Lists and Schedules

I've started journaling on a regular basis so I have a hard time wanting to repeat myself in a blog. In my journal I can be as open and honest as I want because no one is reading it (at least until I'm dead and my kids/grandkids are curious) but here I always have to censor myself to a point.

Anyway, things are really wonderful around here. I've settled into my three-kids groove and have most everything under control. (Which, I hate to admit, I love...I'm such a control freak. ) The house stays basically clean (aside from a few piles here and there), the kids are happy and well-fed, and my husband is content. <-- THAT is what I call being a successful homemaker. For a while I was struggling to find a good way to keep track of everything that needed to get done...I was writing notes on the fridge to myself, but I was having to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, every day and that was getting annoying. Then Life As Mom (Google her blog, I'm too lazy to link it) released her home organization e-book and I spent the $9 to download it. It's not a perfect fit for me, but it's pretty darn close. She has all sorts of different charts and calendars and lists you can pick between and figure out what works best for you. I'm kind of playing with a few of them right now but I love that I didn't have to format a document myself and I can just print out as many as I need. Totally worth the $9. I'm not one of those people that does well on a schedule (9am, breakfast; 10am, dishes; etc.) but I do really well with lists...just an overall plan for my day. And so far it's been going really well. I still forget things ocassionally, but that's usually when I think of something and then tell myself I'll write it down later (when we all know that thoughts like that fly out of our minds almost immediately).

My oldest is turning three on Friday. It's really crazy how fast time flies. I've been working with her on some basic preschool concepts recently...just colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. She does all right, but I still need to work on my patience. The other day I was trying to get her to differentiate between a triangle, circle, and a square. She could get two out of the three every time but she could never remember the third. Even repeating myself fifteen times in a row could not get that third shape into her head. She's smart; I think she just has a hard time focusing.

Speaking of Shiphrah, she's having her "rest time" on the couch next to me right now and she looks sleepy enough to actually doze off so I'd better stop typing and see if she will.