Because Everyone Loves a Before and After

For the last few weeks I have been feeling super overwhelmed with all the things I need to get done.  And I mean the important things that need to get done, not even the "oh yeah I really should do that but if I don't get around to it that's okay" kind of things.  I mean things like getting the house cleaned, and making dinner for my family, and studying my scriptures, and preparing my Sunday School lesson, and getting to the gym, and making time to spend with the kids and with Scott, and teaching the kids how to be more responsible and respectful {and respectable}, and well -- you get the picture.  All these things are good things and important things, but they are A LOT of things for one person to do.  Even if she is an extremist.

As I began to study my scriptures one day last week, I said a quick prayer asking for help in knowing HOW to prioritize all these things and get them done.  I went on to read a few chapters in the Book of Mormon -- in which the theme of almost every verse seemed to be that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers -- and then as I sat down to begin working on my lesson for Sunday School, something very interesting happened.  As I was looking up scriptures for my lesson, my eye was drawn to the following verse in the Doctrine and Covenants:

 "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;"  {D&C 88:119}

I had to stop what I was doing and write this down.  "What a good reminder!" I thought.  Then, as I went on with my lesson preparation, I found that my eyes were drawn to scripture after scripture that continued to underscore this same idea -- organize yourself, set your house in order, and -- my personal favorite -- "keep slothfulness and uncleanness far from you" {D&C 90:18}.  It wasn't until I read a final verse in D&C 93:44  -- "...therefore, first set in order thy house" --  that the light bulb went on over my head and I realized that THIS was the answer to my prayer.  What had I been praying for?  The wisdom to know how to prioritize.  And what was my answer?  I needed to FIRST get my house in order.  So simple, yet so profound.

I sat the kids down the next day and informed them that we would be doing a whole lot of cleaning and organizing over the next few months.  Aside from the fact that it will be helpful when it comes time to move, I think the greater help lies in the fact that a house of order is much more likely to create a peaceful and loving environment.  I know for myself that when the house is in shambles, I tend to feel extra chaotic and crazy as well.  I let the kids know that I wasn't expecting Rome to be built in a day, and that it would most likely take days, weeks, and even months until EVERYTHING was in order, but we all needed to pitch in and just get started.

And just what should that starting point be?  Well, since the weekends are always so much fun, I thought it might be best to begin with our Saturday chores.   Hahahaha.  After talking with a couple of friends, I decided to implement a few of their ideas in order to tackle this beast for our family.  I basically came to the realization that I needed to devote the entire day to training and then supervising the kids on all of their chores until they had them all down pat.  Running errands and doing other things just for ME would have to wait.  So for today,  I assigned each kid a one hour time slot in which they were to watch me demonstrate how to do their chore and then check things off the checklist that I made for each room.  Ethan was assigned to clean his bedroom {which he shares with Sophie}; Grace was assigned to clean her bedroom {which she shares with Jane}; and Sophie was assigned to clean the Kids' Bathroom.  In the end, Ethan's room took me an hour and a HALF to clean; Grace's was done about an hour (during which she spent the majority of the time lounging on her bean bag chair and reading a book); and the bathroom took only 30 minutes thanks to Sophie actually pitching in and helping and Grace popping in as well.  {She REALLY wanted to watch an episode of Jessie and I told her they couldn't watch it until ALL the chores were done.}

Ethan and Sophie's Room -- Before...

...and After.

Grace and Jane's Room -- Before...

...and After.

Kids' Bathroom -- Before...

...and After.

Not too shabby, eh?  Most productive Saturday EVER.  Hahahaha.  Because I was on such a roll of productivity this morning, I decided to really knock things out of the ballpark and tackle Jane's hair this afternoon.  You see, we've been having a recurring problem lately with a little thing called a rat's nest at the back of her head.  Anytime Jane goes more than a couple days without brushing her hair, it starts to get tangled and matted and ratted and teased in the back until it's a giant mass of hair that can't be brushed even if she would let you.  I've been threatening her for the last couple of months that if she didn't let me brush through her hair everyday I'd have to cut it so it wouldn't get so tangled.  "No!' she invariably cried, "Then I will look like a baby!"  Well, this week I could threaten no longer -- it was just time to DO.  Even after I brushed out the nest, her hair was so frizzled and frazzled that her ponytail was about 3 times thicker than normal.  After spraying it down with water and then running some conditioner throughout, I went ahead and gave her a trim.  The end result?  Super cute and I wish I would have done this MONTHS ago.  Hahahaha.

Jane's Hair -- Before...

...and After.

{I probably cut about 3 inches off the bottom.  It looks so much better now!}

And there you have it.  We are off to a fantastically successful start to our new "House of Order" initiative!  Hopefully, the enthusiasm won't fizzle.  Hahahaha.