An Overdue Snapshot

Yikes! It's been 11 days since my last entry! Here we go:

What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Catch up on cropping!!! I've scheduled two crops for myself, OUTSIDE the home, because it's the only way I keep the commitment. This is a TOP priority now. I've slacked too long and I'm just getting further behind. It's time to treat it like maintenance and have a regular schedule of cropping. Because time is at a premium, I'm settling for two a month until I do a crop weekend in January. I'm not waiting for my friend's homes or schedules to be available...I'm scheduling them at a local crop store...so if I need to go by myself, I will. No excuses.
--Finish painting the railing upstairs
--Ask my mom if she can watch Mary while I'm Mommy Helper for Ben's preschool
--Take Sam to get his bands put on and pay the Orthodontist a lot of money

What have I accomplished in the past couple of weeks?
--Fly lady!! I've been following her plan. We've gone from the Kitchen, to the bedrooms, to the Master Bedroom. I've cleaned out closets, drawers, the fridge, painted baseboards, railings, and touched up doors. My house is so much easier to clean now because it is organized! It is the most exhilirating feeling to finally be making it a priority. I felt too overwhelmed before, but now the time is right. I just grab time wherever I can get it, kids napping, Ben at preschool, weekends when Ted's home. It's like my house is ready to be on the market and it's not for sale! Before I needed an excuse to keep my house this clean...a birthday party, a babysitter coming over, etc. Now, I'm ready at a moments notice. Ted's cousin's family e-mailed and asked if they could stay at our house for the weekend during a family golf tournament. I didn't have to think twice. Sure! Four more people added to our houseful of six. It's great to always feel "ready".
--I had my first PTO meeting with the parents. It went great! I showed the slideshow and got a lot compliments from it. We also had samples from our Shop For Our School vendors and there was plenty of food for everyone. We also had a speaker from our new Keys to Success program. It's DONE. There are only two a year and the last one is in April.
--I've done a lot of organizing for PTO that would be boring to anyone but me. We've got Chuck E Cheese coming Monday and a Fundraiser at Chuck E Cheese's Monday night. The following week, we have a McTeacher night. At the end of the October is our Family Halloween Trivia night.

What's been bugging me?
--Mary won't wear underpants anymore. She wants her diaper. I guess the constant pottying in the toilet was too strenuous. She did it perfectly except for the poop part. She doesn't want to do it anymore. I'm stuck in the diaper stages a little longer. I'm going for a big push when she turns three. The girl is stubborn, she may not like the "Ben Approach" of do or die. We'll see. I'm giving her a break while I think up a game plan. 1) Hide diapers and tell her we are out. 2) Offer huge incentives (what's bigger than the Care Bears, big girl's bed and ear peircing that I've already offered her??) 3) Wait until she's ready.
--How behind I am on cropping
--My family room carpeting is FILTHY. It is really disgusting. I don't know how old it is because it was here when we moved over 3 years ago. You know how you put off putting in new carpeting until your kids are out of the messy stages? I don't think I can wait for that. I'm thinking February or March when that income tax return comes in. I know we said no more home improvement while we save for highschool, but I'm sure this small little improvement couldn't hurt?
What's been making me happy?
--My involvement in school
--Fly Lady
--Accomplishment
--A sense of purpose
--Ben finally enjoying preschool instead of begging me not to take him
--The PTO meeting is over