Today, during room time, I washed and oiled my kitchen cupboards - all 60 doors and drawers. I only do this twice a year, spring cleaning and fall cleaning. I know some of you do this on a much more frequent schedule, but with 60 doors (and numerous flat surfaces) twice a year is about all I can handle. Maybe I'll get the kids doing it by fall. Lest you who haven't been to our house, think we live in a mansion, I will note that our kitchen takes up 10% of our total square footage. Big kitchens are great, as that is where everyone gathers. I mean a big bathroom would be nice, but how many times do you hang out at a dinner party in the bathroom?
Anyway, back to my beautifully cleaned and oiled cupboards. I would take a picture of them to post, but that would require letting you all see my countertops, which have not made it to the pick-a-pile post yet. This was too scary of a thought for me, so no picture today. I did use the mindless time of washing cupboards to 1)figure out the square footage of my kitchen, 2) Count the number of doors I was doing 3) Pray for my friend, Dawn, who has been waiting over a year for a referral for siblings from Ethiopia 4) Thank God that I was wiping spilled milk and fingerprints off my cupboards because in a few years it will only be dust I am wiping off.
Well, the tribe is crawling out of room time, so I must go. BTW, for those of you that aren't familiar with room time, here's the scoop. When you are little it's called nap time and when you grow up it is called room time. It is the time of day when everyone goes to their room and relaxes; doing something quiet and alone (usually). Mom uses this time to do exciting things like washing kitchen cupboards and blogging, as well as enjoying a cup of tea in utter quiet :) I highly recommend room time for anyone with more than a few kids. It does wonders for everyone involved!
Also known as "The Blessed Hour" at our house... looked forward to all morning....
ReplyDeleteI LOVE room time. And downstairs time. And outside time. And...
ReplyDeleteOk. I want to know--How long is room time? Some days I think I'd like room time to last from 9 to 5! :-)
ReplyDeleteJen
I would like to start cleaning the outside of our cupboards, but Dad says to wait until the remodeling is done. By then I will have lost interest in cleaning them. Oh well, I have other things to do. Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteJen,
ReplyDeleteYes, today would be a good day for all-day room time! Zoe was awake at 5:45, so she is a little...fussy, shall we say!
Anyway, most days room time is 1 hour and 15 minutes starting when EVERYONE is in their rooms. Minutes are added if children are having a hard time staying in there room or calling mom too many times.
Barb
Calling "mom" once would be enough for me to add time!
ReplyDeleteI have some more questions. What do the kids have in their rooms? Do they bring things in for room time? What kind of rules do you have in place for kids who share rooms?
ReplyDeleteJen
Jen,
ReplyDeleteThey don' t have much in their rooms aside from books (of course). For room time they can bring stuff in, but it has to be quiet stuff! The girls usually draw, play with paper dolls or read. The boys usually read or look at football cards (gee, guess who does that). They also can listen to a CD or tape if it's quiet. If they are with a sibling for room time (and most of them are since they all share rooms) they aren't supposed to be playing together, although I sometimes allow that if they play quietly.
There you have it!
Barb
Barb,
ReplyDeleteI know I'm kinda late with this comment (actually, it's my very first blog comment ever!), but I just wanted to say thanks for praying for me! My daughter thought it was so sweet when she read it! You'll be hearing from me again...this is WAY fun!! BTW, we love reading your blog!
Dawn