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Life, Simplified or Pursuing God via Ziploc Bags Comments Off

Filed under faith
Written by Annie on 10th Jan -11

A Boring Picture Of Some Mugs

I launched into the new year with a revelation of self/nature (zinger, I’m not a naturally organized person, whaddyaknow?) and a deep disturbing desire to simplify my life in a rather radical way. That or it was a bad case of pregnancy-induced indigestion.

The goal, I guess, is some kind of organization in this life/home/family that is not going to magically organize itself. No, that’s not really the goal.

The goal is to be putting my life into the things that matter most

instead of into chasing and keeping track of all the details that don’t matter (at least not as much). We do have to define degrees of importance because there are many important things and people. My best friends, my extended family, my church family; they’re all important to me but they are not (cannot be) the most important.

Truth is (is this just me?) everybody is important in that “it’s important that I make everybody like me” way. But is that really important? No. I guess, when you get right down to it,

it’s never important that I make people like me,

even the most important people like my husband and children. The important thing is to live up to who I should be, as in, being the Mom who disciplines & trains her kids even when that results in said kids momentarily “not liking me.” (Example: Robbie’s latest response when I tell him to stop whining, or go to his room, or obey right away, or stop doing something is to say, “That’s so mean, Mommy. That is being so mean.” And he’s not talking about his behavior….)

But as my pal Epictetus said,
“…I have one whom I must please, to whom I must be subject, whom I must obey: God, and those who come next to Him. He hath entrusted me with myself: He hath made my will subject to myself alone and given me rules for the right use thereof.”

And as our Pastor put it this last Sunday,

“The right question is not, ‘What do I want in life?’ or ‘What am I getting out of this?’ but ‘What does God want out of my life?’ or ‘What does God want out of this?’”

Which brings me to Ziploc bags.

Does God care if my spice drawer is alphabetized? I doubt it.
Does God care if my closet is color-coordinated, or for that matter, if my outfit is color-coordinated? Probably not.
Does God care that I live my life doing all things decently and in order, that I study to be quiet and do my own business, working with my own hands what is good?
Well, um, actually, He does seem to have something to say about that.

And I know God cares that I seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness. Difficult to do that when I’m buried under laundry or freaking out on my kids because I overbooked myself and I’m stressed and panicked.

It’s not that your life has to be organized in order to be pleasing to God.

It’s that without some degree of order in life, it’s difficult to live in a way that is pleasing to God: a loving life, a patient life, a kind life, a merciful life, a life that stops to help the woman on the side of the road, a life that stops to listen to the daughter’s ten-minute rendition of that one cartoon, a life that doesn’t snap at the husband when he gets home just because “the life” has failed to figure out dinner and is feeling guilty about it and the other ten thousand things she didn’t do today.

See, living that life is my goal.

And that’s why my husband and I spent a couple of hours the other night sorting our kids clothes into separate, complete outfits and putting them into separate, zipped-up ziploc bags. (Okay, I spent an hour on it and then fell asleep on the couch while he finished, I admit it…) Nothing holy ’bout Ziploc bags, people, it’s just that we’ve started to figure out that for naturally NON-organized people, we have to get kind of extreme about this whole concept

Image: A Boring Picture Of Some Mugs by Kevin Steinhardt

Addition to the “Things I Am Not” List Comments Off

Filed under self
Written by Annie on 5th Jan -11

So here’s an update from my radically-being-simplified, done-with-ditches, climbing-every-mountain life. Well, first I should give a little back story.

Let me ‘splain.

I turn 30 this year, in 2011. Yup. These are the last 6 months of me being in my twenties, and I know it’s silly, cliched, etc., etc., but this whole turning-30 thing seems like a big deal.
A big fat hairy deal.
Like, hey, Annie, if you haven’t accomplished XYZ by now, it just ain’t gonna happen.

Well.

I know, mentally, that is not entirely actually true.
But the large 30 leering at me has scared me into intense bouts of introspection, as in, even more introspection than usual. Which means, for me, a lot of introspection.

[It also might have something to do with the upcoming birth of our 4th child, which is scheduled to happen exactly 42 days before my birthday. Funny, I had wanted to be done with this whole childbearing business by 30, but our scheduling was a little off, and we thought having #4 NOW would be too much so we were going to wait a few years, have the last baby or two, and then, voila!, be done before I turned 35, which was a nice compromise I thought. Alas, birth control is obviously not our strong point. We are pregnant NOW. Baby #4 cometh, and he/she (we will find out TOMORROW) cometh NOW. Which means I have about 5 months left to figure out this birth control bidness... Anyway. Long tirade just to say that there's nothing like the upcoming birth of a child to get you thinking about what's important in life.]

Back to the Back Story:

I’ve long thought of myself one of those naturally organized people. (At times I hear that other people think this about me, too, to which I can only say Please please plzzzze don’t open the closet doors in my house. Or the laundry room door. Or, come to think of it, the bathroom door.)

Naturally organized, however, I AM resoundingly NOT.

Maybe it’s not me.
Maybe it’s my husband.
My daughter.
My son.
My other son.
My tendency to over-commit.
My attempts to cram a 30-hour-per-week freelance writing business into my life along with me, my husband, daughter, son #1, son #2, and various other (over-) commitments.

Mebbe, mebbe, mebbe…

Or maybe all these things are simply signs of the GLARINGLY OBVIOUS FACT that I am NOT, nor have I ever been, a naturally organized person.

Now, I am kind of logical. Analytical. Not really emotional, or at least not obviously so. I don’t usually freak out in moments of panic. I don’t tear up in moments of sorrow. (I wait until later, strangely inappropriate times. Like, why couldn’t I just cry when I was standing at the grave site, why am I crying NOW in the grocery store line?) I adore books. I hate, despise, detest, and abhor clutter. I like modernesque/contemporary/minimalist/streamlined style interior design & furniture & decor.

