I resolve to .......

New Year, New Start...sure why not?  What the heck, huh?

Lose weight?  Eat better, exercise?  Nope.  This year, I'm going to focus on pampering.  Myself, others.  Just the year of Pamper (not to be confused with a year of "Pampers"... hopefully diapers are a long way off)

Perhaps

• Stress pampering - learning to let go.  
• House pampering - following the Fly Lady at Flylady.net  (a home keeping blog, with daily suggestions and monthly habits)
• Creativity pampering - more crafting and homemade gifting.
• Mind pampering - more reading - Bible, enrichment, mindless enjoyment.
• Body pampering - exfoliation, hair care, okay - exercise and losing the gluten (gulp) and maybe dairy (double gulp)
• Stomach pampering - more experimentation in the kitchen.  Less eating out, more simple cooking.
• Wallet pampering - how to do all this on less money?  

All right, that seems like a good start.  The list.  Not too overwhelming (yah, right)  but still, it's good to have goals.

Step one - learning to let go.  Stuff and self inflicted obligations.  So maybe for the rest of the week, I'll take a good hard look at what I've committed to doing.  I'll look at not only what I'm doing, but why I'm doing it, and how it makes me feel.  

Then next week, I'll do the same for "stuff"  Ooh, look at that.  I see a plan forming.  A plan, always a great place to start.  Yes, that's it.  A plan.  hmmm.

and of course I shall deploy my mantra "Just get started"  

And, since the sun's shining today, I suppose I should "just get started" cleaning up dog doings in the yard.  Blech.  

On that happy note....I'm off.  

Happy New Year !!!

Efficient vs. Expedient

In this corner, wearing the blue trunks, we have Efficient.

• performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort; having and using requisite knowledge, skill, and industry; competent; capable

In the opposite corner, wearing the lovely pink paisley trunks, we have Expedient.

• fit or suitable for the purpose; proper under the circumstances

Efficient is of course the desired method for doing anything.  Efficient organizers and tidy upperers would gather all like items together before putting them away.  Efficiency experts desire a world where no action is wasted. 

• Hypothetically your desk is piled with stuff from all over the house.  You have dishes, a couple of magazines, a pair of socks (?) a dog training collar, TV remote, and AA battery.  The rest of your office (I mean "Studio") has books, kitchen towels, a pair of gloves, a pair of slacks, and copious toys brought in by a seven year old. 

• Say hypothetically "I " were the "you" described above.  If I were efficient, I would gather and group together all the kitchen items, all the bedroom items, all the toys, and the rest of the miscellany.  I would then make one trip around the house, returning these things to their proper place as I go.  Maybe even humming a little tune..."la la la, look at me, calmly putting things away as if I have nothing else to do today la la la."

If we could return to reality for a moment, and leave June Cleaver out of this post.  (I do have pearls, but I don't wear them unless my handsome husband is taking me out somewhere "pearl worthy.")

Expedient is the method I generally employ.  Expedient gets it done...eventually.  Let's go back to the studio. 

• first I say to myself..."how on earth did this room become such a trash heap?"  Then I start in one corner of the room.  Low hanging fruit first.  Garbage goes into the (wait for it) garbage can.  I gather up all the dishes, take them to the kitchen, and put them in the dishwasher.  (rule #1.  Don't make a mess somewhere else)  "Oh look, there's my calendar.  Why, that belongs in the studio...."
• I put the calendar away, then grab some more low hanging fruit.  The socks and the slacks.  I take those upstairs.  "oh look, there's the receipts David emptied from his pockets. Why those belong in the office...(I mean "Studio")" 
• I see the seven year old on the way back downstairs.  I tell her she needs to pick up her toys in my "studio."  "The what?" she replies.  I clarify, "My office."  "All of the toys?!," she asks.  "Only the ones you want to keep." I tell her. 

By following this method, when I inevitably have to abandon ship to

1. Fix dinner
2. Go to physical therapy for my arthritic neck
3. put out any number of fires

I haven't made a bigger mess, which who knows when I'll be able to get back to and will be tripping over in the meantime.  Which is what used to happen, because for years I was convinced that Efficient was the only way to go. 

