Printable Quote: Life is a Sequence…

I came across this quote while browsing the web a couple days ago, and it goes along just perfectly with my year of Anti-Procrastination.

I created an 8×10 printable quote of it that I'll be putting in my living room.  Every time I see it I'll be reminded that what I'm doing right now is important.  Am I wasting time or using it wisely?

If you'd like to print your own copy, you can do so right here.

If you want this in a different size, let me know and I'll see what I can do!

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Anti-Procrastination and Priorites, Part 2

If you didn't read part one, you can read it here.

Before I go any further, I want to make sure a few things are clear:

1. I am not in any way saying that sewing or doing crafts is a wrong use of your time.  They're a natural part of being a homemaker.

2. I am not indicating that you haven't used your time wisely if your house isn't immaculate 100% of the time.  A stay-at-home wife or mom knows that you can clean and clean and clean, but because you live there, there are always new messes being made!

3. My husband is not a domineering ogre whom I tremble before if the house is messed up or he doesn't have a hot dinner on the table when he gets home.   In fact, he normally doesn't say a word even when the house looks its worst, and most of the time he simply pitches in to help without being asked.  The reason I'm embarrassed when he sees the house dirty is because it's evidence of  my lack of discipline.  I'm ashamed of my sin, not of the dirty house.  If I've been using my time wisely all day, it doesn't bother me for him to walk in to a mess.  He understands that there are three little people who require a lot of attention (and who make a lot of messes behind my back!)

So, how do I determine when my house is “clean enough” to start on some other project with a good conscience?

I'm not saying this is what all women need to do in their home, but I know this is what I need to keep my own home a scene of inviting serenity.

I've narrowed it down to two simple things:

First, nothing needs to be done if there are dirty dishes undone. There's just nothing that screams filth to me so much as dirty dishes on the counter. The rest of the house can be entirely clean, but if there are dishes out, the whole place looks like a dump. When you walk in our back door, you're looking straight across the kitchen at the sink. What you see there makes or breaks your mood as soon as you walk into the house.  So my first strategy is, no other projects until the dishes are done.  That's all I ask of myself.

Second,  extra things need to have a time limit.  I will determine how long is a reasonable amount of time to work on a project before I need to turn my focus back over to my kids and other housework.  I will set a timer, and when it goes off, it's time to put away the project until later.   I am a very determined person, which most of the time is a good thing.  However, there are times when I get so focused on conquering something, that I lose all track of time and lots of things go undone and little people get ignored.  My sewing machine was being rebellious the other day, and I was not giving in until I broke its will.  That's fine and dandy, except for the fact that I almost made us late for church, left the kitchen an ugly mess, the kids were left to themselves for too long, and nobody got to eat dinner.

As a homemaker, my basic priorities are, in this order – my Lord, my husband, and my children.  If something, even a domestic project, is robbing my time from those three groups, it is wrong for me to spend time doing it.  Was it wrong for me to sew the other day?  No.  Was it wrong for me spend hours doing it when other, more important things were being neglected?  Yes.  Having a timer set would have brought me back to the reality of how much time I was spending.

So those, my friends, are my two very easy ways to make sure I'm doing the things I'm supposed to be doing while making sure I can find time to get to the extra projects too.

I hope these ideas are helpful to you in finding that balance between doing the extras while making sure to keep your priorities in order!

Anti-Procrastination and Priorities

I want to preface this post by saying that I don't enjoy making myself look bad in front of my readers.  Nobody wants others to know all their faults, and I certainly don't plan on making a habit of letting you in on every single dark secret I have.  However, the purpose of this blog is to encourage ladies to be all that God wants them to be.  Sometimes that means sharing personal examples in hopes that you will learn from my mistakes and be motivated not to repeat them.

When I started this Anti-Procrastination challenge, it was with the intention of getting extra things done without worrying about whether or not every single dish was washed, every speck of dust gone, and every article of clothing folded beforehand.  There will always be more dishes to wash, dust to clean, and clothes to fold, and if I wait until all the “regular” stuff is done, I will never “get around to” other projects like organizing closets, washing the car, and doing craft projects.

However, there must be a proper balance between getting those Anti-Procrastination tasks done, and not allowing my house to be flat-out messy.

It honestly kind of bothers me when I see bloggers posting pictures of their messy houses that they neglected in favor of doing a DIY project.  They somehow feel the need to “keep it real” and show how messy their house is because they were too busy doing a craft project to clean.  I'm not talking about stuff the kids drug out while mommy was busy working or the mess made from actually working on the project or the dishes that were dirtied and left in the sink during the course of focusing on finishing the project.  Those things are completely understandable and normal.  I'm talking about out-and-out neglect to take care of first things first.  Unmade beds and a pile of dirty dishes from the day before are, in my opinion, things that should be taken care of before anything else is undertaken that day.  Most likely if you start a project with the house looking like that, it will still look like that at the end of the day when your husband comes home.  That's not a refreshing sight to him when he comes home from a long day at work.

I'm ashamed to say that was the sight my husband had to come home to yesterday.  It all started out kind of innocently.  Since I've been so weak and tired all the time, I've been trying to get the most important things done first before I run out of energy.  Yesterday was Wednesday, which meant that we had prayer meeting at night.  I decided to get everyone's clothes ready, pack the diaper bag, and figure out dinner first thing in the morning so I could make sure it all got done in time.

