Does anyone else...

feel like they've run a marathon after a grocery trip?

Yesterday I left at 8:15am and we were back before noon. We did have a very industrious trip with 5 stops (I think most of our time was actually spent buckling and unbuckling children) and two weeks worth of groceries. All in all, I felt like I should be more tired (if saying, "Yes, they are all mine and, yes, I am busy" sapped one of energy I'd be really exhausted) but I decided additional exercise was not necessary. It may be a stretch of an excuse. :)

Yardwork, housework, cooking for Sunday, laundry, and maybe a little sewing are all on the "to-do" list for today. This was yesterday's project... a pillow for a friend.

Still no bloomers but I'm set on getting them sewn before the day is over.

Task of the day

If you know me well you know I've been talking about getting rid of all my toxic cleaners for...years. I saw this post from a friend yesterday, and determined to follow her good example and take the plunge. She has several recipes posted on the blog so you could get started right away. I'm off to the store to restock my cleaning cabinet. If anyone has other natural cleaning solutions or recommendations, I'd love to hear about them.

Pondering

The laundry is almost caught up from the busy weekend. The floors are semi-clean. The necessary items are ironed (read: WH's work clothes and our church clothes for this Sunday). Here are the other to-do items:

• put away laundry
• unload the dishwasher
  
• write the last two thank you notes from A's birthday
• edit and upload April/May pictures
• file paperwork
• re-organize toy bins
• dust
• clean master bath
• iron the rest of the clothes (laundry basket is overflowing)

I'm sure there are 10 more I could add, but these are the most pressing (in my mind, which is not necessarily what is most pressing in reality). But as a friend encouraged me yesterday, I'm not waiting until all these are neat and checked off to start this:

Sweet A is long overdue for a pair of bloomers to wear under her dresses in the summer, and I am about to burst I have so many sewing projects running around in my head.

I almost always make these kind of things a moral dilemma, not knowing how to divide my time. It seems there is always something else I should be doing. I know what my responsibilities are to my children, husband, and house. I also know that I am a woman and creating things is part of how I glorify God. But I have not yet found the balance... there is always something else that could be done. A wise woman once told me that I should not think of reading as a luxury; I needed to see it as an investment in my husband and children. When I am well read I have intelligent things to discuss with my husband, and more to pass on to my kids. Do crafty projects fit in that "investment" category as well???

On a totally unrelated note, we just set up a larger monitor with our laptop, so I can edit pictures (hey, this isn't totally unrelated). On my laptop, the background to this blog page was a pleasant apple green, but now I'm seeing it as lime or chartreuse, which was not what I was going for. Do I just need to adjust my monitor or are you seeing neon, too?