Good, Bad and Ugly

I haven’t been able to get too much done the last few days. My schedule hasn’t really lightened up as much as I’d expected, and when I look ahead I see it won’t for a while. I’ve been putting things off , telling myself I’d get back to them when my schedule lightened up. I need to think of this as my current normal and plan accordingly. But I do have some things to share.

GOOD:
• I’m slowly getting a handle on the mornings I have to work. This morning, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, made the bed, got lunch for the kid and got myself ready for work, all before bus pick-up. Coming home to see those things done made a big difference in my mood.

• Tomorrow I’m having a donation pick-up, which will be smaller than I’d hoped, but even getting rid of a few things helps. On my last post, a few people suggested stashing the box Emma filled for the time being, which I think is a good idea. But I learned last night that Bob was planning to thwart my plans by keeping the toys! I share this tidbit with anyone who thinks men aren’t sentimental.

• Today’s 15 minutes were spent crawling around the attic. I pulled out a few more things to donate and noticed I have several baskets and a few Rubbermaid totes which are empty. I’m hoping to keep them empty but am not ready to donate them yet. I have a thing about baskets. I love them and I know I’ll have to part with some of them but I fully plan to be strategic about it.

 

BAD:
• I need to begin planning my work outfits, or taking ginko biloba. This morning, I realized I couldn’t remember what I wore Monday, and was afraid I’d show up in the same outfit. Since Bob did laundry yesterday, looking at what was in the hamper was not an option. Seeing the shirt I wore Monday hanging to dry jogged my memory, but I think I may try to plan from now on, since right now I only need two outfits a week. It’ll make the a.m. routine a little smoother.

• I haven’t been reading. Not reading is a definite sign that I need to manage my time better. Even when I have the odd fifteen minutes, I haven’t been inclined to pick up a book because there’s too much going on. I’ve been working on this book since late February. It’s really good, but it’s a bit too deep for me given my lack of surplus brain power. I loaded my Kindle with some fluff, which I prefer at the moment. Yesterday I read for a solid half hour before I had to get Emma off the bus, and I think it’s something I need to do every day.

longbook

Too deep for the current time.

 

UGLY:
• My morning routine still needs tweaking, at least on the days I work. I’ve been eating breakfast after I put Emma on the bus, and because time’s a little tight, the potential for mess is high. Last week I got a huge gob of peanut butter on my brand new pants, and I haven’t been able to get the spot out even though I treated it and washed them right away.

• I’m breaking up with Pinterest, at least temporarily. It’s become a time suck, and I let myself get fooled into thinking that things need to be functional and look good. But right now I only need functional. It’s kind of sad how proud I feel about this, in part because it’s ugly:

I embrace the ugly.

I embrace the ugly.

Finally, after a lot of indecision, and some reader help, I chose next month’s book: Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne. I’d been having a tough time choosing a book. There were a few books I was interested in but they weren’t available at my library. Because I live in an area with a big library system and a huge collection, I feared others would have the same challenge. A couple people suggested this book on a recent post and I was able to reserve it from my library so hopefully you’ll be able to borrow it too. It’s from 2010 so it’s not going to be so in demand as my last choice. I’m looking forward to reading it and I hope you join in!