House and Hold

Health Goals

2008-10-21T08:37:00.001-07:00

Mrs Darling talks about protein requirements, and about how people tend to fall off weight loss plans.

Like her, I find that when I go too heavy on the carbs on one day, I wake up the next day sluggish, headachey, and too volatile in blood sugar. The solution is to go to mostly proteins, fruits and vegetables for a couple of days.

I have reached my weight goal! You can see the chart on the bottom of this blog. It took forever to lose those 15 pounds, but in some ways that was intentional. I wanted to try to really change how I operated; in some ways it's quite easy for me to lose weight, but then it heads up again as soon as I reach my goal.

Recently I read a book called Awakening the Diet Within. I probably wouldn't have sought it out, but it was on the library dime sale rack, and I like reading diet books, so I picked it up. Here's the author's blog. In some ways I hesitate to recommend the book because in one way it's really not my type of book. I have no goals to become a beauty queen, for example. And I don't care the word "diet" (or "awakening.... within", either, for that matter). But the method seemed very sensible to me. In spite of the title, she makes the point that there is no such thing as a diet, really. You start with yourself, and changing habits. She has this health pyramid(pdf) which to me seems quite sensible for someone who has a weight problem, or who struggles with blood sugar and energy issues like I do.

She proposes nine levels loosely based on the steps of her health pyramid. You start at the bottom and slowly work up, being patient with yourself. You start weeding out your biggest vices and replacing them with good habits.

My goal now that I've reached my weight goal is to stick with basically good habits, and keep them going through the winter and particularly through the holidays. That's hard for me -- so many tempting carbs during this season and when it's cold, it's hard not to crave the simple sugars just for a quick boost of warmth. When I'm cold, I'm trying to think in terms of some warm-up exercise, a warm bath or a cup of tea rather than loading up on Toll House cookies or brownies. When I bake, I try to bake things I can resist more easily, or the kind of things that disappear fast in this house before I get to eat very many of them. Fortunately, Kieron is at the baking age -- going on 13 -- so he bakes things and they disappear within a couple of hours among the seven other people in this house.

My other goal is to stay within 4-5 pounds of my target weight.

And my final goal, closer to the top of my goal pyramid, is to be more creative about getting healthy and inexpensive food into the house. See here.

Occasional Update

2008-10-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

I guess this blog hasn't been very active recently. We went on a trip and I haven't got my domestic energy back yet, so the kitchen checklist is still in my head. ETA: I talked myself into writing it out, so look at household forms to see the updates.

Fitness: I've maintained at 133 pounds. I seem to be maintaining better than I did last year....so far.... we'll see. Every time the temperature drops in the fall, I get the strong inclination to pack carbs. If it happens again this year, I'll take it as a natural pattern and deal with it accordingly.

I've started cycling again but I keep forgetting to add the totals to my Walk (Ride) to Lothlorien.

Aidan took this picture of me. I think it's obvious that what this mom of seven has to work on is POSTURE. I think this largely comes from very weak stomach muscles. My middle muscles were not that strong to begin with, and 9 pregnancies pretty much took out what was left -- they're quite like the strands of an old hammock.

Curling up with a laptop doesn't help much.

And my husband would say -- consume enough calcium and take Vitamin D, since osteoporosis is probably a good possibility with a basically sedentary sort like me.

Cleaning Rotation Checklists

2008-09-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

I've been continuing to put my household checklists up on my learning notes blog.

I have finished the first two weeks, and am now thinking of skipping to Week 5 and tackling the laundry room. I don't know if this is slothful or not -- the next on the list is the big dining room/living room area, and I don't feel quite set up to do that this week. Hmm.

Friday Fitness

2008-08-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get checklists set up for my household rotation. Here is a first try (over on my other blog).

I have been stuck around 136 pounds, give or take a few, for the past 2 months. I guess that's OK, though I'd like to lose another 5 pounds. On the other hand, I've been slightly more active, and have been eating better than usual. When I do go off track, I can usually get back on within a few days rather than starting on a wild roller coaster like I used to.

