Chores Are Such a Chore

I love it when things in life knit themselves together.  I watch it happen often in our learning.  For instance, on Sunday our minister spent some time sharing about his trip to Israel.  Last week, our history focused on the life and death of Christ and early Christianity.  We are reading Ben-Hur.  It all seems to be tied together.  Those links are made in our lives and our brains without real effort or orchestration.  I love it when that happens.

The same thing is happening since I read The Power of Habit.  One of my things on my list for 2014 was to create a chore system for the kids and me that worked.  As I read that book and thought about what I really want it occurred to me that I'm trying to create habits in my children.

My old method of assigning chores was to give each kid a chore for a week (wash dishes, load dishwasher/unload dishwasher/put clean dishes away, sweep and vacuum floors/wipe table and counters, take out trash and recycling).  At the end of the week there would be a big discussion over who did or didn't finish the last of the dishes/floor/garbage and how to make it "fair".  That was a weekly issue. 

The other issue was the quality of work.  Because each child only kept each job for a week they could blame faulty results on the child who had done the job prior to their tenure.  There was no real incentive or accountability for good work or poor work.  And really, there wasn't time to train for each job and expect mastery.  By the time they understood the responsibilities and techniques of a job it was time to move on to the next job.  They didn't repeat a job for three more weeks.  All learning and skill was lost.

I've often thought that teaching kids how to do things is much harder than just doing them myself.  So many times I can get something done faster and better on my own than if I farm it out.  If I do something myself I know it's done correctly and meets whatever standard I've set.  I also know that it truly is done and won't require extra work or supervision or fussing later.

The catch is that my purpose in raising my children is to train them in the way I would have them go.  Or better yet, in the way God would have them go.  To me this means that I am not striving to have good children.  My effort is focused on creating outstanding adults.  Because of this future focus I know that I must equip my children. Equipping takes time.  It takes energy.  It's a chore.

In light of my purpose and what I learned about building a habit I decided I needed to revamp the chores at our house.  Rather than assigning a chore each week I determined that each child would do one chore for a month.  In that month's time they would be able to master each job.  While it might be tedious to do the same thing for a month, there would be no confusion over who had which responsibility.  Once they were trained for each job so thoroughly they wouldn't have difficulty remembering what to do the next time the job was theirs.  Training once and making it stick was a feature that really appealed to me.

Miraculously enough the new system is working.  I'm afraid to say it yet but it seems to be true.  I always know who is responsible and so do they.  They are able to do the jobs and take pride in them.  There is no question or debate or irritation about who should or shouldn't have done what.  This new habit is forming.  At our house, chores are not quite the chore they were.

Spring Cleaning

This weekend was one of spring cleaning, inside and out.  Rob concentrated on cleaning around the barn with rented bobcat while I took care of the laundry room.

The installation of a new washer and dryer forced me to take a look at the way I was using my laundry room and how I could make it more user friendly.  Over the last year the laundry room has become the catch all room.  I'm the only person who goes in there regularly with a task and it has shelves which make it perfect for leaving something and forgetting it. 

When we moved into this house a little over a year ago we discovered that the space in the laundry room for the washer and dryer wasn't wide enough to hold a standard size side-by-side washer and dryer.  Rather than buying something when our appliances were working fine, we just left the washer pulled out into the room.  This made it inconvenient to move around and gave the room a cramped feeling. 

The other issue in this house is that there are no closets except in the bedrooms.  On our first floor the only closets are in the master bedroom.  With six family members and various guests that means lots of homeless coats during spring, fall and winter.  We decided the best fix would be to put a hanging rod up in the laundry room.  The rod would allow me to hang clothes as they came out of the dryer.  It would also give us a place to hang coats.  It was a great idea but it made the laundry room seem even more cramped and cluttered.

