Anew.

{A fresh breath has blown in. So let's clean it out!}

I take the new school year as an opportunity to re-tune. We took a long vacation over the summer, driving from California to Tennessee. Traveling slowly, experiencing people and places, gave me time to really pay attention to life.

I was able to see the beauty in what is sometimes mundane. To me, anyway. I love to eat, and don't mind cooking but the chore of figuring it all out every day, every week... going to the grocery store... it wears me down.

But, you see these people, these towns. And you know ~ we're all in it. We're all doing it. Wide expanses of land, tended to, worked, cared for, played on. I realized the blessing of our home and the small little piece of our own land, and was inspired to care for it in the same way.

So the decision was made: Enjoy Everyday. Even the chores, even the errands. And to do that, I concluded, I had to create a really good schedule for myself. Because that's how I work. I like to have little projects, to accomplish stuff. (On a side note, I'm going to try and start to document all of this accomplishing more. Sometimes it's pretty good!)

So I broke up the day into a schedule for myself, including time for walking, yoga, meal planning, chores, and even relaxing. (It's called Free Time so it's no obvious that many days I nap on the couch while the kids play all around me.)

I want to make my life a little easier, so I have the kids helping a lot. It is a bit of time to get going, because I have to actually show them how I want them to wipe down the cabinets! They didn't just know. We are two weeks into the new chore situation, and so far, they're doing great. I made magnets with the chores, and each kid has 1 chore per day.

Once they get the chore done they get a House Point. (Inspired by Harry Potter.) They get to spend points as they wish.

I broke up my own daily chores into manageable tid bits, so it really only takes 15-30 minutes a day, therefore, I feel very accomplished while also keeping my wits about me.

This feels good. I'm happy, I'm relaxed, the house in clean, dinners are not the horrible chore they were. One day I even got BORED. Luckily, I just renewed my subscription to Bazaar, because I'm actually getting interested in Fashion again.