Big Girl Beds and Big Box Stores

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matthew 6:19 (NIV)

Two weekends ago my husband and I shopped at Sam’s Club using a guest pass to get a mattress for Princess’s new big girl bed. Yes, at four years old, it is time to make the transition from crib to bed!  Although we found what we needed (twin sized mattress – $199) right away, I was reminded why we do not have a membership to a warehouse store – it’s too enticing!

We should have just bought the mattress and left, but I wanted to take a look around as long as we were there – we hadn’t been in Sam’s Club or any other warehouse store in five years or so.

In addition to the mattress we ended up purchasing the following:

• Another twin sized mattress ($199) – This one was for Little Miss Sunshine, and I will say that she really needed a new mattress – hers came with the furnished home we purchased ten years and two houses ago, and I could feel the individual coiled springs when I would sit on it. She loved this new one we bought her and said she felt like the Princess and the Pea because she was so much higher off the ground!

• A book for Princess ($5) – It plays a bit of the Nutcracker Suite and she used it to dance around the entire store while we shopped.

• Two books for me ($20) – I can’t pass up books, and they have such a nice section right in the middle of the store! I rarely get to a bookstore anymore, and it was nice to just turn the pages casually while Princess and I were browsing.

• Two pairs of pants and three shirts for my husband ($100) – This is where he was browsing while Princess and I were looking at books.

• A huge container of mangos ($7) – Who can pass up pre-cut mangos? Not me!

• A huge container of strawberries ($4) – Princess and I had these washed, cut and eaten before the rest of the household even knew we had them.

• Assorted other groceries ($65!!!) – I don’t even know how these added up to that amount, but I think it was $20 of hamburger patties for an impromptu barbeque, buns, and a few frozen dinners. Yikes!

Strawberries? No, we didn’t get any strawberries…

So all told, our little afternoon at the warehouse store cost us a total of $600. Sigh. I will say that everything we purchased was useful. I won’t go so far as to say anything was really needed, other than the mattress, but I can say “useful” with confidence. We did pass up big screen TVs, specials on cell phones, a playground set for the backyard (so far) and assorted other toys and groceries, so that should count for something!

However, after working the budget creatively to cover those purchases, I can certainly say that we can’t afford that kind of indulgence very often! I’ve chalked it up to a fun few hours at the warehouse store, which I’m OK with doing every five years or so.

Has anyone been able to buy exactly what they needed and only what they needed at one of those stores?

Sippy Cups to Cell Phones

If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm. Psalm 37:23 (NIV)

On a three-day vacation to a nearby town, the kids and I surveyed our hotel room. “Awesome!” they exclaimed as they wandered through the small suite, checking out the view and trying out the lamp that turns on and off with a foot press.

I stayed in the main room, organizing myself and getting everyone’s things ready. When I walked back into the bedroom area I noticed that my son had quickly unpacked and settled in. His phone and iPod were on the dresser, already plugged in to recharge. His toiletries were out for a quick refresh. His small backpack, his only piece of luggage, was stowed away.

All of a sudden I could see the man my son would become. I envisioned him in this room as a business traveler – arriving in his room with his one small carry-on bag, charging up his phone and other electronics, surveying his room, checking out the room service options.

And in that instant the time we’ve had between infancy and teen seemed to melt away – the transition from diapers, sippy cups and teethers to car keys, cell phones and laptops too fast.  I imagine that the leap between teen and adulthood will be the same. The years between this moment and college graduation will seem a blur on that day.

Still have these around for one child!

 

I wish I could gather him close and hold him as he is now. But, no. I hold him in my heart when I can’t hold him in my arms, standing along side him and guiding him along his march to independence.

From the Heart

Lord, thank you for the gift of my children. Help me to raise them to become independent men and women who will glorify you with their actions, and help me to let go when I need to and trust in you completely.

Make a Start

Schedule some one-on-one time with your child today. It could be an outing to the movies or ice cream place or just a conversation at the kitchen table.

Baby Swings and Toddler Things

Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.   Matthew 6:20-21 (NIV1984)

I have a really hard time getting rid of things. I know we’re not supposed to hold on to things, but every small baby and toddler item in my home reminds me of when my children were actually babies and toddlers! Getting rid of a baby carrier, bottle or high chair seems as though I’m going to discard the memory as well.

