Perseverence! That is the key to success...being able to move forward and continue on your path in the face of adversity. A game plan that is well defined or a schedule that is precisely set down to the minute can often be the ruin of a person's day if they can't change course and persevere to achieve the final goal, whether it is taking the path originally lined out or taking a few detours along the way. Today is one of those days when I already know my path is going to change from minute to minute and I need to be flexible enough to go with the flow, so to speak.

I started off with the best of intentions. Mondays are the day I do my weekly cleaning and, if I could just get started and keep moving without obstacles, would probably be done in about an hour. But, it seems that other things manage to throw my game plan out the window and I spend the rest of the day trying to get back on track. Things started off well. I did my usual dusting without any problems. Watering the plants is where my path started to veer a little. After dusting, and just before I vacuum, I water the plants. Normally, I forget this little job, but I am on a quest to save what few indoor plants I have (a total of 3 and one of them is a cactus!) After the watering, I am ready to vacuum. Only today, when I walked back through the foyer, there was a huge puddle on my hardwood floor under my struggling-big-plant-with-huge-leaves-and-occassionally-a-bloom. Apparently, I poured the water in the outer planter instead of in the one with the actual plant and dirt. Since the front door was closer than the kitchen sink, I managed to get the pot to the front porch so I could clean up the water left standing on the floor.

Once that crisis was averted, I went on with my routine. Just as I am finishing up, and all that is left to do is sweep the floors and vacuum the carpets, I find two more obstacles. First, one of my little darlings failed to plug in the Swiffer thing that I use for all my hardwood floors andmy my DH, who is off work for a while, is sound asleep on the recliner in the family room. So much for sweeping and vacuuming!

Every week I try to see how long it takes me to get through my weekly list. Whether it is the silly problems I create myself, like the leaking planter, or interruptions to the routine that come from other sources, such as a friendly telephone call from an old friend, I know one thing for certain. The floors will be waiting for me when I finally am charged up and ready to tackle them, and if I persevere, they will eventually get done. But, life is too short to fret about what didn't get done. I prefer to look at how far I got today, knowing that there have been Mondays when I didn't even get this far!