Making Up For Yesterday

Over at A Parenting Life I set myself, a bit of a write every day challenge. Nineteen days in and it has not exactly gone all that well. There has been back dating, missed posts and only a few days where I did actually manage to sit down and write.

One of the reasons I didn't write yesterday
was because I was making this little fella.

Sure I might have written lots when I did write but that isn't quite the point. I want to write every day. I need to write every day. It just has to happen.

Yesterday was another missed day.

Just as today is a brand new day.

Having gone to bed super early last night I was awake super early this morning. Zany climbing into my bed didn't help either. Rather than toss and turn in a space inhabited by more than it could comfortably fit I decided to get up and use the time wisely. I reasoned that if I could get a post up before the sun came up then it wouldn't be so bad to backdate it to yesterday.

As it turned out the post got written but published with today's date. All so it could link up with some other blog in the hope to pull a few more new readers. Because I am greedy like that some days.

That and I am slowly realising that every now and then my words do make a difference to someone's day. Often when least expected. To both them and I.

So really I am obliged to try and share my wisdomous words as far and wide as possible aren't I?

Leaving me wondering what to do about a post for yesterday.

On the one hand I know that it doesn't really matter whether there is a post there or not. And if there is a post there that has been backdated then does that matter either? Really all that matters is that I am writing isn't it?

Though I am acutely aware that I run the risk of writing too much boring stuff and overloading with too many of my crazy inner thoughts. Oh the dilemmas.

You see the real benefit about me making myself write each and every day is that it means I will have instilled just a teeny tiny bit of discipline into my daily life. On the days where I am brutally honest with myself I know that a lack of inner discipline is my biggest enemy.

Nothing that some simple brain rewiring won't fix. I like to think of myself as work in progress. As awesome as I might be there is so much more awesome I could be. I just need to keep slowly chipping away at it all.

Rather than waste time beating myself up about all the things I didn't do I can see the things I did do. Like make that little owl up there and a couple of little fish.
For now though all currently feels well with my little world. I may not have blogged at APL yesterday but I have more than made up for it today.

It won't happen over night.

Mr Awesome is on the couch practising his French. For no other reason than he found a free app that claims to teach you basics for a whole range of foreign languages. The Little Two are watching some My Little Pony DVD that we got earlier. There is sense of calm and peace through out The Shoebox.

Me, I am here.

Forcing myself to try and write something.

The start of a new year is always my favourite time to try and start new things. Especially new things that involve some sort of lifestyle change for the better. You know new things like every day exercise, clean eating, positive living and all that kind of thing.

Which is the complete opposite to Mr A, who point blank refuses to start anything on January 1st because it is sure to be doomed for failure. There are just too many failed new year resolution stories to convince me of otherwise. The fact that I don't have new years resolution success stories to put up in defence doesn't really help either.

And in so many ways he is right.

It doesn't have to be the first of January to make a life affirming change. You can resolve to make changes at any point in time. Just like actually making that change take place. It doesn't have to be only on January 1. It can be whenever you want it to be.

In fact unless you really want to make the change and are committed to making a change, the change you desire will just never come about.

For me, the appeal of resolutions starting at the new year is because it just makes it easier to keep track of. Part of my required inspiration to remain committed to something (anything) is being able to see the length of time that I am able to remain committed. Naturally the first day of a new year is easier to remember than something like the 18th February. Unless of course that is your birthday or some other significant event.

So far this year the only thing that I can say I have done each and every day is sit down and write. But that is ok, because at least it is something. And even if it is something I am forcing myself to do this very moment that is ok as well.

Sometimes we need to force ourselves. In fact I am certain that in order to get the very best and most out of life then we must force ourselves at least at some point, and if not regularly.

The other benefit to have forced myself now, is that now it is done and dusted and out the way. If I feel like writing again later then so be it, but my daily commitment for today is at least out the way.

As for all the other daily things I haven't yet managed to introduce?

Well I am positive that their day will come.

Make it Matter Monday

Last week there was no making it matter anything.  Last week was a bit of a standstill in many ways.  In fact last week was such a waste of a week I am not even sure why I had to endure it.  I achieved nothing, got nowhere and am more than glad that it is all behind me.

In my defense I did have a sickly child which brought with it broken sleep and constant demands.  However I also managed to waste quite large portions of the days playing stupid (yet addictive) computer games.  Thankfully that is all behind me now though.  A new week has started and I am ready and raring to go.

Little Miss Too Sick For School is no longer too sick for school and happily returned to the classroom today.  It was actually a little tricky to see who was more excited, myself or her.  Don't get me wrong I love having them around and have even briefly contemplated the possibility of home schooling, but last week there were things I wanted to do that having a sickly child stopped me from doing.  The first few days I was full of understanding and compassion but by Friday it had been replaced with frustration and a lack of patience.

Back to this week though.

When I last wrote about  Make it Matter Monday, I was going to write myself up a schedule for the weeks to come.  One that would allow me time for simple things like running, writing, quality family time, helping at the school and socialising, both for me and the children.  Needless to say that never happened.  Which in some ways is not a bad thing as I just realised that I should have included some form of housework to the list.

