Creating Order Out of Chaos

Order is a beautiful thing.

I love it when things settle into a sort of equilibrium.

Like when I set aside Mondays and Fridays for vacuuming. An idea I picked up from Ben's nana at kinder last year.

It works for me because vacuuming on a Monday means I start off the week with a clean house. And vacuuming on Friday means the family can enjoy a clean house and quality time over the weekend.

Of course, life is never quite so neat. Toddlers will drop food crumbs over the side of the high chair, and some 5 y.o.'s seem to have a perpetual huge gap between their mouths and their plates.

Thursdays are designated for food shopping, because ALDI's specials always start on a Thursday. I drop Beth off at school and then go down the Princes Freeway into Werribee and join the early birds as they wait for the doors to open.

I used to pop into Safeway all the time, just because it's so close to home. I've since discovered that I save a lot more by buying at ALDI. It's good and cheap. With fuel, groceries and interest rates climbing everyday, shopping at ALDI is just what the store's slogan says - "smarter shopping".

Thursday nights are band practice nights, so I try to make life easier for myself by keeping dinner really no-fuss. Tonight, we're having oven-baked seafood and chips, and I know the kids will finish every bit of it.

Friday is Library Day.

That's when I take the girls to the library after school so Beth can swop her old books and borrow new ones. She's into stories about talking animals, fairies, and ponies that change into unicorns when you recite certain magic words. :-)

J loves the library too. She delights in taking books off the shelf and relocating them far away. She's started mimicking us when we read. She'll pick up a book, sit down and "read" it to herself. Last week, one of the library staff walked by as she was doing just that.

"Are you reading already? My, you're clever!" exclaimed the lady in that high-pitched, dramatic manner reserved for talking to very little children.

Finding 20 minutes here and there to do something simple but guaranteed to ease the running of the household, that's a real art.



I've learnt to squeeze in a spot of ironing on a Sunday afternoon while the kids are with CA, so that he has enough business shirts to last the week.

A couple of days ago, I "discovered" the gardening clippers. I really only intended to snip off the offending protrusions on the bougainvillea shrub next to the barbie. But one thing led to another, and I found myself having so much fun as I got handy with the clippers, that I was soon tidying and pruning and trimming my way from the pergola area to the back fence.

One thing's for sure: gardening is back breaking work. But I am also beginning to see why some people love gardening. There's nothing like a good tidy-up, as the "Aunty Doris" character says in an episode of Bob The Builder.

I know a real Aunty Doris who would agree. :-)