I don't usually read Good Housekeeping, but when I'm visiting my mother in law I usually skim through her subscription, and I like Geneen Roth's attitude about food and life.

The truth is that many thin people are miserable. Many of them don't like themselves. And all people -- thin or fat -- get old, have cellulite, and die. Being thin does not exempt anyone from illness, loss, or heartbreak.

Bummer.

But there's another way of looking at this. I spent a good deal of my life believing that someone else would have done a much better job living my life. Now, whenever I find myself thinking that the answers are out there as opposed to in here, or if I catch myself wanting what someone else has or believing that I am the wrong person to be living my life, I do two simple things:

I take a few deep breaths.
I turn my attention inside myself instead of outside. How do you know when you're outside yourself? The first clue is that you start to feel panicky about needing to be "fixed." You embark on a major program of self-improvement, feeling 2 feet tall, weak, stuck, and unable to move forward with anything. That's when you know you need to climb back into your own body and focus your attention on yourself and what's really important in your life.

To do this, I make myself notice simple, concrete things: the pale turquoise sky, the cool air, the crisp taste of an apple, the fact that I have arms and legs. And, oh, I almost forgot: the sheer fact that I am alive. (That last one really helps. As far as I know, there are not many opportunities for earthly happiness if you are dead.)

I have never really been overweight. I have a high-wired Scottish metabolism that can see me through a lot of indulgences. HOWEVER, I am just as likely as the next person to overeat, to hoard, to be weird about food. On a more holistic level, I'm just as likely as anyone else to feel that someone else could do a better job living my life than I could.

When I gave up blaming myself for my ups and downs and settled down to try to address them, like managing a health condition, I stopped losing pounds as fast as I was able to before. But I also got where I understood how I reacted better, and could make adjustments without the emotional drain that had attended my weight-maintenance attempts in the past.

Friday Fitness

2008-08-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

I continued my Dragon-slaying project today, spending about 20 minutes working. The garage looks a lot better. Another 2 or 3 sessions will probably get it winter-ready.

On the fitness front, I have been walking to the post office with Kevin, about 2-3 miles in all. It is making SUCH a difference in my energy level.

I have also been re-arranging the "schoolroom". I am planning to slowly go through all the picture books and get rid of the extras that aren't really being used. That's another 10 minutes a day project.

Works for Me -- Taming a Household Dragon

2008-08-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

I've found that if I write something down that I am dreading doing, and make an appointment with myself to get a start on it at some specified time, I am MUCH more likely to actually do it and not procrastinate. It's not 100 % but it's more than the 35% I achieve when I don't do this.

So for instance, I have been bothered for a couple of weeks every time I stepped into the garage because it really does look horrible. I cleaned it last summer, but not since.

1. Commit to a start. So since it is a BIG job, I commited myself to spending 10 minutes a day on it. I think Flylady calls this Taming the Dragon. Anyway, that's how I think of it. I can almost visualize myself picking up my gauntlets, sword and shield and going out to spar.

2. Let it percolate. Giving myself a time in the (near) future allows me to figure out the "first step". I usually pick something easy that will pay off heavily in terms of how the place looks. So for the garage, the big "easy" thing was the bicycles all over the place.

3. Set a Date. I made the appointment for today, and when I had a few extra moments this morning I decided to go ahead and get the battle over with. Of course, once you start it's usually not difficult to do a bit more than the minimum.

4. Don't Overdo It. I try hard not to get carried away at first, with a big job. You can burn out that way and short-circuit future efforts, giving yourself an aversion that lingers. (this conscious reining-in may not be necessary for everyone, but it is helpful for closet perfectionists)

5. Plan while you work. Once I had engaged with the work, I naturally came up with the next step, and the next. It's useful to stop with a next step already in place (I found this out as a writer). That way, it's easier to pick up the work at the next session.

6. Delegate what you can. I actually left the bicycles for the boys to put away in the basement, and spent my time picking up and straightening.

7. Keep going. Now, I will try to spend 10 minutes, at least 4-5 times a week, working on this. I usually find that at some point there's a small enough bit left to do that I can spend 30-60 minutes and just FINISH. The trick is to wait for the right time to use that finishing-up momentum.

