Organization Archives - The Pennington Point

Getting Myself Organized

by Lisa on June 10, 2013

It’s been a few weeks of endless activity around here. I spent Saturday driving girls around to craft stores so they could find what they need to create some jewelry for their shop. Then we ate Chick-fil-A and talked about our favorite suspense movies.

My kids love those kinds of movies. I don’t. In fact, I get so nervous during them that my bladder gets all tense and I keep going to the bathroom. The kids will ask me, “Do you want us to pause it while you’re in there?!” No please don’t! I can’t take much more. I will just come back out after everyone is safe and there are no space fights or police chases or….gulp….sharks.

Back to being busy, this week will be no different. I have a TON of things to tell you about and I hope you don’t get tired of me. If you do you can use that energy to feel sorry for my family since they can’t click on a little red X to stop listening. My brain never turns off. It’s a blessing. And a curse.

I have so much going on that I decided I needed a better way to organize myself. Besides this blog gig and homeschool and summer activities, I am still working toward getting more fit and losing weight. I can organize a little with my iphone, but the information is in 12 different apps and I spend all my time looking for them. So I decided to order an old fashioned kind of organizer from my friend Celia, who makes the most beautiful, well thought out planners. I’ve been looking at them for a while, wondering if I needed to get something tangible that requires the use of a pen. Remember those? Black, pointy, can’t find them in your purse?

So I ordered and got my planner which has spaces for keeping up with not only regular appointments and plans, but also fitness and spiritual goals. That is just what I needed. Then Celia emailed me and said she’s like to offer a special discount to my readers for the month of June. How nice of her! So if you want a planner like mine hop over to Celia’s place, The Printed Planner, and get yourself one!

I will be telling you about a lot of my favorite products over the next couple of weeks. I’ve had these all in the works for a while, trying to get you deals and discounts on some of my faves, but didn’t realize it would all kind of fall at the same time. Oh well….it’s still great stuff and you will love it all just like I do. I never recommend anything that I don’t really LOVE!

And if you missed it last week, go check out my interview with Becky at Organizing Made Fun where I share how we keep all of our pool toys organized and some of my tips for traveling with kids. There’s one tip about traveling that has really gotten a lot of attention. Here’s a hint:

Speaking of travel, I will be spending the rest of this week getting the girls and I ready to go to Kansas City next week for the One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop. And I am also wrapping up the last couple of chapters on my ebook, so when I say I am busy….you should believe me.

Have a great week and don’t forget to stop back by and see what great deals I have to tell you about next!

Be sure to check out the ebook bundle, Natural Mothering, for some great resources!

I’m on a Cleaning Mission

by Lisa on May 13, 2013

This weekend proves what my whole family has feared….I am on a mission to get my house completely cleaned out. I mean completely.

It started with my exhaustive bedroom clean out last weekend and is still going strong. I’m like the movie “Speed.” I have a sense that if I slow down with the cleaning & organizing I could die.

James must have picked up on my craze because he said to me yesterday, “For one of your Mother’s Day presents I am going to clean out my closet.”

I was over the moon excited. He couldn’t have given me a better gift if he has said there was a spa weekend to go along with it. I should tell you that we don’t share this closet. It’s just his. I never even look in there. But the knowledge that there is this black hole of messiness in my house that I couldn’t clean or straighten was an albatross around my neck.

I didn’t complain much about it because I have read that verse in the Bible about a man being better on the corner of a roof than inside the house with a nagging wife. Every time I wanted to let loose about the messy closet I pictured him up on the roof trying to get as far away from me as possible and it stopped me. The idea of my husband being miserable because of me is enough to close even my mouth. And that’s a tall order.

So he and the boys spent the entire afternoon pulling everything out, folding, sorting, stacking and putting it back in the closet. It was awesome! Best Mother’s Day gift EVER!

Speaking of my house, I wanted to thank you all for your clever ideas about my extra room last week. Your main suggestions were a reading room/library, exercise room or sewing/craft area. Well I hate to admit this because it proves that I am pampered and I like to keep that fact mostly to myself, but I already have spaces for all of those things. We have a little room that we call our “study room” where we have shelves, a desk and a comfy place to sit. I have a whole space for Shop24 to do projects like that. And my bedroom has plenty of space to do my exercises.

