Revamped Schedule

I think I've finally figured out a workable schedule for our no-morning-nap household. It was tricky; I've really come to rely on a couple of Wendy-free hours in the morning. But now that she's a little older, she can start "helping" me with chores, so maybe it won't be so bad.

I'm going to institute some new policies that I think will help quite a bit:

1. No TV during the day. Not even PBS kids.

2. No firing up the computer until Wendy's afternoon nap (by which point the chores will already be done). I realize I'm on the computer now, but we haven't implemented the new schedule yet, so we're ok. :-)

3. Regularly scheduled times for meals & snacks. We've fallen into the eating-whenever-we're -hungry trap, and that doesn't do much for maintaining a schedule, or healthy habits, for that matter.

4. One (or more) loads of laundry every day. Sort, wash, dry, fold, and PUT AWAY.

5. All meals & snacks in the dining room.

I think if I stick to all of that, and the daily schedule & weekly chore chart I've put together, our household will be much more peaceful. It'll take awhile for it to become routine, and for us to get out of the rut we're in, but once it starts working, I think the rewards will be great!

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!

Idea Thursday

I’ve decided to start my own themed weekly posting, called Idea Thursday. The concept is based on Shannon’s Backwards Works-For-Me Wednesdays at Rocks in my Dryer. On those backwards-themed days, people ask for advice or tips about something, rather than blogging about their own helpful tips. I find these backwards days so helpful that I want to start doing it every week. This will only work if YOU comment, though, and give me your advice, tips, suggestions, and/or opinion. Thanks!

For today’s Idea Thursday, I’ve been thinking about devotional books. I’d like to start a daily personal study, but I need a guide. Something with a workbook would be good. Do any of you have a favorite? Ideally it would be a daily study, 20-30 minutes of reading and reflection. Please share with me any study you’ve done that you really liked, or studies you’ve heard of that sound interesting.

Thank you!