How did that happen?

Ok. As embarrassing as it is, I'll 'fess up. Our taxes aren't done.

*Gulp*

I have started probably half a dozen times. We are now missing only one document but I have to wait for my husband to call the place and have them email it. He has been so swamped at work. Most of his lunch breaks don't happen unless he is going out to eat for work. A big part of me wants to be frustrated at him for putting this call off until the last minute but I know how stressed he has been. Not to mention the extra stress I caused last week when I got so sick I couldn't function for a few days. *shudder* That was awful for everyone.

So now, it's tax day itself and I'm hoping against hope that there aren't any more issues. I REALLY don't want to file for an extension. I pretty much consider it not an option.

Wish me luck and pray that my procrastination and my husband's doesn't prevent us from getting our taxes filed in time!

10 Minutes. And a little more to finish it up!

Thank you to Angie of Seriously a Homemaker for the suggestion and motivation to do this! My husband unexpectedly came home for a late lunch today and he was impressed. :)

After a weekend of us all being home most of the time and me not wanting to clean so I could spend time with hubby and the kiddos my kitchen was REALLY suffering! I'm pretty embarrassed to even post the before pictures, but here goes!

One big (little) mess.

Exactly 10 minutes to kick its butt.

I have to admit, I cheated a little. I got most of it done in the ten minutes, but I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher afterward. I also had to managed J while I was cleaning so I figured that made it ok to cheat. He kept wanting down, then up, then down so that definitely added to the total amount of work needing to be done.

Pictures to prove it.

Walk away feeling like a rock star!

I have to show you what happened while I was focusing on the counters...


*sigh*

Finding ways to be effective and efficient.

I remembered something today that I had forgotten.

When the kiddos first wake up they are content with eating breakfast and playing on their own. I usually take this time to eat my own breakfast and spend a little time relaxing in preparation for the day. Then I feel lazy. Then the kiddos just HAVE to have my attention.

Hm... See the problem?

Today my mom called and told me there had been a change of plans this weekend. She and my sister will be coming HERE tomorrow night instead of us meeting her two hours away and staying at my aunts house for two nights.

Guess what that means.

I've got some serious cleaning to do.


Before, I didn't need to worry about it since no one would be at our house. Now? Well, let's just say I need to get my rear in gear! Right after I got off the phone with her I cleaned the kitchen and laundry room. They weren't too bad, but they did need a fair bit of cleaning. I was thinking it would be insurmountable but guess what? Both boys were content to be on their own! E even helped out (a little).

Now I'm trying to get J to take a nap. I am going to have to try to get him to stay asleep on his own. Why is it that babies act like it's torture for them to have to sleep somewhere other than their mom's arms? Normally I wouldn't mind. I love snuggling him and I know this time will pass and he will gain independence long before I'm ready for it. But days like today... Yeah. I need him to be a little more independent!

Lesson for the day. Do blitz cleaning first thing in the morning.

The Cutest Instigators of Entropy

I have been trying so hard yesterday and today to get a few projects done. All I wanted to do was finish cleaning the master bedroom, streamline our clothes and get a few loads of laundry done. Not too much to put on my plate, right? Apparently my boys think it is. Of course, they ARE my number one priority as a stay at home mom, but goodness, you'd think they'd give me a little slack to do some maintenance on the cleaning.

Here's what I've gotten to do the last two days.

• Cleaned up a few dozen messes.
  
• Made the bed in the master bedroom.
  
• Made about a dozen meals.
  
• Worked out last night for 35 minutes.
  
• Finished my book while cuddled in a blanket with J and laying on the trampoline waiting for E to realize that it really was quite cold out. The kid REALLY needed to get some energy burned off though.
  
• (See above) Took the boys outside for a little over an hour. This of course resulted in two of my daffodil's being pulled. *sigh*
  
• Spent WAY too much time holding J on my lap or in my arms because he is so doggone clingy! Why can't I figure out what he needs? Or if he's just in a phase? Regardless, it's nearly impossible to do anything when I know he's going to be screaming the entire time if I'm not holding him.

And, that's about it! I did a few other things, but really, the majority of my time was spent trying to pacify J. I don't mind keeping the kids happy, but when chaos ensues, I lose control of my emotional stability. Any tips on getting the kid caused entropy under control? And no, I'm not going to just let them scream. When needed I can let them for a few minutes, but not for much longer than that.

