Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Wednesday Wisdom

June 28, 2017

Today’s wisdom came from a gal in a call center when I needed some help for a problem we had. I told her I was embarrassed about it. And here’s what this wise woman said:

There’s no shame in having this problem, but there is if you do nothing about it.

This bit of advice comes back to me often because, yeah, stuff happens around here often enough. I’m a procrastinator and tend to put stuff off that really should be attended to because I’m scared. Scared of what other people think, scared it’s going to be a massive problem that we can’t afford to fix, scared, scared, scared. The thing is, usually, it turns out to be a much smaller problem if I get to it right away. It’s when I put it off that it gets much larger and then it’s much harder to fix. And sometimes I put things off and it’s just a small issue to begin with that I didn’t have to worry about in the first place.

Take for example, I needed to make arrangements on 3 medical bills. Because of all the issues we had between 2009 and 2011 to pay off debt, I was terrified so I put it off. When I finally did get the guts to call, two of the calls took of all of 2 minutes. Uh, what? You mean, I worried myself for days just to have it worked out easily? Um, yeah, self, which means you didn’t have to worry about it at all – just should have gotten it done in the first place. Oh.

So, remember there’s no shame in having to make payment arrangements, call the plumber, call the bug guy, whatever it is. You know all of us have these problems at one time or another anyway. So deal with it, get it taken care of, and move on with your life in peace. And thank you call lady – you’ve helped me many times over since that day.

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Do One Thing

June 19, 2017

This is kind of in the same vein as yesterday’s post and I wanted to get the thought down while it was fresh.

Do one thing.

This came to me as I was looking at a Bible study. One with a pretty cover. One that sounds like something I need right now. But, I’m already reading through “Read Your Way To Heaven” which covers Bible, catechism, and spiritual reading all together. And I’m loving it and gaining so much from it. So why would I need to take something else on? As I was drooling over this other study, a thought came to me: “do one thing”. Now there’s a crazy idea!

My friends, I never do just one thing – I usually have many different irons in the fire and that’s how I get sidetracked. Skincare, books, routines, trying new ways of doing things. On a relentless merry-go-round of trying to find the “perfect” whatever (and what was I talking about yesterday?) I rarely give any of these things I choose time to show me if they’ll work before I’m off to “oh that looks good – maybe I should be doing/trying that!”. Next thing you know I’m up to my armpits in too many things and I don’t know what to do. Which brings me to the next point.

Choosing paralyzes me. I’m always second guessing my choices. UGH – also a never ending merry-go-round that leads to nowhere. So, I need to actually choose one thing and stick with it long enough to see if it’s going to be something I want to stick with, or if should I try something else.

So, I’m doing that spiritual reading book I mentioned above and that’s all I need to do right now for a Bible study. I love it, I’m learning a lot from it, and I’ll stick with just that. If I want to switch up for Advent or Lent then I can choose one of these other studies instead. Otherwise, “Read Your Way to Heaven” is what I’ll do. I’ve chosen and I’ll stick to that choice.

Now let’s look at some other areas I can apply this to:

1. Skincare – choose a one brand regimen, or pick and choose the basics from different brands, but stick with it at least one month or until it runs out. Barring any negative reactions of course. A sidenote here – it actually takes at least a month to see results from your products so you do need to stick with it.

2. Housekeeping – Should I do Flylady, Sidetracked Home Executive cards, or something else? I’ve got a billion and one books on housekeeping but I’m just paralyzed by trying to choose between them. In the meantime, the house suffers for lack of a plan. Ironic, no?

3. Housecleaning products. I had been using Mrs. Meyers very faithfully until I got sidetracked by a newer brand. It may be time to go back and just use that again instead of product bouncing. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it right?

4. Homeschooling curriculum – oh yeah, for book junkies like me it’s always tempting to buy something new even though what we have is clearly working. For the most part, I’m much better at this now.

5. Planners – Oh yeah – I have an addiction to these things. My very favorite was The Busy Body Book, but they aren’t in print anymore so I’m still trying to find one I really like. I like Erin Condren, but the cost is prohibitive so still searching. This is one of those things where I think a printable sample would be helpful otherwise you’re using a planner that doesn’t work for you for a year.

Okay, obviously, I have a problem so I need to get through to why I do what I do and then make some choices and stick to them. It will free up time, money, and brain space. I’ll keep you posted.

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Getting It Done

June 18, 2017

Perfection – the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects

Perfect – having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be

Perfect (as in tense) – done to completion

Those are the definitions I found for those words. Perfection and perfect as written above are not what I am now. Could I strive to be that? Sure. But what would the consequences be? I know there are people who want super clean homes. I don’t have one of those nor would I want one. You’d be worried all the time about stuff happening. And when you have children, stuff happens! Someone told me once that our parents didn’t buy anything new until after we left because they knew it would just get messed up again. Hehe – yeah.

Then again, perfect could be open to discussion as to our own versions of perfect. Flylady says, “Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family.” In other words, even if it’s not free of defect or flaws (perfect), it’s still acceptable. That helps because some of us have spent most of our lives trying to just keep up with keeping house. So, I keep this phrase in my head.

The other side to all this is simple – getting things done. Floor messy? Vacuum it. Dirty spot on the wall? Clean it. Dishes need to be washed? Load up the dishwasher. Don’t worry about everything being at the right time or right place to get something done. Just do it. Nike’s old catch phrase, but in the case of housework it’s the thing to remember. Because if you don’t do it well, it piles up.

