keep up with more experienced homeschoolers.


And just to add to the haphazardness of this little post, how about some pictures thrown in for good measure? Yes? Or should I say, Yep!

The kids yesterday at the Children's Museum right after we counted down to 12:00.... that's noon. We had a nap time to stick to.

 

Miss A truly is a city girl at heart.

 

 

Mama Jelly and her two little sticky fingered kiddos.

So there you have it, a short little nothing that tells and brings those 5 readers up to speed about the going's on in the Jelly household. My New Year's resolution, in case you didn't guess, was to become more organized, more on task. God has called us Christian women to be keepers of our home and while that is an opened ended invitation, we are also called to be organizers of the home we keep. At least this is how I feel about the scriptures. So I am working hard at being more organized and better at being on point with my tasks.


Tomorrow's blog post? How I started my Home Management Binder for free. Stay tuned.

Mama Jelly

100 Days 100 Things Challenge

Picture used from: http://springvalley.govoffice.com/

Spring is here. I just love spring, I love the colors, the warmth, the birds, the flowers. Here is South Texas, we have "spring" about 3 months out of the year. When I lived in Saint Louis, MO however, spring was a great time of year. It kicked off every year, it seemed, with the St. Patrick's Day parade. Shortly after that parade, you would start to see walkers in forest Park, the Zoo would begin to get busy again. Strollers, bikes, families come out from everywhere. It is a great time of year anywhere in the country.

Recently, we took some pictures of Miss A and Little B among the Bluebonnets. We are in Texas after all! You HAVE to have pictures of the kids surrounded by this beautiful flowers.

I love this one of Miss A and her red boots.

This one of Little Bman makes me smile. He is just shy of 9 months and his chubby legs are too cute.

This is just too beautiful.

While most people who love spring, love the flowers, some, like myself, start to get the itch to spring clean. Since Little Bman was born last June, I find myself surrounded with

 tons of "stuff" that gets accumulated when you are a family.

I was talking online with some mom friends, recently and we were talking about spring cleaning. One mom had said that if she didn't do something , her junk would quickly become an episode of Hoarders. This got me thinking, why do I have so much junk? Why am I consumed with having all of this? Why do I feel the need to keep buying things? Is it because of deals I get? Is it because I don't want to get rid of things? I'm not sure.

I was introduced to the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess  by Jen Hatmaker. She has her own blog which I love to follow. She is a pastors wife who was convicted in her spirit to go through a month of giving up things. Only eating 7 foods, giving away 7 things a day etc. Her book is powerful and inspiring. Her blog is, in my humble opinion, an amazing and biblical look at how to live with less and use what you have. She inspires me. Check her out here.

After talking with my friends, I realized a common thread through all of the talk was "HELP!!!! I HAVE TONS OF JUNK!!!!!!" So I purposed to my mom friends a 100 days to get rid of 100 things. I named it the 100 things 100 days Challenge. Starting May 1 and going through August 8, every single day, I will be giving away, going through, organizing, selling and trashing 100 things. We set up rules and plan to kick this off in a few weeks. Some of my friends have already started, since right now is yard sale season and a few are moving soon. But as a group, we are doing the challenge.

How will this work? you ask. What if I don't have 100 of one thing? Can I just give away 100 Q-Tips and be done? Nope!

Here is how we are working it:

Starting May 1:

Each week will have a theme and everyday that week, I will post an item to go through. You can get rid of 10 of that thing or 1, the amount is not the point. Here is an example:

Week 1:

Mommy Clothes

Day 1:

Jeans/bottoms/skirts

Today, go through all your bottoms, skirts and  jeans and get rid of any that are out of style, don't fit, have holes ("uncool" holes of course) have missing zippers, buttons, stains, undone hem lines etc.

I have encouraged my friends to post pictures of the items that are leaving the house. The biggest rule that goes with this; Not to buy back the item that has left. You can't donate books to the library and turn around and buy 10 books, that just defeats the purpose of getting rid of them. You can sell items if they are sellable, donate items that are not sellable and trash items that need to be trashed. But they need to leave, get out of the house, and make room for LESS stuff.

The point of the exercise is two fold. First, I don't know about you all, but spring cleaning sort of stresses me out. I have this unrealistic view that my house needs to be spotless by the time the first day of summer rolls around. It makes me crazy and makes me feel like I'm behind. Taking 100 days to go through 100 areas in your life, makes it easy and attainable. Second, I am a visual person. i need to physically see the items marching out the door and see the items getting organized, to feel I am accomplishing something. And the best part? You don't have to participate everyday. Let's say it's "Son Week" and you don't have a son. Follow along with the blog, but you don't have to purge that week. By breaking down the organization and cleaning process into small, daily goals, by the start of the school year, you will have a home that is functioning, organized and more importantly C.L.E.A.N. Won't that be great?!

I sure think so!

Join us and follow along with this blog and see the 100 things 100 Days Challenge take shape. I'm hoping to have a few guest bloggers come on and talk about the challenge as well.

I'm excited!!! Aren't you?!

Mama Jelly