A Fresh New Year?

 

It's the first Monday of a new year! I'm not sure about anyone else, but to me, this does NOT feel like the usual clean slate. Not after last year. In some ways, it seems there will be more of the same. But, while I am paying attention to what's going on "out there," I'm not going to talk about that here. As much as I don't really feel that "clean slate" feeling right now, I am determined to MAKE one. For myself, my home, and my family. What I want to do this year, more than ever before, is to focus on GOD, family, and home.

:: I Need My Eyes On Jesus! ::

In times such as these, it is so easy to get swept up in the goings-on of the world and get overwhelmed. VERY overwhelmed. So much fear, worry, and panic is absolutely vying for our attention. Demanding our focus. I spent a good chunk of time last year entertaining them. NO MORE! The only thing I want to be overwhelmed by is the peace that passes all understanding (Phillipians 4:7) and the liberty of Christ (Galatians 5:1). Keeping my focus on Jesus is my number one priority. Spending time with God, studying His Word, spending time in prayer, praise, and worship.

With my relationship with Christ as my foundation, I can then make myself (as a wife and mother) and my home a refuge and a haven for my family. Which brings me to my number two priority...being intentional about pointing my family to Jesus in every circumstance. Being a Christian homeschooling family, yes, of course we are learning about Jesus, reading our Bibles, and praying. But there's definitely room for improvement. Not only in doing those things, but also in connecting them to every-day, moment-by-moment life. I'm asking God to remind me when all those little opportunities arise.

:: Prioritizing Family and Home ::

One thing that hasn't changed for me with the New Year is feeling the need to refocus on taking care of my family and home. Not that I ever really lost focus of that, per se. Things just need some readjustment. As with everyone, the chaos of last year stomped its way in and made us lose focus at times. Some things were shoved out of the way. It's time to pick up the pieces, bring back those things we want to keep, toss what we realized we really didn't need, add some new things we've learned, and gird ourselves against those things the enemy uses to destroy.

With those "pieces," I mean both spiritual AND physical. As we learn to keep our eyes on Jesus, I am confident He will purge us of those things unneeded in our life and spirit. At the same time, I want to also go through and purge our home of those things that are not edifying or useful.

:: Learning From 2020 ::

As bad as 2020 was, I can definitely say my family has learned some useful things! I'm not going to go into specifics in this post, as I really don't want my first post of the year to be a novel. Suffice it to say that 2020 has really cleared up some fog, and has shown us what is truly important to our family and what was a waste of time and energy other things were. And I hope to take those lessons into 2021.

For Such a Time as This

 

Hi all! It's been awhile. I am realizing that, even in the midst of the chaos that is our world right now, making our homes a haven is more important than ever! And that waiting for things to "settle down" in life is just not an option. Once the holidays are past, I plan on blogging regularly once again.

For now, I will leave you with this short, sweet, and to-the-point Bible verse that's been weighing on me lately, and is for ALL of us living during this weird time in history:

"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" ~Esther 4:14

When Life Ain't Perfect

 

Hello and welcome! I realize I have been on a long blogging hiatus. After a lot of busyness on the home front, I struggled for quite awhile with my old friend Perfectionism. I could say I had writer's block. But really, I didn't feel like I had that perfect thing to share with anyone. Then I had hiccups with my camera, so I couldn't, you know, take that perfect picture if I ever did come up with a post. But I've missed writing and interacting with you all, and have been feeling a stronger and stronger tug on my heart to just. start. up. again. already! So, here I am! If you are new here, welcome! I hope you enjoy your time here at my little corner of the internet. If you do, please consider hitting the Follow button over on the sidebar. If you are a returning visitor, welcome back! And thank you for your patience with me. 😉

A world of chaos?

I also realize I've returned to blogging in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. I pray you are all doing well! Please let me know if you have any prayer requests in the comments below. I would be happy to pray for you, and I would love it if we could all pray for each other!

There have been quite a few changes around my home. My oldest has temporarily moved back in until things have leveled off. My Hubby is an essential employee at both his full-time and part-time jobs, one being a first responder. That in itself presents a whole new level of precautions and prayers in our home. Especially since I myself am in what is considered the "high risk" category, being diabetic and having an autoimmune disease.

It has not been easy, but I have found a few ways to find peace in the midst of all of this chaos.

How I make my home a haven for my family in the midst of a troubled time

• Prioritize your focus! I'm not gonna lie. Last month, I started losing my focus on Jesus. There was so much going on, so much information (and disinformation) coming in, so many things to do, adjustments to make. I started losing sight of the One that was needed more than anything else. While I was keeping up on my Bible schedule, I came to realize that that's pretty much all I was doing. Keeping up. Checking it off the list. So I could move on to the next thing. I became weary, exhausted, both in body and spirit. When I realized (finally!) what was happening, I asked the Lord to help me bring back my focus to where it needs to be. I now wake up in the morning excited again to spend time with my Father. And I am definitely feeling His peace again.
  
• Love on and care for my Hubby. His already hefty jobs just got heftier. Plus, with my being high risk, he has taken on the task of going out to get things when we need them. I always try and make sure I'm taking care of our home and family in a way that will lighten his load, while making sure I still have more than enough energy for him when he finally walks in the door at night. Now, I'm trying to be even more diligent. I'm definitely not perfect, but I'm keeping GRACE in my mind and on my heart.
  
• Routines! Oh, these are so, so important right now! I think it was a little before Christmas or Thanksgiving of last year that I jumped back in hard core to the Flylady method. And I am still going! Not 100% perfect at being consistent, but most of my morning and evening routines are automatic by now. Which is great, because it brings a sense of stability to our home life. Even though we are in a time where we can't have guests into our home, I still try to keep things "guest ready." Except now, I say that it's "family ready!" With my routines on autopilot, I do it without even thinking about it.

Make your haven a place to relax!

With the exception of not being able to go places, not much has changed in our homeschool. I do relax on it at times right now, however. Some days, we all have the energy to speed along. Other days, it's more like we have to chip away at it. And some days, we just plain need a brain break. I really think God is using this time to show me that our homeschool doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing thing. There's a flow that is unique to each family, and it is GOOD to go with it!

Besides school, it seems like everyone in my family is really learning more to enjoy each other's company. And at the same time, respect each other's space when it's needed. I really believe these times are also making us more thankful for so many things we have previously taken for granted.

