Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Prioritizing for 2011

Happy Thanksgiving Eve (and Happy Birthday to me)! Sure enough, we are in full-tilt holiday season and will be going, going, going until sometime in mid-January.

But for today I am reflecting on Thanksgiving and all the people and things that are dear to me. I am also wondering what it means to enter my fourth decade of life. (Wow, did I really say it that way? It makes me sound even older!)

All this thinking reminded me of dear old Dad and his frequent refrain that, "To Fail to Plan is to Plan to Fail." Dad's ideas aren't as corny as they once seemed. Raising my son has made me think a lot about what things I want to do intentionally with him. I have also thought about how, if left to ramble through each day, we might just eat, sleep, play, and then wonder where the time went.

It's good to have a plan. To-do lists are helpful (and can even be fun!) but a plan allows for more direction and includes long-range goals. If I don't prioritize and make plans for vacations, trips to the zoo, art classes and dates to the bakery, life will go on and we'll miss making special memories. And I certainly don't want to wind up in a nursing home filled with regrets and "shoulda, coulda, woulda's."

As you navigate the holiday season and 2011, may I encourage you to be more intentional about defining your priorities and putting them on your calendar first? For me, in addition to the zoo type stuff, that will include planning a few free days that I can enjoy being with the people I love. You know, things like spending the day in my pajamas, baking, playing music and dancing around with my son, and taking time to be thankful for it all.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Motherhood and an Organized Home

Yesterday, my darling son decided he wanted to wake up at 2:30am.

He went back to sleep at 5:00 but by then, I had far too many projects in my mind that needed doing. Many were work projects. I also had to make soup for dinner with friends, but since I needed ingredients from the store, that had to wait until later in the day. (So much for my buying ahead/meal planning every week). Once I had all the ingredients and he was down for a nap, I raced to make the soup. I desperately hoped to squeeze in a nap for me after the soup was done. Sure enough, my boy only napped a little over an hour.