A Life Hack for Your Monday

It's the end of a Monday, and it's been a good one.  That in itself is kind of an odd thing to say, isn't it?  

I've been trying out this amazing new secret for productivity the past couple of days.  It's called, writing things down.  Try not to let your mind be blown by my originality.  

My brain becomes so overloaded by the sheer number of possibilities for a day that I can get stressed out and overwhelmed before I even start one thing.  Utilizing our chalkboard wall the past couple of days has harnessed so much of my mental energy.  It puts it all out there and helps me focus on the most needful tasks.  I had everything crossed off the list for today except for "write a blog post," so here at the end of a day, a small record of our Monday and some sunset pictures from Valentine's Day.

Today's memorable moments included watching Mt. St. Helen erupt on YouTube with James as we were reading about volcanoes for our science lesson.  I have found YouTube such an educational tool with him lately.  We've also watched a tsunami or two and a cartoon about Henri Matisse.  And to think it started out as a place for people to share videos of their cats.

I started reading Old Yeller aloud to James this afternoon.  Too soon?  I have so many memories of watching that movie with my family growing up, though I usually had to leave the room when Travis shot Yeller.  I was surprised that he reveals that he is going to have to kill the dog in the first paragraph of the book, so I made sure to point that out to James.  There will be no surprise sad endings here!  Though I guess the sad part is how much it will hurt to have to do it.  I much prefer the sequel, Savage Sam.   It's not nearly such a tear-jerker.

In an attempt to not spend all my time cleaning up after the kids, I had Ella make James's bed today. I could have asked James to do it, but I guess I wasn't ready to relinquish that much control of it looking good.  I knew Ella would do a good job, as she has been making her bed faithfully every morning for a few years now.  Plus, I think James was taking a Math test at the time, and Ella had a few minutes to spare.

I'm going to go check this off my list now.  Feel free to borrow my amazing secret to accomplishing your everyday chores and responsibilities.  Go forth and write things down.