Progress... or how to clean your desk in 4 or 5 hours.

Step 1 of cleaning my desk: Make my bed. Check.

Step 2: Fold Laundry.

Step 3: Make Lunch for the smallest 4 kids.

Step 4: Throw away all garbage off the desk.

Step 5: Take all dirty dishes from desk to the kitchen.

Step 6: Clean kitchen.

Step 7: Download CD's found on desk to iTunes.

Step 8: Find the free tunes of the week on iTunes.

Step 9: Decide to empty the trash cans in bedroom, bathroom, nursery, as they are overflowing during desk cleaning.

Step 10: Retrieve trash cans from the curb. Clean them out.

Step 11: Nurse the baby.

Step 12: Check facebook. Exhort fellow mothers to virtue, and to have some whiskey.

Step 13: Read an article on LOST.

Step 14: Take a pile off of the desk to the classroom. Return promptly to the desk!

Step 15: Put away previously folded laundry.

Step 16: Wipe off desk.

Step 17: Take Photo.

Step 18: Post new photo.

My goal was to finish my desk before picking up my son from school. I leave in 1 minute. I live by the premise that a job will expand to fill the time allotted. And so it did.

But, victory, how ever drawn out, is mine!!

Entropy in action

Remember this? It is from the early spring, I think.



Sadly, now it looks like this:



This is my goal for the day. Clean off my desk. Wish me luck.

Why I haven't Posted In Over A Week,(or the lovely fullness that is my life).

Slip -n- slide fun!!
Lovely Peonies with Amazing Clematis
The only good effect of 90 degree weather in May, The Amazing Clematis bloomed in a BURST of beauty. These blooms are at LEAST 6 inches wide. Unbelievable.
A delicious Lemon Meringue pie, courtesy of my 14 year old daughter, for no occasion, except 90 degree weather.
Lots and Lots of Fun in the Sun
Lots, and lots of yard work.


*****


Let's see, I am a new "Godmother", as of last Sunday.


Our patio for the post baptism party in honor of my new God daughter.
We have a new "6" year old in our house, who prefers ice cream cones to cake.
Lots of smooches, one from recently, and the same two lovelies last year.

We have a new "8" year old in this house.

These two luckies got to go to California for a vacation with their dad. And take a limo to the airport. And notice the red cast. That was fun, too.

I got a hair cut and a pedicure last week. Wow. Totally refreshing, and


There is more. My eldest finishing up the school year and taking driver's ed three afternoons a week. Me taking a literal van load of stuff to Goodwill. Guest coming and going. My 15 year old daughter trying to finish school before she leaves on a week and half long vacation with a friend of hers. She is doing Seton for her freshman year, and all I can say is we are both looking forward to her going to school next year. Yes we are.

It is a busy, good, tiring, invigorating life, one that doesn't always allow for a faithful recounting. But I am trying to LIVE IN THE NOW, experience my life and live it, and love it. It seems to be working!

Pentecost at our Church. It was a lovely day!

The Elusive Mother's Day Photo

So this is the best Mother's Day photo I got. All in all, not bad, but it was a long journey to get there.
This one is close, but notice Mr. Googley Eyes...
Then there is this attempt. Not bad, except for the Nose Picker.
In this one, Eldest Daughter is actually smiling, but Mr. Googley Eyes is missing his head.
Ahh, now this one is nice. Actually, this was the first photo taken that day. Everyone still fresh and willing to cooperate. I thought it was perfect, until it was brought to my attention that one of my children was missing from the photo. Nice.

So there you have it. A very typical photo essay of life with me as mother. It may be messy, but eventually, it works.

Hoarding and Purging

So, I am still working on purging, although my "regular" life keeps intruding time wise. We have had a delightful concert from the choir organization in which 5 of my children are involved. We have had rehearsals for said concert. We have had a trip to the doctor for one child, a trip to walk in care and an orthopedist for another. Then there is school and weeding, and trying not to rely on pizza for dinner more than one time this week.

Anyway, after a trip to a discount store, where I bought some things I am sure I don't need, I decided I need to take the same amount of items out of my house, and also to give a few of the new items away for some occasions that arise soon. It is getting easier for me to convince myself, "I don't need this", whether it is a new item or one I am trying to take out of my home.

However, the illusion, the ideal, the "perfect" home, mom, wife thing remains, and I am constantly trying to quell a little panic as I divest myself of, or pass up on, items that do fit this mythical image of my life.

Fortunately, The One who loves me best, knows me best, and has the real ideal me in His mind is helping me out.

I am currently reading Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne and Lisa Ross. I don't have far to stretch to align myself with this book, but some of the practical ideas are very helpful for me to align the idea to the practical application.

I also have watched Hoarding a few times, and while I do recognize the reasons for the disorder in the people in the show, I can also see much more clearly what is disordered about their reasoning. The show is really helping me to tell myself the proper exhortations.

And finally, today's Daily Meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society is called The Temptation to Hoard. I'll share it with you:

The Temptation to Hoard

As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: "There's not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency," or "There's not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I'd better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it" or "There's not enough love to give to everybody, so I'd better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me." This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won't have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.

That last line is a doozy, isn't it?

And so the battle continues.