Where Does This Lie on the Catastrophe Scale?

Yesterday, Hubs and I had what you could term a 'disagreement'.

But first, a bit of a side note. I made a decision on Day One of this blog that I would never directly post about any personal issue I had with my husband. But bare with me...

Oh, I was hopping mad! For the two years we've lived here, whenever we've outgrown clothing, or household items, or books, I've been packing them away ready for the Big Charity Drop-Off that never eventuated. This past week, Hubs had time off and we were going to finally get around to donating the bags while the kids were in school. There were at least a dozen carefully sorted and packed away garbage-can sized bags full of stuff.

I won't tell you the exact nature of the argument because it won't serve any purpose. As with any argument, there were two sides and we each thought we were right. Let's just say at one point I had to physically remove myself from the room.

Sometimes, the best thing we can possibly do for our spouses, is to keep our mouths shut.

It took all of my energy to leave the room. I wanted to stay and fight. My instincts were telling me to stay and argue my point. I did, for a little while. And I could see the curtain drop over his face - you know the one that says "I'm here physically, but I'm just not listening to you anymore!"? That look infuriates me! So though it took every fibre of my being, I stopped.

I can't say that I was Little Miss Sunshine for the rest of the day, but I know stepping back when I did was the best thing I could have done.

Ironically, I met Hubs 11 years ago today. I'm not sure I fell in love with him that first day, but there was definitely a physical attraction! Through the years we've been through an awful lot, but we're strong. I love him to bits, even when when one or both of us are wrong!

In my daughter's classroom, the teacher instigated what they refer to as The Catastrophe Scale. They presented it to the children as a way for them to self-regulate their emotional responses to things. I nearly laughed out loud when I heard about it. Basically the idea is to take the thing you're worried about, and see where is lies on The Catastrophe Scale. The exact words they used with the children were "If you left your hat at home and had to play in the shade, where would that be on The Catastrophe Scale? Now, what about if your HOUSE BURNED DOWN (emphasis mine!) and all your clothes and toys were burned up? Where would that lie on the Scale?" Yes. You can see what I mean.

But apparently the kids took to that concept really well, with no major psychological scarring or nightmares about toys exploding into fireballs. Well done Mrs P!

When you think about it, as dramatic as The Catastrophe Scale sounds to a 5 year old, the idea of it is probably really useful. Where did yesterday's 'discussion' lie on the Scale?

Certainly nowhere near the house burning down!

Hubs is at work today, but tonight I'm fixing a nice meal, maybe even with a cooked dessert (we don't 'do dessert' very often) and I might even send the kids to bed early (*wink*)

Because the biggest catastrophe of all would be not having him around to 'discuss' with :)

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's Basic Weekly Plan

There's a rumor going around Bloggityville that I am super-organised. Untrue...so very untrue, LOL. But having a plan for each day of the week does help to minimise the 'headless chook' feeling, and so, because I want you all to keep your heads, I offer up my Basic Weekly Plan for inspiration. Pick what you like, and ignore the rest. Remember, what works for me, may not work for you.

Those familiar with Flylady (God rest her moderately disturbing sense of order...) will already be up to speed on one of the 'cleaning schedule camps' - the Zone Method. You spend a whole week in any given zone (sometimes made up of a couple of rooms or areas), and last time I checked, she works on having five zones to the average house (more or less). That never really worked for me. I like to have a set plan for Monday, a set plan for Tuesday, and so on. Autopilot Housekeeping for Dummies, if you like!

Lizzie's Basic Weekly Plan

~ Monday ~

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

~ Tuesday ~

Laundry Room
Bathroom
Ensuite

~ Wednesday ~

Kitchen
Family Room
Desk Day
Menu Planning

~ Thursday ~

Main Bedroom & Robe

Loungeroom
Grocery Shopping

~ Friday ~

Entrance & Hall
Bedroom 4
Errands Day (library, fruit & veg shop, butcher, post office, etc)

~ Saturday ~

Weekly Yard Blessing (the usual yardwork)
Misc Laundry (school uniforms, work uniforms, towels, sheets, other bedding)
Home Project (1 hour)

~ Sunday ~

Baking Day (I try to aim for a cake or muffins and some cookies, for the kids lunches for the week ahead)
Set Aside Returnables (donations, library books, borrowed items)
Pamper Day (random pottering about the house, reading the paper etc)

As you can see, most of the nitty-gritty housework stuff is deliberately scheduled for weekdays, when the kids are in school. On the weekends, all bets are usually off!

Saturday is a big washing day but if we start it early it isn't too bad, and its during the rebooting of all those loads that we pick a project we need to work on around the house (cleaning out tupperware cupboard, reorganising pantry, putting photos into albums and so on) and Hubs starts on the yard, with me (and the kids) helping as time permits.

Sundays are very loose, just the way we like them :) We sleep later, read the paper, and Mama relaxes until the oven goes on for baking in the afternoon.

I have a section in my Home Management Binder (update coming soon) for Focus Cleaning, and it is from those lists that I work on the applicable room depending on the day. I have a two-hour window allocated toward housework a day which I've worked out is plenty if I don't dawdle or get distracted :P Because it will only be a week before that particular room pops up again in my rotation, it never gets filthy enough to require a mammoth cleaning session.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's "Once-in-a-Blue-Moon" Book & DVD List

In an effort to streamline the blog a bit, I'm including these as a post all on their own. I miss reading for pleasure - for me its a bit impossible to pick up a good book these days however its definitely on the cards post-study as a regular gig.

Here's what I'm hoping to get through before, oh, say, the year 2011...

