of a Yarn Harlot book! Huge thanks to Brenda for mailing me her extra copy. I'm very excited to have fun reading on my bookshelf now, and am hard-pressed to make myself do the many household tasks on my to-do list with that book beckoning me from the kitchen counter.-----
The weekend was great. I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the kids did with their cousin. Elli in particular has reacted very strongly to her cousin for more than a year, making visits stressful for everyone. Elli is extremely sensitive to loud sounds and intense emotions, so crying and yelling are particularly traumatizing to her. Toddlers do lots of crying and yelling and throw tantrums at least once in awhile - it's the way life is until they learn self-control (Well, we hope they learn self-control, but this requires proactive parents... and that's a blog topic for another day). Anyway, we spent a few days preparing her for the visit and encouraging her to remain calm and give her cousin a chance. This seemed to really work well this time, so we are encouraged that Elli may be learning to handle her reactions to things better. The cousin did much better too, so all the kids interacted much better and it was a fairly harmonious weekend. They certainly had their moments, but they really enjoyed playing together.
The second-best part of the weekend was that, with the kids getting along so well, I actually had time to play with them! In the past, I've spent so much time working with Elli and trying to calm her down that I haven't played or interacted with the others. Or if I had time, I was so exhausted that all I could do was collapse on the couch. This time I got to take my niece and son on a hike in the woods behind the house, go across the street with all the kids to check out the baby ducks, turkeys, and chicks the neighbors are raising, and just cuddle with everyone. (Elli got to hold the baby animals, which she loved!) My niece really sparks to affection and I could tell that she was glad I had time to hug and play with her too. I'm hoping that this is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives and that this summer holds many more opportunities to get the kids together.
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The best part of the whole weekend was having a date with my husband Saturday night. My mother-in-law recommended a new restaurant to us, which was fabulous. We were actually under-dressed, which is a rarity in that area. The restaurant, William's, was a cute little place nestled in an old downtown building. The interior was very elegant with exposed brick, wood crown moulding, and linen tablecloths and napkins. I had one of the evening's specials, blackened Walleye with asparagus and potato wedges. The house salad was reminiscent of the Olive Garden salad, and the home-made bread was excellent. We spent two hours there, partially because our waitress got trapped by a large, rather high-maintenance party, but we didn't mind at all. Having such excellent food in a quiet setting with my favorite person... you can't beat that!
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Scott has been telling about this task-management system he's been using at work. I've decided to try using it here at home. His boss taught him the method after he showed her his 3-page-long to-do list.
A to-do list is a great thing, but when most of us write them, we find the sheer number and scope of things quite overwhelming. Scott is now making a shorter weekly priority list. These are a handful of items that he focuses on completing, in addition to all the normal things he does in a week's time.
The other thing he does is use an accordion file folder with a slot for each day of the month. When he needs to follow up on something or remember to do something at some point in the future, he prints an email or jots a note to himself and files it on the date he wants to address it again. Then each day he pulls out that day's reminders.
Doing these things frees him up to focus on just the work of each day, instead of spinning his wheels trying to remember things or figure out what to do next or ponder how on earth to finish all the stuff on that 3-page list of things to do.
Now that I'm going to be starting a part-time job, I'm even more in need of a good system to keep everything straight. So I think I'm going to work on a list of chores that I need to do every week. Then I'll write out all the extra things that need to be done in the near future. From that list, I'll select a few to focus on this week in addition to my regular tasks. I'll also work on a reminder file. Hopefully this will help me work more efficiently, take care of my home more thoroughly, and remember all the things I need to. I'll let you know how it goes!
