Clear Out the Clutter - 500 Item Challenge

You save a lot of time and money by being organized. From clothes with tags still on them to Sharpie markers, unopened boxes of ziplocks to easy up tents – it’s amazing what you forget you have when they are “out of sight, out of mind”. You waste time searching your house for your items that don’t have a “home” & often waste money when you end up buying duplicates of “lost” items.

We’ve been working through our house room-by-room in an effort to ruthlessly rid our home & lives of unnecessary things. My challenge to you? Rid yourself of the trappings of 500 items. And be honest with yourself – each book from a bookshelf counted as one item for us, but clearing out our pen basket counted as only one item as well (not the bjillion I tossed or took into work for others). You’ll be surprised how quickly they add up. Even without cheating.

Get your children involved! They are often happy to join in as well. We have celebrated Boxing Day since the girls were born. At first, Rik & I would surreptitiously abscond toys in the dead of night, but now we enlist the girls’ help. The trick is in how you frame the task. When I ask them to choose what to donate, they suddenly choose to keep everything but when they’re asked to choose their favorites to keep, the outcome is revealing. This technique has made a difference for all 4 of us - choosing to keep only what we love and donating what's left over.

So, roll up your sleeves, grab a box & a big garbage bag and let’s roll.

Clear Out the Clutter Assignment #1

Go through your living room, coat closet & hall closet (or any other closets or cupboards which reside in your living room area) and then ruthlessly clear out any and all clutter and unnecessary items you find. The 8 jackets each family member has? Sacramento winters get very cold for our needy citizens. That puzzle that no one has played with in a year and you keep because you’re hoping to find the missing 3 pieces? Toss it. Those twin sheets you have “just in case someone else needs them” even though you got rid of the twin bed? You’re right, someone does need them - go place them in your donation box. That French maid costume you wore in high school decades ago which your husband then wore to work last year to win a Halloween contest? Well, I’d suggest lighter fluid & a Bic. It worked for us...

They Watch & Learn

Today Kevin & I went to go see one of our past professors over at ARC. Dr. Joan has always been one of my favorite teachers - the kind where once you have your full course load determined, you check which of their classes you haven't taken and throw that one in "just for fun"... granted, my "just for fun" has always been science, but that's neither here nor there.

We were supposed to meet up with her at 2; however, my husband gets ready for work at 3 which meant I had to take the girls with me. I talked to them about how important it was to me that they behave while we were there - that Dr. Joan was Mommy's favorite teacher - she had taught Mommy lots & lots about nature - and I wanted her to see what good, smart, WELL-BEHAVED girls I had. They nodded solemnly and off we went.

"Are we smart because we can read?"

"Yes."

"Are we smart because we can write?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Are we smart because we know about nature?"

"Definitely."

We arrived at the college, found Dr. Joan's office & I set them at a small desk with their "errand bags" (crayons, pen, paper, 1st reader books, etc). They kept talking to Dr. Joan & trying to show off a bit... can't say I did much to stop them - I'm very proud of how well they're doing in school. While Dr. Joan, Kevin & I chatted, Alessa decided to show off her writing a bit. She wrote the names of things she saw in the room - bons (bones) fethrs (feathers) spidrs (spiders) & so on. Then came the random one.

I was talking to Dr. Joan when Alessa says, "Excuse me Mommy?"

"What Baby?"

"See what I wrote?"

There on the page in big bold letters was the following...

OXE

CLEN

Kevin & Dr. Joan just about died laughing.

:::sigh:::

I guess that confirms it - my days of birding & hiking & field study classes have been put on hold for laundry for a while :)

Holy SMoM Party Batman!

Last weekend was our annual Mothers of Multiples Halloween party. Alessa decided that she wanted to be Wonder Woman again. Though the costume was a little short (she wore it 2 years ago), we supplemented it with some patriotic shorts. Caleigh wanted to wear her Batgirl costume.

The story with the Batgirl is as follows: 2 years ago, on the girls' "3 year old Halloween", we decided we'd bite the bullet and buy each of the girls whatever costume they wanted for the first Halloween they they actually seemed to "get it". Much to their father's delight, they both firmly insisted on being superheroes (each $40 costumes). When Halloween actually rolled around, Alessa was still thrilled to be Wonder Woman - albeit, the costume was a bit big for her (super cute though).

