As the clock counts down to midnight, countless people are looking forward to leaving behind the old and welcoming the new.  I too, have many moments of 2011 that I am eager to leave behind.  There are also many that I will cherish.  As a working mom, one of my favorite and most used expressions is "I'm dancing as fast as I can".  Sometimes, it feels like there's never enough time.  The feeling can be comparable to running in quicksand.  I remember thinking recently - if I could just have 6 hours in my house...to tackle the to-dos.  Time is a commodity.  Significant blocks of time like that are something I put on the "someday list".   There is a quote by politcal philopsher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) that I like - 'in order to go on living, one must escape the death involved in perfectionism".  Perfectionism is indeed one of the pitfalls of motivation.  There will continue to be an infinite amount of laundry to do, dust bunnies to hunt down, errands to run and items to cross off our to-do lists.   There are, however, a finite number of Saturdays before our kids go to high school, college or beyond.  Today I chose to  back-burner the list in favor of taking my daughter to visit a friend.  We drank tea, listened to Norah Jones, chatted and appreciated the antiques, holiday decorations and stories that lived in their 200 year-old home.  Then, we went home and cooked and baked for hours.  Unplugged, uninterrupted bliss.  Tonight, my daughter was so proud to wrap up a tray of warm, homemade cookies to take to a friend's house.  While we drove there, she said - "mom, this might possibly be the best New Year's Eve ever".  She told me she will always remember spending that time together.  In my estimation, that is perfection.