To my unknown depressed and poor brethren and sistren – hang in there…

HER: Is your Christmas tree up yet?
ME: Nope.
HER: Christmas is in like two weeks!
ME: On the 25th. Today is the 4th. So, three weeks.
HER: Well, when do you usually put you tree up?
ME: One year, it was on January 1st.
HER: …That’s pretty much all I needed to know. Please say no more…

But on the plus side, I did manage to go through all the mail. Found a bill for OldestOne’s 5K registration fee. Which was supposed to have been paid a year ago. Oops.

Other things that got done:

• Filed Dependent Care and Health Care reimbursement forms.
• Paid OldestOne’s 5K registration fee (just in time for 1st grade).
• Registered MiddleOne for 5K.
• Finalized YoungestOne’s registration for daycare.
• We went to IKEA, got a bunk bed and mattresses, and Bill put the bed together already.
• Bought school supplies.
• Transferred my 403b contributions to a different plan.
• Paid the bills.
• Mowed the lawn.
• Did laundry.
• Went to State Fair with Karen. Thanks to me, she is no longer a cream puff virgin.

Short-term goals for this week:

• File the stupid taxes.
• Buy small gifts for Russian relatives.
• Not forget to pack anything for my flight to Russia on Friday.

And now that I have bored everybody senseless, time to catch on my Go Fug Yourself reading :)

Back when I was a teenager, once every few months I would try to “Start A New Life.” That consisted of writing out a set of goals (be polite to parents, develop strong willpower, do homework early, clean house, get up early and exercise – you get the idea), sticking with them for a few weeks, then derailing, waving hands in despair, and returning to my Old Life ways. Since I am also a poster child for failing to learn from experience, a few months later I would give New Life another try. Rinse, repeat.

The reason for my continuing attempts at New Life is that writing out “to do” lists IS the best way for me to get things done. I am REALLY GOOD at writing “to do” lists and sticking with them for a week or two. Unfortunately, I am REALLY BAD at going the distance. I get distracted. I get discouraged. I look for excuses. I fail, and I quit.

The point of this rambling post is that August is a new month, and I am going to make another attempt at Starting A New Life. This time, the theme is “Baby Steps.” Here’s my list; some items are pretty specific, some very generic:

• Try to get to work between 8 am and 8:30 am
• Write down everything I do at work
• Only check Google Reader and Facebook before 8:30 am, during lunch, and after 5 pm
• Keep tracking food and exercise on LoseIt
• Write down short-term goals for things to do at home that week, and do them
• Try to waste less time online
• Be a better parent to my kids and a better wife to my husband
• Try to keep up with my blog, book blog, and photo gallery
• Try to go to bed before midnight
• If everything is going well at work, not buy cigarettes

Short-term goals for week of August 1-7:

• Go through mail
• File taxes

Wish me luck!

• MiddleOne did not bring a Valentine for every one of the 35 kids in his daycare room
• we forgot about the empty kleenex box to hold the Valentines he received
• did not turn in a decorated giant red heart for family homework for OldestOne
• OldestOne did not bring 19 Valentines for the classmates
• I am sure I will find out more things we missed once I actually go through two boxes of mail that’s accumulated on my washer and dryer

I feel guilty and glad that the kids seem unscathed by our multiple failures this day.

I am beginning to suspect that the only way I can get anything done is when I am alone and not distracted. This have worked well through childhood, high school, college, and before-children married years, and somewhat well through one-child and two-children years. It is so not working now, in the three-children years. I feel like I am slowly drowning under all the things I should be doing but am not. I am past “overwhelmed” and firmly into “if I just ignore my problems, they will all go away,” aka The Ostrich Approach. As a coping method, it leaves a lot to be desired, especially since I know that sticking my head in the sand is only making things worse (though the thought of getting in the car and driving into the sunset has great appeal).

It’s time for some attitude adjustments. I am going to try and focus on putting out fires one at a time, ignoring the fact that Rome is burning all around, since focusing on the whole city just paralyzes me. (OK, going to stop torturing that metaphor now.) I pray this approach works, because it truly is my last hope.

I will not lie about my church attendance (or lack thereof) if asked about it. Still, I wonder if my honesty will come back to bite me in the butt, as just about everything else I do does.

And on this appropriately gloomy note, NaBloPoMo is over.

It’s only 6 classes, so I am pretty sure we will all survive the experience.