How are YOU doing?

I would love to hear below some good things happening in your life, in general, or maybe specifically because of having to shelter in place. I also welcome prayer requests and I would love us all to be praying for each other!

Thank you, friends, for stopping by and reading! I hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!

Back to Basics After a Season of Chaos

 

Hello everyone! Yep, it's been awhile. We had so many things going on the last few months that something had to get pushed aside. A few somethings. Blogging was one of them. Illness, including a couple of big scares that ended up turning out alright; a wedding in which both myself and my Hubby were participants; a new school year with new curriculum; and my first birdie getting ready to fly the nest. It's been a whirlwind, definitely super stressful at times. And I am SO READY for routine. For calm.

That being said, the next month or so will be all about pulling back and getting back to the basics. My oldest will be moving out at the end of this week, so we still have some not normal stuff left. But in order to keep the transition as smooth as possible on both ends, I'm trying to get back into a modified routine this week.

::God::

First order of business. I need to get back into regular, daily Bible study. I have been slacking on this lately, and I gotta say, I can feel it both mentally and physically. This needs to happen in the morning right when I get up. The two that I'm homeschooling will also wake up before chores and breakfast and separately do their own Bible study. My 13-year-old son has an independent study he's doing for school, and my 10-year-old will just read out of his own Bible while myself and his brother are doing ours. He does enjoy journaling while he reads, so he will have those supplies on hand.

::Sleep::

On top of everything else going on, Hubby has had some weird work schedules lately and both my and his sleep have been sorely lacking the last couple of months. I've been relying entirely too much on coffee during the daytime hours to keep me spinning and it is catching up! Getting back into the habit of having a decent bedtime is going to be essential now.

::Food::

Confession time. I have not been eating the best at all lately. In the beginning of all the busyness, I made sure to prep. Toward the end, I started slacking. I have not fallen off the Trim Healthy Mama wagon altogether, but there's been quite a bit of off-plan food slipping through the proverbial cracks around here. It hasn't gotten to the point where the scale or my clothes have been affected. But again, it's catching up with me and I am REALLY feeling it. Between this and my sleep situation, my energy is running on fumes.

So, I'm bringing back the mentality I started a little over a year ago when I was first diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Eating off plan is simply not an option. As I type, I have my Instant Pot and Crock Pot going, getting on-plan food prepped for the week. I have finished restocking my pantry with THM-friendly foods, and am currently working on my freezer.

::Movement::

This goes right along with the food. My workouts have pretty much stopped these last couple of months. This is another factor in my waning energy and mood swings, feeling bloated, and rising blood pressure. I want that feeling back that I am getting strong! Since the weather is getting colder, I have my stack of preferred DVD workouts. To keep it from getting boring, I'm changing it up every day. On the nice days we still have left, my workout will be bike riding with my boys.

::Basic Daily Routines::

A couple of weeks ago, I had this notion that I was going to do a massive Fall cleaning and decluttering. Well, that fizzled out pretty quickly, as most would understand with everything else. Now? Nope. Taking it way back to basics and just having Flylady tell me what to do! It's so much more simpler than when I try my own perfectionist methods. And ironically, it gets more done!

::Homeschool::

Our homeschool over this busy season certainly hasn't gotten shoved aside completely, but out of necessity it had to be moved down on the priority list a few notches. Starting last week, it got moved back up to one of the top priorities in our home. And we are on an awesome track! It helps that we all absolutely adore our new curriculum. Stay tuned for posts about that in the coming months!

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Hmm, seems like a lot doesn't it? These were all in place before the whirlwind, so believe me it is SO NICE to get back to it! Obviously, I am slowly getting back to blogging as well! I also enjoy YouTube, both making my own and watching the videos of others. I haven't done either one lately. I definitely want to get back to watching and supporting my friends! And I'm sure I'll eventually get back to making videos, but that can't be my priority quite yet.

Thank you all for reading! It's nice to be back. If you would, I would so appreciate your prayers for this mama heart and my family as we navigate this time of transition in our lives.

Have a great week!

Wow, It's August Already?! Update From My Home

 

Is it just me, or has this summer flown by especially fast? I cannot believe it is already almost a week into August! It won't be long until Summer winds down and Autumn will be upon us. Despite some incredibly hot and humid days, I've really enjoyed this summer and I'm a little sad that its end is rushing to meet us so quickly. However, Autumn is my favorite season. And by August, I am definitely ready to start looking forward to the cooler days of September and October!

I've been a little quiet here on the blog lately, but I assure you, that it definitely won't stay that way! While we homeschool through the summer, we've still managed to soak in a lot of that "lazy day" summer goodness! While there is most certainly a time for that, I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to start adding more structure back into our home. Good habits are forming again, but that has left me little time to write. And that's okay! Once our routine settles in again, there will (hopefully!) be more time to add back in the relaxing activities.

So bear with me a little longer and stick around! I have a good list of posts I would like to write in the near future. I also want to hear from you, my readers, if there's anything in particular you would like me to post about. And if you haven't already, I would love for you to subscribe to my blog! Just hit the follow button in the sidebar.

Thank you for reading, and I'll see you in the next post! Have a great week, everyone!

Declutter With Me: Homeschool Edition

 

For many, it's that time of year. Another homeschool year is ending, and homeschoolers have either purchased or are getting ready to purchase next year's curriculum. And that often comes with assessing the current stash. There is a mass declutter of homeschool books and supplies.

We school year-round here, so there's never a set time of year for this to happen. This year, however, I just happened to have recently finished accumulating my materials for next year. I discussed in previous posts the massive change we are making in our homeschool next year. This means more books and supplies than if I had just stuck with what we were doing. Since our space is limited, this also means I need to go through and make room!

Now, I am a lover of books. And I have to tell you, I despise getting rid of them. I'll bet that there's many homeschool mamas out there that feel the same! But for many of us, there comes a time when you just have to go through and declutter those homeschool shelves. In this post, I will share some of my thought process behind deciding what needs to go. I will also share a few ways that make it easier (for me at least) to let those things go.

What Needs to Go?

Books

As I go through the bookshelves, I start out by asking myself some questions. The first is usually, "How long has this been sitting unused?" If it hasn't been touched the entire school year, or maybe it was shelved in the beginning of the year, it becomes a suspect.

