over the last few weeks (and i hope this doesn't jix it), i have become very efficient with doing my dishes. and by efficient, i mean, i have been doing them each evening. and what do know... they only really take about 10 minutes to do! this has been an (adult-) life long battle for me, and i am encouraged that i'm getting better at it. it's nice not always having a pile of dishes in the corner of the kitchen.

i've also been on a streak with putting away my clothes after i take them off. what i like about this is that it really saves me time later. i don't have to deal with a large pile, instead, i only have to put 2, maybe 3 items of clothing away at a time.

:p

rose: there are certain things that i put off doing til later. but i've been trying to address them in a more timely manner. especially putting away the clothes i take off. i usually develop a large and confusing pile of clothes that i put away either once a week or once a month. i've discovered that by putting away the 2 or 3 items of clothing that i take off when i get changed, i save myself lots of time later AND it keeps my floor and side of the bedroom much tidier.

thorn: back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth

several of the people that I'm closest with hate conflict. their enneagrams peg them as peacemakers. avoiding conflict has never really been a thing for me. I'm too aggressive to shy away from a fight. but lately, all I want is peace. 

now, I don't think that's the same as avoiding conflict, but I want a peaceful environment, I want harmony, I want gentleness and quiet. I REALLY want quiet. some of my favourite moments with my kids are when they are still and quiet. I think it's tied to adjusting to life with two kids. I found the volume in my life increased expedientially since otis was born, and my tolerance for noise has gone down. between the two of them, someone is always making sounds. the other day, with wishful thinking, I said to b "let's just sit here and pretend it's just us". 

with my after school kids, I have tired to not be on them about noise and have aimed to just let them be kids and give them the freedom for silliness. but at this point it seems that that's not helping anyone, so I've started implementing boundaries around loudness and language. and funnily enough, it's been very effective. today I had my favourite day with them by far. *rose*

it goes beyond noise though. I don't want to hear or be part of other people fighting, bickering or accusing each other. I just don't have energy or patience for drama. a few days ago, a friend tried to drag me into some conflict between him and a friend of mine. I felt pretty awkward about it, and my interactions with him afterwards were tense. actually... now that I think of it, I had TWO (male) friends try to drag me into conflict with mutual friends this week. and I pushed back with both. largely because I just want peace, but also because those are not my fights to be part of. by doing so, I sure hope I'm able to avoid conflict with them. *thorn*

well... we're back to our regular routine today.

• it snowed a lot, but i liked getting exercise again (walking to and from the school).
• we started night weaning otis about 10 days ago, and i think he's firmly into a routine of sleeping through the night. he even slept until 8:30 on saturday, AND éamon made me breakfast that morning :)

• i got some good teacherly advise from joy and beckie over the break, that really empowered me with the after school crew.

• i'm finding that i have a strong desire for peace in my life these days. i just don't have it in me for loud, chaos.

• our sons are playing so well together, and i just love it.

• i went through the things in our house, and i got rid of two large boxes worth of stuff. probably need to do a quarterly purge. i do hang on to stuff for sentimental reasons, so it was good to really push myself to do away with stuff i don't need and won't use ever again.

• my skin has been extremely dry this winter :S

things i want to do in 2018:

• go to new york city this summer with my three fellas

• go camping (maybe even more than once)

• try being an airbnb host

• teach otis some baby sign language (i've already successfully taught him "more")

• make a snowman

• succeed at de-cluttering, so i don't feel a need to declutter all the time

• put away my clothes when i take them off