Let's go back. Fall was a gallop with a near mental breakdown when I took on WAY too much work that resulted in me becoming a monster of a mother. Everything kept getting further and further behind and I focused on survival until the Christmas holidays when I would clean the house thoroughly, unpack the dozenish remaining boxes, and deal with all of the clutter that I haven't had time for. HA!
My mom arrived on December 16, my dad came in on the 19th and my brother arrived on the 23rd. I was so wound up that I spent the first week worrying about how I was going to keep everyone fed and still get my stuff done. And then I collapsed. And just rested.
We were all so tired. My family stayed through the New Year and Mike had 7 days off (PLUS weekends) and we played games, slept in, watched football and movies, made meals, and took a daytrip up to Port Austin in the snow. We rested.
Nothing was organized, the house still has giant dust bunnies and the kids rooms are a shambles. Things are out of place and there is so much clutter that I just came across a late bill and had to pay an extra $15 fee. But we rested.
And in the time when my brain finally quit acting like it had been short-circuited and the two wires about to burst quit sizzling, I realized (AGAIN), that I can't do it all. I am just in this moment writing my New Year's resolutions:
1) GET HELP. (Libby starts next week to give me 3-6 hours of free time in which to exercise, make work calls, or clean house without guilt while she listens to my children and makes sure that they aren't destroying themselves or others). Pray Libby likes us and we like her. Really. Pray.
2) Keep Creative. I am a nicer person when I have an afternoon to scrapbook or make or write notes every once in awhile. Blogging is a creative outlet for me because sadly until I sit down to write, I don't have a clue as to what is happening in my head. My dirty house will have to wait for 4 hours one Saturday a month and a few short moments during the week when I grab a few minutes for myself.
3) Train others to help. Teaching children household tasks takes more time than doing them and right now I'm so behind I fall into the "Here kids, please watch this DVD and leave me alone so I can clean for 30 minutes." But lest someday I hear that my son went off to college and didn't know how to run a washer, or that my daughter has no idea how to peel a potato, I need to take a few minutes and train little helpers so that someday they will know how to help themselves.
And that's it. I'm not going to get skinny anytime soon. I am not going to quit eating dessert. (Hmm...possibly related?) I am not going to get all my photos organized and printed and I'm not going to finally take time to figure out how my digital camera works. But Lent's around the corner...So maybe then? We'll see.
3 comments:
Yay you! Good resolutions, especially #1.
Those are awesome resoultions. I made a whole bunch of awesome ones when life was quiet during the holidays, and then kinda panicked once life started again. I'm thinking that now, I just need to set up some boundaries. For example, no working in the mornings, because I need to focus on Nate, not on the emails and questions of students (or their ahem...incompetent parents). The tyranny of the urgent can be very, very exhausting!
You are so encouraging to other mothers. :)
Praying re: Libby.
Post a Comment