Hey Mom--where's my cup?!

Striving for Simplicity--this is another sharing idea from A Place Called Simplicity, home to Memorial Box Monday. Linny is calling for folks to share their ideas for simplifying their lives. I don't believe she is striving to simplify for simplicity's sake alone. Like everything else she seems to do, it is a call to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us so we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). It is a call to get rid of the extraneous junk that ties up our money, time and mental energy so that we have our money, time and mental energy available to serve God.

Quite possibly, this will be my one and only entry into the world of simplicity. I am quite entangled in my junk. I have high hopes, good intentions, as I walk down the road that leads to, well, you know.

Nonetheless I am sharing one of the few ways that I have freed some of my mental energy.

Cups.

I can't be the only person who buys a dozen cups, all matching, then wonders why her 8 children can't seem to keep up with their cup for the day. Oops, moving ahead too quickly here.

Here's the plan in a simple nutshell: each child is supposed to drink water from the same cup all day so that we aren't washing 100 cups/day. We don't have an unlimited supply of unique cups, however, which means that children, especially MY children, were often confused as to which cup belonged to them.

My solution, brazenly stolen from my friend Joan Arnold, is to take a plastic cutting board (mine has rubber corners to keep it from slipping), some Sharpies, a plastic cup and draw circles around the inverted plastic cup on the cutting board and label the circles for each person. We also like to decorate our circles, but clearly that's optional.

I redrew ours this morning. Some were made by Mommy, some by the kids themselves, but the important part is that everyone has their spot and THEY KNOW WHERE IT IS.
Isn't that lovely? Isn't it just the essence of simplicity? Isn't it fortuitous that I had this little strip of counter next to the refrigerator to place this lovely board?

Now, I must admit this likely hasn't been a part of saving another orphan, but it has certainly saved a few former orphans (and their siblings) from the wrath of mom. Just sayin'.