As I sit here I feel I can honestly say that the house is more in order than it has been for quite some time.  There are still a few little areas in need of attention but on the whole it is not too bad.  Let's just it is all manageable at the moment and I feel far from my usually feeling of being overwhelmed by it all.  Which I must say is kinda nice, especially after my stay in struggle town last week.

In fact this week is even off to such a great start I managed to get my Martha Stewart on before school.

Not only did I get my Martha on but I managed to take a happy snap and Instagram it, 

giving more hope that I may one day really cut it as a blogging super star.

So goals for this week

• exercise - I would like this to actually read running but Miss Eleven has decided that riding to school is the latest trend and being the over protective mother that I am this mean I too must ride to school with her.  Which kinds sucks as it cuts into my running time but I can still get fit from bike riding so I guess all is not lost.
• writing - I really want a week of scheduled posts in place.  
• set up a weekly plan (even if it is just a loose one)
• stay on top of the housework - you know simple stuff like do the dishes before they stack up to leaning tower levels, do a load of laundry a day, yadda, yadda...
• finish cleaning the fridge - seemed like such a good idea yesterday when I started.  Halfway through though I lost interest and put it all back.  Turns out the job was much bigger than expected and not able to be squeezed in before dinner preparations.  Live and learn I guess.
• clean one cupboard - I am sure part of the reason why I am so disorganised is because I have cupboards full of crap.  Crap that is not longer needer and should be moved out of my house.  I plan to tackle a cupboard a week till they are all done.
• Get my head around a heap of school council dramas and provide some solutions- Urgh. 

On top of that I am helping out in the canteen for two days so it looks like a pretty full on week.  Which is both good and bad.  The old saying if you want something done ask a busy person keeps playing in my head so hopefully having a lot on my plate will mean I get a lot done.  

There is also a lot of in between the lines stuff I want to do as well.  Stuff like bake more snacks, have lunches sorted in advance, try meal planning, the list is probably endless.  There are a few reasons why am not going into to many details.  The first being I don't want to bore you and the second being if I don't get them done I won't beat myself up too much.

So on that note I better step away from my beloved Mac and get things done!

Make it Matter Monday

Welcome to the first edition of Make it Matter Monday here at Making Time to Make it Matter.  (say that 5 times really fast if you dare)  I am still not entirely sure what shape this is all going to take I just know I need to do something.  So here it is.

As you may recall Making Time to Make it Matter was spawn from all the benefits I gained from being a part of The Mother Experiment's Me & YOU link up.  I am still amazed at the accountability I gained for myself by sharing what I needed to do with my readers.  It was like, well I put it on the Internet and my page hits tell me people at least looked at it and some of them probably read it so I better stay true to my word.

Lately I have not been partaking in my weekly recording of what I did and what needs to be done.  I got to big for my boots and thought I had it all under control.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  I may have briefly, at some point had something under control but I was by no means ready to fly solo all the time and just do everything that needed to be done.

In recent week the washing has over taken a number of areas.  The kitchen table, the laundry, the back veranda, the bathroom floor.  There have been baskets of washing, both clean and dirty, laying all over the place.  In fact about the only place it hasn't been is folded up nicely in the cupboard.

As for the dishes.  Well.  I have never seen towers like them before.  And so regularly as well.  In fact, it feels like ALL the time.  It's like someone is just coming along and making them all dirty just for the fun of it or something.  Like they think I like washing dishes.  Or perhaps it is they think I like towers of dishes all over the kitchen?

Anyway I am sure you get the picture.

Let's just say I have been struggling a little of late.  Not as much as I once did but it hasn't been as easier as it was when I first set out.  Which actually happens to be a bit of a common thread in many areas of life of late.  I know that persistence is the key and persist is what I will do.

Yet again I find myself stuck with the knowledge that I need to firmly establish some goals, only I have know idea where to begin or how to go about it.  I don't want to be setting goals I can't achieve because they are unrealistic.  I also don't want to be setting goals that are to simple or without challenge.  I want authentic and achievable goals that are planted firmly in reality.

The other week the lovely Jess posted about how she had enlisted the help of her husband in the role of a manager.  Which let me tell you is just brilliant.  I haven't quite got around to it yet but I have been thinking about getting Mr Awesome to aid me in something similar.  After much thought I began to wonder if what I was lacking was accountability.

Maybe one of the reasons why I am so lax with my household chores is because there is no accountability for my actions.  There is not task master telling me off for not having a clean kitchen at the start of the day.  Nor is there anyone complaining about the delays in getting clean clothes to the the cupboards.  It is tough though, for as much as I don't want someone telling me I have to do all these things it perhaps appears as if I may need someone giving me a little push here and there.

Just another one of life's many juggling acts I guess.

The first thing I am going to concentrate on this week is setting myself up with a weekly schedule that allows time for the following

• running
• writing
• quality family time
• housework
• helping at the school
• socialising

From there I will stop and reassess where everything is and choose the right direction to head forward in.  All sounds pretty simple when I say it like that doesn't it?

What about you?  What is going to matter to you this week?