'Oh the thinks...!' A celebration

Today was another one of those special days.  Yes, it was! We celebrated a brilliant mind, a wild imagination and a writer's words that more than likely played a role in each of our learning to read.

The fabulous Theodore Seuss Geisel a/k/a Dr. Seuss!

Celebrations were in order at our local children's museum.  Happy 108th Dr. Seuss! 

Thing 1

Thing 2

Thing 3

We watched a fun and 'live' production of 'Green Eggs and Ham' and later heard two 'Seuss' stories read aloud to an auditorium of about 200 children.  Stories were followed by all of us singing 'Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss' and yummy CUPCAKES for the kiddies.  

In no particular order, the girls have all chosen THEIR favorite Dr. Seuss book:

Sabrina: 'One fish two fish red fish blue fish'

Luna: 'Green Eggs and Ham'

Kalina: 'Horton Hears a Who'

My favorite is: 'Oh, the Thinks you can Think!'

Here's to a great day celebrating the wonder and life of Dr. Seuss...

"We had fun, we had smiles we heard lot's of laughter for miles..."-vj

Judy Blume & how stories saved me

  

Images via Google

The first books I remember reading as a child were Corduroy and Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Still two of my favorites today. These two (and some others) were some books that my mother ordered for me from Scholastic (I recall the packaging.)  I remember this because they were the 'free' ones with the purchase of at least one (I believe it worked that way back then).  The books stopped arriving quickly because my mother never paid for them in the first place.  I remember asking her for more books but she'd say something like, 'I can't buy them for you.'  So I read and re-read the few unpaid books that we kept.  I've since invested in many books from Scholastic for my own daughters, you know, to re-pay them for the books I kept in 1983.

Reading those little stories always gave me the hope that there was something bigger out there in the world if you really wished and tried hard for it.  I knew this in my heart starting at age six.  I believed this.  I still do.  Harold's adventure with his purple crayon and how he drew and decided what came next allowed me to hone in on the idea that we ultimately 'create' what we want in our lives.  Harold taught me that no matter how scary or dark things may get, you still have the power to 'draw' a different picture.  On the other hand, Corduroy's story gave me the hope that even when you feel lonely in this great big world, there is always someone out there that will show you a different path and perhaps some love even if you are from different worlds.  In spite of the little bear's sadness he never stopped believing in love.  Perhaps these stories didn't speak much to some people but they were surely seared in my emotional psyche at age six.

Then in 1988, it was yet another book that pulled me away from a rather unsavory reality and allowed me to hover over a world of silliness, humor, grade school drama and the simple act of just being a kid.  You see, during this time I was a fourth grade kid myself with a four year old sibling.  I empathized with the main character's frustrations and feelings of just how incredibly annoying a younger sibling can be.  The humor of it all saved me from my then troubling situation.

Image via Google

It was Mrs. Grivjack and my fourth class at Coral Park Elementary that allowed me to hide the darkness in my life because it was all I had.  Close to the end of that school year Mrs. Grivjack read to the entire class every afternoon as we sat encircled around her on the cold mint and cream checkered linoleum tiled floor.  She'd always sit in a large squeaky wooden chair.  She read Judy Blume's 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing', hard cover edition, retrieved from our school library and it saved me.  It saved me from drowning in the issues of my sexual abuse.  It saved from knowing that I lived under the same roof of a cocaine dealer.  It saved me from still not knowing who my real father was.  It saved me from my mother's proximal abandonment toward me.  It saved me from my mother's incarceration months later.  It saved me from feeling like an orphan.  It ultimately saved me from losing hope that one day, my life WOULD undoubtedly be far better than what it looked like to me right then and there.

Judy Blume's humor and love and words and story entranced me into her world of Peter and Fudge and all the other silly, happy and frustrating things that happened to them.  Mrs. Grivjack's voice was my escape.  The way her large framed bifocal glasses rested atop her ski sloped and heavily powdered nose, an image I got to view from way down below on the linoleum floor every day for months, was the one constant that I turned to for solace in my own silence and embarrassment of having a mother that was behind bars because she had been present during a drug bust.  It fucking sucked and there was no way in hell that I was going to tell a living soul, not even my delusional idea of contacting Judy Blume myself.

No matter how dreadful my situation was at the time, I had Judy Blume's story to look forward to.  I had the next chapter of Peter and Fudge and Mrs. Grivjack's sweet and enthusiastic cadence of a voice to carry on a story and keep her students, her children, her one tormented and introverted pupil completely enthralled and grateful for the gift of being read to.  I was grateful for the momentary escape and for what the story granted me.  Laughter, smiles, empathy, the feeling of not feeling alone and also not feeling guilty about wanting to spit a thick ass hawker in my little sisters hair.  I was just happy to laugh and shut off the 'rated R' reel that was replaying over and over in my head like an annoying click of a roller ball pen because escaping for that one hour of story time meant that I was relieved from one really fucking bad dream.  Like Peter, I was ten and tormented except that his torment was way better than mine. Hands down!

  

Nothing mattered so much as the next great story that would forever embed itself in my own creativity.

THAT is how stories saved me.  

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

I read to my girls.  

They read to me.  

Books are all around us.  They don't tire us.  

They bring us together.  

At the end of each day we get to step into any world we choose to free from it's shelf.  

We are lovers of stories and I am a lover of telling them.

Story time before bed ♥

Stories. Are. Awesome...♥

So what's your story?  

