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Refraining from Telling When-I-Was-Your-Age Stories

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Refraining from When-I-Was-Your-Age Stories

Photograph Credit: Fotolia

Holding myself back from a barrage of when-I-was-your-age stories, I am struggling with patience.

As our family is recovering from summer colds, I was distributing another round of Benedryl to cries of “I don’t want the bubble gum flavor. Can I have the grape flavor?”

Explaining that we were out of the grape with only bubble gum flavor left, I heard whining. Now, I understand that they don’t feel well, but really?!

I felt like retorting with “when I was your age, we didn’t get a choice of flavors as there was only one. And the one we had tasted awful.”

Though I had visions of those who talk of walking to school – uphill – both ways and without shoes, I found myself quietly saying, “at least you have medicine to take.”

As the hush came upon them and everyone took his dose, we returned to resting and recovering from our summer colds. The quiet gives enough time to recover before the next batch of irritation surfaces.

Dealing with sick kids is never pleasant, but working with them while you are sick takes lots of patience while refraining from telling when-I-was-your-age stories. Keep on being patient!

Question: Do you ever turn to when-I-was-your-age stories?

Half Days, Clothing Swap, and Cleaning Adjustments

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Half Days, Clothing Swap, and Cleaning Adjustments

Photograph Credit: Fotolia

Encouraging my children to enjoy these last days of school, I am doing the same. No longer am I surprised when my planned week falls apart.

My plan rarely occurs these days, but I have learned to use time wisely to accomplish what I can in the time given.

For this last week of school, I was planning to knock out a couple projects. Well, those plans were derailed when my daughter’s classes were reduced to half days.

With dropping off in the morning, picking up at lunch, and then in the afternoon, I’m not home much this week.

Previously, this would have been a pain. However, I worked with another mom to carpool for one of the pickups which gave me some extended time at home to swap my children’s clothes. With most of my children’s winter clothes packed up, I only have a few more loads of laundry to go before finishing the transfer to spring and summer clothes.

In addition to the laundry, I have kept up my new cleaning routine which is very calming to me. Though I cannot always get to the cleaning daily, I can clean weekly which is a great system for my ever-changing schedule. With this goal, I was able to re-clean 3 upstairs rooms today. So, I’m on my way to a clean home this weekend.

This week can either end in disappointment from taking the long way around these projects, or I can embrace the changes and smell the roses along the path. The half days, clothing swap, and cleaning adjustments are part of my using time wisely journey.

Whether you are winding down the school year, planning for summer, or trying to get through today, adopt a can-do attitude. Know where you want to go, but feel free to take the boardwalk or the path around the lake to get there.

Plans change, but you can still arrive at your destination while using time wisely. Happy choosing!

Question: What adjustments are you making this week? 

Living without Regrets: Playing Hookie

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Living without Regrets: Playing Hookie I only remember playing hookie from school one day. I was in 10th grade, and my mom kept me out for the day.

We went shopping and had lunch. There was something magical about the experience because everyone else was in school, including my younger brother.

My mom never regretted taking me out that day, and I have no regrets from missing one day of school.

Though I do not want my children to miss school work, I am careful about keeping them away from their studies.

With my children’s school scheduling an all-day outdoor service day and the allergies already flaring in our home, Paul and I took our kids out of school for the day.

We did sleep in this morning, but then we ventured out this afternoon to visit three museums. Admission to all three was FREE with our science membership.

Living without Regrets: Playing Hookie Art Museum with Charles Dickens’ Works

The first museum had a scavenger hunt for the children to assist with the two-floors of art and culture during the 1800’s, specifically the life of Charles Dickens.

The children’s play room allowed my children to play and explore on their own, that is, until they found the same item with which to play.

Local History Museum

The second museum was next door to the first and housed local history. Though we have visited this museum before, we saw two updated exhibits and visited our favorite rooms.

Art Museum with Greek Culture

Living without Regrets: Playing Hookie Our final museum visit was on the campus of a local university. This museum also had a scavenger hunt for the children. This art museum was the best one of the day.

My son is studying Roman and Greek culture this year, and this museum had a children’s area focused on Greek culture.

From deciphering Latin into English to solving Roman numeral puzzles, this play area encouraged learning and applying the knowledge from the Greek culture.

My girls enjoyed creating with mosaic pieces and shopping for fruits and vegetables.

The scavenger hunt was geared toward the composition of the art where even my 4-year-old could find the colors in the paintings and figure out the clues.

We concluded the day by meeting up with Daddy at the university’s dining hall. With a smorgasbord atmosphere, our children enjoyed going from station to station. It cracked me up that all three of them wanted cereal as there was a vast variety of flavors. The day was definitely special as we missed school without missing any school work.

Skipping school is not a habit I endorse. However, it was fun taking the day off from school to attend these museums and spend time together. In using time wisely, we played hookie while living without regrets. Happy living!

Question: Have you ever played hookie? 

Getting Back to My Normal

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Getting back to my normal

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Happy May Day! My April has been a whirlwind of activity. Though I have knocked out many items on my To Do list, I still have much to do as I am getting back to my normal.

As I made progress last month, I truly learned to give myself grace. When my allergies overcame me, I took the time to concentrate on getting rest which drew me away from the blog. I know my posting in April was all-over-the-place, but all the April posts have been written and published.

Also, I think everything is back to normal from the corrupt file that took down the site for about 1 hour a few days ago. Life is never dull as you can tell.

In an effort to give you a peek into my daily life, I am highlighting a bright spot in my day with a post and a picture on Using Time Wisely’s Facebook Page. If you are not a fan of Using Time Wisely, then come like our page and join in the chatter. I’ll meet you over there. 😉

Keep using time wisely. Schedules and responsibilities are different, and we won’t always make the best decisions. However, we continue to progress and learn along the way. Thanks for joining me on this journey to using time wisely. I’m blessed to have each of you blessing my life. Happy Hump Day!

Question: Do you celebrate May Day?

Heads Up: Update, Series Recap, and 2012’s Top 10 List Weeks

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Wrapping up with update, series recap, and 2012's top 10 list

Photograph Credit: Fotolia

In winding down 2012, I have chosen to close this chapter by wrapping up and reporting the results of series and topics covered this year.

Beginning on Sunday, I will start an update week, followed by a series recap week, and finishing the year with 2012’s top 10 list on Using Time Wisely.

Update Week

Throughout the year, I share topics and projects with which I am trying or working. As I finish 2012, I have chosen one topic per day for a follow-up post. These updates start on Sunday, December 9 and conclude on Saturday, December 15.

Series Recap Week

In writing numerous series during the year, I plan to post a recap of each series for each category throughout the week of Sunday, December 16 – 22.

2012’s Top 10 List

Similar to 2011’s Top 10 List, I will rely on Google Analytics’ calculations for the most popular posts this year.

In using time wisely to wrap up 2012, I hope these posts will prove beneficial to you. I am looking forward to the series recap week as I would love to have one post with all the series listed by category for the year.

As you bring 2012 to a close, finish strong while using time wisely. Happy finishing!

Question: How are you wrapping up 2012?