Wednesday, August 29, 2018

hours in a day

do you ever feel like there just isn't enough time? that there are so many things you need to do, but so many more things you want to do? because, that is me. right now.


i need to do those everyday things - like manage my house (SO MUCH CLEANING), keep my kids alive & healthy, make meals, do laundry, etc. my chores. they take up a lot of my day.


the list of things i want to do can go on forever.

  • scripture study. i have good intentions & i have my good days & my bad days, but it is not consistent. this really should be a need for me & hopefully, with sometime, it will get there.
  • not just keep my kids alive, but make them happy (without the use of the TV). that's a current goal - lessen our screen time & IT IS HARD! how do i make food, clean, or even go to the bathroom without the tv?!!! my kids are at my feet the minute that thing is off. we have started listening to music, books on tape, doing puzzles, & i recently bought some blocks. but guess what - that is more for me to clean!!! also, i want to play with them more. i want to spend more time being focused on just them (not them & mac 'n cheese on the stove...).
    •  what do you guys do? what are your favorite open ended/imagination inspiring toys? please help.
  • read - i have a new obsession with reading. i am currently reading Anne of the Island, Educated, & Girl, Wash Your Face. ALL of them have me enthralled. i cannot stop.
  • VIPKID. so i actually got hired 19 days ago. cool. but no one was signing up for my classes. until this morning. i forgot to turn off the short notice option, so i happened to look at my phone at 6:50 this morning and i had a notification that said, "you have a class in 10 minutes." WHAT???!!! guys. it was a mad rush & i think it went ok, but it as thrown me through a loop today. also, i really want to do this. i want to have a little extra income to put towards my dreams - mostly traveling. also, can we talk about how much this will take over my mornings, the only time i feel productive? & there is still so much prep i feel i need to do before each class.
  • exercise. it makes such a difference & i love starting my morning that way, but it doesn't always. honestly, my health is something i am working on. i am trying to eat ALL the veggies - so send me all your favorite veggie recipes please. i was doing so well with exercise before my ectopic & then i sort of melted during recovery (which was so hard - both physically, mentally, oh, & emotionally too). it has taken me a lot to get back into a regular workout & i am keeping it calm with yoga, when i get around to working out.
  • meditation. i am so intrigued by meditation. it is something i would love to incorporate into my day. i mean, 5 minutes. i can do 5 minutes a day right? ya...
  • family home evening. family prayer. family scripture study. we always say we will do them before bedtime, but you guys, 7:00 rolls around and i am in a mad dash mode to get my kids in bed so i can chill.
  • embroider. remember how i was doing hoops&threads? ya. it has been a month since i last embroidered anything & i miss it.
  • watch shows with ashton, doing nothing, after the kids go to bed. this is our thing. it is how we unwind together before bed.
  • write posts in my blog. i don't do it often. i am no necessarily good at it. & i do not have a following, but i have lots of thoughts in my head that i would like to get out somewhere. which also leads to how i should probably keep a journal, too. so many things.
  • shower, put make up on, take care of my hair, my face, my nails, etc.


you guys. there's a lot of good stuff on my want list. how do i get it in? i feel like i need to wake up at 5 (i am available to teach from 6 to 8) & go to bed at midnight if i want to do any of this. also, give up social media & my evening tv time. i remember elder bednar's good, better, best & will probably go read that after this, but how do you guys do it? do i just pick one evening a week to focus on one thing? is it easier once kids are in school? do you have a time saving trick? tell me! 

please?

1 comment:

Ange Bendixsen said...

I know how you feel. It's so hard to know what to let go of. It helps me to focus on one thing at a time, develop a habit, before moving onto the next. I schedule everything too. I don't know if that works for everything or just my personality type but if I have it scheduled (After the kids in bed, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is workout, Monday, Wednesday is my craft/small business) but then allow myself to just veg in front of the tv when I need to.

I have to admit, I stopped facebook almost all together because I was endlessly scrolling and finding that I wasn't getting much out of it. I also schedule play time with my kids. We do so cooking/baking, some dance parties, we also have toys, lots of toys-mostly from thrift stores collected as I was teacher and it does add to the clean-up and even with a five-year-old, clean-up isn't always fun but we made a star chart and so it's gotten a lot better. We like the trains from IKEA too, the doll house, zoo animals, potato heads, coloring, oh and lots of painting. I bought a plastic cover for our table from JoAnne Fabric and it made a world of a difference for cleaning-up.

One of my favorite meals is taking a bag of frozen mixed veggies, tossing it in a bowl with olive oil and then baking it at 400 for 15 minutes, pulling it out, adding sliced turkey kielbasa, and then 10 more minutes. Almost no prep and it's super healthy. Sometimes we do it on top of rice too if I remember to put the rice on. We do it almost once a week. The kids like the broccoli and call the kielbasa 'hot dogs' and put lots of ketchup with it so it works well for them.

I hope some this helps!