keepin' up...

i'm not a list-maker.

or, at least i didn't used to be.

but when samil was born i started forgetting everything. and when i started back to work it got worse. i would forget which class was when. who had what homework, who didn't.

and don't even ask me about my house.
i like to clean. i really do. but i'm not a crazy, organized, scrub the house, dust the shelves, decorate and re-decorate kind of girl.

don't get me wrong.
i would love to have a designer house. in fact, some things have happened recently that even would allow some more decorating to be going on in our budget. but we have a 1 year old. and i have at least 10 students who come for class on a daily basis.

but that's a completely different story.
i couldn't keep my house clean. shoot, i couldn't even keep my life straight.
i was a mess.

in february i bit the bullet and bought what i call a dominican style calendar. a page a day. no week view. just one big empty page for each day, half a day for weekends.

and at first i couldn't get in to it. i would write a few things. my class schedule maybe. big deal things, some birthdays and i would forget about it. but then things just got too out of hand.

i was starting the business, we had playgroup, church activities and my classes. and i had to maintain the house at least presentable.

so, i forced myself every sunday to sit down and write a list on each day, dividing the chores of the house over the course of the week. and guess what? it worked.

we've got a cleaner house. not perfect. but upkept. and a happier melanie. and happier students. because i don't forget as much.

this list thing - well, really, organizing myself - was one of my new year's resolutions... and while it's october and i can't only now say that i've got it done. it's done. and i feel good about it.

do you have any new year's resolutions you've completed?