8. Be OK with 85%. I have learned to tell myself "good done is better than best undone" or "don't make the best the enemy of the good". If I can make it to 86% or even 90%, that's nice, but I try save the 110% effort for things that are of primary importance -- nurturing a sick child, or my prayer life -- things that are going to make a difference for more than the next week or month or year.

So there's my Dragon-Battling Checklist.

Frugal and Fitness Friday

2008-08-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

It's a long time since I did a Thrifty Thursday, and it's not really Thursday today, but here are a few of the shirts (and the green dress at the top) that I got yesterday (and THAT was Thursday) on a thrift store trip with my daughter. I like the colors -- and I like changing my wardrobe "palette" every few months, though purple and grey are usually constants.

My daughter bought several things too -- we hardly ever really overlap on what we pick up -- she goes for fun, vintage things like polka-dots, and "classic" pleated skirts and jackets, and pastels, while I usually go for basic knits in deep colors, along with long skirts in neutral colors, and jeans.

As for fitness -- I have had trouble with good eating this week, though I only gained a pound. Too many carb cravings -- it's sort of a cycle, since if I eat too many carbohydrates on one day, it generates a craving on future days. The best way I have found to short-circuit the cycle is to stick mostly to vegetables and protein for a day or so... a sort of low-glycemic index pattern. But I haven't been focusing enough since we've had a busy week, so probably today would be a good day to get back on track.

I also have been exercise-averse, recently. It started off with a couple of days when I wasn't feeling very well and even a bit of cycling was too much. Then it generalized into an aversion. So I googled "hate exercise" and came up with, strangely, a couple of sites about Tai Chi. So is it incompatible with one's Catholic faith to practice just the exercises without delving into the "Supreme Ultimate" stuff? On Catholic Answers Forum, it would seem not, IF you stick to the good true beautiful aspects and stay away from the philosophy. Anyway, I'm thinking that for me, just taking the thoughtful warming-up aspects of exercising, WHEN I'm feeling like not even moving my body except in the laundry room, kitchen and computer table triangle, might be helpful in keeping some continuity in physical training. So we shall see.

Menu Ideas for this Week

2008-08-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try working with the Menu4Moms again. These are pretty much JUST my cooking speed but I can generally not do them exactly for a few reasons:

I am a rebel.
We live far out of town and my husband does the shopping, so shopping lists have to be planned quite a bit in advance and generally include mostly "the basics".
We have a budget (need to save those $$$ for books, you know); so we have a general habit of buying in bulk, so I usually make modifications for "special ingredients".
I don't like spending much time in the kitchen AT ALL.... though it might be a good idea to rethink this a bit.

Under these circumstances I thought I'd look through the Menu for the Week and try to pick a few that have some potential, even if I'm not going to use them exactly. Here's what they have:

Monday

* Fajitas
* Corn
* Spanish Rice

I can do that, actually, though we don't have leftover beef from last Friday. Instead I think I will defrost the steak and go from there.

I'm not going to bother with Tuesday's Roast Pork Loin.

Wednesday

* Grilled Hamburgers
* Potato Salad
* Watermelon

This can be done, though more likely on Thursday since we just had hamburgers recently. Sub canteloupe for the watermelon.

Ooh, this looks good.

Thursday

* Chicken Packets
* Cucumber and Tomato Salad

I don't have cucumbers or tomatoes.... maybe worth getting at the local market.... otherwise, substitute some kind of vegetable, possibly frozen. I might try the Corn Zucchini saute from Tuesday.

Friday

* Quick Pork Lo Mein
* Fortune Cookies

Not on Friday since Friday is meatless -- we'll probably have quesadillas on Friday. But maybe on Wednesday, to use the extra beef from Monday.

Other ideas -- or more advanced options:

Homemade whole wheat tortillas as suggested?
Try making protein bars.

Off to defrost the meat for tomorrow.

Cabbage

2008-08-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Aidan, Liam and I have been enjoying cabbage recently. It's supposed to be pretty healthy, if kept properly stored.

