Step One to Less Stress - Dejunk/Declutter

Well, today was the official first day of the Spring Semester - an academic work day, so no classes, but first day of "work".  Just meetings for the most part and meetings tomorrow morning, but I already have a to-do list that is a mile long and no end in sight.  So, I'm getting serious about my goal of getting my life in control.  My wonderful MIL was here this weekend and did my giant mound of laundry for me!  What a great gift!  And she did it without me even asking.  I truly lucked out in the MIL department.

Anyways, I am reading a book on being able to get more done and the very first step it demands is to declutter/dejunk your life.  I realized today, after digging through three piles of paper on my desk and credenza in my office looking for a receipt that I needed that I have a lot to declutter/dejunk!  I am constantly losing things - keys, bills, receipts, addresses, appointment cards from docs, etc., etc.  I'm the queen of the lost item!  I realize that a lot of this stems from my inability to let go of things in a timely fashion.  I have a purse that is stuffed full of mail I need to open and read, magazines that came in the mail and got stuck in my purse, receipts that I don't really need to save, random pieces of paper with notes on them, shopping lists, etc.  Most of it I should have just thrown away immediately, but instead I think I might need it later so I keep it.  I am also very bad at piling things instead of putting them in a place they belong.  I also have a plethora of emails I will probably never need to read again.  Thank goodness for the Gmail search function!  But, I really do need to get rid of some of them and get off some email lists of stuff I don't read anymore.  So, today I am committing to spending the next week cleaning out the things in my life that I no longer need/want/love.  I will be ruthless!  I will create some open space in my life where I can work effectively.

On the Bean front, her Prograf levels were up where they should be this week and we've been approved for home health care nursing to come do the blood draws from now on, so we don't have to risk taking her to the hospital.  This is a welcome relief as this week when we took her there were five people and another baby in the lab waiting room while we were there.  One person there was obviously a smoker and reeked of it when we walked in and another person was coughing.  No good.  So, I'm relieved we can just have someone come here and do the draws in the future.  Tomorrow we will have to change her broviac dressing - by far the worst thing I have to do for her.  She hates it which makes me hate it.  Hopefully it will go relatively well without a lot of crying....from her or me!  :)

An article I read tonight reminded me of how lucky we are.  It was by a doctor and was discussing the ethics of transplantation and brought up the fact that each year more than 50 infants die while waiting for a new heart because there are so few donors available.  We definitely were blessed.  It is good to be reminded how much we are blessed every once in a while.