Summer Challenges!!!

It's been a while since I updated my blog. Busy, busy, busy...that's my life. I am enjoying slowing down a bit and focusing on some personal and home goals during this brief, but much appreciated, break from work.  

I have purchased the book Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin Rooney Doland. I bought it several months ago thinking I could focus on one day in the book for seven weeks, but even that proved too much of a challenge for me. I only made it through the first two "days" in the book and it took me over two weeks to complete them. So I am going to begin the process again and follow through with it during the next week and see how far I get.

I have several other goals I want to explore over the next two months as well. I have a large stack of books to read, and I haven't even started after almost a week of surplus time. I did get caught up with The Tudors series on Showtime. I had been recording the new episodes since April and just caught up on them this week. Bittersweet. There are only two episodes left, and I wish the series would continue beyond the reign of King Henry and onto those of his children. I really love that show. Oh well, I'll have to find more good novels to read. Did I ever mention I am a big connoisseur of history? I love reading both biographies and historical fiction, but will also spend time reading fantasy, science fiction novels as well. Another item on my to do list is to get back into working out daily so that I can be in shape to run again. I miss the level I was working at even a year ago and how healthy I felt. I need to get that back on track to enjoy some new energy. And the last goal I have is staying connected to the people who mean so much to me. I really enjoy keeping up on Facebook, but have also attended many family and friend events over the past two months, taken a few day trips, as well as welcoming family over to visit on many occasions in May. I am planning a trip in July to visit family and national parks in the Northwest with all five boys, but Joe will stay behind to work. That should prove interesting, as I have not taken a vacation without Joe, aside from many day trips with my sisters or kids. Joe has taken several "fishing trips" with the boys, including a productive trip to fish for sharks, crab and salmon with my cousin in Washington several years ago.

My life and home are buzzing along pretty well, with daily and weekly routines and my ability to delegate some of the household tasks to my husband and children. But every life and home can do with a lightening, a decluttering, and simplifying by dealing with less stuff. For today, I am going to reread the chapters I have read previously and begin the "Day 1" tasks which include decluttering and organizing my clothing closet and drawers and working on getting my office and desk streamlined. I hope to report back with progress later. Onward and always upward!!!!!

When It's Just Too Much

As many of you know; I use routines to get through all of the repeating responsibilities in my life. I have daily sets of tasks that I do at the beginning and end of my day, and I also have daily routines at work. I remain sane, as I don't have to repeatedly write down these routines. I just do them in the same predictable order, day in and day out.

When I first started to get a handle on my home twenty-five years ago, I found the card file system in Pam Young and Peggy Jones' book Side Tracked Home Executives (see my journey). Since then I have been using my planner and daily routines and a Basic Weekly plan. I have also adopted the focus area plan where I focus on an area of my house for a week and do seasonal cleaning and decorating in those areas.

My biggest challenge has not been with keeping up with routines, nor with finding time to focus on areas of my home. From time to time everyone can fall off the routine wagon for whatever unusual circumstances come up. But they can easily be picked right back up and all is well and the house is running smoothly again. The challenge is what to do with all the stuff. I have closets including two walk-ins in the master bedroom and a linen closet in the master bathroom that is large enough to store much more than sheets or towels. I have shelves and cabinets in the living areas that hold specific items. We have one set of shelves for family board and card games, another set of shelves for DVDs and videos, one set of shelves for video games, one for books, one set of shelves for my scrapbooking supplies and photos, and one for other craft supplies. The kitchen and pantry have their own storage spaces for all that surrounds cooking and eating.

Things come into the house on a regular basis. New books or magazines to read, clothes to wear, gadgets for any family member that we just can't live without, food and consumable supplies and a good sized stack of mail, school papers, receipts and other paperwork to sort throughout the week. I am happy to say that most of these things find a home or are cycled in with the regular schedule of time that makes my house a calm and comforting place to be. Sometimes my desk day just involves dealing with these items that have been left in a holding place. As you are probably guessing, this is often my undoing. Finding time to deal with stuff that really hasn't found a home can be just too much. And it's not that I don't want to deal with it, or that I forget to find time to deal with it. It is that when I encounter this new stuff in my house that really doesn't have a home yet, I don't know where to file it, place it, and keep it... If I get a new book I need to decide which book has to leave so I can keep it, or if am I just going to read this book and pass it on, or am I going to expand my space for my library. How much of the boys' creations should I hold on to? I do have a place for what I am keeping, but where is the holding spot until I make that final decision on what is staying in our home for keeps.

Making decisions about stuff is sometimes way too much to deal with for my very busy schedule. There is an answer to every question about stuff, but it requires that I have a time in the right mental state. So I have a hold spot that is in a box, and I call it my "Too Much" box. The things on hold in my life can only take up the space of the box. The box is for things that require decisions that are not autopilot or easy for me to make. I know that I will get to a point where I can make these choices about stuff, and it is not every day or just because it's anti-procrastination day on my calendar. It may be while I am working on a certain area of my home or when I have a block of time away from work. I delve into the box a few times each season when I am in that proper mental state to make decisions. I feel that with my Too Much box, I can deal. I can find a home for some of the stuff that needs a decision in a time that works for me. Stuff inside the box gets a home or is sent out the door. In the meantime the mental clutter that the stuff can create has a home of sorts, although temporary, and life goes on.

Hello from My World!

The purpose of this blog is to document my journey as a child of God, a wife of twenty-four years, a mother of 5, a homemaker, a pet owner to two beagles and a gecko lizard, a middle school math and science teacher, a photographer, a scraper, etc. My interests are many, my time is stretched, but I want to get all I can out of life. My biggest challenge today is getting it all organized.

*I have started using a planner again. After a couple of year's of just using master lists and Outlook, I really look forward to getting my schedule, routines, calendar, to dos, goals and people contacts all back in one portable place. This is still a work in progress, but the planner is now with me always. I am trying to have a separate section for work routines and to do lists this time around, as in the past I put everything on the same list and work somehow took over the rest of my life. Work appointments and deadlines do go into my calendar, as it is the one place where it all fits together.

*I have recommitted to a group that is working on organizing our homes. I check in as often as I need, but at least once a week I share my progress.
*Aside from teaching full time, I have contributed to education the past several years by being an active part in the site council for the school where I work and working on the board for the PTO for my children's school. I like to be in the know and to help make good things happen for the young people in my world.

* I am again on a spiritual journey to read through the Bible in a year. I am reading it in chronological order, a text compiled by Harvest House Publishers with commentary by F. LaGard Smith. I read through this New International Version five and six years ago, and it really is a great way to experience God's word. I am following the scheduled readings and catching up if I miss a day. For my supplemental reading I am also rereading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and published by Zondervan. I went through this about four years ago, and it was good. I am going at my own speed, which, at present, is one or two "days" each week.