Rule #17 - Always defend yourself against the attack of the papers!

A few years ago, a friend and I started an organizing business we named 2NeatChicks.  She has since moved to Oklahoma and I went from no kids to two kids.  Needless to say, the organizing gig has been temporarily sidelined.   While I haven’t had the time to set up a Facebook page for our business much less maintain it with regular organizing tips, my need to keep an organized home is still ever present.  If anything, organizing is more necessary than ever.   While writing an organization themed blog may not be a regular occurrence for me right now, I would still like to share some ideas for organizing your kids’ schoolwork.  Whether this is a project you want to do now that the school year is over or take care of it at the end of the summer in preparation for the start of a new school year, hopefully you’ll leave this blog with a plan that helps you feel less overwhelmed.

Gabriel’s last day of preschool was this past Thursday.  His teachers sent home a wonderful gift – a scrapbook.  He wasn’t coming home with papers most days during the school year so the three ring binder chronicled the entire year with pictures he had painted or colored and photos of he and his classmates (as Gabriel says, “my school friends”).  The back is a very sweet reminder of his year in the Merry Monkey’s two year old class. 

 

However it isn’t realistic to assume every class my boys attend will handle their extraordinary artwork this way.  So how do you reign in and master the mess before the avalanche of papers has you buying ANOTHER storage tub before they even begin kindergarten? 

First let me offer you an “Aha!” moment.  Imagine your mother comes to your house and begins unloading every box and tub of artwork, writing, school project, etc that you did over the period of about 18 years.   Are you going to take the time to go through all of your old papers?  That is probably laughable to most mothers – extra time?  Ha!  What is THAT?  Visualize the amount of papers you have already saved for your child(ren) and multiply it through their senior year.  Overwhelming, yes.  Fire hazard, probably.  Just remember you are not doing your children any favors by keeping everything. 

Secondly, consider the large amount of paperwork you are keeping for your little prodigy.  Does that huge pile motivate you to take on a scrapbooking project?  Or does it overwhelm you?   By keeping the items to a manageable amount you are more likely to complete that memory book for your child.  And they are in turn more likely to look through a book with samples of their work than they are to dig through a box that may have become home to a mouse sometime in the last decade.

Here are some solutions you may consider using to protect your space and your sanity:

• Storage ideas:
• 14x14x3 plastic storage boxes - limit one per child per year.
• like this: http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/snaptop-scrapbook-case-763755
• Art folders - the example in the link below is a 10-pocket portfolio.  Use one pocket per year.
• like this:  http://www.cptoy.com/cgi-bin/pf.sh/2.0/product.htm?pf_id=EVG-50L
• Consider asking your older children for input on what items are significant to them.
• Take a picture of the project and toss the showboard.  Or take a picture with the child holding the project and use that in the memory book.
• Put the child's initials and the date on the back of the picture.  Pregnancy brain seems to almost always be replaced by Mommy brain.  I can't guarantee I'll remember if a Thanksgiving turkey hand print was Gabriel's or David's in ten years.
• Keep the most unique, special and distinctive items.  If the paper doesn't show any skill (for example, they glued things to a page or it is one of many finger paintings that year) then toss it.  Store items showing an improvement in their coloring or drawing, their letters and writing, etc.  Also, don't feel that you need to save every paper that has your child's precious hand print.  If your choice of storage becomes full before the school year is over, then you need to rethink some items.
• If not on the fridge, a display board is great for showcasing anything your child is excited about whether or not you end up keeping it as a memento later.  As new items enter your home and the display space is full, then take other pictures down and determine if they should stored or tossed.  

There is a common denominator for every organization project I have done for friends and clients.  So my motto is something like this:  “Organization is not about accommodation.  Organization is about elimination”.   In practice, organization doesn’t mean hitting up your local Container Store to buy storage for all the things you have, it’s first about reducing the “stuff” that is filling up your space.

 

Caryn Bell

2NeatChicks.com

Celebrating the Man Who Exceeds "The List"

My Knight in Shining Armor.  My Prince Charming. My best friend.  My husband.  This man turns 31 today.  The wedding of Prince William got me thinking about how it doesn’t really matter that the British royal family doesn’t have any real political power anymore or that the United States became a separate nation over 200 years ago.  Even here in America, we have tea parties with our daughters, read them stories about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and give them Snow White, Ariel and Belle dress up clothes.   It doesn’t surprise me at all that so many women were excited about an ordinary woman marrying a real prince and becoming a princess two weeks ago.  We wish for our "dream man" and imagine the perfect wedding and our very own happily ever after.  My wedding ceremony to my Prince Charming was not subject to a media storm.  We are merely “commoners” and commoners get married every day.  On the surface there was nothing news worthy about that. 

