Habits

It was such a relief to finish Hannah’s slideshow AND organizing the kitchen, including the new pantry. That happened last week, and I’ve decided to not start any new projects for a while. I’m just going to maintain. I’ve noticed that I do that quite a bit around here. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, mowing the lawn, weeding, doing laundry, bringing people to doctor appointments, fixing broken towel holders, working out, filing papers…

Whenever I get into a project, I either get behind on maintenance or I don’t take time for rest and recreation. Or both. I’m not complaining. I love my life. I’m just acknowledging that this happens, and I’m thinking that it’s good for me to slow down after a busy period of time. You know… the theme of my blog… slowing down.

I’m easing into a summer schedule. This week I made one change to my morning routine. It’s a huge one! I added my strength training to it. I got tired of me procrastinating working out. I didn’t have a set time to do it. It would usually be in the afternoon or evening. I might write down in my planner that I would do it after lunch and then I would do something else. So it was just lingering there in my mind, and I would kind of dread it.

This week, I’ve been setting my alarm for 6:00 AM. I get out of bed, wash my face and put in my contacts, get dressed, make my bed, have some protein, fill up my water bottle, and then go down into the basement and do the workout. Easy peasy. Not really. This morning I was praying to God for help finishing it. But it feels great to have it done right away, and then, after that, most of the tasks I do during the day are enjoyable.

Tonight, I was planting the excess of plants that Bobby bought. On Father’s Day, we mulched the yard together with the kids that weren’t working, and Bobby planted some flowers in the cul-de-sac and around our mailbox. But he bought way too many. It’ll be interesting to see how they grow. There were impatiens with no buds open (what colors will they be?) and not looking so good. Since we only had four pots and an old hanging plant pot; I put a few in our shed window boxes, and then I crammed the rest of them into the five pots, along with some begonias and marigolds. Time will tell.

I’ve also been getting ready for Hannah’s graduation party on Saturday. I shopped and prepared food, and will continue to do so for the next two days.

Daisies Bobby gave me on Mother’s Day 2025

About a Boy. Have you seen it? This movie has a memorable scene in which Will, played by Hugh Grant, explains how he manages his time. Being a student of time management for two and a half decades, I found this a clever script. The character, Will, is a self-centered loner who enjoys his lifestyle, and doesn’t seem to worry about wasting his time.

I love it.

I can relate because I have felt extremely busy this fall, and I have thought…

How did I ever have time for homeschooling?

Today, I am thinking… Can I commit to blogging?

Of course I can. I would just need to make it a priority. Write it down in my planner and follow through. I penciled it in for Tuesday night, then erased it. I guess I won’t commit.

This is how I’ve been spending my time.

In September, my sister and I planned an 80th birthday party for my father. I did a lot to prepare for it, and my brother, Mark, and my niece and nephew came up from Tennessee to be here for it.

672 units.

Movies, mowing the lawn, helping kids with homework, banking, and rides, going with parents to doctors’ appointments, shopping, workouts, home maintenance, meetings, prayer, reading, eating, sleeping, and showering.

1,344 units.

A weekend in East Lyme, Connecticut in a rented house with Bobby’s family.

144 units.

Driving to New York City, then flying to Singapore with Bobby, seeing as much as possible in 3 days, and the return trip home.

384 units.

Catching up from being away for 10 days.

120 units.

Planning, decluttering, and organizing the basement, bringing a truckload of trash to the dump and a carload of boxes to the Salvation Army.

192 units.

I’m so disappointed. I really thought this post was going to be about time management. Once again, I’ve been compelled to account for where I’ve been in the last two months, and what I’ve been doing. I’m getting sick of these catch-up posts. And I’m not even adding photographs, which makes it even less interesting. I think the only solution is for me to blog more frequently. This may require the use of my time management skills. Ha! Now I’m back on track.

For all of 2025, I have been using a combination of a planner and the Sidetracked Home Executives index card filing system for time management. Without getting into the details of how to set up the index card system, I will share something I am learning about it.

Each day, I pull out the small pile of index cards, which include my morning routine, bedtime routine, and various activities or tasks that I am planning to do throughout the day. I spread them out on my desk, and as I complete a task or a routine, I file it in the box in front of the date that it will be used next. So my morning routine will get filed in front of tomorrow’s date. My food shopping card will get filed in front of next Monday’s date. And so on…

What I just realized, is that it is possible, and often happens, that I have more cards in the pile than I have time to complete in one day. Or I may have too many cards on a certain day, that I often can do in a day, but because of commitments, I can’t complete on that particular day. So I have started to add up how long the cards will take to check if I’m being reasonable with my expectations. If I get up at six, and I want go to bed at 10 o’clock, I only have 16 hours. I’ve also been giving myself about three hours extra for all those unexpected things. Phone calls, texting, kids wanting to talk about stuff, etc.

At the end of the day, I can look at what cards I have not completed and ask myself why. Did I have a good reason to skip that card or was I procrastinating? Was I led to do something more important?

Instead of using units of 30 minutes each, (as in the movie), I use hours. I’ll say: morning routine, two hours, Mass, 1.5 hours, desk tasks, .5 hours… I also look at my planner and add things that are happening that are not on index cards, such as Mary getting her braces off, 1.5 hours.

So this is what I’m currently doing to manage my time. I’m going to add in a blog post card, try to get an accurate time estimate for it, and see how it goes.

Unruffled Peace

Maintenance Mode

Time Management?