Time Flies

I really intend to blog every day.... honestly I do.  Somehow though, the days just get completely away from me and it is time for dinner (which I normally have no plan for) before I know it.

 When will I learn that my family desires to eat every.single.day - and not just once, either.  It is crazy how much time I spend in the kitchen.  I need a plan.  Don't bother to comment with any meal plan ideas or any thing like that.  I'm kidding, you can share away - but, for me, it isn't lack of knowledge that prevents me from getting organized in the kitchen - it is sheer laziness.  I know that to do this, I must be consistent in my planning and the execution of said plans.  I am just not there.  I wish I was, truly I do - but, I know myself and I know that right now if I bothered to sit down and make out a calendar and a shopping list, those hours would be wasted because I am just not going to stick it out.  I know it.

I do have to brag a little about my organizational skills in the laundry room.  Hey, it's all I've got.  Several years ago, I decided that I was not going to continue to stress myself out about the piles of laundry.  In a family of seven, there is some serious laundry going on.  I got my mind right - 99% of my battles are in my mind - and I assigned each of my older children a laundry day.  I assigned myself a day to do Stan's, Patrick's, and mine.  I explained the rules, which are simple.  You may wash your laundry, including your color coded towels, only on your laundry day.  That's it.  If you forget or don't get finished you have to wait a week to wash your clothes.  Y'all, this works like a charm.  For the ones who like to wear fifty outfits a day, a couple of weeks of washing their own clothes, they stop changing or start hanging them back up.  For the ones who thought I was kidding and just skipped their first day altogether and then came strolling into the laundry room another day with an arm full of dirty clothes - oh no, that only took once.  (You really can turn undies inside out you know)

It has been several years now and I have no laundry piles in the house.  None.  Everyone's clothes are cleaned once a week.  It is awesome!!  I have very few laundry issues now and my washer and dryer run five days a week - and no one is allowed to wash on weekends.

It really is all that I have a handle on, but hey - I'm getting there.  Maybe by the time I have only one child left at home I will actually be able to keep up.

Seriously, if you are struggling to keep up, you are not alone.  It is just the way it is for the most part with young families.  I truly don't let it get to me most of the time and I think being laid back about it is what keeps me sane.  Enjoy your kids, dirty dishes will wait and one day your house will be clean and quiet.  I, for one, am not looking forward to that.