Like Jerry Maguire

I have a mission statement.
Truly, I do. This is it in a few simple numbered statements.
1.KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!
Mr. Doug Mosher, my high school teacher taught me this...I think! maybe not, but I am giving him credit.
While I have been busy planning big elaborate things, I am missing the wonderful beautiful small things: my back patio swing, a book, painting Christmas ornaments with my daughter in JULY, playing tag in the park, laughing with my husband, you get the gist, it is all vanishing from my hands every day.
SIMPLE is WONDERFUL! I have ALWAYS filled my life with chaos.  No, I dont  mean for it to be chaos, but most certainly, chaos likes me and I like chaos. I say YES to everything and everyone and try to please everyone and everything and I AM MISSING IT...the mark. I am RUSHING TO MAKE SURE I FIT THE WHOLE WORLD IN!
2.  TECHNOLOGY SUCKS( sometimes)
YES, I am blogging on a laptop. YES, I love social media. I love groupons and coupons and steals and deals and learning who is on vacation and what they are drinking and who is doing what and with whom. I admit it, I love it! I WATCH DANCE MOMS! There I said it! I like mindless junk. And it has consumed me.
I am getting up every morning and making sure I get the Living Social deal and deleting my Girlfriends in God Devotional!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!! Dont guilt me! I am already aware.
Facebook has built my photography business from a hobby to a 8-12 appts a week full-time gig. AND ITS GREAT...but my plan, our plan, that being Jim and I, was for me to stay at home with Audrey and just LOVE her and TEACH her and BE BLESSED that I CAN stay home, that my husband is a selling genius and I CAN LIVE THE DREAM of A STAY AT HOME MOM( PS:  Hardest job EVER!!!!)
But I realized I spend 4 hours a day on this stupid computer....MINIMUM...just looking at other peoples CRAP! WHAT! YEP, guilty again!
This week( 2 days so far....I know, so minimal), I shut off the TV. I sat down at my dining room table with Letters, Numbers, Colors and Shapes and I took time for my daughter. We curled up on the couch and we read. We drew a village in sidewalk chalk, we watered our garden, we baked zucchini bread, we ate breakfast together and we talked. IT WAS HEAVEN! It was in fact SO MUCH better than reading about my friends who HATE their JOBs, WISH Their lives were different,etc...etc...etc.... I CARE, I really Do....but I care about my daughter SO MUCH MORE!
3.  GO BACK TO THE BASICS, SIMPLIFY LIFE FOR MORE THAN 1 WEEK
My friend Val and I have talked about SIMPLIFYING LIFE like 1 million times. And I want to, I just get pulled back into the chaos in about 3 days max.  I sometimes wonder why there are more cases of childhood disabilities, Obesity, Divorce, you name it, nowadays as compared to 20 years ago. My conclusion: WE WANT it ALL, WE WANT it ALL, and we WANT It NOW...and there is an app to get it!
I wonder about that McDonalds commerical where the farmer says he can grow lettuce in 3 days! Anyone, anyone???? is it just me.  I have lettuce in my garden, It takes much more than 3 days! I think I will eat my own lettuce and not McD's! My grandfather would have knocked my mother upside her head as an adult if she told him she bought a coffee for $5. do you get what I am saying????
I just want to have a healthy dinner cooked for my family with my own hands!
I am guilty of many unnecessary items and trips and goodness knows what else. Picnics in the park, that is my new focus before dinners at The Melting Pot( although that would be nice for my birthday!)
What I am saying is: I DO WANT IT ALL, and here is what it ALL is for me, what it should be:
meaningful moments with my daughter and my husband, ones she will remember, like the fact that I remember the taste of Roastbeef sandwiches with BBQ Sauce that my mom used to pack on wednesdays when we went fishing at the Cable Car( Scares you doesnt it mom????...those days, I remember!)
The smell of honeysuckle at the swimming hole in EC!. The warm sun and a blanket outside with my Gram.
Bicycles rides with my arms up in the air.
SO, I made myself this daily schedule.
I must admit it fits in all those crazy updates and time to catch up on email and check to see if my favorite restaurant has a 50% off deal...but NOT 4 hrs of it. Those 4 hours, I am taking back, keeping them simple and basic.
Someday Audrey, you will thank me for that!
When I meet God at the gates of heaven and he shows me the film recap of my life, I know I wont say, wow, I should have spent more time of Facebook and I dont ever want to say WOW, I should have spent more meaningful time with my parents, my husband, my kid.
Always,
Tom Cruise