One thing I did last week was to get my brain really wrapped around the idea of organization. More specifically, organizing my days on a weekly planner. I have realized, about myself, that I like to play a lot. I like to have loads of silly fun. And that, sometimes, makes for a not-so organized girl. I've made lists before. Planned out my week in a sorta haphazardly way. But this time, I got VERY specific for each time slot of the day. I need that. This week is my first go at trying this out. We'll see how it goes. I sure know that not everything works for everybody when it comes to organizing & planning. I'm just trying to find out what works for me. (*I found the fill-in-the-blank heart weekly planner at The Dollar Tree a couple years ago.)
To begin, I used a pencil to get everything squeezed into each day. I knew the things I HAD to make time for every week: the girls school, prepping orders to be shipped, etc.
I knew the things I WANTED to make time for every week: making stuff, blogging, taking pictures, etc.
And, I knew the things that sometimes slack every week, but that I wanted to make a priority: making dinner EVERY night (instead of frozen items half the week), a thorough house cleaning once a week, etc.
And all those 'to-
do's' got penciled in & erased & shifted around & penciled in again until I felt it was gonna work for me. And then I used a pen to make it a "reality".
And it was
sooooo interesting to see a typical week from that angle, to see a different viewpoint of the days events. I could see where I had little pockets of time open. I could see where "the weekly plan" was going to help keep me from making things for hours & hours when I really should be doing other stuff. When it was all written out, I felt SO GOOD & so confident & ready to tackle each week & get things done & check things off my list every day.
Here's one example: I could see that every Tuesday & Thursday, after dropping the girls at school, I wanted to make "going to the gym" a priority. It got written down on my weekly planner. Then, after working out, I realized that I have about an hour of time leftover until I had to pick the girls up from school. I usually head home to shower & tinker around for that hour. But instead, I'm going to NOT go home, but use my time wisely & go grocery shopping, drop packages off at the post office or run other errands. Grocery shopping is miserable for the girls, & unless my errands include anything with the word "toy" in them, they could care less. I actually save so much time running errands when the girls are NOT with me. And after I pick the girls up from I school, I can drive home, hop in the shower, beaming with productive pride that the errands have already been done & decide what's on the agenda next: Old Maid or Crazy 8's?
P.S. Sorry so late in the day with this post. I was busy following my weekly plan. HAHA!
I must add one final note. This may seem like a list of duties to be done at precise & exact times, but what I'm doing is giving myself some guidelines throughout the day & what will end up happening is I'll be creating MORE time for myself to do the things I really enjoy doing.
The object of the game is to recite & collect 10 'Pink Elephant' cards. What's on those 'Pink Elephant' cards? Why, tongue twisters of course! Try saying "I stood on the steps of Burgesses Fish Sauce Shop, mimicking him hiccuping & welcoming him in." Or: "A cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup." If you mess up, you gotta take a drink & try again. The little game pieces are tiny whistles--that really work! 
P.S. 
It brings my girls running to the kitchen. And my 4-year old looks on in part annoyance, part confusion & wonders why mommy just won't feed her already. (Me & my picture taking, ya know.)
