As Matt and I continue to talk about expanding our family with the addition of a baby (we’re not even thinking about starting to try until the end of the school year), it’s important that we continue to clarify for ourselves what kind of family we are and what kind of family we strive to be.

I pulled out the writer’s notebook and asked Matt to indulge me in a little brainstorming session. Here’s what we’ve come up with so far (in no particular order):

We are a family that…

• values health and wellness in the form of regular exercise and healthy eating.
• makes it a habit to eat home-cooked

I’m desperately trying to get into the habit of working ahead.

The way I look at it, I pretty much have two choices: do a given task at the last minute and stress myself out, or do the same task ahead of time and be more relaxed.

The latter is easier said than done for a few reasons:

1. If you’re currently doing things at the last minute, you don’t have any extra time to get those tasks done and get ahead on the upcoming tasks.
2. If you’re working ahead, it’s easy to let things (like a lack of motivation or a preference for procrastination) take precedence by telling yourself, “Oh,

I’ve had a rather cruddy week for various reasons. Primarily, Matt needs to get a new car. His Honda Civic has a ton of miles on it and is starting to break down on the interstate. Scary.

But I hate going to car dealerships. Talk about scary. I hate the sales tactics and the pressure and the unctuous smiles.

We’ve spent a lot of time researching cars, communicating back and forth with dealers, test driving, etc. We’ve gone to bed late every night, and I’m tired.

I said to Matt, “I’m having a bad week.”

He replied, “You’ve got me and Hoss. How bad could it be?”

Yes. He is … Read More