More on the 9 Patch

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post about the 9 patch quilt I'm slowly working on. Well, on Monday of this week AmandaJean of Crazy Mom Quilts announced that she is doing a quilt-along based on the same quilt! I actually first found out about that quilt through AmandaJean's blog. So I've joined in the quilt-along! AmandaJean has a list of all the participants on her sidebar and if you check it out you'll see another Aimee. Cool, huh? The goal is to make one square a day. I've already got about half of my squares done and my squares are bigger so I don't need quite so many, so my goal is to make 2-3 a week. I'm so excited! Here are some of the squares I've finished in the last two weeks.

Ode to Wordfull Wednesday

Today is Wordfull Wednesday, Hooray!

I'm so excited, but now what do I say?

Cocoa has chosen the topic so well,

To write our own poem, oh this could be swell.

I love to read poems by Frost and Blake,

But to write my own could be a mistake.

I joined in this group to stretch and to grow

But writing a poem...I just don't know.

Well look at that, as I've typed and I've sighed

A poem emerged, but not till I tried.

And so I say "Thanks" to Cocoa, my friend.

And now that I'm done I will call this, THE END

Classic Kids Records

I just wanted to quickly post about a new website I found through Chocolate On My Cranium. I think it will be my new favorite for a while! Check out Kiddie Records Weekly. I am so excited about this!

Friday's Fix-up: the kitchen counter....or part of it anyway

For today's fix-up I cleaned up a part of my kitchen counter that has been cluttered pretty much since the day we moved in.

There used to be a phone on the wall right above the counter here, and so we kept a phone book, and notepad there. Pretty soon all kinds of papers and other stuff were getting piled there too. The sad thing is that we haven't had a phone on that wall for almost two years now! And there were still two phone books sitting there! New phone books, I might add. I got rid of the old ones when the new ones came. How ridiculous is that? I guess old habits really do die hard. Well here is that space now.

I left the fruit basket because we go through fruit like crazy around here and I like to have it accessible to the kids. I also left the mug full of pens, pencils, etc., because the kids use them for homework and other things and I just haven't come up with any better place that would be just as handy. Sometimes getting them to do their homework is like pulling teeth (I was the same way, so I can't complain too much), and if I have to send them searching for a pencil it just makes it that much harder. So, the mug stays. But still, it is soooooo much nicer! Hooray!

My Pursuit of Order

I didn't post a Monday's Mess yesterday. Not because I'm quitting. I'm just going to combine the Monday and Friday posts into one post on Friday so I'll have a before and after in one post. I am really enjoying the small spaces of order I have created so far. I really don't want to quit!

Over the weekend I had some insane thoughts about completely and deeply cleaning my whole house this week. While the results would be very nice, it just isn't a practical or even possible plan of action. Bringing order to my home is going to take a lot of organizing, de-cluttering, and changing of habits and that is NOT going to happen all in one week. So, I will keep going with my weekly projects and try to keep my past projects from becoming messes again. It feels like a long drawn out process at times, but I think it is the best process for me right now.

In my quest to establish a home of order I'm also trying out a little schedule. It sounds like such a big deal when I use the word schedule, but really it's not. I'm just trying to eliminate some of the chaos that gives me so much trouble and is so very overwhelming. Here's my weekday schedule (no schedule for weekends):

Wake up somewhere between 5 and 6 am. (pretty vague, but I'm always up before the kids.)
Kids up at 6:30
Leave for school 7:45
Get home and start clean up time 8:30
Pre-school/play time/whatever time starting sometime after 10:45 or so
Lunch sometime around 11:30 or 12
story time
quiet (nap) time, I get computer/sewing/reading time here
quick clean-up 3:00
kids home from school/snacks/homework 3:45
start supper 4:30
eat supper whenever it's ready
quick clean-up and baths
bedtime routine 7:30(our well established habit of jammies, sing some songs, family scripture reading, family prayer, brush teeth, then personal prayers)
kids into bed 8:00
free time for James and I (sewing for me/electronics for him, read together, watch a movie together, make cookies together, whatever!)
go to bed usually about 10 but this varies greatly.

I've only actually "followed" this schedule about three times now, but I do notice a difference when I do. Things just seem to go a little smoother.

Friday's Fix-up: now I can see the piano

The piano is much improved.

Ahhhh. If only the rest of my house could look so good. I think it will someday.

Inspiring

What person or scene inspires me? That is the topic from Chocolate on my Cranium for Wordfull Wednesday today. Hmmmm.... I've had so many thoughts on this the last few days. Abigail Adams came to mind, and so did Benjamin Franklin. But I settled on a scene: the west side of the Teton Mountains. I grew up seeing that scene every day. Well, every clear day. It always brought me a feeling of joy and home and excitement. It still does whenever I get the chance to see it. I don't have a picture, but did find a webcam of the west side. So beautiful!