Managing Momma Mondays: Laughter

There is a lot on our plates, us momma's. We manage our kids, and their emotions (dear Lord, help me here!), their meals, and their clothes. We manage most of what goes on in our homes by trying to organize and simplify and rectify the things that are not working. We mange our grocery lists, and our meal planning, the laundry and our children's schedules. If we have job's outside the home, we manage those responsibilities as well....deep breath...I'm tired just writing about it all.

In the midst of all of this managing we often forget one very important element...ourselves. Perhaps it's not that we forget as much as we end up putting ourselves at the bottom of the list. I know it's for good reasons sometimes-- being a mom is a sacrificial job and the things that need to be sacrificed tend to be our time, our energy, our gray hairs that need to be dyed, or eyebrows that need to be waxed. On a more serious note, sometimes it is our health (we don't eat well while we're running around), our physical stamina (we don't sleep enough or exercise like we should) and our spiritual being (we don't pray or spend the quiet time to gather our thoughts that we need).

In light of this universal struggle I've decided to change things up a bit and start calling my Monday posts "Managing Momma Mondays". On Monday I will post about any one of these things...the physical, the spiritual, the emotional and how I attempt to fit these things into my life.

Believe me when I say I DO NOT have it all together. HaHa. I have meltdowns and breakdowns and mommy time outs quite frequently. But, as I venture through life, particularly through motherhood, I find myself making changes, adjusting schedules and being deliberate about making time for some of the things that are important for keeping me sane. It is those things I will share with you on Mondays...to hopefully give you some motivation and encouragement to make it through your own crazy lives and weeks.

So, my first short "tip" is laughter...you must laugh...at life, at the funny things your kids do, at the spilled milk and the butter smeared all over your kitchen table. You must laugh. So much of being a parent is nutty and unexpected. If you don't laugh at some of it you will become nutty and perhaps eventually committed.

I'm clumsy sometimes. I trip over things that most people wouldn't trip over. I fall in high heeled shoes. I leave things on the top of my car that fly off the top when I drive. I spill, spill, SPILL things on tables and counters and my clothing. SO, when my kids do the same things it does me no good to be upset...it's part of being human sometimes and this clumsy lady is the one setting the example. I often have to remind Scott of this...he gets grumpy when the girls get messy...I tell him it's not a big deal...there are more serious things to be grumpy about!

In that spirit I went in search of a couple of quotes about laughter to help you lighten your grumpy load and manage being a momma this week...here they are:

"An optimist laughs to forget. A pessimist forgets to laugh." (Anon)

"The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused." (Shirley MacLaine)

"Don't cry over spilled milk."

In that light be optimistic this week. See the glass half full. I know this isn't  always easy, but hey, a half full glass makes less of a mess than a full one, and a half empty glass just isn't a whole lot of fun, right!? (I'm not sure that was very optimistic of me, but it certainly is practical!).