Summer Fun - Part 2

Here's another post relevant for the summer daze.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Summer Days At A Glance

Summers are always difficult for me because I'm a routine gal. As much as I want to be a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-person...I'm just not.

A friend once told me that people who are naturally organized don't need charts and schedules and routines written down and posted all over the place, but that those who are naturally chaotic need things written down and planned in order to get anything done. This made sense to me.

People always think I'm organized because they see my with a planner, with a chore chart, and with a routine for my days with kiddos at home. SHHHHHH....don't tell anybody - I'm one of the most random and chaotic people you will ever meet. Here's how I keep things under control though - I plan. I plan myself silly. I have a plan for everything. I plan so much that I struggle to stop planning and get to doing.

Truth be told, I'm a perfectionist and perfectionist don't like to fail. If I stop planning and actually start doing, I open myself up to failing miserably. At least, if all I do is plan than I can succeed at just that...planning :)

Ok...enough self analysis. Here's what I do: I take my schedule from the school year and tweak it to allow for more T-I-M-E. Time for what you ask? Well, time to just be. One of the lost arts these days is knowing how to exist without something to do. It's a skill to be still and master the art of quietness. Plus....boredom is the mother of invention. Kids have wonderful imaginations. They just sometimes don't know it until they are bored :)

The other thing I make sure to allow is plenty of time for taking care of our home. Summer is where I do the bulk of my training because life is slower and I can take all the time I want to make sure that the clothes are folded the right way or that the bathroom clean is done as expected. I try my best not to be "Mommy-dearest" but I do have high standards. I can't help it. I'm a perfectionist. I figure my kids will have something about me to discuss in counseling anyway.

I also put up a summer calender to take care of the "big stuff" - you know - the stuff that the kids really look forward to like family vacation, swimming lessons, summer outings, etc.



I also use the calendar to purposefully plan to do some of the things from our list of Summer Activities. OK...back to the point of this post...our daily summer routine....

AGGGGGGHHHHH... I just got a pop-up message telling me that I'm about to run out of batteries. I'm sitting at Barnes & Noble, getting a little R&R (can you say BY MYSELF) and I can't seem to find an outlet.

So....I will add the daily routine in a subsequent post so that I can at least have a post for today! More to come later...

Summer Fun

Since I have yet to post this week and I don't want to fall back in my rut of not posting. I figured I would do just fine do a repost from last summer where I shared how we keep up with things to do during the summer with the kids.

The price of gas in 2008 has kept us closer to home than last year but I still pull out my handy list of activities (link below) to keep me up on things to do so I have ideas in my back pocket when I need them.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Things to Do This Summer

Well this is our last official week of school. Normally we school year round but my oldest daughter is coming into her own and she has a SCHEDULE to keep. I've learned from summer's gone by that trying to fit school in between camp or family vacation or the mission trip...just isn't smart.

Although I will do "school" for my littles (they don't know about any difference between the summer and the traditional school year) it will be very relaxed. I like to get out of the house and take advantage of all the fun things going on in the city.

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church which means late nights and letting the kiddos sleep in. The next couple of days we'll be enrolling in the library's summer reading program and spending quality time in the backyard. The kiddos will play while I pull more weeds and finish the beds for my tomato plants (yes...I'm trying my hand at gardening).

Anyhow, every year I add things to my Summer List of Activities and save it so I won't have to start from scratch the next year. Thought I'd share the list with you guys today!

Maxi Pads And Milk

One of the best things about being pregnant is that you don't have to buy maxi pads for awhile.

Seriously.

It's one of the perks from the job of carrying another human being around in your own body for the better part of a year.

I recall towards the end of '07 that I needed some pads and made a trip to the store specifically to that end. I walked to the feminine products aisle, found my favorite brand and then proceeded to walk to the checkout.

It just didn't feel right to be strolling through Walmart with just a soft square bag of female diapers in my hand.

I made my way back to the feminine products aisle and put the pads back...

Yes...I put the pads back.

I waltzed back up to the front of the store, got a basket, and made my way to the back of the grocery store where the diary products are located. I picked up a gallon of milk.

