No Consistency

I find myself awake again...3 hours of sleep keeping the little one calm only to find my mind once again is unsettled. It seems this is my new norm as I continuously rehash the events of the day, the to-do list, lay out charts in my head to schedule what bills to pay next...even Pinterest is not appealing now.  Nothing of quality on TV and I am not sure why I waste my time.   Looking forward to a holiday of over indulgence...the scale isn't moving yet from these new barre workouts, so there's always Monday.   Back to 45 by 45 next week...seems like i am always falling a little short.   Upside is work will be productive...need to shift that productivity into personal balance!

Spring time is here!!

I finally have a quiet moment to sit down with my thoughts.  How nice.  I've been surrounded by unusual signs of Easter and Spring this week.  1st, when I drive the daughter to daycare, there's a small pasture on a curve.  I love this pasture - the gentleman owns land on both sides of the road and it is not unusual to see him in his 4 wheeler checking on the cows and heading for home.  I tend to come into the curve where his pasture is around 7:10 and usually the fog is lifting slowly.  It's so peaceful.  Lately though, one of the tree stumps looks like a rabbit.  Reminder to self that I really need to set up an eye appointment, but once again, the stump looked like a rabbit today - one of those big, brown Watership Down kind of bunnies.  It's amazing how your eye can fool you (or your heart can fool you) and you can see something beautiful out of a decaying piece of wood.

I am currently working on Mondays and Wednesdays and commute an hour each way.  If I stop in to plan the day with the parents, I take one route, but when I go right to the store, I take a route through the country - down Highway 24 through Townville (would love to live there) and into Seneca.  At the Anderson and Oconee county lines, there is a small Methodist church - I can't tell you what the windows looked like on previous trips, but yesterday morning the 4 lights of each window were colored like an Easter egg.  If my mind serves me right, there are 4 windows on each side.  What a wonderful display of spring and for those of you observing Easter - a quiet reminder.

On my way home yesterday, I decided to take another route - down Hwy 8 into Pelzer - Pelzer route, if you do it right, will drop you onto Georgia Road heading into Simpsonville.  I missed the turn and ended up in Fountain Inn, but that's ok...it's still easy getting home.  I love how small towns are - lots of picket fences, large yards with parents meeting the school bus, a baseball field filled with youth for afternoon sports and horses galloping in the fields.  It made me think a bit - with spring coming, it's a season for growth, re-prioritizing, re-focusing.  My daughter turns 1, my husband and I find ourselves constantly up against a list of to-dos, now compounded by the challenge of timing funds (since leaving the corporate world behind).  I'm looking forward to a little bit of scheduling so we can fit all the portions of our life in and still have fun in the process!  Enjoy the sunshine today - it's fabulous outside!!

Defining Portion Control

Thanks to Mom for helping to name this blog.  We were shopping for iPad covers the other day and I was talking about how I'd like to write about balance.  Inside joke here...as the oldest of 4, I had a knack during Sunday dinners for counting out breadsticks, crescents, biscuits, whatever...because if you looked the other way, we'd be down 1.  Sorry all...I want my 2 crescents!!  I have been dubbed the portion control queen for years....mind you, I wish I could have portion controlled myself.  My temple is still in disarray.  Hence the 2012 goal to lose the baby weight - and be healthy enough to chase her!!

So portion control for me is balancing obligations at home - I can never keep the house in order, but I'm not so down on myself about it - as well as striving to be the best wife and mother I can be without losing myself in the mix.  As I type, I am counting the days until my Thursday dinner with a good friend - no kids, no hubby, just girl time with wine!!  Of course, in this mix, I've now added a book club that meets twice a month, a mom's group that meets twice a month, weekly Sunday school teaching and I'll be working on the 2012 VBS committee at church.  Part of me thinks I need to say NO, but the other part - I realize I'm filling my time with good soul fillers.  Very exciting and very glad to have a husband who strongly encourages my extra life-stuff. 

In efforts to figure out balance, I spoke to a woman at a recent church training (who knew that leading Jr. and Sr. High Sunday school would require so MUCH training) and like me, her background is in compliance (former accountant and internal auditor here - now turned mommy hoping to find meaningful part time work).  She has taken her father into her home after a divorce leaving him with no $$.  To balance work, church, her son's extracurricular stuff and keeping her house in order, she had Home Depot cut a white board for her so she can list her tasks.  Yep, us accountant-types like to cross off those completed tasks and see what we've done.  I guess it's like the accountability partners I read about in those self-help/how-to-get-the-most-of-life books.  I've never been so grateful to have no wall space for a whiteboard!!

So today, I dropped off little one to daycare, took over my home office and while I drink my morning caffeine and download some music, I type.  Next step - onto some kitchen and dining room cleaning, lunch with friend, grocery run and maybe a nap to knock out this cold once and for all.  I realize it's all about taking bites...one small portion at a time.

Getting Started

So, I've decided to take a stab at blogging....this is tougher than I thought...what to name the blog, what to type about?  When am I going to find time to do this between taking care of a 9 1/2 month old, deciding what to do career wise and juggling time between book clubs, Sunday school and whatever else comes my way.  I joined my 1st Mom's Group this month...exciting, but YEP, another book to read.  It's proven to be an easy one though :-)

This has been one tough week....little one was out of daycare with an ear infection on Monday and Tuesday and I have managed to get sick AGAIN.  Low immunity since pregnancy I guess.  Hopefully I can sleep it off tonight.

Hubby and I had the best day today.  Little one was just perfect, pulling up on everything and anything she could get her hands on.  She got in a long nap and ended her day with some pizza (one of her favorites).  Once again, I count my blessings because we could not have asked for a better baby.  No second guessing myself today....just daydreaming about a possible #2??  Not right now :-)

Next step...to define portion control and what it means to me and to get this thing rolling.  We'll see.  Only time will tell.