I'm Going to Have to Make It Happen

I remember thinking this very thought when my youngest was taking his good old time about being born. I distinctly remember coming to the decision that I was sick to death of being in labor, something had to be done to get the child on to the next phase of his life, and I was the someone who was going to have to make it happen. He was born within minutes.

So now it's time to make normal happen. I am going to have to define, to the best of my abilities, how this life of mine is going to have some control.

First, I have to stop worrying about things over which I have no control, but that is a blog unto itself.

Second, I have to ignore the fact that I'm caught in tax *%#@. I never wanted to be an accountant. FOR GOOD REASON. I'm not good at it. Give me a word over a number any day. Our new LLC has opened a whole new accounting/tax arena, and a crash course in bookkeeping that is still woefully incomplete. I think it's extension time. That and a call to the accountant who set up the LLC, and my life will become less stressful by half.

Amid all this I have been thinking about what I can do to reclaim my own existence. I’ve discovered that my life will “compartmentalize” into five different major divisions. Of course one area bleeds into another and they all end up in a tangled jumble. I find myself in maintenance mode most of the time, so all those larger projects that need doing get more and more out of control, because I’m so busy putting out fires that I can’t concentrate on rebuilding.

So I have come up with a plan.

A plan is a dangerous thing for me. I have put together a million of them. I love making them. Following through on them—different story.

It is ironic though that I have five of what you might call “life divisions” and there are five weekdays. Why not give each division its own day? Of course I’ll still do the daily maintenance on everything, but I should be able to carve out a niche of time to tackle a major project under each division on its own day.

Like the venetian blinds in the kitchen that I really looked at last night for the first time in heaven knows how long. Yuck! That would be a housekeeping item.

I really need to make my last writer’s conference pay for itself and get some items in the mail to an agent/editor: writing division.

I want to be sure I hit December 31st with most of the financial items for us personally and for our business recorded in such a way that tax time is a breeze. (Yes I still dream): financial division.

And I want to start taking long, restorative walks at least once a week: Me time.

I want to teach Bible classes and enjoy looking for people who would like to learn: Spiritual.

So here’s the plan:

• Monday: Housekeeping
• Tuesday: Spiritual
• Wednesday: Financial
• Thursday: Writing
• Friday: Me

Today is Monday, so in addition to the regular household jobs like emptying the dishwasher and doing laundry, I’m going to tackle my laundry room. I moved a table in there when I stopped using it as a desk in the school room. What a mistake. Yes, it’s a great place to fold clothes, if you could ever see the top of it. It’s become a FlyLady hot spot. Right, who am I kidding. It’s a raging inferno. Most of the countertops have followed suit. (My laundry room used to be a kitchen. Our house used to be a duplex.) Then there’s the “give-away” corner where I used to have bags or boxes on hand so if there was anything I was getting rid of (usually clothes) I could fold them and put them where I could just wrap it up and sit it on the porch for the next charity that offered to come pick things up. Now the corner houses games, potting soil, TV trays, empty laundry baskets, shelf paper and a set of china that was left in a house we bought. And perhaps a donate-able item or two buried beneath it all. Then I have all the clothes that are hanging on the bar above the dryer. They’re clean. They’re hanging up. You couldn’t fit another item on there with a crowbar. If they aren’t going to closets and they aren’t being used…WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN MY HOUSE?

That’s going to be the question for Mondays for a long time to come: What are you doing in my house?

Breaking it down:

• Large goal: minimal junk in my house
• Mid-range goal: one room at a time
• Today’s goal: clear the laundry room table

Laundry room gets six to eight 15-minute stretches of attention. The intervals can be back to back or spread throughout the day. If that takes me beyond getting the table cleared off, then YAY!

That’s the plan and I’m sticking to it. Of course it might have to wait till next week so I can try my hand at Form 1065 one more time. No wait, that's procrastination, isn't it? Oh, honey, let me tell you about the way I procrastinate.....

I will report back. Another part of my plan. :)