Tag Archives: deliberate

The countdown is on and we’re getting our back to school routines ready!

August 5, 2013 Salinda 2 Comments

Only 7 more days! Seven! And these babies will be in middle school and 3rd grade!

We’re spending the week taking care of a few last-minute chores: the dentist, haircuts, shoe shopping, Six Flags. We are also trying to get our back to school routines up and running! Yuckola.

I’ve researched and searched and fiddled and hemmed and hawed to find a housekeeping/organizational system that works for me. Basically, I’ve discovered it comes down to one thing: JUST DO IT! There is no quick fix and there is no magic bullet to a clean, organized home, especially a small one with a home-sewing business and two busy kids! We’ve developed a pretty good system for chores this summer and I’m hoping to keep it up for this school year. Here’s how we are doing it. For now.

Master calendar:

I use Google calendar for keeping up with everything! Every.Thing. But, the kids can’t easily access it. So, this giant fridge calendar is our fix. Adam and I only list the things on the calendar that effect our whole family (this means evening events only). The kids have a place to record school deadlines, practice times, and such. I also list our dinner plans. No more “What’s for supper?” Woo hoo!

Morning chores:

These haven’t changed must over the years. Get dressed, talk to God, make your bed, pick up your clothes, eat some breakfast, brush your teeth, and be ready for the day.

Everything else:

I use Confident Mom’s Daily Planner to keep track of housekeeping chores. I like it because it reminds me to do the simple things too, like wipe down the light switches or clean the crumb tray of the toaster. I do have to remember to extend a little grace to myself when I miss something.

Daily:

I try to get a load of laundry washed and into the dryer and dinner thawing out before I do much else for the day. The rest of the school day is spent working. I give myself 30 minutes during the school day to do a few chores and the rest happen around 8 at night.

The kids’ chores:

The kids are responsible for unloading and reloading the dishwasher, dumping the compost, and emptying the personal trash cans into the large kitchen trash. In addition, I vacuum their rooms on Tuesday. If I can’t for fear of vacuuming Legos, clothes on the floor, etc, then they lose TV until the next Tuesday. Really, as they only watch TV on Friday nights, this isn’t a loss, but shhh….don’t tell them that!

So…that’s it. That’s the routine we are in and the routine that I’m hoping we can stick to this fall!

Everything Else

Days 14 thru 31 of Being Deliberate: Learning my lesson

November 6, 2012 Salinda Leave a comment

Happy November! It’s Tuesday, Election Day, and only 48 days until Christmas. Wow! The last few weeks just slipped away.

Obviously, I dropped the ball on my 31 Days of Being Deliberate. While I wasn’t here posting about each day’s challenge, I was learning a very big lesson. For me, choosing to content and joyful is the best deliberate decision I can make. Here’s the proof:

About October 15, I started to get overwhelmed. We were still waiting on the floors to be repaired. I was trying to sew for customers and keep my business running in a tiny little section of my house with all the living room furniture moved in around me. We’d just had a crazy busy weekend with kids’ activities on Friday night, an 8-hour round trip to Arkansas and my MIL’s surprise party on Saturday, and an open house at our local middle school on Sunday. Instead of deliberately choosing to focus on all the wonderful things we’d accomplished, my tunnel vision had me obsessing over all the things left undone. I allowed myself to wallow in self-pity and guilt over what wasn’t going the way I’d planned. While I was whining and wishing things were different, an entire week slipped by! After that week, life was just as busy as usual, but I also had to catch up. I didn’t update my 31 Days of Being Deliberate because I just didn’t even know where to start!

Here’s what I did accomplish in those last 2 weeks of October:

Day 14: I’ve spent time in God’s Word each day. I’ve been using the reading plans on my YouVersion app on my phone. I start each day reading the day’s assignment. I just finished the Major Prophets!
Day 15: I finished a HUGE project. But not on October 15—it was November 3rd instead. That was still a 6 days before it needed to be done, so I’m pleased. (Photos after next weekend.)
Day 16 and 17: I’d planned to teach my kids a new chore, but really, they’ve learned how to do most of the tasks around our home. Instead, I let the two of them plan and prepare for the big 11-year-old birthday party! They learned to plan an easy menu, create a centerpiece, and plan activities everyone would love! I’m so proud of them. (#turningeleven on Instagram. You can find me as salindab.)
Day 21: Those lovely little pink postcards came in the mail from my doctor reminding me that it’s time for a check-up! I’ve scheduled my check-ups and mammograms.
Day 24: I spent a few hours (last week, not October 24) with a notepad and Google Calendar mapping out my plans for my shop. I made a year’s worth of reminders that will help me stay on top of things: shipping deadlines, changing tags in etsy, adding new listings, choosing designs months before I need to have them finished, etc! I love Google Calendar!
Day 25: I’ve treasured the moments as my Big Girl turned 11. These tween years are scary! My goal is to be a steadfast rock for her to listen, to guide and to correct as she needs. (#turningeleven)
Day 26 and 27: I’ve made an effort to send a note in the kids’ lunches everyday since school started. I’ve sent the occasional one in Adam’s lunch as well. This week, I found some new note cards that will be perfect for tucking in his lunch as encouragement!

