Shannon is suggesting a “Greatest Hits” edition of Works For Me Wednesday. While last week’s overnight crockpot steel-cut oatmeal instructions were wildly popular, this post was a big hit in its day. It first appeared in February 2007.I’ve never liked doing the laundry–especially for six people–but what aggravated me the most were two particular steps in the process: finding a temporary location for the clean-and-folded clothes, and getting the kids to put those clean-and-folded clothes away.One day I bought something like this:
Mine has a fourth drawer so that I have one for each child (clearly labeled with their names and decorated with stickers-of-choice).[UPDATED INFO: Mine are separate drawers stacked together, not a unit, so if you find the same brand (I bought Sterilite-brand drawers several years ago) you could go floor-to-ceiling with them. You could also dedicate one drawer to sock storage.]Here’s a recent picture with the names blurred out.
Now when I’m doing the laundry, I pull the drawers open, staggered, so that as I fold, I can simply place each item into the appropriate drawer. When I’m done, I shut the drawers and move on.Later, when I call the kids to put their clothes away at a more convenient time, say, at bedtime, they trot down to the laundry room, pull their personalized drawers completely out of the cart and easily carry their clothes upstairs–the drawer doubles as a lightweight basket, or tote. The kids put away their clothes and carry the drawers back down, slip them back into the cart, and the cycle continues.We can fit a lot of clothes in these drawers, but if you have taller or older kids than mine, or you go through more clothes in a day, your kids will just have to empty their drawers more often.
I like this system because the kids don’t have to be ready to put their clothes away at the instant I’m done with laundry. Also, I don’t have baskets–empty or full–stuck here and there in the laundry room. This stackable system looks neat and tidy whether the drawers are empty or full.And here’s an amazing bonus use:We use them for camping vacations instead of duffel bags or suitcases.We have a pop-up camper, so it’s good to go vertical with storage whenever possible, yet whatever we use has to travel somewhat compressed. The stackable unit we bought is perfect for this. We have the kids pack their clothes into the drawers (sometimes they have to use an overflow bag for some category of clothes, but for summery trips they can still fit it all in their drawers), and unstack them for transport so that they fit in the back of the van or the camper.At the campground, when the pop-up camper is cranked up and ready for us to move in, we stack the drawers on top of each other again and set them on the countertops. Everything stays much more contained and organized during the week than when we used bags.I even have one extra drawer for some of my own things.Double-duty drawers for laundry and vacation.They really work for me.Please visit Rocks in My Dryer to check out other people’s Greatest Tips.Or, before you go, take a cruise through my past WFMW tips.
WFMW Containerize Kids Laundry
Monday FunDay (week 10)–Get Up and Play
Welcome!You’ve arrived at home base for Monday FunDay, a carnival dedicated to swapping simple, amusing–maybe even silly–everyday ways you enjoy good, clean fun.
Monday FunDay
To participate in Monday FunDay, just post a story, idea, or explanation at your blog of how you and/or your family has livened up Mondays (or any day).Then link up via Mr. Linky below (if you don’t have a blog, simply explain your idea in the comments) and we’ll collect all the ideas in one place. Again, please remember: ideas must be squeaky-clean, family-friendly fun.First, here’s Ann’s Family Friendly Monday Fun:The other day I saw this cute public service TV ad encouraging kids (and adults) to get up and play (with three LPGA spokeswomen introducing “Be a player”). It’s a campaign to address childhood obesity.Here are all the videos in one place.The LPGA video shows kids playing kickball and leap frog, spinning in circles, and jumping rope. It looks and sounds like so much fun, I plan to take their advice and go outside with the kids to “get up and play” for at least an hour. They can do whatever they want, of course, but I might suggest jumping rope (and try it myself).The Smallstep Kids website offered a link to a site that had ideas to get started with jumping rope. The site uses some animated line drawings to explain some ”stunts” to jazz up the jumping, and include a page with rhymes to chant while jumping. Click on a rhyme and a play button pops up. Click on it to hear kids chanting it. I think that musical element adds a layer of fun to the activity.The main point of the campaign is to just get up on one’s feet and move around, play, and have fun. That’s exactly what we’ll do on Monday FunDay.What about you?
