Today I decided not to be brought down!

Yesterday I had a very unmotivated day. I honestly wanted nothing more then to sit on my butt and do nothing all day. However I did not give in to my lack of motivation, instead I overcame it and swept, mopped and dusted all through my house. I also did laundry and dealt with the daily clutter, dishes and maintenance. I even cleaned up the yard some in preparation for winter.

After having a very successful day of cleaning despite not really feeling like cleaning, you can imagine my annoyance when I woke up this morning to find half the table covered in all tools and materials Trevor was using last night to winter proof the windows. There were also several random items left out of their places.

I should probably take a moment to remind everyone that I am not by nature, an organized and tidy person. This is something I have been working very hard on and I have been having great success. Our home has much less clutter and is a lot cleaner now. I am proud of my accomplishments and the progress I have been making, so you can understand how just those few items being left out felt like a huge setback. After all when your trying to keep a home neat and tidy you have to have all members of the family on board.

My first and natural reaction was to get upset, oh heck, to get MAD, and then to shut down. After all if no one else cares about how the house looks then why should I? Why should I invest so much time and effort only to have my fellow housemates, especially my husband, thoughtlessly leave stuff laying all over? Why can't a grown man pick up after himself?

However, I chose to go with another reaction. I instead looked at the things he left out and tried to think about it as he might. The items on the table were probably left out because he did not finish his project and will still need them. He wasn't taking into consideration the fact that we will be busy for the next two nights so those things would be sitting on the table until Thursday, Looking messy and making it impossible for us to use our table.

The empty box that was left on the cupboard was pushed back almost out of sight, so he might have just overlooked it. The empty bread bag, had nothing but the heals, which we feed the chickens, so perhaps he left it there to be taken out to give to them this evening? The letter that needed to be sent and the book that was on the counter...well I haven't come up with a reason why they were left there, but you get the point. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt instead of letting my red headed temper get the better of me.

I had a quick talk with him in which I told him that I could see the way he was probably looking at it, but then explained why the clutter bothered me so much. After all that I still was feeling a little put out and didn't really want to put too much effort into house work today. Once again I decided to be a bigger person then my pervious self would have and I chose two "extra" tasks to complete today. I cleaned the top of the microwave and cleaned under the bathroom sink.

It turns out to be a good thing that I cleaned under the bathroom sink because I discovered it have a leak! Even more then finding the leak was the benefit of my change in mood. By the end of those tasks I felt refreshed and happy again. Seeing the change I made in the appearance of our home inspired me to even clean up what Trev had left out (Which I of course had previously been planning on leaving for him to do later :P). I have gone on and done my housework for the day and not only do I feel good about having another day of positive routines checked off, but I can feel great about being a better person, about making better choices and having better reactions.

I LOVE being a mom!!!

I was sitting here pondering what to write about and I looked up to see my beautiful daughter exploring our living room. I instantly broke out in a huge grin. How could I not? My children are SUCH a blessing!

Trevor and I often say that we don't really need tv since becoming parents. We get a huge kick out of just sitting back and watching Jake and Lucy. Seeing them explore things for the first time, try new things, come up with new ideas and new words or phrases, always proves to be funny or adorable, often both!

While being a parent is by far the hardest and most consuming thing that a person can ever do, it is also by far the most rewarding and important thing a person can ever do. It's times like this when I am reflecting at the privilege I have been given to raise these little blessings, that I wonder how so many people throw away and abuse this privilege. So many parents are tuned out, too busy, or just not interested in their children.

It is so sad to think of what many kids are missing out on by having a checked out parent. Perhaps worse, is what the parents are missing out on by not realizing just how blessed they are to have such amazing little people to love and cherish. Children are a gift. Plain and simple. It doesn't matter when they come, or how they come, they are a gift.

I for one am very thankful for my adorable little gifts. I am thankful that I get to be their mom. That I get the privilege of teaching them new things, watching them grow into little people, with big personalities and comforting them when they need a snuggle and some love

Are YOU making excuses?

I recently have been making an effort to be more involved. More involved with Church (the actual service), in our church outreach activities, in helping the community and in local programs for my children. I have been getting such a blessing from it, which has lead me to wonder, why wasn't I doing this before?!?!

