Thursday, October 30, 2008

WOW! A week goes by so fast...

{a whole week}
So I can't believe its been a whole week since I've put my thoughts down on paper. What's my problem? Well at least part of my lack of writing this week is the fact that my computer is currently sitting on the floor of our soon to be 'project' room. That is 100% my fault, since I couldn't decide on what color/stain I wanted the new furniture to be so for the last two months the furniture has just been sitting at the store waiting for me to figure that out. (I really need to work on my indecision.) Good news though I bit the bullet and made my decisions this week. So in a week or two my computer will be back on a desk and I'll be rocking and rolling again. I will be so thankful when I have an organized home school project room!!! WAY EXCITING!!

{brain dead mommy}
So its been a crazy week! I feel like I'm half brain dead to be honest. After going on vacation with Jarom and Megan for 10 days I came home with mommy amnesia. I had totally forgotten how to be a happy mom of 6. I kind of freaked out and am relearning how to be a joyful mother to six amazing kids. Its getting better everyday thank goodness, and I've learned a lot about myself and found lots of things I need to work on. I keep reminding myself it's the journey not the destination.

{self-education}
I'm almost done reading Jane Eyre and its been great. The book is AMAZING and so INSPIRING! However, just as powerful has been the journey of reading classics which started in September. If you'd have asked me a year or two ago if I was capable of committing and accomplishing something like 5 Pillars I probably would have laughed and thought you were crazy. I didn't think I was smart enough or capable of learning still. I knew I had a lot of holes in my education, but I thought it was to late to do anything about that. When I broke free of that mind set I remembered what I used to know as a child that its never to late to become who you are capable of becoming. That is an eternal truth...its never to late! Beginning the process of reading and becoming truly educated is amazing. I am still only a few steps from the starting line, but I am just grateful to have started the race. As I look forward to the journey that lays ahead for me its AMAZING!!!!. The possibilities are endless and my ability to live life to the fullest seem more possible than ever. I WANT TO BECOME EDUCATED and my life will change because of the education I choose to give myself.

{I blew the budget again...}
I have a problem sticking to our budget. Its not like I'm spending wads of cash, but I have trouble telling myself NO! So after much reflection I decided to publicly make myself accountable to stick to the budget for November!!!! I promise Scott.

Here are some of the things I am going to do to make sure I stick to our November 2008 budget:
1. NEVER use my debit card!
2. ONLY use cash for expenses (not including bills)
3. NEVER borrow cash from a future week to pay for 'wants' for the current week
4. SAVE SAVE SAVE!!!
5. Hold a weekly budget review meeting with Scott

Plan to teach the kids how to manage money:
1. During FC talk about our family budget.
2. Create a system for the kids to earn money so they can start budgeting and paying for some of their own things.

{my routine}
I've decided that its really important for me to be up and ready before the kids wake up. It is hard to do, but it helps me feel sane so its super important tome. This week has been okay, but I need to do even better. If I can just get myself up and moving before the kids my day goes so much better. Here's to trying to trying to wake up earlier!!

I am still struggling with getting our family routine developed too. I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong and how I can get a better family routine established, because I know that its VERY VERY important. I feel like in order to get our family culture established it is essential to develop a consistent routine. I haven't figured out what is holding me back from really doing this, but I am going to keep trying to figure it out so I can get past my hold up and accomplish my goal!!

{grateful}
I am so grateful for my life and all the blessings the Lord has given me. I feel overwhelmed when I think of all I've been given in this life. I know that prayer works and that when we pray we can feel the Lord's love for us. I am nothing without God.

6 comments:

These Are The Days said...

This is a great post. I'm glad you had fun on your 10 day trip, I can see how adjusting would be hard. I too have been trying since August to figure out the best schedule for us, I think as long as there's young kids it's going to be a day to day thing. I hate to say that because I like to have things written out clearly at the beginning of my day. I too just finished Jane Eyre and LOVED it! Are you a member of goodreads.com? If not you should grab my email or I'll grab yours if it's posted and we can hook up on good reads. It's fun to read other peoples reviews, and recommendations. I just started The Well Educated Mind, about self education. I think it's going to be a good one. Happy Halloween.

Tracey said...

I don't know why making a schedule work is so hard. I would love to be up a ready for the day before the kids wake up too. something else to work on. I think by time I get it right the kids are going to be out of the house.

Anonymous said...

I've been working on developing a routine for my family for a long time. Yes, it evolves, but it's also a process of understanding what you really value and making a routine out of that. I'm thinking of Keelee's book (that I DO want to read), Organizing from the Inside Out. Also, a book that helps with the flexibility of a routine is The Power of Full Engagement. I think I have it on my good reads list. Yes, I like that site for keeping a list of my favorites that I want to share with others.

Anyway, I'm confident that the process is part of the lesson of the routine, to make sure you really know what's really important to you before you make that kind of binding contract (flexibility built in) with yourself.

Glad to have you back, Andee. Give yourself some calm core phase days to regroup before you push yourself up the ladder of expectation too fast.

Dan and Alli Ralphs said...

Hey call me sometime and I'll tell you a few of the things that we do to try and stick to a budget.

RPH said...

way to go on the budgeting! we have been working at one for a while. Finally, it is working smoothly. As always, impressive thoughts on things.

These Are The Days said...

Andee, I left you a little something on my family blog.