Skip the end of this one. It's kinda gross.

Just as I thought yesterday.  I went upstairs and there was trash from command hooks and I remembered that as we were unloading groceries, my son unpacked screws he bought to fix the mailbox that he broke six months ago (SIX MONTHS AGO – he takes after his mama) so I went to the garage to see if we had some that fit to save money and I found the command hooks I wasn’t able to find earlier (out of my entire house, the workshop in the garage is the one place that has never been decluttered or organized – argh!).  So I took them upstairs to put in the hall bathtub to hang the bath caddy one kid made for the other for Christmas (holy cow – I just realized I actually thought of a project and did it all the way through in only a few weeks!).  So the extra hooks and trash from the packaging was on my bed.  I also forgot I had bought a little basket at dollar tree to see if corralling my everyday toiletries would make a difference in my already-neat-but-not-as-good-as-it-could-be cabinet.  So when I put that in the cabinet, I decluttered and reorganized a few things – right onto the sink (to put away “later”). 

Part of me realizes this way I have of doing multiple things at once is what makes it hard for me to be ready for company at the drop of a hat.  But another part has accepted that this is also who I am.  And in reality, I DID get several small things done yesterday.  If I had done the groceries all the way through from start to finish without doing a few random things while I was at it, I’m not sure I would have gotten to those other things.  I know that my brain realizes that I will NOT leave the groceries out long-term but it IS possible I will never hang that bath caddy or organize the bath cabinet or do any of the other small things I did along the way yesterday.  It’s like, I am at a point in my journey where I do attempt to keep the regular things (i.e., grocery-putting-awaying) done so I can kinda mostly trust  myself to eventually get that done on a somewhat timely basis. I use that knowledge and trust to go ahead and do other things that I don’t trust myself to finish anytime soon BEFORE I do the regular stuff.  Like sometimes I will get up in the morning and do totally random things because I know that eventually I will get the dishwasher unloaded (or loaded, if I procrastinated on dishes the night before) because that’s not something I leave for days anymore (there was a time though…).  If I do dishes first, I may decide I’m done.  Does that ring a bell for anyone?  It’s all fine and dandy if the day goes as planned (and nobody stops by) if I get up and don’t shower and go do some big random project like painting or pulling all the books off shelves to do a big dusting. But how many times does our days as moms go as “planned?”  9 times out of 10, the call from the nurse at school or the neighbor stopping by or the toilet overflowing all happen at the worst times. 

Plus like I said yesterday, if I stop for 30 second tasks and let myself get distracted and more distracted and more distracted, sometimes I forget to go back to what I’m doing ‘til it’s too late.  I guess it’s a balance.  What I’m trying to accomplish now is just remember to go back and pick up here and there.  The 5-minute pickup is awesome for that!  Making myself do it will be tricky.  I tend to rebel against set “to dos.”  I know, what’s my problem, right?  I also can get distracted within one minute of the 5-minute timer.  I noticed the first day that I had to reset the timer 4 times before I did an actual full, focused 5 minute pickup.  So instead I do a little focusing trick that I’ve done many times before and I count to 300.  The act of counting keeps my brain from straying and reminds me I’m in the middle of something, even if that something is somewhat random-seeming to my brain. 

I’m thinking these blogs are too long and rambly.  I may change that.  I kind of like writing stream of consciousness but it might be a good idea to try to be clearer and more to the point.  I personally wouldn’t want to read these kinds of ramblings from someone else.  Dana’s blogs are short and to the point.  Not that I want to copy but I’m not sure I would have read several months’ worth of her musings if they were as flaky as mine.  Or maybe I’ll have a short version and a long version lol.  Summarize myself at the end of each flake-o writing session.  Whatever, at least I’m writing. 

So my summary for today.  I make more messes than I realize by going off on tangents.  Sometimes tangents aren’t good, like getting distracted from what I need to be doing by odds and ends things that can easily be accomplished later if I make them routine (in other words, picking stuff up and putting it away doesn’t work for me if I’m in the middle of a bigger project like putting away groceries because I get distracted and then bad things happen like melted frozen food all over the carpet).  But sometimes tangents are good, like getting several miscellaneous mini-projects done before finishing a bigger project, since I know the bigger project will get done eventually.  As long as I put the frozen stuff away first! Also, I’m loving the 5-minute pickups and the forced shower.  I rarely go an entire day without showering so it’s nice to get it out of the way and feel good instead of gross all day.  And on the days when I don’t, at least getting washed up before my day starts is much better than working in PJs all smelly.  I know some of you can bathe before bed and wake up fresh as a daisy but not this girl.  I feel nasty and stinky until I take care of the necessities.  And because I’m trying to be honest, I will even admit that I forget to brush my teeth until I’m taking time out to groom.  It’s not automatic.  Sometimes I forget until I’m going somewhere and then I’m like, ew, yuck, I forgot my teeth.  It ain’t easy to say that when “it’s automatic like brushing your teeth” is a saying but yeah, maybe not so automatic for me.  I do brush them and don’t go all day without, but it’s just not automatic to do it first thing. 

Tune in tomorrow when I publish other personal things about myself to gross you out.  Here I was hoping for eventual readers but part of me now is like, um, I hope nobody reads this!