Accomplishing

At the end of the day, I often feel as though I've been busy but not sure if I have actually accomplished anything. Naturally, there are times when it is all about survival. If everyone has been fed and is relatively clean, I'll wave the proverbial white flag. But often, if I just take a moment to reflect on all of the little tasks I cracked out during the day, I start to feel pretty darn good.

This morning I managed to:

•Clean up breakfast dishes/unload dishwasher
•Make laundry soap
•Help Peter with schoolwork
•Bake a double batch of bread
•Vacuum upstairs
•Sift through e-mails
•Start up pot of chicken stock to simmer
•Order seeds for veggie garden
•Take unsuccessful trip to the DEQ (closed on Mondays?)

After a hearty lunch of turkey dogs (yes, again) and grapes, the day continued:

•Lunch tidy-up
•Kid homework/thank you notes
•Make Jane help clean up trash from the 7 Hello Kitty band-aids she applied to uninjured appendages
•Reorganize the horror-inducing coat closet
•Finish off languishing weekend laundry
•Make main course for dinner

Not too shabby. Perhaps I won't feel guilty about:

•Curling up with some tea and my new library book
•Eating a large quantity of old caramels I found in the back of the cupboard
•Watching Mary Poppins with the children

Now, if only I could figure out that snapping thing Ms. Poppins does to clean up children's rooms ...