However, I do tend to hold on to things beyond the point where they are usable to me or to anyone else, and that is just too long. A few months ago my husband and I looked around our garage and decided it was just too full. It was overflowing with things we no longer used. One of the items taking up space was a baby swing. It was beautiful and in perfect condition. It had been a gift from my parents on the day my little one, Princess, was dedicated at church, which made it even harder to part with! It did everything – played music, made soothing sounds, vibrated, and swung from side to side or front to back depending on baby’s preference. Princess spent some time in it as a baby, particularly when I was tending to one of the other kids or just needed her nearby when we were making dinner or taking care of a household chore.

Swing in pristine condition

I asked Princess’s babysitter if she could use it and she thought she could – she was going to start taking care of a newborn in the near future. I brought it to her house and was happy to have finally donated something, as well as created a decent space in the garage. Soon afterwards though, the babysitter called to say that she couldn’t use the swing after all – when she tried to open the battery compartment to change the batteries and get the swing working again, it was rusted through. Her husband even tried to get the rust out, but one of the coils that holds a battery broke off, so it was unusable. I ended up picking the swing up and putting it in our bulk trash. I hated seeing that lovely swing out by the garbage can.

At that moment I resolved not to hold on to everything beyond it’s useful life. While the swing was a blessing to us, it could have been a blessing to many other families had it gotten passed on while it was in working order, and then continued to get passed down. That same day I started going through the rest of the items in our garage and got them ready to consign or give away – the baby gate, my son’s old little league things, a Barbie scooter, a small toddler riding toy, the Exersaucer, two pack and play cribs, a small stroller that had been used for all three kids, a travel seat given as a gift to me fourteen years ago when my son was born (!), a scooter still in the box, and bike helmets. I didn’t stop there! I also prepared to part with the bike trailer, which had been used for all three kids, as well as my treadmill, which hadn’t been used in almost five years.

I’m not sure my husband could believe what he was seeing as items went into one pile for consignment or a garage sale and one pile for trash if they were already beyond the point of saving. I have plenty of pictures and memories in my head about the great times we had with all of the items I cleared out that day, and now there would soon be room in the garage to properly take care of the things we were currently using.

Of course I didn’t clear out or donate absolutely everything – I have a memory box for each child for special things, plus I keep some baby outfits and all their school and sports t-shirts for a future quilt. However, I don’t think I will let baby goods take over quite the same way again!

From the Heart

Lord, show me what is really important for my family to keep and what could be a blessing to another.

Make a Start

De-clutter one area of your home, whether it be the garage, a closet or even one drawer. What item could be a blessing to another? Pass it on if it has outlived its usefulness to you and your family.

Great Expectations for Easter

Do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?… But seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Matthew 6:31, 33

The table was perfectly set – pink tablecloth, my Grandmother’s fine china (white, with tiny pink rosebuds encircling each plate), pink peonies cascading from a low, round vase in the center of the table…a perfect setting for a lovely Easter dinner. I would bring out a steaming hot glazed ham on a large platter, and graciously receive the accolades my family would bestow upon me.

Easter table looking pink and pristine

That was how I envisioned one year’s Easter dinner. But it didn’t go quite that way. Here is a small slice of Saturday evening’s preparations:

9:30 pm Saturday – Bunny cake is in the oven, so I move on and make the fruit salad, which is my husband’s favorite – a lovely blend of seasonal (meaning, canned) fruits. I safely stow it in the refrigerator, but when I put the lemon juice back, I realize it expired three years ago. What?! Lemon juice expires? Isn’t that one of those things that is just always there, always fresh, always ready? Well, we’re just going to see if anything happens. We are eating the fruit salad.

10:00 pm – Time to have some family fun making Jell-O eggs! Why are we doing this so late at night? I don’t remember!! There had to have been a reason, probably involving missing Easter egg hunt eggs or rogue chocolate bunnies. I start to read the directions – “8 ounce Jell-O?  I have 3 ounce Jell-O! Why do they even make them in 3 and 8 ounce sizes? Why not 3 and 6, or 4 and 8?” Time for family fun time with fractions!

10:10 pm – Figure out how much water we need. Boil water in the pan (tick…tick….tick… don’t look, it won’t boil!). Then pour the water in a Pyrex bowl, which I had to clean first from making a cake, and add the Jell-O. Then my mom offers, “You know, you can just put the water in a big measuring cup in the microwave for two minutes and it will boil.” Start more water in the microwave.

10:12 pm – Rest head on countertop. Must clean countertop.

