what you don’t do…

22 March 2010

is just as important as what you do. I truly believe this. There are so many good things in life to choose from. It’s hard choosing the best things for ourselves and our families, but as we all know, something’s gotta give. The perfect woman who does everything doesn’t exist. And if she did, she just wouldn’t be very much fun. I’m convinced of that. One of my very favorite Simple Mom posts of all time is The Great Myth. Go read it. There is also a wonderful discussion over at Angie’s. I told her I would respond in a post that I’ve been meaning to write forever. So here we go~
In Tsh fashion, I’m sharing some things I don’t do to make room for the things I’d rather do:
I don’t sew. I wish I did. Someday I want to, but right now, my glue gun and hemming tape are best friends.
I don’t scrapbook. I used to, but I didn’t love it. Now, I just load my family pictures to our family blog and call it good. The plan is to publish the blog into a book every few years. But I’m really behind with that too, so we’ll see. :)
Ironing? What’s that? I threw out any shirt of my husband’s that didn’t look great after a few minutes in the dryer with a wet cloth.
The PTA hates me. I know I’m on their black list. I haven’t signed up to help with anything for the past year.



At my funeral, no one is going to stand up and say, “Melissa had the cleanest house.” For sure. That’s not my goal in life either. I get emails asking how I keep it so clean with 5 kids?? My dears, those pictures of our last house were taken on the morning the realtor guy came to take pictures for the virtual tour when we were getting ready to put our house on the market. I spend 3 weeks getting the house ready for those blasted pictures…they better look awesome! And then I took a picture about an hour and a half later and everything was back to normal:
oct 2009 366 I’m not on Facebook. I don’t Twitter (tweet?) I’m the world’s slowest texter. Can you say nerd?
The last time I washed sheets was in February sometime? (disclaimer on this one: if you’re ever a guest in my home, or have been I promise you’ll have fresh, clean sheets)
I don’t even shower everyday. Come here and give me a hug :) This would be taken care of if I actually worked out and got sweaty every day. I had exercise penciled in 5 times last week and guess how many actually happened? Once on Monday morning. I have such grand plans for the week on Mondays…
If I wear makeup, it’s usually because I keep a makeup bag in the van and there are 3 stoplights on the way to preschool.
I don’t watch much TV. We always record the Office, and I have a million HGTV shows and Oprahs I would love to catch up on, but it’s probably not going to happen.
Okay, that’s enough don’ts for today. I want to leave you with a quote from Marjorie Hinckley that I love:
"We women have a lot to learn about simplifying our lives. We have to decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for us. We have to develop the maturity to stop trying to prove something. We have to learn to be content with what we are.
As you create a home, don’t get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family. Don’t dwell on your failures, but think about your successes. Have joy in your home. Have joy in your children. Have joy in your husband. Be grateful for the journey." ~Marjorie P. Hinckley
Happy Monday~try to not to base your self esteem on how many things you cross off your to-do list today...