ISO: An organizational mentor

I want to purge and simplify my life but I'm having a hard time getting started.  Well, that's not completely fair.  To be honest I've gotten much better about purging the last few years.  But now I want to really go for it...but I can't quite seem to actually do it.  I wake up with great intentions, sometimes, for example, I even make it down to the playroom, the site of my greatest intentions.  The other day I even grabbed a trash bag and threw a few things in it.  And then I stalled.  Every time I try to start, I stall.  HELP ME!  I really, really want to simplify my life.  I'm so tired of my house always being a cluttered disaster.  How do I do this?  Has anyone else been here?  How do I begin?

Whose dream is this anyway?

Hey guys...I've got a few minutes so I thought I would post a little something on the bloggy blog.  It's been a busy summer.  We've been doing a lot of swimming, some traveling, a lot of exercising (for me) and some soul searching mixed in (also for me).  I think I'm at a weird stage in my life.  I feel very "in between" these days.  The kids are not little but they're not big either.  Next year all the kids will be off to school...but only part time.  I'm wondering when I should go back to work and what I should be doing when that happens.  (Right now I'm leaning towards pursuing graphic design, in case anyone's wondering and wants to share their opinion.)  I could ramble on for a bit about all the various ways that I feel "between" things, but I'm short on time so I won't.  Mainly because I want to get to the point which is that I think I'm in the midst of a mini little mid-life crisis...of sorts...okay...maybe not a crisis but a minor mid-life scuffle.  I live such a blessed life - I *know* that - but it's still not exactly what I thought it would be or even what I want it to be.  So I'm trying to figure all of that out. 

Oh...too funny...I just IMed with my friend and told her she was living the dream.  She responded, "Whose dream?"  That perfectly sums up what I'm feeling at this instant.  And with that, I'm off to go retrieve my kids.  Back to the grind.

Da-niece

My niece arrived earlier this month and last weekend I had a chance to take a few photos. I didn't actually take as many photos as I would have liked, because several of us were clamoring to hold her.

Little Angels Rock

Little Angels Rock, originally uploaded by hezro.

I'm a smidge critical of my photography. I don't think I'm supposed to admit this but if I'm being perfectly honestly, I never really like ANY of my pictures. *sigh* For example, today I took a few shots of Little K which I think are just okay. I am suspicious that I might like them better if I could see them minus Heather-the-Photographer filter...but I don't know.  Perhaps I would dislike them even more!  Ha!  

I think the most frustrating thing is that I'm not even sure what I'm unhappy about. I just look at my pictures and think they're not good enough.  The white balance is off, the focus isn't sharp, the color isn't fully saturated, the background is distracting...and so on and so forth.

Little Angels Rock, originally uploaded by hezro.

I've even started thinking my camera is messed up...maybe it *is* messed up.  I should look carefully at my camera settings and just make sure I didn't accidentally change something.  But I have a feeling it's just this weird funk I've been in.


I'm also suspicious that I might be a bit of a perfectionist.  But it needs to stop.  I just want to go back to taking pictures and enjoying it.  I'm getting too caught up worrying about silly stuff that doesn't matter.  The important thing is that I'm recording my adorable little children being their wonderful little selves...right?!

Update twenty minutes later:

So here I was, wallowing in this pit of self-loathing.  And then I saw this video my cousin posted on Facebook and it made me laugh and realize that I am taking myself WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.  She could not have posted this at a more perfect time.  Thank you Hilary for giving me some perspective. Ha! 

Go Bezerk

This weekend my sister-in-law and I were talking about this being little K's favorite book. My sister-in-law said, "Yeah, and then one time she told me 'Daddy goes bezerk'." Of course I realized that what little K really meant was that Daddy goes to work!

 

Tooth Fairy

Puddles

I love my daughter's fashion sense. It takes a special person to pull off fire engine rain boots with a glittery, frilly, girlie skirt. Fortunately she *is* a very special person.



She started off on the scooter with these very chic flats, before she wisely switched to the more sensible fire engine rain boots.



At some point she switched from the fire engine rain boots to the equally fashionable striped, green, frog rain boots.

This girl could definitely work the runway...or at least she'd have no trouble with the speedy behind-the-scenes wardrobe changes!