Women are like lionesses at the gate of the home. . . . She guards that gate, and things matter to that family if they matter to her. . . . Sisters, you are each like the lioness at the gate. This means that there has to be some prioritizing. I was taught years ago that when our priorities are out of order, we lose power. If we need power and influence to carry out our mission, then our priorities have to be straight.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Frustrated!

So Michael has dubbed my word of the last 2 months "FRUSTRATED". I find myself constantly saying, "I'm frustrated!" or "That's/It's so frustrating!". I'm not complaining about my life - I'm actually really happy. I just have had a series of frustrating things happen that have resulted in THE WORD OF THE DAY.

Case in point: Our house has become a black hole! I keep losing/misplacing things that I can't seem to find later. It is so FRUSTRATING! Right now, the count is up to 3 things I can't find: Shaelyn's left black shoe, my Book of Mormon Institute Manual, and one of Shaelyn's little hair barrettes. The last one makes me nervous because it is a choking hazard. Just yesterday, I was taking the barrette out of Shaelyn's hair and she knocked my hand right as I was pulling it out. Well, the barrette when flying and has yet to be found. I don't understand how something could just disappear into thin air. I checked a very large radius around where said barrette went flying. No luck. I even prayed about finding it, worried about the choking thing. Still no luck. I'm assuming the vacuum cleaner will eventually pick it up, but how FRUSTRATING!!! I seriously found my blood pressure skyrocketing and had to count to 10 and breathe, all over this stupid barrette!

As it relates to the black shoe, I have scoured every square inch of the house trying to find it. I have no idea where it could have disappeared to. Shaelyn was playing with it in her room, and I remember thinking, "look and see where she hides that because she's going to hide it good and you won't be able to find it later". Even with my wise counsel to myself, I still lost it! And Shaelyn has 3 absolutely adorable black dresses to wear to church that I just won't let her wear because they don't match her brown shoes - the only available shoes to wear right now. And I just refuse to spend money on another pair of black shoes when we own a pair somewhere in this house! Can you tell how FRUSTRATING that is?!?!

Perhaps the reason these senarios have been more frustrating than normal is that I'm finding myself drowning in piles of disorganization all around our house. As Shaelyn gets taller and more mobile and better able to reach up on things she couldn't before, the stuff and clutter that once inhabited several surfaces are grouped together onto taller surfaces, thus resulting in important paperwork and other items (like my Book of Mormon Institute Manual) being lost in the shuffle. How FRUSTRATING! I'm trying to stay on top of the clutter (see a post to be coming soon), but I feel like I have clutter rabbits - the clutter multiplies before I'm able to contain what I already have.

Just typing this post, I realize why FRUSTRATED has been my word of late. Any of you have a word of the month you find yourself constantly saying?

Cleverly written by shelley