I'm Back!

I've been MIA for the past few days, but I'm back and hoping to keep up with my blogging once again. My husband and I were away for a couple of days and Monday was Thanksgiving here in Canada, so I haven't been reading or writing blogs a whole lot.

Whenever I take a break away from home, I always have a hard time getting back to my routine. Monday was a big break - all I did all day was cook our small Thanksgiving dinner and play. Yesterday my lazy self didn't want to get back to business - on top of being unmotivated for the past several weeks!

Today I woke up to a fresh start. I've done 3 loads of laundry and worked in my kitchen most of the morning. It's amazing how much I can find to do when I'm just washing the dishes! LOL I still had some lingering clutter from the weekend to clear up, and now my kitchen is almost back to normal. I still need to mop the floor; it has gotten in a mess with all the cooking and absences lately.

How's your week going? One of my friends here has found FlyLady and is loving it. She says she has post-it notes stuck all over the house, but she is loving the feeling of actually getting things done and knowing that things are coming under control. I understand completely! Hope you're all having a great week!

How Did You Do Today?

The first half of my day was a wash. I got online to just "check a few things" and before I knew it I was playing some more Mah Jong that I started last night. How does that happen?! That a rhetorical question! I know very well what happens! It all starts with "just a minute . . ." and ends with "it's WHAT time?"

I need to make some rules for my computer usage, especially in the morning. I've actually had some in the past, but one or another of them get pushed aside when I'm doing something that is necessary, like helping my husband with church correspondence, and then I go right back to just checking . . . and it snowballs on me.

I thought of a few rules I've had or have seen others mention. Feel free to add what has helped you practice self-control with the computer.

• No Bible - No Computer
• The computer doesn't come on till after breakfast is cleaned up, or better yet, until my planned cleanup for the day is done.
• Answer email once or twice a day and close it out for the rest of the day.
• Put your computer in sleep mode or turn it off completely till I get my work done or until a certain time.
• Read and/or write blog posts for a limited amount of time each day.
  
• Have designated times to be online.
• Limit games to a certain amount of rounds or time.
• Turn off the computer at a certain time.

The second half of my day was better. I chopped the veggies and chicken for a stir-fry for dinner, separated and froze the meat I bought last night, straightened the living room for Bible study tonight, cleared my desk (it was very cluttered), and did some grading for school.

My husband and I will be at a couples' retreat tomorrow and Saturday, so I will be getting things done - focusing on my marriage! :) I always need whatever is taught on at these retreats. We have a great marriage, but there's always room for making it even better. See you the first of next week!

A Regular Day

I'm still not doing well in the motivation department, although I stayed busy most of the day. I spent some time online this morning looking for a pattern. My best friend's daughter is getting married in January, and she wants either a white fur-lined cape or a 3/4-sleeve white bolero to wear over her wedding dress. They've been looking on Ebay, but I thought if I could find a pattern and some fabric I might be able to make it for her as a gift. I found lots of patterns for the bolero jacket, but nothing exactly like what she wants. Plus the cost of mailing a muslin back and forth and trying to fit something as form-fitting as a bolero would be pretty inefficient. So I don't know if I'll be able to do it or not. The cape might be doable if she decides to go with that. Another problem is that I'm on the west coast and they're on the east coast, in separate countries. Just a small snag! ;)

Other than looking for a pattern, I got a couple of loads of laundry done and worked on some cards. The cards just weren't coming together, so I put them away for another time. I also got my grocery shopping done for the week and went to the library. And I caught up a bit with my husband, just sitting and chatting - he was gone for 5 days - that means I had 5 days' worth of talking stored up! LOL

I made pizza buns for lunch. Take hamburger buns, spread with a thin layer of pizza sauce, top with cheese and pepperoni (or whatever you like). Bake at 425 degrees for about 7 minutes, and you have a quick and easy lunch. We had salmon for supper. I marinated it in Italian seasonings, olive oil, and vinegar, then broiled it in the oven. I fixed Ranch-style beans and corn on the side, and cut up and fried some leftover new potatoes from our roast on Sunday. Beth baked some chocolate chip pumpkin bread after her dad finished a Bible study with a man who's been coming to our church recently. It smelled heavenly while it baked! I had a small piece, and it's very rich. Daddy is happy! ;)

We found out today that an old friend's wife of over 20 years passed away yesterday. She was a 2-time cancer survivor - but not this time. She was only 46. We haven't seen them in years, but we had heard over the years of Susan's illnesses through mutual friends. Our prayers are with Billy and their daughter Anna as they face the days ahead.

That was my day. Not necessarily productive in the sense of actual physical things getting done, but a day with a steady rhythm to it. I hope you had a productive day, too - however that might look in your home!

Thanks for reading!

On Self-Discipline

Good Housekeeping, May 1925

I mentioned in my post below that I have had a hard time motivating myself to get my work done. I've been mulling on that today, and then I read a blog post that reminded me that I don't have to "feel like" getting stuff done. That was a much-needed reminder to just do what I need to and learn to enjoy it.

Why is it so hard for us to do things we don't like? Probably the biggest reason is that we are lazy! We like ease and comfort, and we don't want to do anything that requires effort on our part. Another reason could be selfishness - I want to do what I want to do. We have "I" trouble! We also think most jobs will take longer than they actually will, so we think we don't have time, when in reality we all have the same 24 hours in a day that everyone else has. We have varying priorities, of course, but we all have 24 hours a day - no more, no less.

I want to do better, and with God's help and some determination to "just do it," I will do better.

An Apology and a Confession

I have to apologize for not being present on this blog in the past few weeks! While it's true that life has been busy, it's also true that I have been lazy. And when I'm lazy I don't like to post on this blog, because I don't have anything to tell you.

I haven't done a lot of extra housework in the past few weeks. All I've done are the essentials like making the bed, doing laundry, and cooking. This past weekend my husband was out of town, and I really let things go. I was right back to my old habits of leaving dishes all over the counters, letting trash pile up, and putting things off. I was playing - crafting and reading and surfing. And I was miserable with the way things were going in my house.

So last night I started getting things back in order, using my timer. It was late - the kids and I had watched a movie and had pizza - but I knew I didn't want to face a trashed kitchen this morning. I set the timer for 15 minutes and loaded the dishwasher, wiped the counters, and swept the floor. Another 10 minutes in the living and dining room had them straightened up, but definitely not completely cleaned up.

This morning I cleaned out my fridge. It's been smelling bad, but I didn't think there was anything spoiled in it. I decided to clean it all out and wipe everything down. I didn't find anything growing in there, so I don't know what was/is causing the smell. We've had trouble with this fridge leaking water out the bottom, but the repairman can't find anything wrong with it. The last time he was here he said we'd just have to wipe up the water and live with it. I can wipe up water, but this smell is awful!

I'm still feeling lazy and unmotivated, and I haven't reached the point of spiritual maturity yet that makes me motivate myself much beyond what has to be done. I'm still working on it, though. I hope you'll stick around, and maybe we can help each other! Thanks for reading!