I’ve been in kind of a funk lately and I’m hoping some Lenten challenges will help me spring forward into a better mood. Care to join me? Here’s my 5 things I plan to do … daily-ish:
1. It’s kind of simple, clean one target area each day for 40 days (take one day off a week). It can be the tiniest thing: a silverware drawer, etc. but at the end you’ve de-cluttered a good portion of your life. If you don’t do it all this year, then celebrate what you have done and try again next year. I’m working on the code for a picture on the sidebar, cleverly entitled ‘no lint for lent’….awesome, right? yeah well HTML is kicking my tushie. In theory then you’d have 40 ‘bags’ of things to donate, recycle, throw out, burn, put in storage if its meaningful but just clutter, or what have you.
Clutter is my nemesis. When the recycling stacks up in the garage, I feel it like a heavy weight pressing down on my chest. I actually feel relief when it’s gone. When there’s chunks of dirt on the floor or bits of taco under the table, I get a twitchy eye. It doesn’t mean I clean it up right away, but it does annoy me. Some things need done so desperately, but it seems so overwhelming. That is why I think this is a brilliant challenge, because it puts together 2 things: a desire for a clean home and spring cleaning TIME with a definite start and end date and the idea that NOTHING is too small. If all you do is toss one thing in the trash, then you’ve done something for the day. There’s a sheet you can print to plan if you’re into checking things off, plus it leaves room for a day off, etc. It’s forgiving, like Jesus…things to do might be: sort cloth diapers to donate, fix the silverware drawer, wipe out the fridge, organize the pantry, rotate toys, hang pictures, clean off my desk (it’s covered in Christmas stuff)… I have a LOT of trouble spots.
2. I’m combining a lack of ‘extra sweets’ like those yummy tiny cakes and candy with cutting back to a modified GD diet. I’m trying to follow it fairly closely, but allow some cheats since I’m nursing and that technically requires a few more calories. My ‘extras’ were getting out of hand. Yummy, but the baby’s milk shouldn’t be so close to chocolate, lol. Basically being more thoughtful about what I eat and limiting ‘extra’ sweets and snacks.
3. Load of laundry a day. Simple enough. If you keep on top of it, you don’t fall behind.
4. Prayer
5. Something for me
On the first day of Lent…I cleaned my kitchen sink (scrubbed with one of those blue soap scratch pads) and the dish drainer. Both of those were gross and needed done badly. I only had the stuff in the drainer to recycle, and I put that outside. Not exactly a bag, but it does sparkle and the whole area was stinky from dishes sitting there to be washed/put in dishwasher for the last few months and just…residue… blech.
I started the modified diet yesterday. I was cranky. But the scale is 2 lbs less this morning. Could be coincidence, but I’m guessing not.
Diapers are in the wash.
I prayed for people who don’t know Jesus and for my family. Most of the time I only pray before falling asleep and nowadays I fall asleep when my head hits the pillow. So I’m taking shower time to pray instead of worry about the day ahead. Maybe starting with prayer instead of worry will help my attitude.
I trimmed my toenails. I might even get to taking the polish off later today, or maybe tomorrow. But I so rarely take care of MYSELF that I want to do something nice for me and see again if that helps.
