As Random as a Type A Can Be

So - today was all sorts of interesting with the new goals and, well, with life in general.  Afterall, I do have a two (and a half, as of tomorrow) year old, and a 2 month old (also as of tomorrow).  Life is forever changing for a 2 month old.  I'm a creature of predictability, and the unpredictable scares me.  I guess you could say I'm type A. 

Anyway... this blog isn't about my type A'edness (like that?), but about random things that happened, or didn't happen today.  Many of them relate to my goals this month... hmmm, maybe this blog is about my type A'edness.  We'll see. 

Here's the low - down:

• First of all, it's raining... again.  I think it'd be more surprising if I said, "It's not raining."  Seems like rain is all we get now-a-days.  More and more people are becoming displaced due to flooding.  Right now the $6,000 we spent to waterproof the basement (you know, because we were going to finish it) doesn't seem like such an awful investment.  Some people in our town have basements that have been converted to really gross swimming pools lately. 
• Speaking of rain, Ansley has her two month shots tomorrow.  (I know you are wondering how the two are connected.  This picture is a picture of the road lake that has to be crossed to get to Ansley's doctor appointment tomorrow.  See the water creeping up on the road where the line disappears?  Uh huh...

And this picture was taken this afternoon.  Did I mention it's still raining?  Errrr... And thanks for the picture, Shelly ;)  Anyway.  Two month old shots.  Yippee.  (I do hope you sense my sarcasm.)  They prepped me on this at her 2 week appointment, giving me all kinds of paperwork, etc. about the shots she would be getting (like 4 or 5... *sigh*).  I think the whole idea of it sucks.  Granted, they've ended this autism debate and all of this stuff, but it all still sticks out in my mind, like maybe they aren't telling us something.  One way or another, we've got tylenol waiting.  I'm ready to get tomorrow over with. 