Instructions for the WordPress Mr. Linky (which is different than the ones you’ll see on WFMW and other Typepad or Blogspot blogs):1. Write your post. Type up your Monday FunDay edition and post it at your blog.2. Come back to this post and click on Mr. Linky. A window will pop up.3. Type in your name (or blog name) and if you like, you can include a short “teaser” for your idea in parenthesis. Something like this:
Ann K (get up and play)
3. Paste in your url. Below the spot for your name, there’s another for the url of your own post. Copy the url for your own Monday FunDay and paste it in (including the http:// part of it).4. Press Enter. That’s it! It should be saved by Mr. Linky.To see what others have posted, click on Mr. Linky and pay a visit to the fun bloggers who have joined in!It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how![Check out previous Monday FunDays]
The Simplicity of Reading
I recently came across a passage in a book called Graceful Simplicity.In a chapter entitled “The Politics of Simplicity,” in a section subtitled “Education for Simple Living,” the author claimed that “In educating for simple living, three building blocks stand out: fostering a love of books, developing a stronger aesthetic sensibility, and enhancing our ability to create things of beauty.”The quote I offer you today is from the section on “A Love of Books”:
If one loves books, if one loves to read, if in a family people read to each other, then a foundation has already been laid for a simple life of great pleasure at little expense. Entering this world–provided that one has learned to love what is within it, and has developed the appreciative skills required to fully participate in it–is to have the key to the central repository of human wealth. Reading good books can serve as the central emblem of a life of simplicity. *
Read together.Read alone.Read silently or aloud.Read to yourself.Read to your kids.Read, read, read.
(Consider joining Callapidder Days’ Spring Reading Thing 2008.)* p. 111, Graceful Simplicity: Toward a Philosophy and Politics of Simple Living, by Jerome M. Segal, Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY, 1999.
Six-Year-Old Accountability Partner
Our youngest is extremely verbal. He listens, remembers, and repeats. He thinks about things a lot. He asks questions and when we’re not expecting it, our own words will come back to us via his sweet, thoughtful, six-year-old voice. And when we state our intentions and commitments out loud, we’re sure to be held accountable:”But, Mom, didn’t you say you wanted to spend less so that you can save for another mosquito net?”"Wait! We forgot to pray for the people of Bangladesh!”"Are we going to support a child through Compassion International soon?”"Have you read the psalms for today?”"Here’s the Bible story book. We just read about Saul. What’s next?”"It’s Saturday–didn’t you say you’d clip my fingernails every Saturday morning?”This can be a little annoying when I’m “caught,” when I haven’t followed through. But I think that’s the point of having an accountability partner:
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to help me hold to the things I resolve to do;
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or, to remind me to stop doing the things that I don’t want to do.
I realized that The Boy’s super-verbal personality is a gift. He can remind me to follow-through with things and be true to my word.Sometimes it happens naturally, because he listens to everything I say and simply asks out of curiosity if I’m doing what I said I’d be doing.Sometimes, however, I can be more intentional and actually ask him to bring it up. “I’m going to try to memorize this passage of Scripture. Can you ask me to repeat it to you later?”He agrees to it. And he does ask later.When he’s able to type, I’m thinking I can set him up with a website so that he can start his own accountability ministry.In the meantime, I get to benefit most of all. A simple thing he’s helped with lately is reminding me of my blog commitments:”It’s Sunday night, Mama–you need to write your Monday FunDay post!” or “It’s Tuesday. What are you going to write for Works For Me Wednesday?”So, when I need some accountability, I just ask my most verbal child for help. He may only be six years old, but it works for me.Before you go, feel free to browse my previously published WFMW posts, or return to Rocks In My Dryer for more great ideas.
Monday FunDay (week 3)
** Works For Me Wednesday visitors get in on the fun by reading below. Find your way back to ”Don’t Try This at Home” here. **It’s Monday. Again. Strange how it comes around with such amazing regularity…Are you feeling a little down? A little dreary? A little blue?
Monday FunDay
Join us every Monday and find out how to make it a Fun Day–we can encourage each other with some good, clean, simple, everyday fun.Write up a post at your blog with a story, idea, or explanation of how you and/or your family has livened up Mondays (or any day), then link back (using Mr. Linky below), so that we can collect some great fun ideas in one place. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to leave your FunDay ideas in the comments. Ideas, by the way, must be squeaky-clean, family-friendly fun.Here’s what we did last week. I think the fun started on Tuesday and lasted all week long.One of my daughters was reading a Curious George collection and came across the story where he folds a bunch of paper hats and boats with the newspapers he was supposed to deliver–naughty monkey! She was inspired. Digging out newspapers from the recycling stack, she proceeded to fold numerous hats and wore them all around town. Now let me tell you, that’s fun. People just loved seeing a sweet girl confidently wearing an oversized paper hat! She brought smiles everywhere she went.
