A Radical Experiment in Waking Up

I am the CHAMPION SNOOZE ALARMER! I've been a snoozer ever since high school-it's an evil invention, that snooze button. But there is just something about ENJOYING the coziness and luxurious comfort of that fluffy bed that makes me want to get back in it. Although I completely appreciate a good night's sleep, when you're enjoying a good night's sleep, you can't truly appreciate the coziness and luxurious comfort of your fluffy bed. As I've gotten older and more achy and after the hip-separating experience of child-birth, I've become accustomed to cozying up to a pillow between my bony elbows and another between my bony knees. I'm not sure I even move during the night.

I'm still an early riser. The alarm is set for 5:30 and I snooze until just before 6:00. I started getting up early when the kids were littler-I craved the early morning quiet before the busyness of the morning. Now that they're not waking up at the crack of dawn and tumbling out of bed at various times, I can still get a good hour of quiet before they make their way downstairs. They're also pretty self-sufficient so I can do other things to get ready for the day as they're having breakfast.

I love snoozing so much, I actually gave it up for lent one year when I was still working. It was so bad that I would snooze for about 20-30 minutes, take a shower and then get back into bed. I really didn't like my job. Unless I have a particularly bad night of sleep, I don't crawl back into bed anymore but I still LOVE to snooze.

I've found that this forum is GREAT for motivation and accountability-even though not many people read it yet. So, starting tomorrow, I'm not going to hit the snooze button. There, I said it. I'm going to try a week (that's reasonable) of getting up when the alarm tells me to. I just want to see if it makes my day more productive. I know I'll be more tired on the other end which doesn't work well for Mark's work schedule-he gets home late 3 nights a week and I do enjoy our time together. A week shouldn't kill us though.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Tackling the Garage

Because of the weather and preparing for Mark's communion, I had to put off decluttering the garage. I rolled up my sleeves and got to it today. The good news is that we have always managed to be able to park in there. The bad news is, there is a lot of clutter in there and not much organized storage space. Talk about a hodge-podge. I have 2 free-standing closets (white particle board things). 1 steel shelf, 1 closet that looks like an old canning cupboard and then random shelves and hooks. I really should pull those white closets out. They're huge and don't really hold that much. (I just thought of that). What I really need is a place to hang the usual stuff you find in a garage, long-handled yard tools, heavy duty extension cords, ladders, and some sports equipment (basketballs, rollerblades, bikes, hopefully baseball stuff). The lawnmower is in there, extra terra cotta pots, yard maintenance things. I know there's a better way to store all of it. I just need to do it.

So, today my goal was to purge. (2 big green garbage bags and a huge haul to the junk store). Tomorrow I'm hoping Mark and I can shop for some storage solutions. Any ideas?

Recycling Easter

My mother-in-law, who passed away in 2008, was a treasure-trove of tips and tricks and methods and habits that I've cherry-picked for our family and home management. She was a child of the depression era so many of her practices were born from frugality. Recycling bits and pieces of holidays and turning them into "traditions" and nostalgia is one of them.

My husband and his sister not only woke up to the same baskets for their entire childhood but the same tin egg, crank-music egg, and other sundries that they looked forward to every year. I was enchanted with this practice when I spent my first Easter dinner with my husband's family. I didn't decide then that I'd do the same thing, but I've been doing it ever since my oldest had her first basket.

Each year, the kids get the same stuffed bunny or in Mark's case a duck in a blue bunny suit and a big plastic egg with Lucky Charms. That sound of the cereal shaking inside the egg when they woke up and found the egg in their beds (or cribs way back) was better than any alarm clock. I also recycle the cellophane grass for their baskets. Some of you are more classy and use something that looks less tacky but I love the Easter "grass". Over the years, uncles or aunts have given them little toys and a few of them have held up over the years and disappear sometime after the holiday and reappear on Easter morning.

Finally, you know how stuffed animals multiply like bunnies? For some reason we happen to have accumulated an inordinate number of stuffed bunnies. I keep these in a bin in the attic and usually the week before Easter, they make their appearance and the 2 younger kids place them all over the house or play with them. Since they're getting older, the novelty is definitely wearing off but I'll bring them out as long as they ask.

I'm not sure this is "simple". I'm sure there are much more simple traditions but I do look forward to pulling these few things out every year.

I don't save everything and keep the baskets pretty simple otherwise.

Camcorder? What Camcorder?

Well, it happened. "Where's the camcorder?" Mark asked the other night as we were going to sleep. Why? I wondered. In the 6 or 7 years since we've had it, he's never asked to used it. Don't be horrified that I made the executive decision to get rid of it. There are some things that Mark feels comfortable leaving to me. Small appliances that only I use is one of them.

When I simply told him that it was broken and I didn't want to spend the time and money to get it repaired, he didn't give it a second thought. No regret, no "we should have...." or "that cost a lot of money..." It was fine and he was at peace with the decision.