 And the winner, by TKO, is Expedient !!!

"mom...I'm bored"...sigh

Say it with me, "Go clean your room." 

And so last weekend, on a rainy Saturday, when I realized I was indeed bored, I cleaned my room.  It started out innocently enough.  Just put away the laundry from Friday.  But as so often happens, once you get to puttin' away, it's kinda hard to stop.

This past winter, I gave a talk at a MOPS meeting about homemaking shortcuts.  One of my faves, and best received tip was... to sleep like Europeans.  (It might have been a fave, cause of my props.  I brought a blow up bed, complete with blow up headboard.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera. )

The tip?  Do away with top sheets and utilize the duvet cover as your sheet.  (like they do in Europe)  I knew I was going to meet with some pushback on that one.  Nobody likes to change a duvet cover.  But, I'm here to tell (type) you, a duvet cover can be changed by one person in less time than it takes to put on and tuck in a top sheet, and making the bed in the morning becomes simply a matter of pulling up the comforter.  PHWOOP, bed is made.  Literally.

How?  How is this possible? 

Back to cleaning my room.  The last thing I did in my room cleaning expedition was to change the bed.  I asked myself, "Self, since the room is no longer an embarrasing junk pile and the husband is home, why not have him photograph me changing the duvet cover?"

What follows is a duvet cover changing tutorial.  We timed it, and it took me two minutes, start to finish. 


Step one: Lay your duvet cover inside out on your comforter of choice.   (hint:  it always ends up inside out when you take it off the comforter.  Just leave it that way when you wash it.)

If your cover comes equipped with little ties in the corner, go ahead and tie them around the corners of the comforter.  It really does help to keep the comforter in place. 

Step two:  From the bottom, reach up inside the duvet cover and walk your hand up to the top corner...

...grab hold of the corner and duvet cover from inside the cover and pull the corner through.

Step three:  Repeat the process on the other side.

Step four:  pull the duvet cover straight down to the bottom on each side and stuff the lower corners of the comforter into the lower corners of the duvet cover.

(Those buttons to be buttoned outside in across the bottom..."fuggedaboudem".  One button, in the middle is all you need, especially if you have a footboard.)

Final step:  The big finish.  Flip and Fluff.  The "g" forces take care of the rest. 

And there you have it.  (probably should have taken a final picture of the bed all neatly made, but the hubs was knee deep in rebuilding my computer after a crash.  He had to go.) 

Couple of notes: 

I have two duvet covers made out of 100% cotton, with a 300 or more thread count.  (basically, made out of sheeting material, so they're comfy against the skin.)  I got them on sale, and paid roughly what I'd pay for a set of sheets. 

I buy plain white fitted sheets for the bed.  Don't have to worry about them clashing with my duvet covers : ) 

Final caveat - the first few times you try this, it'll be a little time consuming...but once you get the hang of it, two minutes or less.  Guaranteed.   (for me, it was the second or third time I tried it ...and believe me, I'm no mechanical genius.  Though I do have an incredible sense of direction.  I'll save that for another post.) 

Happy Homekeeping !!

The thing about blogging

One of the very happy side effects of blogging, is that I now have a valid excuse, make that valid reason to read blogs.  It's research baby.  In an effort to hone my craft, why it only makes sense to study other successful blogs.  In fact, my "blogging for dummies" book suggests aspiring bloggers do just that.  Spend time reading blogs.  (tee hee, I just typed "bogs" That would be funny, "bog study"  "Honey, I'm going out to work on my bog") 

Dog germs, dog germs, get the hot water !!  Why must my dog lick me on the lips?  She's so fast with that tongue, I cannot escape.  There is no escape. 

Every now and again I Bing  "Methods of a Mostly Managing Mom."  Still no hits.  But this morning's Bing netted me this blog.  Simple Mom.  It's actually written by several contributors on two topics near and dear to my heart.  Parenting and Productivity.  Or as I like to call it, "Momming" and "Simplification."

And I am nothing if not about simplification.  Yesterday, I managed to go through two of the four file drawers in my file cabinet.  I know what you are thinking...I think this too.  "Why do you have a four drawer file cabinet full of papers, you stay at home mom you?" 

