Nesting

In my recent post on Simplicity, I mentioned my desire to create a space for myself, which I figured would also do nicely as a nursing nest once Baby makes his or her appearance. It came together in a fairly simple fashion--appropriate, don't you think? I only moved one small piece of furniture. (I'd had visions of relocating a medium-sized chest of basket drawers, but that proved unnecessary.)

The icon I choose is a favorite of mine that used to reside in my kitchen: She is the Mother of God, Nurturer of Life. I picked it up at St. Tikhon's bookstore during our stay in Pennsylvania last year while my husband was completing his seminary education there. If you look closely, you'll notice she's nursing Christ. My little ones really relate to this icon.

Within easy reaching distance, I placed a basket stocked with prayer books, a non-fiction (but gripping) mystery novel, a homeschooling title, and a favorite homemaking read. A bottle of air freshening spray was added to combat the effects of the unfortunately located catbox behind my chair. Our apartment is small, and I can't come up with a better place for it.

I relocated a plant to the window sill, figuring some greenery would be pleasant here, since I will undoubtedly spend countless hours in this chair.

As with my first two, I plan to do as little as possible outside of my home for the first six weeks (or thereabouts) after Baby is born. My doctor encourages this practice, but it also has root in the tradition of the Orthodox church. It is a beautiful time to bond with Baby, establish your nursing relationship, let your body heal, and let Baby begin to acclimate to life ex utero. It also gives the older ones some time to adjust to a new member of the family. Most of all, it encourages Mom to rest and regain her strength. The church blesses this time away and gives it a joyous end in the service of Churching the Mother and Child.

Lots of pillows, a coaster, and a footstool complete my nest. I've been using it daily already. While I had nursing in the back of my mind when I set to work on it, I didn't undertake the project with that solely in mind.

I have noticed that a busy homemaker often needs encouragement to sit down and rest--and to do so away from the computer--to recharge her batteries and actually enjoy the fruit of her labors in her home. Many of the living rooms I have cleaned for my family in the past few years rarely saw me taking advantage of their comforts. However, this spot has been calling my name since I completed it. That it will serve as an appealing and functional nursing nest for my little ones and myself is a nice side benefit.

Simplicity

I find myself drawn to the products of a simplified life. The beautiful photos of homes that are stocked with books, where odds and ends are stowed in baskets, the surfaces are clear, and the textiles rich and layered pull at my heartstrings. I find the idea of homeschooling from whole, living books; nature; the seasons of the secular and church years inspiring. I love the idea of organizing our schooling from a single bookshelf.

But notice that I used the phrase "the products of a simplified life." It is occurring to me that I'm not sure that I actually want to live a simplified life. My purse is huge--I want to be prepared to alleviate the discomforts of all sorts of uncomfortable situations that might arise. But to go with a smaller purse requires me to give a little forethought to the outing at hand--and decide what I can be unprepared for.

My "bathroom bag" for when I stay overnight somewhere is quite large: I carry a hairdryer, numerous hair products (and I don't even consider myself to be someone particularly obsessed with my looks), soaps, lotions, make up.... A smaller bag would necessitate some "making due" with whatever my hosts have available. Or doing without. Why am I unwilling to do that?

Do I like to lead a complicated life? Do really want to lead a simple life? I certainly like the effects of simplicity in other peoples' homes. In my quest to declutter my house, I'm beginning to realize that if I don't really lead a simple life, my home cannot begin to reflect that simplicity in a lack of clutter.

A line from a post on Simple Mom entitled Creating a Home Where the Living is Easy seems to clarify what can be meant by "simplicity":

Let’s face it, we all know life isn’t easy, but it can be easier. It has taken my family years of taking small steps to get to where we are now, and we are nowhere near where we hope to be even next year.

It's about making daily life easier, not necessarily throwing out anything that might be construed as clutter or making my home look like a magazine clipping.

It's also about taking small steps to make one part of my life at a time easier.

As I said above, I like the aesthetic effects that decluttering and simplicity produce in peoples' homes. So, to effectively declutter specific areas of my apartment, I'd have to be willing to actually simplify the portions of my life that correspond to that space in my home. To really declutter our video collection, for example, we'd have to be OK with living without the videos we get rid of.

I am mostly skeptical that I can really simplify anything. I mentioned how I do not lead a simple life in many ways. But then there are things I am trying to change in that department--not necessarily in the name of simplicity, but as a way to make my life easier and to allow more time for other things, like homeschooling our kids. My ongoing project of simplifying our menu into a set weekly one (changing by the season and liturgical year) has made it possible for me to really organize and simplify my freezer.

The Simple Mom post I quoted above has inspired me to take a small step in simplifying my life by making "both time and space for you" (emphasis mine). I can find bits of time, and I will have more of it when baby #3 arrives (if you count nursing time as "time for you"), but I do not have a good space to use that time. More practically, I will need a nursing station. I'm hoping to turn my papazan chair into that space. I'd like it stocked with prayer books, leisure reading, some kids books to dole out, possibly snacks (for all of us!) and a water bottle. It would be lovely if the computer fit into the picture too. I'm not sure what I will arrive at, but I have some ideas.

So, that is my next step in the direction of simplicity in my life and home. I am beginning to feel a little more fondly for the term than when I began this post--simplicity as a name for making my life easier. Who wouldn't want that?

Freezer Organization!

Do you know what this is?


This is a simplified freezer.

Bread, OJ (if we had any), and some veggie purees in the door. A tub of frozen veggies and one for frozen fruit next to some leftovers and ice cream on the top shelf. Ice cubes, meat to be used in the next week's meals, an ongoing "chicken parts for soup" bag, some broth, and some other recipe-ready ingredients on the bottom shelf.

Anything to be saved for next week's menu is in our basement freezer. We also have lots more broth, bread, and some other miscellaneous ingredients (yet to be placed in a menu) down there.

The entire contents of both freezers fit in my upstairs freezer. However, I found it frustrating that I couldn't really organize (and thus, couldn't find) anything with all of it stuffed in the one freezer. With our foray into using a set weekly menu, I found it so easy to figure out what I need to have upstairs, and what can be downstairs. I think when I put away the weeks' groceries will be a good time to rotate things upstairs from down.

I get such a rush looking at that simplified freezer!