Well, I've had these plain t-shirts in my closet forever that I've been wanting to make-over into something cute.  They've been on my Anti-Procrastination list for the longest time, but I always have something else to do that's more important.  I got started on my day pretty early, and I felt like I had plenty of time, so I decided to whip one of those up.  I mean, why not?  That was part of getting my church clothes ready, and I'd be knocking out an Anti-Procrastination task at the same time.  And surely, it wouldn't take very long.

Well…ahem…naptime arrived, (yes, as in several hours later) and I was still in the middle of a battle of wills with my sewing machine.  I had stopped briefly to throw some lunch in front of the kids, but other than that nothing had gotten done.  Nobody's clothes were ready, dinner wasn't even thought of, and I had dishes on the counter that I had been planning to get to “after I got the church clothes ready”.

When my husband got home, I wanted to hide.  I was so embarrassed about the house (okay really it was just dirty dishes, but that makes my house feel filthy, especially since that's the first thing you see when you walk in my back door) and about the fact that we were now going to have to rush to get ready for church on time.  I tried for a frantic second to think of some way to get rid of all the mess and pretend I'd been doing what I should have been doing all day.

Instead I decided to be honest and fess up.  I told him I was sorry I hadn't used my time wisely.  I then thought through what needs to happen in order for that scenario not to play out again.

But, since this post is already running long, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to read the two simple strategies I came up with to help myself stay on track but still be able to get those Anti-Procrastination tasks done too.

In the meantime, why don't you tell me how you keep your homemaking priorities in order?  I'd love to hear about it!

Read Part Two here…

Awesome Deal on Coconut Oil

You all probably know by now that I love coconut oil and use it for a lot of different things. (Like my easy homemade granola.)

It can get a bit pricey, though, so I'm always on the lookout for the best deal.  I recently bought a gallon of it for what I thought was a great price.  It came out to about $.50 an ounce.

I just found it way cheaper than that!

Here's what you need to do if you want to get in the deal:

• Sign up for an account at Vitacost using my referral link.  You'll receive a coupon code for $10 off via email.
• Then, add four 16 ounce jars of Vitacost brand extra virgin coconut oil to your cart.  Since these are buy one get one half off, your total will come to $26.85 for all four jars.
• Check out, and be sure to use the $10 coupon you received in your email.
• Your total will be $16.85 and shipping will be free.  (Shipping is free when you spend at least $25 on Vitacost brand products, and as far as I know the $25 should be calculated before your coupon.  Let me know if that's not the case and I'll cook up a different deal for you.)

That comes out to $.26 an ounce!

If you've been wanting to give coconut oil a try (or if you already use it and just need more) I would definitely jump on this!

Can Somebody Help Me?

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I've been struggling with extreme fatigue and heart palpitations for a number of months now.  The blood work I had done came back normal, and I wasn't really sure where to go from there.

I don't know why I never came up with this information before, but it certainly seems logical.

Has anyone ever heard of postpartum thyroiditis?

You can develop it anytime in the year following the birth of a baby.

Symptoms include:

• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Rapid heartbeat or palpitations
• Unexplained weight loss
• Increased sensitivity to heat

Those are hyperthyroidism symptoms.  Later, the symptoms can swing to those of hypothyroidism:

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Unexplained weight gain
• Increased sensitivity to cold

I don't really know where I fall in there, because I have pretty much all of these symptoms other than the weight gain.  However, come to think of it, I did go back up about 10 pounds after I got back down to my pre-pregnancy weight.

According to what I read, most times postpartum thyroiditis goes away on its own.  However, some women develop true hypothyroidism and it is has to be treated the rest of their life.

Anyway, I'm kind of glad to find that at least I have a logical explanation for how I've been feeling.  I'm really hoping that this stuff truly does go away on its own.

Some days I feel pretty good.  I'd say about 75% of the time, though, I am struggling just to do the basics like feeding everybody, changing diapers, and keeping the house relatively clean.  The past few days I've really had a hard time; getting out-of-breath just by talking, feeling dizzy and like I'm about to pass out and feeling extremely weak.  (Close your eyes, mom.)  (My mom doesn't like to let me drive if she knows this stuff.)

I'd love to know if anyone here has experienced this or if anyone knows of any natural remedies for thyroid problems.  I have heard that coconut oil can help stimulate the thyroid, but I'm wondering if that would make things worse if I have hyperthyroidism.  I don't really know which one (hypo or hyper) I have since the doctor didn't order the proper blood tests.  I've been taking blackstrap molasses every day, but I don't really know what else to try.

Anyone?

Anti-Procastination Challenge: Try it!

One thing I am really bad about is getting too comfortable in the kitchen.  I get on kicks making certain things all the time because they're easy, because my brain doesn't want to figure out something new, because most of the recipes I see in magazines or on Pinterest look too time-consuming or too expensive, and because I honestly just want to get dinner over with so I can get on with my evening.

I think if I tried something new, though, I might actually enjoy the process of making dinner and eating it, instead of just “getting it over with”.  So as soon as this post is written, I'll be heading out to the kitchen to make quinoa stuffed peppers.

None of us have ever had quinoa before, and we've only had stuffed peppers once.  I'm really hoping we like the quinoa, because it will be a really inexpensive way to add some protein to our meals.  Who says you have to eat meat at every meal?  I've been cutting it out of our meals a whole lot lately. We honestly haven't felt like we were missing anything, but it's saving a whole lot of money.

Anyway, why in the world do I have this Pinterest board called “Recipes to try” if I'm never going to try them?  Time to stop procrastinating! 

What new thing are you going to try this week?  If you need some inspiration you can head over and check out my pinterest board!

If you’re just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you’re subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each new challenge!