For every additional person in a household, over the count of two, there is an exponential increase in the number of cups to wash unless strategies are applied.  I have in the past purchased inexpensive plastic cups and let the kids decorate them with permanent marker.  Simply writing names or having personal cups was not useful because screening for this was a low priority for too many people when choosing a clean cup from the cupboard.  Plus, they like to share their fun, special cups.  Creative designs, however, helped identify cups decently when they were young and home most of the time.  (Visitors’ eyes would become wide when they learned our kids could draw on the ” dishes.”)  Later, we tried having them each choose a location in the kitchen to place their cup when not in use.  It seemed to help for a while, but the cups often needed to be moved due to kitchen activity, someone else’s cup ended up close enough for confusion, or I just couldn’t stand the cluttered effect.

My latest solution is to assign an individual coaster to each person.  These are lined up in one location, by age order, temporarily identified by a name card until everyone becomes more familiar with the system.  If they have a mug or water bottle to keep track of as well, it can just go in line with their coaster.  My coasters of choice are thirsty coasters.   I found mine in Taiwan, but a search on the web lead me to the good looking site that I have linked to. I’m glad to find it, as I would like to get some for gifts sometime.  These coasters absorb condensation so well that everything remains quite dry.

I have enough of these coasters to be able to lengthen the line up for visitors.  The method also has portability for studying or reading at other locations since I did label the back of each coaster.  I can identify who is and isn’t keeping track of cups.  Increase of maintainable order brings me soothing comfort, and therefore more peace to the household in general.

List making serves the obvious purpose of aiding my memory at a particular moment, but, more than that, I believe it organizes and frees my mind.  When I write down what I need to attend to, some process begins of it’s own accord that connects wires and produces ideas that I hadn’t thought of before.  Sometimes, I don’t even need to refer to a list for the rest of the day.  The simple act of writing it down has given me the necessary direction.  Other times, my list provides the backbone of my day, standing firm against falsely urgent Sirens.

Amazingly, my lists engender flexibility.   Energy that might have been used up by little bits of information constantly needing to be recaptured is now able to be used on a higher level.  Creative opportunities present themselves.  Solutions to the days challenges have been known to unexpectedly appear as the list naturally reveals priorities.   I do not permit a list to become a tyrant.  It is always a servant, designed by me for my benefit.  Also, lists are expected to accommodate unanticipated things, whether it be what my husband needs/wants me to do or variable needs of other family members.  Actually, the list helps to quickly evaluate adjustments to make this possible.

I regularly have daily lists, carry-over lists, long term to-do lists for specific categories, reusable charts.  They all evolve as life changes.  Below is a copy of my current master grocery list.  I usually have a copy of it on the refrigerator.  I frequently use simple code next to an item if I want to remember to get it at a certain store.  You can also see that I have a list of certain stores where I often shop, but don’t have regular enough items to get there.   My motto could be:  Take a load off of your mind, make a list.

master grocery list

I have a custom made butter dish.  It sits on my counter, a beautiful and practical piece of pottery that I ordered while browsing Art & Roses, a local event at Julia Davis Park in Boise, Idaho, held the first Sunday of June.  The exhibition had too many booths of wall art for my attention span, but when I arrived at Mud Pie Arts, I and my companion lingered a long time.  Naturally, it was the eye-catching pottery that first drew us into the stall, but the genuine, comfortable friendliness of the proprietor, Patricia Sadler-Trainor, and her husband made the stop one-of-a-kind for the day.

There were rectangular platters, bowls of various sizes, vases, mugs, and…   butter dishes with lids!  However, the butter dishes for sale were only sized for one cube.  I mentioned how much I liked them, except for the limited capacity and she offered to make her first two-cube butter dish.  I paid the deposit, along with the purchase of a couple of other pieces for gifts, then began the rest of my summer.

A few weeks later, I received the phone call to go pick up my treasure.  Patricia’s studio is located behind her house in the North End of Boise, with the entrance through a garden gate.

On the spur of the moment I had asked Natalie to come along with the camera.  When we arrived, I asked Patricia if she would mind telling us a little about her business and art.   The particular details of each business or craft are always fascinating to me.

