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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Please tell me I'm not the only one...


It's 10:30 a.m. I sit in my rocking chair in the living room, my feet propped on the matching ottoman, my laptop in place. I look to the right and see toys, shoes, discarded clothing, the contents of the diaper bag that the girlie so thoughtfully emptied. I look in front of me and see a coffee table bearing two baskets of folded clothes waiting to be put away. I look to the left and see two ginormous piles of clean laundry waiting to be put on hangars & put away.


All of this stuff waiting to get done, yet here I sit. At least the woman in the photo is nicely dressed, and I bet she can smell dinner in the crockpot and a nicely scented candle burning on her freshly-polished coffee table. I sit here in my bathrobe and slippers, and it's 10:30 a.m.

Okay, enough with the confessions, now on to the ideas.

I have decided that I will establish a routine for Wendy and I. Being that I am a SAHM and Wendy is so far the only child, it's easy for us to just play it by ear - we get up when we wake up, we eat when we're hungry, we go to bed when we're tired. Wendy is plenty old enough now to have a real routine to her day. I am certainly old enough to have a real routine to MY day, too.

Without routine, life (at least in our house) sort of slips into a barely-keeping-up circus of laziness punctuated by frantic activity. That's not good for me, it's not good for James, and it's certainly not good for Wendy. It's kind of like trying to catch almost-set Jello that someone is pouring out of a bowl...you can keep up for awhile, but eventually some is going to spatter on the floor, and who's going to clean that up?

So here is my proposed routine for Wendy and I:

1. Momma up at 7 a.m., showered and dressed by 7:30 a.m., put load in washer
2. Wendy up at 7:45 a.m., cuddled and changed.
3. Family breakfast at 8 a.m., followed by brush-teeth-with-Daddy time.
4. Playtime for Wendy & Momma, switch laundry to dryer (8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.)
5. 10 a.m. - read books, change diaper, time for nap!
6. While Wendy naps Momma will (in order)
a. personal Bible study time
b. clean kitchen/start dishwasher
c. do necessary dinner prep
d. pick up toys
e. fold & put away laundry
f. check e-mail/ blog / facebook
7. Wendy up at 12:30 p.m., cuddle, change diaper
8. Family lunch at 1 p.m.
9. Playtime for Wendy & Momma (1:30-3:15 p.m.)
10. Put toys away
11. 3:30 p.m. - read books, cuddle, change diaper, time for nap!
12. While Wendy naps again, Momma will:
a. empty dishwasher
b. sweep/mop kitchen
c. straighten bathroom/bedroom
d. dust/vacuum as needed
e. start dinner, set table
13. Wendy up at 5:30 p.m.

After this point, James usually gets off at 6 p.m., so we should be able to have dinner at 6, clean-up at 6:30, and proceed from there for family time, Bible reading, budgeting/bill paying, etc.

So what do you think? What routines work for you? And please, tell me I'm not the only one who has trouble getting anything done without a routine!


8 comments:

Nichole said...

I have trouble getting things done with a routine! I usually make a list the night before of things I need to get done during the day. Sometimes I actually get two or three of the items crossed off!

Sandi said...

Jeni, I'm planning to do this same thing and kinda a weekly plan, too, for laundry (darks one day, boys' clothes another, etc.) and for activities. We have somewhat of a schedule:

6:30-7:00 -- Caden (and sometimes Chase) snuggles with us in bed
7-8 -- Breakfast, empty dishwasher, Dave gets ready for work
8-9:30/10 -- Chase takes Nap #1, Caden plays with various stuff, I take shower and do who-knows-what
10-12 -- usually an outing of some sort (library, friend's house, mall, etc.) but sometimes just playtime if I'm cleaning or busy
12-1 -- lunch
1:00--2:30/3 -- reading with Caden, both boys nap, I used to blog and surf but now I nap and sometimes blog and surf and read
3-4 -- TV time for the boys, I blog and start some prep work for dinner
4-5 -- boys go crazy so I put music on so they can dance and run around, and I try to keep things together and finish up supper
5-6:30 -- Daddy time and dinner
6:30 -- 7:30 -- playtime, sometimes bath
7:30-8 -- boys brush teeth, have family devo, and off to bed

I wrote this out more for myself than anything -- I need to get to planning a little better for the nebulous times and to get my house clean.

Unknown said...

We live on a routine too.

And ... I was in my PJ's and just getting in the shower at 11am. Mind you, our schedule is WAY OFF because the boys are home from school today ...

And that's the excuse I'm going with.

BTW - Love your daughters name.

:)
Wendy

Mrs. Gray's Class said...

We don't have a set schedule - I think right now I am just taking cues from the kids for snack/lunch/nap time. My 3 year old has convinced himself he doesn't need to nap anymore and with a baby due in March I think I am going to have to wait awhile for anything resembling a daily schedule. It seems to work for us because my husband does not have a traditional 9-5 job but I am sure as the kids get older we will need to buckle down.

BTW - did you do the graphic work on your blog? I am ready for a change and would love a more original look to my blog.

Tiffany said...

I think is sounds like a good plan! I would love to have a schedule, but my days don't allow it. Good luck with it!

Fresh Girl said...

I absolutely have to have a routine if I have any hope of being productive...and I don't even have a kid around, unless my nephew is here. I just love lists and find I accomplish more if I have them, and what's a schedule but a list of what time you do things? ;) So yes, I have a routine from the time I get up until I go to bed, and I try to follow it most days.

Anonymous said...

Jeni,
I completely depend on routine and schedules. It makes our life much easier with homeschooling and working a night shift schedule. Working 3 night shifts/week makes it difficult to have a daily schedule so mine is a complex weekly schedule.
As my parents and Joe will tell you, I would organize the world if I could. It's because without routine we slip into that place where nothing is accomplished as it should.
I've been enjoying your blog. Thank you for leaving the comment with a link.
Rebekah

Susan said...

What a great idea! Let us know how it goes.