I don't know.  It makes no sense.  And yet I do.  I think it was a mistake to get the four drawer cabinet.  It's kind of like getting a big house.  No matter how big the house is, eventually you will fill it up.  And I did. 

But...guess what I found in one of the files? 

A few years ago, my friend got me to become an "Usborne Books and More" consultant.  I am, by the way, my only customer.  At any rate, if I can recover from my latest digression, which could be why I never get anything done, my penchant for the digression.  Perhaps a symptom or sign of genius? 

Being a consultant of course necessitated several file folders.  Shortly after becoming a consultant, my dear friend got a booth at a Christmas Bazaar.  She asked me to help her.  So I did.  (My friend, by the way, is one of those people who actually makes a living doing this sort of thing)

Contained within the Usborne Books section was a file folder labeled "Candy Cane Lane 2010".  Since it's now 2012, and even I don't buy books from me at the moment, I decided it was safe to rid the cabinet of this file.  But, better check inside first.  Just in case.  And there were several items in there that needed to be shredded.  Namely the receipts with customer information.  Then, there was this envelope in there.  "What the..." 

Well, apparently my friend handed me my share of the receipts for that bazaar in cash.  In an envelope.  Which I then put into the file. 

Purging pays my friends....purging pays!!

Want to know something weird?

Having my groceries delivered saves me money.  I know, a luxury premium service, that SAVES money?!!  It's true.  Cause I did the math, and anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about doing the math.  I do virtually nothing, without doing the math first.  (I am after all, a recovering accountant) 

In my part of the world, Safeway delivers and Amazon Fresh delivers.  I'm sure there are more.  But I've no time to do an internet search, cause I'm doing all this math, you see.

"Mom, I need two sticks that are at least as tall as the couch."  That would be Samantha The 6 Year Old's first request during this blogging session.  Stay tuned, as I'm sure there will be many more.

Where was I?  The nice thing about blogging, is you only have to read back what you've just written to find out where you were.  Unlike in real life, where us mom's really have very little hope of remembering what we were talking or thinking about when interrupted by our children.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

Oh yes, I was in recovery.  So here's the thing.  When you grocery shop on line, it's kind of tedious, and somewhat irritating, cause the websites for the major retailers that offer delivery are, how shall I put it...less than user friendly.

So what I end up doing, to make it go more smoothly, is I start out with a list of things I need.  Crazy idea huh?  But it really works. 

Then, list in hand, I use the search button on the website to find the things I need.  Boom.  Only that thing ends up in my shopping cart.  My "virtual shopping cart" I should say.  The wheels don't actually stick on these kinds of shopping cart.  Just a little bonus I thought I'd point out. 

No wandering down the aisles, cause I have no patience to wander down aisles on poorly designed websites, no impulse buys....well, a lot fewer impulse buys.  ( I am nothing if not honest ) 

The proof?  I carefully categorize all our spending in Quicken, then I run reports at the end of the month.  Quicken will even compare current spending to prior spending.  And there it is...in black and white, in a tidy little column.  My grocery expenditures went down by 17% once I started ordering my groceries for delivery.  And that's with the delivery fee, and possibly inflated on line delivery grocery store prices. 

I know what you're thinking...you're thinking, "That's just wierd, categorizing all your expenses in Quicken and running reports - you stay at home mom you.  I'm not going to do that, because I have a life, or because I want to think I have a life." 

But you don't have to, cause I already did it.  And you can believe me.  (remember, I'm nothing, if not honest)

Don't even get me started about the joy of having my groceries delivered.  Whoops, too late. 

• Money Saving, cause I have fewer impulse buys.
• Grocery shopping in my jammies.
• Grocery shopping without children. (well they are still home, but if you wait until they go to bed, they don't bug you to buy Cocoa Puffs)
• I open the door in the morning, and whoomp, there are my groceries. 

Now if only they had an unpacking service, like movers.  I'd surely give up my 17% savings to have my groceries put away.  No, wait a minute, let's think this through.  They'd probably put stuff away WRONG, then I'd spend  15 minutes looking for my long grain organic brown rice.  (which should of course, be in the freezer !)