ROTM - UPDATE

I was wondering if I was making enough progress. I have to do 1.75 rooms per month to make it through by the end of the year. So I was a little frustrated because the only room that is done is the downstairs bathroom which is easy peasy. So here is what I have done so far. The kitchen needs another hour and then I will be done. I started on the laundry room, the guest...wait. Lets to this the other way round. The only place I haven't started on yet is the boys room. Do you know what that means? Yes. We got started in the attic! And it feels a lot less daunting!

I DID IT!

Once again I pulled it off. Never underestimate the power of stubbornness and a 4 hour call to your sister. I had 3 hours and 10 min left. I did it. I did it. I DID IT.

The guest room is almost visitor ready and I threw out so many little things that just a few weeks ago I would have kept and tucked away somewhere else. Sticking with the guest room was key. It was like working in the garden. A project big enough, and important enough that you could work on it for an hour and not run away.

Next week has less appointments and I am more determined than ever to pull it off again. 8 weeks of experience make me confident! 

THIS WEEK I WILL FAIL

The random thought running through my head while going to yet another appointment was:"This week you will fail." It made me cry. We all know that driving and crying don't mix well, so I stopped again. The crying. Not the driving.

I took a moment to bask in self pity. And then I got over it. I still felt discouraged when I got home. Especially when I realized that I can't carry over 3 hours and 20 min and that if I didn't want to fail TODAY I had to work for at least 1 h and 20 min. I decided to work in the back yard, just because it is easiest to just keep working there. I got my 1  hour 20 taken care off and managed another 20 min in the house.

That was yesterday. 

Today found me dragging through the day, but i managed to catch up a little tomorrow finds me with 3 h and 10 min on the list..wish me luck.

I AM DROWNING

No matter what I do
I can't make it to shore.
I see the coast line.
Sometimes closer,
Sometimes further away.
I feel like I am droning.

No matter what I do,
I can't swim long enough
To make it to the shore.
I float to regain strength.
And while I rest,
The tide carries me away again.

No matter what I do.
The current seems too strong.
No one can see me struggle.
"I admire you!"
Don't. Please don't.
I'm drowning.

Editors note: This was written Feb. 9th 2017

ROTM 2017

ROTM - Room Of The Month is not a new concept. I am doing it again because it has worked very well for me. I have made big progress by focusing on one room at a time but never made it all the way through the house. 2017 is the year I will make this happen. 

I have changed the rules a bit. I work in more than one room. Sometimes I need quiet chores, other days I simply can't face the kitchen. To make it easier, I don't insist on being done with one room before I can start the next.

I am making it harder by counting the patio, the back and front yard, the car, the garage and the attic as a room, too. This way I have 21 "rooms". So either I have to do two a month or the challenge will go for 2 years.

Thanks to my 2 hours per day and the need for quiet jobs at night with James gone and the kids asleep I was done with the downstairs bathroom before I knew it. So 1 down. 20 to go!

FRIDAY BLUES

I am not sure what the problem was Friday. It was just a bad day. Maybe it was the fact that I started my day with 3 hours and 50 min on the clock and zero desire to do anything. I felt so pathetic wanting to take a sick day AFTER I was sick. I worked for 90 min the day I was sick but on Thursday I barely managed anything even though I felt better. I felt like crying all day on Friday.

I finally decided to just get to work. It helped. Not as much as I wish it had, but enough to get me through the day.

CALLING IN SICK

I should be calling in sick. I really should. I've had sick kids since last week Monday. One of them has been sick, or at least not fully recovery since then. One is back to normal and the 4 oldest are home from school with headaches and fevers. I've had a head ache for days and yesterday I finally surrendered.

Unfortunately I had worked ahead the night before and I figured I better get my 2 hours in. So I decided to finally work on the cabinet full of board games. I can't just put the stuff together. When I do that I have to count every piece and write down what'S  missing. Which lets face it is a ridiculous amount of time spent on nothing.

Now I am sitting on the couch, counting endless stacks of cards and game pieces and am thrilled to finally get this going. The complete games will be upstairs in the living room, the incomplete ones will stay downstairs. I know that there is a ridiculous amount of game pieces flying through the girls' room.

Unfortunately throwing out the games  as long as I think I can find the mission pieces is not how I roll. I guess I could practice doing that. But lets face it. I really don't want to. here is what I will do. The incomplete games will stay downstairs. By the end of the year, after I will have gone through the whole house (yes,y es, I will!) what ever is still not complete will go.