I was surprised that I didn't regret the decision not to investigate repair. It was all fine. I just didn't expect the question to surface so soon. I anticipated second thoughts-nope.

Spring Cleaning Made Easier

I've always wanted the house to be clean before Holy Week and have never been able to make it happen. This year, I did it and the house actually feels bigger. I don't know if I made it to 40 bags over the 40 days. I may even have gotten more out of here. But the house is considerably lighter and getting rid of all that extra clutter really made it easier to clean.

I'm anticipating that it will make the house easier to keep clean.

The surprising result of decluttering-and this happens everytime I do a good one-it makes me less tolerant of any extra stuff. This doesn't bode well for the Easter baskets this year-sorry kiddies. I'm enjoying the clear spaces and ready to go another round after Easter. I haven't been bagging things up this week. I'm ready to exhale in anticipation of Holy Thursday through Sunday. I'm looking forward to spending some relaxed, quiet time with Mark and the kids and with my brothers and their families on Sunday. That's a first since "spagetti Wednesday"(our annual night-before-Thanksgiving gathering).

I'll be writing more about simplifying after the holiday.

Happy Easter.

Bookshelf Upate

I attended our local homeschool conference and curriculum fair. I didn't even peek at the used book sale-except to see if any of my unsold books were lying around. I took about 4 boxes of books (mostly 1 and 2 dollars-priced to sell) and made 50$! I'd say it was about 2 hours total worth of time marking them and hauling them and standing in line for the check. The people running the sale were very organized. Teenagers were helping unload and then put the books on the appropriate tables. I dropped the books off and filled out a registration form.  They did a lot more work for their 20% than I did for my 80%. A few of the things that didn't sell were books I'd be more likely to sell on Half.com anyway. I'll take a big pile to the library sale so it all was good.

As for new books...I needed math for 2 of the kids and I bought 2 other problem solving booklets for 3$ each. I got rid of about 3 boxes of books altogether.

Simplicity Parenting

If you are a parent and haven't read this book yet by Kim John Payne, don't waste another minute! I've read tons of parenting books, and "Simplicity Parenting" may be THE BEST, most practical, most articulate, most relevant parenting book of our time. I consider it a tool in the belt of anyone who is struggling to fight the tide of over-indulging, over-scheduling and over-obsessing about the kids. If you know that Less really is more but have a tough time explaining it to the other PTA moms or your parents or the aunts who think your kids are deprived because you don't take them to the dollar store for fun-buy this book.


I really hesitate to go into detail into any of it, because I can't possibly do it justice. The book, itself, is so clearly and thoughtfully written that I'll just defer. Payne articulates so well, with tangible support, things that I know to be true but I'll be darned if I can explain. 


He advocates creating a balance among 1) activity and busyness, 2) pauses and down time and 3) periods where the child is completely immersed in a pursuit for the pure enjoyment of it-(without you staging it). The kind of activity where he loses track of time. Payne discusses and supports why it's critical to make time for each of these. But the book covers lots more.


The other thing I love about the book is that he's just not hanging his hat on generalities. He doesn't say, "such and such will lead to burnout". Instead, he illustrates with sometimes brilliant analogies, how an imbalance and hyperparenting is so counterproductive.


I talk with a lot of parents about how invasive organized sports can be to our family even though the kids don't do a lot of them. I love to watch the kids on the field, court, whatever, but I get so resentful about the disruption to good dinners, regular bedtimes and the overall routine and wellness of the family dynamic. I've said all along, that I think kids would be much better off playing baseball in each others' backyards until they were 12 than starting T-ball when they were 4. It's crazy and unnecessary. Payne generally agrees and he gives solid support for it.


Since Mark teaches tennis for a living, all of the kids had a racket in their hands at a very early age. I resisted as long as I could to jump into the tournament "circuit" but I wish I would have waited longer. Hannah and Luke were 9 and 8 when they started playing tournaments. Generally, the parents are hyper-involved, obsessing about points and line calls and ranking. Tennis is unique in that it has no clock, kids keep the score themselves and it is self-officiated -unless there is a problem. That's a lot of pressure for any kid, let alone an 8 year old. I'm generally disenchanted with the tournament system for young players and think it's really odd that most of the kids who are playing at this level hardly ever just go out and play for fun. I think people must think I'm odd that the kids don't play more tournaments or every tournament. Finally, I have a resource to back up my intuition. I really don't care what other parents think but it's been challenging to articulate to Mark and the kids why I don't think it's a good thing to enter every tournament that comes down the pike. Naturally, they get caught up in the wave of expectation. "Everyone else is playing that tournament, why aren't you? It's double points!" 


Luckily, I don't have to deal with the too-muchness of school but this book gives me even more incentive to carve out time where we don't have anything scheduled. 


I've been reading snippets to Mark. He hasn't disagreed with anything so far and he's motivated to read it himself which I think will help in making simpicity a priority for him, too.