When we had friends visiting, we had a cabbage salad, where we simply substituted cabbage for lettuce (since we were running low on the latter). We had it with a vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey and maybe something else? I didn't make the dressing, so I'm not sure. But it was quite good.

Recently, I have been chopping up cabbage and cooking it lightly in a wok with some garlic and sometimes some jalapenos. At the valley farmer's market I found some smallish peppers. They had the shape of jalapenos, but were larger and milder -- I'm not sure what they are, but the price is right. Aidan likes to dice them up in large pieces and I add them to the cabbage. I cook with a bit of water for just a few minutes and it is very good with a stir-fry or with the potato & ground beef Liam has made a couple of times.

Here are some cabbage recipes. Kim Chee --- mmmm. My friend up in Oregon, who is Filipina, always has it around her house. I LOVE that stuff. It is good with everything from scrambled eggs, to mac n cheese, to ham and potatoes.

Homemade Snacks

2008-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

I went hunting for graham cracker recipes because my husband (who does the shopping) has been somewhat reluctant to buy commercial ones recently, because the price has gone up even for the generic ones we usually get. Frugality is a sort of cool game in this house ;-). I found this recipe which I hope to try soon:

Homemade Graham Crackers

My husband was also asking about baking protein bars that my football-playing son can take to school and eat before practice -- here's one site with a whole list of recipes:

Homemade Protein Bar Recipes

Here are protein granola bars.
And one more recipe with a video ; -0

We'll update after we've tried some of these, and decided which is the most workable.

Monthly Fasting

2008-08-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering about the benefits of fasting monthly. Here is an article on The Health Benefits of Fasting.

A summary:

The benefits of fasting must be preceded by a look at the body's progression when deprived of food. Due to the lack of incoming energy, the body must turn to its own resources, a function called autolysis....
Detoxification is the foremost argument presented by advocates of fasting. "Detoxification is a normal body process of eliminating or neutralizing toxins through the colon, liver, kidneys, lungs, lymph glands, and skin."
A second prescribed benefit of fasting is the healing process that begins in the body during a fast. During a fast energy is diverted away from the digestive system due to its lack of use and towards the metabolism and immune system.
In addition, there is a reduction in core body temperature. This is a direct result of the slower metabolic rate and general bodily functions.
Finally, the most scientifically proven advantage to fasting is the feeling of rejuvenation and extended life expectancy. ...."The only reliable way to extend the lifespan of a mammal is under-nutrition without malnutrition."

Another article about juice fasts.
Interesting.... I think my main concern about fasting is my horrible blood sugar swings. These have always been scary to me. Of course, perhaps that would be one of the benefits... maybe occasional fasts would help me get past those swings.

And I'm not very fond of juice. Usually it makes me feel ill. This kind of juice looks good....

Fitness Update

2008-08-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Latest on the fitness front:

I haven't been doing ANY structured exercise -- that's the bad news.

The good news is that in summer it's easier to be ordinarily active, and so I'm able to get away with no structured exercise -- I'm on the move fairly regularly just in the course of the day.

I've lost 2 more pounds, which brings me within 2 pounds of my goal.

My goal is 132, which used to be my maximum in college. Whenever I hit 132 pounds I knew it was time to cut back on the extras. But now, less than that seems to make me feel TOO thin. I'm in my mid-forties, and from what I see in this chart, it's normal for women to move upwards in weight towards middle age, and then move back down in the elderly years. Outsmarting the Mid-Life Fat Cell, a book by Debra Waterhouse, mentions that a few extra pounds can actually ameliorate the symptoms of menopause. I am a few years away from actual menopause, I think, but I'm definitely in the "peri" range at this point, since she says the process often starts years before the actual change.

I seem to feel at my best now between 130 and 136 pounds, so I'm trying to internalize that as my new range. I only lost 2 pounds this past month, but I did it without even trying, just by eating in a balanced way and trying to focus on healthy choices without depriving myself of treats.

