What Happens When a Mom Gets Organized

January 24, 2013 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

When a mom gets organized, she will start with a list.

But while she’s making the list, her pen will run out of ink because her kids have been using it to draw pictures of people with too many toes.

So she will open the junk drawer to find a new one.

Then she will get distracted by all the junk, things like leftover seed packets and take out menus and pencils without erasers.

So she will be forced to dump the drawer out on the kitchen table so she can sort through it.

But she will need drawer dividers, so she will have to go to Wal-mart.

Before she can leave, she will have to sort through all the unmatched socks to find a pair that matches for the toddler. This will make her evaluate deep questions, such as, “If we have a car accident will the paramedics care that the socks don’t match?”

When she gets to Wal-mart, she will get distracted by the display of fruit snacks and clearance holiday decor. Before she knows it, her buggy will be full, her toddler will be hungry, and she still won’t have drawer dividers.

By the time she gets back home, the toddler will be asleep in the car necessitating a stealth switch from carseat to bed.

Now, she can deal with the junk drawer.

Except first she has to put away all the groceries she didn’t know she needed and sip some water because she just realized that the only thing she’s had to drink all day is half a cup of coffee. The other half is still sitting on the counter where she set it down to empty the junk drawer.

Now, drawer dividers. That don’t fit.

Exasperated, she will sweep all the junk back in the drawer. In the process, she will find one of her favorite earrings that has been missing for months.

So she will go to her bedroom to put it away and realize that her jewelry box could really use organizing…..

My Delightful Confession

January 8, 2013September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

You know that feeling when you keep trying and trying and working and doing it different and still you can’t finish? You can’t accomplish even a small task like making a new blog header or writing up a great recipe or matching all the socks?

I knew you’d know what I’m talking about.

That’s kind of where I’ve been these past couple weeks. Christmas kicks my tail every time, people. It’s hard. And busy. And stressful. And lots of traveling.

Then it’s over and it gets a little quiet and we still have ten days before school starts back and trying to find words for days of overwhelming chaos and quiet just seemed like a little too much for me.

So I waited until today. Today I’m home with one RSV-recovering baby who just cried himself to sleep, one sticky kitchen floor that hasn’t seen a mop since Thanksgiving, and two rooms of little girls that are in desperate need of a Lego-sorter. Today I’m beginning my new year with a confession.

Sometimes I don’t like motherhood.

You’re probably not shocked. I write about that struggle quite a bit. But it’s hard to admit. We’re supposed to love it, right? Every moment, every milestone, every milk-filled cup left under the carseat. Except sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I want to put on real clothes and give instructions to people who actually listen and be respected for being a productive member of society.

Motherhood doesn’t always make me feel productive.

I’m not good at just playing. I’m terrible at following through with chore charts and sticker rewards. My kids aren’t the best listeners and they almost never remember to pick up their toys without being asked. We make grocery store cashiers cringe when they see that car buggy coming with two on top and one beneath in perfect violation of the warning labels. I can start the day with a full sink of dishes and somehow, after two rounds of the dishwasher, end with a sink full of dirty dishes. Today Annabelle couldn’t wear new clothes to school because she wore them all last week and I haven’t done their laundry yet. Oh, and somewhere under the blue sparkly toothpaste blobs, I have a bathroom sink.

Sound familiar?

But here’s my true confession of the new year:

They went back to school today and for the first time since I started this motherhood journey, I wanted to have more time.

You see, despite all that unproductivity, all that fumbling around I do to make things better, all those piles of laundry and dishes and toys all over my floor, I have finally unlocked a secret to being a better mom to my kids.

Delight. I delight in them, in their silly stories and gapped teeth and ridiculous tantrums.

Oh, they still drive me crazy. Sometimes I still want to run away. But this year, this year I feel awake. I feel alive. I feel awed by who they are and who they are becoming. I truly, finally, feel the blessing that motherhood can be.

It only took me eight years to get here.

