Ramblings From a Monday Morning:

Sitting at my desk, contemplating life and my to-do list....

It's a new week! Come on, let's GO!!

My house smells like burned toast. Guilty confession: At 10:00pm last night, I wanted toast with frosting on it. And my toaster somehow knew this was not a healthy choice, so it annihilated the two pieces of toast. I swear, I've never burned toast this bad. It was a sign. So what did I do? 

I made more toast. And babysat it this time, so it wouldn't burn. And slathered SO MUCH FROSTING on it. And it was amazing. 

Take that, toaster. 

It is a gloomy day outside. I had a MASSIVELY gloomy day internally yesterday, and so when I rolled out of bed this morning, trying so hard to pry my eyes open, I was prepared to let the mood continue. I was prepared to say, "screw the morning walk idea. It's cold and gross and I just want to be lazy." But checking the temps outside, I was surprised to see that it was already 41 degrees-- 15 degrees higher than the morning temps of late. And I knew I'd be a fool to waste this morning for walking. So I dragged myself into walking clothes, silently thanking Joe for having already fed Noah breakfast, and quickly fed Lucy and myself and bundled them up for the drive/walk to preschool. 

Ya know what? It may be a gloomy day today, but I feel 100% better than I did yesterday. And I KNOW it's because of the exercise. Stinkin' exercise. Why must it be SO hard to make ourselves do, when it CLEARLY does so much for us beyond physical well being?? Blergh.

I'm trying so very hard to make a daily 30-minute walk become involuntary. Not optional. Intrinsic to who I am. I've been working on this since October. I am not there yet at ALL. But the goal has been a worthy one, and I keep pushing for success. I mean, taking a shower is NOT OPTIONAL. How do we reach that mindset? And how can I get it to apply to a 30-minute walk? Shower. Of course. Walk. Of COURSE. 

I'm trying. 

Up for the week: Nothing HUGE that must get done, but a lot of tiny things. My parents came to town this weekend and my mom helped me tackle our basement all day Saturday. It felt AMAZING. AAAAA! When we first moved in here, it was only going to be for 6 months. So the basement, made up of two halves, ended up being a "catch-all" place. One half was chock-full of our moving boxes, still packed, all the things we loved. The other half was the place for "MISC." Things we needed, but not immediately... half unpacked boxes... new stuff we acquired but didn't have a place for. Photography props. Outgrown toys. Empty boxes saved for future packing or care packages or whatever. Now, 2 years later, it had gotten OUT OF HAND. And I've been in the mood to trim, pare, purge my life so very much, that I've been itching to get down there and make magic happen. Purge with a vengeance. So this Saturday was AMAZING. With the help of my powerful, energetic, incredible mom, we got the crazy half of the basement SO organized--- stuff trimmed down to a third of what it was before.... so many things thrown away or donated... And a new sense of order-- a more PERMANENT sense of "basement order" down there now. So much so, in fact, that my parents brought with them a full-sized bed and frame and we'll set it up in a cozy corner down there (what basement is EVER cozy, I ask you? NONE. So I'm being optimistic when I call this corner cozy.)... and there will be a little more space for the family we love that we often host. It's no "Oprah Guest Room"--- (my dream guest room, someday, will TOTALLY be like Oprah's guest rooms in her home(s)--- gorgeous linens, lovely light, and a gift basket with a novel or two, a bottled water, a bag of something yummy, and , like, a freakin' brand-new BATHROBE or something... SOMEDAY.)--- so yeah, it's not THAT, but it'll do. 

Whoops. That was a Basement Cleaning Tangent. What I was getting at, is that this week, I don't have anything HUGE to tackle, but I'd love to get back down there and work on the other half of the basement a bit. I'd also love to work on my new website a bit. I want to work on some personal photo things. I want to put together a Cupcake Party ASAP--- like I did a few years ago. I want to maybe begin sewing bumpers for Lucy's crib... I dunno. Lots of little things. 

So. 

I guess I'd better seize this moment, since Lucy finally stopped chatting into the baby monitor and is asleep, and Noah is at school. High Ho, High ho, it's off to work I go....

Doo dee doo!

Have a marvelous week, friends!