( * indicates a book that I have read before, or a DVD that I have already seen, but want to reacquaint with)

Fiction

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) *
The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) *
My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult)
Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) *
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) *
A Fortunate Life (A.B. Facey) *
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) *
A Child Called 'It' (Dave Pelzer)
Dirt Music (Tim Winton)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mark Haddon)
The whole Anne of Green Gables series (Lucy Maud Montgomery) *
The whole Narnia series (C.S. Lewis) *

Non-Fiction

The Excellent Wife (Martha Peace)
Created To Be His Helpmeet (Debi Pearl)

Reference Books

Something other than course books...please?

DVDs

Anne of Green Gables *
Anne of Green Gables - The Sequel *
Anne of Green Gables - The Continuing Story
Yours, Mine & Ours
A Walk To Remember *
The Guardian
The Notebook *
Hope Floats *
The Prince and Me *
The Family Stone
The Wedding Date
The Holiday
Becoming Jane
Because I Said So
The Queen
Dances With Wolves *
Miss Potter
A Beautiful Mind *
Gladiator *
A Good Year
Braveheart *
While You Were Sleeping *

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's Thursday Thoughts ~ August 2

~~ Thursday Thoughts ~~

Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is only given once. Once wasted you cannot get it back.

~ Author Unknown ~

I've often thought of this quote as I've struggled with my perpetual time management issues through the years. How true is this statement? I remember as a child, anxiously awaiting the arrival of Christmas Day, thinking that time moved so s-l-o-w-l-y. How could I bear it? And now, as an adult, I marvel at how quickly time flies by. I was just thinking yesterday that I have no definining memories of Miss Moo from about age 2 through to age 4. For the life of me I can't pinpoint specific examples of her 'being three'! I'm sure toilet training was predominant, but I think I've blocked those years out!

My time could be much better spent in more productive pursuits, that's for sure. This year, I made a big step in that direction by cutting my TV watching down to about one third of what it was before. The further into the 'less TV' experiment I got, the more I realised that firstly, I would not drop down dead if I didn't happen to catch Desperate Housewives (LOL) and secondly, that the content of the shows I used to enjoy just didn't hold the same appeal. Desperate Housewives is just one example of many - I was a fan from the moment it first aired here last year (months after premiering in the States). It's only after I stopped watching a couple of months ago that I realised the entire show is based around qualities I'd be ashamed to emulate - adultery, murder, boyfriend-stealing, and a whole raft of others. Of course I already knew that it contained these things but they only started to bother me when I was able to distance myself from the habit of watching every week. I only watched because that's what I did on Monday nights.

I still have 'my' shows - and yes, I was caught up in the whole 'Heroes' thing, LOL - but by cutting two-thirds of my usual list, I gained some valuable hours. I can't say I always used them to the best of their advantage (LOL) but they were there.

I want to return to a simpler way of reading and watching films. I couldn't get enough of Anne of Green Gables (both books and films) or any number of the Jane Austen film or TV adaptations when I was young. Over the years, I still retained my love for them but I had to throw them in the mix with the more morally ambiguous fare. Now, as my daughter grows, I would be positively thrilled if she found a love for Anne, Eleanor, Marianne, Lizzie and Emma. Those should be her role models, not the Britneys, Nicoles or Parises.

But don't get me started on those...

Cheers,
Lizzie

Works For Me Wednesday ~ August 1

*** Please scroll down for an explanation as to why this post appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with parenting advice! ***

Good morning everyone!

Have you noticed that nobody writes actual paper-and-envelope letters anymore?

This was further reinforced to me this week when I tried (in vain) to find a letter writting set in stores. You know the ones - they probably featured prominently in your childhood as birthday presents from Grandma, LOL. I couldn't find them anywhere! I finally came across a set by Hallmark in the local Kmart store, only to choke at the price. They wanted $20 for 20 sheets of A5 paper, 15 envelopes, and two notecards! No thank-you-very-much!

I finally decided to make my own letter writing set. I started with this clear plastic file box:


I think I spent about $4 on it (no doubt I could have bought it cheaper elsewhere, but I wasn't in the mood to look!). Next, I bought a 50-sheet pack of Tudor marbled paper (about $6) and envelopes that approximated a match, also from Tudor (around $5). This is good quality paper - not flimsy.


The simple marbled design on the paper gives it a classic touch and the whole kit cost about $15, for more than twice the amount of the Hallmark set. The clear box is re-usable and was the perfect size to hold one 50-sheet pack of paper and the 20 envelopes:

It would be quite easy to cut the paper down to A5 size (most of the letter writing paper I saw was like that). You could 'decorate' the envelopes and paper quite classily - maybe a single heart or star sticker in the upper left corner or a rubber stamp design.

I'm going to hand-write one letter or thankyou note to a member of my family or to friends each week on Desk Day. Just because we shouldn't let go of that sort of thing :)

*** Edited to add: Of course it WOULD have to be the one week, in oh, about two months that I decide to do a WFMW post and then realise it is a THEMED WEEK on parenting advice. D'oh! Okay, parenting advice....parenting advice....just so I can link to this post and not waste it....LOL.....

Ah, I've got it...

When a three year old swallows a Magnetix ball, don't panic (unless said child is choking or can't breathe....then panic. You have my permission. But ring the ambulance first. Because that's just good parenting advice, LOL). Instead, remember calmly that you did the same thing yourself when you were three and it made for all sorts of interesting wedding anecdotes many, many years later as your brothers recounted the day it finally 'came out at the equator' after the third day. And what point is there to parenting at all unless you can store up a whole bunch of wonderful stories just like that one to torture your poor child on their first date, prom, wedding day, during the labour of their first born...? ***

Cheers,
Lizzie