What's on my mind...

• Sometimes, you just have to let things go. As the quote says, "Holding resentment is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Think about it.  SO true.

• I don't like a lot of drama in my life. I typically avoid it like the plague. However, every now and then, drama keeps it interesting. And I am never opposed to listening to other people's drama.

• I like being a working mom. I don't like having to do my shopping at 9PM because there isn't another hour of the day that it can happen. 

• I have become an extreme multitasker out of necessity. If I am doing something, it is not uncommon for me to be doing at least two things. For example, I sort the mail while cooking dinner. I grade papers while making copies. This is not entirely bad, but I have made the recent realization that this multitasking is largely to blame for my clutter and disorganized state. I used to be able to start a job and work it through to completion, including any clean up involved. Now, I am constantly switching between and among tasks, leaving many unfinished until I get to them again later. Thus, the half sorted pile of mail (didn't want dinner to burn), the half graded stack of papers sitting on my desk (copies only take so long to make, and at least I got a few of those papers graded), and this blog (written in two minute chunks of time).

• Though I still regularly fly by the seat of my pants, I never regret taking the time to meal plan and/or prep the crock pot. The pay off is always there. 

• Sometimes, homework assignments are awesome. Like when Cortlan was assigned to collect fall leaves for a project at school earlier this week, which meant that we had to go for a walk on a beautiful fall day and look at all the beautiful, colorful leaves on the trees and on the ground and pick the ones that were just perfect. This assignment took a while to complete. Darn.

An exciting evening

My kids were in bed at 8PM and after approximately four years, I decided it was time to tackle this:

Sadly, this is not a staged "before" photo.  

I realize that I am opening myself up for humiliation here, but yes, this is seriously what the cabinet looked like when I opened it.   After countless times of cleaning and organizing it after the kids completely mangled it on a somewhat daily basis, at some point I resigned to the fact that it would remain mangled until the kids were a little older.  That day might just have come.  Maybe.



The "after" shot.  Don't hate. 

 Seriously.  Don't be jealous.  I am taking a pretty big chance here.  The likelihood is that it will look like the "before" photo within days. 

But maybe not.

I feel a change a comin'

I used to be super organized.  At least I thought I was...until I had kids.  Now, I just have completely random stuff everywhere.  In every corner.  On every surface.  Let me look around for just one moment...  Right now, there is triple antibiotic ointment on my computer desk in my kitchen.  There are a pair of jeans on my counter.  There are two of Everly's hair ties on the floor.  There is a stack of stuff ready to go downstairs.  There is a stack ready to be filed.  And then there are the papers that I just don't have a clue what to do with all scattered about. 

I am not quite sure what happened to me, but I can pretty much say when it happened...about four and a half years ago.  That is also right about the time when my desk at school went from immaculate to "there is a desk under there?"

But let me tell you what I did yesterday:  I finally made little days of the week placards and organized all of my handouts on my counter at school so that the kids can see what they missed in an instant and get what they need for themselves.  Gone is the stack of manila folders on my desk and sorting through for the papers that they missed.  Why didn't I do this years ago?  I have no clue.  But it is awesome.  And I can still see every part of my desk so far this year.

And let me tell you what I did an hour ago:  I made a grocery list on a google doc and organized it by aisle.  Yep...boldface titles like "dairy."  It felt so good.

Could it be that I am finally getting my organizational groove back? 
Well, I haven't replaced the batteries in my labeler yet, but...baby steps.  I am taking baby steps.