Doodle Acres » Organization

Some Semblance of a Schedule

Heather — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:22:11 +0000

OK, I admit it. The last couple of months have been a wonderfully crazy blur, full of many blessed events (hence the reason that I have been blogging so infrequently and also the reason that I encouraged you to add me to your Blogreader —Bloglines is my personal favorite). While wonderful, these last few months have left me feeling a bit out of sorts with our lack of a real daily schedule and our overstuffed house, which never seems to stay picked up for more than 5 minutes!!! In fact I feel as if my head has been spinning and in danger of falling off altogether!!!

Needless to say, I really needed this vacation!!! Vermont is always a place where I find inspiration and peace. Being here in God’s beautiful nature show always makes me long for simplicity and order in my life and the life of my family. Being among the trees and on the lake seem to give me clarity of vision that I can lose at home, if I’m not careful.

Having just recently finished Shopping for Time, I have been enjoying “sitting at Jesus’ feet” these last three or four mornings before my family has arisen from their blessed slumber. This has meant getting up at 6 a.m. while on vacation (I know, I know, I can hear you groaning!!!). I consider this preparation for when I get home and push up my wake up time to 5 a.m. (Now I hear you really moaning!!!). This time away and my early mornings spent at Jesus’ feet have made my path clear to me.

Like it or not, 5 a.m. is a necessary evil. It is the only way that I can have my quiet time, get my housework back on track, and still find time for exercise which is a must for getting off / reducing my blood pressure medication. These are all things that I used to do thanks to Flylady but have lost sight of in the recent past. I am grateful for the Control Journal that I put together a while back which makes it easier to get back on the straight and narrow.

I have spent a couple of hours over the last few days working on a schedule to fulfill all my goals. I know it will need some tweaking and I will need some patience as I put the plan into action. Something that I have been learning over these last several months is that when I stumble, I need to just brush myself off and begin again. Sometimes this means asking the Lord’s forgiveness and forgiving myself. But when all is said and done, I need to get up and try again (preferably without beating myself up too severely). So in this spirit I continue this blessed journey. Now without further adieu, here it is:

Morning Routine

5 am Get up

Make bed

Go to bathroom

Vitamins/Medication

SITTING AT JESUS’ FEET

5:45 Brush teeth

Apply moisturizer

Dress

Hair

Make-up

6:00 Empty dishwasher, if necessary

Breakfast, newspaper

Diet Center food planning

Daily planning, check calendar, update “to do” list, plan day/errands/goals

Menu planning, grocery shopping planning

Puzzles, clip for later

7:00 Defrost meat for dinner, dinner prep

Breakfast prep for children (CHILDREN”S BREAKFAST at 7:30)

Put out hotspots

Wash breakfast dishes

Shine sink

27 Fling Boogie, time permitting

7:30 Walk, while children have Breakfast

8:00 Heather & children: Daily jobs

Monday: Change sheets, vacuum and dust bedrooms

Tuesday: Dust downstairs, vacuum upstairs hallway, vacuum thoroughly downstairs

Wednesday: Blue bathroom

Thursday: Upstairs bathroom

Friday: Kitchen

Daily: 27 Fling Boogie and Zone work, time permitting

8:30 Children’s Individual Chores while I check email, read, blog, correspondence

9:30 Rosary & Beginner’s Bible

10:00 Basic School plan with children

12 pm Lunch prep

12:30 Lunch

I ask for your prayers as I put this into action next week.

Shopping for Time

Heather — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:17:06 +0000

One of my favorite parts of being on vacation in Vermont, as I am now, is that I get a chance to read, read, read!!! Well this morning I just finished a wonderful book called Shopping for Time by Carolyn Mahaney, Nicole Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, and Janelle Bradshaw. It is an easy read and yet very thought provoking. I have just come through a period of two months of running, running, running and this book is very timely for me as I seek to find balance in my life. There are so many good things to do, so many good opportunities but what are the best choices for my family and me. This book has helped me by reminding me that all my days need to be started by ”sitting at Jesus’ feet.” It’s been a while since I’ve done that!!! And I know from personal experience what peace that can bring to my life. Shopping for Time offers practical solutions and ideas for finding the time to sit at Jesus’ feet and to live a proactive lifestyle rather than a reactive one, and much more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!!

P.S. The authors (a mother and her daughters) have a blog called GirlTalk…

The Running To-Do List

Heather — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:08:34 +0000

I am reading a book called Confessions of an Organized Homemaker by Deniece Schofield. I saw it on the sidebar of a blog but don’t remember which (sorry). One of the organizational devises she recommends is a central calendar / planning book. I rely on my calendar heavily and don’t attempt to make any commitments without consulting it first. However, I have not used my planner very extensively. She has many good ideas for using your planner but my favorite is the “Running To-Do List”.

Often haunted by tasks that I want to get done at some point but don’t have time for now, this seems like an ideal way to get these jobs off my brain without losing them. I have found that my memory isn’t what it once was. Lately I have felt that mentally I am stretched quite thin as I attempt to juggle the lives and commitments of my husband, my children, and me. The author recommends making a daily to-do list with tasks that I can actually get to that day rather than writing everything I can think of on my daily list. I found the use of a daily to-do list very helpful when I was doing the “Make Your Home a Haven Challenge.” It really only took me a few minutes at breakfast but it kept me focused. The place for everything I can think of is my “running to-do list”, which I can use to form my daily to-do list. With the help of my “running to-do list”, I’ll be able to work little by little on those nagging tasks that never seem to get done.

I’m sure that I am doing an inadequate job of explaining this concept. I encourage you to get this book out of the library – after all, you don’t need anymore clutter, do you? It is not written for home-schooling mothers but so far I feel there is much that can be gleaned from this helpful book.