Patricia loves to answer questions about her work.  She patiently explained aspects of her processes, such as how many boxes of clay she buys at once to how she creates the textures.  Her clay comes in boxes like these, which are the last few boxes of a much larger shipment:

She uses a potter’s wheel or a slab-roller, however, she may coil or weave the clay, depending on the desired product.  If she has made flat sheets of clay with the slab-roller, she puts the clay around a form chosen from her shelves.

(wheel)

(slab-roller)

Her forms are hardened solids, themselves formed from such things as Styrofoam meat trays or whatever has potential.

Tools to press in texture can be anything from exotic designs from wood block stamps found at import stores to bubble wrap.

Besides paper bags full of powders (glaze ingredients to be weighed on a her triple beam scale), there are stacks of plastic gallon buckets, which looked like they had previously held ice cream, filled with mixed glazes.  The work tables and benches are well supplied with brushes, scrappers, spatulas, and mallets.  There are also tubs of clay scraps being soaked to bring them back to use.  We smiled to see the ubiquitous yogurt containers being reused, since we reuse them at our home for a variety of things.

That day there were not very many finished pieces to see because they were packed up to transport, but even her window sill was lovely to look at.

Below, she explains the textures and glazes of a finished bowl -

Here is the blue bowl one of my daughters received for her birthday a few days ago:

You can see more of Patricia’s work if you visit her website.  There is also information about where she will be selling her creations, as well as information for other potters about her glazes.  Here is one more view of MY butter dish so that you can get a closer look at the gorgeous blues and browns on the other side:

Patricia’s studio was plainly a well used, well loved studio, a place of reveling in her art and making items that people delight to buy.  Anything purchased from her is classic now and a show piece to savor for years.

In a world of a huge variety of ready made items on store shelves, it can still be impossible to find the perfect fit for personal needs.  I needed two kitchen towel racks that 1) weren’t hanging on lower cupboards where the dog was always rubbing by it, 2) weren’t the rings that whacks the cupboard every time the towel is removed, and 3) would fit on the narrow upper cupboards just above the counter on either side of the kitchen sink.  The answer to the puzzle was “being sold as” inexpensive designer toilet paper holders at Home Depot.  Not only were they the right size, but having one end open makes it much easier to get the towel up and down.  The finish on them even matches that of the kitchen knobs and handles.  A small block of wood inside the cupboard provided the extra width and support needed for the screws to mount them.  Voila!  Perfect extra-small towel racks!  Here’s to enjoying the small successes in life.

How to manage clothespins while trying to hang clothes on the line to dry has been difficult  -  until this week.  The clothespin apron that I just made has finally resolved multiple issues that had made the otherwise enjoyable sunny task challenging.  First of all, the clothes pins are now with me wherever I am in relation to the clothesline.  Also, no more bending over or reaching up, depending on the container.  No more trying to hold a bundle of the pins in my hand as I walk around or twirl the clothes line.  Hence, less effort looking for the clothespins that have sprung out of my grip onto the lawn.  I can see straight down into the expansive pocket to choose the correct type of clothespin for the job, one or two at a time.  If I’m hanging a particularly long or heavy item, I can reach into my pouch and get more as needed.  I’m all for exercise, but there are times when conserving your strength and efficiency are better.

I used Simplicity pattern 4282, view F, with some modifications.  A heavy cotton decorator fabric was my fabric of choice, which I found for a good price at Home Fabrics in Boise. I decided to finish the edges with single fold bias tape, instead of the more complicated application of lace trim.  I also used that method to hem the pockets.  I put extra pockets, from other views, on the outside of the big pocket, since I have never had too many pockets on anything.  Probably the most important change was leaving the main pouch pocket all open except for securely stitching it in two places near the upper edge so that it wouldn’t just fall open when filled with clothespins.  This is very important for another reason.  I had experimented with another apron and found that pockets that went straight down, no matter how large, created a torque on my wrist which was highly uncomfortable.

It is difficult to see the reinforcement stitching in the second picture, but it is about 1 1/2 inches of layered zigzag stitching.  If I ever make another, the one thing I might do differently is make the outer edges of the pouch a bit diagonal, reinforcing where the line becomes horizontal.  That would also mean adjusting where I put the extra pockets.

