Mom mind tricks.

I shared with you some of the things that I do to try and keep my medical transcription work contained into the morning and early afternoon, different ways I pace myself and trick myself into getting it done.  Today's job is housework.  It's my day off and I'm not volunteering tonight (sadly) because I am going to take the kids to a (surprise) a 4H club tonight.  It is 4H season around here, since they run most of their clubs from January to June and the kids are in 6 clubs which meet once a month, which gives me a 4H meeting every week, plus a couple of weeks when I have 2.  They only meet for an hour and a half which is a total of 9 hours a month?  Maybe they meet for 2 hours.  I'm not sure.  Even then, only 12 hours a month, not including driving and any prep I have to do.  Anyway, I say all that to say this, since it is my day off work and I am not volunteering today,  I have a big old chunk of time in which I can do housework.  I hate housework, so I am giving myself what we like to call around here a clean and screen day.  I am cleaning for 15 or 20 minutes, then sitting at my computer for 15 or 20 minutes, then cleaning, then sitting.  You get the idea.  I get more done this way than I would if I didn't set time limits (and timers!)  because I'd get distracted on the cleaning and engrossed in the computer time and wouldn't get much of anything done.  I've already cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen quite a bit, my husband has taken down the trash and the kids have to clean the living room for school chores this afternoon (before 4H, I mean it) and so the house should look pretty decent at the end of the day. 

I learned a long time ago that I was not good at keeping after the kids for chores and school, so I made chores and personal hygiene a part of their school lists.  It works for us (mostly).  They'll have a daily list that includes, for example, writing, grammar, clean the living room, chemistry, algebra, sign language, piano, shower, exercise and brush teeth.   It's not the same every day but you get the idea.  The making them shower every day as part of school has finally paid off in that I have kids who expect to be clean, don't feel right if they haven't showered and even shower on weekends.  About 7 or 8 years ago, this seemed like an impossible dream.  :-)