There's a counter under there?

The 6:ooam thing is working great! I have been getting up, getting some "me" time and it seems to have really energized me for the rest of the day. Our main living area has stayed clean, which is wonderful! Laundry is caught up and I have gotten myself back on a laundry schedule. Monday - kids laundry, Wednesday-adult laundry, Friday-towels and sheets. Just the fact that I have gotten back on this is a HUGE step to cleanliness bliss! Steve has stated several times how proud he is of me and us for keeping things up. We have a counter area in the kitchen that is where the phone is and I keep my "brain", our calendar. This counter has always been notoriously messy. It was a catchall for the kids papers, keys, cell phones, everything. We cleaned it up on December 18 in preparation for our holiday party and it is still clean! Almost one month!! Now, to many of you in blogville, me boasting about a counter being clean for a month might seem silly. But to me, who has always struggled with keeping this area clean and clutter free, this is a huge deal! I have really been trying to throw out what I don't need right away. When the kids come home from school, I go through their folders and throw out right away what is not needed. However, I still have not figured out where to put and what to do with those that I want to save or look at later. I want a place/area to keep everything, organized, not messy. Still working on that.

Wake up call

The past two mornings I have set my alarm for 6:00. One hour before my kids wake up. It has done wonders! I read a website that suggested this and more. One thing it also said was to take a shower when you get up. No more excuses. When I turned off the alarm, I sat on my bed, looking longengly at my spot, wanting so badly to get back in that warm place, cover myself with the blankets and drift back into dreamland. But then I thought about Steve, who at that moment was somewhere in the cold, driving a truck or out in the snow, pulling pallets and boxes out of his truck. I thought of the wind whipping around him, the snow covering his head and how cold his hands must be, even with gloves on. I remembered that he had been up since 3am, all for his family, because this is what he must do. And I got up and got in the shower.

After I was dressed, makeup'ed and ready, I went downstairs. Made coffee, put the clean dishes away, watched the news and went online. When I got the kids up at 7, I was awake, refreshed, had some "me" time and was ready to go. Got lunches made, even made french toast for breakfast. The kids were happy, I was happy, it was almost inspirational! This morning was the same. It is 10:46am and I have already done the dishes AND...5 loads of laundry!!!!!!! AMAZING! Two more loads are in the washer and dryer and it's gonna keep going! Yes, of course, this admission does show just how far behind I was! But that is ok!

I am 34 now. I am an adult. And I truly love my life. My husband, my children, everything around me. I have not fully gotten back to being true to myself. There are things and people that intimidate me. How can I expect people to accept me for who I am when I am still trying to get there. The best part is this...I am TRYING. I am working hard every minute of every day to improve myself and accept what I can't or am not ready to change. It all just starts with putting my best foot forward when getting up in the morning.

Better Homes and Gardens

I was just talking to a friend who reads my blog (although she has not officially made herself a follower, you know who you are) and she made a comment to me regarding my quest to clean and clutter free bliss. She said "Chris, your house doesn't have to be perfect. You have 3 kids, you can't live in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine."

This gave me pause. I had to think about this one. Is that what I am trying to achieve? My two favorite magazines are Southern Living and Traditional Home. Am I flipping through the pages, subconsciously dreaming of my home to look perfect?

NO

I am not striving for perfection. I have faults (many of them) and if I was going for perfection, I would be one of those freaky women on Wife Swap who spends HOURS each day cleaning. The Bree Van de Kamp that has replaced Donna Reed for the 21st century. Not at all. I have just realized how being more organized is so good for my mental health. And my families. When chaos ensues in the clutter, my family and myself are off balance. Everything is cluttered in our home and lives and I truly believe we are not as happy and well functioning.

Steve told me once that he is in a better mood when he comes home from work and the house is clean. He is even in a good mood coming home from work knowing that the house is clean and clutter free.

When our home is picked up, the whole vibe of the family is different, better, a bit more relaxed. It just happens. THIS is what I am striving for. Do I think that all the planets will now align and there will be peaceful harmony in my universe always? Of course not. But it seems to me that making that extra effort to keep up with things does make a big difference.

So...this is my goal. A better functioning family that has a little less chaos.

*These pics are how my main living area looks as I was writing this. Not perfect, but good.

