My husband is awesome (but sucks at grocery shopping)

There's a surprisingly awesome quantity of stock-photo
images to be found when you google "man grocery shopping"

This post is for all my homegirls who have awesome husbands who chip in at home, but who for the life of them, cannot manage a successful trip to the grocery store. For those of you who make painstakingly detailed lists which include package coloring and shelf location but still end up with a phone call from a confused hubby in aisle 3, this rant is for YOU!

Dr. H is awesome about sharing the burden of "home work", but one task I always hesitate to pass off is going to the grocery store. No matter how hard I try, it is as though a blind man consumes products in our home and then he becomes a bewildered little boy when trying to locate anything resembling the items on his list inside the store. Somehow a pre-dinner shopping list which includes "1 lb chicken breasts" turns into 1 lb of my favorite chipotle chicken breast deli meat and the store being sold out of shallots (which later morphs into a confession of "I don't really know what shallots look like"). 

I don't know what in our genetic code makes women so much more capable of grocery shopping than men, but my scientific research (aka, complaining to girlfriends over alcohol) yields a conclusive result that the majority of men simply cannot grocery shop. 

The "One Chore a Day" Challenge

Master of the clothing piles!

Recently, the "basic organization" situation in my apartment has become a bit, errrr, dire. Having missed spring cleaning entirely, I now find myself existing amongst a sea of piles. The piles consist of everything from clothing, which I long ago gave up on finding a proper home for (since my dresser and closet require a hazmat suit) to homegoods (where do YOU keep your spiralizer and funky shaped gold flower vases!?) The need for a good overhaul/goodwill deposit is so far overdue that the idea seems like a fantasy (I had an actual dream where my apartment was spic and span which made waking up the nightmare...) This is why I have adopted the "One Chore a Day" Challenge for the month of July.

I once read that the best way to tackle a big project, especially housework, is to break it down into smaller projects that you can complete individually. This gives you a personal sense of accomplishment and progress while avoiding the overwhelmed feeling that a big task can create. Starting on Saturday, I have tackled one small project each day, first removing the piles of laundry from the corner of my bedroom and now organizing my dresser drawers, 1 at a time. This strategy has translated to about 20 minutes of "chores" per day which can easily be managed while on the phone or as a break from work (#WorkingFromHomeForTheWin) 

At this rate, I hope to get through all the tasks on my list in about a month (I'm comin for you kitchen pantry!) and I won't ever have to give up a full day of fun in order to play Cinderella. It's the "One Chore a Day" Challenge for the month of July. Who's with me!?!

Getting Grown-Upy

"No one looks stupid when they're having fun" - Amy P.
(aka, my kinda grown up)

This morning I worked out before work. It's a new trend and one I'm not the biggest fan of, but it's necessary. The evenings just seem to get away from me more often than they used to and even on nights when I don't have plans or errands to run, often I'm just freakin tired!! Am I getting old!? Does the fact that I feel the need to vacuum weekly and wear more sensible shoes signal that the practicalities of adulthood have started to defeat the free-wheeling fun of adolescence? 

Apparently, your late 20s are a funky time. This isn't groundbreaking news, but when you're living it, you really understand it. I have friends with kids, friends that own homes, friends back/still in school and friends that party into the wee hours on weeknights (God bless 'em!) The lack of uniformity, for a control freak like me, is nuts. I'm all "but how am I supposed to be acting!?" Thankfully, it appears that there really are no rules anymore. If I want to rent in the city when many are buying in the suburbs, that's a choice I get to make. If I want to drink with friends past midnight on a Wednesday, that's a-ok too (though there's a 50% chance I'm going to hate myself Thursday morning!) When life requires you to start acting grown-upy, you must acknowledge new responsibilities (you mean I have to clean those dust bunnies off the moldings myself!?) but you also have the freedom to make your own rules (the dust bunnies will still be there next week!) And even though waking up before the sun to workout totally blows, at least on weekends I can still sleep until noon.

Dirty Laundry.

This is not my laundry room.

Got to air out my dirty laundry. My dirty winter laundry. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no household chore I hate more than winter laundry. There's the extra stuff, like a billion pairs of socks and tights (I miss my flip flops), the sheer bulk of it (sweatpants and sweatshirts take up so much extra space!) and all that extra folding and sorting. Ugh. While laundry has never been my favorite task, winter laundry is on my "do anything to avoid it" list (and avoid it I am). 

Do you have any household chores that you absolutely loathe? How do you force yourself to get them done before the hamper is overflowing and you're out of black leggings (for example)? I'm always in search of ways to make my dreaded chores easier (e.g., add music - a trip to the laundry room is way better with a soundtrack) but winter laundry may have me beat. Here's to tackling our "to do" lists this week, even those items that always seem to be the last to get done!