Rearranging priorities

Whew...I just took the girls for a walk as a means of exercise for me. We have lots of hills...I certainly need to work up to walking a long distance :)

Last week was very busy. I was working hard to finish my mom's quilt and prepare for our guests. Unfortunately I allowed my children lots of TV and computer time. What happened? Some bad attitudes cropped up in the middle child. It seemed so gradual until it reached a peak Saturday. My husband and I realized what was going on and that we were really hard on her. We were both, er, chastened I guess.

So, I have made a new, real determination. The important things will come first. People are not coming in with white gloves to inspect the cleanliness of my home. They are not checking out my closets and cupboards. No one is scorning me for piled up laundry and dishes.

My plan is to have a morning routine of getting the day started, then exercising and school, which I will be including things that make messes but have avoided because I don't want to clean it up. (glue, water colors, play-doh, board games) I am holding out from my girls because I don't want to make messes. If I can start getting up earlier then that will be Bible/prayer time for me.
Of course laundry and meal preps will have to be done, which will be part of my morning routine and then after school work. Cleaning chores will wait until my oldest gets home from school she can help. (Well, I will do mine and save their chores for then.) This way, they have something to do in the late afternoons, a dilemma I've run into lately. But, even if the cleaning and laundry get behind, at least I will have given the girls the time they needed and taken care of my body and spirit, which in turn ensures I give my best to my family.

I am going to give it a good effort to include the girls in what I am doing, especially since they love to help cook and 'wash' dishes. I will have to work on my standards :) Anyways, what I've done so far:

cleaned up the kitchen
tidied bedrooms
washed the sheets from my bed
set my meat to thaw and rice to soak
Exercised


Next is- switch out laundry and fold up some from the weekend
prepare some school work and do it
then I'll do my cleaning (wipe down appliances, fridge and stove top- possibly clean the oven)
Straighten up some cluttered areas in the house

Make and eat lunch--hopefully get the laundry finished in the afternoon, then work on some charts for chores and behavior for the girls

Not sure after that...we'll see how this plan goes for a few days...but life happens and things get changed around...we are totally out of milk, almost out of butter, eggs and fruit so I may have to make a trip to the store. That's Monday!