Kevin, being the awesome husband he is, planned to take the kids out to the park today after breakfast, for them to get some time outside before it got too hot and to give me a break. I figured once they left, I’d dive right into this blog and get as much writing done as possible. I mean, come on. No kids? Silence? What? Perfect atmosphere to get some writing done. (Instead of now, with sounds that seem to come from a deranged monkey mixed with some type of bird filling my head space. Thanks, Evan). So… what did I do as soon as I kissed them all goodbye and shut that front door?
I went to my closet to put something away and I couldn’t ignore how messy it had become any longer… how things had piled up and been placed here and there. How vacation souvenirs and travel sized toiletries were still waiting to be put in their place. How excess clothes were taking over and Kevin’s half (or quarter) of the closet was getting smaller and smaller. How the tools we used putting together the desks in my husband’s new office space were sitting on top of the toolbox and threatening to fall and squish my toes each day…. So, I got to work. I started organizing everything before I even knew I wanted to. I cleaned, organized, and purged for an hour and my closet looks great again.. But now, I had lost an hour of writing time.
So I went to my desk feeling accomplished, sat down, and saw the pile of receipts I had cleared out of my desk earlier this morning staring me in the face.
Let’s rewind a moment to January 1st of this year. A friend of mine suggested that I keep track of how much I save my family by shopping sales or using coupons. This would help me see how much financial help I am to my family, even without having an official job. (I do HR work for my husband’s business, but obviously it’s not the same as going out and bringing home a paycheck every other Friday). I loved the idea when Megan suggested it. I tracked my savings for most of January and was feeling good about it, but then…. life got in the way. My son got sick… my daughter got sick… I got sick… and EVERYTHING stopped. So… in other words…. I hadn’t touched the savings log since then.. which resulted in a drawer of receipts that I was holding on to, in case I decided to go ahead and start it up again…
Now, back to the present moment. There I was sitting at my desk, hoping to write…. but staring at that pile of receipts… I had told myself (and my hubby) this morning that I would handle it this weekend or I would throw them out and forget the idea… (Not that my husband cares what I do about all of that. He loves me, supports me, and cherishes me. This was just something that I wanted to do, and he supported it). So I started sorting. I organized by months. I checked for savings. I wrote it all down in my log and trashed all the receipts that weren’t important. I got it done… but by then, the kids were already home and were eating lunch… so no quiet writing time for me. Oh well. Plans change. Life goes on.
Apparently today was a day that I needed to organize and purge, because after that, I got caught up on my logs for my steps and miles biked too. Organizing and purging are sure-fire ways to ground myself. The decluttering of our space and bringing in new energy is freeing for me. It feels like a breath of fresh air once it’s all said and done. And now… after all of that, I’m able to sit here and write. Yes, the kids are loud and playing. The living room TV is on. The dryer is going and I can hear the AC kicking on, but I’m here.. and letters on the keyboard are being pecked, creating words on my screen and I’m happy, nonetheless.