Caleigh, however, absolutely REFUSED to wear her Batgirl costume - she INSISTED on wearing the Ren Faire garb I threw together for them earlier in the month for Folsom Faire. The garb was my first real sewing attempt. I suppose I should feel flattered by the fact that she loved it, but all I could think about was the $40 we had wasted on the Batgirl costume. Eventually I relented and she wore her Ren Faire dress with a few little accents to spruce it up - though I still grumbled occasionally about the wasted money.

This year, however, was quite different. Mid-August she started grilling me about where her Batgirl costume was & was quite persistent about finding it. We located both costumes & hung them in the closet for safekeeping.

Flash-forward to last Saturday night. Caleigh has donned both the costume & the persona of Batgirl and spends the first part of the evening whoooshing from person to person. Suddenly she screeches & clutches her face. As a mother, this is quite concerning to me. However, she peers through her fingers, glances swiftly about the yard and dramatically exclaims, "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!! I'VE LOST MY SECRET IDENTITY!!!"

:::sigh::: The strap on her mask had broken. Rik has made sure they take their superheroes VERY seriously.

Mad Ducats

Today the girls received their Halloween cards in the mail from Grandma & Papa Watsie. They were absolutely vibrating with the shear excitement of unexpected mail, but when money fell out... they were tipped over the edge of the cliff.

"Money!?!?" Alessa all but shouted. "Why is there money!?!?"

"Well, let's sit down & read the card," I offered. I read the cards, letting them pick out the sight words they'd been working on & sounding a few words out.

"Wow," breathed Caleigh reverently, "a whole dollar."

"A dollar? Check the number on it again," I challenged.

"Five dollars!?!?" Alessa exclaimed.

"Five dollars!" Caleigh echoed, "we can buy ANYTHING!!!"

Happy Birthday!

Today was my grandfather's 91st birthday so we all went to my parents' house for dinner & to celebrate. The evening was winding down & I asked my girls to go give everyone hugs & kisses goodbye. Alessa & Caleigh skipped around the room giving everyone hugs before Caleigh gave a final twirl and wave before darting off to put her shoes on. However, my little Alessa, heaven help the poor girl who received her mother's coordination, did not have such a graceful ending.

Alessa proceeded to give her last hug to my sister, trip over her feet & fall. Her hands darted out and grabbed the closest object to try & prevent the inevitable impact. The closest object was my skirt... my elastic-waited skirt.

Happy birthday Poppy! I'm sure you wanted to see your grand-daughter with her skirt around her ankles on your 91st birthday :(

Fon

Alessa was practicing her writing this morning.

"Mommy has a fon.

Daddy has a ipod.

Robrt has a fon.

Dood has a phone. (:::blink blink::: Dude?)

Alessa dusint hav a fon.

Caleigh dusint hav a fon."

At this point, after much praise from Mommy & Daddy, she hands it to Rik & says, "Now YOU write something! Like, 'Alessa will get a phone soon'... or whatever."

AAAAHHHHH!!!!

Dear Parents of My Students,

I have come to the decision that even though you may wish to allow your child to take their very favorite doll to school to nap with, sometimes it might be better to encourage them to choose a different creature.
For those of you who have been inquiring, my panic attack was short lived and I have an appointment with my sister next week to cover up the instantaneous gray hairs that appeared - thank you for your concern.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Taylor

Hmmm...

Last weekend, one of the birthday parties the girls attended was at a place called Bouncetown. Bouncetown is one of those inflatable jumpy house places that - in all honesty - is a pretty well run one around our area. Inevitably, Caleigh had to use the bathroom within about 5 minutes of our arrival. She likes to check out new bathrooms & report on soap and sink color to her sister.

I brought her in, she did her business & started washing her hands. As I waited for her to finish singing "Happy Birthday"/scrubbing her hands with soap, I looked around at the border at the top of the bathroom wall. It was a long border of those interlocking foam squares with letters in them. One wall said "FUN", 2 walls said "BOUNCETOWN" and this is what struck me from the 4th wall...

Bits of Wisdom

We were driving home from school and I was only half-listening to my girls chatting with each other in the back seat. Apparently, Alessa really knows how to impress her sister, as I suddenly hear Caleigh gasp & exclaim:

"Alessa! You're AMAZING! You're like CRAZY magic."

Bits of Wisdom

We were stopped patiently at the traffic light on Expo. I told the girls that the fair was going to be earlier this year and that it would be pretty soon. I told the girls to look out the window so they could see the golden bears at the entrance.

Alessa exclaimed, "That bear is made out of shine-ness."

