Perfecting Imperfection

I read this crazy stat about how completely and utterly pointless New Year's resolutions are - something like 45% of them don't last a week...and another 20 to 25% are out the window by the end of the month. So...why bother, right?

I will admit that I am in that 20 - 25% that have given up on their resolutions by the end of the month. I don't know how many times I vowed to quit smoking...and then had a pack of cigarettes in my purse 2 days later. I have also vowed to remember to send birthday cards to everyone. I've vowed to drink more water. I've vowed to save money. I've probably promised to do just about every average resolution that there is.

Here's this years list -

1) Go to bed before 11pm on weeknights.
2) Start FLYing EVERYDAY - not just when I feel like it. I don't live in CHAOS - but I'm not happy with the way things are around here...I feel like I'm just hanging on.
3) Read my Simple Abundance book & my One Year Bible...plus keep my little journal going that I started.

There you go. Lame, I know...but I quit smoking almost 2 weeks ago - hopefully for good this time, so I can't use that one this year.

So - a while ago Beth, @ so the fish said, wrote this post going over the books that she has read this year. I've been a big fan (mostly in the closet) of Beth's blog for some time now and I love to read so I actually really enjoyed the post. I even went so far as to suggest "The Memory of Running" to our book club - and it's January's selection! ;)

Inspired by Beth, I went back and looked at the books I've read in 2008. My list isn't nearly as long or exciting as Beth's...and most of them were for book club. I will add that I was getting my Master's Degree this semester - so that kind of threw a big old wrench in how much time I had to read for pleasure.

For One More Day - Mitch Albom

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

Tallgrass - Sandra Dallas

Angry Housewives Eating BonBons - Lorna Landvik

The House of Sand and Fog - Andre Dubus III

The Saving Graces - Patricia Gaffney

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyers

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch - Gregory Maguire

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

High Noon - Nora Roberts

Currently, I'm reading Eat...Pray...Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and The Memory of Running by Ron Mclarty.

I also saw that they are making a movie of Eat...Pray...Love and have cast Julia Roberts as Elizabeth. Hmmm....interesting.

As a side note - can anyone explain to me why it is easier on the mornings my husband is working rather than the mornings he's home? You would think that he would help out...but all he really does is irritate me by asking me where things are and giving me extra things to get done when I'm trying to do my thing. It's just one of those mornings - so I thought I'd ask if I'm the only one who feels this way.

I'm exhausted . . . but I can't sleep. I'm so tired that I don't know if I'll make it up the steps . . . but I can't sleep. It has to be a combination of my obsessive disorder when it comes to my new Christmas toys - for example, I feel this need to fill up all 120 GB on my IPod today, something that will take months to do - if I even ever do fill it up (it's something like 30,000 songs!) - and the fact that I am just so excited about all of the new things in our house. I don't want to step away from the laptop or put away my new things. I feel like I'm 10 again.

On top of that we ate the last 2 dinners again tonight in leftovers. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE holiday leftovers. However, neither meal is a "light" meal - and the one we had Christmas day was FULL of GARLIC! Mmmm...ugh. Yum yummy - but wow am I full.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us - and a busier week. We have a wedding to go to on Sunday - and a baptism. Same family. Mom and Dad are getting married and then little one is getting baptized. It's a twofer on the sacrament front. :) DH works Monday and then is off T/W/Th. In that time we have to get both our vehicles into the shop. His truck because it needs inspected and my Escape because it won't start. It decided not to start right after church on Christmas Eve...yeah, it was perfect timing...two cranky kids who have just sat through an hour and a half Catholic Mass...it was cold and raining...and we were due at the in laws asap. Oh well...everything worked out fine. Now let's just hope we don't bring in the new year with some bad news about a big repair.

Last but not least - I'm sorry that you have read this whole post. Truly I am bored...that is why I decided to write. I'm bored but can't sleep...which reminds me, I'm raising a 3 year-old going on 15 year-old son. Today I told him that I was making him Spiderman Mac n Cheese...which is his FAVORITE! He looked at me and rolled his eyes exclaiming, "Mom...Spiderman Mac n Cheese is sooo boring!" I have no idea where he got that! BTW - did I tell you I am bored? hehehe

I had an amazingly wonderful Christmas. It was surprisingly uneventful - for the most part. I got the most wonderful presents from DH and my parents! I am loving everything I got and all the great new toys the kids have to play with tomorrow...I'm sad that it is all over, but this was by far one of the best Christmases I've had in a while!