Well, before long, all the kids got into the act. They followed the instructions in the Curious George book and made hat after hat. For a few minutes, they were Robin Hood, and other times they were navy admirals. The main folder modeled one of her hats, sliding it around this way and that. I suggested she might resemble Napoleon, and she struck a pose something like this.So all that folding reminded me of a recent conversation with some moms about “cootie catchers.” Remember those? We used to fold and design those all the time in school when I was a kid.My kids hadn’t seen them, so we looked for folding instructions online. This site explains how to fold them and gives ideas for silly “fortunes” that you can write under the flaps. In spite of all the laughter generated by those goofy predictions (“You will eat nothing but corndogs for a year” or, “You will have all the pets you ever wanted”), I preferred encouraged conversation starters or story-starters under the flaps, instead. Here are eight conversation starters you can use if you and your kids want to try folding them–I think that’s the right number for a “conversation catcher”:
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Describe your perfect day.
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Name three places you hope to visit one day.
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Tell about an embarrassing moment.
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What are your top three favorite foods?
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How would you like to change the world?
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What’s your favorite day of the week…and why?
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Who’s your hero…and why?
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Would you ever go skydiving? Why or why not?
You could do anything with them. A Fun Day idea would be to write out crazy things to do:
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Sing a few lines from your favorite song.
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Flip on the radio and dance like a robot.
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Hold your breath for as long as you can.
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Spin around 7 times and then try to walk a straight line.
You get the idea.A fun side benefit? Early readers get practice spelling if you use colors or shapes in your designs. If they are holding the “Fun Catcher” (I just renamed it), and colored dots are on the outside, they have to spell the color as part of the process. “G-R-E-E-N.” Draw shapes and they have to spell those. “C-I-R-C-L-E.” You could draw anything you’d like them to practice spelling on those outside flaps. “D-O-G” or “H-O-U-S-E.”Here’s a simple sample of one of the dozens that brought a lot of hilarity to our household.
Instructions for Mr. Linky:1. After you’ve typed up your Monday FunDay edition for this week and posted it at your blog, come back here and click on Mr. Linky to add your link.2. A window will prompt you to type in your name. Type in your name or blog name, and in parenthesis, include a two- or three-word “teaser” for your idea. Something like this:Ann K (folding fun)3. Below that is a spot for you to paste in the url of your post. Copy the url for your own Monday FunDay idea and paste it in (including the http:// part of it).That’s it! It should be saved by Mr. Linky and appear back at this post. To see what others have posted, click on Mr. Linky and pay a visit to the fun bloggers who have joined in!Next time your coworkers or neighbors complain about how depressing Mondays are, send them here, to discover ways that they can make their Mondays…funner.It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how!
Monday Really Was Fun
I sure enjoyed visiting the Monday FunDay participants’ posts, storing up fun ideas to enjoy with my kids.La Donna Mobile wrote a post entitled “Let Children Be Children,” highlighting a long passage from a book I’d never heard of, called Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley. The passage inspired several comments packed with nostalgic stories. It took me back to my childhood and reminded me of the conversation Andrea and I had about getting kids outside in nature:When I was a kid, I occasionally rode my bike to a tiny store that sold candy, cigarettes, snack food, and bottles of pop. My friend and I bought a few packs of baseball cards, pedaled back to her house, stuck the rectangles of pink gum in our mouths, and traded cards while sitting on the cement slab that served as a patio.My friend and I rode down to a creek sometimes, too, wading in and feeling the mud squish between our toes. I remember digging deep under the rocks and brown mud at the bottom of the creek bed one time and pulling up some gray clay. I extracted a pile of it, formed a pinch pot and dried it in the sun for several days, feeling very Native American. We would skip rocks, too, and watch minnows.It was a slow, rich life, with lots of time to think and create.I actually wrote two poems that capture some of those simple, rural moments. If you scroll down this page, you can read “Field Hands” and “Summer Days,” which refer back to real-life, childhood reflections. “Feeding the Cows” is fictionalized and in the voice of a young boy, but it’s based on my experience feeding our own cows. “Remembering Crawdads” is more recent.I’m glad that late yesterday evening, in the unseasonably warm weather, I took the kids for a walk down to the neighborhood playground. They wore their rubber boots and splashed in puddles all the way there and back. As we said goodnight, they were all smiles. “That was so fun, Mama!” one of them exclaimed. “I loved feeling my boot get stuck in the sand at the volleyball pit. It made that big suction sound when I pulled it out.”We weren’t out very long, but for a few minutes on Monday, I was able to let my children be children.So to review my Monday fun, we danced in the kitchen before dinner, just as I recommended in my Monday FunDay post (the kids really did dance the ’80s style). Then we ended the day splashing in puddles at dusk.Life will include many serious moments, and we must teach our children self-discipline and the value of hard work. But it really is fun to have fun sometimes.
