What a day!

What a whirlwind of a day! It started snowing right before I had to pick up my toddler and go grocery shopping. But, we went shopping and had a blast. I love grocery shopping - I know, I'm weird or something! I love to hunt for coupons on the internet, print them out and then go shopping to see how much money I can save. It's like a game to me. Who has the best price, etc.... So, we got done and came home. I bought a pizza for dinner so we wouldn't have to worry about dinner when we got home and so we wouldn't have to go back out into the snow. I told Mike that if he could watch London for me, I could cook the pizza, put all of the groceries away, clean the bathroom and London's room, and do laundry & dishes. And guess what was my "prize" for getting all of my chores done? (Get your head out of the gutter!) My prize was being able to scrapbook for awhile on the computer tonight. Normally, I think of my chores as something I need to get done, and when they're done I can do something I enjoy like scrapbooking, crafts, bubblebath, etc.....Kind of like a prize at the end of the tunnel.
Sometimes I get frustrated that my house doesn't look perfect or that I'm not June Cleaver/Mary Poppins/Martha Stewart all rolled into one. I told my counselor about that too one time....she said that just because my house doesn't look "perfect" doesn't mean I'm a bad parent or anything......plus, look at the people who have the perfect-looking house - who do they have to sacrifice in order to get their house looking that way? Do they skimp on time with their children/spouse? Do they make their children always play in their rooms and spend most of their day yelling at them because they touched something? After she put it in that perspective, I'm pretty glad my house isn't perfect. I'd rather have a messy house and spend time sitting on the floor with my toddler playing dinosaurs. Laundry and dishes will always be there - but my son's childhood is a once in a lifetime thing. So, I've learned to just budget out my time and utilize the time that I do have to do the things I enjoy and that make me happy. Everyone's different - but that's what works for me. Plus, I make sure Mike knows that I have to have my "me" time everyday - whether it be scrapbooking, reading my many magazines, crafts, etc.....If you don't take care of you, you're not going to be able to take care of those most important to you.