Friday, July 16, 2010

do the next thing

is great advice...
most of the time.
This week - i feel a little bit overwhelmed. We just got back from holidays last week & we're *going* on holidays next week. i've got a lot packed into these 2 short weeks at home & i'm so hungry for sleep that i'm operating on about 4 brain cells. Add to that the fact that Neil has a lot of 'catch up, get ahead' to do & you've got me... a hot mess.
Usually - i can just look around me - & pick the biggest fire to put out & that's what i have to do next... but sometimes... every once in awhile... you gotta break from the next thing & jump to a different plain of existence called 'doing the unnecessary'.
That's what i did yesterday.
i tamed our home as best as i could, got laundry all caught up - including washing my sheets & putting them back on my bed. Then quickly, before more messes could be made, i gathered my chickies all into the silver fox. We drove to 130th & meandered through dollar stores, winners & walmart. They brought their coinage to spend & i found a scarf i wanted on clearance for $3. We looked for a swimsuit top for Sloanie & found a tank top for Cai.
When we were done, we loaded up & went for a couple of groceries. Cai picked out orange nail polish so she can do pedicures for all the little girls before our trip, i picked up more dish soap, worcestershire sauce & cinnamon. Taking our time, we wandered aisles - letting Gagey pick out veggie juice to go with the supper that i had left warming in the crock pot.
As we were about to leave, i grabbed a bouquet of flowers & bought that too. Just because.
Little E started to fuss as we walked through the line, so i gave Cai my mastercard & went & sat on the floor & fed him rather than trying to rush home with a fussy little one.
Our mellow little troop eventually filed out of the air conditioned store & back into our van while the littles made plans for a water fight in the backyard.
When Uncle Elmer phoned as soon as we got home - we had a nice long leisurely chat.
My flowers were neatly arranged in a vase on my table & i figured... 'ah, well - surely the next thing can wait till i'm done chatting with Elmer..."
& it did.
"The next thing" - eventually gets done. Plates keep spinning, laundry will come & go, my house will get messy, clean & messy again, i'll spend many days doing one necessary thing after the other...
But sometimes the unnecessary will take precedent - & that's ok with me.

6 comments:

mamalena said...

Sometimes we FLOW....and sometimes we COPE. Thanks for coming out to visit even though you have your other trip so soon after.

Jen said...

:)
Glad you could take a little 'breather' from the TO DO list. Those times are needed. And you'll be more ready & willing to tackle the 'necessary' things after.
I've taken too many days/hours 'off' lately so today is tackling the (as Kellan would say:) MESS!!!

Lori-Dawn said...

I sooo want to have that as my regular attitude! Just the more relaxed attitude about things...need to stop being so uptight about everything..sigh...loved this post! Cause life really is so much more than a stupid to do list!

The Nieboer News said...

and best of all...your kids are going to remember that day.

When E is 4 Cai will say "remember that time when you fed him on the floor at the grocery store" and
the orange nail polish will show up in pictures

No-one will remember that the 'next thing' waited a day or two...or five!

I'm proud of you for taking it easy!

Alicia said...

LOVE this!

Jeff said...

What a great reminder of the importance of the unnecessary to feed our souls and our relationships. I'm gonna go home from church today and attempt to do some unnecessary stuff with my kiddos.

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