It would be a terrific lie to say I file papers well. They are my nemesis and constant source of clutter. I've got 4 filing systems (at least) started and abandoned, and it really irks me. Tonight I tossed a ton and cleaned out a whole bin, but in the process made 2 more 'notebooks' of stuff to keep. It's a shifting process, but at least there is less. Eventually I'm going to throw out all that is junk and then have an organizer come help me get a system that will really work for me in place. That is my big winter project this year.

A few years ago my project was to get all the photos in albums, and once that was done, I quite developing pictures. Now I have a few years worth on some site that I hopefully can access still...shutterfly? Winkflash? Snapfish? I think it's the first one, but who can tell? It's a disaster and one reason I don't take many pictures. The thing is, looking back depresses me anyway, and when folks are avid photographers it consumes time and space, so I say, 'live in the moment and watch with an eye, not a lens.'

Of course, living in the moment is hard when you are a mom. Multi-tasking is the enemy of being fully engaged in any one thing, and it rubs people wrong. Tonight I was watching a movie with the kids and also researching couponing. Clearly, I wasn't watching everything and my oldest knew it. There was a time I stopped multi-tasking for this reality had hit home, but right now, this year, it is just so much busier. I know that I will have to find a balance because each year is going to get more and more full as the kids get older and more involved in life and school (like when more than one are taking Latin---ahhhhh!). This is just a season of having to work extra hard and long hours to get things organized so I can have more free time later. By January I expect things to slow way down again in the evenings.

Well, I'm not feeling so hot--sleep deprivation I hope, so I'm off to bed.

God bless!