Monday FunDay
Monday FunDay
Oh, yes, it’s Monday FunDay, friends. Time to swap simple, amusing–maybe even silly–everyday ways you and your family can enjoy some good, clean fun.A quick review–you can write up a little post with a story, idea, or explanation of how you and/or your family has livened up Mondays (or any day).Then link up via Mr. Linky below and we’ll collect all the ideas in one place. Again, please remember: ideas must be squeaky-clean, family-friendly fun.So here’s what I was thinking about. The phrase Monday FunDay brought to mind the song “Monday, Monday” by The Mamas and The Papas.I suppose you’ll think I’m spending great gobs of time on YouTube, because here I am posting yet another clip. But I promise you I’ve actually been hard at work on my book project, not digging up retro videos. I simply thought of that song and decided to search for it. This black-and-white 1966 performance popped up.So I started listening to it, bouncing happily to the music and feeling kind of groovy, when I suddenly realized, “What did he just say? Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t a happy song at all!”[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7KrlDZ5Hkw&feature=related]It starts out hopeful, with “Monday Monday, so good to me/Monday Monday, it was all I hoped it would be.”Happy, right?Well, not for long. It takes a sorrowful turn lyrically, and yet unless you were listening closely, you might never know it. To my untrained, unmusical ear, the music still sounds bouncy and positive as they sing, “Monday morning couldn’t guarantee/That Monday evening you would still be here with me.”The singers sway and grin as they go on to sing that Monday, well, you just can’t trust that day…sometimes it just turns out that way…it gave no warning of what was to be…how you could leave and not take me. Every other day of the week is fine, they sing, but whenever Monday comes…”You can find me cryin’ all of the time.”Silly me! I thought it was a happy song, a fun song! In fact, when it came to mind (before I actually listened to it), I thought, “Wouldn’t that be a fun theme song for Monday FunDay?”Now that I know the lyrics, well, of course it’s not at all a good theme for a fun Monday. I don’t want anybody cryin’ all the time. That’s the opposite effect I’d like to have.But it did make me think of an idea that is fun.If you happen to watch the video, you’ll see that in spite of the rather depressing message of the lyrics, the singers all keep dancing, swaying, and smiling, in keeping with the feel and mood of the music.Ah, dancing. Now that can be fun.For today’s Monday FunDay, I’d like to suggest that you crank up some music and dance:If you like ’80s pop, turn it up and burn calories by employing erratic, energetic movements with no real form. Or walk like an Egyptian.Choose rock-n-roll, and maybe you can play air guitar and fling your hair around wildly.How about a classical song? Fake some ballet–or pull out your old slippers and do some real ballet, if you know how. Or grab a kid and try a waltz.Can you swing dance? Teach the kids and give it a go.Christian pop? Express your joy. Worship. “Let them praise his name with dancing” (Psalm 149:3a).I left out lots of styles, from jazz and reggae to mambo and country. You just go ahead and pick whatever’s fun to you, crank it up, and let yourself go.Instructions for Mr. Linky:1. After you’ve typed up your Monday FunDay edition and posted it at your blog, come back here and click on Mr. Linky to add your link.2. A window will prompt you to type in your name. Type in your name or blog name, and in parenthesis, include a two- or three-word “teaser” for your idea. Something like this:Ann K (secret pancake messages)3. Below that is a spot for you to paste in the url of your post. Copy the url for your own Monday FunDay idea and paste it in (including the http:// part of it).That’s it! It should be saved by Mr. Linky and appear back at this post. To see what others have posted, click on Mr. Linky and pay a visit to the fun bloggers who have joined in!Next time your coworkers or neighbors complain about how depressing Mondays are, send them here, to discover ways that they can make their Mondays…funner.It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how!
