I have been in a bit of a rut lately. You know, the usual female emotions--"I'm not a good enough mom, I'm not even close to a respectful wife, my home is never clean enough, we are never going to pay off all our debt, etc...." I hate these feelings. They are so paralyzing. The more these thoughts consume you the less you do and the worse you feel. Well, yesterday I was listening to WGN 1120 (I don't normally listen to this radio station but my hubby does and apparently he changed my radio station). They had a guest speaker discussing whether or not our bodies are built to deal with the types of stress we deal with today. I honestly don't remember what her response was but I do remember this one little bit of info that I thought was very clever. She used an ATM as an example. If you go to an ATM and try to take out $100 without $100 being in your account you won't magically get $100. Wouldn't that be nice if you didn't have the money but the ATM gave you it anyway...ha! The same goes for us. If we continue to be hit by everyday stresses without having the small joys and happiness in our everyday we will be overdrawn (so punny!). So, in an attempt to balance out my life I have decided to make a few adjustments in my everyday. Here is a little list for starters.
1. Make our bed every morning.
2. Read the Bible for at least 30 minutes everyday. I hate that I do not do this already.
3. Sit down in Matthew's room every day for at least 30 minutes and just play in his world. Hopefully, it lasts longer than 30 minutes but it's a start.
4. Make dinner 5 out of 7 evenings (6 evenings if I am really on top of things). This was hard with our work schedules before, but it should be do-able now, not to mention cost-effective!
5. Start doing some sort of workout routine, DAILY. Not sure what this will be but figuring it out. Lately, it has been nightly bike rides with Matthew, hubby and Geo. I love this time with my family. We are always smiling and laughing. I wish I was coordinated enough to take photos while riding my bicycle.
6. Do at least one thing every day that shows my husband I respect him.
*Unfortunetly, this is a struggle for me. So if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate any and all.
7. Do at least one load of laundry every day.
8. GO and DO something FREE and FUN once a week with Matthew and Patrick.
9. Read a book.
10. Don't sweat the small stuff. I get so upset about the smallest of things. One wrong word from my husband can send me off the deep end and ruin the rest of my day. It's so not worth it and I hate it when I see it coming.
Some of these things listed I already do but I want to make a conscience effort to continue doing them and maybe even improve upon them.
To back up a little, I have recently decided to become a full-time stay at home mom. I have worked at a pizza place in Tolono 2-3 times a week, for the last 3 years. My last day at Tolono Monical's will be August 31st. I am both excited and a little scared. For the first time ever we will really be a one income family. Hopefully some of these items I have listed help to make that adjustment a little smoother.
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On to other news, we have been super busy. The weekend after I came home from Belize we packed back up and headed to the Dells in Wisconsin to enjoy a long weekend with Patrick's college friends. It was a great time and everyone LOVED Matthew. Even if he was uber loud in the mornings and wouldn't stop singing "who let the dogs out!" We stayed in a really nice cabin and there was a perfect pool for Matthew on the property.
We have also started back up with home improvements/updating. We are still working on the bathroom and a new little project for our bedroom closet. I should be able to post photos soonish.
P.S. I have made dinner the last two nights!
P.S.S. I have never been a list person but I feel I am turning into one. Probably not a bad thing. :)
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