Routine: More Than Organization!

Some of us are fairly well organized people, very much into routine. I like to think it is not just because we are older. Hopefully there are lots of people who have their time well-planned.

Because we are seniors, we cannot do the long hours that I know many younger people do. I hear about a lot of people who are only getting six hours sleep each night. Hubby and I need our eight!

I cannot imagine mothers with jobs not being organized. Their life would be chaotic otherwise. Delivery and pick-up times for children dictate somewhat how their days go. So, they are up very early, getting themselves and their youngest children ready.

Hubby and I still set out our clothes the night before so we have no decisions to make about what to wear. I would think mothers do that also, for themselves and their children. If they have babies, they surely have a diaper bag always packed with necessities. Hopefully, their husbands help with some of this. I think some men like to take time out for bath time with little ones and help with getting them to bed. Traditionally, that has been a bonding time for fathers and little ones.

Dinner is perhaps the one time that is not quite what most families would like to have. In homes with teenagers, it is hard to get everyone to sit down at one time.

That is where processed, frozen foods and take-out have taken over many kitchens. Fortunately, we can also purchase ready cut salads in bags in the produce department and cooked dinners at the deli department.

I have one friend whose house is centered around a really large kitchen with a center island with stools and a large sit-down table and chairs at the side. Everyone gravitates to that kitchen and her friends seem to know where to find everything and tend to pitch in. Now, there are seven children in that family and my friend does not have an outside job. One complication for them though is that her husband does work 12 hour shifts several days a week. So, that pretty much puts the onus on her for all routine in that household! One great bonus for that family is their children’s friends coming to their home.

I believe very strongly that if your children’s friends gravitate to your home, you know who they are and you have a better overview of what everyone is doing.

Hubby and I do keep appointments and obligations on a board on the kitchen wall and we do have shelves, and hooks by the door to the garage.

I have an old friend (well, I mean, how hold can he be?) who pens the blog, Mesopotamia West and has written the book, Home Invasion Prevention (lulu.com). He is right about some things, and we do alarm our SUV which is inside the locked, built-in garage. Then, we have one set of keys with the control by that door and another set in our bedroom.

Of course, we have “Buddy” the Lhasa Apso (a guarding canine) who alerts us of outside noises. That way, we can set off that ugly car alarm pretty quickly any time of the day or night.

Next time, I will explain to you why my blog is so vanilla while other peoples’ are more rocky road!


http://www.mesopotamiawest.blogspot.com/

http://www.lulu.com/

We Can't Go Back!

In light of the increase of foreclosures, I got to thinking about the houses most people lived in – say – forty or fifty years ago. Most families in United States and Canada lived in simple five or six-room houses. That would be two or three bedrooms and a bathroom, a kitchen, living room and perhaps a dining room. In northern areas, many houses had basements, and some of them were “finished” to be usable space, appropriate for children to play during inclement weather. Others were suitable only for storage of preserves, canned goods, potatoes and onions and possibly boxed out-of-season clothing.

Houses were fairly close together – 30 and 40 foot lots were common and neighbors knew each other and their children played together.

When I sold real estate in the 70s in Toronto, one of my clients was a family of two parents and six children who lived in a house typical for then with several children sharing a bedroom. One day their home was purchased with others for development and they had to find a new one.

Since they had been well-paid for this original house, we found them a larger split design on four levels with extra family room, totally finished basement and three or four baths. It was on a corner lot and was a very attractive house.

When I visited them once they were settled in, I noticed that they were all gathered in the family room, everyone attending to what they were doing, just as they had been in their original house.

At what point in time did families change to large houses with several different areas? Was that when families stopped sitting down to dinner together? Was that when children stopped telling their parents and siblings what they had done that day? Was that when mothers starting working? Was that when marriages more commonly started falling apart and multiple marriages became the norm?

Is there some way we can go back to simpler times? Probably not, because most of the people marrying and raising families today have only heard the stories similar to what I am telling you. This just does not mesh with today’s high tech and there is probably no turning back!

The longing for peace and quiet is still strong among most of us. Possibly one way to achieve this in part is to set aside an area in our homes where we can just sit quietly for even a few minutes. We can listen to calming music, read or have a quiet chat. If we set aside some contemplative, quiet time each day, we can refresh ourselves to get back to the multi-tasking, high-tech lives we lead today.