It takes us awhile to recover from Christmas. In two days, we have Christmas festivities with four families. This week we are traveling to South Carolina (where I am writing this) and later to Cincinnati to see more family. The two days we’ve gotten to spend at home have been spent in rest and trying to find places for the new toys. We gave a box of toys the week before Christmas to my nephew to help us with that task.
I have never been an organizer of things. I organize myself and I have places for things that I care about in my home, but when it comes to having things look neat and tidy – I fail miserably. Our house is clean where it counts. The toilet, bathtub, dishes washed, and clothes washed, but neat and tidy it is most definitely not. I have tried before. I was fairly successful, but with so little room it has been hard to really make a difference. Not being gifted with the talent of housekeeping has made it hard to maintain.
John recently told me to let go of the standard I am trying to achieve. In ten years of marriage, we’ve not had a neat home, even before kids. It’s true. Clean, but not neat. With our various collections and our love for the written word, music, and art, comes a lot of things to be kept in our small cabin. I am not doing a good job of managing it all.
Then, I am trying to find an organization that will work with me and my pursuit of becoming a certified childbirth educator. There are none here to train under or observe. Most organizations have at least that requirement. Travel isn’t possible for me without making huge,expensive arrangements. I also have to keep in mind the reputation of the certifying organization and the experience of others. It is proving difficult, but I’m pushing onward. I hope that by the time I finish my prenatal yoga training in April, that I can start offering my services to the women in our area.
There is a lot of organizing to do. We have been taking time off of our homeschooling. I have been in deep spiritual study, and I am missing my yoga quite a bit. I love seeing family and spending time in places away from home, but not being able to do my daily yoga is hard. It is at those times when you can really tell what such a practice does for you.
I hope to be able to post more starting next week. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions on home organization or childbirth educator certification for such a rural mama, I’d love to read them. Please comment. I’m wishing you all a great New Year and some restful fun!
A Mountain Mama - East Kentucky Gal 
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December 29, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Tara Field
Hi Kelli! Have you already checked this out? http://icea.org/content/traditional-childbirth-educator-certification
It looks like you can do most of it in your local area/home except for the required class. (There is one in Cincinnati in mid Jan.) http://www.birthsource.com/scripts/events.asp
I am so excited for you! Your area so desperately needs someone like you to make a difference. : ) I will talk to my Dad at the end of the week as far as suggestions for financial aid. Surely we can find a clinic or hospital in the area that will help with tuition in exchange for working for them for a time after you are certified.
Hope that helps! If you want to e-mail me at wintercreekfarm@mac.com.
P.S. – Try not to fret about your house! In the end I know you will be remembered for other things than just keeping a neat house. : ) maybe that’s wrong but I have been known to leave a cluttered house with a sink full of dirty dishes and run through the woods with the boys on a sunny afternoon!
December 29, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Desiree
We visit family in Hazard and Cincinnati all the time. Small world! You wouldn’t happen to be related to the Bakers/Bolling/Amis/Hammond/Riley family by chance? (family tree-if you can see it. I don’t know if I set it to private: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/6745064/family/pedigree)
About home organization-I love organizing. Keeping up with the messes, not so much. I would highly recommend as many bookshelves and baskets as you can get. We just moved from a ~800 sq. foot house with the 6 of us + 5 cats and a large dog. We just used tons of IKEA bookshelves, baskets, a Trofast storage system for kids toys, and massive decluttering. Between our musical interests, book collection (we have 7 bookshelves full plus raingutter bookshelves), and craft supplies, it makes storage/organization difficult.
At the end of every day, we do a 15 minute run through of the house as a family. Everyone contributes and we put on good music and make it a contest to see how fast we can do it. We do only one room at a time, carry a basket to throw in anything that doesn’t belong or needs thrown away and put things where they go when we get to that room. It works so well. We should probably do two a day, but one is all I have energy for.
Every month or so I go through and heartlessly sort through what we have and get rid of as much as possible to donate. Staying on top of the mess is hard for me. I have so very little energy by the end of the day!
As far as childbirth education go: can you speak to the local midwifery school? They may have resources for you. I’d contact Frontier and see if they know of anything or maybe financial assistance if you will work for a given hospital/practice for a certain amount of time.
December 29, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Annita
I also struggle with organization. My husband and I are both recovering pack rats, you wouldn’t believe how bad it has been at times. One rule that I have put in place that works for us is, “If I don’t have to have it or absolutely love it, then it must go.”. And I am brutal. I don’t care what it is, if it’s not a necessity or something that I adore I won’t keep it around. That has helped some, but we still have a long way to go.
As for the childbirth education, I don’t know, but I really hope that you get it figured out. I would love to see more natural birthing options come to our mountains, there’s just not enough information available here on the topic. Good luck and keep us updated!
December 29, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Cre
Wow, that’s a lot of travel! Poor thing. I would hate that honestly. I hate traveling. Fortunately, our family is close enough that a 1.5 hr drive is the fartherest we go.
I could have written this too! I’m working on getting us back to a “better place” before I go back to work next Monday. It gets nuts when its cluttery here. For me, it’s books. I have a problem. I can’t give them away. Even if I don’t like them. Because one day, I will remember a piece of a story and if I don’t re-read that book, I will go CRAZY. I HAVE to read it. Have to. It’s just how I’m built. I’ve learned to accept it and the fact that my bookcases will never, ever be pretty.
I’ll second baskets. I use them for everything. Look at Goodwill. I even saw this absolutely brilliant tutorial about using burlap (or fabric if you have any) to cover cardboard boxes to look like pottery barn or some expensive fabric bins. How smart is that? I plan on trying it soon. Burlap is less than $3/yard at Walmart and all you need is spray glue and hot glue.
I think that part of looking organized is sameness…i.e. bins are the same color, baskets are similar, etc, etc, etc. Less “eye clutter.” I’m working on that.
Label, label, label. I’m working on our basement now, trying to get it organized. We want to slowly start finishing it out and we hope and pray we can put in a wood stove by next winter.
I’ve also designated a box for yardsale/Potter’s House donations. Specifically. As I find stuff, I throw it in there. No more need to re-sort. My big issue is kids clothes. I need definite help with that. But, luckily, JL is growing into JP’s clothes fast and we are holding off on another baby right now. All of our clothes have been through 2 kids so they’re not worth much anymore!
Supper’s done!
December 30, 2009 at 6:54 pm
meorthethoughtofme
i haven’t used the site, but a lot of people like flylady. but don’t worry about the house; it will take care of itself as the other parts of your life come together. good luck finding a program!