I'm not a good house keeper. My house is never particularly well cleaned or maintained. This has always made me feel -- not bad -- but less than in relation and comparison to my peers. I some how always feel to fall short of what I see as level of standard that my friends seem to maintain but that I just can't seem to achieve.

But today I decided that I have to change my though pattern. I have to change the way I view situations. Otherwise I am just going to crumble on the floor into a million little pieces.

I have to look on the bright side of everything. For example:

Scenario: The several large piles of miscellaneous junk and toys and mail that accumulates on our dining room table. The piles that get pushed to one side of the table so we can have our meals on the other side.

Old Thought: total mess, chaos, inability to manage daily flow of "stuff"
New Thought: there is always the opportunity to have something to do. I'll never get bored if I always have something to put away.

Scenario: Sink full of dishes

Old Thought: No one else I know lets a sink full of dishes sit overnight. I should stop what I'm doing and clean.
New Thought: Maybe the bacteria growing in my sponge right now will some day cure cancer.

Scenario: The overgrown weeds in the backyard and ivy in the front are out of control.

Old Thought: At Jack's next five nap times I'll go out there and pull weeds like crazy and get it done. I'll sacrifice my nap and down time to do yard work.
New Thought: I shouldn't destroy the natural environment of so many indigenous species just because I want a clean yard.

Scenario: The laundry monster that I attack on a weekly basis and manage to wash and dry everything but NEVER able to put away. Thus, resulting in a huge pile of laundry that moves from basket to bed to basket every day.

Old Thought: There has got to be a better way of managing this.
New Thought: I'm still looking for the positive in this scenario. However, I did manage to carve out a space in the upper right corner of the laundry pile on the bed so I could take a nap.

Scenario: I can never manage to keep any food in the house. I never seem to have the ingredients to put together any kind of decent meal.

Old Thought: we spend way too much money on food, we waste too much, we eat out too much, there are starving children in the world and I throw away overripe uneaten bananas every other week.
New Thought: I've come up with some pretty creative concoctions using leftovers, canned and frozen foods, various types of pasta and jarred pasta sauce. Jeff calls it "goulash" but I call it "eat what I put in front of you and don't complain or go to bed hungry."

I've expanded my new thought process to other aspects of life, not just housekeeping. For example:

Scenario: Two teenage girls talking and cursing so loudly-- pushing a stroller, mind you -- that Jack and I can hear them while outside playing. Jack immediately repeats the bad language.

Old Thought: "what is wrong with society and the young people of today? Is there any decorum?"
New Thought: Perfect opportunity to educate Jack about the use of good language and the ugliness of bad language.

Scenario: While checking off items on a list of errands in Poolesville, including returning and picking out new books at the library Jack steals off into a corner and poops. I don't have the necessary gear to change him so that we can continue our errands.

Old Thought: I'm never prepared. I never have what I need when I need it.
New Thought: Jack will just have to walk home with poop in his pants. Hopefully it will be so uncomfortable for him we can pick up potty training again.

I hope my new thought process helps me 'not sweat the small stuff' especially when the new baby comes home. When Jack was first born, I remember trying to keep up appearances and keep the house clean when I should have been sleeping, eating and cuddling my new baby. I know better this time.

Besides, if I do crumble onto the floor in a million little pieces, who's going to vacuum me up?