Surprise, Surprise!

I'm tired. Should I be? Probably not. It's not like I've worked extremely hard or anything because I really haven't. It probably has a lot more to do with the fact that I did not sleep well last night with Ryan waking me up every 2 hours. You'd think he was 3 weeks old not (almost) 3 years with the way he's been getting up lately!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: I did it! I tackled the laundry and FINALLY! for the first time in 8 months, probably more (yikes! and I can't even use pregnancy as an excuse) it is all clean and all put away all at the same time. That's right. ALL of it!! And what's even better than that?! The kitchen is still clean! Oh yeah, that's right! I got the laundry done and kept my kitchen clean all week! I'm feeling pretty good about it!

And it's really a good thing that I started this endeavor when I did because this afternoon Paul surprised me with an, "Oh by the way, Honey, we may be having some people drop by tonight from my work. They're doing a home theatre tour and our name was on the list." Now normally that would put me into panic mode thinking, AAAUUUGGGHHH! My house isn't near ready and you're telling me this now?! BUT, this time, I didn't! Of course there were a few things I thought could use some more cleaning. I'm sure there will always be something else that could look cleaner or nicer, maybe a few pictures on the wall, that kind of thing; but for the most part, my kitchen was clean, there wasn't laundry spewing all over the place, and the rest could be straightened up fairly quickly. I didn't get my kitchen floor mopped or anything but I felt comfortable enough even having complete strangers from Paul's work wander through our house!

So I know my parents taught me to prepare things ahead of time; you know, get ready at the beginning of the day and then you'll be ready for anything that comes up. That's one I'm still working on and believe me, I wish I had it mastered already because there have been several times where I have wished that I was already dressed and ready to go because a friend called me last minute or something like that. But I don't think I ever applied that so much as a good reason for having a clean home on a regular basis. I am really beginning to see the value in looking at keeping my house clean and getting the chores down now (as opposed to procrastinating until we have absolutely nothing clean left to wear or eat off of) as a preemptive strategy rather than a drudgery. I'm just planning ahead for whatever comes next. And if the next thing happens to be a bunch of random people showing up to my house or just a neighbor who needs to borrow the phone, I won't have to be in panic mode because I will have already prepared for, yea, even anticipated a surprise visit.

Little Victories

Ever feel like you just can't get certain things under control no matter how hard you try? It seems like ever since we've moved into our new home (back in September!!) I have not been able to manage getting our whole house clean all at the same time and I haven't been totally caught up on the laundry ever either! I've gotten either the top floor all cleaned at once or the basement all clean at once, but never both all at the same time and the laundry is so tricky because as soon as I think I'm caught up, there's more!! And then there's my kitchen which seems to be messy more often than it should be despite the fact that, as my sister likes to point out every time she visits, I have a dishwasher!

Well, my kitchen is clean! Not only is it clean, but yesterday we had my in-laws over for dinner and even after a nice big meal, it's still clean! Already! I KNOW!! The secret to my success is much easier than I've ever made it to be.....have the kitchen clean BEFORE dinner starts! Well duh! I've known that for some time and it has been a goal of mine before every big dinner (especially ones with guests involved) for probably years but yesterday we actually made it happen!! I had the kitchen entirely clean (except for the dishes we were actually using) and the dishwasher was actually emptied and everything! And I used paper plates so the only thing we had to worry about were serving dishes, silverware, and cups! Cleaning the kitchen took 20 minutes max! And that includes putting away extra food and cleaning off and taking down the extra table we used.

Very much encouraged by accomplishing such a feat (small as it may be), I have decided to tackle the laundry once and for all. It's really quite exciting to walk into a clean kitchen and I know I will enjoy walking into a clean laundry room as well. I've already got a load going in the washer! I will conquer the laundry once and for all!

I realize to the average homemaker I am a dreadful underachiever but no matter. I will take these little victories as they come and allow them to motivate and encourage me until I reach a level of productivity more equal to the tasks presented me.

This blog will therefore become my "Little Victories" blog. The fact that I got this blog started and I'm writing again is a victory in and of itself! I suppose everything I share may not be little-victory related as everything I write about will probably not have to do with any great (or small) accomplishments. I started the family blog (tannerfamilytales.blogspot) for things of note in my family. I have since decided to start my own as well for an opportunity to share my own personal thoughts and feelings on a more regular basis of things that may or may not be Tanner Family related. So I encourage you to beware! This could end up being a very dull blog to read!