How would Super Nanny handle it?

Sometimes, since becoming a parent, I just don't know the answer. I know this happens to many parents and my affliction is not new or unusual but it certainly would be nice if there was a definitive handbook that was given to each new parent and how to deal with 'difficult situations'. As an employee, we've employee handbooks that outlines the codes of conduct, expected behaviour and the like. Additionally, there are often collective agreements, bargaining teams and even arbitration to get us through disagreements.

As a first time parent (and I don't think it would be any easier if we had more than one child), we bumble and fumble our way through and make mistake after mistake and never really reach any mutually satisfactory understanding that makes the conflict any easier. I know I try to do a few things when I parent my son - I try not to channel the devil when speaking, I try to keep my temper in check, I don't make promises or threats I don't intend to keep and I try to learn from the mistakes I make. I am not always successful. In fact, I am likely far less successful then I like to think I am.

Today was a bad day. We've had company all weekend and we were running around doing the things life demands. TroubleMaker was clearly over tired, out of sorts and just done. He wasn't listening - he didn't want to listen - or perhaps that was just my take on it. More correctly, he wasn't able to listen. Not because he woke up this morning wanting to make his Dad and I crazy mad... Not because he's a 'bad boy'... Not because of anything more than far too much mental stimulation that has sent his little mind and body into overdrive.

What started off as a rough morning morphed into a terrible afternoon. He was tired, likely hungry, in need of a way to let off steam and I became obsessed with him needing to wash his sticky hands. He has sticky hands 90% of the time. He's three - it's like part of his uniform. Sticky hands, disheveled hair, wild dinosaur shirt and even crazier pants and red socks - that is my son.

I lost my temper, he was in a time out, my husband and I had a heated discussion (over the fact he doesn't listen - he doesn't and we agreed upon that but it was just one of those angry arguments because we were both frustrated). More time outs, more tears and then I just gave up. He wasn't being bad, really, certainly he wasn't listening but I was the problem.

Sometimes I just don't know how to communicate effectively with him and that is what confuses me and upsets me the most. My entire life, I've always been able to find or learn the right answer to most of the things I've needed or wanted too. But I can find no clear and concise answer on how to speak so my son listens.

Oh, I know there are a host of books, self help gurus and well meaning "reality" shows that will teach me everything I need to know about parenting my son. But none of them are good enough. None of them know me or my son or our situation. Every child - my child - is unique and there cannot be any cookie cutter answers. I've read and tried a few different things but none of it really works. Certainly, there are times when he does listen and he is 1000% amazingly capable. Other times, it's like a completely different child has been left in my care.

I also know I'm the problem. Knowing this still doesn't give me any idea how to get him to listen the first time I ask, not 75 times later and once I've blown my lid and done my Elizabeth Hurley impersonation of The Devil.

How do you cope and get a child to focus and listen? More importantly, how do you keep your cool??!!!

52 Weeks of Organizing: Week 8 (The Roadblock)

Roadblocks. I think they are something we all run into or create for ourselves. And this was my week to run smack dab, face first into a big roadblock...

The Roadblock of Me

Anyone who knows me and likely anyone who has read this blog could tell you that I have great plans, great desires and great intentions. I try - I really do - give my all to something but a good majority of time something gets in my way or crosses my path and I stop or get distracted or I give up. Sometimes, I think I wrote the book on excuses - but perhaps I'm being too hard on myself - this happens to everyone, right? (Agree - for my sanity, please agree) ;-)

The past couple of weeks I've really struggled with my organizing. It isn't that I don't like the results - I do. I like going to my Cupboard of Doom and feeling successful and accomplished. I don't mind taking the time to neatly fold my sweaters after work and placing them back (in order of the picture, even) on my closet shelf. We've all taken care to make sure we keep TroubleMaker's dresser organized.

I like being organized. But it just seems too hard. I know I can break it down into small stuff and just do little chunks but ugh. I don't know - I like doing it, I like the planning and the organizing but it is hard, daunting, overwhelming and I just feel like I won't keep up. So, when this happens, I stop.

