My Priorities....

Sometimes I feel like my world is crumbling down around me. Today was one of those days. I sort of feel like I can't succeed at anything, and that makes me feel spread too thin. So I'm taking a bit of a time out and thinking about what my real priorities are, because those are where I need to spend my efforts. In no particular order, here are my priorities right now...

Mother
Homemaker/Wife
Mary Kay
Scrapbooking

Yup, that pretty much sums it up. My spiritual life has not been much of a priority lately, and I think that takes a pretty heavy toll on all of the other areas of my life. Exercise/healthy living has also not been a priority, and I think that contributes negatively to the other areas of my life as well. I've been eating whatever I want to eat, and that makes controlling my blood sugar difficult, which makes making good choices difficult. It's a vicious cycle. I get lazy and fat and lethargic and I don't do anything well. Then I feel like a failure, and I start to shut down like I did today. So... I need to re-prioritize.

I know in my head and from experience that my first priority should be getting into the Word daily. It NEEDS to happen, yet that's probably the first place I fail. So that becomes priority number one. After that, I am a wife and a mother first, and a SAHM for the majority of the day, so that makes Mother priority number two. The best way I can show my husband how I love him is through the way I maintain our home, which makes Homemaker number three. It's amazing how easy it was to put those in order very quickly. Exercise/healthy living runs closely behind and is somewhat intertwined with numbers two and three, since what I do with my own body is often indicative of how I am taking care of my family's health needs, too. So that becomes priority number four. Mary Kay is an investment that we have made and something for which others depend on me, so that is number five, and scrapbooking falls to priority number six.

That means that I cannot ignore the laundry, my family, or my MK phone calls because I want to scrapbook. They must all fall into line or it doesn't work.

So tomorrow I'm going to try to get up early (5 am! Eek! Kate's doing it, too) and read my Bible, then run on the treadmill. That's how I'm going to start my day. From there I need to be a good mother to Eliana, including making sure she is fed well and disciplined calmly and consistently. I need to maintain a clean house for Leif and make sure that I follow through on a project if I start it. ONE PROJECT AT A TIME! (That's a hard one for me since I'm constantly getting distracted!) IF the house is clean and dinner is planned and Eliana is being taken care of (sitting in front of the TV so that she is out of my way doesn't count as being taken care of...) and I have made my MK phone calls and done anything that needs to be done there, THEN I am free to craft. I need to remember that.

Crafting is good, when it is done in place.
MK is beneficial, when it doesn't come before my daughter.
Playing with Eliana is good, but not an excuse for a messy house. I can interact with her just as well by teaching her to clean and help me pick up the toys she pulls out. There is more than one lesson to be learned there.

So... tomorrow? Tomorrow I'm going to start with my priorities in order. One day at a time and we'll see how it goes.

We've got Bible Study here at the house tomorrow morning and I've got a MK party at Kristin's house in the evening. That means I have a few hours in between to keep my priorities in line by myself. I think having a busy day will make it a little easier. Perhaps I can keep a few hours under control and gradually build up to more. I hope.

Just need to maintain...

Leif and I cleaned up the house last night, so theoretically, all I have to do is maintain it. I think that means I need to put away the stuff from lunch today, then. Ellie and I made a bento. =D

On the plus side, last night we went to bed with the house clean and I washed my face and did my skin care routine. It's amazing how much better my skin feels in the morning! I slept in a bit this morning, but once I did get up I made the bed, so it is all nice and ready for the day. It's amazing how that lifts my spirits to look into the bedroom and see a neat and tidy bed. It's crazy!

We're having chicken tonight of some variety. I asked Ellie what she thought we should have for dinner and she looked at me, cocked her head to one side, and said, "Ummm... how 'bout chicken?" It was too cute! So I have chicken thawing and we'll see what it turns into. I've got some tomatoes I have to use soon, too, so maybe we'll have something with those. We'll see.

It's a beautiful day out... and 40 degrees after snowing this morning. Maybe Ellie and I will head out for a walk, though I have a feeling she is asleep on the couch downstairs. If she is perhaps I'll take the free moments to work on the craft room so Erika can come and actually have a place to scrapbook on Thursday!

I also need to work on my MK flip chart for tomorrow's party! Can't forget about that...