Sunday, March 16, 2008

Good days and bad days

The latest installment in my quest for positive progress.

Yeah, this week was up and down. I'm learning how to say no and take a break when I'm burned out. I'm learning how to let some things go and pick my battles better--this process will take a while. On the good days I played with my kids more, wore makeup and ate nutritious meals; on the not so good days I ate Girl Scout cookies and did pointless things like compare my mugshot to B-list celebrities and watch teeny-bopper flicks on the Hallmark channel. But I'm embracing the moments where I choose to relax and take a few minutes (or a few hours) and be lazy. I need that sometimes, and I'm deciding not to feel guilty about it.

This week I'm going to work on routines. My kids need routine and I'm hoping that through creating a more predictable surrounding for them, my routine needs will fill in the blanks. I'm starting by putting the rocks in the jar first and then I'll pour in the sand. I fully intend to put off the laundry as long as possible, to veg out during American Idol, and finish off those Girl Scout cookies, but I'll also make sure everyone is clean, dressed and well fed, and I'll do my best to keep them smiling.

Here's to another week.

3 comments:

Rebecca Reid said...

You said "I'm deciding not to feel guilty about it" and I think that's the key to keeping sanity: make your decisions and live with them. Don't go back and second guess them. It's all about your priorities, and it sounds like the most important things are already among them! Good for you!

kate said...

my life with 2 little ones (boy 3.5, and girl 6 mos.) is SO much better when we have a routine to our days. when we don't, things just fall apart. and by things, i mean ME!
: )

Nancy Sabina said...

I agree that routines for the kids are totally for the Mom's sanity. I found the pictures for Naomi's "to do" list on all different websites. I used the Google Image Search and put in things like "brush teeth" and "brush hair" and then picked my favorite. I then put them in Photoshop so I could resize them to all basically the same size. Angela said, in her comment to that same post of mine, that there is some website with all pictures like that so you can make your own chart, but I don't know what that is.
Good luck in your quest for a more "routine" life. I think the important part to remember is that Heavenly Father asks us to be improving - not perfect yet.