New Routines

Well, as a follow on from my Low-Tech Wednesday post yesterday, we've been slowly settling into a new routine. The house is slowly getting more organised, and thus quicker to clean (decluttering through one area at a time, currently working on the kitchen), so morning cleanup goes quite quickly. Then we intersperse the morning with schoolwork, more focused cleaning (like the decluttering), and, of course, playing. After lunch (usually either fresh cooked bread, or sandwiches/toast from yesterday's bread), DD will often settle in for an hour or two's TV or computer games, while I find a little time for catching up with my online communities or writing. Then depending on our mood, we play a little more, do some craft/sewing, or go out somewhere.

Yesterday, we made a simple fishing game. DD drew several fish on blank pieces of paper, and we cut them out and slid a paperclip onto the spot where their mouth would be.

Then with an old magnet off the fridge, we went 'fishing' for a while. DD loved it! She's always wanting to buy these sort of fishing games at the stores, but I think our home made one is much better! (Plus it gave her some drawing and cutting practice!) Once she tires of the plain fishing game, I'll write some numbers on each fish, and we can see who gets the highest score. (Great for maths practice, adding numbers.)

DD was watching a birthday party on one of her TV shows, so once it was over, she decided to wrap up some 'presents' for me. Lovely job I think. Especially the bow, perfect finishing touch.

And, of course, what rainy week is complete without an indoor cubby? DD did nearly all of this herself while I was in the other room hanging washing on the indoor line. She did call me out to help with a couple of pegs, but overall, I think it's a pretty spectacular construction.

And while I was in the kitchen cooking, DD decided to write out her own recipe. I helped her with spelling, and working out what the ingredients were, but all the writing is all hers. She did ask how to write a couple of letters, so I demonstrated on a separate piece of paper.

I'm starting to feel like we really are homeschooling, with all these activities going on. DD is learning things so quickly, and her attention is far more sustained than it was even a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to more homeschooling posts as we slowly find our way into a routine that works for us.

New Routines

Well, after feeling inspired by my own post last night, we got out this morning and tackled about half the mowing (with FIL's help), planted out those three trees that desperately needed it (another Valencia orange, navel orange, and pink lady apple to add to my collection), and cleaned out the chook run. Unfortunately the mites are back again, just when we thought we had them beat. Have to be more vigilant this time. I also bought a few kg's of apricots at the markets this morning for $3.50 a kilo, and they're drying in the dehydrator as we speak.

While all these things are good to get done, we're also busy working on making sure our lives are more organised to achieve things on a regular basis, not just in fits and starts like so often happens. I've been a fan of Flylady's methods since I first discovered her website several years ago, and have gone through stages of 'Flying' with her on and off. I don't have time right now for the e-mail lists, but I do think that her methods can, and have, worked well for our family. So yesterday I wrote up a new morning and evening routine. I've had routines for quite a while, but unfortunately they grew so much that I was too daunted to start them! And routines can't really help you if you don't do them! So DH and I wrote up some new ones together, limiting ourselves to three things in the morning, and three things in the evening. We could, of course, have put down many more things, but really wanted to stick to the essentials, and not overwhelm ourselves.

Morning Routine:

• Unload Dishwasher
• Make Beds
• 5 minute hotspot* rescue

*hotspots are those places where clutter builds up, in our case the computer table, the kitchen bench, around the TV etc.

Evening Routine:

• Load Dishwasher
• Take out Compost
• 5 minute room rescue on Lounge room

I'm pleased to report that even after only doing these routines for 2 days, we can see the difference. You might think that doing three such small things would be a drop in the ocean, but it's surprising how much of a difference it makes. No doubt in time we'll add to these routines, but for now we're just going to practice these until they're automatic.

I'm still here

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, just haven't been doing anything interesting to post about! Or rather, I've been doing lots, but not actually finishing stuff.

The daily planting is going so so. I had several days there where I didn't plant anything through a combination of no compost to plant into, and being busy trying to get the house organised. I have planted about 2 sqm of peas, which is something. Peas seem to be one of those things that you can just never get enough of, so I'm just planting as much ground as I can with them. I don't think we'll have any trouble with any of them going to waste. From a self sufficiency standpoint though, I think you'd be much better off planting beans.