10:14 pm – Wait, how much longer do I have for the cakes in the oven? Check the timer on the micro… wait; I just cleared the timer on the microwave to boil water! Check cakes manually.

10:16 pm – Ask hubby to turn off the Ten Commandments, his favorite annual holiday movie, so the kids could make their Jell-O eggs and head to bed already! Realize (much) later that I prioritized Jell-O over Jesus – not good!

10:20 pm – (Yes, four minutes for the kids to pour Jell-O into molds – fun!) Leave cakes on stovetop to cool while I go to bed. Mention to my mom that it’s probably too warm for ants we were battling at that time to bother. I’m positive she makes a mental note not to have any bunny cake.

10:21 pm – Ants find cake.

Bunny Cake – we weren’t going for perfection here!

Sunday’s continued preparation evolved in much the same way, but mainly involved needing to put things in the oven at the same time, but at different temperatures.  Sigh.

For a completely opposite description of Easter preparations, including shopping and prep lists, please visit my friend Debbie’s blog post on Debbie’s Point of View. I need to invite myself over for Easter there one year! This year, however, we’ll be heading to my mother-in-law’s house, which means I will enjoy a lovely Easter brunch out. And this year I will not, under any circumstances, discourage anyone from watching the Ten Commandments!!

Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments

Happy Easter- Christ is Risen!

From the Heart

Lord, please help me to focus on and rest in the truth of our risen Savior during this Easter season.

Make a Start

Take some time to talk about the true meaning and importance of Easter.  Additionally, try making some Jell-O eggs and let me know how it goes!

Peace in Painting – It Can Happen

Be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11

This week I was reminded about why I don’t paint with the girls very much. In short, it’s a mess! I always read about and contemplate craft projects found in Family Fun magazine, on Pinterest and on other blogs, but I rarely try them. It always seems to take me twice as long to clean up a project than it does to actually enjoy the project itself. My predominate inner-Martha (see Mary, Martha and Messes from 2.25.13) is not too sure about that!

However, the other night the girls and I broke out a spontaneous painting project! Wheatley was at scouts, so I anticipated that the girls would want to watch a movie or something. But, no. The paints and supplies were still on the kitchen table from Princess’s birthday party the day before. (Yes, painting is generally reserved for special-occasions in our household). I just can’t believe I didn’t clean them up immediately! The kids must have worn me out. The supplies were calling out to Princess and Little Miss Sunshine, so I spread out some newspaper, and we got out some mini canvases and easels we had gotten for Christmas. We found them at JoAnns, and really, they are the cutest little things ever. Plus, on sale they were about $1.00 a piece, so one’s creativity can be unleashed with canvas after canvas.

My canvas – yes, that’s as good as it gets!

Little Miss Sunshine got the iPad set up next to her, so she could sing along with this one angst-filled song in Christina Perri’s repertoire until she had it just right. I’ll probably break out into spontaneous song the next time I hear that tune, as I pretty much have it down now as well!

But, on this night it was a peaceful way to spend an hour or so. Once the canvases were completed, Princess searched the craft closet for more things to paint, and found a number of small plaster shapes left over from our last trip to the paint-your-own-pottery place. I guess I do keep a pretty well stocked craft closet, just in case. She and Little Miss Sunshine painted six or so of those. We just kept going and going, painting object after object while listening to song after song on the iPad.

Little Miss Sunshine’s guitar

I should break out the paints more often, but truly the mess always stops me. Cleaning the brushes, throwing out unusable paint pots, and cleaning up paint-streaked newspapers gives me pause for the next time. I also had to clean the floor and give Princess a bath after she lost control of her paintbrush a few too many times!

Princess’s canvas. MOMA here we come. 

Next time, however, I’m going to try to remember the peaceful few moments we spent on this project. Maybe I’ll put Princess’s black canvas on my desk as a reminder. I wonder how it would look with a nice shot of spray glitter?

From the Heart

Lord, thank you for spontaneous moments.

Make a Start

You knew this one was coming – spend a few moments on a craft project with your kiddos this week. You can always break out the crayons if you’re as mess-adverse as I am. Or let your inner Jackson Pollock fly and get to work on some mini canvases!

How Steve Jobs Changed the Way I Pack

Diligent hands will rule. Proverbs 12:24

After I graduated from college, I travelled for two months to Italy, Sicily and Malta. I travelled this far and this long, inexplicably, with one carry-one suitcase the size of a large dictionary. It didn’t even have wheels! It had a shoulder strap, so when I landed in Pisa I took a look at the leaning tower…ahh…. then strapped my suitcase to my back and trudged the streets, navigating my way with my airport guide map and looking for the nearest hostel.

