Small Successes {comeback}

Oh boy... I've been in a rut as of late.  

I feel like I can't catch up with my life and my mantra has become "I can't get anything done"!

I think it all started on December 1st when 2 of the girls came down with our first bout of Influenza.  Yes, I said "first bout" because we were lucky enough to get two different strains of Influenza this year... A & B!  Throw in a few other respiratory viruses, a stomach bug, a nursing strike that never ended, and lots of teething torture and you get a crazy few months of nonstop sickness-induced chaos!  

I never do sick well... it causes me all kinds of anxiety and sleeplessness.  And we don't sleep in this house to start with!  So the sleeplessness and sicknesses has got me feeling like I can't catch up and need to regain control of my chaotic household.

That being said, I also tend to focus on the things that are not getting done and fail to recognize that everyday, at a minimum, my children are fed, clothed, and basically cared for.  It's that whole pessimism thing that I can't seem to shake!  

As I was thinking about my day today, feeling completely fatigued and exhausted again, I realized that I have actually accomplished a few things in the past few days... even though I complain every single day that "I never get anything done"!  The complaining thing is another thing I am trying to work on {stay tuned}!  

So I've decided it is time for a comeback of the Small Successes posts; a means to force myself to realize that I am making progress.  Maybe focusing on small successes will help me to see that I am actually achieving something on these long, winter days of stay-at-home-motherhood... and maybe they will help me to stop complaining that "I can't catch up!"  Because I'm pretty sick of myself right about now :)

So without further ado, my Small Successes from the past week:

{Purged and Wiped Down Pantry}
I majorly purged and reorganized my pantry last January right before Abby's birth.  I could not believe how much clutter accumulated in there again in a matter of a year.  So today, I re-purged and actually cleaned all the shelves and the floor.  Major improvement.  Next on the list... the interior of my oven.  I won't embarrass myself by saying how long that has gone without being cleaned, but I will say that I'm not really sure how to even clean an oven ;)

{Made 2 Snowmen with my Kids}
We finally got a real snowfall in Kansas!  I really just wanted to let the kids go out in it by themselves so I could "get something done" during Abby's brief nap.  But I surrendered and attempted my first ever snowman build.  I've been present during snowman builds as a child, but this was the first time I was the lead builder... with no man in sight!  I was pretty proud and the kids were super happy which made my frostbit fingers and toes worth it.  We even had a bonafide snowball fight!

{Took Valentine Decor down and Put it in Storage}
After Christmas, I couldn't bear to take my candy mantel completely down.  It was just too much work.  So I changed the green candy to pink and added some other Valentine candies to keep it working through Valentines Day.  After 2 1/2 months though... I was ready for it to be gone and for the mantel to be thoroughly cleaned!  And so it finally got done this week.  I put up a few Spring-ish things until I can get motivated to decorate for Easter.  But the fact that the candy is packed up and the mantel has been given a good dusting makes me breath better!  Yes, I'm weird like that.  

{Redid Bookcase}
After taking down the Christmas decor, I re-did this little black bookcase in my kitchen.  New and different always equals better in my opinion!

{Made & Hung These}
Ahhh!  Girls room decor... another area in which I could scream "I never get anything done"!  After a year, the rooms are still not complete.  BUT in the spirit of recognizing small successes, I did put chicken wire on the back of these frames and hung them on the wall.  They are still in need of some more embellishment and I need something else to hang on top of the top one and... Small Success... they are hung!

{Did This}
I didn't take a "before" shot of this drawer, but let's just say that the reason I decided to tackle it was because every time I tried to open it, it got stuck.  It's houses a whole bunch of semi-necessary and semi-often used "stuff".  A "junk drawer", I suppose.  With the help of some Target Dollar Spot containers, it is now it's a "junk drawer" that opens easily with substantially less junk... Small Success! 

{A Few More Pictureless Successes}
1.  Washed the bathroom rugs.
2.  Washed out the inside of the "gadget drawer" in the kitchen.
3.  Dumped out all of my make up brushes and cleaned the container that holds them.
4.  Was on time to dance class.
5.  Went to dinner with a friend.
6.  Took a shower everyday (except today).
7.  Made a menu plan and shopped for it (didn't stick to it, but again... focus on the small...)
8.  Ironed uniform shirts I was behind on
9.  Went to bible study for the first time since before Christmas.  
10. Was the first one to arrive at #9 bible study (that is major major!)

Wow!  I think I like this form of therapy :)  

A Good Day

I wonder if my husband gets sick of me saying "I can't get anything done!"  If I get sick of hearing myself say it, it seems rather likely that almost everyone else I speak to on a regular basis gets sick of hearing it too!

I say it a lot because that's how most days feel to me.

But not today!

As I was washing the dishes tonight, thinking of all the things I still needed to do tonight, I found myself feeling kind of proud of all that I had done today.

Today was a good day.

So I thought I'd document it.

I'm giving myself a pat on the back today because I did all of this...

