Maintaining it all with a Dignity, Grace, and a Smile

  

                 So, do you ever feel as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders?  Like you’re the only one in your home who is able to clean, feed the children, mend a shirt button, help with homework, and go to the grocery store?!  I often feel this way and at times it is so overwhelming.  I must be honest though it is because of my own need to have things done MY WAY that I feel this way.  I am so truly lucky for the simple fact that my husband is willing and does help with many things around our home and with our children.  Most of the time it’s all without twisting his arm . . . too much J

                 I feel as if our family is CONSTANTLY on the go and as if we never have time to simply enjoy one another.  When we do have a moment, the time is spent maintaining our life style, like cleaning and grocery shopping.  To me it seemed as if we were in a never ending cycle which consisted of going to work/school, coming home doing homework, making dinner, eating dinner, taking baths, reading,  putting the kids to bed, competing some work for our jobs, and going to bed.  When the weekend rolled around we cleaned the house, bought groceries, and took naps because we were so exhausted from the day to day stuff.

                 In an effort to try and break out of this cycle I have been attempting to complete the ‘chores’ before the weekend begins.  I have been home on maternity leave since December.  During this time I have broken up the house maintenance into smaller chunks, rather that cleaning the entire house in one day, which is completely exhausting!  Between Monday and Wednesday I clean the house in the following chunks: The bathrooms and the kitchen one day.  On another day I dust, clean windows, and spray the furniture with Fabric Refresher (I made it myself!  Check out the My Reviews Tab for directions).  Finally, I sweep, mop, and vacuum the floors.  I always do the grocery shopping on Thursday.  Friday is spent washing laundry.  Every other week I change all of the sheets and this is lumped in with the dusting day.

                So far this home maintenance has been very effective for our family.  I am hoping to be able to keep this up when I return to work, but I’m not sure if it will be practical or not.  I’ll post an update to report how it does or does not work out.  I return to work March 5 . . . which I’m dreading L

Special Activity Choices

Special Activity Choices

So often I feel as if I never have enough time to spend with my family. Throughout the week we are busy with work and school. It’s like a never ending cycle. Then finally, the weekend arrives. Our weekends are typically spent grocery shopping, cleaning, and doing laundry. A new week begins and the cycle repeats it’s self again.

I usually create a list of items that must beaccomplished. Anymore, I find that my mind is racing one hundred miles a minute. Just when I think of one task that must be accomplished I come up with 10 more items to add to the list. If I don’t write it down I become overwhelmed, forget, nothing is completed, and I am left feeling frustrated.

As I was creating my ‘To Do List’ one day out of the blue I left a space for my kids to make a choice. After writing down what MUST be accomplished I encouraged them to think of 1 special activity that they would like to do. This is how the daily ‘Special Activity’ came to be!

My kids love that they get to be in charge and choose at least one thing a day to do. Sometimes they choose an activity that involves our whole family such as playing a game. While other times they pick something to do individually, such as make a model car. When it gets near the end of the day if an activity hasn’t been completed they remind us that we need to do their Special Activity. It also helps to motivate them to complete their homework and finish dinner on time. Bottom line, my kids feel empowered and we are carving out family and individual time rather than just rushing through what HAS to be done.