Dear Cat,

You didn't make a specific request, so I chose to do the kitchen table.
Nice, eh? And the playroom was clean and the kids were dressed. Oh, and what's that lovely thing in the center of the table, you ask? Just a little centerpiece I whipped up a week ago with an empty water goblet, some old candles and candlesticks, and some leftover Christmas ribbon. Ryan (my BIL) says that it doesn't match the table, and he's probably right, but it still makes me happy when I look at it.

Okay, so I slept in until 10:45. Which was glorious. I've done no cleaning yet today. So here's my untouched at 10:00 picture of my front room (okay, I took it as soon as we got up).

Where is my freaking camera cord? AAAAH!

Aha! My camera cord was buried under a pile of tissues on my desk. Which makes me think today's goal should be cleaning off my desk, and also cleaning my kids' room. And the kitchen. Those are three goals. Will take pictures and post. After food.

Here's my public humiliation (which is totally worth it for getting caught up on sleep):

Play Room

I fixed the camera, thank heavens!

Okay, here's what the room looked like as of ten this morning. Clean, huh? Okay. Now it's off to gather up some overdue library books.

Front room this morning:

Heidi,

What's the best way to post pictures on here?

Loveth,

Cat.

Heidi,

My to-do list for today is:
- get oil changed and clean out car
- clean earrings
- do visiting teaching
- update checkbook and pay bills
- clean entire house (eek!)
- write paragraphs for each day this week, put in scrapbook
- exercise and eat healthy
- read scriptures for five minutes
- do one scrapbook page of old pictures
- write 1000 words of story

Dearest Heidi,

I like your idea of picture accountability.

So my three areas are:
- kids and self dressed by 10 a.m.
- kids and self eating food (or already eaten) by 10 a.m.
- have front room picked up by 10 a.m.

Dear Cat,

Okay, here's my idea, but we can't do it until Tuesday because I left my camera in Rexburg this weekend and won't get it back 'til after the holiday.

We each pick three areas that we want to improve in, but they have to be small and doable. For instance, I'd choose keeping my kitchen table spotless (for some reason a dirty kitchen table really bugs Brandon), keeping the kids' playroom clean, and actually putting clothing on the children first thing in the morning, instead of somewhere around lunch time. Then, every morning at ten each of us pings the other one with a check-in on one of the three areas, and then each of us has to take a photo of our checked-in area as it is when we get the check-in alert and post it. I figure we'll keep our areas clean because we'll know that dire humiliation could follow if we don't.

What do you think? Tell me you love it! Tell me it's grand! Tell me it's yours forever!

Heidi

What do you think? a

Dear Heidi,

I think this idea is wonderful! The goals I'm trying to work on are:

- healthy diet
- regular exercise
- regular house cleaning
- regular prayers & scriptures
- regular writing and scrapbooking

Sadly, I think the last one's the one that's going to get neglected the most and should be done first. I just hate it. Makes me feel like a moron. Of course, so does everything else. *headdesk*

I did a writeup of Monday's adventures in Salt Lake yesterday, though. So today I guess I'm doing yesterday's writeup, which shall be summed up as, "Arg."

I suspect you won't be upset if I spam the blog. I expect spam in return. Spamalot!

Dear Cat,

Aren't you thrilled? This is our official self-improvement blog, because we're bffs, right? (You must imagine my best valley-girl voice when I say bffs).

I'm thinkin' we type our rambling, wandering notions about all the things we hope to improve in. You know: reports on how our wannabe novels are going, or if we're finally able to keep our houses clean, or if we've figured out how to overcome our deep emotional issues . . . (that was totally a joke).

I'm particularly hoping to rope you into being an accountability partner for house cleaning. I've decided that keeping a clean house is like losing weight: you need an accountability partner until you develop the habits you need to keep yourself in check.

So there you go! You know you're way excited to join me! Write back to me . . .