A Cold Wednesday

It is very cold here in Ohio.  That makes it a good day to catch up on my ironing.  (Silver lining?)  I also need to get my errand day prep done and pay bills.  Then there are the projects I want to work on.  I don't know where my time goes during the day.  I know the fact that my daughter hasn't been napping again has slowed me down.  She is alway running up to me asking me to play.  How can you not stop working when that happens?  But, I am ready to tackle the day.  My brain feels a little cloudy, not organized at all.  I will take a stab at a list of things to get done today.

Wednesday Routine

Exercise
Shower and Dress to Shoes
Dishes out of dishwasher - Done
Check Calendar - Done
What's For dinner - Done

Post Blog Entry - Done
Eat Breakfast - Done
Swish and Swipe Bathrooms
Put Laundry in wash
Make Bed
Put Laundry in Dryer
Clean Kitchen and Bathroom Floors
Put Laundry away
Pay Bills (and paperwork)
Ebay work
Shine Sink
Empty Trash
Check Calendar & Weather for tomorrow
Wash Face
5 minute house rescue
Lay out cloths for tomorrow

Other chores

Organize bathroom cabinet and makeup

Ironing (since I didn't do it yesterday)

Prep room for son

Now it is time to try to get these things done.

Tuesday School Day

Tuesday is a school day in my household.  I got up early and worked to get things done.  Mostly a shower for myself.  

I didn't get nearly everything done yesterday.  But, got some good adoption news so I don't feel too bad about it.  Although, some of what I wanted to get done makes us more ready for our son.  

Still need to get done today:

Ironing

paperwork (prep for shopping)

picture downloads

big job of week (prep son's room)

Post to personal blog and to www.carriescooking.com

I will let you know how it goes.

Oh, and for many details towards my imperfect days follow me on twitter.

Monday ToDo Routine

ToDo (Monday routine)
Exercise
Shower and Dress to Shoes
Dishes out of dishwasher
Check Calendar
What's For dinner
Post Blog Entry
Eat Breakfast
Swish and Swipe Bathrooms
Put Laundry in wash
Make Bed (Change out sheets and towels)
Put Laundry in Dryer
Clean Living room
Eat Lunch
Put Laundry away
Download Pictures from camera

Big Job of Week

Eat Dinner
Shine Sink
Empty Trash

Work out Shopping Lists for week
Check Calendar & Weather for tomorrow
Wash Face
5 minute house rescue
Lay out cloths for tomorrow

I'm Back

Here I am again, ready to put myself out there for everyone to see my struggles with getting everything done.  I have a number of things that I would like to get done today.  They include:

• Revamp Monday Routine
• Monday Routine
• Medical Form for Adoption
• Call Alex about possible court date for adoption
• Organize my bathroom cabinet
• Post Big Job of Week

I am feeling odd today.  I think I am stressed and a little down.  No reason for being down.  That makes me sound like my mom.  She would and I guess sometimes still gets that way.  I gave my husband a big hug before he left for work and that helped.  Then when my daughter got up she let me cuttle with her a little while.  Hugs help when you are feeling down for no reason.

I am sure I am stressed because I hope to hear a travel date for court so we can adopt our baby boy.  I have so much to get done to be ready for our son.  I am feeling overwhelmed.  I must remind myself that I can take it in small parts.  I must try to ask for help when I need it.  (I have a bad habit of taking on everything myself.)

I am glad that I am having a slow cooker meal for dinner tonight, Baked Turkey Breast.  Check out my website www.CarriesCooking.com or click here for the recipe. 

Self: Reach Your Goal! (Run 3 Miles With Ease)

Well, I am going to try to start exercising again. I am still doing pretty well with the writing out by the minute what needs to get done. I feel tired at the end of the day, but I feel good about what I have gotten done. Today's list is:

5:30 - 6:00 (Shower and dress, let hair dry on own)
6:00 - 7 (Clean kitchen) Wake up family
7 - 7:30 Make bed/ change out sheets and towels
7:30 - 8 (make pancakes with Elena and eat)
8 - 8:30 Laundry
8:30 - 9:30 Clean living room
9:30 - 10 Clean Kitchen
10 - 1:30 Play and eat lunch
1:30 - 2 Put Elena down for nap
2 - 3 Website work
3-4 Work on pictures
4 - 4:30 dinner prep
4:30 - 5 House Rescue
5 - 5:30 Eat dinner
5:30 - 6 Get Ready for Ballet (Elena's)
6 - 8 Ballet (includes driving time)
8 - 8:30 Play
8:30 - 9 Put Elena to bed
9 - 10 Watch TV (Includes Computer time)
10 - Shower, wash face, brush teeth, prep for tomorrow, read

Where am I going to fit in exercise? I am working my way up to getting up at 5 and then 4:30. 4:30 is a very doable get up time for me.