Once a book becomes a suspect, I ask myself, "WHY has it been sitting unused?" If I know I'll use it down the road, because it just didn't go with what we're studying that year, I will probably keep it. However, if it hasn't been used because we tried it and it just didn't work for us, that makes it easier to let go. Sometimes, us mamas want something to work because we love it. And we're frustrated that it's just not clicking for our kids. Seriously, unless it was just over their heads and you're waiting to see if it will work down the road, let it go! There are just some things that we will be excited about, but it won't work for the kiddos. And that's okay!

Another thing I need to do more often, and will definitely be doing this year, is assessing the readers' ages. I know for a fact I have books on my shelves that are way too young for even my youngest kiddo. Now, if there is a book that is beloved by your child or sentimental to them, by all means keep it! There is nothing wrong with having a beloved book below their reading level. When I find "younger" books that my kiddos are adamant in keeping, I give it to them. They have shelves in their bedrooms that they can then keep those books on. Everything else goes!

School Supplies

I know that I'm not alone in the fact that I am also a lover of school supplies. Pens, pencils, erasers, sticky notes, bookmarks, paper clips, markers, colored pencils, notebooks of all kinds, etc. I could go on, but I'll do you all a favor and not.

For homeschool supplies, I tend to obsessively organize rather than declutter. I mean, unless something is broken or I know for a fact we'll never use it, it stays. For instance, my boys are "too big" for crayons and never use them, so I ended up giving our stash to a friend who would. By obsessively organize, I mean I will dump a plastic shoebox of markers all over the table. Then, I will test each one and toss the markers that are dead or almost dead. I will do the same with colored pencils, sharpening each one and tossing the ones too small to fit into the sharpener. Any notebooks that still contain paper are great for scratch paper. Most homeschoolers know, when it comes to school supplies, we will find a way to use it up or wear it out! 😂

By the way, I love those plastic shoe boxes you can buy! They are my favorite way to organize all of our school and craft supplies.

Craft Supplies

Speaking of craft supplies, in this house they pretty much go hand-in-hand with school supplies. I can craft and figure things out if I have to. Or if I become temporarily obsessed with a certain kind of craft. But I am by no means a naturally crafty person. And I'm okay with that!

As I mentioned, plastic shoe boxes are my favorite way to store crafts supplies. Most of our supplies have been obtained because they were needed for school projects. I have quite a bit to go through, because many were used once and then never touched again. The staples we use over and over are paints and brushes of all kinds, sharpie markers of all colors and sizes, wooden dowels, craft sticks, a few different kinds of glue (including a glue gun), glitter, and yarn or twine. When my kiddos were younger, we also had a supply of beads and ironing beads, stickers of all kinds, and pipe cleaners.

In order to declutter these, I will just dump out the shoe boxes one at a time, and anything that my kids will use regularly goes back. The rest will either be tossed or given away. I have a few crafty friends and homeschool friends nearby that I know will use whatever we don't want.

Get it Gone

And that brings us to the point of letting stuff go. How do I declutter the homeschool stuff?

Give it to someone. For me personally, this is always my first preference. My sister-in-law lives close to me and also homeschools her kiddos. So anytime I have a pile of books or supplies I'm getting rid of, she gets first dibs. It always helps to let go of things, when you know they're going somewhere where they will be a blessing and get good use. After that, any non-curriculum books that she doesn't take, I will donate to our church library.

Do a giveaway! On the same line as the point above, give it to someone in the form of a giveaway. If you have a blog or a YouTube channel that discusses homeschooling, why not do a giveaway of curriculum you're not using anymore? I recently saw a YouTuber run a giveaway of curriculum she no longer needed, and I thought that was a genius idea!

Sell it. Sometimes, we tend to keep those curriculum books and let them take up space because we paid good money for them. There are plenty of ways these days to sell those books, especially online. If you don't like the online route, there's always used curriculum fairs! Will you make all of your money back? Of course not! But it will be better than taking up precious space on your bookshelf doing absolutely nothing! Plus, you will be blessing someone who either can't, or doesn't want to, pay for brand new.

Donate it. If you can't give it away, and you can't sell it, you can always drop it off at your local thrift store. Or, see if there's a library nearby that will take it. Another option is to see if there are any charities in your area that could use the books or supplies.

Toss it. Finally, if it's broken supplies, or a book in tattered and poor condition, that's probably a good indication that the best place for it is in the garbage can.

Get Decluttering!

I hoped this post inspired you to declutter your homeschool areas! For many of us homeschoolers, this is a difficult thing to tackle. But I also know from experience, that once our homeschool area has been freshly decluttered and organized, our days go so much smoother! Things are quicker to find because we don't have to dig through a bunch of stuff we never use. And I know that for us personally, our brains are more ready to learn when the area around us is not a distraction.

I would love to see in the comments your tips for how you go about tackling the homeschool clutter issue! Please share, because I know we could all use some help to declutter our homeschool things, especially this time of year.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great day!

Thoughts On Spring Cleaning

 

Spring is here! Although it is a gloomy day here, only sparse patches of snow remain. As I type this post, it is morning and the birds are all singing their songs to welcome the day. In the home, I am getting the urge to purge, in the hopes that I will soon be able to throw open all the windows and stir the air that has turned stale through the winter months.

This is a time where I have to set aside Flylady for awhile. Her philosophy is that Spring Cleaning is not necessary if you're following her method. Once a zone is decluttered, you are basically dedicating one week per month to power clean that area. While I agree with this, I am feeling the need to do an all-house overhaul and give our home a clean slate. Pardon the pun. I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't get nearly as much decluttering done as I had hoped to so far this year. So, my plans are to give my entire house a good cleaning while decluttering along the way.

The UNlist

If you're looking for a list of Spring Cleaning tasks, you will not find it in this post. For those looking for one, I apologize. Then again, there are plenty of those around the web. And you don't even have to look very hard, especially right now. There is nothing wrong with those at all. In fact, I use them myself. Instead, I want to share my thoughts on how I'm going to go about this and hopefully give you ideas and inspiration as well.

First, I'm not going to lie. This will probably take me awhile. I've been down the road of Spring Cleaning burn-out too many times. I print out my list, set aside a weekend, and try to get it all done. Result? Too much coffee consumed, cranky mama, cranky kids, and a couple of really nice areas paired with the rest of the house being in a bigger state of chaos than when I started. Um, yeah. No thanks! I don't want to go there again.

