This Mom Grows Up!: Simply Spring #8: The Merry, Merry Month of May

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Simply Spring #8: The Merry, Merry Month of May

Welcome back to my Simply Spring series! We're having a busy start to the merry, merry month of May!

Yesterday, some of us drove an hour and half over to Palm Bay to go to a graduation picnic for my daughter Joanna's boyfriend David. I hadn't met David's parents yet, so I jumped at the opportunity! They are very sweet people, and it was well worth the trip. This week David is getting his engineering degree and Joanna is getting hers in Interpersonal and Organizational Communications (or something like that), both from UCF. She starts her master's degree in counseling at UCF this fall. I am so proud of both of them for all of their hard work!

Meanwhile, my Renaissance Girl Lydia (20) was busy chalking up her own accomplishments at the St. Johns River Festival of the Arts with this rendition of Giorgio de Chirico's painting "Mystery and Melancholy of a Street." She is taking piano lessons and studio art, and an extra college summer class. Then she is leaving for UF this fall as a ceramics major. She's also plotting how to get her younger brothers and sisters outdoors more this summer, so we're looking into raised bed vegetable gardening? Do any of you have experience you'd like to share with us?

Today, a few of us went to lunch party at our friends' house after church. As always, I took pictures of their beautiful lakeside backyard, which you can find here: Florida Through My Lens: Garden Gathering on Lake Bell. The rose picture at the top of this post is from that party.

My oldest son, Andrew, is turning 18 this week! How did that happen? He has been way taller than me for a really long time. We'll celebrate his birthday on Wednesday, and also have a whole family gathering (hoping for all 10 kids, two sons-in-law, four grandsons) on Sunday for Mother's Day.

There is so much else going on this month, but I'll leave those for future posts!

On to some practical stuff at our house, namely my on-going quest for order...

Kids and chores. Sigh. They each have a day when they are assigned to unload and load the dishwasher, but if they miss, then there is confusion about who goes next. And that isn't even talking about the rest of the house! It's like my lovely homemaking schedule has been all but useless.

Yesterday I called a family meeting with most of

the kids who still live at home. I shared a new plan for their feedback. Here's the deal: I made a chart with all of the available jobs (unloading and loading dishwasher, loading, wiping counters, sweeping, vacuuming, folding linens, helping cook dinner, putting away groceries, and special projects) with various point values for each one. We each have to meet a quota of at least 10 points each week and we can generally choose the chores we like at the times that are best for us. However, if I need something done right away I will look at the check off chart on the fridge (on the honor system) and if someone is low on their quota and reasonably available, I will call them in to do it. If I get any balking, they get docked a point, or something like that. So if they want the extra freedom of choice, it's in their best interest to be proactive and jump in early so I won't nab them at an inconvenient moment with something they hate to do. We haven't started the plan yet, but they agreed to give it a go and I'll keep you posted on how it's working!

Of all the kitchen jobs, I personally prefer loading dishes. I always rinse and stack them ahead of time anyway, no matter who is doing them. I hate to see the sink overflowing, and it keeps the dishes from getting too crusty while they wait. It's less overwhelming for whomever is doing dishes next, too. That simple practice cuts so much kitchen chaos right there.