Nathalie's Notes

{What’s Working}

It might be a bit premature to say what’s working in regards to my Project Life. But these are the things I am doing differently in my process to help me achieve a more satisfying result than last year’s experience of loving the project but feeling constantly “behind.”

This year my goal is to embrace (My One Little Word) and enjoy the process of putting together this awesome record of our real life.

Here are the tweaks I’ve made to my process:

Handling Photos | Last year I waited until I had a big enough batch of photos to justify the shipping from Shutterfly. This created a constant catch-up cycle. Worse, for me though, is that for some reason I get overwhelmed by choosing, editing, uploading the right pictures so it was always a task I procrastinated on.

This year my friend Amy pointed out that the grocery store I shop at has a photo lab. Yes, the Fred Meyer I’ve gone to a minimum of once a week has a photo processing center. I guess I stay focused on keeping my kids safely in the cart and sticking to my list or something! Anyway I priced them at .13 cents a print which means a picture a day for a year would be $48.00. So worth it to stay on top of this project and enjoy it. This means I am uploading to the Fred Meyer photo center on line and picking up one or two pictures at a time when I run in to pick up the milk we’re always running out of! Bonus? I’m getting to know the people who work there and when my brand new camera stopped working on Tuesday, the manager was beyond awesome at helping me return and replace it!

Shifting Perspective | Project Life is like laundry, only way more fun! There is no such thing as totally caught up. There will always be something, to mend, throw in the wash, iron out wrinkles … whatever. You can lament those things or be grateful to have clothes! Project Life, like laundry, works better for me when I have a system in place and then tweak as needed. I do better keeping my family in clean socks and underwear when I do a load day – start to finish than waiting to climb Fly Lady's Mount Washmore. Same with Project Life.

Journaling |  As a long time lover of my Moleskine planners I am delighted to be using these monthly pocket planners:

I just jot a few lines, an overheard conversation,   something I want to Google to go with the journaling, etc. Love it. Plus, they’ll tuck in nicely into the 4x6 pockets at the end of the year!

For a link to my past Wednesday “what’s working” posts click here.

What’s working for you guys, Project Life or  otherwise?!

p.s. Thank you again Erin Goodman for the inspiration to do What’s Working posts! To learn more about Erin click here.

{What’s working & April’s article}

 

 

This simple little phrase is working wonders at my house. I don’t know why but Sam totally gets this. His teacher says it so I started saying it and to my utter amazement it works almost all the time!

So I was stoked to see Becky Higgins created a free download on her site with this expression printed on three different colors … uploaded to Shutterfly and now it’s on my fridge. Easy.

I forgot to post the link to my April “Baby on Board” column: click here if you want to read it.

I'll let you in on a favorite parenting secret of mine. Sometimes, particularly out in public, I pretend I'm the nanny.

This comes in handy when my toddler nearly dives into the water feature at Wilco, or takes it upon himself to "deadhead" the flower display as I wrestle my 1-year-old charge into the shopping cart. When people shoot me the stink eye, I just shake my head along with them, nanny-like.

The nanny thing works at home as well.

The way I see it, nannies actually have fun with their darling charges because they aren't as emotionally attached to the outcome. They don't worry so much about messes and are far more playful.

I know, because I worked as a nanny all through school.

{Read more}

{What’s working: DIY furniture}

Of course, when I say “do it yourself” it’s more of a team effort where I’m the idea person (by which I mean rip-the-picture-out-of-magazine-person) and Matt’s the finisher. Here are two of our recycled materials projects.

A year ago exactly, I posted this picture I saw on http://www.designmom.com/.

 

I didn’t know where we’d be living, only that we were moving and had put in (yet another) offer on a house. This one, though, I was pretty certain was The One. While the inspection was pending, I visualized this bench in the entry way, with my kids’ boots in it.

This morning I took this picture in our entry way. Love, love, love it. Matt made this for me for Christmas. Should you fancy one for your own home … let me know.( Shoe bins are from Target.)

A couple years ago, during yet another move, a door broke off our dining room cabinet, I kept it knowing I wanted to repurpose it somehow, just not quite sure how. Until I saw this idea in Good Housekeeping last year. I tucked it in my idea binder and waited for the right time to try it.

During my recent personal crisis I decided to do some self-esteem boosting – it’s amazing what seemingly small things can do! One of which was spray-painting for the first time. (Yes, I’m 35.) So with the help of some girlfriends, I sanded and spray-painted the door.

(Side note: I left it in Matt’s shop so long, he offered to paint the other side for me and I took him up on it.) He hung it up for me last night in my new studio and it’s just how I pictured it.

The little books are from a company I like called Compendium. For doses of inspiration visit their blog.

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{What’s working: Martha’s magic cleaner}

 

First of all, can you believe Jake is old enough to walk to school to pick up his brother?!

Secondly – where did March go? I meant to post this on Wednesday. During my forced hiatus from my Google Machine, I had to turn to other resources … I needed a homemade cleaner that I wouldn’t worry if my kids found in our cabinet childproofed with the rubber band from a bunch of asparagus. I flipped through my Martha Stewart homemaking handbook and found this:

Fill a spray bottle with:

2 cups water + 2 Tablespoons liquid dish detergent = magic

Really. Magic.

Seriously magic in the sense that it cleans everything and magic in the sense that I actually liked cleaning for awhile. It got old again, but still …

Sam colored on the carpet – sort of an accident in that he colored off the page but he shouldn’t have had the page on the carpet … where was I? Slamming a rum and Coke in the bathroom. Just kidding. I was changing Jake upstairs. So I discovered the multi-colored carpet and in my calm, Zen Mama fashion got all angry and said:

“You better pray to God this comes out of the carpet!”

