Just a BlinkProof Time Flies

One of my goals for The Simplicity Project (TSP) was to reduce the chaos in our only family common area. Today we officially started a Bin-A-Week approach to toy storage in the living room.

3 weeks and 2 days ago Neat Pete and I sorted the living room toys with a fine tooth comb. Some toys went to the garage sale others went to the trash can. We split all the remaining toys among four 36 gallon plastic storage bins. Then we sent ‘em packing to the garage without child permission.

Ryan did not notice.

Okay, did you catch that? Yes, for 3 weeks and 2 days our family was missing 144 gallons of toys with no more than one comment. Two days after the original purge Ry inquired about his pirate ship. To his request I said

The ship is not here right now. Use the couch for ship instead.

Pirate Ryan losing his first mate Molly to the depths of the seas. She tipped over as soon as I snapped the photo.

Our goal is to create a rotating Bin-A-Week toy schedule to keep the mystery alive for otherwise ignored toys. Each bin contains a variety of battery toys, books, small manipulatives and theme sets like animals, doctor and music.

Today Ryan fell back in love with Duplos. Molly with her purse.

It is like Christmas. TSP is underway!

Sanctuary

Individuality

Motivating

Purposeful

Living

Imaginative

Connectivity

Intelligent

Teamwork

Yert (Yes well, yerts (hut-like structures) are simple anyway! What else was I going to type for Y?)

The Simplicity Project (TSP) is big. What I am finding is that TSP is not made up of one big idea or plan. It is, however, made up of a lot of little ideas, attitudes, and of course projects. I haven’t dumped out every toy in hopes of restructuring the whole house in one day…yet.

I did what every good perfectionist procrastinator does – crafts! I have so much do to it seems a bit daunting and the results so incredibly faraway. So, I gave myself permission to get a little thing done. It is only a teaspoon of completion in a lake full of life goals but the reward of completing a project that was over one year old is priceless.

I made the blue photo frame on the left at a Mother of Preschoolers (MOPS) meeting four years ago for my son Ryan. When Molly came along, I purchased a second blank frame from the MOPS leftover craft cupboard with intentions of making a similar frame for my darling daughter. Now she is already 15 months old!

Ryan as a newborn. Molly at 12 months.

Both frames are just paper mache-type cardboard and are cheaper than cheap, but I think they look pretty cute with the personalization.

3 Teaspoon Project Nuggets

1. Limits If it can be done in 1/2 hour – do it, but only once in a while. It is too easy for me to start digging out crafts and seasonal decorations and never stop! The goal is to simplify my life, not layer it so badly I can’t see where I am going.

2. Satisfaction This should be fun. Hey if organizing, planning, and simplifying get me tied up in knots of regret and dissatisfaction they are not working. It felt really good to get a little thing done. Insert pat on back here.

3. The Lily Effect There is a story of a crabby, messy hermit that one day receives a lily in a vase from a neighbor. The messy decides to clear off his table to set the lily on. He washes the table then stops to clean off the chairs so he can sit by the flower. Pretty soon he cleans the whole house and starts doing maintenance work. Somewhere along the way he changes his heart and opens his home to his neighborhood. Doing one small thing can change your outlook on the entirety of a project or idea.

The kids are back! Where did they go? Well nowhere physically. However I can feel their sweetness return again. I go in and out of cycles with my kids of joy and frustration. I just spent the last few days joining the cycle of joy again. I hope to stay there too it is way more fun! Though I know there will be days…

The TV bit the dust (figuratively). It was very nice to have simplicity on the forefront of my mind as I unplugged the TV. Two whole days. Well it was a start anyway. I spent two days detoxing my almost four year old from morning cartoons (while Mommy gets ready for the day) and mid-morning cartoon (while Mommy puts Molly down for a nap) and an afternoon movie (while Mommy gets quiet time during Molly’s second nap).

The hardest part was admitting I was getting sucked back into a TV = Babysitter mode that I used while Molly was a newborn (last summer). Back then I really was okay with that lifestyle because I needed to do what ever it took to function and I knew it would be short lived.

So to break in down. I sought TSP out to help gear my motives in child-rearing, life-learning and house-keeping into a healthy and happy direction.

3 Steps in Keeping it Real, Real Simple.

1. Good Food: I hopped on board with Meal Planning Mondays, grocery shopped with healthy snacks in mind and started giving a mid-morning snack and an afternoon snack with water or milk. I filled their bellies with yummy food that helped keep their energy even-keeled.
2. Good Company: No dishes, laundry, blogging, emailing alone or at all for that matter. I focused on kid time, fun activities and lots of books. It does make for a long night of catching up but putting off the daily grind for daily dialog is welcome in my home anytime.
3. Good Rest: Ryan took afternoon naps again. I am not sure how this happened. I am grateful for the peace in the house during the one hour in the afternoon that he overlapped rest time with Molly’s nap.