Alas, it is over and now I have to start thinking about the new year...and my new year resolutions. I am not good at keeping my new year resolutions - I can't think of one that has ever really stuck. I can't make my normal resolution to quit smoking...because I quit last week. I guess I will have to put some thought into this years. I'd like it to be something I can be successful in keeping, but not something that is going to be overwhelming. I'm thinking of a "FLYing" resolution...but I haven't worked it out yet. I have time. Any suggestions?

So, I'm reading the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I borrowed it from someone at book club. This month we read High Noon by Nora Roberts at book club - easy read...not bad. So I needed a new book and picked up Eat, Pray, Love...now I want to learn how to speak Italian. Seriously...but I don't know if I'd be able to...I want to give it a try, though. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to go downstairs and try to dig up the "Learn Italian ~ the easy way" tapes my mom bought years ago and never used. I also hinted to Jerry that I'd like an Italian dictionary for Christmas...yes, I've lost my mind - but I've always been a little obsessive like that.

The other thing I've been doing a lot of because of reading the book is eating dark chocolate. I've been laying in bed, eating dark chocolate Hershey Kisses (actually letting them melt in my mouth) and reading this book. I wish I had more time to do it, but the 30 - 45 minutes a night have been so wonderful and relaxing. It's really an inspirational kind of book - because I feel inspired. The problem is I don't know what I am inspired to do...other than learn Italian. hehehe

Okay, enough rambling. I will let you know how I feel about it after I finish the book. Who knows - maybe I'll want to find myself a Guru, too. :)

Do you know who that is? Seriously - Do you?

It's Peter Billingsley. Who is Peter Billingsley you ask - let me put it to you this way... he obviously didn't shoot his eye out and I'd die to see him in a pair of pink bunny pajamas! :)

It's Ralphie from A Christmas Story! I came across an article about 12 little known facts about the movie and saw that Peter had some cameos in some recent movies...so I thought I'd look him up on IMDB. WOW! I was a little surprised he's so good looking. Not that it's that unbelievable...but they made him look like such a dork in the movie - with good reason.

Just had to share - keeping busy...more personal post soon!

I have a pain - in the hip. Argh. It's not unbearable, just really really irritating. So...I'm taking Ibuprofen for it. That's what the doctor prescribed. 600 mg of Ibuprofen twice a day. At first I was a little annoyed. After all, Ibuprofen I could have done all on my own. I do think it's working, though...a little at least. Plus, I don't want to be on anything that is going to make me loopy or out of it while I'm home with the kids. I've decided if it's still hurting like this on Monday I'm calling the doctor back and asking to be seen. I've got a bit of a nagging cough, too - so maybe I'll make it a two-fer.

My other "issue" right now is my kids. They don't want to sleep. My darling baby girl (she's 22 months old) would cuddle up with you as you walked her upstairs and fall right to sleep in her crib for both her nap and the night. Now - no deal. She does the cuddling up the stairs thing...then lays down nice and quietly...2 minutes later she's screaming her head off wanting to get out of her crib. This is for naps and bedtime. Then there is my 3-year-old son. He'll lay down with me to take a nap - but then he wants to stay up until all hours of the night. He hasn't fallen asleep for me before 10:30 the last 3 or 4 days! I'm at a loss. It must be something in the air around here because it's both at once. It's wearing on my patience, though. I have soooo much to do. I have a huge paper to finish by the 7th and am getting no time to really work on it. It doesn't help that sitting in the computer chair for longer than 15 minutes makes my hip ache.

Had enough complaining? hehehe I promise the next post will be full of hap-hap-happy news...I'll be paying extra attention looking for it! :)

It's not that I didn't believe my parents when they told me that after 30 you have a lot more little aches and pains. I figured they were right...they usually are. However, I now UNDERSTAND what they meant. Little things that I would bounce back from quicker are starting to nag at me a lot longer. Today it's my hip.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping with Nate - it was a little better than going shopping with both kids...but I still had to threaten and bribe him to keep him in the cart. Before I got into the car I felt my hip "pop". Then it started to annoy me a little. It was just sore. By the end of the night it was stiff and sore...this morning it was stiff, sore, accompanied by shooting pain down my leg. I took some Advil, a hot shower, and am trying one of those WellPatch heat things on it - but nothing seems to really be doing much other than taking the edge off. Argh.