Bits of Wisdom

Caleigh's revelation during dinner tonight:

"Chocolate milk is healthiness & sugarness."

Turtle

Tonight, we were getting the girls ready for bed when I looked over at Alessa's side of the bed. She had covered herself with "Super Soft Green Blanket" & was claiming she was a turtle.

I played along, "Oh no! But I miss my Lessy! Where did she go?"

"Close your eyes!" she giggled.

I covered my eyes and waited for further instructions from the "turtle".

"Now open them!" she screeched with her arms held wide, "I'm back! It was all Disney magic!"

:::sigh:::

Just Between Friends Sale

I was so excited on Wednesday. I had the forethought to register online as a teacher with the Just Between Friends sale (JBF), a little wiggle room with the monthly budget & a willing bribed babysitter. So off I went to the presale. Unfortunately, I got caught in monsterous traffic (the normally 20 minute drive took closer to 50) and didn't get there until a half an hour after the presale started.

As I walked into the convention center, I saw women talking excitedly on their cellphones in the hallways & surrounded by mountains of newly acquired baby equipment and clothes. The looks they gave me were those of wolves standing over their freshly downed prey. I kept my eyes downcast and hurried past them.

The equipment section had been devoured in the first 15 minutes by the swarm of locusts that were the expectant parents & rightly so - if I were headed there with something in particular in mind, my plan of attack would have been much different. I quickly looked around at the toy section, made the decision that none of the toys there were worthy of me cluttering my newly culled living room (looking forward to the Sacramento Mothers of Multiples Clothing & Equipment Sale in a few weeks) & headed toward the clothing racks.

Quite a few pieces were really cute & I ended up with an armful of clothes - mostly fancy dresses/skirts & sundresses for $7 - $10 each. Here's where I had my main complaints...

If you're going to sell at a sale, be sure your clothing is stain/tear/FADE free. I will not spend hard earned money for clothes that look like they're on their fourth hand-down.

&

If I paid $5 at Target for a Circo t-shirt or Walmart for a pair of Garanimals shorts, I'm most certainly NOT going to pay $3 or even $4 for your USED ones. Come now people, we all know where those brands come from.

I headed toward the front of the hall to the games & movies section for a quick browse. I picked up the "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" dvd selling for $4 and Little Einstiens "Firebird Rescue" going for $5, a cute book by Ronald Dahl called "The Birdwatchers" and a Tinkerbell fashion plate set (oh yeah - you know you remember how much fun you had with those things) before heading toward the line.

I didn't really have to move more than 5 feet.

The line stretched up the middle of the auditorium, along the back wall & back up to the very front. In the 20 minutes that I browsed, the line had grown from about 30 people to at least 150 people... all with huge piles. I sighed & stepped into line. As time passed, I did what every mom does: weighs the objects in hand against the price.

10 minutes. "Firebird Rescue"? Eh, the girls don't watch that show much anymore - even though Firebird Suite is one of their favorites. Down it went. 20 minutes. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"? I can get it with 3 other movies new during the holidays for $10. Down one more. 40 minutes. "The Birdwatchers"? I have enough books to rival many small children's libraries. One more item out of my bag. An hour. The $10 fancy dresses? Eh, I can look at the SMoM Clothing & Equipment sale. Down they go. An hour. The sundresses & $7 fancy dresses? One by one I started nixing them all.

At an hour & 10 minutes, I took final stock of my situation. There I stood in line, not even halfway through, with exactly ONE item that I hadn't decided against purchasing. 2 hours of my time was not worth a Tinkerbell fashion plate set (shhhh - don't tell the girls). I looked toward the checkout & the FIVE cashiers they had to handle hundreds of people at a time, sighed one last sigh & put all the items back as I walked out.

What did I end up with from the Just Between Friends sale? A $6 parking fee.

Broken Hearted

Last night at dinner I allowed the girls to have fruit punch with dinner. I showed them how to tightly screw on the caps of their juice bottles & gave a lengthy lecture on how important it is to always put the lid on when the juice is sitting on the table. I scooped up an armful of towels I had just folded & went to the hall closet to put them away.

I only had time to open the closet door before I hear a highpitched shreak from Caleigh & Alessa shouting, "CALEIGH DID IT! CALEIGH DID IT!" Way to throw your sister under the bus.

