4th of July Weekend (aka The New Organization of Our Life)

It’s Monday morning and I’m tired moreso now than before the long weekend.

The girls are tired from the weekend activities-play, play, play, and no naps.  We work hard at getting them to bed at the same time (8:00pm) whatever day it is but that’s not always possible.  Our girls, and especially little Jillian, need a couple of hours of naptime or it’s growling grumpy bear in the morning.

This long weekend was mostly one of preparation and organization.  Reviewing things to make them efficient or just plain simplier.  I get to apply my logistical and managerial skills on my own life.  For the first time in a long time, I know what’s in the freezer and where my junk mail is stacked.  I guess most people already know this sort of thing but I never really had to-big piles were my filing system.  I didn’t do the weekly shopping so why did I need to know what we had?

The living room, family room, and stairs are vacuumed and the kitchen floor is scrubbed.  The dirty walls (pesky dirty little hand prints) are clean and any oily residue on the kitchen cabinets and backsplash have been dissolved away.  The stove has been soaked in degreaser and scrubbed.  The vent hood has been cleaned inside and out (Who does that?). 

I think it is entirely likely that I will eventually hire a cleaning service to do this on a regular basis.  I wanted to do it beforehand for a better appreciation of the work before I have to talk price.  (An hour to scrub the floor-What?  Yes, easily an hour to do a good job on that nasty greasy Cheerios covered, underlining of life.)

The girls clothes are completely re-organized and optimized for speed.  I pulled the long-sleeve winter clothes and sorted Jillian’s clothes from Kandi’s.  Underwear in the front of the pants.  Socks in front of the shirts.  Big labels on the front of each of the clear-front drawers.  I would have lubricated the drawer tracks if I thought it wouldn’t dirty the floor.

On the wall next to the kitchen door is a color-coded calendar of daily school events with special notations for water play, sack lunch or special clothes.  This one is invaluable since every day is fr*ckin different-No, I’m not mad-just surprised.  Call me stupid but I thought summer pre-school would still be SCHOOL.  Nope, I’m completely wrong-It’s summer camp.  The sign on the wall now says “Childtime Summercamp”.  When did that happen?  Field trips, water play, arts & crafts-My kids just love it.  Being a kid is pretty good.  Sorry, I digress.

My goal in all this is to optimize the logistics of our lives.  That way, when the crap hits the fan, the impacts to the rest of life is minimized.