That's when it hit me - my parents were right, again. After 30 things start to linger a little more and be a bit more of a "deal" than before 30. It probably doesn't help that I lug 2 30 + lb. kids around on a daily basis...I mean they can walk down the steps...but why would they when Mama can carry them? Well - I need to get my butt up off this chair and stretch...plus my chocolate milk addict is calling for his latest fix. :)

So I went to the midnight viewing of the movie Twilight last night with my niece. She is a freshman in High School and had read all of the books (there are 4) and then passed them on to me to read. I fell in love with the books - the first 2 are very young adult but the last one is more adult. They were easy reads and you couldn't help but kind of fall in love with the main characters...for me it was Team Edward all the way, but I've always had a thing for vampires...no surprise there. :)

The movie wasn't a total disappointment...although Edward looked like he either wanted to eat Bella or throw up the entire movie - I guess that's the point, though. It wasn't as good as the books...as usual. I also think it would be hard for someone who wasn't already a fan because of the books to say it was a good movie - anyone over 15 that is. I did have a great time, though. It was fun to take my niece out and do something special with her that I know she was excited about. She had a good time and it was worth staying up late to hear her reactions to the different parts of the movie and how much she loved it in the end. I'm a little tired today, but I created a great memory - and had a really great "vampire" dream last night. :)

I'm off to take a nap now...maybe I'll be visited by vampires again - there is one in particular I hope to see. Cheesy, I know...but that's what Twilight did to me. It turned me into a teenager again with a crush on a fictional character. :) Don't worry babe, I know a good thing when I see it and you already survived the worst part of being married to a Twilight obsessed fan. You made it through the week it took me to read the 4 books!

Okay, so that is probably an exaggeration. They do make my life a heck of a lot easier, though. So, I thought I'd pass them on to you all - all 4 of you who have been reading my blog. hehehe

Flylady.net - It's a lifesaver for me because I am not one of those people who was "born organized". It helps me to know that I can do just about anything for 15 minutes and feel good about it afterward. Plus, my kitchen is so clean right now I would invite ANYONE to come have a cup of coffee in it with me...of course, we'd have to stay in the kitchen - but I can live with that. :)

Allrecipes.com - I LOVE this site. It helps me with my meal planning each week. All I do is pick out 5 recipes I want to make for the week, print them off, add them to my shopping list and I'm good to go. I also save them in my virtual recipe box on the site so I can go back and repeat them if they are "keepers"!

Grocerygame.com - I'm new to GG, but had a great first week! I saved $50 on my grocery trip this week. I spent $102 out of pocket...so it was a 33% savings! I didn't have a lot of the coupons they had for this week's list because I'm new to the coupon clipping, too. I have never enjoyed grocery shopping, but I'm actually excited about next week!

Facebook.com - Facebook is my guilty pleasure. I LOVE Facebook. I waste a lot of time on there, but it's so great for keeping in touch with people that I haven't talked to in years or don't see as much as I would like to see. I use to do the MySpace thing, but not so much anymore. I'm a Facebook convert for sure.

Paperbackswap.com - Got old books hanging around the house? Wanna get some new books without paying a lot? I LOVE paperbackswap for this reason. I get to get rid of the books I don't know what to do with by shipping them to other people and then getting credits for new books I'm looking for! I've saved about $238 so far on PBS just by mailing books and then requesting new ones!

Well ~ that about does it. I'm sure there are other sites that I'm not thinking of right now, but those are the ones I'm on most often! :)

How about you? Any good sites to share?

So, as if I needed one more distraction or thing to take up my time, I started playing the Grocery Game...well, I haven't really played, yet - I'm getting ready to play. I signed up and got my first list - but the list had already kind of expired by the time I got it. So, I'm awaiting a new list this Sunday. Anyway - between that and FLYlady, and school, and work, and birthday parties, and Halloween, and birthday parties, and Thanksgiving, and birthday parties, and Christmas - I am going to have no money and no time and no sanity left come January. :)

I have no Christmas shopping done - this time last year I had everyone but my kids done. I have made no definite plans for my son's birthday...which is a week and 1/2 away. I have a paper to write and submit by Sunday evening and then a big huge one due on Dec. 10th, or around there somewhere. I am sure that this will all get done and I will be just fine...but argh.

Okay - done venting. I just didn't have anything else to post about and felt like writing. I'll now have to post about my GG savings, too!

My kids LOVED helping me make this easy recipe for "Ice Cream" sandwiches. They LOVE eating them, too. We made them at Preschool and I brought the leftovers home. DH suggested I get the stuff and make more because they were such a hit!