• I underestimated my busy-ness today.  On top of all of the normal things (feed kids, change kids, rock kids, play with kids, clean bottles, make bottles, cook meals, do dishes, pick up after kids, pick up after big kids, etc etc etc) I had my 'goals' to accomplish as well.  That meant that I had a load of laundry to get done, (done meaning washed, dried, folded and put away.  That last part is such a doozie.) which I accomplished, I had to dust, which I accomplished and I needed to read some of my book and do some studying of Ruth.  Exercise would have been a great thing to accomplish, but I also needed to think about a project this week with B and start working on those letters.  (More to come on that later.)  Needless to say, I didn't accomplish the exercise today (though I DID pick up a Zumba wii game from Shelly!  Thanks, again, Shelly!), but I did accomplish the studying of Ruth and will accomplish the reading.  
• Also, consuming a huge chunk of my time today, this organizational kick that I'm on ruined my time on dusting! What normally takes 15 minutes (without the interference of children, which I also had today) took me almost 2 hours today.  Yes, two stinking hours.  Granted, it wasn't two solid hours of dusting... but it was even more frustrating.  It looked more like this: "Oh crap, going to have to file all of those coupons before I dust the hutch."  File 20 coupons, dust hutch. "Hmmm, going to have to clean off the dining room table before I dust it.  I knew there was a reason I wanted to make these places not be catch-alls."  Clean off dining room table, without putting stuff someplace different only to have to find a place for it later, then dust dining room table.  "Hmmm, I really need to dust that shelving unit, but I bought those new organizational boxes to use and I'm not sure how I want to use those yet... hmmm, Ansley's up... I'll go dust our bedroom instead."  Dust the bedroom.  Dust Bryton's bedroom.  Ansley's screaming, feed Ansley.  Bryton's hungry.  Feed Bryton.  Feed myself.  "Oh crap, I'm making crock pot lasagna for supper." Prep lasagna.  Rock Ansley to sleep.  Play Mickey for Bryton.  Start rearranging the little shelving unit.  Fight Bryton on it the whole time because I'm moving around his stuff that he now wants to play with.  Put Bryton down for a nap.  "Aww bliss, now I should have at least another hour to get this all finished.  I could conquer the world in that amount of time." Dust shelving unit.  Dust bookshelf.  Rearrange bookshelf.  Start rearranging big shelving unit.  "Oh crap, Ansley's crying?! What?  It's only been... grrrr.... 45 minutes.  Dumb 45 minute intruder. Ugh."  Put in paci.  Walk out.  Walk back in, put in paci.  Walk out.  "This isn't working."  Get Ansley, try the swing.  See that isn't working.  Hurry up and dust the large shelving unit, leaving the mess of 'organizational tasks' on, you guessed it, the dining room table (where it still sits).  Dust other book shelf, dust side tables in living room.  Ansley is now screaming, but hey, the dusting is doooone.  Whew.  See what I mean?
• In my reading of Ruth today I realized that Ruth, in fact, has 4 chapters.  I should note that I have stressed, yes indeedy, stressed, that there is no quantitative way to chart my progress with this goal.  When you have to read so many verses or for so long every day you have something that you can see your progress with... not so much when you are just studying to study.  (I'm not type A, I promise.)  So when I saw that there were 4 chapters it gave me a way to divide it all up so that I feel as if I've charted something.  A chapter a week, studied in depth.  So I read all of chapter 1, from two translations, and a set of commentary on it today.  I've obviously read the book before but I'm already learning things I didn't know before by just reading 'over' it.  Like Elimelech and Naomi left an area of believers to go to an area of unbelievers because of a famine.  They took their boys with them... their boys married two girls at this place of unbelievers (they were Moabites who worshiped Chemosh).  When all of the men were eventually dead... (really sad for Naomi, if you think about it... yikes) all that was left for Naomi was these two daughter in laws (again, another yikes) who served a different God than she did.  How's that for uncomfortable?  Naomi eventually decided to return home when she found that the land was not in famine anymore... the girls went with her but she tried to send them back.  Orpah went, but we see that Ruth, in fact, was converted and stayed with Naomi.  (Ahem, your God, with a big G, will be my God.)  I'm interested to see how this conversion plays into her life later...
• Bryton officially has the letter A and the 'a' sound down.  He also has the "B" and the 'b' sound down a little bit as well.  Aaron caught on to the training that Bryton and I had this morning and decided to throw B into the mix.  (He wasn't aware that I had this all planned out as to how I would do this letter training... just one letter a day.  But I let it slide since, well, I don't have to be type A about everything.)  Also, today, Bryton colored a picture of A (because that was today's letter) and an apple, all by himself, of course.  When I went to get it from him (we're making a book of all of his letters... hello project!) I was shocked to see that it appeared as if he was trying to stay in the lines.  Granted, that apple is all kinds of funky colors, but by golly, that picture may be fridge worthy!  I took a picture so I may have to upload it and let ya'll see!  
• On another project note, we're planting flowers and painting flower pots for grandmas for mother's day this week.  That should be fun and messy!  
• In other randomness, I'm totally considering selling Scentsy.  Yep... I've thought about it forever, and JaLyn finally sent me the stuff to search through.  I should add praying about that to my list of things to do... ahem, type A.  
• In other news, Aaron and I are taking Bryton to a Cardinal game on Thursday.  We have a dear friend watching Ansley until my mom gets off work to pick her up!  I'd debated back and forth about whether to 'count' (man, type A is coming out all over the place... I'm a type A extremist!) that as a date with Aaron or not, but I'm saying it doesn't count, since we're taking Bryton with us and all.  Though it should be fun anyway.  He loves baseball!  
• And lastly, in randomness, to top off the randomness pie and be the proverbial 'cherry on top', I had my first real headache since probably month 2 of my pregnancy.  I knew yesterday that it was going to happen.  These headaches are familiar... I had them at about the same time with Bryton, and they lasted until he was probably 7 or 8 months old.  I've figured out the cause, with Ansley, though... it's all of the toting I do, especially on days where she has to be held for long periods of time.  The headache always comes the next day and is due to all of the strain on my shoulder (especially the muscles in my neck and shoulder on the left side) and my back.  After my continual holding and bouncing for an hour and a half of a church service yesterday, last night I told Aaron I'd have a headache today, and sure enough, at about 3 p.m. I knew it was time for me to take two excedrin.  Though not the first excedrin I've taken since she's been here, it's the first time I've taken a full dose, and boy, am I feeling it!  Whew!  I totally have that 'excedrin hangover' as I call it, but the headache is gone.  The ache in my shoulder, however, is not, which means tomorrow may be a repeat of today.  I may be using that massage, soon, that Aaron got me for Christmas. 