I then criss-crossed the store diagonally and went back to the feminine products aisle that I had visited early, grabbed the bag of pads, threw it in the basket and proceeded to the checkout.

There's just something about going through Lane #11 with a bag of pads that screams...

I'M ON MY CYCLE AND I'M DESPERATE FOR MORE PADS NOW!

At least with the gallon of milk, it might have made it seem as if I was a little less desperate. Maybe I would have needed the pads in a couple of days and just decided to proactively pick them up as I took care of my REAL need of replenishing the milk for my children.

Yea...that's it. It's about my kids....

Somehow, adding the milk to the maxis made me feel a little bit less self-conscious.

SIGH~

I sure am glad that I don't have to worry about that for while. Truth be told I hope not to worry about that for a long while.

There are alternatives to the conventional maxi...but that is for another blog at another time....I don't have to worry about that for yet awhile longer and there is no reason to bare all in one post....

On The Second Half...

Psalm 90:10 (KJV)

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Assuming that I have the opportunity to live the 70 years mentioned in this verse, after turning 36 yesterday, I'm officially in the second half of my life.Sobering isn't it.

My grandmother will be 90 years old this year. She says regularly that she figures that it's about time for her to begin accepting the fact that she's getting old! Grandma has mentioned time and time again that her mind isn't old...only her body is aging.

I get this completely.

I feel smarter than I was at 25 but I feel like the same person. I don't know what I thought I'd feel like...but I'm not feeling it. But time doesn't lie. My age is an indicator that time marches on. Time waits for no one.

So...just like on most birthdays, I'm filled with wonder and deep thoughts at how I've spent my time on earth and thinking of what I should do with the days to come.

Time is so easy to waste. We know that we don't have an endless supply, but we use it as if it will never run out. I am at fault for leaving many things undone on my to do list that should get first priority - things that if I died tomorrow, would make me very unhappy to acknowledge I didn't make time for.

So I'm gonna tune my piano...YUP...that's the deep reality for today. Seven years ago, my husband got me a baby grand piano. He's in the music business and had access to a beautiful baby grand piano that he got for me and placed in my home. I took piano lessons from the age of five to fifteen years of age and then stopped. I said for years I wanted to get back to playing the piano. If for no other reason, I have songs that the Lord gives me yet I do nothing with the majority of the them. I want to sit at the piano, accept my lack of perfection and professionalism at the keys, and develop the words and melodies he whispers in my ear. I want to allow the harmonies of my heart to be a part of my time with Him, even if no one else ever hears a note - and I want to sing and play these songs in tune.

Silly huh? There are so many things on my list truth be told. There are serious things and fun things, urgent things and important things. My list will never end I'm afraid, but I can cross one things off tomorrow :) I'm calling the piano tuning man.

For the next 35 years, I want to use the voice God gave me and my existing knowledge of the black and white keys to make melodies in my heart and with my mouth to the Lord.

I want to live out loud.

If I stare back in time too long, I'll find things that I wish I would have done better or cringe that I did at all. After living half of my "Bible years", there are lots of "would-ofs", "could-ofs", or "should-ofs", but those years are spent. How I used the time is how I used it and I can't go back and change any of it. But I can take a step forward tomorrow.

Each day that I'm blessed with give me another day to take a step toward wherever it is that I sense the Lord wants me to go. You are blessed too. Will you take a step with me?

If you are so inclined, I'd love to whisper a prayer for you if you are taking a new step. Hit me back and let me know about your step.

One more thing...Someone commented on my blog and left me with a link to Angie's Blog and I found my way to her post, The Past and The Pitcher. This post will bless your socks off. Take a moment and read it when you have a chance....

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

I figured the start of a new year for me is as good a day as any to return to blogging!

I lot can happen when you take a half a year off from blogging with regularity :)

Check out the new ticker at the top of my blog page :)

We'll have FIVE in our clan come November!

I don't know yet if I'll strive for daily posts or simply posts when I feel like it but I definitely misss my blogging habit (addiction) and will try to indulge myself without neglecting the rest of my life :)

Hit me! Send me a comment to let me know you are still there!