Here's what you need:

1 Box of Honey Graham Crackers
1 pkg. of Pumpkin Spice Jello Pudding
1 Tub of Cool Whip (the regular size - not the big one)

Mix Pudding and Cool Whip together in a big bowl.
Make sandwiches with the Graham Crackers.
Freeze - ENJOY!

Well - in about 2 hours I will be surrounded by 18 3-year-olds in Halloween costumes - 5 of their mothers and 2 aids to help with Halloween party 1 of 2. UGH! Then at 12:00 the second group will come in and they will start setting up for Halloween part 2 of 2. Which is once again 18 3-year-olds - 5 of their mothers and 2 aids. Please pray for my sanity. I heard Christmas is almost worst than this...I'm dreading it.

We are getting in the Halloween spirit around here, though. Here's some pics of pumpkin carving night.

The food was yummy. Penn State won! We drank this yummy warm apple cider stuff that my friend brought over all night. She had it in her crock pot to keep it warm. It was Savannah Cinnamon Mix, Apple Cider and Merlot wine. Mmmm... The kids were pretty well behaved. I thought everything was going great.

Then I got a phone call at 1:30ish. My friends got into a fight on the way home and one thing lead to another and my friend's hubby ended up walking out of the house. He'd had too much to drink (he and DH were drinking beer) and my friend wouldn't give him the key s to drive. Smart girl! :) So, he was wondering around the streets. My DH called and he didn't answer the phone so he got in the car to go look for him...long story short - DH was pissed off at him, his wife was pissed off at him, I was pissed off at him for pissing off my DH. I'll be honest with you, every time I've heard about or seen the two of them fight I thought it was mostly my friend's fault. She can be a bit much at times...but I've NEVER seen this side of her husband. It makes me realize that I shouldn't judge people when I don't know the whole story.

All that being said, I'm tired of being surrounded by dysfunctional relationships. I seriously feel like DH and I are the only ones not teetering on the brink of divorce. We are the only ones I know who have not threatened each other with it - EVER. I don't know how others can so quickly say, "Keep that up and I'm getting a divorce." Or as my friend said to her DH last year, "All I want for Christmas is a divorce." Did she really mean it? I don't think so. So why say it? Okay...that's my rant for today. My head hurts a little and I'm not feeling 100% today. Definately feeling the affects of not going to bed before 3 am the last two nights...and the little bit of wine I drank last night. Argh.

So - we are having some friends over tonight that we haven't seen in a while. I'm making dinner and need to go grocery shopping. I found a recipe on Flylady that requires me to only buy ketchup and an onion! How cool is that!?! Here it is:

Florentine Chicken This recipe is amazingly easy! Almost everyone has the ingredients on hand! Tastes like you slaved for hours and yet only takes a few minutes!! Enjoy!

8 pieces of Chicken
1 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup finely chopped onion
1/4 Cup Vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 Cup water
4 Cloves Garlic minced

Brown the chicken pieces in a frying pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While chicken is browning mix all ingredients in a bowl. Place browned chicken in a backing dish and pour sauce over chicken. Bake for one hour.

I serve this with garlic mashed potatoes and stir fried broccoli. YUM!

This recipe is from Kelly!!

I'm also making Green Bean Casserole and maybe some kind of potatoes. Should work out well.

I'm also in the market for a new bathmat - the one we have is pretty gross. I can't seem to keep them from getting moldy. Just like my shower curtains...any ideas? I know that I should probably take it out of the tub every time someone takes a shower or bath. I just don't have anywhere for it to dry - and with the kids it's tough to do anything when I get them out of the tub. Guess I'll have to give it another shot. :)

Wish me luck tonight and GO PENN STATE! My hubby really needs them to win to help his mood. He's been having a really rough time at work these days. He needs to relax and kick back a little tonight. I'm gonna do my best not to stress him out.

I'm so tired right now I don't know why I'm still awake...other than the 5 hour energy shot I took 4 hours ago. I figured it might help me get through the paper that I had to write for my Master's class tonight - and it did...but now I'm exhausted beyond belief but not able to sleep. Stupid.

Anyway, I got my Flylady Control Journal in the mail the other day and have been plugging away at it. Funny thing, though - I really don't think I needed to buy it. A lot of the stuff is stuff that I had already made lists of when I originally started this like 3 years ago. I do think it's a nice refresher for me to go through it and do it again, though...so maybe it will be worth it.

