Today was more challenging than I would have imagined. The Martha Challenge seemed simple enough. I just had to clean out the fridge and freezer. The fridge...the fridge? Oh, yeah! That one place where we store pizza boxes and expired milk to never be seen again. Got it! I'm not sure why this took me forever, but it did. The freezer was quick and easy so I did that first. Then the fridge. I tossed all of the trash pretty quickly. Then came the kiss of death of all of my "projects". I took a break. I lost my focus. I procrastinated the rest. I did manage to get back on board and finished it up. My big realization from this challenge was not only do I lack focus, but my almost empty refrigerator could really use some groceries. I'm still too embarrassed to post a before picture, but I will try to post an after picture tomorrow.
The Mary Challenge was about how we as women were designed to "give life". I needed to figure out some new ways to give life to our home. Immediately I knew what my challenge needed to be. Today I vowed to not raise my voice (nope, not even once) to my children. I'm a yeller. Sometimes I yell to get over the volume in my house, but most of the time I yell to "get my point across". Getting my point across is my nice way of saying bullying or intimidating my children to do what I want them to do. It doesn't work and it's no fun for any of us. Yelling was my normal. It will NOT be my children's normal. Shockingly (or not) the kids were very receptive to the idea of a quiet mommy. The day was amazing. I noticed less fighting, yelling, and fussing between the kids. I didn't feel frustrated with them or with myself for yelling at them. The boys breezed through their night time routine without any nagging from me. Everyone went to bed on time without an argument. Conclusion: Yelling doesn't work. Just ask my kids.
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