The more that time passes, the more I realize that I need to pull it together and get my life into some semblance of order. After a weekend of interspection, self analysis, chats with good friends, vision board design and self realization, I have decided on a plan to get myself to where I want to be. Sounds ominious doesn’t it!

For the most part, I am pretty happy with my life and who I am. However, I am swiftly and painfully learning how far from perfect I truly am. So, in a (somewhat) grand effort, I am going to kick it into gear, bite the bullet and try to close in on that gap.

The Problem:
As too many of you know, I have fallen off the organizational bandwagon. It started years ago, and although this is a lame excuse, I am sticking by it. When I got married right in the middle of life. I was a full time grad student and a full time elementary teacher. I would teach every weekday from 7:00 a.m. until 3:20 p.m. I would hop into my oh so fancy Mercury Topaz and race from Salt Lake to Provo to attend classes from 4:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. every night. I would get home a bit before midnight and start the whole process over the next day. The weekends were reserved for studying, library and spending a little time with my family. Although I did spend some time trying to make our house a home, I fell very short of perfect.

Since that time, I have had a hard time catching up. I could bore you with the details of the birth of my children, moving to a new house, illness, stress, family, yadda, yadda, yadda. Now, I know a lof of you are thinking, “Why didn’t I start over when I moved to the new house.” Well, I was pregnant, very sick and tired of living at the inlaws. So, on move in day, I had everything thrown into the garage. Coincidentally, that is where a good portion of the disaster has remained.

But, I digress. In so many ways, my life has now slowed down. I have two kiddos in school. A toddler instead of a baby. My surgery is over and done with. My basement is finished…for the most part. I finally took a look around and thought “Dang!” (not the exact word but…) “How did I let it get this far.” I immediately got discouraged and thought that there was no way that I would be able to get myself out of the situation that I had so ignorantly turned a blind eye to.

My Solution (I Hope):

This solution came two fold. The first part came from my good friend Leigh. We were talking on Saturday when she mentioned that a friend of hers is trying to lose weight. This friend has set up a rewards system at each of her milestones. She has it set up that she will reward herself with a purse at 5 pounds all the way up to a trip to Hawaii with her husband at 30 pounds. What an awesome idea! Although, I am not really interested in losing weight per say nor will I be making it to Hawaii any time soon, I loved the idea of a personal rewards system.

The second part came when I sat down on Saturday to work on my vision board. (Yes, I do them. Yes, I think that they are great. Yes, I know that they get a lot of slack but, they work for me.) Anyway, I started noticing a theme on my vision board. There were the things that I wanted to accomplish organizationally and things that I wanted to eventually treat myself to. So, BING! My idea came into play like a little cartoon light bulb above my head. Why not kill two birds with one stone. I can get my house and life organized and treat myself with some of the things that I would like as a reward along the way. I know! Don’t I sound like I am working with a 5 year old. I think that it might just do the trick! Not only will I get the nice organized house and life that I crave but, I will get the satisfaction that I did it on my own. Not only will I get those treats that I am seeking after but, I will know that I worked hard for them.

So, cross your fingers and wish me luck. If you are super interested in what exactly is on either list, let me know. I am debating as to whether or not to post it!