• Showered and put make up on BEFORE taking Emily to her first day of Pre-K this morning.  

• Assembled a last minute teacher gift in the 30 minutes prior to having to leave to take Emily to school. 

• Made ALL of the beds!

• Vacuumed the upstairs and mopped part of the wood floors to remove the mud spots.

• Wrote and posted a blog post, complete with pictures, in one quick sitting (before this one!)

• Threw dinner together when I had nothing planned instead of going out.  That's major for me people.  I am not one of those "oh, I just threw something together and used up what I had in the fridge" kind of people.  But today, I was!

• Read multiple books to several small girls.

• Played puzzles with Molly and worked on teaching her colors.

• Finished a project for my high school reunion.

• Had a good idea!

• Wrote Thought about writing thank you notes.

• Unloaded the dishwasher after the dinner dishes had ran through it.  This is such a bonus for me!  I really loathe unloading the dishwasher and when it is the very first thing I have to do in the morning, it kind of makes me a little grouchier than I already am!

• Did one load of laundry.  AND folded it!  OK, just did one load of laundry.  It's still sitting in the dryer.
• Did something I haven't done in many, many years... exercised!  I purchased a workout DVD 4 months ago and finally did it for the first time last night.  It was brutal.  And I followed the "program" by taking measurements of myself AND took a "before picture" of myself it "form fitting clothes".  Talk about pure awfulness.  Just.plain. awful!  But it will probably motivate me to put the DVD in again tomorrow!

• Took my vitamins.  ALL of them!

• Didn't eat Orange Leaf... OR a cookie from Kwik Shop!

• Didn't cry or yell or lose my patience.  Not one single time!

So today was a good day.

So good, that I think I'll go for the get up early, shower, put on make up, make the beds, exercise and take vitamins kind of day again tomorrow!

Small Successes

Dare I say that posting my small successes last week actually motivated me to be more productive in the days following the post?!


Regardless, I am going to pat myself on the back again today as I celebrate a few successes over the past week...


1.  Took down my Valentines Day decor and replaced it with a Spring table vignette that I am in love with!  It's so GREEN and it makes me happy!

2.  I organized something!  Ever since Noah was born, I've had the kids' pictures taken almost every 3 months at a local quickie photography place.  It's fairly inexpensive, which leads to me purchasing WAY TOO MANY photos!  

I put as many of these photographs into scrapbooks as I can, but I still have dozens that never seem to make their way out of the cardboard envelope!  So even after putting scrapbooks together and distributing pictures to family members, I STILL have pictures that I can't bear to throw in the trash (not sure why!).  And all of those unused pictures have been piling up in their cardboard envelopes making me nuts!  


My solution...

Ah!  I feel like I can breath a big sigh of relief!  The pictures are in their proper place.  I will know how old the kids are in each picture because they are filed according to age.  And when I take a picture out of a frame, I have a place for it to go!  

And I got to throw all of these in the trash!

3.  I took the kids to the zoo and had a delightful time.  Really delightful!  

{emily under the blanket at the gorilla exhibit!}

Small Successes

I am a typical Type A personality.

I always have a long list of "to do" items and my mind never stops.  

I overcommit.

I have high expectations of myself.

I am always busy.

When I check one item off of my "to do" list, two new items replace it.

Consequently, I never feel like I get very much accomplished and I never feel "caught up".  And that makes me feel a tad bit crazy!

So in the spirit of changing my perspective in 2011, vowing to be more positive, I've decided to start focusing on my small successes...  celebrating the things, tiny though they may be, that I actually do accomplish!

So after reading several other mom's share their small successes, I've decided to join in the blog party at Faith & Family and begin forcing myself to take credit for the things I accomplish in  my crazy, busy, never "caught up" life!

1.  I cleaned out my purse and removed approximately 2 pounds from its weight!  Really, if I am ever find myself in a position to play that "what's in your purse game", there is no one who can beat me!

2.  I finally got a monkey off my back that has been weighing me down for months!  I believe in writing thank you notes.  To everyone.  For everything.  It's something I have always taken very seriously.  But because of the aforementioned long "to do" lists and other chaos of my life, the "write Christmas thank you's" line item has remained an unchecked box on my to do list for many months.   I also believe that a late thank you note is better than no thank you note at all!  So this week, I wrote Christmas thank you notes and combined them with Valentine cards (which were also late!).  They are very late, but they are done and I can finally put a check mark in that box - alleluia!  

 3.  I opened the Willow House boxes in my garage, put away my display products, and organized my supplies in the garage.  I even pulled out the Shop Vac and vacuumed the yuck on the steps and around the shelving.  We now have a place to walk without tripping! And I found some fun new treasures hidden inside some of the boxes!

Bonus:  I marked all but 2 items off of this week's mini list!  

And I'm choosing to ignore the fact that this Blog Party actually takes place on Thursday's and I'm posting on Friday night... I will not mention my lack of success in getting my success post posted on time!  As I said, I've never caught up!


You can check out other mom's small successes at Faith & Family Live!