Spring Cleaning

When we are coming out of winter, I always get a sense of too much. I've been eating too much, wearing too much and my house is full of too much stuff! It all just "snow balls" during those hibernation months.

At the first sign of sun I shed coats and scarves, which in turn reminds me to shed pounds, and with the windows open and the sun streaming in, I take an extra look at all the STUFF everywhere in my house.

This year I was especially eager when it came to getting rid of the clutter because during our hibernation I read a life changing book. LIFE CHANGING BOOK Y'ALL! Have you seen it?

"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing"

I mean, the words "life-changing" are in the title! This is not your ordinary "organize your sock drawer" kind of book. It is more about why we have too much stuff and how we can change the way we think about letting things go. It really addressed my problem of "what if?" What if I need it? What if I lose 20 lbs and fit into it again? What if that style comes back? What if, What if, What if?!?!?

Let me officially highly recommend this book to you. Within a day of starting it 5 garbage bags of just clothing, of just mine, left my house. Another 2 bags of Wesley's old toys followed shortly after and three tubs of her old clothes also left our humble abode that week. That is a lot of clutter that is no longer in my way! And the book claims, once you try it you will never go back to your cluttery ways.....

And then, this weekend when the weather was finally nice enough to spend more than two minutes in my attic, it happened. ....Matt and I showed no mercy. I wish I could show you a before picture, but I was 1. too embarrassed and 2. the pics wouldn't do it justice, because all of the crap that lurked in every square inch of that space. What I do have is pictures of some of what left that day.

Boxes on boxes, bags on bags. It had to go. This does not include the trash we threw out, this is just the goodwill donation. Dude. It was cathartic. Will I need the elephant lamp we let go of? Possibly. Will I miss some of Wesley's tiny baby things? Most definitely. But were they giving me any joy in my attic, or improving my life on a day to day basis? Not at all.

This is the key. I thought shoving things away didn't hurt, saving something for a rainy day can't bother you, but it does. This is Marie's point. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE STUFF! It's about the mind set. If your life is packed physically, you feel it mentally. No one will ever see my clean, sparse attic or clean, drastically reduced closet of clothes.....but when I need something from the attic or the closet, I can now easily go find it and this frees me. You see, the stuff that clutters our houses, steals our time.

Your space shouldn't just be organized, it should be downsized. It's not about shoving it out of sight, it's about knowing where everything you own is. You can only do this when you own less, or at the very least only own what you love and what you need. With less things in our house, there is automatically less to clean up, it is just a positive, physical fact. It has made "cleaning up" very easy.

I feel like I could go on and on, but I won't. There is so much more to it and I have miles to go to be a true student of Marie's. But the small changes we've made so far have had such a positive effect, that I know I want to continue. In the meantime, every time I pick something up in my house I ask myself "Does that bring you joy?" "Do I need it?"and if so, "Does it have a specific place to go?" The answers have to be all yes. And it has made a big difference. 

Happy Purging! Happy Spring!

Kiddie Lit

Now that Wesley is a fully formed functioning kid we have stepped up our bedtime reading choices. Here are our favorite things to go through in the evening, that is when we aren't skipping them because we've been out late (again!) and we have to go to bed right now or you are going to be so sleepy tomorrow!! I mean....that never happens.

Anyway, first up isn't really a book but it does promote thinking skills and great conversations. It's called Q&A a Day For Kids. It gives a prompt or question every night, and then the questions repeat for 3 years. For example on February 5th it might ask "When were you proud of yourself recently?" and then you answer that same question in 2014, 15 and 16 and watch how your child's answers change and mature.

We started this activity in March of 2013, so we are about to start round two and I am very excited to see how she processes the questions as a 5 year old. When we first started I really had to dig some nights for answers that made sense. But after a few weeks I figured out the random answers were way better and completely stopped leading her. By December she even started answering for herself!

So after sticking with it for 11 months I give this bedtime book a big two thumbs up! And it runs about $12 on Amazon.

Our next go to is the Jesus Storybook Bible. This is by far my favorite bible for kids. And maybe even adults. We have been through it twice now and I tear up almost every night. The way that Sally Lloyd-Jones breaks down the passages in such an understandable way, that always points to Jesus,  it's just fantastic. No more cheesy Daniel in the Lion's Den picture books that paint him as the hero, when God did all the saving! No more kids bibles scaring them into thinking you have to be perfect for God to love you by just saying over and over again how to be good and obey.

(disclaimer: I have never seen a kids bible that directly says that, I'm just saying sometimes that's how kids feel about the bible, and grown ups too)

If you don't own this book I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is just a wonderful way for children to process a very complex text deeply and on their level. There are a ton of resources out there that pair with it as well, if you are looking for more with an older child. It runs around $10 on Amazon.

