clearbluecup

So, just a quick update on my new year's resolution to be more organized - I made a cleaning schedule last night, with a short list of daily tasks (do the dishes, do one load of laundry, tidy the living room, etc) and one job each day that should be done weekly (clean the bathroom, wash out the cat box, mop the kitchen floor, etc) and some jobs that only need to be done once in a while but still need to be done (clean behind the appliances, for instance. this one frightens me so that is a sign that it needs to be done immediately.) Yep, boring as watching paint dry, right? But it totally works.

I am overwhelmed into inaction by the whole massive heap of cleaning that needs to be done in this house. But I can handle the manageable group of tasks I have set for myself in a day, and I feel so much more chilled out about the rest of the stuff that isn't on my list because I know I will do it when it is on my daily list.

So, after one day I am ready to declare the cleaning schedule a success. Ask me again in a month what I think of it and we will get a more accurate picture, I think. :)

As a reward for reading this dull as dust blog post, here is a cutie pie pic of my baby. Thanks to my dad for taking the photo.

just falling way behind on my blog posting.

So what's been happening here? Not much, really. Hence the infrequent updates. I withdrew from my course, and then the following day almost leapt straight into a decision to become a yoga teacher. Why can I not just make a decision about what I want to do and stick with it? I think I have some kind of problem here.

My goals for the new year are going pretty well so far. The cleaning schedule has been the biggest success out of all of them. Somehow having it all set out for each day makes it so much easier to cope, and I do actually get most of it done. I am also starting to see where I have room to re-gig the workload, like the floors upstairs really only need to be swept once every 2 weeks but downstairs needs to be done every week, so I may have a version 2.0 soon.

I finally joined the car co-op, and have been tootling around the place all month. I drove out to spanish banks and walked up and down the beach, even though it was cold and wet and windy. I drove to the vet and to the grocery store and even drove out to Port Coquitlam. After not driving for so much of my adult life, I really enjoy having the freedom of wheels at my disposal.

I have also posed a challenge to myself for the month of January - I will not spend money on stuff that isn't food, transportation or budgeted necessities. It's gone amazingly well so far, but I have discovered just how much I like to go out and shop as entertainment. Not a good way to save money. So now, in the last week of the month, I have a dilemma. Do I go and buy the amazing hair product that the hairdresser used on my hair when I got it cut yesterday? Does that count as a budgeted necessity? Does it count if I go and buy baby clothes at Value Village instead of Baby Gap or Babies R Us? I'm dying to go shopping, and Bea really is outgrowing her pyjamas again. But I probably could wait another week. I think the hair product is a necessity though. Nobody ever talks about it, but this post-partum hair loss has wreaked havoc on my hair. So either I wear hats until the end of the month, or I go and buy a blowdryer and hair goop. I know image isn't everything, but I hate feeling like some kind of hair-deficient freak.

Also, today we took lots of pictures of Beatrice. She is wearing the same pyjamas that she was wearing the last time we took pictures at home, and I know it looks like we never dress her in anything else, but we do. I promise. In most of the pictures, Beatrice is looking at me pointing this camera at her like, "what the heck are you doing with that thing, mom?" but if you look closely you will see the many faces of Beatrice in all her different expressions. It's amazing to me how fast she grows and changes. It seems like every week she can do something new with her hands, she can move her body in a new way and is making new noises and expressions trying to communicate with me.

I'm worried about Louis tonight. Tom let him out this morning and we haven't seen him since. He hasn't come home to eat all day, and we've called him several times and there is no sign that he is around at all.

I took him to the vet yesterday, so maybe he was ticked off about that and decided to make himself scarce in case I was going to take him again? Or maybe he just decided to go on a long adventure since the weather has been good? There is that part of my brain that fears he has been run over or somthing equally terrible has happened. :(

This sort of disappearance was normal in Ireland, but I didn't worry because I knew he was being taken in and fed by the neighbours. Maybe he's just a part-time kind of cat who likes to have a few different homes on the go at once. I hope so. It's the first time he's been gone for such a long time in this neighbourhood though.

...the very next day. Yes, Louis is back. He turned up at our back door at 6am this morning, looking wired and scatty like he'd been out partying all day and all night.

I'd love to know what he gets up to when he disappears like that. :)

Beatrice and I have started going to Music Together classes, and ever since we came home from class on Thursday I've noticed all kinds of things reverberating in our life. We've been playing the CD at home and at our friend's house, and the songs are so lovely - some are simple, others are a little more complex, but they are all totally accessible and very musical. And with the music playing at home I'm singing more, dancing more, clapping my hands and tapping Bea's feet and generally enjoying the musical experience quite thoroughly.

At one point this afternoon I found myself thinking how nice it would be to have a piano at home, to be able to sit down and play some of these songs myself. Or to learn the guitar and be able to strum lullabyes at naptime. Sure, it might be a romantic notion, and the reality may be that learning the guitar might turn out to be more difficult than I imagine, but regardless, I am re-inspired to make music (and MAKE music, not just listening or appreciating, but being part of the creative process) part of my life again. Which is wonderful.

It is one of the very peculiar things about being adult that a certain level of skill and confidence is expected of you if you want to make music, and we fall into roles of "performer" and "audience", but as children we just sing and dance and listen to others all together, without such rigid expectations.

The only downside? I have suddenly become obsessed with looking for a piano, which could be an expensive endeavour. Tom suggested getting an electronic keyboard, but it is so.not.the.same.