A few weeks ago my washer died.  Since the dryer was also twelve years old we decided to replace them both.  We purchased a stackable front-loading set in blue.  They really are pretty, for appliances.  For me being stackable is a much better feature than the color.  I now have a laundry room I can dance in.  It is huge!  Even the space provided for the washer and dryer is a little over half full. 

I was so thrilled with the potential for the room after getting the washer and dryer situated that I asked my husband to give me a little organizational training.  He's a skilled and trained Six Sigma black belt and I figured that it was good to get some expert help.  He gave me a 5S presentation and off I went.

I began by cleaning everything out of the room except the washer and dryer.  I designated an area to hold the things I wanted to keep in the laundry room after the cleaning was done. I labeled areas on the kitchen counter to help me sort things: kids, dad, misc., mom.  Put a box for things to be given away and a garbage can right outside the door and went to work.  The kids helped me get things out of the room and into the proper locations for sorting.  After we emptied the room we were amazed at all the stuff that we had been piling in there.

With the room empty, I wiped off all the shelves, swept and mopped the floor and washed the base boards.  Then I focused on the things that were to come back in the room and the most efficient arrangement.  As a result of my excellent 5S training I determined that the room was to be used for laundry, cleaning supplies and limited storage for things that are used regularly and need to be accessed easily.  All of the tools were banished.  Light bulbs found a new home under the sink.  The box of glasses that hadn't been unpacked was washed and put in a cabinet.  The craft boxes were sorted through and consolidated.  The four soft side coolers and two small coolers were reduced to two soft coolers and the rest were placed in the give box.  The pile of paper bags was taken to recycling.  After everything was on the shelves I still had room for laundry baskets on two of the shelves.  The amount of clutter we'd accumulated was impressive but the clear shelves were even more impressive.

We decided to rehang the clothes rod but placed in further in the nook where the washer and dryer are situated.  The coats hang on one side and the hanging clothes just taken out of the dryer hang on the other.  Putting the rod higher up and further into that recess allows us to hang things without feeling as if we are walking into a coat closet when we walk into the laundry room.

Rob says that the newly re-purposed laundry room has now become his safe place, a room of order where he can go and breath deeply when the chaos of four children and a farm get to him.  I am thankful that I have a washer and dryer and room to dance.

Thanksgiving Recap

The meal was wonderful and the weekend flew by way too quickly.  If I wait to do a longer summary it may never get done so here are some things that I want to be sure I remember to help with planning the next holiday gathering.

My best moves for Thanksgiving:
Having meals planned for the entire weekend
Renting tables and chairs for Thanksgiving dinner
Making as much as possible ahead of time
Putting my sister in charge of the table decorations

Things to improve for next year:
Find a new gravy recipe
Figure out what is wrong with automatic meat thermometer
Get Mom and Dad to stay longer

Giving Thanks for This Time

My holiday season has officially begun.  On Friday we gathered with friends to take part in our first traditional activity of the holidays, our Operation Christmas Child box party.  Our participation in this wonderful program sets the tone of our celebrations and reinforces the value that this season is an opportunity to give more than to receive.  Today we took 33 shoe boxes full of gifts to the church for a blessing and then to the drop off site.  It's such a blessing to be able to do this each year.

Tomorrow, I will pick my parents up at the airport.  I am so excited for this Thanksgiving weekend.  Three of my four sisters, and their families will join us, along with two of my aunts and uncles and two cousins.  There should be 23 in all for dinner on Thursday.

I spent part of yesterday and today making Christmas ornaments that will be favors for our guests.  I'm pretty pleased with the ornaments. 

They are old alphabet blocks upon which I pasted a photo of our home on one side and the date and name on the other side.  I think they look really nice.

I spent a larger part of today putting together recipes, a grocery list and a schedule for Thanksgiving day.  It's good to see it all on paper.  Having a plan always helps me feel more relaxes about the challenges that I know are going to  come along.

Here's the menu.