My next favorite story we are reading a lot of right now is called Paper Bag Princess

For parents raising a little girl who is obsessed with all things princess, very much to our chagrin, this is the perfect book. Because when I say chagrin, I don't at all mean I don't love dress up, make believe, Disney, or girly girls. I don't like the superficial princess--- the one who has an attitude of entitlement or an idea that a Prince gives your life meaning.  And I have to hand it to Disney, they have done a pretty great job flipping that stereotype lately with Princess and the Frog, Tangled and of course the end all be all Frozen! ( More on that one soon!)

So back to the book. I hate to ruin it for you, but **Spoiler Alert** the princess saves the day in this one. But that's not why I love it, because a lot of stories are doing that lately. I love it because not only does she save the Prince, she also exposes him for being superficial and entitled! When she gets to him, dirty, disheveled and left only wearing a paper bag he tells her to go fix herself up to look like a "real princess". To which she replies "Ronald, you look nice, your clothes are neat, your hair is fixed, you look like a "real prince"....but you are a bum." Love it!! 

And FYI this story was published in 1980, so they were on it years before the princess craze!

It is $5 on Amazon, paperback, and I highly recommend it for girls and boys!

My last recommendation, for now, for children's story time is a set of cards my best friend Alexis got Wesley for Christmas. They are called Tell me A Story and there are actually several sets to chose from. We have the fairytale mix-ups set (because it has a princess card in it, duh!)

This is a great game with limitless possibilities for creativity. You just select a few pictures and then make up a story using those pictures for your child. It shows them they are allowed to create the story, which they need to be taught. They also start to notice sequencing and story structure- that all stories have a beginning, middle and end, which they will be expected to understand in Kindergarten. 

After a few tries at it, pick cards for your child. Let them create a story for you. Wesley has never disappointed, she has come up with the most creative plot lines, I thought she would just regurgitate our stories or known stories for a while-- no way. She even does character voices, it is hilarious! In fact we all get so tickled some nights it actually turns into a bad bedtime habit because she can't calm down! Whoops...

These card sets run about $10 on....wait for it....Amazon.

These are the things we are reading/doing to keep bedtime fun and creative. 

What are your favorites? Anything calming...cause that's were we are lacking!

I leave you with what she actually does at bedtime, in case you thought from this post we picturesquely sat and read and grew smarter every evening.

Book Review

I have a dirty little secret. It's shocking. I mean really scandalous. Ready?!?! I am not a great reader. Don't mistake this sentence. Contrary to Matthew's taunts, I can read ( I have a masters in education, people) I just am not good at it. I read for speed, not comprehension. See, I was THAT kid. You know, the one in your class that had to finish first and have a 100. I needed to finish, I had to use the time other kids took retaining information to practice my tap routine under my desk.

But I love books. Truly I do. I get sucked into stories, I think about them when I wake up, and I wonder what the characters are doing while I should be teaching. And I love non fiction too! History especially. So enrolled at audible.com this past summer. And I LOVE it!!! It's perfect for me.

1. I am in the car for approximately an hour a day
2. I listen to lots of music all day for a living and I need a break when I'm alone in the car
3. I am an audible learner, I retain info I hear not info I see
4. I generally like to "wing it" while driving and enjoy zoning out

OK 4, is untrue, I'm a super safe driver. But you get my point. Audiobooks aren't just for Gramma anymore. They pretty much rock. I have gone from reading 1 pop fiction book a summer to finishing a novel per month, and sometimes two. For me that is awesome. And since my amazing (mocking) husband got me a kindle I can easily read anywhere now so at any given time I'm usually in the middle of 2-3 books.

So since June...here is what I have enjoyed and highly recommend. I will not review them, as my husband abhors when people give everything about a good book or movie away when suggesting them.

The Help: If you haven't heard of this book you are living under a rock. It is amazing, worth every bit of hype. Historical Fiction

Water for Elephants: Coming to theaters in April. An enchanting, fast moving love triangle with circus animals.
Historical Fiction, Romance

Looking for non fiction? The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks:A fascinating true story of a working class black women in the age of civil rights that diagnoses her own cervical cancer, dies, and subsequently has her tumor stolen from her in the name of medicine and science.

If you want to get addicted, I suggest the Hunger games trilogy. I finished all three in less than three weeks. AH-MA-ZING. I will give no more away.

A good old fashioned murder mystery? I cannot recommend Faithful Place enough. I found every spare second in my day to listen to this story. It is set in Ireland and the audio of the Irish narrator made it especially riveting.

I followed Faithful place with one of the authors early novels hoping for the same feeling, and was let down. In the woods, French's debut novel was good, but if you are going to read  both, read this one first. It will be a fun story and then Faithful Place will blow you away.

So those are my picks for now. On the kindle I finished Chealsea Handler's comedies and they were great bedtime reading! Hilarious short story chapters perfect way to relax into sleep.

I am currently in the middle of Cutting for Stone and loving it. I'll let you know how it turns out!

What are you reading or listening too? Maybe I'll add it to my queue!