Think (and Pray!) Before You Act

Like anything else in life, it's a good idea to think about it before you do anything. What is the purpose of your home? How do you want your home to feel? To your family? To others coming into your home? For me, I want my home to be a haven for myself, my family, and anyone who walks through the doors. A place of rest. A place where everyone can relax and know they can just be themselves. A place of comfort when the world is pressing in. A place where myself and my family can minister to each other and to others.

Of course, to me, this starts with prayer and love. Ask God to show you what He wants your home to be. And as you go about your tasks, keep 1 Corinthians 13 in mind. Trying to physically make your home a haven, while being cranky with your family in the process, well, is pretty much useless! I'd much rather have a messy home with joyful hearts, than a museum-perfect home with bitter hearts. That being said, I'm one of those people whose mind can't rest in the midst of clutter, so I have to ask God to give me a joyful heart while making a clean, clutter-free home for my family. Then I have to recognize when I'm losing sight of that, and give myself permission to rest and take a break.

Cleaning from the Inside, Out

This is just my own personal experience from my years of homemaking. When Spring hits, we all want to get out and clean up the yard, wash the outside windows, maybe power-spray the outside of the house. And that is wonderful! We should get out and enjoy the weather when it's gorgeous! But I like to start early in the season, when it's still mostly too cold to do those things.

I like to start with closets and major storage areas. When I have those done, I feel like the rest of the house goes so much more smoothly and easily. 

Last week, I did my pantry. I did one shelf at a time, starting with the top. First, I took everything off the shelf and put it on my dining room table. Next, I cleaned the light fixture, dusted the ceiling, wiped the walls down to that shelf, then wiped the shelf itself. Then, I sorted all the stuff on my dining room table. The top shelf of my pantry is non-food items: cooking apparatuses that aren't used very often, paper plates, disposable cups and eating utensils, that sort of thing. Some went to the trash, some went to the donation bag, the rest was put neatly back on the shelf. At my own pace, I did the rest of the closet, shelf by shelf. Removing everything, wiping, sorting, reorganizing. When the entire closet was finished, it felt so good! 

This weekend, I'm tackling my bathroom linen/utility closet. At some point while I'm doing the closets, Hubby will tackle our outdoor storage shed.

Work Your Way Around

When all the closets are finished, I will start at my front entryway and work my way around the house until it is finished. Again, this will be at my own pace, and it's not going to get done in a weekend! This will be a good, detailed cleaning, decluttering as needed as I go. Again, having those closets done will be a blessing when I get to this stage! When I get to a closet in the room I'm working on, all I will have to do is peep in, make sure everything's still straightened, and move on. Whew!

I also want to point out that, as I clean, I note any minor repairs, changes, or decorating ideas for the area I'm currently working on. As we get time and funds, we make those happen.

Another thing to be aware of is, before starting a new area, take a quick peek at the areas you've already done. Maintain those before starting another area. If you're keeping up on this, maintenance, if needed, should be super quick.

Go Outside!

Obviously, when the weather's nice, go outside anyway! I don't expect to be trapped inside cleaning all day, every day until it's finished. That just leads to burn-out, and I've learned to slow down. But, I do like to save the outside cleaning tasks until the inside of the house is to my liking. Then, I will wash the outside windows, rake those leaves that didn't get done before the first big snowfall, and prep my garden for planting.

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Such are my thoughts on Spring Cleaning this year. Go at your own pace. Don't be a slave to a list. Do clean in love to bless your family. And, hey! Do employ the help of your family! My kiddos are by no means off doing whatever they feel like while mama slaves away by herself.

So, do you do regular Spring Cleaning? Every year? Or maybe even every couple of years or so? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments below.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a great weekend!

Declutter With Me: Kitchen Food Part 1

 

Happy Saturday, everyone! Normally, I would have written this post this past Monday, but my Food Prep post went out instead. Then, I decided to take a short blogging break, since I had a lot of other stuff going on this week. So, here we are on Saturday after a week back in the kitchen with Flylady. I have yet to finish decluttering my entire kitchen. However, I did get the whole bank of cabinets shown above completed!

Last month, kitchen decluttering was easy. I had kept up the other side of the kitchen pretty well, plus it was mostly dishes and bigger items. This side? Almost all food. Yikes! Those food cabinets can get out of control quickly if you're not keeping them up. And that's exactly what happened in my house.

I forgot to take a before picture, but here's what they look like after I was done decluttering and reorganizing. The two on the left is my baking and liquor cabinet. The two in the middle is snacks, miscellaneous THM supplies, and condiments. The top shelf for this holds extra stock that I don't need to open yet. The one cabinet on the right holds all things for coffee, tea, and other hot beverages. The top shelf of that cabinet holds cups we don't use very often but keep around in case we need extras for company.

Next month when we're back to the kitchen, I will hopefully be able to finish decluttering in there. All I have left is the bank of cabinets below the above counter. Those hold a few dishes, small appliances, and the kids' snacks and treats.

I'm really excited about this coming week, when we're going back to the main bathroom and one other room. For the one other room, I'm going back into my laundry room. But more specifically, the pantry closet that is in my laundry room!

I really need to declutter and organize in here, since I'm slowly working at building my supplies back up. My 13-year-old son decided this past week to reorganize it. However, his idea of reorganizing is to stack everything together to get it all "neat," without worrying about what they are. LOL! I decided to leave it for now, as it does look better. But, it's getting organized for efficiency next week! Then, I will also share more about how I'm going about stocking it up on my current grocery budget. Also, look in the future for posts about what I keep in my THM pantry/refrigerator/freezer!

Let me know down in the comments if you've done any decluttering this week. Share your progress! Also, if you frequent my blog, you may have noticed that I've been playing with the design. Let me know what you think! I'm trying to make it a little easier to navigate than just having the static pages. That's it for now, have a great weekend, everyone!

Food Prep With Me: THM Edition

 

Happy Monday, everyone! It is the first Monday of February, and I just spent most of my weekend getting serious with food prep to keep me on track with Trim Healthy Mama. In this post, I will share with you what I did.

First, a side story. I realized that I have lost my appetite lately. At first, I thought I was just being lazy. Then, I started "forgetting" to eat breakfast. A couple of weeks after that, I noticed I was having to force myself to eat anything for lunch even. I was skipping snacks, and by dinner time I was finally hungry, just not ravished. Being on THM plus being a Type 2 Diabetic, I knew I had to do something before my blood sugar numbers started the roller coaster.

