Sunday, January 18, 2009

Been Busy, Will Write Sometime, Maybe

I find it an operative axiom that the busier I am, and therefore the more I have to write about, that inevitably the less I will write. Whereas, in the weeks and months when I have very little, if indeed any demands at all on my time, I can write and write thoughts until my family wonders where their lovely wife has gone, and who this zombie, Internet/blog obsessed robot is who has taken her place.

December and January have been so filled with commitments, family happenings, celebrating of seasons, that I actually cannot find time to write about it all, or even basically any of it. Recently I've even gone days, days I tell you, without even getting near a computer. It's like my pre-blog days, where I would get on the Internet and check my email about once a week. Avram would check it daily for me, and if there was anything worth noting, he would tell me what it was (although this wasn't a perfect system, since what he thinks worth noting and what I do don't always match up...). I'm finally feeling our lives settle back down into some sort of routine, without any holidays in sight, and with everyone feeling well and the house even, sort of, almost clean (well, picked up. Now I need to get to organizing every room, which is always a monumental task. I read a book about clutter, that talked about clutter types, and I'm type "B," who keeps their clutter behind closed drawers and in nice and "neat" piles - that are all still filled with all sorts of junk. Like my TV cabinet, which has a drawer filled with random knitting supplies, DVDs, papers, etc, etc, until I can hardly close it, and sometimes a stray knitting needle gets caught in the crossfire and bends, and then I have to get all angry about it.

My goal this Monday is to get Lydia and Elisheva's room organized enough to take pictures of it, because I've hung all their pictures, and it's all cute in there now. Our room is clean, so I can take pictures of it as well, but honestly, it has no cuteness factor. It's just a random bunch of mismatched furniture and pictures that don't quite match anywhere else in the house. Our Relief Society this year is doing a Domestic Diva University, with goal, kind of like an advanced Personal Progress, that we can complete for a Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels (for all my friends who are actually in advanced programs, and feel that real Master's and Doctorate's would squish this all hollow, rest assured, it is not the purpose of this program to challenge the time level of commitment and studying that real programs have. It's just in similitude). I love goals, and unlike "resolutions" which tend to have a "I'll do this resolution until I inevitably fall off the wagon, sometime in mid February," goals, to me at least, are meant to be accomplished by the end of the year, so that I have all year to become good at whatever I've set out to do. And, I love them.

Just looking at the booklet has inspired all sorts of things I can accomplish this year, things like completing all my mending (which has been building up for years), or actually exercising (which goal I think I'll leave until the average temperature isn't in the single digits). I'm not sure how much blog writing I'll fit into all of my newfound determination to be amazing. I'd like to do at least a couple of times a week, maybe more. As I'm writing this post I realize basically I've been rambling, and I could have summed it up in: Been busy, will be busy, will try to write, because I like to have a record of my life and thoughts.

Oh, and Elisheva yesterday not only got into a sitting position herself (which Avram tells me she's done before, but this was the first time I saw it), but then proceeded to pull herself up to standing with the aid and support of the couch (she can't let go yet), and then cruised a couple of steps down the couch. Lydia didn't do this until she was over a year old, so although I don't think Elisheva is particularly advanced (she'll be nine month old in ten days), to us this is flabbergasting seeing her little chubby body do so much.

7 comments:

  1. It's good for especially a mother to have goals because so much of her work is the do the laundry, clean the house, make a meal kind which doesn't last beyond a few minutes until it has to be done again. If she has some goals, at least later it feels like she accomplished something.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am so glad that you are excited about Domestic Diva University! I was worried to death that everybody would think that it was silly. I am also recommitted to be amazing because of the some of the goals. There are so many things that I have wanted to do (buy used furniture for Lily's room and refinish it, print out cute bath pictures of Lily to hang in the bathroom, join a bowling league :)) that I will now have a concrete reason to do!

    By the way, I am totally a "type B" person too. I am slightly compulsive about keeping my house (read: apartment) clean. Clutter honestly gives me anxiety... but I am more than fine if it is put into cute baskets or behind clothed drawers. Jeff wants to read that book now. What was it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's How to Cut the Clutter and Slow the Stuff. Or maybe it's how to Slow the Stuff and Cut the Clutter. Over all I wasn't too impressed with it (they actually recommended people keep old prescription bottles and use them for keeping small items it, and to even "decorate" them! Like that's the last thing anyone needs who is trying to learn how to be less cluttered - keep random junk that they always "knew" would be useful someday, and now will be! As ugly bottles!

    Whew, I got away from myself for a moment, there. Anyway, but they have a cool quiz at the beginning that I found very helpful with the four different types of people: the Tossers, who throw everything out, even good things, the type B, who keep their clutter in nice packaging (but still keep useless stuff), People who keep sentimental items, because they're meaninglful to them, or because they are collecting them, and can't get rid of things for guilt reasons (like Great Aunt Hilda's tea towels she gave you, and if you gave them away it would mean that you were rejecting all the love she had given you over the years - that and she might ask about them later), and then people who keep things because they'll be useful again someday, although since they'll be stacked in random piles and you'll never be able to find them, they'll never ACTUALLY be used.

    I'm The first two types - I want to get rid of stuff, and I'll go on rampages where I do, but then I also will have all sorts of nooks and crannies filled with loads o' crap that I'll get around to sorting...someday.

    If only I was a neat freak besides all this. Which I'm not. I'm still trying to learn the lesson of cleaning up after myself AS I go. I'm twenty six years old, you'd think I could get a handle on this, but I think I'll spend the rest of my life working on it.

    (PS, this is obviously actually Thora, and not Avram)

    ReplyDelete
  4. ooooo I wish my ward were doing the Domestic Diva University!

    I think I'm mostly a Tosser. I have this fantasy about having very, very few possessions, and all of them being perfect in every way. Like having a wardrobe made up of two jackets, five blouses, two skirts, two pants, and three sweaters, that all mix and match perfectly, and are so well-made that they last my whole life. And of course two pairs of shoes: a black pair and a brown pair. And one formal dress.
    I also have gotten rid of numerous cds that I wish I hadn't, now.
    I am type B as well. I like our dvd collection, but plan on putting it in a closed cabinet or in drawers. I like my wardrobe and my massive shawl collection, but it has to fit into my closet well. I need sewing supplies, but they have to be contained.
    This is like my favorite thing ever to blog about so I will stop now. :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good for you! Keep us updated on how it's going.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i am a bit of tybe b and c... well and A when ever i am moving. but actually i cant bear the thought to throw most things away so i take everything to DI. Hmm i guess i am a bit bipolar in my cleaning personality too. I do so like to have my clutter, but really it bothers me alot if its all in the closet. so i only put it there if people are coming over. otherwise i like to have my closets and drawers organized so my clutter ends up on the counter for everyone to see. I like the clutter out where i can work on it and if i pack it away its like resigning to the fact that i am cluttered and it gives me anxiety to know that i have this mound of stuff that is unorganized that i need to get too.

    oh and i have so many papers. i never know what to keep or for how long so all my mortgage statements and anything from the dr and things like that end up in large stacks all over the place. eventually after 2 years ( or when i move) i can throw this away without the anxiety i mights still need it for something.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a lot to have on the go, no wonder you haven't had time to write much. Sounds like you've found yourself some good inspiration.

    ReplyDelete