Summer break in April? Only in Arizona!

A few weeks before April I decided, (after fighting with the kids for weeks to 'study' inside) that we were going to ENJOY the amazing Arizona spring weather, and embrace our season. I figured what the heck...we're taking our summer break in April. I am the teacher after all...aren't I?!

Shortly after that I deemed April 'project' month, and I began to fill it with every project I'd been putting off for the last 6 months. The BIGGIE was what I hated most. However, knowing myself all too well I realized I knew I would go crazy if my house got any dirty, unorganized, or just plain BLAH!!! I HAD to get to work doing the BIGGEST, and hopefully the BEST 6 month purge EVER . This was to be the purge of all purges. I was tackling some stinking big messy issues, that I just had to figure out how to fix. I knew the first step involved a major re-organizational experience, which would create a super duper messy house. However, it was time, and I was ready...(at least I was trying to get myself excited) about tearing my house apart.

[Step ONE] CREATE CARDS

(I'll talk more and more about how this concept of cards has evolved into something really really great over this last month, but let me start at the beginning.)

Not knowing where to begin, I found some old blue 3x5 cards, that never got used for a flash card project last year. I started writing down the areas of the house I needed to start organizing first. I divided my 10 cards into two days, and assumed I'd get through the house in 2 days...LOL!! Oh well!! I'm actually glad I didn't realize it would actually take me working at it on and off for a whole month, to tackle the many issues I was facing in my home. I may not have started if I knew this reality.

I prioritized my cards, and started by tackling the first card on the pile...my refrigerator, pantry, and laundry room. This was going to be a life changing journey!! Weird, but true. All I can say is sometimes when you don't know where to begin, you just have to start somewhere...and that is exactly what I was doing.

Homeschool Nesting continued

Until this last week I'd only felt that crazy unstoppable urge we fondly call nesting (you know the urge to clean every nook of you house and organize every single item you own) when I was pregnant and a month or so away from delivering. So it was CRAZY WEIRD to feel like I was nesting because I'm not pregnant!! I couldn't shake the urge so finally I just went with it.

BEFORE:

Of course having a room that looks like this can sure help bring on that nesting feeling!! Here's my 'school' room's before picture. We had to much furniture in here and lots of stuff that had been piling up all summer long.

AFTER:

I thought it would take a day or two, but I ended up getting so detailed and particular it took a whole week...LITERALLY!! I started Monday and spent a good chunk of everyday all the way through Saturday. Scott actually took Tuesday off work to help me out because I was so neurotic and needed help with all the organizing projects I'd put on my list! By Saturday the list seemed to be growing...but thanks goodness with a TON of help from my amazing family we actually got everything done. It was a miracle.


Here is what we organized and cleaned last week...

• The Pantry
• The Fridge
• The Kitchen
• The Laundry Room
• The School Room
• The Craft Room
• Everyone's closets
• Everyone's rooms
• The Bookcases
• The Toy Room and Closet

Scott cleaned, fixed, or put up:

• Our family picture
• A broken door nob
• A broken kitchen cabinet
• Replaced a missing cabinet nob
• Put up our huge new world map (with wallpaper paste)
• Fixed the broken Garage Door opener (I can now use my clicker)
• Fixed a broken light in my Laundry Room (so now I can see the clothes I'm folding)
• Fixed the central vac
• Cleaned out the Garage and organized the bikes

Some of our projects...

The MAP was quite the project. When I purchased it from National Geographic I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In the end it's pretty sweet and I'm glad we got it, but hanging wallpaper is not my thing!!



The NEW and IMPROVED Craft Room. I didn't take a before picture...too bad because it was pretty awful. We had one little table from Costco piled with random stuff. So to create the Craft Room I moved about half the furniture from the School room into the Craft room. So this is a new room with NO cost!! LOVE IT!!


The Closet
The Craft room had this great closet that was just another junk area. So I cleaned it out...took like 4 hours with Scott's help and turned it into the perfect homeschool storage closet. Just what the doctor ordered!!

The Kids...were actually really great during our crazy work re-organize the entire house week. They all helped out as much as they could, and when they couldn't help or were taking a break they found things to keep themselves busy with. We were trying to keep the electronics off so they really had to entertain themselves, and they did a great job!

Among other things they of course built a fort or two...

Brea discovered ways to keep Rebecca happy for me...like pushing her in the wagon. They had a really great time for about an hour...shocking. :)



In the book Leadership Education they talk about the need to do:

• a purge of all your stuff every 6 months
• a inventory of where you are spending your time every 6 months

Of course the 6 month purge is basically an organizing de-junking session. I do mine every July/August and December/January. A 6 month inventory is a precursor to my 6 month NO and 6 month YES! I give myself permission to say NO to things that are getting in the way of my personal and family BIG goals. The 6 month YES is helping me identify the things I need to be doing to help me achieve my personal and family goals.

Its an amazing process! So now I'm done with my 6 month purge and can feel myself naturally now being ready to do my 6 month inventory!! Leadership Education articulated this process so well. The idea of every 6 months doing a physical and mental inventory, purge, and plan is a great way to keep life in order and in harmony.