Every 3 Hours

Timing is everything! Part of the THM plan is making sure you eat every 3 hours. Going any longer than 4 hours can tank your metabolism, and going less than 2.5 hours can lead to fuel stacking. This means you are taking in more fuel before your body has had time to fully process the fuel from the last time you ate. During the last month, my timing has really fallen apart. Skipping meals and snacks will do that! And I know that at least part of my loss of appetite has to do with the fact that I've messed up my metabolism a little. 

Food Prep is Key

And of course, when my appetite is gone, I have no desire to spend time preparing food that's just for me! For breakfast, lunch, and snacks in our home, you're pretty much on your own as far as figuring out what to eat. Which explains why those were the meals I either chose to skip, or grab some not-so-optimal food. I didn't go off plan, but I grabbed what was quick and easy. Usually sandwich meats, cheese, nuts, etc. Doing that too often without lots of veggies...it's just no good.

Then I saw that someone had posted a video from Lindsey Murphy about how No One is Going to Do This For You. That's when I realized, I had just completely fallen off of all food prepping! I needed to get back to that. If I had healthier, more optimal foods available to just grab when I needed to eat, even if I wasn't hungry, I would eat it!

So, I made a list and dedicated my weekend to food prep. It was work and it took time. But you know what? I'm not stressing about not wanting to eat anymore and what that's doing to my blood sugar. My appetite's not fully back yet, but I had breakfast this morning! I grabbed a couple of THM muffins out of the fridge to have with my coffee. Didn't even heat them up. Easy peasy! With the food in my fridge and freezer now, I have ZERO EXCUSE to not eat something healthy when I need to eat.

What I Made

Veggies:
-Salad greens: I buy the tubs of Spring Mix from either Aldi or Costco. In order to make them last longer, I divide them into gallon-size zippy bags and stick a paper towel in each one to absorb the moisture.
-Carrots: I peeled the carrots in my fridge and cut them into sticks. These can be eaten as a snack with a THM-friendly ranch dressing.
-Celery: I trimmed them up and cut them into sticks. These can be eaten as a snack with all-natural peanut or almond butter, or cream cheese. I also can cut them down further to be used in Waldorf Cottage Cheese Salad (THM Cookbook page 190).
English cucumbers: I had a couple of these in my fridge that I sliced into half-moons. These can be used in salad, or eaten as a snack with a THM-friendly ranch dressing.
-Broccoli: I found some broccoli in the freezer and steamed it up, adding butter, salt, and pepper. Now I have some in the fridge when I need a cooked veggie to go with lunch.

Protein:
-Boiled eggs: I made 14 boiled eggs in my Instant Pot, peeled them and put them in a container in the fridge. These can be breakfast on a busy morning, a snack, or cut up into a lunch salad.
-Chicken breasts: Next, I threw some frozen chicken breasts into my Instant Pot with a little seasoning and chicken broth. When they were done, I shredded them and put them in the fridge. This can be used in lunch salads or any recipe that needs pre-cooked chicken. I'm planning on using some of this for Lazy Chicken Lasagna tonight (THT Cookbook page 124). This can also be used as a quick protein for a snack.
-Meatballs: I made up a big batch of Marvelous Make-Ahead Meatballs from the THT Cookbook page 208. This made 3 dinners worth of meatballs, plus a few extras for quick protein snacks in the fridge.

Breakfast:
-Glosted Raspberry Muffins from the THM Cookbook page 285. I have a batch of these in my fridge that I can alternate with eggs for breakfasts for the week.

Snacks & Desserts:
-Skinny Chocolate from the THM Cookbook page 377.
-Gluccie Pudding from the Original THM Book. This is pudding made with glucomannan. I made 2 chocolate and 2 lemon. This is really good for me to eat as a snack at night to help with my morning blood sugar numbers.
-Double Peanut Fudge Swirl Brownies from the THM Cookbook page 315. This will ensure I have a chocolatey treat for a few nights after dinner.

All Ready!

That's it! It was a lot of time and a lot of work. But, it saves stress for the rest of the week. I plan on making food prep a regular thing in this house again. I know once I get into the swing of it, I will be able to streamline it more. Four days in a row now, I ate 3 meals + 1 snack per day, keeping up with good timing. I am feeling better already!

I hope this post was helpful and has encouraged you to take a look into food prep for whatever eating plan you follow! Let me know in the comments if you already have a regular food prep schedule and how you work it. Have a great week, everyone!

Declutter With Me: Living Room

 

Good morning, Friends! It's Monday, and the snow is piling up as I type. How did you all do in the master bedroom last week? As has been usual this month, I did not get nearly as much done as I wanted! This month has just been so full! I'm hoping next month, I can focus a little better and finally just settle into my routines.

It's the last week of the month, which means we are heading into the living room for our decluttering adventures. According to Flylady, we get almost the whole week in our living rooms. When the calendar turns over to February, we get one day in our entrance area.

Half of our living room is pretty much the way I want it, as far as decluttering goes. The other half serves as our office area, and that's where I will be putting my focus this week. We have our computer desk area, as well as an old-fashioned roll-top desk across from that on the other wall. Both of these areas can use some TLC and plain old decluttering. I also have a bunch of pictures in the roll-top desk that still need to be digitized. But, those will have to wait until next month. This month, I plan on concentrating on decluttering and then deep cleaning.

I consider the living room one of the most important rooms in my home, because that's mostly where my family hangs out together. That said, I really want to make sure this space is a haven in my home. Will you join me as I dive into decluttering my living room this week? I would love if you would comment and share your progress with me, and we can all encourage each other! Have a great week, everyone!

Grocery Haul for 3 Days

 

I just wanted to jump on quick and show you today's 3-day grocery haul, since I've been talking about grocery budgets. Today I went to Costco and Aldi. I did not need much, since tonight (day 1 of the 3) we're having leftovers and I still have meat in the freezer that I'm going through. We're also pretty good on breakfast items for now.

The milk is not on the THM plan, but I do buy it for my 2 younger kiddos. They're not fans of almond milk, and I'm okay with them drinking whole milk. They mostly use it for healthy milkshakes for dessert once in awhile. They use milk, frozen fruit, and raw honey. It's their favorite dessert! It's healthy, yummy, and something they can make themselves start to finish.