I think the moral of the story is I am spoiled. Plain and simple.

But please don’t tell my husband because I am hoping he will keep the momentum going and clean out the garage.

But I’m not going to nag about it. Nosirree.

Have a great week!

Be sure to follow me on Facebook!

I Think I’m Expired

by Lisa on January 7, 2013

I have to say, as much as I love the holidays I love this part of the year too! No more events or fancy decorations and parties. Those are fun, but I’m a homegirl. I like to be home and settled in with the family. The cold weather and no particular place to be lends itself to just snuggling up in warm clothes and having normal, quiet days together.

This past weekend we began what I call my Tax Season Project. There will be a DIY portion of the project later, but the first few weeks are all about cleaning out and rearranging. The boys are moving all around and changing their rooms. Not big changes, except Levi is moving out of the nursery (sniff::sniff). I’m not adjusting well to that, but Levi is pretty excited.

Since the kids had the bed arranging under control, I decided to spend Saturday cleaning out my bathroom. It had been a while since I really, REALLY cleaned it out and the drawers and shelves were beginning to overflow. I asked Elijah to help me, and off we went into the great abyss. The amount of dust alone meant we were going to be sneezing for hours. Yep, it was bad.

From my little bathroom I filled TWO WHOLE kitchen trash bags. It’s hard to imagine where it all came from, but there it was. Junk. Bags and bags of junk. After pulling the 20th bottle of unused lotion from a drawer I started to wonder if I have a problem. I don’t have a lotion-collecting problem, I have a I-feel-the-need-to-keep-every-gift-even-if-I-don’t-like-it problem. One drawer was literally filled with gifts from sweet friends of bath products that I never use. I’m not fond of many smells and am unlikely to put them on my body. So I will thank my friends for their generosity and toss it in a drawer only to throw it away 10 years later.

After that it was time to clean out the medicinal products. It had been a while since I had reached all the way to the back of the cabinet, as evidenced by this bottle of something…

Sad. Just sad.

I think what happens is I so rarely use any over the counter meds that I buy them when it feels urgent, then use a few doses and don’t think about it again. It will be years later when another need arises, so I assume I don’t have any and go buy more. Then in 2013 I end up finding 17 expired, mostly full bottles of medicine in the back of the cabinet. I threw them all away and made a section in a drawer where they will be easy to find from now on.

I re-organized my make-up, the travel supplies, extra toothpaste & shampoo, got it all spiffy. What’s weird is if you had walked into my bathroom before Saturday it would have seemed organized. Everything was in its place. But I had so much stuff I never use that it was wasting good storage space and making it hard for me to use what I need every day.

On my open shelves are only the products I use almost daily. I made this picture big so you can see what they are, if you’re curious.

This week, in addition to enjoying my freshly cleaned bathroom, I’ll be doing school and having plain, old normal days. We will continue to power away at the room arranging and hopefully have it finished by the weekend. Got to stay on schedule people.

I hope you have a wonderful, simple, well organized week.

The Organized Homeschool

by Lisa on May 17, 2012

I thought I’d show you the nitty gritty of how I keep my school area organized and looking halfway like a normal space and not an explosion.

I don’t have the luxury of a separate room for school. So we, like many homeschoolers, use the dining room. What I do have though is a dining room large enough for 2 tables, so I have dubbed one of them “The School Table.”

I tell ya, you need a lot of STUFF when you homeschool. And the books aren’t those pretty books with leather covers and fancy pages. No sir. They are huge and have spiral binding and they kind of slump down on a shelf. There are papers and supplies and little clocks with movable hands, teddy bear counters, maps, notebooks, erasers, oh it is all too much!

A few years ago I crossed over to the dark side and even added a huge white board. Can you say U-G-L-Y? But we needed it and I will say that it has made a world of difference in our life. We use it not only for school, but we leave each other notes, we make lists, we write Bible verses, we play games….it really is a family favorite. Sometimes the little boys just draw pictures on it for hours.

I got the board at the office supply and we framed it with some trim from the hardware store. Then I took myself to IKEA to get a shelf to fit under it. It’s the shelf that pulls everything together.