But not now. Not this time. I want to succeed, I want to be able to find what I need when I need it and I want to be proud of my home and of the work I've done (and keep doing). So I need to just take stock of the accomplishments I've made and just keep taking it one small step at a time, one success at a time.

It may be a 52 Week project - that's just one project per week. And the big projects I have on my list don't have to be done all at once (if you look here, you'll see my one of my biggest organizing tasks yet to come - and trust me, my husband was very kind when he took those pictures). I can't let the big scary stuff stop me - I'll just have to break it down into chunks or pieces I can deal with.

So today, I did the project I planned on Thursday night and it took no time at all. I made a trip to the local dollar store this morning and it was container-pulooza. I was in HEAVEN - who knew the basket isle of that store could bring me so much joy for so little money!

Here is the task that got me past the roadblock today - the bathroom vanity. And oddly enough, with all the stuff I tossed out and the things I neatly organized, the thing looks HUGE!

Before

Basket-ee Goodness!

For more inspiration and roadblock breaking goodness, check out all of the great people participating in the Org Junkie's 52 Week Organizing Project!

All good design starts with an idea

Anyone who knows me will tell you I not only pile stuff, but I collect, keep and even hoard stuff. I’ve watched episodes of the hoarding show and I laugh and joke with my Mom that my step-dad is a hoarder… I didn’t realize I’m prone to condition until I started to try and sew the back pack I wanted to make for TroubleMaker.

A few weeks ago, he found a button – not just any button but a button of a backpack. I have a sewing room and as a former manager of a sewing supply warehouse, I have lots and lots of sewing stuff… One of my obsessions when I worked there was buttons. We had an entire warehouse of buttons – think of a design and I used to be able to go to the bin and find it for you. I loved buttons and would buy packages and boxes of discount buttons so I have a fairly substantial collection… Although I have tried (and with some success) to give away, freecycle and even garbage a few hundred pieces of my collection, I still have many and my son honed in on this one and began to beg me to make him a ‘backpack’.

Saturday afternoon, with TroubleMaker playing next door, I did just that.
I have not sewn anything since I tried (early in the summer) to make TroubleMaker and I matching aprons to cook in (meaning they are cut out and ready just not sewn together). Stacked on top of the cutting table are photo albums and various craft items from a few miscellaneous projects.

Stacked would indicated order. None is present so I need a different word.



Really, it’s all heaped and piled haphazardly and even the slightest jar to the table sends things sliding in a catastrophic landslide! I shoved stuff aside and laid out the fabric I selected to use. I moved a stack of junk off the ironing board (onto the floor – the only space left) and began to work. Part way through the project, I thought of an improvement and I started to hunt for a slider I wanted to use to make the straps adjustable. I know I had them somewhere but I gave up after 20 minutes or so and finished his backpack – with fixed straps.













More than a year ago – we (meaning me and my husband) decided it would be a good idea to some remodeling downstairs. One of the major changes we decided on was to move my sewing room out from the ‘third bedroom’ and move his ‘mini’ studio into my sewing room. We decided to tear down the wall that encloses his current office to open it to the family room so I can sew and craft while TroubleMaker plays. This will also allow my Husband to leave his equipment set-up and consolidate his prop storage to one room instead of two (and sometimes three).













This will also mean I have to be tidier, more organized and unable to leave projects strewn about. That scares all of us as I’m not known for my organizational skills nor am I known for my ability of keeping my stuff in one area. But perhaps if I have a well orchestrated plan and with plenty of purging, I can complete this dream. I have sketched out a custom built storage unit and I know how I’ll arrange the furniture in the newly (deconstructed) space. I have plans for keeping TroubleMaker’s toys together and new plans for prop storage.




Custom Designed Storage Unit









A place for everything and everything in its place is the only way this can work.

The only way…






Check back next Wednesday as I take you through the design process and share a colour rendering and new floor plan of the proposed space!


I'd also like to thank my Husband (Blackstone Images) for making the pictures look so good - he did a good job of hiding the absolute disaster that my sewing study is... Thank you!

Distracted, me? How did this happen?

