A Day in the Life

So I am not a naturally organized person. I can't look at something and immediately see how or where things should go.  Yet I thrive on having a plan.  Once I have a system I function really well, but it takes me forever to get that system in place, and that is probably the number one reason that moving is so hard on me.  So this last year my life has felt very out of control, and I have struggled.  But, I think I am finally figuring out my system and so (while my house organization still has a long ways to go) I have at least mapped out my time management system.  I typed it all out last week and I have to say this week has been really good.  Last night and this morning were the exception and the reminder that no matter how well I plan, things happen and that's ok.

Last night we had a youth activity at the Alice Plaza which I was in charge of.  I am the secretary in our branch Young Women's Presidency (I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and as such am not expected to go to all of the activities (especially because Jeff is the Young Men's President and it can get difficult with both of going and dragging Derek and Darcy along), but because I was over this one I kinda had to be there.  We did a modesty fashion show at the Alice Plaza and Derek was so great to watch Darcy.  But still that girl is super high energy and was all over the place, climbing, crawling, running, jumping on the floor, the chairs, the table, the stage, the play equipment, the push cars on display outside the store, the play sand on display inside the store...  By the time we got home she was pretty filthy, but it was past bedtime so I skipped the bath, quickly gave her a snack, got pajamas on and teeth brushed and whisked her off to bed.  Once Derek had his pajamas on, teeth brushed, and was ready for bed we called Aubrey in for prayers and then sang a hymn in place of scriptures (yes I do that sometimes when it's late; especially since we read quite a few scriptures and talked some doctrine at the activity).  Anyway, by the time everyone was in bed I just wanted to go there myself so none of the next day prep happened.

So this morning, it was a bit of a rush getting everyone dressed and out the door.  I did get Darcy (and myself) changed out of our pajamas, but her hair was a tangled mess and I didn't notice until we got to the grocery store, but her face had dark smudges and her fingernails really needed a good cleaning.  So I fixed her hair as best I could with no comb, and cleaned her face as best I could (thumb and tongue style) and we hurried to get our shopping done.  The light is out our hallway bathroom, so lightbulbs were on my list, but of course they didn't have the kind I needed at the grocery store so we had to go to the home improvement store.

When we got home Darcy was starving so I gave her some fruit cocktail while I put away groceries.  We finished about the same time and I looked over to see she had not just planted her face in her bowl, but her whole head, so now her tangled hair was also a sticky mess.  Off to the bath while I did dinner prep.   After her bath it was lunchtime.  Part of lunch was cream cheese with crackers.  I got up to get her water and when I turned around she had her face in the whole block of cream cheese (including hair) and was happily chomping away.  When she looked up her face was just white, and I wondered why I had bothered with the bath?

But here's the thing.  Life is about living and living means getting dirty, but it's also.  It's also about doing and doing often meanand getting clean.  It's an important and necessary process.