Sam took me literally and got on his little knees, folded his little hands, closed his eyes and said:

“God, we have a problem. Mama is maaaaad.” I used the magic cleaner and it was coming out.

“It’s working! Keep praying.”

Sam grinned, “Thank you God.”

 

Project Life note … While I wish I’d thought of this sooner I’m not going to let all-or-nothing thinking get in the way … I snapped a picture of Sam’s school bucket from the top view this morning so I see his snacks and show and tell. Every month, or so, I’d like to make a free collage at Photility to include in this book – and maybe for his school album. (The theoretical one). It'd be fun to see what he picked to take each week – even if it’s the same block week after week.

{what’s working – courage}

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”

- mary anne radmacher

A week ago today, one of my most immediate stresses was that I’d forgotten to take out the garbage and missed the garbage truck. I can’t hardly believe it’s only been a week since that morning. The events of last week, starting with the sudden death of one of our favorite people and ending with the near-implosion of all that I thought mattered most* … well, let’s just say it put the whole garbage fiasco into perspective.

Meanwhile … while so much feels like it is so not working, this awesome quote from one of my favorite artists sums up what is: trying again tomorrow.

*we are all going to be fine. Better than fine, eventually.

Also what's working is staying steady with my 300 words a day ... I'm ready to say it: I'm finishing my novel!

{What’s working: works-in-progress}

 

Matt: Where’s the Wayne Dyer book?

Me: In the yellow stack.

Matt: {blank face}

Me: I organized our book by color. Or, at least, I’m working on it.

Matt: Why?
Me: Because I like the way it’ll look when I’m done. Plus, ask me any book we have and I know what color the spine is, ask me where it is on our shelf, and I have no idea.

Matt: There’s something to be said for alphabetical order.

Me: Have you met your children?

Matt: I hate to break this to you, honey. I didn’t realize you’d done that and started doing them in alphabetical order but the kids …

Me:Well,then it didn’t make the impression I was going for. I’d say until they stop pulling everything off shelves, we try it my way. Sam knows his colors, not his alphabet.

Later …

Matt: Were you being ironic?

Me: Huh?

Matt: with the backwards letters?

Me: The kids …

{What’s working: order}

 

Wish I’d taken a before picture so you could see what a revolutionary experience it is to have our cupboards this … serene. I {heart} Ikea.

Some friends of ours got together at a paint-your-own studio and made us a fun, mis-matched set of dishes for our engagement party. That was 10 years and two divorces ago … we enjoyed using the dishes, long after they chipped and were whittled down to a bare bones selection. It was time for new ones. I’ve wanted white dishes for a long, long time and finally found a good deal on them at IKEA. I use the clear ones on top of the little white ones for fun decorative touches like this – next time I’ll make the initials bigger. This is fun with paper napkins, Sam’s watercolor pictures, sweet quotes, and soon – Valentines.

{What’s working: synergy & free stuff!}

 

While there is plenty that isn’t working, my immune system for example, there is so much that IS. I love the idea of sharing what is working and hope you’ll join me in focusing on the positive and sharing your ideas.

Every.Single.Day I learn something from people that they mention in passing, a tip, an idea or a new way of looking at something. It’s why Parent Hacks is one of my favorite websites, parents simply post something simple that works for them even if it seems too obvious to be helpful. I always have their link on the right side of my page under “Rad Parent Stuff.”

So, focusing on “what’s working” is working!

Also what’s working is the synergy that happens when you set your intentions, share them with people who are supportive and then work steadily toward your dreams. This is happening too many ways to share here but one example is yesterday, during dinner, Matt asked me how my class proposal is going. I was glad he asked because I wasn’t sure just how supportive he was of the whole idea, I told him I was really close but didn’t want to put it out there until I hit that “YES!” moment where it all came together. I also was struggling to come up with the right name. After awhile he suggested: “I got it! Heart in a Jar.”

Yes! (When I tell you more about the class, it’ll make sense.) I sent a quick mental memo to God to help me figure out if that’s really the right title for the class.

After we got the boys to sleep, I got on the computer and Matt clicked on OPB and suddenly out of the speakers came these words: “heart in a jar.”

We were quiet for a minute and then Matt said: “I’d take that as a sign.”

So, this next week I’ll be working on dialing in the journaling class I’m going to teach: Heart in a Jar.

          ***

Another thing that’s working for me is winging it. As a OCDish planner I used to think if I didn’t already know how to do something I had to have a plan in place before moving forward. False. My children have taught me that the ability to go with the flow is as important to staying sane as maintaining my sense of humor.

I’ve expanded ways I’m willing to wing it and am pleasantly surprised that the Planning Police haven’t issued a single citation, nor did the world as I know it end. In fact, life is getting even more fun.

One of my sayings, the kind that I suppose my kids will think of long after I’m gone is: “It’s free to ask.”

I’ve been wanting a photo editing program since Sam was a newborn. I finally “winged it” and searched online to find a free trial copy of Adobe Photoshop Essentials and starting teaching myself a few minutes at a time-  two weeks of 15 minute sessions later I learned how to do something that will save me nearly $70 by the end of the year – turns out that’ll cover the cost of the program!

(If you’re wondering, what I wanted to learn, it was how to splice two pictures into one 4x6 print to upload for my Project 365 book, above is proof that I got it figured out. I also learned how to add text to photos a few minutes at a time).

Along the same lines, for years I coveted a writing program that would be a solution to my organization issues – all my notes, research, drafts, character information, scene details all in one place! At the Northwest Author Series last week April Henry shared that the program “Scrivener” works for her. Instead of waiting to know all about it, I did a quick study of it and decided to get a beta trial version before committing to buying it – already I love it and have started writing my novel again. So, so stoked!

Anyway, that’s what’s working around here – how about you?