Things I've Been Meaning to Do {June} and an Introduction to I'm a Lazy Mom

I recently found a fabulous blog hosted by a gorgeous woman named Stacey. Her blog, I'm a Lazy Mom is a bit deceiving. According to her site, a lazy mom:

The short and skinny of it is this... a Lazy Mom is a mom who doesn't do everything for her children, she teaches her children how to do things for themselves, thereby making her a "lazy mom."
She raises her children to be responsible for themselves.
She teaches them to be ready for life when they grow up.
She gives her children boundaries so they feel safe and secure.
She doesn't let them "rule the roost."
She builds within them a "team" mentality.
She takes care of herself so that she can be a better mom. 
She loves her children so she disciplines them when necessary.
She leads her children by example.

See? I told you it was misleading. I think a mom who does all of the above criteria is anything but lazy. But a Lazy Mom is also a woman who:

Makes mistakes along the way.
Doesn't always get things done around the house.
Sometimes fails at this thing called mothering.
Apologizes to her kids when she gets it wrong.
Struggles over whether or not she's a "good mom" just like everyone else.
Prays for wisdom and guidance as she raises her children.
Realizes she can't do it alone.

Is this not just the epitome of who I am as a mother? (The answer here is, yes.) I find that I make several mistakes along the way and feel like I fail often. However, I told a friend of mine a couple of years ago that this whole childrearing thing couldn't be done by us mortal mothers alone; God has a very huge hand in things. In my case, I believe He spends quite a bit of time cleaning up my messes.

And speaking of messes...this brings me to her Meme: Things I've Been Meaning To Do. This meme is done on the first Monday of every month and includes pictures of our To-Do list (or more realistically, those things that always make our to do list and get pushed to the next day's to do list...and then next day's, and the next day's until finally, we realize that something that should have been done two months ago is still needing done.) If you click on the little graphic at the end of this post, you can read about other women who have the perpetually revolving to do list.

I have my own but I've decided that I'm going to use Stacey's meme to motivate me to do some things that I haven't quite gotten around to doing (Flylady would be so proud; after she passed out from the state of clutter in certain parts of my house, that is!)

And now...without further ado:

 This is our winter comforter. The Man Beast has been after me for months (well, since it started getting hot down here in GA) to change out this comforter into a more summer-friendly one. Every Monday I wash sheets (which is why the comforter is on the floor and my bed is naked). Today, I'm going to change out the comforter!

 This is my closet. In an effort to make the Love Nest less stress-inducing and more romantic, I put  stuff on the floor of our closet. In theory it was a good idea. Now, I am reminded of the mess every time the closet door gets opened.

 This is my over-flowing dresser. This one drawer is over flowing with t-shirts. Just t-shirts. I also have another drawer in this dresser that is overflowing and the The Man Beast has...well, all of his drawers in his dresser overflowing. I've only included a picture of my dresser because I feel that this is the only thing I can control. It would be my luck that I got rid of TMB's favorite t-shirt, pair of shorts (enter favorite item here) and he would want to wear it the very next day. I am notorious for doing this. Just ask him.

 This is our main bathroom. It's not that it's dirty (well, except for those cotton swabs that haven't found their way into the trash can because The Boy still has it in the mudroom from when he hosed it out last week) but all of this stuff can and should be put in drawers, cabinets and the like. In other words, there is no good reason for all this stuff being on the counter. It's visually stress-inducing, is it not? Oh, and you see that little white container in between the Speed Stick and Degree deodorants? That is a travel case for our sonic toothbrush from when we went to Atlanta a week ago. Seriously? The proper place for this item is three steps to the left, in the closet. It could have easily been put up when I did the laundry from the trip (which I'm proud to say I did the very next day...or two days later, at the most).

 This is the shelf unit beside TMB's computer desk in our study. Again, this is just a case of me not finding a home for all of this stuff. Truth to tell, I believe most of this stuff is mine except for the shelves that are on top of the box of file folders. Those are technically ours but he has to put them up because could you imagine what a mess of things I would make?

And last but not least, we have my desk which is also in the study. This was cleaned off last week some time. However, I went through some coupons (notice some of the circulars), went and picked up some medicine (notice the bag) and did a little homework now and then (notice the textbook under the red cell phone to your bottom right).

So, there you have it. This month's theme is uncluttering. All of the chores are caught up (my laundry is washed, folded, ironed and put away, thank you very much). These are the problem areas I need to focus on this month. And I will. Starting right now!

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