If You Give a Mom a Blog Space: Hello, my name is Michelle, and I'm a SHE

Yes, it's true, I admit it freely. I embrace the truth so that I can release the guilt. I am a SHE, a.k.a. Sidetracked Home Executive. I could write a flowerly, good-feeling definition here, but I'm on the track of truth, so I'll be blunt. I'm a horrible homemaker. I'm insanely ADD. I can't recall, from one room to the next, what in the world I was doing. I almost never finish a household task, usually beacuse I see something wonderfully shiny, get distracted, and....see prior sentence. Clean clothes, what are they? *Where* are they? Toys? We have a zillion, but between being misplaced, out of batteries, missing pieces, etc. nobody gets to play with them. Rent check? Why yes I mailed it Honey....oh...maybe not...I know it's here on my desk *somewhere*. What's for dinner? Er....isn't it "Eat Out" night tonight? (said as I stare panicked into the freezer, where I have plenty of lovely meats, all frozen solid as a rock...and it's 5:00pm) I love having plants and a garden, but I never remember to water them. I love having time to play with the kids, but I never do because I feel so guilty that I'm not doing the housework that so desperately needs to be done...and then it never *gets* done because I'm so overwhelmed with the mess.

The positive in this is that my nature is one of wonder, joy, excitement and happiness. I love *everything* and cannot bear to miss any of it. I'm that person who stops to look at a tree, because the sun is streaming through the leaves in a magical way. I see the beauty in dustmotes sparkling through the air, caught in the sun from my kitchen window. I have so many treasure around the house that I simply MUST top and enjoy some of them as I pick up a room (which never, ever gets picked up). Ah yes, we see where this joy and beauty sometimes leads me. Oh all right, *always* leads me. Because even though I can see the beauty everywhere, my house - to the outside eye - is far from beautiful.

I've tried several approaches to getting myself organized. I won't go into the insanity of many of them here, because I already look loony enough. Suffice it to say, nothing has worked. Until now! Yes, I finally have hope that I will overcome my SHEness! Enter Pam Young and Peggy Jones, the self-professed "Slob Sisters". They are SHEs too, and they wrote a book many years back titled, "Sidetracked Home Executives, from Pigpen to Paradise." In short, they devised a system with 3x5 index cards that has changed my entire approach to being a homemaker. I actually *feel* like a homemaker this week! Not a housewife, a HOME MAKER - making my house a HOME, where my family and friends are comfortable, safe, secure, loved, happy, relaxed and joyful. This has been my dream for 30 years - it's what I always wanted to be. (Yes, always - I never wanted any other career than that of wife and mother. So 1950s, I know, but it's true!)

Oops....sidetracked by my own shiny there. Anyway! I have a 3x5 card for *everything* that I do - daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, yearly. They are color coded and filed in a lovely pink box. My dear friend Rachel calls it my "Magic Box", and it really is!! I'm sure to those of you who are Born Organized (a phrase also coined by Pam and Peggy), this sounds utterly ridiculous. To my fellow SHEs, you're nodding your heads in total agreement and understanding. :) Yes, even brushing my teeth, making my bed, cleaning the breakfast dishes, feeding the cats - it's all on cards. I finish the card, I refile it in the next divider (next day, week, etc.). I *know* I did it. I *know* it'll get done again, on time. All hail the Magic Box!

I know it's only week 1 (day 2), so it's pretty early to be shouting my success from the rooftops. But I feel so accomplished and focused (for me, those are very relative terms). Today, before 11:00am, I had completed *SEVENTEEN* tasks. Seven-freakin'-teen. This is more than I usually get done in a *week*. I did so much work that I truly enjoyed taking a few minutes to chat with my hubby, write up this blog, and now I'm going to hang with my kids and eat lunch. Then a few more tasks to finish off the cards for today, leaving me free to daydream and play however I please.