Feelin' Groovy
Sometimes I just stumble on something that I take for granted and suddenly realize that the kids have never seen, heard, smelled, tasted, encountered or ever thought about it.Like a famous line from an old movie. Just the other day, one of the girls had a friend over who had to work on some Latin translation. Her assignment was a speech by Spartacus. I stood up and said, “I’m Spartacus!” “No! I’m Spartacus!” The kids all stared at me like I was nuts; they had no idea what I was talking about. I tried to explain to them the famous scene, all those guys standing up for their hero. I should have just found the clip for them, but the friend had to conjugate some verbs and I didn’t want to distract her.I don’t mind distracting you, however, so if you’ve never seen the scene, I did manage to dig it up at this website. (It loops around after a gruff, bearded little cartoon guy pops up and growls something unintelligible for about a half-second.)Anyway, the other day, I said to the kids that I was feelin’ groovy. Then I started singing “The 59th Street Bridge Song.” ”That’s nice,” they said. “What is it?”"What is it?” And I realized with a gasp, Oh my heavens, they’ve never even heard of Simon & Garfunkel!And really, no one should go through life without hearing a few Simon & Garfunkel songs.So I found some YouTube clips of Simon & Garfunkel performing that very song. I decided to share those short videos with you today. I can’t help but smile, as they remind us to slow down and relax. Now I warn you, if you haven’t heard this one for a while, it’ll stick in your head, and if you don’t want to be humming “slow down, you move too fast/got to make the morning last,” well, don’t click. It’s been dancing around in my mind ever since it came up the other day. I’ve been “dootin’ doo-dooing” now and then while driving and blogging, which doesn’t bother the kids or me, but we’re pretty silly over here. It might get old for your household.I like this version, except the intense red lighting doesn’t really fit the mood or theme of the song. But, hey, it was 1967, and everyone was so laid back, so groovy, that I suppose nobody was thinking much about the lighting.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoWF2YalYvI&feature=related]Here they are about a decade-and-a-half after that, still lookin’ and soundin’ groovy, still using just a guitar for accompaniment in this simple rendition with minimal lighting changes.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdRTI7FYqUc&feature=related]And because I’m getting a little carried away with YouTube, here they are maybe a decade after that (maybe the ’90s?), still as groovy as ever. They got a much more involved production this time around, with fun lighting and a lot more musical accompaniment, including a guy blowing into a bizarre accordian-like instrument.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya1Xx-lD-fw]Every version exudes a kind of carefree happiness, but I think I like the simpler versions best.
Monday FunDay
Not long ago, I generated a list of ways to feel young again. Today, I got to thinking about another list of simple little ways to inject some fun into the day–for families and anyone else who feels winter-dreary.And then, I thought, Hey, what better day than Monday–when people feel a little blue–to try to have some fun? So today, I would like to introduce:[Insert cute button designed and offered for free by a creative, generous (and fun!) reader to replace the following:]
Monday FunDay
Oh, yes, people. In an unexpected and uncharacteristic move, Ann Kroeker will celebrate the first-ever Monday FunDay by implementing, also for the first time ever, text color and even…{gasp}….multiple exclamation points!Here’s how it works.It’s Monday. Everybody’s back to work and feeling a little droopy. To snap out of it, think about how you can make Monday a Fun Day–and then share with us what you are going to do (or already did).Because it’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.Let’s encourage each other with some good, clean, simple, everyday fun. If it’s inexpensive, that’s bonus. Write it up in a post at your blog, then link back (using Mr. Linky), and we’ll collect some great fun ideas in one place.On Sunday nights, you’ll go to bed having something to look forward to!Here are a few general ideas I came up with, just to get us started. But you can be super-specific.
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Laugh! They say that it’s good for your health in many ways such as relieving stress and pain, and strengthening your immune system. But it’s also just plain fun. Think through the last few days–has the household felt a bit serious or negative? Try to get everybody laughing. Knock-knock…
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Smile! Okay, so you can’t manage to muster up a big belly laugh? How about just a smile? It’s almost as good as laughter for reducing stress and boosting the immune system, according to this doctor. When you smile, people smile back. That’s fun. (Bonus: It makes you more attractive and look younger!)
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Draw! Or doodle. Or scribble. One way or another, create some silly pictures for a few minutes. My dad used to draw little stick people in precarious situations–they made me giggle. My grandma used to draw squiggly smiley faces with swirly hair long before the smiley face was standardized. They added fun to her notes. Create a little visual fun, and then post your favorites in your blog.
What are specific ways you like to have fun? Share something you’ve done (or will do) to make Monday a Fun Day!Instructions for Mr. Linky:1. After you’ve typed up your Monday FunDay addition and posted it at your blog, come back here and click on Mr. Linky to add your link.2. A window will prompt you to type in your name. Type in your name or blog name, and in parenthesis, include a two- or three-word “teaser” for your idea. Something like this:Ann K (sugar cube mania)3. Below that is a spot for you to paste in the url of your post. Copy the url for your own Monday FunDay idea and paste it in (including the http:// part of it).That’s it! It should be saved by Mr. Linky and appear back at this post.Next time your coworker or neighbor complains about how depressing Mondays are, send them here, to discover ways that they can make their Mondays…funner.
Maybe *this* is where the kids are?
As you know, I’d love to see kids playing outside more.But if the reason young people aren’t out building snowmen is because they’re in their garages working on these, or these, I’m okay with that.I’m impressed.
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