Happiness vs. Guilt

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions for my collection of "clipped/copied" recipes. I must confess; they are still scattered all over my dining room table and I MUST do something before Sunday. We are having a house full of guests for the SuperBowl and need the table for all the tasty food that goes with it. I will probably gathered them up and shoved back into the cabinet and I'll deal with them another day. Not very efective, but oh well - welcome to me life!

Now on to business:

Is it just me who has felt this way? You are so busy doing “this & that” or “going here & there” for him/her/them, and at the end of the day you are exhausted! Then when you have those 30 seconds to reflect on your day, you realize that all that busyness was for others and you didn't have time to do anything for yourself?

I Y being a SAHM, but I somehow think I can “take on the world” because I don’t have to juggle a job around the family and extra activities. I love to see the excitement in my kiddos eyes when I drop them at a friends house (even though they just spent the entire school day with them), or how a working mother is so grateful that I can pick up her child and take them to an early practice, or how supper just magically appears on an over scheduled evening. I see that my actions make others happy and I know it should make me happy too, but honestly sometimes it doesn't.

I feel guilty when I’m caught by an unexpected guest at my door and I’m still in my pj’s and it’s after 8 am, or I take an hour long bubble bath with a good book at noon or let the laundry baskets overflow so I can blog (at least I have my priorities straight! LOL). I don’t do the above EVERYDAY or even every week, but when I feel “burnt-out” or I’m snapping at the family for no reason, I know I need to take some time and do something that makes me happy :-)

The kiddos are home again (snow/ice day –they had off on Monday too for a floating in-service day!) and hubby is working from home, and my instinct is to “be busy” – entertain the kiddos so they don’t fight, make a wonderful hot lunch since everyone is home, show hubby that I really do house chores and not eat Bon-Bons in front of the TV all day and have a gourmet supper. But you know what – I’m going to listen to my body and take some time for ME today! Trust me – everyone will be happy at the end of the day if I do!!!
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Weekend catch-up for Project 365

My BFF's all day Friday . . .

which is why the family enjoyed this for Friday supper!

But by Saturday morning I was

Sunday on our way home from church, we saw this at a traffic lightWhat struck us as funny was the foam finger! Guess he thought the 8' sign wasn't enough of an attention getter.

Monday the kiddos had off from school. T went to a friends house which always creates a problem for N. So her and I went to Son.ic (a drive-in restaurant) and she ordered her favorite, a corn dog and slushy.

When N went to school on Tuesday her room looked like this
and when she came home it looked like this

My dad came over to help me paint and we were done in 6 hours! We even took a 30 minute coffee break. Thanks dad - N Y's it! I let down my guard and allowed her to choose the color; Surf's Up! Not a color I would have chosen, but it's her room. I can't wait to add all the accessories - bedding, curtains, white furniture, pictures. I think it just might grow on me. Last night when we prayed, I asked God to give her a good night's rest in her new "fish bowl". She laughed and hoped she could hold her breath all night long. I told her I didn't think that would be a good idea, that maybe she should pretend she was a fish - they can breath underwater! She woke this morning and swam her way to the breakfast table!