May 2011 — better order

It’s beautiful here in the fall. Cold mornings, lots of colorful changing leaves, and warm, sunny afternoons. We hear that spring in the American west has been cold and wet, and I don’t miss that, but I’m excited for our trip — only six weeks away! — in which we will skip the coldest month here in favor of the warmest one there. How lucky are we?

My weeks fly by, so I know the trip preparations and packing will be upon me before I know it and in that spirit, we are embarking on a whole-house re-ordering this month. We are fortunate to have cleaning help, so we don’t need to “spring clean”  (or fall clean), but said help means that sometimes things don’t get put back exactly where they go. I tell her to let the kids pick up their own things, but she ultimately can’t stand to leave my house unless it looks clean and tidy, and though she makes a good effort to get things in their proper place, she’s about as good at it as Matt is (fair to middling).

So yes, a yearly re-ordering is in order. (Can you believe we’ve been in Chile for a year?) The kids and I are cleaning out closets and drawers, dejunking, rethinking organizational schemes. All of that stuff. A little bit every day.

Oh, and while I’m at it, I’m trying out a new strategy to keep myself organized. Welcome to the 21st century — I’m using the electronic calendar on my computer and phone. Matt is thrilled about this, but the jury’s still out for me. I have always liked a wall calendar where I can check my day in a glance. I do like how the computer and phone can “sync” and how an event in my email is so easy to add to my calendar. Now I always have my calendar with me on my phone, which is hard to do with a wall calendar.

Speaking of my phone, I got it for Christmas and I’m just now getting around to putting fun apps on it — there are a million that are good for entertaining small children when waiting for something. And did you know there’s one that listens to that song you like but don’t know what it’s called, and then tells you what it’s called and who sings it? I know, it doesn’t take much to impress me. And we’re all cracking up about our new “instrument”, the ocarina. Let me know if you have a favorite app I need to download. I’m thinking it’s going to be great for that LONG plane trip alone with five children.