Clover Lane

We've had a long run of fun events and I am reminded once again, of what "settling in" means to me and the kids and what I need to do to make that happen.  I've heard too many requests lately to watch TV or invite a friend over or go to a friend's house.  They have grown accustomed to being entertained, instead of finding their own entertainment.

Today I started to clean out the craft/homework area, (long overdue, plus school supplies are out and I freshened our markers and crayons) and moved into the family room to simplify things a bit.  Boy I used to be good at this-I could pitch things, put them in the Goodwill bin, move them upstairs into the "holding area" (otherwise known as linen closet repurposed into toy cabinet) with ease.  Now I find myself getting stuck by sentimentalism in a major paralyzing way.  For instance, Patrick doesn't play with his "guys" anymore.  That hurts my heart, because I won't have any other little boys to hand those guys down to and he's growing up so quickly.  I won't/can't/don't part with them, he doesn't want to either. We moved them up in his drawer under his bed.

When it comes to having kids who can entertain themselves, sometimes all it takes is a stern "quiet day" rule (nothing going on today, don't ask) and for me to sit down and re-engage them in activities. If I sit and draw with them, start them out on little things like this whatever it is, I reawaken the interest.  This takes:

1. having things organized and accessible to them.
2. simplifying their things so they aren't overwhelmed.
3. a little instruction or just sitting with them and playing along.

Janey had too many toys out, and when I moved a lot of things up to a high shelf in her closet (they will feel new when I switch them out in a few months), and I set up a little area with just three dolls and a basket of clothes, one purse and a backpack she played for hours with them.  I am on to her kitchen area to weed out there.

All of these things, (except the deep sentimental feelings which make me want to bawl), help me feel more settled also.  I know what we have in our home, I can easily help straighten the family areas (or do it myself, which is most likely the case), it looks visually appealing to me and I can reconnect with the kids.  I have learned this about myself and my kids over the years-we need this pull-back time, and need to take the time to settle in and reestablish some semblance of order.

Here is my simple menu planning process-so simple I feel funny writing a post about it!

I have been doing this for more years than I can count and nothing, I repeat NOTHING, has saved me for hassle, money, stress, than this simple process.  It also prevents me from being eaten alive by hungry children. :)


All week long I have a piece of notebook paper hanging up on the inside of one of my kitchen cabinets.  As I notice we run out of something or someone needs something, I write it down.  I shop most of the time at a large grocery store once a week and I try to make this my one errand a week if at all possible, so this list holds just about everything I need from food to a school supplies or cleaning supplies or diapers.


My grocery shopping day changes depending on what works with my schedule at the time, but right now I usually go on Fridays.  On Thursday, I get my cute little pad of paper with the days of the week out (or I just use a piece of notebook paper), and think of dinners to make, along with maybe some desserts or snacks.

I own a few cook books, and also like AllRecipes to source meal ideas.

I try to mix it up with tried and true favorites and maybe one or two new things.  Friday is usually pizza night, Saturday I don't plan for, because we might go out, or stay in, or teenagers might have plans or not, and I just play it by ear.  I also look at the calendar to see what the week holds for me, and how much time I have for preparation that day.

I add to my grocery list the ingredients that I will need to make the dinners I have planned, checking my cabinets to see what we already have.

My days of the week chart is not set in stone of course, I change things around because I might forget to defrost the meat, or have a really busy day with a fussy little one, and go for the easy meal instead of one that requires time, but I always know I have six meal ingredients on hand.

I've been asked many times over the years how I organize my kid's keepsakes, school papers and art work. I have a little system that works well for me.

When something comes into my house that I know I, or the kids, want to keep, I put it in one of two places.

If it is something that I know I want to include in their scrapbooks I put it immediately into a box-this box is easily accessible (right next to the kitchen), and on top of the armoire that holds my kids scrapbooks.


The box has six clear folders in it for each child.



I also hang special art work on the walls:

I finally finished a little fun project I have been working on all year.  I made my own cookbook.  I decided, earlier this year, that I needed a little boost to get out of a cooking rut I was in.  I knew what I needed was a project that would help my organize and simplify my recipes.  I decided to collect my family favorite recipes and consolidate them into a cookbook that I would really use...not like those cookbooks that I buy that have one or two or three good recipes in them, but a cookbook where I would use ALL the recipes often.

How many times can I type the word cookbook?

Anyways, I knew that when it comes to me and projects and being the mother of five children, I have to break everything down into little steps.  First I organized my recipe binder nicely.  I took out recipes that I would never make and marked the one I knew already were going to make the cut into the book.

Here is my new plan I thought of out of my own head.  It is working well and I love it, which makes me think some of my brain cells lasted through the summer.

