Finally a normal Monday, except that I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on and doing the show I was in this weekend, but it has reminded me why I can’t do it on a regular basis at this time in my life. I knew this, but now I know this. Life, especially as a mom, is all about priorities. I’m constantly having to edit my activities to keep the priorities in the right order.

As I said last night, I’m going to try again on last week’s non-negotiable of getting a load of laundry in the washer, ready to start first thing in the morning, as part of my evening routine. Last week, this non-negotiable got negotiated away except for maybe one day.

Now that the show is over, and the room is FINALLY PAINTED!!!!, I want to focus on my home for the next week. I have several “have-tos” such as reorganizing the boys’ chaotic room, and cleaning out my own closet. I’m putting my closet on the top of the list because I know that there could be several Christmas presents in there that I have forgotten, and I need to make a list before I start buying gifts. I also really need to do the boys’ room because I’m feeling like my 6 year old is short on clothes, but I know this can’t be true. Who knows what I’ll find if I get that room cleaned up?

For today, I’ve done pretty well on my checklist.

I’ve:

Made bed.

Cleaned kitchen, including emptying dishwasher.

Swept kitchen.

Did 5 minute pickup. (focused)

Tried to pretend that I had checked bathrooms for clutter.

Admitted that I hadn’t.

Checked bathrooms for clutter.

Found clutter.

Picked it up.

Marveled at the difference it made.

Started a load of laundry.

Last night I took special care to complete my evening tasks. I made lunches, laid out the boys’ clothes, got a load of laundry ready to go this morning, and wiped down the bathroom counters and toilets.

Also, today I removed the newspaper from the office floor, and scraped off the bits of wallpaper that had stuck to the floor in there. I also scrubbed the paint off of, cut up, and cooked the pumpkins that my kids painted before Halloween. I’m planning to make some muffins.

If there’s a positive to having such an off-track week last week, it’s that I can again see how much of a difference these small tasks make. I can also see how much harder it is to get “projects” like the office done when you have to spend more time on the tasks because they haven’t been done daily.