To Do - Day Two

Well. Yesterday didn't go quite as expected. I'm sure you have noticed that there was no evening follow up detailing what I was able to get done from my To Do list. That's because I barely got any of it done.

I got slammed with a migraine around 8am that completely put me out of commission for hours. Which really sucked because first thing in the morning is always my most productive time of day, so I didn't get nearly as much done as I planned. Of course I realize I could have done more later in the day, or even after the kids went to bed, but I know myself well enough to realize how very unlikely that is to happen.

While that is the REASON I didn't get much done, I don't mean for it to be an excuse. Instead I am using it as confirmation that what M and my sister keep telling me is true:  I put way too many things on my To Do lists.

Yes, I know my list is long and that I should cut it in half (at least), but I look at it and think "that's totally doable." I always forget to account for the fact that I have two kids who fill a huge chunk of my time, and that most of the leftover time is spent picking up after us. Well, that's the way it should be spent any way.

Unfortunately I have a really hard time with the day-to-day maintenance. I will often put off the little things (like putting my plate in the dishwasher) so I can work on big things that are more interesting (like finally cleaning out the garage), and then the next time I look the little things aren't so little any more.

Last night I sat down with M and asked his advice. I guess he has thought about this a lot and was just waiting for me to ask his thoughts. So this is what he said (and I'm paraphrasing here because he had a LOT to say on the subject):

"When you try to move ahead in one area, you have a tendency to backslide in everything else. Your goal should be to focus on staying caught up every day - dishes, toys, clothes, etc. - until it has become habit, then move ahead in other areas a little at a time."

He also said that I actually did a lot more yesterday than what I normally do, it just didn't seem that way to me because my list was so long. Basically the kids and I spent the day cleaning up most of our messes as we made them. This included:  when they dumped all their legos and the entire train set all over the living room floor, when they thought it'd be super fun to use the ash bucket as a sand box in the entryway (don't worry, the ashes were cold), and when they decided that while I was occupied cleaning up the ashes it would be great time to dump a bag of potting soil out onto the kitchen floor and roll in it. Good thing I was already planning to vacuum...

So today I will try again. Only this time my list will include the day-to-day tasks that I have such a hard time with!

• put dishes away
• put chicken in crockpot
• vacuum living room and kitchen
• keep kitchen table cleared

• clear kitchen counters
• bring up 2 loads of firewood
• move dog's water to basement (so the baby will stop playing in it...)
• start dishwasher (before bed)

If I am able to get everything on that list done, I will count it as a successful day! If I get them done early enough, here is my list of "extras" to work on:

• clean  wax off oven
• re-pot plant (the poor thing is sooo rootbound and I've been putting it off for weeks!)
• work on grocery price list
• find clothes for K's naked baby doll