My Theory of Productivity:

For months and months Kyle has been begging and pleading with me to organize that craft room downstairs, as well as the office.  One of my many quirks is I don't like starting a job I can't finish.  I would always respond the same way to his requests-- "Give me 3 uninterrupted hours and I'll gladly do it." I know many organization queens out there recommend if you don't have a good chunk of time, to break up a large task into several 15-minute smaller tasks.  I'm an all-or-nothing girl and don't really like that method. 

For instance-- the office-- that place was a DISASTER!  We had listed the Subaru for sale and we needed the title as well as all the maintenance papers on hand for when it sold. I have a binder where I keep all of our car and house paperwork. For some reason, the title was not there.  One night I spent hours going through every single file looking for the blasted title.  Did not find it. It made me crazy because I pride myself in having good files and having kept them in tact over the last several moves.  The room ended up looking like this: 

photo courtesy of Savannah playing with my phone.

Papers EVERYWHERE in various stacks and piles....oh I cringe just remembering it.   The one goal that inadvertently was accomplished while I was sifting through files to find the title papers,  was the purging of unnecessary files. I have a tendency to keep papers that don't need to be kept. While it's all good and nice that they have a file, it's still a burden knowing you are holding onto unnecessary documents.  So, out came dozens upon dozens of documents.  The next day for Family Home Evening, we went up to the mountains to have a bonfire and got rid of them. It was a lovely time. I think we'll make it a tradition every year-- BONFIRE!

Back to the office--- that night I had run out of time to "put it back together" so to speak and there it stayed in it's totally disorganized state for several more days.  At that point I began avoiding the room  like a bad ex-boyfriend. I only went in there when absolutely necessary and promptly would leave and try and erase from memory what I remembered from my time in there. 

In the mean time, Kyle learns that we never had the title. When he registered the car here in Utah, they sent us a new title--but to our old address. Which of course we never got. I'll be honest-- I was irritated.

So there stayed the papers. The chaos.  My achilles heel. The kids, however, got really light on their feet and became experts at hopping around the mess.

Fast forward a week. By this time we made the decision for me to go ahead and get the surgery done on my feet and Kyle was packing up a suitcase to leave to go hunting. He would be back early Sunday morning, and surgery was scheduled for Monday morning. The thought of having chaos in my home for 3 more months drove me nuts.  I would have to make time to organize the house despite being on my own or else I would go insane sitting in bed for weeks and weeks just thinking about the big mess.

I didn't leave the house for 4 days -- with the exception of taking Sav to preschool and picking her up on Thursday and then Saturday going to DI.  The weather was beautiful on Wednesday and Thursday, so I thought it best to start with the garage. Ruby, the gem that she is, took amazing naps in the mornings. The kids played really well together -- it was amazing all the things they "re-discoverered" once the garage was organized and everything had a home.  In four days,   the garage got cleaned out and organized, my craft room (or nook as I now call it) got unpacked and organized,  the storage area under the stairs got cleaned out and, you guessed it--- organized!  And finally the utility room storage got cleaned out and organized.

As you know, my favorite part of all of this was going to DI and getting rid of boxes upon boxes of items. It was great!

Then Kyle came home. I am sure he was happy with all that was accomplished, but a teensy bit disappointed that the office remained in it's "been hit by a tornado-looking" condition. 

Time was running out.

At 10:28pm Sunday, the internal battle began--- do I start the office or go to bed?  I finally reasoned I'd be MUCH better off taking full advantage of my two working feet and I began the office.  At 5:22am Monday I finished it, along with several loads of laundry, the dishes, and paying bills...and hopped in the shower . I literally felt 64 lbs of stress melt off my shoulders.

So my personal  theory of Productivity goes like this: If you want something done, schedule surgery for yourself which will put you out of commission for several weeks.

It worked on me like a charm.  I could dwell on the depressing notion that this theory indicates I must not be a very good self-starter and that I'm lacking the necessary self-discipline that all "good" homemakers require.  Honestly, it's too bad I couldn't get to these necessary chores before this.  And while I could say, "better late than never" I still wonder... why couldn't I have gotten these things done? I mean, seriously, what is my deal? 

Fortunately the productivity theory is still working in full force in my life.  Since Monday, I've been able to get a lot of other things done that I've been wanting to, but just haven't had the time (or is it really haven't "made" the time?) to sit down and do them. I'm doing a lot of sitting down lately, so it's been rather easy to come up with things to keep me busy.

Ruby's birth announcement  was designed and ordered. After 2 (or 3?) years of not sending out Christmas cards, I got those designed and ordered, too!  Online Christmas shopping has begun. I finally set up an account with Mint.com {thanks for the recommendation, Hannah! I love it!} and have categorized every single transaction.  Most importantly, I've had lots of time to snuggle with Ruby and savor my time with her.  I've also taken videos of the kids, something I haven't done in a while. We even got Ruby's first real giggles on video. That was awesome.

I've decided crutches are a pain. Hopping is my preferred method of transportation. My armpits are sore, but my balance is quite good.

My milk production took a dive, which scared me at first and is a foreign concept to me-- I didn't know what was going on. I thought something was wrong with my pump, or I wasn't eating enough calories -- "Sweetie, you have to give me more Oreos than that!"  I called my sister and she said not to worry--  it was normal. My body was just expending its energy healing my body and my milk would come back in about 10 days. So we've been dipping into the milk stash in the freezer. 

It is a bit difficult depending on Kyle for my meals.  In the mornings he is busy getting the kids ready and Cade off to school and sometimes forgets to bring me food (oh I know, rough life. Pity me I might actually have to go downstairs and get my own food!).  When you're sitting around you have a lot more time to think about being hungry. Usually when I'm running around food is something I quickly forget about. I feel bad requesting food to eat all the time when he's busy doing everything else around the house. Also, he is rationing my Oreos. He thinks a package should last us 2 weeks. The injustice!  Saturday night I really wanted some and he said, "Dear, the children must eat. Are you going to starve them?" (referring to our milk that was almost gone.  If I had any more Oreos then I'd also take the last of the milk....)  Oatmeal for breakfast would not hurt the kids for a day or two....

I've mostly gotten around fine with the exception of one day--  I  must have taken my meds without food and after feeding and changing Ruby and setting her down to play on her blanket, I suddenly became dizzy, tired and weak and decided to head to bed. I ended up "taking a rest" en route in the middle of the hallway on the floor.  I am not sure how long I was there.  The beeping of the garbage trucks woke me up and instinctively I hollered out to Kyle to make sure he took out the garbage. Then he found me he carried me to bed. He's so sweet.  In fact, I hear him vacuuming as we speak. Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Well,  I suppose I've rambled enough.  Here's to another productive, bed-ridden day..... Stay tuned for our September and October updates and lots of photos of our little gem. Here's one for starters...