Anyway, there's my random life!  More to come as it happens ;)

-A

In Thinking About My 'Happiness Project'

As well as getting rid of things that frustrate or annoy me and can hinder my happiness (think those dresser drawers I mentioned in yesterday's post), I've began to notice small things in everyday life that take just a small amount of time and contribute to my happiness.  So I've decided to start a list.  My hopes are that when you see some of the simple things that make my list, you'll notice the things in your life that make you happy as well, and can be proactive in doing those things to boost your mood! 

So here it goes:  (This list is not all inclusive, but is the short of what I've come up with so far, and give me a break, I'm like three days into this now ;)

1.)  Lotion that smells good!  Right now it is Victoria Secret's Aloha Pink Vibrant and Beachy!  I put it on everyday after I shower! 

2.) Spend time outside, even if it's just 10 minutes and even if it isn't sunny.  I don't know what it is, but it just makes me feel better.

3.)  Do something to get some huge smiles out of Bryton.  I mean, how can that face not make you happy?  It's contagious!

See!  This picture is totally unstaged - B did smile for the camera, but I didn't even know I was in the picture... look at me cheese!  There's something about the witnessing your kids experience the simple joys in life!

4.)  Make sure the house is picked up every night before bed.  It starts the next day off fresh. 

5.) Along with lotion, make up, hair that is not in a pony tail (any form of down is fine), and a shirt that is not a t-shirt (even if it's with a pair of jeans or jeans shorts) can completely change how I feel about myself that day.  If the time exists it is well worth the effort!  And I'm sure Aaron appreciates it too!

6.)  Get my eyebrows waxed.  Sure, at this point in life it's a complete headache trying to find the time to get in and have it done, but my makeup just 'wears' better when my eyebrows are cleaned up.  And I'll admit, it's going on 12 or 15 weeks since I've had it done... bleh.  I can tell how much it effects my happiness as I think about it needing to be done every day.

7.) Get the dishes out of the sink.  In other words, one of my first chores of the day needs to be to empty the dishwasher so that all dirty stuff can be rinsed and go straight in.  It's part of the 'decluttering' thing.

8.)  Making the house smell good!  Oooh la la SCENTSY!  Not only do I love the look of my burners when they are on, I'm loving my scents right now!  I love walking from room to room and being refreshed by something as simple as smell!  I'm so into the stuff that I'm thinking about selling it! 

 

This is one of my burners, and it currently houses Kahiko Hula... my new favorite ;) I bought my mom a Yankee Candle the other day in Bahama Breeze... and it is quite lovely as well!

And lastly - for now:

9.)  Music.  I even put this on my facebook status the other day.  Life is just better when lived to music.  I don't know, it kind of makes me feel like I'm in a movie or something.  It makes you feel a certain way.  I love deeper, dance like crazy with Bryton, think on Jesus a whole lot more, and am probably much more pleasant to be around.  Before Ansley got here Bryton and I watched very little tv and listened to a whole lot of music.  I may set a 'no tv in the morning' rule again and listen to music all morning.  Besides Mickey there's nothing on tv anyway... and we've definitely seen all of those!

So - what are your happy contributors?  I'd love to hear what works for you!  I've found it makes such a huge difference to my day just to imply as many of them as I can!  I catch myself smiling a lot more! 

-A

Two Year Old Projects

This is one of the goals I'm nervous about.  Bryton and I do a lot of playing in the house, and I'm pretty creative, but I'm trying to figure out projects, or new things we can do together that I can do even if my attention must be taken away for a moment here and there to tend to Ansley... so I'm brainstorming and doing some research to figure out some fun things to try with Bryton this month.  This list is kind of for me to refer back to, and for you to see what I've thought of and maybe offer some other suggestions :)
So here we go:

• Walking him to the library and getting him his first library card.  (Our library is having a magician soon... that might be fun for him!)
• Finger painting... oh buddy. 
• Gluing things to paper.
• Put together fun snack ideas.  (Make patterns together, make smores, snack art, etc.)
• Make mother's day gifts for grandmas.
• Planting flowers
• Do some letter coloring pages to make a book.  (Which may help learn his letters...) 