The organisation was far more successful than my daily planting has been. Almost everything is mouse-proof now, and I'm feeling far more in control. Yes, we still have at least one mouse, and he's none too impressed with my anti-mouse campaign. I discovered this morning that the plastic container I put the chooks scraps into had been gnawed, unsuccessfully I might add. Tonight it's in the fridge, and I have plans to set a 'mouse trap'. No, not a traditional one, one of my own devising. I'll update if we have any success.

Progress on the house has been discouraging as usual. Very little has actually happened, despite repeated calls to the supervisor and the company. I think they're just getting annoyed at us! We did receive a letter today though telling us that practical completion is expected to be achieved tomorrow. I'll believe it if and when I see it. Either way, I'll have to ring the flooring company that we'd booked for Monday, and reschedule yet again. Even if the house is finished tomorrow, it will take several days to organise all the bank/money. Hopefully the end is in sight...

Today I darned DD and my slippers, and a pair of DH's socks that were wearing thin. The potatoes are starting to poke their leaves up, as are the carrots. I have a flower on my peach tree, and tiny mulberries on the mulberry tree. The chickens have taken to coming INTO the shed at about 10am, and again at about 3pm, trying to tell us they want food.

Attempted organisation.

It all started when my sister kindly bought over her old fridge for us. She's bought a new one, as this one lacks a freezer, and so we scored. It's a lovely fridge, lots of room, much bigger gaps between the clear plastic shelves, and being newer, I would imagine it's much more energy efficient. We have a small separate freezer, so this will work well when we're in the new house. Anyway, since we'll continue using our current fridge/freezer until we move, I had to clean out some space for the new one until then.

This has since sparked a cleaning/organisation quest that took over the weekend. Of course, it was also spurred on by our stowaway mouse, who was getting so cheeky he would watch us from under the TV cabinet while we were watching TV! We've managed to catch and remove 8 mice so far (one adult and 7 babies), and they've all been relocated to a block of bushland up the road. (Yes, I'm a softie, can't even kill mice. They're just so damn cute.) Unfortunately, the mousy smell was really starting to get to us, so on Saturday we pulled up all the mattresses and cleaned under the bed. Plenty of mouse signs, but no mouse. Then today, I had the brilliant idea of sorting through all the boxes down the side of our bed. These ratty cardboard boxes had been shoved there when we first moved in, had lots of things pulled out of them and other's shoved back in, and were the prefect hidey holes for mice. So we spent $100 on 10 plastic boxes, and everything in those boxes either found a home, or was shifted into a plastic one. Now we have a very neat and mouse-proof wall of boxes down the side of our bed, all ready to go straight into the house when it's finished. In the bottom of one of the cardboard boxes, we found our mouse, and he too has gone to a new home on the bush block. Maybe he'll find the rest of his family. I only hope he's the last one!

Five Minutes

Yesterday, we had a 5 minute day. The state of the house had deteriorated somewhat, and was starting to be a bit overwhelming. But having a full day of getting in and cleaning the house just isn't an option with a 3 year old. So we do it in 5 minute spurts. We set our little electronic timer (bought from Coles), and off we go!

This is DD's playroom.

And this is the same playroom 5 minutes later! Huge difference huh?

This is where we store our sheets and towels. It might not look like a mess, but things had just been put in anywhere, and were all mixed up.

Here we go, 5 minutes later and I can find things again. Not to mention fit in the sheets I'd just folded off the line.

After a busy day, our kitchen table isn't looking too good.

But it only took 2 minutes to get it back to looking like this! (The paint won't come off.)

Since our 5 minute day, we've kept on top of it with a 5 minute cleanup before DD goes to bed (much as she is protesting!). It's amazing how much you can get done in a short amount of time if you're focused. Things that you put off because you think they are going to take forever, can often be knocked over in 5 minutes. And even if you can't get them done in 5 minutes, often you've made enough of a dent in it that finishing it off seems easy.