Healthy Food Focus

2008-08-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

I did my Household Journey, and now I think I will do some kind of Kitchen Tour, though I'm still trying to think of a name for it??? Just like household management, food has a spiritual component -- in many ways, preparing and eating food is intertwined with life and religion even more than the "oikos" or house economy (the words used to be synonymous). Yet that idea gives me a twinge of guilt right off the bat. There is so much out there about the importance of integrity in eating matters, but there are also so many ways to spend too much money, stress oneself out, and in general feel guilty and wretched, which of course is NOT conducive to the delight and gratitude that ought to be inherent in eating.

Here is my situation:

Our family lives in the high forest about 60 miles away from town. Our soil is granite-y, and acid-y from the conifers that surround us. Wild animals -- deer and other creatures-- find garden products attractive, as well they might. Plus our summers have tended to be "medical" -- for some reason my medically fragile child seems to have some ongoing medical issue every summer. Last year it was chicken-pox; the year before, he was dealing with a G-tube stoma that wouldn't heal; etc.

The bottom line is that I haven't managed a vegetable garden in the 10 summers we have been up here. Oh yes, one year we did plant lettuce, but that is all.

Since we live far away from town, it's a challenge getting reasonably priced fresh vegetables and fruits in quantity. On the bright side, we live just on the bowl sides of the California central valley, so if we drive down into town we CAN get reasonably priced local-grown produce.

We don't really have a good supplier for reasonably priced organic "living" food other than the Trader Joe's which is 60 miles away. There used to be a food co-op up here but for some reason it didn't offer much food that wasn't "packaged" -- like organic corn chips and the like. Those definitely aren't staples of our diet, so I didn't find the co-op much use in my task of getting reasonably priced, reasonably healthy, reasonably simple food on the table.

I DO have lots of cool kitchen instruments courtesy of my dear husband. My Kitchen-Aid is probably my absolute favorite, besides the coffee maker ;-). But we also have an icecream maker, a bagel maker, a slicer, a nice set of pots and pans, nice knives etc.

I am a fair to middling cook. I am too abstracted, too uninterested in food subtleties, and in too much of a hurry to get out of the kitchen to be a good cook. I like to bake, but rather dislike chopping veggies and handling raw meat. However, now that I don't have babies it is a bit easier to spend quality time in the kitchen and I even have fairly willing helpers of various ages.

One other advantage is that we generally don't have enough extra $$$ to buy much prepared food or eat out more than once in a blue moon.

So there you have the benefits and drawbacks of our situation. I am hoping to spend some time thinking through all this and trying to make a Plan. Eventually I will set Goals, but right now the general big picture is that I'd like to find ways of getting outside of the food preparation rut I am in.

I have liked Menus 4 Moms for quite a while, and I found their Frugal Meal Planning page today which I plan to go through. I will blog if I make any discoveries ;-).

So I will probably devote most of August to this topic. I'll probably restore the Menu Mondays, but in retrospect rather than planning ahead. If there's one thing I've realized it's that my kitchen style is intuitive within a framework. I have a loose rotation over two weeks which I will share sometime in future, but I don't like to have everything set in stone ahead of time. So I think the retroactive journalling will work better than the planning-in-advance.

Update -- July

2008-07-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

A short update:

I have been busy with several other things so it's been a while since I posted here.

Household

The Household Journey thing I did was one of the best housekeeping efforts I have ever accomplished. I am still seeing the benefits even now when housekeeping has been mostly in maintenance mode. I know where things are; it takes less time to clean; I feel more in touch with the house. My plan is to do a more conscientious Tour like that about 2-3 times a year, and in between do what I am doing now -- go through in the same pattern, but more quickly. For example, yesterday I went through the bathrooms, but it only took about 20 minutes instead of almost an hour.

What I really have to do (and I'm procrastinating) are some big household repair/redo type projects. I hate buying things (except books). I hate household projects like painting. Strictly speaking, I've never DONE household projects like painting because I've always had my hands full with babies and I simply can't multi-task like some people can. So I have a lot of oppositional tension built up about the THOUGHT of doing mental-intense household repairs and renovations that involve shopping for things that cost $$$ (and can't be read or worn or eaten or played with). It will probably be fun and confidence-building when I start. But I haven't really started, because I'm procrastinating ;-).

