Step one... for me anyway

As a teacher, my day was pretty much scheduled for me.  I knew what classes I had at each time slot of the day and I knew over the course of the year what content should be completed in each of those classes.  Now the day-to-day class activities were all things I was able to plan and section out in such a way as to fit my students and my teaching style, but the "big rocks" were all chosen for me. As a homemaker, however, not so much.  In my first few months at home, I had a hard time accomplishing much of anything.  Don't get me wrong, I know that being at home with two boys under two is certainly nothing to scoff at - and some days I still don't get much done- but I had these IDEAS that never seemed to translate to DONE. 

One day I was listening to the radio while washing dishes (thanks to my wonderful hubby for the kitchen radio for Christmas!).  Pastor Colin Smith does a radio broadcast called "Unlocking the Bible" (visit www.unlockingthebible.org) and was preaching a series on the Ten Commandments.  Now, the whole series is fantastic so if you want to learn how these commandments of the Old Testament apply to today, just check it out 'cause it's phenomenal.  On this specific day, he was preaching on the Sabbath day.  And he started by asking a question I had never wondered about - why would God, who could have created everything in an instant, take 6 whole days to create ... creation?  Pastor Colin explains that God was setting a specific example for us to follow - setting aside time for rest.  Essentially, he states that some occupations, like homemakers, don't have externally set directives.  For those people, he suggests taking some time to write down the list of tasks you would like to accomplish in a day, a week, a month, a year. Leaving time in each day and a day in each week for rest (the Sabbath).  I was totally inspired!  So I did exactly as he suggested.  and honestly, I was kind of embarassed that I hadn't thought of it myself.  As a teacher, I was totally organized-- probably on the verge of OCD.  Color-coordinated folders, post-its, homework schedules, clipboards and binder clips - one color for each class, etc.  So why I hadn't immediately taken that approach to homemaking really surprised me.  It simply came down to the fact that I didn't make time to make time. 

So keeping in mind the other members of my household, I began with cleaning.  As any homemaker will tell you, cleaning is a big part of your everyday. and the bigger the house and the more people in it, the bigger part of your day it becomes.  I wrote down all of the cleaning that I wanted to accomplish.  Then I sectioned it down to daily, weekly and monthly tasks.  After a week or two of fine-tuning, I came up with this:

In all the things I do - there's never any cleaning, errands, etc. on Sundays.  I don't even put Sundays on my lists.  Sundays are my day that I set aside for church, rest, time with family, lounging on the couch reading a great book with a fantastic cup of my favorite coffee.  NO WORK!!! for me, that means no laundry and no dishes.  Now, I'm too much of a cheap-skate to print this out every week (ink's expensive!!) so I keep it in a clear binder sleeve (or you could use a cute picture frame) and use a dry-erase marker to check things off.  wipe the weekly stuff clean on mondays, wipe the monthly stuff clean on 1st of the month.  If I don't get to something, I try to grab it on another day that week, but otherwise I know it's not a big deal if it waits.

I know how cheesy this all sounds, but it's really working for us.  By chunking it out - I get more done, have more time to rest and play with kids.  I organized my list around Thom's work schedule.  He gets off early on Thursdays, so the rooms that take the least amount of time went on Thursdays and since he only works one Saturday a month, the office is on Saturday, since I don't have much to  do in there on a weekly basis anyway.  Friday's are errands, Tuesday's are outings to parks, zoo, library, etc.  Mondays are lazy days - Thom doesn't work till ten so we all sleep in and the boys and I usually don't go anywhere either.

As most teachers/parents can attest to, there's just certain parts of your personality that are more dominant in the work place versus at home. and all this made me realize how much of my "teacher-self" I hadn't been utilizing in my "homemaker-self".  I love having a clean home and organized work space. Plus, I really enjoy organizing too! So I've started a new series of projects at home to get our house running more efficiently. I'll be sharing a little bit each Friday about the projects I've been working on that week and what I've learned along the way! Happy scheduling!

Let’s talk…

The backstory.
I started working in an office over the summer when I was 14.  I picked up the same office job the following summer (and pretty much every summer until I turned 22).  During the school year, I worked at local fast food place, was in drama and speech team and was heavily involved with my church and youth group.  I started college right out of high school.  Took full course load each semester and classes over the summer, plus I worked full time.  Now, I’m not saying that to be all “yay me” or anything, but it makes what I’m about to say, well a little more powerful…

The twist.
after all that hard work, I quit my full-time TENURED teaching position in, if I’m honest, an extremely financially secure school district in the middle of an economic depression.  Why? So I could be a SAHM to my two young boys. For all you who are confused right now, as I was at first, SAHM = Stay At Home Mom. Now, seriously, it’s not like we didn’t think it through. but the more my hubby and I prayed on it, thought about it and examined it (and our budget) it became more and more obvious that it was the right decision for us.

The truth.
I’m one of those people that is so used to being busy that I thought I would go crazy being a SAHM – honestly, I wondered what I would do with all that free time.  So, now that that’s out in the open, I can honestly tell you that being at home all day is SCARY! It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had! All veteran SAHMs are saying “Amen” and laughing right now.  I have no idea what to do with my “free time” because it doesn’t exist. And oh yeah, there’s so much to try and keep up with that I get overwhelmed because there’s no formal structure, like hourly bells, to tell me when to change gears. 

The premise.
and now we arrive at the premise to my “revamping” my blog and this really long tale.  I’m going to let “you all” in on my journey to becoming a homemaker. I’m not going to call myself a SAHM, and the reason is two-fold.  1) there are few days we actually stay at home 2) there’s a connotation among many in my generation that SAHM are not the hardworking, diligent women that most of them actually are. So I am a homemaker – a woman who is actively engaging in the daily work of building and maintaining a house and home – or at least that’s what I’m working toward. 

The qualifiers.
Now, if you were to ask my husband about all of this, he would probably tell you how amazing I am and how I do all this already, blah blah blah.  but my goal is to break it down, share my journey, my successes and many failures.  And in the process be very real about it all.  I’m not perfect and not creative, mostly I follow the motto of teachers around the world – I beg, borrow and steal great ideas from fellow people and then tweak to make it my own.  I’ll do my best to give credit to whom it’s due.  Hopefully, someone will be encouraged by what they read, maybe someone will get an idea of their own, or maybe – if I’m lucky – someone will decide to come along side me in this journey of becoming a homemaker.