Today's progress in FLYING -

• I didn't do my complete morning routine, but since making and drinking coffee in my morning routine I guess I did part of it.
• I did throw in a load of laundry - 3 actually, and ended up busting the belt on the dryer...last 2 loads still wet. *ugh*
• My sink is shiny
• My house is relatively uncluttered except for 1 major Hot Spot (dining room table) which I will hit tomorrow
• I scrubbed the tub and dusted my bedroom, both of which were part of my Weekly Home Blessing tasks for today
• I did NOT mop the bathroom floor, which was also on that WHB list
• I did run the vacuum, but not on the steps or upstairs like I wanted to
• My parents stopped by for a short visit today, and I wasn't embarrassed by my house!

All in all I'd call today a success. I'm taking baby steps, still. No bedtime routine tonight, either - although I think I will start the dishwasher and set the coffee pot. Now if I could just get my ass out of bed at a decent time tomorrow I'll be ready for company tomorrow night - for the first time ever I'm not overly concerned about having to clean up an entire house because we're having guests! :)

Well ~ I slipped up. My sink isn't shiny and I had 4 cigarettes since DH bought a pack last night. But - I'm gonna get back on track asap. To be honest with you I've had a little bit of a headache since I got home last night and it's not getting a whole lot better. It wasn't the cigarettes, either - because I had it before them. I did take 2 Advil about an hour ago and I think they may be working a little.

No excuses - I know...so I'm off to get things back on track. :) I know that with a shiny sink and my shoes on I'll feel better. Oh, and the left over smokes are going out to the alley in the trash!

I am patiently awaiting my Control Journal in the mail - and my timer. :) In the meantime, I found that FlyLady has a Holiday Control Journal! I printed it out yesterday - printed one out for my mom, too. I also made my Christmas Card List yesterday! In Excel...I only need like 4 addresses. Crazy, I know...but I want to order cards with the kids pictures on it and I need to know how many to order.

So, yesterday I did a Weekly Home Blessing - it took me most of the day because of the kids...but I think I did pretty well. I changed the sheets, vacuumed, dusted and did a 27 fling boogie. I also listened to some FlyLady stuff on Blogtalkradio - which really helped me to get more motivated.

Anyway - I have to work today...so I'm hoping that the house won't be too tore up when I get home. DH will be home with the kiddos all day! Yikes!

It's October - there is a chill in the air and my husband is off on a Saturday...what do I do? Drag my husband and children to a pumpkin patch so that I can have my Kodak moments, of course! :) Seriously, though - we did go to a pumpkin patch today. Triple B Farms pumpkin patch - to be exact. Funny thing, though, that it's NOWHERE near my house! hehehe.

So, we loaded up the kids and left the house around noon...my little sweetheart of a daughter got carsick about 12:45. I didn't pack a change of clothes...so, we made a pitstop at Target and she was good as new. We were a little nervous that she was going to get sick again, though...so we made 2 more pitstops on the way. This got us to the pumpkin patch around 3:00!!!

We had fun, though - here are some pics I'd like to share . . . then it's off to bed for me!

No - not Flylady...smoking. Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I've been quitting smoking since I started. I started smoking because I wanted to make my boyfriend at the time mad. He smoked and wouldn't let me smoke...of course I found out later his double standards didn't only apply to smoking...but that's a whole different story not worth getting into now or ever.

So, I started smoking to make an ex-boyfriend mad and kept smoking for the next 12 or 13 years. Yes, I am an idiot. I quit once for a pretty long period of time...a little over a year actually. Then I slipped. I remember that first cigarette after I hadn't had one in a year tasted like crap. In fact the first pack after I quit for a year tasted like crap...every single cigarette in the pack made me want to puke...but I still smoked them. And right now I'm missing them. Argh.

I'm determined, though. I can't say I feel any better than I did a week ago when I was a smoker smoking about 1/2 a pack a day. I can't say that I'm in any better a mood knowing that I'm doing something that will "hopefully" increase and improve the time I have with my children. In fact I'm in a worse mood now than I have been in a long time. I've been crabby and irritable for the past 4 days - I officially "quit" Monday. It actually feels like I quit a month ago - but I miss it.