What else do you guys do with your 2 (and a half... as of Tuesday) year olds?

It's May 1st

And my goals are underway!  In fact, they are so underway that I've already read the The Note to the Reader, Getting Started, and Chapter 1 of my book:

So far - I'm really impressed.  In fact - I've realized that the author and I are alike in our OCD kind of ways and in how we enjoy gratification.  I feel like I can relate to her well (and that the satisfaction that comes with being able to cross something off of my to - do list isn't near as psychotic as I felt it was). 
I'm enjoying this book so much, already, that I've added some things to my to do list... several of which will help me accomplish my goals for the month (and possibly months previous.) 

A few examples:  I have Wednesdays set as my 'tackle an organizational task' day, and I have several ideas of projects now that just may help bring me some peace by eliminating some frustrations.  Like, when the laundry is mostly done (which it should be with my new method to cleaning), I can hardly get our dresser drawers closed because the clothes are all heaped up in there.  There are just too many.  Then the big heap makes all the clothes smashed, resulting in wrinkles, and it makes me feel like the time laundering and folding was pointless.  It has annoyed me for years now, but I've never really thought there was much I could do about it.  Reading the 40 pages or so of this book made me realize that, duh, rather than be frustrated with it every time I get out a piece of wrinkled clothing or I put clothes away, cleaning out the drawers by getting rid of some things and packing some things away, maybe in some boxes that will fit under our bed, would solve the problem in what could be an hour worth of work.  (And that's just one of many organizational ideas I have at the moment.  And only one of many tips for organization I've gained from the book.  My favorite... don't put off anything that can be done in one minute or less... filing a paper, putting a bill where it goes, deciding what to do with a piece of mail, hanging a garment, etc.  It keeps clutter from developing in those 'catch all' places... which just happens to be our kitchen counter, dining room table, and hutch... all places that become eyesores very quickly.)

Another example:  I'm thoroughly considering a gym membership.  It's going to require looking at our budget again (which is also on my organizational to-do list).  It's going to be changing anyway because our health insurance is going down, but several other things have gone up, etc.  So I'm going to look through it and see if the money can be taken from anywhere (or if I need to contribute some of my blow money to it - which I would be willing to do to 'give it a shot'.)  I'll keep you all posted on this.  One month of membership may be enough to tell me if I'd stick with it or not. 

So - long story short - I'm digging the book so far.  The next chapter is on marriage, and to be honest, I'm nervous about reading it.  One of the things she strives to do that month is "don't expect praise or appreciation," and I think this is going to step all over my toes.  I need an 'atta girl' and 'thank you' from Aaron a lot (like when I spend two days basically alone with our children on days when he is normally home... ahem.  It's not that I mind him going, I just want him to acknowledge that it's a difficult task to have two kids alone for a few hours, not to mention a few days, especially during nighttime and naptime routines, and that he appreciates that I do it so he can, in this case, do extra things related to ministry.  Not to mention the fact that things we aspire to do as a family get pushed aside so he can do those things... so also a "thanks for giving me up this weekend - I promise we'll do something together as a family next weekend to make up for it" would be nice.  See, I'm needy.)  So rather than skip the chapter all together, we'll see if she has any grand ideas for me that will make me 'less needy.'  (Can you change a person's needy nature... hmmm... I'm skeptical.)

On to another goal:  I have all of my household chores written on my calendar so when they are accomplished I can cross them off.

And - I'm off to start bookmarking some commentary on the book of Ruth.  I'm trying to set myself up for success here, when I know I have days that are so hectic that the extra two minutes of work could keep me from accomplishing something. 

So here we go - you get to watch while I try to accomplish these things!  (I also learned in my book that the "Hawthorne Effect" comes into play here, as I'm using you all as motivation to accomplish my goals as I know you all are reading and watching my progress.  Crazy how all of these things play in. :)

So - here's to motivation ;)

Alicia