The vinegar I use mostly for cleaning and laundry. We were running out of our calcium supplements, so I needed some anyway. But, Costco had a deal where they were only $4.59 for a bottle of 500 tablets, so I grabbed a couple of them.

Otherwise, everything else is for eating on THM. Since I didn't have much to buy specifically for the next 3 days, I decided to stock up a few pantry items I'm running low on. Canned green beans are kind of our go-to when we're out of fresh salad and I need something quick. None of us can stand green beans cooked from frozen, so yep, we go with canned. I doctor them up with real butter, garlic, onion powder, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and everyone loves them! We will also have fresh green beans when I have time to prepare them.

One of the cans of salmon I needed for a meal tomorrow, and the rest are for stocking up. Yes, I buy the salmon with skin and bones. It's cheaper, but healthier for you! The way I tolerate it is to drain the can, toss the salmon into the food processor, and chop it up in there. When we eat whatever I'm throwing it into, you can't even tell. 😉 Mostly, I use the canned salmon for yummy THM salmon patties.

I also got some salad fixin's we were out of, for lunches (when there's no leftovers) and side salads. And of course, plain old bacon. Because, well, BACON! LOL!

For this grocery haul, I only spent 73% of my budget for 3 days. Which is pretty good with being able to stock up on a few things. I do have a stock-up list, of things we don't need immediately but are running low. So, during the times when I don't need to buy a lot, I'll pick a few things off the stock-up list and "feed" my pantry.

Thanks for joining me for this small grocery haul! Have a great day everyone!

Declutter With Me: The Master Bedroom

 

Good morning, and happy Monday! I'm feeling ambitious this morning (thank you, coffee!) and am ready to continue decluttering my home! How did everyone do with the main bathroom and laundry room last week? I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I am still satisfied with my progress.

This week, according to Flylady, we are heading into the master bedroom. This also includes the bathroom, if you have one in or just off the master bedroom.

Currently, I'm pretty happy with the surface areas of my master bedroom and bathroom, but there are a few areas that are intimidating to me. One of those areas is...can you guess? The closet, of course! Another area is under the bed. It's not exactly messy under there, as everything is in under-the-bed containers. But, it has been way too long since I've gone through them. I do not relish the thought of pulling them out and opening them up. The last area is the linen closet in the bathroom. Those are the main areas that are a little scary to me, so that's where I'm putting my focus this week.

So, who's with me? I would love it if you would join me in decluttering our master bedrooms this week! Let me know your progress.

Thank you all for joining me this Monday morning! I pray you all have a fabulous week!

MamaWit's Weekend Links: Winter Edition

 

For today, I decided to put together another post for you with some links to just browse through. I enjoyed writing last week's post, and I hope you enjoyed perusing it! This time, I wanted to focus on getting through this long stretch of winter between the holidays and spring. 

Where I live, we got spoiled for a short time with "warmer" winter weather, and now the temperatures are dropping again! To me, that means it's time to cozy up inside. A fire in the fireplace. Hot cocoa. Thick blankets. Cuddle time on the couch. Fuzzy socks. Family movie. A good book. A nice nap...

Excuse me, was I daydreaming again? I know many moms are chuckling to themselves. Uh, yeah, like that's going to happen! We gotta try, though, right? Find a quiet moment, if you can, and come daydream with me for a little bit. Grab that cup of cocoa while you're at it, or coffee if you're like me!

10 Ways to Create Hygge this Winter by Red and Honey
Creating a Cozy Home for Winter by The Mushy Mommy

Bri's Top 10 Hot Drink Recipes by Briana Thomas Burkholder
Rich & Creamy Hot Cocoa by Country Girl Cookin
Salted Caramel Mocha Java by Country Girl Cookin
Sugar Free Hot Chocolate Recipe by Gwen's Nest
Hot Creamsicle Cocoa by Oh Sweet Mercy

Winter Themed Children's Books by Buggy and Buddy
First Novels to Read-Aloud with Kids by Read-Aloud Revival
My Winter Reading List by Creative2xmom

5 Things to Beat the Winter Homeschooling Blues by The Brave Homeschooling Mama
Visit Pinterest for all kinds of winter-y activities and crafts!

That's all I've got for now! Hopefully, that should help you get started. Yes, get done what needs to be done. But, make sure you make time to have fun or just relax! Because that's important, too.

So, how about you? Are there any traditions or activities you enjoy to help you get through this long stretch of winter? I would love it if you would share in the comments!

Grocery Budget Update: How Did I Do?

 

Happy Friday, everyone! A couple of weeks ago, I posted about my new-found perspective on my grocery budget. Well, the first full pay period of the New Year is over, and I thought I'd post an update about how my new system is going.

Well, I am excited to report, it's going really well so far! I have made quite a bit of progress, and I'm hoping I can continue.

Every 3 Days

With my vehicle, how little I drive, and how close I am to all the stores I use, shopping every 3 days does not affect my gas usage hardly at all. I'm not going to lie. It is a bit tedious compared to weekly or bi-weekly shopping. But, BUT! It's better than shopping for a week or two, then having Hubby or the Teenager stop at the store almost daily for a thing or two I "need." There really isn't a lot that can't wait 3 days if I run out of it. Then, there is the food waste factor. Honestly, I can't say there's been zero waste. However, I am extremely happy with how much less waste we've had these past two weeks compared to normal! Produce is getting used up instead of going bad.

That said, I will probably continue for awhile on the 3-day planning. Once I feel like I have a good grasp on that, I will expand it out to 4 days and see how that goes.

Staying Within the Budget

My goal with shopping every 3 days, was to just take 3 days' worth of the grocery budget with me to the store. Then, I wanted to try and only spend 75% of that. Sometimes I met that goal, sometimes I had to dip into that other 25%.

Results

Yesterday was the last day of that pay period. Today, I get cash for my next two weeks of groceries. Guess what, y'all? I have two days' worth of my cash leftover, with my family eating well and stocked up on all we need! Plus, I stayed on the Trim Healthy Mama plan the entire time. I was hoping to have 25% of the budget left over, but you know what? If I would have spent the full amount and not a penny more, that still would have been serious improvement over how I was doing! So yes, I am super excited with how my new plans have gone so far! Granted, we're not even a month into the year yet, but here's hoping the momentum stays strong!