The lower shelves keep those horrible, huge books organized and the baskets store all of the little, annoying things you have to have right at your fingertips. I did splurge on the baskets from Pottery Barn. I could have gotten cheaper ones but I needed them to be really sturdy since the kids would be using them every day. It was worth the cost since we’ve had them for several years and they still look like new.

I labeled each basket with Chalkboard Tags from my shop so we can easily change the contents in the baskets. The needs change hourly around here! I also jazzed them up with graphics from The Graphics Fairy (more on that later).

On the top of this shelf I keep a bucket of dry erase markers, the teacher books that I use every day, a microscope that the kids like to use often and some decorative things.

The tall shelf to the left holds our favorite (and most attractive) books.

If you are wondering about the candy machine, I use it for rewards. The kids get a quarter for the machine when they have done all of their work to my satisfaction. They love not only the little handful of candy, but getting to put the quarter in and turning the dial. By the way, you can’t use your own quarters for the machine. I painted a bunch of quarters white and I use those for the rewards, so if there’s an unpainted quarter in the machine at the end of the week when I pull them out of the back…I know there’s a sneak around here and we shut down the whole operation.

I can see that the machine needs to be refilled. Note to self: buy candy.

I let the girls write Bible verses on the chalkboard above the candy machine. It gives them an opportunity to be creative. We change it about once a month.

Lastly, I like to use school-related things as a centerpiece for the table. When we have guests over we use this table for eating and it still looks cute. This week I am using a variety of sand timers with a jar of pattern blocks.

I change it all of the time though. Tomorrow there may be a pile of clocks or some pencil bouquets lined up in old cans. Whatever whim strikes me I go with it.

As for the kids own books and supplies, we keep those in individual lockers in the living room. It’s dreamy. Looks cute AND keeps their things separated and organized. I wish everything were so easy.

We still have thousands of books and supplies we aren’t using right now but I need to keep….I store those away somewhere else. The only things I keep out are what we are currently using.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of our homeschool area. It works for us!

Follow up: Sadly IKEA no longer sells the shelf I used below my white board. Their HEMNES sofa table is very similar and it is a part of the same collection that my tall bookcase in the photo is from, the HEMNES bookcase.

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I Work Too Hard

by Lisa on June 26, 2011

Hoo boy it was a rough weekend.

We always clean the house and work in the yard on Saturday mornings. It had been a couple of weeks since we’d been able to do a really thorough job. Everyone pulled together.

Laundry needed to be done.

Bathrooms needed cleaning.

Someone has to stop and make lunch for everyone else.

Hard working boys dug up the gravel.

A leak under the kitchen sink in the guesthouse had to be taken care of.

The floors needed scrubbing.

Heavy farm cages had to be hauled back to where they belong.

And vacuuming. So much vacuuming.

What, you ask, was I doing while this was all happening? I was supervising, of course.

My life is so hard.

Summwr Dayd

by Lisa on June 17, 2011

Remember the old joke….Knock knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? So on and so on until-Knock knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

So here goes….Knock knock. Who’s there? Anniversary party……

Aren’t you glad I am not posting again about my anniversary party?

Nope, I have other things to say. Important things. Like yesterday we did a dreaded deed that I have been putting off for a YEAR. I may be super organized, but we all have hidden places that are just too much to think about and mine was my closet. It was in desperate need of being cleaned out and clothes had to be hauled off in a truck.

I paid two of the girls to help me. I also told them if they keep the contents of my closet to themselves there will be a little bonus in their pay envelope. Plus I will tell other people they are my favorites for the next week. Deal struck.

The three of us were exhausted by the end of the day. But I am happy to report that my closet is all straight and the clothes that don’t fit me are in a pile waiting for me to list them on ebay. My friend Leslie has convinced me that I should sell things on ebay and since this is already a pile in my bedroom, I will try it. I am skeptical, but I trust Leslie. And I like money.

Now that my closet is cleaned out, I can move on to my other problem. My computer keyboard. I have used it so much that the letters are rubbing off. I don’t know how to type so I hunt and peck with my two pointer fingers. This is now a problem because I can’t find the i,h,e,s,n or a. I only knew those were the ones I need because I hit the blank keys. I have no idea where the letters are without looking. It’s bad. I now type things like, “Todsy O wnrt to thw storw.” My spell check has no idea what to do with these words.