I am going to try Self Magazines, www.self.com, Run 3 miles with Ease program. I think this is funny because, I don't think I could run 3 miles in High School when I was trying to run track. I tell people that my Junior year in High School I decided to try running for our track team, but I only ended up jogging it. I will try to fit in the first 23 minute session tomorrow.

Check out www.self.com for one of their many Reach Your Goal! challenges.

Getting Things Done & Being Realistic

If you are like me, you have a huge list of things you want to get done and then are discouraged when you find few if any get checked off. You feel tired from all the work you did but don't feel like you have anything to show for it.

I have decided to do something that I used to do back in College and at work when I was feeling overwhelmed. I have decided to start planning out my day by the minute. I often find there isn't enough time in the day to do it all. This helps me be realistic in what I can get done, thus I feel less discouraged when I get into bed. Here is today's list for example:

• 5:30 - 6:30 Get up, shower, Dress (I actually didn't make it out of bed until 5:45 but was able to make myself presentable)
• 6:30 - 7 Check Email, Weather, calendar, wake family
• 7 - 8 Breakfast and Laundry
• 8 - 9 Clean Bathrooms
• 9 - 10:30 Play and get daughter ready for day
• 10:30 - 11 Drive to Storytime (I was able to pick up gas for 3.61 a gallon on the way)
• 11-12 Storytime
• 12 - 12:30 CVS run and drive home
• 12:30 - 1:30 Eat and play (lost electricity, daughter not hungry for lunch)
• 1:30 - 2 Put Elena down for nap
• 2 - 3 Work on Websites
• 3 -4 Pay bills / Ebay
• 4 - 4:30 Pre dinner prep
• 4:30 - 5 House rescue
• 5 - 6:30 Cook and eat dinner
• 6:30 -7 Clean Kitchen
• 7 - 7:30 Laundry
• 7:30 - 8:30 Play
• 8:30 - 9 Put Elena to bed
• 9 - 10 Watch TV (computer time too)
• 10 - Shower, Write out tomorrow's tasks, Read, Bed

So far I can stay pretty much on task. Everything takes longer than it would without a child running around. But, that only makes things more interesting!

Here are a couple of tips from Women's Day Magazine that I liked. http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Shelter/Lifestyle-Tip-Time-Management.html

Pampering Yourself (Do you?)

One of FlyLady's rules of thumb is to Pamper Yourself at least once a week. Before I became a mom I was pretty good at doing this. I would try to take a bath every Sunday evening. Well, now that I am a mom, things like that, or even things that I didn't really consider pampering myself don't get done.

Example, the last time I got my hair cut (by someone other than myself) was July '07. Yes! What is that 14 months! I do have long hair, and never really got it cut that often before. But, now I would consider that trip to the salon a great pamper.

I need to find time, or rather make time, to pamper myself a little bit. On a rare occasion I actually take an evening shower by candle light. I need to start doing that more often and take a bath on the rare occasion.

Why do we need to make time for such things? Well, Sunday evening a big wind storm came through Ohio. (I live in Ohio) We had damage to our house and to my daughters swing set, which blew over. We like many in the state (I heard 2 million at one point) lost our power. We are lucky that we were only without power for about 7 to 8 hours. Most people I know are over 48 hours and counting now. But, without power, I couldn't wash dishes or laundry, iron, vacuum, or cook. These are things I had planned to do. After getting my daughter to bed, I sat in bed with my husband, who was watching a hand held, battery powered, TV and knitted by oil lamp. We both curled up and slept at 9:30.

I felt great on Monday. Having taken that break I had more energy to get things done on Monday. I got so much done during the day. Now, I am planning, hoping, praying, that I make the time in the future to pamper myself. I hope this isn't another one of those brilliant plans that don't happen because I convince myself that I don't have the time.

What do you do, or wish you made time for, to pamper yourself?