Spirit Week Blahs

Warning- a rant:  Am I the only parent who hates spirit week at school? After a second day of watching a tear-stained little face walk into school, I seriously have to ask why we do this. I'm sure teachers and parents mean well when they organize these events. They sound fun. And maybe they are for some children. But not mine.  Today was "wacky hair day."  I now have sticky hands, a messy bathroom, and a boy who went to school in tears.  I apparently don't have the right gel to make a mohawk and his hair is too long to stay up and where, oh where, is that can of leftover hair-paint-spray from Hallloween? I'm sure I'll find it at Easter when I'm looking for rabbit ears. Sigh.  Perhaps if I had girls I would have the correct hair supplies, but I have boys who pay about as much attention to their hair as they do their toenails- zilch!  When I looked in my own cabinet, I found hair gels that were at least 10 years old and definitely not the type for a punk-do. I'm currently a big fan of the ponytail- no gel required. Yesterday was "twin day" (the day you are supposed to dress exactly like your best friend) which wasn't quite as bad but there was still the drama about which friend to pick. Thank goodness for the octo-mom: now kids can have unlimited "twins" at school.  And then there was the frantic search for the wrist bands that were apparently in the goody bag from a birthday party 6 months ago.  "But I HAVE to have them- we all agreed to wear them"  Maybe if I were a type-A-uber-organized mom I would know where the soccer wrist bands were, but most days I'm lucky to know where the clean underwear and socks are. (Not that anyone cares about those except me.) And to be completely honest, those wrist bands might have ended up in a box that went to the thrift store- I vaguely recall seeing them recently.  Needless to say, he survived the day sans wrist bans.  Pajama day didn't involve any drama this year, but triggers bad flash-backs of previous years "There is absolutely no waaaaaaaaay I'm wearing my pajamas to school- it's weird- but there is absolutely no waaaaaay I'm going to be the only one not wearing them-everyone else will wear them. I'm staying home- you can't make me go."  Well I can, and I did. In a compromise of sweat pants. 

The hodgepodge of hair goop we tried.

Tomorrow is sports jersey day.  Thank goodness for one easy one.  My sports-obsessed boys have plenty of those.  I just have to make sure the laundry gets done so they are all clean.

But first I think I'll make a cup of tea and do a little knitting and appreciate the fact that  they are off at school and someone else's problem for a few hours (god bless those teachers.)

I think lintilla  is coming along nicely.

Less stuff

So far, I have been really disciplined with my lenten goal of placing one item a day into a box for charity. Most days I find myself putting a lot more into the box than one item.  Of course I have to fight that little voice in my my head that says "Hold onto it so you have something to put in the box next week."  I recognize that voice as the little demon on my shoulder, the same one that tells me that carrying laundry up two flights of stairs should count as a workout or that leaving the leaves on the garden is just "natural mulch." I'm doing a pretty good job of ignoring the little demon-voice and when I come across an item that I know belongs in that box, I put it in right away- no holding it for a later day.  I've now made two trips to the thrift store with boxes of clothes that don't fit and gadgets I no longer use. I have also delivered some beloved books and children's clothing to friends with younger children. There have also been very full recycling bins every week with papers that I no longer need to keep.   It feels good to slowly but surely clean the closets and cluttered corners of the house.

As I've been going through my things, I've also been going through my children's closets and drawers.  It surprised me a bit to learn that I am, as much if not more, attached to their childhood toys and momentos than they are. A third birthday card reminds me of the gaggle of little boys searching for moon rocks (river rocks painted with glow-in-the-dark-paint.) A never-played-with little boy babydoll tugs at my heartstrings and reminds that my "all-boy" boys never did take to dolls, no matter how sensitive they are.  But these are my memories and my hopes and dreams and not theirs. I don't need dolls and rocks and toys to preserve my memories of my little boys.  They are in my heart forever.  I hope they bring memories and joy to someone else now.


The van loaded up for a trip to the thrift store



Too Much Stuff

If your family is like anything like mine, or anything like most Americans, you have too much stuff. We try to clean it out with annual basement and attic purges and by trying to convince the kids to get rid of infrequently-played-with toys, and we do regularly drop off boxes at local charities. But it never seems to end.  More comes in all the time. Birthday parties with their bags of little plastic trinkets, deals too good to pass up at the dollar store, that piece of clothing that only needs a hem or two, that turns into a pile of unworn clothes.  In America this has gotten so out of control that we have stores that are solely dedicated to selling stuff to hold all of our stuff. We have tvs and books about hoarding and have made it a clinical diagnosis. 

Our attic

An overflowing toy bin. One of many.

This is my public confession- I have too much stuff. We live in a big old Victorian home with an unfinished basement and an attic and I have a tendency to keep everything, just throwing it in the attic and saying "well, I might use it someday."  I even admit to having a mild obssesion with jars and boxes and rags- you never know when you might need the perfect size box to ship a package or a jar to hold something small or lots of rags for a project.  It would just make me crazy to pay for boxes or jars or rags! (BTW-I fully blame this one of my farm-raised mother who really did grow up saving and using jars and boxes and rags. My problem is that I have too many and I don't really use them all that often.)



My jar and tin collection.

Tomorrow in the first day of Lent. A time a quiet and refection and self-denial.  We aren't a particularly religious family, but we were raised Christian and are, at a minimum, culturally Christian. We observe major holidays and enjoy both the celebratory and reflective nature of the festivals.  I like the idea of giving up something for lent but always thought it strange that it is so often food, or at least vice, related. I could give up chocolate, but then could just substitute caramels. I could give up wine but could substitute gin and tonics. These never really changed me in any sort of meaningful way. This year I am taking a new approach. Instead of depriving myself of something that is easy substituted, I am going to find items in my home that I don't use, or that could be better used by someone else and I'm going to give them to someone who could really use them.  I have placed a great, big, empty box in my guest room and every single day during lent I am going to place one item in that box. As I choose my item and place it in the box I am going to reflect on all the people in the world whose basic needs are not met. Mothers who don't have the means to feed their children.  Families that are torn apart by war. Children who have to scrounge for food to eat and rags to wear. I am going to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the fact that I and my family are so blessed that not only do we have all of our needs met, we have more than we can manage.  On Fridays I will take that box to a local charity and pass it along so that someone else can share in the bounty. It's a little gesture, but one that I hope will stay with me long beyond lent.  Forty days isn't so very long, but long enough that I imagine I it will get harder to part with items as we approach Easter. I'm sure the first week or two won't be that difficult; collecting all those items that I keep meaning to get rid of anyway, but then I will have to start making harder cuts.  Purging items that have sentimental value or that were purchased with a goal in mine (I'm particularly thinking of all my crafting supplies here) but items I don't really need or use.  It will be an interesting process to watch. 

I am encouraging my family to join my on this journey.  What about you?  What do you do for lent?