Getting Organized --Playroom

Every once in a while I've posted "Getting Organized" articles. They've been my "success stories:"

Getting Organized -- Pantry

Something Accomplished (Garage)
Getting Organized -- Kitchen!
Getting Organized -- Kitchen, Part 2



  Today I am writing about one of my trouble spots. Our "play room".(HELP!!)

It's been in this state for years. Since we moved in, except for an occasional brief period of usability. 

Five years is too long. It's time to stop this "yo-yo diet" style 

of organization and get down to business. 

I think that might take some public accountability. Hence, this post. I'd love it if you'd keep after me. My goal?  A lived in but functional room in one month. July 1. If it's not ready by then, I might have to higher a professional organizer. (Which isn't in my budget.)

But, honestly, this can't go on. 

 

Of course I still have my regular housekeeping and spring cleaning as well, so say a prayer for me. 

I'll post weekly updates, to keep myself on track.

What's your biggest organizing challenge?

My Snow Banks Have Snow Banks

There is an awful lot of snow here in the northeastern US.






 The snow banks are over our heads.

Our lawn furniture is buried and our roofs carry so much weight that some have collapsed. (I raked the garage roof after this photo was taken -- but it's full again.

In fact, there is so much that some of us wonder if we'll ever see the ground again ... or at least if we'll see it before June. It feels like it will be a long hard road.. but summer will come sooner than we really expect.

And in the meantime there is beauty.. and sledding. 

Lent can seem like that, too. From this vantage point of the beginning this season of fasting and focusing on spiritual disciplines, of voluntary depriviation and self-evaluation feels like it will be long and dull. It can be a difficult time...and the deepest comes at the end, when we commemmorate Christ's death on the Cross.

But the joyous season of Easter will be here before we really expect it...

and in the meantime there is the beauty of a deepening relationship with Jesus and the wonder of increased maturity.

May your Lent be blessed and productive and may you grow closer to the one who sacrificed for you.

Urgency and Importance

I haven't been writing much lately, but I was inspired to write this post today.

Back in college, I was given a little booklet of an article by Charles Hummel called Tyranny of the Urgent. Honestly, I never read it but the title frequently comes back to me. I know that the idea of the article is that the "urgent" often crowds out what is important.

Today, I had plans to clean my playroom/schoolroom. This has been a project long in the making. Sometimes, the room gets to usable condition, but it has never been fully organized and it always slips back to cluttered. I have made a couple of strides recently and want to keep going, so I was going to give it some attention and had set a goal to complete two aspects of the organizing.

Then, I was asked to host a group at the last minute. I was happy to be asked and to host.

The focus of our housekeeping changed for the day. Suddenly it became "urgent" to tidy up the downstairs and deep clean the bathrooms. Plans for the playroom went out the window -- and we won't be able to reschedule until next week. Oh, well.

Did the urgent overtake the important? In terms of housekeeping, yes. I really do want that playroom ready and need to prioritze the work on it. (Then again, hosting that meeting and helping out the group was important, too. Urgent vs. important is not always that clear cut I guess.)

I do wonder how often maybe I set aside important things, spiritually, emotionally, relationally in favor of the urgent. Something to keep in mind.


How has the "urgent" "tyrannized" you?

Knitter's Devotional: A Consistent Gauge

 

I haven't written an entry for my knitter's devotional in a while, but it's back. I am hoping to form this into a book. Suggestions welcome.

Keeping a consistent gauge is an important part of knitting. Regular, uniformly sized

stitches help us to make a nice-looking product. Clothing will fit better, too. It’s not

always easy to maintain that consistency in our knitting, especially for beginners.

 

It’s also not easy to be even-tempered in our lives. Many of us spend seasons of our lives

on an emotional roller coaster. It is difficult to maintain a calm front, to treat others well,

to think positively when things around us are going wrong. But is important, even when it

is difficult.

 

Rudyard Kipling wrote the poem If to instruct his son on what it is to be a man. The opening verse says:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:....

 

 

 

 

In Kipling's estimation, being even-tempered is part of maturity.

 

 

The Bible lists “self-control” as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and reminds us that a

soft answer turns away wrath. We are called to practice self-restraint and not sin when we

are angry.

Like a consistent gauge in knitting keeps items well-sized and well-shaped, self-control

helps keep our lives balanced and productive. It facilitates healthy relationships, good

parenting and a positive reputation.

 

May God help us all to keep a consistent gauge in our lives.

When will I ever learn?

I had to come to school late tonight. Missed a yummy dinner and a chance to be social with my classmates.

Why?

Because I procrastinated. Didn't get my homework done on time. Had to go to the copy center and print it out when I should have been driving and drive when I should have been eating.

Ah, well.

I suppose I am busy. I taught a chemistry unit this week that had been pushed up from the end of the month because of a family visit. So instead of doing my homework, I was exploding coke bottles with mentos.  :)

But if I had been properly disciplined I could have done both.

But I didn't.

So I missed out on the fun part of school and I doubt the final product was my absolute best.

I guess I should figure this out before school goes much farther.

Anyone have any ideas for me?

Prayers for self-discipline

Because I feel I need them right now....


Heavenly Father come close; come quickly.
My heart cries out; my raised hands are my morning prayers.
Post a guard at my mouth, God, set a watch at the door of my lips.
Police my mind; arrest my dreams of evil or thoughts of bad company.
Shield me from those who do wrong— don’t let them lure me with their schemes.
May the Just One be my warden; correct me and set me straight,
Don’t let sin imprison my soul.
Dear Lord, I only have eyes for You.
Since I’ve run for dear life to You, safeguard my heart.
Help me to talk the talk,
and also walk the walk,
just like Your Son, Jesus, in whose name I come.
Amen.
~~ Adaptation/Paraphrase of Psalm 141
credits: http://chirho.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/today’s-morning-prayer-discipline-and-protection/


Dear Lord
Thank you for teaching me
the lesson of divine discipline.
Help me remember the worth of self-control
and not just the rewards.
Help me discipline my life and my heart.
Give me the personal willpower
to make a lifelong commitment.
Give me your supernatural power
to make lifestyle changes.
Give me the persuasive power of Godly people
to make life changing choices.
Help me persevere in divine discipline.
Help me practice the disciplines of life -
spiritual, physical and mental.
Help me use divine discipline
to change the world.
Thank you oh Lord,
for a disciplined life
that's possible with you.
In your precious name I pray
Amen
Prayer from Rhonda Harrington Kelley's book Divine Discipline.