Sometimes when I post my housewifey sort of things like this, I feel (in a paranoid way) like there might be lots of people out there who are making fun of me.  It's OK if you do.  If you say, "That weird Clover Lane lady just has to find something better to do with her time then make cleaning charts for herself."   The thing is, I have made cleaning charts (and all other sorts of lists) for myself since I was 5 and I just can't stop now.  It's a crazy weird addiction.

I wish I had a better picture for you, but I don't.  I spend a little bit of each morning (I will bore you more tomorrow with my daily schedule) doing basic cleaning and straightening.

The DC after each weekday stands for Deep Cleaning (how tricky!) and that means that once a week I have a room to work on where I do more than just the basics, but get down to the nitty gritty like baseboards, windows, cushions off the couch-that sort of nitty gritty.  So if I do what I am supposed to do I won't have to do a huge spring/fall/Christmas cleaning, because it's been done slowly but surely.  I have the whole week for each room, so I can get to it on a slow day, or little by little, instead of tearing it apart and spending hours.

A commonly asked question I get is: How do you get your kids to play on their own?

I've learned that how I set up my house greatly influences my kid's ability to play on their own.

1. I have found that cutting TV watching to a bare minimum, best if NONE, leads to so much more self-starting, creative play for my kid's.

2. Set it up, and give a couple minutes. I put these trains in a little line and helped Patrick make a track and then walked away. He played for a good hour.

3. The fewer toys, and the more organized, the better chance at making it work. Huge amounts of toys are overwhelming. You know how you feel when you look at 500 choices of fabric, or icecream, or shoes? Sometimes it's easier to walk away. They feel the same.

4. Bait and switch. Rotate toys maybe once a week or every other week. Even ONE "new" building set will fascinate for hours. If I had Duplos out, I put away the Lincoln Logs.

5. Be in the same room. Or not. Depending on the age and your child. Sometimes it's best for me to be out of sight. Other times if I just sit in the room I find my 2 year old content as long as he knows I'm nearby.

6. Get a "project" started with siblings involved.  I know Patrick LOVES to play along side Andrew or  Matthew.

About seven years ago, I tackled a huge, procrastinated project in my house.  I knew that most of the areas of my life, my home, were organized...except for photos.  Many were thrown into boxes, still in the sleeves from the developer, and others were scattered in ugly photo albums or stuck in envelopes.  I had a goal: to get every single photo I owned into matching photo albums.

It was a huge project, but the motivation was this:
It would only get worse!

So I did this:
1. I found relatively cheap, sturdy, classic photo albums online and ordered a bunch.  I use these. I wanted ones that I would always be able to purchase...you could purchase these 40 years ago, and so I figured I could purchase them 40 years from now.

2. I painstakingly went through every single photo, and sorted them in chronological order.  I labeled boxes by the year and threw them in there first, and then went through the boxes and ordered them by month.  It took me about a week and I worked on them every chance I got.  I did one box for Jeff's childhood pics, one for mine, and one for our dating years, engagement, and wedding.  From then on, it's just all chronological. I don't write things on the photos, or in the albums-to me, it's enough that I have them IN albums.

3. Once I had those all in order and inserted in the books I know I needed to keep them up often. Now I try to go through my downloaded photos once every 3 months and order prints.  I don't have time to make sure each photo is print perfect...sometimes I edit, most of the time I don't.  I send them to the store I grocery stop at...that way, it's not inconvenient to pick them up.  I make myself put those prints in the albums as soon as I can.

(And a big P.S.  My mom has a huge box of photos, all jumbled up, from our childhood.  No neat albums.  I love getting the box out and looking through them photo by photo.  You never know what you'll get.  So if your approach is "throw it in a box", then by all means, keep throwing!)

Album Information:  Pioneer Photo Album BDP-35.  I google that, then find the cheapest price on line.  You can sometimes find these at Michaels, but they don't keep a large stock of them, and a unreliable color choice.  (But they are probably cheap with a coupon?)

One morning, faced with the task of planning my weekly menu, I had a bout of exasperation at the state of my kitchen cupboards...disorganization, and way too much stuff...lots of things I don't use but bought for one particular recipe (that I ended up never making!) Good example...curry paste. I've had curry paste in my baking cupboard for a good 3 years. Me and curry paste parted amicably..at last. What started with a bottle of curry paste, ended with cleaned, straightened, organized, SIMPLICITY.

I love the results. It's so much easier to cook and plan GOOD meals, and I like that the kids eat more of the meals, and less snack and junk food...since we are down to the bare minimum. We packed up a box of food for the local food pantry, and I told the kids, that except for necessities like milk and bread, we are going to use what we have till it's gone.

I have developed over the years a great laundry routine that saves me time.