by A Farm Girl | Sep 25, 2018 | Musings
So I have come to the conclusion that consistent sleep is my biggest hindrance in getting a routine established and being a sane individual. I know. I know. This is a HUGE surprise to everyone everywhere. 🙂
Last night, I actually got enough sleep, and it was fairly decent sleep too! I have been a happy, pleasant, effective, efficient, productive human being today! I got so much done. I got my entire pantry set up and organized. More on that is coming soon.
I had dinner ready by 5:45! I was able to take a breath and deal with crazy, random kid input and temper tantrums and not explode! I was able to filter playful snarky comments from DH and laugh instead of taking it personally.
The dishes are all clean – well almost. 😉
I have been able to laugh at myself.
Sleep is good. We should all get enough sleep.
To all you busy, exhausted mamas out there. Take care of yourselves. Eat regularly. Laugh. Sleep more. Exercise a least a little everyday (even if it is just having a 3-5 min dance party with you kids). Laugh again.
That’s it for today. 97 days to go, and I feel like I’m making progress.
by A Farm Girl | Sep 20, 2018 | Musings
Sometimes it can be really hard to let go of something good. For the past 2 years, I was a children’s leader (CL) at BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in the preschool program. Once a week, I got to show God’s love to a room full of kiddos while playing, praying, singing hymns, and teaching a Bible story. It was hard work but so worth it and so much fun!
We bought our farm at the end of the BSF year this spring, and I knew that I couldn’t keep up with both. Being a CL requires going to training another morning every week, planning a lesson, showing up early for set up and staying late for clean up on class days, and extra time with my own BSF lesson. It leaves you joyful but utterly exhausted by the end of class each week.
Let me tell you. I miss it so much! I volunteered to help watch kids on the leader’s initial training day. I cried almost the entire drive home. We have met for class twice. The first week, I was in my adult group (boy was that strange – but nice). This was the second week, and my group had group serve (where the women from the adult classes go help as volunteers with the kiddos to assist their CLs). It was sad being back in a class with the kiddos and know that I can’t be there every week.
I know that I cannot handle being a CL this year. (It goes from a 3-4 hour commitment each week to 14-16 hours). I want – no I need – to spend quality time with my kids and with my mom. Responsibilities around here are the higher calling. Still, it is incredible how giving up the good for the better can still hurt. We only get so many days with the ones we love. Right now, I am called to be here for my husband, and my kids, and for my mom. In the future, I may be able to go back to being a CL but now is not the time.
by A Farm Girl | Sep 20, 2018 | Musings
Well, things feel like they have not been going so well on the routine front. Let me start listing what I have gotten done and then what I haven’t and then maybe I will feel better about things.
Things I have gotten done most days:
- Gotten dinner ready before 6
- Eaten something for breakfast
- Read my Bible for a few minutes
- Prayed
- Gotten DH to take his meds on time mornings and afternoons
- Gotten the kids in bed before 8:30 – that’s close to 8
- Stayed on top of laundry
Things I haven’t gotten done:
- Gone to bed by 10:30 – partially due to a bad round of insomnia for several days in a row
- Gotten up by 6 – also due to the insomnia – although I did have one day when DD decided to get me up at 5:15!
- Stayed on top of dishes
- Gotten to the animals worked regularly
- Read devotions with the kids in the morning
- Cleaned the bathrooms
Ok, so I’m doing better than I thought. 🙂 I know that the 2 main things are getting to bed at a decent time and remembering to eat. I started drinking a cup of sleepy time tea in the evenings and that has helped with the insomnia. I have been remembering to eat regularly. I think that I am doing better. But it’s always so hard to see the progress in the moment.
I’m going to keep working at it. 102 days to go.
by A Farm Girl | Sep 12, 2018 | Family, Farm Life
For anyone out there who has a dust buster (the small, handheld, battery powered vacuums), I have a wonderful discovery to share. Anyone who doesn’t have one, you should get one. They are awesome!
We have one because the kids can use it and have been vacuuming cereal and other crumbs from around the table since they were each about 2.
Anyway, here is my life hack. You know how annoying it can be to pull the lint trap out of the dryer and have it drop stuff all over the top or floor (depending on where your trap is)? This is especially bad living on a farm because there are always wood shavings in the trap. They go EVERYWHERE! Also, sometimes, it can be hard to get all of the lint off of the trap itself.
Well, grab your dust buster! Vacuum the lint trap itself! Vacuum up everything it drops out of it. Vacuum the opening to the place where the trap goes in. It is awesome!!
That’s it!
by A Farm Girl | Sep 12, 2018 | Musings
Today, I have actually done fairly well. I got up a little late (7:15ish) but still spent some time reading the Bible and praying. I ate breakfast! The kids went down for quiet time at 2:30! Ahead of schedule!!!! I got some housework done. We ate dinner at 5:45. Now, we had PB&Js with chips and fresh veggies so cooking was much work. But still, it’s a victory!
The kids were in bed before 8! Their door would have been closed after prayer and lullabies by 8, but they both got very concerned about tornadoes. Like majorly concerned! I have no clue what sparked it, but they were both almost in tears about it. We had to spend 15-20 minutes talking about tornadoes and how it’s not very likely that our house would be hit by one. I also had to explain that if a tornado came, their toys and beds (DD was very concerned about her bed being swept up in a tornado) were not as important as their lives. I tried to tell them that the insurance company would give us money to replace their toys and beds and anything else that was destroyed by the hypothetical tornado. The DS went on to list all of their toys that DH had told him were hard to replace (so the kids would take care of them). Argh! Oh, to have a memory like that. 😉 I finally got them both calmed down enough to pray about their fears, and they agreed to go to bed!
I am writing this post at 8:30. I might actually get to bed before 11. It’s been a great day!
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