Sleeping Beauty

The kids went back to school yesterday. This morning was the second morning on my quest to peaceful organized bliss. Yesterday I woke up at 5:30. My alarm was set for 7, but just woke up on my own. Came downstairs a little before 6, started my coffee and basked in the quiet morning me time. I had gone to bed a little after 11 the night before. Not the 2 am thing. I need to try to get a better nights sleep so I can be more rejuvenated in the morning. This morning I did wake up with my alarm at 7 after having gone to bed about 9:30 last night. I felt so good this morning! I know the benefits of a good nights sleep and how much better it is for me to go to bed at a reasonable time. Not only does it improve my mood for the following day, but I also don't snack late, which helps my weight since I am trying to lose that. I also don't smoke as much and supposedly I get a youthful glow from a good nights rest! It's all there!

Now, I know myself well enough that a 9:30 regime is not going to happen every night. Monday was convenient b/c no good shows were on. Even if I can try for 11 or 11:30, I think that would be a big improvement. Anything before midnight. Need to remember that I turn into a pumpkin at midnight! and the way I have been gaining weight, that's not that far off...

Steve and I rearranged the living room over the weekend and cleaned up the kitchen. Almost every room on the first floor looks great! Still have not faced my laundry yet. The new semester starts on January 19 and I really want to have a laundry regimen by then. It's getting over the bump. I know once I get the laundry tackled, the bedrooms will look so much better. It's just doing it. Yet, I still have not. Gonna have to ponder this one...

mean girl

Well, yesterday was an entire waste! DID NOT DO ONE THING!!!! Got distracted. I swear, it's like adult ADD or ADHD or ASS or WHATEVER! I read on a local acquaintance's blog a post she had written the month before and it was about me. Now no, my name was not used, but I am not an idiot. It made me so upset and so sad. This woman used to be a good friend of mine and then she turned on me. She ignores me, belittles me when she got the chance. It made me so sad yesterday and just spiraled me into a depression. I'm not talking sucking my thumb and crying in the corner, but I didn't get anything in the house done. I am still a little sad today, but I am determined to change things around.

Buy new clothes?

It seems like yesterday that I was way, way, way behind on my laundry. I'm talking carpet is gone, clothes replaced it. So, it took me a couple of days, but it was finally done. But then BAM! It was back in full force! My daughter does not even have a hamper anymore. It's just clothes. A hamper overrun by clothes. A big mountain, bigger than my 20 month old. I just don't get it. It seems to accumulate so fast, faster than I can keep up. So again, I just have to start plugging away at it. Ethan's is now done. Andrew's is getting there, so is Morgan's. Ours is almost beyond repair. It's piles and piles all over our room and bathroom and closet. Earlier in the year, I had actually set myself up with a pretty good system. Every Monday was kids laundry day. Wednesday was Mommy & Daddy laundry day and Friday was sheets and towels. and this actually worked well for a few months. But then, I get distracted, life seems to get away from me and then BAM! It's a cluster f*&# again! Plan for today? Just keep plugging away at it. I have a load in the dryer drying, another in the washer, patiently waiting to be dried and about 50 million loads waiting in line behind that.

It get's so frustrating though. When we built this house, I made sure that the laundry room would be big enough so that I could have plenty of room for cabinets and a countertop. My theory was simple. Have a place to fold it, right after the clothes came out of the dryer and I would be all set! It seems like I have the right tools in place for organizing. It's just utilizing them to their full abilities. But, how can I train myself into this? Someone once told me that it takes 6 weeks of retraining yourself to get into a new habit. Ya know how long it takes to get back into your old habits? About 6 seconds! I was doing really well on laundry and then just fell out of the routine.

Soooo, after all this rambling. Goal for today is to get about 5 loads of laundry done. Now, to make it easier for myself, I need to clean off the counter in the laundry room of all the crap that is on it. always makes it easier when I have a clean counter to fold on. Now, whether I actually do it, who knows? Would it be easier to just get rid of the dirty and buy new clothes? It would be fun, it would be good for the economy...well, maybe not the Tracy economy...

dates, schmats

I forget things to do and dates if I don't write them down. I had actually gotten pretty good at keeping track of things. My mother one year for Christmas gave me a Mom's Plan-It calendar. it worked pretty well. The arrangement of the calendar made it easy to write down appointments and keep track of everything. I kept it by the phone in the kitchen and it was quite handy to jot things down that I needed to remember. Dr. appts, school functions, etc. This sort of became a ritual for a few years. I would get Mom's Plan-It from my mom for Xmas and I was all set! Last year she did not give it to me. I literally have been lost this past year. I bought a different one when I could not find it, but it was not as good. I could not focus as much without my MPI. I seemed lost. So let's call the whole thing off! Right?