Regrets

I have been thinking about regrets. Years ago I vowed to do my best to live my life with no regrets. Of course this is a tall goal. And, for the most part, I don't have anything huge I regret. But, sometimes I wonder about roads not traveled.

I do believe that it would be awful hard to live a life complete without one single regret. I think our lives are exactly as they should be though. And, whatever we might feel we now regret ... well, how are we to know how that other choice would really have turned out for us?

I do know that hindsight sure helps with the 20/20 vision on regrets though. It is impossible to know how different decisions will turn out ... no matter how hard we research each choice, etc. I guess we just have to do our best with each decision and life choice we make along the way and it is also very important to know that we don't really control our own little life boats anyway.

Odds and Ends & Friday Five

Well, not everyday can be a power day. Today I am more tired. When I get tired, the edginess in my childrens' persistent demanding and whining hurts my head and makes me sigh loudly.

I adore my children, but I need to take a shower. So, I am not taking care of me again by procrastinating this today. I want to take a shower in my bathroom; but, I can't because of a plumbing issue. I just don't like to take a shower in the main bathroom, otherwise known as grand central station. There is nothing wrong with it; but that room is so busy each day it feels like a train station. I want peace and relaxation.

I found out an old high school buddy of mine is the father of seven children. It is pretty neat. His wife homeschools and also works part-time as a nurse. They live very frugally and are very Christian in all aspects of their lives. I am going to add his wife's blog to my list of favorite blogs in a few days (just because I am tired right now and don't feel like doing it.) In fact, I am tired today because I stayed up too late last night reading her blog. It is all just so interesting to me. Here I complain about my chaos with raising three kids and they have seven children to raise... just wow!

I am beginning to feel a strong sense of cabin fever. I am ready for the cold weather to break and to get out alone some this weekend. We have actually had a good week here, but I need some air!

Friday Five --

1.) I am thankful for the school bus and for two-hour delays on bad weather days.

2.) I am excited that my house is finally coming together again. This feels big because I was so disheartened after the last water disaster that it has been almost a year since I had any energy to work to get this organized once again.

3.) I am thankful for my past and for those who touch, or have touched my life, in various ways.

4.) I am thankful for the Flylady. She has really changed my life. I recently signed up with her to once again receive her FlyLifeLines and I can tell such a difference already. I just love when the Flylady wants me to reboot my laundry =)

5.) I am thankful for my family. They give me joy while they make me crazy, and that is what life is all about, right? LOL

Why I like to blog

I just posted about friendship drama and I felt sad when I started writing. Now I feel better. That is one of the best things about blogging.

So here are some really cool things I have accomplished recently. I feel great about them:

1.) I organized all the girls' toys and picked them all up in all main living areas.

2.) I did a thorough vacuum today in my basement, basement stairwell, laundry room, living room, kitchen and dining area ... whew! I even got down on my hands and knees and vacuumed the crevices. I am exhausted from it! But my house is looking good!

3.) I have kept the dishes up and have been walking into this extremely clean kitchen everday (I do Flylady.net and I think I might be finally flying with the kitchen sink goal after 3 1/2 years!)

4.) I have boxed up the clothes the girls aren't using or no longer need.

5.) I have made a charity box.

6.) I have thrown a lot of trash away. Bye, bye ... gone forever!

7.) I have worked some on my bathrooms.

8.) I have cleared a lot of stuff away from the dresser tops in my bedroom.

9.) I have begun to fly with my laundry also (this one is a beginning.) But I am not working off of any large laundry piles any longer.

10.) I have made two different homemade desserts this week .. yum!

My motivation is an upcoming appraisal to possibly refinance our house. We do have the paperwork filled out already; but, we haven't applied yet. Our goal is to make our house look almost as nice as if it was up for sale so that when the appraiser comes in, they truly see our actual house ... and not just our junk. We are going to need all the help we can get to get a decent appraisal in this economy. We tried to go down this road a year ago, so we know what is at stake. We just want to get the best bang for our appraisal dollars this time and truly get a fair shake.

Friendship Drama

I am sad tonight for some reason. I guess it has to do with friendship drama. I don't like friendship drama. It is just too tiring.

For a reason I won't name, the word drama has been in my head all day long. I won't go into exactly what that reason is, but I will reflect on one reason I find friendship drama so tiring ....

Here is the reason -- plain and simple:

There is already way too much drama going on in my house all day long between my two girls!! One of them accidentally hurts the other and the "victim" howls loudly as if persecuted. Then, the victim later "accidentally" hurts the other girl, and she howls loudly as if persecuted. During their dramatic howls, they each "need" things ... "where is my sucky Mommy?!!!" one dd demands! The other dd wants me to stop what I am doing and hold her and then kiss the bottom of her foot, or something of that sort.

Friendship is supposed to be a happy thing, a supportive thing ... so when drama arises, it just feels like it doesn't belong there and it needs to get out.

