Twenty-Eleven
Happy New Year!
I know I'm a few days late in sharing my well-wishes. Between the unfortunate demise of our laptop and feeling really, really yucky, I just haven't had the energy or patience to get on the computer lately. We have a desktop that is suuuuuper old and slow and it is really frustrating to even turn it on. I can't really complain about it though, seeing as it was completely free and all. Free, thanks to my husband's embarrassing habit of dumpster diving. Yes, my friends, he trash-robbed it from somebody's curb. Somebody who lives only a few houses down the street (Please, God, I hope you didn't let them see who did it). He has no shame.
I started off the new year with all kinds of goals to become more organized and motivated, and have already failed miserably at keeping them (or even starting them). I was really hoping to get my mind and my body on the same wave length, but it turns out that no matter how much you plan to feel better, writing it down on a list and wishing it with all of your might just doesn't seem to work. Just when I thought the vomiting had eased up, it reared it's ugly head over the weekend. Along with a migraine that is going on its 4th day...it apparently missed the etiquette class on overstaying welcomes. Pretty rude, if you ask me.
Anyway, the past few months I have felt a desperate need to make some changes in my life. I have just been feeling like I'm drowning most days. I start off the day motivated to make some headway against the mounting tasks and never ending chores, and somewhere along the way I find myself falling even farther behind and finding no other choice than hopelessly surrendering to the chaos that is my life these days. That doesn't sound melodramatic at all, does it? Ha! But really, I do sometimes feel like I'm living in survival mode and struggling just trying to keep my head above the water. Now, I realize that the majority of it is just the season of life I'm in, considering I have an extremely active (read: destructive) toddler and on top of that I am feeling really sick and exhausted because of this pregnancy. I know I need to learn to bend a little and give up control (gulp) and not let the little things bug me. I know that at this stage having a clean house all the time is an impossible feat. So while I'm cutting myself some slack and not expecting to implement my resolutions perfectly or overnight, I definitely don't want to lose sight of my goals and hopefully take back some resemblance of control over my life (or at least the illusion of it, ha!).
So, here is my list. It really all revolves around numero uno, if I could just get me some of that.
1. Structure, structure, structure! Find and keep it.
When I was working, I was pretty organized. I came into the office, settled into my chair with my cup of green tea in hand, and was motivated to get things accomplished. I had my daily task list and I found pleasure it crossing things off. I thrive on deadlines. I will procrastinate to the last possible second, but I will never miss a deadline. I love the pressure of them. I've had a difficult time adjusting to staying at home because I don't have that structure anymore. Many days feel aimless and while I'm constantly busy, I feel like I never get anything done. So I've decided that I need to treat my days at home like I treated my days in the office: with structure, discipline, planning, and a routine schedule. Whether it's cleaning, playing, teaching, cooking, reading, praying, grocery shopping, running errands, etc, they will be planned and they will be intentional. This of course will require some heavy duty list-making on my part (I've already got the Excel spreadsheet planned out in my head), which is a great added bonus. :)
2. Read my bible every day, and be deliberately prayerful for others.
I really have a longing to deepen my relationship with Christ and to grow spiritually, which means I really need to get into God's word. I have a daily-read bible and would love to read through the entire thing this year. It's so easy to get consumed with life and the busyness of raising babies, but I can't think of a more important time than to be filled up spiritually then when we are called to pour into our kids as they are growing up. Our time with them is fleeting and our influence is so important and I know I need to be better equipped to teach them. And I also know that while mothering is a huge blessing, it's also a difficult and selfless responsibility and during the past year I have never relied on God more for strength, patience, and grace. I am so very thankful to have Christ in my life and like any valuable relationship, it takes dedication and discipline to keep that sacred connection strong.
3. Read to Harrison every day. And take time to read more for my own benefit, too.
I was an avid reader growing up. I remember staying up way past my bedtime with a flashlight under the covers because I just couldn't put whatever book I was reading at the time down. I really want Harrison to develop that same love for books, too. Right now he isn't really interested in sitting down longer than 5 seconds and therefore doesn't have the patience for stories just yet, and so I've gotten frustrated and lazy about reading to him. As for me, I can honestly say that I probably didn't read a single book for leisurely purposes all through college and the first couple of years after. When I finally took the time to pick one up again, I realized just how much I had missed reading. Then I went out and bought a bunch of books (Amazon can be oh so enticing) and have a huge stack that I still haven't taken the time to read and I hope to get through some of them this year. I did recently join a book club and I'm SO glad that I did. Once again, something about the deadline gets my butt into action...
