Done it List Revised

Sometimes I like to clean.  Most of the time, I do not.  But, well, if I wanted to never clean up after anyone but myself, I probably shouldn't have gotten married and most certainly shouldn't be procreated - TWICE.

sigh.  

Husband and I divide the household chores pretty evenly.  If one of us sees something that needs to be done, we do it. And as the kids get older they are getting better about learning to clean up after themselves.  But the truth of the matter is, I am the responsible adult who is home most of the time.  I should be the one taking on most of this responsibility.  And I don't want my husband to think all the kids and I do during the day is think of ways to trash our house and then do it.

About a month ago I found something on pinterest that keeps with my Done It list idea.  Well, I think it's actually a little more fun than my spiral notebook.  -- I just can't keep record of my cleaning beyond one week.  (man, I am such a nerd)

Anyway, I bought the picture frame at Wal-mart, filled the holes with card stock I've had for a decade (and on the card stock I wrote the things I would be recording: Dinner, rooms cleaned, laundry done and loads of dishes done) Then just wrote on the glass the things I did that day.

I've discovered I'm much more productive when I have a list right in front of me of the things I've done.  Plus, I've committed myself to doing at least one load of laundry a day so it doesn't pile up.  And doing at least one load of dishes a day.  That used to use Husband's job exclusively, but since he's started his new job, he's a lot more tired.  So, I thought one load of dishes a day is not going to kill me ... and so far it hasn't. And that's 20 more minutes Husband gets to spend with us instead of in front of the sink.

BTW, I named my board "Do it! OR be dirty AND hungry!"   I thought that was a little better than things I've done today.

the full board.  I haven't put it up on the wall yet.

Also, in the bottom right hand corner I keep up with  the physical activity I did during the day.  Either W for weights or R/P for Run to the Park (with the kids)

what I did a few Tuesdays ago.  We had biscuits and gravy, sausage and fruit for dinner.  I made tea and lemonade (Husband is on an Arnold Palmer kick and YES, I do consider that a chore worth writing on the board, esp since I don't drink the tea or the lemonade), I washed Husband's whites, loaded the dishwasher once and ran to the park with the kids.

It's been fun to do and I like writing down things after I've done them.  But I'm sure, just like the done it list, I will eventually get bored and have to think of another way to make doing adult things more fun.  wine as a reward? possible.

near total seed disaster

I'm really not as upset as I thought I'd be. It is what it is, as Husband says. I can either fix it and move on or scrap it and not have the garden I've planned. buck up, Christy. You have seeds to plant and plants to transfer.

This whole week it's been rainy and dark and cold. There might have been 4 hours of sunlight all week. So all the plants have stayed in the house. Out of the sun. Yet, I still have been watering them on schedule, as if they'd been outside in the sun for 8 hours a day. sigh.

Last night I watered them as usual and today they are pretty much all dead or dying. I put all the VERY wet dirt in the red tray to dry out and replanted what looked like it might live. And will have to plant new seeds for the rest.

sigh. It's not a huge deal. It could be much worse. It's just one more thing I got to add to mine "done it" list for today. And on the upside: It is really sunny today. It's like God knew my plants would need the extra sun. I appreciate His provision.

All 4 cucumbers look bad, but not completely dead. I hope the dry dirt and some sun revive them.

All 4 of the livingston musk melons look fantastic! I replanted them in dry dirt, but they look no worse for wear.

The only juliet tomato that survived and it was one that I just planted last week. But to tell you the truth, those has been looking pretty puny and I had a hunch that the seeds I saved from last seed cross-pollinated with the stupice. And that was the reason they weren't really thriving. So a few days ago I ordered new seeds. Because I was already planning on planting new seeds anyway, it's not the big of a deal.

4 of the jersey giants look like they'll make it. And I'll plant new seeds for the rest.

Some of the dirt drying out.

I'm still feeling optimistic about the garden. I think it'll be great.

UPDATE: after 3 hours outside, all the plants look worse. But on the plus side, the dirt is almost dry.

EXTRA UPDATE: after 7 hours outside, the only things that survived was the tiny juliet and two of the melons. I just finished the replant and have learned my watering lesson well.

the most productive day of my year

It's true. Yesterday was the most productive day of 2011 for me and I have the done it list to prove it.

I'm don't mind picking up after myself and I have no real problem with cleaning. Daughter says cleaning is boring and I mostly agree. I need music playing. I need to be wearing tennis shoes (strange but true). I usually need to play games with myself to help my cleaning productivity. Hence the done it list.

But my actual believe about housework can be paraphrased by Carol Channing "Make sure, when there's housework to do, that you do it together!"

I was the most productive from the hours of 5-7. Why? Husband came home early (because of the 7th snow storm of the season) and he was working on his own done it list. Except I'm the only one who actually writes it down. He just sees a mess, cleans it and moves on to the next thing. He's so "normal" like that.

a note about number 5: I didn't actually start and finish 3 scarves today. They were all ones that were at least 3/4 finished when I ran out of yarn. Now I have the yarn so I could finish them.

And it's true. I still put "work out" on the done it list.

My Done it List

I like lists. no. I love lists.

Lately I've been dealing with feeling down/feeling depressed/complete lack of self motivation to do anything except make sure the kids survive the day fed, clean and happy.

Something had to change. It got to the point that I didn't want to do any housework because no matter what I did, the house still looked like two very active toddlers lived in it.

And I do a lot. or I felt like I did. My body sure acted like it's done a lot in the course of the day. But I really felt like I didn't have much to show for it at the end of the day when Husband gets home.

We've had multiple conversations about how my job as a stay at home mom isn't to make sure the house stays spotless. It's the care for, play with, teach and feed our kids. I am not the maid. Husband definitely does more than his fair share especially considering he's gone about 65 hours a week financially supporting his family.

But I feel like because I am home almost 24/7 I should take on the majority of the household duties. But I like I wrote before, it gets so frusterating at the end of the day. It really looks like nothing has been done most days.

I really needed something to help team morale.

I thought about making a to do list every night before I went to bed that outlined the things I wanted to get accomplished the next day. But I quickly realized that a to do list only leaves me feeling overwhelmed at this point.

So ... what's another option?

How about a "Done it" list?

yes. A list of everything I accomplish during the day.

Things I don't put on the done it list:

any housework I do while Husband is home

anything dealing with taking care of the kids (except their clothes laundry and son's diaper laundry)

putting things in the washing machine -- it only gets recorded when the load gets put away

Things I put on the do it list:

every thing else.

emptying the dishwasher counts as one

filling it counts as one

watering the garden counts as one (as long as I do it before Husband gets home)

I've been at this for 2 weeks now and it's really helping my state of mind. I AM doing things. It's right there in my spiral index card "notebook." It's quickily become a little competition I have with myself.

Some days I feel lazy and only do two things (my record low) and other days I feel really productive and sometimes do 14 things (my record high -- completed today). But I try to have a weekly average of 7 things.

This is last Wednesday's list.

As you can see I only did two things: emptied the dishwasher and saved baby birds (blog coming soon). The water spots on the side of the page are not my distraught tears from finding two baby birds in Son's room ... I think I just left my list too close to the sink!

It seems to really be helping. I feel less downtrodden and like to see the list after a "busy" day.