Monday 3 September 2012

Preparing for tomorrow

Tomorrow, children in our neck of the woods head back to school.  While my husband and I knew it, I was surprised when my son mentioned it too.  I asked him how he was feeling about not going back to school, and he replied that he was happy he would be home tomorrow.

Around us, however, was disarray.  It's felt like this since we returned, and I felt it even more acutely when we picked up supplies from the school board office and I found myself wondering just where we would put 12" x 18" paper.  And where all our scissors had wandered off to.  And how had we come to own so many crayons?!?

So, my mind started painting a picture of my dream studio.  This would be a place where I picture us spending much time, particularly quiet afternoons while our littlest one naps.  I see knitting and sewing and crafts all happening in this room.  Games of chess and writing and doing puzzles.  Reading, reading and more reading.  A clean, bright, organized place where minds can be focused on the task at hand, even if that task is daydreaming.  Where experiments and projects can be dove into straight away because everything needed to do it can be found easily.  Sigh.

This dream studio would be in our basement.  The basement is, well, a disaster.  So the purge started.  And soon, it moved out to the garage, because there is a table out there that is sturdy enough to withstand kids, it's large enough for us all to fit around when following our individual creative pursuits, it's attractive enough to be indoors, but not so pretty that it can't get a little paint spilled on it accidentally.  That table had gardening stuff and sports equipment and toboggans (yes, toboggans!) on it. 

The garage purge is almost done (thankfully).  A little area in the basement is finished.  And the studio won't be ready by tomorrow.  But that's okay - things are looking better.  Our workspace will be at our kitchen table, and our supplies will be kept an arms length away at our buffet.  I feel more organized now.  Pens, markers, crayons, erasers, scissors, and more have a home.  Workbooks have been prepared for Nicholas and Jaelyn to work on during those quiet afternoons.  We've talked about what our week will look like so that it is balanced.


I'm sure that after a good night's rest, we will all be excited to live out tomorrow.

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