What's On Your "Did Do" List?!

Do you ever suffer from 'What I didn't do today' syndrome? 

The kind of thought stream that goes like this..."Grrr...I didn't get ANYTHING done today."

That's usually how it starts. And it's full of SO much truth because all of us busy moms and dads are just sitting around on our bums sipping lemon-aid and staring at the sky from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed. It's great fun really. We don't get ANYTHING done. Ever.

Why we believe these silly thoughts I don't know, but I do. I let them permeate my mind and after I get through the 'I didn't get ANYTHING done today' part, the string of thoughts continues on like a  laundry list...

 "I didn't do the laundry, or run to the store to get that beach towel that was on sale. I didn't take the stuff down to the basement that has been sitting on the basement steps (and is actually a safety hazard at this point!!) for 6 weeks...I'm SUCH a bad mother! I didn't clean out the fridge. I didn't file Ava's kindergarten paperwork. Oh wait, when is Ava's 5 year old physical? I need to look that up because there is something about immunizations and starting kindergarten...and for goodness sakes I'm going to be the ONLY mom whose child will have to sit in the office on the first day of kindergarten because her mother DIDN't figure this all out in a timely manner. Crap. I DIDN'T read that email that my mother in law sent about Disney that I promised her I'd read 10 days ago and shoot, where are those Gap coupons...I DIDN'T put them my coupon folder...shoot."

I'm beginning to realize that this is a form of being a glass half empty person. 


I don't want to be a glass half empty person. 

I HATE that question. Do you look at the glass half full or half empty?!!

"Half full, of course!" I stammer, fearing the opposite might actually be true.

One day, months ago, when Scott and I were both having a "What I didn't do" kind of weekend I pulled out a cheap magnetic white board that I DID buy for teachable moments such as these! I pulled it off the basement stairs, threw it up on the fridge and wrote these words across the top...

"What I DID do today"

We both very easily rattled off 5 or 6 things each of us had done...cutting the lawn, cleaning up the girl's  rooms, playing with them on the swing set, picking up some groceries at the store, returning a call to a family member, getting a 3 mile run in, just to name a few. 

We realized we had actually gotten quite a bit done. We started to feel a little bit better about ourselves, our parenting, our marriage. 

I won't lie. We haven't made a "Did Do" list since that day, but I think I'm going to re-establish the habit this week. I think it's important for me, for Scott, for the emotional outlook and spirit of our household.

In that spirit, I'm also going to start a new blog link-up on Wednesdays..."What I DID DO Wednesdays!"  If you are a mom and a blogger, I want you to write a post on your own page about a day from the last week that did not go quite as you had planned, or maybe it did and you were SUPER productive...either way... keep a tally in a notebook throughout the day of ALL of the things you DID do, little or big, and then throw them in a blog post and link up to my post on Wednesday morning. 

I promise you'll A) feel better about yourself after  you complete the list and B) we'll all enjoy the added benefit of reading each other's DID DO lists, which should by NO means be another way of comparison, but hopefully of realizing that we are all in this crazy boat together. 

Enjoy your weekends. I have another party to get ready for! But I sure am glad I DID get this post written!