• grey skies become the norm for you
• you hide under the doona when your three year old tells you to get out of bed
• all your Aussie friends are saying how hot it is there
• your kids are searching the cupboards for food but there's no motivation to go outside in the rain/cold to do shopping
• you don't know where the energy will come from to just get the basics done let alone homeschool four children
•  no need to go on and maybe not so unique to the Netherland winter!

Before you get too concerned about the kids, let me reassure you THEY are doing OK, in fact, they are doing really well. Despite my lack of routine they remain happy, are learning lots and they continue to be very energetic (maybe that's a really good reason to NOT to go food shopping, JUST KIDDING!). They are way too energetic for me at this present time. I can honestly say I have no worries for them except for those niggling concerns that comes with the parenting territory ~ you know, for example, 'am I ruining their lives by being their mum?'. The learning comes so easily to them and they continue to just go with the flow even when a situation might be changing on an almost hourly basis.

Me on the other hand .... and you may label it whatever you want (winter blues, depression, lack of Vitamin E, overwhelmed, not got my ducks in a row, culture shock, etc) ... I'm really struggling with life. And overlaying all of that is frustration. There is so much I want to do here, and yet, I feel like I'm going around in circles chasing my own tail. Actually, it feels more like I'm tripping over my own tail!

Anyways, after praying about this situation (again) I am wondering if simply getting back to some basics, putting first things first, might help with the frustration I'm getting into the habit of experiencing. So for the rest of February that is going to be my goal ~ putting first things first. And to keep myself accountable I'm going to blogging about how I'm going with it. Hopefully it won't be too boring for you .... and not too much of a laugh for you either!

So tonight I did some Flylady suggestions: cleaned my sink, got my clothes ready for tomorrow and, as soon as I post this entry, spending 15 minutes of decluttering.

Tomorrow's plans:

• get out of bed with Marcel
• quiet time (15 minutes)
• breakfast
• morning computer time (15 minutes)
• supervise kids with their morning routine
• read to Jackson before starting school with older kids
• hot spot: desk (10 minutes) 

Ok that will be a good start!

Update: It's been a productive morning! As tempting as is was to keep adding to my list I'll just get some consistency with these things before focusing on other things. This afternoon we'll spend some more time with our lessons.