January 2, 2015

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? How is it 2015 already??? Remember when it was going from 1999 to 2000? That seemed so epic and now we're 15 years later and I'M NOT READY YET! What the heck??

Ok. So now that ONE freak-out is out of the way, here's another one. I will be 36 this year!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! This is not even funny. Once upon a time, I didn't understand why people had mid-life crises. I thought "come on... you've seen this age coming for a WHILE now. Just get it together and BE that age." Nope. Not even close to possible. I have been 24 for 12 years and I see no reason to stop now. I will be 24 until I'm old and wrinkly and crabby.

Moving on!

The other day, I received a book I have been looking forward to for a WHILE. It's Ruth Soukup's book: Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life. Last year, I participated in her 30 day zero spending challenge. It was HARD, but worth it. It gave me a better idea of what I was spending money on. The rest of the year, I tried to be more mindful of what I spent and WHY. I feel like we did a better job but there's always room for improvement. This is why I'm so eager to read Ruth's book. I've read the first chapter in a pre-release e-book format but there's nothing like holding a REAL book in my hands so I'll be starting all over shortly.

Also last year, I went through the 40-bags clean-out challenge. I got rid of at LEAST 40 bags (of all sizes) but there's still a long way to go. We let ourselves get overwhelmed with stuff these days, don't we? There's always something 'better' or more useful or newer or cuter... and we get sucked into obtaining those things. Yes, I have used the things I've bought. I've gotten rid of clothes that no longer made me feel good about myself and replaced them with better pieces that I still love. But I still have more than I need. More is not always better, sometimes it's just more.

My resolutions for this year are simple. At least, they seem simple because I haven't actually written them out yet. haha! So here goes:

1. Make more time for reading with the girls. I want them to love books as much as I do and they need to immerse themselves in those 'other worlds' to really get why it's so amazing to be able to read.

2. Take risks. I became an independent consultant this year, something I have NEVER attempted. I am fearful of failure, always have been. But this is something fun, something new, something challenging and I need to climb out of my hidey hole and just do it.

3. Stop comparing what I have with what others have. Oh, this applies to so many things. Other people are better at lesson planning, other people have kitchen gadgets that seem so useful, other people find ways to have cleaner homes, other people have prettier yards, other people dress their kids in cooler clothes, other people have clean kitchen counters, etc etc.

4. Make a damn budget already. Seriously.

5. Get rid of the stuuuuuuuff already. We're off to a decent start with this. We've sorted and purged some toys, bagged up clothes to donate, sold games no one plays, burned old papers we didn't need to hold on to. Today the boy child is sorting things in his room. He's got bags and bags of things to give to younger cousins or donate. Woohoo!

October 8, 2012

It has begun! I am officially attempting to de-clutter the house.

So far, I've turned around all my clothing hangers and cleaned up the kitchen pantry a bit. I understand the concept of breaking things down into small, manageable tasks. I'm actually glad when a 'challenge' comes with instructions to not overwhelm myself or set unrealistic goals for the day/week/month. But then I get impatient and think "But I don't want to wait till next week to clean the hall closet. Maybe I should do one task a day instead of one a week. And the garage needs to be sorted out... and toys donated... and cabinets reorganized..." You get the general idea.

I thought we were finally all done with whooping cough but the cool front brought new respiratory aggravation. Praying it is gone quickly because hearing all the hacking and sniffling is depressing.

August 1, 2011

I'm trying to be patient and understanding but really, I cannot wait to have my husband back. So much of his time has been taken up by one of two things lately: work or legal issues. I try not to complain about work because it's not as though he can suddenly cut his workload in half and spend more time at home. What has to be done, has to be done, and largely by him. When it comes to the legal stuff, it's a bit harder to be patient. After 9 years, I still feel like that can monopolize his time and attention in a way with which I simply cannot compete. Maybe things are drawing to a close of some sort, maybe they're not. Regardless, it's frustrating to wait it out, hoping for calm, happy evenings.

Related: Ben went back to his mother's house on Saturday. It's a strange feeling, not having him here. The girls periodically look for him and I find myself waiting for him to come down to breakfast. He plays well with the girls and has been trying very hard to contribute around the house.

We introduced a chore/reward system and even though it's only been in effect for a week, he seemed to get the hang of it and was getting quite good at checking his progress himself. I have a hard time delegating certain tasks. The old saying "If you want it done right, do it yourself" is one that strikes home for me. As much as I might complain about doing certain chores around the house, it's very often easier?/less complicated? to do it myself than it is to tell someone else how/when/why to do it. However! if I want help with things, I have to ask, right? So some things are being handed off to the chilluns and they're stepping up admirably. Ben has been taking out trash, keeping their bathroom reasonably clean, making his own bed and the like. Izzy struggles with the concept of chores but likes to dust and help put clothes away so I'm taking advantage of that. Lily has only really mastered feeding the dogs so I can imagine that's gonna get heavy rotation in her chore list.

New Year! New teeth!

Ok, not for me, tho... for Lily. She has two little tiny teeth and is just itching to use them on something yummy. She's working on learning to crawl. I wish I could remember being this age because it SEEMS like it would be terrifically exciting to be learning new stuff all the time. She looks like she's very pleased with herself when she gets up on all fours and starts to rock. Won't be long and I'll be wishing she didn't know how to crawl, as I chase her out of everything.

In 5 months, Lily will be ONE! I don't like to think about this at all. I was so thrilled to be having a second baby to enjoy all the baby stages again ad now she's moving along, inexorably moving towards toddlerhood and then childhood. Argh. Babies don't stay babies for long enough.

Tried out some new yoga poses today. Half Moon and... some sort of chair pose. Dear lord, it just about burned my thighs and calves up. I know it's good for me because I'm nowhere near as limber or toned as I'd like to be but jeebus... must it hurt so much? I'm determined to be in better shape, though. Not being fat isn't good enough, I need to actually be FIT!

New Year's resolutions: I didn't make any this year. Not even an Uber List. I need to, though. I have many crafts and projects I'd like to tackle this year, not to mention a kitchen/bedroom to reorganize and declutter. I'm determined to get rid of STUFF. If/when we have to move again, I don't want to have so much to pack or get rid of 'last minute'. It's exhausting to carry all this around.