1st Day of Summer

Actually, it was only 1/2 a day of summer. The kids were out of school at 11:30 today. I figured that I'd just let them do whatever they want today... big mistake! By 2:30 the roof was raising. By 6 we were out of control. After a brief moment of "losing it"... we got a grip. While eating dinner we tried two things. First, we brainstormed a list of things we want to do this summer. Second, we brainstormed a list of expectations.


Hopefully, this will help us stay on track. By no means do I expect this to be perfect, however, I do expect it to give us some guidelines.

My personal list is extensive. I'm still in graduate school for the summer and have tons of homework to complete, but its also very important for me to get caught up around the house and work on all of those 'summer projects'.

I made a couple of goals for myself...

First, to tackle a job completely before moving on. This is very difficult for me... I've learned that I can get bored easily. So, I am really trying to stay focused and make progress.

Second, to keep sorting and purging daily... we have suddenly acquired a lot of stuff. I actually think that usually, in a normal year, I purge often, but with my full schedule I haven't made time to do it. So, bit-by-bit, I'm sorting clothes, bagging up toys and gifting/giving items away. I figure if I just keep at it, I will be finished in no time.

Today my task to stay focused on was paperwork! My goodness, my recycle bin is almost full and it was just dumped on Friday. It was an embarrassing project. To stay on task I first sorted through the piles and recycled anything that could be recycled. Then I went through the stacks and made piles:

• keep (kid papers, etc),
  
• file,
  
• bills to be paid,
• action items.

It made my job much easier. I made it through the stack on the table, the stack in the box, and the stack in the laundry room. Yeah me! Sadly, I still have to tackle the bar. Like I said, it was pretty bad.

*I also found a drawer for my coupons. I keep them in the circulars... it's easier for me to look through them this way. I keep coupons I get from various places or off of containers on the top.

I'm not sure why this photo loaded sideways...


And... the fun part of the day was picking strawberries from our garden (and the neighbors... they are out of town and told us to not let the berries go to waste).

and... homemade chocolate chip cookies... yum!

Looking forward to day 2!