All of these attributes/traits/likes somehow, in my addled little unorganized brain, added up to me being a naturally organized person.

‘Cept, strangely enough, I couldn’t ever seem to carry my natural giftedness over into my real, unorganized life.

Like this:

  • I don’t have A junk drawer. I have a kitchen FULL of junk drawers. Maybe 2 of the drawers don’t actually qualify as junk drawers, leaving them the sole burden of functioning as regular, usable drawers. That’s a lot of pressure to put on 2 drawers, and I’m afraid they’re going to succumb soon, just give in and become junk drawers like the rest of the kitchen… It’s so hard to have a higher standard.
  • I don’t have a baby book, or for that matter an organized photo album, for any of my three children. I feel like this is some sort of parenting crime. I hope they won’t be scarred forever because they can’t flip through a book and look at their little footprints and little lock of hair (well there would be none in Mara’s case) and read all the cute little facts about their first little weeks of existence. I feel bad. Really. I do.
  • My favorite way to deal with papers (i.e., letters invitations bills magazines flyers coupons notes important-documents-like-birth-certificates invoices contracts tax-information etc.) is to place them in a stack on the nearest flat surface. When the stack gets too tall, I move it to a tall surface near a wall, so the stack can lean on the wall.

Eh. Lest you feel sorry for me, though, let me clarify that rather than being disappointed, sad, sorrowful, hurt, petulant, or bitter over discovering that I am not, after all, a naturally organized person, I am, in fact, relieved. That, or I am repressing the grief the better to deal with this life-altering trauma and next week I will end up crying in the grocery store line.

We’ll see.

That turned out to be a lot of back story. I’m going to have to save the update for tomorrow.

(Didja get that cliffhanger ending? All my writing books say to do that. Let me know if it works, k?)

Photo: Uwe Hermann.

Parenting 101: Morning Matters 1

Filed under the kids
Written by Annie on 15th Apr -10

What you do or don’t do in the morning sets the tone and effects the outcome of the rest of your day. It’s not that you can’t recover from a difficult morning, but it’s much better to start the day off right than try to recoup what’s left of it. Our bad habits, lack of habits, lack of planning, lack of self-discipline, and over-achiever tendencies conspire against us to make mornings miserable. The way you handle your morning matters for the rest of your day, and since your life is simply the sum of your days, you could sum it up like this: how you handle the first few hours of your day says a lot about what your whole life is and will be. continue reading…

Parenting 101: An Orderly Day 2

Filed under the kids
Written by Annie on 24th Mar -10

The elements of an orderly day are (in no particular order)…
1. A Plan
2. A Routine
3. A Limit (or lots of them, as the case may be) continue reading…

Book Review: “Totally Organized” by Bonnie McCullough Comments Off

Filed under the world
Written by Annie on 14th Jul -09

Totally Organized: Easy-to-Use Techniques for Getting Control of Your Time and Your Life by Bonnie McCullough: 5 out of 5 stars.

organized1

Dear Bonnie,

I love your book. I would like to shower you with daffodils and buy you a latte. Really, I would shower you with daffodils just for the first two chapters of your book. You write like you know real life. You don’t make me feel bad for not being totally organized yet, but you make me realize that it’s possible. You don’t give me so many details that I get lost in them, but you give me enough that I really understand the principles.

totallyorganizedcoverYou write chapters that are short, easy to read, and filled up with good ideas, tips, helps, methods, lists, plans, and suggestions that I want to go do right away. I love that you’ve sorted the concepts into sections, but that each chapter stands alone. I can sit down, read one chapter, get up and apply it and see immediate improvement. And then, when I feel ready, I can sit down and tackle another chapter and solve another problem.

I like that your methods are simple and make sense. I like that I don’t have to buy two dozen special products. I like that you have an entire section on dealing with household paper and another on organizing with kids. Some of the professionals who wrote some of those other organizing books obviously have never spent any time around small humans, and they don’t know the effect they have on organization. You do!

I like that you share examples from your own life, like this:

“I made 200 copies of my daily routine, much like the one shown. At the time I needed the boost of seeing the little things I had finished crossed off my list. It took me six months to get control of the morning routine, partly because I had a young baby, but mostly because I was so undisciplined. Once I had this under control, I was the master…”

I really like some of your thoughts, like these:

  • “People are more important than things, but the order of things affects people.”
  • “Don’t take your home problems as personal insults. Instead, learn to look for solutions.”
  • “When you buy impulsively, you are letting someone else influence your food dollar, and you may not get your best value.”
  • “As a general rule, children will not “notice” when things need to be done. They need to be trained.”
  • “The preschooler should learn a basic routine of everyday neatness…and of everyday personal grooming.”
  • “When preschoolers want to help, encourage them by finding ways to let them feel helpful even though it may mean the job takes longer.”
  • “To be organized does not mean that you never get lost. It means that you know how to find your way back.”

Thank you for writing this book,

for sharing your wise and witty and practical help with me and many others. Anytime you want that latte – and the daffodils – come on over. As soon as I’ve done my Daily Minimum, I’ll be free.

Sincerely,

Annie

Bottom Line: If you live in a house, you should read this book. If you have kids, you should read this book. If you deal with paperwork of any kind, you should read this book. If you’ve ever felt unorganized, you should read this book. If you’re anything like me – live in a house, have kids, lots of paperwork, and frequent feelings of disorganization – you should buy, read, highlight, underline, memorize this book.

More:

401 Ways to Get Your Kids to Work at Home by Bonnie McCullough

Bonnie’s Household Budget Book by Bonnie McCullough

Image courtesy of Lusi.

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