The answer? I was making excuses. I was too busy because I worked full time. I had small children at home. I didn't have time. I was too exhausted to take on more. I couldn't do it. The time wasn't convenient for me, and on and on went my long list of excuses. Don't get me wrong, most of my excuses are valid, I wasn't lying, all the things I used to get me out of taking part were true. I did work full time, I do have small children, am exhausted, my time is limited and it wasn't always convenient.

The one excuse that obviously wasn't true? I couldn't do it. I discovered that I can! I can do almost everything I am asked to do. If it's not something I have done before it's probably something I can learn. I was underestimating myself by using that excuse. I was not allowing myself to live up to my full potential. Now that I am involving myself in more and more I am realizing I can do many things I never would have thought I could and I can do them all at once! I can be organized and manage my time. That is a another trait I always told myself I didn't possess.

Of course now that I am becoming an involved person, I am looking at others who are still making the excuses I used, very differently. While I know that they too are honestly busy, and have many valid excuses for ducking out when asked to participate in something, I now realize something. We are all too busy! Bottom line, we all either have small children who require out constant care, or older children who need drives to their many activities. We may work full time or have previous commitments that we feel use all our time and resources. However if everyone is too busy, then who is going to volunteer their time for all the activities we love to attend?

If everyone is too busy then who will run the sports programs for our children? Who will run youth groups? Who will volunteer to help the homeless or needy? Who will run community programs for our families, or attend them? Who will pick up the garbage that litters the side of your neighbourhood road? Who will help the person who's car is broke down on the side of the road? Perhaps more importantly, what will happen to our humanity? To our sense of community? What will happen to loving your neighbour and serving others?

If no one takes the time to make the time in their busy schedule, to do something for others then we will all be missing out. We will lose the sports programs our children love and the youth groups that teach them such important lessons and connect them to our churches. We will lose our sense of community. Perhaps we will be the ones stranded on the side of the road watching as car after car goes rushing by with the drivers never giving us a second glance, a second thought. However the most important thing we will lose out on is the blessing we receive when we serve others.

When we take the time (even if it's time we really don't feel we have) to involve ourselves in something, anything that is for the benefit of someone other then ourselves, we are richly blessed. We were made to serve others. No matter how much we feel we are sacrificing by giving up our precious time for others, I promise there is so much more to be gained.

I have a much deeper sense of purpose in my life. At the end of the day I feel I have accomplished so much more, and more that is worth while. I'm not claiming to be involved in a million different things. I have taken on what I have been asked to do. I help with the church youth group, teach sabbath school every few weeks, participate in church service a couple times a month, try and get my kids out to the local playgroup as much as possible and have recently made a habit out of regularly donating food and clothes to the local soup kitchen and women's shelter. When I reflect how much time these activities really take out of my life, I have to be honest, the do not require that much. I receive double the blessing for what I give in time and energy.

I hope that this will inspire someone else out there to take a baby step and get involved in something. I promise you won't regret it as long as it's done with a cheerful and willing heart. If everyone would take the time to do even one small service or act that would benefit someone other then themselves I think we would all find that there would be a lot of neighbourly love and sense of community restored to society. Who doesn't want that?

Cleaner house lighter heart!

I recently became a follower of Flylady, and I have to say I'm in love!! With a third child on the way I began looking around out minihome and the walls were closing in, "Stuff" was everywhere, there was no place for it and I was feeling trapped. How could we fit another person (even a little one :) into this space?!?! I was going to go crazy. I was taking out all my stress on my poor family. I knew I needed to get control of my house, but seriously, how could I do that with two small children who seem to need me everytime I start a project?

Then I remembered reading something about the flylady. I looked her up and my life has never been the same. While I am not perfect and do not follow her to the letter my home is a peaceful and happy place once more. I honestly cannot believe how much bigger this minihome looks and feels. the amount of "stuff" I have clearned out is amazing! It truly was just stuff. I cannot even remember half of what I have thrown and donated. I do not miss any of it. You know what else I don't miss at all? All the stress and depression I felt everytime I walked into my house. The defeated feeling that took over as I sat unmotivated on the couch and looked around my home. Clutter is NOT my friend! I feel so much better without it.