Simple living- Streamlining clothing

Monday March 21st- Today, I am going to streamline our clothing. I don't know yet what I'll do with the "discards" but I am going to pull out what we will keep. Below is what we will keep.

a. L&N

i. Pants-2

ii. Shirts-7 everyday, 2 special occasion/church, 1 hoodie/sweat shirt

iii. Sunday Clothes- 1 dress, 1 suit(2 ties)

iv. Garments- 7 good pairs

v. Socks- 10 pairs

vi. Coats- 1

vii. Shoes- 1 every day, 1 Dress

viii. PJ’s- 1 set (pants and shirt)

ix. 1 Towel and washcloth each

b. Boys

i. Pants- 3-4

ii. Shirts- 10

iii. Underwear- 10

iv. Socks- 10

v. Coats- 1

vi. Shoes- 1 everyday, 1 dress

vii. PJ’s- 1 set

viii. 1 Towel and washcloth each

I will report back with how it goes!

Living

Some of the things I want to address in this blog.

• Healthy living. Eating the right foods, at the right times and in the right amounts.
  Also, being physically active and ENJOYING it.
  
• Simple living. Reducing the physical, mental and emotional clutter in my life.
  
• Frugal living. I am a stress spender. I don't know how many times I try to cheer myself up by buying something only to realize that it has turned into clutter. I also get overwhelmed by financial obligations and cause a lot of anxiety for myself. I need to learn how to be financially efficient so I can rule my money, not be ruled by it.
  
• Happy living. I get so caught up in what needs to be done that I don't just enjoy life. This drives my husband crazy! I know my kids suffer when I'm cranky too. I want them to be happy so I need to be an example of that.
  
• Efficient living. I am really inefficient with my time and end up causing myself way too much stress.
• Prepared living. I have always been aware of the importance of being prepared. With all the disasters occurring in the world, it is on my mind more than ever.
• Spiritual living. I am a good person and I try to do the right things. I frequently forget to prioritize my life around my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I know that when I focus first on that, everything else falls into place fairly easily. Now why don't I just do it?
  

I hope to use this post as a reference for other posts. It certainly won't be the only thing I write about, but I wanted to get these thoughts out for times when I can't remember what I need to focus on.

In the Beginning...

Entropy- A lack of pattern or organization. Disorder. The tendency for the universe to fall apart little by little.

It didn't take long at all for me to come up with a name for this blog. I remember my high school LDS Seminary teacher talking about entropy. I decided it was one of my favorite words right then. It perfectly describes why I am inconsistent!

My whole life, the biggest battle I have fought is the battle against inconsistency. I will seem to have everything going well, I'm on top of school, housework, parenting, scripture study, health, etc. then I suddenly realize I've lost my momentum. I try to look back and see what happened to mess me up. There isn't anything obvious. As I start adding it up in my mind I realize it was a bunch of little things that just threw me off.

• I didn't feel like cleaning up the small food spill after lunch. It wasn't much at all and I knew there would be more there after supper. I'd just get it all then. Before I realize it, there are a few days worth of "not much at all" and it takes me a good ten minutes to scrape and scrub it off. In which time, a mess is made somewhere else in the house. It would have taken a few seconds if I'd cleaned it up when it first happened.
  
• The assigned reading chapter was only two pages for the day. I decided I'd just add it to the eight page reading for the next day. The next day I get through a few pages and get distracted. I forget to finish up.
  
• I was exhausted so I didn't follow through on getting E to put away his toys. It was easier to do it myself. The next time, I did the same thing and after a while, he "forgets" that he needs to pick up.
• I was doing so well on working out and eating healthy. I decided to skip a night of working out because I was tired. We get a gift card for a restaurant and I order a dessert. Next thing I know, I'm eating sugar and skipping workouts. The things I was so proud of myself for have fallen out of my schedule and priorities again.
  

Just to name a few. Once those things add up... Chaos. Entropy. Just today, I told my husband "I hate chaos". E and J had dumped a whole package of spaghetti noodles onto the floor and smooshed them up. All this in the few minutes I had closed my eyes in a different room to try to avoid going crazy. How did they get a hold of the package? I put it on the shelf just inside our bedroom where the food storage closet is. A little tiny thing. A few more seconds of effort and it would have been out of their reach. Of course, then they probably would have found something else to destroy... but that's beside the point.

I can objectively see what I need to be doing. That's simple for me. But the motivation to keep doing what I know I need to be doing and not let it slide... that is SO hard! It seems like whenever I do keep it up for a while, little by little, my universe seems to fall into disorder.

The one word I want to describe my year is CONSISTENT. I'll settle for anything remotely close to that, but I want that to be the height I shoot for.