So if you’re just beginning this journey of mothering, or if you’re stuck in the middle and stumbling around like me, or even if you’ve finally made it to the other side of the little years, I hope you find some encouragement here.

This year I’m going to focus on growing this blog and I’d love to have you help me. So, please, share it, tweet it, pin it if my words meant something to you!

Blessings for 2013!

Christmas · motherhood · reflections

A Long-ish Post about Just Joy and Grace

December 20, 2012December 16, 2016 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

I let myself go blogging dark for a bit because I didn’t have words for a week that ended like that. I wrapped my arms around my kids when they got home that afternoon and then I made pizza and later I prayed and wept and apologized over and over for thinking my own trials were anything in the face of insurmountable grief.

Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

Since Columbine and Pennsylvania and Virginia Tech, I’ve birthed a first grader and a second grader. I’ve earned a degree and five teaching certifications. I have sat in a faculty meeting and been assigned to a team for the worst case scenario and heard my principal explain why our Connections teachers would have to be the ones to identify because they often know every student in the school. I’ve hidden students in the corner for the drill and wondered if it would really do any good if they madman came. So Friday afternoon when facebook and CNN and text messages kept coming, all I could whisper was a feeble thanks that my children and my school and my family have thus far been spared, and all I could realize was the humbling acknowledgement that I can’t keep them safe. I can’t live in a bubble that doesn’t have schools or malls or theaters or cars or cancer. All I can do is thank God for another day. So I got up Saturday morning and made muffins.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

We went to Christmas on the Square and children sang “Away in a Manger” and goats stole the scene at the live Nativity. We saw Santa and the Chipmunks sang in the furniture store picture windows and the girls were carefree and happy and silly.

We were just normal, and I was grateful. It’s all we can really do isn’t it? When we hear of tragedy? Be thankful and find joy because it forces the evil back a little bit more.

Gypsy Mama and Holy Experience gave some words to comfort any mama’s heart.

Now we’re into another week and some believe the world is ending and for others it already did, but I’ve got Christmas baking to start and presents to wrap and an 8 year old home with the stomach bug that has wiped out two-thirds of the second grade.

It’s by grace that this is my life.

We’ve been spreading a little joy all around this week in an effort to give thanks for Christmas but also for those who cherish our children for so much of everyday. Wish I had pictures of the hugs bestowed when we brought Starbucks for the car greeters at school yesterday. Wish I’d taken pictures of the gorgeous baby biscuits and golden jars of homemade apple butter we handed out to teachers.

Something small can say a lot.

Small can be big. Our account is low and our cash is now change. But there will be gifts under our tree and goodies in the cookie jars and a feast on our table.

My sister is home from Maine and she’s carrying another blessing and chasing her first up and down the stairs at my mama’s house and around the giant Fraser Fir that has sat in that same corner for so many more years than I can remember.

May your Christmas be blessed. Ours already is.

motherhood · ramblings

Where the Magic Happens

December 13, 2012September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

We’ve been fruit basket turnover for awhile. Baby in our bedroom. Amelia in with Annabelle and Madelynne into her own space. Keep the office. Lose the office. Where would we put the computer?

Told him we should have bought a laptop when we got that back in 2009.

Antique armoire into our room. IKEA shelves from the office to the kitchen. Little desk where? The corner unit only fits in a corner….

Finally took down the pack and play and set it up again in the nursery/office so I don’t have to change him on the floor or the sofa in the middle of the night. Except he cries in the middle of the night when I change him,so I usually do it on the sofa or our bed to keep the girls from waking, but last night I had to just let him cry and move as quickly as possible in the dark to change pee pajamas. I’ll get to the sheet. He’s still little enough to sleep on the other end.

Now maybe we’ll switch Gus and Madelynne because ultimately it makes more sense to have her in the room with the computer and printer we can’t move. She doesn’t nap in the middle of the day and impede my coupon printing.

He’s not napping right now, though. One hour right before Amelia came home from preschool was quite good enough, thank you very much.

