Organized Chaos

I was pretty humbled on a field trip to a very organized house. I could only aspire to be so organized, and even if I didn't make it to the labeling, I would at least like to get some organization to the clutter that surrounds us. "We're surrounded!" I have purchased a chore/calendar from www.motivatedmoms.com in an attempt to get my housework under control and to feel worthless at the end of each day when the chores have not been completed (the part about feeling worthless is not the intent of the website or organizer extraordinaire, but I am still allowing the feelings of worthlessness to bite me in the butt).

A few of my recent accomplishments on the chore list would be cleaning out my toaster, which contained an entire loaf of bread in crumb form. When I toasted a piece of breadt the following day, it got burnt on a setting that normally doesn't do anything ("Everyone knows you have to push your toast down twice!) and I continued to eat the black piece of toast because I was in shock that all of those crumbs would actually effect the performance of the toaster! Cleaning the drawers in the refrigerator was something I had been meaning to do since Fiona was born four months ago...no wait she is six months old now, crap!...and there was something totally cathartic in scrubbing out moldy onion peels and all of that fruit and vegetable dust. The chore list only has a few deep cleaning things a day, so I must have missed the previous days that told me to clean out the top shelf, second shelf and so on of the refrigerator. I only have the drawers cleaned out, and I only have time for my chore list each day! So my love hate relationship with chore list gives me a great sense of accomplishment when I get to check trivial things like take vitamins or feed pet each day, but that thing at the top of the daily list "Make bed" is just not happening. We maybe make the bed, if I get into the bedroom before Jake collapses each night, but if I walk into a snoring heap, it is my own fault for ignoring the first thing on the list.Fiona has started to gnaw on some crackers and teething biscuits! We are so excited! She is maybe getting a few calories, if she can suck on the cracker long enough. However, she is mostly a little woodchuck, grinding down on the little crackers and making soppy cracker mess all over herself and whatever can fall anywhere if it hasn't been weighed down by slobber and adhered to her clothes or face. This morning, Iain discovered the crackers and brought them to me to dispense. He wanted some, so I gave him one for each hand, and he shared one with Fiona who was sitting in the exer-saucer. As she was grinding away, Iain kept saying, "Oh my," and pointing to the mess she was apparently making. He got a little closer, picked off some of the cracker shrapnel and held it up to me and again said, "Oh my." He had a disapointed tone in his voice, that can only be an imitation of me. He seemed to know that there was a mess on hand, and wanted to inform me that he recognized the little woodchuck in our midst. In typical Iain form, he wisked it onto the floor so that Brutus could come by and clean everything up for us.

Fiona has decided that when she is upset and I am trying to cuddle and console her, the flailing has become constructive and rather rhythmic. (It must be the music classes that Becky is sending us to.) She starts to slap her hand on my shoulder, while one hand is in her mouth. This seems to quiet her down, along with her new special song:

I know a girl who you don't know
Little Fiona Lynn
Way down south in West Des Moines
Little Fiona Lynn
Oh, Fiona!
Little Fiona Lynn
Oh, Fiona!

Little Fiona LynnIf neither family business works for her, she can always join the circus.

Iain has started helping in the kitchen with unpacking the dishwasher and taking out the recycling. I have started to prop the door to the garage, and stash a counter full of recycling to keep him occupied while I grab the knives and sharps out of the dishwasher. He is very efficient, and seems to know the difference between a recyling item and a return for deposit item. This boy is smart. Now if I can just get him to pick up his own toys all of the time and start dusting, I will have some help with my chore list! Sweet. He was quite the conversation piece on his lunch date with Grandma* Joseph. When he started acting up, I mentioned that we would need to go soon, and he said quite loudly in the quiet little restaurant "CAR!"Even though Jake got home very late last night from Valley West, and had put in a 14 hour day, I had to string a bracelet last night. As entertainment for both of us, I popped in a movie that we check out from the library. Jake gets some serious man points for sitting through (and staying awake!) a Pride and Prejudice remake with a modern setting, also a musical, and set in India! I only mentioned that Bride and Prejudice was a movie set in India, and it starts out with Mr. Darcy (who is a white boy from London) is talking to his friend Bingley (Indian boy with British accent) and Bingley's sister, Caroline. Jake said, They are speaking English, and I said, Yeah. Can you understand them or do you want me to put the subtitles on? Oh I can understand them fine, I didn't think they would be speaking English since it was a Bolywood film. So the movie is going along, and we get to the part where Bingley is going back to India for a friend's wedding and it just so happens to take place in a small town with a family of (only) four daughters (in this version). Jake then realized, Oh is this a spoof on Pride and Prejudice? Well, yeah, it is exactly the same, honey, except the setting is India, and *first song of the film* oops! It's also a musical. Jake started to giggle and said, No way! Erin said, Way.Assume the VeggieTales watching position!