This week at work my team is focusing on self-compassion. Yesterday one of the things we did was to note something we’d like say no to. Mine was dishwashing, but I realized that really I’d like to say no to the kitchen generally, except for cooking.

The picture above is what my kitchen looked like when I came downstairs this morning. It’s not horrible, but it’s not great either. All those dishes are from dinner last night and after. I cleared the dishwasher yesterday morning, but it was nearly full by dinner time. Which means the dinner dishes didn’t all fit. And then I made toffee because someone needed a treat, so more dishes piled up. And the dishwasher was full of dishes that needed to be put away.

All those dishes to the right of the sink needed to be hand-washed. And when I reached under the sink to pull out the dishwashing soap? It had disappeared. I later discovered it in the dining room, where the 10-year-old had taken it for some project.

All the painting stuff will go away soon, but Andrew is still working on the room and closet doors, so it’s not ready to go yet. I wish we had a utility room where all of this could go, but we don’t. Yet!

Also note all those plants in the window. They need to be transplanted, but the raised garden bed I bought hasn’t arrived yet. So do I transplant them again? Or wait? Around here, we can’t really be sure it’s not going to frost at night until around Mother’s Day, so I’m leaning toward bigger pots for right now.

Basically, the entire kitchen is a big to-do list. I made progress before I started “work” this morning. (Note the coffee cup that has magically appeared!)

And then after my first meeting when I came downstairs, someone had started the dishwasher. So the dishes are piling up on the counter again. Bleh!