I learned a ton during this 31 day challenge:

Choose to be joyful and content. Anything else spirals down into whining and self-pity and bad days quickly!
Everyday, every decision really needs to be a deliberate decision.
I’m human. Every decision won’t be perfect. The good news—it doesn’t have to be! God has promised forgiveness (1 John 1:9) and if He can forgive me, then surely I can forgive myself!

Being Creative, Everything Else

May is Here!

May 3, 2012 Salinda Leave a comment

Wow! It’s May! Our spring has been so busy, and now summer is just around the corner!

After a winter and spring full of sewing seersucker and gingham, I’m excited to have a few moments to slow down. I’ve spent some time catching up on blogs and discovering new favorite places to read!

I’ve decided to join a new blog challenge this month and I wanted to shared it with you:

I find myself grumbling-a lot! Especially at the end of the day when everyone is tired and hungry. In 2 days, I’ve switched my little reminder bracelet between arms so many times that I keep thinking it will just pop off!

Do you have a grumbling spirit like me? Join me for this challenge.

Everything Else, Family

Sometimes, Something’s Gotta Give, But That’s Okay

February 18, 2012 Salinda 1 Comment

So….I’m sure you noticed that it was exactly 2 weeks between my last post and the birthday post yesterday. Why? Well, I have a small confession to make. As much as I like to pretend that I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants, roll-with-it kinda gal, I’m not!!

Hi! I’m Salinda and I need my routine. Desperately!

We’ve just had a few weeks of a slightly different schedule and it’s thrown me for a loop. My husband’s work schedule was a little different. The kids swam on days they have piano, ran on days they had swimming, and had piano on days we aren’t supposed to do anything.

Just keeping up with all the changes really messed with my head. So…somethings had to give. So-called priorities were pushed to the back burner. Homework was done, meals were prepared, church was attended. Orders were completed and mailed, classes were taught, hugs and kisses and lego-building was done. On the other hand, laundry piled up, floors weren’t washed, toys weren’t always put away, and dishes sat in the sink-overnight! Twice! The blog sat neglected, as did some of the Valentine’s ideas (but not all, I’ll show those to you later).

You see, I decided that I would focus my energies on the things that mattered. Yes, we did have clean clothes to wear and our house never really got that dirty. More than once, I did feel guilty for not doing something I really, really thought I should. But…in the end, I decided that my husband mattered (and his lunches and dinners) and my kids mattered and my Jesus mattered. The rest would come when life settled back down.

I was reminded of these verses from Matthew:

²⁵ “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? ²⁷ Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? ²⁸ And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! ³⁰ If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you—you of little faith? ³¹ So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³² For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. ³⁴ Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:25-34 HCSB

Much like those peach blossoms in the picture above and the wildflowers mentioned in the verses, God has provided for me. He sent the bees to pollinate the flowers in January. IN JANUARY!! Where is it warm enough for bees in January??? In Shreveport, Louisiana, I suppose. And those bees set to work on the one task they were given. That what I decided to do. If God would take care of the peach blossoms in January, how much more will He take care of me? If those bees can defy the seasons to do their God-given task, then I can ignore the extra and focus on my priorities. And, there would be no need to worry about the guilt of not mopping or keeping the laundry pile small or not blogging. There would be time to share with you again when our schedule settled back down.

Lagniappe

Baby Running Steps

January 8, 2012 pcc 2 Comments

'Project 365, Day 16: Tools of the trade' photo (c) 2008, Melinda - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

As part of my attempt to be DELIBERATE , I’ve decided to move my body while the kids are at swim practice. I’ve decided (notice the “have decided” = an on-purpose, deliberate decision) to try Couch to 5K. Again. I tried once about 2 years ago. That attempt ended after 4 weeks with a sprained ligament or something that was horribly painful. I tried again about 1 year ago. That ended after 3 weeks with pneumonia. So, here we go…Attempt 3. I finished week 1 yesterday. We’ll see…

Running in silence is tough. Right now, I stocked my playlist with Toby Mac and Mandesa. I need some more great moving music. What do you recommend?

Everything Else

My 2012 Word of the Year: Deliberate

January 3, 2012 pcc Leave a comment

Deliberate.

An adverb.

As in “be deliberate” or advised, calculated, considered, knowing, measured, reasoned, studied, thoughtful, thought-out, weighed, intentional.

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines deliberate (the adverb) as “characterized by or resulting from careful and thorough consideration” or “characterized by awareness of the conseqences”.

In 2012, I hope to be deliberate:

in seeking God through active study and prayer.
in loving others by actively searching for ways to show love, not just stumbling upon it.
in my marriage by setting aside time for my husband, not just giving him what’s left at the end of an exhausting day.
as a parent by being consistent.
in friendships by picking up the phone or dropping a note in the mail more than every once in a while.
in making choices that are better for my body, my mind and our budget.
in homemaking by creating a comfortable place for my family and a welcoming place for friends.
in business by setting goals that line up with my dreams and not chasing tangents.

So, that’s it. I plan to spend 2012 being deliberate, making choices that focus my attention, my time, my money and my health where they need to be. Like the writer of Hebrew’s encourages:

1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses a surrounding us, let us lay aside everyweight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:1-2 HCSB)

That’s my word.

S as in Sam