Set your standard...

  I will hold myself to a standard of Grace, not perfection. I really seriously like that saying.
  To some Grace is a religious ideal...saved by grace, living in grace and forgiving as Christ would. To some it's living a giving good life. To some it's only focusing on one area of life at a time.
  To me it means to live within my means in all areas. To forgive myself as I would others. To see my pluses, to live my life simpler, calmer and happier. To allow myself to step away from the idea of perfection..it's not possible and you'll go nuts attaining it. Sure you can wipe the sink out 100 times a day but honestly...it's not really doing anything but calming your insane perfections.
  Now don't get me wrong. Standards are good, needed and perfection is attained..but it's through realizing that your perfect is not my perfect. That your life works for you (or doesn't ..then you need to reevaluate and try again) and mine works for me. I have my own little things I have to do and to some they are nutty..to be they keep me calm. There is no snapshot of what perfection is yet all of us try so hard to attain it. We try so hard to reach that goal, to seek that approval that we don't live in the moment, we don't value what we have because we are constantly looking for the "perfect" thing. It doesn't exist. My life, myself, my child, my husband, my home, my job, my friends...none of it is perfect. But how boring it would be if it was. There would be no room for improvement. No room to grow. No need to try things, to test the water. I firmly believe too that people that pressure themselves for perfection will then pressure their spouses and that leads to marriage issues unneeded. You married the man for better or worse and unless it was something insane along the way..you knew who you was marrying. Don't "fix him and make him perfect"..love him as you would want to be loved...totally imperfections and all. I also believe it trickles down to children and then we have 8 yr olds with ulcers because they aren't color coordinating their lives away, aren't firmly in that "box" of life. Pffft Kaya will never be forced to be like another child. I hate labels and I hate bullies and I won't be one myself.
  To parent in Grace isn't going to make it easier. To be honest it makes you face yourself daily. It makes you face your struggles but it also makes you realize you are human. It calms you. It makes you realize that you shouldn't be feeling that life will end if the laundry isn't folded. I think it's important to show your child chores have to be done but I think we need to show them balance. Noone ever says at a funeral of a parent "I loved watching her do dishes. I really liked never playing outside because she needed to do the towels." or "I loved Dad. He was never around, never involved but the man brought home great pay". Sorta blunt but you see what I mean!
  So in my daily life I wear many, many hats. Wife, Mamma, sister, daughter, in law, employee, boo boo bandager, meal maker, organizer, gardener, lawn keeper..and I wear them each imperfectly happily :) Some days I'm more one than the other. My happy cup will be to the top and spilling over. Other days it's nearly empty and I wonder how I'm going to make it. Then I stop, refocus and see what life is truly about. I have parents that love me to the end of the Earth. I have a brother that is not only my best friend but one of the finest guys I know. My heart bursts with pride that he is truly living his life happily :) I have a husband that would lay down and die for me and Kaya. That loves me every day and even more on my bad days. I have a daughter who is not only my world but lights my path in life more than she realizes. I have family and friends that hold me up more than they know. And I have people that test my limits but..that is life.
  So I live my life to the standard of Grace. Not perfection. If more people realized the grass is greener on the other side of the fence it's usually for two reasons: You're either not watering your own yard enough...or the other side has more fertilizer ;)