I leave you with the magnificent Louis and 'La Vie En Rose' 

Because my life is full of 'Pink' and love...

de-cluttering {get started}

So you're among the many parents that have wayyyy too many toys for your kids.  We've all been there (or are still there).  They didn't appear on their own, no, us parents allowed them to come in to the house, stay and take over the living space, bedrooms, bathrooms, yada, yada, yada.  So now you've had it up to (you know where) with all the toys, toys, toys.

More than 50% of the toys your children have don't even get played with.  I know that this is a fact because I've experienced this and the many many other parents that I've spoken to about the issue have as well.  So what do you do?

D-E-C-L-U-T-T-E-R is what you do! DeclutterDeclutterDecutter is all you need to think about.  As a follow up to a post I wrote two years ago, I'll give you some tips on how to get your house or space or kid's room looking less cluttered and much more livable AGAIN.  I still stand by the idea that less is more but we each have to arrive at that place at our own time.

There is nothing worse than feeling like you cannot invite people over to your home because the clutter of stuff (in this case toys) is so distracting and unpleasant to be around that you simply avoid the entire commitment.  Just the other day my hubby mentioned to me that a family member needs to have a trusted friend come over their house to do some work but he's actually embarrassed about how cluttered and out of control his child's toy issue has gotten.  Perhaps these tips will put their cluttered issue into perspective to get started.  I call it the DREAD method because we all dread having to wade through the tedious task of getting rid of stuff.  It's time consuming, overwhelming and exhausting BUT you'll feel damn good once you're done and clutter free (or simply have less).

• Donate

One of the easiest ways to get rid of stuff is to donate them to a better cause.  It can be Goodwill, a local charity or church, a family in need or whatever you deem appropriate.  Donating is a selfless act because you know that the one thing you're going to get out of it is simply a good feeling of either making someones day or making a small or big difference to a cause plus less stuff in your home.  You can even include your children in this.  It'll be a great way to for them to learn a little appreciation for the abundant things in life.

• Rotate

The Real Estate jargon is, Location, Location, Location.  Similarly, the kid room jargon is Rotate, Rotate, Rotate.  I cannot tell you enough how much easier it will be to deal with toy overload if once a month you remove the toys your child has barely looked at, spat on or dunked in the toilet and replace them with old/new toys that you’ve had stored since their last Birthday or Christmas gift.  They’ll express an eager interest to play with the ‘new’ stuff you put out for them.  But remember to keep the rotate pile to a minimum, i.e., a small box you can easily store without it being obtrusive.  

• Exterminate

Okay, okay, I know this sounds radical but let's face it, some toys have seen better days, seriously! If truth be told, how do you know that your kid wouldn't want to incinerate the pathetic thing it if they could?! Hmmm?? Now, don't go playing with fire because there is always the easy peasy 'toss in the garbage' method.  Can you say, 'next!'?  We all have some exterminating worthy things that can be put out of their own misery.

• Apply Feng Shui

Feng what? Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art that is used to balance out energies in any given space.  The way to apply it to toys or to your kid’s room would be to use one rule of thumb and that is, if two things come into the room then two things go out.  The same rule is applied to any item or article of clothing as well.  The idea is to keep a balance in the amount of things present without disrupting the space your child plays, sleeps or studies in.   If your child does not love it then you don't need it.  I know that this seems much easier said than done but it is achievable, believe me.  You don't have to become a Minimalist or anything but it does help to bear these ideas in mind.

• Do not change your mind later

So now you've de-cluttered your space, room, whatever and those funny feelings of 'emotional attachment' start creeping in and you start to re-sort the stuff that you just removed.  Do your best to resist the urge to say to yourself 'ohbutthisissosocuteandIrememberwhenIboughtitandhowIfeltwhen...' don't do it! I'm telling you, don't even think that way because then you are doomed to a case of permanent unrealistic and emotional attachment to stuff or toys or whatever.  Step. Away. From. The. Toys.  Now!

Lastly, you CAN store your kids toys in a fun and cute way also.  Here are some ways I've gotten my girls toys and things in tidy order.  I like to keep things to a minimum so my solutions are simple and uncomplicated.

This started out as the small toy corner.  You know, the little annoying toys that end up getting kicked under the bed or stepped on when we're about to tuck them in to bed.  Yeah, those pesky ones! So now we've converted this nook into another book corner because we love, love, love books! 

The books here are mainly board books that have been passed down to my youngest daughter (she's 3 years old).  Now her older sister gets to read most of them to her which I think is sweet and cute.  

The far right side wicker baskets lined in polka dots is where I keep their shoes stored.  The cubby they sit in were originally stackable book cases.  I have super small closets in my house which inevitably forces me to keep the essentials and not an overflowing amount of 'just in case' things on hand.  

I've learned to appreciate this.    

Believe it or not, I've reduced their small toys down to this ONE cloth storage box.  

The older two were happy to take part in deciding what to keep and what not.  

They were reasonable about it too! 

I found this cute Kitty box at The Container Store for $6.99.  Score! 

These are simple small canvas baskets from PBKids.  I may have gotten these on sale too.  

I use these for games or little stuffed animals.  My girls LOVE stuffed animals.     

The second stackable book shelf turned into a second shoe storage for the girls.
Sabrina baskets with liners from PBkids.   

Did I mention that we LOVE books?  Yeah, we really love books... 

(I took a writing seminar with the author of TANGO) 

I started receiving these books by mail when my eldest was just a few months old.  

She'll be 8 years old in five months and we're still enjoying them all! 

Happy de-cluttering! If you have other ideas or would like to share your thoughts on this task, feel free in the comments below.  I'd love to hear from you.