Photo courtesy of MACSwriter, Flickr WANA Commons

Fast-forward twenty years. I cannot even fit my toiletries in a carry-on suitcase! How did I do it back then? Did I just pack one pair of jeans and a toothbrush? I know I had Unit clothing – remember those? Knit pieces which mixed and matched, and changed their function, so that a scarf could become a bandeaux shirt or a mini-skirt. But beyond that, what did I have in there? I believe my post-college European packing list looked something like this:

-       3 pieces knit clothing (making 15 original outfits!!)

-       Umm.. undergarments (considered writing “foundational pieces”)

-       Travel Alarm

-       Book

My packing list for a recent overnight trip to my mother-in-law’s house three hours away by car looked something like this:

-       Two complete outfits (plus one additional outfit, just in case)

-       Undergarments (three pairs, just in case. In case of what? I don’t know!)

-       Exercise clothes – (That’s right, I thought I might be able to get up early and go for a jog, which involved bringing shorts, a jogging top, socks, running sneakers, an iPod and headphones. Did I exercise? No!)

-       Pajamas (what did I use in Italy? I don’t even remember! For Grandma’s house I needed sweatpants and a long-sleeved sweatshirt, so those two items themselves took up a carry-on suitcase)

-       Toiletries

-       Jeans and a sweatshirt (yes, this is in addition to the other three complete outfits. Plus, we’re in Florida. Doesn’t matter – I always need jeans and a sweatshirt)

And, thanks in large part to Steve Jobs:

-       The cell phone and charger

-       The iPod and charger

-       The iPad and charger

-       The laptop and charger

-       The Kindle and charger

-       The portable DVD player and charger

I didn’t need to work or keep up with anyone during my 24-hour trip. I needed to bring everything just in case I needed it. Granted, I did have three children this time around, but this list didn’t even include their needs, unless they wanted to battle me over the DVD player! The two older ones were packing their own items, which probably totaled even more electronics than mine.

My poor husband asked for a corner of my suitcase for his pair of shorts and shirt, and I couldn’t even give it to him because I was also carrying birthday gifts for him, which was the main reason for our overnight trip.

One large suitcase, one laptop briefcase, one travel bag for the car and one Barbie suitcase later (I filled that one with my hair dryer, in addition to my daughter’s toddler clothes), and I was ready to go!!

From the Heart

Lord, thank you for the gift of travel. Help me to prepare my children for the joy of exploration, whether it is near or far.

Make a Start

Grab some old photo albums or scrapbooks and page through them with your child(ren), re-discovering some of the places you’ve been to together.

Mary, Martha and Messes

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”    Luke 10:41 (NIV)

I am an unapologetic neat freak, so messes really bother me. When I worked from home, every morning after the kids went to school I would take the first half hour to do a clean sweep on the house. I would quickly take care of one room at a time – hanging up a stray towel, straightening up a bed, bringing dishes to the kitchen, etc. I needed everything to be perfectly in order before I could start my workday.

Usually everyone pitches in after dinner to make sure everything’s where it should be so that the morning runs smoothly, but that does not always happen. The other night I ended up watching a movie while my little one fell asleep on my lap, which I just love. As I carried her upstairs, I noticed that all our plates were out from dinner, a 2-liter of Orange soda was on the table, and Princess and I had gotten Teddy Grahams all over the couch. Sigh.

Princess was muttering “sleepy… crib…” as I tucked her in. I then looked in on my other two and was filled with just a peaceful moment of happiness and pure love. I looked at the towels on the floor, Legos scattered throughout the loft, clothes on the bathroom floor, my work on the bed, and just random chaos throughout all the bedrooms.

Photo courtesy of Ambernwest, WANA Commons

As I surveyed the mess that can be made in just one lazy evening, I decided to just let it go. I chose to stay in my moment of love for my children, and to just bask in the knowledge that God had given me three beautiful children. Cleaning would wait another day.  This was a Martha/Mary moment, and for once I was going to be Mary. I went to bed thanking God for the life he gave me and all the chaos creators in it.

From the Heart

Lord, help me to see beyond the occasional mess to what is truly important.

Make a Start

Spend time in God’s Word and have a few moments of peace before taking on anything else today.