Attention to my one follower: I'm back

So it turns out one of the easiest ways to simplify your life is to not post anything on your blog for a year. Imagine that. Another way is to quit your job, which I did in a blaze of glory. A very quick way to make up for the time you saved from both of those feats is to get pregnant with a second baby approximately 48 hours after starting a blog about simplifying your life. Trust me. I know.

Little Henry is almost three months old now and here I am, once again, working at a frantic pace to simplify. So far I've created a chore chart in Outlook that automatically reminds me when I need to complete certain tasks. For instance, I am supposed to mop the wood floors every Monday and Friday. The only problem with that is that I end up getting so busy that I often push off the Monday mopping long enough that it ends up getting combined with the Friday mopping, which in turn often gets pushed back until the Monday mopping. So, I end up living with perpetually dirty floors. If only Microsoft could invent something in Outlook that actually does the chores for you....

I complete my favorite and most simple task of the day just before going to bed when I sneak into my kids' rooms to check on them. First, I make sure they are still breathing. (Am I the only person who still does that to a two year old?) Then I stare at them and get all warm and happy. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes that comes from a children's book titled "Someday." It reads, "Sometimes when you sleep I watch you dream and I dream, too." I actually had it made into a big vinyl quote for the wall above my daughter's bed a year and a half ago, but I haven't put it up yet. Lucky for me, I've got it on the schedule in Outlook to hang it right after I mop the floors next Monday.

A good start

I've been relatively obsessed recently with simplifying my life. For example, one way I've consciously started to take back control is to refrain from joining social networking sites, despite extensive social pressures. As enticing as it occasionally sounds, I already feel too short on time with people who matter the most to me to expend precious energy on people who didn't matter that much to me when I met them, and matter even less to me now. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're by and large wonderful people. But if they meant that much to me, wouldn't we still make an effort to stay current on one anothers' lives? I'm certain there are exceptions to this rule, but I'm just not convinced the benefits outweigh the costs in this case. So why am I starting a blog, you ask? I don't know. It's partly because I couldn't fall asleep and ideas kept coming to my mind that sheep weren't able to overcome.

When I started thinking about one of my most recent victories in simplification, I almost immediately thought of Bumble and Bumble's hair powder. My stylist introduced me to this amazing invention and it has begun to revolutionize my routine. Per my husband's request and the fact that I'm still scarred from a horrific haircut almost a decade ago, I have relatively long hair. Because of this I spend a long time drying it and even longer styling it. I can generally go 48 hours between washes, but since I've started using this hair powder I can go three or four days. This is truly a miracle because I dread having to do my hair. When I was drying it on Sunday morning I spent nearly the entire time calculating how many hours a week I spend getting ready. I calculated that it takes me at least five hours a week to get showered, dressed and beautified. As much as I value trying to look presentable, that's a lot of time. And up until now I haven't been super successful in pairing down my routine. There are approximately seven billion things I'd rather be doing with that time than getting ready. For example, I'd love to be sleeping, or playing with my girl, or remembering to take my vitamins. So, if I can stretch my washes out an extra day or two, heavens knows I'm going to do it. The only negative to this hair powder is that it is in an aerosol can, which isn't easily snuck through security in carry-on bags (which I recently found out on a trip to Denver). But that is a story for another night....