Category Archives: Quiet time

Teacher duty day…1/4 of the school year: DONE!

7 Replies

And this Friday finds our lovely children home with Hubby (as he actually tries to work with them around…good luck with that, babe!) as their teachers put together report cards wrapping up the first 9 week period of the school year.  And you’ll find me…..at work.  Whatever.  At least I’m not waking/dragging kids out of bed, to the breakfast table and then herding them through general hygiene and dress to the car.  A little break, if you will.  I’ll take it.  You’ll also find me “groupie-style” with Jennifer Fulwiler and peeps throwing down some Quick takes…7 to be exact.

1)  I’ve lost my way this week.  Eating healthy that is.  It started with my sister and nephews in town for the weekend (I always like to blame my sister….it feels comfortable…), then rolled into a potluck lunch at work and now here it is Friday and I’m wondering where in the HECK did my mojo go???    Fortunately, I’m still moving.  Each day I seem to pull it together a little more, however, it’s KOOKOO (for cocoa puffs) KRAZAY what sugar does to you….it’s like a drug.  Serious.  C’mon, just a taste.  Everyone’s doing it.  Before you know it…it’s Friday and your body is all kinds of confused and begging you to just.  walk.  away.

2)  We let our oldest stay home from school one day.  End of the semester.  The older grades were doing PSAT testing and the 9th graders were stuck in home room all day.  Not to fear though….I left him a list.  *finish driving permit practice test *laundry.  all of it. *dishwasher *vacuum house*mow lawn. front and back.  and neighbors.  front and back. It was sooooo nice to come home to a clean and tidy house.  We should keep him home more often…

3)  I had to make a difficult decision in the best interest of someone else this week.  Sadly this resulted in cutting out a treasured annual trip.  However, in doing so, and receiving affirmation from a friend in my decision, it was an incredibly FAST and certain answer to prayer.  I’m not sure what God has in store for ME that weekend, but I know He’ll be busy and I’m happy to not be an obstacle, but rather an intercessor, and that’s OK.  The most important work ALWAYS happens behind the scenes.

4)  Our girl has her cheer competition this weekend and each practice I’m more amazed at how these girls have put so much effort in over these past few weeks and to see this routine come together.  Tonight, I actually got a lump in my throat as they practiced in front of the older and younger cheer groups.  Pathetic, I know.  What can I say?  I’m a sap.  Her first year cheering and of this I am sure:  Sunday will be quite the experience that is a certainty.  Which also means the season is almost over.  Can I get an AMEN?!??!  **note to self, grab earplugs from MRI tomorrow….

5)  We are one week into the Read the Catechism in a Year for the year of Faith.  I must say, I am truly enjoying it.  So is Hubby!  It’s in small bite size pieces (so far) and it’s a great Faith discussion for us to focus on TOGETHER during this year.

6)  It’s Biketoberfest here.  Thinking about taking my camera this weekend and shooting some frames.  An interesting mix.  Soccer. Football. Romney/Ryan. Cheer comp.  Bikes.  We live in an interesting and eclectic area.  Fo’ sho!

7)  Now that I’ve stayed up too late…it’s time to go to bed….and get a walk in before work.  Because I can.  Happy Friday, all and have a super weekend!!

**in reference to a portion of #6, I will NOT be attending…mainly due to time constraints and kid activities, also I really don’t enjoy getting stuck in traffic, etc.  I’m good, I’ve made up my mind….I completely agree with Calah Alexander on her article about Politics…I’m pretty sure she wrote it for ME…though with many more actual facts…I’m not really a detail person, so thanks, Calah!!

Manic Monday

5 Replies

After the whirlwind weekend comes crazy Monday….

Starting off innocently and with bright hopes for the day with a great boot camp, shower, some quiet time and then off to wake up the littlest (our older girl had a sleepover) and then…..at 7:22 a.m. as I was gently waking her and asking what she wanted for breakfast….I realized….I……was the early person.  Yes, the person who “opens up” at 7:30 a.m.  Oh.  crud.  Bless her heart,she opened those eyes and joined “Team Mom” and dressed and got ready in record time as I made lunches and got myself ready.  I made it to work @ 8:06 and FORTUNATELY had NO patients waiting…..phew!!!

Nothing like a little adrenaline to start the day.

The evening was apparently a bit of a peek into what the next few months have in store for us with dueling sports/practices/games going on.  We’ve done this before and I guess enough time must have passed that I forgot how psycho that time was….kind of like being pregnant/giving birth/babies.  So….here we go again.  Lord, have mercy on us.

We have a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football league and a soccer player entering the club bracket for the first time.  We will have NO.  LIFE.   for the next four months. So call me.  maybe.  or text.  or email.  or Facebook me.  or read my blog, it may get interesting as the seasons start (because we’re still in “practice” with no games until September)….on a plus side, I’ll be getting lots of cardio in during the practices, so there’s that.

