My View From The Hills

Isn't it annoying when you start off with all good intentions and then things just don't work out?! That was this past week. I give myself until the next Washing Day to complete it all before starting all over again. But so much "life" has happened that sometimes I can't even do that! My Washing Day last week on Thursday came and I got going. I think I had something on in the morning (that shows you how bad my memory is..) so I knew I couldn't get to it straight away. Then Mr 3 and Miss 10 months needed my attention, errands happened, school finished, Miss 10 had piano lessons, then we had a Girl's Brigade dinner at a playground, so the washing was left partly done. Now partly done means there was washing in the machine, on the line, and in tubs in front of the machine waiting to be washed. It stayed like this all weekend, with me very slowly moving the washing through. Monday came along and it was hot, humid, and Miss 10 months needed me pretty much all...

I was hoping to have a really good update after completing two weeks of me trying to change my habits and getting my life under control. I've done what I usually do and run out of steam by the end of the first week. Here's a quick run down of what my goals were: Clear and sweep floors daily Complete all washing on Monday's and Thursday's.  BUT! There's one difference I have noticed this time. I haven't given up and I'm not viewing things as failures. I think I have only completed the washing on one Washing Day so far. The rest have taken a bit longer. I have noticed a few things that I may need to tweak going forward.  1) I need to make sure I have the first load in the machine on a delay start the night before so it's ready first thing in the morning. Because I don't rise before 7 (or before my kids for that matter) I haven't been able to start the load first off. It gets to about 9.30 before I have the mental space and focus to g...

Does anyone else feel like they make good headway during the week and then come Saturday morning everything is thrown out the window? I know for me and my family we go into relax mode come Friday night. Even the dishes don't always get done as we do dinner and movie night, so by the time evening comes we don't want to do anything... So we leave it for Saturday morning. But we know there's a high chance it won't get done. The kids get up and watch TV for a couple hours on Saturday and my husband and I want to be in relax mode and the last thing we want to do is chores! By Friday last week I was completely on top of washing, I felt good about how my week went, and then Bam! The weekend arrived. Hardly anything got done. Monday morning arrived - my least favourite morning - and dishes were still all over the bench from Sunday, and I had to get breakfast ready, and Mr 3's kindy lunchbox packed to take him to kindy for 9am. It was a mission, but I was adamant I want...

It's been three days since I decided to try yet again to get things under control and create new habits. I haven't failed because I have kept my expectations very low. During past attempts at building new habits I have set myself up to fail for several reasons: I try and accomplish too much all at once; I start with what I believe to be the "best habits to have", yet I fail to do the simple, small, daily tasks; I try and add in a new habit every day, so by the end of the week I'm trying to do 7 new habits; or I'm following advice from a naturally tidy and organised person with 0-2 kids - not 6!  This time I am starting small, with things that I do reasonably well anyway. My goal is to improve on those tasks to the point where they are more natural and don't take long to do.  Getting the kitchen tidy from all the dishes (plus other things that get left on the bench) takes about 5 minutes. I can do that! I can boil the jug to make a hot drink and ac...

Today is the day. I have decided it is time to hold myself accountable. I know no one is reading this; at least not yet - maybe never. But I'm ok with that. This is where I am going to be vulnerable, real, bold, and courageous. I may appear to have it all together by those who know me or even people I come across while I live my life. I'm pretty good at smiling and pretending things are ok. Some people assume I'm some sort of Super Mum because I have 6 kids (I have been told on numerous occasions that I am one, so I have to be, right?!) How else do I manage to get the kids to school or church and still look calm? I laugh inwardly when people say I must be so organised with a large family. I'm always honest with them and reply that I am far from it. But sometimes I see the look in their eyes and know they don't believe me. So because I'm so good at making it look easy, I'm here to say it's not. Not all the time. I struggle with life at the moment be...