Checking In

I have never believed in the much fussed about tradition of making resolutions. Resolutions for me has always been equated with goals and goals you can and should make throughout the year. However, this year I did ring in the new year with a vow and a few pledges left over from the previous year.

Still groggy from sleepless nights and recovering from a hard delivery and recovery, I did not get around to marking out my quest until the approach of the coming year.
My quest was simple.

1. GET ORGANIZED!!!
2. Lose weight
3. Play more

Typical, I agree. Here I am half way through the year and I feel I have made significant progress.

Organization was and is my main focus this year. I wanted the house organized and the kids on a schedule. They function better when they know what is expected of them and I feel better when my home is running smoothly.
I put up a calendar in the hallway between the kids bedrooms. The kids have chores they are assigned each day. When they complete their chore or do simple things such as get dressed, take a bath and brush their teeth they get get stickers to put on their chart. The chart is a great motivation for mason. Adelin is still young but she still delights in trying to earn her special weekly prize. I also made magnets for the months of the year, holidays and the weather.
I hung up two dry erase boards above the desk in my bedroom. On one of the boards I list all our expenses and budget. That way we always know what we are spending and what areas need work. The other board is for the content mapping for our Website dazzledish.com. To help improve my creativity and revitalize or rediscover any talents or hobbies I used to have I pulled my sewing machine out of the closet and set it up ready to go. Next I am working on a place for my scrap booking. Creativity comes suddenly. If I have to spend 30 minutes cleaning a place and setting up shop then by the time I sit down to start the project the thoughts are gone.

After four years of baby weight it is time to shed the pounds. Two summers ago I began walking with some friends. I continued up until last summer a couple of months before I had Everett. I was crippled with a hard recovery and our family was hit with three straight months of illness. Nevertheless I was unable to get moving until the Spring. But here I am five months later going strong with twenty pounds behind me.

I have always been a perfectionist. In the career field that is a good thing. At home as mom it is not so good. It has taken me four years to finally accept my house is going to be dirty. I would rather be playing with my kids than cleaning every second of the day. So I took some advice I heard once and put it in action.

Take all the responsibilities and write each one on an index card. Things such as laundry, grocery shopping, dusting and vacuuming, mopping, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the bedrooms, cleaning the kitchen, yard work, cooking dinner. Take the card out that has dinner written on it. It is a given the kids have to eat so dinner has to be made everyday. That goes in one pile the rest go in another. Everyday you can only take one card from the other pile. You can only do one chore. Use the rest of the time to play and have fun with your kids. I do try to have the kitchen spotless every night before I go to bed because it there are dirty dishes in the sink the next morning I tend to get a bit cranky.

The way I see it, they are going to be grown soon enough. It is so important that I fill their first years with fun wonderful amazing memories. Which brings me to the second part of play.

Adelin is the artsy one. Mason is the imaginative one. Everett, is still too young for me to tell. I have withheld the paints and markers because they created a mess. An extra mess that I did not want to clean up. With my acceptance of the walls can be painted, the clothes can be washed, I have moved all the art supplies, from the loft upstairs, downstairs to the desk in the kitchen.

Everyday we try to discover outside, create art, sing songs, dance, make something fun for snack and read books. Slowly my home is starting to feel more peaceful.