4. Revive the cleaning list.
Oh yes. I've got the mack-daddy of all cleaning lists. I made it several years ago on my computer during lunch breaks at the office (I'm such an exciting person, right?) and it is grand. However, as grand as it is, it has not been utilized in well over a year. I really want to modify it to fit my new schedule and add a few things to it. I will share the wealth once I'm done. You're welcome.
5. Organize the house and get the Toy Situation under control.
Seriously, y'all. We have a big problem at our house. Harrison would argue that it's not a problem at all, but trust me when I say that the Toy Situation is out of control. A first birthday followed shortly by Christmas racked up some serious toys for our little man and they have completely taken over our house. As hard as I tried to fight Rick's practical plan to take my rarely-used dining room away from me in trade for a play room (you have to say play room with a snotty, sarcastic tone for the full dramatic affect), he eventually won the battle. Over the weekend, we cleaned out our office/guest room/junk room to make room for Chicklet's nursery and also cleared out our dining room to make room for toys. I think it's safe to say that these children are dominating our space, but I've officially surrendered. The problem with newer houses is that the bedrooms are pretty tiny, so there isn't a lot of room for playing and the toys end up all over my living room and kitchen and bedroom and bathroom and...you get the point. So I'm compromising. A play room, yes, BUT, the toys must stay contained in there. They must! I mean, they must, right? Obviously my white flag is very tattered. I always swore that I wouldn't be that mom, but I'm afraid I'm becoming more and more "mommified" as the days go by. Ugh...pretty soon I'll be cruising around in a minivan rocking some mom jeans.
But you know what?
This little stinker is totally worth it.
I feel like I might just burst when I stop and think about the joy that lies ahead for our family this year. I hope 2011 brings all of you much happiness, as well!
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| {2011} |
Happy New Year!
I know I'm a few days late in sharing my well-wishes. Between the unfortunate demise of our laptop and feeling really, really yucky, I just haven't had the energy or patience to get on the computer lately. We have a desktop that is suuuuuper old and slow and it is really frustrating to even turn it on. I can't really complain about it though, seeing as it was completely free and all. Free, thanks to my husband's embarrassing habit of dumpster diving. Yes, my friends, he trash-robbed it from somebody's curb. Somebody who lives only a few houses down the street (Please, God, I hope you didn't let them see who did it). He has no shame.
I started off the new year with all kinds of goals to become more organized and motivated, and have already failed miserably at keeping them (or even starting them). I was really hoping to get my mind and my body on the same wave length, but it turns out that no matter how much you plan to feel better, writing it down on a list and wishing it with all of your might just doesn't seem to work. Just when I thought the vomiting had eased up, it reared it's ugly head over the weekend. Along with a migraine that is going on its 4th day...it apparently missed the etiquette class on overstaying welcomes. Pretty rude, if you ask me.
Anyway, the past few months I have felt a desperate need to make some changes in my life. I have just been feeling like I'm drowning most days. I start off the day motivated to make some headway against the mounting tasks and never ending chores, and somewhere along the way I find myself falling even farther behind and finding no other choice than hopelessly surrendering to the chaos that is my life these days. That doesn't sound melodramatic at all, does it? Ha! But really, I do sometimes feel like I'm living in survival mode and struggling just trying to keep my head above the water. Now, I realize that the majority of it is just the season of life I'm in, considering I have an extremely active (read: destructive) toddler and on top of that I am feeling really sick and exhausted because of this pregnancy. I know I need to learn to bend a little and give up control (gulp) and not let the little things bug me. I know that at this stage having a clean house all the time is an impossible feat. So while I'm cutting myself some slack and not expecting to implement my resolutions perfectly or overnight, I definitely don't want to lose sight of my goals and hopefully take back some resemblance of control over my life (or at least the illusion of it, ha!).
So, here is my list. It really all revolves around numero uno, if I could just get me some of that.
