Operation Clean-Out Day 2

Yesterday I learned a little something about our family while cleaning the refrigerator.  We do not eat whole wheat tortillas.  I buy them because I want us to eat them instead of the flour ones but we don't.  I found three packages with only one or two missing in each (obviously I am the only one eating them).  I vow that I will no longer buy these because I really hated throwing them out.  I also found that we regularly leave the last of everything.  There was one squirt of jelly left, one spoonful of mayo, and one sip left of a Gatorade bottle.  There was one lone pickle floating in a jar, one lone bagel that expired last week, and one lone piece of ham at the bottom of the container.  I often preach about wasting.  I guess the person who ate the second to last of these only took what they wanted like I ask.  However, the last was still wasted because I threw them all out.  I am going to make everyone aware of this problem so that I don't have a so much refrigerator real estate taken up by lonely leftovers.

I also discovered that thirty minutes is a really long time.  Really I should know this from my teaching days.  I have taught children how to multiply in thirty minutes.  I have also taught how to tie shoes, how to create a Power Point slide, and how early settlers celebrated the first Thanksgiving in this amount of time.   I am lucky because thirty minutes is also the exact amount of time that Umizoomi will occupy Sam!  I always use time as an excuse for disorganization...not any more.  I sat down yesterday and planned twenty-seven more thirty minute jobs.  I know from teaching that learning something takes practice.  I will be conscious of the progress that I have made and conscious of the effort needed to keep things this way.  Before I go on a big grocery shopping trip, I will quickly scan the refrigerator for expired and lonely food and do a quick wipe down.  Well, at least that is the plan!

Today I have tackled the freezer.  I was actually looking forward to this job all morning while at the Feast of St. Michael picnic in the blazing sun.  Two of my children wanted to come home after the picnic which turned out to be a blessing.  One of these watched the baby while the other one (a natural born organizer) sorted all of the frozen food.  He placed all the like things together and planned where they would go once I finished wiping the inside of the freezer.  Now that everything is sorted by categories I can easily see if we have meat and sides for the week.  While we loaded all the food back in, this smart boy "reminded" me of the beginning sounds of each product and we talked about those letters together.  This chore turned out to be a lesson in phonics and a pretty sweet moment between this mom and her six-year-old!  I guess doing my Martha jobs with a Mary heart is really changing my outlook.  Normally I would have ignored this task or waited until everyone was asleep (OK, I would have ignored it if I must be honest).

I am not tackling the outside freezer today for fear of the mosquitoes!  Shucks, and I was so looking forward to it!!!