From Lisa:
How [do] you manage to find time for your sewing and other craft projects...what is your daily schedule like? How do you get 'it all done'?
From Sarah:
When your girls where younger...did you have time for all for wonderful cafts/sewing etc.? (Please say no...I'll feel so much better!)
From Stephanie:
How do you schedule your days to get everything done? You probably have a really great schedule and diligently stick to it to accomplish everything. Is that how you fit everything in?
So...schedules. I do have one that I live by.
Here's my favorite weekly schedule from Little House in the Big Woods:
Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.
Since I don't churn my own butter or have much mending, I've modified it a little bit:
Laundry and clean the house on Monday,
Bible study and iron and bake bread on Tuesday,
Whatever comes up on Wednesday,
Prayer group on Thursday with Audrey's eye therapy after school,
Fun on Friday,
Plan menus on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday.
And on the first and third weeks of the month, I add Brownies on Mondays and Junior Girl Scouts on Wednesdays.
So that's my weekly schedule. All my tasks are in my computer (and on my Palm) as recurring tasks and show up each week on the day they need to be done. I LOVE my Palm Pilot (I've just gone back to using one); it's wonderful to have all my lists and tasks and contacts and appointments all in one place.
I enter everything on my computer--including menu plans and grocery lists and every little thing I can think of that needs to be done--and sync it to my Palm. I add errands and random tasks on days when there's not much else going on. After being so sick, I'm trying to keep my schedule more open on those days when there's not a weekly commitment--I really need time at home--to tackle random tasks and to have time to be crafty and do fun things.
Because of my schedule, I never make plans on Mondays--because there's NEVER time on Monday to get anything else done without the rest of the week slipping. And I plan easy menus on days when we have Girl Scouts--something in the crock pot I can do before I leave for school, or something quick like hamburgers.
As to a daily schedule--
I get up at 5:30 and have my quiet time until 6:45 when I wake the girls up for school.
We sit down to breakfast from 7 until 7:30--it's nice to have time to chat and to read (right now we're readingThe Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo; we read at breakfast because I get sleepy at night!).
Toben takes the girls to school at 7:45 and I get ready for my day.
The girls come home from school at around 3--we have a snack and play until it's time to do homework at 5.
Audrey does homework until 6; we eat dinner at 6:30.
Then it's time for the girls to take baths and for Audrey and I to do her vision therapy homework. The girls get in bed around 7:30 to read; lights go out at 8.
Toben usually heads to bed soon after; I've been staying up to read or sew until 9 or 10.
Then it's time to go to sleep until the alarm goes off again!
Sarah, no, I wasn't as crafty when the girls were smaller. I did read lots of books, though. Mostly because everyday we had quiet time from 1 until 4, while the girls napped. I turned the ringer off the phone and gave myself at least the first hour of quiet time to do whatever I wanted to do before tackling any chores that had to be done.
Part of the reason I'm able to do lots of crafty stuff is because I'm in a season when the girls are both at school--and when they're at home, they like to be crafty with me. Plus, Toben works at home, so he hangs out with them a lot. This past week, he took the week off for Spring Break too and took them swimming and golfing a bunch, which meant that I had lots of time at home alone to sew.
I don't know how long this season will last, but I'm enjoying it while it does!
You are like so totally my hero.
:)
Posted by: Susan | March 30, 2008 at 04:40 PM
you know, i have NO real schedule. i get my work done in the mornings and flitter about housework all day. but no set schedule.
i think it's certifiably driving me crazy.
Posted by: capello | March 30, 2008 at 05:55 PM
I just wanted to tell you that The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is one of our all-time favorite books. It is so sweet!!! I hope you love it as much as we do.
At the library this afternoon, I picked up a book called Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson. It's supposedly the prequel to Anne of Green Gables. Ever heard of it?
Posted by: Meredith | March 30, 2008 at 07:38 PM
Wow. Your schedule makes mine seem positively chaotic. I seriously need to consider the Monday - housework and nothing else - option. I guess with four kids and a farm, my life might be a little bit more difficult to schedule, though.
Thanks for sharing that.
Posted by: Raising Country Kids | March 31, 2008 at 07:22 AM