Health

I continue to lose about 2 pounds a month. Sure, that is slow progress but basically, in 3 months I've lost almost 12 pounds, which is real progress. I haven't had to pay so much conscious attention to it this time, so it's worth the slower downward curve. I have a basic eating pattern now which I'll try to describe but probably everyone has to find what works for them:

A solid breakfast with a lot of protein -- sometimes I can get by on milk and cereal, or a whole wheat pancake, but the gold standard is eggs and cheese, and if I am feeling shaky in my blood sugar it's risky for me to have too much carbs in the breakfast -- even whole grain.
A solid lunch -- some high quality carbs here are OK -- fruit, bread.
A snack in the later afternoon..... fruit or vegetables and cheese, something like that.
A smallish dinner -- about the size of lunch, usually protein and vegetables.

I sometimes have "off" days where I eat a chocolate chip cookie for a snack instead of something stabilizing, and it doesn't seem to hurt once in a while. I've learned to try to balance out -- if I eat some jellybeans, I make sure the next meal is protein-dense.

Exercise helps with the blood sugar swings but I haven't been consistent with the exercise because of the heat and because I've been busy with other things. I can really feel the difference.

So that's where I am now!

Just for Fun

2008-06-25T13:10:00.001-07:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Superior

Take the test!

Friday Fitness

2008-05-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

I weighed in at a bit over 139 lbs -- an upswing of a pound, but I was expecting it. I've been eating and exercising pretty well, but it is that time of the month.

I got 26 miles further on the road to Lothlorien, bringing me up to 90 miles progress! I alternated between riding the stationary bike, and walking with my husband to the post office -- quite challenging since we are at altitude and there are steep up and down hills on the journey.

Quoting my daughter again -- I thought what she wrote here was very sensible.

At a certain point in weight loss a person will often get stuck on a plateau. You pretty much know you're on one when three or more weeks of good eating and exercise aren't making a difference in what the scale says.

What's nice about those is that you don't exactly have to keep doing what you're doing. In fact, the ideal is to do something different. Your body has obviously gotten fairly comfortable with the way things are going, and has learned to adjust. So what you need to do is shock it up just a little bit.

Change something. If you usually bike for your exercise, dance instead. If you usually dance, bike. Do something new, do something a little longer, do something a little more intensely... just do something different so your body has to wake up and adapt.

It's the same thing with eating. Eat different foods than you're accustomed to, eat different amounts. It's not a good idea to start eating too little (a woman really shouldn't go below 1200 calories a day), but you can do what's called 'calorie cycling.' It consists of eating at the low end of your calorie range for one day, shooting for the high end the next day, and the next somewhere in the middle... basically you mix up your calories, confuse your body, and convince it to stop stalling.

And whatever you do, don't focus too much on the scale. See how your clothes are fitting, how your energy levels are, how you feel. If you learn to measure success in other ways beside the scale, you won't get as depressed, and stand a better shot of succeeding in the end.

Task #15: Master Bathroom

2008-05-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the master bathroom. It gets a lot of use since it's the only upstairs bathroom.

You can see the cupboard doors need some refinishing, and the cabinet door is broken. Mostly I just put the top of the cabinet in order, straightened the shoes, scrubbed the toilet, and scrubbed the corners and baseboards of the walls.

This is the view of the bathroom from the bedroom -- I like the chair better there, with the scale underneath and a towel on top to hide the torn part:

Whew, I'm done with my household journey! Originally it was supposed to be divided into 18 tasks -- I consolidated the great room/dining room, and did the kitchen in one day, and consolidated the loft into two parts instead of three. So that brought me down to 15, which means that in future I can spend the last few days of the month working on either kids' rooms, or outside around the house.