Okay, procrastination – the act of delaying or postponing something. Usually because things aren’t perfect or the way we want them to be. I have to lose “x” amount of pounds to go on vacation. Well, I’m not going to be “x” amount of pounds lighter anytime soon, but I can still start now and maybe I’ll be a few pounds lighter. Am I not going to go on vacation because I don’t look like a magazine ad? Of course not! But if we change one habit (or start a new one) today, then over time, we’ll have made progress. Progress not perfection.

So, let’s make progress today instead of trying to be perfect. Make the bed, sweep the floor, drink the water. Do it today and every day thereafter and it will effect change.

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Minimalism

June 16, 2017

Today as I was blog hopping, I saw a review of a book on minimalism – Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki. And yes, he’s Japanese and lives in Japan. He tells about how he had too much stuff and decided to downsize after reading Marie Kondo’s books on decluttering (also big in Japan). In the process of eliminating what he didn’t need he started his life anew. That got me to thinking about what minimalism really is – awareness. Awareness of ourselves and our surroundings. The relationships we have with things and people. What we really need and want out of life and what we really need and want to live that life. Mr. Sasaki became aware that his lifestyle of drinking and buying crap he didn’t need was ruining his life, even leading to depression. So he made a change. A big change, but for him it has worked. Having four kids still at home, I don’t think I could get that minimal, but I know I could do better. Be more aware. I’m hoping our library gets this book so I can see what he has to say, think on it, and see what changes I could make in my own life.

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Summer Mornings

June 15, 2017

I really like summer mornings. Early summer mornings to be exact. The kids are all teenagers now so no one gets up until 9am at the earliest, but usually 10am. Or if they’re up they don’t come down for breakfast until they’re darn good and ready. That means it’s nice and quiet for 3 or 4 hours and I can get things done! Like writing blog posts, reading books, and maybe even making a scrapbook page or two for my album. Of course there is always housework and getting an early start to get those things out of the way is always good too. Sometimes I sneak out to the store on my own, and if I go on my own you can bet Starbucks will be in there somewhere. It’s also beautiful watching the sun come up and if I’m lucky, it might be cool enough to sit outside for 30 minutes and read and drink coffee. Yes, indeed, I’ll enjoy my summer mornings as much as I can.

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Scrapbooking Redux

June 14, 2017

In an effort to declutter my office, I also decided that it was high time to do something once and for all with these photos hanging around. Yeah, actual pictures from way back when. I do have digital photos as well, but I’ll be doing something different with those. For now, I’m just focusing on the hard copies if you will. The plan is either Creative Memories or Project Life. Or maybe both.

I started scrapbooking with Creative Memories years ago because I liked their approach – simple pages, completed albums. This was before scrapbooking took off as the craft and also all the embellishments that made you panic that you weren’t being creative enough. Kind of the opposite of what you were trying to do. I looked over some pages I did at least 8 years ago and they were all really good. Very simple, but the pages were all done. So, if I go down this road, I need to get all my finished pages in albums first – which means someone is going to have to help. For the life of me I can’t figure out these damn strap hinge books! Then, continue with these traditional style pages up to a certain year – maybe the last year of photos I made traditional pages with. I still have lots of paper and stickers so I’m ready to go.

After that, I think I’ll do Project Life. PL is a whole different concept in scrapbooking, but still the same concept as CM – simple pages, albums done. And, really, that’s the point – getting these pictures out of boxes and into a place where everyone can enjoy them. With PL you have photo pages to put your pictures in (cropping is very optional), and they also have these cute cards to journal on or just to add pizazz to your page. You can even put ticket stubs or other memorabilia into the pockets. All you do is slip it all into the page pockets and you’re done. I still have an entire kit I’ve not used, and I also bought a smaller album kit that I started putting photos in because the large book just seemed so daunting. Again, it’s all ready to go. Just do it.

Now, let me talk about journaling a minute. You might think the picture is the star, and it is, but the journaling completes the memory. That’s the other big point – you’re getting your memories down on paper instead of just in your head. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just write out the details in your own voice. It can be as much or as little as you like. My kids love our albums not just for the pictures, but also the writing – it completes each page of pictures.

So, I got all the picture sorting done yesterday. Before you throw something at me, I had the major amount of sorting done years ago into my CM Power Sort boxes ordered by year. I just had a huge stack of stragglers I’d pulled out and some I could not for the life of me figure out which years they were. So, finally got all that done and it’s on to the actual scrapbooking.

I’m excited to dive back in and get creative. I’ve got more time now that my kids are older so maybe I can finally get these pictures out of the box and onto the page. That way we can enjoy the memories any time.

(Note: I’m not a consultant for anyone. I’m just using what I have and CM and PL are what I have.)

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Still Here

June 13, 2017

It has been almost two months since I posted and I don’t think I’ve posted much all year either. When the year starts with your husband having surgery due to an accident, things feel like they’re out of control. And what happens when you feel things are out of control? Why you start nose diving into depression that’s what. Le sigh. Luckily I recognized the signs late February and decided I would take March off and get my crap back together. And it worked. I’m feeling more like myself again and that’s always a good thing (even if I’m not always sure who “myself” is).

So, I’m still around and tomorrow I’ll come back with a post about scrapbooking. Yeah, that thing I said I was going to get back into? That was six years ago! Time to get my groove back on. And “groove” always reminds me of one of my favorite songs – Madonna’s “Into The Groove”. I need to get that too. :-)

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