Monday, July 31, 2006

School Time Conditioning

My 25-year old brother, God Bless him, is training for a marathon in Milwaukee, WI. He's been conditioning his body and preparing for months and the race still isn't until October. My SIL and I, among others, feel that part of this conditioning for this kind of a race is to have a complete health physical.....he isn't convinced.

I've decided since it is the first of August (almost) that it is time for our family to start conditioning ourselves for school. Last night the kids were in bed a little after 8:30 p.m. and this morning we got breakfast and dressed, made beds and did our morning chores (my older son did this) I am also designating Monday's and Wednesdays as NO TV/VIDEO GAME DAYS! Which has been successful, sort of, so far. It's amazing what their little imaginations can do with pillows, blankets and couch cushions....besides make a horrible mess of the living room....LOL!

I've also been working on a Home Management Binder which consists of basic morning/afternoon/evening routines, basic weekly plans, cleaning lists. I'm going to add other things to this later. Anyway, since I'm trying to condition the kids for the fast approaching start of school, I decided I needed to condition myself as well. We all know how schedules and routines fly right out the window in the summer months.

Today I did my morning routine which consists of showering/dressing/hair/make-up, morning devotions, making the bed, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the bathroom figuring out dinner and starting the laundry. There are also "school related" items included in my morning routine which I skipped today, obviously. BUT, I didn't not complete these things until 11:30 this morning!!! The plan is to have this stuff done before the kids leave for school.....however, today was payday and My Sweetie decided I should do bills first, so I did. Plus, I didn't have it in me to wake up at 6:30....I need to work up to that one next week maybe!

Then I moved onto my basic plan for Monday which consists of Washing/Folding/Putting away the colored and dark loads of laundry, *This is still in process* Blessing my home which is scrubbing the bathtub, scrubbing the bathroom floor, cleaning the glass in the house (doors, picture frames, mirrors) dusting and vacuuming. I didn't get to the vacuuming yet because I can't see the floor due to the pillows, blankets, and couch cushions that are all over. I also have on my Monday List to spend 15 minutes in the ZONE for the week doing a cleaning project....I've decided against this one today also due to all of the extra picking up I've done today.

When you train for a marathon you don't run 26 miles the first day.....so, rather than trying to do EVERYTHING that I plan to do for fall in one day, we'll simply continue to work on conditioning ourselves little by little each day so we'll be ready for the big race!!

7 comments:

Joy @ SAH Missionary said...

Baby Steps!! I love it. I like your ideas for slowly getting back into routine.
Thanks for sharing.
Blessings.

Courtney said...

WOW you are way organized!!!! Our laundry was done on Friday and we still haven't folded it. Kudos to you for making a plan!

Jen said...

holy cow.....slow down. read my schedules i posted today. thanks for the recipe i will try it soon.
j

Much Ado said...

Tell your brother all the best for the marathon from me, I did a marathon in Dublin last year, it was so worth the training. Also taught me a lot about discipline and perseverance!!!

Andrew said...

Hi there

I have to say that I love reading your blog [and picking up handy tips]. I can across your blog when I hit the 'next blog' button one day.
My wife and I expecting our first child on Christmas Eve (D'oh!), we find out whether it will be a boy or girl tomorrow! What I have loved about reading your blog is noticing the difference between perfect intentions and the occasionally less than perfect practice. This is a natural haven for frustrations [well, it is for me], but you have inspired me to "take it on the chin" and modify.
I will no doubt keep reading and benefiting from the stories of your family life.

Thank you &
God bless [mightily].

Anonymous said...

I could do with getting back into a routine. I'm not the most organised person lol.

Kelly said...

Hi I just found your blog. We just had our third child and even though we are pretty scheduled, I have seen the need to schedule daily chore. It can be so easy to become overwhelmed! Thanks for sharing!