Just doing it

I'm finding little inspirations everywhere this week. The weather has been perfect - sunny, warm with a crisp breeze. My daughter has been perfect - smiley and cheerful and ready to have fun. Things are just running smoothly this week. We made it to yoga for the first time in 3 weeks, J has been home early enough every evening to play with E while I cook dinner. We've been up early enough every morning to walk Dada to work and get Ralph's exercise in. At the end of the day, my To Do list is checked off and I feel accomplished.

I just feel good. A lot of it has to do with this new challenge Marca and I have been up to. It's forcing me to tackle all of the things that drive me crazy on a daily basis. But it's also forcing me to be more productive, and I'm happier when I'm productive. It's so very easy to let things slide and do nothing when I can get away with it. But instead of feeling rested after a bout of inactivity, I just feel more drained. Because I know I've wasted time and the opportunity to make things better.

This morning I filled a sink full of hot soapy water, donned my new pink rubber gloves and washed the coffee pot, wiped down all of the appliances on the kitchen counter...there are two...washed the Brita and changed the filter, all while E was working away at her blueberries and yogurt. She was right in front of me, so we could chat and I didn't feel like I was ignoring her. It took 5 minutes that I would normally have spent sitting down watching her eat. Now every time I get a cup of coffee today or refill my water glass, there's no little voice on my shoulder saying "Are you going to get to that today? Because you were supposed to do it yesterday and it's not like you haven't had time and it's just getting dirtier and..."

What a difference 5 minutes can make.