For now, I'm going to rest! I will probably blog some retrospective thoughts about what I learned from this and where I'm going from here. This run through was probably the most difficult -- next run through, I'm going to try to discard more things, keeping in mind these quotes from High Desert Home:

Task #14: Master Bedroom

2008-05-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't have too much to do in the master bedroom. I vacuumed under the bed and cabinets and computer, and scrubbed the wooden baseboards, and straightened a bit, and dusted or wiped the surfaces. These are both "after" pictures.

Task #13: Eastern Side of Loft

2008-05-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

My husband and older kids went to town to see a movie, so I ended up working on the rest of the loft Wednesday evening instead of Thursday as I would have normally.

Preparation, Action:

The center part of the loft actually didn't look too bad overall. There was very little clutter -- most of it was over at the western part. So most of my cleaning time I spent straightening, putting a few things away, vacuuming thoroughly, and wiping surfaces and part of the banister. I still need to dust the rafters and fan, and go through the audio cabinet .

I am finding that knowing what I am going to do next helps me prepare at the same time as I am working on the present tasks. So I was cleaning the east part of the loft even while I was focusing on the west part, and I did a little work on the master bedroom today in the process of working on the east side of the loft.

On the other hand, today was a bit demoralizing. Typical of me to get close enough to the finish line to actually see it, and then start moving too fast and wiping out. It's happening now with the last 12 days of "school" too; I just want to be done, but that certainly isn't the attitude I want to cultivate either with home learning OR with my home cleaning. It is the present moment I am working on, after all!

From here you can see all four of the boys' beds -- Paddy's youth bed in the front, Sean's next to the bookcase, and Kieron's and Aidan's over in the window area:

Paddy's little bed, the audio center, Sean's collection of footballs:

Here is a close-up of Kieron and Aidan's area; Kieron tidied it earlier today:

Here is the view looking towards the master bedroom -- a bit "busy" -- I would like to do something about that cloth, but it hides even more distracting cardboard boxes:

Here's the view from my room back over the loft:

Considerations:

One of the reasons I'm making this "journey" through the house is that there is a chance we may have to move. Funny how it's easier to pay attention to something when there's a possibility it might be taken away. Something I ought to ponder, because I do tend to walk through all my blessings almost blindly, and "wake up" only when there is some change. Seems to me that there might be some acedia in that.

I love our nice "tree house" but it would take some work to make it buyer-ready. I am not photo-ing the floors and ceilings and walls, which are the most banged-up and stretched -- the ceiling is sagging from many winters of heavy snows, and the floors and walls -- you can imagine, with six boys. And I don't really want to leave it, but I do want to be more intentional about keeping it up.

Last two tasks: The master bedroom and the master bathroom.

Task #12: the western side of the loft

2008-05-28T12:40:00.001-07:00

This is our upstairs loft. Originally it was going to be our "schoolroom" but it ended up being more of a rec-room while we do the bulk of our formal academics downstairs near the fireplace.

The before and after pictures don't look much different, unfortunately -- the upstairs seems to always look cluttered and un-flowing, though it's quite relaxing to sit up there as you can see (they don't ALWAYS spend their time in front of the screen, it just looks that way):

BEFORE

AFTER:

The bulk of the time was spent organizing and sorting through toys -- I got them all organized by type, as you can perhaps see:

I got 2 whole bags out of there, one to throw out and one to give away -- which brings me up to Bags 11 and 12 in the Trashbag Challenge:

The toy-sorting took over an hour, then the rest of the time I spent vacuuming the corners, dusting, wiping, and sorting books and videotapes. SO this was a time-consuming job, almost 2 hours' worth.

Next is the center loft. This will be easier because it is not quite so cluttered, though it does double as a sort of dormitory for the four younger boys.

Not a Piece of Cake, but Fun Anyway

2008-05-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

I found a new blog, though it's owned by a longtime favorite blogger, Mrs Darling of Dishpan Dribble who is already on my sidebar. It is called Dieting is Not A Piece of Cake. I'm adding it to my sidebar. There is a group weight countdown on HER sidebar which is inspiring to look at, and the way she writes is so inspiring. That is three times I said "sidebar" in four sentences. How frustrating. No, make that four times in five sentences ;-). I'd better quit!

