Another rant

So pardon me for always having an opinion on everything but I was thinking a lot about this subject this last weekend. I have been trying to get my house in order and de-junk by getting rid of things and activities we:

a. don't need (or)
b. don't have room/time for

In part of my effort I went to a successful mothering convention that had classes on organizing your home (and life) and classes on losing weight and various other ideas to get you motivated as a mother. I loved the convention and I am going for sure again next year. They had so many tips to help you get more done in a day and talked about getting rid of excuses and just finding the desire to make your life more what you want it to be. But as I was sitting there listening to women give ideas on how to save time by not taking as many trips upstairs while cleaning, and then listened to the next give motivation for exercise I felt that they were both missing the most important talent that women possess, multitasking.

Yes I am a believer that we should clean our houses everyday (even if I don't get it done all the time, by darn I try). And I also believe in trying to exercise every day. But I have discovered out of necessity that both can be incorporated into each other. Just like parking at the back of a parking lot can increase the number of calories you burn. Being a disjointed scatterbrained housewife can and does burn calories as well. I actually make an effort not to bring all my children's clothes up the stairs in the same trip after folding laundry. It is kind of fun bounding up the stairs as fast as I can only holding my daughter's shirts, and then bounding down again to get the items for the next drawer in her dresser. I have to admit that I think about the extra calories that I am burning. It is the same with cleaning up a room. I could put all the things that need to go upstairs in a basket and make one trip, granted that does make more sense. But if I run the toys upstairs one at a time I can actually feel my butt lifting (pardon the unpleasant mental image).

When I lived in my last apartment there were no stairs and again I took advantage of what was offered. There was a long narrow hallway from the front room to the bedrooms. I would just hold the laundry up on my chest and squat and do a basketball shuffle to the bedroom and then back to the get the next pile. The extra advantage to this calorie burning exercise is that if you think of how truly silly you must look you get an ab workout laughing at yourself.

One of the better tips at the convention was to categorize your shopping lists so that you get it done faster. The thing the presenter didn't count on was that I've tried doing that before and I find it more satisfying to run from one end of the store and back again several times. That not only (burns calories) but it tires out my three year old. See I get three things done at once. I get the shopping done, I get a free workout and I get a child that is ready to nap. And people say that children grow out of naps, they just don't know the appropriate schedule to ensure they will always take naps.

I know I am weird and part of me just doesn't want to listen to other people, but these are the things that were going through my mind as I sat and listened to these awesome speakers talk about really smart ideas. The realization I came to was that I am incredibly self centered and I also must have a short attention span and try and entertain myself when my attention lapses.

Anyway, all you scatterbrained housewives out there, take solace in the fact that you may not get things done as fast and efficiently as you could, but hey, you burn more calories and have a lot more fun.