The best part of all this is how much happier and full of joy I am. I WANT to play with my kids, spend time with my husband and even clean my house! I LOVE coming home and relaxing, and just looking around at the clean and peaceful enviroment. The whole atmosphere has changed. My kids are happier and behave better, I deal better with it when they don't and Trev and I get along better. I have to admit that it's such a great feeling now when family come over. Before I would cringe when they walked in the door because I didn't feel proud of the chaos, but now I can't wait for them to come in and see our clean and organized home. And they notice!! Let's face it, it's always nice when someone notices your hard work and compliments you on it ;)

It never ceases to amaze me how something as small as a less cluttered and more organized home can have such a dramatic impact on a person, on a whole family. I am so thankful for finding someone who has helped me gain control of another aspect of my life, and helped make my life happier and simpler! The best part? I'm doing it 15 minutes at a time! Who doesn't have time for that?!

couch potato's...the next generation.

Do you ever have a moment where you are correcting your child for something, or feeling exasperated over their actions or choices and you suddenly realize...wow...I DO THAT, THEY GET THAT FROM ME!!!

Well I have had a lot of those recently. From constant snacking, to being a couch potato, it seems everything I see Jacob do that I don't like these days, is a habit he has learned from me.

The other day I caught myself explaining to him that he had meal time and snack times, and he could not constantly be snacking on junk all day. I then realized that as I was telling him this, I was eating crackers....mindlessly. I didn't even register that I was doing it!

We have been having a lot of rainy days so we have gotten into the rut of too much television and movies. On the rare sunny days we have had I have made an effort to get the kids outside. Jacob is simply not interested. He would rather sit on the couch watching television. Unfortunately I fear this is another habit he has got from me, although Trev or is equally to blame for that one.

Ironically enough, while watching a show on television last night I herd a very interesting fact. If the average person watches four hours of television a day, by the time they die they will have watched at least nine years worth of television!! What a waste of nine years! That totally threw me for a loop and encouraged me to spend less time on the couch watching television...after all, who wants to waste nine years of their life being a couch potato? I don't want that for myself, and I certainty don't want to responsible for creating the next generation of unfit, unmotivated, couch potato's!

Back in action!

Well we finally replaced our broken computer, so I no longer have to fight with the relic to write a post! I will be blogging much more often now.

In honor of spring I thought I would write about gardening. A lot of people have the misconception that if you don't own land, or very much land, you cannot have a garden.

Although we have enough land around to plant a garden, the soil here is really just sand. There are also A LOT of ants. There is not much that grows well in sand, and the few things that will grow well end up dying because the ants steal all the nutrients.

For the last few years we have had a little patio (container) garden. We plant some flowers for color, herbs for their cooking usefulness and nice smell and lettuce, peppers and tomato's because they are useful and regenerate all summer long.

There is something calming about gardening. It makes your space appear warmer, and more attractive. We also save some money. While it's not a huge garden, not having to buy even a few things over the summer ends up saving us in the long run!

Help! They even have our kids!!

Recently my three year old became interested in watching cartoons. Before he was never interested in watching any television and few movies. He has about 4 cartoons that we deem ok and that he enjoys watching. However, during the commercial breaks while he is watching these shows I constantly here "I want that" or "hey mommy I want one of those too". Now while Jacob has always enjoyed toys as much as the next child, he has never been, for lack of a better word, this greedy.

I am appalled at how easy it is for retailers and advertisers to get to our children! There minds are so inpressionable at this young age. This is when they are forming values, habits and personalities for themselves. I feel, as a parent, that advertisers do not have any place to try and make an impression on my young child's mind.

I know that I am making the choice to let him watch television in the first place, but seriously, shouldn't a child be able to watch an educational childs program without being subjected to the advertisers cunning and sneaky suggestions that they need every new toy going? I shouldn't have to worry about changing the channel the second the show is over so that he is not subjected to the advertisers mercy.

I understand that as a parent it is my resonsability to guide my child to become a grounded person with good values and morals. I just wish I didn't have to contend with all these flashy ad's so early in my childrens lives.