Task #11: The Pantry

2008-05-26T13:05:00.001-07:00

With my pantry, it's a bit difficult to show a "before" and "after" difference without showing the gross floor, which was probably the worst thing there. I didn't want to photograph that. But anyway, here are a couple of pictures -- one taken from the kitchen looking in, and the other from inside:

BEFORE:

What I did:

Vacuumed and swept the shelves, the floor, and underneath the shelves
Wiped some of the shelves, especially in front where it seems to be dirtiest.
Scrubbed the floor.
Rearranged everything to get as much as possible off the floor, and the rest loosely categorized , as follows:

I keep miscellaneous "surplus" baking supplies and pasta in the back, canned food on the right upper side, small kitchen appliances on the right lower side, cereal and bulk baking supplies on the left side, and pet supplies right to the right as you walk in. Oh, and cleaning supplies are on the top shelf away from the little ones, and there's a few odds and ends like extra baskets and bowls in the back too.

So here's a couple of AFTER shots:

View from inside

View from the kitchen looking in -- I tried it without the flash so you wouldn't get blinded by the window rebound twice in one post:

Conclusion/Continuation

Either later today or next time through, I need to sort through the cans and look at expiration dates, and while I'm at it, scrub the shelves down and line them with paper or something so they won't get any more stained than they are already.
While I'm at it I'd like to make some sort of dynamic inventory -- that means, not just a list of what's in there, but some sort of plan for how to use it up.
I also need to weed down on the surplus stuff at the back -- I didn't really get rid of ANYTHING except some trash from under the shelves, this time.

That concludes the downstairs stage of the tour! This week and next I will be focusing on our upper level. That will be broken down into five sections: Western side of loft, central section of loft, eastern side of loft, master bedroom, and master bathroom.

Next stop on journey:

The west side of the loft

Task #10: South Side of Kitchen

2008-05-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

I worked some more on the kitchen:

Scoured the toaster and toaster oven.
Scoured the copper utensil-holder.
Scoured the pot-and-pan rack above the stove.
Moved things on the counter and scrubbed behind.

It took a lot longer to do than it does to write! It is humbling working on the kitchen because you can always see more you could have done.... there's still a mess on top of the refrigerator, for example. Next time.

Anyway, here are some after pictures:

Aidan took a picture of me relaxing with my book and some coffee-- and those books in the background are the schoolbooks we are still using this year.

Curriculum Closet -- After Pictures

2008-05-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

AFTER -- picture of curriculum closet.

This one turned out really dark, but you can see the different levels of curriculum stacked in plastic crates for the future.

One view from inside

Task # 9: Curriculum Closet

2008-05-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today was a "lateral pass" day. I guess I can do those once in a while. I didn't finish working on the kitchen. Instead I tackled the curriculum closet. I think I can add two more bags to my total for the Trash Bag Challenge! They are not literally bags, but boxes of curriculum that I probably, really almost certainly, will send out the door. So that is 10 trash bags now, I think, if I really do manage to get them out of the house. Getting rid of curriculum is very difficult for me. The only things more difficult are getting rid of books and getting rid of mementos which are associated with poignant moments in our lives. Those have added up through the years! One possible midway solution is to take photos of the best of the old cute drawings, knickknacks etc -- I am afraid that is slightly spirit vs body Manichean -- however, I do really want a cleared house, so that might be the best solution.

I worked for about two hours. I put all the workbooks and "consumable" type resources into four plastic crates divided by grade levels:

Primary (k-2)
Grades 3-4
Grades 5-6
Middle school

After that age level we don't use very many consumables, just real books and a few texts; I put the high school books on shelves, and also the teacher's manuals and resources. That way these are easier to see. I also didn't crate the children's literature that makes up the bulk of our homeschooling. Those, too, I like where I can see them and where there is potential of the kids picking it out.

I will take pictures when it is fit to see. It's still a mess in there, just a slightly more organized mess.

Susan L is decluttering her house too, and here is a post Busy at Home that has quotes, links, and descriptions of her efforts. It is inspiring for me to read of others' efforts.