“Been Done” Lists

I’ve decided today that instead of “To Do” lists, I should write “Been Done” lists.

It has been a fairly good day today.  No huge tantrums.  No last minute running around before school looking for a uniform or a folder or a person.  All in all, thus far I would chalk today up as a happy day.

But still I was very frustrated.  My goal since Monday has been to get our house clean.  Sounds simple enough.  We don’t have a huge house; it wasn’t trashed in the first place; I was going to be home most of the week.  But as we get farther and farther from Monday, I’m getting more and more frustrated that I am running around the entire day and yet at the end of a good day, it looks the same as it did when we woke up.  On a bad day… well, you can probably guess.

And I started beating myself up, wondering why I simply could not get it done.  After all, this moment right now is the first since I woke up at 7:15 this morning that I have been sitting down.  And then I remembered my word of the year — progress — and I started to think more about what I did today.

I looked all around, and I saw crap still on the counter, I saw new Easter dresses on the table, I saw books absolutely everywhere.  I saw laundry waiting to be laundered and another pile waiting to be folded.  The floors needed vacuuming (as they do every day,) and the little pieces of clutter that seem to accumulate everywhere needed to be purged.

What had I done all day?

But then I decided to answer that question.  I had Magoo finish her homework.  I drove her to and from school.  I read with Mae.  I played with Goosie.  I drove about 40 minutes round trip signing Magoo up for tee ball.  I answered 754 “why” questions.  I stopped Mae from eating the dog food, splashing in the toilet, running up the stairs, and eating power cords at least two dozen times.  I made her laugh.  A lot.  I got the girls set up with finishing an Easter craft, and I hung it up.  I scoured my sinks.  I picked up some toys.  I got them all down for a nap.  I made breakfast.  I gave them snacks.  I changed five diapers.  I cleaned off part of the counter.  And I made myself a cup of tea.

So yea.  I did stuff today.

Maybe some of you are awesome at goal setting.  Maybe you have realistic goals and then you work methodically to achieve them.  That’s not me.  I set absolutely unrealistic goals and then I work frantically to achieve them and then I wail on myself recklessly for falling short.

So I have recommitted myself to forgetting perfection.  I’ve decided that within five and a half hours, I cannot be the mom I want to be and still get a massive amount of cleaning done.  I can still have a nice house.  It just needs to be done at different times, and it needs to get done slowly.

And most importantly I have remembered that progress is really all any of us can hope for.

How about you?  What would be on your “Been Done” list today?