I WILL

You know me. I'm stuck on the proverbial hamster wheel. Not just with my career, which is endlessly sucking hours out of my day that I don't even have. But, with everything. Every week I start off believing THIS week, I will do it right. I will keep my life in order. I will enforce routines. But it never happens. I swear, once upon a time, I really did have my life together. I dunno what happened. Oh yeah, I had another baby (and I want another one too, like, really bad). But, I refuse to surrender defeat and conclude that those days are gone for good. So, yep, each Sunday night, I sit here and write out my game plan for getting my act together.

This week I WILL...

...get up when my alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. No matter how sleepy (or, lazy) I feel or cold the house is. Or, how much sleep I got the night before.

...work out each and every morning. Again, no matter how lazy I feel. I mean, sleepy.

...leave the house on time, no matter what dilatory tactics Carter pulls.

...focus at work and make every minute count, resulting in less work I have to bring home with me and more billable hours.

...eat healthy, whole foods. I will NOT cave into that evil little demon inside my head that says "but you NEED that Coke because you need the caffeine jolt."

..."eat the frog" and conquer my most-loathed task first thing in the day.

...not sit down at night to "relax" until my home to-do's are scratched off, and I've spent 15 minutes doing general pick up around the house.

...fold AND put away the laundry on the same day I wash and dry it. As opposed to leaving it in piles around the house for the entire week like I usually do.

Yes, I WILL do these things. You'll hold me accountable, won't you?

But if I don't, please don't judge me too harshly because I never have a problem with plastering my babies with kisses, and cuddling with them and soaking them up and breathing them in. And those "to do's" mean so much more in the long run, right??? But I digress, because I'm determined. I WILL regain control.

New Beginnings

If you've read more than two posts on my blog, then you've probably got the hint that I love organization. Scratch that, I crave organization. Its an endless battle for me. I'll get into a great cycle where things seem to be moving like clockwork gears, and then it will all fall into chaos.

Right now, I'm in chaos mode. I'm not exactly sure how I got here. Perhaps it has something to do with the 200+ billable hours I clocked at work last month? Or, the super-di-duper fun and busy summer I've been having with my boys? Sheer laziness?

Whatever the cause, its been worth it! Since I've last chatted with you, our little family has been bike riding, gone to our first Orioles game, and ** drum roll please....** my baby started WALKING!!!!! I mean, who can possibly do laundry when they are busy cheering and encouraging those first precious steps??? Well, maybe you can, but I'm not that great at multi-tasking.

But alas dear friends, summer is beginning to draw to a close. Yes, technically we have over another month until the autumnal solstice, but whatever. When you are a mom, your seasons are guided by the school year. Carter has one more week of summer camp and then **sniff sniff** Pre-K begins!

New school year. New classroom. New teacher. New lessons.

Ahhh....how I love a fresh start! I'm determined to take this next week to get our routines back in order so that we go into the new school year with some semblance of routine and organization. That means 8:30 bedtimes, 7:15 wake times, laying out school clothes and packing book bags. Filling out chore charts (hence enforcing them...).

So, I made a list of all the things that I have fallen out of the habit of doing this summer. I won't bore you with the details, but its long. Half a page, single spaced. Eeek! As much as this laissez-faire lifestyle has ben enjoyable, its starting to drive me wee bit nutty. Back to order!!!

A Shortcut

I'm a dirty girl. I never remember to wash my face before bed! I can't even tell you why, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to do it. I do, however, brush my teeth, so go figure.

I learned once during a Mary Kay facial that for every night you do not remove your makeup before sleeping, your skin ages the equivalent of 6 days. Eeeek!! Seeing that I've already acquired a nice collection of wrinkles at the ripe old age of 28, that's not great news for me!!! (Although, I doubt the veracity of this tenant, as I haven't washed my face before bed consistently in years, so my skin should have aged about 18 years in the last 3...I'm not that wrinkly!)

Well, these Daily Facial cleansing cloths have turned out to be the perfect solution for a lazy bum like myself! I simply grab one after I finish brushing my teeth, and wipe away the day as I sit in bed and read. They have a moisturizer and make up remover in them, so its a one-step deal. Toss in the trash (don't even have to get out of bed!) and my skin is much happier :) I must say that I have noticed a difference in my skin since I've started doing this a few weeks ago. And its a habit I've been able to sustain! These particular facial wipes can be found at Costco for approximately $11 for 150 wipes, which should last about 5 months. Not a bad price to pay for healthier skin!

Buying Time

The only thing all human beings are given in equal measure is time.
- Anthony Robbins

We all have the same 24 hours in the day. What matters is what you do with it. It doesn't matter if you are rich, poor, smart, or not, you can't get anymore than 24 hours. (Man, we could make it big if we could figure out how to!).

It doesn't matter whether you work out of the home, in the home, or stay at home with your kids. Life is BUSY. We find ways to fill every free second. There never seems to be enough time to get it all done. As a working mom, I think the challenge is even greater, as we have to account to someone else for at least 1/3 of our day. Work and life can consume you to the point where you cannot seem to find time for anything else.

I don't know about you - but that just isn't "enough" for me. I love practicing law, but its only a part of my life. So, I try desperately to find ways to squeeze in time for other things I enjoy (and need!). For example, I get up at 5:30 a.m. to work out. I listen to books on cd in the car while I commute, and make my personal phone calls (and sometimes professional calls too) while commuting. Most nights, I have to work for several hours after my boys are in bed for the night (the evil of billable hours). So, even though I rarely hit the sheets prior to 11 p.m., I always make some time to read for pleasure, even if it is only 10 minutes (a necessity to clear my mind, or I dream about work and wake up panicked!). When you work 10-12 hours a day, you have to get creative!! Especially with two precious boys, who I refuse to sacrifice a single minute with unecessarily!

The weekends aren't too much better either, since I often have "catch up" to do for work, housework, laundry, and errands. Of course, we try to do lots of fun things with our boys and our friends and families too.

So long as I can manage to keep the routines in place, we seem to manage pretty well. Of course, sometimes more focus has to be on work and at other times, more attention on home/fun. But I try my hardest to keep homeostasis, so to speak. Its a constant work in progress, and to be honest, its exhausting. But that is the price you pay for living an otherwise "fulfilling" life, huh?

What are your tips for squeezing extra time out of the day????