Thoughts on the New Year, Goal-Setting, Productivity, blah blah blah.

I'm trying to be more productive this new year. I've made some goals. 3 actually. I was sitting in Sunday school and the teacher said she made 30 new years resolutions. That's a recipe for throwing myself off a tall building right there. 3 will work well for me I think. (At least until April when our new tiny angel arrives. I'm thinking we'll probably have to reassess around then, until transition period from 1 to 2 is over. Is it ever over? The transition period, I mean.)

I will have at least 15 minutes of scripture study daily. Every day. That's why I've set a 15 minute goal. I am aiming for consistency here. I can do 15 minutes! I will also exercise more regularly. This is probably more for my emotional state of being than it is for my physical. I am an endorphin junkie. I need them in my life. And I will play the piano for a solid 15 minutes every day. The progress with the piano is trickier than you might think with a monkey hanging all over you and reaching up and pounding on the keys. So is vacuuming, laundry, dishes, and anything else for that matter, because I am also attempting to continue to keep a house, along with feeding/nurturing/entertaining/loving my husband and child. Another goal that didn't make it on the "official" list, is that I will feel no guilt when eating an entire box of Oreo's in one sitting. The goal has nothing to do with the amount of Oreos shoved into mouth, the goal is to rid my life of food associated guilt. You should be rid of it, too. Because I don't really believe that nothing tastes as good as being fit feels. There are plenty of things that taste that good. I can think of a few right off the top of my head. Take Oreos, for example. Back on track, I LOVE that little monkey but in truth I have about 2.5 to 3 hours of potentially consistent productive time in my day (please never stop napping, sweet Lucy). The rest of my day is hit and miss whether I get anything done. Motherhood requires flexibility. You moms hear me loud and clear. I don't think she's intentionally thwarting my efforts and purposely antagonizing me. But the evidence is building up against her.

A freshly organized chest of drawers and closet:

Recently organized purses taken from bedroom closet:

A freshly organized tupperware cupboard and recently organized purses from said closet:

Freshly organized shoe rack, again, from bedroom closet:

I've written about this before, here. Her infatuation with the tupperware hasn't decreased in the least bit since then. (I guess it's a good thing my infatuation with her hasn't decreased at all either. The crush only gets bigger and my heart only just keeps swelling more for her.) On top of that, I've been on the biggest redecorating kick lately. Maybe the nesting has officially begun. But I want to tear everything down and re-do. I've been doing some of that, and it's so fun. But, I'm un-simplifying my life further. I overwhelm myself pretty easily. And I have the sporadic mini break-downs from time to time to back it up. I get into fetal position in Jason's lap and he gives me a nice rocking in our rocker recliner, and tells me, "You're doing a wonderful job. And we eat an elephant one little bite at a time," patting my back all the while. That happened just Monday night in fact. What a good boy he is. (He's seen me with Oreos. He knows I like to eat the entire elephant at once. Just my style.)

So back to productivity! This year I'm trying to keep the peace in my mind, trying to make everybody happy. Basically every day goes a little something like this for me when I get Lucy down for her nap. "Phew, she's down for the count, time to rally the troops and get things done!" Then, I wait for the rebuttal. The other side pipes in. "But this is your only YOU time all day. Not even when she goes to bed at night do you have YOU time because you're so paralyzed from exhaustion and the hubby has needs. This is the only time you have to yourself. You're really going to spend it cleaning and organizing? Exercising? You're so lame." And then I defend myself, saying, "Yes! Because these things makes me feel good at the end of the day! And who do you think you are? You wanna sit here like a slob surfing the net? Blog stalking??" So this debate continues, and sometimes I sit there for her entire nap as the debate goes on while I stare into space. I draw the line and get to work when the voices start using profanity. Not in my house! I think they should stop bantering. I think they should compromise. That's what we'll work on.

I guess that is one thing we do pretty well, come to think of it. We don't really use swear words in our home. That counts for something. Here's to new beginnings!