So, have any of you made any goals regarding your grocery budget this year? What kinds of changes have you made to stay within your budget? Do you have any tips for families trying to eat healthy, yet maintain their budget? I would love to hear from you! Share your ideas in the comments below!

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Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you all have a blessed weekend!

Routines: My Morning Routine

 

It's been about a week since we reestablished our Evening Routine here in our home. It hasn't always gone perfectly, but for the most part, we wake up with a picked-up house and ready to tackle our day. So naturally, I felt like it's time to put our Morning Routine back in place.

Again, I got out pen and paper, and thought about what I'd like my family and home to regularly accomplish in the mornings. Here, I will share with you what I came up with.

Wake up and get dressed to shoes

This is another one of those things I learned and incorporated from Flylady. Many stay-at-home and homeschooling Moms don't put getting dressed high on their priority list of first things to do in the morning. Please don't get me wrong! I am not knocking this! I am most definitely not a stranger to grabbing a jacket and throwing my hair into a messy bun while running to the door because someone is knocking and I am still in my "lounge" clothes. Or grumbling about fixing myself up because I have to go somewhere out of the house that day. Ahem. 

On the other hand, when I take the time to get dressed (with laying out my clothes the night before, it really doesn't take long), and yes put my shoes or boots on right away, I just feel ready. I don't get grumbly if I have to leave the house. Also, I'm more likely to do those small jobs right away that require me to step out quickly. Take out the garbage. Run a box for the thrift store out to my trunk. Those things pile up quickly around here if I want to stay in my jammies. I mean, who wants the neighbors to see them in their jammies and mom hair?

Make bed

This is like the bedroom equivalent of shining your sink. If you know Flylady at all, you know exactly what I mean. I have the kiddos do this as well.

Swish & swipe bathroom

This is nothing major. It takes 5 minutes tops. With a cleaning wipe, I wipe off the sink and faucet. Another wipe or 2 I use on the toilet. If needed, I swish out the toilet with the brush. If needed, I take another minute to pick things up and put them away. Again, the kids do the same in their bathroom.

Start a load of laundry

Even though the kids do their own laundry, there's almost always enough for me to do a load a day.

Coffee & quiet time

I despise eating anything so soon after I wake up. But, I make myself a cup of THM-style coffee! Then, I take it to my desk and start my morning Bible study. Jesus and coffee. This is the most important part of my day!

Breakfast, meds, supplements

By the time my quiet time is done, the kids are up. At that time, we eat breakfast, during which I take my medication and supplements for the morning.

Dishwasher unloaded and reloaded

After breakfast, I have one of the kids unload last night's dishes. Then, they load up whatever dirty dishes are in the sink and leave it until it's full enough to run. We continue to load it after every meal. That way, the sink is not overflowing by dinner time.

Pick up house

Next, we do a quick pick up of the main areas of the house. Now if you remember, this was done in our Evening Routine the night before. But, morning chaos, anyone?

Start school

Finally, after everything else is done, we sit down and start our homeschool. Meanwhile, during the boys' independent work, I set a 15-minute timer and work on decluttering the zone for that week.

* * *

So, there you have it! First, we established our Evening Routine. Because of that, we are set up to start the next day off on the right foot. Now, we have our Morning Routine, that serves as a launch pad for the rest of the day! If you want additional help setting up a Morning Routine, see Flylady's Routine page.

Thank you for joining me today! And, I hope I inspired you to set up some routines of your own!

Declutter With Me: Main Bathroom and Laundry Room

 

How did everyone do in their kitchens last week? I did not get mine totally decluttered. I'd say I probably did about 75%. I'll save the rest for next month. In the meantime, following Flylady, we are moving on to the main bathroom and laundry room this week. This falls under the "Main Bathroom and One Other Room" zone. That one other room can be any room in your house that doesn't really fall into any of the other zones. I was excited to see on the Flylady site that she picked the laundry room this month. I was going to tackle that this week, even if she had picked a different room. My laundry room needs some TLC. Badly.

Decluttering the main bathroom? Here, that's going to be easy! There's only one cabinet under the sink. That's it. Cleaning the main bathroom? Well, that will be the scary part. You see, in our home, the main bathroom is the one all 3 of my boys use as their bathroom. I do have them take turns giving it a quick wipe-down every morning. But still. It's a place I rarely venture into myself! So, yeah. This will be interesting.

My laundry room is going to be the tough one to declutter. It always seems to be the catch-all in our home. Half of it houses all things laundry. The other half is basically used by my husband as his "workbench" area. So, that houses all things tools, chemicals, car stuff, fishing stuff, camping stuff, you get the picture!

I'm going to be treating the laundry half of the laundry room as a separate room. I will declutter it and then clean it. For hubby's half, it will be a little different. I do not declutter or organize his stuff. However, there are things in his area that are not his that belong in other areas of the house. So, I will take care of those things and then clean his area as best as I can. 

Hubby is not exactly a person who has a lot of free time, and when he does have some, I get that he doesn't want to spend it doing work! So, I will do my best in that room, and I know he will get to his area when he gets to it. I've learned over the years that it will be a lot sooner if I don't nag or harp on him about it. It's one of those battles I choose not to fight, and I've taught myself to look past the clutter and give grace. Because at the end of the day, people are more important than things. How much more so my relationship with my own husband?

So that's it! Let's get to tackling our main bathrooms and laundry rooms! If you don't have a laundry room, perhaps you have a laundry area that needs some attention. Don't even have a laundry area? Focus on that bathroom. If you finish early, find another area in your home that could really use some TLC. Happy decluttering, and have a great week!

Routines: My Evening Routine

 

In trying to re-establish a sense of normal around here, I decided to revamp my routines. Because I'm pretty familiar with the Flylady routines, I am able to do this quickly. Yesterday evening, I decided to write out and begin an evening routine. As I've mentioned before, I love lists! I also love the old-fashioned method of putting pen to paper. So, that's exactly what I did.

According to the Flylady website, the evening routine is the most important routine of the day. I couldn't agree more! When I consistently complete my evening routine, the next morning just goes so much smoother. Not much puts a halt on a smooth morning routine faster than having to stop and do something that should have been done the night before!

So, what is my evening routine? Glad you asked! Let's jump right in. We start our evening routine right after dinner.

