Jun 08

10 Minute Mad Dash to Sanity Restoration

Tidy Up Tuesdays No Comments »

Aaahhh summer.

Sleeping in late, moving at a snail’s pace, enjoying the great outdoors and … an eternally messy house. If someone dropped in on us at 3 o’clock on a summer afternoon they’d think we lived like pigs.

The teddy bear parades and tents made out of blankets and sheets have already begun popping up around our house and so have the endless piles of dirty dishes from the constant feeding frenzy we experience each summer.

Yes, I love summer. And I love my kids. But the mess is another story. Since you can’t get rid of the mess without getting rid of the kids (and they’re really just too loveable to sell on e-Bay.) Here are five tips for restoring order to your abode in just 10 minutes.

1.      Ignore the mess. Let them make a mess. It helps their creative minds work and keeps them occupied. However, friendly reminders to the tune of, “Whatever you get out you’ll have to put away,” prevent end-of-the-day meltdowns.

2.      Find 10 minutes. In our house 5 p.m. is the appointed hour at which playtime is officially over for the day. All messes must be cleaned up and we get ready for dinner and pre-bedtime activities. All Barbie village and abandoned stacks of blocks or books are returned to their home in 10 minutes or less. You’d be surprised how fast kids can clean even the biggest of messes.

3.      Give them a heads-up. Even though clean-up time always comes at basically the same time at our house, I always issue a 15-minute warning that the clean-up call will be sounding shortly. Again this helps keep major meltdowns from occurring during the witching hour.

4.      Bribe them. Lest you think that those 10 minutes are blissful at our house, think again. Kids are still kids. They whine and complain just like all kids do. However, for those who can work hard without making misery for the rest, they’re rewarded with TV privileges while I finish up dinner. Sounds too good to be true? The power of TV is still stronger than most other kid currency regardless of age.

5.      Make it fun. Cinderella taught us to whistle while we work. Throwing on some tunes that everyone enjoys always seems to vanquish the cries and whines from the young ones. In three or four songs all of the work is done and no one would believe that the living room went from family fort to fabulous again in about the same time it takes to find your cell phone at the bottom of your purse.

 

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Jun 08

Cable Car Moms

Mommy Monday 2 Comments »

     

After dragging my three children up to the top of Nob Hill (which was only 6 blocks from our hotel, but entirely uphill) to the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco, I was exhausted. I stood on the platform and observed the hard-working cables that keep the cars running up and down the steep slopes of the city. I don’t know if it was the tired sounds of the machines or the sweat pouring down the back of my neck, but it got me thinking: Cable cars and moms are a lot alike. 

First of all, cable cars run all day – except between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m when they return to the barn for a brief rest. Moms of newborns have been known to keep these hours. And moms of teenagers too. And overworked, busy moms with lots of hats to wear have also been known to keep “cable car” hours too. Pretty much if you’re a mom, you haven’t slept a regular eight-hour night in years – unless you were sick, and even then it’s debatable.

Next, cable cars run at a constant but slow speed all day long – 9.5 miles per hour to be exact. While it seems like a mom is never getting things done because she’s always on the go, it also feels like a mom can’t ever seem to get anywhere very fast. Just when a mom gets going, it’s time to stop again. Just like the cable car trudging up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, as mothers we’re journeying uphill all day to cross things off our lists with temper-tantrum-prone toddlers and pouting pre-teens in toe.

Finally, these antique cars’ cables are coated with a sacrificial lubricant that keeps the ropes gripping day in and day out. They compare this special tar-like oil to a pencil eraser eroding away instead of the paper. In mom-speak, our protective lubricant is the thick skin we develop so our own pride and self-esteem don’t wear away. In comes in  those times when we step into a tough spot to defend our family and find ourselves looking the lone wolf in a forest full of hungry salivating predators. In the end it’s that extra layer that helps us develop greater resolve than ever to do whatever it takes to keep our little den of wolf cubs safe and happy – day after day.

Cable cars have been around for what seems like forever (just like moms), will be around for a whole lot longer (just like moms), and seem to only get better and more beloved with time (just like moms.)

 

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