Just ask my husband.
For me to feel that all is right with my little world I need to know that everything is under control. Otherwise I morph from a relatively sane woman, into a stressed out madwoman.
Just ask my husband.
Trying to juggle working 30 hrs a week (from home), while simultaneously keeping a very active toddler from pulling the cat's tail or discovering the knife block, or whatever other evil deed he may be up to, is difficult enough. Add in having to run two older boys around to various ESSENTIAL commitments, AND ensure the house is not eligible for one of those 'Messiest House in the World' type shows, AND make sure that everyone has clean underwear at least, oh let's say, once or twice a week. Then factor in shopping trips for essentials like more coffee, then cooking any food that found it's way into the trolley and home with me, in a manner that everyone will deign to eat.
I could go on but I think you get the picture.
So in an effort to stop all these hundreds of things from constantly whirling around in my brain, each demanding I complete it NOW, and if I don't my world might just implode or something equally disastrous, I simply wrote it all down.
Here is my command centre. It may look remarkably like a 2010 diary, but don't be fooled.
(please ignore the hideous green kitchen bench tops the previous owners obviously though were the height of good taste. Unless you have the same bench tops yourself, in which case, I think they look lovely.)
Let's skip past all the boring dated pages listing doctors appointments, soccer sessions, play dates and the (very) occasional hair style or massage appointment, and turn to the back pages shall we?
This is where it all happens.
Each of the 5 weeks of the month (or 4 1/2 if you want to be pedantic) has an area of the house to focus on, as well as each day having general tasks allocated to it. This way I know that eventually I will get around to doing everything. (Thanks to Flylady.com for this inspiration)
That's the plan, anyway.
Then this next bit is the masterpiece. Others may scoff and ridicule, but it WORKS FOR ME, ALRIGHT.
Well, as long as I stick to the plan it does. And that's the hard bit.
Each day is broken into sections with tasks to get done throughout the day.
I like to think of it like being back in high school. Different classes at different times of the day.
And just like high school there are some classes I love. And others, that I prefer to play hookie and go down to the shops for coke with my friends instead.
But, as I said, it works for me. It lets me feel as if I have some semblance of control over my life, that I'm not a bad mother, wife, worker, house keeper, cook etc etc.
That I can maintain a pleasant and loving demeanor for my family. And I think I achieve that.
Most of the time.
Just ask my husband.
