Pioneer Woman

Last week, Pioneer Woman announced to the world that she, in fact, cannot do it all.

And all I can say is, hallelujah!

Okay, I can actually say much more than that.

Like, I'm so relieved.

I always wondered how she did it all, and apparently, a lot of other women have wondered to. She answered them, publicly, with the afore-linked post, and said that quite frankly, she can't do it all. She admitted to hiring someone to clean her house once a week and hiring someone to come in a do laundry...

And what a relief! I mean, fortunately, she can pay someone to do that. She has created this full-time job/empire and I have no idea how much money it brings in monthly, but I'm quite sure it's a lot. But that confession was like permission for all the rest of us to stop feeling guilty.

I always feel guilty, don't you?

Guilty that my house isn't perfectly clean, guilty that I don't do what I want to do (write, take photos, etc...), guilty that I sometimes spend entire days in my pajamas. Guilty that I don't always make dinner.

Guilty because I'm not Ree (Pioneer Woman).

Before she posted this, my friend and I were talking about this very thing. Her husband had just been mocking all those bloggers who put together elaborate parties and have perfect houses. And I wondered out loud how they do it all, and my friend said, quite simply, that they don't. Something has to give. Right now, she's working part-time and she has four kids. I'm going to graduate school and have a kid. There are choices to be made, because there are only 24 hours in a day.

Of course, she's right.

I know I don't manage the 24 I'm given very well at all, and I'm working on it. But I like to think I'm making good choices with my time. I spend time every day with my little girl. I try to prepare dinner for our family. Stuff like that. I don't have time to put together elaborate valentine's day dinners with cute napkin rings.

But you know what's really ironic? Pioneer Woman said she would be scaling back, and she's already posted two more posts on Confessions since that post. She's posted on Pioneer Woman Cooks once. What happened to scaling back?

Geez, even the "scaled-back" Pioneer Woman sets the bar too high for me.

Back to the guilt.

To Do List

Like many of you, I'm sure, I have this huge to-do list in my head. It not only includes the day to day things, like make dinner or vacuum, but also longer-term things.

Like pick a paint color for the living room (to paint in August).
Pick tiles for the fireplace surround.
Buy felt and other supplies for Christmas crafts.
Work on thesis.

These things are always on my mind. And even though I know I need to do them eventually and that they are not pressing, and even though I know they are written down on a list and that the list has alloted time later to do them, they still manage to stress me out.

Why is that?

I think it's because I'm not a good time manager overall, and when I see myself failing to do the day to day things, I worry that these larger, and more important, things will somehow get lost.

I mean, I don't actually think about that concern, because it's obviously ridiculous. But I think that's the justification in my brain.

But, I did get some big things done this weekend. (While I avoided the small things, like cleaning off my desk...) I purchased felt for the tree skirt, so I'll be able to start that soon. And then I went to another craft store to pick up some other supplies and had a complete meltdown, which ended the crafty productivity.

But I came home and worked on my thesis for a while, so that was good. I wrote about 500 words and got some good reading and research done. Yay!

I think it's important to celebrate the little triumphs. That's what life is: little moments. Those little moments add up and make us who we are. And by celebrating the little moments, by realizing that I have good little moments, I hope that I'll be able to inspire myself to have more good little moments.

Resolutions

Well, we're over a month into the new year; how are you doing with resolutions? I've done better...but I am making progress, which makes me happy!

So far, I've cooked dinner at least three times a week all year. Yeah! I think we're doing a lot better with shopping just once a week, which also makes me happy. (As well as Jeff, who is the one who often goes shopping.)

We've also started amassing our year's supply of "paper goods," meaning those things that don't spoil. We picked up 10 packages of Reach floss (the small ones, 96 yards I think) for FREE a few weeks ago thanks to some $1/1 coupons. We also bought 25 boxes of tissues for 80 cents each thanks to a good sale and coupons.

What have I not done? Well, I haven't been doing well with my daily cleaning tasks. I don't make our bed every day, I've been averaging 2-3 times a week (which is still an improvement to be honest). I've also not been good about doing the other weekly tasks that I broke down. I tried to vacuum once, but my toddler threw a fit. I cleaned out the refrigerator, but that was because chicken juice leaked all over everything. Yuck. I also haven't been good about staying up on my homework, but my toddler doesn't seem to like that either.

This week has been tough, though. I get so down on myself when I see myself failing at seemingly simple things. Shouldn't I be able to accomplish one cleaning task a day? How long does it take to make my bed? Maybe 2 minutes? The problem isn't time; the problem is desire, I think. Which is sad, because I picked goals that all result in something I really want: a nice, clean house. Is that so much to ask for? Apparently for me it is! *sigh*

I'm still working on it. I really hope that by the end of the year, I will have conquered this laziness when it comes to cleaning.