If I Got Rid of Half My Stuff - Why Is So Much Left???

All right, I haven't gotten rid of half my stuff yet. But I moved bags and bags out of here over the last few weeks. So what I can't figure out is why my house is still a wreck!

Part of the problem is that we got five new windows installed late last week. Every one of them needs new trim inside and out and so half the rooms in my house are torn apart, the furniture shoved aside and regular storage blocked.

Plus it's the first week of school. I've got paperwork coming out of my ears. I'm juggling a million appointments, activities, class preparation, and phone calls and I'm constantly nagged by the horrible feeling that I'm forgetting something!

But this is life, isn't it? This is the excitement I welcomed with open arms when I became a wife, a mother, and a grown-up. So how do I tackle all of this without losing sight of my goal (and without losing my mind)?

Revert back to that schedule, that's what I do.

Remember the schedule? The one I promoted to get rid of guilt? Yep, that's the one. I've been making schedules, and the one I made for today says that even though my house looks like a hurricane roared through it, I can still spend an hour before lunch chatting with my friends, making phone calls and posting here.

That's because right after lunch I'm going to spend two hours on housework.

Then I'm going to pick up my daughter from the bus stop, have tea and cookies with all the kids, listening to their day and figuring out what needs to be done for tomorrow.

Four o'clock is my usual time to sit on my glassed-in three-seasons room out back, curled up in my rocking chair correcting kids' work and reading until it's time to cook dinner at five. I light a candle while I putter around the kitchen suddenly the process of putting a meal on the table feels like divine work. When I really get it together I'll turn on my current book on tape or listen to a Teaching Company lecture. For now I savor the silence and my own daydreams.

There's time enough for everything. There really is, as long as you write it on the list.