The Thin Line

We’ve finally found our best rhythm in our new digs, just when Lent is looming.  I know that Lent will change our schedule drastically, and for the best, but I have trouble letting go of my plans and routines.  It's tricky to keep a balance between schooling and playing, housework and outdoor time.  We have had some warmer days in the last week, so on one of them, we went to our favorite nature reserve here.  We noticed a lot of beautiful shelf fungus on the logs, and sweetgum fruit fascinated my two littlest hikers.  I'm hoping to schedule more hikes as the weather improves. 

February, which is a month I now look forward to, after years of dreading its 28 dark and cold days, is coming, too.  February is for tidying and rearranging our books and school things; purging our broken, worn out, or unused items; and refreshing our art supplies.  We’re in desperate need of rulers, paintbrushes, and sketching paper.  Maybe some more watercolors will find their way to our shelves, too.  Little M is almost out of the “drawing on everything” phase (and when I say everything, I mean hands, walls, handmade quilts, walls, math books, library books, and walls) so we could probably start stocking things like paint and markers again.  Probably.  

I get discouraged, though, when I look at the mess we call “school shelves.” It’s absolutely not as organized or as beautiful as I’d like it to be.  Organizing doesn’t have to be expensive, but shopping the flea markets and yardsales takes more time than I can spare.  And the more kids we add to our family, the more important it is to be thrifty and organized—mostly for my sanity!  I have taken to purchasing only one color binder (white) and using the computer or labelmaker to make labels for them, just to give our shelves a little more unity.  In my mind our shelves look Pinterest-worthy. In reality, though, they’re usually a disaster.  I told my mom the other day that I’m too lazy to tidy them as often as they need it (every hour of the day), and despite repeatedly hearing the proper way to shelve their books, the kids just pile ‘em on the shelves any old way.  It’s hard to want to show messy reality; I’d like our best foot forward on social media. Some days I feel like I’m walking on a thin line between ideal and reality, Crazy OCD mom and living in clutter up to our eyeballs.

There are two new babies (of friends!) coming in April, so I am working on some hand knits.  One of the projects is "due" next weekend, for Little M's godmother's baby shower.  I love the pattern, one that I've been wanting to knit for over a year.  I also love the yarn, from a local company, so much that I've ordered more.  I'm trying to arrange a field trip to the studio!