What I Am

I'm before anything else a wife and mother. I love those two roles. There are a lot of days I don't feel overly successful at it, but I keep plugging along.

I am also an avid Twitter fan, and one thing I am active in participating with is the girls night out from Mom It Forward. Every week its a different topic related to family life.

What I have learned from this is I'm not too far off the mark as a homemaker. What I do works. Part of my problem is the comparison between myself, who works full time plus, and those who stay at home. I don't have the same number of hours to be cleaning.

I need to be smarter about my time.

Which I am.

My problem is I let a few comments here & there have power over me.

My biggest plus is my morning routine, which I have let others discount. It's 15-20 minutes of dusting, swiftering floors, as well as swish & swiping my bathrooms. It makes a difference. Iike leaving a tidy house when I leave.

After dinner I tidy up the kitchen & do my room of the day cleaning. That is, trying to do more detailed cleaning: polishing furniture, washing windows, changing sheets & towels, that sort of thing. My.goal is to.not spend all day Saturday cleaning.

Before bed, I try to tidy up but most nights that doesn't happen because I'm too tired.

I am also on the right track with meal planning. I have a framework: meatless Monday, chicken Tuesday, leftovers or breakfast for dinner on Wednesday, meat on Thursday, international on Friday and moms diner on Sat. I also feed the freezer: pasta, chicken, ground meat, breakfasts.

I realized over the last few weeks what works & what doesn't for.my family. I can't take some one else's blueprint & try to make it my own.