I tried putting sticker letters on the keys, but they just rub off. I looked it up online and it turns out you can buy replacement letter stickers where they print the letters on the underside of the label so it won’t rub off. I figure that will be easier than learning how to type (which came out “yypw” the first time I wrote it). James is sitting beside me laughing because he thinks I won’t know where to put the sticker letters when they arrive. But he’s wrong. I can look it up on the internet. And he thinks he’s the smart one in the relationship.

This weekend is the first quiet weekend we will have had for a long time. We do have a wedding to attend, but that’s easy. Old friends and no work makes an easy Saturday. We are waiting an extra week to celebrate Father’s Day for James since he has finals next week and has informed us that he needs to be left alone to study all weekend. Swimming pool here I come!

Knock kmock. Who’s there? Orwnge. Orange who? Orangr you glad it’s Fridsy?

Details Details

by Lisa on May 16, 2010

I’m a detail person. I organize. It sounds good on the surface, but living with me is not always easy.

Next weekend is the wedding I’ve been telling you about. Jacob is an usher and the girls are greeters. So we have to have clothes for the wedding and the rehearals dinner the night before.

When it comes to this kind of stuff, I get a bit crazy about the details. The girls and I went shopping a few weeks ago (and I drove to several Catos) to find them all the same skirt so they could match. We ordered their shoes and now all of that is piled on the love seat in my bedroom. I know in my heart that if I let them out it away in their rooms then something will go missing when we need it.

Yesterday I took the boys to get shoes and slacks. How is it that we never have “church” shoes that fit? You would think that at least the younger boys would have hand-me-downs. But apparently not.

Last week I took Jacob to get a new suit.

James and I used our Friday night date to get him a jacket.

Today I gave everyone a haircut on the front porch and had them each try on both outfits for next weekend.

All of the ironed clothes, shoes and accessories will stay in my bedroom until Thursday night when we will load it all into the van for the weekend.

I’m telling you…..it’s a production. But I’d rather do it all now, when I have time, than do it in the rush of getting ready to go.

I know what you’re thinking…..she’s a nut job.

Probably, but I’m a nut job with a well dressed family.

Of course, I have nothing to wear. Isn’t that always the way it goes?

A Reader’s Question….

by Lisa on May 14, 2010

I was asked to tell how I prepare for a new baby. Most of you may think this doesn’t apply to you, but wait.

This would be the same preparation I would put into any time I was going to be out for any reason. If I was having surgery, working a lot, out of town, etc.

The main thing I want to stress is to spend a lot of time with your kids. Talk to them. Not just about what’s going to happen, but about their thoughts, dreams, ideas. Let them pour their hearts out to you. Knowing you may not be able to give them that kind of attention for a while, they need to feel secure about their relationship with you.

The second most important thing is their training. I keep a pretty tight ship, but if I knew I was going to be unable to keep up for even a few days I would spend some time being really on top of it. Watch for troubled spots and work really hard to make sure the kids know what is expected of them. I will do some practice sessions to make sure we understand each other.

I like to make a box of new things to do that stays in my room. When they seem to be having a hard time I will pull something out of the box. These would be things like books, sewing cards, felt stories, rubber stamps, pipe cleaners, maybe a video…..things that don’t make much of a mess. If they get something from the box, they have to put it back in the box when they’re finished.

Of course I stock the pantry and freeze food. We don’t care for reheated casseroles, so I just cook up a lot of ground meat with onions. That can be used for burritos, taco soup, nachos, spaghetti…..then I put a list of meals that are available. That way, even if I’m still the one making the meals they are quick and I don’t have to think about it.

Lastly, I get the house sparkly clean. If I’m having a baby it’s easy. The nesting urge is strong. If it’s for another reason, I may make a lighter load, like just make sure the kids’ closets and drawers are in good shape. Whatever I need to feel comfortable.

For a baby I would also be sure the nursery and layette was all prepared. And having something new for me to wear after helped too. A cute nursing top or pretty PJ’s are always on my list. You know what brings you pleasure, so bu sure you have that around.

That’s my main list for preparing for baby or any other time when Mom is not able to work.

And Charlsie, we’re praying for you.