I'm diapering a watermelon? So where'd I leave the baby... (GIVEAWAY)

I'm reading a fun book which offers help "for the highly distractible mom". Umm. Me. And maybe you, too. It's oversized, like one of those old school Red Chief notebook pads with a pic of a mom holding a diapered watermelon. At first, I thought it would be too cartoony, but when I opened the pages I realized I had just found someone who gets me. Author Carol Barnier says, "This is not a book written by a woman is naturally organized, sort of a hybrid of Martha Stewart and the Proverbs 31 woman". Thank goodness!

The word "mom" is a split-level condominium of meanings. We multi-task like no other. Add to that the title that of working mom, volunteer, wife, friend, or any other of the roles we take on and it's easy to see why we have hummingbird head syndrome. But sometimes it is more than that. Some times there are women, like me, who have to master their distractions. It doesn't come easily and it's something I've worked on my entire life. Carol describes herself in this way.

"I am the one who starts out to get her a child a drink of water, who stops briefly to pick up a paper clip from the floor, end up weeding the garden with absolutely no understanding of why that child is still thirsty."

She offers awareness statements with helpful tips and work-through pages to help you overcome or at least manage the challenge. Statements like:

We will forget.

It drops the guilt and lets go of the idea that if you just 1) were better organized; 2) more at peace; 3) tried a little harder; 4) spent more time in prayer; or 5) adopted a low-carb, high-insect diet that you would start remembering things. Instead, she gives you tools that free up brain space.

It's refreshing, really. Do you know how it feels to go to a spinning class and the instructor is a size 0, never has given birth, and calls out instructions in a boot-camp style, saying, "anyone can do this, be like me". Barnier doesn't do that. Instead she acknowledges that we will lose things, we need to limit our interruptions, and we need wider margins in our lives with less activities so we can do the things we love the best well.

The thing is, you do get help, but the person leading you to a more organized life has "given birth, did have a few extra pounds to lose, and loves Turtle cheesecake better than tofu".

Thank goodness!

There's a home schooling section that doesn't apply to me, but may apply to you, but this is really a great tool. And I love that she added some easy recipes and fun activities for the mom with younger children. It's a fun book. Carol promises this:

To help women work with their personality traits rather than against them to make it possible to: keep track of items; actually arrive on time or even early; access information that you need when you need it; limit pesky interruptions; get stuff to organize itself; and run a home and have fun doing it.

That's great, but here's some more good news. We are offering a giveaway to one lucky CML member who shares her "hummingbird head" moment in the comment section. I'll draw a name on Friday at 8 a.m. and the lucky winner will receive her own copy of "I'm Diapering a Watermelon, Then Where'd I Leave the Baby".

Check out more of Carole Barnier's book at OpenGifts.org. Buy "I'm Diapering a Watermelon" on amazon.com.