At 3:30 this morning I woke up when Christian got up briefly. No big deal…he interrupted a terrible, vivid dream in which my mother was cooking dinner in my childhood home while I stood in the living room with my children, both adults keenly aware that five miles to the north was a pack of orcs headed our way with intent to murder and destroy. I was contemplating my first battle, knowing I had no training, and both I and my children were likely soon to be dead.
You can imagine I wasn’t too upset about my night’s sleep being interrupted.
However.
My brain immediately went into gear: what am I going to blog about today? Shut up! You can figure that out while you’re driving to Jazzercise. A few minutes later Michael woke up wailing for water. Then my husband’s breathing got under my skin. Then Michael again. The precious remainder of my night was disappearing fast. Monday is my 5a.m. wakeup call to make sure my body’s fully awake in time for 5:45 Jazzercise. I could tell I wasn’t going to sleep anymore in my bed, so I went downstairs and mummified myself on the couch in throw blanket and pillows, as I have learned to do. And Michael shrieked again. Wake up, Christian. I sent all my brain waves in his direction, but then Michael settled down. Only to fuss again, but with less conviction. And again, but by now I could tell he was going back to sleep. I exhaled my tension and started the rosary that helps my mind settle back into sleep.
And my alarm went off.
Summer is passing fast (some parts of me want to add, but not fast enough), and with the concepts presented in Organized Simplicity rattling around in my brain, I have a purpose for the rest of it. My orcs, the ones I have to battle, are excess toys, books, and junk. So this week I’m blogging fast and furious so I can dedicate my oodles and oodles of spare some time to decluttering and simplifying. Tomorrow’s topic: thoughts on maintaining weight loss.
Kathleen M. Basi 
We spent all weekend decluttering and it felt wonderful! Still have quite a ways to go before school starts, but if you find strength in numbers, you are not alone. I’m going to have to check out that book as well. Thanks for posting on it.
Good luck! That’s such an endless task when you have kids. My daughter needs suggestions for how to teach “picking up.” to a 3 1/2 year old girl and a 15 month boy. I am not a good example on this one!
Uh, yeah. Me either. 🙂
Oh well. My two grown daughters are wonderful, independent, caring women–one neat freak, one who struggles with the chaos of 2 kids under 4.
Don’t let anyone (kid) see you throw their stuff out! I have made that mistake too many times. “Mommy, who put my [small plastic item of doom] in the recycling?? WAS IT YOU?” Arrrrrrrrgh. Good luck! I’ve been decluttering school uniforms, myself.
Hee hee! The disaster area AKA toy room is a constant struggle. You ought to be able to get rid of a few toys as the kids grow…unless, of course, you have THREE MORE coming up behind. We don’t even know what to get Michael for gifts anymore; he doesn’t need ANY toys. My plan is to put my foot down and make the kids choose. I’ll pick some things and tell them they have to choose two to get rid of. That sort of thing.