Pretty Organizers Top Tips

Ladies, today I feel a bit like a soggy noodle. Fair warning should be given that the chlorine that I took in while training for the swim portion of my triathlon this evening may have reached toxic levels and affected my brain... at least my thoughts are clean! Thus, today's post has little rhyme and even less reason to it's composition...

Remember this secret?

I'm uber Pretty Organized... that is- fairly or moderately so, and I'm hoping to make this Christmas a little calmer than last. Why... okay, shhh... I'll let you in on a secret... Promise not to laugh, hate me, or shun me because I've consequently had to cut down on my chocolate intake.... I'm training for my first triathlon. {Konk, gafaw, snort... stop laughing family and friends} No worries though... it's a Sprint triathlon-- those are triathlons for chocolate bingers like me! Race day is December 5th.... so if you visit December 6th and there's no triathlon post it's most likely due to the fact that I drowned mid way through the swim portion and my relatives are reading the will to find out who has the "laundry for 7 life sentence". If that is the case, I'll be in heaven resting, eating heavenly chocolate and watching all of you do your laundry.

Well, I'm blaming all my folly these days on triathlon training... you ought to try it, it's all the rage and everyone thinks you're some super athletic chic (I am, I gave up chocolate binges while training...Ahh.. yes, now on to my tips. (Sound tippsy don't I?) dang check out my bad punctuation!

Tip #1: Make every piece of furniture count. If you have a bed- jack it up and store things underneath. If you need a table- improvise with something that will "store" Christmas or treasures or whatever! Wasted space is such a waste! Stop complaining about your shortage of closets and invent your own!

This is not the correct way to keep your child in time-out... though I give this parent an E for effort.

Tip #2: Ask your child to stand on one foot for his/her time out. I have kiddo's that wouldn't stay in time out. Desperation is the mother of invention... I asked my son to serve his time-out on one foot. The amount of concentration it takes for a kid to balance on one foot seems to chase away the thought of leaving the spot.
Tip #3: Let someone else do the nagging. Teach a lesson without saying a word. I talked about silent lecturing in THIS POST.

Often when my kids get in trouble I assign sentences for them to write. I got tired of thinking up great sentences and decided that the hymnbook at my church had about every lesson covered in it. When I want to drive a message home I sit them in front of our hymnbook and have them copy the words to the hymn... (and if I have the song, I play it in the back ground).

This works great for our musical family because my kids are learning hymns while they write and I don't have to lecture! So far I've found hymns on honesty, making good choices, not speaking ill of others or gossiping, increasing love in the home, and serving others.

If you don't have a hymnbook to use you can try poems on different character traits or values. Try an online search and let your kiddos learn the message you want to deliver without ever telling them a word.

photo credits: Southern Living and Flickr