I recently shared with my sister-in-law that I have a list of things I like to accomplish daily. But even as I said that I knew I didn't do all of them daily, it was more of an ideal that occasionally broke through that silver cloud into reality. But that led to and idea. What if I wrote them down and kept track? Kind of like a chore chart for mommy. Only, we can't call it a "chore chart", I mean, who ever heard of knocking down Legos, saying "Peek-A-Boo!!!" and my-pony-is-hurt-in-the-woods-and-you-are-the-grandma-and-when-I-make-this-noise-lalalalala-you-come-to-rescue-us-because-fire-hurt-my-legs-and-I-can't-walk-either with your kids a chore??
And was born my Daily Goal chart:
Said piece of paper was made in a fit of "I must do it now or I'll never get it done" on what was beautiful writing paper until it became plastered to the side of my fridge...next to the dirty dishes.
Now, don't go laughing over "do dishes". If you've EVER lived with me for ANY amount of time, you KNOW what a chore that has been in my life. I used to loath it, then I hated it, last week I just accepted it and as of this chart I see it has a challenge to be overcome if nothing else gets checked off that day. Sadly, it is easier to do that play with my own kids on some days.
Most of my cleaning occurs when the mess has reached my threshold of tolerance, which is higher than most of my peers but low enough that if Social Services ever visited my house, the mess would probably not make it into the notes. There were days this week I thought sweeping was dumb because there was hardly anything on the floor! But I'm the classic good-student who strive for the A just to see the A, and wanting to see another check mark when I knew I might not get around to reading to Clare was enough motivation for me. On all but one of those occasions, I found more dirt than I thought I would and wa-la! My floors are lookin' good!
Months ago I set the goal to sweep and wash dishes daily but it didn't happen daily. I wonder if it happened as much as my mind thinks it happened. It is easy to get off track when there is nothing but what you seem to remember doing, keep you on track. That is why I added "work" to the list. I do mystery shopping and review paperwork for a mental health company. I realized, that if I don't make a point to do it, I wont. Instead I will THINK I "just barely" did some!... 4 days ago.
And "throw something away"? Yeah, both my husband and I have hording tendencies that we are aware of but still trying to balance. So, every day I have to throw something (not just paper or trash, but someTHING) away. Still working on that one, but it feels good when I do it. I recently felt the need to "get my house in order" by cleansing and living in a more pleasant, organized environment. I'm working toward that and I expect that in a year, we will see some big improvements!
Now if only I can work on my priorities. :-) The day will come with Reading gets more check marks than dishes. I will find a balance. I'm far from beating myself up over missing days here and there (well, except for maybe on one or two rows) because the fact is, if I read with Joel 5/7 days of the week, I'm pretty sure he'll still have fond memories of his mommy reading time. If I do the dishes 5/7 days of the week, we won't have any extra bugs or smells.
Plus, keeping myself accountable has helped this week! Knowing that I'd have to face IN INK if I skipped out on one of these goals added to my motivation to accomplish them. And I feel good about it! I feel like a better mom, a better house-keeper person, a better employee, a better me, all that jazz. Because these are MY goals and I'm watching myself work toward them.
Plus, I'm flexible. Some days are crazy, some are laid back. Some days I'm motivated, some days I just can't seem to find the will to rescue the orphan with burned legs and her hurt pony. Hey, mommies have limits too.
Speaking of limits, Aaron says he should have a line under "Cuddle with" too. :-) My goals are a work in progress...
No comments:
Post a Comment