Kitchen Duty

This isn't something I usually do myself, but I do make sure it gets done. Since I cook the meals, hubby has made a rule that I don't clean up. Our 3 boys take care of dishes and dinner clean-up. This includes putting food away, dishes, wiping up counters/stovetop/table, sweeping the floor, and changing the garbage if necessary.

Pick up the house

Once Kitchen Duty is done and has passed my inspection, everyone will go around and pick up the house. Nothing deep here. Just patrolling the main living areas and putting things away that have been left out.

Showers

After the house is taken care of, any of the kiddos that hasn't taken a shower yet that day will take one in the evening. They will also brush their teeth at this time.

Lay out clothes for tomorrow

Meanwhile, I will go decide on tomorrow's outfit and lay it all out on my dresser. I don't always remember to do this, but when I do, I swear it saves me time in the morning!

Get breakfast items ready

This could mean a make-ahead breakfast. Or it could be as simple as noting what I'm planning on and making sure there's bacon thawing in the fridge. I will also set the table for breakfast if we plan on eating there, but we usually don't.

Get coffee ready

This is possibly the most important item in my evening routine!

Take bedtime supplements

I have no bedtime medications, but I do have a couple of supplements that just work best if I take them at the end of the day.

Daily Light

If we didn't read our devotional for dinner, we will read it now.

Bedtime prayers

And finally, we say prayers together as a family and the younger kiddos head off to dreamland. The oldest can go to bed pretty much whenever he wants, but he's good about being mindful to get a decent amount of sleep for his busy days.

So, this is the routine that I think will work for our household at the moment. Will it be perfect? Probably not! Will it all always get done? I highly doubt it! But, just having it in place and forming the habit is a huge improvement to the chaos that would normally ensue in the morning. It has definitely changed over the years, and that's okay! It kind of has to with the many different stages of life. You have to find what works for you. 

I hope I've inspired you to make an evening routine. Start small if you're new to the concept! Just like baby-stepping to your goals, start with one or two things until you've got them down, then add another. And, I encourage you to go visit Flylady's Before-Bed Routine page if you would like more inspiration and help setting up your routine.

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading. I hope you visit again soon!

Declutter With Me: The Kitchen

 

Last week, my intention was to spend some time decluttering our dining room/school room. Because of a nasty cold that travelled through our entire family, I got next to nothing done in there. And that's okay! I'm following the Flylady method of decluttering this year, and I know that I will be back to that area next month. Now that my family is on the mend, this week I will be moving on to one of my favorite areas to declutter! The kitchen.

I don't know about you, but after the holidays, my kitchen can really use a good purging and cleaning. Cabinets, refrigerator, freezers. I plan on being ruthless. In a recent post about my grocery budget, I expressed my desires to have less food waste. Before I can start tracking that, however, I need to do a little preliminary purging. I'm sure there are things hiding in my fridge that have outstayed their welcome. Countertops will be another area to tackle. I like my counters to have almost nothing on them. With the holidays and recent illness, they've gotten a little crowded.

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this week's decluttering zone! I would love for you to join me in decluttering our kitchens this week. If you're having trouble knowing where to start, visit the Flylady website. She has specific missions for the kitchen this week.

I would also love to hear from you in the comments! If you decluttered last week, let me know your progress. Or, let me know if you're planning on joining me this week in the kitchen.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Routines: My Morning Routine

 

It's been about a week since we reestablished our Evening Routine here in our home. It hasn't always gone perfectly, but for the most part, we wake up with a picked-up house and ready to tackle our day. So naturally, I felt like it's time to put our Morning Routine back in place.

Again, I got out pen and paper, and thought about what I'd like my family and home to regularly accomplish in the mornings. Here, I will share with you what I came up with.

Wake up and get dressed to shoes

This is another one of those things I learned and incorporated from Flylady. Many stay-at-home and homeschooling Moms don't put getting dressed high on their priority list of first things to do in the morning. Please don't get me wrong! I am not knocking this! I am most definitely not a stranger to grabbing a jacket and throwing my hair into a messy bun while running to the door because someone is knocking and I am still in my "lounge" clothes. Or grumbling about fixing myself up because I have to go somewhere out of the house that day. Ahem. 

On the other hand, when I take the time to get dressed (with laying out my clothes the night before, it really doesn't take long), and yes put my shoes or boots on right away, I just feel ready. I don't get grumbly if I have to leave the house. Also, I'm more likely to do those small jobs right away that require me to step out quickly. Take out the garbage. Run a box for the thrift store out to my trunk. Those things pile up quickly around here if I want to stay in my jammies. I mean, who wants the neighbors to see them in their jammies and mom hair?

Make bed

This is like the bedroom equivalent of shining your sink. If you know Flylady at all, you know exactly what I mean. I have the kiddos do this as well.

Swish & swipe bathroom

This is nothing major. It takes 5 minutes tops. With a cleaning wipe, I wipe off the sink and faucet. Another wipe or 2 I use on the toilet. If needed, I swish out the toilet with the brush. If needed, I take another minute to pick things up and put them away. Again, the kids do the same in their bathroom.

Start a load of laundry

Even though the kids do their own laundry, there's almost always enough for me to do a load a day.

Coffee & quiet time

I despise eating anything so soon after I wake up. But, I make myself a cup of THM-style coffee! Then, I take it to my desk and start my morning Bible study. Jesus and coffee. This is the most important part of my day!

Breakfast, meds, supplements

By the time my quiet time is done, the kids are up. At that time, we eat breakfast, during which I take my medication and supplements for the morning.

Dishwasher unloaded and reloaded

After breakfast, I have one of the kids unload last night's dishes. Then, they load up whatever dirty dishes are in the sink and leave it until it's full enough to run. We continue to load it after every meal. That way, the sink is not overflowing by dinner time.

Pick up house

Next, we do a quick pick up of the main areas of the house. Now if you remember, this was done in our Evening Routine the night before. But, morning chaos, anyone?

Start school

Finally, after everything else is done, we sit down and start our homeschool. Meanwhile, during the boys' independent work, I set a 15-minute timer and work on decluttering the zone for that week.

* * *

So, there you have it! First, we established our Evening Routine. Because of that, we are set up to start the next day off on the right foot. Now, we have our Morning Routine, that serves as a launch pad for the rest of the day! If you want additional help setting up a Morning Routine, see Flylady's Routine page.

Thank you for joining me today! And, I hope I inspired you to set up some routines of your own!