I haven't been doing as well as I would have liked to do. That's not say I haven't been doing okay - after all I haven't had a cigarette...and I haven't bought a pack...and I haven't even bitched so much it's made my husband go buy me cigarettes just so I'll stop (yeah - he did that once after I had quit for a week...so I blamed him for me starting again. I'm rotten, I know.) By not doing as well as I would have liked to I me not feeling as well as I would have liked to at this point. I really was hoping that I would not be so moody...but I'm moody as all get out.

This too shall pass - right?

It helps to remember the thought that made me want to quit again. I had this thought...actually it was like a dream before you are really asleep but almost asleep...of my husband having to tell my children that I wasn't coming home because I had to stay at the hospital...I had lung cancer. Now - I don't have lung cancer as far as I know...I could...it's possible. It's even possible that I will get lung cancer if I never have another cigarette in my life. I'm just doing what I can now...but man it isn't easy. My husband put it to me this way - which I don't think is entirely true but felt like it at the time...he said, "You can either live a long, miserable life wanting to smoke but not smoking or a short, happy life until you die from smoking." He's wrong...it'll get better. Like I said, though, it sure as hell feels that way right now!

I'm still taking vitamins...I missed yesterday, but picked up again today. I'm not sure if it's the vitamins kicking in or if the whole "hot spot" thing just kind of caught on but I kept cleaning on and off all evening. I dusted the ceiling fans in the kitchen and living room, cleaned off the top of the computer desk, dusted the tv and tv stand, washed the stove top and wiped off the kitchen counters. Now I'm going to try to finish my paper tonight so that DH and the kids and I can go do something fun tomorrow - if he's feeling better. He's a little under the weather right now. Runny nose and itchy throat. Guess it's going around - both his sisters have it.

Wish me luck!

Well - my sink is still shiny. I will tell you that it really does make me feel a little more motivated. :) I ordered some stuff from the FlyLady website this week...the timer, and the control journal. I mainly wanted the control journal because I don't want to have to make all the print-outs myself. I know me - I'd spend hours on the computer trying to do it "right" and that would defeat the purpose. I'm anxious to get them in the mail! :)

I hit a "hot spot" today. One of the challenges was to do a "hot spot" firedrill. I took 10 minutes (you're suppose to take 5...but I did it twice because once didn't get the job done) and I cleared off my dining room table. Now I'm headed over there to work on my paper before the kids get up from their nap. I also have a load of laundry in and am dressed...although I don't have shoes on like I'm suppose to because I was laying down with Nate. I guess I'll have to go put them back on!

TTFN - I'll keep you posted! :)

So far so good. I can't say I'm overly happy with the way my house looks...but I can say that I'm happy that my sink is still shining. I've been pretty busy and am going to be pretty busy for the next few days. (okay - probably the next few YEARS!!!) I am going to just suck it up, though. I plan on moving to the next step tomorrow!

Wish me luck!

Well - I'm gonna try Flylady again. I'm starting over. Since I feel like I need a lot of guidance, I just thought this was the best way to go...I'm gonna give it another try - a real try this time. So - here's my shiny sink.










So, the rest of my house may look like this:

But I'm gonna work on it in baby steps.

BTW - took my vitamins last night and on my way to take them now! :)

Not me - not by a long shot. I need some help.

Don't get me wrong, I know what I have and it isn't that bad. However, I dream of a day when I can walk into my house and smile because it looks how it should look. I dream of a day when the thought of someone stopping by unannounced doesn't send me into a panic. I dream of a day where my husband says, "The house looks great, honey." I need some help.

I have a million excuses as to why my house is an unorganized mess. I've tried to develop a plan before - it didn't work. I have a Flylady folder all ready to go - but I feel behind, even though one of the cardinal rules in Flyladydom is not to feel behind. I need help.

So...I'm going to take baby steps. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, too.

My first order of business is start taking some vitamins. I need to have more energy for this trip. Second order of business - make a game plan with some goals. I need goals to make sure I'm on track and that little feeling of accomplishment I'll have when I complete something will make a world of difference. They have to be realistic goals, though...that's the key.

I must add that my plate is overflowing with things right now. I have 2 kids at home with me at all times. My son is going to be 3 in about a month and my daughter is 14 short months behind him (she'll be 2 in January). They keep me busy and don't really let me do anything for long periods of time. I am also teaching 2 days a week. 3-year-olds, they are quite a handful. I am also finishing up my Masters on-line. It's a paper a week - which I've been putting off until Friday nights and staying up until ungodly hours completing. Those are my challenges. Tomorrow I'll have some goals...first goal - have some goals. :) We'll see where that takes me.