Getting Back in the Swing of Things

It has been a quiet week in bloggerville. I have gone back and forth debating about whether I needed a break or not. But in the end, it is a good way to unwind, to reflect, to remember. So here I am.

I am officially back in school. Our first day was a day of meetings and getting back into the groove. We did take a train ride which was fun (it involved Arkansas history lessons for the teachers :). And it is always good to be back with my team. It is home away from home. Yesterday we were granted the privilege of working in our classrooms. All day. It was wonderful. I got a whole lot accomplished.

At home, we are getting back into that school routine too. Earlier bedtimes. Getting up earlier. How to do it all. Okay, honestly, I haven't learned how to do that yet.

To help get back in the school routine, I am going to make some changes this year (I hope). Kind of my New Year Resolutions.

Things like...

• doing a load of laundry every day. FlyLady recommends it, and I hope to keep it up. Surely I can do it. I have really be making more effort in this area. Most of our marriage, Mark has done at least half (probably over half) of the laundry. And he does it without complaint. However, I want to be more wifely and do more of it myself. We will see. It has worked so far.
• planning meals each week and grocery shopping once if possible. I used to try two weeks but then I had to have two carts. I will stick with one for now. The good news is sometimes I plan for a meal then we have a change of plans (like unexpected football practice), so then that night's meal can carry over to another week.
• Coupons. I need to get back to coupons. I need to be more frugal. I am fairly good about cutting coupons out. I am not so good about remembering to take them with me. Hopefully I will get back into that. (I used to do it and loved that feeling of accomplishment)
• Exercise. My goal is to spend 15 minutes in the morning on the elliptical as I slowly wake up. I hope to use that time for prayer (which is another area to work on in life). Then if I get more exercise in the afternoon, I am that much further ahead. If I don't, at least I have gotten a little bit in the morning!
• Prayer. See above. And reading the Bible. I don't do well with "quiet times" in the summer. And honestly, since gaining a fourth child, I don't do well with them really any of the time. I need to do better. I can feel it in my life. I am missing something, and I don't want to be. I have put God on the backburner too long.
• Organizing. If I can just do one little organizing job a day, then hopefully eventually it will show in our house!
• Attention to the kids. I want to give them more of me when we get home beyond homework supervision and refereeing their arguments. Especially the younger two. I will admit, this one is a struggle. Not that I don't pay attention to them. It is just difficult to do when we first get home. I tend to settle in with the computer or housework, just to find some downtime (which I have NONE of). But sometimes that needs to wait.

I am sure there are many more things I can add, but I will stick with this for now.

I better get going for now. The kids are a little wound up. The longer I stay in here working, the higher the chance that someone is going to get hurt. Yep, the crying has already begun...

More later,

Reba