Dropping my newly folded towels, I swooped into the family room to survey the scene. Caleigh had indeed managed to 1) leave the cap off her bottle 2) start fiddling around with a toy that was clipped to her belt loop & 3) hit her bottle with her elbow with enough force that it didn't just fall to the ground, it missed the "drop cloth" completely & splashed fruit punchy goodness across the carpet.

"Caleigh!!! I just told you to keep the lid on!"

:::sobsobsob:::

"Take your bib off, go into your room & don't come out until I tell you to."

:::sobsobsob::: "But I'm still hungry!"

"I'll talk to you when I'm finished cleaning this up." I growled while searching for the oxyclean.

"You're hurting my heart Mommy!" :::sob:::

"You hurt my heart when you don't listen to what I ask you to do."

:::sobsob::: "My little-" :::sobsob::: "heart is-" :::sobsob::: "BREAKING!!!"

And with all the drama of a Hollywood actress, my 4 year old turned around ran from the room, flung herself across her bed & buried her face in her pillow.

And the Academy Award goes to...

Naturalists

"Mommy, do you know which bird is the biggest & lays ENORMOUS eggs?"

"Mommy, do you know which bird is grey when it hatches, but turns all pink as it grows up?

"Mommy, do you know which bird has a heart-shaped face & is nocturnal?"

"Mommy, do you know which bird is all red with a black head & a crest?" (yes, she said crest)

"Mommy, do you know which bird makes their nest out of spit & spiderwebs?"

Yes, that's right, my children are learning all kinds of facts about birds at preschool for the next week or so. For those of you who know me personally, you know that couldn't POSSIBLY be more thrilled :) Those binoculars from Christmas will be coming in very handy.

I can't wait to go birding again.

Knock, Knock...

Last night we stayed late at our friends’ house watching a movie ("Gentleman Broncos" - terrible movie BTW) & chatting. Our girls are very good about going to sleep in their sleeping bags while they’re there. Rik & I carried our tired little bundles out & snuggled them into their car seats. As we were driving home, I heard a sleepy little voice from the backseat.

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” I inquired.

“Peach,” replied Caleigh.

“Peach who?”

“Peach aren’t you glad I didn’t say peach again?”

:::blink blink:::

We need to work on knock knock jokes a little more.

Star Light, Star Bright

It was a surprisingly crisp & clear night and the stars were shining happily above us as we tumbled out of the car. I pointed them out to the girls and told them if they wished on the first star they saw, they might get their wish. We went over the rhyme & in no time they had it memorized & were ready to catch their first wishing star.

What do 4 year old girls wish for?

Alessa said dreamily, “I wish the sun would shine super bright – so all the sunflowers can grow tall.”

Whereas, Caleigh stated with a giggle, “I wish lots and lots of ladybugs would come and crawl all over me.”

Puddle Trouble

Tonight was the monthly free give-away at the Lego store. I decided that the girls had been pretty good & it was a good excuse as any to get over to Walgreens to pick up the reprints I had ordered. As we drove along Alta Arden, the sky above us took on that interesting brownish tint. You know the one I mean. The one that tells you, “Heh, heh. You’ve got about 20 seconds before the sky is going to open up.”

And that it did.

It didn’t just open up, it was as if I had driven under a waterfall. I calmly (mostly) decelerated as I pulled toward the right. Suddenly, everything was white. At this precise moment is when I hit the fully engulfed section of the thoroughfare – a condition I would have seen and properly avoided had the rain gods not been smiting the Arden Area at the time.

Life Lesson: Water six inches deep will spray well over the height of a Town & Country – including covering the windshield – when hit at even a mere 20 mph.

“Wow Mommy! That sure is a lot of water!”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

“How will it go away?”

“It’ll soak into the ground or go down the storm drain or dry up when the sun comes out.”

“They’d better clean it up before it gets too dark,” Alessa stated with a somber look.

“Why is that?”

“Because if all that water’s out there tonight, animals will come out to lick it up & they might get hit by a car.”

:::blink blink::: What do you say to such logic?

Ronald, Eat Your Heart Out...

Boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale super cheap at the grocery store. On a whim, I decided that I was going to pick up some shake and bake to have the girls try.

Caleigh, always eager to try something new, immediately ate it & liked it. Alessa hesitated & balked & tried to negotiate that “she likes the other kind of chicken nuggets”.

Eventually she tried the shake & bake. She took a bite, chewed a bit and got an almost startled look on her face.

“These are the best chicken nuggets ever! I NEVER wanna go to McDonalds again!”

Can I hold her to that?