Prayers for Darren

Today my prayers and thoughts are with Darren, my friend Valerie's husband. Darren is having brain surgery today. May God be with Darren, Valerie and their family as they get through this very difficult day and may good news be just around the corner for them.

Old Friends

I recently connected with some old friends and former co-workers on Facebook. What an interesting experience to see pictures of and hear about the lives of old friends. I really do appreciate all of the people in my life -- past and present -- for being a part of my own life path. I feel honored to know and to have known such wonderful, intriguing and fun people.

It is interesting to think that there are people out there in the world who have a shared history with me. We are not family and our lives may have taken many different directions. Yet our history ties us together in a unique and special way. Perhaps it is even through an unheard thought put out to the universe? I know that I have thought of different pals, peers and school chums over the years. But I was just shocked to find out that a former school mate said she had thought of me just two days before I connected with her on Facebook! How wow is that?!

I don't know if I would have a lot in common with my former peers and friends today if we were friends in real life. But I do know that I cherish them all and would open my doors and my life to them as if we were children once again and our friendship never missed a beat. It is fun to connect with yesterday ... and the memories of my youth.

"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." Do you remember that song? I am just reminded of it today because two of the former friends I connected with used to be Girl Scouts with me. It makes me want to be sure and get my girls involved in scouts someday :) I really don't like to camp at all as an adult, but I wouldn't trade those childhood memories for anything!

Friday Five

I am borrowing this title from the blogs of some great people I know. I thought it would be a great way to get organized with my thoughts and goals today.

Here are Five things on my mind this Friday --

1.) It is time to get back on track with my healthy breakfast and daily water drinking and health goals. How hard is it to choose water over milk?!!! For goodness' sake!!! But, I haven't been doing it.

2.) I want to bake peanut butter pies, an oreo cookie pie and some brownies sometime soon because I am loving my "new" stand mixer that now sits on my counter. (Note: This might cause some challenges for goal #1.)

3.) Declutter, declutter, declutter -- why is it such a slow process?

4.) Money, money, money ... some thoughts I have are: Are we, in my family, experiencing deflation with the 5 percent pay cut we have had to take recently? Will everything (prices and salaries for others too) continue to deflate and not go back to normal rates for a good long while? Are we on our way back to the 25 cent candy bar? Is this just a sign ... one step down the ladder, then another and another?

5.) I am excited about my new toy, a Reynold's Handi-Vac! http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/handi_vac/en/home.asp
(Yes, I splurged today... but it is payday and it was only $10 and included a box of bags too!) I am excited because I like to freeze foods and I hate to squeeze air out of the freezer bags. It's going to be a blast!!! (Maybe there is a bit of Betty Crocker in me after all!)

Decluttering

I am in a decluttering mindset and I have extra motivation now that we have decided to try again to refinance our home mortgage. We need to have the best appraisal possible, so we have decided to fix our house up almost as if we were trying to sell it.

Here is a list of some things I want to accomplish as soon as possible:

1.) Unpack remaining two boxes of basement cabinet items
2.) Permanently get rid of the tiny little pieces of this and that on the kitchen island
3.) Go through books and get rid of those I am done with
4.) Go through girls' toys and box up things they are done with
5.) Spend some time in ds's room decluttering and then making it look nice. (His room has a way of being a pit, but not always looking like it is.)
6.) Unpack the few totes of items left to unpack in garage and sort, discard and/or put away items
7.) Complete laundry and keep it up!
8.) Box up all girl clothing that no longer fits
9.) Review toy storage and perhaps buy some storage baskets from the Container Store to more nicely store toys.
10.) Declutter girls' dressers (tops).
11.) Declutter girls' room.
12.) Unpack boxes in my bedroom
13.) Declutter my bedroom, including dresser tops
14.) Clean bathrooms often and declutter toys on main bathroom floor
15.) Keep dishes up so that the kitchen stays nice looking
16.) Create box for Goodwill, Half Price Books, SIL and the resale
17.) Clean off fireplace mantel
18.) Clean crayon markings off walls
19.) Straighten up bonus room
20.) Walk the house and create of list of what is left after doing all of the above.

Okay, another day

I think tomorrow is going to have to be the new day with the new start because I feel terrible still today with this nasty cold and ds stayed home from school today with a sore throat :(

We are just not in a normal mode here yet.

Slow Start

This new year is getting off to a slow start for me. I think I am a bit sad that dh went back to work today. Ds goes back to school tomorrow and I will miss him too :( It has been so wonderful having dh home for two weeks. I have also just adored not having to get up and do the school routine each day.

But, tomorrow, it's back to business as usual .... probably not a bad thing ... life can't be one solid vacation. So, hopefully tomorrow my ducks will be more in a row.

If only I didn't have this nasty cold and the girls are both still not totally recovered from it either :(

Tomorrow is going to be a new day with a new attitude. Today I am just kind of grumbly.