Busy Bee

This past weekend was full of lots of fun with extended family.
Unfortunately, I have a HUGE yard sale to get ready for this coming Saturday & Sunday...and I didn't do what I was supposed to do this weekend.

So that means right now I'm up to my eyeballs in yellow sticky price tags and trying to decide if we really need to keep 3 million stuffed animals. (G is only 16 months, how did she get that many already???)


Hopefully I'll be back to myself soon. :)

Just enough

The beginning of every weekend I always start out with big ambition; to do some project, make some new meal or clean, clean, clean.

This weekend I definitely had big ideas – I was going to organize our bedroom, start working on some decorations for G’s birthday party and maybe try to make a pillow out of an old sweater. (Not to mention print out the party invitations, catch up on laundry, etc, etc, etc…)

Let’s see….I finished….none of the above. I did do some damage with the clutter in our bedroom, including completely organizing my side of the bed. I really should have taken before & after pictures, but I was a woman on a mission (and naptime was coming to a close) so I had to rush rush rush! This coming weekend hopefully I’ll tackle the closet. That will definitely require a before & after picture!!

Trust me. I’ve slept much better knowing I won’t trip over a pile of old paper work & magazines overflowing from a basket, if the baby wakes up in the middle of the night.

I did *buy* the things I need to make the party decorations. (At least the two-pack of Styrofoam balls did lead to a weekends worth of bad jokes & inappropriate innuendo between Tyson & me.)And really, let’s be honest, the invites don’t have to go out for at least another 10 days, so I was just being unrealistic with that one!

I didn’t make an incredible meal for my family. Saturday while grocery shopping we found Digornio made a pizza & cookies package…so of course we had to buy that. (My husband loves cookies. It’s an illness.) And last night was hotdogs. I just wasn’t channeling Betty Crocker this weekend.

All in all, I guess I accomplished something.

I spent time with my happy little family, so everything else really doesn’t matter.

Resolution Time

I don’t often do resolutions. I always thought it was silly to use the new year as an excuse to start something you should have been doing. But this year…I kind of understand.

2010 was quite the year for the Wally’s. What with the new baby & all. (Followed by moving with a 2 month old, into the upstairs of my grandparent’s farm house.) Since May I’ve felt like a child, being watched by my grandparents & mother. I often have to remind myself I AM a mom now. It’s been fabulous to have their help with Tyson & I working opposite shifts, but I’m looking forward to gaining some time as OUR family of 3. Now that they’ve headed to Fl for 4 ½ months and the baby is no longer a new born requiring CONSTANT attention, I feel like I might actually accomplish something in 2011.

I am working on letting go. Trusting the direction of God & my husband, will get us to where we should be. (Which is a difficult concept for me to implement). I was raised to be independent. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m not really letting go of that completely. Just relinquishing a little control is difficult for me. And it’s actually causing me some emotional turmoil. But relinquishing some control, is actually allowing me to send that desire to control & plan in other areas of life. To areas where it will serve me better in daily life.

I guess in the broad sense my new years resolution is to get organized. But I’ve been trying to do that for years. So I’m going to start off a little more specifically. (Which will hopefully mean I can succeed!!)

One resolution will hopefully evolve into another. So I’m STARTING the year off with hopes & goals of composting & creating a clean, organized way to separate recyclables. (I also would like to organize so much more, but this a good start!)

Operation Get Organized: Part One

I am trying to get organized.

Transitioning to the world of being a full-time working Mom has been a difficult one. (Emotionally, physically & mentally…) And it’s often something that I wish I could protest by kicking & screaming; this really isn’t how I wanted to parent. But that’s how life is right now. My time outside of work is precious and I need to learn to make the most of it.

So as stated before, it’s time to get organized

I’m going to try and tackle one area of my life that needs organization, every month. It takes 21 days to create a new habit (or break a bad one). So I figure if I give myself a month that gives me a week to forget I’m supposed to be doing it and the remaining three weeks to actually do it!

The first month of “Operation Get Organized” is to work on my evening routine – mostly in respect to my “chores”. I will put off dishes, laundry, dusting, you name it…as long as I can. Until it gets to the point that the clutter & piles of stuff everywhere drives me to the edge and I’m cursing & resembling Linda Blair in her famous role. (Minus the spewing of pea soup…)

I like that movie and all…….BUT…..

The goal is to wash baby bottles & dishes EVERY NIGHT. And then have one area of the house that I tidy up each evening. (Originally laundry was going to be part of this, but I will hopefully be getting some help from my mom in this area…which would be a HUGE help. With Tyson’s work schedule, I can’t really expect him to consistently get things done during the week, so to get some regular help from another adult is most appreciated.)

I’m thinking the “chore” schedule will be this:

Monday – Bedroom: tidy, dust & empty garbage

Tues & Wed: I’ll cut myself some slack, these are the nights that I need to have a diaper bag packed for G to spend the day @ the sitters….and maybe I’ll work in doing some yoga or pilates with the extra 10-15 minutes I’ll get these nights.

Thurs- Bathroom: tidy, clean & empty garbage

Fri- Hallway (which serves as an office/playroom/catchall room): tidy, dust and empty desk garbage & diaper pail.

Sat & Sun’s off

(You don’t see G’s bedroom on here, because that room is actually one that I keep on top of regularly. It’s the only one that hasn’t gotten out of my control.)

Eventually we’ll have our own house, and I’ll need to add other rooms to this schedule. But hopefully this works for now.

In reality I have about 60-90 mins between when G goes to sleep & when I turn into a pumpkin….and I’d also like to get in a teeny tiny bit of computer time in here too. The trick is if I can keep on top of the baby bottles…I’ll have more time in the evenings. So here goes nothing.

Stay tuned…..

What girl doesn’t like clothes? I know I find a mild satisfaction of seeing my dresser drawers full and not an empty hanger in the closet. (Because that also means the miracle of miracles occurred, and all of my clothes are clean!) But since moving with a newborn, and having a 'new' body to dress – I’ve become very good at purging myself of clothes that don’t fit or that don’t look that great.

Almost –too- good. Because now I’m rotating about 4-6 different, acceptable, tops for work.

I still don’t tire of hearing people compliment how I look after having a baby. Right after G was born I would absolutely beam at the mention of my figure. But let’s get real now, she’s almost 7 months old and I’m still sporting a little pooch. And my confidence has taken a serious hit. (Yes I can see your eyes rolling and hear your sighs all the way out here in the boondocks.)

Never the less, this is not the body I’m used to. My hips are wider, my butt is too (though I don’t hear Tyson complaining about that one), my the girls are smaller (despite still nursing??) and my tummy jiggles when I walk. Not things I’m used to.

While I am working on getting more in tone & in shape, my wardrobe is suffering. I find it difficult to feel like I look nice in anything I wear. So I end up dressing frumpy. Or so I feel. I haven’t quite resorted to mom jeans yet, but I feel I’m one old baggy t-shirt away.

What prompted these thoughts, you ask? I went to the rest room at work today, looked in the mirror and actually said to myself “who let me buy another striped shirt??” Seriously. Who did? I hold you all responsible!

As soon as I got home I covered it with a sweatshirt, and I intend on sending it to the salvation army as soon as it comes out the other side of the laundry.

I’ll slowly start working on a more respectable, full-time working, sweating off the pooch to get hot, mommy wardrobe. In the meantime I hope they don’t catch on to my wearing the same 5 shirts at work.