I thought it went fairly well with Hubby on “deliver-the-girls to practice” duty and me on pick-up.  I had son #2 put dinner in the oven and Hubby would be home in time from his swim to dish it out and get the sides ready, except………somehow…..the oven didn’t actually get turned ON.   Therefore….pancakes, eggs and hash for dinner.  And it was ready.  My Hubby rocks.  and he makes great pancakes, too!  😉

So…..little speedbumps to smooth out…but that’s what practice runs are for, right?   Boys and girls we learned a few good lessons today:

1) Make sure you know WHEN you are supposed to be somewhere.

2) Make lunches the night before.  Time saver here.

3) Teach the boy to push the button PROPERLY…

4)  Always have  pancakes, eggs and hash on hand.  oh, and chocolate chips.  they go good in pancakes and in a REAL crisis you can just eat them by the handful.

When do YOU have time to blog???

4 Replies

Be not of those who think perfection consists in undertaking many things, but of those who place it in doing well what little they do.  For it is much better to do little and to do it well, than to undertake much and do it ill.”  St. Francis de Sales

My  blog posts are becoming fewer and further between.  WTH?  When do you people have time to write?  Do you pound it all out at one sitting or draft and edit and edit?  I’m a sit down, get it done, publish kind of girl.  I like to wrap it up.  No loose ends.

My writing time is in the morning and since I started morning boot camp last week that killed 3 days during the week of “writing” time.  We also implemented a new scheduling system at work that has opened up a whole box of cluster for our company as there are MANY people trying to learn (all at different paces) AND utilize the system all at the same time.  We’re waiting to see if a head will roll (or two), but in the meantime our company has offered OVERTIME (unheard.  of.) to get the backlog of scheduling caught up.  Yours truly is all kinds of up on that train.  We have back-to-school in 4 weeks (already?!?!?) and the OT will definitely ease the burden of supplies and new shoes, shorts, shirts, etc., which means even less time for blogging!!!  I guess until the blogging pays for itself that’s the way it will be and since I’m not really in it to market anything, nor really found (or am looking for) a niche to fill, I don’t foresee that any time soon!  So, in the meantime, (or at least the next 3 weeks I have boot camp in the mornings) my blogging will be sporadic.  Unless you all give me some good ideas.

This weekend when I wasn’t blogging I was here:

Walking with one of my oldest and dearest friends for ONE WHOLE HOUR on the beach early Saturday morning! Great sweaty girl time!

Then, later in the day when I wasn’t blogging we were here:

Ending the day with friends on the beach

So, really.  How and when DO you blog?  Does the beach (or other fun) get in your way?  I really want to know….

By the way, it is Natural Family Planning Awareness week.  For those of you thinking it’s the ol’ Rhythm method here are a few sites to check out and learn a little somethin’ somethin’ about your body (or your wife’s), save a little dough and avoid added carcinogens in your body (because don’t we get enough from everything else we face on a daily basis?).  So, I may (or may not) have a few re-blogs here this week on interesting NFP stuff.  Excited, aren’t ya?  😉

iusenfp.com

1Flesh.org

Morning time=Quiet time

Leave a reply

Morning time is my favorite time of the day.  Yes, it’s full of promise, fresh start, good intentions and all that jazz, but it’s truly the QUIET TIME of the day for me.  Which is why it’s worth it to me to get up a good hour (or more) before my offspring.  I want my coffee in peace.  I want to read the daily Readings.  I want to think and process through the day or yesterday.  I pray in peace.  There is no speaking (something Hubby has finally realized!).  And at some point, when Hubby has moved on to getting ready for the day or has left for work our little cat settles for Lap#2 (me).  His first choice is Daddy.  A fact that perplexes and infuriates our daughters to no end.  Either way, when it’s MY turn for some kitty cuddles, he’s all up in my business, paws on keyboard, nose on coffee mug, head butting my petting hand.  It’s his quiet time, too.

And…..since today is July 4th and we will be celebrating America’s birthday with my sister and her family in town for the night, I am enjoying the only QUIET I’ll see all day 😉  It will be beach in the morning and then pool and BBQ in the afternoon and a certainty of fireworks tonight which will be going off despite the fact that I will be getting up in the morning to work.   It’s all good though!  There’s something to be said for having a day off mid-week!

Time management…..whatev! We can’t ALL be perfect.

4 Replies

Here we are in our second week of summer.  Yesterday as I rolled into work late for the second day in a row it occurred to me that my time management skills are el sucko!  Actually, not so much that it’s my time management skills but that fact that I haven’t made a successful transition to our summer schedule yet. Nor have  I even tried.  Therein lies the problem.  And then I remember, for some reason it usually takes me about two weeks to make the transition to a new routine……..WHY?!??!!?

In the mornings I am now finding myself with a surplus of time and that is the foundation of my time management rearrangement challenge.  With all this extra time I feel I can do so much more, neglecting the clock and then rushing like a madwoman in the last 5 minutes and leaving late (BUT…..still managing to get it done….just late!).

Last night I looked at my morning and mentally readjusted my “plan” allotting myself a set time for my Quiet time in the morning with a definitive END time to my Quiet activities, thus BEGINNING my daily routine of getting the girls up, ready and out the door.  ON.  TIME.

Here we go.  Day 1 of readjusting the summer clock.  Wish me luck!!  Anyone else have problems adjusting to new changes in schedules, i.e. summer, back-to-school??  Or is it just me?