Did I mention he can sit up now? So I sit at the kitchen table with Joshua’s work laptop on days he doesn’t need it at work and I’m surrounded by dishes and groceries and projects and I can’t seem to focus.

Is this really art what I do?

Maybe not, but I have a masterpiece on the rug shaking a rattle and another one making enough noise to let me know she’s done sleeping. Two more need to be picked up so I can hear about the nuances and minutia of elementary school and referee the squabbles and the snacks. It’s good I don’t have a place of my own because I might be tempted to hide and I think I do too much of that already.

Christmas · motherhood

Why There’s No Elf on My Shelf

November 27, 2012December 3, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Pulled this from the archives to link up with Kristen at Works for Me Wednesday. Do you know Kristen? She’s the heart behind Mercy House and a genuinely beautiful person inside and out. I didn’t actually get to meet her at Allume, but I saw her around and I promise, she’s just as genuine as she seems.

So after this post by Lisa-Jo, I must not be the only one who’s feeling already a little overwhelmed by Christmas. It’s all good intentions and high expectations and glorious traditions that send me into a downward spiral this time of year.

Of course, now I have to add Pinterest and Facebook and bombardments of snail mail gift-order catalogs and parenting magazines filled with ideas for perfect holiday togetherness (getting along with the in-laws!) to the mix, and I start to actually feel a little bit guilty about not giving my kids the same Christmas everyone else is having.

Seriously?

Because I truly want to believe that Christmas can be simple and extraordinary at the same time. I want to believe that magic happens when we least expect it, least plan it, least look for it….like on a starry night in a little town inside a manger of hay.

I want to celebrate Christ and family and all the good things of life. Like having enough spare change sometimes for a latte. Like my children having four great-grandparents who adore them despite the mess. Like discovering great coupon deals on stuff I can give away to those who need more than I ever will.

I posted on facebook today:

So are we negligent parents because there’s no elf at our house? I’m not opposed to the elf, just the $25 it takes to buy it…

because all the pictures I saw this morning showed all these elves up to various mischief in everyone else’s house.

Stop. I’m comparing myself to everyone else. Again.

Want to know what happened in my house this morning? Joshua went to work super early. He set the alarm and made the coffee before he left. I love him. I made Pillsbury orange sweet rolls straight out of the can for my girls. They got dressed, no fuss, because for two days in a row, we’ve remembered to set out clothes the night before. I had to wake Gus up. That never happens. He slept from 9-2 and from 2:45-7:30. That, my friends, is a Christmas miracle. We loaded up the peeling paint Odyssey. We were on time (barely) for school. I came back home and put snotty Amelia on the couch and nursed the baby and uploaded pics like this to Shutterfly.

It was nothing spectacular, but I’m betting there are plenty of you out there who wish that had been your morning. Plenty of you who, like me, are constantly comparing and feeling that you fall short in some area of parenting, or decorating, or joy-giving.

Don’t. Maybe this season we could celebrate our Savior and we could celebrate each other? Because chances are something you’re doing, that you don’t think is all that spectacular, is probably pretty awesome when shared with others.

And just for fun…here are some of my favorite responses to that facebook post:

Yes, most definitely. When I see your 4 beautiful, happy, well-loved children…. I think to myself, wow, they must have negligent parents… I bet they don’t even have an Elf on the Shelf. Those poor children 😉

Forget the kids! What about me? We never had an elf growing up and it is clear that is the source of all my adult short comings. On the other hand, I think it might have just caused nightmares when I was little. At any rate, maybe we can start a “no elf” parenting club.

No elf at our house. I would ruin the entire experience by forgetting to move it, etc. Lol. I keep telling myself that my kids are too old. That makes me feel better.

Good Lord Lindsey that is ALL we need, one more little person making messes around the house!

Why add one more thing to Christmas chaos? We all survived without a stupid elf in our houses. That’s my thought.

We don’t have one here. I agree with Jaime though you’re clearly a negligent parent…4 kids, dressed & fed. Not enough…add something else to your duties

See? from others’ perspectives, I’m doing just fine. I bet you are, too.