"Little House On the Prairie"

Making goals usually helps me to feel like I am accomplishing things.  It doesn't really matter if I would have done them anyway, somehow putting it down on paper and crossing it off helps.  Yes, I have done something that was not on the list, added it to the list and then crossed it off.  It's my paper and I can.

Not wanting to overwhelm myself while I am still adjusting to working a full time job,  I'm going to start small.  Here are my goals for this week:

1) Go to bed each night with a clean kitchen.
2) Do one load of laundry each day.  From start to finish, which means folding and putting away.
3) Plan with Matthew his birthday party with his friends. 
4) Make the invitations.
5) Change the picture display in the dining room.  (It still has SNOW and winter pictures on it.)
6) Finish reading "My So Called Life As A Proverbs 31 Wife."

Well, I can already say I have checked #6 off my list.  I couldn't find one of our two kittens last night, so while I was waiting for him to come out, I finished reading the book.  Between waiting for the kitten, my two year old waking up around 1:30 a.m. and then the kittens coming to play on top of me at 5:30 in the morning, it was a short night.  Still, I could get the laundry and the dishes done.  That seemed bare minimum to me.

Somehow, all my plans seem great when I'm starting them the next day or I make plans in the morning.  Coming home around 6:00 from work, not eating dinner until 7:00 and then finally getting both boys to bed at 8:30, sure does change how motivated I feel. 

I whined to my husband that I was tired and still needed to do the dishes.  He told me that he would just work on them tomorrow.  I know how his day looks tomorrow.  Even though he doesn't have to go into work, he does have errands to run... with the boys.  I really need to do the dishes.

Setting the timer for 15 minutes should give me long enough to at least get the dishwasher loaded and going.  As I alternated between loading the dishwasher and washing the bigger dishes by hand, I thought how blessed I was to have a dishwasher.  This got me to thinking back to a conversation I had with friends about people who lived in the 1800's, the period of time that the book "Little House on the Prairie" was set in.  They had to wash all their dishes by hand and with no running water.  All the modern day conveniences we have.  Washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, mini vans, computers, cell phones... the list could go forever. 

Yet, I'm sure they weren't running off to work in the morning, dropping their children off at daycare and then trying to cram everything into the two hours they had together before the children had to go back to bed.  They had to plan out their trips into town and only made monthly or quarterly trips.  No driving to the store to pick up a few things you forgot and needed to complete that nights meal.  Back in their time, people wrote each other letters and dropped in for coffee.  No facebook, texting, cell phones, or blogging.  

I know that in any century, women feel overwhelmed and have much on their plate.  I just think that maybe, just maybe, doing all those things the hard way wasn't so bad.  I kinda think their plate looks pretty.