Tuesday is Kitchen Day

I'm noticing that faithfully (or perhaps, routinely is a better word) focusing on different areas of the house produces results.

Last week I cleaned the refrigerator, meaning I washed the drawers and wiped down the shelves.

THis week those still look pretty good, but the air thing down at the bottom, and the side shelves, look gross. So I'm concentrating on those.

This is a bit like therapy works. LR (another homeschool mom) and I were talking about our special needs child. Hers is older. She says the doctor told him that it is so hard for him to focus on just coping, that he has no focus left for actually doing well on new things. This corresponds with how Aidan walked when he was first learning. He had to concentrate so hard on not falling that it took a vast amount of energy.

If you work on getting all systems in gear, then the thing in question can move forward.

If I am barely managing the basic house maintenance, I will have no time for the finer details. But the basic maintenance can be pretty automated, actually, so that helps me pay attention to the things beyond the basics.

NOW -- my next task is always not to get discouraged by what remains to be done. This happens in all areas of my life. Once I am beyond treading water and actually able to swim a bit without gasping, I look around and see endless horizons on each side and get....discouraged. There is no land in sight.

This happens in my spiritual life too. I think the conventional strategies are to celebrate the small victories and to concentrate on the "process", the habit or disposition rather than the end result.

Also, I think I will have to acknowledge that I will always be cyclicar and try to figure out a way to work that into my basic goals. If I streamline and systemize a basic routine maybe that can be the default.

I have to go back to the kitchen now and bring an almost 3yo downstairs.