It’s been a few days since I decided to start down this path and I started off with a bang! I emptied, I organized – I ran out of time. So I stuffed everything back into the cupboard and decided to start off first thing the next morning. That evening, after TroubleMaker was in bed, I planned. I listed target areas, I devised ‘free’ and cheap ways to organize the stuff I have with stuff I already own. I did make one trip to the store and bought $7.50 worth of balsa wood to construct a mostly-found object spice rack. Hubby and I even toured the thrift shops to see if I could find cheap organizational storage ideas.

And then I felt overwhelmed. Because although I want to start in the kitchen, I quickly realized that the fever was spreading. I tripped over 17 pairs of shoes at the back door and again hung my ‘everyday’ coat over the newel post on the stairs (because there was no room in the closet at the backdoor) and I knew that I was in serious trouble.

The back entrance way, the ‘appliance’ closet, the front hall closet and now you can add the spare room closet because in an attempt to keep us twisted ankle free, my hubby moved our winter boots there (because the front hall closet is chock a block full of other stuff). My son’s dresser is overflowing again with clothes, my ‘underwear’ drawer needs revamping, my sewing room/office is beginning to look like land mines went off in the corners (the middle is free because we have a spare inflatable bed set up for my mother). There is the cupboard in our bathroom and the broom closet off the kitchen.

Then I saw my recipe ‘stack’ and nearly cried. I can’t do this – I’m not organized enough! I start off with such good intentions but then I get seriously overwhelmed and get easily distracted with an area (or thing) that might be easier.

I even went so far as to try and pick out fabric to sew new curtains for the kitchen (not in the budget, but definitely needed) – all in an attempt to not get back to the original plan – clean and organize my kitchen.

I suppose I should just quit while I’m ahead and sit on the floor and play endless hours of “bocks” with TroubleMaker but I know it will only be a little while before the now disastrous spice cupboard calls my name again.

So here I go, again, back in the mire. Give me 24 hours – then send in a search party.

Getting Organized!

I’ve always wanted to be one of ‘those’ people who knew exactly where everything was at any given second. I want to have neat little containers for push pins and paper clips. I want little plastic cases for papers and pencils; I want glass jars on shelves with coloured pasta in them.

The fact of the matter is, I’m a “piler” – a word so evil in the English language that even the most renowned spell checkers can’t actual verify if my spelling is correct… Yes, folks, I “pile” stuff - everything from tin cans in the cupboard (with the labels helter skelter) to piles of unopened mail. I pile books, cd’s and bags of pasta. I pile clothes on a chair in my room and metres of unsewn fabric in my craft room.

Ladies, gentlemen: my name is Corrie and I’m a piler. It is sometimes also known as a ‘stacker’ – but that is just a junior title… In order to be a true piler, you must create piles so high and so deep that even your best friend or husband won’t venture into your office to rummage through your things to find the book they lent you or the receipt for the kid’s bike.

The other qualifier to being a ‘piler’ is to be able to – at a moment’s notice – go to any stack in the house and find exactly what you’ve been asked to retrieve (give or take a pile or two). I never ceased to amaze (and annoy) my coworkers with my ramblings of “have you seen…?” followed by “Oh! Here it is – it was in a different pile!”

I know this is my flaw – I do and try as I might, I just can’t seem to hold my various attempts at organizing together long enough to do any good. Eventually, and rather quickly, I might add, my organized desk goes back to a disorganized stack of piles. I’ve cleaned my sewing room/office up so many times that I don’t think my husband believes me any more when I speak about ‘getting organized’ in there so that I can work on the mountains (the graduated form of piling) of projects I need to accomplish.

So – why am I writing about getting organized? Well, because like so many things in my life, I think if I make them public and attach some accountability to my attempt, it may keep me on track and on target! So over the next few weeks, I will be organizing and making a true attempt to remain organized as I move forward into a new phase in my life.

We are on a tight (hear "no") budget for this. I want to do it as cheap and green as possible but reusing, repurposing and revitalizing things I can find already in my house or get for free from local recycling places.

The readers of my blog are my judges on this journey and you are also the ones I will be accountable too... In the form of a monetary reward if I fall down on the job! Leave a comment and and check back June 1 and I will do a random draw for a $25 gift certificate from Ikea (as who better for home organization than Ikea?).

First stop... My kitchen!