Reset When You Have To

There are times when the busyness of life interrupts the daily routine. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you make of it. What do you do when your routine gets interrupted? You hit the reset button. There are mornings like this morning when just looking at my house is depressing. Unfinished projects are everywhere. Rome wasn't built in a day...neither was this mess. I realize it will take more than one day to get out of this hole. I try not to get overwhelmed by the fact that I return to work tomorrow. My vacation last week was my moment to reset, and while I got some things done, I didn't get others accomplished...and still more pile up. And then life happens...hormones, menopause, depression, body aches. At some point it all becomes madness. I shut down for about 24 hours. It's nice to have peace and quiet, and after a little extra sleep, I work for the rest of the day to get things accomplished. And always if I just get that one box at the end of my bed completed and nothing else, I will feel good about it all. 

 If you are following in FlyLady, the habit of the month is laundry. "If we can control our laundry by doing one load of laundry per day, laying our clothes out each night and getting dressed each morning becomes a simple habit to practice," she said today under the heading of Monday's Flight Plan. Doing the laundry is a completed process of wash-fold-dry-put away. All in one night. It is a good idea to wash the load as soon as you get home from work and fold it all as soon as it comes out of the dryer. Laying it on the bed, if you are in the middle of cooking dinner, as I am, is usually a good way to ensure it is all put away before you crawl into bed. You must resist the urge to simply move it to the chair in your room. If I am really tired, the side of my bathtub becomes the place of exchange. Egads! Picking out your outfit down to the shoes and accessories when you first come home at night is crucial. It takes a full five to ten minutes off your time in the morning! Imaging not doing the where-are-my-silver-hoops hunt before work!

My week shaped up pretty much nothing like I had planned, and by the weekend I was ready for recovery. Wednesday night Meghan reminds me that I was supposed to take her to see her grandmother for Grandy's race shoe shopping back in June. We have yet to make this trip. Thursday night I am reminded that Lynn has a game on Friday, the Detergent Bowl, so not only do we have to wait until the game is over to make the 2-hour trip, but we also have to get a bottle of detergent before the game. The trip to my mom's was short, but we enjoyed our time together. Today was for getting all those things done that I didn't get done, but it was also church day and Tribute to Olivia Newton John Day, in which we were going to watch Grease and eat popcorn, like at the real movie. 

 What really happened was my alarm went off and I slept through all of them. My only words to Meghan were, "Will you make the coffee?" I didn't wake up in enough time to get my day started before mass, and after one cup of coffee, all I wanted was a nap. I have had mornings like this before, and I believe God understands. While I was finishing my cup of coffee Erin called and said that she had been to church today at school as well. Hallelujah. I thought the next time she would go to church was my funeral. The fact that it was mandatory was a never you mind kind of thought in my mind. I did very peacefully take a nap and was awakened a second time by the Boy, who needed to go home and get his things ready for school. He likes routine, and I hope he can help Meghan get on a routine when they finally get married. She does things, but she would get so much more done if her daily grind wasn't seeing how many episodes of Woody Woodpecker she could watch in one day. 

 My final thought for this week is that when your kids tell you what they need, you listen. We take for granted all the things as we understand them. When a kid with autism who is affected by sounds tells you that the roar of the car engine as it goes faster makes her nervous, it is disturbing. What modifications can there be for this? How will I get her to drive for 50 hours with me if she's always terrified? So when she also informs me while we are in the store that she needs reading glasses to see the little print, I purchase these right away because I DO know how to do that! My children's success is what I was put here for. I don't have all the resources to give them everything they need, nor do I have all the answers, but I do the best I can when I can, and I am most grateful to those who help out when they can, especially Grandy this weekend for her time and her energy shopping with teenagers!