On Time, Priorities, and Messy Vans

May was a little nuts.

I can remember this happening now for the past couple years but I feel like it ramped up a bit more from other Mays in the past.

When I flipped the calendar to May, everyday had something scheduled except for May 1st and Memorial Day (go figure!).  I told myself to just hang on, enjoy as much of the ride as possible, and hope to catch my breath in June.

I was starting to feel guilty about the fact that I have let my decluttering slip a bit. Although I did take an entire van load to the local thrift shop, I failed to document the different things that I cleaned out.

Truthfully, I just couldn't fit the time in to take the pictures, upload, and write a blog post.

And I was felling pretty guilty about it (do you see a pattern in my personality here...?).

Then, last week, as I was driving to get groceries, I was listening to an interview on the local Christian music station.  The excerpt that has been rolling around in my head ever since went a little like this:

"We do not have a time problem. What we have is a priority problem. When we think that all things have the same level of priority in our lives, we get overwhelmed because there is no way to get it all fit in."

We all have the same 24 hours every day. But we decide each day what we are going to prioritize and what we are going to allow to go to the back burner.

For May, it was decluttering, and much to our neighbors dismay I'm sure....mowing the grass.

So, I apologize that I have not stuck to my schedule. As a Type A, rule follower, it is very difficult for me to be OK with not sticking to a plan and seeing it perfectly to completion.

I will, however, continue to declutter. And I will take pictures and document and share any tips that I have. But I cannot promise it will be weekly, especially as we are hitting the sunshine days of summer when I will much rather be outside with my kids than inside cleaning (priorities!).

For me, my priorities, the things that float to the top when it seems everything is demanding my time:

My God, and His Calling for my life (that's a whole blog post in itself, huh!?)

My Husband

My Children

What falls under those 3 was a little tricky to really put into simple words. Because, in reality, what is listed after that is comprised of all those things that kind of shift in and out, each one taking it's turn as a priority and sometimes giving way for something else. 

This past week, as the kids were enjoying their first week of summer vacation, I decided one of those priorities was to clean out our van, because, well, it was disgusting.  So, I recruited my 3 minions and we knocked it out.  And then drove into town for donuts because it was National Donut Day and we just couldn't let an opportunity like that pass us by (priorities!).