Addendum to Waking Up

First of all, I guess I should surf BlogExplosion more often. Thanks for all your comments on my last post.

Grokodile suggests to schedule explicit time for activities. Thanks for that great suggestion! I think I will have to schedule our fun stuff, especially the stuff like camping and if we go to the zoo. Otherwise, it will never happen. Like others out there, I just figured quality time would occur magically, but it really doesn't. You have to make the time, and that was a difficult--yet stupidly simple--thing for me to realize. Yesterday, after her kindergarten graduation, DD and I played outside. She rode her bike on the sidewalk and we blew bubbles. I had forgotten how much fun blowing bubbles could be. I guess I thought that "someday" we'll do the stuff that parents and kids do, but someday never comes, unless you specifically plan for it.

Sasha found my post to be inspiring. Thanks, Sasha, for commenting. I like to know that what I write makes an impact on others.

EverydayEconomist suggests flylady.com. Heh. I like Flylady's ideas and I have tried to implement them, but her system doesn't exactly work for me. I've implemented them in my own way, such as using baby steps to get things done and I keep a calendar. The problem is that I am a semi-reformed packrat who is married to a somewhat materialistic-type person. We have a bunch of junk that we can't bear to part with (yet). DH does most of the housework, actually, because he only works part-time, while I work full-time. Plus, housework is not important to me. I could care less. I am just self-absorbed, wanting to do my own thing. Good thing I realized it, though!

FragileIndustries, thanks for saying my blog is fun and thoughtful. That is the best compliment I've received yet! :) I started scrapbooking about 6 years ago, right after my DD was born. (My aunt had a Creative Memories party.) DD has a semi-completed scrapbook of her first year. :) Although I have other photos in albums, I have not taken them out to scrapbook them. They are in non-magnetic albums, so I figured there was no point in re-doing them. Now we have a digital camera and we only print the ones we like, so there is less waste--but since we've had it, we haven't taken many pictures! I love scrapbook supplies, which are overrunning a corner of the dining room. I think I would enjoy the hobby more if I had a specific place to do it in. I just haven't gotten around to cleaning out part of the computer room so that I can put my craft supplies in there. I have an altered book in progress, with a flower motif, but the problem is that what I do never looks as good as what I see on the Internet or in Somerset Studio magazine. Sigh.

Orikinla Osinachi wondered if I was satirically addressing non-involved parents. Sadly, Orikinla, no I was not. I was being honest. I plan to work on the scrapbook together with her; she is always begging me to do crafts. Part of it will be written by me, and I definitely want to include her handwriting and artwork at this age, so it will be a labor of love by both of us. I love your suggestions for titles, especially "How Many Summers More" before my daughter is a woman. :) There is a commercial on tv, a Visa commercial I think, where the guy marries the woman, they get their first home, then they have kids, and watch them grow up, etc., and it brings me to tears every time. Time flies.

Cityflowergirl says it's not too late to start enjoying time with DD. Thanks for the encouragement!

And thank all of you who read my blog recently!