1. Structure, structure, structure! Find and keep it.
When I was working, I was pretty organized. I came into the office, settled into my chair with my cup of green tea in hand, and was motivated to get things accomplished. I had my daily task list and I found pleasure it crossing things off. I thrive on deadlines. I will procrastinate to the last possible second, but I will never miss a deadline. I love the pressure of them. I've had a difficult time adjusting to staying at home because I don't have that structure anymore. Many days feel aimless and while I'm constantly busy, I feel like I never get anything done. So I've decided that I need to treat my days at home like I treated my days in the office: with structure, discipline, planning, and a routine schedule. Whether it's cleaning, playing, teaching, cooking, reading, praying, grocery shopping, running errands, etc, they will be planned and they will be intentional. This of course will require some heavy duty list-making on my part (I've already got the Excel spreadsheet planned out in my head), which is a great added bonus. :)
2. Read my bible every day, and be deliberately prayerful for others.
I really have a longing to deepen my relationship with Christ and to grow spiritually, which means I really need to get into God's word. I have a daily-read bible and would love to read through the entire thing this year. It's so easy to get consumed with life and the busyness of raising babies, but I can't think of a more important time than to be filled up spiritually then when we are called to pour into our kids as they are growing up. Our time with them is fleeting and our influence is so important and I know I need to be better equipped to teach them. And I also know that while mothering is a huge blessing, it's also a difficult and selfless responsibility and during the past year I have never relied on God more for strength, patience, and grace. I am so very thankful to have Christ in my life and like any valuable relationship, it takes dedication and discipline to keep that sacred connection strong.
3. Read to Harrison every day. And take time to read more for my own benefit, too.
I was an avid reader growing up. I remember staying up way past my bedtime with a flashlight under the covers because I just couldn't put whatever book I was reading at the time down. I really want Harrison to develop that same love for books, too. Right now he isn't really interested in sitting down longer than 5 seconds and therefore doesn't have the patience for stories just yet, and so I've gotten frustrated and lazy about reading to him. As for me, I can honestly say that I probably didn't read a single book for leisurely purposes all through college and the first couple of years after. When I finally took the time to pick one up again, I realized just how much I had missed reading. Then I went out and bought a bunch of books (Amazon can be oh so enticing) and have a huge stack that I still haven't taken the time to read and I hope to get through some of them this year. I did recently join a book club and I'm SO glad that I did. Once again, something about the deadline gets my butt into action...
4. Revive the cleaning list.
Oh yes. I've got the mack-daddy of all cleaning lists. I made it several years ago on my computer during lunch breaks at the office (I'm such an exciting person, right?) and it is grand. However, as grand as it is, it has not been utilized in well over a year. I really want to modify it to fit my new schedule and add a few things to it. I will share the wealth once I'm done. You're welcome.
5. Organize the house and get the Toy Situation under control.
Seriously, y'all. We have a big problem at our house. Harrison would argue that it's not a problem at all, but trust me when I say that the Toy Situation is out of control. A first birthday followed shortly by Christmas racked up some serious toys for our little man and they have completely taken over our house. As hard as I tried to fight Rick's practical plan to take my rarely-used dining room away from me in trade for a play room (you have to say play room with a snotty, sarcastic tone for the full dramatic affect), he eventually won the battle. Over the weekend, we cleaned out our office/guest room/junk room to make room for Chicklet's nursery and also cleared out our dining room to make room for toys. I think it's safe to say that these children are dominating our space, but I've officially surrendered. The problem with newer houses is that the bedrooms are pretty tiny, so there isn't a lot of room for playing and the toys end up all over my living room and kitchen and bedroom and bathroom and...you get the point. So I'm compromising. A play room, yes, BUT, the toys must stay contained in there. They must! I mean, they must, right? Obviously my white flag is very tattered. I always swore that I wouldn't be that mom, but I'm afraid I'm becoming more and more "mommified" as the days go by. Ugh...pretty soon I'll be cruising around in a minivan rocking some mom jeans.
But you know what?
This little stinker is totally worth it.
I feel like I might just burst when I stop and think about the joy that lies ahead for our family this year. I hope 2011 brings all of you much happiness, as well!
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