Deep Fried Turkey

Roasted Turkey
Gravy
Sweet potato casserole
Make Ahead Mashed potatoes
Shoe peg corn
Sage dressing
Creamy Wild Rice Dressing
Cranberry sauce
Rolls
Pumpkin Roll
Bourbon Pecan Tart
Apple dumplings

Here's the plan.

Monday

Pick Mom and Dad up at the airport
Roast chickens for dinner. Use leftovers for chicken enchiladas.
Make pumpkin roll

Tuesday
Grocery shopping
Make chicken enchiladas. Freeze.

Wednesday
Make apple dumplings, bourbon pecan tart, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, make ahead potatoes
Pick up tables and chairs
Chop onions and celery
Brine one turkey

Thursday
Breakfast and Macy’s Parade
Set table
Snacks for lunch
12:00 prep dressings 2 9X13 pans
1:15 Roasted Turkey 2 hours in oven 20 minutes rest time
1:30 Dinner rolls 2 hours prep and rising ½ hour to bake
1:45 Deep Fried Turkey 30 minutes to bring to room temperature 45 minutes-1 hour fry time 30 minutes rest time before carving
2:00 Sage dressing 1 hour in oven (put back in oven when turkey comes out)
2:15 Creamy Wild Rice Dressing 45 minutes in oven (put back in oven when turkey comes out)
2:30 set out Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes and Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
3:10 Put Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes and Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes in oven
3:15 Make Gravy
3:30 Shoe peg corn – 20 minutes
4:00 Dinner

We are going to rent tables and chairs so that everyone can sit together for dinner.  I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to buy new table clothes and napkins or if I'm going to go with mix and match that I already have.  I do know that I need to pick up another eight person place setting of silverware.  I've got all the plates and serving pieces that I need.  It feels wonderful to be able to look forward to every moment of the coming week.  I am so thankful.

Weekly Recap 8/9-8/13

It's amazing how quickly this summer has gone.  We've had a week of vacation at the beach, two weeks with a child at camp, a week with grandparents visiting, two weeks with two girls away at visiting grandparents, a week of vacation bible school, a month of Dad out of town and a week of Mom out of town.  In the last two weeks alone we've visited with two aunts and three cousins at the Indianapolis zoo, traveled to and from West Virginia, put Grandpap on a plane to be with Grandmomma and our newest cousin in California, picked two daughters up in Iowa, visiting with more aunts, uncles and cousins there.  It's been a busy summer and we've all enjoyed it so much.

Next week we'll begin school again.  The children have spent the last few days stock piling sleepovers and time with friends.  It's too bad we can't really save all the friendship and fun up for the lean days of fall.  I've spent this week finalizing plans and getting weekly assignments down on paper.  I've ordered our first month of books from the library.  As of noon today, the librarians were aware that school is starting again soon.  I was down to nine books on my account.  With today's order, I've got over 200 books on my account.  By Tuesday, they will all be ready to pick up and cart home.  I love my library!  I've made the last minute adjustments, chosen which critical thinking skill books to use, organized my shelves and tidied my binder.  As far as planning goes, we are in great shape. 

I'm not sure how next week will play out. The public schools here begin on Tuesday.  I hate to start school on the first day of publis school.  It seems like that should be a day of declaring our independence from someone else's schedule.  Thursday is M5's birthday.  We don't have school on birthdays.  Those are family holidays.  Maybe a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule will work.  Maybe just a Wednesday, Friday schedule.  The best part?  We get to decide. And whatever we decide will be just right for us.

It's the Little Things Really

S8's room
Playroom - yes, there is carpet in there!

Playroom closet - sorted and organized

Sometimes it's important to have proof of a job well-done. Especially when I know that the satisfaction is likely to be short lived. Today, I spent several hours cleaning and organizing our playroom and S8's room. I love the way they look now. The dc loved playing in them this evening. With four children, I know that my masterful organization and sorting will not last. So, for those days when I doubt that it's ever been clean, here's the proof that once it looked amazing.