FEELING FAT

I have a new criteria for clothes that are leaving my closet. If it makes me feel fat, it goes. You might say, but she IS fat! No wonder she FEELS FAT. IT is just A FACT. But you know, I have clothes that make me fell normal, sometime even good. And I have some that make me feel heavy, fat and short. I just remembered this as I am folding laundry and came across one of the "I feel fat shirts". Well. It's in the donation bag! 

BURSTING YOUR BUBBLE

If you are anything like me, you LOVE before-after pictures. It is so fun to see progress. So inspiring what people have accomplished. If you are excited about the after pic. OOPS! This is the after pic! This is my drawer by the front door. The things it should contain is stuff I  need every day and that I need for just a second. Like my wallet and keys, scotch tape and glue, scissors, a pen. You get the idea. Lately it has become more of hiding spot for all the little things I didn't know how to or didn't want to deal with. I knew it would take forever to get it done and I was worried about all the things I would be left to deal with.

So when I got started on this I reminded myself of the following important things:

• Most important is to get started
• 5 min can make a difference
• Don't worry about finishing
• Forget perfect
• The perfect time to do it won't come

So I started clearing out my little drawer that when organized as I want it is super helpful and super efficient. At the moment is was just super full and even my wallet can disappear in it completely. Obviously it is far from perfect. I only worked a couple of minutes on it every time, but I did return to it repeatedly. I only dealt with things that were easy, picked out trash and put things away that have a home. I can now close it without having to shove things around to keep it all leveled! 

AVOIDANCE

Besides being the queen of chaos, I am also the queen of avoidance, postponing and procrastinating. There is one area of work surface in my kitchen that always gets cluttered. And there is usually some fruit or vegetable amidst all of that crap dying a slow death and secretly rotting away. I would like to claim I am not a filthy hoarder, but lets face it. If I came across that corner in somebody else's kitchen I would be revolted.

Are you aware how much energy undone tasks suck out of you? I am finally learning to see that. So today I sucked it up and did it. First I thought this will take less time then I thought, I figured I might have it done in 15 min, I ended up spending more like 40 min. 

I threw away dry bread that I meant to turn into bread crumbs for weeks, I found rotting vegetables still in their packages and came across all kind of random things that should have never been in the kitchen in the first place. 

And lo and behold. 2 days after Easter I already washed and put the last Christmas cookie tins away.

THINGS THAT WORK

I was wondering what I have to do to get back on track. I had times in my life when I felt I had a grip on things. I was wondering what I can do to feel like this again. Finally it hit me. May, just maybe I should just go back to doing what I did back then?!

So here is what works for me

maintenance and declutter: 10 magic min totaling 2 hours per day
emotional well being: brisk early morning walks 20-30 min
physical well being: low carb diet

I am excited to start those things again. I know they work for me and I know they help me feel better. I have a few things that I would like to implement in my life that I hope will help for me, but for the moment I will stick with those 3.

THE FLU

As if life hadn't been crazy enough we got hit by the flu. Hard. All 6 kids had it one after the other. At one time all 6 of them were home sick together. It has been 2 weeks. They are on the mend, but 3 of them are still struggling. To keep things entertaining, one of them added an ear infection and needs antibiotics and 2 other kids have been throwing up.

No such thing as a room of the month or organized declutter. Simply day to day survival.

We are almost back to normal. Ella is still too weak to make it to school. She looks like a little ghost fluttering through the house in her nightgown. Her skin color can only be described as ashen.

So no Room Of The Month, no 10 magic minutes, just medicine, thermometers and endless hours of 
holding little ones, who felt too hot to touch.

New week, new luck.