This genre of apron should actually stay clean, thus avoiding wear and tear in the washing machine.  Therefore, it should last a long time.  And hanging out clothes just got more fashionable, too.

I was surprised to wake up easily at 5:30.  I let my puppy out, then sent out a quick email to the Chinese tutor about the lesson schedule for Wednesday.  By then the kids were up and getting ready to go exercise at the gym.  After a brief panic about car keys, we headed out into the pre-dawn darkness to further rouse the day.

The next “mom-duty” was to recharge the gym card for our foreign exchange student, then I found a stationary bike on which to attempt new goals.  I rode 10 miles within 42 minutes, in spite of a mechanical miscommunication between me and the bike at mile 5.  My legs were not so jello-like that I couldn’t walk, but I proceeded cautiously down the stairs to the weight room as they trembled some at each step.  There I fought the ongoing battle with marshmallow triceps,  as well as other arm muscles that all have names like dinosaurs.  I pass by the kids frequently in the weight room, checking on their form and routines, helping them know when to ask the trainers for input.

Once home again, we proceeded with breakfast, chores, showers, and Bible reading.  Ah, I love discussing the truths of the Bible with the kids.  They respectfully reminded me, however, of keeping on schedule and not going overlong in my enthusiasm.  This was not before my 17 year old son wondered if we could sometime go through all of Paul’s writings and mark sections where he is being fantastical or sarcastic in his effort to make a point.  They all had encouragingly thoughtful comments and questions.

Half way through the morning I reveled in their initiative and dedication to their study efforts, today’s reward for many years of training.  I fielded questions about math, while I managed our stock account for Greg, his preferred way for me to “spend” money.  At this point, I realized what a truly lovely day I was having.  I worked on doing some laundry, helped Carlie clean the kitchen and thought, “I feel like super mom today!”  Before you get too upset with me, realize that I have had a share of trying days, surgeries, sick children, people being mean to me, etc, etc.  I would never seriously attribute any of my blessings to my own efforts.  Really, today was no different.  It was more like I had been imbued with special power that was carrying me along, causing me to accomplish, giving me a needed lift to do what was important.  I was willing to go with that!

Next, I reviewed the translation and corrections by our tutor of a couple of Chinese letters I had written over vacation.  I enjoyed getting a little help from Ian towards the end, again thinking about the Providence that had sent him our way without us asking.  Then there was more helping kids by correcting their various assignments, give direction in subjects, and helping with graduation requirements for the senior.  A phone call from the college child, from her designated location where she was signing up for classes for next semester, decided my next small project of organizing a copy of her high school records again.  Some frustration here, as her process is rather complicated by Boise State University handing over the culinary arts program to the new College of Western Idaho.  No one seems to have a complete picture of how to counsel the kids caught in the cross-over, so it is a bit like treading water at the moment.  The fact that all of her high school transcripts, laboriously prepared by me two years ago, were easy to find, nonetheless lent a satisfaction even to this.

Now, I didn’t have to make dinner tonight because I almost always cook double or triple portions, cutting down my cooking time for the week drastically.  I DID make four large golden loaves of sandwich bread.  Years of practice with that, and I do it by memory… hardly ever forgetting the salt.  Today was a success in that area, too.  This and lunch had gotten the kitchen messy again, so I cleaned that and put more laundry through the machines.

Right about then I noticed a vaguely familiar feeling of fatigue.  Ah.  I wasn’t super mom after all.  I’m pretty sure “supers” don’t get tired.  Still, I sorted some clean laundry into individual kids’ baskets, while listening to a daughter read a classic book of literature to me, Jane Eyre.  It’s her assignment, but it’s my story time!  That was interspersed with coordinating a fairly new driver helping to transport a younger sibling to work as a maid for an adult sibling who is married and lives elsewhere.  When that was all done, I made a quick trip out for fuel for the snow bound vehicle and bought milk.

My husband chivalrously claimed that I’m really super mom all the time, I just don’t realize it.  He meant it very kindly,  but I’m not sure I want the pressure that goes with that.  Today I will take pleasure in the relatively smooth and productive day, but I expect tomorrow I will be just plain old me again.