However, my prince (although not British royalty) deserves a public accolade.  On the day of Paul David Gabriel Bell’s 31^st birthday I would like to shout from the rooftops about this amazing man that I married.   Did you know our story began with a checklist of seventy (yes, 70) characteristics called "My Godly Man"??  That is what happens when you are seventeen and realize that things are easier if you keep boys in the “friend zone”.   At the time there were some who said that the list was unrealistic and that no one could be that perfect.  (As I recall, they were boys!)  The list made perfect sense to me when I wrote it.  Why settle for less than God’s best for me?  The same man who took a vacation day on Monday so that I could have a day to myself for Mother’s Day is the same man who I believed embodied every one of those character traits on that seemingly ridiculous list. 

This past weekend, as a happily married woman, I crawled up into the attic to find “the list” to see if I really was an unrealistic teen. And now, almost thirteen years after our first date, I can honestly say that having reread “the list” Paul Bell is still the man that I dreamed about, hoped for and trusted God to deliver (even if he prefers a sailboat over a gallant steed!).  I can’t imagine life with anyone else and I cherish and respect the husband and father that he is.  

Happy Birthday Paul!  

From Business Suits To Barely Suitable

My husband gave me a most fabulous Mother’s Day surprise.  On the surface some might wonder what the big deal is about a man taking the day off to stay home with his two boys so his wife can go do whatever she wants.   I mean she isn’t cooped up in an office all day so she is already somewhat free to do a lot of things, right?  During my free day I enjoyed running some errands alone and eating lunch and shopping with a girlfriend.  I never once hefted my 25 pound ten month old in and out of the car or had to stop the shopping cart to remind my son to use his inside voice, make good choices, etc.  Last night I began to wonder about the life stage we are in where something as simple as that act of love by my husband could mean so much to me.  

There was a time in my life when I wore business attire and heels on a regular basis.  I ate lunch with people in my general age range and we talked about things working adults (without children) talk about. We worked property values and filed tax returns for industrial corporations.  At least I think we did.  Some days my corporate life seems so long ago I wonder if it ever happened. 

I traded out the suits and nice clothes for a young mother’s wardrobe that is more suitable for the everyday battle scars.  After bedtime my child-friendly clothing bares witness to my day: cracker crusted drool, some dried snot (my teething baby grabbed my leg, wiped his nose and crawled off), spit-up, glue from my 3 year old’s craft kit, play-doh and only God knows what else.  I traded the adults-only lunches at Grand Lux and Mi Cocina for lunches at home or Chickfila with my child’s friends and their mothers.  These “lunches out” are not times of leisure but events that require preparation and an even faster inhalation of your own lunch as you scurry between feeding the baby, cleaning up spilled drinks, etc.  Adult conversation is splattered between each mother’s frequent child-related intermissions.  I believe this is why women are typically better at multi-tasking than men.  Multi-tasking is a skill required for survival as a mother. 

Sometimes this is how I feel by the time Paul gets home in the evening:

I admit there are times I catch myself singing along to one of Gabriel’s CDs before I realize he isn’t even in the car.  And yes, while I am now well read on topics like how and when to introduce solid foods and books like Baby Wise, my knowledge of property tax and tax codes is a little rusty.  I am no longer responsible for multi-million dollar property values.  Instead, I am responsible with teaching kindness and love to two small boys and I am thankful for the opportunity and privilege to be at home with them.  I think that is why my Mother’s Day surprise was applauded by many and so appreciated by me.  The little things are the big things.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

Gabriel Leads Story Time and David Attacks Spaghetti

Brotherly Story Time

I was in the kitchen and heard Gabriel saying "This is a lamb, David.  See the lamb?  He is soft.  Feel him.  David, feel him.  The lamb is soft.  David.  Feel the lamb.  Just give me your hand."  

Real Men Eat Spaghetti

I couldn't pick just one so here are a few pics of David's first spaghetti experience!