third weekend of September

261 & 262

Hello, weekend!

I’ve been looking forward to this weekend since Tuesday afternoon. We’ve got soccer on the agenda, but that’s about it. I’m really glad to have some down time.

How about you?

this weekend:

family time

yard work

anything need to happen on the punch list?

are Halloween costumes picked out/purchased?

keep up with the Daily 7

day 260: Friday!

260

Things have been weird around here. Our neighborhood is kind of living in a state of post traumatic stress, since we are pretty close by to the gas blast location in CA. Everyone knows someone who has been affected.

Everyone.

And everyone wants to share their story.

and they should. they need to. But it’s hard to hear so much horror on a daily basis. It’s exhausting. And you feel sneaky and dirty because everyone is whispering because no one wants to freak the kids out.

but we made it. one week down, lots and lots more to go.

Hug everyone close—

Today:

daily 7

I still need to play catch up, how about you?

recycle the paper piles, catalogs, and magazines.

259: Thursday

259

It’s Thursday. I’m pretty backed up this week—how are you doing? I’ve got unfolded laundry and unwritten assignments. I’ve also got a baby trying to cut her top teeth and give up naps.

Today will be productive though. It has no choice!

Today:

daily 7

play catch up

watch Project Runway

Wednesday, Sept 15

258!!

258! It’s day 258, and a huge honking thank you to Sara for taking the time to figure that out for me. I have a bright blue post-it (in retrospect, not the best color for a post-it because it’s hard to see ballpoint pen) stuck to the computer armoire telling me to figure out which day of the year it is. The post-it keeps falling off because it’s so old the stick is wearing off.

Thank you Sara! I LOVE the internet. LOVE it!

Your comments yesterday on the tentative schedule/routine were wonderful. We ended up not following it and blew off soccer practice to finish the math worksheets before the school’s PTA and ice cream social. I think it was a good call.

Today:

speed dust, vacuum, and quick mop.

daily 7

and Christal reminded me that I should probably change the sheets.

Tuesday, sept 14

Tuesday.

We have PTA tonight. Right after soccer. And last night was a Daisy Girl Scout meeting. I’m a big fan of saying no, I really am, and it’s only once in a while when our weekly schedule gets (what I think is) too much, but when it does, I HATE IT.

I like down time. I wrote last week on the crockpot blog that I’m kind of a hermit, and while most people  I come across on a daily basis wouldn’t categorize me as exceptionally hermit-like, I’m the most comfortable at home in my pajamas.

Just like Hugh Heffner.

I really liked the comments you left yesterday on how to help Jill out. IN A SUPER WEIRD twist of irony a different Jill emailed yesterday (hello to the Jills!) and asked if I had a regular weekly schedule. I sort of do. Kind of. Maybe. This is what I wrote back to her:

Hi Jill!

I have a loose schedule that I sort of kind of stick to, depending on outside activities/responsibilities. I work from home, so I don’t have a set time for when I do these things, I just fit it them in when I can.

Monday: weekend recovery
Tuesday: run errands/make sure we’ve got food in the house for the weekly meal plan
Wednesday: dust, vacuum, mop (I try to spot clean through the week)
Thursday: water indoor plants/garden/ I end up baking a lot on Thursdays because the kids are cranky and I like to have some sugar around to ward off the crankies.
Friday: catch up day/clean off desk (I’m not in charge of paying bills, but if you are you might want to)
Sat & Sun: yard work, punch list items, family meeting to make meal pla

I truly try to do the Daily 7 as much as I can. If I can’t get to the speed dusting/mopping/vacuuming on Wed, I’ll just spot clean and make sure the Daily 7 is up to speed. It’s amazing how put together the house is when all you’ve done is make beds, emptied garbages, and kept up with the laundry.

I hope this helps just a bit.

One thing I’ve learned is that *I’m* in charge of my time. While I typed this to you, the phone rang. I saw it was my girlfriend, and let it go. She then called my cell phone, but I let it go. I get it that this kind of seems mean, but if I stopped what I was doing to chat (technically answering email is work? I’m not sure— anyway, the baby is napping, and it’s the ONLY time I can be on the computer, whereas I can call my friend back while the baby is up, KWIM?) I’d never get the stuff done I need to.

