Def-y's Categorizing: March 2010 Archives

I was struck this morning by the power of what you can accomplish in just five minutes.
Granted, it came to me when I stopped to make my bed before leaving the bedroom, but that doesn't lessen the impact you could have.

In my life, five minutes might be spent on emptying the dishwasher, starting a load of clothes, watering plants, or sweeping the floor. It could also be signing an e-file release and faxing it to the CPA, or paying bills, or typing a waiver.

I believe that we build on the simple five minute chores to create a platform that lets us get to the more important things. I've said before that I do well when my house is tidy and the desk is organized. When those things seem overwhelming, if I break it down into five minute chores, I can whittle away at that burden and get through it.

I can't think of anything that couldn't be solved or resolved if you didn't break it down into simpler steps. So what if you tackle the easy ones first, the chore still gets done.

So, today, I'm going to be looking for five minute chores, and watch to see if I accomplish more.

What can YOU accomplish in five minutes?

I expect this to be a busy week. We will be hosting a small part of my extended family for Easter Dinner. I think the count is somewhere in the 14-18 range, less than a third of the family. I won't have to arrange for extra tables and chairs, and we won't have to cook in Oh-My-God! sized vats. I think it should be a really lovely gathering.

Part of my oldest sister's family will be out of town this coming weekend, so she is bringing just part of the crowd. Dear Husband's daughter and her family will be joining us, and we hope his second son and the son's girlfriend will join us, too.

Even with a small group coming, there is still cleaning to be done, and I need to clean out the gardens along the sidewalk. I had intended to have them done last week, but our plans were interrupted when our son-in-law needed emergency surgery (see the next entry).

I plan to start my spinach, go to exercise and then grocery shop for Elegante Mother. After a visit with her, I'll do my own grocery shopping and then head for home. Tuesday is house cleaning and ironing. Wednesday is exercise, library and a visit to Comcast to return equipment, before I spend the afternoon in the office.

The rest of the week, I'll be working toward being ready for quilting bee on Friday evening and dinner on Easter. There are dozens of chores to be taken care of, but fewer than usual, because our gathering will be smaller. I'm really looking forward to it all.

We're expecting temperatures in the seventies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I hope you all have the wonderful week that we are expecting!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together. I managed to get the dishes done, the clothes washed and folded, and THEN......I started working on the mail.

Mail is a major undertaking here. We get mail for five different entities. A huge amount of it is junk mail, but most of it needs to be opened, and a lot of it needs to be shredded. I organize the rest into four piles (DH and my mail goes into the same pile).

I took one stack at a time and filed or pitched almost all of the mail. You can see the top of my desk now. I wouldn't go as far to say that I was finished, but I've made tremendous headway, and it's very satisfying.

Now, I can go outside and play!