I also try real hard to make some sort of To Do list everyday where I quickly write down the absolute MUSTS for the day—-not the “wouldn’t it be nice.. ” items. So for today, we’ve got a Daisy meeting and I signed up for snack which means I MUST make muffins, and I MUST write up a list for the moms on the ground rules.
LOL, the phone is ringing again!!!

anyway, there you go! clear as mud.

What about you? Do you stick to a schedule? Maybe schedule is the wrong word. Routine?

Today:

Daily 7

run errands

Monday, weekend recovery day

Monday, September 13

Good morning! I wrote back in January that I try real hard to chill on the weekends with the heavy cleaning and instead step it up a bit on Mondays in a “weekend recovery.”

Jill wrote to me last week and said that she was having a challenging time with this because she hosts a Sunday dinner for 12-15 each week and doesn’t fully recover until Wednesday. This wouldn’t be a problem if Jill was okay with the way this turns out, but she’s not. Instead, she’s beginning to resent her sisters and their kids and her mom—which isn’t a good thing.

Jill and I chit chatted a bit, and it looks like it’s not possible for dinner to be held elsewhere. But we did brainstorm a few possible ways for things to run a bit more smoothly so Jill wasn’t stuck with the grunt of the clean up and anguish.

1) keep the bedrooms closed. When you’ve got little kids coming over, you’ve got to kind of confine them to an area where the mess can’t spread. Bedrooms are for sleeping, and when you’re trying to wrestle over-tired kids into bed at the end of a long night, the last thing you need to do is step over GI Joes and Lego pieces, or find that all of the church dresses are pulled from the hangers at the bottom of the closet because of a dress-up party. It may seem harsh at first to lay groundrules for play, but the fact is that YOUR kids come first. They need to have one room where they know that their special soccer and karate trophies are safe and sound.

2) TAKE THE HELP. Unless you’re entertaining total clods, most people at least offer to clear dishes and load the dishwasher. TAKE IT. Use it. ESPECIALLY help from your family.

3) Have an end time in mind, and stick to it. In Jill’s case, she has an ongoing family dinner date. This makes it even easier because she can let it be known that her kids go to bed at 6 or 7 or 8 or whatever and tell her peeps to get out thirty minutes before bed time.

4) limit the alcohol. People get lazy when they drink. They’re more apt to ignore kid bad behavior, and not as likely to want to step up to help with tidying up. And if you drink too much you’re more likely to adopt a “whatever” attitude (totally fine if that’s how you want to be, but not so good if you’re annoyed the next day) and not accept offers for help, resulting in a house hangover the next day.

How’s that all sound? Doable? Mean and controlling? Any other ideas for Jill?

Today:

daily 7

weekly recovery

You don’t choose your family.  They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu

the weekend sept 11 & 12

sept 11 & sept 12

Spend time with your family. Hug them close. Let them know how much you love them. Treasure this time. It goes so quickly.

Lots of love.

Friday! sept 10

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a great week. It’s always funny to me how the “short” weeks end up feeling so long and never ending!

Plan some fun out of the house. Get your heart rate up—plan a hike, game of tag, hide and go seek, hit up the pool before the weather changes—just something. Sometimes the impromptu outings turn out to be the most fun and memorable.  Here’s a free site for scavenger hunt clues that might be fun to play around with (some of the sites charge a fee for downloads).

Today:

wash the car (or hose it off, same thing)

clean out the microwave

wipe down the fridge, inside and out (super quick, don’t obsess)

daily 7

thursday, september 9

THURSDAY.

I have a cold. I’m trying not to be cranky, but I kind of am.

I’m going to take a Tylenol PM and hope that when I wake up in the morning (I’m typing this wed night) the lunch bags have been cleaned out, the dishes have been put away, and the baby toys are back in the rightful bin.

I will visualize all of this taking place while waiting for my tylenol pm to take effect…

because that’s what The Secret would want me to do.

bwhahahahahahaa!!

Today:

stop being cranky

daily 7

wednesday, september 8

Wednesday!

don’t look now, but it’s already Wednesday. I know. I’m kind of annoyed too.

Today:

get as much done as humanly possible so you don’t wake up tomorrow freaked out that the week disappeared

call an old friend and listen more than you speak. Make a concerted effort—-it’s really tough to not want to turn it all back to you, but you will be giving such a gift if you just listen and acknowledge.

daily 7

PROM your purse or the glove compartment–whichever needs it the most

Many people call a doctor when all they want is an audience. –Reader’s Digest

« Previous Page — Next Page »